Thoughtful scribbling

2006-06-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

Silence
I had been off the blogging for a long time, and i need to give explanation to my blog friends. Hectic work is definitely a BIG reason. Sometimes i even forget that i need to check my mails.
There is one more reason, perhaps a happy reason, which prevents me from blogging to a greater extent. Yes, me getting married this month, and my fiancee always wants me to spend time with her[in phone] and hates me if i spend time doing unwanted things[Thank god... her unwanted list doesnt include my 'work']. For the first time in my life i feel the need of work-life balance. :)
Anyway, i'll keep you posted about my marraige. I might be off for a month or so, but once i'm back i'll be regular in blogging. Atleast i hope so.

2006-05-02T03:58:00.000-07:00

NDTV news sucks
Most of u would agree to me if u had followed the news coverage of SuryaNarayana's death. NDTV relayed the live coverage from his home in Hyderabad, when the his death news was annouced. His wife/mother's cries were captured live and relayed. WTF do NDTV think? They can relay anything as far as they get money? Common man, its not a film where someone cries. Its real emotion. How the NDTV cameraman covers it? Are they stone hearted.
F*** is what i said when i saw that.
Similar thing happened months back during Delhi blast, when they followed a mother who found her daughter's dead body, and he covers her from all angle as if he's filming a movie

2006-04-05T23:48:00.000-07:00

Do u think that the prices of these Villas are high?
If u think so then u havent bought flats in India in recent times.

Chennai-Vellachery
4 Bedroom cost 74L - Builder-CEEBROS

Mumbai-Donno the exact location, but saw it in some news
4 Bedroom cost 5-9Crores.

Only guys who come close to these Real estate guys in demanding atrocious rates: Chennai autowalas

2006-04-03T04:04:00.000-07:00

I went to fish market here in Perambur on Sunday, to get some fish.
I was attracted by a guy selling fish with his catchy 'fish names'?
He named fishes like'Superstar' sheela(meen)
'Vetayadu velayadu' Vav-vaal
'Swadesi' Sora[shark]
'Arya' Yerra[prawn]
A guy asked..yennapa athu 'Superstar' Sheela...and he prompted imm,
"Pazhasa aanalum romba fresh'a irukum sir"

2006-03-24T05:37:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by Nithya and here it goes....
Ten Years Ago
It was my +2 time, i need to get into a good college
Want to stay out of home, since i was restrained during school days
Want to have atleast 1 girl friend
Own a car b4 the age of 40
Get a job which could get me 2-3K per month

Five Years Ago
Visit US atleast once in lifetime
Want to have atleast 1 girl friend
Own a car b4 the age of 30
GRE was the only option to reach US

Last One Year
Fighting with my mom to stop searching for girls
Want to have atleast 1 girl friend
Bachelor life is the best
Travel back to India
Take my car to India[i know it was silly]

Yesterday
Woke up by a call
Onsite call turned sour
Call and sms in night

Five Yummy Things
Yummy thing are girl's stuff

Five Songs I Know by Heart
Minnalai pidithu - ShahJahan
Manram vantha thenral - All tamilian will know it
Minnale nee vanthanthu yen - May Madam
Vellai mazhai - Roja
Veesum kaatru - Ullasam

Five Places I would like to escape to
My Bed
My Bed [It occupies first 2 spots]
Any friend's home
My apt in Dallas
My car

Five Things i'd do if i have money
Buy a bigger car
Buy a house
Europe tour
Spend it
Spend it

Five TV Shows/ Serials (Was not interested in shows after i came to chennai)
Friends
Everybody Loves Raymond
Car/Bike show
NDTV News
Sun music

Five things I can't live without
My Love
My friends[This topped the list until few months back]
My Family
Songs
Google

2006-03-21T04:46:00.000-08:00

She was one of first person whom i blogrolled outside my close circle. She got married to a person whom she loved for 5 year, last year end. From her blogs i can say that she's a happy go lucky person. But she's no more. My deep condolences to Sowmya. Let her parents/husband have the strength to get along with her absense.

2006-03-05T22:00:00.000-08:00

Joke of the day
Stalin* rejects criticism thats his is a case of dynastic succession

The cool thing about being famous is travelling. I always like travelling across seas, like to Canada and stuff - Britney Spears

* - M.K.Stalin

2006-02-28T06:12:00.000-08:00

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala
Today we had a presentation from this great IIT profs, about 'Changing India and Technical advancements' in our company.
It was a 1hr session where he talked about Biz strategies, technical advancement done by TeNeT, an offspring of IIT-M.
The keypoints of his speech
- Rs 60K ATM machine, which is aimed to be installed in each small town
- NetPC, used by IIT Profs which is a Rs4000 PC which does only processing and no storage[storage done by a server connected by WLL]
- National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme by Govt of India, to provide 100 days of work for 1 person in every household .
- A remote BP, temperature, heartbeat, pulse monitor, at the price tag of Rs10k
- The vision of India in telecom
- And lots of law amendments made by govt of India which provided the growth to India in the past 15 yrs.

By the end of 1hr session, he convinced everyone that in spite of politics in India, it has some good policies in store to take us fw.

2006-02-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ladies First
The above statement, extended as a courtesy was first coined by a captain[of a ship] in 1852. The ship carried some 50+ ladies and headed towards its destination, when it broke upon hitting a rock. Since the number of life saving boat was less, there was a choas on who to board the boat. It was then the captian ordered 'Ladies first', for the first time.

PS: Only ladies survived.
Guys, did u get the moral of the story?

2006-02-16T05:17:00.000-08:00

Outlets in Chennai
US folks, pls pardon me..this post will make u jealous of Chennaites. Its about good restaurants in chennai. I'm not going to compare LeMeridian with Park, or Savera with Chola Sheraton. I'm looking for kay yendhi bhavan's which serve excellent food at unbelievable price.
Check this post to know what i mean
http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2006/feb/16rest.htm

Pls let me know, if u know any in ur locality.

To start with one from my side..
- Karthik's Dosa corner in Anna nagar main road[Between Anna RoundAna and 100 ft road].

PS: Don’t look for ambience in these places, but for mouth watering food

2006-02-14T04:59:00.000-08:00

IT workculture
I read today's IndianExpress newspaper. It had a column on how IT professional get a hit on their sexual life. I’d like to challenge this statement. As far i know, they don’t have a life, then how can they talk about sexual life.
Lets take my[and my friends who work for the next company] life for instance. My day starts at 5:45, as I need to catch a bus at 6:45. I reach office by 8:00am and the work starts with an onsite call. It proceeds till an onsite update in the evening, b4 i catch the bus at 6:20pm, which drops me near the residence at 8:30 - 8:45. Now i have an full 1hr left with me b4 I hit the bed at 10:00.
In that hr, will I eat, or watch TV, or listen to cribs?

Life goes on for me without much trouble as I’m still a bachelor, but what'll happen once i get married.
I’d like to know, if any married men/women managing their work-life balance good. Tips are welcome. :-)

Do u think this topic has nothing to do with Valentine's day?? Think again, we all need more time for our valentine ;-)

2006-01-13T05:13:00.000-08:00

A year back, we[it refers to PMK] staged a protest to stop Tamil films from giving English titles. It followed some silly means to achieve it. Now its turn for our Tamil film industry to name the English movies in tamil... Here are few. These movies are targeted towards 'C' center, which is pretty evident from the name

Phantom - Mummy'in Marana aavi
Stealth - Garudan, Kattukandatha vimanam
Harry potter & goblet for fire - Harry potter'um maaya thee kopai
Blade2 - Miratta varugiraan .. Miruga manithan
Omar Muktar - Palaivana Singam

Add, if u know any

2006-01-13T04:58:00.000-08:00

Iniya Pongal thirunaal NalVazhthukall.

2006-01-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

Biological clock
I usually get up at 5:45[yes, 5:45 AM] to catch my company bus, at 6:30. Yesterday, i forgot to set my alarm in my mobile. Suddenly i woke up in the morning to check the time, and found that my mobile was not there. So i got of the bed to check the time. It was 5:44, and i couldn’t believe that my bio-clock was working with precision.
Now the fun part, after seeing 5:44, i set the alarm for 5:45. It rang within secs, i snoozed it and woke up 10 mins later.

I was bit busy for the past one week, as few of my client managers were fired, and some re-org happened. So new reports, statuses, etc which kept me fully busy

2006-01-03T04:06:00.000-08:00

Old delhi - New Delhi
Mumbai - Navi Mumbai
Chennai ??
Well, Chennai is divided geographically into North and South Chennai. But that seperation also marks the cultural, langugage, financial differences. This post is about how a person identifies that he's in North chennai?
- The number of girls[gals] wearing jean exponentially decreases as u move from south to north chennai. It doesnt mean that girls are traditional, its bcos of the 'area' boys.
- No over bridge except Basin bridge
- People still think that MGR is alive. U can see MGR poster's for election campaign
- U can get a double bedroom apt for Rs2000.[and a maid for Rs200]
- Place where the Madras tamil still lives
- Ur mom will be scolded even if u do a small mistake

2005-12-30T04:56:00.000-08:00

Happy New year 2006.
I remember posting the same for 2005. Though it appears as if the year has gone in a jiffy, lots of things have happened in this 365 days :-)

Wishing u all a Prosperous and Happy New Year

2005-12-27T22:20:00.000-08:00

Recently me and friends were discussing about y our ancestors had so many children. After a long debate one asked us a question.
"what will u do, if u have no TV,no electricity,no theatre, no good means to travel and visit places, no radio, no entertainment, and above all no condom".

2005-12-25T21:47:00.000-08:00

Excellant movie
Its a movie which not everyone will like. Its 0% entertainment, 100% content. If u r in a mood for entertainment, dont go for it. Thavamai thavamirunthu, is Cheran's master piece. There is no twist's or turn's in the movie. It just captures the life of the protagonist, RajKiran. How he brings up his kids, and how he spends his later part of life. u'll be easily able to find urself in the one of the character. Cheran is the only person who acted in this movie, others lived the character. RajKiran carries this heavy subject on him with ease.
Now to direction.Cheran deserves an applause in these areas...
- The foto shop next to RajKiran's press will have fotos of stars, of that time. During 70's it'll have Sivakumar,MGR, fotos. In 80's it'll have Mohan,Kamal's foto.
- The tea shop next to RajKiran's house will play songs/news of that time.
I leave the others for the viewers to find :-)
In all its a must watch movie, if u like Bala kinda movies

2005-12-22T00:31:00.000-08:00

Thathuvam's
Recently my inbox is flooded with 'funny' thathuvam for the day. I had compiled a some
-Ticket Vangitu ulla poradu cinema theatre...Ulae poitu ticket vanguradu operation theatre..
-Files’na ukanthu paakanum....Piles’na paathu ukkaranum..
-Ulagam theriyaama valandha avan veguly...Cricket theriyaama valandha avan ganguly....
-Adayar ‘Anadha bhavan’ branch enga venum’na irukalaam…Aana Adayar aala maram branch anga thaan irukanum..
-alai karai varai vantha beachu...alai Karai thandi vantha poochu
-arisi kotina vaera arisi vangalam ....pal kotina vaera pal vangalam ....aaana thel kotina vaera thael vanga mudiyadhu....
The thathuvam i like most is..
-Train evalo speeda ponaalum....kadaisi petti kadaisiyila thaan varum.....

2005-12-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

KNM-Kanda Naal Mudhal
Saw this movie last week. Pretty decent movie, with no vulgar, obscene scenes. Some loopholes in the screenplay, which is OK. Characterization is excellent, songs are well placed, humor is part of the story and above all no unwanted emotional stuff. It’s a movie targeting the class A audience, where pre-marital sex is handled like a common-cold, No one take its seriously.
The character which caught my attention is Karthik[the guy who plays American-return]. I was able to empathies with his feeling. His body language, feelings, action couldn’t have been better. It’s a good timepass movie.

2005-12-19T04:53:00.000-08:00

Absentee
65 days of absence cannot be explained in a single post. There are multiple reasons which prevented me from posting a regular post. I always do a post which affects me most on a given day/time, let it be a moment of happiness, sorrow, frustration. But this time, I couldn’t do that, as I felt that someone was behind me. The freedom to post, as per my wish remains a distant dream. The feeling that what-if someone-close reads my blog prevented me from posting many posts.
I always considered blog as an outlet to vent my feelings, and being robbed of it made me insane at times. To be short, life is taking me for a ride, and I’m on it back. :-)

If u feel ‘confused’ after reading this post, so is my state of mind.

2005-10-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

It has become a fasion to tease our players, and sometimes i feel they deserve it.
Today morning, in Suryan FM, the RJ was asking how we should select the Indian caption.
One guy ans[in tamil]..Namma player ellarayum varisaya nikka vaikanum...apporam Inki Pinki Ponki podanum... athula Monkey yaaruku varutho avan thaan Indian caption.
I couldnt control my laughter

2005-10-06T21:04:00.000-07:00

Romba kevalam
A girl who completed 18 cannot booze, wear jeans...Kevalam
[Link]

But a girl who completed 15 can marry[according to law]...Romba Kevalam
[Link ]

2005-10-04T01:53:00.000-07:00

Gajani
Most of you know that the storyline is based out of the English classic Memento, but its not. Except for the fact that Surya suffers from Short-term-memory loss, there is nothing in common between the two movies. While the Memento is a Suspense-thriller, Gajani is a Action-masala.
There are many things to look out for in this movie, Surya/Asin commendable performance in crucial scenes, Asin's comedy, climax fight with villain, song choreography, etc.
Similarly, there are lots of loopholes which we could not overlook. Hero's short-term-amnesia is not exploited in the script [I expected more from Murugadoss].

But nonetheless, its definitely a must watch, a welcome change from all the usual tamil romantic flicks.

2005-10-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

Silenceeee......
It's been long since i posted in my blog. I'm definitely suffering from writer's block. I'm totally out of good topics, as i dont want to bore u with my India_US_comparison. Everytime i sit down to jot down a post, i finally endup comparing something between India and US. Is it wrong? Not sure, but atleast i don't want to bore my readers with overdose of something.
And my most fav topic, about movies and fun...to be honest i am deprived of it after coming to India. Only 1 movie till now, and not much of fun, except for the weekend bachelor's party.

I wanted to post my review on Gajani, but wanted to let u all know the reason for my silence.

2005-09-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Stress test
Stress doesn’t come because of one big issue; it comes bcos of continuously occurring small issues. I have been taking lots of stress test these days, and I found myself to fair poor in those tests. The test is simple, doesn’t eat much of ur time, but u should be in Chennai to take it.
Prerequisite : A maruthi 800. Costlier car will fetch more accurate results
Time: Peak office hours in Chennai. Aka - anytime
How to take it: Drive atleast 20kms

Howz ur temperament when
- you u driving in highway, and a man crosses the road. U honk, but he walks as if there is no vehicle on the road, and u r forced to stop ur car.
- You are at signal, and an auto which is on ur left side overtakes u to make a right turn without giving any indication
- You stop at red signal, and a bus behind u honks u to cross the road
- All of a sudden, an Auto stops in the middle of the road to load/unload passengers.

You'll encounter this atleast 10 times before u complete 20km. Record ur temperament each time u encounter it, and prepare a chart. It'll give u accurate results for ur stress test.

2005-09-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Going backwards
An 18 yrs old boy/girl can marry a person of their choice without parent consensus
An 18 yrs old boy/girl can buy cigarette/hard drinks

But an 18 yrs old boy/girl cannot wear jeans to college. What do these morons in AU think - wear jeans after reaching the age of 40?
Is Anna University taken over by LeT/Taliban?

Reason for this rule
People wearing jeans loose interest in studies, and concentrate more on clothing. How low can AU get?

As Saran said, we are going thru a phase of major cultural change. Good or bad, we donno, but it'll spark many such silly rules/protests

2005-08-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

Sunday'na Rendu
I saw an ad in the billboard which said "Sunday'na Rendu". It didn't say anything more about the product. Later, I saw the ad on TV, which went like this..
Husband wakes up from sleep; wife comes out of the bathroom after her bath. Husband looks at her romantically[yes...the Goundamani istyle 'romaantic' look]. He calls her, but she refuses. Then he pulls her to the bed..CUT. It says "Sunday'na Rendu"
What could be the ad for? Chennai folks/folks who know the ans, pls don't reveal it. Lets c who comes close.

2005-08-16T04:58:00.000-07:00

Movies
My fav hobby or timepass is watching movies. And my friends too shared the same passion. After a long time, I haven't seen a movie for more than a month. Not even a single good movie is running right now(except for MangalPandey, which is screened in Mayajaal). And movies like Batman Begins, WarOfthe worlds are being screened here, which I saw a month back.

2005-08-09T02:25:00.000-07:00

Golden Quadrilateral
Last week, I happened to drive through the 'Golden Quadrilateral Highway'- NH 5, from Chennai to Tada[AP border]. Its by far the best highway i had seen in India. Far better than the most acclaimed ECR road in Chennai. Its a 2 lane road, with shoulder big enough to park a compact car, and median all way thru. In places where median is less than 5 feet width, barriers were provided, similar to what u see in US, so there is no problem of high beam from opposite track. Good reflectors, better than ECR road. And guess what, in some big towns, it has service lanes and in some places the highway runs on a flyover, so that local traffic/ pedestrians' doesnt have to cross the highway.
Even though one cant compare it with the highways of US, Indian govt had done a excellent work in clearing the existing city/town, building bypasses around the town, so as to maintain the speed-limit of 100Kmph. YES, the speed-limit is 100Kmph, but its not safe to drive in that speed, bcos of the nature of the traffic. Not many are used to driving high-speeds, even our driver wasnt comfortable in high-speed turns at 60Kmph. It'll take some time.
Now, the bad part. These highways are also used by bullock carts, cows, goats, etc, which makes it difficult to maintain high-speed. Govt has done its part, now its the public who needs to maintain some road sense.

2005-07-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Chennai. Took a week off, and reported to work this monday. Travel was good.
Singapore airlines was really good. Its spacious, with more leg room. Food and hospitality were good. Slept for most of the time. Reached chennai after a tiresome 40hrs travel, with a 10hrs stopover in Singapore.
I have lots of things to post about, but dont have time. And also new environment, prevents me to do freq visits to blog. Blogging from home is not an option, since i leave home at 7am and return back at 9pm, with a 3.5hrs travel time on Indian roads.Will return to blogging world in a shorttime.

2005-07-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

Adieu
I'm leaving US tomm[oops...its already Friday, and i'm travelling tonite], and this will be my last post from here. I'll try to continue blogging from India, but since i dont have a proper net connection at home/office, i'm not sure how freq i'll be able to blog. Let me not guess about things more, and i'll update you once i get net connection. It has been an really excellant stay here at US, and the last 1yr had gone in a giffy, and blogging kept me busy most of the time.
I thought of blogging about my entire stay in US(yr1 and yr2), but dont have time for that right now. I had been running around for the entire day, packing stuff and bidding adieu for all my friends/collegue over here. Just now completed packing.

Singapore folks:
I'll be in singapore for about 10hrs. Dont worry, i'll not bother u to take me around the city :-). Just let me know, whats the good place to dine in airpost? And is it worth getting perfume in dutyfree shops, in airport?

2005-07-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Shopping spree
For the past 2 weeks, i have been buying and selling stuff. I sold my car, home appliances,etc. Thankfully my roomate will be staying here for another month, and he'll be selling rest of the stuff. On selling my car, i thought that a major burden is over, but i was wrong. Buying things for the uncle's/auntie's, nephew's/cousin's is the biggest problem. For the past 1 week, i had been scratching my head, on what things to buy for them. It should be worthful, not cheap, should not overshoot my budget, not a "i-get-this-in-india" product, and lot more trivial constraints.
I'm still thinking on what to buy

2005-07-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

Hilarious article
Read this article in rediff.com. Couldnt resist laughter

2005-07-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

River rafting
The highlight of my last weekend's trip was theriver rafting, in the Pigeon river, TN. This river is opened only during the day time, for the rafting purpose. So, what looks like a stream in the night, will look like a voilent river during day time. When we went there, owing to the big crowd, all the outlets of the dam were opened, and it was raining pretty heavily. So it was voilent than usual.
The rapids ranges from level 1 to 6, where 6 is for explorers[ex, upstream Ganges]. This is a level 4, which means u have all likely chances to fall. I almost fell into the river, in a level 4 rapid, with my head plunging into the water. Unluckily my friend caught hold of my legs and pulled me back into the boat. Missed a good experience of falling into the rapids. Later downstream, we all jumped into the river, for fun, knowing we are safe.
On Sunday, we went on a trekking in NewFoundGap. Its a good place, worth visiting once. We spent the Jul4th eve, in Glatinburg, a town designed in European style. Definetly a good place for family and couple. And for bachelors, u dont have nothing more than staring at pretty girls. Later we went for ice skating, and returned back to our cabin, as we were damn tired.
In all, Smoky mountain is a great place for couples, and good place for bachelors, if u r interested in activities.

Rafting..

Crazy snap of the trip

A solo foto[My friend asked me to take his snap to send to his girlfriend, and i took this]

PS: I couldnt get good fotos of the smoky mountains, as it was smoky

2005-07-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving to Smoky mountains,TN for this long weekend. Taking a day-off tomm, just to cope-up for the 14hr car drive. Personally, i'm not fond of these long drives, but have no option this time, as some 14 guys are planning to meet there. 6 from Dallas and 8 from Columbus. This will be my last trip in US, as i'm leaving to India shortly after this trip. My project is getting over, and i'll be back in India by Jul17th.
Hoping to meet some bloggers over there.

Will be back with some good stories/post, after my Smoky mountain trip.

UPD:
The trip was real fun. 18 guys turned up for this trip. Not all were my friends, but still it was excellant. We rent a cabin to spend the 3 nights, went to river rafting, trekking and ice skating. Except for the 14 hrs return drive[which was horrible], the rest of the trip was a success.

PS: My laptop crashed, so expect some delays

2005-06-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

Rhyming names
On seeing Kaps post , i remembered a friend of mine who used to comeup with some funny names for us. He used to tie up these names to the character, than the person himself. Some of them are
- 'Rash driver' Rajakannu
- 'Vulgar' Volcano
- 'Chain smoker' Chinnapadas
- 'McDowell' Manikavel
- 'Rowse' Rayyapa
- 'Beer'Bal

He's also known for his witty-timely jokes. I called him last week, to wish him on his post marraige eve. I just casually asked, "how is life going?".
He replied.." Going good da...aasai 57 naal, mogam 30 naal".
"Ennada pazhamozhiya maathi solla..aasai 60 naal..illa?"
"Correct da...but ennaku kalyanam aagi 3 naal aaguthu illa"

BTW, his name is Karthik, and we call him 'Quarter' Karthi

2005-06-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

Models posing for a new car

Coming-up next: Models posing for a new truck.. Here u go [updated]

Did it meet ur expectations?? hahaha

2005-06-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

Anniyan review
Saw Anniyan today. Couldnt see it yesterday, as the box hadnt arrived in Dallas[another carelessness of Oscar Ravi].
Its a usual Shankar's movie with all gimmicks, and excellant characterisation. As expected the hero couldnt stand the irresponsible citizens, and he starts killing them for reasons like, drinking in train, not doing any work, preparing worst food, etc. Hats off to Shankar for coming up with such a wonderful theme. One more thing i liked about the movie is highlighting the concept, 'rich means evil'. Anniyan kills a rich man, for refusing to take the injured in his newly bought car. Whatelse can Anniyan do? He cant spend his own money to take the injured in an Auto.. right!!
Havent seen such stunt scenes in an Indian movie, and to my horror, those scenes were copied in Matrix some 1 yr back. Hollywood guys should learn to be creative. Do u know how Google.com has organised its search results??? look out for that. Everyone in the theatre were impressed.
Did Shankar's 2yrs of hard work fetched results?? Yes, of course, Vikrams hair is 1 foot long, and it plays a vital role in the movie.
To sum it up, its one of the best movies i had seen in recent times. Enjoy the film, as i did.

2005-06-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

Book Tagging

Thanks to Paran/PVS, I'm now hopping on to this book tagging bandwagon :) its actually a good thing, as we can get some good suggestions on books.

Total Number of Books I own: About 20.

Last few Books I bought:
HarryPotter series - JKRowling
Matarase circle - Robert Ludlum

Last Book I was gifted: Laughing gas - PGWodehouse

Last Book I read: Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Currently Reading: Prey - Michael Cricton

Books that Meant a lot to me:

These are some of the books that I'd recommend anytime to anyone:

Ponniyin Selvan - Kalki
Da VinciCode - Dan Brown
Man Woman and Child - Erich Segal
Love story - Erich Segal
Seventh secret - Irving Wallace
Not a penny more, not a penny less - Jeffrey archer
Matarese circle - Robert Ludlum

2005-06-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

We
We studied in the same school.
We studied in the same college.
Now, we work for the same company.

My brother joined my company yesterday. Wecome aboard da.

Sometimes, i'm contented that I set the target right for him. But many times i felt that, by setting a target, i refrained him from achieving more.

Height of coincidence
My brother got offer from my company,
Ranga's brother got offer from Ranga's company,
and Senthil's brother got offer from Senthil's company,
on the same day :-)

2005-06-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

Why guys get married?
Compilation of some reasons, for which a guy will marry.

What they say
- Machi...veetla romba force pannanga
- MACHI...ennaku 25 vayasu aaguthu
- Ennoda aaluku 24 vayasu, avanga veetla romba force pannanga
- Ennoda aaluku next month marraige[ofcourse with some other guy], atha naala naanum veetla ponnu paaka solliten
- Ennoda thambi next yr [love]marraige pannika poraan..soooooo
- Ennoda gang'la[friends circle] ellarukum kalyanam ayiduchu
- Yennakum avalukum freq match super'a iruku

What they mean
- Ennaku kalyana aasai vanthuduchu

2005-06-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

143
Life is dull, without any frustation?
Its been long, since ur blood boiled due to anger?
Want to know, how a worst film will be like?

Then watch the Telugu movie 143, aka ILoveYou. A senseless movie, i had seen in recent times. You never know what'll happen next. Its not becos of the gripping screenplay, but bcos of wierd screenplay.
The message from the movie - 'Inspite of killing 100 policemen, and burning 50 civilians in a bus, Naxalites are good people, bcos they save Hero and Heroine'. This movie is an average runner. God save Tollywood.

After seeing this movie, any tamil movie will be good. Even the Simbu ones, and Dhanush ones[like Sullan]

2005-06-05T23:55:00.000-07:00

Americans sense of humour
This post is not about people's humour, but gov/organisation's humour.

'No fishing from this point' - Saw this board on top of the world's highest bridge- RoyalGorge, Colorado
'No Smoking' - In 'Hurricane deck', Niagara. For those who donno about hurricane deck, its a place where u can get closest to the falls, and the water will drench u in less than a second. Hence the name 'Hurricane deck'
'Drink and drive, after 1 million miles' - Saw this in some national highway

U have any to add?

2005-06-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Smoking and Cinema
U must have heard about the smoking ban in Indian cinemas. This has created alot of debate. Before mentioning my take on it, i'ld like to say our company policy on smoking. Cigeratte sales is baned in our campus, but its not a smoke free environment[meaning, u can smoke inside the campus]. The very obvious question rose, why shouldnt the company make it smokefree zone? Even though our company didnt provide a proper ans for this, we got an logical ans from our PM. This is what he said, "There are 2 types of smokers. First is a chain smoker, who cant live without smoking and he/she carries a pack with them, so np for them.If u make our campus a smoke-free, they would have a big problem. Second is an occasional smoker, who's count constitutes some 70%, smoke only if they get a cigeratte. They dont have the urge to smoke, but will smoke when they get one. Our policy is to target these occasional smoker".
This sounded perfectly logical. This is what the gov is trying to do by imposing ban on smoking in cinema. Out of this 70% occasional smokers, atleast half would be doing it, or rather start smoking, for show-off[bandha]. And i'm pretty sure these guys/gals are imitating their fav hero/heroine. Obviously, the gov cant put a ban for selling cigarettes, as it'ld have a serious impact on the chain-smokers. I feel that its really a wise decision by our gov. Share ur thoughts on this.

2005-06-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

Trip to Florida
Last week, me along with my collegues made a trip to Florida(Orlando, Miami and Key West). It was a fun filled weekend with lots of activities, which will cherish for a long time. We took a 2 days off, to add up to the already 3 day long weekend.
We went to Disney and Islands of Adventure in Orlando. Disney, as many said, is only for kids who are less than 10yrs old. 5 of us, felt like we were left out in the crowd, as everyother group had a kid. Except for 2 adrenaline rush event, others were purely meant for kids. We should have gone there some 10yrs back, when we were kids, or 10 yrs later when we have kids :)
Islands of Adventure was on day 2, and it was the best day of the 5 day trip. With full of adrenaline events, we felt exhausted at the end of the day. The best event/ride was the 3D Spiderman ride, where Spidy ties us in his rope and takes us in between the sky scrapers of NY. The climax was really exciting, where there is a free fall from those sky scrapers, and spidy catching us in his net, just before we hit the ground. It was awesome. Another ride was a dragon scary ride, where u'll see mother earth from all possible positions[it twists and turns like anything]. All others were equally exciting.
Miami beaches were on day 3, which ended up being a fiasco, as it was a Hip-Hop weekend in Miami. Our Yo-Yo boys filled the South beach, making it hard for us to even walk on the streets. So we returned, without even going to the beach. It couldnt have gone further bad.
On the last 2 days, we spent in Keywest, enjoying the beautiful beaches, and some activities like parasailing ,Jetsking and Cuban cuisine.
Overall, this turned about to be the costliest trip in my US stay, which is about to commemorate its 2nd anniversary this 15th.

2005-05-31T07:36:00.000-07:00

Enroute
Whenever a newcomer, asks me the route to Irving temple, i say,'take the O'Connor exit in TX-183, follow a Japanese car, say Honda/Toyota/Nissan, u'll reach the temple'. Almost everyone laughed, until i said, i'm serious. They followed my directions and reached the temple.
If u dont believe me, have a look at the temple's parking lot, u'll find only accord's, camry's and altima's. :-)
Globalization:
In US, u follow a Japanese car to reach Indian temple.

2005-05-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

Traffic-cops and Bribe
We Indians always have this habit of portraying the traffic police as bad guys, since they demand bribe. But how many of us accept the fact that, in most cases(lets say 90%), he's demading bribe, since we broke the law. How many of us have the courage, to stand up and say that i'ld pay the fine instead of bribing him. Till now i havent bribed a traffic cop. Even at times when i was caught for crossing lines, exceeding speed, i'ld insist paying the fine, and they let me go :-)
Many times, i had scoffed at them as they demand meagre amount such as 10-20Rs(this was some 5yrs back, not sure now). It might sound a bit cheap, on their part, but the reality is that their financial condition is in such a bad state. I'm sure that their monthly pay would not be more than 5-6K, with no incentives. And even if he's uncorrupt, a traffic constable doesnt have the authority to fine; only a traffic seargent has the rights. So that being the case, the only way to punish the traffic voilaters is to bug them. Most guys demand bribe, while the rest just hold u for sometime, before letting u free.
So the best solution to stop corruption, and also impart strict traffic rules is to give the constables enough power to fine the voilaters on site, and the govt should also provide cops incentives based on the number of cases they file. Instead of just bragging about 'cops should not take bribe' and 'no one follows traffic rules', the govt should take a constructive solution to solve this problem:give incentives to cops, based on the revenue they generate.

2005-05-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hottest day
Today is the 2nd hottest day in the last 100 yrs, in the month of May. It was 99F ,which made our life totally miserable. On top of it our A/C is not working properly. We informed the apartment office, but yet to get a response. So our house turned into a mini-oven, as its the top floor.
Since we were bit bored(mainly due to lack of good movie, in all lang) and also being a bit over ambitious, we went out for tennis, at around 7pm, when the mercury touched 97F. We took a couple of gatorade bottles, knewing that the scorching sun would dehydrate us within no time, and the sun god never let us down. We returned at around 9pm, went straight to take a bath. The water coming out of the shower was hot, even though the knob was in cold position. Even the water wass not spared by the heat.

2005-05-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Did u say
American: We are very fond of adventure. We go for bungee jumping, we go for sky diving, we can sit in any scary rides without any fear. Even though all these have safety features, it requires guts to take these rides.

Indian: Oh... we dont do anything like that. But we sit in an auto, without any seat belts, and drive a 2 wheeler in the wrong side of the road, during peak traffic......... Did u say, that u love adventure??!!!

2005-05-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

What they think?
After a couple of months stay in Dallas, my mom commented, "Americans also lead a life similiar to us, with family,kids. They are not like what we see in movies". The 'English movie' had an impact on her. She thought that all Americans will be unfaithful to their spouses, etc.
On a similiar note, what will an American think, is he watches some tamil movie?
- All marraiges will be stopped by someone. 'Niruthunga', will be said when the groom is about to tie the knot.
- Girls always live in palace/bungalow
- Lovers will sing/dance in parks
- Vehicle chasing is very common in Indian roads(this one is true). All vehicles will be fitted with a mini-rocket, so it'll raise to 50feet before exploding.
- All guys are machoman, who can fight even 100 guys single handedly
- Friends will always give their life, so that the lovers can elope
- Once married, every woman will think that her husband is GOD. Even a girl with ultra-modern outlook[scanty dress, i mean], will become traditional/orthodox once married.
- In-laws never exist harmoniously. Either mother-in-law or daughter-in-law, have to be evil.
- It'll always rain, when a girl comes out in white saree, or viseversa

Updated
- All poison bottles, will have a lable marked 'poison'
- All beautiful girls, will have a rowdy brother
- The bride of an 'American maapillai' will be in love with someone else. 'American mapillai' will neverever get married.

2005-05-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

Today is ,

* 5th year of the century
* 5th month of the year
* 5th day of the month
* 5th day of the week (considering Sunday as 1st)
* 5th week of the financial year (starting from 1st April)
Thats not just all, it is also the 125th day of the year, which is,
again, the 3rd power of 5 !!!
Have a HIGH FIVE Day

PS: i waited till 5:05PM to post this :)

2005-05-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

iShuffle
Last week, one of my collegue/friend left to India. So thought of sending something for my brother, as i havent got anything for him, except a Fossil watch. After much thought i decided on iPod, as it would be a good gift for a college student. Ooops... forgot, he had completed his engg just a week back, and got placed in my company. Will be joining sometime next month. Back to topic, he preferred a mp3player/thumb drive, so we decided to go for an iShuffle.
I bought a 512Mb for him. It was really cool, and the playback was excellant. Loaded all my fav collections into it, and with the simple user-friendly UI, the entire player rocked. But it had one major drawback, atleast when u use it in India. It can be charged only with an USB port outlet. Which means u need to carry a laptop with u, if u tend to use, while in travel. I'ld consider the product to be complete, if they provided a way to recharge it without a laptop/pc. The same is available in market for a price of $30, which i feel, is more for an $100 player.

2005-05-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day
For the past couple of weeks, all stores are filled with gifts/cards for "Mother's Day". I never knew when these came into existence? Is it after HallMark and greetingcards.com came into existence? I'm pretty sure that these stores will be much more happier than the mothers. While I accept that American express their love with gifts and cards, it doesnt make sense when it comes to mother, bcos in most cases, she doesnt expect/fall for these gifts. Its the year long affection she thrives rather than a 100$ gift on mother's day.
The same holds good for father/brother and friendsday. But, somehow Valentineday, which is the successful invention of hallmark, is the one which amuses me most. Every year, atleast one of my friend will become a joker. The guy who usually gets up at 9, will wake by 6, press his clothes, chooses which color shirt to wear(he tells me that, 'this year green means, u r single. red means u r engaged'. what a crap),polishes his shoe to get a glossy finish, and leaves home with a rose. It'll be such a fun to watch these guys. It'll be like having a Vivek or Vadivel next to u. Sometimes, i'll try to reason it out with them, on why they makes such a fuss on this particular day. But as usual, u cant reason things will guys who r in love. Euphoria engulfs reality, in their case. U should appreciate their fighting spirit, even if they are let down, next year they try even more hard, with a different girl :-)

2005-04-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

I said...
I work for software company, my job is a mostly 9-6, unless there is some critical release or issue in production. The day starts with a call with the biz folks, then some code fixes, and ends with a call with biz folks, pretty monotonic. Coding!!..ask any developer, its just a copy/paste work. Have some fun in the evening with my friends, prepare food, eat, go to bed. Pretty much same everyday.

He said...
I work for this phone company. Mine is a field work. Go to different cities, and do the testing in different places, and submit the report by the end of day. Each day is different, meeting different people. I'm based out of SanDieago, but never know, where i'll be next week. Dont have a chance to cook food. So developed liking for other cuisines.

I thought..
What a cool life he leads! Very exciting, and having fun with all new people. Atleast he dont have to prepare food, and eat it. He should be having lots of stuff to blog in a daily basis

He said..
I really envy. U lead a cool life. Just work for 9-6, and spend time at home. I hardly find time to even spend with my friends.I really want to try Indian food, but i never find one, in the places i visit, so lets look out for some Indian restaurant.

2005-04-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

Dallas Auto Show
Last week there was Autoshow in Dallas. A perfect thirst quencher for a car maniac like me :-)

Copyrights by JaganLee. Copying or public distribution is legal by the Federal law.

2005-04-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

Indian history revisited
Read my prev post, and convince urself that history will be changed by winner. Still unconvinced? Skip to disclaimer
What would have the history said, if India got the freedom under SCBose? We'll see it now.

The freedom movement in India was kicked-off by MKGandhi, who believed in non-voilence. His methods attracted many, and the entire India was under one roof. His movements were a great success initially, but later the truth dawned on people, that his methods targetted the British business, and no way affecting the British government. His non-cooperation movement, satyagraha's affected their business, but their interest were beyond business. Gandhi's policy on colony education was not welcomed by many. Gandhi's plead to the nation, to stop educating their children sent shockwave to many. People started loosing hope in him, and the JallianwallBagh massacre marked the apex of their frustation. The need for a national leader was more than ever.

SCBose entry into Indian politics in early marked the dawn of freedom movement in India. SCBose faith on MKGandhi took a major hit by Bhagat Singh's martyrdom and the Gandhi's inability to save him. Irked by this, he launched a movement against Gandhi-Irvin pact, and was imprisoned. Young leaders like Nehru who found hope in SCBose, started favouring him. This was pretty evident when SCBose won INC election in 1937 & 1939, against Gandhi's nominee.

Gandhi's stand during the WW2 to support England sent shockwaves across the nation. SCBose quit the INC, and started INA(Indian National Army). INA's motto is 'to get the freedom from England', as against INC's motto 'England will give freedom'. And the rest is history.

Disclaimer: Above is a fiction of mine. Would SCBose's win have made any impact on the present day? Lets see today's headlines, if India got freedom under SCBose.
Headlines on Hindu
- Communal roits between muslim and hindus, is haunting J&K
- India, under the captaincy of Inzamam, lost miserably to the rival nation SriLanka.
- Train mishap near Baluchisthan, killing 100's

2005-04-17T00:49:00.000-07:00

Revisiting History
History has always taught us one thing. "History is rewritten by the winners". It always happens that whoever wins the war, rewrites the history to hide his short comings and, highlight the loser's weakness and evilnature.
The WorldWar2's history would have been different, if won by Hitler. It would carry no mention of his concentration camps, but would have highlighted the concentration camps conducted by Stalin. How the Japanese bravely attacked the Pearl harbour navy fleet, and how the coward American's retorted by bombing the residential city of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It would have highlighted how unethical American's were, when they bombed the two cities, killing humongous innocent people. Would have talked in length about the advanced Germans and Japanese technology in war front. Some information will be hidden, some will be paraphrased, some will shown with the winner's window. My intention is not to say that Hitler and his allies, are good. It just want to emphasis on the fact that the winners are also equally bad.
If u still think that history manipulation can be done only in age where the communication is immature. Think again. Think US.
Good people win only in epics and stories. Winner portray themselves as good people, in real world.

What would have the history said, if India got the freedom under SCBose? We'll see it later.

2005-04-14T12:24:00.001-07:00

ChandraMukhi - Updated
Like all Rajni fans, i too had the dream of seeing his film on this first day-first show. My long time dream is gonna come true today. Technically speaking this is not CM's first day, if u take the world wide release into consideration, but its the first day in Dallas metroplex. I should be in East Asian countries like Sing/Japan, if i wish to see the first show. Does it matter?
Yes and No. If u look at it as a movie, watching it in day 1 does make a sense, as u'll not be aware of the story. But for Rajni's movie, its more than the story and screenplay, its the ambience that matters. Watching the movie with all Rajni fans, with thara/thampatta(Indian trumpet) is real fun.
I'll share my experience(def not another review) of the movie with u guys tommorrow.

Tamizh makkal anaivarukum... Iniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukal

Saw the movie. For review pls look into the comments section.
For more detailed review click here . He's right, and also sets the expectation right for the movie.

2005-04-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

Mushy and cricket
Read this article, where-in Mushy gave 1 Million Rs to Inzy/Pak cricket team for winning the 4th ODI against India. A similar thing happened in India, when Vajpayee went gaga over India's series win, when we visited Pakistan.
I really donno, how the premiers of a nation come down to congratulate the winner's of a match. I'm not saying that they should not follow a game. They can even be fanatics of the game, but that doesnt mean that they should shell out people's money to gain some political benefits. I definetely dont see this as a healthy gesture, as this kind of awards will create more drift/rivalry against the team. Not to mention the pressure, which comes in from the angry mob, if they loose the match.
Cricket should be treated as a sport, and nothing more. I'm sure many would not agree my view on this. There is always a difference between a fan and a fanatic. The incident in Eden garden in 1996 WCC, is a classic example of fanaticism. The Indo-Pak game(Anwar scored 194) is a classic example of right sport's attitude, where-in Anwar got a standing ovation on breaking VivRichard's record.
With lot of fanatics for cricket, the last thing we expect is the politicians playing politics in the cricket field. I believe they have lots of other things to catch up.

2005-04-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

Everything is fair in ...
Lately, i have seen alot of Telugu movies. The movie for the best screenplay, a hit movie, and a flop movie.
Anand
This movie won the award for the best screenplay last year. So, when i went to watch the movie, my expectations were high. I knew that one cant expect a classy movie from Tollywood, but was eager to see a movie like Okkadu, the original version of Ghilli. Right from the take1, the movie was predictable, no twist no turns. An engaged heroine, let down by the groom, hero comes as saviour and marries her. And the worst screenplay to fit a story like this.

Nu Osthanante..Naan othantaana
The hit movie of last year, directed by Kollywood's MJ. Again a predictable movie, with the usual brother-sister-lover sentiment. I really donno how long the Telugu movie is going to cast the 'American Mappilai' as a freeky guy, with a lots of girlfriends in American land, comes and falls for a homely girl, from a remote village. The hero unsuccessfully tried to imitate KingKhan. Had a nice sleep for 2$ in the theatre.

Naa Alludu
Having said bad about the good movies, i dont want to tell much about this junior NTR movie. 2 word to sum it up. Absolute Crap.

Pazhamozhi: Everything is fair in love and war
PuthuMozhi: Everything is fair in love, war and tollywood.

2005-04-06T15:30:00.000-07:00

Tamil DVD
I'ld like to collect DVD's of good tamil movies. My definition for good movies constitues only comedy films like ThilluMullu, AvaiShanmugi, MMKR and movies which defy time/generation like Nayagan, MounaRagam, AnbeSivam, SalangaiOli. But our tamil DVD industry is not consumer friendly. Even the old film DVD's are tagged a whopping price of 22$, which drives the consumer to opt for pirated DVD's or persuades them not to buy DVD's. I fall under the second category, since i personally dont like buying a pirated version.
I have waited since 2003 June to buy these DVD's, with an expectation that the price would drop down to 10$[10$ will still give enough profit margin for the seller, since the volume of sales will be high]. As the time runs out, so does my patience. My North-Indian and Andra friends buy DVD's for no more than 6$, while i'm left dejected. I really dont know why our producers in Tamil film industry are so dumb. They did the same for AudioCD's(selling at Rs250), when the hindi film industry sold audioCD's for 100Rs, during yr 2002. This started the era of pirated audioCD's in Chennai, and it continues till now. Our producers should comeout from the belief that, DVD sales would hamper their profit, but rather boost it, if tagged at right price.

PS1: Let me know, if there is any site selling tamil original DVD's at a better price.
PS2: For those who are wondering why i didnt post for a long time: I indeed did a post last week, which i deleted later, since my friend felt i'm making fun of him. "Nanban soll mikka manthiram illai".

2005-03-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

How late can u get a read receipt for a mail... 1 day??....1 week???...1 month??.... 1 yr??

Your message

Subject: Help needed in HTML/JavaScript
Sent: 10/10/2001 9:51 AM

was read on 12/8/2004 3:08 AM.

I got this read receipt today...haha

2005-03-25T07:56:00.000-08:00

"Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that
counts cannot necessarily be counted" - Einstein

While my counter ticked 10000 yesterday, its not the one which counts ... Its ur co-operation and support which counts more.

Thanks alot for all ur co-operations. Keep visiting and keep the counter ticking. If u had been a recent visitor...here are some of my 'hall of fame' collection.

- The funniest / funnier post. I got some personal mails for its sense of humour. :-)
- The heated post. I had to delete couple of comments and requested to stop the discussion
- The first post. The link is not given, as i had to delete it, fearing of being dooced
- The post with most number of comments. Ofcourse its a heated argument, which was stopped after an anonymous/in-field expert, who gave her strong comment, to stop a unconvincing guy.

Have fun.

2005-03-23T16:48:00.000-08:00

GC
I really dont know y people give so much importance to GreenCard. Afterall, once a person's 6 yrs term is complete on a H1B visa, he can go back to his home country and stay for an year, and return back to US for another 6yrs term. If I were in that place, i would consider it as a sabbatical and enjoy my stay in India.
I placed this question to one of my friend, who's GC is in the final stage of processing. He couldnt give me an convincing ans, but said that he wouldnt want to leave US, even for an yr bcos he needs to set things up, once he comes back to US. Accepted, but that doesnt rationalise with the fact that he's getting underpaid for his work. If a person can stay/work in US with a break of 1yr every 6 yrs, isnt that Ok?. So why do people give so much importance to it.
Or am i missing some big thing in the picture?

2005-03-21T21:32:00.000-08:00

Extrapolation
Growing number of pubs and discotheque in metro's like Banglore, Chennai are considered 'cultural detoriation' by some. Even though i have a different view on that, i'ld like to take a neutral stance and talk about what might have led to the so called 'cultural detoriation' rather debating on it.
My theory is, culture takes a major hit when people from different region/culture/background come together. An act which is considered as normal in one culture, wouldnt be considered the same in other culture. For example, hugging family members is a part of north indian culture, but it doesnt go well with south indians. So when people of two or more cultural background come together, its likely that they get confused on whats the boundary of cultural limits. This confusion will have a spiralling effect and makes things worse.
The best examples for this phenomenon is Chennai and Bangalore, which had a good cultural reputation until some 10yrs back, is fast heading towards westernisation. And if we extrapolate this phenomenon to a country, we get US. People from all over the world, belonging to different cultures under one roof. So the threads of the spiralling effect runs even more deeper, which took US to where it is now.

2005-03-18T18:21:00.000-08:00

CM in trouble
"ChandraMukhi is not a tamil name" says tamil puli iyakkam, headed by Thirumalavan. They say its an Sanskrit name. Thanks to Vaali, who brought this to light, or else the guys who protect Tamil wouldnt have known that its not a tamil name. I really donno what good does keeping tamil film's name in tamil going to do. Dont we have better ways to protect our mother tongue? Cant a 2000yr old language survive the tamil film industry?
I really wonder y these 'hopeless' guys target selected movies? They didnt object 'Ji' or 'Sachin' or 'GodFather'. They do it only with big banner film, probably to get some monetary benefits.
I think SJ Surya is the best person to give a befitting reply for these guys. He has named his next film as 36-28-36. Our guys are totally confused on how to tackle this issue. And to bring more nightmare, he named his next directorial venture as AC. When reporters asked about the controvertial title, he cooly replied.."A uyir ezhuthu, C uyirmey ezhuthu...ithu evvaru aangila mozhi aagum?". Ithu eppadi irukku?

2005-03-15T15:59:00.000-08:00

Towed

Preface: Before leaving to India, my roommate asked me to park his car, in one of our friend's parking lot, as it was not occupied.

Last Thursday, i found that the car was missing, and found it be towed by the apartment office guys, as it was parked in the wrong parking lot(the one next to our friend's designated lot). We called them up, and they gave us a hefty bill of 500$. Though it was atrocious, all we had was a good laugh. We knew that the amount needs to be shared among all of us, but agreed that atleast one fault should be mentioned for all the person involved(on a funny note).

So the reasons we gave
For my roomate: He only asked us to park the car. If the car was not parked, it wouldnt have been towed..:-).
For ME: I drove his car to the wrong parking lot.
For friend1: He directed me the wrong parking lot. 35H instead of 35E.
For friend2: He knew that the car was parked in the wrong parking lot, but didnt inform me.

The 5th person(the guy who owns the 35E parking lot) was happy as we couldnt find a proper reason for him. We went to the towing garage and brought the car back. While leaving we asked, when was the car towed? She replied some 12 days back. haha. Happily we found a reason for Friend5
For friend3: A full size Ford Taurus which was parked right in front of his apt is missing for 12 days, and he didnt even notice it.. :-).

Thus our funny episode ended, with each sharing 100 bucks.

On hearing this my collegue asked(like panchathathiram naagesh).."Eppadida itha sirichinde ...sollra??"
Me said(like panchathathiram kamal)..."Veliyila thaan maama sikiren...ulla azhuthutu iruken"..hahaha :-)

2005-03-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

Hi5 : pissed-off
Today morning, i get an invite from my friend to join Hi5 group, which is similar to Orkut. I go to that link, login using my yahoo id. It shows all the buddies from my contact list. I click 'next', the next page shows, '54 invite sent to ur buddies', which also included my client and managers.
WTF, how can one design such a filthy page!!?? If i want to send some invites to the friends, i'll do it after my account is succesfully created. How can sending email, be a part of account creation. Dont the web-designer's use the common sense, while designing pages? I'm totally pissed of with Hi5. It has sent mails to my college/school egroups, some clients, my manager, etc..and all day i waste sending apology mail to all of them.

Now i know how they became a group of 4Million. Shame on you Hi5. Please redesign ur pages.

I'm not alone :-).

PS: I went back to page, which says "clicking 'next' button will invite everyone" in the smallest/non-catchy font. gggrrrrrrr.......

2005-03-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

ChandraMukhi Audio release
When it comes to Rajini, even mudane things makes news. So nothing needs to be said about the expectation his new film audio release would create. Rajini made his public appearance after a long time, probably after Baba's release. So its time to expect some great speach from the supremo, and he didnt not let me down. A usual Rajini stunt..."Naan yaanai illa, vizhantha methuva ezhunturikka....naan kuthirai, vizhuntha vegathil ezhunthiripen"[I'm not an elephant..i'm an horse, i'll get-up as soon as i fall]. And he also drew a methaphor between an instance in BhagavadGita and his recent flop Baba, on how others considered to have defeated him, while he intented to a short break from cinema. While leaving the dias, he left with a message, to KeanaDoss, that he'll return shortly with a reply for those who thought to have won him(in the battle).
Link to the video clipping of CM's release --> Clip 7
About the songs, some are good, some are ok, but who cares....Its Rajini movie, all we need is his presence, and nothing else.
My fav tunes...Athinthom & KonjamNeram.

Eagerly awaiting CM's release in Dallas metro. :-)

2005-03-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

1996 - During my initial days in college/hostel: People used to make fun of my tamil slang. Since i'm from NorthChennai, where Madras-tamil is at its best(yeah its the best for me), my slang will inherently have the touch of madras-tamil. Until i joined the college, i never even knew this. Once my friends were teasing me, for the slang. I got a bit irked and said..."Inna'da sollringa...ennku vonnume purela"...they laughed once again, and they correct...it should be said like "Yenna'da sollringa..yennaku onnume puriyala"

Cut

2005 - A collegue came to my home: After a few mins talk, he asked me, "Neenga madurai/thirunelveli pakkama", i said "Illain'gale....naan madras,,yethukaga appadi keatinga?".."Illa..unngaloda thamizh romba suthama irunthuthu...athaan keaten".
B4 u CBE guys(Paran/Ranga/Anand) laugh, it was asked by a guy from CBE.

Lets have a small test to check, how much u fair in Madras tamil..

1. Jaga vaangitan baa
2. Beajaar ba
3. Aleka thooku
4. Peela vudatha
5. Abase panntaan ba
6. Issthukunu poyita
7. Naashta saaptiya?
8. Ajees pannikoba
9. Vuttalakadi giri giri...vuttan paru vadakari
10(toughtest of all). Ushar pathini raid'u ...uttoko naina side'u

7/10 is the pass mark .:-)

2005-02-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

Summer time
Yes its summer time in the month of Feb, if u r living in Dallas. After a week of scorching heat, which touched 80F, mother nature smiled on us today with some light showers. And if u r in Chennai, u would pretty much accept the fact the summer has started a month before. With the mercury touching 96F in the month of Feb, Chennaites started feeling the heat. I'm not referring to the temperature, but the water problem which usually grips Chennai in the summer.
With the city growing in all direction, and with the advent of Auto and IT industries, the city is crowded with people for all regions. While the city population would have grown by 2-3 times in the past decades, the government hasnt took any steps to meet the water supply needs for the Metro. Not that our 3 reservoirs(Poondi, Sholavaram & Redhills) have the capacity to store water, but a perennial supply of water. The combined capacity of these reservoirs were 7000mcft, but Chennaites will be happy if its filled with 500-750mcft, the bare minimal amount to survive the summer. How long are we going to rely on ground water and the depleted NE monsoon? Why dont we look out for other option, as the city is growing in enormous rate?
Isnt it a good time to think about connecting all the rivers?
We need a person with long term vision to execute the project like this, not a person like 'keana doss'[name changed for obvious reason] who fight's to change the name of films like BF/Mumbai Express, nor the 80yr old aged man who still craves for the throne.

2005-02-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

Harold and Kumar go to White castle
Saw this movie last week. I havent seen such a funny movie, since long time. The plot is the title , where White castle(if u dont know) is a fast joint like BurgerKing/McD. The best part of the movie is that u would be able to associate urself with one of the character, Harold or Kumar, and definetely u would have stayed a person, who's like the other.
Harold(Chinku), with whom i associated myself, is a trying-to-be-perfectionist, who doesnt like breaking rules. eg, he'll wait for the wait for the 'Walk' sign, to cross a road at 2am in the morning, in some remote village.
Kumar(ABCD), on the other hand is just the opposite.
Its really funny to see that way they fight on all those mundane things, and how they reason out things with their (il)logical answers. It reminded me of the days in Chennai, when i shared a room with my collegue/schoolmate, who had all the characteristic of Kumar.

PS: If u r in India, and about to watch this movie with ur (conservative) parents: beware, it has a couple of flashing scenes :-).

2005-02-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

Dooced.
This will be the term used, if your employer sacks you, for blogging ill about the company or other fellow employees. Doocing(is this right?) has caused serious problems in recent times, when Google(owner this site www.blogger.com) sacked one of its employee for commenting about the work env and stuffs.
Some snippets about blogger, being dooced
- A former Delta Air Lines flight attendant claims she was fired in November over pictures she posted on her personal blog that she says the airline deemed "inappropriate."
- A Microsoft contractor lost his gig after posting on the Web photos of Apple computers arriving at the software giant's Redmond, Wash., headquarters.
- A San Francisco employment lawyer, says "People mistakenly believe that the First Amendment protects them in the workplace, which is generally not the case,"

In the same line, If i say that i touched 105Mph, in my recent trip, will the cops give a 'speeding ticket' for that?

source

2005-02-16T20:44:00.000-08:00

Helmet
Back in 2001, when i got my bike, the first accessory i bought was a helmet. My friends used to mock at me saying that helmets are meant for family men...Hmm, pretty funny, but i had my own reasons for wearing the helmet.
- With the dust and pollution of Chennai city, one will turn black after a 15mins drive. Doing a facial, or wearing a helmet will do the same good, when u go for a ride.
- When Lord Indiran visits Chennai, he comes with a bang. I use my helmet as a shield, from the rain & drain water.
- Shumi wears helmet, when he drives his vehicle
- It protected my face from an long lasting scar, when i met with a minor accident.

With all these points, i'll sell the idea of wearing a helmet. But my friends would retort ..."Ithukku ellam poy helmet poda mudiyuma??"[How can i wear helmet for all these silly reasons??].
So i use my bramhasthiram..."It prevents hair fall", and they'll fall for it.

2005-02-12T14:10:00.000-08:00

American Kids
Have u ever seen a American kid crying? When i said 'American Kid', I meant all the 1 - 5 yrs kids in USofA, irrespective of race. Its a very rare scene to see a kid crying.
Is it because they are brought up in a healthy enviroment?
Is it because they have other ways of expressing, if they are uncomfortable?
Is it something to do with their genes?
Are they been taken care properly by their parents, that they dont have to cry?

All these questions popped up my mind, while i picked up my friend, who came along with his family, from airport. His kid started feeling uncomfortable, might be due to Jet-lag, and was crying all the way.
So i'm curious to know, whats the deal with American kids? I think, its mainly bcos of the way in which they are brought up. The kid is taught/ made to realize, that crying will not solve his/her problems. Thats a trick, Indian parents need to learn from American parents.
Do u think there might be a different reason??

2005-02-10T16:27:00.000-08:00

Google fan.
Google.com, is the best when it comes to Search engine. But only a designer can say that Google.com is also the best when it comes to user-interface. Many confuse that UI, is some jazzy stuff, with some colorful images flying around. Nope, its the ease at which the user gets what he wants. In that line, Google.com has the best UI, for search engines.
Lately Google, came up with big-bang...Gmail, a 1GB mailbox, while Yahoo.com and Msn were giving 5Mb mailbox space. With Google's advent, they increased their size, but little did they knew about what in store. Me, being a J2EE developer personally dont like the use of JavaScript when it comes to Webpage designing. For me, Javascript is only used to throw pop-ups, and mess around with the user, making him difficult to navigate the page. But GMail had totally changed my perception over JavaScript. He made me say, "can it be used in such a good way". Arranging mails based on Subject is a novel idea[even though it existed b4, it was not exploited properly], and with the use of Javascript he made it awesome.
Recently Google, also introduced GoogleMaps. With the UI he provided, i'm sure he's gonna change the USMaps experience. No seperate text boxes, for FromCity/ToCity/FromZip/ToZip. ..All in one field. With Google search engine in the backend, what more does GoogleMap need?
Even though i'm enticed with Ipod and other Apple products,for their UI, Google still hold the Number1 slot. Hail Google, way to go.

2005-02-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

Love at first sight
It has been a hectic week for me, so couldnt find time to read others blog. So thought of staying afterhours to check my buddies blogs.
I came across a post/comment, where a fellow blogger(female) said the following.."i still wonder how guys alone have this feeling of 'love at first sight' ". This is the news of the century. I never thought that this phenomenon, is not among girls. While i'm not a believer of 'love at first sight', there are zillions of 'qualified' Indian male, who still believe in that crap. Their belief is that, even the opposite sex have the same feeling. Infact, thats what our movies taught them.... Heroine, who crosses our Hero is slow-motion, goes around the corner, and turns back to have a better look at our Hero.

But according to this blogger, girl's dont even have this feeling.... 'Love at first sight'.
Expecting an answer for this mystery. One who ans, will get 1000 'por' kaasugal. ;-)

PS: I know that most of my visitors are male, but do share what ur 'girl' feels! :-). Let this be a eye-opener for the morons, who still believe in that.

2005-01-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

Downtown Seattle, taken from Seattle's SpaceNeedle tower.

2005-01-26T15:33:00.000-08:00

Attagasam
Yesterday, i saw this movie. I'm really proud of Ajit, for his optimistism. He's a actor, who doesnt know acting, fighting, dance, comedy, dialogue delivery, heroism, and zillion things an actor needs to know. But he always considers himself the best, and thinks that he's next in the line for Rajini's throne.
Saran(Attagasam director), said that Ajit had tried comedy in this film. Stop....Is RED/Citizen, not his biggest comedy film?? No, said my friend..they belong to a genre called 'Serious comedy' which only tamil/telugu hero's do. Back to Attagasam, he tried loads of comedy, and i cried for it. When he tried serious playing, i laughed.

2005-01-24T17:05:00.000-08:00

Consultancy firm
A friend seeked my help to write a description for his matrimony ad. So we(other friends) went to some matrimony .com's to collect data, of how to write a good post. And to our astonishment, we found that writing a description for a bridge/groom is not a humongous task. All post follows the same pattern/template, which left us wondering if all Indians are made of the same mould. So I thought of helping my fellows bloggers who need some professional advice.
All these post seemed to be bloated, from the same draft version, and our espionage team dug it out. :-)
For Groom,
1. The following words should appear in ur desc...Clean habits, teetoteller. A guy with 'drinking habit' will be considered as a drunkard(who drinks 'sarayam'), who'll puke on roads.
2. Dont forget to mention ur salary as $60K. If you are living outside US, it doenst matter. Just say the same, with a note "If sent to US".
3. Working for one of [country name] biggest companies. 'Fortune 500', will give u a good fortune
4. Always prefix ur designation with 'senior'. Because a 'Senior' SoftwareEng, will be more enticing than ProgramManager, in matrimony world.
5. If your cousin's mother's sister's husband is working in US, highlight that. No one will care where ur brother or sister is working.
6. When you post ur foto, make sure than u have Statue of Liberty, or Golden Gate in the backdrop. Or else people will consider that you dont have a 'Good background'
7. Finally, dont forget to mention that you are from a 'respectable/close knit family'. If not mentioned, u would be taken for granted otherwise

For Bride,
1. Irrespective of your complexion, say 'fair'. Because in matrimony world, anything other than fair, is dark. The words, wheatish/bit dark/ slightly fair/dark/black are synonymous.
2. If you are one of those gals, who'll hang out after hours, mention that you are 'conservative, with progressive modern outlook'.
3. Make sure no one can see you in ur foto. Taking your foto in night mode is the safest bet, as it would blur. Dont give a good foto of yours, until you create guy's expectation. The 'expectation' thing always works.
4. Dont forget to put cooking, as a hobby. Nowadays cooking as become more of a hobby for gals.
5. 'Will respect elders', will score you more points.
6. Avoid putting 'watching movies', as its unheatly act in matrimony world.

Have fun ;-)

2005-01-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

Starz and Time
As an engineer, i always used to reason things. I dont believe things, if it doesnt have a logical explanation, and its true with every person. No one would have believed that a 560ton metal object could fly at a cruising speed of 650mph, unless he knew the Bernoulli's theorm. While we seek explanation for everythings, there is a certain area of science we tend to believe 'as is'. A classic example is our Astrology, the science that is related with the study of the positions and aspects of celestial bodies in the belief that they have an influence on the course of natural earthly occurrences and human affairs. In the pretext of gaining more clarification on certain things and how horoscopes are derived, I thought of taking a plunge into it.
After reading several docs, i elicited that horoscopes are derived based on only two things, place and time of birth. To be more precise, horoscope is derived based on the star location during the time of ur birth, and nothing more. This leaves me with lots of questions
1. If a person is born in the same place and time as BillGates, will be as rich as BillGates?
2. How can we explain the death of 1.5L people, in recent tsunami, who were born in diff place and time?
3. How can the starz determine a person's private organs and sexual desire? yoni match
4. With more number of millionares in USofA, are the starz more favourable for a person born in US ofA
.....and the list goes on. None of these could have a logical explanation, and i doubt even an astrologer can provide a plausible explanation.
Many literate accepted my above arguement, but were still not able to letgo their belief, in horoscope. The reason is Fear. Since horoscope deals with life and death(most of the time), people who once had belief in horoscope, were not able to come out of it easily.

PS: For those who have belief in horoscope/astrology, your criticism is welcome.

2005-01-17T20:22:00.000-08:00

Mother and Me
My mother always boast that she used to cook better than most of our relatives, and she is. The fact that she remains the 'head cook' for most of the family gettogether, is the only proof. She also used to get accolades from all corners. She has the passion to learn different Indian cuisine, and my father's transfer to all parts of India helped her alot. While we(me and my brother) had been her test specimen for umpteen number of times, i hardly remember times when her experiment turned out to be a fiasco.
Wondering y this post had suddenly poppedup? :-) I tried ChickenBiriyani yesterday and it turned out to be better than what she used to do. After coming to US, i mastered cooking all vegetarian south-indian dishes. My Sambar/Rasam and vathakozhambu has fans across DFW ;-)...and until recently i had not ventured into non-veg dishes, as my roomies were veggies. While my friend's and their wife's used to tease me saying that my (wouldbe)wife would be lucky to have a cook like me, i'ld think that she'll have tough time in meeting our expectation...hahaha ;-)
PS: My mother just loved the Sambar i did, when she was came here.

2005-01-14T14:51:00.000-08:00

Vrrrooooooommmmm.......

Those who had visited my profile, would know that i'm a F1 freak. Me, like all guys in India, frenzy speed. One cannot blame us for that, as driving at 35Mph is considered rash driving, in India. So when i first saw(on TV) a machine moving at 210Mph on road, i was simply glued to it.
So when my long time goal, of seeing a F1 grandprix came to reality, there was no bounds for my joy. We planned our trip well in advance, book the flight tickets/podium ticket and were all set. We had the 'usual' initial hickups, when our friends missed the connecting flights and arrived late in Chicago, out meeting point. From there we drove to Indy, and by the time we reached there, the qualifying session had already began as we could hear the 'F1 car roaring', some 1 mi ahead of the circuit.
"One man's music is other man's noice"- I donno who said that, but F1 car's roaring('noise', as my mother would roar) is definitely a sweet music for me. As we entered the grand stands, the mellifuous music appeared as if they come from a 10KW speakers placed right next to ur eardrum, and it even reverberated my teeth :-). Then i realised, why they were selling earplugs at the entrance. As we started settling in our seats, we heard the speaker announce Schumi is on the warm-up lap. I got ready with my camera(Canon A70) to shoot him. We saw him emerge out of the corner, and the next second he dissappeared in the other end. My camera looked at me and said..."Sorry boss, i cant catch shumi, u should have bought some big fellas", i said..."never mind, i'll click u before he enters the corner, so by the time u open ur shutter, he'll be in the frame". And for those who think its some kind of silly joke....dont laugh or frown. This is how i got the pic which is shown above.
We had this feeling of seeing a Vittalachariya's film, one second, the car will be some 0.5Km to ur left, the next sec it'll be some 0.5km to ur right. I dont want u to bore on what happened in the race, as the interested one would have seen the race, while others will not be interested to hear what happened. Later we went to the outlets, bought some caps,t-shirt,etc and drove back to Chicago. On my way back, i told myself...210Mph is way way faster than 100Mph(my max speed on US roads).

2005-01-11T18:23:00.000-08:00

NASA and Marketing
I thought of posting an article on 'America and Marketing', but somehow didnt get enough drive/information to do that. My latest visit to Houston got a lead, to do a post about it. My friend's father was insistent aboutmaking a visit to NASA. Hailing from a small town in AP, he had known about NASA, which is in US. If you think its because American landed on moon first, you are terribly mistaken. Its because, NASA astronauts landed on moon first. Whats the goddamn difference, u might ask. The purportedly subtle difference makes a lot of difference when it comes to building 'brand image'. We all know that Russian's were on par with US, when it comes to Space Research, but how many of us know the name of their Space Reseach program? I wouldnt be surprised if a survey says that more Indians had heard about NASA, than ISRO.
So whats the missing piece here. Is it because we dont do good techy work like NASA? Its not that, we dont market ourselves well. I'm not blaming the government or anything for this. This is the problem with our system. We had been brought up in a environment, where no one talks(or rather boasts) about his achievements. Rather we can talk hours together about our(or rather, the next person's) drawbacks, thereby bringing down the self-esteem. These things are pretty evident when one watches a movie, heroine falling in love with a guy who doesnt speak a word, manager appreciates an employee who does his work sincerely(and who doesnt market his skills). But when it comes to reality, these things dont work out. One has to market himself to get what he deserves.
So what does this 'Brand image' do?? Well, it can sell a 50Rs T-shirt made in Thirupur for 30$ in US, sell a 20Rs worth burger for 150Rs in Subway, sell 20Lakhs car for 1Cr by Ferrari, and the list goes on. To create brand image, one has to create awareness. A common public can enter NASA, and know abouts its achievement, where as we fought our fortune to get a Industrial visit to ISRO, during our college days. Result: Indians dream of working in NASA, over ISRO. We should stop fooling around, talking in length about braindrain and corruption. Its the lack of awareness about our products/achievements/skill, which makes us crave for foriegn stuffs. Its time we stop preaching/forcing people to buy Indian stuffs and start working on building the 'BrandImage'

2005-01-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

Houston trip
Even though i'm in Texas for more than a yr, i havent visited Houston till yesterday. Mainly because its not a tourist destination. Yesterday i got a chance to visit Houston, along with my friends(and his parents). The first things which comes ones mind, while planning the Houston trip are NASA and Meenashi Temple. So a visit to Houston will be left incomplete, without these 2 places, and will be complete with these 2 places.
We started at 7am in the morning, and reached temple at around 11:30, had a good darshan as there was no crowd during that time of the day. Later we had a good lunch(prasadham), in the temple premise. This temple, unlike other US temples, seems to be authentic South Indian temple, mainly because it governed by tamil trusties. The moolavar is made of rocks, and also decorated/dressed in a typical south indian style of dhotis and silk sarees. All these put together made me a bit pious, than usual.
Later in the afternoon, we went to NASA space center(its a museum, and not NASA Research center). Its a kind of amusement park than a museum, where there are space oriented fun games which entices children and not adults. The supposedly best part of it is the Tram-tour, inside NASA Research center, but it too turned out to be a fiasco, as they showed some mock-up hangers and training centers.
In the evening we visited SwamiNarayan mandir. This is an authentic NorthIndian temple, which is carved out of marble. The night lightings were just amazing. The palette of colors over the marble gopuram left us spellbounded. I'll upload some pics of it later. But the thing which i didnt like about the temple is the way they treat different genders. A seperate place for men and women to leave their shoes. Men sit in the front rows, while to ladies sit some 10 feet away from the God. Showing such kind of discrimination, that too in US, made me feel a little bad.

2005-01-03T14:57:00.000-08:00

Kadhal...thappu thappu thappu thappu
This weekend i saw 2 movies. One never deviated from reality while the other was sheer fantasy.
The first one was Shankar's Kadhal. Its Shankar's first production venture(given to other director), and he had made a bold move to pick a story which doesnt have huge cast, no glamorous item songs, no sensous scenes, but a very good story and screenplay. And Balaji saktivel had made a good use of it. Some of the things which made this movie a great watch are
- The story, which starts with the eloping of a school girl and a mechanic, and later shows how they face the world filled with difficulties. It also shows how their parents suffer the aftermath.
- The Hero and heroine had done an excellant performance, but the other cast had lived their characters. Special ovation to heroine's father and paternal uncle. I really dont find words to appreciate their performance. Hats-off to director for choosing them.
- the debutant music director had made justice, or else a heavy subject like this would have turned into profuse sentimental comedy. The heavy heart, at the end of the movie, is the only proof for his musical success.
So when i said Kadhal is the best movie of recent times(lets say 3-4 months)... "thappu thappu thappu thappu" said Manmadhan.
Manmadhan is a fantasy film with no realistic element in it, but its a sheer entertainer and had given enough opportunity for Simbu to perform. He had surpassed the expectation and performed well. Especially when he meets Mandira to tell a story about his past, i was really moved.

PS: Did u guys notice that, when Mandira asks him to speak-up, he faces the screen/audience and says, that his lover had ditched him and went for a wealthy man.Is it a message to someone?? whatever it is, his performance was real good in that scene.

2005-01-01T20:56:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

Wish u all a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Have fun

2004-12-30T19:48:00.000-08:00

Two ThumbsUp
Aftermath of any successful trip will be disasterous, and so for this Seattle trip. After spending a wonderful time with my friends in Seattle, i feel bored at my home, so i'm trying to keep myself busy with blogging :-)
A good trip will have a bad start. The Seattle trip is no exception for this jinx. I was strandled in the DFW airport for more than 7hrs due to bad weather and hence missed my connecting flight to Seattle. I reached Phoenix at 12:30am, and waited in a long queue for nearly 2 hours to get my ticket to Seattle the next day.
Reached Seattle on Thurday afternoon, and then it was all fun. We visited MtRaineer, Mt Springs, Leavenworth and Seattle Downtown. Leavenworth, a wonderful town near Mt Springs, which is in German style topped the list. The X-Mas night decorated with light along with the white sheet of snow gave us a breathtaking view. Had some adventurous trip during a 10mi trail in snow-mobile. Pradeep and Senthil jumped off the snow-mobile(snow-scooter), just milli-second before it fell off the track from the mountain. Nothing happened to them :-)
We were all enthralled, as most of saw snow for our first time in our life(Even though snow came a couple of times in Dallas, its not as good as we saw in MtSprings).
Seattle downtown was really good, from the cruise and also from the observatory deck of Space Needle.
To sum it up....it was a wonderful trip and deserves two thumbs up :-)

2004-12-29T19:54:00.000-08:00

Back to work
My Seattle trip ended today, and i'm back in Dallas. Everything went excellant in that trip, except for the tsunami attack news, which gripped us in sombre for a day. There are no words to express my condolence for those who lost their dear & near. I think we should stop ourselves , just expressing how sad we feel about it and help those needed ones.
Donate generously: http://survivors.aidindia.org

2004-12-22T08:01:00.000-08:00

Texas for u

Yesterday it was too hot, that i was unable to wear even my thinnest jacket, and today it's too cold for my thickest jacket, as it could not resist the chillness penetration. And also it snows a bit. Crazy Texas.

I'm leaving to seattle for a week vacation. See u all after a week. :-)

2004-12-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

Kill Bill
I got to see Kill Bill Vol1 last saturday. Thats the bloodiest movie i had ever seen, and dont like to see anymore of its kind. But gruesome video, was indeed compensated with the an awesome audio. The music was so awesome that i repeated watching(listening, to be precise) the climax, for more than 10 times, till now. The last 35-40 mins of movie, has no more than 10 lines of dialogue, andis filled with wonderful music, right from western rock to japanese mellifluous song.

I got to see Kill Bill Vol2 yesterday. Violent, and didnt impress me like Vol1 due to the lack of good music.

2004-12-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

Riot in Coimbatore: Part 2
Before starting my part 2, I should give an intro about us: me, hari and K7. No need for an individual introduction, as we are no hero's, so let me tell whatever, thats relevant to this section. We were the most ruthless, menacing guys in our class, who'll give damn least importance to what others think. And when are in our excited state, there is no stopping us, unless someone comes hard and says so. :-)
Ok...where were we, hmm...inside the Bus terminus... An empty bus came in, just to say that no more bus will operate for the rest of the day. I asked the conductor, whether there'll be any use, if I go to Ukkadam bus terminus...he cooly replied..."Ukkadam pona uyir irukathu"[U'll not be alive, if u goto ukkadam]. This rhyming dialogue became the punch line for rest of our journey. Also, we were excited, that our college will be declared holiday the next couple of days.
So we started our yatra, chanting "Ukkadam pona uyir irukathu"...i should not say chanting...we were roaring :-). Whenever we found some guys going past us, we use to shout this punch dialogue, at them. After an hr walk we reached NH47, hoping to get a lorry to reach our college. Not even a single vehicle stopped for us, except for a police jeep. We thought that he's going to give us lift, and ran towards the jeep, when couple of policemen came out and caughthold of us. "Enna thambi..romba sound udaringa pola...enna varingala?"[What bro..making more noise..wanna join us]. This came as a thunder blow to us, and all the excitement within us vanished in no time. We said, that we are Tech[PSG Tech] students and got struck since we didnt have bus. He asked for ID cards, and on seeing that..they left us saying, "Sikiram hostel poy senrunga". We were sure that, if not for our ID cards, we would have been in their jeep. We started to move fastly, as we began to realize the gravity of the situation.
After some 30mins walk, we reached the Lakshmi mill's junction. This is the culmination of our ordeal, as some rowdies were smashing a bakery shop. There were some spectator, who witnessed this heinous act, and we joined them. One threw the glass jar(the big glass jar, where they keep biscuits) into the air, and another just thrashed it with a hockey stick, as the glass pieces decorated the highway. Thrilled to see these kinds of shots in real life, we were glued to that place. Then a pepsi bottle, crashed right in front of us, and one of them shouted,'inga enna film'a kaatraanga...odungada"[r they showing film...run], while the next pepsi bottle was on its way. We started our 1.5Km sprint, the run for life...first time in all our life. We didnt pant for the next 15-20 mins, and we were running at our max speed. And later, we witnessed one more looting, but didnt give a damn importance to it, and started out second session of sprinting, before stopping at our hostel gate.
When we entered, our hostel campus, we had this feeling of security, that one would get if he's in a fortress. After we went a couple of metres.....we started..."Ukkadam pona uyir irukathu" :-).

2004-12-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

Riot in Coimbatore: Part 1

This is not a flash news, but a flash-back news, which happened in Yr 98. It was a Sunday, and it was special for us, bcos one of our friend had invited us to his house for lunch. Cursed with the hostel food, we were so happy that our lifeless tounge is ready to taste some home cooked food. 'Our friend' was Saranyan, and we included me, Hari and K7.
We didnt have breakfast on that day. I know it for sure, bcos we dont take breakfast on any Sunday, the rotten bread, provided in the hostel mess is a real mess, acted as a appetite repellant. We took bath(taking bath in hostel is something strange ;-), and often abhored by other roomies), dressed well, and boarded the bus, which headed towards SaiBaba colony, some 16 Km from our college. On the bus, we were consiously preparing for interview, interview-before-lunch-by-friend's-parents. We faired well in interview, and at the right moment, Saran interrupted us saying, food is ready. We had the food, it was really excellant, and we ate till our neck(this isnt unusual, we act like camel's and stuff enough food till the next day lunch).
Around 4-5pm we started from his house, not knowing that it was the darkest hours in CBE's history. When we walked towards the bus stop in SaiBaba colony, the city looked deserted, but still people were there, and some couple of buses were operating. But they refused to let us board, as they were packed beyond its threshold. So we started walking towards Gandhipuram bus terminus, in the hope that we would get a bus from there. Its was a 6km walk, and on our way, we started feeling desolate, as the number of people around us, were fast diminishing. As the city turned silent, we could hear all the TV's tuned to the news channel. After a 90 mins walk, we reached the Gandhipuram bus terminus, hoping to get a bus to our college.
As we entered the bus terminus, we all three burst out into laughter, as not even a single soul was there in that, otherwise crowded bus terminus. It took several minutes for our hysterical laugh to wane away, and the reality struck us. Someone asked.."what next?", one replied "Lets wait for some 10-15 mins, and see if a bus comes". Little did we know that curfew would be declared in the next couple of hours.

[Its growing big....so lets continue in part 2]

2004-12-15T16:08:00.000-08:00

The State (of) Bihar
There is an article in rediff.com, which asks an interesting question... "Suggest ways to improve Bihar". I guess its really difficult to improve the state of a state, which is in deep shit. Name a way of corruption, its there in Bihar, and the funny thing is that, people are oblivious that its corruption. Its really hard to find the root cause for all these problems, as they have evolved over a period of time, and not just born on a fineday. The problems faced by Bihari's
-Caste/religion problem
-Corruption in education(this is very unique to Bihar...remember the CAT paper leak)
-Corruption in government
-No basic facilities like road/electricity/water,etc to many villages/towns.
- Poor literacy count
and the list goes countless....

This reminds me of Vivek's joke in 'Vaali' film... he'll be a medical practioner, and a patient will come to him for cure. He'll have all the disease in the world, and will request a cure in single dosage of medicine.....We'll our Bihar case is like that...."Bihari'ya paathu thirunthavittal...Bihar'a thirutha mudiyathu".

PS: If u get a chance, try to see 'Gangajaal'. Its a hindi movie, starring Ajay Devan performing a sincere SP, trying to clean the mess in Bihar. Its not a usual hindi(read it as masala), with fights and songs. It just captures the moments in SP's(AjayDevgan)life as he tumble over his duties, and how sincere police officers are driven by emotion, etc. It has one of the tight scripts i had ever seen, not deviating from the story line even for a sec.

2004-12-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

One and Only
This incident happened a couple of years back. There was this girl, in our batch....we used to call 'Minnal', not bcos she brought 'lightning and thunder' to our hearts, but bcos she was too fast and swift, in her action and giving prompt 'nose cuts' to guys, who try to tease her.
On that day, me and my friend,Huma, were walking along the corridor, when we confronted her and the discussion slowly drifted towards 'when she'll marry'. She said, "Not now"(as usual...girls u know ;-))...at this point i thought of teasing her, and said "yeah, u can marry even at the age of 50". Suddenly her face turned red hot, and roared.."what did u say". Having realized the blunder i made, i turned towards Huma for help, who was having a wicked smile...and it clearly meant that he coined my new name..."Jagan minus mooku"[Jagan without nose]. And fortunately presence-of-mind-jagan came with his all-time best, and replied.."EVEN AT THE AGE OF 50, YOU'LL BE AS YOUNG AS U ARE NOW". The wrath in her face slowly vaned and was filled with sheer shyness. After a momentary pause, she asked, with a girlish tone.."Hey hey...u are teasing me?"..i replied.."absolutely not"(pretending to be serious). At this point she was too embarrased/shy, and left the place like 'minnal', with a broad smile on her face. And all this time, Huma was standing dumbfounded, not knowing how to react for my 'prompt' reply.
Yeah..and so why this title?? U almost got it...thats the 'One and Only time, i made a girl feel shy'

And this is what my friend tried..and it turned out to be a super hit.... probably readers can use it to their loved ones.
Guy: Were u hurt?
Girl: When?
Guy: When u fell from heaven...

hahaha.... Use it at the appropriate moment...and reap the benefits.. :-).

Please share ur ideas...so that i can use it.. ;-)

2004-12-09T16:20:00.000-08:00

Vacation
Yesterday, we got a mail from our manager, saying that we all have 4 days of leave, asking us to avail it before it lapses this year end. Woooowwww, what more can i ask to escape this boring monotonous way of lifestyle. So planned for a week vacation in 'Singara Seattle'. Did i say planned?.... no i dont have to plan, there are lots of friends[college/ chennai roomate/ projectmate] in Seattle, and they will take care of boarding and lodging, and also other travel plans(if any). I'm expecting Pradeep to join me. 'Paasamana' Paran, became 'Mosamana' Paran, by opting for family gettogether in DC, over our meet ;-). Ranga is married(read it as 'not qualified':-)), and so we didnt send him an invite. A reunion of college folks(that too in US), is always real fun.

Now, the bad part of the story. I have this feeling, taking fotos during the visit, is worth more than the visit itself. These foto's capture all those moments which u can cherish, in the later period. Having given my camera(Canon A70) to India, now i'm really handicapped :-(

2004-12-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

American English
If you had visited US, there's nothing new in this post, but for those who didnt its really funny.
Its just a collection of American slang, or the 'dirty-english', as Englishmen say. But whatever it is, i'ld say American english is really good in a way. Even with a basic english proficiency, a person can survive in US(but definitely not in UK). Its like 'Madras tamil'...impure, but anyone can understand.

What they say --- What they mean

Put gas --- Put petrol
Pump more gas(sitting in the car) --- accelerate ur vehicle
'here' or 'to go'[at restaurant] --- wanna eat here or parcel
rubber --- [u know what it means]
eraser --- rubber
truck --- lorry
Dollar fifty-nine --- 1.59 dollar
Hundred fifty-eight --- 100.58 dollars*
Hundred and fifty-eight --- 158 dollars
burger with no meat --- veggie burger
STD --- Sexually Transmitted Disease[and not our Standard Trunkcall Dialing]**
Ticket[from police] --- Fine
Cheque --- Bill
Bill --- Money[Dollar]...So u take the cheque from the bearer, and pay him the bill....weird isnt it!!
poooooooommmmm [Honk from a car behind] --- Veetla solltu vantiya - savugraki!!
'Hi'[From a beautiful/gorgeous girl, with a broad smile] --- !!! [means nothing, so guys 'no tension plsss' ;-)]

* - When we stayed in Newyork, i booked a room, for 90$ + taxes. To be on the safer side, i asked the receptionist, what's my final bill[cheque], when i checked-in. She said 'Hundred fifty-eight'. I got really mad, and thought NY is levying too much tax on visitors. On seeing my frowning face, she clarified it saying, 'Hundred dollars and fifty eight cents...Welcome to America'

** - My collegue came to Dallas, and on landing, thought of calling his parents to inform that he reached safely. So he went straight to American and asked.."Where can i find a STD booth?" The american threw a loathed face, and walked away without ansering. :-)

2004-12-04T20:48:00.000-08:00

Susruta
I was getting bored to death, so tuned on my TV for Discovery channel, and it had a program, 'Ancient Plastic surgery'. I usually flip channels every 5 mins(except for 'friends'), but I continued watching this, as the name enticed me. It started in Varnasi, and went on saying that 'Indians were the first to do plastic surgery'...wow thats cool... i sticked to this channel for the next 1hr.

Susruta, is the first known doctor, to peform plastic surgery on living human beings(the later part of the program showed that egypytians performed plastic surgery on mummy's, before Susruta's time), somewhere in 1500BC. He performed the operation, on a princess, who's nose was cut by some bad guy(the villian ;-)). His methods are still being used by doctors of 21st century to perform nose resurrection.

The problem in plastic surgery: When the damaged skin is replaced with the skin from other part of the body, it needs to get blood circulation till the skin sticks to the inner flesh. How did Susruta manage this, in his days.
The method is simple, but ingenious. Peel the skin('V' shape) from ur forehead, and leave the tip still attached to the head, reverse it and place it on the person's nose(and ofcouse, do stiching and other stuffs). The blood circulation is ensured, since the tip of the 'V' shaped skin is still holding on to the person's body. Skin heals within couple of weeks.
This is called rational thinking. :-).Hats-off Susruta..U are really great.

Hey Michel Jackson, you can come over to India, we had mastered the science to make ur nose stick to ur face. :-)

2004-12-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

4th Yeah
I had completed my 4th year in my current company. We were asked to move to the, then new facility, in Sholinganallur, on a rainy day. The IT highway was under construction[if u had read my previous post, u'ld know how bad it w'ld have been then]. On entering the building, i was just spellbounded to see the lobby. 'spellbound' is really an understatement. For a fresher like me(and all those who came with me), it was like a 5* hotel. Since we were the 2nd batch to join that campass, all the work place were in brand new condition. After cherishing all the wealth that had been pumped into these buildings, i went to the conf room, where we were supposed to assemble.
There, I was hunting for some familiar looking face to make friendship, and a hand rested on my shoulder....he said ' U rrrrr from #$%@$# school right' ....'dai machi naan thaanda unnoda schoolmate karthik' ....wow, afterall knowing one person in that 104 batch was something really great...and then things started going very lively. Then slowly, we both expanded our friend's circle, and generously admitted others to join ;-). Finally we posted a number of 10, which includes Aravi, Anil, Siva, Karthik, Arul, Priya, Jeeva, Huma, Guru and me.

This four years of life went with hectic-project-schedule, fight-for-appraisal,fight-for-promotion, fun-at-hotkitchen[restaurant near our office], boozing, onsite, etc.

After four years, we got used to everything....the lobby which left me agasht, is still there to greet freshers, but doesnt get much attention from us. But the friend's circle remains intact, and juvenile even after 4 yrs.

[Just got a bit emotional..nevermind...i'll compensate in my next post ;-)]