tripleR

Re-define Honesty, God, Stupidity

2012-01-20T13:14:00.001+05:30

Re-define "Honesty"

This sweeper lady had found cash of around INR 2.3mn in the AC coach of a train and had handed over it to the Railway Protection Force as a good Samaritan.

Now, my question to her or whoever concerned is why did she return the (entire) money? I would have supported her if she had taken a bundle for herself and returned the remaining. If I would have seen it, I would have taken a bundle as a token of a self-reward / a fine for leaving the the 2.3mn rupees in train.

I am sure if the money was from savings over the years, it would have been in bank and not carried in hand. I sincerely doubt that this money is a part of some illegal transaction. So, a self-reward does not break the honest trait of the individual. Moreover, I think the sweeper is a religious / spiritual person which had made her to return the money honestly.

Hence, I request the so called religious / spiritual gurus, leaders to make an amendment in the respective sections of honesty which would enable people like this lady to live a grand life for a day or two.

Re-define "God"

Its a diamond crown worth around 15mn INR (as reported), donated to Madurai Meenakshi temple. I have not read yet who the donor is. Somehow, few donors do not do their donations publicly. Temples also have this policy of not disclosing the donor names. Why should people donate anonymously or the temple not disclose their names?

Why do they donate to temples in the form of jewels? It stays there in that form for a long time helping none. God is always great even without a single penny in hand. That money can be used for many other purposes for the development of the society.

Rather, if people donate for education it would be better for the society or government should bring the policy that people can donate towards education anonymously.

Why don't all the temples get converted to schools like how it was once upon a time!?

Re-define "Stupidity"

I don't know if I am the only one who feels that this ad is stupid.

Stupid for it says Mt Everest as "Just a pile of stones". I went to their FB page and posted in their wall, to remove the ad from all its appearance - there was a swift response - they removed my wall post.

If I was the copywriter, I would have shown more stupidity by showing the earth under the shoe and say "Ju Ju bi...the world is just a pebble stone".

Images Source: TOI

2011-12-11T18:12:00.000+05:30

December 11, 1882 - September 11, 1921

Today is the birth anniversary of this fearless fiery and the iconoclastic reformer. A great visionary and poet, well versed in 6 Indian and 2 foriegn languages, this soul gives great courage to my soul to look forward and dare the future with hope.

தேடி சோறு நிதம் தின்று – பல

சின்னஞ்சிறு கதைகள் பேசி – மனம்

வாடி துன்பம் மிக உழன்று –பிறர்

வாட பலசெயல்கள் செய்து –நரை

கூடி கிழபருவமெய்தி –கொடுங்

கூற்றுக் கிரையென்ன பின்மாயும் – பல

வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போல் -நான்

வீழ்வெ னென்று நினைத்தாயோ….

Midnight’s Children

2011-10-09T02:32:00.012+05:30

Just a Minute – to clarify – this is not a review post of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children. This is about NCR Gurgaon’s Midnight Children.

23:45 hrs - 2 big shopping malls in the city are full open. People are out as it is only 10 o clock. Even in Mumbai all the shopping malls are closed by 23:00 hrs. I am surprised about the night life in Gurgaon. There is no formal public transport in this city but the night life is in full flow. To my convenience (the universe does conspire to me sometimes) the metro station was just in front of the mall from where I came out after a movie. The metro was open and the business was as usual.

CRPF Jawans were alert on their toes even at that time of the day. During the security checks I was asked where I was heading to, because the last train towards Delhi had left by that time. My business of life, now, is in Gurgaon. So I was let go. The security check in metro station happens like it happens in the Airports, everyday in every DMRC station throughout its business hours. There would be around 8-10 Jawans guarding the area and a squad travels to and fro between stations often. Everyone is armed with either pistols (Google says they are Clock 17.9 mm) or sub-machine guns with 2-3 ‘20 round’ magazines (not books, these are bullets case). Apart from these, in few stations, where crowd turnout would be huge, Jawans are placed for guard duty behind sand bags. They are armed with L1A1 SLRs (Self Loading Rifles). I know SLR as I have handled it during my Senior Division NCC days. As a result, I keep starring the weapons with curiosity and to remember them. At one point I tend to notice the Jawan’s faces. Doing a guard duty behind the sand bag at times is stressful. Civilians look them as some kind of statue in a corner behind a sand bag. It often appears in my thoughts how frustrating it is to stand behind a sand bag for hours and at the same time stay alert noticing each and every movement in the crowd. Particularly, when I see these Jawans during 23:55 hrs, I empathize for them. They definitely need more than what they get now in terms of money or recognition or respect or anything.

I was heading back home after watching the Tamil movie “Ëngeyum Eppothum” meaning “Anywhere Anytime”. Worth the time! It’s produced by Fox Studios and A.R Murugadoss. For those who don’t know Murugadoss, he is the director of “Ghajini”. For those who don’t know about Fox studios, pls Google. “Engeyum Eppothum” is a world class movie, not because it’s from Fox Studios! It’s a world class movie for its narration, cinematography, editing, cast and all the aspects put together. It reminded me of "Babel". Both these movie showcase the fragility of lives. There were few glitches here and there but given the fact that it’s a fresh team and it does make an impact, it’s truly a world class cinema. Real talents have been found and many thanks to Murugadoss for nurturing these talents. A very good movie by Saravanan and team! It is people like Saravanan and the big screen which keeps fueling my desire to become a film maker! This movie director was an assistant to Murugadoss. Murugadoss is an awesome blend of Maniratnam and Shankar. He is the one next in queue who would add more crowns to Indian Cinema in world’s stage. This movie screenplay style seems to be inspired from Manirathnam’s “Ayutha Ezhuthu” / “Yuva”. Or at-least I felt that way! I liked it very much. It had a real clean and innocent humor throughout, except the climax. I wished that it could have been a positive entertainer than the heavy impact it had left. Overall, the audiences liked it. After the movie, I feel like slapping the so called “herosim” oriented movies (Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, AB are exceptions!). That’s why I had removed(for now) the hero ‘look alike’ pic from the blog display as well. I can understand that the term hero 'look alike' could be intolerable! In that case, you can smash e-tomatoes on me “@ramkiram” in Twitter or ramkiram@gmail.com in FB.

Outside the movie hall at 2345 hrs one fellow movie fan made a call to his friend back in the village and said this line “Machaan, do watch the movie tomorrow without fail and if you don’t like the movie, slap me with your slippers!”. This is why I said that audience liked the movie. I was thinking of calling up my friends too but it was so late to call them. The other fellow did not mind the time he was calling his friend who would have been in deep sleep back in the village!

Probably he would have not seen the time while he made the call. When the malls were full on, pretty girls outside the mall and metro station open; it really did not make to realize that it was end of the day! I never thought it would be so lively in Gurgaon! While metro was not a surprise as it’s managed by DMRC, the rates that the auto rickshaws quoted were a surprise; they quoted the same as they would during the day time (their day time rates are exorbitant). Minimum charge is 50rs! I usually bargain with them during day time but not really during night time as the moon vibes us a melancholy mood.

And the subtle mood is not only for me...It’s the same for the auto rickshaw drivers, CRPF Jawans, the fellow movie fan, the pretty girls; people thronging the shopping mall and everyone around the world under the bright moon.

We are the Midnight’s Children.

Singam vs Singham

2011-07-24T13:23:00.014+05:30

Movie making is a tough job. It’s a very serious business done to entertain masses.

I’m young to know what all movies have been remade have been made in Hindi or Tamil or Telugu or any other language! But sure, I have watched very good remakes in Hindi “Ghajini” and “Wanted” recently.

Went to the theatres with a huge expectation for Singham!! Uffff….!

Read the movie to be “inspiring to be a cop”, “a tribute to the cops” and so on. I term them as absolute nonsense.

Singham is a remake from the Tamil hit Singam with Surya in the lead. In no way Hindi version is near to the original. I recommend people see the Tamil version first. DVDs with subtitles are available.

The villain in the hindi version is portrayed as a funny villain in the climax which is completely absurd! It is Prakash Raj who steals the show in the climax shadowing Ajay Devgn. The climax doesn’t support strongly the protagonist.

The hindi version really doesn’t pay a tribute to the cops as I read from few reviews. I don’t know how many movies are there in Bollywood celebrating the cops. In Tamil (my movie knowledge of the past is limited to Tamil alone) most of them knows “Alex Pandian”, “Walter Vetrivel”, “Captain Prabakaran”, “Arichchaamy”, “Anbuselvan IPS”, “Raghavan” and recently “Durai Singam”. They are on screen characters way back from 1980’s but they are engraved as brave, fearless and honest cops in the audience minds.

“Bajirao Singham” doesn’t really do that, particularly during the climax. Prakash Raj steals the show completely out of Ajay Devgn and it’s the same irrespective of the character he plays in any movie. In a row, he plays a same character in Hindi; Wanted, BHTP and now Singham. It makes Bajirao Singham look like a “Golmaal” police.

Rohit Shetty has got it wrong big time. In the name of improvisation with the script, he has taken out the key elements of the script which showcases the villain’s menace, the seriousness involved in it and also highlighting cop’s mightiness. Just having few half baked action stunts will not really mean it’s an action movie. It’s also along with the script. Haven’t bollywood audiences watched “Wanted” or “Dabanng” or “Ghajini”!!

I had to watch all the tamil hits “Kaakha Kaakha”, “Saamy”, “Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu” and the original “Singam” in return of watching hindi Singham and to keep the cop spirit burning. Rohit Shetty has done it nowhere near to the original.

Tamil director Hari has never been a celebrity director. He has given flops as well but the cops’ movie he has made has certainly improved in terms of overall entertainment. Watching hindi “Singham” made me note this point. Thanks to Rohit Shetty for this.

On top of all these I read comments that it makes feels proud to be a Marathi seeing Singham. It really doesn’t!! People should watch “Mi Shivaji Raje Bhosale Boltoy” to feel proud as a Marathi.

An experience director like Rohit Shetty should have got it right!! The movie stills itself essays which is better. Ajay Devgn better turn down south if he aspires to be an action hero.

My reaction is that of Surya's on watching"Singham" and on Rohit Shetty.

Being Single

2011-06-18T14:02:00.006+05:30

I don’t understand the fuss around here. Almost everyone in my group is married and the very first question when they call me is “When is your turn…!” as if it’s a bungee jumping thing.

In a way from what I hear and see I correlate marriage & bungee jumping and I found two things common in between both

Both are expensive affairs

Both start with an adrenaline rush

Both have good safety precautions, but still it’s a pure probability that they will work ;)

Irrespective of the physical strength you possess, if the cord holds you tight you enjoy the show, or else.... darrr keestha yaha

The same here too...Irrespective of any amazing, marvelous, stupendous marriage material, it’s a probability.

Coming to the micro things, I don’t understand why there are people around me pushing for a marriage!! Yeah, I feel bored and lonely as my friends group are married and going to be married.But, it should not be a reason for a ransom! Science puts it as “be better on the other side”. It’s always a matter between the mind and heart. ‘How can a heart think…’ kept arguing a “once upon a time friend” of mine! Now that friend is married. So stopped thinking about it and does not argue also.

On top of all these is, none of the _______ guys who were around me are now married are not even picking my call to talk. While they return the call, the prominent thing in the conversation would be about me getting married. I seriously doubt that they are pushing me as they are jealous of me being single. (Few admit it too…they want revenge on me)

The group has shrunken a lot and divided as “married” and “still bachelors”. Nowadays I call only the ones in my group. The reason given by the married fellas is that they are very busy with other things in life – booking vacations, booking tickets for in-laws, attending in-laws family functions, feeding child and so on (the list goes on). They all sound alarming for me although I like being around with people. And at times I feel that I have to snap ties with the married fellas. They incept many things in my primitive mind. இதுக்குத்தான் கல்யாணம் ஆன பசங்களோட சேராதன்னு எங்க அம்மா அப்போவே சொன்னாங்க...!

The major push for marriage is of course from parents and the beloved relatives. Indian family attitude is a masterpiece! Sometimes, the conversations from friends and family happen together. And that’s the time I feel to press the eject button and go on a long solo ride with my mean machine. Pity me; the machine is still not realized…! So I am kind of cornered to listen to them as of now and I stop hard to make a thought about future.

The words “think”, “plan”, “responsibility” associated very closely with the opposite of the bachelor life appear to me like greek, latin and a kind of Spartacus fight.

One serious thing is that the “married” tag is a kind of social status and bachelors are like an endangered group by the once upon a time ‘single’ statuses!!! If you reading this, and by any chance have that kind of thought in your mind, rethink for a while.

It’s said, a lion in its forest hunts best when it is single. Being single relates very much to that:meaning - living life to the fullest (not hunting many) and I see that it cannot last long for me :'(

However, singam is single now.

A Question to you

2011-04-27T10:31:00.001+05:30

After a stressful day, having a sleepless night, u wake up early in the morning n resolve to yourself that this day is going to be great n start early..And while walking down in an upbeat mood feeling the morning bliss, suddenly a short guy in saffron dressings appears b4 u with a snake in hand...He chants something n the snake wakes up seeing you..With little fear in mind you try to ignore him but he blocks you. He continues chanting, lifts n moves the snake towards your face..u feel to run away but cannot..After a minute somehow u gather courage, confront him n move ahead...

You walk forward with a mixed sense of fear n relief.He shouts something...A few yards away from him, u r stopped by a big guy with a bigger snake...Your phone rings, u pick up and hear this "hey buddy cool...how you are? How’s Delhi treating you?? Rocking...!?"
What will your answer be at that moment..?

Crazy People

2011-01-05T21:41:00.001+05:30

Rewind: 15 years back

I studied in a government school. The classes were under thatched roofs (proper buildings now) and it was a common wall which separated two different classes. If three of us would bang the wall once it would fall down completely. Such was its strength. One side of the wall polished and painted in black served as black board. The other two sides of the class would be open. Natural light, natural air…! My class was near the small play ground and all the time all my vision used to be in the ground on other students coming for the PT classes. At any given point of time, the small ground will be occupied from morning to evening with some or the other class students. This school has a different concept of co-education. The school was only co education, not the classes. The class would either be full of girls or full of boys. And the small ground is meant for girls to play coco, rings, badminton etc…That way having the class near the small ground I have almost seen the entire population of girls in our school. Not only me, everyone in my class except the first two rows! These girls are of the kind that when out of school we spot them in public places like railway station, bus stands, tuition centers and say a hello; they don’t respond to us. We were aliens…! For them, the natives were matriculation school boys. They were considered brilliant. Holy cows, there were people from matric schools for whom I have taught mathematics and computers!!

During school days, the uniform would differentiate who is from which school! And holidays were the only respite for us that we could go around in color dresses. Everyone would be in colour dresses. But, our competitors in matriculation schools were so intelligent that they go around with their ID cards in public places. And that’s the height of craziness, show off…seeking priority in everything! In a way the society paved the way for this. The school’s association had an effect on us. Government schools are considered third grade…! So naturally the matriculation guys would want to distinguish themselves to take advantage on everything.

Playback Now:

My office is located in the IT capital of India – Electronics City, Bangalore. All the top named Indian IT companies are around my office campus. There are few crazy employees. I call them crazy as they are always seen around with the ID cards tagged in their neck. In tea shops, road side chat shops, hotels, public bus stands and everywhere. As per my understanding, the ID card is purely for official purposes and a proof of the organization’s association with the employee.

This is a very common scene in the airports, especially Bangalore. When the check in or the security clearance seems like delaying their boarding, the very next step is they tag their ID around so that they would get some priority. Fair enough. Understood the situation…!

Once I was in the city railway station and I saw a guy and a girl with their ID cards displayed. I was amazed on why they had to wear it in a railway station. The time was 11PM then! Fine… Okay…

Once, it was early morning 4AM. The train had just arrived in Tiruchirapalli railway station, south TamilNadu. There was a girl alighting from the train sporting her company ID around her neck. What the heck!!! Why during early morning 4AM!!!?

Once in Tiruvalla and Chengannur railway stations in Kerala, once in Koyambedu bus stand, Chennai in the night. And the recent one is when I was travelling back after the holiday season. It was Sunday night 11:30 PM. This guy was not even wearing the ID around his neck! In one hand he had his luggage and in the other hand he held his ID by showing his organization’s identity. I was thinking if any preference or tie ups is present between the bus and the organization. At that time in the night, returning back from holidays, why is that he had to display it to all the passengers. It’s a good and popular and trendy organization he works for. But why does he want to show off at that time and place. He was walking inside the bus to and fro 2-3 times. I felt it as the height of craziness! The best part was all the passengers did not even bother to notice him. I, to show my hate toward that attitude just pulled on the blankets covering my face while he was near my aisle seat.

All these people were from that one particular set of companies. The glorified ones in India…! Not all…!

When I tell these to my colleagues they tell more and more of the same kind. Absolutely insane stuff! I could only relate these to what I had experienced in school. Getting a feel that people don’t grow really!

Seeing all this, I make sure as soon as I make the last swipe in office I remove and put my card inside the bag. I just want to be myself. When out of organization I am one among the one billion in the nation. The common man! And I would like to remain the same. I don’t want to be associated as a person who holds some position in some company. I don’t see anything to do with the associations around me. I want to know if this is some kind of phobia..! I don’t understand this behavior. Is this the way an individual is valued…!!!

Next time I am going to ask someone why the %$#& is that they wear the ID all the time! I doubt whether they will wear their marriage rings / mangalsutras like this! Crazy people…

Just be yourself guys...

2010-12-24T19:09:00.007+05:30

வெகு நாட்களாக இந்த தளத்தில் தமிழ் எழுத்துகளை பார்க்க வேண்டும் என போலவே இருந்தது. அது தான் இந்த தமிழ் பதிப்பு. இது நான் தமிழில் எழுதும் (தட்டும்) இரண்டாவது பதிப்பு. முதலாவது பெரும் சர்ச்சைக்குள்ளாகியது. இப்பொழுது எந்த எண்ணமும் இல்லாமல் தட்ட தொடங்கி விட்டேன்.

திடீரென்ற இந்த தமிழ் பற்று எனக்குள் மீண்டும் வருவதற்கு காரணம் பல விஷயங்கள், சில மனிதர்கள். எப்போதும் எனக்குள் இருக்கும் அந்த தமிழ் பற்றுக்கு காரணம் மூவர். முதல் நபர் இறந்தும் இறக்காமல் இருக்கும் மகாகவி சுப்ரமணிய பாரதி, இரண்டாவது, என்றும் இளமையாக இருக்கும் கவிஞர் வாலி. மூன்றாவது, எப்பொழுதும் புதிதாக முயற்சி எடுக்கும் கலைஞானி கமல்ஹாசன். கமலின் புதிய கவிதை ஒன்றே இந்த பதிப்பிற்கு தூண்டுதல் என்றால், அதில் ஆச்சிரியம் இல்லை.

ராவணனின் பத்து தலைகளும் பத்து விதமாக யோசிப்பது போல என் ஒரு தலை ஒரே நேரத்தில் யோசிக்கிறது. சில நேரங்களில் ராகங்கள் கூட பாடுகின்றன. ஒரு தலை ராகம்...! ராகம் உண்டாகும் பொழுதினிலும் கர்நாடகத்தில் தொடங்கி,ஹிந்துஸ்தானி மற்றும் மேல்நாட்டு மெட்டுகளுக்கு செல்கிறது. மண்டைக்குள் ஒரு ஜுகல் பந்தியே நடக்கிறது!

Nelly Furtado (Furtado என்று தமிழில் தட்டினால் கிட்ட தட்ட பரோட்டா என்று காட்டுகிறது Google Transliteration), Katy Perry போன்ற பெண்மணிகள் பட்டை கிளப்புகின்றனர். ஒரு பெண்ணின் ஆழ் மனதில் இருக்கும் உணர்சிகளை இப்பெண்மணிகள் பாடுகின்றனர். நமது கமல்ஹாசனும் அதையே பாடுகிறார்.

கலவி செய்கையில் காதில் பேசி

கனிவாய் மெலிதாய் கழுதை கவ்வும்

வெள்ளை பளிச்சிடும் பற்கள் வேண்டும்

குழந்தை வாயை முகர்வது போல

கடும் நாற்றமில்லாத வாயும் வேண்டும்

காம கழிவுகள் கழுவும் வேளையில்

கூட நின்றவன் உதவிட வேண்டும்

சமையலின் போதும் உதவிட வேண்டும்

சாய்ந்து நெகிழ்ந்திட திண்தோள் வேண்டும்

மோதி கோபம் தீர்க்க வசதியாய்

பாறை பதத்தில் நெஞ்சும் வேண்டும்

அதற்கு பின்னால் துடிக்கும் இதயமும்

அது இரத்தம் பாய்ச்சி நெகுழ்திய சிந்தையும்

மூளை மடிப்புகள் அதிகம் உள்ள

மேதாவிலாச மண்டையும் வேண்டும்

வங்கியில் இருப்பு வீட்டில் கருப்பென

வழங்கி புழங்கிட பணமும் வேண்டும்

நேர்மை வேண்டும் பக்தியும் வேண்டும்

எனக்கென சுதந்திரம் கேட்கும் வேளையில்

பகுத்தறிகின்ற புத்தியும் வேண்டும்

இந்த தமிழ் எனக்கு பிடித்திருக்கிறது...!ஒரு பெண் எழுதியது போலவே இருக்கின்றது இந்த கவிதை! எப்படி ஒரு பெண்ணாக இருந்து யோசித்திருப்பார் என்று யோசித்ததுண்டு. அந்த நேரத்தில் தான் ஒரு பழைய ஞாபகம் நினைவிற்கு வந்தது....

(ஆங்கிலத்தில் தொடறலாம் என நினைகின்றேன். எனக்கே இது கொஞ்சம் அதிகமாக தெரிகிறது... உங்கள பாத்தா எனக்கு பாவமா இருக்கு...)

While reading Kamal's lyrics I got reminded about Paulo Coelho's book Eleven Minutes. Its a novel on how Maria becomes a sex worker. Almost the entire book narrates the rumblings in Maria's mind. "I’m the one who should feel ashamed for being unable to arouse them, but, no, they always blame themselves" writes the author on behalf of Maria. Do read the book.

Here both the writers have written on the same plane. Feminism. When a female writes the same way either the book is banned or the writer is issued a fatwa! On the other hand, men have been better in expressing the feminism thinking inside them. And it doesnt mean they think like a lady.

There is this "Man" thing attached to men all the time. For ex: when women cry it is considered they are innocent and a man cries its considered he is weak, immature. Crying is a natural feeling of expressing depression without words. What is it to do with a male / female thing...! (The best is how girls perceive it...when you /me cry its that we are those weak poor individuals and they get moved when Shahrukh / Salman cries on screen...they are considered Macho)

This crying thing is just an example. A man is put an artificial pressure for the whole life surrounded the "act like a male" tag. Tony Porter explores this with reference to his own life. He shows how this mentality drummed into so many men and boys can lead to disrespect, mistreat, abuse women and each other. And his solution to this is break free the "man box". Check out what he has explored. Video Courtesy: TED

Just be yourself guys... When you feel to hit, hit it hard.

random thoughts

2010-08-25T18:01:00.001+05:30

Krinav, Maya, Pranav, Aishwarya, Shivani are all my new friends. They are the ones who are going to represent the next generation. The GenX…!

It’s raining everyday in Chennai. The whole city is wet. This is the time supposed to be hot. Super Hot…! While I enjoy the rains I also think this is a result of climate change…! Delhi is also in the same condition.

Two very much important things in life: Food and sleep. We should never miss timelines for these both.

Sometimes, research kills. Few say drinking water is good for health and on the other side there is a report which says drinking too much of water has made a girl’s eye blind. So how much is this too much??

Indian cinema industry should try shooting action scenes and song sequences in 3D. they will definitely will attract audiences…!

Somehow I don’t like the IT industry although it gives me the money for the bread and butter every month! It drives everything around. It has taken away our lifestyle in the name of “opening up new avenues”

While I am geared up with my raincoat, the sun shines. When I am not, it pours heavy straight on my head. The _uck thing _ucks…!

Internet has on the other side created too much of problems. One of my friend, who is pregnant 2 months old was actually roughly said by her doctor,” Come to me if you will listen what I say or if you are the one who consults the Internet, then I am not the right person”. This doctor is a well experienced lady. Problem is with internet where there are too many opinions from every tom, dick and harry.

Dreams should become reality and reality should not fade like Dreams

What next?

Imagination

2010-08-20T13:50:00.001+05:30

used to follow and Jikku’s blog long back. Imagination has no bounds and I think this is a wonderful way of doing it.

She had a series of posts in the title “I ask, you write”. She asks a question and the answers are written by the readers in their own imagination. A sample from that which I like the most…

Question 1: What happened when young Padmavathi was drawing water from the well to wash her clothes, early one Margazhi morning?

And the imaginations spread its wings as follows…This is the one which I enjoyed the most.

One morning when Padmavathi was drawing water from the well, she found Pettai Rowdy # 1 Govindarajulu inside the bucket! She dropped it at once and Govindarajulu went down and down and hit the bottom of the well with a “Nung” sound. His upper and lower teeth fused together and since then he has been fed intravenously. Pettai Rowdy # 2, Ragothaman Iyengar, who suggested this to Govindarajulu, now rules the roost.

After marrying Padmavathi, he is inviting all of you to a water drawing ceremony at the new well they dug in their house.

Imagination aka Fiction aka Dreams all fall in the same genre. It can be said that I am inspired to write fiction from this also. Even after 4 years I was able to remember and find the site and the post in the first attempt. Such was the post!

FWD:

2010-08-20T12:07:00.004+05:30

Few fwd: jokes for the fast forward life...Enjoy...

Two men went into a diner and sat down at the counter. They ordered two sodas, took sandwiches out of their packs and started to eat them. The owner saw what was going on and approached the men. "You can't eat your own sandwiches in here," he complained. The two men stopped, looked at each other, and then swapped their sandwiches.
The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, "Take only one, God is watching." Moving through the line, to the other end of the table, was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. One of the boys wrote a note, "Take all you want, God is watching the apples."
Psychiatric Hotline If you are obsessive-compulsive, please press 1 repeatedly. If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2. If you have multiple personalities, please press 3, 4, 5, and 6. If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line so we can trace the call. If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press. If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press. No one will answer.
The manager of a large office noticed a new man one day and told him to come into his office. "What is your name? "" Was the first thing the manager asked the new guy. ""John,"" the new guy replied. The manager scowled, ""Look, I don't know what kind of a mamby-pamby place you worked at before, but I don't call anyone by their first name! It breeds familiarity and that leads to a breakdown in authority. I refer to my employees by their last name only -- Smith, Jones, Baker -- that's all. I am to be referred to only as Mr. Robertson. Now that we got that straight, what is your last name? ""The new guy sighed and said, ""Darling. My name is John Darling. "" ""Okay, John, the next thing I want to tell you is... ""
A newsboy was standing on the corner with a stack of papers, yelling, "Read all about it. Fifty people swindled! Fifty people swindled! " Curious, a man walked over, bought a paper, and checked the front page. Finding nothing, the man said, "There's nothing in here about fifty people being swindled. " The newsboy ignored him and went on, calling out, "Read all about it. Fifty-one people swindled! "

HunDreams

2010-08-18T16:04:00.001+05:30

Inception is an intelligent movie which never lost the pace throughout. The story line is easily predictable given the point that thousands of reviews are written about even before it is released. Usually, I look more on the technical aspects of any movie. Inception made me concentrate more on the script.

And this movie has incepted an idea in me. We never remember the dreams we had while in our sleep. What if we remember!? Sometimes while a dream is on, I know that I am in a dream. Intriguing..!

My new blog “Dreams Unlimited” attempts to capture few of those. The ones we dream while sleeping and also while awake. It is difficult to remember dreams everyday! The fact we attempt to remember it, fades it or we never dream too. And also we cannot re member all the parts of the dream! Hence, with the hollywood, bollywood, kollywood, tollywood, mollywood and sandalwood masala mixed together here is my new blog “Dreams Unlimited” addressed as http://hundreams.blogspot.com

HunDreams can be taken as Hundred Dreams or even Hunting Dreams. Whatever, almost everything will be fictitious written for a good read. No copyrights and every one of you are welcome to incept their idea in me so that I can write them about. Actually, our dreams are not ours alone. We are not ourselves too. So generosity helps… hee hee…

http://hundreams.blogspot.com

Enjoy your time.

It’s a clueless life

2010-08-02T17:36:00.001+05:30

No one said life is easy. But why has it to be tough?

Right from birth to death, an individual has various kinds of needs which never end. Looking back from this day, we can never believe ourselves on how many days have passed by! What have we achieved, how much satisfaction in mind, how many people are around us when we really need them!!??

Change is the only permanent thing in this world. Everything else keeps on changing. If we love something today and it’s going to change tomorrow, then why do we put our heart and soul into it knowing about the change? Relationships are most crucial in our lives which makes the difference and alas…, these relationships are the worst affected. I don’t have all those so called “best” friends with me. A kid recently asked me “Who is your best friend?” I couldn’t answer. Probably I don’t know how to categorize. Or be it love or a relationship with mom, dad or brothers or relatives! Everything changes. The equation in relationships keeps changing and it takes a toll on people’s lives.

There are so many one liners to inspire and motivate. But reality is far different that they don’t last more than a day. Most of them are silly! I myself keep saying “Everything happens for the best” and now I had given up it on myself. All those one liners evolve from a feel of loss or while our lives are on a high. Otherwise this truly has nothing to do with our daily lives more than that minute we read it.

In a way, we live an imaginary life by perceiving and fooling ourselves that everything will pass on. When we get over one loss, the next comes in a different form and the chain is intact till the last day of our lives. It’s full of compromises on our own personality. We really aren’t ourselves. We don’t have an originality of our own. We see, hear, perceive from those and incept ourselves into a world of prejudices and live in the name of “living to the fullest”.

I don’t understand it. Or probably I don’t know to live or I knew or I have become dumb or probably this has become my nature. Every time you put your best to move on, there is something to make sure you are brought down and stamped! And one fine day, you are dead. What have we done in the past years, what are we going to do, what is that we have accomplished till now and for what??

Study, earn, get married, raise kids, retire, die..! During all these phases of life, what is permanent and lasts from day one to last? Parents? Siblings? Kids? Friends? our Love, Interests, Passion? Materials? Nothing of this stays with us. Then what is life, what and where is the reason to live? Or to make my dumb head understand, what is this “living” mean?? I am sure that in future, I shall regret a lot about today and not to be unusual, that day I shall put myself under this clueless cloud of “this is how life is and we got to embrace it” and carry on. And today I just close all my senses and make a living with what I get.

Let some light fall on my dumbness to life and let me write an inspiring post which shall last for a day or two.

കേരളം - கேரளம் - Keralam

2010-07-27T15:32:00.005+05:30

When Madras got changed to Chennai, I neither supported nor was opposed to it, but I continued to use the name Madras wherever I could. Even now in some conversations I use the name Madras. It gives a sense of nostalgia of the city. Same with Bombay and Calcutta!

Now, it’s the turn of a state to get it renamed. Kerala to “Keralam”! I am in full support of this name change. Kerala is also good but “Keralam” is too good. I am not a Malayalee but Malayalam is a language which I like most after my mother tongue Tamil. Kerala, the state, its people, and the language connect with nature and there is something the way they speak which represents the rich culture and the evergreen nature of the state. The name “Keralam” sounds closer to it than Kerala.

Read somewhere that a Kerala Travel Association official had spoken against this name change as this will not attract tourists. And another reason he states against the name change is that tourists are finding it difficult to pronounce the new names. He had cited Trivandrum changed to “Thiruvananthapuram”. To me Thiruvananthapuram sounds beautiful.

My question to him would be how easy for him is to pronounce “Braunschweig”, “Kaiserslautern” and other European city names!? It’s not the tourists who build a place and preserve the culture right!?

Altogether, both my thumbs up for Kerala getting its new beautiful name “Keralam”. Wish I could have known to write this post in Malayalam.

I-T

2010-07-23T18:29:00.002+05:30

Wonderful! This is the 5th consecutive year I file my tax returns and 4th consecutive year I do it online. It was when I learnt about filing online I came to know about the tax policies and other few stuff related to it. Till that I was a complete zero in it.

Now people ask me how to do it and I too keep telling and teaching people on how to file online. This year I have supported 3 people to do it online :)

The best thing in that is we know our stuff. Most of us are salaried people and that makes it simple to file the returns. The major portion of it is filling up the ITR-1 and the Form 16 is exactly the replica of it. Moreover, if returns are filed online, the refunds get processed quickly. I have got mine! I am not just writing it, have really got it. What else do I need to support this utility by GOI! It’s a wonderful site on the e-governance intitiatives.

Sorry...wrong number...

2010-07-16T12:23:00.005+05:30

Sometimes a stupidity turns to be funny and vice versa too.

Being in Mumbai and wanting to get my return ticket booked, I called up a colleague sitting in Bangalore to get the travel desk contact number. Dialing the number, a girl picked up. I started telling my requirements. There was a pause on the other side and I heard “wrong number”. And she hung the call.

I checked the number I had dialed. It was right! Telling my colleague about this he felt strange. He is a frequent traveler and dials the number to the travel desk every time! I thought probably the team would have shifted to a new building and tried a possible new number. No response! I again dialed the first number and it was the same hello. This time I responded “Travel Desk…?”

She: No, sorry. This is not travel desk!
Me: Sorry

And I hung the call. My colleague tried the same number and he got through and asked me to try again. I felt hesitating. I had to return another call to Bangalore office and thought I will make this call and then dial the travel desk again. Dialed and the response was “The number doesn’t exist…” I thought something wrong with making calls to my Bangalore office.

I had to call the travel desk. Had no option to book my tickets! Tried again! Same girl, same hello… This time I started asking for a specific name in the travel desk.

She: No, there is no one by that name here…
Me: That’s travel desk right..!
She: No, this is not.
Me: Which place is this..! This is our office travel desk number
She: No, this is residence and I am Sneha
Me: Sneha, sorry but this is the number of my travel desk and all my colleagues use this only.
She: Oh! I am sorry but this is my residence number for a long time
Me: Okay..! Sorry for the disturbance…Hopefully I won’t call to hear you again…
She: It’s okay. Don’t feel sorry. And even if you are dialing again here, you will hear my granny’s voice and not mine as I am leaving out now
Me: Oh..! then I guess I wont be dialing again for sure
She: [Laughs]
Me: [laughs here too] anyways, I am sorry and… you have a nice voice.
She: thank you…

“Bye”, “Bye”. Call ended. For the next few minutes I did not remember anything like I have to get my return tickets or anything of that sort.

My colleague friend called up and asked me whether I got through or not. It was like waking me up from sleep. “No” was my answer. He then tried to call the travel desk and got the correct line. He then had set up a conference call. I conveyed my requirements and requested the helpdesk people to call me by themselves. Ticket got booked.

Few hours passed by and suddenly something flashed in my mind which was very funny. {My colleague gave me the Bangalore help desk number. I am in Mumbai and it means if I am dialing Bangalore, I had to prefix the STD code} I had dialed the number without the STD code and my calls have landed to Sneha’s residence in Mumbai all the three times and when I asked which place was that, she did not tell me the locality! It was just funny that I dialed a number without a STD code and it landed in a different city.

I thought I should share it with Sneha and called her again with full intention. With a 2 second response came out a voice.

“Helloooooo…”

It was her granny. I hung the call myself saying “Sorry…wrong number...!”

Scenu…

2010-07-14T05:16:00.003+05:30

I am a local fellow.

A local fellow that I take road side snacks daily and choose the public transport rather than auto rickshaws or taxis or my own car. Local in the sense I always prefer to mingle with the common man around me which makes me common too.

I am sitting in the Bangalore International Airport as I write this. This local thing in me has made me write this. Usually when you travel by public transport, say the bus, you board and then the conductor gives you the ticket. Way back to home yesterday I travelled by office bus. So, no tickets! My boss called me that time and said please travel tomorrow. Well, it’s an air travel. I chose the public carrier. Air India! As it was a last minute call, I completely missed to pick my ticket and landed here in the Airport early morning. Going to the airline counter and asking for a print out, the officials indicated that I don’t have the correct PNR number. LOL! I did not feel any jerk or bad for it. Because it was booked by my office! Loss is for them if I don’t travel. After effects from boss will be a different story altogether!

Had to do something to get the tickets! There was a passenger behind me in the queue. (2 too make a queue) It was a girl. Looked available! With no hesitation, just like the white collar guys I took out my laptop to access my mail. After logging in only I realized that I don’t have any net access or data card to check my mail. I had never been given a data card in office. I can use the internet only if I plug that blue or yellow wire in the laptop. Then how and why did I take it out!!! Girl effect…! Girls somehow have some magic in them. In Tamil they call it as “Bandha” or locally it is referred as “Scenu”

Time was running. She quoted her PNR correctly. I acted doing something in the laptop. Battery low! Then wi-fi option came to mind and checking out, it was blocked as a security measure by my office. Too much things by my office! May be because we manage this Airport’s operations! But I know the administrator thing in my laptop. I had done some fraud sometime back to have it and now it helps. A 15 min free internet access was on the way by the time the official in the counter popped up asking for a photo identity of mine. Nothing to wonder he wanted to check my identity! Early in the morning standing before the counter without the ticket quoting a wrong PNR!! I thought this is going to be yet another drama. But not!

Good day to start with, the official searched the records for my reservation and gave me the print out. The girl too got hers. Getting in, she was following me to the check in counter and I have followed her to the café and sitting here just next to her table seeing her, typing this. Darjeeling black tea…4 sugar cubes…laptop open with a formal look in my face... She should be thinking I am some high profile busy guy. Scenu… Or even she would know the real truth too. Whatever, time to board now. She is up to the gate…

Tsamina mina eh eh, Waka Waka eh eh

2010-07-12T15:45:00.003+05:30

To create your own cartoon like this please visit the Disney UK site. It allows you to create your own screen with Disney characters. Mine is as above with my favourite characters.

Corporate Social Responsibility

2010-07-09T00:54:00.003+05:30

6 years back, I as a management graduate with my team was in a seminar organized by the IT department of Government of Tamilnadu. The seminar had the CEOs of the biggest BPO companies in Tamilnadu. BPO was at its peak at that time employing fresh graduates with hefty salaries. They were talking on the skill set that a fresher candidate should possess if wanting to be employed in BPO industry. I wondered and started to think why for a back office job a fresh graduate is required! There is no work for the brain there and no skill set is required except language for which the companies were anyways training the candidates. Employing fresh graduates for BPO is actually a way of restricting their thinking. I called BPO as Brain Paralyzing Outfits. My team members did not accept my thought. They defended it gives a fresh graduate an exposure and also made them confident and independent. It was actually the money paid which make the young graduates go for BPO jobs. Then, I started to make a plan which will enable the candidates to work as well pursue their higher education. It was basically a shift system which will benefit the society on the larger scale and also meet organizational goals.

Yet, a thought was there in my mind on why for a BPO job a fresh graduate is required. Why cant physically challenged people struggling for a life, be employed for those jobs or why not single senior citizens be given an opportunity rather than making the young graduates restrict themselves. I strongly felt there is no learning or thinking nature in BPO and it’s a danger in the future when these organizations grow big employing all the fresh graduates out of college. I used to keep discussing things like this with one or the other. After a while, all these passionate thinking passed away just like several others.

Today, I got this invitation.

It makes me feel good that the Government is acting on it. It’s a PPP model. Samarthanam Shrishti will be an unique BPO/Call Centre Training Unit for the Disabled at Peenya. This initiative is first of its kind in India along with a similar setup at Hubli started recently. This project would train 300 physically challenged youth across the state of Karnataka. This is a first step and hope the corporate too will support this and it’s where the real corporate social responsibility lies.

Yeh jo desh hai mera...

2010-07-08T14:04:00.002+05:30

"Becoming an entrepreneur was an evolutionary process. I had a good life in America. I did not face any problems there, but I always had the feeling that I must do something for our villages. I do not feel I have made any sacrifice. Today, there is hardly anything I do other than work. It gives me the satisfaction no job can ever give."

For full story please read on http://bit.ly/dyEX0a

Akkare Akkare Akkare

2010-07-07T14:36:00.004+05:30

Wow! Good that it happened for me to watch this movie. It’s a Malayalam flick. Almost every Malayalee would know this movie. I am not from Kerala but still I enjoy watching Malayalam movies for the simplicity and substance in it.

Sreenivasan is considered as the best script writer in India. I have seen two of his movies: “Katha Parayumpol” (Kuselan in Tamil and Billu in Hindi) and “Udayananu tharam” (Vellithirai in Tamil). The remakes did not do well in the box offices. They lacked the life of the movie including the location and ambience. That way, Malayalam movies are unique. The Malayalam originals showcased the stunning performances of Sreenivasan and Mohanlal. Both the actors have a great rapport on screen on whatever theme it is.

Way back to 1990, these two actors have done this movie Akkare Akkare Akkare. A complete laugh riot from the first scene to last, I think this should be the funniest movie made. There were traces of something which was very easy to relate. And it was the director Priyadarshan. No eye rubbing sentiments and no slapstick comedy in this picture. Pure hilarity in every scene with every character along with a neat script has made the movie too good. It’s a story of 2 CID officers from India sent to America to find a priceless golden crown which had got stolen. The plot is both the CID officers are clueless and lost when they land in America and that’s where the fun starts. “Saathanam Undallo….!”

I read this movie is preceded by “Nadodikkattu” and “Pattanapravesham” but this is the funniest one among the three. For non-Malayalees I am not aware, but all people who can understand Tamil would surely get along with the language and dialogues in the movie. For few scenes I was laughing out loud! Now, this movie is a classic in my list no matter how it has been to the world. Altogether the time spent was wonderful. Watch it without thinking twice. You will enjoy.

Its all in the Game

2010-07-06T16:32:00.014+05:30

There are three things in the world which take over almost every human in the universe. 1. The alcohol “kick”; 2. The nicotine “kick” and 3. The football kick..! A survey during last world cup revealed that football is on top of sex and mother for males. When the ball is taken near the goal post and gets passed in between the players for a goal, my excitement level shoots up irrespective of which team is playing. And if it is the team plays, I forget the surroundings.

This world cup, I have been making huge noises never minding the neighbor, texting people on the fly during the match in midnight and bunking office hours. I have been supporting Maradona’s team and I felt very bad for they lost to Germany. I have never ever felt like this for India losing to Pakistan in a cricket match. Germans were outstanding in the tournament. Greece and Ghana had played a wonderful game as well.

Argentina may not have a good defense on field but off the field the players have a tremendous defense and it’s from their coach himself and more than that the people of Argentina. The fact that thousands of people gathered to give a supporting welcome backing their team from South Africa is definitely something precious. While Maradona’s position as coach is questioned after the team’s exit, their people were seen holding signs such as “Diego 2014” say it all.

There may be thousands of controversies around. But, no matter what, Maradona is my favorite player. If there was a crowd to watch the match, there was a crowd to watch the legendary player too in the field. Wish I could be designated as the photographer to shoot him during the match. It was pure entertainment to watch his love for football and I did share his emotions while the team lost.

After the famous Hand of God goal in 1986 Maradona said, "I was waiting for my teammates to embrace me, and no one came... I told them, “Come hug me, or the referee isn't going to allow it." Hand of God got its name from this line of the player - "a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God". The frustrated England team manager stated it as “Hand of a Rascal” during the press report.

Short in height, he moves like a snake in the field. The videos on the internet will tell you about the legend better than my words. Actually, people who are short are fast in the field. It was that short guy Bala Murugan who had coached me. Very few of my friends reading this will believe that I play football.

And Maradona is a reason that I am back to follow football after a long gap. It was a football match I played which shattered a dream of mine 8 years back. Since then I had stopped playing and following the game. But when I came to know Maradona becoming the coach of the team I couldn’t stop myself getting into the game again. Argentina may have lost the word cup but they haven’t lost the game. They have certainly played a beautiful game far better than other teams and I am looking out for a Argentine jersey.

This is not just a game. Its a religion and you dont have to be a religious leader to reach heaven. Following it itself takes you there.

Do you know Osama Bin Laden is a hard football fan?? Goooogle to believe it or not and find which team he supported... :)

The Majestic

2010-07-05T02:58:00.006+05:30

This temple tower holds the cultural history of Tamil Nadu. Its a rich visual treat for everyone visiting this historic temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. I am glad I shot this pic and sure shot this one will be a treasure pic for me. You could download it and zoom in to have a look on the architecture and carvings.

Will Mr. Coelho answer me??

2010-06-29T17:47:00.006+05:30

I get Mr. Paulo Coelho's messages everyday in my mobile...! Yeah its the author of the famous book The Alchemist. I am not kidding here.

Today, his message was "Work cures everything..."

My question to him is "What if there is no work to do?"

I am not against his words, but really want to find out how does it work.

Will Mr. Coelho answer me??

What to name this beauty??

2010-06-29T17:02:00.003+05:30

These are 22 day old cubs at the Vandalur Zoo in Chennai.

The Ecosystem (read if you care)

2010-06-22T12:28:00.013+05:30

Connecting with the earth makes us come alive with the vitality; loss of such connectivity makes us anemic physically, mentally and morally.

We, in the name of modern lives are actually disconnecting the loop in the natural ecosystem in the name of scientific innovations. The biggest sufferer in this is our mother nature and very less people are aware that it’s going to hit back - if not us, our children. A very tiny thing we do towards protecting our soil makes a huge impact.

I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Srinivasan, popularly known as Vellore Srinivasan. This man is working on waste management for over 2 decades. Most of us living in Chennai would know the vehicle with red and green colour coming to our homes to collect the waste twice a day. Very few of us know what happens to that waste once it’s taken from us.

Mostly the wastes collected from households are not segregated (bio-degradable and non bio-degradable mixed) and are filled in landfill sites. In Chennai it is Pallikaranai and there is a place like that in every city. Since they all are mixed up they don’t decay in the earth and pose a threat to the environment. Rather if they are treated well in our home right away, the waste becomes a resource. It’s not a huge task to treat waste as it seems to be. I am sharing what I know and learned over the days. This can be modified anyways for improvisation or anything wrong in the process is welcome to be notified.

The maximum of waste from our households is kitchen waste – vegetarian and non vegetarian. Treating this reduces 70% of the task. When I say “treating” it’s not a huge process. It’s very simple.

Step 1: It has to be put in an earthen pot separately instead of the regular dustbin where waste like plastic covers and other non – biodegradable waste are collected.
Step 2: Keep putting the kitchen waste into the pot. Spray some mix of cow dung with water on top of every filling. And cover it with a piece of jute material once the pot is full.
Step 3: Relax. In 45 days time, the whole thing becomes 1/3rd in size. The filled stuff gets converted to compost which is rich nutrition for the plants. That’s it. The kitchen waste is treated. This process is called composting.

The compost is a rich organic food the plants. This is only for vegetarian waste. Non – vegetarian waste has to get treated separately. However, egg shells can be treated separately. It can be dried up and smashed to powders which are rich calcium for the rose plants. Who doesn’t love a healthy and beautiful rose!!

If cow dung is not very much available, earth worms can be added or dry leaves or newspaper can be shredded and added with the waste for the compost. Further, as like how air is essential for us to breathe, similarly the waste also needs air for it to get composted. So, make few holes around the pot from the bottom (say 2 cms from the bottom and middle). The jute cloth will allow air to get in from the top. A little moisture is also very much essential as like water means to us. If buying a pot and drilling them seems to be a huge task, there are ready made compost pots available for sale at a nominal price. Visit www.dailydump.org for details.

It’s an ecosystem. What comes from the plants goes back to the plants. It’s simple. All we need to have are few plants around our home. They give us fresh air, flowers and a fresh feel to us all the time. If you don’t have plants in your homes, try to have few. Even if you don’t have the flair for plants there are people to buy the compost from you. Yeah, what you think as waste is actually a resource.

Few may think that the waste stinks, but its really not. It stinks only if the compost is too wet. And stirring the compost can overcome this issue.

One of the major non bio-degradable things which we waste is plastic bags. Way to treat them is to re-use them. Carrying existing bags to market places or using paper bags or cloth bags really helps the environment a lot. Carrying these re-usable covers in our office back pack, cars, bikes never increases the weight. I remember folks used to collect and segregate the milk covers, newspaper to sell it off. It’s re-cycled. It fetches money. It’s just a small contribution from every individual which helps the environment.

This is a very basic set up which we can be adopted in our homes in our daily lives, but this is not everything. There are different kinds of waste like human hair, nails and so on. These are well differentiated in the site http://www.zerowastemanagement.org/ and to know what can be composted in home please visit http://dailydump.org/what_can. Treating them is easy when it is segregated at source. Once the waste is segregated, it is no longer a waste, it’s a resource.

Mr. Srinivasan preaches as his religion at a community level employing physically challenged people and the below slides show you how it is done. UNICEF recognizes and supports him but still there are community level challenges faced everywhere this is tried to get implemented. Volunteers to help out are always welcome and actually are required in bunch.

For more information on Waste Management and composting please browse through http://www.zerowastemanagement.org/ and http://dailydump.org/home_composting and of course Gooooogle. Let’s do our bit now to help ourselves in future.

You Shouldn't Quit

2010-05-29T12:25:00.004+05:30

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road your trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint on the clouds of doubt,
And you can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.

So, stick to the fight and give your hardest hit
It's when things go wrong that you shouldn't quit.

Stupid

2010-05-29T06:16:00.004+05:30

It’s a Saturday and I am up early in the morning. Early means early! It is 6 AM now. 6 AM is not early on a weekday. It is normal. But considering a weekend, a Saturday; a fact that I don’t live with my parents and also taking in the fact that I have slept just 4 hours back, makes this 6 AM early.

I woke up not to blog at this time. I was forced to wake up within from my sleep. Something flashed in my mind and suddenly I woke up seeing the main door of my home being open slightly. Got up to close it and couldn’t find the key anywhere. And that was the time I realized something is wrong! Searching for the key I found my mobile missing. Holy cows! I just got it recently and this is the first time I went on to buy an expensive one and I loved it. It did everything for me. Best was its touch screen, songs and camera! Somebody has flicked it from inside my home. Still searching for the key, I found it to be near the window outside the house. First thing I did was getting in and lock the door as I had a rush for morning duty. Refreshing myself, another flash in my mind rushed me to room where I had kept my wallet. That’s a brand new wallet too and I liked it very much. The last couple of currency notes for the month summing to around 500-600 rupees was there. Weekends are the times money is more required for me.

Alas! I could see the wallet in its place. Nothing to wonder! I always keep it in a shelf which is one room in. I sleep in the hall. So, whoever comes in to flick, has to pass me to locate this shelf where my wallet has been kept. I wanted to have a feel of the wallet now. Suddenly I felt attached to it. It appeared and I felt it thin like a person affected with dengue or malaria – and I am a stupid! The wallet is there but the entire money inside is looted.

Opening the door to get in, I had forgotten to remove the key from outside lock and had missed to lock the previous night. It was just closed but not locked. I have a bad memory and absence of mind, both together! For any thief, it would be tempting to open a house which has the key right in front of his eyes, making way for him to open, take stock and flick things. And I have been sleeping deep. Thankfully all other items are safe. This is my home and when I say it’s a home, it’s a home. Not a house or a room. I have been so stupid to lose things I love. The laptop is there intact and my heart still pumps!

It’s a weekend, Saturday morning and the earlier night I thought I will sleep till whatever time I can. I love my home, mobile and of course the hard earned money also. I had left them all vulnerable!

I have been a stupid.

Mother’s day

2010-05-07T14:44:00.007+05:30

Here comes another day of the year, a very bonding day - Mother’s day! With no doubt, everyday is mother’s day as they are loved by their daughters and sons. Still, one day dedicated for mothers is definitely necessary in this fast paced world. This current world we live has lots of invisible problems and issues in it. It’s actually a corrupted one. When it comes to personal lives, almost 8 out of every 10 people’s lives are screwed up. Not that the other 2 have no problems, but it’s that they realize and confront it together.

In this type of world we are living in, this one dedicated day meant to remember the selflessness and unconditional love of an individual is not at all enough. Both these qualities are on top of everything as they are the toughest of toughest. A mother does it every day and every minute to her children however old they have grown up. I know my mom and my friends’ too have come through the very hard way to raise us. There is a lady in Mumbai who is somewhere around 45 years old and runs house to house everyday to do domestic work – cooking, cleaning vessels, cleaning the house and washing clothes. I used to think this lady is greedier on money as she works for 5-6 houses per day and her monthly salary would be around 20k per month with no tax applicable. One day she never turned up for work followed by 15-20 days. Those days me and my friends were doing all these work on rounds. We realized what amount of energy is required to work like that and the money she earns is worth it. Suddenly, one day she came in and I had just asked what had happened. She broke to tears and started narrating her story. She has 4 daughters and a son. 2 of them had got married and the third one for whom she had been looking for a groom eloped with a boy from their neighborhood. I felt shocked to hear it and felt very bad for her. She was crying for over an hour. Her eyes showed the sorrow and the anger she had on her girl as she had eloped with the money and jewels including which was saved for the other daughter's marriage and the son's studies out of her hard work all through the years. 5-6 months later the girl came back but without any money or jewel in hand.

Mothers are like this – this lady started doing extra work everyday to earn more money for the 3 of them. She is not greedy here. She is selfless.

This mother’s day I dedicate it to all the mothers with more focus on the new mothers and to be mothers. You girls are the real stars of future. Nothing in this world without you! A very special wish to all my amazing set of female friends out there who have recently delivered baby, few who are expecting and to those who are getting married too. You are the parent of the next generation and there is a responsibility on you people. Not to forget, your partners are always there besides you in every step of yours to support and share everything equally. Altogether, you girls rock! Lots of love to you all...Happy mothers day!

Resuscitate…

2010-05-01T18:54:00.006+05:30

The day fades out, its dark around, the atmosphere is quiet, eyes are closed and yet there is no sleep. Suddenly the eyes wide open and stare at the darkness. After some time, it gets tired and the body drifts to sleep. But the mind doesn’t sleep. It is always awake. The dreams bring what is wished and longed for, but they burst like bubbles. Intermittent sleeps, low days, darkness around and so on bring weakness both mentally and physically. Low energy and dull days are occupying in months. Stress and its relatives mount upon life. Alcohol makes hate self though it is a powerful weapon and it couldn't be possessed all the time. The "nil" reason and meaning, to do things has life’s chest under its strong feet and even if it is overcome to do something, a “why” pops up. The world around is invisible. The “self” crumbles, fighting every minute within. There are many more years to go. Resuscitate...

Rain Rain Come Again...

2010-04-21T17:39:00.006+05:30

Even when you are not healthy enough and dull with fever / cold dont miss the rains. Risk It..! I will think about reimbursing your medical fees* ;) *Conditions Apply

Today shall be my day for it rains with thunders.

மழை கவிதை கொண்டு வருது யாரும் கதவடைக்க வேண்டாம்
ஒரு கருப்பு கோடி காட்டி யாரும் குடை பிடிக்க வேண்டாம்
இது தேவதையின் பரிசு யாரும் திரும்பி கொள்ள வேண்டாம்
நெடுஞ்சாலையிலே நனையதொருவர் சம்மதமும் வேண்டாம்
அந்த மேகம் சுரந்த பாலில் ஏன் நனைய மறுக்கிறாய்..
நீ வாழ வந்த வாழ்வில் ஒரு பகுதி இழக்கிறாய்..
நீ கண்கள் மூடி கரையும் பொது மண்ணில் சொர்க்கம் எய்துவாய்..

TP(thathakka puthakka) translation:
You shall not close thy doors for the rain drops
You shall not show the black to clouds opening your umbrella
You shall not turn away your angel's gift from the clouds - and
You shall not need anyone's approval for enjoying the rain on the roads
Why is that you deny getting drenched in the clouds milk - by that
You shall not lose a portion of living your life..
The heaven bestows on earth when your eyes gets closed to enjoy milky clouds..

P.S: No tomato smashes for the translation please....

Name it whatever you want...

2010-04-20T11:30:00.004+05:30

“If you want to wait for everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never get much of anything.”

Everyone in this world has at least a little worried thinking about what’s there next in life. It has to be and its part of human nature particularly when you have a responsibility on something or someone. We keep thinking at least for others if not for ourselves out of those responsibilities we shoulder on.

On the other hand, if there are no responsibilities, nothing dependent on you, what then? Still I see people around hiding in their cocoon and afraid to come out. We tend to expect things all right in the platter before consuming it or else we blame and cry on it. We possess this fear upon failures / uncertainty of success, the lack of taking risks in life.

The above quote tells it all. I don’t know how many have tasted what it means. We need to take risks in life, be it small or BIG. They pave at least a rough way for us where there is no trail. When death is certain some day, the whole life is at risk. Yet we live it and have we pondered why!?

· How many times have people around you screamed that you are taking a huge risk?
· When is the last time you took a risk where you could never imagine what is next?
· Have you ever risked something with an utmost confidence to face the failure?

We got to do those; else we never grow out of our cocoon. If you are not satisfied with your job when the market is dull, take the risk of quitting and searching a new one. When you are hungry and have only few hundred rupees as the last balance in your account, risk it. It doesn’t matter whether it is small or big. But do include it in your daily routine. Recently few friends took a huge risk by eating the food I cooked…Huge risk right!!! LOL! I attempt it daily and yeah there is some learning in progress. How could we do it when there is no attempt made? On the same line of thinking, we should never live for we are going to die someday. A ship is safe in the harbour, but that’s not ships are made for.

My friends gave me feedback though it was #@#!#@! In other words, they actually supported me. If you have someone to support you on anything you do, well, what more do you need! If there is no one, do not feel bad and if there are people to bring you down…ah…! – that’s the best part I like. I think that they really don’t understand what I am trying to do and I will go strong doing it my way. Opposition should not always be seen as opposition. Sometimes they are the driving force behind.

My mind could not think what’s next but is ready to take a plunge on the unknown in front of me and it’s vague. I know I would fail and I am ready to accept the failure for at least, I shall have failures with me.

It’s just like this - ரிஸ்க் எடுக்கறதெல்லாம் எங்களுக்கு ரஸ்க் சாப்பிடற மாதிரி..! (For us, taking risks are like eating rusks) Yeah...Its me.

Social Networking

2010-03-11T13:29:00.002+05:30

For a second, I froze in excitement! AR Rahman had posted me a message!!! I didn’t know how to react. And the very next second, it was “phew…” It was someone else with his picture. Very funny ah! I don’t know why for God sake people don’t have their own picture or their name legible in their profile. All kind of junk characters, funky quotes take on over.

Nowadays I am completely into social media alone as I have nothing else to do. LOL! Pritish Nandy tweets “Love comes from unexpected quarters…. Animals, trees, flowers, internet…” Even trees have nice names like Neem Tree, Coconut tree, Chickoo and so on like animals (dog, cat…) and flowers (rose, lilly…) and why is that we want to put a mask to our own names! Think about it. Meanwhile, I shall imagine what if Rahman really posts me a message.

(Note: I know you are intelligent but pls dont question me what is this tripleR)

Whose responsibility is it?

2010-03-11T11:58:00.001+05:30

Two persons Mr Shivaraman and Mr. Gopalakrishnan from Chennai hold a patent for an innovation that enables a hard disk to store 30TB of data and this is with the help of Nano technology. They are offered a job by Seagate for 1.4 crore. Is there no Indian company to utilize their innovation??

I remember my old days where our team tried to bring out such innovations especially in Nano technology and Bio metrics. The event was conceived to showcase these kinds of innovations to the corporate world in the budding stage itself which would help our country and the individuals as well in their early stages with proper support. We couldn’t execute what we dreamt for the only reason that we were students at that time.

The point here is there are so many Shivaraman’s and Gopalakrishnan’s out there spread all over. Who is going to recognize them, nurture them with the necessary support and make our country grow healthy??

Movies and our lives

2010-03-05T22:23:00.012+05:30

Very often few movies make an impact on the lives of people. Few such are Godfather, Sholay, Rang de Basanti, Titanic and so on. A recent tamil movie of such kind is Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya. Well, I wanted to blog about the songs of the movie brilliantly composed by our own Rahman. But, what I write now is entirely different from what I wished to.

While watching the movie, I felt that I was seeing myself in the screen. Starting from the hero of the movie wanting to become an assistant director and lot other things was very much related. (I wanted to make movies after my MBA and was in front of Madras Talkies office for a month, but managed to get into TV serials only. Gave the lead to another friend and I quit). I couldn’t make out whether I liked the movie or not! Two days passed and a friend of mine asked me whether I liked the movie or not. I told him what I felt. He said “That’s the feel of the movie” and everyone feels the same. My thought process started by itself! How come a director make every audience think about himself / herself in the movie? One hero, one heroine, one plot and how come everyone feels the same?? My friend added, “What shown in the screen is reality and that’s what is happening around the world…”

It was a love story. Boy falls in love with the girl and is behind her. The girl denies him. The boy then asks for friendship but has love in his mind. The girl after a long time accepts his love. They are in a relationship for some time and suddenly the girl drops a bomb saying “it’s all over”.

This is what happens in reality all over. Strange to think that this is the same what boys do and it’s the same girls do also. The catch is neither of us is going to change. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and we both live on Earth! We learn, adjust / compromise ourselves in future building a think tank that he / she is not the like the same person what we experienced in the past. Also it is not that there can be no change within at all. I know and have seen people who are really into each other and have stay put, but they are very few. Otherwise mostly its the girls calling the shots, few are mutual and rarely the guys call it quits. And now, I understand why this movie makes an impact on almost everyone.

Back to the movie, I couldn’t stop murmuring the songs. I saw the audio release of the album where all the singers performed live on stage. It was so mesmerizing. Lovely and soulful music from Rahman! This album from Rahman is like Sachin knocking a splendid knock of 200 after all these successful years of glory. My favorite pick from the album is the song “Anbil Avan”. The lyrics, composition, interludes, singers and every part of the song excels. This song brings a joyful mood with the lyrics meaning the basic wedding vows. The music takes us literally to a choir in church and flows to a temple wedding. Altogether the song is all about endless love and eternal bonding. Do hear the song especially the interludes. It’s a peppy number.

Lots of songs, either lack good lyrics or if there are good lyrics they lack good music. It’s rare that they both come together. This “Anbil Avan” song, “Hairathey” and “Tere Bina” from Guru are Rahman’s classic compositions. The beauty here in VV is, the lyricist is a female named “Thamarai”. Her earlier songs are super hits as well bringing out the emotions from a women’s perspective. One brilliant line from her in this movie is “Yen Idhayam Udaithai Norungave…En maru Idhayam koduppen nee Udaikave…” which means “You broke my heart scattering into pieces…Yet, I shall give it again for you to break…” Altogether, it was a good watch. Guess Swades was the last movie which made me sit glued into the screens along with the music before this movie.

Couples Retreat

2010-03-03T10:58:00.004+05:30

“The city is heading towards earning the notoriety of being the country’s divorce capital” read a national newspaper about Bangalore. Bangalore is the city full of disposable crowd mostly from the IT background.

The state government is under pressure to create 3 more family courts in addition to the 4 family courts functioning now. There are around 10000 cases pending in the existing 4 courts. On an average day, there are 25-30 fresh applications. The last 3 months has seen around 1400 applicants mostly in their late 20’s and early 30’s. And the catch here is most of the applications are filed by women. Experts and counselors almost of the cases are on petty grounds which can be solved easily but stated as incompatibility by the applicants. This is not only in Bangalore alone. Other cities are also on par with respect to divorce.

Something striking in the head…!? May be… Well, everybody has issues and problems in life. The rising number of similar cases in every city brings out the fact of the qualities like patience, commitment, love, understanding, care and so on diminishing in this fast paced world. Hardly people get time to sit, think, re-assess and reclaim their love for each other in life. Married couples divorce, unmarried couple breaks up. Both are same expect the legal entities involved.

I was watching the movie Couples Retreat (music by ARR). 4 couples: One thinks that they make things work together but actually taking each other for granted: one close to get their divorce after several attempts to conceive; one living a dissatisfied and lost love life and another fresh couple wherein the guy had got his new girlfriend after a break up.

They all end up in a vacation spot requested and suggested by their friend couple who are close to get divorce. What they dislike to hear is the fact that relationship can be worked out types as they all have their own notions and conclusions in their relationships.

The movie is scripted in a funny and absolutely practical way. The vacation island offers them a stage to reclaim their lost life that at the end of the vacation they all unite together with their loved ones. It’s a good watch.

There is no magic performed in the process of uniting the couples in the movie. Nothing can be performed in real life too! “There is not one problem in life. There are millions of problems and everyone has problems” goes a dialogue in the movie. Very true! Lives are with adjustments and compromises. But it matters for why and mostly for whom we compromise. Life is just once.

May be all the divorce applicants should be given an exclusive access in a private hall to this kinda movie and make it a law that they should have spent subsequent time on vacations or any such things which offers exclusive time for themselves before they apply for divorce. Courts have to do it practically. How long will they keep talking!? Any couple would have come for divorce after failed talks only. Talking more and more complicates and the courts got to deal with a practical approach.

Otherwise, get to watch this movie which has a very good feel; music by ARR including a song in Tamil and that goes as my favorite as well.

Skandagiri

2010-03-01T22:30:00.004+05:30

There are lots of blogs and descriptions about this place with guidance and direction which is well known for trekking and it’s specially known for moon light trekking on full moon day. This is my encounter with nature in that place.

We (me and my 2 cousins) had a different, risky and adventurous trek on the last full moon day. The regular route to the hill top was closed as the path was under fire. It was forest fire. We were able to look the fire while on the way itself. Getting closer we tried to take an alternate route which doesn’t exist. We started off and at a point we noticed that the fire was spreading fast along the route we intended to go. Within a minute we spoke about that, a tree which was about half a km in altitude from us caught up with fire. Strong wind was blowing and the fire engulfed the tree in a minute. Fire particles were flying up in the sky.

We got s*** scared! With nothing to think and in a jiffy, we started sliding down the hill which was more of bushes and rocks and few thorns as well. Could never forget the way the tree caught fire and it was the first time I saw a forest fire and its might up so close live. Suddenly there was orange light coming out of the flames around us. Coming down, we did want to go to the top and managed to hire a guide who took us to the top in an alternate route. Climbing up the hill in the moonlight was to get a glimpse of the sunrise from top next day and it was a wonderful spectacle to see the Sun rising early morning in red, pink, orange and finally the bright white showing its might.

Zombie

2010-02-19T13:41:00.006+05:30

To read the post, please install a bar code reader in your mobile from I-Nigma or QuickMark or Nokia (QM is better than I-Nigma and Nokia) and just point your mobile camera towards the code and it shall give you whats hidden. These kind of codes store and take you to a website or a video clip or carry contact information and whatever is coded by the provider. Soon, the local newspapers shall start using the technology as its almost nil cost. Whats more, you can write encoded love letters to your boyfriends and girlfriends.

The Kite Runner

2010-02-19T11:04:00.001+05:30

Kite Runner is a famous debut novel by Khaled Hosseini. I haven’t read the book, but watched the movie in 2007. It’s a wonderful work which will literally take your imagination to the happy lives of Afghan. It’s a story about two childhood friends who spend their lives kite fighting.

Kite fighting…yes…you don’t need introduction to this. If you are a localite who has spent times in proper Chennai, you will know what it is. Nowadays, there are organized kite festivals. When I wanted to fly a kite I usually do it from the terrace of my home. So do other guys as well. There will be a flock of kites flying and we make “deals”. The thread used is actually deadly. When I say “deadly” it is exactly what it means.

Google about the kite thread Manja to know how it is deadly.

Last week I was watching a movie. The hero is a very romantic guy who finds his love and is behind a girl whom he loves more than anything in the world. The girl after a very long time feels his love and they start to live their life. The hero takes her out and they have a very good time together where the girl says “I wont feel bad to die at this moment too as I am happy with you now than any other day in my life”. They then spot a bicycle and start riding it. Suddenly, the heroin gets her throat slit by a “Manja”. There is a huge blood loss and in the next frame, she dies. There was a sudden emptiness in the movie. Such a sweet, charming and adoring character is made end. This was a movie.

Yet that incident in the movie remained in my mind…An ex-colleague of mine, a popular radio jockey and a playback singer was on her way and fell victim to the “Manja”. I was shocked to hear the news from my friends! She was admitted in the ICU for 2 days and has had around 20 stitches. Now that she is improving and all our wishes are there for her speedy recovery.

The movie started with few lines meaning “You will all be fine till it happens to you”. I remembered it suddenly after hearing about the friend. It was only once I have used “Manja” as it gave a cut to my hand and used to smell “s***”. I think of those times when I used to chase kites running in the streets. Running across streets looking up the sky, navigating for a descending kite has more to it than you think. You got to indulge in it or atleast fly kites but do not use “Manja” and beware whenever you pass through those areas. Take care.

Amendment

2010-02-17T13:23:00.000+05:30

This government definitely has the potential to take the country in a better way than any other governments I have seen.

I fully support Mr. Sibal’s new proposal of abolishing pre school education before 4 years. I feel this is a basic thing which is more meaningful. Parents are finding it mad to get a KG admission for the children. By peer pressure they stuff the so called intelligence by making the kids memorizing all sorts of data. That’s bad for the child. Here is what Mr. Sibal was talking.

“Pre-school should be based on non-formal education and in order to attend pre-school, children should be four years before March 31. Formal schooling can begin when the child is six years old.”

“The reason for interaction with Principals is because many feel that the present system of admissions is traumatic for children. It becomes impossible for children of three years to seek admission to school. There are incidents of children stammering due to stress. When a child witnesses the competitive environment in school he/she is traumatized.”

We should never leave the children to face all such difficulties at that tender age. I am sure parents will also agree to this.

We surely need amendments to the present education system in the country and it starts from the Pre School. Education is the only way that can this nation a better place to live.

The Alchemist

2010-02-15T12:21:00.001+05:30

After a long haul, the world’s most acclaimed book from a compelling author, The Alchemist made a way to my bookshelf.

Needless to say, many review written about the book worldwide and millions of fans for the author. It was a good read where time got passed. But I felt the reading as a passing cloud. All through the read, my mind was searching for something which could stay on firm and alas there was the end. This is a symbolic book telling about Omens and the universe conspiring when you set to chase your dream. Not really acceptable, it’s a symbolic book. Guess the expectations around the book made me look for something great or flip around. Huh!!

Now been over a week I read it, nothing other than that single line remains in my mind and that line appears like a statement like air. You cannot catch air. The only satisfaction I have is that I got this book from a roadside vendor and the money I paid would really help him. A similar way, I got God of small things from a boy who was selling books in traffic signal and the book was all agony that I dropped it.

Still, I have got two more books, one from an acclaimed writer and another from a amateur, 22 year old. No expectations this time.

200 - இரு நூறு - दो सौ - two hundred

2010-01-13T14:31:00.006+05:30

Oh good....! Coorg post was my 200th post! :)

5th year of blogging. Its good to look back which has both joys and sorrows. Life teaches a lesson and lets us gain from every pain. Lots of changes in the blog, my writing.

I see Susi, Asha, Venki, Raja, Deepa, Krish and more who havent commented wishing me on my 100th post and from there there are lots of changes in my blog including the template and my thoughts as well. Thanks to one and all for reading and commenting all these time.

One change which I had made from there and which I would recommend you all to follow is on the blog title - "live life day by day". No explanations required, however it is try and put in your best to follow it. We miss it at times (I did too...), but still remember it and reclaim it for the life is yours.

Thanks for staying on and keep reading.

Coorg - December 2009

2010-01-13T14:17:00.006+05:30

Basic human psychology and philosophy says when we have bad times and stressful thoughts engulf us we got to think on the good times to overcome them. They not only relieve us out of stress but they also give us confidence about future. And also our human mind always tends to think of the tough situations alone. We have to look back the good times. One such is the Coorg trip which happened in December 2009. Almost everyone in the picture has their own issues, problems and stress to relate with. Though it was perfectly planned, everything was miserable as we went there but still it was enjoyable and will stay in our memory.

Bottoms Up:- Narayanan, Lordsun, Selva Kumar, Vijay Sekar, Prakash, Ramesh, Vijay Ramani, Kalyan, Senthil J, Siva Kumar, Senthil M and me.

I am glad and good that I along with Narayanan organized this trip but it was never easy to manage this bunch especially with the distinct characters of each. I call it 12 monkeys with myself one of them as well.

Drive Safe and Responsibly

2010-01-12T11:21:00.004+05:30

Two wheeler is the best option to travel in Chennai. Reason is the vehicle is compact and you can just give some cuts here and there and make your way. The other day I was travelling on these routes: Perungalathur-Taramani-Thiruvanmayur-Aminjikarai-Thiruvanmayur-Taramani-Perungalathur. It’s a distance of around 100 kms altogether. I would have not travelled this much if I was using a car or public transport and mostly time was a major factor.

I travel to office by a two wheeler which is 60 kms approx daily. It takes me 45 mins-1 hr to reach office as I travel in the bypass road partially. If I take a public transport it is 1.5 hr – 2 hrs. Although time is saved, the other side of this is travelling long in bike that too in a city is stressful. It is both physical and mental stress. The traffic chaos, people howling and shouting at each other are to be faced daily. All these early in the morning when we got to have a peaceful mind burst a good day. More worst are the accidents on road.

Today there was an accident on road. A couple was knocked down by a call taxi on the bypass road. I have to cross two rail level crossings on the way to office of which one of them is most stressful and dangerous. It is Chromepet Vaishnava college crossing. Almost daily there are accidents on the rail tracks. I encountered two accidents in the past just in minutes they occurred where one lost life and another, the limbs. It’s horrific when I think of it now. I couldn’t help much for the second one other than calling the ambulance and the hospital people were lethargic in answering the call. They were sounding as it was very usual. Part and parcel of their job! I tell myself to have a peaceful day everyday.

There is definitely no driving sense in this city and for that matter in any other city in India. Being in Chennai for the past few months, I’m a victim of this stress and two minor accidents of which my skin is yet to get back normal from the last one. Whenever I see it I remind myself to drive responsibly and safely and its for you as well.

Dream On...

2010-01-11T11:22:00.008+05:30

Thanks to kindness, life becomes beautiful
Thanks to love, life carries on
Thanks to compassion, life is endowed with value
Thanks to a grateful heart, life is filled with joy and delight

Thanks to Dream On, China’s Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe. They call themselves disabled but they left us the thought in us that they are specially-abled than us by their stunning performing arts which was purely mesmerizing the whole crowd for 2 hours.

I got a 500 rs ticket for the show. While the show was on, I thought I should have bought a 1000 rs ticket. Their performances were spectacular and splendid and it was worth paying that money. But while coming out of the show, everyone felt the love they had showered on every individual in the hall. A girl who was on her wheel chair and a guy who was blind, both Chinese, were performing and singing Rahmans "Jai Ho", “Chinna Chinna Aasai” and moreover "Vande Mataram" by heart in Tamil. We couldn’t escape from feeling their love and it was priceless. Money cannot be substituted for it. I came out spell bounded, got few cards of them and their autograph. I am glad I did them for this is an event for lifetime and they are the real heroes in life spreading love and compassion all over the world.

The troupe founded in 1987 has artistes comprising of people who cannot see, hear, walk and touch. Chinese are definitely gifted in performing arts however they are (I'm gonna and have to compliment my chinese friend for this). They go around the world winning accolades starting from the first citizen of the country to the last citizen. They were doing their show for the first time in India that too in Chennai and there was very less crowd.

A R Rahman made it to the show and was there for the full 2 hour show. There are so many troupes like this around the world who don’t visit India because there is lack of infrastructure, sponsorship, good crowd and so on. Somewhere we still lack something which is very basic. I don’t know if it’s called humanity. But I think that’s it. I feel glad that I was there at that event. Let love spread its wings more. Dream On…

2010-01-07T17:09:00.004+05:30

While in school there is so much of homework which involves writing as it helps in memorizing something faster. I have followed the same here now. I want to re-emphasize myself to live life day by day and that’s why the header in my blog is changed. Yeah, off late I had missed it, but unintentionally.

January

2010-01-04T14:33:00.002+05:30

This month is always good with social events around atleast for Chennai. For those who are there in the city at this time, you have very good options around. My favorite event in the city, the Book Fair has already started. I make it a point to go to the fair every year. If I remember well, it was from my school days I started to be a regular visitor and been 2 years I haven’t attended the fair. Few years back when I visited there, I bought a portrait of Bharathi and laminated it. The portrait was just Rs 5 and the lamination costed me Rs 125.

The next good event is the Chennai Sangamam. It has started just few years ago but a promising event showcasing the cultural strengths of the state. I had been to the first edition of this event while working with the Radio station. It showcases skills and talents of school students as well and I was awestruck by their performances.

Please don’t miss the events. They are the essence of Chennai. Guess I have a bad luck this year as well, but next year I’m going to make it happen somehow. For those who love tennis, the Chennai open is on the way. For those who would like to hit the beach, Marina has a new look now. Wow! Wherever you want to hit, there is something interesting. Chennai is at its best during this season. Don’t miss it!

New Year Day

2010-01-04T10:40:00.002+05:30

New Year wishes to one and all. Blogging about the first day of the year is a good thing to do. And doing it on the first hour, first day on work of the New Year; it’s too good. LOL! A survey recently from ASSOCHAM announces browsing social media sites during work increases productivity. I’m doing that only! Actually ASSOCHAM is late in announcing this. I knew this idea long back and that’s why I blog only from workplace.

Well, this 2010 January 1 was a different one for me. I did not even realize it was a New Year day and created ruckus with a dear soul of mine. I went in search of some peace. The place was serene, full of nature and actually a spiritual place. It was Auroville near Pondicherry, South India. Auroville is a place where spirituality is practiced and they say that place is for people who renounce on all kind of religions and believes in the fact and truth of Oneness. Well, then I was kind of in a right place. The entire place is cut off from the external world; there is no traffic chaos on the road - for that matter, there are no proper roads first. It was only dusty pathways which had got formed by itself due to vehicular movement. I went there a day prior to the New Year day. From the moment I started, I was on a different mindset altogether. And after reaching there, it was like I was cut off from the outside world. It’s a dense forest where there are few guest houses here and there and very few people and they were foreigners. I couldn’t go out once it’s dark.

Although it’s said as a spiritual place, there are all kinds of exploitations around. The main feature of Auroville was the Matrimandir which is built for meditation which leads the way to spirituality. I was there around for three days and there were 2 things which pulled me. The first one was a painting exhibition in a place called Savitri Bhavan there. Each and every painting had an explanation which was purely spiritual. The paintings in my eyes looked abstract. But then there were instructions in the beginning itself not to look them abstract and see them along with the explanations.

The second one was a discourse on spirituality. This was the one which made sense and my thinking started. I was able to deeply understand what was being said. Actually I should say I kept getting deep in it by listening to it. Suddenly something stroke in my mind and I came out of the building and was sitting on a staircase. The very next minute I thought why was I inside for that discourse. Is it the right thing for me or is it what I want and my thoughts were;

Life is to live and living is to feel and face whatever comes on the way everyday. It’s all about living with love, hate, joy, sorrow, happiness, sadness, affection, dejection and so on. There are both ups and downs of life. Most of us don’t want to get hurt, get closed ourselves or go seek spiritual! But still we get hurt. When we get hurt most of us lose our confidence in our self or on which hurt us. It’s not the fact! What we lose are the qualities to forget and forgive, changing ourselves for better, embrace people around, and in little we forget to live for better. When everyone learns not to repeat their mistakes, forget, forgive and embrace each other working out with their lows and highs I think life will be beautiful.

I remembered Bharathi suddenly and decided to exit from that spiritual place and went on search of the home where Bharathi lived in Pondy. Unfortunately, that place was undergoing some renovation and I couldn’t check in. Altogether, although I did not choose spirituality, the place was full of nature and yes peaceful. I will recommend that place, but you got to check in with like minded people alone. The rates are pretty nominal to be spent once in a year.

2009

2009-12-30T11:57:00.000+05:30

Yet another year coming to an end and yet more to come! Slightly looking back, it’s very surprising that all those days have gone in a jiffy. This is end of a turbulent year all over the world and also beginning for an end of decade. My wishes to you all for the coming year give you happiness, prosperity, all your wishes & dreams coming true. Rock on…HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Religion

2009-12-29T12:26:00.004+05:30

I feel and put it hard when I think about this topic. Not only my views are different from my family members on religion but I think there needs to be a change at least with the next generation. Any religion is a package of rituals, customs and habits which promotes happiness and well being at daily level. Mostly it compromises of customs which are devised some thousands years back for well being. My pondering is, they were devised long back and today is not like that day. Does everything devised then make relevance now? Does it not need upgrades or changes or customizations according to the changing world? If it cannot be customized to promote happiness why are they customs then?

It is evident that people who got to think and do these; the so called religious heads float organizations and make money out of it. People don’t even think what and why they do when it comes to religion. They just blindly follow. There are few who do everything against the religion and still propagate it. Every religion at a base level tries to promote love, share, care, peace and togetherness among people. Are these propagated and followed properly? Then who are those and where should the change happen?

I have been encountering religion based discussions for the past months and all these thoughts keep hovering on my mind. Yesterday I read this piece of story in TOI. I think this is how it should be. An excerpt of it here and please read the full story on http://tinyurl.com/yfojghe

"A few months into my pregnancy, we had decided that we would not give our child any religious identity"

“We are not against religion, but who are we to choose a religion on our baby's behalf? We will expose him to the values of different faiths and cultures, and when he grows up he will be free to follow any faith—or none if he wishes.”

Strong in their decision the couple had a fight with the local municipal office for leaving the religion field empty in the birth certificate form.

"Are you ashamed of your Hindu identity? Why don't you want your child to be known as a Hindu?" an officer asked her rudely. She shot back that while she was proud of her Hindu roots, she was not a practicing Hindu. "Why in a democratic, secular country can't parents take a decision like not giving any religion to their children?" she asked the officer.

Unconvinced, the officer cited a technical problem and passed the matter on to a higher official who understood their plea but still cited the technical problem that the system cannot accept if the religion field is left empty. There were four choices on the form—Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Others.

The mother did not want any of them for her child, as even Others required them to identify the sect or community. She argued with the officer some more and finally agreed on Others, but without any identification. "Others is just to facilitate the generation of the certificate. We know our child has no religion" she says.

Now, this is called a change. There is always a first time for every time. I am sure there are lots of couples wanting to do the same, but pressured on by peers and society. It definitely needs huge courage to face this nation choosing to be a liberal.

“But it's just the beginning of the several hurdles which are bound to crop up ahead—at the time of school admission or securing a passport for the child, for instance. We are prepared for those battles too" says the mother determinedly.

Citing a technical problem is a lame excuse here. How big deal is it to change it or include a “Liberal” field in the form? Orkut has the option of choosing an option “Spiritual but not Religious”. Why not our own municipal corporations have it? Where should the change start from??

Mistakes in my life

2009-12-24T15:29:00.007+05:30

Robin Sharma’s blog posts get updated to me automatically as and when he writes. (Pls don’t ask me how. It’s a top secret!). His latest post was on mistakes. Reading that I started remembering all those I had done in my life so far and remembered the one from which I had learned which any teacher or book could teach. It happened in my work place and it’s something which the industry would have never seen so far. I wonder how I missed to share it here. I have to!

I was working in a private FM station. For those FM channels the only source of revenue was through the ads they get everyday. It means the revenue generated from ads is used for other expenses like salary, maintenance, marketing etc etc. There was an advertiser who was very difficult to crack and the sales executive won an exclusive campaign which was only for 5 days from them after some 1.5 yrs of follow up. My job was to schedule those ads according to the agreement signed and create a playlist for the entire day and send it to transmission. Ours was an 11 station network spreading upto 45 stations nationally. All 11 stations would be booking a schedule for every station.

As weekends are holidays, on Friday the schedule for next 3 days would be uploaded to for transmission altogether. One Friday as I was tired I decided to come on a Saturday and upload the schedule for Sunday and Monday. I came, did all the work, finalized the playlist but somewhere out of my mind, I missed to upload the playlist to transmission.

No advertisements were scheduled for transmission for 2 days and the day passed as well. The schedule included the most sought after campaign of that respectable advertiser as well. The whole day, the channel was getting aired without any advertisements on air. I realized it on Monday early morning and rushed to office and somehow managed for that day but the previous day was gone. I had already missed one particular schedule like this but this was for one full day which had advertisements from across the country and this exclusive campaign with us.

I got shocked in my spine and my boss was almost devastated hearing it. It was one day salary for all the employees took a toll because of my silly mistake. I got a severe bash from boss.

I was out of the world. My confidence in myself was negative. I decided to quit but did not have the guts because that job came to me after a struggle of some 1.5 yrs for money. Yet, I did not want to continue as I had no confidence. I was a hopeless guy and felt I was fit for nothing. I went to my head and the conversation started. I was almost choked of losing a job myself.

Me: Sir
Boss: Come In
Me: Sir, Im sorry for my mistake
Head: Your sorry won’t reverse what had happened
Me: I understand it Sir. I have lost my confidence in myself and I have decided to quit. But I need a job, so pls let me know if I can work in some other department at least as an intern.
Head: Take the seat. Sit down
(He offered me a glass of water)
Head: How old are you?
Me: 23 Sir
(After a short pause)
Head: “You are just 23! At this age you are bound to make 100 mistakes. You have just done 2 now. There are still 98 to get done. My advice to you is to not repeat the same mistake again and again. Quitting is not a make up; it’s escaping from the responsibility. You are honest that you admitted your mistake and it’s the good thing about you. Now, go on and carry on with your work. I will manage with what went wrong.”

Speechless, there were no words coming out of my mouth, not even a thank you. I went to my seat and the whole atmosphere had changed top down. I don’t know whether it was a fresh lease of confidence in me or something or anything else. But, the burden in me was away. I decided to continue in the same job. I quit the company after 2 years; I was handling revenues for 3 different business units. People who wanted me to quit were made shut and continue their work.

What happened here was that, this gentleman taught me a lesson for life. I still and will follow it. I do mistakes but don’t repeat them. However I’m have professionally grown now, it’s because of this gentleman Mr. Subbu, at present working as Marketing Head, Marg Constructions, Chennai. Sir, whether you read this or not, I thank you and I feel good now for taking that advice and I shall follow it for sure.

Most of our lives are full of mistakes. We are not taught what to do right at every situation and cannot be taught also because every situation changes. Life is not programmed and it’s not smooth. But, there are few qualities when we abide by it, makes our life smooth. Forget, forgive, share, care, love, support and stand by. This gentleman displayed all these qualities on me. I follow the same. I don’t remember what people have done on me. I don’t want to keep them in mind too. You guys try it out too.

“Mistakes when taken on a right way by forgetting and forgiving give us an opportunity to build more awareness and understanding and gain precious experience. Experience that will help us do, feel and be even better.” says Robin Sharma.

Runaway and Vanishing Brides

2009-12-21T14:22:00.002+05:30

Runaway bride is a class movie made brilliantly with wonderful performances from Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. It’s a story of a reporter Ike who sets on to make a fact based report of a girl Maggie, who has a history of fleeing away from her fiancés. Finally Ike and Maggie fall in for each other and the wedding is set. On the bridal march, Maggie backs and flees leaving Ike. The reason was not that she felt Ike as the wrong person but she dislikes the big fat weddings. She then comes back and opens her mind to Ike.

“I love you, Homer Eisenhower Graham. Will you marry me?

[Maggie sits down, clears her throat]
I guarantee there'll be tough times. I guarantee that at some point, one or both of us is going to want get out…

But I also guarantee… [starts to cry] … that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. Because I know in my heart... you're the only one for me.”

Wow! That was the touching moment of the movie. Way back in our daily life, every failed guy wants to hear the same from their sweethearts and the sweethearts too fail to see the whole picture around them both. I think forgetting, forgiving, changing themselves for better, commitment, understanding, care are all very much essential than the initial spark of love because these are the traits which keep the love burning bright at every stage. Both the partners got to have it for each other. We live in a fast paced world, gone are the days of Mills and Boons romance. And I keep pondering this: Afterall, life is once, who will not wish to live with the loved one thick and thin changing themselves for better!.

Well I guess I went off the topic for sometime! :)

Vanishing bride is a novel I have started with. It’s a very old novel and I have just finished few pages of it. Not a bad read though. Just an coincidence that both the movie and book are about brides in it and deals with relationships.

LOL

2009-12-17T12:39:00.000+05:30

Joke of the year 2009 is here.

Cobbler gets Rs 2 lakh as electricity bill for just using one bulb for 3 hrs per day. Check out http://tiny.cc/nLsJW

2009-12-17T10:58:00.003+05:30

It was a beautiful morning today. I saw a young father who would just be a school pass out, teaching his first standard son his lessons. The way he was teaching was impressive. The father read out loud the sentence from the book, translated and explained the son about what it meant. The little boy was listening so carefully to his father.

Coming away from that sight, the clouds began to pour. The sky was grey, roads were black. There was this chillness in the breeze and a slight drizzle. Absolutely romantic weather! I never minded getting drenched and started to drive. Driving in that climate was itself romantic. 25 kms, non stop rain, chill breeze, rain drops hitting my hand sharp were bliss. I enjoyed the drive although I got drenched. I don’t mind if I get any disease or even death for that matter. That particular moment was great. And, its not that I don’t care about tomorrow. I do have a wish, a dream…

ஒரே கனா என் வாழ்விலே... அதை நெஞ்சினில் வைத்திருக்கேன்

கனா மெய்யாகும் நாள் வரை உயிர் கையில் வைத்திருப்பேன்

வானே என் மேலே சாய்ந்தாலுமே நான் மீண்டு தாங்குவேன்

நீ என்னை கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சினால் நிலாவை வாங்குவேன்

it means

I have a dream of my life which I hold in my heart

I shall hold on my breathe till the dream comes true

I shall withhold even when the sky breaks on me

And a little love from you will make me scale the sky...

Sorry if the transaltion is not exactly correct. These lines are from the movie Guru and they mean a lot.

Feast of love

2009-12-10T17:16:00.003+05:30

I watched this movie for the second time. The story is intricate and how people are when love spells on them. It’s about 3 different couples. One who are seniors having lost their son, a young couple in their 20’s starting their life and another in their 30’s.

As it’s titled the story is about how love intervenes in their lives. Bradley’s partner breaks away and goes on to have a relationship with another woman. Oscar meets Chloe in the coffee shop he works eye to eye. Harry is a good friend to both Bradley and Oscar. The story moves on as seen from the eyes of Harry.

Bradley in desperate need for love goes for the next relationship immediately and falls wrongly for Diana who had got just separated from her ex. Unlucky again, the relationship breaks and Diana goes on to lives with her ex. Bradley is a hopeless, dejected guy. After a chat with Harry, he goes on to his kitchen, takes a knife and cuts his thumb and calls the doctor to admit himself and tells her that he required that physical pain equal to how it pains him emotionally.

And he is lucky, Margaret, the doctor and Bradley get together. It’s the marriage ceremony of the young couple Oscar and Chloe, Bradley and Margaret see each other eye to eye and Margaret tells him looking out of the window “an unusual man, an innocent man, an open-hearted man. Someone who has given tremendous love, but never had it returned, not in the way he deserves”. He had found his true love.

Oscar and Chloe get married and Chloe gets pregnant. Bradley, Diana, Harry all become friends living in the same locality. Love made them all united and there is a peaceful living. They play rugby an evening. Suddenly, Oscar crashes down and loses his life. Believe me, that was a sad part of the movie. A young guy with a loving wife who is about to deliver loses his life. While everyone was happy for their life and of Oscar and Chloe, this sweetheart is left devastated. It was a heartbreak which you would have never imagined. In life, yes, there are many who would have never imagined how it is.

The movie doesn’t end there. There is a conversation between Harry and Bradley which tells what real love is. Bradley tells, “Chloe knew everything what was going to happen for Oscar. And she didn't run away. She didn't crawl into a hole. She found them a house, she threw away her birth control, and she married him”. That’s a braveness that Chloe had. She loved Oscar more than anything and lived with him for the time knowing he is going to die.

Bradley’s and Chloe’s character are to be noted. It made me think. Not only has this movie made me think about the painful and blissful feeling of love. It definitely transforms people. Talking down practically out from the movies, I have seen people who have broke their lives and people who have stood up and lived their lives.

One of my friends wrote beautifully “It is not that you never want to love whole-heartedly, it’s just that it takes a particular someone who loves you deep enough to break down this wall around the heart and pull you out…”(yeah she is a expressive writer). This is what required for anyone who has broken or got broke. My pondering is why not it should be the same person with whom you broke with?? How can it not happen when it can be worked out and started afresh leaving behind the past?? Afterall, life is once, who will not wish to live with the loved one thick and thin changing themselves for better!

Butterfly on a Wheel

2009-12-01T14:30:00.006+05:30

Butterfly on a Wheel is the movie that grabbed my attention recently. This no nonsense and no bloody crime drama which has a twist in the end showcase what it means when it occurs to you. A brilliant performance from Pierce Brosnan and Gerard Butler, this movie showcases what and how it is to experience pain, get lost and shattered. Its about lives and somehow it meant a lot.

Writing on it more will make you numb to enjoy the movie. Just renta DVD and watch it without reading the reviews, come back and comment here.

Keep it simple

2009-11-18T15:45:00.002+05:30

Received this in a forward mail. Please take some time to read it.

Yesterday, I was driving, and the FM radio went off for few seconds. I thought, I should have an iPod. Then suddenly I realized that I have not used my iPod in last 6 months. And then… more things, Handy cam in last 2 years, Digital Camera in last 2 months, DVD player in last 1 month and many more. Now I can say that I bought that Handy cam just out of impulse, I have used it twice only in last 4 years.

So, whats wrong and where? When I look at myself or my friends I can see it everywhere.We are not happy with what we have but all are stressed and not happy for the things we don’t have. You have a Santro, but you want City… You have a City, but you want Skoda. Just after buying a new phone, we need another one. Better laptop, bigger TV, faster car, bigger house, more money… .I mean, these examples are endless. The point is, does it actually worth? Do we ever think if we actually need those things before we want them?

After this, I was forced to think what I need and what I don’t. May be I didn’t need this Handy cam or the iPod or that DVD player. When I see my father back at home. He has a simple BPL color tv, he doesn’t need 32″ Sony LCD wall mount. He has a cellphone worth Rs 2,500. Whenever I ask him to change the phone, he always says… “Its a phone, I need this just for calls.” And believe me; he is much happier in life than me with those limited resources and simple gadgets. The very basic reason why he is happy with so little is that he doesn’t want things in life to make it luxurious, but he wants only those things which are making his life easier. It’s a very fine line between these two, but after looking my father’s life style closely, I got the point. He needs a cell phone but not the iPhone. He needs a TV but not the 32″ plasma. He needs a car but not an expensive one.

Initially I had lot of questions.

I am earning good, still I am not happy…...why ?

I have all luxuries, still I am stressed........... why ?

I had a great weekend, still I am feeling tired...... why?

I met lot of people, I thought over it again and again, I still don’t know if I got the answers, but certainly figured out few things. I realize that one thing which is keeping me stressed is the “stay connected” syndrome. I realized that, at home also I am logged in on messengers, checking mails, using social networks, and on the top of that, the windows mobile is not letting me disconnected. On the weekend itself, trying to avoid unwanted calls… and that is keeping my mind always full of stress. I realized that I am spending far lesser money than what I earn, even then I am always worried about money and more money. I realized that I am saving enough money I would ever need, whenever needed. Still I am stressed about job and salary and spends.

May be, many people will call this approach “not progressive attitude“, but I want my life back. Ultimately it’s a single life, a day gone is a day gone. I believe if I am not happy tonight, I’ll never be happy tomorrow morning.

I finally realized that meeting friends, spending quality time with your loved one’s; spending time with yourself is the most important thing. If on Sunday you are alone and you don’t have anybody to talk with, then all that luxuries life, all that money is wasted. May be cutting down your requirements, re-calculating your future goal in the light of today’s happiness is a worthwhile thing to do. May be selling off your Santro and buying Honda City on EMIs is not a good idea. I believe putting your happiness ahead of money is the choice we need to make.

I think, a lot can be said and done but what we need the most is re-evaluation of the value of happiness and time we are giving to our life and people associate with it .

Where are we!??

2009-11-10T15:15:00.002+05:30

I am a big fan of the movie Iron Man and Paycheck for different reasons. Iron man for the super hero plot and Paycheck for the way they would have imagined technology in 2003.

You would not have forgotten how Tony Stark designs his super powered suit in Iron Man. That’s not for movie alone. That’s for real and it’s called Augmented Reality (AR). It’s a technology which merges our physical world with the virtual world. Eg: if you are walking down in an unknown place, you will be guided step by step to the location you want to go. Hold On! Don’t think that this is GPS. GPS is just a positioning or identifying service. AR is beyond it. Check out Wikipedia, on AR, especially the columns on current applications and future applications.

Accidentally while writing this, my thoughts are different. They move away from the technology and question how is it relevant or to ask in particular, when will they be relevant for us? I feel we are living in an outdated world. The idea of AR was conceptualized somewhere in 1990’s and has come into practice now (Check out here) and looks we will have to keep fascinating on the ideas like this. Uh! Where are we!??

Today and Global Warming

2009-11-06T16:04:00.006+05:30

Gearing up with full protection to face the rain and facing just the clear sky, seems to become a daily habit for the next couple of months which is so called the monsoon season. I read a news about Al Gore (remember An Inconvenient Truth!). When I say his name I feel like yawning. The documentary he produced was like that. But today there was something which I thought about what he spoke and what I have witnessed.

His documentary was on Global Warming. I am a lazy fellow and a hesitant fellow to update myself by reading (the reason behind is I sleep after reading 2-3 pages). So, I haven’t made any research on how the events connect to Global Warming.

In Mumbai, usually the monsoon starts by June 1st week and gets over by August end or September 1st week. Few Mumbaikars tell approximate dates as well. This year it was worse that till August 1st week there were no rains and there were few spells during October. It is like the entire Monsoon getting shifted. “So what! What’s the big deal! As far as rain comes its okay right!” ask many. These are the people who actually destroy the environment. Lack of rains or patterns shifting is a result of Global Warming.

The same is not only in Mumbai but in Chennai too. Chennai receives its part of rain during September - November. Today the first week of November gets over and we have received only few hours of rain. Our people with no knowledge of what it is spoil the environment. Mostly I see the “Chalta hai re…” attitude. It all starts from small habits like “Do not split on the road”, “Litter only in dust bins” and all the first grade lessons. We have missed to follow and lack self discipline. The same guy who makes the entire nuisance polluting the environment here immediately changes his attitude while in a foreign country. Can he do all those in places like Dubai? He will not. He will be s*** scared even to think about doing it.

We got to wake up to this. Some time back there was another new article reading “India might lose its south – west monsoon soon”. The change should happen within. We as individuals have to do something. Reduce usage of plastic bags; plant more trees or whatever could help the environment. I with an advice from a friend have reduced the usage of plastic bags. I say no plastic bags wherever I already have a bag to accommodate the stuff I buy and I carry existing carry bags to the store. I hope you would follow it too.

We are losing out Green. Do check out what the world does to protect it and what you can do as an individual. Visit Hopenhagen. Let me know too. We have a responsibility to give a better world to our children like how we recieved it from our fathers.

5/11

2009-11-05T16:53:00.006+05:30

அடாது மழை விடாது பெய்தாலும்

அடாது புறப்பட்ட என்னை - படாது

படுத்தி விட்டது இம்மழை! - படாது

படுத்தி விட்டது இம்மழை!

--புலம்பல் சித்தர் இராசாராம்

I work in Mumbai. Mumbai receives rains between June - September every year. Those months would be pathetic to travel between places. I recount my experience earlier (28/7 blog is good for nostalgia). Mumbaikars are still haunted by 26/7. To escape from the 2009 rains, I made a plan to shift myself to Chennai temporarily during that period. Once that period was over I would get back to Mumbai where the rains would be over and also an escape from Chennai rains. (I make good plans…Ya! only plans…)

The initial plan got executed and I got back to Mumbai escaping from the rains, but there was something added to it. Im back in Chennai and the rains have started. Yesterday, the first official day of monsoon 2009, I woke up late in the morning and it was pouring heavily. I had nothing to cover and fearing of the long distance ride in the bike I opted to stay in home. In the evening, rushed to nearby shops and got rain covers for myself. It was full proof. Back in mind I was planning of all ways of covering myself completely so that not a drop of water will go in and was eagerly waiting to rain the next morning with the new coats on. Put in my shoes in my shoulder bag and carried it along with a plan to change it in office (This is the first time Im using shoulder bags for office. Felt something awkward in the back..Uh!)

As planned it started drizzling. That was the perfect time. I was covered completely from head to toe. Only the face was open that too closed with the helmet. I started out of home. There were fellow people on the road going empty handed in that drizzle. I appeared like an alien to them. I never minded as I had to travel long and had a faith on the rain pouring down. (Boss! I was prepared to face it...and wanna face it… oh rain, c’mon man…lets see if it is you are me…)

The drizzle increased and was constant… I was moving on the road and alas…! They stopped and the sun was shining... Holy cows…! With full protection, I was expecting to pour heavily and there were no clouds. Couldn’t react or think much on it as I kept driving. The covers started giving sweats inside. But, as I wanted it to be, there were black clouds soon and it started pouring. People driving along took cover on the road side. I, with the new rain coats on, did not stop or slow my speed. Guess I was the only one on the road. It started pouring heavy and I was in a singing mood as I won’t get wet.

Reached office in the rains with a planning executed well. There was something which was bothering inside the covers while I was driving. Eagerly, when I took out the covers to look out what they were, I was crying shocked. I was completely wet! I would have come in the rain only for around 20 mins! Huh!!! All these covers...! Coudln't do anything except a sigh....

All the way from June, from Mumbai these rains have spoilt my purpose. They never spare me every year. Today I'm planning to buy another anti rain accessory. Let’s see how that works.

Late post (written a month back)

2009-09-17T15:14:00.006+05:30

A decade and a half back in Madras, a bus ticket in Pallavan transport from Perungalathur to Tambaram (2.5 kms approx) costed 45 paise. The bus would be green in color running in an inclined 45 degree position on the left hand side. The bus isn’t designed like that. The crowd in the bus would make the bus slanted. The conductor inside will feel hell everyday to cruise through the crowd to issue tickets. For 45 paise that travel would be an “uh!” for me.

Now, times have changed. The fare is around 5 rupees. The distance is more than 2.5 kms. Pallavan transport is now MTC. The buses have GPS devices fitted. I am able to see which bus is coming next, when and where exactly my bus route is running. I heard Chennai is the first city in India to implement mass PIS in public transport buses. It’s good to see those. The buses have automatic doors with nil scope to hang in the foot board. One feature which I see curiously is the electronic ticketing in the bus. The device which they have is super cool. With a press of 2 buttons the ticket comes out and the entire MIS is taken care in a minute. Earlier, the conductor has to fill up ticket sales stage by stage in a long sheet of paper and submit it at the end of the day. I was conversing with a conductor who was still filling that info although he had the device. He was saying his superior still wants the info in paper only.

This city has not only changed in its transport alone. The once so called and still being called as a conservative city is the safest city in India now and it competes with other major cities in everything. Be it jobs, infrastructure, governance, public amenities, culture and so on, this city competes and its legacy continues as well. I was actually a bit surprised to see a gay parade happened in this city and most of it was it had happened peacefully. People are open to change here and accept the change. This is a city which every individual will surely like to live if given a choice.

Exactly been around 2 months I am posting to my blog. I have got good time now to spend with my friends and that has made my writing take a rest. Many of friends ask (actually they amuseJ) why I write for and who reads it. I really don’t know how many read it and I have no answer to them because this is something which I will cherish in the future. When I have nothing to do, I can open my writings and enjoy the nostalgia.

People

2009-06-23T19:26:00.001+05:30

Very few people seed the urge in me to write. We learn different things from different people. This is a continuation to my post People who have made me to re-think over.

I saw this man first while I was travelling in bus to Andheri station in the morning hours. The bus is crowded usually. This man asked for the bus route and got into the bus from the driver side which he is not supposed to. He then rushed to the other side of the bus through the crowd, pushing people around, but with a huge smile, asking excuses and then he returned back to the same place. On seeing this for the first time, although he was asking excuses and sporting a big smile, I was furious that he was doing it for some notorious fun and the conductor also seemed not to bother.

The next day, it was the same bus stop and this man got into the bus and was rushing through the crowd the same way. But I felt ashamed for not noticing something. He was having a stick in hand which the blind men use to guide them. Yes, this man is blind. It was a shock to me. I asked sorry to myself. I did not know that he was blind and was making wrong assumptions. I was wondering why he had to rush through the crowd to the other side. By the stop where he boards the bus, the conductor is on the other side giving tickets and this man goes all the way to get his ticket. And he does it with a smile and asking excuses all the way to the people.

I have re-learnt to be gracious to people from him. He can demand a seat to sit and ask the conductor to come to him for a ticket. He doesn’t do that and goes all his way not bothering about the difficulty in between to get the ticket. He greets the difficulties in between with a smile. This man displays the confidence and humane nature in him. I have stamped few shoes in the crowded places by mistake and have never asked excuses. I take it for granted that it’s a crowded place and it happens for me too.

We tend to forget the small things in life. We devalue people before us. We don’t bother, don’t ask excuses and missing to communicate also happens. We take them for granted and don’t realize how much it would have concerned them and we keep doing it the same way. We are humans and do mistakes. It does not matter as far as we don’t repeat it time and again. Let’s re-think what we had learnt about kindness and love. I am now returning a call to a friend who was concerned about my health and I had not answered properly while asked.

Need of the hour

2009-05-22T13:44:00.002+05:30

Need of the hour - Formula for the nation's progress.

A fresh start…

2009-05-20T12:53:00.001+05:30

A clean politics is what every average citizen wants in the country. Elections 09 seem to have indicated it. With congress getting a clear mandate, Mr. Singh and Rahul wanting to have a clean and young cabinet at least from their party, it gives a fresh perspective of the government. This election has also made the BJP and third parties to revise and redo their policies which were outdated. My interest in politics have pepped up again after a gap of over 5 years.

The UPA camp on deciding the cabinet looks refreshing with a bold and professional look. Mr. Singh once criticized as weak PM and lags in decision making, looks bold and energetic now. The portfolios to be given influence the performance of the upcoming government. MPs like Rahul, Scindia, Milind Deora, Maran, Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor and more with good expertise are definitely refreshing. Mr. Singh himself being one of the best economists in the world being a PM is a pride to our country. The first 100 days is to be watched out for few economic reforms. The noted economists’ magic is the need of the hour to tackle the job loss and the slowdown.

Altogether somewhere I read few years back that India will be able to show its superpower to the world by 2010. I feel this as the beginning.

Squares & Cubes

2009-05-04T16:06:00.001+05:30

The title of the post draws inspiration from the title "Angels & Demons" just for its rhyming sounds.

My name has 3 R's in it and people call be triple R or sometimes "R cube" also. That’s how Im related to the cubic entity. But from no where, the square entity follows me at times when I haven’t given a thought about it.

Google had announced "Project10tothe100" program. I wanted to contribute to it and the title of my idea in a jiffy narrowed to E2. It denotes Education & Empowerment. Yeah…The antenna in my brain pops up wherever there is something to be conceptualized. And when Google calls for ideas, I got pepped up. Unfortunately I was not able to complete the idea I started to visualize. To more about the Project from Google visit project10tothe100.com

Back to square, my earlier naming patterns for an event of CII were I2 and P2. I2 means Inventions & Innovations and very straight and a bit silly too, P2 is Paper Presentation. These again were conceptualized but could not get executed.

Guess the squares made by cube were not fit enough to get executed and showcased but I am glad for the attempt.

Ooh la la law!! X(

2009-04-21T15:34:00.001+05:30

Democracy is our nation’s strength and sometimes I feel it as a weakness as well. 10 terrorists came into the city and killed several people which the world knows. One terrorist is caught alive and he is interrogated. I guess he should only be interrogated. Why does the court need to give him a lawyer? Is the court trying to give him a chance of fleeing free which is not going to happen!! What is the motive behind booking some 300+ cases against one single terrorist and appointing a lawyer for him? There is a cost attached to all these court proceedings. He should be interrogated and his back links should be found on intelligence basis but I feel its waste of time and huge money in bringing him to court when the whole world knows he is a terrorist.

The above is an external affair problem and below is an internal affair.

Elections are in pace. I know for sure there is going to be no change after the election whichever party holds the cabinet. As a voter I see all the candidates as invalid and I decide not to vote. But there are a lot of chances that my vote will be misused. Thank god, I found out the section 49-O in the Conduct of Election rules. I have a right not to cast my vote which means I don’t need to vote for any candidate. It’s like me boycotting the election. It’s not going to affect the winning chances of the candidate but by this my vote can’t be misused. I felt happy about the law in place until I read about a loop hole in it.

The section says – “If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.” which means the anonymity of the voter is lost which is against the procedure of voting behind the ballot box and hence the rule cannot be used by any voter wishing to live peacefully.

Moreover, the EVMs don’t have the option of “None” or “Not applicable” which again forces the voter to vote on some candidates of no caliber. Its like wherever there is a provision of law there is provision of a loop hole as well. Our law sings to the every citizen's tune.

Elections 2009

2009-04-13T16:09:00.003+05:30

A fine morning, after reading the headlines, I asked a friend “Do you know Sarath Babu”. He replied “Ya ya, the one who acted with Rajinikanth. Ya I know him.”

I did not expect that reply or else I would have got prepared to face it. Then I told him about Sarath Babu. Sarath is from a very humble and poor family in Chennai. His mother sold idli’s door by door for his schooling. Sarath made it to BITS Pilani for his engineering degree and got placed in a software firm. Later he got into IIM-A for his management degree. He topped in the exams and offers poured in. But, he did not take them. He said “I want to be an entrepreneur and adding more he wanted to start a food chain inspired by his mother”. Touching story!

Now, Sarath is taking another step in his life. He is contesting for the Lok Sabha elections. Now wants to give it back to the society. He is an independent candidate from the South Chennai constituency contesting against the biggies.

I wonder in which film has the actor Sarath Babu played a role like this.

Btw, 2009 elections have transformed to be a national event with a day holiday for most of the citizens. Campaigns are at full swing in all means and forms of media. Why is this all for? Where is the change? are my questions. I could hear few voicing out "You be the change!". It makes sense while hearing and while reading the below statistics I feel "God save this place"

Total no. of Candidates with Criminal Records = 222 (i.e. 16% of 1425 candidates)

Most of the major political parties have fielded candidates with criminal records, with top four parties being INC (24), BJP(23), BSP(17) and SP(10)

Most states have candidates with criminal background contesting elections- Bihar is at the top with 51 candidates (or 26%)

There are 306 charges of heinous nature on the candidates which includes, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, extortion, etc.

Percentage of contesting crorepatis has increased from 9% in 2004 to 14% in 2009

68% candidates have not furnished their PAN card details.

Number of women candidates is just 122(7%) as compared to 1593 of men(93%)

Source: ADR Press Release in New Delhi. Thanks to Anil for the mail.

I have no comments to explain the above!!!!! X(

Mumbai meri jaan

2009-04-06T13:41:00.004+05:30

I was recently reading an upbeat news article which will make us very proud. It was a dream coming true article which made feel proud and astonishing. The heading was "Mumbai to emerge as the global financial center". I was surprisingly shocked with a pessimist mood on how could this happen. Not that I don’t wish it to happen, but how could it happen and how will it be. Then scrolling down to the bottom of the article there were comments from fellow citizens. A copy/paste of that for you is below;

The article says "Mumbai is the best suited to emerge as a global financial center, especially because the domestic demand for sophisticated financial services is high," a finance ministry official, who asked not to be named told The Economic Times. After the formation of the new government, the ministry will take up 49 recommendations to restructure the current financial regulations. The popular proposals which are being speculated include encouraging innovation, introducing new products, removing segmentation of financial markets and strengthening corporate debt market.

Reader's comments (8)

1: How long did it take to build the Bandra-Worli sea link? About 25 years in the making...! How long will it take to remove Dharavi ...about 100 years+. Look, nobody is going to accept Mumbai as a World Financial Center unless it learns to present itself clean with good roads, communication, drainage plus other necessities such as Hong Kong. Our politicians will never let it happen.
2: Caution! Idiots at work :).
3: hmmm.. sounds just like the $10 laptop to me!

4: Wishful thinking. We don't yet have the infrastructure to support the current IT business we have. Indian govt seems to have no clue as to the kind of infrastructure demands a global financial center requires. It's a different story that India will come out stronger after the recession. That always happens with many countries except that this time around it may take a while for the US to come around stronger.
5: one more scam in the making

6: but before it happens i think all we will die due to poverty. but still happy feel proud of Indian

7: so, the opinion that India will emerge stronger after recession is coming true. hope the ministry succeeds.

8: Guys, we all know that India can turn into what we want it to be overnight. There needs to be a revolution and maybe this is the opportunity. When the politicians realize that anything they do will be reflected in how India is perceived by the World, they might bring in a radical change to their thought process. Let's hope for the best. This could be the first step towards India becoming the Super Power in the years to come (not too far, well before we die, for sure).

Source: SiliconIndia dated 02nd April 2009

All the above comments represent an average citizen’s anguish and yearning to see a developed nation. It is not that we don’t have anything to make it. We have everything and it’s all getting eaten up by some crooks in between who are supposed to make it happen.

நல்லதோர் வீணை செய்து அதை நலம் பட புழுதியில் விடுவதுண்டோ!!

You dont make a beautiful musical instrument to trash!!

Heart – Made in India

2009-03-19T17:58:00.003+05:30

I remember days where “Made in India” products were known for awful quality. Then after our current PM introduced LPG policy (It’s not the gas cylinder policy. It’s Liberalization, Privatization & Globalization) things turned around and the world started to look upon India for technology. Now, I guess its one another achievement for our country if this invention is going to be a success.

An artificial heart for Rs 1 lakh! Click on the link to read the story. It is definitely an laudable achievement. Kudos to the team for their vision and efforts!

The Monk who could be wrong

2009-03-18T16:04:00.003+05:30

True love can never react so as to cause pain either to the lover or to the beloved. Suppose a man loves a woman; he wishes to have her all to himself and feels extremely jealous about her every movement; he wants her to sit near him, to stand near him, and to eat and move at his bidding. He is a slave to her and wishes to have her as his slave. That is not love; it is a kind of morbid affection of the slave, insinuating itself as love. It cannot be love, because it is painful; if she does not do what he wants, it brings him pain. With love there is no painful reaction. Love only brings a reaction of bliss. If it does not, it is not love. It is mistaking something else for love.

The above lines are not mine. They are from the patriotic monk Vivekananda. I have read many quotes on the same. These lines are simple in explanation and true to some extent. He further says “When you have succeeded in loving your husband, your wife, your children, the whole world, the universe, in such a manner that there is no painful reaction of pain or jealousy, no selfish feeling, then you are in a fit state to be unattached.”

He means love detaches a person from the lively world. But, are we born to be detached? Mr. Monk, I wish I could debate this with you. We are born to live. Expectations, desire, pains and so on are humane nature. It may harm one but it depends on how we handle it. When you have someone loving you, it protects, nurtures, enables you to dream, achieve and do everything along with your partner. Looks like those lines are written out of love failure. He should have seen people around him behaving like how he has written.

Rather, I ponder, should love not have expectations? If two people are in a relationship and love for each other, should they be without expectations from each other?

I feel its all about understanding, sharing, caring and living for each other. You expect yourself to be understood by your partner and the same from the other side. You expect your partner to share, care, and love and live for you. The same levels of expectations are there from the other side as well. Love sustains when those expectations are met. Living for each other takes love to a greater stage and it wont happen when there is only taking in either side. From tiny daily issues to big long term plans there have to be adjustments with both of them.

Humans tend to lose themselves after only giving from their side and lose heart of not getting anything in return and all the negative aspects of love begin there. All these in a relationship need more patience and determination and when the passion to live exists all the odds fly like dust.

See the Future

2009-03-03T18:14:00.000+05:30

Down the lane

2009-02-26T14:59:00.006+05:30

Had a mail from Yahoo in my Inbox today

Dear Yahoo! Briefcase user,

We will officially close Yahoo! Briefcase on March 30, 2009. Until then, we are offering you the opportunity to download your files back to your computer. You need to take action before we close, after which any files remaining on Yahoo! Briefcase will be deleted and no longer accessible.

I wondered what were there in my briefcase and as a precautionary step logged in to check out and there was the surprise and memories.

All the project documents during my management studies were stored. We had to do projects and internships as part of the curriculum. Few mates joined for internships which had a pay attached to it, few paid for projects and so on. I was recommended by a Professor to an Government organization. It did not bother me seriously when I heard about it as it was a Government organization. I was put to an interview with an IAS officer. It was told that there will be no pay during the internship. I agreed. I was briefed about the work and while coming out I was charged. I was so proud that I got that opportunity and did not want to miss boasting myself (why should i miss... the work done is my product) and did boast while presenting the project back in college with the below lines:

“We were designated as Management Trainees, but were treated as Management Consultants”
“We as Interns in this project do not give suggestions for improvements. This is an action plan for execution”

The college management and mates were watching with a “this guy is flying above in the cloud and is going to crash!” look.

I did not crash and rather I was taken much higher. I got involved in a real time big project which had the big names of the industry coming together.

Now, I recollect those memories. I had spoken in length and depth about this to most of my friends and the response I get from them is “Shut Up! You have told this umpteen times and don’t speak as if only you had done it in this world.” I would shut up for a while but again start it. I cannot put this into rest. LOL! These are not sweet memories to keep within., these are a great memories which charges me to go forward.

Yahoo had kindled these memories and writing this post. I am now transferring those files to Google Docs.

And the boasting will continue B-)

B Prize Cheat codes

2009-02-12T19:02:00.008+05:30

Disclaimer:

The contents in this post are purely fictional and does not indicate any particular event or person or object. Any such incidents are purely coincidental and the author will not hold responsibility for some imaginary connective thinking. This post is a personal opinion and the author does not regret for the same.

Recently read 2 books which had won the very famous prize and sharing the tips to crack the prize. Yes, you can do it!!

300+ pages is a must
Choose the place were you have born and brought up as the location of your novel. Remember only uneasy settings of your place and it has to get narrated diplomatically. (Very important!! Added adavantage if you and me are from the same country. Its a very lovable country.)
Don’t have less than 10 characters. Set all the characters intense with a gloomy background. Detail the main characters (3-4) one in each chapter sequentially and in the very next chapter narrate other characters together and in the very next chapter tie the characters each other with a tragic twist.
For sure, you will remember your 2-3 bad experiences of yours or your neighbors. Thread them to the narration.
Hire a Prof. English literature from a well known university to make sure a literary flow and for "Foreword". Definitely include "Dedicated to", "Preface", "Plot" and whatever 2-3 liner pages you like to have.
You could also take a story from a very old movie in the world. Yeah, there are 7 continents (Don't know if i am wrong!). Or there could be no story also. Just chain of events with a big bang end will do.

As usual, reader's improvement and additions to the list are welcome.

A thought to think!

2009-01-27T10:34:00.003+05:30

There are hundred thoughts to think upon. One of them is below;

I witnessed two events this weekend which involved thousands of people gathering together. In one event, people were detaching themselves from what they truly were and in another (different set); they showcased their might & courage.

The first event was in a mythological place / a shrine where people thronged and were shouting slogans/prayers in praise of the Almighty. What they were exactly doing was that they were surrendering themselves to God asking him to handle their lives and asking him for favors. In the process there were chaos and fights in the crowd on who will enter the shrine first.

The second event was in New Delhi, the capital of India. It was the Republic Day parade in Rajpath. It had in its soil the great soldiers and citizens of the country. People in organized groups with sheer discipline and precision timing, showcased their might assuring themselves that they collectively will serve the country. The mighty weapons of the country, the rich culture of the multilingual states, the efforts of people in saving the country, were displayed, remembered & recognized. It was altogether a “We Can & We will” attitude showcased in the event which made feel proud & confident about the future in this country.

Now, both the events had people gathered together. In the both the events people were from the same country. The first event had people of one single religion at one place and the second event had people from different religions coming together for the interest of the nation. It is said that when people gather and pray, God gets delighted and grants their wishes. Sounds good and makes me to participate in it too. But, I would rather prefer to know my strengths and work in leveraging it to myself and the people around, because, it is also said that God prefers and helps people more who help themselves by putting in their best efforts for themselves and others as well.

Now, which one do you prefer to do?

Annanukku Jai, Kaalayanukku Jai!!

2009-01-17T16:16:00.003+05:30

Jallikattu is an occasion celebrated in south Tamilnadu showcasing the bravery in men. No intro is required for this bull sport. If you don’t know what it is pls contact Mr. Wikipedia / Mr. Google.

Government and also animal welfare board are trying to ban this game as they are concerned about the bull. The typical Jallikattu bulls are endangered species now. People would fear to go near it even during normal time. The bull is made run in a huge crowd with gold, money and other things tied to its horns. The man who stops and tames the bull gets the prize. Sounds easy ah!! Check out the pic below;

Check out the other pic. This one is shot recently. I had tamed this bull 15 years back. Yes believe me…15 years back while I was a kid I had tamed this bull!!! I was a kid and the bull was a calf :))

People

2009-01-14T20:02:00.006+05:30

We sometimes encounter people, perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.
--Fydor Dostoevsky

This post is about the people who have made me amaze, puzzle in the past few days. They are from different walks of life and different age groups.

First is this boy in his 10 or 12 yrs. This boy is a chai vendor near my client’s office in Mahalaxmi. I go everyday to have a cup of special chai from this guy and watch him closely. This boy shows a sense of maturity in handling the business (yeah...chai vending is also a business and this boy is also an entrepreneur). He is in his early stages of life and I wonder what at this stage of life made him not to go school and pursue his business*. I have seen a bunch of kids on work but so far none have puzzled me like this. This guy has a style in his work, has a never tiring face and greets everyone with the same energy level. Haan Sir…Boliye This guy gives me energy to look out life in a positive way. Kudos to this young chap! He is one of my inspirations.

The next is a granny. I saw this granny in Andheri railway station once. Her skin was so loose, spine bent and she was wearing a gown like a kid girl. For sure she would be in her second half of 80’s. There was no one along with her to accompany. The moment I saw her, my eyes were looking at who had accompanied her! Andheri railway station at the morning hours is jam-packed and people push each other to move forward. Granny was sitting in the platform. A train arrived and I was all gasps on she is going to get pushed. Amazingly, she managed herself and went along in the crowd. She is very old that people at her age couldn’t even mange to stand for some time. This granny had a clear vision too** without specs and at her 80’s with no one accompanying her; she was energetic and had managed on her own to commute. I wonder how she would have led her life such that she has the courage at this age to manage on her own. Granny…You rock, you are a rock star!!!

Next is a man in his 50’s. With gentleman dressing, looking very tired, walking like a patient and coughing at regular intervals, I have seen him a couple of times sitting across me in the train***. He has the marks of an ex-serviceman. He carries around 5-6 newspapers and untied assorted flowers in hand. I have only seen those type flowers tied as garland. Once he is seated, he starts with the TOI and falls asleep soon. He appears as a tired person and I start thinking that he has worked very hard through his life for his loved ones and failed to be understood. Or may be those flowers are for a missed loved one or may be to be offered to some deity. All these are my thoughts when I see this gentleman. My thoughts never go out of these and immediately it takes me to my memories. This gentleman makes me think about life in the mornings I see him.

I once saw this person while on my way to Andheri station. He had nothing below his body beyond his thighs. What he had was only his upper part of the body! He crawls on the floor with support from hands and his half cut thigh is dragged along in the floor. Life can’t be cruel like this to a human being. Whatever evil he has done, this is a cruel punishment in his life. I would prefer to die rather than living than this. Yet, this person was doing an honorable job. He was cleaning the floor with paper dusts left by the commuters in the ticket counter and receives money if somebody gives him. He doesn’t sit idle and beg for money. He cleans the place which we use and receives money for living. He is not only a good citizen but also makes me believe that life can be lived however it may be to you.

There are so many like these people whom I meet in my daily lives who encourage and instill the confidence of life. It’s the other side of the world which has a mix of positive and also negative things. Life is all about how we live along with it!

*On the other hand, it’s not a must to study to run a business and not all who are educated are intelligent too. Most of them are cracks and I too fall in that category.
**Health is obviously wealth especially when you are old. I wish to be independent like this granny with good health not bothering anyone during my last years.
***There are regular passengers who rush in the empty train to sit in their regular seats. I have my regular seat tooB-)

2009-01-09T13:27:00.003+05:30

(lifeless over the happenings around)

ON A SABBATICAL

(will be back once rejuvenated)

Mumbai Train Travel Myth & Cheat Codes

2008-12-04T00:03:00.000+05:30

Season Ticket
Always see to that +2 stations are covered from your actual departure and destination stations. Most often the crowd will permit you to get down in the next station only.

Time
Always reach 30 mins earlier to the station. You will not get into the very first train that comes in the platform.

Fast Train
If fast train does not halt at your destination station and halts in the next station, go to that halting station and travel back. There is no harm in it.

First Class / Second Class
It’s a myth that First class is better than second Class. The number of first class coaches is only 2 or 3 in a 12 coach train. By permutation and combination they get crowded more than the second class.

Learn gymnastics
There is balcony travel in both fast and local trains. Soon there will be special tickets issued for that too. You got to wear electric proof clothes for that. Government will soon consider opening up FDI for the same.

More cheat codes are welcome.

Issued in self interest by tripleR

Living with Terror

2008-11-28T16:19:00.000+05:30

Mumbai siege has shaken the entire nation for sure. Living in this city for the past 1 year this is my first encounter with terrorism. People who had felt that they have an undying spirit to face terrorism or natural calamities like rains like in 2006 are fed up now. The own sons of the soil feel tired of living. At an individual level every one wants to live a peaceful life with their family and that lies their priority on top of their emotion for the place they live in.

Coming back to the situation in Mumbai, its seriously shocking to know that the terrorists have entered into the city from a point which is the tip and considered as gateway of the nation and there was literally no security set up in that place.

The tip of the city is at buzz with media reporting the action live from the ground. This is a different type of attack and a shocking one too for the citizens of the state. In simple words there was complete unrest for the people of the city since the incident occurred.

While writing this I recollect what Barkha Dutt of NDTV was told yesterday while she was reporting live. The statement was “This is usual in Kashmir. We see it daily over there.” and may be this happening for the first time in this city had given us a shock in the spine.

That statement is true and Kashmir witnesses these everyday where battle go on for 3 to 4 days. So what is the solution to curb these or at least face these with minimum damage? The terrorists are said to be highly motivated that they have come only to damage and they very well aware of losing their lives. Where does that motivation come from for them? Who had trained them?

When 2 terrorists with weapons are visible, 100-200 of them frighten and run for cover. Even the one with a low range weapon runs and weeps rather than fighting with what he has. Seeing those commandos in action I remember my training days with the TN army battalion unit and I felt if a SLR / LMG or a Sten is given I would have gone in the field live. Now that confidence in me comes from the training I have had and that’s what is I feel has to leveraged to every individual.

All schools and colleges should have NCC as part of their curriculum. Basic weapon training should be given like the first aid training. It becomes necessary for at least a city like Mumbai which faces terrorism frequently. This does not mean everybody should use a weapon, but it means that they should be trained to handle the situation with confidence. The situation would have been different if the people in Taj or Trident were trained and skilled in handling these types of terror situations. The damage would have been less and the operation would not have lasted so long. The nation needs more solid individuals.

The commandos fighting there also have families and they too have their life to live and it’s unfair that 200 commandos alone fight for a whole city. I feel one man from every household should be equipped to fight against terrorism and crime in the place they live in.

My deep condolences to the family of the departed souls! May the souls rest in peace.

Vision

2008-11-24T09:22:00.001+05:30

Vision is the ability to see the future at present.

In simple terms it’s the ability to look forward. We look forward with your eyes and he/she who sees the future in the eyes at present is a perfect visionary. I had a vision for the vision.

It was posted in futuristic a year and a half back.

Now, the idea seems to be adopted. Meet Tanya! Tanya lost her eye in an accident and had got a prosthetic eye. She, with approval from her doctor has called upon engineers to build a camera for her fake eye. And the amazing part is she has got specs for the cam to be installed like DVR capabilities, MPEG-4 compression and so on. You could check out her blog at http://tanyavlach.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/call-for-engineers/#more-201

No wonder, this could also become a fashion statement. People would donate one eye and have the cam installed. The future is not too far. Tomorrow is your near future.

2008-11-04T20:18:00.005+05:30

kaathalinal maanudarku kalavi'yundaam
kalavile maanudarku kavalai theerum
aathalinal kaathal unarveer ulagatheere
athuve ivvulagin thalamai inbam
--bharathi

the above means

love makes human bonds
those bonds drives away pains
so my dear people, feel love
as its the eternal bliss for humans
--tripleR (for bharathi)

Food

2008-10-06T10:28:00.003+05:30

I had visited the north Indian restaurant chain Rajdhani recently. The food was such rich in quality and quantity and at the most, the coordination which the office bearers displayed in serving food amazed me. If you happen to see the restaurant, please don’t miss the food. A sneak peek of the thali is there for you.

Thanksgiving

2008-09-26T17:59:00.000+05:30

Nothing beats a good food for a thanksgiving. Not necessarily for a thanksgiving, but for every occasion I guess. Every ritual and ceremony from birth to death accompanies a feast in any part of the world. That too in India nothing beats a thali food. Although pizzas, pastas, burgers and other fast foods have come into picture a thali food is always a delight.

We as our custom perform a ritual every year for our dead father or mother. My dad used to do the ritual for his mom and dad. The ritual is a type of thanksgiving for our parents for raising us and also has a emotional attachment as like asking forgiveness for our mistakes done when they were alive. It takes about 3-4 hours. There is a short and shorter version also available for the same which will get over in just 20-30 mins time. But, in the either case food has a role. In the shorter version, 2 of poor fellowmen are given food for the day. The longer version also has the same with some pujas attached to it. My dad opts for the original longer version (He should have been a bad son I guess. LOL…JFL) He is the 7th child in the family. Huh! (My grand dad is great). Although the remaining 6 might not be present for the ritual, whoever is able to make it does or they accompany. All my dad’s siblings join him on that day.

That day we have our food only after the ritual is over. My stomach would feel the hunger much before the ritual starts. No way! Even if my dead grand dad would excuse me, my dad would never allow me to eat. I would be lying in the kitchen and my mom would laugh at me. Aunts would offer something to eat fresh but their brother, my dad would give a furious look at them. And alas, the moment of end would arrive and I will be the first to keep my hand in the food. Believe me; even with that much hunger I cannot finish the whole meal. It would have varieties of dishes spread over in a banana leaf and those are available only on that particular day. Uhhhh!!!…. The feast remains in my eyes!

Rama and Krishna missing

2008-09-22T09:59:00.000+05:30

Accidentally happened to see new versions of Ramayana and Mahabharata in television. Somehow, couldn’t find the charm of the epics in those. Probably I feel the actors aren’t doing justice to the roles, especially the lead ones. I remember Ramanand Sagar’s and B R Chopra’s version of the same getting aired in Doordarshan which had made people involved into them. I would believe that was how it had been live years ago. Such were the actors’ performance and I have heard the actors would show such discipline while performing. The lead actor in the role of Rama and Krishna were Aryan and Nitish. They never committed to any other roles while these episodes were on. So, people would relate these actors as real Rama and Krishna. On the whole, it was a thoroughly religious time in homes whenever these episodes went on air.

The present versions lack those. The actors are visible in pubs and when you see them in the roles of Rama and Krishna, the passionate gods for crores….; it just drives crazy in head. I thank God that there are no new versions on the life history of Jesus Christ or Allah.

Champions

2008-08-21T10:11:00.005+05:30

Phelps is definitely a phenomenon. 2008 Olympic game has made him a champion.

Abhinav is also a proud champion. 2008 Olympic game has made him a champion.

So are many others in different walks of life becoming winners. While reading about the Olympic medal winners I happened to read something about champions which was very much true.

Champions are not made at the event/big game. They are made in the quiet hours, during the practice times, while they are silently preparing, stretching, sacrificing and dreaming.

A factual fact it is. And it means that you and me are also are champions in life. How many times would have we silently prepared, sacrificed things and we still keep on dreaming. We are too champions in our own league .

Phelps is someone living in the other part of the world. Abhinav lives in the other region of our country. But even if we don’t know them personally, their achievement inspires and makes us proud.

There is a champion who is in his attempt to enter into the Guiness in my office studio. I know him, he is my friend. It makes me feel elevated when I know that he is attempting a Guinness record. He is RJ Dheena. He already has a record for him and on has started his way to break his own in the BIG 92.7 FM studio, Chennai.

Let’s wish him ALL THE VERY BEST!! Its gr8 to hear that someone whom we know very well is attempting to get his/her name in the Guinness books right!? It certainly urges us too achieve.

22 August

2008-08-13T21:47:00.001+05:30

This day will be one of the d-days’ for techies like me. For a simple reason that iPhone is getting released in India. Apple is always a pioneer in inventions and not less to say, all the ‘i’ products are of exceptional brilliance executed. More than that the iPhone comes with 3G features loaded in it. India has just framed its 3G policy.

It’s obvious that 3G will turn around our way of living. It is told that a 3G enabled phone works in the background when you are sleeping. For eg: It searches and suggests you the best feasible route from one place to another within the city which has less traffic while you are sleeping. Interesting isn’t it!! Just wait for the day…

It couldn’t be better

2008-08-12T18:42:00.001+05:30

Friendship day again and messages were pouring in. Although I don’t like the formality of sending messages marking the occasion, I was replying to all who had greeted me. The whole bunch of 10 days went on an enjoying spree with friends pouring in from all over India.

Working till 9 PM, roaming in the streets and dinner around 12 in the night, sleeping at 2 or 3 AM, again waking up again at 8:30 the same day and starting to work was the schedule for the past 10 days. Yeah it was tiring and hectic but with friends around I guess it did justice to a perfect friendship day and week long celebration. It was not a friendship day, I would call this as friendship festival which comes very rare in lifetime

28/7

2008-07-29T17:23:00.006+05:30

அடாது மழை விடாது பெய்தாலும்
விடாது தன் கடமையை செய்ய
அடாது புறப்பட்ட என்னை படாது
படுத்தி விட்டது இம்மழை! படாது
படுத்தி விட்டது இம்மழை!

--புலம்பல் சித்தர் இராசாராம்

I had seen in news that people in this city are scared of 26/7 as that was the date; the city became paralytic due to heavy rains two years back. (It has become a fashion now – 26/7, 9/11 and so on…)

So obviously, with something to chew on, media reported that people were haunted by 26/7. What a story to chew on! On 26/7, there was a message from Met Dept. saying “Intermittent rain or thundershowers with possibility of heavy to very heavy rains in parts of city and suburbs”. The cloud was dark at 12 noon before I read this message. After reading the message I looked at the cloud elevating my head at 90 degrees. Alas! The cloud got cleared and there was sunshine. Met dept could be the best astrologers. But, they have studied science. That night it started to rain and did not stop for 2 days. It was a very good rain.

28/7 – the rains did not stop. I had no interest to stay home too. Half drenched, reached office and was working curiously. There was a mail permitting for early pack up due to the rains getting heavy and water logging in the roads.

I was feeling good about the rains pouring and got scared about reaching home too. Man holes were brimming with water. Few out of those were throwing out water as like a fountain throws. Water was splashing from both the sides in the auto rickshaw. If I had drenched half by rain, the remaining got drenched by the splashes. At one point the auto rickshaw stopped and had to take another one. Althrough the way, its 2 stroke engine was screaming dorrr tak tak... dorr tak tak…tak tak dorrrr... Driver was cribbing “eh kya baarish hai yaar…itna pani road pe…” I couldn’t help him to continue the conversation. All I wanted that time was hot bhajji, pakoda and chai. Hmmmm...

Finally, reached home after a long time and then was this another surprise. The cloud got cleared again and it stopped raining. Huh!!

அடாது மழை விடாது பெய்தாலும்

விடாது தன் கடமையை செய்ய

அடாது புறப்பட்ட என்னை படாது

படுத்தி விட்டது இம்மழை! படாது

படுத்தி விட்டது இம்மழை!

I see the clouds outside now. It’s getting dark and drizzling...

2008-07-23T13:36:00.007+05:30

Some times, some lyrics of songs will get reminded in the head just like that. Without any reason, irrespective of the situation around, it keeps on playing in the background of our mind.

One such song which is playing right now in me has these lyrics;

ஒரே கனா என் வாழ்விலே... அதை நெஞ்சினில் வைத்திருக்கேன்
கனா மெய்யாகும் நாள் வரை உயிர் கையில் வைத்திருப்பேன்
வானே என் மேலே சாய்ந்தாலுமே நான் மீண்டு தாங்குவேன்
நீ என்னை கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சினால் நிலாவை வாங்குவேன்

and it means;

One dream is seeded in my heart
I shall hold on my breathe till it’s realized
I shall stand up again even if the sky falls on me
And I shall tame the sky if you love me a little…

This is from the title track of the movie Guru. Wanna Listen!?

p.s: kindly excuse for the incorrectness in the translation

Opinions differ

2008-07-14T10:25:00.003+05:30

I had a new picture of mine shot with coolers, uploaded in Gmail and Skype. Obviously, as it was mine, I thought it as cool. That’s my opinion. There was another: “You look like captain of blind men association”. Pretty upset! Uh! There were others too: “You look like a rock star”, “You look cool”. Well fine, good enough to rise up.

Same way, each and every thing in life has multiple opinions. They may not be the same and they don’t need to be too. I write this with an opinion to share my opinion about opinions with the reader and there might be readers who might have an opinion that I write scrap.

My opinion is, wasting 24 hrs for a travel is not worth it, instead I would spend double the money and reduce the travel time by 20 hrs. My parents’ opinion is to travel peacefully 24 hrs out of everything rather than spending double the money.

My opinion about a song is that it’s a feel good, gives a soothe feel when down and I kept that as my caller tune. There were more people who copied the tune from me. Opinion did not differ on this. There are also people who felt my previous tune better than the current one.

The restaurant which was decided for dinner had different disagreed opinions amongst us and we had to choose a new place and got our taste sense spoiled. The previous place which had different opinions would surely have been better. Differences in our views and no view too hurted us that night.

These are examples on simple things in my life. There would be similar ones in yours too. It doesn’t matter whether we have a good or a bad opinion about something, but it does matter on how we communicate, understand, accept and action them. Hope our opinions don’t differ on this. Anyways, what I think on is how these opinions shape around to make decisions in our life and my opinion now is that I leave the thinking to you. Yeah, I understand and accept your opinion that I have to stop with this here…

Baap Ka Beta: Ek gaun mein Ek Kisaan...

2008-07-11T13:26:00.001+05:30

Lagaan

2008-07-10T11:25:00.003+05:30

Last year I was trying my best to file tax returns online. Many said that it wouldn’t work out. I wanted to prove them wrong and was hanging on to the IT website for over a week. For me, if I would do it I would feel as if I have achieved something and also, I always like to give a try to the undoable (pls don’t look for the word in the dictionary). My self learning process started on it as usual. In fact that was when I learnt about the nuances of tax and filing them using ITR-1. Last date was close and without any option left, I had to fill up the ITR-1 form by hand and stand in the long queue to submit them. Still, I was restless and hunted to find out what went wrong and how in the online process. Alas!! I found out. It was a silly thing. The system I was using did not have the updated version of Acrobat reader and as a result the form did not get saved properly and did not get uploaded in the site. If the reader would have been updated, I could have overcome the pessimists. We tend to overlook small things while aiming for BIG!

I have filed my returns online this year. It took just 10 minutes including filling up the form. I just remembered how it happened last year!!

Naked brain

2008-07-04T11:01:00.004+05:30

An intriguing topic…isn’t it!? It’s about how our brain is exposed to many on a daily basis. Somewhere in the post, you will also note the amount of area vacant in my brain.

No need to explain that the brain is the central processing unit of our body which sends signals for action. Can it be believed that our brain inside the skull is read and exposed to external sources!? Marketers use brain scans to grab attention of consumers. A simple online test can tell your personality, a suitably job and even find a perfect date for you. Technology advances swiftly that you can control anything anywhere and everything is exposed. From sex of the baby while in mothers womb to erasing part of memory in the brain, everything inside and outside is read and exposed by technology. What is the extent to which it can carry on? Is it a good sign or a bad sign?

There are AI, bio and nano technology in practice. A nano technology empowered costume can control the temperature of your body. The same can be used to control your EI as well. Few decades back, a common man would have not thought about the background of his emotions with people. Today we talk about stress, pressure, love, lust and things like that. We understand everything in detail, know their causes and sometimes take precautionary measures too. Some call this as learning. When you know about the causes of your actions then you have learnt about yourself, but if others read the same, aren’t you getting exposed!??

Honest Film Making

2008-06-23T15:59:00.000+05:30

I was dragged to sit in a 45 minutes session with film maker Mahesh Bhatt. All I knew about him is that he is straight forward. What he spoke in the session was true, but I was unable to decide his words and deeds going along. I don’t bother about that too. That meeting did not actually make a difference except me being away from my desk for 45 minutes without any disturbance. It was unusual to hear about honesty, the real self and stuff like that from a film maker. I have heard it before from the ace director in South India – Maniratnam. I am a huge fan of his work – a huge fan to the extent that I was standing in front of his office for a week after my post graduation wanting to become his assistant.

Back to the topic:- I had felt unusual on what the film makers had to do with honesty. Honesty is not the lead character in the movie alone not getting hurt jumping from an altitude while others die. It is not even only incorporating these. Honesty should be in the script. If a scene is written, the consequences should follow rather than getting landed in a fiction. There are very few honest film makers in the industry and Maniratnam is definitely one of them. His message is clear. He says “You have to fight to attain peace in this world”. That’s a very true statement from him. Gandhiji fought for freedom. The aim was to attain peace and freedom, but it was fought. “Fighting with optimism makes the difference” is the message he has tried to convey in his movies like Roja, Bombay, Thalapathi, Saathiya and Guru. Each one of these was a feast for the senses. They were honest scripts with good imagination.

My question is why do we feel reluctant to act knowing they are true? Why do film makers make and release a movie which they themselves know will not be liked by their fans. Why do they stuff fiction and unnecessary elements in their movies? Twining fiction with a real story is good imagination, but why do the film makers don’t understand that it had to be told in a crisp and short manner? Why an actor does don different roles knowing very well that it will create a bad image for him?

Joke சோக்கு...

2008-06-10T13:39:00.004+05:30

One day Lord Shiva decided to visit the earth and try some alcohol. So he changed his get-up and went to a bar and asked the bartender: "What all do u have?".

Bartender:"We have whisky, rum, vodka, gin, beer etc, etc." Lord Shiva: "Let's try whisky first; give me 5 bottles of whisky".

After having 5 bottles of whisky, Lord shiva decided to try Rum.

Bartender was shocked:" Who is this man, after having 5 bottles of whisky, he is still on his feet"..

After having 5 bottles of Rum, Lord Shiva decided to have beer.

After having 40 bottles of beer, he asked the bartender for Gin.

Bartender couldn't stop himself asking him: "Sir, who are you?? I have seen people getting drunk after having 4 glasses of whisky, and you've almost had 50 bottles and you are still on your feet, who are you?"

Lord Shiva: "Kulanthaai… Naaan thaan siva perumaaan"
Bartender: Thoda... Ippo thhaaan mappu yeri irukku!!!

Monsoon

2008-06-08T11:53:00.000+05:30

Monsoon has started in this city and I hear that rains are here to stay for the next 4 months. Rains here are not like how it used to be in the city where I lived earlier. This city seems to stand still when it pours and I have noticed it in the past 4 days. 2 days after the season started there was a message in my mobile that the highway road in front of the airport had caved in and traffic was moving slowly. I wonder what kind of road has been laid in front of airport!!! Huh…yeah...it’s going to be tough in the coming days…I am locked up by the rain in the apartment just viewing through windows: the grey sky pouring down. The brat in me asks “How about swimming now?”

Being Optimistic!

2008-06-06T23:47:00.001+05:30

Work is very hectic combined with stress and pressure. Every minute there is something or the other from someone related and unrelated to my profile calling up and asking for reports/to report. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and I was late for lunch. Working hard with hunger without breakfast really hurts the stomach. There was one more colleague of mine coming in after I had finished. I exclaimed with sadness “You are too late for lunch today!?” and he replied back “No. I am early for dinner” and continued “It’s all on how we take things Rajaram! Let’s be optimistic…”

I wonder whether that’s being optimistic or absurdity!

Hanging On...

2008-05-02T21:21:00.000+05:30

She looked so much like a lady, but she was so much like a child.

A devil when she held me close, an angel when she smiled.

She always held it deep inside, but somehow I always knew

She's go away when the grass turned green

And the sky turned baby blue.

And baby blue was the color of her eyes.

Baby blue like the Colorado skies.

Like a breath of spring, she came and left,

And I still don't know why,

So here's to you and whoever holds my baby blue now on.

She brought colors to my life that my eyes had never touched.

And when she taught me how to care, I never cared so much.

I try not to think of her, but I fall asleep and do,

And drift off where the grass is green and the sky is baby blue.

And baby blue was the color of her eyes.

Baby blue like the Colorado skies.

Like a breath of spring, she came and left.

Like a breath of spring, she came and left,

And I still don't know why,

So here's to you and whoever holds my baby blue now on.

To you and whoever holds my baby blue now on.

Small but BIG

2008-04-22T15:05:00.002+05:30

After longing to own a personal player and with the money saved over months, a walkman is purchased. The model is not available in India and makes it an exclusive one among the other players around. People spend time to investigate the functions of the player and suddenly one fine day the software is corrupted. The files don’t play, songs swap with each other and the player becomes an un-functional device.

It’s sad that a newly bought player after long time goes dysfunctional. It had helped out to burst time and the songs have helped a lot in coming out of tense/stress situations. Suddenly without the player playing it makes feel like one hand is lost. It needs to be serviced.

But, the warranty is not applicable in India. Service cost has to be paid. It’s an unknown cost. There are several other commitments for the money in hand. A thought of sending it back the place of purchase is also there. But there is no one flying to take it. An attempt to repair it is also done but it got failed fearing the costs. Missing the player for a long time and after a wait of over 2 months, it is decided to make it function at any cost.

It is taken to a specialist and had to be examined for over half an hour. Cost based on time spent is calculated, minimum service cost is added to it and total approximate cost is calculated in advance before hearing the big shot.

The player is checked well on its functions and taken into custody. A form is filled on the customer details and card is taken out to be swiped as there is no cash. The card is given in the counter and the girl across the counter poses a “What is this for?” look.

A service bill is asked for the payment and the answer for it comes as “No Bill”. A question rises on how come an authorized service center cannot give a bill for the money to be paid and then comes the reply “You need not pay for this”. Oh! Uh!!

Stop, Watch and Go

2008-04-21T13:35:00.003+05:30

Sometimes, somewhere, even in our very busy schedules we tend to notice vital advice from unknown sources. The traffic signal is a classic example. Whatever may be the speed we are driving, the vehicle has to be stopped when it’s red. Red denotes danger. Only when we encounter ourselves with danger or trouble we stop and look into / seek advices. I am not an alien to it. I have a stock of advices with me which I haven’t listened over the years, probably from the day I began to remember.

Some of them were actually mean, some which couldn’t be followed, some not followed (with a purpose) and some completely out of scope. There are also a few which are so true and stays in the brain.

It is last day for one of my many colleagues resigning their jobs. She had written a farewell mail which had the below lines.

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it!!

I have no explanations for these simple and straight words from her other than to just hold them in thoughts. Certainly, these words are not the ones to be kept in stock, but to be followed! Also, there is also a fear of losing time or reaching the destination late when traffic rules are followed. Now, it’s all about taking risk to go forward. After all it involves greater risks to achieve great things which we need in life.