22 August

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

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

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...

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

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...

Lagaan

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

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

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...

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

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!

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...

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

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

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.

Shocking News!

Few things in life affect us positively or negatively at least for few minutes and fade away. There will be no valid reason for us to feel the shock, yet we feel it.

One such news about one of my favorite place in the nation – Madras is that the Woodlands Drive-In has been closed down. That’s a place which madras population will never forget. It’s a place of solitude for most of the people. For sure, your mind will relax going there however the stress is.

I recollect many meetings, decision making sessions, brain storming sessions all happening in that place and people flock to meet & greet. This place located in the heart of the city is full of green and spread over a vast area for over 50 years. More than the food, the ambience is what regular visitors like me are going to miss.

Definitely sad and shocking news to hear!!!!

இஞ்சி இடுப்பழகி...மஞ்ச செவப்பழகி!

Entrepreneur

I guess I learnt this word during my first year in college. I used to wonder why its pronunciation does not start like “Ent…” in entertainment and starts with “Hon…” in honor.

Now I feel that probably this word has an honor in it and that’s why pronounced that way. It also meant only people achieving high profits year after year on their own and getting listed in the top. It’s not so right! Yeah, whomever stands up on their own, be it they achieve profits or not, but have the guts to run a business is an entrepreneur.

I live in the city of money; a city which is a mini nation by itself; a city which sleeps late and wakes up early than the other regions in the nation; a city which shares a major portion of numbers inflated in the nation; a city which makes the business running throughout the nation. So, is each and every individual in this city an entrepreneur keeping the numbers adding up? Yeah if so, what kind of entrepreneurs are they?

It’s the busy and the main railway station in the city. Trains come and go precisely every 5 mins and believe me, every train is overcrowded. You will loose your breath to get in and out. If you think that you are well dressed up with well steamed fine shirts and trousers and travel by a train, you might find them false when you are out from the train. More than that, the well polished, shining shoes of yours goes for a toss. It will look worse than the word muddy would describe. You will feel to howl there.

But! Coming down the station, there sits a man with a small box with a shoe cleaner and a brush. Not that much in quality, but a decent one. Now, he cleans up your shoes and polishes too making them look pretty for the next 2 days though you might not touch it. He does it for a person every minute. So approximately let’s take it as a minimum of 50 per day. He charges 5 rupee per person. I said you…this is a rich city! Now, you do the calculations on the capital, his earnings, and profit per day and do remember 50 is the minimum number he services in a day.

He owns the work he does, the money earned and if he is not there for a day, there are people who will be searching for his service. Isn’t he an entrepreneur with an honor at his level!?

Peer, Beer, Cheer

Few years back I had written simple lines on life through mathematics. I re-write them now.

add your beers without subtracting your peer; multiply your cheers dividing your tears

I had a verbal comment; that I am a drunkard; even though I was not. I would always defend that I am a social drinker. Now after a long gap like rain hitting on the hottest land I remembered them and thought of those lines being very true. I mean the lines on life through mathematics!! I recount mine and common experiences and wonder how they have meant in our lives as I read them again.

We are always compared with our peer right from our childhood days. I know many parents’ often conversing with neighbors comparing their siblings on food habits, behavior and they reflect heavily on the children in either side which would anyways make no positive progress. Many a times without any reason we get compared to our peer in school and neighborhood. I thought it would stop at a stage probably when education was over and we learn to stand up on our feet independently because all these comparisons are out of fear and a rush that their children should prosper better than the other.

On the other side, out of the blue, children would never mind up those and would exchange the reflections in a café or pub. I used to run away from that kind of so called “advice”. I search for a friend who faces the same and we share our experiences over a cup of coffee if the other friend is a girl and a beer if a boy. Nowadays girls joining in for a fix of vodka with lemonade is a different story. Yeah! As we grow up further the world too progresses much beyond for us to cope up with!

These meetings often happen everywhere at different stages to ensure that we aren’t really left behind as had been tried to be communicated. We involuntarily get used it such that we ourselves start comparing us with others at one pint of time.

All the way it’s the peers who make the differences, and beers helping us to overcome those, along with the same called peer. I wonder how peer and beers have contributed bringing cheers to our life. Long live the founder of beers, and the peer who help us along with them getting helped as well!!!

Women in my Life!

I wanted to write on this topic on March 8 as the world celebrates that date as woman’s day. (Yeah! I too live in this world). I have been inspired, admired, felt secured, angered, distressed, during my relationships with them. They cherish themselves now and often in my memories.

Out of the whole, a few whom I remember today are;

Srividya: the brightest in our class. Whole bunch of boys would feel envy of any other boy speaking to her and she hardly speaks up only to the brightest of the boys. (Would you believe that I was to the brightest? LOL)… that was during my class 1-4.

Vijayalakshmi aka Vijji: She irritated me. A non-stop nonsense who sat next to me in the class and got a tight slap for not stopping. Her father was a veterinary doctor and scared out of the fellow’s warnings I had no choice other than to fold my hands and ask sorry. (Huh! I had to plead to her to accept my sorry). We were in the same class 4.

Priya: She was my friend for just one day. Its very incidental I met her. She and another boy were returning back from school quarter past nine in the morning and I was walking towards school. As we were late the school gates were closed. She started crying that going back to home, her mom would cane. The other guy obediently went back home. I had nothing to do in home and hated going to school in the noon. So, we had to spend out time together till evening and go back home as an obedient boy. This was during my class 5.

Fatty: LOL… Her name is Fathima. I call her fatty. She gets irritated by me often. She was a very sensible girl during my class 6. It was only fun I had with this girl teasing her to the core. I feel bad for those now:(

I forgot this girl’s name. She was in class 10 while I was in 6. Yeah, she was like my elder sis. We were hostelites. She was the topper in school. I used to learn mathematics lessons from her. I respected her for the patience she showed me during the lessons and I topped in the subject and taught my other fellows too. She was also a guide and a very good friend during my hostel days. I wonder how I forgot her name.

Sherlyn: She is a rock solid girl who I have ever befriended with. She showed an astounding confidence towards life and a brilliant girl as well. She missed her mom and dad at a very early stage. Whenever there were in-house cultural activities in the hostel we used to team up. She is the one with whom I went to church for the first time and onwards. I have learnt many lessons in my life from her. She will always be remembered by me.

Anju: I still haven’t figured out what she had to do with me. She was my warden’s daughter. I haven’t spoken to her even a single word but she landed me in trouble making my guardians getting warned about me. Huh!

There are more people whom I cherish and value most. They are all a mixed bunch of characters I have met and socialized. The above said people are not in touch with me and no trace about them too. But they will always be remembered.