New year in Singara chennai

After a long journey, here i'm, posting this from my home in chennai, on the new year's day. The clock struck 12, the new year was born in chennai and i landed at the airport at the same time. That was a joyous moment and the whole plane broke into celebrations. 

Happy new year to all. 

I'm back with my family at chennai now after a year. Another three weeks and i should get back to Dallas. I had two briefcases (almost) full of electronic items that i'd bought for family, friends and relatives, with hardly any space in them for my clothes !! There are so many things that i don't get in chennai or i'm not happy about. Yet with all due respect to the city that i grew up with, no other place on earth can match it. Chennai is my abode....Chennai is heaven....It is THE-HAPPENING-PLACE for me. I Love Chennai...... To be back here is my new year's present to myself. There are so many things in life that we take for granted and do not realize their significance in life until a noted absence of it. Chennai has been conspicuous by its absence in my life. Chennai or the lack of it has played a major role in the transformation of my lifestyle in the last half a dozen years. 

How much i missed chennai in the last one year..... 

Priorities do shake a bit of some of our lives, whether we like it or not. I'm no exception.

Ta

P.S - Will get back more on my escapades in chennai(that i have planned) in the ensuing weeks 

Or if i was not able to !!

Vacation ahoy !!

This week's flying faster than any other in this year. Thanks to the christmas holidays, jus three working days in this week. Come this weekend i'll be ready for what i've been waiting for the whole time since i came here. In a week's time from now, i'll be breathing the dirty polluted chennai air again which as a matter of fact was my regular dose of oxygen for a quarter century before coming to the US. Give this a thought !! Landing at the dawn of the new year in chennai !! How cool is that ! I'm off to chennai for a vacation of 20+ days and have to catch up with a lot. Family, friends, colleagues, relatives, hangouts........... what not!! Feels nice to think about being in chennai albeit for a short time.......might jus be enough !! 

No matter what place on earth you go to, returning home is a pleasant experience and worthless. I can hardly wait to be back in chennai. 

The one thing i hate about this travel is the packing and having to go through all the immigration procedures. Its a serious pain in your butt !! As if packing was not treacherous enough, having to keep in mind the baggage rules and the allowance limits while packing is the icing on the cake. You always end up packing in more than the allowance weight and you're left making a choice between what you should carry and what you should REALLY carry !! Jesus, save us all !!

Happy new year to you all !!

Ta

I love this. I really love the way i spent this weekend. I didn't have a single moment this weekend that i thought i was not occupied with. I want all my weekends to be this way, but they are not to be. I feel pretty satisfied with this one. 

Pretty early saturday morning we (I and a couple of my colleagues) set off for an outlets mall that's about 80 miles from my place and it was a cool hour and half's drive in my car. Spent all day in the mall, at the outlets of GAP, Tommy Hilfiger, Levi's, Aeroposthale, Fossil, Nike, Reebok, Nautica and their likes.  I was happy with a couple of T(shirt)s and bought them. Once we were done with all the outlets, we returned home at about 10 and hit the bed rightaway. 

                                    Sunday (which is still today at the time of this post taking shape) dawned well, but was freezingly cold. Didn't suck the spirits out of us though. We had our lunch and braved the sub-zero hostile weather to go shopping again at a local mall. And what a way to end the day and the weekend with. A good movie. Rab ne bana di jodi - this is very well made movie and a must recommend wacth. Hope everyone's had a visit to the local theater to watch the movie. If not, please do immediately. This is one movie you wouldn't want to miss. Had nice songs and a really soothing effect, it has on you.

Ta

Being single.......

How tough or easy it is to be a single ? I wonder. Oh and i don't want to walk through the realms of being a single but there are a few aspects of being single (and not being in a relationship) and be the next one in line ready for marriage, that have me occupied. Occupied in my mind, that is. Not visible to others. 

                              Long since the number of people (in my close relatives) that were to get married came down to zero, this has been a problem. Marriages, wedding receptions, birthday parties, other family functions........Wherever you go, however you hide...... some interested-in-your-well-being-relative will find you and load you with all the crap about when yours truly would get into a wedlock !! You are next in line !!  

All that you feel is, Oh thank you for the timely reminder. what would i have done without you. Holy s*&# !! If this keeps happening to me, i'll not think twice before saying you are next in line, when i see you in a funeral. 

All right, may be i'm taking this a bit too far. With all due respect to marriage as a holy institution and these constant naggings being a part of your life till you are finished in the name of marriage[Marriage completes a man, some one said], i began to think about the kind of person that i would like to marry and spend the rest of my life with. My parents asked me this simple question, for which i hadn't an answer. Not that i didn't have a silhouette of the woman/girl that i would want to marry, just that it was not something that i could tell my parents about. For long (read since i was in high school) i've been impressed by 'Iyer aathu Ponn's and Mallu girls. There were a few desperate occasions when i vowed to marry a mallu girl or an Iyer aathu girl, when its time !!  As a matter of fact, most of the girls that i've liked so far in my life have either been a mallu or a typical iyer girl [I dont want to get into any caste discretions here, just trying to keep it simple] .  who is to worry about me not being a mallu guy or an iyer boy ? I wouldn't. Is this a problem even in today's age ? C'mon people, why do these things still have to be part of bride/groom searches ? It'll be amazing to see 'caste no bar, religion no bar' on every matrimonial listing. That'll make things easy for lesser blessed souls like me !! he hee hehe 

Enough for today i guess, will return with this topic another day. Time will have the answer to all my questions. Hopefully.

Ta

Love is god.... (Contd)

Something that i wanted to say in my previous post, but forgot. Its something i've heard someone say..can't remember who or where.....Goes like this...

If someone hits you, you must not hit them back.

If someone hates you, you must not hate them back.

If someone does something wrong to you, you must not do the same to them.

But if someone loves you, you MUST love them back.

Was quiet heartening. I kinda started practicing it since the day i heard this. 

Ta

Love is god, God is love

He walked across the room and stood near him. His friend didn't look up. His friend looked worried. It was like all the joy was sucked out of his friend. He sat next to him and looked at him. Nothing again from his friend. Not even a pause in what he was doing. Looks like his friend is deeply focused on his work. Why wouldn't he look up ? why wouldn't his friend speak to him anymore ?  Was it something he said ? It must be something he said. He regretted being indifferent to his friend earlier. He thought he should have treated his friend with due respect. 

For all he had been and for all that he had not, he wanted to apologize to his friend, he wanted to erase everything from the face of his life like they never happened and wanted to start afresh.

Would his friend forgive him ? He knew he must take the step forward. He touched his friend's hand. His hand just melted like mist while the friend's hand remained intact. He didn't know what was happening. He couldn't touch his friend. If he tried to do so, his hand just went through his friend's body. Was this a dream ? No it wasn't. It looked like he was not for real. 

There was a newspaper lying besides his friend. He noticed a photo on it. He immediately recognized it. It was his.  When he went close to it and read the lines above the photo - "Boy loses life in a freak accident", he was stunned. It all came to him now. He did not live any more. He was a ghost !! A spirit or a soul !! He now had not a life where he can shower love and receive love. All the love and affection that he got from his family & friends, he ought to have returned them. He hadn't. He'd missed a life time. He cried out loud, no one would hear him.

Love your near and dear ones. You'll not get to do so when you are no more near them.

Ta

I was driving my car to Subway for lunch and i switched on the music on my iPod like i always do. I always have the songs on it played at random (or 'shuffle' as it would have it) and it opened with the song 'Manmadhane' from the movie of the same name. Somehow it felt nice today to hear that song..... I had rediscovered the song.....it rejuvenated me today. Nice melody, nice rhythm, neat lyrics and a wonderful voice to top it off. Often music directors/singers talk of their hit songs having everything falling into place and this is definitely one of them. This has been one of my favourite songs, but today truly was a revelation.

At that moment i realized how driving in solitude could help relish the music on my car...... To think that i've been feeling lonely when i drive to office alone in the car, it really looks stupid now. Never thought travelling in a car alone would have its own advantages. There were so many instances when i would drive my car to/back from office, with music on and other people in the car would have something to talk about, unmindful of the music. Rather than putting up with it, i would turn the music down or increase the volume. Inspite of increasing the volume, people would talk on top of that making it all the more cacaphonic.  Most of the time i would find myself playing a mute audience.

                                                              Too much of listening to radio turned me into a 'Random/shuffle' fan. I prefer songs playing in random fashion from various movies, to songs playing from the same album. Okay, Looks like i'm babbling a little over my quota today !! Just can't help this pleasant feeling today.....Hope it stays a little longer, though it may not extend onto eternity. 

Oh yeah and so many questions pop up in my mind right now, before i end this mini scrap.

why am i still single ? No i don't want to get married yet. But i could do with some company.

Pretty looking girls.....hmmm......

where am i ? (like, in life) . Should i be doing what i'm doing in life now ? Or should i look for a change ? Yeah, strange questions before sleep engulfs me !! That's all for today...

Ta

Thanksgiving is done !!

On the 7th day after my last post i have managed to squeeze some time to blog. I've been busy for the thanksgiving holidays, looking out for deals on electronic stuff and buying them. I can't believe the four holidays have passed by like a bullet train. Whatever i wanted to buy, deal or no deal, i bought them. I haven't had time to open some of them yet. Of course, the stores and the online shops are were brimming with deals, for Thanksgiving day, then the day after i.e, Black friday.

Then yesterday it was a holiday blow out sale for one day and it kinda continued today. Tomorrow has been rechristened as cyber monday - what the heck is that !! These greedy merchants just need another reason to sell their products. 

Quite a handful weekend this was. Watched Transporter 3 on wednesday and found it to be entertaining. Absolutely aimless but entertaining. 

Now my next count down is gonna be my vacation travel to india which is exactly 30 days from now. Also my next worry is on getting all these electronic stuff into suitcases and get them past the immigration in chennai. And talking of immigration and travel, this week also completes a year of my (first ever) stay in the US.

The holiday season starts here with the thanksgiving, you'd mostly have people going on vacations and in terms of work, should see less of it is my guess. Yes, we do live in perpetual hope of evading work and this season will make us less evil.

Ta

About the new cupboard from IKEA and Madagascar 2 at IMAX

Ok, another weekend's done without much to write about. But it felt better than the previ0us ones in some ways. It felt so nice to have done some clean up work that i have been putting off for aeons now. I got a new small cupboard from IKEA, for storing some of my items that didn't have a place to go into and moved them all into it. Now my place is lot less like a mess. The cupboard was a DIY[Do-It-Yourself] item that you have to assemble with the wooden planks, out of the box, with all the screws and instructions. Building that cupboard was immensely satisfying and i thought it was time and effort well spent.

                                                      The other half of the day went in watching Madagascar : Escape 2 Africa, in IMAX. This is my first ever movie at an IMAX theater and i wasn't too excited about it at the end. Anyways, the movie was ok, had me laughing for a couple of scenes. Somehow i can't just help compare it to Ice age or Monsters Inc or some other animation movies that i have loved and thought this movie didn't shine well in comparison.

                                                       And today, i had nothing else better to do than eat and sleep all day. Wish i had better things to do. On the brighter side, for keeping it peaceful, i thank the gods above [gods above, huh ?..... makes me think of the two single women living above my apartment ;> ] . 

Ta

QoS and Dostana

Last saturday i saw Quantum of Solace, the new bond movie at the local theater. Another of the initial stories of Bond, another dark one just like Casino Royale. It takes off where Casino royale left. A nice action movie but doesn't excel Bourne ultimatum yet. Think bourne was the last movie that i enjoyed for its amazing action sequences.
And in the middle of the week, one night i went to Dostana just for the sake of passing some time. Based on my previous hindi-movie-watching i was expecting this to be nothing short of a disaster. Considering i don't speak hindi, it was not bad. Thanks to the subtitles, i could understand what was going on. Had good fun watching the movie nonetheless. Priyanka was awesome in the movie. Had me thinking....
Don't bollywood movies have any place in india to shoot ? Why are most of the movies based in some place in the US ? And where do they get all the money from ?

Couple of days to thanksgiving !! Can't wait !!

And the weekend is already here !! No hooray for that...Never been able to do anything quite enjoyable over the last few weekends. I may not Thank God Its Friday, After all.

Ta

Vaaranam aayiram

If you came looking here for a review of this movie, stop reading and look elsewhere. This is a first hand account of my movie watching experience and i've not held back anything to myself.
Vaaranam aayiram is the recent Surya starrer directed by Gautam vasudev menon (that's how his latest movies carry his name), that saw the light of the day at last, when it released last weekend, after a long wait.The movie has three gorgeous-looking women in Simran, Sameera reddy & Divya, playing surya's opposites and surya has donned a father-son dual role in the movie. The movie, in short, talks of the bond between every father and his son. It is no guess that, before the end credits, Gautam lays this movie as a tribute to his father.
This movie had a lot of hype associated with it and i was no less excited about watching it. In addition to that, the music album of the movie had gone on to become a great hit, leaving no room for second thoughts about going for the movie on the first day.
Movie is a slow staright forward narration and it slowly unfolds with no cinematic knot or twist to it. Movies of this kind will have a tough time appealing to the masses and the front benchers.
For instance, this movie had more english dialogues than Quantum of Solace itself !! How about that ! I will be least surprised if this movie is dubbed in tamil and released again !!

I didn't know before watching this movie, that you'd be granted a US visa if you told the visa officer that you want to look for the girl that you love. Since when did the US embassy relax their visa rules ? As if that wasn't enough, the visa officer (an american) breaks down emotionally and wishes surya luck. Welcome to Indian cinema !!

And i almost forgot about the female leads in the movie. Sameera reddy dazzles in her tamil debut. Hopefully should see her around more. Simran and Divya too have shared the screenspace with Surya quite gracefully. Of course, they are saved of the attrocious dance sequences with 30+ insignificant mortals, a rarity in a Gautam movie. That's a Solace !! The scenes that had Sameera were quite clearly the rosier part of the movie, and the sole reason if one should see the movie again. And about Simran & Divya, think its 'Nuff said.

It is definitely laudable that Surya has worked on his physique and cut a great six pack to awe-inspire the audience. His acting too has achieved significant levels of greatness compared to his previous outings. May be its Gautam that brings the magic out of Surya !!
I personally expected much more from Gautam as a Director and to say the least i'm mighty disappointed. This movie didn't touch my heart or kindle my senses [at times made me sleep].
I came out of the hall exhausted and disappointed.

Ta

Jus two more weeks to Thanksgiving, the fever is in the air already. I can't wait to grab a couple of things that i've waited for so far (And that's a big list) and i'm really excited about that. Last year i missed thanksgiving by a whisker - i landed here just after thanksgiving for my first ever time in the US. Have been waiting for thanksgiving since then..... a year long is a wait enough.

                         What are the things that i wish for ? Hmmm...lets say a Tera byte external hard disk under $100...... And Oh, i need a handycam, a projector, a digital piture frame, portable DVD player, a Digital SLR camera and some more stuff....... Not just these, i'm gonna acquire anything that's a steal., doesn't matter if i need it or not...he hee hee....   i'm gonna change myself to need it.... ;)  I really can't seem to find enough words in the language to describe how excited i am.

Burn the days down !! Bring thanksgiving closer !! May there be greed !! May there be abundance of gadgets and deals !! May there be enough cash in the bank !! 

Ta

Another weekend has arrived and i welcome it with the same plans that i had for the last one. None. I have spent most of my recent weekends at home. How pathetic is that ? The weather's been good, i have no problems with the transportation and yet i have not found the ideal company to hang out. That's where the problem is. So many people around, yet i feel lonely. This is not the first time this is happening. There have been innumerable times in the last two and half decades where i've had to go through these rough patches. Not once have i liked it. May be i should stop whining, i don't feel better doing that. Looking at what best i can take from every second in my present and the future seems like the perfect thing to do now. Easier said.

                                                          Of course, i'm trying to keep myself occupied and shoo away the devil from working on my mind. But i don't seem to be enjoying the moments that i live through. I feel like i'm so under-living every moment that i want a second chance to do it right. I deserve better. I really think so. I'm going to seize every moment from now on and make sure it ends right and makes me feel good about it. I give a damn to any one or any thing that might stand between me and my happiness. For all the people who might drive me crazy, Screw You !!

Up Yours !!.  I could, sooooooo, go on and on...... But i think its 'Nuff said !!

                        

Ta

Of Daylight saving time, Friends and a birthday party

Today daylight saving time ends in the US and Canada, which means we get an additional hour today to sleep. Woo hoo !! I woke up today looking at my watch showing 8:30 and realized it was 7:30 instead due to the end of DST. Did that felt nice.... you feel like you go back in time, by an hour and it seems you lived an hour that didn't officially exist anymore. That is cool !! Had some postive energy flowing all day. Apart from personal benefits, on the nature perspective, it turns out that the DST was being adopted to save energy during the summer. Cool again. 

BTW, Friends is amazing. This sitcom was a favourite of mine, but never had the opportunity or the luxury of getting my hands on all the ten seasons. Now i do ! Through Netflix, i've rented all the 10 seasons of the Friends and i'm through with 4 seasons already, sequentially, in ascending order, should i say. It is amazing, can't wait to watch the rest of it. 

                           Yesterday night we went to a colleague's birthday treat, at the Main event - to enjoy the night, bowling. Actually, i and a room mate of mine didn't know it was a birthday party. We just thought we were going for a bowling game like we usually do on the weekends. Once we were there, we were waiting to start the game and order a pizza as we were hungry. But earllier we'd been told by some colleagues of ours that they were planning to go to Main event for bowling and asked us we'd like to join. We thought it was gonna be the five of us. Little did we know that these guys were bringing more people and eventually the total was 12. It wasn't a problem to us. What was a problem is that we were now made to wait for the birthday boy to arrive and then its gonna be his treat. Since everyone else knew it was gonna be late before everyone reaches there, they all had something to eat before they came there. We guys having come to know of all this only after we reached there, were now left with no choice but to wait for the birthday boy, with all the hunger (which was adding fuel to the raging anger). If only we had been communicated in advance we would have been less frustrated. Boy, are these poor communicators of all..... What on earth was it gonna cost them, if they jus told us about this whole thing when they first asked us to come. I and my room mate just mumbled to ourselves and let the celebration get to us and we enjoyed the game. We didn't want to make a scene there, so just kept it to ourselves but swore to ask every single detail the next time we hang out (esp with these guys). Being single can drive you nuts too !!

Ta

Boring office days

Its a boring afternoon at work now. Just finished my lunch and came to my seat about 30 minutes back. Feeling very sleepy and i might doze off any moment now. This is not the first time that i feel this way. It doesn't really mean that i'm work-less now. But its just that i've seen busier days. Got a few bugs to fix (what a bugger i am). Won't it get any better ?
Of course, i feel better than what i did a couple of weeks ago (some stress that i had). So, I thought my wish came true. May be i got used to it. Weekends are much better. Would prefer spending most of the weekends outside, but hardly get a chance to. But atleast i'm happy that they are not bad.

Ta

Tring... tring......Hello ?

I hate ringtones. Not all of them. Just loud and jarring ringtones of some mobile phones. I hate it when people have these really loud ringtones which also sound crazy and annoying.They don't have to put them in silent/vibrating mode, but they can atleast keep it low, unless they want everyone to know that they are getting calls. I'm having to deal with some at the moment. Either these guys are partially deaf or they are going to end up making one out of myself.

Ta

New apartment & Garage, No cable connection and a new headset

We (I and my room mates) are all pissed off. Because we were told we can't have the dish installed for DirectTv near our apartment owing to space issues and the unavailability of angle from our side of the apartment. Not even on the roof. The technician checked all the possibilities to install, but the attempts were in vain. WTF !@&#, we can't watch vijay TV now. DirecTV was the only one carrying it. 

We moved to a new 2 bed apartment last month and we were planning to have DirecTV installed at the new place just for watching Vijay TV, we liked a few programs on Vijay TV. We were really excited about that. All that was flushed down the drain when we were told that we can't possibly have the dish installed.   

I happened to get a new garage right below our apartment after we moved into the new apartment. This one proves advantageous, esp. in the winter coz you can drive your car into the garage and walk up to your apartment from within without exposing yourself to the outside freezing cold. I had a garage earlier too when we stayed in the older apartment, but it happened to be in another building and i had to walk a few yards to my building. Even walking a few yards when its terribly cold in the winter, is excruciatingly painful. The winter is approaching already, hope its not as cold as last year.

Had been quite a while since i fed my spending instincts and now it couldn't hold on any longer. I was looking out for the Aliph jawbone 2, a bluetooth headset that has the best ratings all around, expensive though. Last week i managed to snap one for a good price and the sweet thing arrived yesterday by mail.  Came in a neat pacakaging with a good smart design. The headset itself is a thing of beauty and feels nice when worn. A good headset altogether.

As i keep myself busy in more things that i can buy, shall post more about them.

Ta

Will this change ?

Off late i have a bad hangover(No ! i don't drink!!) and i don't know why. Maybe its a bit of frustration at work or a little of friction here and there with a few fellow mates.  I don't seem to take any thing in the right sense, and the attitude of the people that i rub shoulders with everyday don't help the cause either. I wake up wanting to do so many things. When i sleep, i really don't look back at things that i did or didn't. So definitely its not a sense of dissatisfaction. So what is it ? Will this change ? 

Good times have come and gone in my life before i have realized that they have passed by. This is not one of them.  I've seen better times. Wish i can go back to those. 

We always live in eternal hope wishing for good times and i'm in such a state now. I've begun to sincerely believe that life comes a full circle and that i would see light at the end of the tunnel i'm in right now. [Hopefully i wouldn't have to pen down such a blog then]. Anyways, to those that are reading this, may happy times be with you.

Ta

Leaving las vegas II

Contd....

So at about 2 AM, it was time for the stratosphere to be closed and we were asked to leave the terrace. we came down and we realized we hardly any juice in us to walk back to the parking lot. With a mammoth-ean effort we reached the car and headed home, a busy day its been.

 

               Oh, i forgot to mention about the Ka show that we went to on the first day, before we set off for Grand canyon. This was a show in the MGM grand and it was a spectacular show (like a musical play with stunts et all sans dialogues). With the stages moving like magic carpets leaving the artists floating in the air and backed up by a brilliant and thunderous musical score, this show simply captured the imagination. Nothing short of a visual and an aural treat, all the five senses were kept occupied throughout the show. The show is around 110 USD per head, but thanks to the friend who came with us, with his student id card, we all got a 30 dollar discount each on the ticket. Money well spent, we thought at the end of the show.

                       On our way back from the grand canyon, we happened to pass over the Hoover dam built across the colorado river. For the uninitiated, this is the dam that features in the recent movie 'Transformers'  and some more movies like the Golden eye, and one other Harrison Ford movie i'm told. We had saved the photo session on the dam for our return back to las vegas from grand canyon. And now was the time, took a few minutes and spent a couple of clicks before we set off to vegas.

                        Cut back to the day after our return to vegas, we woke up pretty late in the morning after around 10 am (which is close to noon really) , we strode off to the remaining casinos in the sin city. we visited Caesar's palace, Venetian, Wynn - all casinos that also had other  attractions built inside them. We rounded off the day with two shows, one at the Wynn which was a aquatic acrobatics show and another at the MGM grand - David copperfield's magic show.

We were immersed with the acrobatics show at Wynn - it was called the Le Reve - this again had amazing music and wonderful acrobatics stunts on water - the best i've ever seen. 

To talk of the David copperfield show, we were simply spell bound (No pun intended).

We couldn't believe our eyes when a car appeared on the stage from thin air. There were a couple of other tricks that he performed that looked like less than ordinary but kept us entertained no doubt. At the end of the day, our pockets were lighter, so were our hearts.

       There were atleast half a dozen shows at other casinos that we couldn't cram into our holiday schedule, managing just three of the best shows in vegas (that i talked of above) . If you are not the kind that wants to spend the night life at vegas boozing and gambling, these shows are a safe bet. I would recommend not missing the shows at vegas for a wonderful holiday, couples and singles alike. Having spent enough money and time on the best-holiday-of-life at vegas, we woke up on the fourth day to catch our morning flight back to Dallas, reaching home after about 2 in the afternoon. We retired for a good rest and there ended our holiday to vegas.

Ta

Leaving las vegas.....

That was my second vacation trip inside a month...... This time to america's playgound, las vegas..... What a vacation this has been !! I was in awe with the city's grandeur and the effervescence that it shone with. No doubt las vegas is THE happening place in the US of A. Loved the ambience and the lively streets of vegas, especially the strip (Las vegas boulevard is called the strip. It has all the famous casinos of vegas and is simply the one stretch that lights up las vegas).

                      We spent the first day entirely on some of the casinos and lost some money (my friends did !! I held it back a little :-)   )  All the casinos have lodging within themselves for guests who wish to spend time and money at leisure. They consist of attractions like malls and shows apart from housing casinos which are pretty much the ubiquitous beings in the city. Every inhabitable corner of vegas has atleast a score of slot machines (read money-eaters)  which have great appetite for the green dollars. That i happened to wrest out 132 USD (i had put in $10) from one of these, is a fact that could easily feature in a Ripley's Believe it or Not !! 

                    When we returned from the las vegas blvd, we set off to the grand canyon on a rental car, at 11 pm, hoping to beat the sun rise. But by the time we got the car and left vegas, it was 1 am. This was a 4+ hr drive from vegas till the grand canyon national park. We reached the South rim at about 5:35 am, just a dozen minutes or so before the sun rise. It was pretty cold out there in a stark contrast to warmer evenings in nearby vegas. The view of the gorge of the grand canyon was breathtaking and to think that a river has carved such deep incisions into an elevated plateau made it even more amazing. After finishing with the grand canyon, we returned to las vagas in the rental car at about 5 PM, with a lunch break in between. All tired, took some rest and only woke up at about 9 PM and set off for the saturday night life in las vegas. The streets were buzzing with tourist crowd and growing more active with the night. We had our dinner at about 2 AM after coming down from a 115-storeyed tower(only the top floor is a hotel) called the Stratosphere. The view of the sleepless city was awesome from there.

To be cont.....

Ta

Whose problem is it anyway ?

I got shouted at. I got shouted at, in front of all my friends(we also work at the same place). 

Who shouted ? Another friend. [Let's call him X]

Yeah..... it was pretty embarrassing alright. I didn't know what to do, i just ducked away sheepishly waiting for the heat to come down. We were midway into day one of our LA trip when we were deliberating on the next ride at Disneyland and most of them were fun and excitement. X comes in and asks us if there are any 'Soft' rides and i, in the fun mood that i was in at that moment, wanting to take a dig, said 'that ship is a softride and ......blah blah blah'. X got really angry and yelled at me for making fun. He went on saying i would know how he felt if i had brought my father along to the trip. Well that's what he did. 

X's wife and his father also  came along with us for the trip and X was having a difficult time seeing his father feeling weak and tired and not being able to cope with the rest of us or enjoy anything out there. Anger justified. But i didn't realize that X being a tough nut to crack was feeling the heat and getting cracked up. It was a catastrophe waiting to happen and i pulled the trigger. I was in my own fun cocoon and honestly, i didn't see what was coming. I didn't apologize. But that's just me... I was being myself taking a dig like i usually do. I didn't do anything wrong.... on a given day this would have passed up as another lighter moment. I take things light and that way, wish to overcome any difficult second i might be in.

But i began to think that i may have hurt someone (without intending to do so) who's not having a good time and should have apologized. I felt sorry for X, later. 

All that's (hopefully) forgotten, X and I speak well now, but god knows if its over yet.

Whatever.......Gone's gone, marching forward burying all the little bitter moments and cherishing the larger sweeter moments is what I intend to do.    

 Ta

P.S - Just because i called him X doesn't mean i started hating him or i despised him after that. No names, that's all.

The City of Angels

Just returned back from a long weekend trip to LA. 4 days of whirlwind touring around the Disneyland parks and Universal studios had me and all of my friends exhausted. Had a
FUN-tastic time after years - turned a kid, freaked out like the world was going to end tomorrow. One amazing city Los Angeles is. Wish i were working & living there. Didn't go much around the downtown, but whatever i could goto was amazing. [May be one more post later about all we did in LA, when i come back to my normal senses.] Disneyland and Universal were absolute amusement and worth all the money spent and distance travelled.

We wanted to holiday for the long weekend (Sep 1st - labor day in the US) and took a day off on the Friday leading into the weekend. We had planned this trip roughly 2 months ago and had booked air tickets then. Everything else, like the Hotel reservation, Car rental etc., kept happening in the run up to the trip. I pretty much thought this would be the last trip to anywhere in the US this year, before my india visit and was hell bent on making this trip a memorable one. I should say it turned out as expected. And this won't be my last visit to LA, but the first of many more to come. I missed the beaches this time, will ensure i don't, the next time around. It'll be some more days before the spell binding memories of the city and the magic of its angels leave me.

Ta

Once upon a time in kotturpuram......

I've said before that i was caught speeding and fined once. Here's what happened.


It was a Friday. Dressed in a non-business outfit, i set off to office on my bike pretty late in the morning and sped across the traffic. It was close to 11:30 AM when i reached the AMM school signal on the kotturpuram road. I was one of the first to dart off the signal when it turned green and was flanked by two bikers. All of us at nothing less than 65 Km/hr.


Trying to inch ahead of them, i revved a little and in the process failed to notice the two men in the distance. By the time i realized that the men were really cops waiting to intercept speeding vehicles and fine them, it was too late. One of them, a constable, pointed his lathi stick at me and gestured me to stop by the side of the road. To this day, i'm surprised how the two bodyguards that were besides me managed to escape the constable's vision, though they were travelling as fast as i was and were also committing a violation as much as i was. Whoever they are, they were one hell of a lucky baskars !! (Yes, i did mean b#%&*). And i was not.


I stopped and parked the bike on the side of the road as i was asked to. There was a Sergeant standing by his bike and ready with a fine book, in a generous mood to dish out fines.

Though it looked very obvious why i was stopped for, with a hope that it wasn't for speeding I questioned the constable the reason for being stopped. He didn't beat around the bush - was spot on.

Cons - where are you working ?

Me - Software engr in XYZ company.

Cons - where is your licence ?

I promptly show my licence to him and he takes it into his possession and proceeds to ask.

Cons - Why were you travelling at that speed ? Should have been close to 70 !

Me - who me ? No i didn't (amazing.... i can lie). i can barely touch 50 on this... (Oh, i can lie without batting an eyelid !!)

Sergeant jumps in...



Sergeant - What non-sense? Shall i ride it at 70 and show it to you ?



I smiled sheepishly. I know it was a bad start to say my 125cc bike wouldn't cross 50 kph.



I didn't wanna give up. I remembered one of my friends telling me that cops usually will have their speed guns to track speedsters and show the speed on it as an evidence. These guys didn't seem to have one. I questioned.....


Me - You don't seem to have a speed gun. how do you say that i was going at 70 kph ?


Sergeant - We don't need speed guns to figure out your speed. We have enough experience to do that with our naked eye. Can you do that ? Now look ! there is a guy in white in the distance, on his bike. Tell me his speed.


Me - No, i don't see him (Trying to be non co-operative)


Sergeant - You can't see him ?! Then you must be blind, ha ha ha !. You are not even fit to drive then...... ha ha.

That's very funny Mr A**H*** !! What does this guy want with me ? why am i being f#&*^ up like this ?

Me - Tell me what the fine is ?

Sergeant - That's more like it. Spot fine is Rs 400.

Me - What ? 400 ? I don't have that much !! Look at my purse..... [i open my purse and show him. It has a few 10 rupee notes]

Sergeant - Then go get it. Don't bother trying to fool me again.

I could only think of an ATM near the signal that i crossed.

Me - I need to go to the ATM and bring the money.

The Cons is reluctant to let me off, but the Sergeant agrees.

Sergeant - You better get back quickly, remember.... we have your licence !

Having no choice, i U-turn at the signal ahead (opp Cancer Institute) and i head for the ATM, wondering how bad the day could be than this one. Unwillingly i collect the 400 bucks from my savings account and returned back to the spot i was caught. There were more people by now that have fallen prey. Nothing short of a feast for the policemen!!

The constable was standing alone and i approach him and tell him that i have the fine amount. He tells me to go to the sergeant and pay it to him. The sergeant is busy chiding someone who was caught speeding. When he's done with it, i just moved closer and stood before him. He filled up the receipt for the spot fine and asked me to sign at its bottom. I signed and waited for him to ask for the money.

He didn't. He took the licence from his bike bag and gave it to me and cautioned me to avoid this in the future. Duh ? Who's gonna take this money ? Doesn't anybody want this ? Maybe he thought i would have given the fine amount to the constable or may be he forgot that he's yet to take it from me !! Whatever, who cares !! With a wicked smile, i just turned around and literally did a houdini, with a disappearing act.....Off i go on my bike, naughtily giggling all the way to office. Couldn't help feel for the poor soul that's gonna be torn to pieces by the sergeant, when he realizes how he's been fooled and looks for a insect that he can shed all this anger on.

Ta

Mukundha mukundha

My colleague's 7 month old kid prithvi is a born music lover. Atleast that's what it looks like so far. He seemed to like the song "Pehli nazar mein" from the hindi film Race, when he was just 4 months or so and no matter what he does, he will quit doing it and listen to the song. No other song captivates him like this. His parents exploit this weakness of his to feed him, make him sleep or to keep him quite. Its so funny that the song keeps playing on an endless loop all day long, in their apartment.

Prithvi's recent addiction has been the Mukundha Mukundha song from the movie Dasavatharam. His room is now transformed into a music room, that houses a music player and speakers and they have this song played endlessly. The song plays when he is eating, sleeping, not sleeping - whatever he does. Surprisingly, this ambience is required to keep prithvi sleeping. This will keep playing until prithvi shifts his liking to another song.This will do Himesh reshammiya proud for sure !!

Ta

A business day in my life

Any week day....

6:30 AM - The alarm on the mobile goes off - its a song....whatever it is - my fingers dwiddle with the buttons to switch the alarm off. And then back to sleep......Zzzzzzzzz....

7:45 AM - The last guy leaves the bathroom and its free now. Time for action !! Get my bag of bones to get under the shower and out in a jiffy...

8:15 AM - Not out of the bathroom yet...... getting my contacts on (into my eyes). Bah....this lens is gonna get from me. Mr lens you better get in ! Or else you're gonna have the worst time of your life, I promise !!

8:20 AM - A billion dollar question.... What to wear for office today ? Formal ? Infomal ? partly formal ? which pair of trousers don't look bad with which shirt ? .....i always fear one day i'm gonna wear a green shirt, with a blue pant to match with white shoes....I have absolutely no dressing sense and i have to put up with this ordeal every single day in my life !! Why don't they have uniforms for office ?

8:45 AM - Pressed and dressed in whatever felt pleasing.....Oh my god this takes a lot of time everyday, before i leave home for office.......will deal with this later.....Now for breakfast......

9:10 AM - As i check my gmail and deals2buy, An omlette and a cold coffee (courtesy starbucks) are delivered to the digestive system.......

9: 15 AM - Pick up my car keys , Lock the house and leave for the garage which is miles away, actually a couple of steps' walk.

9: 17 AM - Head to office, with some nice music from the ipod through my car's music system......
9:28 AM - Reached office. Now find a shade and park the car, its too hot these days.....You dont want to sit in a furnace when you come back after a few hours !! Finding a suitable shade is quite a task. Need to figure out which way the shade of the tree is gonna be when the sun moves as the day progresses.....what the heck.....

Oh yeah, i forgot to tell you - i'm supposed to be at office by 8 AM everyday and i end up being around a couple of mins late (90 to be precise), EVERY SINGLE DAY !!

9:32 AM - After a few mins of walk, reach the desk and sit down. Open up the laptop and start looking at the official mails......Everybody around looks to be busy.......Me too joining the club !!

10:00 AM - Looking busy.

10:15 AM - Still looking busy.

10:45 AM - Yes.

11:15 AM - "Shall we ?". "Huh, what ? so early for lunch ?", i ask. "Its late, actually" is the reply.
Well, their faces said it. "Alright, fine. Give me 5 mins"

11:35 AM - Let's save petrol, lets do car-pooling. Pick up one of the cars and leave for home for lunch.

11:45 AM - Reach home and ponder over what to have for lunch !! Hastily cook something and fill your stomach with it.

12:50 PM - Time to get back to office

1:15 PM - Reach office for the rest of the day at work. Immediately get into looking busy !!

2:30 PM - Witness people leaving office already.

3:30 PM - Most of the day's work is done. Rest is for tomorrow !!

4:30 PM - Drive the car out to return home, but the car drives itself to KFC or Chick-fil-a.


5:15 PM - Reach home and start to tinker on my laptop. Go through tech websites, mobile phone reviews, browse through gadget gyan, scan film news, what's happening back in india ? all that stuff.......

8:45 PM - Time for dinner. Lets meet together to arrive at a critical decision......What to cook ?

9:15 PM - Start cooking.....well, something.

9:45 PM - Dinner's ready..........

10:30 PM - Stomach is filled........now for some movie or something interesting to watch on techsatish or tubetamil, until sleep takes over.....

1:30 AM - Sleep appears on the horizon and i'm taken over. Good nite.
I'm older by another day !

Ta

Greener grass

Another day goes by. Feel like all the juice in me is being sucked up..... Not just this place, but my life too is going dry. Days are adding up to my life, with hardly any life added to the days. My job is not helping the situation either. It was better at offshore. Lot better. Miss those days. Had a plan for every weekend, rain or shine. Be it the sathyam cinemas for a new release, Freaking out at Mahabs, a cup of coffee at the Ashvita/Coffee day or a fun filled evening at Mayajaal or even hanging out at the office - never had a dearth of hangouts. We even spent time at office and never felt bored. Lot less time, yet more joy.
I will keep going on.....this will never stop. Of course, never felt i would be in a dry phase like this, talking about my greener minutes in life. Could have stayed in chennai forever !! The grass was greener on this side.

Subramaniyapuram

This movie is all about betrayal, love and murder staged in the rustic madurai of the 80s. The fulcrum of the film is a couple of youngsters that get guiled into becoming rogues, eventually end up committing cold blooded murders for which they themselves fall prey to and lose their lives. The major part of the movie takes place in 1980, shuttling between present day and back, for a few minutes. What forms the end of the film is something you'll not be prepared for.

A bold theme and a clear screenplay walks us through the entire length of the movie with awe striking reality. Since all (or atleast most of them) are new actors, its a breath of fresh air that fills up the entire characterization. The director himself debuts in an important lead role which incidentally marks his debut directorial venture as well [He has also produced it]. The 80s madurai has been wonderfully portrayed, especially the songs played on the radio and the release of super star's hit film "Murattu kaalai". Other little nuances that are visibly explicit like the costume of the male characters, the lambrada scooter, the TV model and the video of the old songs playing on it are well thought out. The director definitely deserves appreciation here.

Laudable performances form the movie's forte. Stunning revelations are Samuthirakani who plays the antagonist and Ganja karuppu who has acted in a supporting role that has more than humour in it. Jai (of chennai 28 fame -rockers raghu) who plays the lead shines but only in certain scenes. One instance when he cries out loud that he is instilled with the fear of death and another in the climax when he learns (in his dying moments) that he is turned in by none other than his own love are notable observations. The female lead played by a new face swathi too deserves a praise here when she wails out loud realizing the mistake that she has done. [what happens to her in the end is not told]. Otherwise she walks in and out of every frame like a doll.

James vasanthan (who we all know as a tamil tv comperer) scores music for this film and has come out with bright colours in his debut. The song "Kangal irandal" bears testimony to that and james has done a commendable job in the background score too.

Overall this is a gripping story that binds us to the movie. Worth a watch for its bold approach and refreshing story line. Simply put, this is a no nonsense movie and will be ranked among the good movies. 4 stars out of five.

Ta

Once upon a time, when i drove a car.......

A friend of mine read my post on my passion for driving. We caught up with each other in a chat online and he reminded me of an embarassing experience. This post is the result of that. Though i had forgotten about this incident, he apparently didn't seem to have. You'll know why, when you are done reading this post.

My office was in perungudi at that time and it was a make-shift arrangement before we permanently would move to a new building further down the old mahabalipuram road.My driving was still in its nascence and I wasn't quite comfortable yet driving a car at that time, though i was looking forward to every chance that i could bargain. This is one of them.One of my colleagues(lets call him Mr M) drove to office everyday in his santro and i asked him if i could drive his car once. Refusing at first, unable to put up with my persistent nagging he gave in. Conditionally.
Mr M agreed to let me drive, with him besides me and certain conditions.....i should drive slow and not try anything silly on the road....and blah blah blah blah....... The industrial estate roads around the office were a perfect fit for 'child' drivers like me, with not much traffic on it. I started driving the car with a lot of pride and care (very slowly), like an astronaut driving a shuttle to the Mars. The car rolled on pretty smoothly and i was getting comfortable with it. After a couple of lefts and rights we hit a dead end. The road wasn't wide enough to make a turn around, so M asked me to back up so that we can turn left and then return back to office(he must have had enough of baby-sitting my driving). Now reversing a car isn't my cup of tea, but i put the car in reverse (gear) and very reluctantly stepped on the pedal, looking behind. The car started moving back and as i was beginning to think if i have backed up too much, THUD -- there was a sound as if to say 'Yes' !! and one side of the car was buried into the road. There was a ditch on the side of the road and one of the rear wheels went into the ditch causing the car to precariously hang in balance on the side (Driver's side !!) .
Mr M was so mad at me for driving the car into a ditch and was shouting at me to get off the car. He tried to drive it back up from the ditch, but the engine power wasn't enough to bring the wheel of the car out of the ditch. We tried to push the car out from the ditch, but failed miserably. Eventually we had to seek the help of a passer-by to move the car and the wheel out of the ditch. With the assistance of me and the passer by pushing the car from behind, M was at the steering wheel giving all the throttle. After a few frantic moments, the car climbed out of the ditch, much to our relief. M vowed to never ever let me drive his car again. Though there was no public embarrasment as there was no one else on the road, in an effort to prevent any damage to my reputation, i begged M to keep this from everyone at office. Somehow he agreed.

To this day this has remained a secret. It has seen the daylight now, thanks to this post and my friend's reminder. He'll be a happy soul now, laughing at the dent on my image, whatever little i have.

Ta

A baby's learning power

Today i was playing with Vijay's 6 months old kid Prithvi,[Vijay is my colleague and neighbour] and i was watching him try really hard to grab the pepsi can that i was holding. He's not on his 4 feet yet, and just about manages to crawl to whatever he wants. I learnt that it'll be another month or so before he can move on all fours......he makes sounds like he is talking to us and wants to tell us something......it made me wonder what must be going through the brain inside that little head......Does he really know that whatever he wants to say is not understandable by any adult ? Well... the vice versa is something we'll never know, i'm sure.
He's not going to grow up and say "Look, you told me this one day when i was a 6 month old baby and this is what i understood" right ?
When he learns to speak from the people around him, his glossary would have built up and the accent his speech would take, would be that he hears most.......Its really surprising to see the capability of the human brain to learn so much in a short time. He's definitely learnt a lot and does a lot of things that he didn't 4 months ago......I've always had this thought whenever i play with babies like these.

Ta

Eeemineee.....Eeemineee

Got to listen to this new song from the movie 'Sakkarakatti', sung by chinmayi, 'I miss u da' and it starts with the words "Eeemineee.....Eeemineee" - An alluringly crazy humming that made me like this song. Like all ARR songs, this too is slowly growing on me and is increasingly becoming difficult to take it off my mind.......Oh yeah, this film has music by AR Rahman.

I'm stumped with the way chinmayi goes about rendering the song with all the oomph.... makes me wonder if she is under such an emotional travail in reality. Hard to believe that its her singing, with all the husky tone to the song.

Way to go, chinmayi !! One more inch closer to the pinnacle !!

Ta

With your two eyes

No i wasn't trying to hit bull's eye with an attractive title here, just a bit too lazy to think of a title for this post. Translation of the two words the song starts with...... Thought it was apt for the song i'm gonna talk about.

Kangal irandal - a new song from the movie Subramaniyapuram, has been on a loop on my system for the last couple of days since last week. Its a brilliantly composed song and well sung, all credits to the male and the female voices (supposedly their debut). James vasanthan, the only anchor on tamil TV channels that i know of, who speaks unblemished tamil, is the composer.

The song had me mesmerized since the first time that i listened to it. Such captivating orchestration and amazingly soothing lyrics that blend together, melts your heart like creamy ice cream.....No points for guessing what i'm listening to at this moment, as this post is taking life........



P.S. : Learnt that this song is on a raaga called reethigowla (carnatic purists, beg your pardon if i didn't spell that right :) ), there have been songs before composed using this raaga. here's the list....

1. Chinna kannan azhaikkiran - kavikkuyil by Ilayaraja
2. Thalayai kuniyum thamaraiye - By ilayaraja
3. Azhagana ratchasiye - Mudhalvan by AR Rahman
4. Meetadha oru veenai - Poonthottam by Ilayaraja


Ta

Driving cars & bikes

I like driving. Driving cars, driving bikes.......For the same reason, i like racing games.
Driving pleasures me unlike anything. The sense of satisfaction and the instant gratification is unparalleled to anything on earth. I can't remember since when i took to driving with such passion. I didn't ride a cycle till i was 15. Amidst a lot of embarrasment, I was pushed to learn cycling in the vaction that followed my 10th board exams. Within a year i could drive a geared motorcycle sans help and there's no looking back since then. Bought myself a Discover 125 Cc after i started to goto work. Office was 25 kms from home and hitting 100 kph on a regular basis on my bike, on the way to office and back was never going to be surprise. God smiled at me when the IT corridor was extended and relaid with more lanes to make it a speedway. I had to travel back home pretty late in the night most of the time and i preferred it too. That way i got to keep trafffic and house chores away. Made sure there is just enough time for me to sneak in , eat something and hit bed, for a good night's sleep !!

I would wade through all the traffic from Anna arch to choolaimedu through nelson manikam road and then hit tnagar via mahalingapuram. Out of tnagar onto mount road through venkatnarayana road and then it is chamiers road headed to kotturpuram. One straight road till the cancer institute[where you hit 80 comfortably] where its a dead end and then skid onto madhya kailash, where the whole city is waiting for you, or..... well.. for the traffic to clear, of course. From then on its another 10 kms of IT highway to office, bliss as i would call it.
Would take me anywhere between 45 to 90 mins for the entire journey.
Its a lot less on the way back home - same route though. One night, I reached home in 22 mins flat.

Well, you may wonder if i was never caught speeding. I was, once. Its another story what happened at that time, but its, proportionately, way too less for 10 years of driving in the fast lane.

I miss it a lot now....Driving back home at such a high speed....with headphones tucked in my ears, inside my helmet. With the radio on, listening to all the good(new) songs and the RJ that somehow keeps me awake. (Thanks to the RJ, i was still on the road)

Later on, I began to goto office by the new santro that dad bought. [he seldom went to office by car]. I enjoyed driving a car to office too, but never as much as i enjoyed a bike. Now i own a civic, but then rules of the game have changed here.

Ta

Date

Me : Excuse me !!
She : Huhm...ya ?!
Me : Hi, i need to talk to you for a moment. Will you have the time ?
She : You want to talk to me ? What about ?
Me : I'm afraid i can't say that here, in public.
She : (Rises slowly from her chair smiling mischievously and gestures to her friends on the table that she'd be back)

At the Far east desolate corner, we stand facing each other.

Me : I wanted to ask you out. Out for a date......
She : what ?.... Are you a jerk ? (surprise).......you don't even know me.....i don't know you.....And...
Me : [Isn't that reason enough to go out on a date ?] That's precisely one of the reasons we have to go on a date. I need to know more about you and you about me.
She : is this some kind of a joke ?
Me : No its not. Let me explain. I know that your father works in this(un-name-able) institute and you also stay in the same campus. I found out your mobile number and your landline. I learnt that you wrote the [DOG ?!?!] exam, made it to the shortlist of this-famous-business-school, but didn't get through.
She : Don't be a freak ! Tell me why you are doing all this.....
Me : I like you. I think you are pretty. You have captured my imagination like anything.
She : what made you think i'll go out with you.....
Me : Actually, nothing. We all live in perpetual hope and its the same hope that pushed me to do this today.
She : What hope ?!?!? i don't want to go out with you, esp. on a date !!
Me : why not ?
She : I dont want to answer questions like that !! I dont have to !! I can't believe i'm talking to you !! nonsense you are......

Turns her back and walks away from me quickly to her table.

So the dream ends.........This too isn't real, but i'm awake.

Ta

Yes, madam

Have you had a woman boss at work ? I have. Almost every alternate project that i worked on were led by managers who were women ....Incl my current assignment.....
what's with these woman bosses ? The ones that i have met so far were all aspiring, career oriented and dominating.....they would have the last word, any day. No matter how irrelevant they talk.....They've had, and will have, men nodding in silence, thanks to the organizational hierarchy, inspite of completely knowing that these eves dont make any sense at all.
My previous project manager got promoted thrice in three years.... This rarely happens in our company....Its even harder to believe that coz she hardly works....never seen her interested in any kind of work....She never had the knowledge or the ability to learn and work.......she never fails to delegate most of our managerial tasks to her subordinates and stays at home half the time, with a "Working from home" notice.......she's wastes her time (and everybody else's)in meetings to discuss or learn about what happened or is happening in projects. For all the above reasons, she's despised by everyone in the account. Constantly in pursuit of any kind of feather that she can add to her hat.......you tend to hate such people and wish you never see them again, but you don't have a choice.....
Another manager of mine was as dominating and arrogant as this one, but atleast not as bad. This one was technically sound, but was a bit too pushy........Women bosses are pushy......Climbing the ladder in one's career is what everyone would wish for.....but hey, not at the cost of other people, especially those that work hard and go unrewarded just because you took the credit away from them for your selfish ulterior motives.

Women bosses, listen !! be open minded......don't just cut people off with your self righteous attitude and arrogance.. Its time you appreciated people working under you and and their work, and respect them. Allow people to grow with you !!

I wish i never have to work under women bosses again, atleast not such dominating ones......

Ta

Sweet sweat

I don't know if that title makes sense or not, but it kinda gists what i have been appreciating for the last 10 mins or so. This is what happened.

Today is yet another hot day, I was just driving back home for lunch when i was listening to my ipod in the car and like a cold breeze, the lyrics .....

Female voice : Un vizhigalin veyilil yen viervai inikkudhe..
Male : Un punnagai ninaivil yen thookkam tholaindhadey.....

Wow, I couldn't help appreciating these lines !! The meaning and the affection that it brings about.....I never gave attention to these lines all this long..... I liked some other lines of this song when i heard them the first time......

Male : Yennai pola yevarum unnai kaadhalikka mudiyaadhu
Female : Mudiyum yendraal kooda avanai kaadhalikka mudiyaadhu

And this has been a favourite song of mine, for various reasons..... It only got better.......
Nice.......

Ta

Strike

I jus returned from bowling in which i spent today's evening. No, not in cricket, The snow bowling....
When i was in college, my friends used to go for bowling almost every weekend. I considered it an expensive timepass then and was never game for it (pun unintended). Moreover i was never given pocket money and if i told my parents that i wished to go for snowbowling they'd never allow me to....they mostly don't allow me to do things that they might not understand.......i don't blame them, any body else would do the same.........Now things have changed. I'm on my own and with time, my interest in the game has grown. Now, i and a few like-minded colleagues go for bowling in the weekends. Never thought i could take to this game with this kind of an affinity.......At the end of the bowling session, the wallet feels lighter, so does my heart......

Ta

Dasavatharam

Its been two weeks since i saw this movie in the theatre and here i narrate my account of the experience watching the movie.

Dasavatharam looks technically brilliant, considering the technical difficulties and the crew deserves a lot of appreciation. The CGI involved in the tsunami scene and glueing together multiple kamals in the same scene (wherever required) is laudable.
Kamal plays 10 roles in this movie, in an attempt that's world cinema first.
Awe inspiring enough, the initial 15 mins of the movie introduces kamal as one ranga rajan nambi in the 12th century who fights the Shaivism-obsessed kulothunga cholan from uprooting the vishnu idols and fails as the king orders to have nambi submerged with the idol in the deep blue. Kothai, wife of nambi kills herself at this sight. The stupendous camera work and the visual grandeur of the sets aid the gripping prelude so far. Then the story walks into the present day and fails to remain as taut as the prelude, till the end.
Govindan, a scientist in an american biotech research centre, discovers a deadly virus which is sought by some people and Govindan's chief is monetarily interested in helping them. How the protagonist protects the virus from getting into their hands and keeps it from spreading is what forms the rest of the story.
Kamal delivers astounding performance in playing the 10 roles, simply overwhelming the rest of the cast. As balram naidu, RAW officer, kamal sets the theatre ablaze with his impeccable comic timing and a humourous accent. One another novel(notable) character is Vincent Poovaraagan, who protests illegal sand quarrying and arrives momentarily to save andal(asin) from those thugs. In an animated bush, kamal tickles the rib again, nevertheless the rest of the kamals barely look convincing to stick to the script. Asin plays dual roles as 12th century Kothai and present day Andal, though ends up annoying us with her frequent ramblings and stupid accusations against the lead male.

Mukunda mukunda sung by sadhana sargam stays on our lips and kallai mattum by hariharan deserves a worthy mention, but the remaining songs fail to impress.

The bottom line is - less impact. The script doesn't require 10 roles, in the first place. Albeit, the technical brilliance, the movie fails to touch your heart. You walk out of the theatre disappointed as it doesn't live up to its expectations and wondering where all the money went.

3 stars for the technical brilliance.

Ta

What landed me in my first job

Its funny now if i have to recollect how i got into a job that i have now. My job as a Software engineer in the one-of-india's-top-five-IT-companies company.
I had one more exam in the final semester the following week that flagged an end to my engineering course and the weekend before that, the placement center in our college wanted all of the final years to attend a campus interview by this company. We were the first batch to pass out of the college and had really none of the leading companies visit our college to recruit.
I came to know of this interview through a class mate and i wasn't too confident of cracking the interview and wasn't interested in attending it.... But this guy insisted and for fun's sake he asked me to accompany him to the interview. I did. The rest is a comedy.

Saturday, 22 May 2004
8 AM
Reached college to find anxious boys and girls meticulously going through the aptitute test question banks and pondering over analytical & mathematical concepts and puzzles that involved them. It almost looked like a war zone with not one in the vicinity that was indifferent..... indifferent like i was. Beads of sweat sprouted out of my forehead and started their downward journey along my face..... I didn't know if it was the morning sun or because of the mere sight of devoted guys preparing as if this was their last chance of survival before they are to be buried 10000 feet under the earth's crust for eternity.

We were allocated different halls to write the aptitude test and i came out after finishing the test, feeling fairly satisfied about the performance, not worried about the results though. These guys were incredible again. Once again you have all these highly intelligent guys grouping up to discuss the questions and their answers. I felt i shouldn't have overheard them, for i heard them mention the answers, that were the exact opposite of what i had chosen.....with logical derivations to rub the salt in. I began to feel that i was right about not being able to beat these guys, in the first place. All the hope i had, burst like bubbles when they said only the top 10 percent of the total would qualify for the next level, Group discussion. My anguish and disappointment was shortlived......To my surprise and shock, I cleared the aptitude test and even more surprisingly found that the some of the guys who were discussing the answers earlier didn't make it. A shot in the arm indeed for the next level and i felt like shouting out "Bring it on, now".

2 PM - After lunch same day

Walked into a hall that we were asked to goto for the group discussion and there were a couple of students and a lady.This lady who was to coordinate the GD, briefed us what the topic is gonna be. She had barely finished and someone started off in a ziffy in a knee jerk reaction.... well, it was me !! Faces in the hall turned towards me. Not the one to be least bothered about what they thought, i went on talking and then the rest joined in to make it a discussion. After the discussion, when we were all waiting, the results came out. I couldn't believe i had cleared it yet again. This would qualify me and 100 others to attend a final tech/HR interview the next day, at the company premises.


Well i forgot to tell this. The guy who i said insisted that i accompany him for the campus interview, ironically, didn't clear the aptitude.


Sunday 23 may 2004

Went to the company's office and began waiting in the lobby like others were. My fellow college mates. After an hour or so, we were seated in a conference room and we all started talking, playing and having fun, as if we were at an amusement park. Luckily no one did anything attrocious enough to get caught !!
I went into the interview room when i was called in....It was all new to me and i had never been interviewed for a job before(obviously)......A male and a female were the interviewers and what caught my eye was a piece of cake on a small plate that was placed on a desk next to the female. Whatever they asked, i rolled my eyes away from them to think and the eyes kept catching the piece of cake. I was beginning to feel if they would notice this and think that i'm hungry, and might even ask me if its disturbing me. Certainly, it would have been embarassing. Fortunately they never did and i came out with a sense of completion. They'd yet to announce the results, but having completed the interview cooled me down. Then the announcement came. I was in the selected list, didn't know how to react......what started off as a casual saturday outing turned out to be a career-decider for one. It was indeed a great feeling to know that you don't have to worry about looking for a job anymore, neverthless having an exam to go. This feeling didn't sink for sometime and really don't know how i managed to write the last exam and clear it.

Life is not just beautiful, its crazy

Ta

A bizarre dream

There is this bizarre dream that i wanted to talk about, or rather blog about. Its kinda strange what happened in the dream..but that's what dreams are made of, isn't it ? It goes like this.....

Gowrisankar(gowri as we call him) is holding a wedding invitation of this girl i had a crush on.
Was it just a crush or more than that ? I don't know, but i was deeply depressed at the sight of the invitation. gowri felt sorry for me, i could see it on his face. He knew what this girl meant to me and did realize that it wasn't any where close to comfort in learning that this girl i liked is getting married to some one else soon. Can't this be stopped ? What do i have to do to stop it ? Or should i ?
I knew this girl for quite some time now. The first time i saw her i was dumbstruck and the poor english language has few words (or none) to describe that beauty. Lunch was the time i got to see her in the cafeteria everyday.....boy, was i waiting for that. Each passing day my liking for her grew in stature. All these days, never spoke to her...not even once. I never had to...We had mutual friends, but never thought of using them to strike a silly conversation. Somebody every now and then would tell me that i need to talk to this girl, but i never did.
And today the sight of the wedding invitation with her name on it drove me nuts...
why does it have to end like this ? have i made a mistake in not talking to her, even once ?
Now all of a sudden my heart feels heavy.........feels like its being crushed by a thousand tons of rock....pain is too small a word now compared to what i was going through.


"Oh wait", an excited gowri says...."Look at this !!"

"Oh no i don't want to see that again, its unbearable, gowri....i can't......Please take it away from me, can't take it anymore....."

"No, you should take a look at it, for god's sake !!", he said putting down his finger on the invitation.
Composing myself with all my will, like a child who doesn't want to have an injection i so reluctantly looked at the wedding invitation and barely focused my eyes to the point that gowri had his finger on. The groom's name looked familiar. My focus increased exponentially.
Goodness gracious !! its me !! i couldn't believe my eyes, I'M THE DAMN BRIDE GROOM. My joy knew no bounds and was on cloud nine [10, 11 maybe ;)]. Celebrating i jumped onto the table to do a little dance. And blinded by the rosiness of the moment, without realising what i was doing, in a wrong footing, lost my balance and i could see the marble floor approaching really quick and fast....rather i was going down towards the marble floor, face down....Thud !! Ouch !! it hurts......hurts badly.....

I get up to see that i have just woken up from a dream, falling off the bed as a result.
My face and my shoulder are still hurting from the fall...

To me the dream is strange and what makes it stranger is how a dream could have things that you never thought of, consciously. I happened to read somewhere that your dream mostly consists of what your brain has come across before as a thought or something that your eyes have seen.

Ta