There are no rocks, no hills, no greenery, no nothing! Absolute barren stretches all along. All of the long road, for the next 3 kms is visible right from here, and there is no sign of life. As the cab travels along the totally nondescript, long and straight road, bordered with nothing, you can’t help but doze off into dreams of wandering in lonely deserts in search of food and water, with strange lizards and cruel cacti looking on. The sun glares at your face, and you wonder what brought you here, of all places.

That will be how you can describe the journey in most parts of the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. The journey to Belum caves was nothing different either. Approximately 275 kms from Bangalore, in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh lie the longest caves in the plains of India – the Belum caves.

In no man’s land, these caves pop up suddenly out of nowhere. Actually, they don’t even pop up. They are completely underground. Even when you purchase the entry ticket for this natural wonder, you would just be wondering where the caves are. Then as you enter the caves and move further, you realize slowly, they were right beneath your feet!

The caves are a natural formation of limestone deposits that cause interesting structures over the passage of time – a process that takes millions of years. Stalactite and Stalagmite formations can be found here. A completely underground passage way, large chambers and wonderful rock formations have been formed here, which is the reason for the tourist attraction.

These caves are the second longest in India (the longest ones measuring about 22 kms are Krem Liat Prah in the Jaintia hills of Meghalaya). As there is a lot of information about these caves on the net, I will just give you some travel tips.

• The caves are totally worth the visit. If you are somewhere around the region in Andhra, definitely make it a point to visit here.

• The total walk inside the caves is around 2 kms. It is hot (Outside air is pumped inside using compressors. Still you feel the heat). You will sweat like hell. Carry a towel to wipe yourself out. It is absolutely necessary.

• It is not advisable to drive here. Because, you might doze off as I had already mentioned. There is absolutely nothing scenic on the highway. You can see the road as far as your eyes can reach, and you can see nothing! Take a cab!

• Guides are available at the entrance. They take Rs.10. Hire one of them. One, they carry a torch to show you the way. Two, they tell you a lot of stories about the caves.

• Some places in the caves need some acrobatics to reach. Sometime you might have to crawl. Not too frightening. It might be difficult for the aged.

• There is no accommodation near the caves. You have to stay at Anantapur or Kurnool. Nandyal is also a nice place to stay. The caves are about 75 kms from Nandyal. Food is served in a small restaurant near the caves. Don’t expect too much – simple, tasty Andhra meals are served.

Now, over to the pics…

Entrance to the caves

Vinoth, Rahul and Karthik

A game of hands

Rahul, the devil

Near a man-made fountain

Details on the ceiling

Vinoth looking on

A secret passage

Details on the ceiling

Karthik posing

An underground chamber

Buddha statue outside on the plains

Karthik falling in

Enjoy maadi…!

Lumiere is Bangalore’s newest (and the only as far as I know) organic restaurant. It is located at Doddanakkundi on the Outer Ring Road connecting KR Puram and Marathahalli. Look out for the decorative ‘Jalsa’ restaurant as you drive by, and Lumiere is right next to ‘Jalsa’. The restaurant is on the fourth floor of a narrow building. The basement parking lot was very narrow and could hold around 5 cars, thats all. However, the restaurant itself is quite spacious and well decorated.

Ambience

The ambience in the restaurant is quite refreshing. The decor has been tastefully done with an elegant stairs leading up to the next level being the center of attraction in the restaurant. There was enough lighting, and to fight the noon-time scorching heat of Bangalore, they had pedestal fans all over. This was definitely an eyesore, as you don’t want to see tens of plastic-looking fans all over the place spoiling the feel of the decor. But they have chosen fans in lieu of AC to be environment friendly it seems. There was also an air cooler next to our table, which was causing more discomfort than anything else. The seating was reasonably comfortable, and the there were large table mats that could hold all of your cutlery, plus some juice glasses. There were some paintings on the wall, and carnatic music was being played in the speakers. Overall, an interesting ambience.

Food

We had booked the lunch buffet. There is a difference in price for the vegetarian and the non-vegetarian buffets, and this is really appreciable. We were served beetroot-ginger juice as a welcome drink, which was surprisingly tasty. The chicken clear soup was ok, and there were wheat breads and bread sticks and accompaniments. The main non-vegetarian dishes were Fish manchurian, fish masala, Chicken schezwan, and a chicken gravy. The fish dishes were refreshingly good and tasty, especially the fish masala.

Chicken pulav was good, but tasted more like chicken fried rice. There was something called ‘herb rice’ on the vegetarian side, which was nice. The veg noodles left a lot to be desired. I tried only the lady’s finger with salt and pepper from the vegetarian side, which was okayish. The desserts were nothing extraordinary. There was some kind of khoa sweet, rice kheer and fruits salad. We washed it off with a cool saunf sharbat, which I had for the first time, and found it surprisingly nice.

I don’t know if the ‘organic’ tag of the restaurant made any difference to the taste of the food. Nevertheless, the food was fresh and tasty. Even items which I do not normally enjoy were good enough in this restaurant. The best part is, they update their lunch menu everyday in their website. Full marks to this. In summary, the food was above average.

Service

This was the best part of the experience. The service was really good. The waiters were all prompt and at their heels to cater to the customers. The used plates were being cleared in no time, and the water glasses were being refilled even before you know it. Also, they answered all our questions on the food items patiently. I would rate the service excellent.

Verdict

Organic food is a new upmarket concept that is catching up in the big cities. Still organic food is rare and quite expensive too. However, this restaurant is priced reasonably (Rs.375 for non-veg, and Rs.300 for veg buffet), and the quality of the food, ambience, service are all good. Parking at peak hours could be the only setback. Overall the restaurant is worth trying – you might actually find the ‘organic’ part interesting after all.

Rating: 3.5/5

The probability of a remix song becoming sooper-dooper hit heavily depends on how popular and peppy the original was, how much the music director has kept his ambitions out of the remix, and how much the female in the remix shows her skin. Taking into consideration all of these environmental variables, I have made this list.

Disclaimer: This list is a reflection of how much I enjoy when each of these songs is played on TV, and should not be construed that I am being judgemental about the composition.

10. Yemperu Meenakumari from Kandasamy

The highlight of this song does not lie in the kulukkal movements of Mumaith Khan, or the sensationalism exhibited by her pierced tongue, but instead, it lies in the amazing free style body-shaking and hand-swinging movements of the half-naked old man along with her in the bus. If not for him, the song would not have been such an instant hit in all the patties and thotties of Tamilnadu.

9. Thottaal poo malarum from New

Care should be exercised while watching this song. The best option would be to use the turn-off-video button in your TV in case it is available. For the damned souls whose TV does not have this valuable switch, be ready to watch the King of torture S.J.Suryah who will continue to haunt your dreams long after the visuals are over.

8. Yeh Aatha Aathorama Vaariya from Malaikottai

A remix that survives only on the peppiness of the original! Whether she wears a Benares pattu or mini skirt, I don’t understand why Priyamani looks like she has just got out of bed and jumped into the stage to dance. The less said about the hero, the better.

7. Ponmagal Vandhaal from Azhagiya Tamil Magan

Does Shriya look like she has an Eclairs chocolate stuffed into her cheek, or is it just me? Anyway, a neat composition, rendered magical by Asslam’s voice. The music blends with the voice perfectly. A rare Sivaji Ganesan remix!

6. Vachikava unnai mattum nenjukulle from Silambattam

Though Simbu comes back with his serial-set background reused in all of his movies for budget purposes, and repeats his painfully familiar and hysterical ‘sit down, stand up, twist leg, move side’ exercise routine once more, the magic and peppiness of thalaivar’s song makes us want to listen to this remix composition again and again. Also it is a consolation that Yuvan Shankar Raja has kept his hands away from the ‘sprinkle-some-out-of-the-world-beats’ button, which has paid off.

5. Ennadi Muniyamma un kannula maiyee from Vaathiyar

A song immortalized by T.K.S.Natarajan’s voice, has been neatly remixed by Imaan. I have never watched the video of this song, but listened to the audio umpteen times, and it holds the magic of the original. I guess this is the only hit song in the album.

4. Thee pidikka thee pidikka from Arindhum Ariyaamalum

“Kaamamum kobamum ullam nirambave.. Kaalamum sella madinthidavo…” – when yesteryear superstar MKT Bhagavathar sang this harmless song 70 years back (!!!) little would he have imagined a skimpily clothed chick making out with a ruffian guy at the backseat of a car, in the backdrop of his song, interspersed with dance movements similar to pulling up your loose trousers. Listen to the original here.

3. Madai thiranthu paayum nadhi alai naan from Vallavan (Yogi B)

Though not a film song, this remix from Yogi B created ripples. It could be heard everywhere from Nair chaaya shop to Bangalore-Chennai video coach. Yogi B introduced hip hop to Tamil, and used an evergreen Ilayaraja composition to his advantage. Calling rap ‘Sollisai’ in Tamil is interesting too. One of the better made packages in remix genre.

2. Ennama kannu sowkiyama from Thiruvilaiyaadal Aarambam

It is strange that one of thalaivar’s most remembered duets is with Satyaraj (a guy!). The remix had enough nakkals and naiyaandies in it that it has overshadowed the original itself. Also, the contrast between Dhanush and Prakashraj is greater than the pair in the original, that the duel of words between them in the song sounds more convincing. One of my favorites from Imaan.

1. Engeyum eppodhum sangeetham santhosham from Polladhavan

The clear winner. Surprisingly, again starring Dhanush, and Yogi B. Music by G.V.Prakash. One of the few songs where Ramya looks hot. The clear winner here is SPB’s voice. Prakash has recreated the magic of the eighties. As Yogi B promises at the beginning of the song, they bring back the classic Kannadasan-MSV-SPB composition in a fine way, retaining the party spirit of the song.

There is still a whole bunch of interesting songs out there. With almost all music directors giving remixes these days, I hope there will be more remix-rains pouring in coming days.

Enjoy some candid photos of couples from my Goa trip…

The sea of Love

Romance on the beach

A long beach-walk

Let’s hold hands dear…

Enjoy maadi…

Dell

My PC broke down one fine day, and I decided to make my long term dream to own my first laptop come true. But hell broke loose from the day I ordered the laptop. (Yes, I ordered it, because DELL does not sell it off the shelf. And, I wanted a Studio 14 with Core2duo and with the maximum RAM memory they can stuff in, which was not going to be available off the shelf anyway). Coming back to hell, the laptop I ordered on Jan 4 did not come to me even after Feb 4.

Life came to a standstill, similar to traffic in Bangalore, which grew to insurmountable magnitudes, all the pleasures of life seemed to hopelessly drain into Ulsoor lake and I had to spend several sleepless nights in pain and anguish in this one month, because I had no PC. Finally, Brahma, the unworshipped god, decided to heed to my prayers and voiced a curse that Dell should give me an Intel Core i3 laptop instead of the Core2Duo I had ordered, and Dell had no other option but to execute the order of the one above. Dell gave me a wonderful looking laptop, and exported me to my ‘second life’. Phew!

Marriage

I was admiring the sheer beauty and awesomeness of my new laptop, when I felt a sharp excruciating pain at the back of my neck. I groaned in agony, and reached out my hand to the back of my neck to feel what caused the pain. It was a bite – an insect bite – to put it in comfortable words – a bug bite. Then it dawned upon me. I had been bitten by the marriage bug!

I did not realise that January 2010 – the month I had promised my parents I would signal green for marriage – had already come! I was caught completely off-guard when I was asked to give a photo of mine in which I looked everything but what I really am. Wait! That is not ethical – I tried to say, but was swat down heavily with the ‘Kosu-bat‘, and the photos I hated the most (From the enna-kodumai-sir-idhu list) were ripped off from my Flickr albums. The photos have been doing rounds all over Karnataka ever since, trying to attract a suitable ‘cow-girl’ for my parents (Adhaanga… maattu ponnu).

BMTC

In other news, BMTC has found a new passenger in me. Born with insanely large feet, which only accept shoes of size 12, I realised that I could not reduce my footprint. So, as a counter-measure I decided to reduce my carbon footprint by shunning my car and going to office in BMTC. Nice. The ride in the Volvo buses has been smooth for the past month and a half. Taking a bus to office has a whole set of advantages – right from taking off the tenshun of driving from your head, to letting you listen to the mellifluous voice of Goundamani in your ipod. Come on… everyone knows the unspoken truth – sight adichifying and jollu vittufying (revolutionary terms from Tamil language equivalent to the English term ‘ogling’) at the bus-traveling figars – the best way to spend the 45 minutes to office constructively. (Especially if you work in a detested-by-the-fairer-sex  industry like mine). Mission is accomplished I say.

Watched a Tamil movie called ‘Tamil movie’. (Tamil Padam in Tamil). Ayyoo… how many Tamil…!!! A bold venture into the parody movie genre in Tamil. It was refreshing. Despite having irritating actors like Venniraadai Murthy and Paravai Muniyamma, the movie was interesting enough. For a first kind of effort from a first time director, the movie was commendably good. Hope it yields more movies of the same genre in future.

Aayirathil OruvanThe story is based on the struggle for power between two Tamil kingdoms – the Cholas and Pandyas. The Pandyas destroy the Chola kingdom, and the Cholas are forced to flee their capital, Thanjavur. But while escaping, they take along with them the idol of a Pandya god. The Cholas establish a secret settlement in some remote foreign island, with the hope that some day they will be resurrected back to the Chola kingdom by a messiah. The settlement is well protected by seven blockades, all of which one has to cross, to reach the place. The movie is based in the present day – a 1000 years after the Cholas are overthrown. A group of archeologists and armed men, led by Reema Sen go in search of the lost city of the Cholas, how they cross the blockades, and reach the place. Now, the twists are exposed – the Chola settlement is still alive in the foreign island, and Reema Sen is a descendant of the Pandyas, bearing a grudge to destroy the Cholas and bring the Pandyan idol back.

The movie is an adventure-treasure hunt kind of movie – at least it looks so in the beginning. The first half of the movie is all about the voyage, and the blockades the crew faces one after the other – all done in hollywood style. Karthi sizzles as a cocky coolie, Reema Sen gives a decent performance as the leader of the expedition and a Andrea does nothing more that just appearing in the scenes.The narration is catchy, and the background score is quite indulging. The crew escapes strange creatures, wades through cruel looking tribes, shoots down hundreds of red-colored men and crosses a quick-sand ridden desert to finally reach the lost city of the Cholas. The audience eagerly get ready for the team’s adventures in the new land. And then, the trouble starts…

The director seems to have become suddenly ambitious. He could have finished it off a hollywood-styled adventure movie with bigger dangers and barricades that comes the team’s way, all of which they successfully break to attain their goal. But instead, the director choosed to become adventurous. He keeps the lost Chola settlement alive in the remote land, and makes Reema Sen the descendant of the Pandyas, seeking to destroy the Cholas once and for all. From here, the movie becomes a torture porn, using the excuse of war, superstitions and agony. The director aspires hard to show how barbaric the Cholas are, and how crude things move about in this land, which makes the audience say, ‘Yuck!’. The script becomes slow, and all characters other than Reema Sen bear a zombie like dumbness about them, while Reema Sen becomes the like of a blood sucking vampire. The audience soon start looking at their watches, mocking at the silliness of the things happening on-screen, and how the movie that started off in a great way, was getting into the boring old rut.

Right from the start of the movie, where a voice narrates the backdrop of the story to the dialogues renders by both the female leads, the pronunciation of Tamil is grossly bad. The difference between ‘la’ and ‘zha’ in Tamil has been sadly ignored almost everywhere. Another thing that was odd about the dialogues was the so-called ancient Tamil used by the cave-dwelling barbarian Cholas. It could have been in normal Tamil itself – at least it would have reduced the zombie-ness of the characters. When a lot of logic has been compromised in the movie, I don’t see the reward in painstakingly bringing in an ancient diction of Tamil, which only alienates the characters from the audience.

‘Logic’ is something missing thoughout the movie. Cell phone works seamlessly in a place which has never been explored by humans. The army from India is able to get to a foreign land and kill hundreds of people there, without any issues or implications. If the army could be air-dropped in the Chola-settlement so easily, why should the crew travel over land, facing so many dangers and losing so many lives? Why do the Cholas look, act and behave like barbarian cannibals? Even though they are shown to have magical powers, how do they get cheated so easily by a girl? When all of the Chola women are raped and tortured by the army, how does Andrea escape, always standing by the side, watching all the horror?

Two good things about the movie are its stunning camera work by Ramji and wonderful music by G.V.Prakashkumar. The songs are indulging, and the background score is good too. ‘Un mela aasai thaan’ and ‘O Eesa’ are tunes that linger along. The computer graphics looks amateurish at some places, but the overall cinematography is quite good.

Reema Sen has given a splendid performance in the second half of the movie, as a vengeful and ruthless female. Karthi disappears in the second half and reappears to sum up at the end. Andrea is more conspicuous by her lack of any part to play in the second half. Parthiban is a huge let down. The most hyped character of the movie – the Chola king – behaves no more mature than the leader of a cannibal tribe. He is speechless and expressionless most of the time, except when they show his large eyes in close-up, trying to make up for the boring screenplay.

The movie is a new venture in Tamil. I have always wondered when the Tamil movies would move ahead of love, revenge and sentiments. This could be a first step, at least the first half. If the excessive gore, barbarianism and blood shed is removed, the characters are made to talk normal Tamil, and the movie is cut down by half-an-hour, the effect could have been completely different. Overall, the movie is nothing close to a must-watch!

Pirate Latitudes

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton is supposedly his penultimate novel (…another one is slated for release in 2010). The script was found in his computer after his untimely demise in 2008, and has been published posthumously around a year later. That is reason enough for the book to be one of the bestsellers of the year, especially considering Crichton’s prowess in story-telling. The novel resembles heist movies like Ocean’s eleven. It also belongs to the same genre as another of Crichton’s renowned novel – The Great Train Robbery. The novel is a departure from Crichton’s latest works, where the author invariably had chosen scientific themes, especially the hottest discussed topics. On the contrary, in Pirate Latitudes, Crichton takes back the readers half a millennium back to the era of wars, plagues and pirates.

The story is set in the mid-colonial era, towards the end of the 17th century, when the European powers are fighting each other to establish control over the colonies of Central America. The story begins in the English colony of Jamaica. A privateering expedition sets off from here, under the captaincy of Charles Hunter. He assembles a crew of seamen with expertise in different sea tactics, who set out on a voyage to capture a Spanish treasure-vessel stationed in a well guarded and impregnable Spanish harbour of Matanceros. Enemy encounters, hurricanes, sea-monsters, cannibals, escape-tactics, betrayal and retaliation – all these make the story of the novel.

Coming to the review, I should admit the novel has the same characteristics of a Typical Tamil masala movie. A superhero, a heroine who unnecessarily comes around only for adding spice, a loud villain – all of these find place in the novel. The characterization and the sequence of events have been laid out in a neat way, acquainting the reader slowly to the mood of the novel – in this case, the social life in a Caribbean colony 400 years back. However, the author takes pains in detailing the character of Sir Almont – the governor of Jamaica in the initial chapters of the novel, though he doesn’t have much bearing on the rest of the novel, except for brief comebacks – which I felt odd. On the other hand, the protogonist Hunter, gets lesser space at the beginning of the novel.

The novel seems like a summation of smaller incidents, brought forth one after the other. Captain Hunter, similar to the hero in the movie 2012, invariably overcomes all mishaps and emerges victorious, however difficult the situations might be and however stupid his decisions might be. What lacks is a Crichton stamp! A single continuous message line, which the protogonist advocates throughout the lenght of the novel, which could have been a strong connecting wire, is conspicuous by its absence. Nevertheless, all characters in the novel have been portrayed right to the extent required, and accomplish their task pretty well. In fact, I believe the interest in these characters is the one which keeps the reader turning pages. The techniques of the pirates, and the intricacies of sea voyages have been construed very well with enough twists and turns to keep the reader engaged.

The novel is relatively short, or looks so because of the lack of details. The incidents draws the reader quite well into the scene of the novel, but it is not a gripping or compelling read. Half way through the novel, a lot of things feel cliched, and towards the end of the novel, it is not a herculean task to guess what would be the sequence of events leading to the ending. The novel is a casual read, and unlike other Crichton’s novels, Pirate Latitudes lacks the elaboration and substantiation that are typical of Crichton’s masterpieces. The novel somehow feels shallow, and a few scenes in the novel, feel like they end abruptly, leaving the readers in vacuum.

I should also mention that having watched a good deal of pirate movies, the readers are left with little space to imagine, and quite a lot of incidents mentioned in the novel come before our eyes straight from the movies. In fact, I could remember exact scenes from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series while reading few parts of the novel, and even an old Tamil movie of the sixties, MGR’s Aayirathil Oruvan during some of the mishaps the voyage encounters. I can only imagine that the novel could have been an incomplete work, or one written in his early stages as a writer, on which Circhton might have had several pending things to add or change, which never found the light of the day.

The final verdict: Though not one of Crichton’s best, the novel is intriguing enough for a lazy read.

Points: 2.5/5

I finished my last year with an eventful vacation in Goa, enjoying all the beaches and birds of the west coast.

What’s more exciting?

The new year for me has already begun thunderously, with my write-up on Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary getting published in The Banyan Trees.

You can read my article here. Many thanks to Dhivya.

The Banyan Trees is a new-age online monthly magazine that gives a platform to display creative content. The Banyan Trees team has been doing a great job, and the magazine has improved a lot since its first issue in November 2009. I wish them all the best in their effort. A neat looking flash version of the magazine…

http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf

What’s even more exciting?

Looking at the wonderful show put up by the Banyan Trees, I have been lately thinking about starting my own magazine. It will be a collaborative effort, with the help of friends. Watch out for the first issue very soon…

How can I start my own website?
Is it easy, or is it only for the experts in the field?
How difficult is it to maintain one?
What is the price I will have to pay?

The World Wide Web

In this post, I will try and address most of these questions. I will give a step by step guide for making your own website. Although there is an abundance of information in the internet on this topic, there is not much specific to India, especially for people wishing to have their own personal blog address, like me.

As a prerequisite, all you need is some basic knowledge of computers and the internet, a credit card, and a lot of inquisitiveness. Most of the information provided here is from my personal experience in creating and managing my own website, and a couple of other government and non-profit websites that I have designed.

I have designed, and currently maintain three websites:

http://deepakvenkat.com
(My personal website designed on WordPress)
http://diya.org.in/
(A social welfare organization site designed on Joomla!)
http://cetl.co.in/
(A government laboratory site designed entirely by myself)

First things first: Who should start a website?

In order to own a website, you need not be a big businessman trying to reach a large audience across the globe. You could be a blogger who thinks it is time he had a website of his own, to build his own brand. You could be an amateur netizen who want to display something creative in a small space of your own. You could be one of those guys who just nurtured a desire to own a website in your name, ever since the dotcom boom happened in India. Or, you could be a small time entrepreuner, trying to advertise your business to net-savvy clients. Believe me, creating a professionally designed website no longer involves huge costs or technical expertise. It can be done just sitting in the comfort of your home, and it can all be done in a couple of hours!

So, even if you are a student with very little pocket money, but with a desire to showcase your stuff to the world, you could just jump in, and create your own website in no time.

Step 1: Buying a domain name

By this time you should have a nice sounding domain name for your website in your mind. Keep it simple, and be ready to go for some variations of the name if what you seek is not available. The most common domain extensions used are “.com”, “.org”, “.net”, “.in”, “.co.in”, etc.

The moment you think of domain name registrars, the provider that comes to your mind is GoDaddy.com. However, I have seen that web domain registration companies operating from India offer reasonably lower prices for domain names, compared to those based elsewhere. For example, I have gotten my site registered at http://www.brainpulse.com, and I have had no problems with it for the past 2 years. Here, you should be able to get a reasonably good domain name for around Rs.400 to Rs.450 per year ($8 to $9 per year).

Some of the popular domain name registrar services from India, which also provide reasonably cheap domain registration are:

http://www.brainpulse.com
http://www.net4domains.com
http://www.indialinks.com
http://www.netlynx.com

Once you have identified the domain name registrar of your choice, just go to the registrar’s website and type in the website name of your choice. For example, if the name of your blog is “Simply Thinking”, you could go for website names like “simplythinking.com”, “simplythinking.net” or something that fancies you. As an alternative, you could name it after your own name (the way I have done it).

Simply Thinking

If the name of your choice is not available, most domain registrars give a list of related domain names from which you can choose one for your website. Choose the name of your choice from the list, or query again with a different name. When you are decided on your domain name, proceed further and purchase the domain name, using your credit card. Now, you are the owner of a domain name.

You will have to pay for your domain name every year. As an alternative, you can pay upfront for 2-5 years in one go, and not bother with payments for the next 5 years. I would recommend sticking to one year, since you might want to change your domain name registrar if you are dissatisfied with your current registrar for some reason. Paying more than $15 per year for a domain name is not justifiable, unless your business badly needs the particular domain name to differentiate yourself from your competitor.

If you can live with domain names that end with “.name”, “.info”, etc., you will find a plenty of discounted offers on the net for such names. Also, rather than sticking to one domain registration provider, a bit of searching on the net for good deals will always yield you the best results. You can get your domain name for as low as Rs.200 per year to Rs.750 per year.

Step 2: Hosting the Website

Though you have purchased a domain name, you cannot do much with it, unless you find a hosting service provider. Hosting is the process of storing your website related files on some computer that is permanently connected to the net, so that people find your site alive at all times they visit.

Hunt for the hosting provider

The same companies listed above provide hosting services too. So, it would be ideal for you to purchase a domain name as well as a hosting plan from the same vendor, as this simplifies the process. On the other hand, you could as well have entirely different service providers for domain registration and hosting, and still it would work without a glitch. The only drawback being, you should remember to renew both of them individually every year.

When it comes to choose the OS of you hosting server, there are two choices: Linux Hosting and Windows Hosting. Some information in this regard can be found here. Linux Hosting is the most widely used, as it is cheaper, reliable and sufficient for most website needs. If you are unsure which one to choose, blindly go for Linux hosting. You won’t regret it.

And it is important to know about some terminologies related to hosting while you make your choice of web hosting provider. The most important of these are— Disk Space, Bandwidth, MySQL Databases, and Email Accounts.

Ideally, a disk space of around 1 GB, Bandwidth of >1GB per month, and more than one MySQL Database are preferred for a simple website hosting. The number of email accounts is a personal choice. Each MySQL database can be used to host an individual blog, photo album, or so on, and if you don’t plan to have more than one, one MySQL database should be sufficient. I have been using Linux Hosting from brainpulse.com, which offers 1000MB space and unlimited bandwidth for Rs.1000 per year. But I get only one MySQL database, which I feel is enough for me.

Bots steal bandwidth

Having unlimited bandwidth is the most attractive option here, for some good reason. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and so on, crawl your website to find information about your website to update on the search results. Although this is favorable to you (getting you more traffic from search results), there is a downside. The search engines consume bandwidth. There are also a host of anonymous bots which simply eat up your bandwidth limit by frequently crawling your website. Though you can individually ban most of these bots by making certain adjustments, it is desirable to have unlimited bandwidth so that these bots don’t become a problem to your site. Because, once you exceed your bandwidth limit, your site will go offline and will not be accessible to the visitors. Unlimited bandwidth eliminates this fear. (The low-cost hosting provider will expect you to use unlimited bandwidth within reasonable limits. If you need to host a number of bandwidth consuming videos and offer them for download, it is always better to switch to a plan with higher cost).

For web hosting, if you want something cheap, you could look at http://www.squarebrothers.com which offers a minimal Linux hosting package for Rs.450 per year. But in my experience, I have found the downtime to be quite high with them. For personal blogs, it is still ok, looking at the price at which it comes.

So, coming to downtime, an important point to be noted while selecting hosting providers is the downtime. During down times, the website will not be available for public access. This could happen due to some unplanned maintenance work in the side of the hosting provider, or when the hosting provider is not able to handle all requests to his server. Ideally, downtime is required to be zero. But it so happens, that there is always a small amount of downtime with most low cost providers. The catch is to find out which provider gives minimum downtime. You can enquire among your friends or website owners to know if their service provider is good with respect to downtime. For example, I monitor my website using a downtime monitoring service, and I have found my provider to be quite satisfactory.

Don't need more cash

Here we come to the end of the spending part of your website launching plan. You can have a domain name, and a hosting service for as low as Rs.600 per year. For everything else you are going to do with your website, you will not have to shell out even a penny more, thanks to all the opensource resources out there. I will discuss more about these opensource tools in the next part of this article.

(To be continued…)

Image Courtesy: americanbedu.com

It is sometimes funny how the simple name of a person metamorphosizes into a hundred different avatars just based on the person trying to pronounce it. The sounds in the names might get beaten black and blue depending on the nasal capabilities of the pronouncer.

Let us take my name for example. DEEPAK. A simple and harmless name with just two noticeable sounds. But the pity is that one of these sounds should closely rhyme with an extra-vulgar super-insultive English word that is often represented by special characters in its written form. So, some cruel callers of my name might choose to call me DEE-%$^#.

Then comes the infamous Tamil teacher at school who prefers to bite hard on the first syllable in the name till it is on fire. The second syllable is, however, monetarily so much valuable. This makes my name THEE-BUCK.

There are more people belonging to the Tamil diaspora who will not be too keen on passing the BUCK so easily. Definitely this sound has to be localized considerably, as in, THEE-BUCKKU – in a coveted Tamil style, or its shortened form – THEE-BU.

Miles away, the English-speaking phoren people, with little or no knowledge of the minute intricacies of the multitude of Indian languages, render new dimensions to the name, munching and punching it into newer shapes, so that my name becomes D’PACK. A better shape would have been a six-pack.

I consider myself enormously blessed and gifted to not have a name as dangerous and diabolic as my brother’s. He is called KIRAN. This name is tossed and torpedoed much violently than a frog on the frying pan. He starts from KI-RAIN and KI-REEN and gets upgraded to KI-ROON and KI-RAN.

If simple names dance with so much glee on our twisty tongues, you can easily make up your mind about the big list of complicated and outlandish names.

The government decided to include the citizen’s father’s name in the electoral ID card, so that people can be more profusely identified, like, M.Kumaran, son of Mahalakshmanan. An unfortunate citizen’s father’s name happened to be ‘Kadarkarai’ (Seashore in Tamil). The hyper-educated officials of the Election commission decided to print his father’s name in the card, in letter as well as in spirit. The result – his father’s name was printed as “The Beach”. May be they found he was a Son of the Soil.

The ancient Tamil kingdom should have been a land of extraordinary scholars and exemplary tonguesmen. How else can you justify the common man pronouncing extra-terrestrial names like Peruncheralirumborai and Thirikoodarasappakavirayar! I believe special tuitions were given for pronouncing these names right. The current Tamils are no less in giving names as long as the Beach-Tambaram railway line. Balasudenthirarajan and Ramanujarajendran are not historical, but very much contemporary names walking around us.

Image Courtesy: givemeaname.com

A person I remotely remember from my childhood had the name “Soodi Kodutha Sudarkodi” – a name actually given to Aandaal – the Meera Bai of the South. For non-Tamil readers, I would like to point out with a slight smirk that this is similar to naming a child – ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge’.

The home minister of India Mr.Chidambaram bears the name of a town in Tamilnadu. However, he is not alone in this feat. Town names such as Madurai, Palani, Tirupathi, Tirumalai, and Kaasi commonly acquire special status as the first names of people.

The Members of the Mallu-land like to KISS… (Keep it simple, stupid!). Rarely would we have come across Mallus with names exceeding two syllables. Biju, Ciju, Ribu, Tanu, Jiby, Simi, Rinu… the list is endless. Of course, Beenamol and Kunjumon have to be interspersed in between these in order to give us the option of breaking the monotony with a smile. Over the years our minds have been rutted to nail names such as George and Mathew directly into the coconut trees of the Mallu-land.

Even the simple names of the Mallus have beware-of-names type of surnames. There is a rumor that certain Mallu surnames are usually generated by writing a random syllable generator in Perl, with only two constraints. (1) It should be a mix-up of syllables, rendering any kind of attempt to remember by a member of the human race, impossible, and, (2) It should end with ‘-il’. Thazhathidathil, Thevaruparampil, Puthenuvetil are some samples. Let us not get started with Prasadaramanakooti!

Funny customs in some families could lead to non-funny situations. For example, I had a friend in school. His family has a strange custom of rotating only 2 names for all male members of the family. He was named after his grandfather, as, ‘Chinnasami’. His brother was named after his own father, as, ‘Chellasami’. So, his brother becomes Chellasami, son of Chellasami, and brother of Chinnasami, also grandson of Chinnasami. I used to find it embarrassing to call his name standing outside his home.

Much ado has been made about the older names. Tuning our focus to modern names, most parents nowadays like to create names for their kids, with combos which have never been used, ever. May be it is their effort to make their kids outstanding by making their names standing out. A person I know has named his kids Migal, Kayal and Iyal. (It is up to the Tamil scholars among my readers to dig into the etymology of these names).

Sanskrit names uncommon in the South like Dhruvesh, Hritesh and Saharshita are among those being commonly conferred nowadays on kids in Chennai. I am sure, when these kids grow up, they will have much more complaints than I had, to write about the way their names are handled by the name-starved public!