Am not Humpty Dumpty but had a great fall!!

Today morning, half-sleepy I was, as though I am sleep walking I get off the office bus. The moment I stepped on the second step on the foot board, I triped-off and fell. Thankfully, there were not many people around and I quickly ran to my cube. It dint hurt much initially. Later on, I discovered that I actually did get hurt and my cargoes were torn. Boo Hoo :(

Actually a team-mate of my college senior, with whom I generally have breakfast had seen me falling down. And now as obvious as it can get, the topic of discussion in the breakfast table was not cricket, was not politics, was not any manager-bitching but my great fall. And there people went on building up the story of how I fell off the bus. They made it sound like some dupe performing a stunt for a star in a movie. But then, this sweet senior of mine defends me saying "Now noone is going to tease my junior". That was sweet!!!

It even continued in the lunch saying that I have the habit somnambulating. But that actually is fine as long as I dont trip and fall!!

Something to know

oxymoron - Conjoining contradictory terms

Many a times we use two contradictory terms together. say for example: deafening silence, busy doing nothing etc.

euphemism - An inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive

Say for example, Physically challenged or Differently abled instead of physically handicapped, mentally challenged instead of mentally retarded, senior citizen instead of oldster etc.

neologism - A newly invented word or phrase

many new words get added up into the english dictionary day by day due to their increasing usage ans not because of any kind of etymological originof being derived from their roots. Typical examples are: bug in a computer program, Googling has become a verb of late, plastic being popularly used instead of the word credit card.

I like Christian Weddings!!

Today, had lots of fun at lunch. Raj, a friend of mine describes how Christian weddings take place at the Church.

Here is how it goes:

On the day of the wedding service at church, only the Groom arrives half an hour early with a companion or two, when there will not even be a soul in the church. He has to go near the altar and be seated alone. As time passes by, the people start gathering in the church. In a Church, it is forbidden to turn behind sitting next to the altar. Poor thing he has to sit all alone waiting for his Bride. Bechara Groom!!!

If the Wedding service is at 5.30, the bride arrives at 5.25 with her father and brother on her either sides, holding hands. the moments she steps into the church, there is a standing ovation with a bridal march music on. With 10 people ahead of her and Bridesmaids behind her she walks in with an air of great importance!!

The entire Church, including the groom stands up giving due respect to the bride walking in. Now, can u imagine how the insignificant groom would feel on his own wedding.

As he was explaining, I come up with a most important doubt - Does the Priest say, "You may now kiss the bride?" He looks at me with irritation and says "This is India and also, we are not Anglo-Indians. It happens only in their weddings in India."

Several things like this will happen until the service is over giving a lot of importance to the Bride. After it is over, the Reception takes place where the Bride gets to have a costume change whereas our man, the groom still hangs around with the same old suit. Discrimination there too!!

Also, the bride gets to have the wedding cake first.

Wow. Christian weddings are the best!!

Wat is compiler ?

Written by a student in a introductory Computer Science course. I found this interesting. This is called real talent, with one single world, elaborate it to the maximum.


"A compiler's primary function is to compile, organize the compilation, and go right back to compiling. It compiles basically only those things that require to be compiled, ignoring things that should not be compiled. The main way a compiler compiles, is to compile the things to be compiled until the compilation is complete."

The Cricket World Cup!!

There s this thing happening.. "The cricket world cup" the result of which is sleepless nights for many people infected by the world cup fever.
As that of a jet lag, there s also a cric lag due to keeping yourself awake to watch the matches. Some people i know even bunk the second half at office to watch the match on one of the greatest invension of this century, the television.Perhaps for many people, their life is infact goverened by the process of world cup cricket playing.
There was so much preparation for this world cup not only from the players side but also from all the crazy fans. I heard many people saying that they bought set top boxes, new couch etc especially for the purpose of watching world cup cricket matches comfortably in their sweet homes. Few people went few steps ahead and even offered special prayers for our cricket team to bring home the cup of glory. There was also some news that in a temple, there were 11 Ganesh idols being placed offered special prayers, one for each player. There used to be a excited atmosphere even at office especially if India is playing. Even Project Managers do not schedule any important call or meeting in the later part of the day.
Though, people in India did a lot of nice things for the cricketers building in all kinds of faith in them, the moment they find out their hopes are being shattered, they turn out to be so agitated and aggressive. After the first league match, when India lost to Bangladesh, the house of MS Dhoni which is under construction was attacked and destroyed by some frenzied cricket fans. A couple of earlier world cups witnessed a few people blowing down thier TV just because the team did not play well. At this point, I am not trying to be a cynic but then I find these things way too wierd.
There was a lot of expectation on our very own Indian cricket team that they would reach the pinnacle of glory and lift the World Cup. The reason behind which is that they really had a good team. If they played without the kind of complacency they showed, they could really have made it big. Again, I am not saying that this is what it is. Many people have many angles of looking at it and hence have many different opinions too!!!
Now that it is almost evident that India is out of the World cup series, everyone is frustated and dejected. No more excitment on the faces of the cricket lovers here. But then, the die-hard optimists, the feeling is India can still make it to the Super-Eight if the Bangladesh loses to Bermuda which is near to impossible. To the pessimists, it is just that there are no more sleepless nights and no more changes in schedules at work.

Dormancy for a while!!!

Just remained dormant fro a while. No special reasons or anything of that sort. But then life moved on last entire week. and, most importantly, as to everyone s dislike, tomoro is a working day :-( anyway, catch up with more action next week!!!

Sheer Insensitivity

Yesterday, there outrageous protests in West Bengal following the SEZ aquisition of land at Nandigram. The way the police forces were acting to control the mob, it was so horrble to watch it on the television.
There was a lathi-charge, burst of tear gas, round of firing of rubber bullets and finally open-fire. The scene which was captured and telecasted on CNN-IBN showed someone being hit by a bullet. Two women rushed to lift him and move him away from the area. They, in turn were hit mercilessly by the policemen with lathi fro rescueing the protestors. This was too much and very very insane!!!
11 were killed says The Hindu and Indian Express says 12 were killed. There was even a death due to someone carrying a suicide bomb. Some 30 odd injured. People had trenched the roads with the objective of cutting off the roads and to stop the operations at SEZ aquired land.
The police trying to control this kind of mishaps, were supposed to suppress violence, not provoke. What in turn happened was even more violent out-burts.
Sheer insensitivity!!

Pool!!

Guess what for the first time in life, I played pool. Though, I dint do that great, I really loved it!!

Only S/W engineers can do it!

This happened last night. My roomie's mobile had some problem with the speaker suddenly. She was unable to hear anything at all from the other end.

One other room-mate and I suggested a few things to change in the settings and services. It was a brand new mobile and we were all wondering as to what could go wrong in the mobile settings. After a few tries, we gave up and the carried on.

After a while she comes back and says, "the mobile is working fine". We asked here wat went wrong and how did she manage to get it right. She said almost instantaneously, "Its simple. I just switched it off and switched it on."

It reminded me of an old joke.

A Mechanical Engineer, Chemical Engineer and a Software Engineer happened to travel together in a car. Suddenly, the car stops.

The mechanical engineer almost an expert in trouble-shooting automobiles tries his hand on. He looks at every part in the engine and verifies if it was functioning properly. He finishes whatever trouble-shooting he could do and tried to start the car. Notheing happened. The car didnt start.

The Chemical engineer, an expert in fluid dynamics tried his expertise. His checked the fuel consistency and fuel injection and lubrication and many such things. Still nothing happened. The car didnt start.

Now, its the software engineer's turn. He maintains a cool temperament and gets of the car. He asks his fellowmen to also get off the car. He locks the car, and again unlocks it, opens the doors and gets in. He starts the engine, and now, the car starts!!

Even my roomie was applying the same concept.

Many a times in life, even the same logic could work out the best. When you find yourself landed up in a problem, all you have to do is to come out of it. Shut down the problem. and then re-start it, you will definitely be able to solve it!!!

International Women's Day - how did it come into existence

International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.
International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.
The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies. Following is a brief chronology of the most important events:
1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913.
1910
The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.
1911
As a result of the decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year, International Women's Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.
Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances of International Women's Day.
1913-1914
As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters.
1917
With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and peace". Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway. The rest is history: Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.
Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women's rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.
The Role of the United NationsFew causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the Organization has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.
Over the years, United Nations action for the advancement of women has taken four clear directions: promotion of legal measures; mobilization of public opinion and international action; training and research, including the compilation of gender desegregated statistics; and direct assistance to disadvantaged groups. Today a central organizing principle of the work of the United Nations is that no enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world's women.
For more information, contact:
Development Section Department of Public Information Room S-1040,
United Nations,
New York, NY 10017
Email: mediainfo@un.org

This is something interesting!

I read a couple of days ago in the paper, Naomi Campbell, the super model, will wear gloves and hold broom and mop instead of posing for pictures. she wud be cleaning some public place for a week.

This was done as a punishment for throwing her mobile and assaulting her maid. This act of hers is taken as an insult on a sanitation worker and she has to play her role.

It indeed is an interesting punishment. It treats everyone equal under the eyes of law!!

Is an independent Woman a threat to a Man?

Today is Internatioanl women's Day!!

Right from the beginning of this week I have been hearing about it. Mnay people were actually making preparations. HR folks sending out mails about the dress code for this day, arranging for Panel Discussions on Women s day and so on at office, BlankNoise planing out initiatives etc all dedicated for women's day. Women Empowerment in place!

Wel in todays world, where women s empowerment is so much spoken about, we find women really empowered in every walk of life. We find women from the bottom up, right from autorickshaw drivers to CEOs of corporates sweeping the limelight. The question is, "Is an independent Woman a threat to a Man?"

The answer undeniably is, Yes. Many a times we find men saying, I want to get married to a gal who will stay home, cook for me and take good care of my kids, professionally successful and they are well-informed, broad-minded men though!

Though we all agree that men have come through the concept of Women liberation, women empowerment and all such things, are they, at this juncture, ready to treat women equally? Or, they still look at women as kitchen machines and child rearing machines?

So proud of my Alma Mater!!!!!!

The day of Holi, festival of colours - all are drenched in many different colours. But then, we were all coloured yellow. Yes, The Day much awaited for which we had spent four solid years in this remarkably huge, Prestigious Anna University. The four years of hard work (or hardly work for people like me!) fetched that single sheet of document to each of us there!!

It was a massive crowd of 2100 Undergraduates and Post Graduates from the Four Constituent Autonomous Colleges of Anna unniversity - College of Engineering Guindy, A C College of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Madras Institute of Technology, who were declared to have completed their respective degree programmes by the Syndicate of Anna University.

The day was marked by the presence of M.K.Stalin as the Cheif Guest and Prof. Namas Chandra, Associate Dean for Research at Univ of Nebraska, U.S as the Guest of Honour. Also the Academic Council consisted of Deans of the constituent colleges and all the Chairpersons of Faculty under various heads. In addition to the Grads and the academic council, there were parents, the press and the media to witness the historic swearing in of Two Thousand and one Hundred Engineers and Technologists produced by this very historic Anna Univ.

The Convocation began with the arrival of the academic council with the 25 th battalion band with bagpipes.



After the Welcome Address and reading out of the Annual Report, The VC declared the Graduation day open. Each of the Chairpersons read out the list of Graduates of the respective faculties. Gold medals were presented to the University Toppers. (Now dont ask me why dint I get one. Its just that I dint want to get it everytime, I believe in letting others have the opportunity once in a while!!)


After the big list of speeches being made, the function came to an end with the National Anthem. At this juncture I would want to share a few things I feel like.
I understood how strong is the genetic inheritance in each person. While Mu Ka Stalin was delivering his Graduation Day address, I could find the very same voice of his father, the CM of Tamil Nadu. It was the same voice, same pitch, same modulation, same choice of words. All through his address, had you not looked at him on the dias, you wil end up thinking that CM himself was speaking. Genetic endowment!!
Dr. Namas Chandra. Wait a minute, there is an interesting reason as to why he is called so. Dr. Namshivayam Chandrasekhar, when moved to Us 25 years ago, the people of U S of the A, chopped his name as Nama, Chan, Shek etc. So Prof. himself decided to rename. So Namashivayam became Namas, Chandrashekar bacame Chandra. Interesting!!
Prof, Namas Chandra has travelled to 30 Developed and developing countries. But then with confidence he says, India has one of the brightest sets of students. Also, there is no country where there is not even one student of Anna University. Yes, he also is a student of Anna University. So proud of his alma mater!!
One more thought provoking point he shared is this. America has been one of the top scientific and economic superpower. 85% to 90% of their economy has come from research and innovation. Most of that comes from scientists and engineers. The entire USA produces only 70,000 engineers every year. Here, India alone produces 3,60,000 engineers. China produces 6,00,000 engineers. Invariably, for every one engineer in USA, there are 14 in engineers in China and India. The difference is not in quantity but in quality. Yes, it indeed is!!
Anyway, we were more excited to see all the old friends, Here are a couple of pictures below with our convocation robe.
With the class gang

Proud to be Engineers and Technologists!! Proud to be a part of Anna University!! Proud of my Alma Mater!!

P.S:
lunch time fun
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2986121048587766179&hl=en
the fun car ride - u must watch praveen! lol
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1463329305741724269&hl=en
The Dhaba
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-21902223834281464&hl=en

After a long time!!

Just as I came back from office, my phone buzzed. Uthaman, one of my college Classmates has come down from China. So meet up!

The plan was to go to Ascendas initially. He came over to pickk me up. The moment I entered the car, the A/C was so refreshing that I jumped out saying we ll go for a long ride!!! And there we headed to ECR, Chennai's most sought road for rides. More than the ride, what was more enjoyable and interesting was the things he told me - about China, about people, culture etc.

And also not to forget, his future plans regarding his business. He hails from karaikudi, where we find lot of Spinning and Textile mills situated. And, as obvious it is, he owns a spinning mill. Now he works in China so that he can learn textile market and some nuances of the same. He loves the place, he says. Shangai is an awesome place to be. But for the food, you will love the place!! The people there are very dexterous, very artistic. Textiles have awesome potential there and many such things he told me.

Hearing enough good about China, I asked him what youd dont like there. Poor thing, they changed his name from 'Uthaman' to 'Hu Tha' for the simple reason that the Chinese script does not include this kind of phonetics. You can have a look all by yourself below. Pera nalla kolai pannitaanga!!

Moreover our Karaikudi Chettiar has some more secrets which if I reveal, I am sure to be murdered for. So shhhhhhhhhh!! Finger on my lips. Yenna Mr Hu Tha, sandhoshama?

We had our grub at Kebab Court and then came back to Ascendas to have dessert. We also discussed some strategic plans for the Convocation Day where we ll get to have the rarest opportunities to torture the ones who bet the hell out of us when we were in college.

So eagerly waiting for "The Day"!!!!!!!!