My FLASH posters ...

Working on FLASH has been my passion since my college days. It all started with the encouragement of my brother Mr.ArunKumar, who gifted me with a book on FLASH-5, for my b'day.. Guess its in 1999, when I started my works on that excellent simple tool, that can do wonders.

Here are some of my creative presentations, made with Macromedia FLASH. Contact me, if you need any help in designing posters for any of your events and I will be happy to assist / design one for you.

More to come as days go on... :)

All images are copyright to Sundaresan Tambaram Kailasam.
Contact me at sundaresan_tk@yahoo.com for using these posters or images, in any form.

Tomorrow will be a better day..

I'm 23. Today was a day of frustration, disappointment, anger, depression, etc… It seems like the stars were against me. Sometimes some people get hurt for no fault of theirs. That was the situation for me today. Nobody to blame though!

Having decided to forget what happened during the day and rest for a while, I lay on the living room couch and started to worry about my future, I found myself looking at some old family photos. There was a picture of my grandfather in his Air Force uniform. He joined the Indian Air force as an officer and involved protecting India for nearly 40 years; he retired as a Squadron Leader. Next to his picture were photos of my parents. Seeing those pictures made me feel a lot better. I believe tomorrow will be better than today -- that the world and my generation grows into is going to get better, not worse. Those pictures helped me understand why.

I considered some of the awful things my grandparents had seen in their lifetimes: the British rule, two world wars, killer flu, segregation, a nuclear bomb. But they saw other things, too, better things: the end of two world wars, Indian independence, the polio vaccine, passage of the civil rights laws.

I believe that my generation will see better things, too -- that we will witness the time when AIDS is cured and cancer is defeated; the great heights of innovation and technology; a peaceful world. I will see things as inconceivable to me today as a moon shot was to my grandfather when he was 23 or the Internet to my father when he was 23.

Ever since I was a little kid, whenever I've had a lousy day, my dad would put his arm around me and promise me that "tomorrow will be a better day." I challenged my father once, "How do you know that?" He said, "I just do." I believed him. My grandparents believed that, and my parents, and so do I.

Now, when my Dad is so worried about what the future holds for me and my generation, I wanted to put my arm around him, and tell him what he always told me: "Don't worry Dad; tomorrow will be a better day."

Yes .. its FINALS week again ..

FINALS ..
It's that special time of year because Finals Week is drawing near!
Studying hard for every course and Praying to God that everyone will pass.
Lots of sorrow, lots of stress, Social life goes down the drain :(

Numal, Vision, Research, Matlab, C, Keep me awake till 3 a.m.
Now and then swilling some coffee, staying up late, and studying till I can't see straight,
Yes, it's Finals Week again! and a special time of year..

So friends, meet you all after my finals ..

Abraham Lincoln's - Incredible Journey

Here's Abraham Lincoln's Incredible Journey To Become

The 16th President Of The United States!

Event	Year
He had to work to support his family after they were forced out of their home.	1816
His mother died.	1818
Failed in business.	1831
Was defeated for legislature.	1832
Lost his job and couldn't get into law school.	1832
Declared bankruptcy, and spent the next 17 years of his life paying off the money he borrowed from friends to start his business.	1833
Was defeated for legislature again.	1834
Was engaged to be married, but his sweetheart died and his heart was broken.	1835
Had a nervous breakdown and spent the next six months in bed.	1836
Was defeated in becoming the speaker of the state legislature.	1838
Was defeated in becoming elector.	1840
Was defeated for Congress	1843
Was defeated for Congress.	1846
Was defeated for Congress again.	1848
Was rejected for the job of Land Officer in his home state.	1849
Was defeated for Senate.	1854
Was defeated for Vice-President -- got less than 100 votes.	1856
Was defeated for Senate for the third time.	1858
Was elected President of the United States.	1860

---

Are you a little bit discouraged right now because you have tried and tried and still haven't achieved your dreams? If so, please don't be. Worthwhile goals and aspirations will always take time to accomplish. It took Abraham Lincoln 30 years to achieve his dream of becoming the President of the United States. Although he faced countless insurmountable obstacles, he did not give up. He didn't quit. While it may seem impossible for you to overcome your current challenges or problems, promise yourself that you will NOT give up. We trust that President's Lincoln's road map to the White House has inspired you to hold onto your dreams when the going gets tough, and to keep working on them until you've turned them into reality. Here are two fabulous quotations by this great man to motivate you to persist until you've achieved your goals:

"The sense of obligation to continue
is present in all of us. A duty to strive
is the duty of us all. I felt a call to that duty."

"The path was worn and slippery.
My foot slipped from under me,
knocking the other out of the way,
but I recovered and said to myself,
It's a slip and not a fall."

These two quotations are very inspiring, aren't they?

Source: http://www.cybernation.com/lincoln/persistence.php

The birth of Sukla Yajur-Veda

One day, the sage Yajnavalkya came to Vaisampayana's gurukula. Yajnavalkya was a brilliant intellectual with keen intelligence. Yajnavalkya was proud about his intellectual attainments and this was responsible for his downfall. Pride always goeth before a fall. Yajnavalkya developed indifference to his studies and started behaving in an unbecoming manner. Vaisampayana was noticing all this. The preceptors of those times would give even their lives for deserving disciples, but would give no quarter to those who were proud and ill-behaved. Displeased with Yajnavalkya's conduct, Vaisampayana called him to his presence one day and told him: “Yajnavalkya! You have no right any longer to study in this gurukula. You must leave it at once. And before leaving, you give back all that you learnt here." Yajnavalkya, who realised his mistakes, disgorged all that he had learnt. The vomit was eaten by the Thithiri birds. Then the birds began to recite the Vedic hymns, which came to be known as Taithriya Samhita.

The birth of Sukla Yajur-Veda
There are two traditions relating to the Vedas. One is known as the Brahmasampradayam (the Brahmic tradition). The other is Aditya-sampradayam (the Sun tradition). What Yajnavalkya gave back is known as the Brahma-sampradaya. It is also known as Krishna Yajur-Veda. Subsequently, feeling penitent about his misconduct, Yajnavalkya did penance in the form of Suryopaasana (worship of the Sun), giving up food and drink. In this manner he was atoning for his misconduct.

The Sun-God appeared before him in the form of Vaaji (a sacred horse) and told him: “Child! What has happened, is past. Remember it is a grievous crime to be disloyal to your preceptor or ungrateful to the Divine. You should not indulge in this kind of behaviour. Be careful in the future." Saying this, the Sun-God himself taught the Vedas to Yajnavalkya. Why did Surya appear before him in the form of Vaaji? Yajnavalkya's ancestors were noted for their vaajasanam (offerings of food) to the hungry, Hence they got the name Vaajasam. For this reason, the Sun-God assumed the form of Vaaji and taught the Vedas to Yajnavalkya. This Veda is known as Sukla Yajur-Veda. It is also called Vaajanaskanda. The Yajur-Veda thus got divided into two parts: Krishna Yajur-Veda and Sukla Yajur-Veda.

Greatness of gift of food to the hungry
It should be noted that it was because of the gift of food made by Yajnavalkya's ancestors that the Sun-God himself came down to teach the Veda to Yajnavalkya. This shows the supreme efficacy of the anna-daana (gift of food) to the hungry and the starving.

• There is no greater gift than the gift of food
• There is no God higher than one's parents
• There is no japa or tapa higher than righteousness.
• There is no Dharma greater than compassion
• Nothing is more profitable than the company of the good.
• There is no worse enemy than hatred.
• No disease is worse than indebtedness,
• Death is preferable on earth to infamy.
• No wealth is more precious than a good name
• There is no ornament superior to the Lord's name.

Realising these truths, Yajnavalkya taught his disciples the value of service to parents, reverence for the guru, and efficacy of the gift of food.

Picture: http://www.spiritual-teachers.com/yajnavalkya.jpg
Source: http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume23/sss23-24.pdf

The memorable days of VISHU in my life...

VISHU - A new start Vishu is one of the important festivals of Kerala. It comes in the month of April. According to the old traditional Malayalam calendar it is the 1st day of the New Year. 'Kani-Kanal' is the main event of the day. The night before Vishu, the mistress of the house prepare the Kani. In big pots, coconuts, fruits, cereals and Konna flower are kept. Behind the pot a mirror and the garlanded deity of Krishna is kept. Around the deity, lighted lamps will be arranged. Early morning on the Vishnu day, the master of the house sees the Kani and then the rest of the family follows. Children's are brought blind folded from their beds to where the Kani is kept. The elder in the family give money to the youngsters and bless them. It is believed that the Kani we see and its good tidings will stay with you till the year ends. In Kerala the Kani in the temples of Guruvayur, Ambalapuzha and Sabarimala are famous.

The memorable days of VISHU in my life:

Last week (April 14th 2006), we celebrated our first VISHU in USA (453, Woodland Avenue, Apt #3, Lexington, KY). Inspired by my beloved father (sri. V.S.Kailasam), I started my decorations for New Year in the pooja room (attached to the kitchen) around 12PM and it went on till 2PM. Lots of ideas started pouring into my mind to make it more beautiful. Thanks to my roommates for sharing their valuables. If I had planned a little early, I could have hanged some flowers/mango-leaves too...But something better than nothing. I borrowed a mirror from my neighbors staying downstairs and used it to reflect my decorations. The picture above shows the reflections of my decorations. Awesome rite. I like this snap very much and hope u too..

I can recollect my childhood days back in India, where my father used to wake me and my sister around 6AM (we sometimes shout at him because 6AM is like too early for me at those stages of my life, but now I really feel how much it would have hurt him and how bad I used to behave.. sorry dad) and took us to the pooja room (with our eyes closed) and will ask us to open our eyes in front of the VISHU. Me and my sis then used to clean our eyes with the water and my father used to explain the importance of Vishu and about each and every item (fruits, vegetables, flowers, rupee notes, coins, jewels, etc..) he used for his decoration. We both used to admire the reflections that are seen in the BIG beautiful mirror kept @ the back of the decoration. I don’t know how to explain in words, that the mirror used to add special effects to my fathers decorations. Then he used to gift us with a 1-rupee coin and we continued our routine. Wish I should have taken some snaps :( Those days were really memorable.

Coming back to the US part: Hope you remember the famous saying that: "Joy gets doubled when shared".. on April 14th morning, I personally invited everyone in 453, Woodland Ave around 7:30 AM, to share my joy. The invitees were My roommates: Suren, Karthik, Thyagarajan
and my freinds in:
Apt #1: Smita, Keerthi, Kundana, Deepthi, Puja
Apt #2: Rakesh, Praneeth, Srujan, Sujan, Vishnu
Apt #4: Hari, Dinesh, Harish, Anand, Sameer, Sounak
Thanks to all for coming.

I received appreciations from some of my friends. But beyond all this, what I value most is my personal satisfaction I get when I involve myself whole heartedly in such functions. Now I realize why my father used to call so many people...proud to have such a great and wonderful father. Dedicating this post especially to HIM for teaching me the importance of Indian values and traditions.

- Satish

Determination

Story behind "Brooklyn Bridge" ..

Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.

Picture: http://www.dkohnstudios.com/brooklynbridge.htm

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move. "We told them so.""Crazy men and their crazy dreams.""It`s foolish to chase wild visions."

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever. He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife. He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal. Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.

Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.

Source: http://www.indianchild.com/inspiring_stories.htm

Brooklyn Bridge gallery: http://www.nyc-architecture.com/SPEC/GAL-BRI-1.htm