As usual a late read!

Well, if you have not read Da Vinci Code and you plan to read it, don’t scroll any further!

It was a book of incredible controversies woven into a gripping story. The idea of unearthing startling facts via an absorbing story is definitely appreciated. Whether you believe or not, is really out of the question, yet the narration riddled with codes, and conundrums really kept me tied to the book. I am not a voracious reader and I can’t read anything unless it keeps me rapt and this one definitely did. The unexpected twists and turns towards the end – the unbecoming of the Knight, the unpretentious talk of Fache with Sofia (in London) which was totally misconstrued, the depiction of Teacher-Remy relationship – each of these tightened the rivet the book had on the reader.

Robert Langdon the obvious hero did not impress me – Fache did especially because of the twists that later unraveled and revealed him. For such a nice storytelling, I really wished there was a more concrete finish. However the fact that it was left to your imagination, I think made the story linger longer and trouble you longer. It just won’t go away.

Angels & Demons – the first of the to-be-trilogy is on my table, however my friends suggested that reading them back-to-back is not a good idea, because they are so similar ones. Let me see!

There has been a lot of research in the measurement of intelligence amongst people of different races and backgrounds. As with any global research, we have conflicting reports, but there is something that everyone agrees on. The two big influences of a child’s success in later life are: biological parents’ intelligence and upbringing factors. First of all, what is intelligence? It could be the IQ score as measured by the famous 77 year old IQ test; it could be the academic grades; it could be mean income when you are 30; it is some combination of these. Many independent researches conclude that a minimum of 40% influence is attributed to intelligence in the heredity. The maximum genetic influence is 80%. Especially the language controls, reading ability and verbal power moves through generations. That is why; siblings reared apart though may have significant difference in success / general IQ always correlate well with each other in their language prowess. In general it is known, that Jews as a race score atleast 12-15 points more than the Asians who score atleast 5 points more than Whites who score atleast 10 more than the Africans. But the reason for these differences though genetic for most part and social and economic in part actually is exhibited differently across groups. i.e., the reason for higher performance of Jews over Asians is not the same as the reason for higher performance of Asians over Whites. Also child-rearing has a big influence on its success when it grows up. The biggest part of this influence is during the developmental years and hence the saying “Woman is behind a man’s success” necessarily refers to the mother rather than the wife :). It is the parents’ attitude towards the child’s performance that shapes the child’s future. When parents set high bars, children typically attain it than when they set low bars. Indians typically set higher standards for achievement (of course there are exceptions) than Americans and that is partly the reason for Indians’ better performance. Hence, a White child when raised in an Indian home that sets high standards for the child will outperform his white peers:). When parents set softer limits and encourage laziness in children (especially true with rich European families) the children perform worse as adults. Lack of breast-fed milk and premature delivery are also reasons that negatively impact performance. Undernourishment and being a witness to negative actions like riots, shooting, and parents’ fighting (including adopted parents) between the ages of 5 and 14 are big factors for low self-confidence and self-assurance as adults. Occupational success of parents, the feel-good factor that they emanate and the socio-economic status of a growing child play a key role. Inferiority complex developed as a child does not go away until he is able to prove to the world that he is also capable. They grow up to either being spend-thrifts in general or spend-thrifts in friends’ presence. The constant worry about what others might think gives them in to peer-pressure and negatively impacts performance.

Moral of the story: You thought I was going to say – blame your parents!
Nope!
If you think the upcoming generation will definitely marry a person of lower IQ caste, you are encouraged to adopt such children and benefit them so that as a race, they get better :)
p.s. If I sound like a racial person, I am not one!

We have always thought of US as a cold country.
Of course it is.. Now is this news?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5214370.stm
Sounds like our own .. India? ;-)

I have heard of donations of whole blood, plasma, Aphaeresis etc. I have not heard of donating the umbilical cord blood of a new born baby! Although once considered medical waste and thrown away, scientists now know that cord blood is rich in stem cells. Stem cells are very important because they make many different types of cells in the body including blood cells that carry oxygen, fight disease and help stop bleeding. The collection takes place after the baby is born and hence there is no change in the delivery procedure whatsoever. The storage period of whole blood is roughly 50 days I guess before which it must be used on a patient, but the umbilical cord blood is frozen and good for 10 years. Though the need for this kind of blood is not much today, it is especially used in research that will shape the tomorrow. Isn’t this just amazing!?

Decide before you are 34 weeks pregnant if you want to start your baby’s life with a punya karma :-)

Quote Costanza

"The worst thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes a lot of your time and what do you get at the end? DEATH? whats that, a bonus?. I think the life cycle is all backwards. First we should die and get it out of the way. Then we should go to a old age home, get kicked out cause we are too young and healthy. Then we should collect our pension and on the first day of work get a gold watch. Then work for 40 years until we are young enough to enjoy our retirement, go to college, party all night, then go to high school, then to primary school, play around all the time with no responsibilities. Then we should spend the last months of our lives floating around in luxuries like central heating, spa, room service on a tap and finish off as an orgasm. Amen" -- George Costanza

Irony?

AWESOME
AWFUL

You would rather be awesome than awful?

Isn't an irony that (aw)‘some’ is great but (aw)‘ful’ is bad
Funny language ;-)

Jobs Speech

This is a Graduation Ceremony speech from Steve Jobs.
Don't miss it.

Instance 1:
Where: X standard class room - History class in session
When: Sep 1995
Scene: The topic of discussion is reservation policy. The teacher is lecturing about why and how reservation policy was started in India. He is talking about why it is still in existence today – about the game of politics around it, about the reality of how well the policy is used or abused.
Now:
She can not seem to agree on how only a certain section of people could get critical benefits just by virtue of being born in a particular community. She does not find any reasoning pertinent to the present situation. She is not bothered about how it was ‘useful’ 50 years earlier when it was put in place, but certainly she feels it was a joke that had no benevolent relevance today. She feels cheated. At 14, in her animosity towards the Government, towards the people that make rules she hurls away her spite in words. She feels so powerless just to be taking on her teacher. After the class, she realizes her actions were futile and that her behavior was at best childish. At the end of the class, her teachers talk to her about her thought process, the truth in her reasoning, and the wasted energy in class. She is ashamed for her actions but she is convinced her logic and rationale was right. She certainly feels let down – a let down of an entire community.


Instance 2:
Where: Railway ticket counter, Mambalam, Madras
When: 1998 February
Scene:
She is standing in a queue that’s at least 10 people long before her and at least a 10 more behind her. There are almost 10 such lines. She has some work outside of that railway station. All of them are definitely busy or at least none of them are particularly enjoy the sweltering heat and the long lines.
Now:
Our hero, a well dressed 20-something man tries to push through the queue, get ahead of others in the line to get tickets. She gets extremely furious. Agreed, that he is not doing a heinous crime, but she feels cheated. A very daily misdemeanor that someone does everyday. But that’s no explanation. She cannot take it. She gets violent with words at him. At first, she says – “Hello Sir, It’s a queue. Please enter the line (showing the end)”. It does not seem like he is paying any attention. With a louder voice she repeats – “Hello Sir, Can you hear me? I said we are not fools here waiting in the line. Show some manners.” He turns around, makes some eye contact and proceeds with pushing the people again. She cannot take it any longer. She pats him on the back – grabs his attention and says – “Now will you please get away from here or shall I call the Superintendent of the station?” Now he is almost mocking at her. There are people buzzing in a hushed tone, some talking about her audacity and some trying to appease her and some trying to get him away. She reiterates “Move away, I am not going to let you get away with this”. Now there are more people talking. More and more physically making sure he is moved away from the line; many speaking ill of the man and many more trying to pacify the girl. Though he was gone, she feels unsure and jittery of herself. She could feel her blood boil, her tension mounting and suddenly she feels very conscious of herself. She talks no more until she cycles back home and recounts the episode. Everyone at home reprimands her; no one really approves her behavior. They teach her to be patient, to behave like a ‘girl’. She is just not convinced. She was sure that she would have felt worse had she let him cheat on her.

That is the real ‘She’, today her outward reaction may be different because of the certain cultural/civility influences, but inside she is still the same person. Patience has muted her, time has mellowed her; powerless sometimes, weak and incapable, she cannot take cheating in her stride. She believes, cheaters showcase scant respect for the cheated. There are people who cheat at all levels – right from the grassroots like the ones trying to jump the queue to the ones like self-proclaimed avatars that take an entire generation for a ride. It’s hard to witness the ones getting cheated, harder to get cheated and worst staying voiceless in times of such controversy. Conmen exist only as long as people are weak and fragile. Please wake up, recognize the cheaters and whip your share.

Does this happen to you?

Sometimes.. you acknowledge.. and surrender..

What you are doing is not what you want to do
And what you want to do should not be done
What should be done is what you are doing
Hoping what you are not doing will get done….

'Bombay' remains

Blood flows in a stream
From a body split in spleen
Until rain washes it away
Piles of flesh left to decay
Little children cry and wail
No one come to their avail
Wife loses her husband
Children miss their parents
Families go distraught …..
Morning rises in gloom
Smell of gunpowder
Sound of bombshell
Silence of weak groan
Clothing in tatters
Shelter doesn’t matter
Streets deserted
Houses ransacked
Dawn seems distant
Someone is pleased and content
Big money changes hands

Am meek and mute
And it continues….

I am almost sure that you ‘Googled’, for something in the last 24 hours. Man! Time to teach your kid ‘searched’ is the synonym to ‘googled’! Amazed how certain words make their way into our vocabularies. Wonder if Larry Page and Sergey Brin, then knew that they were instituting a new word in to the dictionary.

Used to have this term – ‘Infra-dig’ on the top of my vocab stack sometime in my early teens. I don’t know how it got in, but it was the in-thing (?) then.

Most of the people (if any) reading this blog will know curry, bungalow and veranda are words got transported into Cambridge from India. Did you know ‘Shampoo’ is one of them too? It is startling how only certain words cross civilizations make its way through pirated ships or royalty means into another one. ‘Shampoo’ comes from a Hindi word ‘campo’ meaning ‘to press’ and was originally used to refer a full-body massage, hair inclusive. It was a verb. As civilization grew and spread, ‘shampoo’ came to be referred to hair wash as both noun and verb.

I came across this term - Pious Fraud. I wonder how relevant it has become today. There are numerous men and women out there proclaiming to have mystical powers that have descended on this earth as a savior.
Hey holy men! Long live you, as long as weak minded escapists walk this earth.
Conmen will exist as long as people let themselves to be conned.

Last but not least, blog, its still not entered the MSWord Thesaurus. Coming from web log, weblog, and becoming blog! And then.. blogging .. then blogger.. now there is blogworthy, and then there is blogworthindex !!!!!

It’s only when a language is adaptive and lets itself to be abused, does it grow!
No, you got to maintain your language in its pristine state!

I give up!

Words of Lord Krishna

paritranaya sadhunam |
vinasaya ca duskrtam ||
dharma-samsthapanarthaya |
sambhavami yuge yuge ||

Meanings

paritranaya--for the deliverance;
sadhunam--of the devotees;
vinasaya--for the annihilation;
ca--also;
duskrtam--of the miscreants;
samsthapana-arthaya--to reestablish;
sambhavami--I do appear;
yuge--millennium


TRANSLATION
For the relief of (My) devotees,
To annihilate the vice (and wicked),
To reinstate Dharma
Shall I appear, every Yuga.


Meanings Courtesy: Bhagavad Gita, As it is.
The Sanskrit Sloka Courtesy: http://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in/

Irony

Life is funny,
but you cant always smile at it

Sometimes you feel so low
The tide of your own approval ebbs away
Confidence is in its furrow
All decisions taken so far turn gray

Wish you had the power to change everything around you
Can’t excuse you for what’s gone the other way
Against you are held a blame array
Refuse to sympathize with you

Off beam is your smile
Lost is your energy
Motivation is unreal
Love is illusory

You turn down the smallest support
Race against time
Wait for today to wane
Don’t want tomorrow to start

Crave for longer nights
Pine for dawn less days
Yearn for peaceful dreams
Hope to rewind time

And then …..
Think about the person who cares the most about you
It will draw the most beautiful smile on your face

Its not the person you love ..
But it’s for the person who loves you the most
It’s for the one..

who thinks you are wonderful
who has the undying confidence in you
who has unrelenting faith in you
who needs you to smile for sustenance

Get up ….
Turn around….
Leave behind the past….
Look forward to a fresh tomorrow….
I promise it will be greener and serener….

Remember those days when everyday - getting to school was an ordeal of the highest order with sweltering heat, overcrowded buses that plied at 75 degrees from the road, the road side Romeos that waited to shove you around, and a big load behind your back in the form of books. Then it was cycling times. It was a good 4 mile ride each way. By the time I reached school, I would be dripping wet with sweat, the shirt and the pinafore sticking to my body, the 15 minute assembly through the humid morning – the kneel down or the sit-ups that ensued whenever I forgot something in my uniform attire.. it was still memorable days..

A gang of activity-challenged students (like me) would huddle together and plan how we could escape from the PT period. We liked to sit and gossip about everything under the sun but refused to move the bums around. We were early teenagers and there was so many curious questions that were best answered by the peer group and PT period were precious time to catch up on it. Now I wonder what all those chit-chat no-nonsense tales were all about. – class 7 through 10.

There was a girl in my class who received a love letter that looked like it was written in blood. Rumors filled the room. There were unanswered questions about if the Ghost really existed; and someone would spring a spicy story of how she witnessed one last night in the bathroom, about life after death and once again you will find someone with a tale of her long-gone grand pa appearing every Diwali to the village that no one ever heard of. For some strange reason, whatever your friends say would be believed and whatever your parents said would be mocked at!!!! May be, it was just the hormones.. – class 9

One of our classmates left home when she was 10 disappointed with her scores in quarterly exam. Luckily, she had only gone to her grand ma’s place in some remote location in Madras. And already there were tales about how ghost must have picked her and how she would be in Heaven enjoying in utopian comforts. It was the time when we had Fools Paradise in English Non-Detail. – class 5

You would be showered with praise and honor on your birthday. I am not sure if its because your friends want to share some of the limelight or is it because she wanted an extra piece of candy! I can’t recollect any instance when anyone was ever involved in any conflict on her birthday. I still wonder if this was just the girls’ school or was it with the boys too. – class 4 through 9

There was this practice of minding-people. Do you recollect the term? One of you is selected to ‘mind’ the class. Now this guy was like a super power. He could go around bullying you and get away with it. If the class-leader (who often ‘minds’) was a nicer guy, the class would collapse into many factions each party pretending to extend support to the class-leader and be in his good books - typical politics that’s today played on the bigger arena. The class was always in gangs. You have to belong to one or the other, else you belong nowhere and no one might help you with notes if you go on leave!!!! - class 4 through 8

Exams and tests were more important than they were in your engineering/medical College. An extra mark here and there was more valuable than anything else. Beg, borrow or steal your extra one mark so that you are one up than your buddy. Class 6 through 9

What you bring for lunch determines how sought after you are! Finishing the lunch during the break and munching on ‘chaat’ for lunch was fashionable.– class 4 through 6

Who brings your lunch makes a statement about character. If you bring it yourself, you are not as lucky as your blessed friends. If your father brings it, your mom does not care about you and if your mom brought, you are the luckiest soul! – class 1 through 3


In spite of all those ill-attitudes, weird behavior, hormonal imbalance, childish pranks we were all innocent children at heart and we were friends. Each one of us has gone in search of different aspirations and desires in different directions and we are probably spread all over the globe and I have lost touch with almost every one of them. But someday I hope we would just run into each other, vaguely recognize and beam a smile at that instant reliving those childhood times.

Thanks to Google, recording May 22 as the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Boyzone- Words - Originally Eagles

There was time in my life when this song will ring in my ears all day long. I loved it the first time I heard it. I have always been very fond of lyrics in general and the one line –

it's only words
and words are all I have
to take your heart away

It really did take my heart away. I am not a big fan of English songs, but those few ones that I am exposed to will remain my favorites all my life.

Here goes, the lovely lyrics


smile an ever lasting smile
a smile can bring you near to me
don't ever let me find you gone
'cause that would bring a tear to me
this world has lost its glory
let's start a brand new story
now my love
you think that I don't even mean
a single word I say

it's only words
and words are all I have
to take your heart away

talk in ever lasting words
and dedicate them all to me
and I will give you all my life
i'm here if you should call to me
you think that I don't even mean
a single word I say

it's only words
and words are all I have
to take your heart away

it's only words
and words are all I have
to take your heart away

da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da

this world has lost its glory
let's start a brand new story
now my love
you think that I don't even mean
a single word I say

it's only words
and words are all I have
to take your heart away

it's only words
and words are all I have
to take your heart away

it's only words
and words are all I have
to take your heart away

Once I hear the song, there is a familiar peace settling in my soul, a memorable serenity articulating to me psyche. I don’t know if it’s the tune that it is set to or is it the appealing lyrics that catches my mood by its sleeve and lifts it up from fathomless bottoms. One of the very few songs that I can count on to make me feel better.

Campaigns for the recently concluded assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, was in short an expose of frail people and their unfortunate dilemma in exercising their electoral power.

Sun TV with its amazing reach into the tiniest part of the state had rule and reason to program the minds of people via so-called electoral promotion. It was disheartening to see the election manifest marked with freebies and giveaways. Well, its just not Sun TV, I am sure Jaya TV had its own share – just that Jaya TV is not telecasted in the US. Both the parties that have been ruling Tamil Nadu alternately for ages were competing in the name of election campaign to exhaust the resources of the state. Both the parties contest for giving rice at less than Rs.2 per Kg. Come’ on guys, grow up! How long can you sustain at that rate? Worse is yet to come.. Color TV for every household.. uhmm.. I can’t take it. Are we in a communist nation? From tax payers’ hard earned money, politicians leverage their position for votes! Very saddening.. Worst is yet to come.. Two acres of land for every voter….. Guess the parties are planning on annexing a bit of Sri Lanka and a bit more of Andhra Pradesh to keep up their promise! :) What’s more disappointing is the fact that there are masses of people out there that are actually waiting for the color TV and the acres of land to knock at their doorstep. :(

However the only consoling factor of this election is that neither of these two parties conquered a sweeping victory. For the first time in the history of Tamil Nadu, there is a coalition Government formed.

Kudos to the Lok Patrikan party that actually made it into the political arena unlike stopping with belaboring like you and me! (Well, me definitely)

Dayanidhi Maran rightly said at the end of the election results, “Hero of this election was the manifesto .. and people actually believed it!!!!”

May be the pun wasn’t intended, but it makes better sense!!

These are times....

Your breath has a certain whimper
Your own arms feel powerless
Your wrist writhes in pain
Your feet fail to hold you up
You are aware of your bones thro the flesh
You feel weak on your knees
When your muscles give away
When your fingers turn feeble
When your palms plain weigh more
When the shank slip slow

Then you know it is Sunday evening blues:-)

Smile at anyone who passes by
You might hit on a date ;-)

Laugh with your loved one
Make your (both or more) day

Sob with an alien in town
She might comfort but she would not care

Cry on your own
So that there is no one to discern

I have..
I need to..
I can..
I will ..

Walk past obstacles
Smile back at them

Lead the life of my choice
Climb the ladder of my will

Steal the courage of Helen Keller
Armed with prowess and character

It’s only me who has to mould my years
For its all I have my end

My God will help me in my endeavor
If all my wants were a wee bit just and fair

As always, I love to rewind my mind to years gone by and relive those times, especially during the post lunch session at work. Soon, with revivalist memories, I will jump back into life with renewed enthusiasm :-) This time around, my wandering mind went back to the days of DD-Metro ....

When DD-Metro was introduced, I think it was the first second channel available for the residents of 1990's Madras. It was a major sensation that between 8 and 9 in the evenings, everyone sat glued to the TV that featured a serial or some kind of 30 minute shows. This was the advent of Mega Serials - Remember Junoon? I remember this character (I forgot the name though) that was pregnant for 15 months in the serial!!!! Mega serial was a novelty, a new pick and an opportunity being explored. The next door neighbors had something beyond the third door daughter-in-law to discuss and gossip now. Their common ground of discussion was raised - another platform of familiar sharing and argument.

We in class VI-A were a bunch of Junoon followers who would avidly discuss the happenings over Geography teacher’s boring lecture. More than the serial, it was the language that caught and kept the attention. “Kudukaren Ungalukku Naa” – this form of misplaced verbs & nouns in the dubbed Hindi Junoons made it all the more enjoyable. This almost became a genre of Tamil that was followed with commitment :-)

And then the style of Metro Priya - She was the one who started compeering a Tamil TV show with more sport and added informality. The way she would make actions with her clubbed hands that looked like a handgun and shooting her youth and verve amongst the audience, she had the college going crowd fan following her. She was the first one to do this kind of compeering. Kudos!

The public either loved her or hated her, No in betweens. There was a section of the public that was scandalized by the audacity of the 16 year old girl. And then there were the rest who thought it was the next generation youth and its cheek. The last I heard, she had to stop the show because of road side romeos troubling her near her residence. No one is exempt from eve teasing and the ensuing destiny to discontinue career and interests.

Those times were followed with 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm SUN TV.. Remember? There was so much ado about it.. And then there was full time satellite channels and now there is more and more of them more than your TV could hold – and then you bought the TV with the S Band :)
Evolution? hmm!

Love-Hate

A form of Ambigram designed by a French man, Rachel Plefger

Impressive!

definitely blogworthy ;-)

Recently, in one of those post-lunch nap friendly sessions I was overwhelmed with the number of 'foo's and 'bar's in the Java book I was reading. Interestingly, I am sure you recall that 'foo's and 'bar's are omnipresent in every Comp Sci Programming book, right from BASIC days of class XI.

Dusting the pages of history, I was engaged in finding out the reason.. See that is the productive me ....

Pronounced as FUBAR, it stands for 'Fucked Up Beyond All Repair' or 'Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition' .. Whatever it may be, this acronym dates back to WorldWarII or earlier times. I am amazed how the F word framed itself in the American 'History' so long ago;-)

Wow, what a wonderful word for learning from CompSci books. No wonder kids of today learn CompSci in class-I

Some more jargon fun here.

Is this blogworthy ?;-)

Issue 1
Should we continue to write Stored Procedures or should we switch to Java?
Recently there has been quite a discussion and disagreement on this topic.
Should data management (or mismanagement ;-) ) must be as close to the data
Or
How much data processing should be done in the database and how much should be performed in the Java App logic code ?
Will you rely on a particular product or go the platform independence way of the world?
But what is your code need not be portable.
Doesn’t putting a lot of business logic into stored procedures break OO design?

Issue 2
Read clause 8 from the Microsoft Exchange Server doc

Copied here for convenience.

8. NOTE ON JAVA SUPPORT. THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT MAY CONTAIN SUPPORT FOR PROGRAMS WRITTEN IN JAVA. JAVA TECHNOLOGY IS NOT FAULT TOLERANT AND IS NOT DESIGNED, MANUFACTURED, OR INTENDED FOR USE OR RESALE AS ON-LINE CONTROL EQUIPMENT IN HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS REQUIRING FAIL-SAFE PERFORMANCE, SUCH AS IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, DIRECT LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES, OR WEAPONS SYSTEMS, IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF JAVA TECHNOLOGY COULD LEAD DIRECTLY TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.

Is that a marketing gimmick or does Microsoft mean that SUN killed a bit of Microsoft or are you going to stop using Java!?

Issue 3
With Sun and Google supporting each other on every front including Gosling talking about extending support for Ajax, will Yahoo and Microsoft join hands?

Issue 4
Are you impressed with a Geek trying to develop an Ajax framework using the concept of event queue, just to go gaga seeing separation of event handling from the actual page? Are you thinking he is a fool or are you considering the scalability, cost and efficiency of this queue pattern model?


Now why did I have to do this? Anyways, thanks to www.google.com
Disclaimer:
None of these opinions are my own!

When things don't go your way, it was not meant to be! - ALL THAT HAPPENS IS FOR GOOD

Scene:
A man rushes out of work, on the way home he realizes that he gotto go to the supermarket to pick something for his wife. Takes a quick U turn, eyes a parking spot at the end of the lane, makes just late in time. Someone squeezes right under his nose and grabs the spot. Already frsutrated with life.. Waits for an extra 20 seconds.. another parking spot becomes available. This time, makes into the spot just in time!

Gets off the car and delighted to find the meter had 30 minutes left in it. Free parking on someone else’s dime, love it.

Moral:
If one thing does not work out, we are often better off for it.

Spring has finally arrived!

For people from Madras, like me, where the only three seasons known are hot summer, hotter summer, hottest summer, spring in the US is a welcome phenomenon. It’s a time when long walks are rejuvenating, evenings are refreshing and the breeze repairs the rusty soul. The fully bloomed flowers bedecked on either side of the roads, the town looks like a model garden. Every big campus looks young green and the everyday pathways turn in to arboretum. The variety of flowers, the array of aroma ranging from mild woody to luscious lavender to stinging citrus take you off to Utopia. Suddenly, everything in this world is perfect, everyone is just faultless and your life is ideal.

The smell that’s fresh is lovelier than the best perfumes from Rochas. The green hues from the fresh plants are serene and your boggled mind soothes down. The Yellow flowers remind of you childhood friendships, the unperturbed walks with your 2nd standard classmate and the power of lasting time. The greens are reminiscent of a new born baby, fresh and pure – mind and soul; it denotes balance, harmony and stability. Green is calm, yet time flies by faster – spring passes by sooner! Violets peek in a little bit blessing its calm, solidarity and peace. Energy and spirituality are kindled – it is an ancient color of intellectuality and life force. Purples purge the pungency out of you. Shades of red are plenty and so are the senses attributed to it. From passion in love to passion in violence, from seemingly opposite ends of the horizon, red is a stimulus. What is stimulates, is in the state of your mind. In the East, it connotes a young bride and a happy wedding in the offing while in certain parts of South Africa, red stands for mourning. As said, it is what you think it is.

Rainbow peeps in now and then; spring brings in all colors of rainbow too! Welcome Spring!

As spring smiles at you, get off your jackets, get some sun shine and beam back at it. Take 20 minutes of your time and indulge in the pleasures spring can offer. See your life changed before summer begins!

The story of AprilOracle :-)

10 days from today we will be celebrating the 4th aniversary of AprilOracle.

14 of us started at a Glorified Software Company called Oracle and for 12 of us it was the first job, fresh out of college. ALL of us were single, smart and smiling.. , well a few were committed, yet officially single. We gelled well and AprilOracle was formed.

Gradually we moved.. we grew ;-)

Now among us, we have
-one father of two kids
-two more fathers
-two more expecting parents !!

wow way to go. oops! way to gRoW!!

Tonnes of good news at once.. Smiles Galore.
Congrats to the accomplished ones!!

10 years ago..

1. I was in class X
2. I started liking Math because I liked the guy who taught Math (Now I am married and don't want to call it a crush ;-) )
3. Getting a centum in Math was the top most thing on my head and I did!
4. I saw another 15 year old classmate wear a half-saree and I was scandalized!!!!
5. I vowed I would never wear one in my life
6. I was MOST-TOMBOYISH and liked only baggie pants!
7. I started to realize that I was probably too old to carry choclates, wear colour dress and announce it was my birthday, but I refused to admit !


5 years ago
1. It was 2001 and 9/11 happened. I thought my life was ruined when I was disallowed from MS in the US. Now I am allowed and my life is still ruined!!
3. I started using Sun Screen and visiting (stopped with visiting ;)) Gym
4. Silently wept during KK yet maintained my robust image and made fun of weepers around!
5. I tried Bike for the first time and loved it
6. Acads, Placement Season, Mock interviews, GD sessions, weekend meeting with classmates on the pretext of Placement preparation - FUN TIME
7. Would wait for a friend's birthday and her gifts from the 'special someone'- Tease Time !


Today is not worth mentioning !
1. Orkut is my Oxygen supply
2. Blog is life and messenger is life's purpose
3. Gmail is my life support system, when the rest fail!
4. Work nondescript
5. School beside the question
6. Manual car driving and license - A big deal
7. Movies - A must see

so in short, today is better than ever ;-)

Power your lappie

My blog is read primarily by people from IT background. So I am not sure how relevant this post is going to be. However I have to admit, I have an IT background and have been using laptops for almost a decade now and yet some of these is news.

To improve your battery performance on notebooks,

- Perform three full charge and full discharge cycle three times before your lappie is ready for the road
- Perform this full charge full discharge cycle once in three months
- Turn off any scheduled activity like 'search' and 'virus check' when the notebook is running on battery and you want it to last longer before you can charge next
- Choose the right power option - "Portable/Laptop" or "Max Battery"
- Add more RAM. A laptop with a 512 MB RAM lasts longer off-power than one with 256 MB RAM
- Don't run CDs and DVDs unless you have to. Copying an image and using it from your hard disk is cheaper on power
- Turn off unnecesary hardware like Wi-FI adapters and bluetooth radio if you can

Enjoi a longer time on the road with your lappie!

Another Vetti Work - What is my perfect Major !

You scored as Mathematics/Statistics. Related majors that match your highest scored category: Accounting, Actuarial Science, Computer Engineering, Computer Information Systems (CIS), Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Finance, Management Information Systems (MIS), Mathematics, Operations Management, Physics, Risk Management, Statistics.




Consider all majors in your OTHER high scoring categories. The right major for you will be something 1) you love and enjoy and 2) are really great at it. Consider adding a minor or double majoring. Please post your results in your myspace/blog/journal

Mathematics/Statistics		94%
Psychology/Sociology		88%
English/Journalism/Comm		88%
Education/Counseling		81%
History/Anthropology		81%
Accounting/Finance/Econ		75%
Biology/Chemistry/Geology		69%
Physics/Engineering		69%
Religion/Theology		69%
Nursing/AthleticTraining		63%
HR/BusinessManagement		50%
French/German/Spanish		50%
PoliticalScience/Philosophy		44%
Visual&PerformingArts		38%

WHAT MAJOR IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
created with QuizFarm.com

A .doc on Apple !!!!

BBSpot says that ....








I don't have to be convinced. A good time pass for jobless souls.


Try it! - the OS
Try it! - the file extension

Move half-way around the Globe!

Its been quite a while since I last blogged..
During this period, I jotted quite a few unfinished posts - that are waiting in the drafts folder and some in my office email drafs folder that I noted down when I had nothing else better to do at work:)

Life has moved a great deal in this period of my blogging absense, it has brought me half-way around the globe to the East Coast of the USA. (thats how big the globe is to USA;)).. living closeby to my sister-in-law's place - an experience of being with 'family' .. actually getting to play with 2 year old more often that I have ever .. Trying stick shift for the first time in the US of A .. Blaming the stick shift for my misadventures of driving .. Second driving license in 20 days .. habitual non-incidence of me on vetti sites like orkut and Blog .. Missing Kolangal .. the coming of Malargal .. missing the weekly cinemas .. missing the constant drizzle of the North West .. eternal sunshine .. hmm my milieu has indeed changed .. No more green walkways, no more strolls alongside the woods .. No MtHood in my line of vision .. no more Wincos .. no more Safeways .. no more laid back plush lives ;).. I like it here though !

I actually set up the house, set up a home from trash basket, laundry basket, shower curtain, Moisturizer to microwave, rice cooker and floor lamps. It was my first.. I cherish the experience, relish the episode of change irrespective of whatever ensues. Thanks to the elements that made this happen!

The Origami Project

Microsoft code named a project - "The Origami Project" and that was to be unveiled on the 2nd of March.. A website was launched. All that the website hinted was that this new product was equal to the Almighty in terms of 'Omni Present and Omni Potent'. :) It used to end with "Learn more 3.2.06", hoping the product will be released by then.

There were all kinds of rumours running from how it could sweep the iPod, kill the blueberry and reign supremacy in the world of mobile electronics. Bill Gates in 2005 had said that after significant advances in software and hardware, Microsoft would go for a Ultramobile 2007 - a 1-pound, 6-inch device that would combine all the power of a PC, a phone and a camera for about $800.

Putting all the rumuors and any scrap info we have, Origami should hint paper, a digital paper, on which we could write with a sytlus.
Now look at the features of Ultra-Mobile PC


-runs the full Windows XP operating system
-does everything your desktop computer can
-Smaller and lighter than traditional notebooks and laptops
-Multiple input methods: touch screen, stylus, hardware controls, speech, and optional Bluetooth or USB keyboard
-Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 operating system
-Competitive pricing
-entertainment on the move

For more information about the UMPC, visit http://www.microsoft.com/umpc.
Still there is no pricing info available. But it has grown into a 7 inch 2 lb product. Will it grow bigger?

The Origami must be the Untra Mobile PC that failed to show up on the 2nd of March 2006. A little bit unlike the kingdom ruler Microsoft.

The website now reads "Learn more on 3.9.2006".
Is Microsoft releasing anything today?


Interestingly enough the National semiconductors launched a Origami prototype showing three of its eight configurations.

Blank Noise Project
I just wanted to make sure it reaches as many.

Review

Rang De Basanti = The Legend of Bhagat Singh + Yuva
with much less impact

If it is your day,

oh the fourth match - A toothless attack, a mean succumb - not the best way to clinch the cup.
However the fielding of the Indian boys was just astonishing. The Darvid catch, the Irfan's one - AWESOME! when things are meant to go your way even Agarkar takes a wicket, even Gambhir makes a twenty. hmm.. ?

Tale of two teams

Been wanting to blog about this for a while. The Indo-Pak one day cricket series currently on in Pakistan has been an awesome treat to watch.

At Peshawar, India started off with an unfortunate way of losing a match. Paskistan having won the toss put India in and we made what seemed like a mammoth total of 328. With the way India was cruising at 225/2 in the 34th over, with wonderful knocks from out-of-form Tendulkar and raised-up-the-order Dhoni, at this point it was like India was looking at nothing short of 350. But some good work from Pak bowlers saw us short by 20 odd runs. Anyways it still looked like a mammoth total for Pak to chase.

Pakistan managed a pretty professional chase to reach 201/1 in only the 30th over. What seemed like a dead match came back alive with Dravid taking a simple catch at Point off Kartik. The wicket turned tables, Pak came down to 265/5 and then to 311/7. During this fall was an important wicket of Inzamam – given out for obstructing the field. It was hilarious to watch a man with generous dimensions standing right ahead of the stumps well outside the crease and fiddling a ball thrown towards the stumps away using his bat. Little did he realize that he was obstructing a ball hitting the stumps to run him out!

With three overs remaining, three wickets in hand and needing 18 more runs, the match was finely poised to go either way. Nail biting and inching towards the end of the chair sat a half a lakh people at Arbab Niaz Stadium and a million more sat glued to the TV set -- unfortunately the light-meter dipped low and the umpires called off the match due to poor lights. Pak won the match by 7 runs by Duckworth Lewis method. What a pity? The most cursed way to end a to-be-thriller.


At Rawilpindi, once again Pakistan won the toss but this time it took to bat hoping to post a big score. The hope hiccupped right in the second ball in the innings when Pathan swung the ball a wee bit away from the batsman Salman Butt - edged it to the keeper for a simple catch. The biggie scorer in the previous match was gone for a duck. Tendulkar mis-fielding at short-mid-wicket and the Yousuf going for the extra run, ball hitting the non-strikers end and he was out by miles. Pakistan did a great job to each 204/5 from 68/4 but after Shahid Afridis departure, the team just managed to reach 265 all out in 49.2 overs. The Indians were happy to have restricted the home team well with some exceptional fielding performances running out 4 of those Paki batsmen. In the chase, India kept their defense and their offence just in the right manner playing the loose balls and holding back on tougher ones finished a neat job losing only three wickets with seven overs to spare. Everyone visiting the crease contributed and a pretty neat chase executed well. A good toss to lose?!


At Lahore, India winning the toss put Pakis in, India going without a single spin attack and made a mess up of fielding dropping three catches - Kaif raised late on third slip to pouch a outside edge off Afridi in the third over, Dravid dropping a regulation slip catch off Akmal in the sixth over and Gambhir flooring an important Shoib Malik’s edge at Slip, may be a little difficult but definitely a mustaveBeenTaken. It costed India lots. And all the three catches off Sreesanth, the youngster was very frustrated very understandably.

Inspite of sloppy fielding, wickets kept falling at regular intervals and runs kept coming. With an important knock from Shoib Malik and a great supporting role from Abdul Razzaq Pakistan set a competitive target of 289. In response, India struggled with the initial pace bowling, lost Gambhir and Pathan for only 12, Dravid got beaten every other ball and eventually dismissed at 84/3. By this time the pace attack had lost juice. Tendulkar having provided a strong platform missing his century by five runs was out and India was 189/4. When around 17 overs remaining, 104 runs required Kaif had a great chance to prove which he let slip away. India was 190/5. A real pressure situation. Yuvraj and Dhoni at crease, asking rate raising to 7.3 runs an over, runs not flowing, Dhoni had to pick his play. He did not want to do what he doesn’t know to do. He wanted to play his shots, take his chances, rely on his muscle power, have confidence in his strength and it did play off. Power play is where Dhoni is there. It was indeed a pleasure to watch Dhoni play the counterparts in Afridi and Razzaq. He championed the team to 2-1 up in the series. Hats off Dhoni!

The next match going on at Multan could be the decider. Will India wrap it up? This is the question. I know the match is over but I haven’t seen it yet, not even the score. I am watching it deferred live right now with fingers crossed.

Reclining on the couch,

I selected some fotos taken during the New Years and sent to my friends, 180 deg around the globe. Seeing me online on Orkut, he pops in "hey!!" on GTalk .... He had news.. He is starting his career with Google .... and I wonder around.. worthy a blog I thought.....

I have been using
Picasso
Gmail
Orkut
Gtalk
Blogger

wow !! Google rocks !!

This is like a prelude to my next post
Rather, this is Thanksgiving !

Manoj and Raje have always made a difference in my life. They repeated it yet again, this time with a book - The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Thank you both of you !

I grew up reading Norman Vincent Peale and Dale Carnegie, positive energy eh? I don't know how much managed to remain inside, but nevertheless it was an attempt of forceful entry! attempted catharsis of my broken-self ;)

However, off late I never had a chance to read such a book. Now, I pick one from the old shelves, the one they presented for my engagement. After one year, I read it today and I stand in awe. Thanks Guys! You will always remain special.

“God is a source of strength”
- Anonymous

The source from which you derive strength, power and direction is your God. The depth of your well-being and feel-good-factor is the depth of your faith in this source. Sometime, for different reasons and actions, different sources may seem effective

Hindus call Him Vishnu
Moslems look for Allah
Christians trust in Jesus
Zoroastrians seek from Fire
And atheists call it his self willpower

None of these, am I here to contend

The purpose of the source is not to save you from struggle and defeat; instead it will give you the power to stand up in times of controversy and conflict. After all, it is failure that teaches you the toughest lessons. I don’t want a magician (there are no shortcuts in life) to bring me out of my trouble; what I want is constancy of faith and steadfast companion in God that will give me the wisdom to make the right decision, guide me through the right channel and hold me on His shoulders when I grapple to walk. I want him to love me and to give me the perpetual desire to love Him.

It is when you decline to accept the trails and failures endowed upon you, that you doubt your source and start looking for an alternate source. And so is the depth of your faith.

That is when you become a coward convert, a skeptic or a cynic.
No blame on born converts!

Best way to feel good is to do ur job, well !

Movies & Hollywood

Certain Hollywoord movies were popular in India
and I happened to see a few of them, while I was there

.....

Home Alone -1
Mulholland Drive
Independence Day
Home Alone - 2
When Harry Met Sally
Serendipity
Home Alone Part - 3

.....

One avenue that throws some idea about the US to u.

US was snowing all the time, celebrated christmas year around, had tall sky scrapers overlooking a river, waterfront was the most romantic of places, people always worked on the 70th floor and always lived in palatial bungalows with sprawling gardens, drive ways and posh cars, apartments were unknown and dirt did not exist..

Somehow movies were mostly of New York and hardly of Hollywood.
And Hollywood is 3500 miles away from New York.

and so are the movies .. so much away from Hollywood.

now and I

I have often been pronounced that I write everything about the past, be it a month ago or years ago, so I thought I will try some current happenings. Suddenly there is a lot of time at hand; a day seems too long, longer than 24 hours.

Last quarter, I had taken a couple of evening courses, a full time internship and a course to be done remotely. With all that I had to cope with the newly acquired role of wife, there were constant blitz of having to search for a job, finding a better apartment, household chores, finding deals, handling the kitchen mess, lost credit card, dealing with daily routines was an ordeal. In spite of my hubby helping on every front, I was still gripping with the newer responsibilities and the expanse of albatross was constantly reminding me of the next errand. And if there was a performance review rating for this mélange of roles, I would hover around C?

Oops I was not suppose to talk about the past …. Pinching me to the present..

Oh, and now, I was been promoted to being a full-time house-wife. I have classes two days a week. Probably I have learnt to manage some domestic scutwork. I seem to have time for everything that I have always wanted to do. Read a book, talk on the phone, workout at the gym, yoga classes, step classes and wander about in Portland Downtown without a purpose or direction, spend hours reading every magazine from Washington Post to New York Times to Wall Street Journal and watch cricket without worrying about having to getup early in the morning. But I am not sure if I will really enjoy this for long. What is the stuff that I am made of? What do I want to do? I definitely enjoy this change but for how long? I will surely get bored soon and I would then blog about how bum and lazy I have become.

I wish life was full of exciting changes, newer lifestyles, and interesting happenings all the time. Yes, it will be so. Looking forward to more of it!

Thank you, for this minute!

Someone please absorb and degrade my mind..

Having spent six months, in an internship with SUN,
after knowing how business works in a high-end server support environment,
after supposedly learning some technical fundas in J2EE,
Having worked with a wonderful manager like Richard

I came across certain Aristotle's words
--"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"

and then I think, is that why my internship enhanced by mind ;) ?

and now, am searching for a job that could possibly absorb and degrade my mind..

Thanks to google, I finally cracked the puzzle (mentioned below) after two days of resolve, hints and clues and sportive competition. It sure kept the otherwise jobless me, busy. There is a lot of hard work that has gone into it, a lot of thinking, a lot of energy and a lot of technology that it failed to get picked by the crawler. It displayed character of a professional team, the enthusiasm of students at IIM-I and the passionate people eager to get past to level 30.

Thanks to the IIM-I team who made this possible.

Puzzlemania!

Found this online puzzle Here

Its just tooooooo addictive!!!

Has around 30 levels and needs lots of lateral thinking, common sense,
general knowledge and lots of computer/web manipulation etc.

Some hints here!

Try it out.

Welcome there to the New Year 2006.

Ooops! Do you know what 2006 sounds to me like??

Remember, in those days of peace of calm, when I could barely read, I used to read those fictional science novels that spoke about the electronics and amazing gadgets that some 200x would bring?!!!! That is how 2006 seems to me.. And I can’t believe that the electronics, the gadgets and I are all already together for some action.

A and I are just back from a week long vacation. Actually, this period was a lot of activity, that I would not call it a vacation. It was fun-filled- Yes, but it was packed!! a hectic trip. Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego visited us!!!! We had booked a neat 3-way trip from PDX-LAS-LAX-PDX again. The trip was all laid out, packed with fun stuff and here I take you on the ride.
Started from PDX, we boarded a afternoon Ted flight to Las Vegas with an hour and a half of stopover at SFO. if the 'Ted' thing sounds like something new and fun.. Hold back.. it is not .. it was partnered with United, as it read and in all probability it is nothing more than a business strategy of renaming the sick United, after all Ted is the last and left out half of United !! It was a usual A320 airbus and even before the wind wagon taxied for the take off, my brain was transmitting Theta waves in between my slumber. So I guessed the flight was a smooth one. Moreover, the plane being really sparsely filled, A and I could share a 3 seat row. ‘A’ promptly woke me up to see the wonderful landing at SFO airport. It was one of the best landings I have seen, seems like landing right in to the bay. SFO is situated at the edge of San Francisco Bay and there is a number of Bay Bridges connecting the strip to the mainland. From some height it seems like many parallel rows of vehicles floating over water. I enjoyed the sight.

After spending some time browsing through the book stores of the SFO airport, I got ready for another nap on another Ted bound for LAS. This time around, Vegas-by-night was a true spectacle to view from the space. Landed, got a cab and checked into hotel by 11 pm. Retired for the day. In short, Vegas was energy sapping. It is one hell of a place which is marked by splendor of everything grand, everything luxurious and everything wrong. It is funny that Vegas is all about the wrong side of life, from gambling, night clubs, losing money to losing virginity. Vegas is all about one 3.5 mile strip adorned with gambling dens on its either sides. Each casino depicts the architecture and culture of some town. For instance, we have NewYork – New York casino that has an external vista of NewYork downtown lining the sky scrapers and the statue of Liberty. We have a casino depicting Paris that features a mock-up Eiffel tower that is 50 storeys tall. The elevator takes you up to the peak and the view from that height makes you think how the smart people of America could turn an apparently fallow desert land into a focal point of extravagance and opulence. It is funny, intriguing and motivating too. Each casino sprawling about half-an acre of land and beautifully decorated is a treat to watch in itself. On top of that, many of these money mansions offer one or more free shows that is supposedly a means to attract the fellow travelers into either watching their paid shows, play at their gaming pools or at least shop in their shopping malls. What will us poor Desis do, than just walk to every free show available?  The mega fountains at Bellagio the street plays, canals and gondoliers of Venice, the pyramids and sphinxes of Egypt, the idol of Brahma at the Ceasars Palace and the scores of people at every square inch of the place – can all be found on the Strip. It is one place that speaks grandeur and regality in its air.

Taking the early morning flight to Los Angeles, we landed in LAX about half-past seven, drove the famous Mulholland Drive, which like Beverly Hills supposedly houses the principal Hollywood stars. We tried to peep into every car that passed by to spot Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts, and of course we were in vain. Stopping by on the way, we took pictures of the famous Hollywood sign board and by about 9 am, we were the first entrants into Universal Studios, the studio that plays the cine trick in every movie released in Hollywood. This dream factory produces the best of gimmicks, visual and sound effects known. We saw how rain was instantly pouring when the director wanted it and how pyrotechnics was used in the heroic films, where the hero braves the raging fire in saving the heroine. It was interesting to see the little world submerge in a cataract and then come back live in action for the next scene in minutes. They have a little town in which each of the streets is suppose to look like the different cities of the world. So when the hero flies from Baltimore to Seattle, (He does in the movie, Sleepless in Seattle) the directors and the crew just have move a block away to start shooting in Seattle. There are attempts to re-create the effects of Jurassic Park, Mummy and Van Helsing which are really cool to try a visit. This trick palace was definitely a learning experience.

The next day spent at San Diego (which is just 30 miles North of Mexican border of California) was supposed to be a rest day after three days of tireless fun. However, we engaged in some mild activity on the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. Spending time on the beaches of Pacific Ocean was like re-living the good old days of Marina Beach minus the Paatani Sundal. For the Oregonian in me, ( ;-) ) touching water of the Pacific in December is like sun rising in the west. The day was cool, relaxing and rejuvenating for the next day to be spent at Sea World.

Sea World was the best of the places that we got to visit during this trip. We saw Dolphins, Seals and Whales in action trained for a 40-minute show, when it performs acrobatics in the best style.
Dolphins jumped a whooping height of 12 feet and I was simply stupefied. In the show that followed, the seals performed clever acts that I was perplexed. Following that was the whale show where in the whales Shamu and Baby Shamu performed some maneuvers that blew my mind off. These creatures are simply awesome and savvy in their gimmicking crafts. This was the best place for your kids and the kids in you to watch in wonder.

We hired a car and drove up north to spend the New Year eve at Los Angeles. We drove straight to Disney Land, spent a couple of hours in the park and when we were too tired that the legs started begging for some rest, we drove to the hotel where we got an upgrade to a ‘suite’ as the non-smoking room that we had booked was not available. Thanking the stars, we went to bed. We were to rest as much as we could, since we did not have a proper resting place for the following night. Checking out of the hotel by 11 am, we had to spend the next 24 hours ‘somewhere’ before we be back at home sweet home. It rained cats and dogs at Disney and we were awfully under-prepared for the weather. We got drenched and we still had 12 hours for the New Year 12 ‘o clock strike. We managed the rest of the day with the weather getting better as soon as we bought a poncho (u bet) and the New Year fever setting in as soon as we got the New Year hats on. Waited for the ultimate bash, with millions around you counting down the seconds to the last one of 2005 and welcoming the New Year 2006 with colorful fireworks at Disney Land, LA - the moment was truly amazing.

Now, the best part of the story - we still had 6 hours to board the flight back home and we did not have a place to stay and we were still wet with the afternoon rain, cold in the wind and extremely uncomfortable – what a way to start the New Years!! We drove aimlessly in the streets of LA – I enjoyed this haphazard, purposeless and unhurried drive across the very many deserted lanes of LA @ 2: 30 am, January 1 2006.

That is when I get philosophical and my psyche questions the subconscious of the intent of existence, the meaning in my daily hassle and the many mindless motions and mechanics of routine. The unexplored being of me introduces the motivation, the extra verve not to leave the unfamiliar alien and the New Year streak thunders me to wake up, delve deep and probe the way towards a meaningful life fulfilling my inner aspirations.

You should understand that it was the wee hours and I was too sleepy! We then waited for another three hours half-sleeping and boarded another couple more planes and came back home. Home Sweet Home…. Really looking forward to the next tireless fun !!

Goddess to ashes

the popular people turning into villians overnight

Kushboo..

Twelve years ago, the same people who burn her effigy today had built a temple for her .. She was worshipped.. !! Neither was that sensical nor is this ? Is this what the people have 'learnt' in 12 years time ?

Suhasini follows suit.. and so do the jobless people burnign effigies !

How does it bother one, if Kushboo or Suhasini was pro-pre-marital-sex. After all, everyone is entitled to some opinion. She did not 'force' any woman into pre-marital-sex, nor did she give any incentive to those people, that the poor ones who don't feel left out ! :)

It is the bloody politicians who give incentives to people who are ready to burn effigies, rather than mind their own work. As long as these people are attracted to this incentive, the politicians will continue to exploit and make politics out of it.

As I leaned back on my chair seated on the patio,

Screwing back the time machine, and living life yet again ..

Walking the beach as the sun sets on the west Daddy teaching me to say clock tower from TV tower, and I cleverly mess up once again Building castles in the sand .. Drilling tunnel with the hand .. Molaga bajji that was so spicy .. Pataani Sundal mom would get me .. Sling between my mom and dad bringing my meagre weight up down on them.. hating to go back to the Math homework, I would have to do, yet longing to show the 10/10 to the family .... I would walk away..

wrrrrrrrrr.... the cooker whistle goes ....
Dal is cooked and Sambar is waiting to be made..

:)

இனிய தீபாவளி நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்

My first attempt at a fictional story

Any remote association to a living character is purely accidental. All characters in this story are purely fictional


trngg.............

School bell rang....

He rushes out of his class, waving hands to his class buddies and with in minutes, finds himself on the bank of this river. This is the usual routine for him, he thought. He hurriedly leaves his book bag behind, unwinds his shoes and settles down as close to the shoreline as possible. He is so happy being there, looking at the waters flowing beneath his feet, still warm for the late afternoon, relaxing. The curative powers of warm waters cannot be better proved to him. He looks at the stray dogs that wobbles in the mud, and thinks, why its mom never scolded it for making a mess of itself.

The scene changes.. He continues to watch... After the dirty dog, passed by, an elderly woman and a little kid in tattered clothes come to the river to fill the wooden flask with water for the evening. They are very popular people in the neighborhood, as they are the only ones who wash and clean the public toilets everyday. It was their home and they had to do it anyways. He is sad as the little kid never gets to meet friends at school, as he does, but at the same time, he envies him, that he never Has to go to school.

A few years back, when he was younger, too young to find his way around, his mom and he would walk together to the river bank, play a little, listen to the stories the mom told him, play blind fold, skip around a rope - his mom used to maintain shape that way. Born with no siblings, his mom was his playmate.

As he walks down the memory lane .....

Sun descends on the horizon, as watches a beautiful sun set. Seems like, the sun gets lost inside the river, and rises itself on the other side after a nights journey underneath the river. As the dusk settles down, he picks his bag and walks a lonely long walk back to rest for the evening. He never speaks a word again. He is scared of the dark evenings, that unsettles him. The village so familiar to him, the screeches of the bicycles speeding by, to reach home after work and fresh "kolam" that adorns every doorstep is silent and strong on either side of him. As he reaches the verandas of his house, he hugs the old frailty figure waiting for him. After habitual ablutions, he prays the Thulasi for a couple of minutes. His mom has taught him the power of prayers.

Now it is study time. Imperceptibly walks to his room, opens the suitcase placed in the corner of the tiny room, and picks a picture that is freshly framed - holds it close to his heart, as tears run down his cheeks. It was his mom, smiling at him from inside of the frame and guiding his action every moment. As he holds the picture so tight that his mother is unable to breathe, vivid, heavy and grim memories of his mom being carried away by the doctors unreel. She was mentally sick. She had tumbled over, skid down and hurt her head, the previous night. That dusky evening, his mother unaware of his son's cries, smilingly walked with the men in white coats. He cried asking for his mother back. The villagers held him back. Days passed by and the villagers explained that his mom would be back when he grew up. There he stays, trusting the powers of his prayers, that he would grow up to see his mother back. He wraps the picture back with the crumpled cloth that is wet with his tears and places it back into the suitcase. He rushes back and hugs his caretaker granny once again.

This post coming a little late....

Coming from a Desi living in a Green Village, in the US, where Tam movies seldom get released, is this late review of live Ghajni, where Asin is full of verve and new life all over.

Well, if you have read any review of Ghajni earlier, may be this one is on very similar lines. I had no clue about the movie when I saw it, so it was a pleasant surprise. The movie has Asin and her effervescence written all over the first half. The friendly banter between Surya and Asin, stealthy Surya, the Bombay stories of Asin and her many little things that lift the spirit of anyone around is phenomenal.

The director has shown Asin is the best light, an outgoing, bold and helpful girl that enjoys the little pleasures of life while working towards her ambition of buying three Ambassador Cars. Her character is neatly depicted with the rest of the story.

The director has again, picked the best actor for the role, in Surya, who has given an exceptional performance. It is a novel idea of making a mentally challenged man as the hero, for the Tamil industry that will soon be followed by a few copy machines :)




Though credits are due for the performance of Surya, the idea of the director and the music of Harris Jeyaraj, what continues to act on your head, after the movie, is the tale of Asin, the music of Kalpana that lingers on and on and refuses to wane. It sure has a positive effect on you.

many a fight
I have had to face
many a gory sight
I have had to see

many a painful blow
have I had to bow to
many a silent wail
have I had to weep

Yet,
cant deny a memory
that I cherish
cant deny a joyful moment
etched for life

Variety is the spice of life .. eh ?

Life is not as thorny and tough as this minute is,
Sometimes, it is even worse

But come in, get in touch and feel the pulse
Sometimes, it is ecstacy

Uncles, aunties and grandmother were engaged in a chat session. It was a period of catching up, many of the family, had just then reached Madras, assembling in the family home at our grandma's. My cousins and I, four of us, @ an average age less than 10 were locked up in a room, as we were too noisy for them to be heard from each other.

In those time, when cordless was unknown, having more than one connection for a phone line was luxury, when people from the neighborhood would use your phone in emergency, phone majestically occupied the space in the outermost of halls, popularly called the "phone room" in our grand ma's place. This room, a tiny 10x10 room, which no one used except to make calls was the hottest of the rooms, anyone dared to live in. Now, this was the room into which we were locked. It was our paradise. The place saw us play dark room, kannamoochi, antakshari, Trade, trump, 56, play drama for Shakespearean "Merchant of Venice", which happened to be in our English texts, in which we made poor Sandhya to play the wicked Shylock !! Every brick in this room, knew more of our joys, fights, games and us better than any other entity outside of it.

Though we were a little upset that the 'elders' had actually locked us here, there were no complaints, we loved being there, enjoying the sweltering heat that heated up further, as our energy soured. It was the time, when cable televisions had started making entry into the market. Sun TV was evolving. Sun TV which was still telecasted only between 6: 30 pm and 11 pm had some special programmes for occasions like Diwali, New Year and Pongal. It was novel for us kids to watch Pepsi Uma on the screen talking to people around the world, playing songs of their choice etc. Also, we were kids who were meeting after a long time. Unlike the elders who had some catching up to do, we were "GO" from the minute 1. Immediately we would start playing, from where we left the last time we met, half a calender year ago. :-) Those were the kid like qualities.

The frustration of having gotten locked up and the excitement of speaking on the Sun TV programmes, had mischievous chemical reactions in us that led us to what we did. We played a drama, this time not Shakespearean but one of our own to vent out our spite and excitement. This program, that we were trying to create and market was an innovative one. "Our Pepsi Uma" was suppose to pick random people from the telephone book, and announce that the called was one among the lucky few to who Uma was calling and that the program would feature her talking and play the song of the her choice in a fortnights time, when the program was suppose to be on air. That was too much of an incentive to get any next door man up on his adrenaline. We took the roles of Pepsi Uma and started calling random people from the Telephone Directory. Now, I appreciate why it costs bucks to get your name ticked off the directory here in the US. It was euphoria for us, as the random people we picked had amazing enthusiasm to talk with Pepsi Uma.

Seemingly a middle aged woman and the mother of a college going son said "Edho en payyan paduvan oorvasi oorvasi nnu .. andha paatu podunga.. ayoo ipponnu paathu en payyan veetle illiye.. avan ketta romba kushi ayiduvanga.. nethu dhan avan kitte ketten, yaaru da orrvasi, therinja ponna nu, edho paattu nnu solli , en vayathula paala vaathaan". It was the time, when Shankar's hit Gentleman was in box-office

Someone, lost in the myriad of songs in this age, that made no sense to this poor old man picked "Oru Naal Podhuma". He was so happy that he actually sang the song for the world-wide audience. Little did he know that his songs were for the private audience locked up in the "Phone Room"

We also had some responses like, "what ? " , "who ?", "wrong number ", that we promptly disconnected. There were a few who did not know of Pepsi Uma or Sun TV , quite surprising !! ?? that we again disconnected, because we did not want to do much of the talking. There was not as much fun in as it is in letting people talk with pushed up frenzy, ardor and intensity and passively listening to it !! The phone was a such a hot item in the heated "Phone Room" that it kept going between us, trying to listen to the pumped up vigor ! For once, we stuck with the rule, of making no noise.

Even today, 15 years later, as I lean back, think and want to be warped in time, the voices of the people of Madras, will bring tears to my eyes, tears of a little guilt, a little victory, a little magic and a little joy. Those were the ages, that we knew no fear, no limits and when no means of joy was wrong ?!

Please read it in a lighter sense !

Simply because my program and I are fighting over who is more powerful - I give it junk values and it gives me junkier results and the stage is set for the junkiest show !!, I lean back on my chair, and stretch my hands outside of myself , as outside as it can be inside the cube ..... my mind would run in seemingly parallel crooked lines..

......
Mentally challenged are people who have some retarded growth in the brain. Physically challenged are people who have some form of physical disability. These are sort of euphemisms for certain disorders. These days you hear even romantically challenged - who are .... whatever ?

.....

But as my crookedly minded head turns around and feels that the office chair could have been more comfortable, I see this dimensionally challenged man with a packet of chips in one hand and coke in the other braving the office aisle space. The junkiest fight switched places !

p.s. Characters and instances in this write-up are purely fictional and any material reference to any living character is truly accidental and the author disclaims responsibility. :-)

Nature speaks

In Portland,
rains 10 months in a year.. slow and steady.. that no one ever rushes around.. there is no disruption in life.. rain seems to be pleading "slow and steady, yet persistent ways of life makes a the city green"

In Madras,
If at all it does, it does 3 weeks in year, hard down pour, not enough reservoirs to hold the water, much of the water is wasted out to the sea with in 10 days of rain
The people you see are all in a hurry that they want to get off rain, asap. The people of Madras show an unwelcome attitude to the rain, that rain stopped showing its face these days. Worst water scarcity in history, today.

Nature teaches human kind a lot of things in subtle unknown ways. Rain was just another example. In today's modern world, with people getting busier by the day, atrocities galore. People are in a forceful rush attending their business that they often forget that benefits are better in persistent and slower ways of life. I am not advocating easier lifestyles but just some styles that gives her the time to fathom whatever is happening around her. Persistence pays, not pressure. A political campaign- vehement and forceful slogans often preaching non-cooperation to the youngsters of tomorrow ; A Murder - a exhibition of forceful brutality; cheating and manhandling a next-door neighbor (http://sbcbrutes.blogspot.com. You must have read this via the Email forward carrying the import of this link. ) , are all exhibitions of man-made attempt to forceful invasion trying to achieve supremacy teaching unproductive ideas to the next generation.

Cramming in a fast paced course is as unproductive as rain in Madras. Taking the time for things to sink in, apiece and using the full span of life to learn is the way to go !

Mani Aji

My grand ma .. my cousins and I would affectionately call her mani aji. She lives with my cousins in Triplicane, Madras now. It is the house that we virtually grew up, though I actually only visited during my holidays.. She is my maternal grandmother.

Just as I think of her, many memories flow over.... Many many fond memories, today I am thousands of miles away from her. I speak to her may be once a month, definitely this soul whose every breath and wish is our well being deserves more than that.

Her life made her strong. She was born rich, can you believe, she was taken around on a parade, around the city on a palanquin, to celebrate her first birthday. Born with the silver spoon, she lost her father when she was 5. She grew with no siblings. But she had plenty of cousins who she would dearly call Anna. Her mom, thankfully was well off to bring her up. According to the custom, she was married off in style when she was only 13. She would recount, she was made to agree to the wedding saying " Adi Tissue Saree vangi tharuvanga di" .. not that she would know how to disagree with what elders told her.. And there you go she was happily married. Her first child, when she was 15, passed away with in 10 days of its birth. btw, that was my uncle. He was a blue baby. Then they discovered that she had high blood pressure. She has been on pills ever since. With heavy treatment of pills, she delivered four children, the second of them is my mom. But her blood pressure would not come down - till date. When she was 29, the worst thing happened. Her husband, my grand-father passed away peacefully in sleep. He was not known to have any illness. It was a total shock, the least expected. Its hard to imagine how she could stand though those times and successfully bring up four children, the eldest of whom was 14 when this happened. The youngest was a mere 5. A lady in the 30s, with hardly a 8th standard schooling, high blood pressure, no means of income and four children to take care of came out of her immense grief. She is a woman of extreme courage, faith in God and goodness epitome. She is the most successful woman I have heard / come across. To me, she is larger in life than the most intelligent people that walked this earth.

She stands tall .. in my mind now and always.

Her tribulations continued.. She was operated on umpteen times, her uterus, her gall bladder and her appendix. "Virtually, my stomach is empty", she would jokingly recount. She taught me to laugh at my troubles, smile at their smallness in comparison to God, to His strength, to His power and to my faith.

She followed a custom of lighting "Shravana Deepa". She would light one for each son /daughter/son-in-law/daughter-in-law/grandkids she has to take care of. A month typically has 2 Shravana Deepa days, when she would light these lamps for the well-being of us. Every time, a kid was added to the family, her son got married, lamp count would get incremented. Her beliefs and prayers go a long way into making us what we are. She would carry with her, this set of lamps when ever she goes out of town, to make sure she does not miss Sharavana Deepa. She has not missed one yet. If she is too busy, she would get up at 4 am and finish it before the world wakes up and looks for her help.


Every summer holidays, I would come to stay with her and we would make great friends. She will take me to the market in the evenings, to the temple and to the beach. We would read "Washington il Kalyanam" together. We would buy mango and make thokku. I would help her make 'vadaam' and stealthily eat the maavu kept for 'vadaam'. Then, we would walk up to the terrace to spread it out. It was a lovely experience. We will boil water, make Rasna and store it in the first fridge we had. We would go to Hindu High School to listen to "Katha" recited by some Shastri. I hardly remember their names.. but I remember enjoying the evening sitting in the sand and making hills. When there is an interesting scene in the story, like Sita being carried away or Kumbakarnan coming to the battle, I would get excited and listen with awe to the story. We would shop for flowers and she would make a long flower plait for me and make me a bride ! When I grew up, she respected my changing tastes, she would happily buy me a pair of Jeans at Rex Fashions, would not force me to have flower plait ( I miss it today though ). She got us (my cousins and I) permission to watch the India vs Pakistan Independence cup match played at Chepauk. This was my last school summers. Off to work, summer holidays stopped coming. :( I get to meet her less often than I would want to.


She is well informed, talks about politics, cricket, cinema, TNPCEE, F1, H1 and GRE. In ways she does not know, she has influenced me positively. While I was still at school and did not have any big plans about under-grad, I over heard her say to one of her friends, that I was a bright student and that she was looking forward to seeing me make it big. Not sure if I were even close to it, but it kindle my enthusiasm to study. So long, a lethargic student started to at least work hard. She would build contacts around our extended family with people whose sons/daughters are 16 and ask them to guide me !!!! Sounds interesting here ? She sure did. We have had hot debates on non-vegetarianism, alcoholism etc and have gladly lost. Today I am a vegan !!


I sure owe her a lot, I owe her more than what I have given her. The influences they have made on me is profound and irreversible, the power that she had taught me a lot of things. It taught me I am not lost until I think I am. And I can refuse to think I am. What a bold and accomplished lady she has been.. a spring of energy, love, tenderness, poise and will power. I thank YOU for the wonderful opportunity I have to be her grand-daughter.

Love you mani aji.

Life after spamming !!

It seems like ages since I got some actual written email on my inbox.. My friends around the world have become that busy that they can manage forwarding spam emails but not write a line of their own.. well, I am one of them too. Its been ages since I wrote one too.. Suddenly, this saturday afternoon, post lunch, post an hour long warm bath, when there was nothing on TV except easterman color movie, I thought I would 'write' email to someone.... As my thoughts go on, I pick my laptop and click on 'Inbox' ..... and there I see an email... well it looks like a 'written email' -- shorter subject and definately not I spam forward I thought....

It read
Sangita Singh Hello Preethi Tue 09/27 6k


wow ! I thought and opened it..

It read

Hi Preethi,

Long time no news. how are you ? I am doing very good. How is your new life? How is work? When are you coming home? We have a lot to catch up on. Just as I write this, I figure that we have almost lost contact off late. In fact, I searched through my old diaries to get your email. Chal, I want to tell you that I have changed my name, as it reads on this email.

keep in touch,

take care ..
cheers,
Sangita

wow !! What a personalised email. But the saddest part is I dont know who is the person who has changed her name to Sangita Singh now. Did she change her first name ? What was it before? or was it the last name that she changed ? Did she get married ? I know some 4 'Sangeetha', with who I am in regular conact. Do I really know her ? or is this, just the newest colour in spamming.. No it really looks like an email addressed to me..

well.. I am waiting for a reply.. Any Sangita Singh reading this blog, let me kno, if you are the ONE..

Labor Day weekend

Being "our" first long weekend, (after being married) A and I spent it in a rather special way .. in his university town, Corvallis @ his friend's place. After a special dinner cooked by his Bachelor friends, I got to ride cycle err... bike after a span of 7 years.. That felt great and that was just the beginning.. Then it was cards time.. For about a hour and a half, we were blissfully engaged with it, with A accumulating A-spade, A-Hearts, A-Clubs, A-Dice and K-Spade until ....... To Him, 8/52 cards went this way and just 5 came via random distribution !! We thought that was unfair and switched gears to plain lacha...... Went on and on and on and on till 4 am !! It is easily one of my longest evenings .... Topics ranging from college fun, which payyan see which ponnu, love marriage vs arranged marriage, Ashes, US open and back again to trashest of talks..

Late morning, the next day, hogged at Izzys - Pizza bar, Salad Bar, Dessert bar and Fruits Bar .. was really too much worth the money .. that I could hardly walk to the car, bend down and make to the inside of the car!

Indeed a fun way to spend a weekend .. right?

I have donated blood just a couple of times earlier and it feels so good after u r through. Feels like u r the reason for a couple of men walking thsi earth.. Moreover, my mom went thro' major complications in pregnancy (when i was born) that she had to use a few bottles of blood donated by good-hearted men 25 years ago, for survival. I feel deeply indebted to them.

Today, I wanted to donate blood after a long time. I also had the opportunity to do, atleast I thought so. I had registered with Red Cross, as they are camping here, at my workplace. Sadly, for a silliest of reasons, I was not allowed to donate blood today. The reason stated : I had travelled to India in the last six months. What the heck? So what ? Just because parts of India was affected my Monsoon, everyone in the country is not affected by Malaria. I want to call it Racism.. Why did the worker from Red Cross had to cite such a reason to deem by blood undonatable. It sickens me.

Earlier, while I was at college, my blood was refused too. The reason then was that I had low levels of Heamoglobin. It took me a couple of days to digest that fact itself.. but I made sure that my Heamoglobin levels reach the right levels so that I could donate, and I did. Ever since then, I have never had complaints about low levels of Hb.

But today, ....

But we still have to fight this way in the daily turmoils of a foreign country.... because we are here for a living in the US of A.

Disheartened,
Preethi

This Day That Age .. oops .. Seems like ages..?
This Day That Year !!

I landed in the US of A this day last year. In this one year, a lot of things have happened in my life.... Life suddenly is more serious and more fun !! I met the man of my life, got engaged and got married !!!! :)

Whatever this US had done to me ?! ;-)

Suddenly, I feel a surge of positive energy flowing, suddenly everyone seems right, everything seems just in place.. I want this moment to continue into eternity; a prolonged moment of satisfaction and comfort makes me realize the power of positive energy !

Every word uttered and every thought unuttered; every action that ensues in some way will change the perspective towards life at that point in time and hence the quality of life over a period of time.

Hence, the attitude and outlook have such a powerful influence in the material of the best being u can be. Clearer outlook, hence clarity in thought, hence decisive and focussed. Now u know what u want and hence there is a higher possibility that what u attain is what u wanted, because u have a direction to go. With better decision, u r more confident - At this time, u fall in love with urself. Being able to love urself is a good indicator of ur mental health. When u r able to love urself, u r more receptive to the love people around u offer. Now u have received love, u r more than ready to share it. The love cycle has a wonderful impact again on ur positive energy.

B+ve is my blood group !!