Arbit Scratchpad

LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl) configuration on OpenSUSE Linux 10.0. Here is some useful information : The configuration files are in /etc/apache2/ I had to create an empty file named include.conf in /etc/apache2/sysconfig.d Else 'httpd2 -k start' (the way you need to start the daemon) was giving an error. HTML files and other stuff like images go by default into : /srv/www/htdocs CGI files in /srv/www/cgi-bin Also did some experimentation with 'mysql' based on info that I had got from the LFY magazine. First installed the mysql server. Then the following commands to craete and update databases. linux:~ # mysqladmin -u root -p XXXXX linux:~ # mysql -u root -p Enter password: Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 2 to server version: 4.1.8-standard mysql> create database testdb; Query OK, 1 row affected (0.17 sec) mysql> show databases -> -> ; +----------+ Database +----------+ mysql test testdb tmp +----...

What a book 'Lajja' is; I don't know if you will get the same effect if you read the translated work. But I enjoyed it, even though it repeatedly stresses the injustice meted out to the Hindus in Bangladesh with statistics and facts after facts; the narration and the climax is just too good. Read very few books with this kind of ending except Marquez's A Hundred Years Of Solitude. Nasrin has a knack of keeping you interested through each page and making the reader feel the pathos, sorrow and angst of the characters, except when she is rattling the facts in a non stop stream. Also read the poem 'Lead me to the light' .

Of unfulfilled duties, And unearned rights, Of worthless works, And stupid fights. Of loveless affairs, And heartless flings, Of remorseless apologies, And unattached strings. Of untrue lines, And mindless talks, Of late realizations, And retrospective walks. Of unleashed potential, And an unachieved dream... Poetic Injustice - A collaborative blog of poesy ... Nakul , Shreyas and yours truly. More on the history behind this initiative on Shreyas's blog.

Dramatic and full of exaggeration, yet a very sentimental, realistic and good movie; just watched 'Ajantrik' ( Pathetic Fallacy or The Unmechanical ) by Ritwik Ghatak , which I have borrowed. The movie speaks about the attachment of a taxi driver Bimal (played by Kali Banerjee) to his old classic style car, which he calls by name. The car is in a dismal state, it is in shambles yet does its work, reaches the place where it is supposed to and in time. The movie revolves around a few scenes about the travels in the car and the driver's love for his car - he has no one else except for the car whch is his lifemate and a small boy who is his neighbour. Midway in the movie the car breaks down. He brings it back home, to the ridicule of his neighbours and vows to get it back to life. He spends all his money to repair it; everyone suggests he sell it off, but he works on it day and night relentlessly and finally makes it run again. As soon as he starts climbing a slope, th...

What an excellent movie. No frills, no pretense, no exaggeration, thought-provoking and leaving decisions on the viewer, meaning taking the audience to be intelligent. Ganashatru (An Enemy of the People) by Satyajit Ray is a movie that portrays the lack of principles in those who are actually supposed to be conscious and responsible for the good of the people, especially people in the press and the administration i.e. the government machinery. The story starts with Dr Ashok Gupta (played by Soumitra Chatterjee - Satyajit Ray's favourite) getting a series of patients suffering from a specific kind of jaundice, in Chandipur hospital, where he practices. On sending samples of the water to Calcutta labs, the doctor is able to ascertain the contamination of water, as the results suggest. He wants to publish the findings. His brother (played by Dhritiman Chatterjee) the municipal chairman is opposed to this, as he does not want to bring disrepute to Chandipur, and has helped in building...

Currently reading the bengali novel 'Lajja' by Taslima Nasrin , that was banned by the Bangladesh government and a fatwa was issued against her . Set in Bangladesh, it speaks about the communal frenzy and retaliation against the Hindu community in Bangladesh, after the Babri Masjid was demolished in India, through the eyes of the members of a particular Hindu family. Some info on Nasrin here: [1] , [2] My speed of reading bengali has really come down, need to read more.

A new form of covert imperialism is being gradually unleashed by the USA. It is in the name of democracy, that the US government indiscriminately uses its military might to establish and dislodge governments, at will and is quite unrepentant about it. What is disgusting is that these open displays of human rights violations and use of force are easily ignored in India. Probably we are indeed doing the right thing by making use of their money and power to develop ourselves or is it ? However we cannot be blind to the security concerns that are inherent. We need to guard ourselves against the betrayal that the US government is capable of. We are establishing joint military co-operation with that country, which may be dangerous if not totally foolish. Especially the ultra-liberal Manmohan Singh government may be playing like puppets in the hands of the US and other world bodies controlled by the US, such as the World Bank etc. The Prime Minister was immature enough to criticize Vajpa...