Ideas are Immortal

Today being the 80th anniversary of the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, I am here expressing my admiration towards Bhagat Singh.

The radicalism which he manifested starting when he was a teenager until his early death have immortalized him to be one of the greatest thinkers and revolutionaries to have lived.

His uninfluenced ideals, radical ideas, strong conviction, his strategy for the freedom struggle and the fore-thinking about independent India’s future definitely makes it hard for me to believe that he was only 23 when he was executed. But,not before he had implanted an everlasting source of inspiration and laid a path for the youth of the country to follow in decades to come.

Even today, while reading his manuscripts one can truly feel his powerful ideas seeping into the mind and questioning our roles as citizens of India and the world.


Power of an individual and his ideas are best expressed in Bhagat’s own words:


“It is easy to kill individuals but you cannot kill the ideas. Great empires crumbled while the ideas survived.”

Bhagat Singh was a revolutionary who will always be called the “Think Tank of Indian Freedom Struggle”. He sacrificed his life not just for the freedom struggle of India, but to become a source of inspiration to all the young minds who would rise in the free India he dreamt of, in the decades to come.

PS: All the manuscripts written by Bhagat can be found at this link

All good things come to an end, so has the National Conference on Free Software-2010, but not without overwhelming everyone involved with its results and by itself.

The crux for organizing the conference on this scale of grandeur was basically to spread the word of Free Software, and another crucial reason was to try and bring a National identity to the regional movements. As mentioned in my previous post, “Free Software Movement of India(FSMI)” has been formed to channelize the regional efforts without losing the regional foothold of the individual movements. Sixteen different activist groups from all across India now will be networked to each other through the platform provided by FSMI, mainly to substantiate our efforts while addressing issues of national importance and regional interests. This is the most important result which has emanated from the Conference, and will become an epochal event in the history of Free Software Movement in India. This result is also important for the manner it was arrived at: A unanimous decision with full endorsement from all the groups 🙂

Time for a bit of self appraisal now: About the sessions and other activities, I might have to dedicate individual posts for just briefing about individual sessions and the speakers. These sessions were of such high intellectual content and of social importance that, I now regret that we shouldn’t have had any parallel tracks, and that every session should have been given individual slots!(although it is highly impossible with numerous constraints in play)

Also, I who was personally responsible for conducting few sessions was slightly worried about the delays and small confusions because of technical glitches and multiple venues, which I also understand are unavoidable. But, there’s always scope for improvement.

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, when the impact of the conference is felt like an embracing wave of warmth,with appreciation pouring in ubiquitously, all the small errors get trivial, fatigue vanishes and we feel rejuvenated to buckle up and do something more. In this regard, the valedictory session was touching, wherein all the efforts by every activist were recognized and appreciated.

This conference has been the richest experience to each of us involved: in organizing, volunteering and participating in it. The conference has been successful in propelling the standards and extending the boundaries of every individual in all facets of him/her in being a Free Software enthusiast.

With more responsibilities and a broader vision now, FSMK along with all the peer groups from across India in the form of FSMI will try to do everything in our power to turn the ‘unfreedom’ into ‘freedom’.

PS: More sections of the event

“Free Software, Free Society” was the mantra which echoed from every perspective of its applicability in the first day of the National Conference on Free Software-2010, Bengaluru.

With voices of eminent people inclined to, and affiliated to the Free Software Movement and its ideology reverberating in the auditorium, while they were substantiating each and every nuance pertaining to Swatantra Software, the inauguration couldn’t be any better.

The response to the conference was overwhelming,with about 1000 participants on a single day, of which about 300 were from states other than Karnataka,i.e., from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi,Maharashtra,West Bengal and Tripura.

The Conference was declared Open by Prof. Baraguru Ramachandrappa, with a riveting speech subsequently. Speaking in Kannada, he threw some necessary light on the IT policy of the Governments(both state and Central) and its fallibilities, which have been advantageous for the shrewed, so called MNC’s. He questioned the nationalism of the Indian origin MNC’s in IT who have been encouraging ‘unfreedom’ in the technology domain, and also about these companies not contributing to the local needs of people. He also justified the waiver of copyrights and patents on Software, as it is being wrongly marketed as a product instead of knowledge in digital form. He went on to talk about the “IT untouchability” which has perpetuated into the society since the supposedly ‘IT Revolution’ began in India.

The context of the conference was laid before the audience by Prof.Gopinath, IISc in an elaborate and comprehensive manner, emphasizing on important issues staring at us from near future like technology to deal with Climate Change, Free Software on Mobile phones etc…

The presidential address was delivered by Dr. N. Prabhu Dev, Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University. He gave an account of the Free Software Movement and its ideology.

Mr. Umashankar, IAS, held the audience awe-inspired with his facts and sheer exciting facts about Free Software and its implementation in the government projects in Tamil Nadu. He did inspire a lot many of us by his Inspirational Talk.

Apart from this, Free Software representatives from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal also showcased their regional activities.

With lunch being served to all the participants, full strength of the audience was on the floor in the food court enjoying simple authentic Karnataka food.

Post lunch, the general participants were to attend talk on e-governance, followed by Python workshop and a session on Free Software migration, which later I was told went on well.

While these sessions were happening, we the delegates had assembled in Shikshakara Sadana, to churn up ideas and, to try and float a National body of Free Software, which would be a ‘Network of Organisations functioning at regional levels’. After debating about this issue for 4 hours, all the delegates unanimously have endorsed this idea of a National Entity to which each regional body would be affiliated. This had been the motive behind the Delegate conference, and each one of us is really happy that we could arrive at this: Free Software Movement of India 🙂

By the time the Delegate conference was over, I was assigned with another responsibility which became an adventure on its own. I shall dedicate a post talking about this soon.

On the ground,the bubbling energy of volunteers and organizers were appreciated by all the participants and delegates. Mixed with fun moments, hectic engagements and responsible activities we’re glad to have successfully completed Day 1 of the conference. Now, time to buckle up for the second day 🙂 See you all there.

Had this thing in mind for long, to recollect some of my personal favorite ‘post-captions’ on my blog. I like these captions for, I was happy when I came up with these, while a couple of these are reflected from elsewhere which had influenced me. 


(Arranged in the form of links to the posts in decreasing chronology)

Conceptualized before less than three months, initially facing skepticism from every direction “National Conference on Free Software” is now a reality, which is happening from tomorrow at the Jnana Jyothi Auditorium, Bengaluru.

If there has been one thing which hasn’t depleted, but has grown immensely in the past few weeks is the undaunted passion of all the activists from FSMK. A National Conference at a magnanimous scale like this,with about 1500 participants expected over the two days, studded with the best people in the arena has been brought into reality by a bunch of passionate enthusiasts with boundless support from all the associated.

The distinguishing factor between any other National Conference and this National Conference on Free Software is that:We, the FSMK activists are no full-timers, as in philosophically we are eternally associated, but, when it comes to our time and resources, we aren’t.  We are all either working professionals or students who have been dedicating our free time to this passionate endeavor, not out of compulsion but driven by the drive to do it 🙂

Immense efforts have flown into the conference, and is continuing to flow, on an hour to hour basis, and we have been able to reach out with the news of conference and awareness of Swatantra Software through our vivid run-up events to no less than 3000 people, which includes students, professionals,teachers and not to miss the common people! Out of which a turn out of at least 1500 people is expected 🙂

With equal importance being given to the “Freedom technology” and more importantly to its “impact on the society”, it will definitely leave an impact on the audience, which might easily alter the paradigm of their perception of “technology and Society as a whole”.

Thanks for all the efforts and support each of you have lent in making this happen. Hope it will perpetuate 🙂


Free Software is the future,
The future is ours!

PS: This is the Conference theme T-shirt, which you can purchase at the FSMK stall during the conference 🙂

Whilst I have been busy in various activities off late, there has been a particular amusing inquisition reverberating in my head.

I, from long have wondered as to how a stranger would perceive me-Would he have an idea as to how complex an individual I am, or Would he have a clue as to what I am…

Conversely, I begin to contemplate the various possibilities when I look at someone passing me by, looking at them and imagining them to be people with extraordinary stories, but, behind ordinary faces.

The smile spotted on a stranger’s face for some precious reason of his/her’s is something I adore very much. It is like a momentary Ode of joy to me.

It’s amazing as to how our lives are masked behind our appearances, and how only a moment could spill an intriguing bit of our lives into others’.

If you haven’t experienced anything like this, just look out and glance at people, let your imagination sway thinking about them for a moment. It could put you in a cute delusion of some kind.

This is growing to become my newest hobby 🙂

PS: Amicable percussion instrument sellers I met in bus…

“Thiruvizha” was the word which was ringing in my head while witnessing today’s run-up event, that of releasing the Kannada version of GNU/Linux operating system which we called “Namma Debian “. Thiruvizha is  a Tamil word which stands for joyous celebration!

This was exactly how the atmosphere had metamorphosed in the Ambedkar Community Computing Centre or AC3, as we call it. AC3 is based in a small community of slum dwellers, adjoining establishments of the biggest IT players in the world. Here, computer and related skills are imparted to the local kids by enthusiasts from FSMK.

Today’s event was a colorful one organized by the local members along with FSMK. MC was a local kid, who compered the entire event excellently.

G Ramakrishna, Editor of Hosatu was the Chief Guest. He spoke passionately about the untapped potential abundantly present within the children in places like the AC3. Lack of opportunities, cribbing at fate and being complacent with their living conditions, according to him were the evils haunting them, and that anyone who wanted to change his life to betterment could do it. He invoked the lives of Elridge Cleaver and Ho Chi Minh , who defied the circumstances and became leaders. His talk was an inspirational one, mixed with passion and anguish about the disparity in society. He released the “Namma Debian” operating system, by handing over the same to the eldest woman in their community.

There was also a brief demonstration of Namma Debian, running through games, image manipulation tools etc…

This was followed by a sensational speech by a 10 year old kid, who beautifully interleaved quotes from The Quran and The Gita while emphasizing the importance of education in life. He also reminisced Dr.B.R. Ambedkar, who is considered to be the Savior of the downtrodden people in India, for the benefits he ensured them in the Constitution of India.

The colour to the event was the exuberant music and dance by the locals. A music troupe of one Mr. Arul, inhabitant at the AC3 region performed peppy songs, which got all of us groove to the rhythm of the beats.

The issue of accessibility software was echoed by a beautiful young lady Ms.Vidya with partial visual impairment and an associate of hers, to the audience in a manner which struck chords with them. She demonstrated the proprietary tool which she uses for screen reading, and FSMK raised the voice for refined development of such in Free Software domain.

With all the local people enthusiastically participating in an event conceptually still distant to them, but with a hope that at least it would benefit their kids, a purpose is strengthened further:
To continue trying to do the little we can in not letting their hopes down.

Click to play

Click to play

Song and music at AC3

FSMK(Free Software Movement- Karnataka) is organizing the National Conference on Free Software, where issues pertaining to Freedom in Computing and the related Software are going to be discussed and debated in a week’s time, on the 20th and 21st March. Campaigning for the Conference took a different shape today when Freedom Walks were organized starting from two nodal points in the city; One starting from Mahatma Gandhi statue on M.G. Road and the other from Jayanagar 4th Block.

Students from NHCE,CMRIT,YDIT took up the initiative to call for these Freedom Walks at M.G. Road and Jayanagar 4th Block, along with numerous other activists from FSMK. We initially held a gathering to gain attention of public, displaying posters, distributing Conference pamphlets,issuing copies of Bharat Operating System Software(BOSS) provided by CDAC, and other GNU/Linux operating system software, then began marching along the streets in small groups talking to people about the Free Software Movement and the Conference.

During campaigning, the one thing which took most of us by surprise was the interest ‘general public’ showed more than the young minds and the techies we were targeting.There was lot of inquisition about the Conference and the other activities we were engaged in from the general public. This inquisition of the ‘common man’ towards a cause like the Free Software Movement is to be converted into cognizance about issues pertaining to ‘Society and Digital Freedom’.The National Conference is one such effort from FSMK.

The lacuna in the society we are addressing surfaced again while interacting with people, when one person inquired about the conference and expressed his interest in participating in it, but also told us he was an illiterate and that he knows only Kannada. We then welcomed him to the conference, briefing him about the gamut of Kannada related activities we are organizing as a run-up to the conference and in the conference itself. He was glad to accept the invite.

While campaigning continued profusely,an auto driver approached us. He was curious as to what we were doing. After listening to us he introduced himself. He has completed his Electronics Hardware training and conveyed to us his interest in learning some software technologies. He was interested in the National Conference as well, and told that he would be contacting the FSMK office at Madiwala for further details.

Bangalore being the IT hub, didn’t disappoint us. We also encountered Software Gurus working in Free and Open Software Technologies, who were delighted and appreciated our efforts for organizing a National Conference on Free Software.

This was an eye-opener to lot many student activists of ours, who would now start to believe that there definitely needs to be a bridge between technology and the common man.

The motive behind organizing the Conference is to try and bring awareness to people about the choice to Free Software and technology (Free as in Freedom) and also to throw some much required light up on the gap between ‘technology and common man’ in an Indian scenario.

PS: nc2010.fsmk.org/
      www.fsmk.org/

Each of us definitely goes through a period of mania,when unintentionally we make fools out of ourselves.
It is a fun to become objects of fun and harassment to your peers,without having put intentional efforts towards it.

I am just now recovering from peak of such a passing phase, of making numerous simpletons out of myself.
At work, making the dumbest of the mistakes, which have become items of good fun for my peers 🙂
With friends, behaving weirdly,in manners least expected of me, which initially annoyed a few and later turned into amusement 🙂

And, I claim to have accomplished these feats with no conscious efforts at all. It has been a result of my engrossment in numerous other activities,which have caused unequal allocation of me and my resources,
and, I could also attribute it to a bit of hangover as well 😉 not caused by alcohol though, but as a result of workohol(not inclusive of my job;)

It does feel good to have surprised people pleasantly because of my incongruity;)

There are many things to be shared with you all. But, I have been occupied in various things for a few days.This will continue for a few more days.

Don’t miss me until then 🙂