nyabagam varadhae...

Everyone would have gone thru this, yes it has been long time but it still looks and feels like it happened yesterday. Me talking about the examination results n waiting for them. The talk about the results used to start at least 15 days and sometime even before that before we could see the results. Some one would come n say “dei results next week da” how do you know? “My friends uncle’s chithappa’s son blah blah……… is working in madras university and he gets first hand info”. That’s it from the next day, would make sure that I scan all the pages in HINDU before I go to college. Then weird talks in the college from the rumor day like.. “dei you know this paper correction has been very strict because the paper was easy” “dei the pass percentage in that paper is very bad da” all this before we saw the results…n then THE D DAY. The paper would carry the sites URL on which results would be posted. Avoluvdhaan refresh refresh n refresh…till finally one by one we had seen all the subjects. Had someone checked our BP n heart rate then….! Before me, Deepak used to see my results and was lucky for me as well… and nawaz as well hmm… gone are those days. Got reminded of all this stuff today and the reason; we guys had a nice phone conference today… Starting from Aus to US to UK and to India and 5 times zones. Deepak called and this was the first thought when i saw his number flashing... Was like one guy called one and he called another and so on. It was like in our college class room… Guys it was fun.. all said n done college days were like in heaven… Me getting too senti… ha ha

baCk

Had small operation last week and now feeling better... here is abstract of Gates and moorthy on NDTV....for those who could not see it.... some one sent me this, it was good, n as good as seeing the interview itself. .......------........ THEY are rich, have a good sense of humour and come across as down to earth. Even after 30 years of making it big in the global IT scene, both Mr Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft Corporation, and Mr N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman & Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies, are still chasing a dream — to change the way the world is today. Be it the motivation factor or the defining moment in their lives — be it admitting to having split personality or just the way events have unfolded in their lives, the striking similarities between the two IT honchos were there for all to see and hear on Wednesday at an event organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). "There are days when I attend a meeting in the morning, discussing how to make more money and in the afternoon, I would be sitting in another meeting to give away the money that I made," confessed Mr Gates when asked about his split personality. Last year, Microsoft donated more than $47 million in cash and $363 million in software to non-profit organisations throughout the world. For Mr Murthy, the power of money is to give it away. "Mr Gates is from a highly developed country, while I am from a poor country and therefore, it is easier for me to get a split personality. I don't have to go too far," said Mr Murthy. The Infosys Foundation is carrying out projects in the areas of healthcare, education and rural upliftment. The event anchored by Mr Prannoy Roy, President of NDTV, had plenty of lighter moments with Mr Gates' quick repartees, throwing the audience, mostly comprising entrepreneurs and corporate executives, into peels of laughter. For instance, when Mr Roy asked about the challenge posed by companies like Google, which is promoting free software downloads instead of Microsoft's model of charging a royalty for software usage, Mr Gates took a dig at the company by saying, " Google should start sharing with the users the money it makes from its search engine. We have started paying those who use our search engine. Google's model is not going to hold up for long." Had it not been some defining moments in their lives, both Mr Gates and Mr Murthy probably would have been somewhere else. For Mr Gates, it was the opportunity to use a PC when he was 13 and being asked by the school tutor to take classes that led him to believe that IT was his destiny. "The second defining moment was the decision to drop out of school to undertake a project that was the first of its kind and it worked. I was willing to take risks," said Mr Gates. For the Infosys Mentor, it was his arrest and the subsequent release by Bulgarian authorities for having talked to a girl in French that changed the course of life. "They released me when I told them that I am from India. They said that I could go, since India was a friendly country. My dream from then on has been to set up an organisation that is respected globally and we are miles away from it," said Mr Murthy. Success has also brought worries that keep both of them awake at nights. While for Mr Gates, it's the fear of missing out on a technological change that might be noticed by competitors first, for Mr Murthy, it's the issue relating to scalability. The two, however, do not make rough weather about the worries. Instead, they choose to dream big to keep themselves motivated. "My original goal was not sales, but a dream computer. I am still looking for that dream computer that will change the way we live and put you and me back in control of our lives. Our dream is to see a PC on top of every desk and we are no where near the finish line," said Mr Gates. Probably, by the time the two of them share a platform in India again, we will get to hear more about that dream getting realised.

news or nuisance ?

This has become a regular feature in two channels off late. But yesterdays news was awesome! Channel ‘A’ claims that a lake in the outskirts of Chennai is overflowing and posing a hazard to the people in the vicinity. To show the gravity of the situation it kept the camera almost at the water level and showed the water gushing like that in a flood. It obviously had an interview in which a guy is scowling at the camera saying, “ life is pathetic and govt. is not doing much about this”. Channel ‘A’ conveniently forgets and hides the stories some years back. Channel ‘B’ had its own version. It showed the same lake and says that, this lake is full after almost 9 years and people around are flocking to get a glimpse of it. It also claims that this place over the days is turning out to be a tourist spot, and no wonder it also had interview (some crap). Now what are these two channels up to? One country where Media is politicized…excellent work guys! K guys will be off from blogging for a while…

Gimme morE

first it was 2MB of MSN and 6MB of yahoo....and then Gmail came up with 2GB.... at first i thought there must be some catch in it. so far so good. Then i saw this which gave me 3GB though the features were not as good as gmail! Few days back i came across this one , and it gives 1000 GB..... 1TB of email space.... now thats huge.... i think a lot of you would have come across this. For those who havent go grab your place there. Though i have never filled my yahoo account so far..i keep creating account in these sites. Heard that Microsoft has already come up with a online OS!!! good work guys....google you were a bit slow in this.

machar the great

One of the most annoying noise….uinnnnnnnnnnnnnn by mosquito into your ears when you are trying to sleep. This happened 2-3 days back when our flats had to shut down the main power coz the meter room was flooded and had no power for one whole night. My maid promptly left the fans ‘on’ to dry the clothes in the afternoon and end result the inverter also discharged. I came from office to find it was totally dark and I din even have a candle…. Luckily my neighbor gave me one. For once I realized how boring it can be alone with absolutely no entertainment. The toughest part being these tiny bull dozers….. the moment I close my eyes uiinnnnnnnnn ….and I had to punish myself, unsuccessfully slapping myself. The methods I tried that day…. Two rounds of 2 mangaldeep agarbathi’s, no use or perhaps these things liked that smell. Tried to cover myself completely though there was no power. Still these things found a gap and again uinnnn…… pulled my bed all the way to another room intelligently thinking that, they cant sniff me out in that room. These things were better than the aliens in the movie war of the worlds. In few seconds I was found and attacked. It was like hiding myself from a great predator. At last I gave up and dunno when I slept….. 2 sounds that I hate : 1. mosquito 2. Alarm

Roaming free...well not exactly

Well it’s been a week today that I came to Trivandrum to celebrate the festive season with my parents here. I took two days off and got the whole week, I reckon holiday like this is hard to get. This is the second time I am coming to Trivandrum my first visit was very short -2 days. This time around I din plan much just wanted to relax. Trivandrum is a nice place, but the place comes to a grinding halt after 8 in the evening (reminds me of Melbourne days), you can’t expect much after that time. Possible shops open after that- Pharmacy and Restaurants. Went to Kanyakumari and on the way went to a temple in susindhram (I think the spelling is correct) the place doesn’t have anything other than the temple itself. Though I have been to old temples before but this one I think is one of my favs (guys if you have not visited this place before then trust me you should visit). There are a lot of unusual things here. 1.There is tree which every one claims is 2400 years old (that’s a bit hard to believe but then..) 2.There is vigneshwari (yes female Ganesh …have you heard of that) 3.The temple itself is 2300 years old ( again hard to believe …) 4.The saptha swara pillars – these things are marvelous and if they were built at that time, man those people were genius. You hit one pillar and stick your ears to others (actually one person should hit the pillars and others should listen to it) it is amazing!!! ..the people there say that all these saptha swara pillars are carved out of one single stone…(6-7 thin pillars close to each other) it has to be, otherwise it is not possible at all 5.The navagraha ….this unlike the other places is not on platform, but are carved in the ceiling. Hey guys, I was just wondering that if the temple was built 2300 years before and they have this navagraha (which denotes seven planets, sun and moon) did the guys then, knew about those planets? Its quite mind boggling. Next stop was Kanyakumari … it has a bhagavathi Amman temple. The main attraction is the nose ring of the goddess, the original one was stolen by the British (that’s what the priest there claims) the nose ring made of diamond once served as a light house to the ships sailing by (so bright! hard to believe….but).Now you don’t see the diamond ring but something else which is bright (I don’t know what it is) Vivekananda rock is a nice place and the jetty ride is good as well (the govt can improve the place a lot though). There was no ride to the thiruvaluvar rock, they don’t allow after the tsunami, that’s what the locals say. It was heavily raining and sea had swollen a bit. Also went to a place called Neyyar dam (one a separate day this is not on the route to cape comrin). It has a large lake (27sq km). We took a boat ride, it normally takes 20-30 mins, we arranged for a 1 hour ride. The waters are croc infested. You can spot them near the shores of small hills. These small hills actually boost the scenic beauty of the place. There is also a lion safari….it was fun, it is a mini van and you think will this thing make it.The driver opened the door when we spotted two lioness very close (his explanation that we get is that we will get a clear view for snaps and the both the lionesses were pregnant and wouldn’t harm us…still…you know) Overall… susindhram is a must a visit and neyyar dam a nice place to relax. croc in the neyyar dam Agasthiyar mountain at the backdrop!

late entry

This is the "lake like 100 feet road" that i mentioned in the previous post. Happy diwali to you all....and id mubarak ho

puyale puyale...

Have I ever seen raining like this in Chennai…? Probably no! Atleast I do not remember. It has been raining for almost 3-4 days but the rains were sporadic and not very heavy. It all started on Wednesday evening when the temperature dropped to 22, by night it was pouring and I wake up Thursday morning only to hear the rains pouring. They say it rained 19cms in just 5 hours. Now that is too much of rain for Chennai to withstand.

Though I knew many wouldn't come to office I took an auto to reach there( din want to waste a leave). Gosh the moment auto took left at kathipara junction and hit 100 feet road, it was like a lake. I was wondering will the auto ever make it. Just as I thought the auto stopped and you know what, even my legs were on the seat as water was inside the auto almost 3-4 cms from the floor.

The driver was desperate, each time he tried starting the auto I could only hear blup blup blup…. The water had entered the silencer as it was well below the water level. The guy said he will catch me another auto, I was in now way prepared to step into knee-deep water. Luckily his last try and auto started… god knows how?

Though I have been against auto drivers in Chennai, yesterday these people were in demand and were very special. They were charging at least 1.5 times the normal outrageous charge but still they were driving. This guy was a peculiar guy who was not at all worried about the rains. He was worried of two things:

1. Some one had started the rumor that there was a crocodile in T.Nagar doraisamy subway ( adapaaavingala unga naala summa iruku mudiyadha?)
2. Sivakasi (vijay's new movie is scheduled to release today and he had 75 tickets to distribute - he says thalai padam puyalae vandhaalum parkanum (rumba mukiyum ippo natuku)

When I got off in front of the office, one that he told me that touched my heart was… veetiku seekirom po sar… velai nalliki kuda parthukalam odumbu dhaan mukiyam. Hmm… would this happen in US or AUS… I don't even consider US after the Katrina riots… time when people should be helping each other they were looting…!!!

Having seen the rain… I would definitely say that, many things could not be avoided. I understand that the roads were bad, but then with such a down pour the water logging will be there at least for a day.

SUN TV was ready with the camera blaming the govt. Yes! A lot of improvement is needed, but for gods sake don't give us mock interviews. I am just fed up with the high drama interviews that it shows… for me most of the them look pre planned. Like the one yesterday one guy in the railway station is blaming that the electric train is not in time… and literally shouting on the camera that he was late to office. The tracks were submerged and anywhere in the world, trains don't run when the tracks are submerged and on top of that it is electric train, which needs electricity. The council had promptly shut down the power supply, just in case if some short circuit happens. SUN TV, you are always the first to blame people you get real thumbs down. (me not supporting jaya tv in any case)

Today morning it was totally different, the water is not even 5% of what it was yesterday… it is simply amazing. Life back to normal and what else do you need.

Chennai : lesson learnt – There are some wonderful people out there.

The storm drainage system that was built indeed works.

The life gets back to normal in matter of hours.

As the saying goes "vazha vandha vargalai vazha veikum Chennai ku jai"

sattai payyil ....

Yesterday while driving to office, I could faintly hear sutum vizhi chudarae song being played from gajini; I turned around there was an auto and a car, I thought someone playing the song inside the car. Then again when I reached ashok nagar signal I heard the same thing, I thought that this song has become very popular and is being played everywhere. Actually some 2-3 years back the song ‘o podu’ from Gemini was so popular that you could hear it at least once a day somewhere. Thinking in similar terms I was driving and once again I heard the same thing… oh man! Is this coincidence or something? Then I came to my place and once again heard…. What is this??? I looked around and finally figured out that; it was actually my mobile that was ringing all the while, and a day before Mr. Naresh was playing with it and promptly changed the ring tone. End result 3 missed calls.

rain rain come again

It’s raining again after a break of 2-3 days. It’s good that it is raining in Chennai but the roads... Some cloud reader has predicted earth quake by reading clouds; now that’s interesting. Hey! You scientists out there, you still have not found an earth quake warning system; come here and get some tips from this guy. He says that for the last 20 odd years he has predicted earth quakes by just seeing the clouds. {Why the hell he din warn people? May be it took all that time to convince himself} what does he do keep staring at the sky??? That reminds me of the new coke ad which says “ sar ut tha hai coke pinae ke liya!” it shows a lot of situations where you raise your head like – to pray, to express to joy and some crap and in the end it says…. In a similar way you raise your head to drink coke…. (do I drink pepsi standing up side down?) whatever… There is one astrologer who claims that Chennai will witness floods, but when he can’t say, but he is sure that Chennai will witness { naan kuda dhaan soluvein that some day there will be flood in Chennai} Is this year having too many natural disasters or it’s just that we are hearing more of them? Whatever may be the case, one thing is for sure…. Mother nature is showing its fury and we are just helpless… it’s a warning sign and there is some major change happening to the tectonic plates. One good thing about this is the true nature of globalization is visible… remember tsunami, when so many countries came forward to help. Maybe nature wants to tell us “hey idiots stop fighting each other, you will be able to fight only if you have a place to fight”

this is how chennai looks after 2 days of rain... it was like crossing some ditch.

i am a doctor akela hoon bimaar hoon

Today I started to office pretty late. Actually I had told that I will be coming late, now don't ask me why.. as usual was not feeling well.

As I crossed vadapalani signal, the road was unusually empty. The very next signal was the one near the TCS office, even it had a green signal. I throttled a bit and as I crossed the signal I saw mama ( police) waving at someone. I don't bother to look at him again as I was sure that he was not waving at me.

I throttled a bit more and was kind of enjoying the ride. After some time I realized that I was driving a bit fast and to my amaze the speedometer was showing the arrow ahead of 85 and almost 90 (Gosh! What has got into me, immediately I started slowing). I took my off the speedometer to look at the road, but was too late.

A mama was standing almost at the middle of the road and asking me to stop, he was just ahead of me some how I managed to stop.

Mama : Enna speed limit laam theriyadha?

Me : {usual excuse } sir naan indha ooru ku pudhusu, enaku therilae. Naan rumba fast a laam otaliyae?

Mama: fast a otalia??? Adhu seri…. Seri urru ku dhaan pudhusu nalla sokka pant laam poturukae, unuku English kuda va padi ka theriyadhu…yethini yedathula speed limit poturukku ( by this time I knew I was loosing the argument, but had last excuse)

Me: (held my ID CARD half covered by my hand itself and wanted to tell him that, sir I am coming from vadapalni office and urgently going to ambattur office –actually was coming from home only, anyway wanted to try it) Sir enakku kunjom urgent a….

Mama: sir idha modhaliye solla kudadha ( naan onummae sollalae…. And I wanted to look at my ID CARD, do I resemble any big shot…or does my ID CARD have something else that I haven't seen yet…what does this guy think of me)

Mama: case attend pora…konjum medhuva po sar, illa neeye case aiyuduvae…!( what the heck….what case, what is he thinking, but I kept silent, simply blinking)

Mama: ini "+ "sticker otiko sir, police will not stop you. ( god! He thinks I am doctor)

Mama: seri seri poituva….

 

Came to office and looked at my ID CARD again, what made him think that I am doctor and even so do doctors wear ID CARD outside, whatever…. One ID CARD saved me atleast 100.

wednesday

If you want to speak English fluently Read the following message 5 times Quickly “I am a Can I “ “I am a When I” ----------------- God made daylight and called SUN God made entertainment and called FUN God made nightlight and called it MOON God made you called Tube light. --------------------------- IQ Question A rich man needs----------- A poor has------------------- If you eat------------ you will die Only word fits in all the blanks…. What is it? ------------------------------ read this rediff article and read this where is chennai heading?

You have been secretly admiring a girl; whenever she along with her friends crosses you, you look at her thinking that she is not noticing you. One fine day you do the same and she turns and smiles at you, again priceless. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slept yesterday expecting a call from my friend, kept mobile next to me. 1:30 early in the morning I get call. A familiar voice: “HAPPY BITHDAY”. ( too many priceless things le…;-)) Ok… it’s my birthday! Something very peculiar…. all those who wished me are not in India, but hey guys a treat is awaiting you all when you return back to India.

half asleep on a sunday morning you wake thinking it is monday; and suddenly you realize it is only sunday....and you go under the bed cover again.... that instant of sensation and feeling is priceless.

http://www.peugeot-concours-design.com/en/01_vainqueur/

been suffering from Infectious Sinusitis and Tonsillitis.... on top of that dust allergy; guess chennai has all the ingrdients to make things worse.

chennai traffic

Everyone would have experienced the Chennai traffic; at times it is so bad that you feel like jumping off your vehicle and run somewhere.

I grew up in Delhi; I strongly feel that the traffic sense there is far better than here in Chennai, though I dint drive there.

Yesterday was completely organized chaos… signals from ashok pillar to Mugappair junction were not working… and no traffic police…

Vadapalani signal to radha park inn( probably 2 kms) took me 40 mins and on top of that the heat. I can't actually completely blame the Govt…Chennai drivers are probably the worst in the World.

A typical scenario in a civilized world and in Chennai (Chennai is civilized at all when it comes to traffic sense):

 

1. Person sees a yellow signal

Civilized place: hmm… I need to slow down

Chennai: go fast ..fast…. yes I made it.

2. Red signal

Civilized place: stop until green

Chennai: people are intelligent here…. Before green itself they start

3. Stop Line:

Civilized place: I should stop before the stop line

Chennai: ohh.. this is some line drawn as they had extra paint

4. Zebra crossing

Civilized place: look for any pedestrians and if they are crossing fuckin stop

Chennai: what is that…?

5. Right Lane

Civilized place: use the right lane to overtake

Chennai: first of all… what is a lane? And if the left lane is empty I will overtake on that

6. Highway and Freeway

Civilized world: The rules are different and mostly pedestrians are not allowed.

Chennai: (no freeways) Highway is just another road

7. When you hit a main road from arterial road

Civilized world: Stop look to your right and carefully turn

Chennai: Horn twice and turn

8. Horn

Civilized world:  To show your disregard

Chennai: Horn is there and I will press it … no reason

At times you get irritated at the signal…. It would be a red and the person behind you will be honking….what the heck… am I supposed to fly…? How do these people get a license?

9. Rountana (This is a special English letter word in Chennai which is nothing but a round about)

Civilized place: to go to right you have go about the circle and then turn right

Chennai: rountana has nothing to do with traffic it is part of city beatification

10. Suddenly a pedestrian crossed the road

Civilized place: stop and acknowledge him

Chennai: bemaani solitu vandhutiya?

And then there are these Auto drivers…. You will never what is their next move… from the very left of the road to right they will go almost cutting the road at almost 90 degrees.

 

Bus drivers, they should be more responsible, but these people are worse than lorry drivers. Talking of these guys, it reminds me of a incident that happened when I traveled from Chennai to Trichy on a KPN bus. The passenger seated next to me was a old person. Some Rajini movie was on. This old man wanted to pee and asked me if I could go and ask the driver if he could stop at any petrol bunk with a loo. I went to ask the same…. there was another guy with the driver and the driver is saying:

Thalivar ennama kalakuraar parru ( the scene was rajini throws a bottle on a rowdy and he falls down), though the TV set is behind the driver, he is able to visualize the scene.

With such a driver, god only saved us.

 

Coming to government… they have flyovers and subways…kudos guys… but some of them are unnecessary like the one in front of Anna university and a subway between Mt station and meenambakkam.

Nandanam signal and vadapalani badly need one.
will continue

Got tagged

HW tagged me and here it goes...( second post of the day) Seven things I plan to do before I die 1. Visit and walk on Great wall of china. 2. Hot air balloon ride. 3. Drive HAYABUSA . 4. Bungee jump. 5. Try scuba diving 6. Become a CEO. 7. Of course Earn money Seven things I can do. 1. Never lie for a whole week ( That's long but i can try) 2. Get a girl friend ( militry and HW good luck...) 3. Stop eating NV. 4. Learn more. 5. Keep accounts. 6. Stop being Lazy. 7. Stop watching cartoons. Seven things that I CANNOT do 1. Smoke and drink ( never tried..) 2. Eating NV. 3. Get a girl friend ( have to to try hard...) 4. Clean my room ( though i try hard...) 5. Respect politicians. 6. Watch cricket ( somehow i hate that game...) 7. Stop dreaming Seven Things that attracts me in opposite sex: 1. Eyes. 2. Lips. 3. Hair. 4. Casual attitude. 5. caring in nature 6. soft spoken 7. Intelligence Seven things i SAY most 1. Loose 2. venna vetti 3. podanga 4. freeya veedu 5. karumo 6. F*** 7. nayea Seven celebrity crushes 1. Madhu bala ( 1940-50's hindi actress...) 2. Salma hayek 3. Catherine Zeta jones 4. Maria carey 5. Shreya 6. Asin 7. Angelina Jolie Seven people i would like to TAG 1.Deepak 2.Nawaz 3.Bharathi 4.PK 5.Gautham 6. Badri ( think he has not written anything yet) 7. Ghuru

Why ARE Men Happier?

Why ARE Men Happier ? ( Frm the point of view of a lady)

Men Are Just Happier People! Your last name stays put. Your garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress--Rs.15000. People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend. Your underwear is just Rs.38.99 . Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck.

You can play with toys all your life. Your belly usually hides your big hips.

One wallet and one pair of shoes--one color for all seasons.

You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.

You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife.

You have the freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.

You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier...!!!