Athena

The paradigm of pleasing!

2011-04-21T21:32:00.009+05:30

Sometimes it makes me wonder why do we do many things that we do today.

In the corporate world, companies put in a lot of effort towards keeping their customers happy so that they can retain them. Employees want to please their boss so that they get a good rating in their performance appraisals. Organizations work to keep their employees happy so that the company fairs well in the employee satisfaction surveys or be called the best place to work. We can go on citing many more examples like these.

In personal lives, we go that one step beyond and throw more surprises to the people around us. Husband gifts his wife diamonds on her birthday to keep her delighted. Parents buy the child anything that it would ask for so that the child is happy. Similarly, many more.

By now, you would have guessed where I am inching towards. On one hand is nice to know that people are being valued for, as to what their likes are while the on other hand it makes me wonder if we are using some tactics to attain something easier than the normal route.

If we rewind back a few years, there was no such effort made. We all had certain discipline and certain system in place and that's about it. No special effort was taken to please or delight people. Things were taken at face value and people were objective about their dealings. Companies did not budget huge sums of money on customer retention or acquisition. People did not go out of the way to delight their spouses or surprise their children. It is a paradigm shift in the way we think and the way we work.

Is it a healthy sign that we are evolving a culture of keeping others happy? Or, is this a shortcut to glory by keeping others pleased?

Side-effects of an MBA!

2011-04-17T08:53:00.009+05:30

Dedicated
To all my fellow-MBAs
and
aspiring MBAs

Its been a while since I wrote. Obviously, I do not have a PTM (Primary Target Market to put in MBA terms) for my blog but I write for myself. It is to keep alive my zeal for writing and a means express myself. Of late, I really have not been writing as much as I should be. The last 8 months of MBA away from the country has changed my world completely. Needless to say, the time-crunch associated with the demanding schedule of a B-School.

I resolved to myself to break that behavior and get back to doing things which I enjoy doing. A good point to start with is to write about what my last few months of MBA has done to me! The number of management theories, the frameworks, the analysis mechanisms and the management best practices you learn are sometimes detrimental to your normal cognitive process aka common sense.

This post might be a slight exaggeration in some cases and subtle in some others. Never mind, just enjoy the post for the heck of it!

Side effect number 1 - head reeling with numbers

Now, whenever I go out, I cant just stick to the purpose of my going out. I tend to look out for other things in the angst of keeping my eyes and ears open. Even if I to a super market, I immediately put a number against the size of the store, count the number of people working there, how they are assigned tasks, what does the supervisor do, body language and enthusiasm of their employees, the idle time, how often they replenish their inventory on the shelf, which are the brands displayed prominently and which others are given the back-seat, how many advertisements are displayed, order of arrangement, gauge their fixed costs, extrapolate the sales volume, turnover etc. And in the mind make a judgement whether the business is profitable or not. All of this in the 15-20 mins of my shopping experience there!

From my previous paragraph, you would have guessed how much of logical judgements and arithmetic would be churning in my head even in a supposed to be mindless shopping experience. That too, from someone who is not greatly fond of numbers! Once upon a time, I hated number-crunching and 8 months into an MBA, I have come in terms of realization that I cant do away with them but to make friends with numbers and work in harmony. LOL!

Side effect number 2 - critic, critic, critic!

There is this new critic in me who is always screaming and telling me to look through things. "Stop taking things at their face-value" it yells! I stopped believing in brands. The little amount of marketing I have learnt is enough to tell me to strip brands naked and value them for the substance and not their image. For some of the products I was extremely loyal to, I am beginning to get seconds thoughts. I really don't know if it is good or bad!

Side effect number 3 - Viewpoint!

Now with that myopic satisfaction and vision of having learnt business models and process, the different industries and their benchmarks, success stories and failures, leadership and strategies, I think I have shaped up my own world-view and developed a viewpoint for everything. I can speak about anything and everything under the sun. That too with the conviction that my point is my point, right or not, I ought to have it. But honestly, can you develop a random viewpoint for any random thing, randomly? Phew!!!

Side effect number 4 - Cost Vs benefit

This is the worst of them all. With the number bug bitten and the nervous system tuned to send wrong signals affecting the actions, I behave strangely. I tend to assign a number against every damn thing, even if it is an emotion. Certain things I have never done before have suddenly become a part of my normal behavior. Let me give you an example. If I were to go to India, first question is how much is the flight fare? Next is low long am I going to stay there? Third, how many people am I going to meet? Then, agenda of meeting? Important? Urgent? Alternatives? etc., etc., The older me would not have done it. If I feel like going home, I just go. The overall effect now: I am abnormal!

Side effect number 5 - It depends!

After going through the entire rigmarole and ritual of MBA, having learnt to do a lot of reflection and analysis, the answer that all B-school grads give for any question, at any point in time, at any place is "It depends"! Now, don't ask me why. If you want an answer to it, take an MBA course yourself. LOL!

Values!

2010-12-31T13:48:00.001+05:30

Value is something which is spoken multiple contexts, by multiple people. An organization would have created a value system for their employees, clients, suppliers and other stake holders. A marketing team in the organization would have value proposition for their customers of their specific products. A school would instill value education to its pupils. Individuals hold values dearest to them and hold them high all through their lives.

This broader scope of values, makes it difficult for us to understand the underlying commonality. So what are these values? Asking some basic questions will help us appreciate them better.

How do we define values for ourselves?

There could be multiple definitions of values. But my favorite definition is - A value is something which is a reflection of an individual's or an organization's or an entity's personal integrity. It is the reflection of an internal self which will not be compromised to an external force.

How do we choose values?

There are multiple interpretations of choosing a value. Here is a broad definition of the process of choosing a value. Firstly a value is something that is freely chosen. Secondly, the choice made must be from a list of alternatives. Thirdly, the consequence of choosing a particular alternative should be considered and then choice be made. A predecessor to this process is value ranking where the individual examines, ranks, prioritizes and then makes a choiceful decision.

Why are certain values close to our heart?

The sum total of values of all the individuals in this world could account up to a zillion. But then people do not choose values or hold them dear to their heart just because everyone else around them is doing so. There are certain values which the individuals cherish. It is these set of values that the individual feel proud of, when they posses it. They affirm their choice publicly.

Why do values change time to time, for the same person?

Choosing values and living up to the ideals of these values is a continuous process. As individuals grow and mature, educate and experience, relocate and Value choices have to be assessed and re assessed. Chosen and re chosen. It can never have the same depth, meaning and direction throughout one's lifetime.

What makes a value a value?

In simple terms a value is chosen, prized and acted upon. Anything that is chosen and prized but not acted is not a value or something that is prized and acted but not consciously chosen is not a value. These are partially formed values or value indicators but not values. Other important differentiators is that a value must be stated publicly and should enhance the overall development of emotional and spiritual well-being.

All the values that individuals, enterprises, organizations possess go through this process consciously or unconsciously which makes them what they are!

Working in a Team - How to get it right?

2010-12-27T07:29:00.001+05:30

The way we define work and work places has taken a significant amount of transformation over a period of years. Working as individuals in isolation has changed face to working in teams at tandem. Business organizations spend a lot of time, effort and money in getting the most talented workforce. But then, did organizations get it right, with their workforce getting tasks accomplished as team? It is a million dollar question, to which most of us do not have a strong affirmative answer yet. All of us, are still working towards creating a perfectly cohesive teams to build great work places.

Alright, so how do we get this right? To understand how to get it right, it is essential to understand how do we get it wrong in the first place. There are 'five dysfunctions of a team' which are more dangerous than the most dangerous pathogens attacks. They are interrelated to each other like and even if one goes wrong, cause destruction to the workplace harmony!

Absence of trust

It is universally acclaimed that the basis for any successful relationship is the element of trust. The same holds good for workplace relationships. Contrary to the classical definition of trust, absence of trust is actually the dysfunction of individuals not being genuinely open to one another about one's mistakes, misconceptions and weaknesses. It is the understanding and acceptance of one simple fact which could set everything straight. Everyone has vulnerabilities, which need to be accepted and acknowledged. Once this is in place, all inhibitions are shed and establish that there is no reason to be protective or careful about self. This leads to the building of more open, accepting and accommodating teams.

Fear of Conflict

Like in case of any relationship, to be genuine and build on the foundations of trust, both sides of the coin are essential - acceptance and conflict. Conflict in this context means healthy and effective engagement of multiple viewpoints. Conflicts are thought to be best avoided in workplaces as they are viewed as destructive to the smooth functioning of a team. But the reality is that, conflicting ideas and healthy debate bring in excellent outcomes to work. They must be encouraged and not avoided. A point to ponder here is that conflict here means, conflict of concepts and ideas , individuals and personalities. The moment an individual is comfortable in being expressive and taking different view points objectively, the team as a whole is one step closer to their target of being the perfectly cohesive team.

Lack of Commitment

Age old myths - that consensus in decisions is important to the team's functioning and the team has to be predictable. In the event of seeking consensus, teams delay decisions and hunts for every bit of data that will make every individual agree. The fact of the matter is that a complete buy-in from every individual is not possible. Also, to be predictable as a team, a certainty in decisions is needed. In the seek of certainty, decisions a made no matter they are right or wrong. In the process of achieving consensus and certainty, the fundamental objective of creating clarity and priority for the entire team is lost. Aligning the team to a common goal is sidelined. Commitment (as a team and not individual) is lost.

Avoidance of Accountability

The very reason that team members tend to avoid interpersonal discomfort leads to holding themselves from having difficult conversations. This stops them from wholehearted commit in the team effort. It is imperative that individuals goals do not align with team goals. Members tend to lower expectations on each other and eventually, there is hesitation to hold one another accountable.

Inattention to Results

This is the ultimate dysfunction of a team. Other than obvious results like that financial goals, sales targets or shareholder profits, there are less obvious but more important goals the team must pay attention too namely, team status and individual status. Being a part of a team is merely not sufficient. Self-preservation in a group is not constructive. Both of these cause ripples in the greater good of the team, the attention and progress towards collective results.

There are multiple tools and techniques by which organizations can overcome these functions but the first step is understanding the dysfunctions. This understanding and admittance itself takes us one step closer to our goal - harmonious working teams!

Diversity in Workplace

2010-10-18T14:40:00.006+05:30

The number of organizations that are transnational are increasing in the Business World today. With increasing translational nature, there is an increase in the diversity of the workforce. We find people from different ages, cultures, ethnicity, so on and so forth. Given this differences, each organization wants to created a Diversity-Sensitive and Inclusive work environment. To achieve this stature, organizations must understand the demographics of their workforce.

Age Diversity

Today, we witness workplaces employing four different generations in tandem, namely the Depression Generation, Baby Boomers, Baby Bust Generation, Baby Boom-lets. In Asian context, organizations have still not reached this stage where all four generations work together.

The Depression Generation (Born between 1927 to 1946)

This is the Generation born during the Great Economic Depression. Also known as the World War II generation or the Cold War generation because of their generational markers. They are 45 Million in number. They are a patriotic generation, very conservative and sacrificing in nature. They have high work-ethic, they are on the retirement verge. But they are redefining retirement at workplace, they continue to work filling in for positions like low-skill work or part-time work. These are the areas where the younger generation gets their first experience. This leads to inter-generational conflict.

Baby Boom Generation (Born between 1947 to 1964)

This is the post world-war generation. They are 76 Million in number, almost double of the Depression generation. They are the largest generation in the workforce today, most of them are very successful. The markers of this generation are Vietnam war, civil rights movement, war on poverty and many more. They blame the depression generation for these problems. Unlike the Depression generation, they are idealistic, optimistic and liberal. They have good school education and are high profiled at work. Some of them are today's most successful entrepreneurs. They are pressed by the higher costs of educating their children and taking care of their elderly relatives today and also the need for saving for their retirement.

Baby Bust Generation (Born between 1965 to 1983)

Also called as generation-X, they are 66 million in number. They do not have huge or pronounced generational markers unlike their predecessors, the Baby Boomers. However, they witness the era where diseases like AIDS came into existence. They are also the generation which is marked by exposure to multiculturalism, advances in technology etc. They are a very diverse group but are pessimistic compared to Baby Boomers. They are the youngest to enter labor force. They have increased exposure to various cultures and are tech savvy. They are latchkey kids with both parents working. A significant characteristics of this generation is the decline of loyalty and commitment at workplace compared to the previous generations.

Baby Boom-let Generation (Born between 1984 to 2002)

This is the dot-com generation or the Generation Y. They are 75 million in number. They are a part of the information era of high-tech and fast-paced society. The problem with this generation is the difference between their basic education and skills needed at work due to half-life which grows shorter and shorter due to technological advances. They are used to the violence around them through difference means and it does not have a big impact as it does to the rest of the generations. They are sensitive and aware of the issues of the environment. They resemble the Depression generation by the characteristic of have and have-not society.

Culture Diversity

Cultures, subcultures, groups and individuals are classified from more tightly woven to loosely knit. This classification helps in distinguishing between thinking and behavior and also in characterizing each group. In general, the Cultural Continuum is divided into three namely Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Cultures based on the ethnicity. While Alpha and Beta are tightly woven, Gamma belongs to loosely knit. A Trans-cultural Manager needs to understand multiple cultures and its forms of behavior in order to appreciate his/her team better, to resolve conflicts and to motivate.

Alpha Cultures

They are like a woven basket that reflects function, beauty and meaning together. When the basket breaks, the its function is lost. Hence these cultures are fragile and vulnerable to destruction. They are closely attached to nature and its function. These are conservative cultures likes the native American, Africans, Latins and the Arabs. They are indigenous and live in Clans. They obey leaders and elders.

Beta Cultures

They are analogous to a Brocade, delicate and stylized. They have a set of values and traditions, handed down from generation to generation. These are transformational cultures and like the brocade, with high tensile strength. These cultures lay importance of values which are evolved and a part of the heritage. Most of the Asian cultures are Beta namely Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Thai et al. They live in evolved societies. They obey parents, teachers and managers.

Gamma Cultures

They are like the electronic chips connected on a circuit board. The details are abstract and upto the interpretations of the observer. These are culture which reflect the idea that change and newness are rules of life. Here, values are unknown and are meant to be negotiated. These are the new found cultures from the West and their colonies. They are transient groups and are more individualistic in nature. They follow science and learn from their mistakes.

Most often, at workplaces characterized by multiple cultural groups, communication barriers occur as the unspoken language of culture is not interpreted or misinterpreted. Hence Cultural sensitivity can easily be attained by means of knowing the background and value of the individual which reflects the unspoken self. However, a piece of warning is that individuals cannot be stereotyped based on their cultural backgrounds, a fair knowledge of the culture can only help in guessing the behavior in different situations and not the characteristics.

If this is the face of youth today, what will be the future of India tomorrow?

2010-02-13T18:36:00.005+05:30

I had been to an engineering college today for some Campus Connect program. It is a 25 year old institute in Chennai and going by the ranking, it is a fairly decent one by standards. In fact, some say it is a good institute. I have a few managers in my unit who have graduated out of this college. Without any further dilly-dallying, let me get to the point; let me tell you what happened.

I reached the campus of this Insti at 9. AM Well, South India is very popular for the hospitality its people exhibit. Not an exception to this rule, the hosts fed me good breakfast! I should admit that the steaming hot filter coffee helped not only in washing the breakfast down my throat but also one of the worst disasters of the day: the placement officer and his talk about his greatness. I honestly admit here that I could not stand him for 10 mins. I wonder how his students stand his lectures for hours! On the hind-sight, will he even be able to deliver lectures? If he does, would he make sense at all?

The man seemed to be more bothered about telling my colleagues and me, about his own self and his greatness than the program we had come for. He is 22 years old with that institute and according to him, it is great that he is still with it because he could have stepped out and joined anyone of the umpteen number of institutes en route the college from the city. Honestly, I don't see any greatness in it. If he was here for 22 years and the richness of his experience does not show any signs of wisdom in the way he talks or carries himself. To me it only meant that he is incompetent.

I was all geared up to meet some young minds and have a eventful day! I wanted to meet some dynamic and smart youth. I was all set to be challenged. I wanted to make a difference and make a small contribution in grooming them.

The reality held a different picture from the one I had imagined!I saw a bunch of laid-back youngsters.

Non-response was their mantra!

From the time I stepped into the room, the standard response for any question, query, doubt or whatever I raised to them was a blank look. I was screaming my guts out that they respond. They can afford to make mistakes now and learn from them rather than not make an attempt. No use! No use!

They lack ambition to excel in career or for that matter an object or focus to life!

When I did their personal interviews, I was shocked to know what they were doing to themselves! When I asked them "Why do they want to become software engineers? What do IT jobs mean for them?" the answer was this: It gives you good money! Oh! Really?

I went one step ahead and asked them, why did they choose to do Engineering. It is because their parents wanted! Thats it heights of it. Even if that is the reality, have they not found a purpose in the last 3 years they have spent studying? Were they not able to attach a face to the name they bore?

Learning? What does that mean?

When I was a student, I saw almost all my classmates and friends brimming with zeal and enthusiasm. No one was restricted to the four walls of the classroom. Always wanting to learn news things, talk about them, share experiences, make papers, presentations, projects, industrial trainings etc. were very common. Learning possessed some meaning ! When I anticipate the same thing from them, what is it I got? Disappointment!

They do not have a point of view about anything!

If I ponder a little deeper, I could actually see, they lack of a point of view in them. I do not know if this is because if they do not have the needed exposure, or the time for it or it is because they simply do not care!

It is very disheartening to see the youth of the nation to lack an objective in life! With no focus or drive towards an goa! No passion! No interests! No ambitions! Take life for granted! Are not at all opinionated! Wonder What future is going to be!

"Thank you, Thank you"

2010-02-07T22:33:00.003+05:30

Its been 3 weeks since the article is published and I am still receiving congratulatory messages.

Orey Autographs, Photographs, Bouquets, Phone calls!

Sounds Deja Vu?

LOL!!!

Auro-fun!

2010-02-01T23:49:00.003+05:30

Pondy was the place!

Long drive along the ECR, wonderful company of Benjie and Mr Revolver!

Pondy ke log apne se zyada Auron ka sochthein hain! The thing about this place, everything starts with 'Auro'. Well, you have an 'Auro'bindo Ashram and as a side effect, you also have Auro-cafe, Auro-Shoppe, Auro-shika, Auro-service, Auro-everything. Wonder if they would start calling auto-rickshaws as auro-rickshaws, auto-mobiles as auro-mobiles. (Wonder if Balki was inspired by this, to name our man Auro in Paa!)

At the end of all the Auro Shopping at the Auroville and the Auro Clicking of photographs at the beautiful yellow French Consulate, the Grey Ashram, the rocky beach and the Auro DVDs at the tic-tac, our beloved friends to do their dues!

The biggest disadvantage of being a teetotaler is that people deem you useless during your trips to Pondy. Not very different from earlier times, my co-travelers were cursing me and my ideologies. But does that stop me from having fun? Who will mind to sit with 3 drunk people instigating them and making them maunder. Believe me it is so much entertainment!

Here we go marching, with our Don aka the Doc from the Pondy leading the troop, Benjie and Revolver dutifully following him, me in anticipation of some entertainment, all the way up to beach. From there, one pagdandi goes this way to the Old City and the other pagdandi goes that way to the Petrol Bunk. There! Sea Gulls is there! In the shadow of Pondy port!

Unfortunately, Sea Gulls was closed. Oh Oh Oh!

Destination next was Asian House! A very beautiful place, I must admit, with yin yang thrown generously all over the place. Lost in the beauty of the house, we go closer to the door. Two A-4 size sheets, "Today, Dry Day". Oh Oh, only now we remembered, Martyrs Day! Yes, Martyr's day and out our great Martyrs sacrificed the joy of having Cocktails and ended up with mocktails! And me, ya like it makes a difference!

Want to listen to my story?

2010-01-27T23:17:00.004+05:30

I have a story to tell you!

Children, have you heard of Mickey Mouse?
Yeah!
Now, have you heard of Val-Mickey Mouse?
Naaah!
Booo!
Shooo!

Ha ha! This is how the story telling workshop(as a part of launch of two Tulika books, Vyasa's Mahabharath and Hanuman's Ramayan) started.

House full of kids. I and Benjie struggling to handle them. But nevertheless, we did a good job. We had a real good time!

The Authors' of the books were really happy to see us enliven the characters in their books by becoming Banana trees, Bridge, Musk rat, Ganesha, Cat, Hanuman and what not!

We goofed up here and there because the kids were hyper-active. Whatever it was, it was fun! Children are these lovely little things! Such a nice feeling it left in the end! After all, that is the most important thing. Right?

Pseudo Patriotism!

2010-01-26T17:38:00.024+05:30

Zoom and Times of India remake Mile Sur Mera Tumara and launch "Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara"on the occasion of our 61st Republic Day.

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara is a timeless classic which has lived through decades. I have grown up seeing this wonderful piece of art which instills a higher degree of patriotism, sense of belonging and oneness, pride about the rich and varied heritage of my mother land, India. When I came to know that a remake was being made, I had very high expectations that we would get to see another classic, master piece which would showcase the richness of our nation and make it an enjoyable experience to watch it.

First the good things:

The songs starts with our A R Rahman sporting a green kurta, playing a saffron fingerboard with white buildings as background. I am not sure if the tricolor was the idea they were trying to bring out, but I thought it was nice!

The song features a few talented but not very popular people like Amaan and Ayaan who play the Sarod. It also featured Vijendra Singh, our Olympic Champion Abhinav Bhindra et al.

A few elements represented contemporary references like the piece from drummer Sivamani, The Taj Mahal Palace & Hotel background which has stood the test of time in the 26/11 terror attack, the trio band of Shankar Eshaan Loy et al.

It was inclusive enough to feature children with disability (Minus Sallu, of course!)

It has a special coverage on the defense forces towards the end.(Though it appears to be an after-thought soon after a brick hit their head making them realize that there is too much of Bollywood in it!)

Shobana's Bharathnatyam at the Shore temple in Mahabalipuram, Gurdaas Maann and Juhi's Punjabi hymn with the Golden Temple Background, Zakir Hussain's tabla, Sivamani's Drumming, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons - Amaan and Ayaan playing the Sarod, Kerala's bit with Kaikottikali, Snake Boat race et al in the backdrop were nice!

Now the not-so-good things:

There is too much of Bollywood-ism in it. It completely failed to capture the original India, the common man, the cultural wealth, traditions, et al. Of course they have captured various parts of India. But the various parts of India does not necessarily mean Physical features geographically and the buildings ought there. The native people, featuring their culture was completely absent.

Every Bollywood personality was claiming his/her own share of glory than contributing to the objective of the video.

It was more like a 'Family affair' of the Bachans. Thankfully, Big Bachan appears separately in the beginning. Else it would have been like the Kajra re - season 2. Aish Bachan and Abhi Bachan romancing by holding hands on the sets of the Ajanta-Ellora (I hope I got the place right!)

Each Star was so busy building his/her own identity. SRK was trying to make his mark with his Kal Ho Na Ho looks and expressions, Aamir his 'Aye Kya Bolthee Tu' style singing.

It did not pay attention to small details. Rangoli is not a part of the keralite tradition whereas the traditional pookalam was not to be seen. They showed Rangoli instead! Well, the big details themselves were a big blunder, how one earth will they get the minute details right?

Some parts of India were completely forgotten. Goa did not feature. So was Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur et al. Bhupen Hazarika was the only reference to the North-East. Disappointing!

If sports persons are being featured, why is it like an eyewash? They come and go in a flash. What happened to the rest? Hockey - the national game of India? Cricket - the most popular game of India?Mahesh Boopathy? Leander Peas? Vishwanath Anand? Sania Mirza? Vijay Amrithraj? Karnam Malleshwari? They have brought numerous accolades for the country. None of them are featured.

If they were trying to Showcase progress on Science and Technology, what happened to Chandrayaan? The numerous PSLVs? The Nuclear Tests? Role of entrepreneurs in urbanization and technology revolution? NRN? Azim Premji? Tatas? Birlas? Ambanis? Indhra Nooyi? Nandan? Green Revolution? M S Swaminathan? They are a very integral part of India playing a pivotal role in changing faces of India bringing in people' progress. I could only relate Vijendra Singh to medicine from the entire clip.

Few things that were really sad:

Vikram dint look as though he was a part of a patriotic video. It appeared as though he was singing a romantic duet with an eye-candy heroine.

I dont know what patriotism is invoked by Deepika Padukone's wet body and bare legs!

What was the overgrown musk rat aka Sallu doing in the patriotic video with torn jeans and exposed muscles? Mr. Musk Rat dint have any idea as to what exactly he was doing in that video! In the making of the video clipping he told that the video's message is that we are in the same plane, no rich, no poor, no cast, no creed, no color. Whereas the idea was not that. We do have all these differences, yet united as Indians!

I completely fail to understand what good does Ranbir do to the video. Neither do I connect with the purpose of Shahid Kapoor holding the mike in POP star fashion with disco lights behind and bark!

In short

Most of it was bad. What a waste of time, energy, effort, money and resources!

I understand that times have changed, country has progressed which they have tried to showcase with by featuring tall buildings, glass houses, western clothes, Solar power gadgets in the backgrounds et al.

The original one was a 6 min video, an awe-inspiring one! This one, though spans for 16 mins, it does not convey what it is trying to convey. A sheer failure! It is painful to see the blasphemy of our very own pristine "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara"!

Links

Mile sur Mera Tumhara - Original Video
Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara - Part 1
Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara - Part 2

Republic Day!

2010-01-26T00:37:00.006+05:30

India celebrates its 61st Republic day today! On this occasion, the patriot in me wants to write about it! Yes, the right to freedom and speech, on of the six fundamental rights recognized by the Constitution; Making full use of it!

Why January 26th, 1950?

Republic Day, celebrated on January 26th every year, is one of India’s most important national events. The constitution of India came into force on this day when it became a truly Sovereign, Democratic and Republic state. The significance of this day dates back to 1929 when the Indian National Congress took pledge to work towards a 'sovereign democratic republic' of India.

The constitution

The constituent Assembly, with Dr. B R Ambedkar as the Chairperson, drafted the longest written constitution in the world. It contains 444 articles and 12 schedules, Total of 117,369 words in the English language version. OMG!

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first president of India with the constitution coming into effect on the Republic Day.

Republic Day Celebrations

To commemorate the occasion of Republic day, a parade is held showcasing India's military might and cultural diversity. It covers an 8 km route, starting from the Rashtrapati Bhavan through the Rajpath all the way upto the India Gate and winds up at the historic Red Fort in Old Delhi.

The Republic day events begin with the Prime Minister visiting the Amar Jawan Jyothi at the India Gate. He then arrives to the central enclosure and awaits the arrival of the President of India and the Chief Guest who, generally, is a Head of another Country.

The President, after his arrival, meets the dignitaries present and unfurls the National Flag, followed by the National Anthem with a 21-gun salute to the National Flag.

Gallantry Awards

A brief investiture ceremony takes place during which the President presents India's top gallantry awards, the Param Veer Chakra, the Veer Chakra and the Maha Veer Chakra are awarded to the outstanding soldiers from the defense services.

Republic Day Parade

Four helicopters from the armed forces fly past the parade area showering rose petals. Each chopper carries a flag - the first being the Indian flag and the other three carry the flags of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force.

The march past begins immediately after the fly past. The President, as the Supreme Commander of the Defense Forces, takes the salute of the mechanized, mounted and marching contingents of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Paramilitary forces, Police and the National Cadet Corps.

Following the parade is the spectacular displays from the different states of the country. The Exhibits depict various scenes of activities of people in those states, their music,songs and art forms.This is the most colorful part of the parade demonstrating the vast cultural heritage our motherland possesses!

Bravery Awards for Children

After the march past and the cultural extravaganza from Various states, the Children winning the Bravery Awards enter the celebration area over decorated elephants. Now this is something unique which unfortunately is to be discontinued. The Children are to arrive on Jeeps instead of the elephants this year onwards.

Beating of the Retreat

After three days of Republic Day parade, a closing ceremony known as "Beating Retreat" is held at the Vijay Chowk in New Delhi. Beating Retreat is performed by the bands of the three wings of the military, the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force on the evening of 29th January. The Chief Guest of the function is the President of India. With a Bugle call, the National Flag is lowered, marking the formal end of the Republic Day celebrations.

Did you know?

1. They actually took 2 years, 11 months and 17 days to prepare the Constitution!
2. There is no Republic Day speech by the President or the Prime Minister!
3. The Param Veer Chakra was designed by someone born to Hungarian Mother and a Russian Father!
4. The Bravery Award for Children was Conceived on Gandhi Jayanthi - 2nd Oct 1957; Announced every year on Children's Day - 14th Nov; Presented on the eve of Republic Day - 26th January!
5. Ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity in the Preamble of our constitution was borrowed from the French!

A tryst with the face of aggression!

2009-12-16T22:32:00.004+05:30

How would you feel when you are driving inside your office campus and three people follow you and make you stop and say "This road has been cleaned and you cant drive here!"

Strange na? This is what happened to me this morning. What my instinct told me in reaction to this was : "What are roads for if you cant drive on them?" But I obviously did not make that statement. For the simple reason, I Know why they did that. They were doing their job, the task that was assigned to them!

There is a man, who is a perfectionist. He was visiting my campus today. Which was why, such a pandemonium was happening. Yes, I am talking about none other than the Member of the Board who heads HR in my company.

This was the first time I was getting to meet him face to face. More than anything else, I was overwhelmed with curiosity to know what this man was like! I hear so much about him everyday! Yes, that tryst happened in the form of a meeting with the entire HRD in my location over High Tea.

This guy was incredible. After an hour of talk with him, I understood as to why the entire organization would pee their pants the moment his name it mentioned.

He is aggressive. He is Smart. He is Sharp. He is well-read. He is very very well informed. Number crunching was forte. He can prove you wrong even if you are right.

One thing which caught my attention while he spoke: "I am always clear. Never confused. I may be wrong in my view point but I am not confused. If there is an idea which is so strong that will sell, it will sell!"

In conclusion, he quoted Victor Hugo "All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come!"

Very true!

Over All: I admire him!

Good Life and Pure Magic!

2009-12-09T22:03:00.005+05:30

Was talking to a friend who happened to be in a shop when I had called. He told the Shop keeper, "Give me one Good Life and one Pure Magic!" Coming to think of it, that is all what all of us want: A Good life and Pure Magic!

For those of you who are still wondering: Good Life is a brand of milk and Pure magic a brand of biscuits!

To call a spade a spade!

2009-11-10T00:13:00.003+05:30

Have you ever thought how difficult it is to tell someone that they are not what they think they are?

I might sound very rude in making this remark but sometimes I really wish I could do that. At times you come across such breed of people and there is something rotten about the every little thing about them.

Today I got reminded of one such character I had come across in life. Well, I cant exactly write here about the History of the Incident or the Geography of the Accident. But when the whole episode happened, I was simply pissed off. I had every right to be angry with the amount of nonsense I was expected to tolerate. Finally, I picked up the phone and gave him a piece of my mind. And that's it! It was the last conversation I had with him in my life. But I am so glad that I did that. Everybody thought he is that great that nobody ever told him anything. But yes, I did it! It was such a sense of accomplishment!

Zehreeli Hawa!

2009-10-18T22:42:00.003+05:30

Yes, we are on this new production now. Bhopal, an English play written Rahul Verma. There was also an adaptation in Hindi by the Late. Habib Tanvir. We Read through the script and it was really really powerful and I was so touched!

The Bhopal gas tragedy was one of the worst industrial disasters in the world. The 3rd of Dec, 1984 witnessed the most tragic Chemical Accidents that happened in the Indian Subcontinent. Union Carbide Pesticide in Bhopal Manufactures the Pesticide Carbaryl under the brand name Sevin. Sevin is a pesticide which kills the insects by attacking their central nervous system. Methyl Isothiocyanide is one of the intermediate products in the manufacturing process. On 3-Dec-2009, explosion occured in one of the tanks which stored 42 Tonnes of MIC due to excessive Temperature and pressure.

The most important question is that why is MIC used when there are other chemicals which are less toxic in nature. Even if it is used, Why should it be stored in such large containers? It is expected that MIC is to be maintained at a temperature of 4 Degree Celsius whereas it was stored at 20 degree Celsius. The company had compromised refrigeration an attempt to cut costs. Ridiculous! None of the Safety measures were in place!

The immediate death toll due to the Gas expulsion is 2000 plus. the next day it was around 3500. Finally, 25000 causalities are reported after the gas leak on the whole. It was a disaster comparable to the Hiroshima-Nagasaki. The victims of the disaster did not only bear the ill effects of the accident but also the after effects, which they, and their progeny are still suffering.

The story of Bhopal revolves around a few imaginary characters of the plot.

Izzat - a slum dweller as a represntative sample from the hundreds of affected villagers.

Soniya Labonte - A Canadian NGO doctor whose research brought to the light, the ill-effects Carbide International was injecting into the environment.

Devraj Sarthi - The CEO of Carbide in Bhopal.

Madiha Akram - The Personal Secretary of Sarthi

Jaganlal - The Cheif Minister

a very powerfully woven plot it is, touching in its own way, let me not divulge any more information, see for yourself!

Serendipity!

2009-07-20T13:37:00.002+05:30

I accidentally discovered that Blogger is opening from office! I can effectively utilize the non-productive time I have in office blogging! Wow!

The Incredible Me!

2009-07-16T21:47:00.011+05:30

Incredible I am! Sometimes its hard to believe!

Well, today I got up early in the morning wanting to land up at office at 8. Not because of anything else but wanted to leave work early. Of late with the clocking of minimum of 6.5 hours, I cant get my butt out unless I butt in with my work early.

Actually, my office had done a huge restructuring exercise and the entire organization comprising of Tens of Thousands of employees witnessed a re-designation exercise. The first cut of letters went out today. Naturally, there was a lot of angst in the ground. Some were happy with the new roles they are given, some were not very happy due to multiple reasons. Well, getting a fancy title which you can flaunt around or not so fancy title and be unhappy. Thats it!

I had to attend a conference today organized by eWIT which stands for Empowering Women in IT at 4 PM at the Madras Boat Club. I sneaked out of the office by 3 in the afternoon with a sigh of relief that I do not have to face unrest on the ground due to the new restructuring exercise. Well, I cant evade it but can procrastinate.

I took all the necessary approvals from my both the bosses (yes, yes as though one was not enough, I do this "dual reporting"). eWIT had sent me an invite for a Networking session which would have a brief coffee meet at 4 followed by Guest Lecture from someone from American Consulate on "Current Scenario on H1/L1 Visas". I thought I would reach in time for the Lecture and landed up at the Madras Boat Club at 4.30 sharp after going one full round around the Turn-bulls Road and Boat Club Road.

I told the security that I am here to attend a meeting and asked him where the Conference Room is. He told me to contact the Reception. Laughing at his ignorance, I walked to the Reception and asked they guy about the eWIT meet. He was completely unaware that such a thing is happening there. I got even more pissed off.

I called up the organizer. This was how exactly the conversation went.

Me: Hello, this is So and So from Infosys.

Receiver: Hi.

Me: Is this guest lecture on Visas happening?

Receiver : Of course, yes.

Me: Is it happening at the Boat Club or has the venue changed or soemthing?

Receiver : No, its pretty much there!

Me : How come this guy in the reception doesnt know about it?

Receiver : May be they have not informed him yet.

Me : (Grumbling)I am already here to attend the meeting and nobody is guiding me to the venue.

Receiver : But the session was organized for next thursday, the 23rd!

Me : What?

Well, at that point I felt like a fool? How can I miss such an important detail? I came all the way from Shollinganallur to bulb this way?

I am just Incredible. That s all I can say!

P.S : My latest twitter update says "Back Home early coz I am extremely smart and organized!"

Adieu Nandan!

2009-07-09T22:22:00.005+05:30

Today is a day marked in History! Nandan's last working day at Infosys! One of the strongest pillars which laid the foundation of the solid establishment of Infosys will not longer belong to it! It was a very difficult decision for him to leave Infy. And to all of us to let go of him.

Today, he was given a farewell, which all of the Hundred Thousand plus employees witnessed. The entire Board and the Founders were there to propose a toast to him, bidding him Adieu. It was a hard fact, for all of us, to digest. Needless to say, for me too!

Three years ago, when I joined Infy, I so excited to be a part of workforce which had such a Board in place! Nandan was one of my biggest inspirations, a role model, and a great visionary who we all look upto!

This is one of the pictures I had taken along with the Board when I was a trainee; in the sprawling Mysore Campus. It was the 25th year Infosys celebrated. Infy went public and the remote ringing of the bell for the listing at NASDAQ happened at Mysore. The media people were thronging to capture the best shot of the proceedings. The campus witness all the empowered and proud Infoscians, singing the Infy song. The Infy quotient was running high everywhere. I was highly elated to witness such a thing happen in front of my eyes!
That was when I saw the entire board together in person. That was when the realized the empowered Infoscian in me. I met Nandan for the first time. I stood besides him and took a picture. It was like a dream!

Daughter s Day!

2009-07-05T00:18:00.003+05:30

Couple of days ago, I called my Dad and cribbed. "You dint wish me for Daughter's day. Boo Hoo" I was throwing tantrums. But honestly, it dint warrant one.

July 1st was celebrated as Daughter's day in India. We would have by now heard of a Mother's day, Father's day and now Daughter's day. Sadly, there is no Son's day as yet. Well, if any of you who are reading this post is aware of one, please do let me know.

Decades ago, the second Sunday in May was declared as Mother's day in the US. To balance out, there was this third Sunday in June which was declared as Father's day. Now, 1st July which happens to be Kalpana Chawla's is declared as Daughter's day. All this days involves gift-giving, Special dinners and family oriented Activities.

But honestly, do we need a separate day to be declared in the system technically as Mother's day to tell your Mama "I love you"? A Father's day to tell him "Daddy you are the best"? A Daughter's day to tell her "Honey, we love you"? Anything that has to come naturally, why are defining a "process" for it? Why are we formalizing relationships?

Nandan!

2009-06-27T12:41:00.007+05:30

Someone who made Thomas Friedman write how flat the world is! Someone who is a true visionary and built Infosys with his ideas! Someone who penetrated national boundaries to build business with his network! Someone who is a role model to the youth of India! Someone who will cite figures and facts from mind without referring to sheets of pages! An extra-ordinary individual!

Yes, we are talking about our very own Nandan!

Nandan Nilekani, the Co-Chairman and the Co-founder of one of India's prestigious IT Giants has been offered with the position of the Chairperson of Unique Identification Authority of India! He was bestowed with this honor by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

On one hand, where the image of the IT Corporates Shattered due to the Satyam Scandal, this gesture on the other hand, which emancipated Nandan to the Rank of a Cabinet Minister has definitely reassured the fact, that the faith in the very same Corporates has not failed! Though, there are disappointments in the past in the way Corporate Governance works (thanks to Ramalinga Raju’s cooked up balance Sheets and fake employee database), there are leaders in the very same Industry who have lived up to the ideals and are looked up to with trust!

Some are born great; Some acheive greatness; Some have greatness thrust upon them!

When you miss someone!

2009-06-21T22:30:00.003+05:30

It happens to me sometimes. It suddenly hits me like a brick on the head. I realize that I miss someone. Or it may just be a feeling that I am really going to be missing someone. I am happy all day long and suddenly get into these really bad mood swings.

Today, is one of those sudden transitions. I am going to be missing someone really soon!

The Four Phone calls!

2009-06-21T04:00:00.005+05:30

Call Number 1

Of late, I do not pick up calls on my personal mobile at work. I really do not see the need for it. But sometimes, a few phone calls, from few numbers, compel me not to think but to pick. This was one such phone call.

"I really need a change. And, at this moment, I cant think of any better change than to get married!"

"What?!?!?!?!" that was the instantaneous reaction from my end. I could not think of anything else.

This was one of my best buddies in college. She really needed a change - yes, 3 years of work life forced to think that way. Some of the pointers to her next few years in life - H1 Visa, Onsite options etc etc., were not really making progress. Okay, after careful examination of the case, it was decided, may be marriage, is not, a bad option for her.

Call Number 2
2 months later..

A similar phone call, a much more frantic call from the other end, when I was enjoying my Head massage blissfully at one of my favorite parlors. It was her again. This time with a name and employee number.

"Horoscopes perfectly matched. I want some help with the Info about this guy. He works in our Chennai office."

The Name and the employee ID - Oh My God! This guy sits diagnally across my cubicle at work, an employee in my Unit! The information exchanges happen, and, the call, hung up!

Call Number 3

I am in a wedding reception in Madurai. Tring Tring on my mobile.

"I am very worried. Lot of tension at home. This guy is coming tomorrow to meet me. I met his family already. I liked them. But my dad is not very interested in it. Talk to amma." and lo she hands the phone over.

A little bit of information exchange. Some promises to have a open mind and meet this guy. Call hung up.

Call Number 4:

At office again. Yet another phone call, I could not resist picking up. Dont get me wrong! It was not because of the person making the call but the information I thought it carried.

"Hello?"
"Wedding is fixed. We would get married in December"

Inference :
1. Three hours of talk, life is decided!
2. It happens only in India and in arranged marriages!
3. The world is a very small Place!
4. Appearences do not matter!
5. It is the wedding season!

Relationships!

2009-06-07T21:39:00.009+05:30

Something I heard and saw.. provoked me to scribble this here!

Relationships - this is the most simple yet most complicated word I have learnt. Simple - because it is there everywhere. Complicated - because it is the most difficult thing to fathom. May be this post will sound paranoid. But actually, it aint! This is the outcome of many observations compiled together. May be a warning to those who have not gotten into this bottomless chasm which sucks you in!

It is interesting to watch people fall into this trap. Actually, when you think of it, it is like addiction - smoke, dope.. Initially its temptation, its fun. Slowly it sucks you in - like a black hole. It saps you out of your energy, loss of energy, effort, money, time and what not! In the it leaves you exhausted. You are sick, tired, upset, dejected, depressed. It takes ages for you to recover. And then another enters your life and the viscious cycle continues..

World Environment Day!

2009-06-06T22:17:00.004+05:30

Yday was World Environment Day.
World Environment day, WED as it is called was established by the UN Genral assembly in 1972. It is hosted by a different country each year and commemorated with an international exposition through the week of June 5. The UN Enviroment Programme (UNEP), also created in 1972, uses WED to stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and public action.

As obvious as it could get, this year, there was an increasing awareness amidst the people or atleast the educated masses who cared for our very own one and only Earth!

There were n number of campaigns. Don’t do this.. Don’t do that... so this.. Do that.. etc., etc.,
The lingo people started throwing around 1 week before the day on every television channel, newspaper, FM radio stations and many more were - Carbon footprint, Global Warming, Making different campuses Plastic-free etc etc..

Though some of them sound like jargons, here are a few very very simple things which each of us can do. After all, small things make a big difference. Dont they?

1. Carry your won shopping bag. Use a cloth bag instead of a getting a plastic bag every time.
2. Do not use your car/bike unless and until absolutely necessary. You can - walk, take public transport, carpool or telecommute as far as possible.
3. As far as possible, avoid disposable materials - use reusable materials instead. Examples : use food containers instead of aluminum wraps/foils, Coffee mugs instead of disposable cups, reusable blades for razors instead of disposable ones, towels instead of tissue papers.
4. Golden Rule : Do not waste water! One effective technique is to fill water as much as you need it in a container and use it than to directly open down from the tap - while bathing, brushing, washing your face, shaving, washing vessels, washing clothes et al. I am sure you can add a lot many things like this. Use water only as much as you can. Water, is precious!!
5. Papurus - one of the greatest inventions by mankind! Today, though many offices/establishments are working towards the concept of paperless office, it only can be minimized to an extent. In the sense, it cannot be completely eliminated. It is needless to say how many trees are cut for the cellulose which is required fo rmaking paper. A few things tried and tested - circulate documents as soft copy instead of hard copies. If you buy news paper, please sell it off a garage wala so that it is recycled. Reuse paper!
6. Turn Vegetarian! Reduces your carbon foot print.
7. Turn off fans, lights and other electrical/electronic gadgets when not in use. Best still, dont turn them on unless necessary. As far as possible, leverage on natural lighting, ventilation etc.
8. Plant a tree. Do not cut trees. If you cannot do the former, at least do that latter!
9. Ok, this one - I am definitely not kidding! Do not hesitate to wear your jeans/corduroys at least a couple of times more than to dump it for washing immediately. Saves - water, detergent and also reduces the amount of domestic effluent!
10. If the infrastructure in your house allows - do vermi composting for the Kitchen/garden waste.
11. Turn off your engine at long traffic signals.
12. Donate the things which are no longer useful to you instead of merely throwing them away!
13. Sleep with windows open with lots of cross ventilation instead of closing yourself shut with AC on!
14. Avoid buying items with plastic containers. Buy stuff that comes in tetra packs/glass containers. Buy them in Bulk instead of small quantities.
15. Segregate wet waste and dry waste from your house and dispose accordingly. The wet waste like kitchen waste and garden waste is composted/vermi composted. The Dry waste like paper, bottles etc should be given to a vendor and recycled. The toxic wastes like batteries, soiled bandages, E-waste – CDs, floppies etc should be landfilled.
Remember the 3 Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle! If you consciously try this, that by itself is a great contribution and will definitely make our world a better place to live in!

Shmelessness is not the word!

2009-05-31T00:34:00.004+05:30

Converstation with Nassh

Where : On call

Time : 10 PM, today

Me: Where is my HRD Book?
Nassh : You will get it tomorrow night at 8.45 PM.
Me : Does that mean that we are going out for dinner?
Nassh: hmmm.. We can. Lets go!
Me : Does that mean you are going to pay the bill?
Nassh: haan?
Me : In penalty for keeping my book for 4 months and not reading a single page from it?
Nassh : Ok OK. I will. I dont mind taking you out for Dinner.
Me : Good Boy. BTW, Benjie might also join us for dinner.
Nassh : Oh My God. Anything more?
Me : Are you not bringing me a bunch of roses?
Nassh : So far I ve not bought them for anyone other than...... But now that you ve asked for it, I will.
Me : Oh you fell for it? Goodie!
Nassh : Is that all? Anything more?
Me : That will do for the moment!

Berry Unwell

2009-05-28T01:03:00.004+05:30

Today Berry fell sick. It had a punctured tire and I noticed it only post Dinner.

It was a feeling as though your baby would fall sick and you run to a hospital. Finally got the tire changed after opening a shop which was closed.

This is Berry's first Puncture. Berry is fine now- up and running again!

The Balancing Act!

2009-05-26T23:58:00.002+05:30

Proud of being a Libran, I must talk about this - The Balancing Act!

We all know and acknowledge the fact that the Librans are naturally good at the balncing act. This story is also about a Libran and also about the balancing act - Benjie learning to ride a bike. And who is the instructor? Me, the great - another Libran!

One fine day, I and Benjie were going on our usual rounds around the Historic campus of Anna University and suddenly Benjie got soemthing like that of a pregnancy craving - She wanted to ride my Scooty!

Being a good pal, I thought I should fulfil this desire of hers. Trust me, I let her do so only after She convincing me that she actually knows how to balance - she knows to ride a cycle. Initially Benju baby underwent a short briefing about the nuances of riding a bike. Then comes the real test. I let her drive it, me sitting behind.

Benjie picked it quite well. I was very happy at someone following my instructions so meticulously. She was driving quite well on the straight road. Now I teach her how to turn. In the turnings, you must slow down the vehicle; you decelarate by appying brakes. Once you turn, you accelarate. She picked that up also quite well. Now, she becomes proud of her balancing act. She wants to show off and we turn the bike towards SAP - School of Architecture and Planning, our very own Benjie 's Dept. Now as soon as she takes the turn there, right in front of SAP, and lo, she went straight to hit onto the pavement.

This definitely drew the attention of all the people there, which was apparently her aim, but not this way! Benjie fell - Thud. I jumped out, luckily escape without any injuries! All of Benjie's juniors who were hanging around there came running to pick the bike up (Yes, yes, to pick up Benjie also!)

She and I gave oily grins to them saying thanks! I start the bike and silently drove it. Thus ended up the great balancing act of two librans - one performing and one directing!

The Institution of Marriage!

2009-05-25T22:14:00.008+05:30

The supreme court of India gave a revolutionary Verdict a few days ago : Live-In relationships are legal in India. Anybody in India, above 18 years of age is free to live with anyone else without the mandatory clause of marriage. It is acceptable.

This has created a stir amidst the Great Indian soceity - the clash between conflicting school of thoughts. Obviously, any relationship - married or a commitment-free live-in has its own pros and cons. Just give it a thought : Is Marriage an essestial requirement in life? Is it that important? What would life be if you dont get married? The more I think about it, the more interesting it becomes!

Ladies and Gentlemen, here are the Top ten reasons as to why one should not get married. The assumption is that whatever I am going to discuss here is predominantly applicable to the Indian context to a large extent. The reasons given below may not be in the order of severity or equally applicable to all of us but each of them would definitely leave you with a Deja Vu feeling if you are married.

Statutory Warning : This post may carry a number of negative connotations. If you decide not to get married after reading through this one, the author may not be held responsible!

1. The first and the foremost - the loss of freedom and liberty. This is more relavant to the women folk than the men folk. Things get worse when your in-laws are with you. When there is someone around you, being with you, it is not that it is always possible to do whatever you want to in conjunction with you and your instinct. You cant sleep when you want, wake up when you feel like, go on a drive in the middle of the night like crazy, wear your favorite shorts at home, so on and so forth..

2. The expenses incurred - HUGE. This is applicable to both men and women equally alike. The thing is that when you are a Bachelor/Spinster, you really dont spend on your house - in buying/ renting a beautiful house, spending fortunes on it - interiors, furniture, kitchen, electronic gadgets etc etc. The things which where considered to be a luxury in your bachelorhood is considered to be an absolute necessity in married life.

3. Like it or not, you will have to develop this virtue - Tolerenace; and also Patience. Most of the things which happen to you are beyond the sphere of your control. You will have absolutely no control over it. It will all happen to you but you will have no role to play in it except for being a silent spectator. For instance, Spouse going onsite and you might have to leave you job/ take a sabbatical and go along with a dependant visa. Your career takes a back seat!

4. Develop a new unwelcome skill - getting into your family/spouse's family with your married status. Those who have married would definitely agree with me. Though your equation with your spouse may be amazing, positioning yourself amidst your spouse's family, even for that matter back to your own, needs a special skill. There a few techniques like carrying a plastic smile, attending almost every insignificant family functions like ear piercing ceremonies, upanayanams, anna prasanams etc may help.

5. Things you have never done before : Learn them. This may include a range of things - from bargaining with the vegetable vendor to cleaning the attic, washing vessels to changing baby nappies.

6. The art of so called reciprocating even without receiving/knowing anything in the first place. Now you will have to play this trick quite tactfully. Each one of your in-laws and their relatives are important. You will have no clue as to which relative will jump from where and when and how, but it will happen. He/She might claim to be the most important person in the entire household. If you had not realised this or reacted a little indifferent to this person, believe me, you are dead!

7. This one you cant miss - the silly, stupid, senseless fights! If you say that a couple got married and they lived happily ever after, then there are only two possibilities : One - they are lying. Two - they are abnormal. It is too much of an idealistic scenario if an husband and wife say there are no fights and they are in perfect harmony. The fights can spring up from any damn thing - misplaced bathroom slippers, an empty toothpaste tube, unpaid electricity bill, neighbour buying a vacuum cleaner, et al, just anything. There is absolutely no basis for these kind of fights.
8. This one is deadly and can chew your brains - Tu Tu Main Main. The male ego is the culprit behind it, further accentuated by the female ego. In today's context, where both the Husband and the Wife are equally educated and working at equally placed job values, the probablity is even higher!

9. The sweet poison - Possesiveness. Or rather Obsessiveness to call it right. It is a nice feeling to know that someone is possesive about you. But at times, it gets on too much that it suffocates you. Badly.

10. The most important of all - Sacrifice. You pretty much leave most of it behind you - your Career, your home, your city, your family with the intent of starting it all afresh. It is a huge sacrifice w r to the past and a huge investment(!) w r to the future. But really dont know if it is worth to take this big a leap ahead!

Someone's recommendation to me when I mentioned that I am bogging on this "Sensitive issue": This book is a must read - Shoba De's "Spouse"

The Generation Next!

2009-05-22T23:44:00.009+05:30

It is really an interesting fact - The current generation of kids : The Generation Next!

Sometimes I really look at them with awe! Mutiple factors - The acumen, Smartness, Glib talking, shrewdness and the rationale they provide at times, the farsightedness that belies their age! But at times you also feel like bashing them up for all the big talk they do!

Sometimes it is also dreadful to imagine getting into an arguement, or, for that matter, even to strike a casual conversation with these wizards! The statements they throw at you, simply make you shut up and blink! Read on, and you will know why I say so..

I have a little cousin who was 5 years old when this happened:

I casually asked her "Who are your friends?"
She gave me a long list of names - Sushmitha, Neetha, Priya, Anamika, and the list went on and on with a long list of names of girls of her class.
"Oh, you dont have any boyfriends?" I causually threw this question thinking I was pulling her leg.
In turn it only made me realise that I was making a bulb of myself. "Ah! Boys are so boring" was her reply.

I really dint know what was in her head when she said this. What made her "feel" that boys are boring! I really dont know how many boys did she know and understand which made her categorize them as "boring"! Absolutely No comments!

Another incident which Benjie narrated:

She had been to her cousin's home for Vishu. It is general practice on Vishu, for elders in the family to give small sums of money to the children in the household, which is termed as "Vishukaineetam"! Being a responsible adult, she gives Vishukaineetam to her naughty niece.
Question to her "You have lots of money?" when she saw the Bill, which, obviously, appeared big to her, was extended to her to as a gift! Now Benjie is Dumbstruck - Should she say YES? Should she say NO? she pretty much understands, quite clearly, the complications behind giving either of the answers! It would only result in yet another bulb. As a result, her gaping mouth - zip sealed!

Our little sweetheart was then asked to touch Benjie's feet by her mother. Keeping up the tradition alive through times was the idea!

Reaction - She touched Benjie's feet with her feet. Smartness! Ah! Then the instructions were given to her with some more clarity - "Touch her feet with your hand". She puts her hand up in the air and instantaneously instructs Benjie - "You touch my hand with your feet" Oh my Gawd! These Kids have a way out of anything and everything I say.

I am sure each of you would have, definitely, come across similar encounters with the smart next Gen which would have made to wonder: Where the world is heading to? This generation is too fast to catch up with! Seriously!

Recession, Slowdown and the Downturn!

2009-05-21T23:59:00.005+05:30

The whole world speaks about it! The working professionals talk about it! The college kids talk about it! School Kids talk about it! Housewives to Retired uncles, cab drivers to Truck owners! Its on the TV! Its on the radio! On the Web! On the press! It is perhaps there - everywhere!

What is this ubiquitous talk of the town about? The great economic Recession. Some call it Slowdown. Others refer to it as the Downturn. These terms are used interchangeably by all of us. But, in reality, are they the same things? What are they? How did they enter each of our frquently used words in our Vocab?

Recession - A recession is a decline in a country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth for two or more consecutive quarters of a year. US is clearly hit by Recession today!
Slowdown - A market slowdown doesn't necessarily mean loss. It simply means less people are trading. India, as it stands today experiences a slowdown! It still, has not reached the levels of Recession.
Downturn - An economic downturn is when you start to leave the boom phase and start moving down the cycle to a recession. The current recession in a few countries and a slowdown in few others are all a phase in the Economy Downturn!

So, how did it all start?
It all started with the Sub-Prime crisis in the US, the housing market bubble burst. Lending money against homes to borrowers leading to debt defaults. Property prices fall. Home loans precolosed. Property on sale. This led to a chain reaction - Lehman brothers turned bankrupt. Stock prices fell. Companies lost money. Cost control and Cost cutting. Job losses. Obviously, when US catches a cold, the whole world sneezes! Fall from a state of Hyper growth to complete state of lull!

Every economy is sure to go through repetitive cycles of boom, slowdown and recession. Maybe its just time for all of us to redo some Economics lessons!

Namma IIT Madras!

2009-05-19T00:00:00.006+05:30

I visited the IIT Madras today. I really prefer to call namma ooru as Madras than Chennai. That is probably one of the reasons as to why I really like our IIT Madras. The pressure from different sources did not seem to matter and it is still called IIT Madras. :)

I paid a visit to this scenic campus today for some reason. It is an humungous campus touching three different areas in Chennai. Yes, it has a Main gate which touches Adyar, two side gates - one at Velachery and one at Taramani. I drove until the Taramani gate and I spotted a Blackbuck, which is tagged as endangered! Apparently, I learnt, that this happens to be the area where the Blackbuck seem to have inhabited themselves.

The Picture you find here is a picture of a Blackbuck on campus. Overall, there are only around 15 Blackbuck in the IITM campus. I found 5 of them at one shot. Perhaps, the male Blackbuck is one of the most elegant antelope I have seen.

Besides, Blackbuck I also found an Owl and sad that I could not click a pic of it!
There are huge number of Spotted deer which are common to all the Science institutes in and around Guindy - IITM, Anna Univ, Birla Planetarium, Guindy national Park and also the Raj Bhavan! If you go back to history, this is one of the non-native species which was introduced to these establishements int he 1940s.

When I got back home, I discovered that IITM houses a huge number of Fauna. There is a huge variety - Bats, Jackal, Anteater, Satrred Tortoise, varitey of snakes, Open billed storks, Water hen, Pond heron, kite, Teal, Egret, a variety of butterflies etc., Wow! Such rich Bio-diversity!

There is a foundation called Prakiti, a wild life club at IITM and you can find more information about the wide-variety of plants and animals found here.
http://hsb.iitm.ac.in/~prakriti/florafauna.html

P.S. I had read this book sometime ago - "Catch Me a Colobus" where the author Durrel speaks of his experiences of maintaining the zoo and allso about his expeditions to the forests of Africa to gather some species to add in his zoo.

http://www.durrellwildlife.org/

Pappu couldnt vote saala!

2009-05-14T22:44:00.004+05:30

Finally, the final phase of elections in India, got over. The much ado about the extrvaganza for electing the government for the world largest Democrazy has come to a standstill for the moment!

I had big plans for the election day. My Voter's ID is registered for at my Place Tirupur and was planning to go there cast the vote. The polling day fell on the 13th of May 2009 which is a Wednesday. I decided to take off on Monday and Tuesday(11th and 12th May) so that I could have 5 days for myself at a place which held my childhood memoirs! More so, I decided I will drive my little Berry along with a school time pal of mine. A looong Drive!

Everything was set - leave approvals taken, back up support in my absence arranged, route maps taken, all the important people were notified about my visit there etc., etc.,

Just a day before I could fasten my seatbelt and get, set, go.. I get a call from my buddy. There was some kind of a Labour Union problem which resulted in him being stuck up inside the factory premises unable to get out. :(

In such a scenario, what is one expected to do? My beloved dad told me not to drive home alone. No tickets available in train/bus in the last minute. Sad scenario! Plans dissoved! Leave revoked! Long face!

I could not vote! I could not exercise my right! I did not perform the smallest expected duty of a citizen!

An Ode to Mr.Nerd!

2009-05-13T21:34:00.006+05:30

Today was a reason to celebrate. Wanna know why? Read on..

Scene 1:
Date - 12th May 2009
Time - 3:00 PM
Place - My office

My phone rings - a call from Nerd. He says he is passing by my office and he said he wanted to meet me for 5 mins. I jumped out of my seat. I thought - this poor charater is travelling all the way from the city in the scorching sun and let me get him a chiller(yes, its nice once in a way to pamper people!) Met him just outside my office gates and I handed over it to him saying "Enjoy!" And you know what? He hands over to me, a dabba full of my favorite laddus and says - "This is for you. I converted the IIM-S call!" I was pleasantly surprized and was brimming with excitement! Wow!!

I know this character in life for almost 7 years now. No matter what, we have been sticking around each other like the Siamese twins! A Samaritan, Philosopher, Guide, Soulmate, a shoulder to cry on, I can call him anything! Trust me, you can count on him for any damn thing! Honestly, I look upto this great personality in adoration for the sincerity, Hard work and commitment he puts in a lot of things he ventures in. And yes, these are the virtues that made him progress in life to the summit of glory inspite of a strong felt influence of mine in his life!

Yesterday was a very special day to him. Something, which this Soulmate of mine has been trying to attain had just come to him, into his very reach. After a long wait and sleepless nights in anticipation, Yesterday was the Red lettered Day in his life, when he got his admit letter. I was more excited than him, in fact much more excited than ever!

At this juncture, let me pen down how much I owe to him in my life. I was no lesser than a street urchin in my days at Anna Univ until I met this guy. It was him, who had instilled some sense of seriousness deep inside my head. It is him, who sat besides before every examination hitting on my head and make me look into my books. It was him, who tolerated me with patience and smile everytime I got into those terrible bad moods. And the list goes on and on..

All I want tell you is - you deserve a lot of good things in life and this is one of them! I sure I will see you accomplish much more and win a lot of accolades in the days to come! All the very best! Take Care!

Pondy!

2009-05-10T21:59:00.008+05:30

Guess this blog comes a little late.
Had been to Pondicherry last weekend. It was a long weekend. 3 day vistit to Pondy with my Mysore training batchmates. Hence a little about the place which I heard and read!

Pondicherry was once a sleepy small port along the Coromental Coast, was a French colony until 1954. It is in this place did Sri Aurobindo and the "Mother" together evloved the "Intergral Yoga" for the purpose of transforming the earth making it a better place to live in.

Sri Aurobindo who was originally called Aravinda was a revolutionary Freedom fighter from Bengal, a vetaran leader also a great yogi moved to Pondicherry from Calcutta to an adesh of Lord Sri Krishna.

Mirra Alfassa was born in France - a mystic, artist and musician who had visited several countries and had lived in Japan for brief period of time. It is when she moved to Pondicherry did she realise the purpose of the occult messages she receive from the cosmos.

Mirra found the image of Krishna in the form of Sri Aurobindo and He recognised the Mother who is above all self in the form of Mirra. They together constituted the Aurobindo Ashram in the City of Pondicherry. It is there they discourced the art of "Integral Yoga" which is a synthethis of the existing yogas. The power of the Intregral Yogi was belived to have continuous interventions during the Second World War with a spiritual force saving many soldiers in the war. It is though Integral Yoga did a Special protection for Paris was provided. It is through these spiritual interventions did the mankind was saved in the Japanese attacks on Imphal. These are some of the influences of Sri Aurobindo and the mother which were known to the world. Most of the occult actions and interventions of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are still not revealed to the world.

Many people whether or not they were Sadhaks or Sadhikas, or their relatives, they came to to take shelter to the Ashram to take shelter as it was a haven for them, especially at times of war. There was also a school run in the Ashram which was personally taken care of by The Mother. She became the first teacher in the school. Some of the sessions were recorded and transcribed in different languages. These ones are still preserved at the Ashram collected in seven volumes.

In 1950, it was a voluntary yogic descent of Aurobindo's body that made him leave this physical world and there were no signs of death. His body showed no signs of decay even when it was kept for 111 hours before the burial was performed. While, the Mother made attempts to attain the supermental state where she transformed her body to a more spiritual and elevated state through her Integral yoga. Once she received this state, she left her physical body in 1973.

Those were the days!

2009-05-07T23:07:00.004+05:30

Received an email forward today - a few audio clippings of the programmes that were once featured in the Doordarshan, the official TV channel of India. Ducktales, Jungle Book, Surabhi, Malgudi Days.. How can I even forget them? I listened to them after almost their extinction!

Those were the days when the Television sets were an affair of the elite ones in the Inidan context. The Doordarshan was the only channel which was telecasted. There were quality programmes which attracted everyone in the household. I remember all of us at home waiting for Chitrhaar on wednesdays in totality. Ramayan was another such favorite of the entire family. I used to be so crazy about sundays not because I had off from school but for the reaosn that I get to watch my favorite Ducktales and Jungle Book. I used to consider Huey, Dewey and Luey to be my best pals and our little Mougli to be my super Hero. I used to even secretly fantasize wandering in the jungle with him. What craziness!

There were no reality shows which give huge sums of cash and kind to a few and make the rest cry in disappointment. No public mockery in the name of There were no teleserials with housewives as the target audience and apparently with all the rona and dhona, which run everyday promoting the sale of tissues and handkercheifs.

Life, definitely was much better! It was less materialistic! Very nostaligic! Those were the days!

Back!!

2009-04-29T00:22:00.002+05:30

Been ages since I posted. Back afresh from Dormancy. Life kept me busy in various modes with its own hues and colors. Whatever may be it, I am back in Style. Stay connected anticipating for some super interesting blogging action! Au Revoir!

Laugh Out Loud

2007-08-16T13:30:00.000+05:30

Really enjoyed this....

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human, it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah.."
The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture.
The teacher said, "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.'
A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher,she's dead."

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood,as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face."“Yes," the class said.
"Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary positionthe blood doesn't run into my feet?"
A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty."

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching."
Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.
A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples". J

One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head.
She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?"
Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and makeme cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white."
The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said,"Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"

Welcome Back APJ

2007-07-20T16:58:00.001+05:30

Anna University is all set to receive Dr. Kalam back on campus. The first citizen of India is more interested to go back and mould the young brains of India that to be a supreme commander of the defence forces!!

I remember meeting this great personality on campus in my first year of college. APJ s first visit after he bacame the President of India was planned to my campus in my second semester. And my faculty advisor told me that all the student representatives will get to meet him then. I volunteered to become the Class Representative just to meet him.Would you people believe?
One of my friends from the US had sent me his autobiography, "Wings of fire" all the way from the US of the A as a gift for my Bday and I obviously was too inspired when I read it!!

And I am very proud of the fact that I educated from the same Institution as he did!!

All the very best for your "Vision 2020" Dr.Kalam and we are so proud to have you back on campus!!!

Dr. Shilpa Shetty!!!

2007-07-20T16:20:00.000+05:30

Leeds Univ has confered Ms.Shetty with an honourable doctorate.

This is wat the press reports say:

A leading UK University today conferred an Honorary Doctorate on Indian actress Shilpa Shetty for her outstanding contribution to cultural diversity. Describing it as a "huge honour" and promising to live up to "expectations," 32-year-old Mangalore-born Shetty received the honour from Leeds Metropolitan University at a special ceremony in Leeds this morning. "It came as a huge surprise to me and I am really humbled by the gesture," the Bollywood actress said.

Shilpa Shetty was earlier presented with a Special IIFA award for the global impact of her "Big Brother" victory at the India International Film Academy Awards in Yorkshire. Shilpa Shetty is the youngest actor from the Indian film fraternity to join the ranks of Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi and Yash Chopra who have so far been conferred with the honour. "Sharing the platform with great stalwarts like Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan), Yashji (Yash Chopra), and Shabanaji (Shabana Azmi) is a huge honour," she said. Thanking the University for selecting her for the Doctorate, she said: "You have bestowed this great honour on me and I promise to act responsibly. I have tried my best to do my best in whatever I have done in my life and I am going to continue to do so." A spokeswoman of the University told PTI that selecting Shilpa for the Doctorate was part of its efforts to honour prominent Indian movie personalities who have contributed to the country's emergence as a fast developing cinema-proud nation.

Well, well, well. I have my own comments. Is it because of the controversy that arouse in the Big Brother show? Or something which she received from Richard Gere fetched her the honour? the answer could be "No" But then, I definitely can comment that these two episodes had definitely paid some dividends that brought her this laurel!!!

Point to Ponder

2007-07-13T15:03:00.000+05:30

Everything in this world can be seen as you wish to.

Good or Bad;

Simple or Complicated;

Easy or Difficult.
Its not how things are; its about how you look upto them. ..

and how you look up to them is all upto you.

But the misfortunate part for most of us is that, we look only at the worst, most complicated and most difficult things as the integral part of life.

Am I guilty??

2007-07-11T14:34:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I was on my bike rushing to the Infy Guest House to catch my Bus. It was already 7:05 AM and the bus was supposed to start from the Guest house at 7:15 AM. I was on full speed on my Scooty.

As I was heading to the main road from the side street of my house, a white little kitten ran into the wheels suddenly from some side cut.Neither did it notice the vehicle. I applied brakes. But it was too late. It had already been hit. I was too scared to stop. But gathering some guts, I turned back to see what is its state. It was lying there. I was beginning to feel guilty. after another 2 seconds, I turned for the second time. It was still lying there. My eyes started to water. But I had to catch the bus. So accelerated and speeded straight to the Guest House.

After parking, I was beginning to contemplate if I should go back, pick up the poor little kitten and take it to the Blue Cross. I called up a friend and narrated the whole incident. He said that the Kitten should be fine and not to worry much. The very same moment, the bus came and I got in. My college mate was sitting besides me nad was generally beginning to chit-chat with me. I was in no mood. Put on the radio on my phone and closed my eyes. The sight of the lying on the road was unwinding and rewinding in my mind.

Though I came ot office and was looking into other things, the whole episode was running in my mind. It was not my mistake. Neither was it my carelessness. Should I have gone back and took it to hospital? Am I guilty?

Someone rightly told me, "Somethings in life are not very sweet and we can do nothing about it."

Kadalai Kumaran to Kalyana Kumaran!!!

2007-07-10T16:29:00.000+05:30

This time its Kumaran... I met him for a long time, after a long time I should say. The thing is that I happened to bump into this guy every now and then at office but everytime, I was preoccupied with with something or the other. Today when he called me, I made it a point that I will meet him. Had I not met today, he would have definitely murdered me. This guy Kumaran is one of the good friends I had in college. Thanks to Ash for introducing this great personality to me!

This guy is pretty famous in the LH for whatsoever reasons and known for his acquiantances with gals. Th entire college knows him by the name 'Kadalai Kumaran'. (I am sorry kums I had to say it here lest people will not recognise u ;) )He was the most frivolous guy as I observed him in college. Fun loving and absolutely not ambitious. One fine day he calls me in the middle of the night and says, "Write me a testi on orkut" and when i asked why, he says "Just write it." (And BTW, Mr.Kums, u r supposed to write me one in return for the favour. Mind it!!)

Our man has his own complaints that I am of no use to him.
Reasons being,
1. I am a good friend of his and hence he cant flirt with me.
2. I hardly have gal friends and hence he does not get any introductions through me.
3. When I want something to be done I play around with my contacts and get things done.

and his complaint list goes on and on. His net remark is that "Athia is of no use."

Fine. Jokes apart, Kums, as we call him with a lot of affection, is entirely a different person today. There is some kind of seriousness instilled in his head from somewhere. He says he s a good boy and does not drink much. He does not go to parties and prefers to stay at home. Home baby!!!

And I figured out the reason to be "Someone" and not something. Yes folks, Kums is serious about someone and she happens to be from his community and native. This might c0me as a shock to us that Kums is planning to get married next year. Maximum he would postpone is another year!!!!! At the tender age of 23!!! And the best thing is that he s preparing for it!!

Wish you great luck Mr. Kumaran!!!!

This is a good one!!

2007-06-21T12:04:00.000+05:30

Topsy Turvy turns!!

2007-04-28T15:01:00.000+05:30

Life is taking a lot of topsy turvy turns!!! Lots of new things happening in the familial, personal and professional end. Streamlining it all seems to be a difficult job!!

Conditioned Reflex Action of IT Junta!!

2007-04-20T09:18:00.001+05:30

If we actually start looking at the IT folks, like the Pavlov and the dog experiment and its findings on conditioned reflexes, there could be many more interesting ones. Here are a few, I could think about.

* Somebody asks - This weekend I am looking for a get away of about 200-300 KM car drive. Any idea, what are the places I can visit around Hyderabad? Also, please do provide me with the path. Side effects of being in the IT field. ‘route’ becomes path!

* The other day I was hearing one guy talking of a “Standalone” house, when he was actually intending a independent house. Poor broker shud have tuff time trying to find a " Alone house standing in a huge empty area"

*Some days back my bike stopped as the petrol came to reserve. I told my friend I need to restart my bike!

*Few of my friends and myself decided to go out for dinner. The place wasn’t fixed yet. I said we shall decide it “run time”

*Once at home I opened the tap to find that water is not coming, I call my Roomie and tell her that there is some error in the pipeline and water is not coming!

*I always wondered why mobile phones do not having Cntrl+C/Cntrl+V facilities?

*How many times i ended up bulbing by cntrl+alt+Del ing my home PC!!

*Dial '0' on the home phone and wait for the dial-tone!!

*Someone goes to a theatre from office directly, He ends up showing his ID card to the guy at the entrance and walked in and that guy had to call him back asking for the ticket.

*I go to some place to wash my hands. I just show my hands up and wait for the water to wash it, forgetting I need to turn something on.

*How many times I thought why don’t we have Ctrl+Z in real life…!

Our Hero!!

2007-04-14T21:33:00.000+05:30

Today s schedule for the class said, MC2. As usual, pradeep and I go to the class and then analyse what this MC2 could be. And then it strikes me - Mock CAT2. And here, we happened to go without any preparation(Is it even expected??) and most importantly, without HB pencils. I called up Boopalan and he just started from home, managed to catch him on time luckily and made him bring pencils for all three of us. Just when I hung up it struck me that I should have asked to bring erasers too. Never mind like the JIT compiler, he started Just In Time to reach. Already, he will be late. Calling him up once again will only make him later. Anyway he did have presence of mind and bought us erasers. And Sharpener too. I am impressed!! But then I later discovered it was a Super Mock - Mock CAT for a duration of 1.5 hours vs the actual 2.5 hrs. I did much better than last time and was able to attend more number of questions and was able to manage time better than before.

We had actually reached the class early. As we where waiting, some gal jumps from the middle of nowhere and says a very cheerful "Hiiiiiiiii" to Pradeep. He also got excited on seeing some junior of his from college. Both of them stood at the front of the class much to their envy and go on and on talking, providing entertainement to the class. The very look of the way this guy drooling was definitely worth watching!! Some words like LIC, PVR, Seetharaman etc were uttered which made me guess that the gal was from the same dept as he was.

After the entire scene was over, I ask him, "What were you discussing?" He says she was generally asking about career and companies and that he was promptly guiding her. But then, I have a doubt. Will a "Personal Career Guidance" session always be accompanied by all smiles and exchanging of romantic looks? Hmmmmmmmm. No more further comments at the Career Counsellor. ;)

My next question to him was, "What is her name?" and he replies with an oily grin "I dont know. I thought it will be too rude to ask her now." Good God Gracious!! This guy spoke to a Gal in front of the whole class for 30 mins without even knowing what her name was. Exceptional talent!!

The highlight of the entire episode was that, the gal actually decided to stay behind and take the mock test in our classroom rather than going back to her classroom and attend her class. And she did!!! Sooooooooooo much of fan falling!!! So Machoman, what magic did you cast on her????

Story of Corporate Lives!!

2007-04-12T09:21:00.000+05:30

So big and so small yet they serve the same purpose!!!

2007-04-10T23:02:00.001+05:30

Men??? Incorrigible!!!

2007-04-09T14:24:00.000+05:30

An old woman had 3 daughters. One day she decided to test herSons-in-law.One day she was walking along a lakeshore with the first son-in-law.

Purposefully, she fell down in the lake and started yelling for help.The first son-in-law jumped into the water and dragged her out into theshore.

The next day he found a brand new Mercedes in his door steps with thewordings "Thank you!!!-Your Mother-in-law who loves you very much!!!"

Another day she was walking along a lakeshore with the secondson-in-law. Purposefully, she fell down in the lake and started yelling for help.The second son-in-law jumped into the water and dragged her out into the shore.

The next day he found a brand new Mercedes in his door steps with thewordings "Thank you!!!-Your Mother-in-law who loves you very much!!!"

The third time she was walking with the third son-in-law and sherepeated the same. But that guy didn't respond to her cries for helpanddidnt move a single step to save her.

The poor old lady who wanted to test her sons-in-law drowned and died.......

The next day he found a Rolls-Royce in his doorsteps with the followingwordings ...... .

"Thank you very much! Your Father-in-law!!!"

The Weekend and The Namesake

2007-04-09T10:21:00.000+05:30

After a nice nap on the saturday afternoon post a good lunch, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready forcefully bringing the study mood. Pradeep and I ended up getting the biggest bulb on saturday where We went all the way to the TIME class. No classes! We call up another friend of ours with the good intention to inform him that there are no classes and he need not come all the way and bulb like we did. But then, he already knew that there were no classes. He could have informed us. Heights of being mean!

Ok, no class, so what? Time to party!! Went to beach, had some chat, met a couple of college mates. Both of them are Pradeep s classmates. One of them got into IIFT and another had cals from XLRI but unfortunately dint convert. "That guy is a pro in vocabs" Pradeep told me secretly. We were generally discussing about blogs and blogging etc.

Sunday! plans of studying -- Procrastination of studying till afternoon failed miserably all completely. There was no class and hence, make the best use of it this time. Post lunch was a movie. "The Namesake and if we dont get it we are watching Provoked" it was me this time. There was a comment after hearing this, "I dont find you contemplating for anything of late, you seem to be pretty clear in what you want to do and what you dont want to do. Transition, for the Good!" from Pradeep s side. I like it. Dude, you made my day!!

So, it was "The Namesake". The review made the movie sound very nice. The story which revolves around two worlds, two generations and two life styles was keep simple and to the point. The contrasts between the 2 parts of the world are brought out beautifully without much of hype.No dragging and no beating around the bush. Besides, portraying a typical American life, there was picturisation potraying a lot of social "Activity". The person I dragged along with to the movie said, "So you said its a very nice movie"with a smirk on his face.

More than the much of "social activity" in the movie, there was a higher degree of it happening to my right and left ;) Hmm school kids.. Too too much. Not going into the details. Finger on my lips!!!

Anyway it was a good weekend.

If it is to be, it is upto me!!!

2007-04-05T13:51:00.000+05:30

Read this somewhere:

He was short. He was sharp. He was the brightest boy in his class. His seniors would ask him to solve their difficulties in Science. He could havegone unnoticed in the crowd, but once you asked him a question related toPhysics or Maths, there was a spark in his eyes. He could grasp theories of Science faster than the speed of light.

He came from a poor but educated family. His father was a high-schoolteacher and an avid reader of English literature. He, like all the boys in the class was trying to get admission into some engineering college. The brighter ones wanted to study in Indian Institutes of Technology. There was an entrance test for IIT. This boy, along with his friends applied to appear for the test. They did not have any special books or coaching. All these IIT aspirants would sit below the shade of a stone mantap close toChamundi hills in the sleepy town of Mysore. He was a guide for others.While the others struggled to solve problems in the question paper, he would smile shyly and solve them in no time. He sat below a tree and dreamt of studying at IIT. He was then only sixteen years old.

D-Day came. He came to Bangalore, stayed with some relatives and appearedfor the entrance test. He did very well but would only say "OK" when asked.It was the opposite when it came to food...."OK" implied bad, "good"implied ok, and "very good" implied good!! His principle was never to hurt anyone....The IIT entrance results came. He had passed with flying colors and the highest rank. He was thrilled! He went to his father who was reading a newspaper.

"ANNA, I have passed the exam"
"Well done, My Boy"
"I want to join IIT."
His father stopped reading the paper. He lifted his head, looked at the boy and said with a heavy voice, "You know our financial position, and I cannot afford your expenses at IIT. You can stay in Mysore and learn as much as you want. "

His father was sad that he had to tell the bitter truth, but it could not be helped.The teenager was disappointed. He was so near to fulfilling his fondest dream, yet so far. His heart sank in sorrow. He did not reply. He never shared his unhappiness with anyone. He was an introvert by nature. His heart was bleeding but he did not get angry with anyone.

The day came his classmates were leaving for Madras (today called Chennai).They were leaving from Mysore to Chennai. They had shared goodyears at school and he went to wish them good luck for their future. At the station his friends were already there. They were excited and discussing their new hostels, new courses etc. So he stood there silently. One of his friends noticed and said "You should have made it" He did not reply .Hejust wished them. He stood there even after he could no longer see the train or the waving hands. It was June 1962 in Mysore. Yet he stood theremotionless.

He said to himself, without anger or jealously," All studentsfrom IITs study well and do big things in life. But it is not the institution; ultimately it is you and you alone who can change your life byHard work".

This son of a school teacher became a pioneer of India's Software industry. He is Infosys founder and Chief Mentor, Narayana Murthy.

His motto being,” Powered by intellect, Driven by Values"

Could this also be reality??

2007-04-03T18:18:00.001+05:30

The woods were lovely dark and deep. Walking slowly beside her, in the damp mud road, was her husband whom she barely knew. He was very relaxed, happily watching a group of kids playing at a distance.

Her "mehandi" was still dark and smelling fresh, reminding of the excitements and tension 2 days back. "It cant work this way mom...please stop this", she kept telling her mother till the last moment, who wouldnt listen but carry on with beautifying her. She had been crying all night and her make-up had to be patched up twice or thrice to hide her awkwardly swollen face.It was too late now. She had to get married "NOW" to the guy...The guy whom she had seen once and talked thrice, the guy about whom she knew nothing at all but for his name and work.

Everything happened in a hurry and everything was over before she could breathe again... here was she with this guy, all alone in this hill station... how can anybody send their daughter such a long distance with a stranger???"Hey look at that!!!" he shouted in excitement... she shrugged and looked where his finger pointed... Bright colored balloons dotted the sky. Children were jumping in joy and he seemed to be completely absorbed into it...colors are always exciting...but not now. She was not with her friends, not with her teammates, not even with her parents. This was not a 3 day tour or team building trip. This was her life and she has been forced to start off with this person.

Loneliness and discomfort with this stranger was sickening...She looked at him in wonder... does he even realize that he has married me? Does he understand that he has to love me, protect me, and care for me, a new girl, a stranger, all his life?

The marriage morning started like a daylight nightmare for her. The first time in life she felt she should have fallen in love and then married somebody. Some man who she would have felt more comfortable with, someone whom she could call by name and introduce to friends, someone whom she could trust. But marriage morning was obviously not the time to think all these.

Her parents would never have said "no" if she had declared that she was in love. But she was not emotionally attached to anybody she met, especially guys. She was very friendly, playing, teasing, but never had second thought for any man around her. That brought the entire responsibility of looking for a groom on her parents' shoulders.

Her parents had had a very bad time with this entire process. They started their groom search with unending "&" operation. The concatenation of "Horoscope matching" &amp; "Decent family" & "Good looking" & "Good pay" & "same cast" & so on... that always gave 0 output. Now after all that 8 months of hunt, they were not ready to hear her "ifs" and "buts" for this 'good guy'.

She had explained to her father. She does not feel anything for this person. He is nothing more to me than any other software professional. Like list of names she sees in the chat rooms. Distant and usual...Her father asked her to talk to him, meet him and discuss their likes and dislikes. That meeting started like the induction programme self introduction and ended like a 3 hour seminar. She was waiting to get away from that place.

"So did you talk with him?"
"Yes".
"Was he polite and decent?”
"Yes"
"Oh he got that special flavoured tri-color ice cream...!!!"
OK.
All her family and relatives discussed...She was given the chance to "understand her life partner" and that they have understood each other "well" and she is ready for the marriage now. All arrangements geared up and it was 24 days after her first meeting that she was getting married to her man... perfect match as everybody else described.

Marriage hall was full with excited people, kids got the chance to play, and ladies got the chance to wear the silk saree. Thesmell of rose and jasmine filled the hall. Different poses for the photographer and artificial smiles for the videos. The moment he had tied the sacred thread was unexplainable vacuum in the head. It was over. She was his wife, accepted by the society and law. Her proud parents were relaxed. This was their duty they had been planning to fulfill since she was born. This entire crowd will fade away; leaving her to explore her new world...

He pulled her hand gently to sit on the stone bench. The bench was wet and the chillness was indeed enjoyable. "So what are you thinking about?"... That was an unexpected ball. Should she reply? Should she be silent? She remembered the two hour presentation she had taken last month. Bold and confident, she kept answering all the queries with a broad smile. Now she remained silent.

"Do you know honey I was not for this marriage too?" Oh my God... what did I hear??? Did HE tell that or did I think aloud? What does he mean? Didn’t he like me? Was he forced into this? He must have noticed the quizzical look on my face...with a gentle smile he continued..."I wanted to look for a girl myself, buy her everything, care for her, argue with her, laugh and cry with her, then get married to her... Anything otherwise would be a drama. Traditional drama and I was not for it anytime. But my love for my work and also my stress would not give me time and mind to search that girl...

When your parents talked to me 2 weeks before our marriage, about your fear of getting married to a stranger, I could completely understand your mind. I could see myself in you and that was the moment I decided I will marry you. There was no time to prove myself to you, make you trust me, everything happened in a hurry. But there was the entire life before me, to please you, to love you, to make you trust me. This is no less than what I had dreamt, the girl I was waiting for, is you. Now tell me... will you love me???" Tears came down her cheek. Her parents had done more than their duty. They had found her the perfect guy. Thank you Mom!!! Thank you Dad!!!

His question remained unanswered yet both knew the answer....

Am not Humpty Dumpty but had a great fall!!

2007-03-30T13:48:00.000+05:30

Today morning, half-sleepy I was, as though I am sleep walking i get off the bus. the moment I stepped on the second step on the foot board, i trip-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 corporate issue but me falling down. 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" Thanks a lot senior sweetie pie!!!

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

Something to know

2007-03-29T10:26:00.000+05:30

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!!

2007-03-26T10:15:00.000+05:30

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 ?

2007-03-24T14:36:00.000+05:30

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!!

2007-03-24T09:28:00.000+05:30

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!!!

2007-03-23T16:26:00.000+05:30

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

2007-03-15T16:51:00.000+05:30

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!!

2007-03-14T21:49:00.000+05:30

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!

2007-03-13T14:19:00.000+05:30

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

2007-03-13T09:45:00.000+05:30

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!

2007-03-10T22:39:00.000+05:30

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?

2007-03-08T09:40:00.000+05:30

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!!!!!!

2007-03-04T12:15:00.000+05:30

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 or whatever you call it) fetched that single sheet of paper which is worthless to each of us there!! It was a joyous occasion and also a moment of glory to each of us.

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!!

2007-03-02T10:37:00.000+05:30

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 sorted road for rides. More than the ride, what was more enjoyable and interesting was the things he told me - about China, about people, attitude etc 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 dextrous, 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 mudered 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 kalachchufy the ones who bet the hell out of us when we were in college.

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

Hell and Heaven!

2007-02-28T14:09:00.000+05:30

Read this somewhere:

A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said,"Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like." The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man lookedin. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man'smouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appearedto be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that werestrapped to their arms and each of them found it possible to reach into the pot of stew, and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoon back into their mouths.The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. TheLord said, "You have seen Hell."They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same asthe first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew,which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with thesame long-handled spoons, but here the people were well-nourished and laughingand talking.The holy man said, "I don't understand." "It is simple" said the Lord, "it requires but one skill." "You see, they have learned to feed each other,while the greedy only think of themselves."

Good one na?

Of life and life-saving..

2007-02-27T22:40:00.000+05:30

Many of the Bollywood movies would potray a scene wherein a patient will be taken to the hospital only to hear the doctors say, "Had you brought him/her 30 mins early we could have saved him/her". Even in real this may be pretty much possible and could happen to any of us, anytime.

In todays busy world everyone seems to be busy.The haste with which we expect things to happen, the sheer insensitivity, and the absence of civic responsibilty is the root cause for such miseries to happen. Almost everyday, on the way back home, I find atleast one ambulance getting struck in the Guindy traffic. Adding futher to the tragedy is the mismanagement in traffic control that happens despite the traffic police on duty. No one seems to show even a least bit of concern for the poor soul at distress.

Every evening I hear the sirens go on and on at the junction only to fall on deaf ears. For atleast 15 mins, there is an inescapable wait for the ambulance.The traffic seems to be an unanswerable problem. The presence of the traffic constable doesnt even make a difference. When there is not enough clearance for the ambulance to pass by, there are no efforts to make way for the ambulance carrying a soul fighting for life.

Even if slightest of common sense is given a chance, this problem could be resolved. The traffic cops can easily stop the timed functioning of the traffic signals and open the traffic so that the vehicles preceding the ambulance can clear out and pave way for the amulance to pass by. Then the normal routines can be continued.

A couple of days ago, there was a report on NDTV about the number of deaths that happen on the way to the Hospital, in the ambulance, getting struck in the traffic. Every week atleast 2 or 3 cases are reported in Mumbai alone. And the figures for the whole of India??? You fill in the blanks!!!

Also yesterday, when we reached office and was about to alight the bus, there were a bunch of people block the bus to enter the Infy gate. They had come down to protest against what had happened the previous night. The reason being that there was someone in the adjoining vilagecritically ill and had to be taken to the hospital. They had come to ask for the infy ambulance. The security guard had dismissed their request stating that he does not have permission to do so. The patient finally died in the midst of the wait for medical help.

I would say, the Security Guard could have spoken to the authorities and could have given teh ambulance to the villagers. Or even at the worst case, could have taken a decision on his own to give it. Saving a life was much more important than the hierarchical order of doing things and not by passing the order.

Even if an ambulance was not supposed to be taken for saving a life, then wat kind of a Social conciousness are we speaking about in corporates? Is it all worth the say? Will there be some change in our moral responsibilites atleast in the days to come? Only time will answer this question.

Eventful Day today!!

2007-02-22T22:12:00.000+05:30

Before i could eloborate anything, let me tell u, i had a gr8 day today!!

i am now released from my project. so thought i head to MCity to see wats happenoing there. It felt so nice to be there after being in Sholz for soemtime. here I go away from the hustle and bustle of shols!!! MCity is a lot calmer, Greener and welcoming than sholz.

It felt so nice to meet old friends again. The same breakfast fun, hopping into everybody s cube and paying courtesy visits. Wow!! ya ya i do agree all this is signs of joblesness but being jobless once in a way is actually nice!!!

Today i accomplishedone important job. Well, will let out the secret if it materialises!!

Evening to beach with babe and D1. overall, it was a funfilled and eventful day!! :) :)

Brooks' law

2007-02-21T23:09:00.000+05:30

This is something interesting i read:

Brooks' law was stated by Fred Brooks in his 1975 book The Mythical Man-Month as "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later." Likewise, Brooks memorably stated "The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned." While Brooks' law is often quoted, the line before it in The Mythical Man-Month is almost never quoted: "Oversimplifying outrageously, we state Brooks' Law."

The reason for the seeming contradiction is that software projects are complex engineering endeavors, and new workers on the project must first become educated in the work that has preceded them; this education requires diverting the resources already working on the project, temporarily diminishing their productivity while the new workers are not yet contributing meaningfully. Each new worker typically must "ramp up" in this way with not only one, but multiple engineers who must educate the new worker in their area of expertise in the code base, day by day.

A commonly understood implication of Brooks' law is that it will be more productive to employ a smaller number of very talented (and highly paid) programmers on a project than to employ a larger number of less talented programmers, since individual programmer productivity can vary greatly between highly talented and efficient programmers and less talented programmers. However, Brooks' law does not mean that starving a project of resources by employing fewer programmers beyond a certain point will get it done faster.

Possible solution

The common way around the constraints of Brooks' law is to segment the problem into smaller sub-problems, each of which can then be solved by a smaller team, and to have a top-level team that is responsible for systems integration. However, this method relies on the segmentation of the problem being correct in the first place; if done incorrectly, this can make the problem worse, not better, by impeding communication between programmers working on parts of the problem which are actually closely coupled, even when the project plan has decreed that they are not.
Architecture provides another component of a solution to Brooks' law. When the software application is designed around a stable design pattern, then the rest of the programming team(s) can work within the framework of that pattern. The design pattern defines the rules that the programmers follow and provides consistency and scale-ability. Brooks' law, however, still applies when building out the components of the design pattern or the development framework.
Some authors (see Creating a Software Engineering Culture by Karl E. Weigers, for example) have stressed the importance of the social and political aspects of the work climate as determiners of the effectiveness of individual programmers and the project team as a whole. Rather than depending on "heroes" to carry the day with extraordinary efforts, Weigers argues that a team of ordinarily-skilled individuals can repeatedly deliver timely results in the right work environment. Efforts to improve the effectiveness of teams can ameliorate, if not eliminate, the consequences of Brooks' law.

Open source software development

Some would claim the programming practices associated with open source software development allow open source projects to defy the predictions of Brooks' law, but this is not true. A late Open-source software project will become even later if additional developers are added for the reasons addressed above.

Application to other disciplines

Brooks' law's applicability to other disciplines varies depending upon the nature of the work. In any area where the work products are commodities, the law does not apply. For example, on a late construction project, one can employ additional dump trucks to haul refuse faster, without suffering the time penalty. The function of hauling refuse can be performed by anyone who possesses a minimal level of skill and a truck. Nothing differentiates one truck from the next, and no additional communication or training is required to commence the additional hauling. The requirement to get the new truck drivers up to speed is minimized and the resultant additional communications channels do not exist; truck drivers do not need to talk to other truck drivers in order to haul the refuse.

This is in sharp contrast to the typical work of software engineers, whose work is impacted both by the need to train and educate new workers, and by occasional mistakes that new workers are expected to make before they are fully familiar with the software project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks%27_law

It Happens Only in India!!!

2007-02-21T19:55:00.000+05:30

Had been to College a couple of days ago to submit my application for the Convocation.
Yes ppl!! even I am getting a Degree. He he.

and then hopped into my Guide s room paying him a courtesy visit. He was talking to Congo, my favorite research scholar. and btw, by calling him my favorite I am obviously being sarcastic.
Wel then broke into my HOD s office. He was more than happy to see me. After all, I am one of the best students the University has produced.. he he

Wel, his son works in Trilogy and obviously, he was wel informed about how s/w firms function, the work-culture, the attitude of the people working there etc.. he was talking to me about it. Just then Dr.Rabbit hopped in with a pile of papers for some attestation. They were placing orders for books for the Department library and just then, The Head cited an intersesting situation to me. It seems that UGC has sanctioned 1 crore for the department fund. But then, more interestingly, they have to spend all the fund within 20 days or else, this fund will be carried over as opening balance for the next cycle and apparently, less fund will be allocated next year. So they all are bent upon spending the entire crore within 20 days.

Adding up to the tricky situation is that, for any kind of purchase or any kind of infrastructure development process, there is a long process which cant be by-passed. It appears to be another variant of Murphy's law. When you have money to spend, you cannot spend it but it has to be spent. Helpless they are!

Well, it always happens at Indian Goverment organisations. The speed with which things happen is obviously like that of a snail. The only way to speed them up is B&C (of course Bribery & Corruption) like tat of the story of Donkey and the carrot!!!

For everything, there s a well defined absolutely a complicated way which nobody knows how to simplify. We all would have experienced it in some form or the other in Government offices may it be electricity Board, a voters ID, or some kind of NOC or an approval and many more to add on.

Question is does it happen only in India?

Nature - let us conserve share and care!!

2007-02-10T13:01:00.000+05:30

I happened read an article from The Hindu few days ago. It was speaking about how Chennai’s garbage disposal has become ineffective in every which way. It spoke about how Garbage disposal has become the most difficult job practically. There was a simile brought out in the article. It is something like this: If you have a garbage bin in the kitchen and you can only dump garbage and cannot empty it. You keep on dumping waste over and over on it. You can’t empty it but only got the choice of filling it!!! How disgusting could it turn your living at home?

The scenario in Chennai is also pretty much the same. There are 3 dumping grounds and all of them fully loaded. They can’t be emptied. All the garbage is being stacked from the bottom up. There s no way out. Though there was some initiative to collect garbage separately as wet waste and dry waste, the enthu to do so, lasted only a few days amidst our people.

Actually, the effective way to organized waste disposal will be something like this. The wastes are to be segregated as wet, dry and toxic wastes.

Typical examples of wet waste would be the kitchen and the garden wastes. They are to be composted or vermin-composted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost

The recyclable things like paper, glass, metal scrap etc would fall under dry wastes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycle

The toxic wastes, say for example battery cells, bandages and expired medicines are to be landfilled.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill

Perhaps most important of all is to reduce the amount of garbage we dump everyday. Carrying our own shopping bag rather than getting a plastic bag every time we shop, carrying our own water bottle rather than buying a PET bottle every time, or carrying your own sandwich box than wrapping in aluminum foil - al these are small small things which will make a big big difference to our environment. If we have not thought about it before its high time we start thinking about it.

This is the golden mantra we should remember if we don’t want our beautiful earth to turn from bad to worst - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

DV and VC!!

2007-02-09T13:26:00.000+05:30

This morning I was sitting in FC having my grub. There were a bunch of people sitting in my table. Freshers just joined, looks like. The reason why I say this is because they had this book, ‘Five Point Someone’ by Chetan Bhagat with them and they seem to be excited about it.

And then, to my suprize, they started speaking about DV, our very own VC. Looks like they just had their convocation. Swearing him throughout the discussion. It reminded me the days in Anna University. Hmm.. adventures!!!

My 3 rd semester, we had to take a subject, Basic Mechanical Engineering. And guess wat, DV was my faculty. The first entire week we never had any classes. We would not have a class as usual, we thought. That ‘we’ stands for me and Mithuna of course!! And that particular BasicMech Class followed the recess. We hopped into the canteen and happily walked backed to class some 20 mins after it was supposed to actually start. As we were walking on the verandah, approaching the classroom, a bunch of my class guys were frantically waving their hands towards us gesturing us not to enter t he class. We were puzzled but we walked ahead. The moment we stepped in, adding to even more suspense, we found half the class standing on the little platform near the writing board. We were totally lost. Absolutely no clue of what exactly was happening!

“Welcome!” sounded a voice from the middle of crowd. He walked out and proudly introduced himself, “I am your Mechanical Engineering Professor”. “Have you people come here for a fancy dress contest? Don’t you know the university dress code?” he continued. What fancy dress? What university dress code? We were all wondering. Finally, I understood that we were all wearing Jeans and T shirt. Oh ho. Are there some written rules about the dress culture at all in Main Campus was the first question.

The first day was more a Moral Science lecture than a Mechanical engineering class. In addition to which was his non-stop self praise that he assisted APJ in the making of the Agni missile. And then, he was the founder of the AVRC, the Department of Media Sciences in the main campus.
We all were puzzled than anything else looking helplessly at each other’s faces.

The next day, it was even worse. Someone sitting in the first row was biting his nails. He started his most imaginative and powerful thought oriented lecture. If you bite your nails, you end up swallowing them. They will rupture the walls of the intestine. You will get ulcer. It might result in cancer. Inference was ‘Biting nails may lead to cancer’!!! Folks, did you ever knew it?? Heights of it!!!!!

This went on for a week. The same kind of lectures continued for a week. He was teaching us “Thermo-dynamics”. Every class, he will write
thermo = heat
dynamics = motion

on the board. This was the only thing I learnt in the entire tenure of his process of teaching us Mechanical engineering. And then he went on with his usual non-stop non sense. For al the big talk he does, some thing is rotten and moth-eaten about him. I may sound like as thought I am being brutal cynic. But you end up commenting this way when you are ‘frustrated to the core’.

Many such incidents followed for a week and then he was replaced by another Lecturer due to some reason. What an escape!!!

Now, this guy who was incapable of delivering a single lecture in Mechnaical engineering is the Vice-Chancellor of the most reputed Anna Universtity, one of the biggest universities which encompass 256 engineering colleges and over 2 lac students. Pretty strange!

I don’t have to say anything about his new policies in the college government - the Dress Code, the cell phone ban, the ban on movie club in college, ban on the culturals and many more to add on. Well the essential part of enhancing the management of a university should be towards its educational policy or towards developing the infrastructure or towards faculty enablement. This kind of measures which have been taken are not going to lead one step ahead towards the betterment or upliftment.

A message from blank noise

2007-02-04T22:19:00.000+05:30

For those of you who dont know wat BlankNoise is, its an organisation formed to voice out against the day to day issues women undergo, the sensitive ones, in particular. This is the mail i received from blanknoise reg their latest project. and a humble request to those who are reading this blog. Please do not stop here, Go on...

Hello,

Last year just before March 8, International Women's Day, Blank Noise set up a blog-a-thon , linking all of you and many other readers not on our mailing list, to each other through a particularly sensitive and private subject - the re-telling of experiences of street sexual harassment. We thought the solidarity in numbers, the anonymity the Internet offers and the significance of the day itself might allow some people to tell stories they had never told before. We expected some thoughtful stories, some provocative ones, some that would disturb and stay with us, perhaps forever.

But we did not expect over 240 deeply personal testimonials to come rushing out. We did not expect 131 comments on a single post. We did not expect the media to pick it up the way they did, with coverage ranging from regional to international.
This March 8, we're hoping to take the journey begun last year one step forward. We've heard each other's testimonials, now let's share each other's actions. On March 8, 2007, Blank Noise launches an Action Heroes website, which collects no 'victim' testimonials, no stories of bit-back hurt, no stories of indifferent onlookers.

This archives and builds your testimonials of a situation where you emerged as the hero! This space will launch with the stories of action plans. Give us your strategies. Your interventions. The time when you subverted a situation, flipped it on its head and gave the 'perpetrator' no chance but to stop what he was doing. Give us your success story. Tell us which action hero you are. We will post strategies and interventions from eight countries up on our brand new space on International Women's Day.

We're also looking for volunteers to help on this project:
1) Technical support to construct the website
2)Volunteers to collect strategies from those who cannot access the Internet or cannot write: either writing down what they say, translating and/or recording audio (if anyone has a problem accessing recording equipment, we can help)
3)Media outreach

Please email us if you can think you can help out: this is a two-month project only and we could do with all hands on board! Especially with reaching out to people who might not be on the Internet or able to write....

We will have lots more details for you when you email blurtblanknoise@gmail.com , the words "march 8 volunteer" in the subject line.And of course, start writing straight away! A sample piece along with guidelines is attached as a PDF file to this email.Hope to hear back soon!

The Blank Noise team

Here is the content of the PDF they had sent:

Here are some brief guidelines for what we're looking for, from Action Heroes:
The action heroes blog is separate from the kind of testimonial space we created on March 8
last year - it is about coping and strategising when you've been harassed. Have you ever
turned the tables and established a completely different relationship with the perpetrator thus
ending the harassment?
Like Jasmeen, who started the Blank Noise Project in 2003, often photographs men who
stare at her or act lewd, thus quickly flipping power relations and actions.
Like Atreyee Day, who described an effective way she’d coped in Kolkata, with this incident:
http://blanknoiseactionheroes.blogspot.com/2006/11/from-atreyee-day.html
The blog isn't launched yet. It will be when you send in your strategies and those that you've
been able to collect.
But essentially, we're asking for:
How different women have coped with street sexual harassment/ or dealt with it by turning the
tables around.
In Atreyee's case the man in question shifted from being a lewd perpetrator to someone a bit
more vulnerable, who shared his childhood instead - and it happened because
1. She looked beyond the harassment
2. She developed her own strategy
Tell us about the situation that didn't cow you down. Which action hero are you? Send us a
post marked 'action hero' to blurtblanknoise@gmail.com and include a brief description of
which Action Hero you see yourself as.
We're asking for the description of any circumstance you’ve encountered that you haven’t
felt cowed down or overwhelmed by; one in which you perhaps spontaneously ‘strategised’ to
overcome harassment. We're asking for which Action Hero you relate to; it could be one
specific to your culture... it could be G-Girl. We're asking for a photograph of you – we won't
put up your name. Send us an audio clip if you can – that'd be perfect.
Why this name? Blank Noise?
Blank: no form, no meaning.
Noise: heightens, builds, breaks form.

Blank Noise put together are two words that contradict themselves.
We experience eve teasing daily. It is a sexual violation but we ignore it. At the same time, we
structure our lives to avoid the occurrence of it - by 'dressing decently', 'coming back home on
time', etc, thereby making unwanted rules for ourselves and not recognizing ourselves as
citizens.

When? Where? How? Why?

Blank Noise was initiated in August 2003 by Jasmeen Patheja from Bangalore and a small
group of 9 participants, all girls. Over the years it has expanded to four metro cities and over
100 volunteers.

We don't believe that one policy change or one street intervention, or one media report can
change the world. We have to address the issue from multiple avenues over a period of time.
Eve teasing is a societal issue, has its roots in patriarchy, reflects in films and in our popular
culture.

We are proposing to initiate a transformation, start the dialogue, through recurring public
events, public participation and collaborations. We are looking at communicating, through
participation, with policy-makers, as well.

Blank Noise is interventionist, and critically reflective of the issue. It seeks to confront, and
create communities through public art. Blank Noise works with people through performance,
blogging, and street interventions.

This is a public art project seeking to address eve teasing. There are several ways to address
an issue and we choose the language of public and community art.
See:
www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com

Mithu the great!!!

2007-02-03T22:44:00.000+05:30

I receive a call at 10 which seemed to be my wake up call for today. And the call was from none other than Ms.Mithuna the great. you all must be know Mithu and I are best of pals from college. She was one of the very few ppl who shared my frequency in college. The first 2 years in my engineering degree was too good. and Mithu is one of those few ppl who made life rock at college!!!!

The most fun time we had infact was our gr8 prepation towards our second Sem Physics exam. I am sure Mithu, u ll agree. Hai na??? We haunted in Anu s room pretending to study. Had we stayed in our v ll get disturbed and wont study. All vetti scene. And Anu used to beg us saying "Ppl please study"In fact, any of you who wants to know any of the time wasting tactics, u can ask us. We ll perfectly show you how not to do anything to perfection. Mithu.. now don hit me for that. unmai soemtimes kasakkum, darling!!

Highlight of our vettiness is the vetti times we spent in the coffe shop on that Garden Restaurant road at college. If it was Ananadham's maths class then it means we had to be at the coffee shop. That was the order of the day.Hmm.... Nostalgia!!!!

Well let me tell what happened today. Mithuna landed up today morning at 2. Now catching up a little bit of sleep, I know the next thing she did was to call me. Disturbed my lovely sleep!!
Thats ok. Once in a way. So maaf kar diya!!

I drag myself out of bed, and lethargically get ready and drived my most popular Scooty to her place. The moment I step into her home, I found a big meal being served to a huge number of ppl at her hall. Oh god! only now i realise. Today was her Parents wedding anniversary!!! Oh god, as usual me bulbing :(

Well thanks to my presence of mind. Atleast then i realised. With one quick round of wishing 25 happy years of wedded life, I land straight into Mithu s room to strangle her neck for not telling me. And thank God, I went there decently attired. What if i had hopped in with a shabby capris and Tshirt like I always do! Mithu babe.. I would have blamed you for that if I handed landed up in such a situation and ppl would have given me wierd looks up and down twice.

Her mama, happy at seeing me after a long time polinjufied all the paasam she could. I am always special to her you see. In a little while, we get invitations to eat. It was a traditional South Indian lunch. Too Good. Numerous varieties of curries and veggies, sweet and savouries, we were struggling to eat so many varieties. The lunch was awesome!! And we hogged like hell!! I will be posting the hogging pictures very soon :)

The effect of over eating, the drowsiness. I look at Mithu, She looks at her little sis, and she looks at us both. With the guests still in the Hall, we lock ourselves inside her room and slept for 3 full hours!!! And again as usual, waken up by a call. This time its Mr.Pradeep reminding me that I should get ready for class. I get up and freshen up and drive back home to go to class, with Mithu still sleeping there. I ll take care of you tomorrow baby!!!!

We and our mail chains!!!

2007-02-03T00:19:00.000+05:30

There s this latest thing we have been doing. Many of u ppl may say its an old thing but then this is the ideal way to keep in touch with the ppl across the globe at everybody's convinience. Well even these fun mails tat we send to everyone, everyday does also prove to learning in its own way.

When someone like Ravi sitting there in US feels homesick, each of us in our own style cheer him and charge him..
When someone like Pradeep getting an opportunity to work at ISRO each of us truely appreciate him and motivate him...
When somebody like Govi gets an eye infection, we get to tease him tat he gets the infection coz he doesnt cry...
and again and again reiterate kannan tat he s a maha bulb
As usual pull Praveen s leg out of nothing at all..
And complain that Enthu doesnt reply to mails..

and.. and.. and.. most importantly, appreciate me on and off for my exceptional talents ;)

Here is an excerpt from the mail chains.. have fun.. and ROTFL!!!!

From: Ravishankar

makkale.. apuram.. sunday night - monday morning i had a bad dream ...athu ennanu ippo solren...athavathu, i am coming back to India as US mappillai..enakku theriyama oru ponnu kooda en marriage fix pannitanga enga veetule...i am so frustrated, i havent even seen the girl's face, even in a photo...
i'm not committed or in love with anyone else rite now, but i'm angry that this is my life , and it's gonna be over... being married to someone i dont even know and havent even seen or talked to yet.. everything was happening so suddenly... i am standing in the kalyana mandapam's terrace, tomorrow morning is the marriage.. i am contemplating what to do.. suddenly i just decide to run away in search of my true bride.. whoever that was... and i realize i dont even have any indian currency in my pocket.. just returned from US the day b4... all happening so soon.. so i go to my dad's room, he's sleeping.. half asleep actually, i ask for some money, and he said it's in his shirt pocket in the cupboard.. i take some money and run away in an auto...

dunno what this means.. a bit scary for me.. although when i was telling a few friends here, they said it was comical and why it shd be scary.. he he
in fact, sort of a coincidence, many ppl on tuesday commented that i shd get married, or guessed that the dream was abt me getting married.. oru mathiri too much of a bad sagunam... oru mathiri shock ayitten.. ennada ellarum solrangale.. yetho nadanthuda poguthunnu bayamma irukku... weird bad dream.. hmmm...
nanbargale... antha mathiri yethavathu nadantha.. enakku supporta irunga.. mudincha oru nalla ponna enakku paarunga.. he he he

Ravi

From: Kannan Muthuraman

Praveen unakku velai vandhuduchu...... :-)
Ravi ithellam konjam over a theriala....u missed a small part of the dream da...unakku munnadi andha ponnu ooooooooooooooooodddddddddi poidum.....athukku than nalla maapillaiya paakanum...
any way...odi pogum pothu marakkama enga odi pora nnu mail anuppidu...stay in touch da :-)

With Regards
Kannan M

From: Ravishankar Sivalingam

thu naye,...

S. Ravi Shankar

Story of a Great Man!!

2007-01-27T12:09:00.000+05:30

This weekend, I am not going anywhere.. gonna sit down and study. This was my resolution.
But then, I receive a call from my cousin and then she says, come over and i cudnt resist going.
My grandpa s home, such a lively place. Amongst many a reasons to visit there, my special reasons to hop in there every week are my cousin and grandpa.. they are so special to me.

This time, I was there only for half a day.. due to my classes of late, I am not able to spend time with them :( But then, Something is better than nothing.

Grandpa called us frantically in the afternoon. We ran in to see wat happend. He had become numb, his hands had become chill. Both of us look at each other, with trepidation. We rubbed his palm for a while warmong him up. He was fine after a while. His eyes were watering, looking at us sayimg only two little words, "My Children". We understood, to him what those two words meant, how much they weigh. We were also equally emotional. Grandpa, man of such accomplishments. A man always on wheels, who, will not sit back and rest, even on his glory. Today, he needs a support even to move around.

He has got many a feathers to his cap. He was the Cheif executive engineer in the Highways department. He specialised in the construction of bridges. He was instrumental in the constructing the first ever two tier bridge in TamilNadu at Tirunelveli. He was also a part of the Pamban Bridge project for a few months. And many many projects add to his accomplishements. He always executed the most critical project with careless ease. He dint stop with that. Even after his retirement, he helped out in executing many of the building developments in Chennai. Designing very popular hospitals, colleges and complexes were all his passtimes after retirement. One of the most essential things in life is 'job satisfaction' u should always have is the sense of accomplishment which i find lacking in the jobs you find these days. Ya Grandpa, you are right!!

I am so proud of you Grandpa!!

india is my country!!!

2007-01-26T08:21:00.000+05:30

Today is the day.. Exactly 57 years India became republic.. To be honest wat does this mean to any of us?? Does it really mean anything?? Million dollar Question to ask..

All of us say, v r proud to be Indians.. well to sit back and ask.. wat pride do we take??

Perhaps we have the largest Democracy in the world, the longest ever written constitution.. But wat do we know about it?? all that we do is to watchthe indepenence day and republic day parade on the TV and tat too many of us dont have time for..

Sovereign, Democratic, republic country.. government of the ppl, by the ppl, for the ppl.. all that i remember meant to me only until i saw them in the Civics text book..

In todays, world, wat does it mean.. if it really meant something we would not have witess heaps and heaps of bodies being unearthed in Noida, gal being mercilessly asaulted in front of our most historic India Gate, Perhaps a scam on every other noun u can find.. Food scam, Fodder scam, Relief fund scam.. etc etc etc.. and the list is never ending..

wat will it take to change it??? How long will it take to change?? a mystery to solve.. still remains a mystery..

Life Goes On.. Whatever said or done, Infy Rocks and I have to say it!!!

2006-11-10T17:01:00.000+05:30

And finally after a long time!!!

ya.. here it goes..

i joined infy finally after so much of pandamonium in my joining dates. Actually it was 19 th june but i somehow managed to change it to 29 th may. Perhaps that was the most sensible decision i made. I went with all the huge bunch of Anna Univ folks. Thank heavens!!! Otherwise in that so called crappy corporate training, i would have been lost!!!

The moment i entered the sprawling Mysore Infy campus, I was completely taken aback. The mammoth of the building called GEC, The most happening ECC, the outlets in FC, the SDBs.. and a whole bunch of things.. Oh my!! (Wel sorry about the whole lot of acronyms, that comes to u as a conditioned reflex action the moment u join corporates!!)

Wel, the ambience aside, the training it was too good!! It was wel designed and wel structured. Even if you don know abc s of coding, they r bent upon making u one full fledged programmer in their own fashion. All you have to do is to surrender urself at their disposal and mechanically follow the EnR folk s lectures, write the module tests, attend the mock quizzes, do the stream projects etc etc etc.. wel it is all a part of the getting a training equivalent to a BS degree in US ( Atleast that is wat they say here!!!)

Wel, for a person like me, who is like in an altogether lost world, i learnt soooooooooooooo much in the short span of 3.5 months. right from hardware concepts and software concepts to programming to developing sofware applications. It much so much that my little brain could take. Its ok Athia, it happens!!!

And, the fun part of Mysore, the whole bunch of Anna univ folks - Mithuna, Govi, MAP, Nivi, Arthi, Manoj, Jack ;-) Priya, Sarojini, Subhashini, Dhaarini, Ambika to mention a few.. and many many more.. and not to forget a handsome number of ppl from PEC, NIT Nagpur, Bit Mesra, IT BHU.. Cant forget the lunch time and those Dhabbha days.. Man it rocked!! it was indeed a lively lively crowd.. guess i became like hutch, Wherever i went my network followed!! lol

wel, those days were hectic. the classes started at 09.00 am. ant it means 09.00 am and not even 09.01 am. and if u r late, u have to apply for half day leave. man is this corporate training or some militarty camp i entered by mistake!! day and nite and day and nite.. on and on and on.. over and over again.. in front of the comp coding and learning.. Get geared up gal, and thats gonna be the rest of ur life!!

wel wel.. something more on training days event by event later. Here s something that infy needs to work about..

1. the initial HR process of induction needs to be more refined. ppl, as they join in huge numbers (it was hundreds before and now thousands a week), fro example, the Document screening should be more ordered and done in batches so tat it saves a lot of time for the trainees.

2. in the stream specific training, there were a lotta typos the material. It has to be taken care of by EnR.

3. the training days appeared more like entering into 9 th semester rather than a corporate training. only the last few days, when we did a POST project, the rest of the training never was a simulation of a real time project scenario.

4. and, on the personal front, i dint like the kind of preferences and priviledges given to the US trainee batch. After all, rule for one is rule for all!!

Apart from it., the true spirit of infy reflects its Mantra- Powered by Intellect, Driven by Values!!!

Whatever said or done, i like infy.. Infy Rocks and I have to say it!!

2006-09-10T16:58:00.000+05:30

wel long time since i caught up.. rite now in mysore.. towards the end of training.. training.... got lots to write bout it.. some other time..

A Day s wait

2006-05-09T22:19:00.000+05:30

wel i was still vetti yesterday until my cousin came home to study. wel me teachin him of course wud come to u as a huge shock.

wel, badae badae sheharoan meh choti choti baatein hoti hi rahtein hain!!!

deep was here too showin his potential ability to teach e mech to my cousin. the study session was all going fine until afternoon wen i got a cal from from another cousin of mine statin tat his sis who got recently married had come home (as a responsible citizen to cast her vote there in the pollin centre next to their house!!!!)

now mood changes, me and my cousin decide to go there. v ate and did some post lunch studyin for sometime and then start by 4. wel deep dint come in the afternoon as he was leaving to Shillong today mornin and had some last minute packing to complete. wel then we all set to go.

my cousin s place is at thoraipakkam and v had to go via IT corridor. as it was the pollin day, it was unusually quiet and most of the shops and establishments remained closed. so seein nothing happenenin around, lotsa things come to my mind.. election, politics, corruption, lok paritran.. hmmm good move by the IITians.. and good inspiration from mani ratnam.. hope lok partran makes a difference.

the evening was total fun with a small get together with cousins.. since sameera(recently married cousin of mine) and i had gone there, it became a reason for the rest of them to hop in.. anyway after some vetti talk and little bit of time pass v sat down to eat..

hmmm nice dinner.. was enjoyin it heartily. jus then "the cal" comes. it was a cal from vellore. as obvious , it was sandeep

me: hello

sandeep: hey did u read the mail

me: so wat have u sent me?

sandeep: dint u receive the mail?

me: wat mail?

sandeep: hey joinin date from infy. its 29 th may

me: r u sure? u must be kidding.

sandeep: am serious. lotsa ppl got it.

me: 29 th may? am so excited. but its too early..

sandeep: i have not received the mail. y don u check urs?

me: ya.. wil do it right away. bye

and i jus wash my hands and turn on my cousins lappy.. lappy was stylish but the connection was pathetic.. BSNL dial-up. gettin used to the broadband, even a time delay of 1 min to connect seems to be like ages.. and obviously in such situations it gets really worse.. it was not gettin connected. so i calld another cousin of mine to connect to net.. he stays nearby and i can go there and check rather than waitin..

and i go there in an instant.. he had already connected.. i jus went in and typed my id in the yahoo mail page..and waitin to connect... moments can become really taxing..

i opened to find no new mails.. disapppointment.. frustration.. impatience.. don know how to define it.. and both my cousins on my either sides consolin me.. they obviously understood wat i was undergoing.. and i say i wanna leave home now.. one of them offer to drop me.. they lil hesitant to let me go on my own..

so i come bac.. cal up almost everyone who got placed along with me.. ya they had all got their cals... i hastly took my offer letter.. try a couple of numbers from the infy HR only to find out tat i cant speak to them until tomorrow mornin 9.30. so i was literally hooked up to the comp checkin all tat i could.. infy site, infy communities on orkut.. 29 th may stuff was there on all communities.. so many posts in so little time!!

i met so many seniors online.. jagan, abigail.. all of them adviced me to wait for a day or 2... driven to the level of impatience, i cal up kaushik.. he worked in infy for 2 years and now in iimb.. thought he wud give me some real info.. explained to him.. he told me tat sicne it was a systems generated mail, it breaks up in between and comes the next day sometimes.. the worst case cud be tat i can get the date for the next batch...

this systems generated mail thing gave me a lot of hope.. and i reluctantly go to sleep.. it was already 1.30 and deep was leavin in the mornin at 4. so had to speak to him b4 tat, biddin him goodbye and wishin him happy journey.. was having a really disturbed sleep.. i switch on the comp again.. log into yahoo.. and there comes ravi online.. he was also having a disturbed sleep.. he had his phd thing and his visa interview in his mind..

at the stroke of midnight hour.. wen the whole world is asleep... 2 worried ppl chattin in the middle of the night..

wat else cud v do..?

and i somehow log off after deep called me at 3.. jus lie down wide awake thinkin.. i was waitin for it to become 9.30 so tat i can cal infy HR..

had slept for sometime.. may be half an hour i guess.. again lotsa cals comin in.. answered them all.. and ravi gives me fresh news tat he got a phone cal from infy confirmin the joinin date.. and again sandeep tels me the same thing..

and now like a small kid yearning for an ice-cream or chocolate, i am there anticipating a mail or a cal..

finally called up infy-mysore.. they doint have list with them.. was told to cal infy-b lore. called there they too were not able to tel me anythin concrete.. all tat they cud do is to direct me to some ppl.. and asked me to call around 11.. the whole day i was makin so many std als to b lore and mysore takin turns.. finally someone in infy-blore tels me tat my name was not in the list.. wait a min.. which list is she speakin about...?

got lil tensed and i cal up arun who s in infy b lore.. he told me to cal around 3 to mysore number.. if i don get a convincin reply, he promised me to find out from the HR in person tomoro morning.. tats very sweet of him..

called up to mysore again at 3 in the afternoon.. and guess wat i ended up speakin to the same person Kaushik from Hr since mornin for the third time.. this time, he cud not help laughing.. he also started consolin me.. made friends with him.. tat was the only gud outcome of the entire infy tragi-comedy..

then started for the drivin class.. thought it wil give me some real break.. after tat did some vegetable shoppin for the heck of it.. (look wat all u have to do for the sake of diverting ur mind!!!!)

and my cousin came in the evening at 6.30.. thoght him some datastructures till 9.30..

and til now, was either attendin cals or online.. speakin bout the same thin over and over... infy ..

and stil...............................................

waitin for the mail....

red hot!!!

2006-05-03T23:47:00.000+05:30

wel today...

just got up to find one of my friends who s a prof in nift online.. wel i actually had some work in nift for a pretty long long time.. so finally fixed up a time and headed to nift.. and nift one of the institutes where studnents have a voice.. they learn out of interest, do wat they learn.. being a textile technologists myself i can c the difference... and somehow, the chennai nift buildin has always fascinated me.. hapazard structures though, i really love it..

after i was done with the discussions, we thought v ll have lunch and went to ascendas.. and hat-trick ... for the third time in a week..

ok.. i ve been to ascendas only at the evenings before.. and ya.. i found most of it empty.. wel today it was a different scenario.. had been in the afternoon na.. it was buzzing with activity.. wel i cud c the corporate culture really penetratin into chennai.. our very own conservative chennai!!!!

wel, prof and i were speakin bout it.. he gets reminded of one of his friends workin in the same buldg. she s a sports nutritioninst workin in fitness one.. he cals her and lo.. she was standin in the parkin.. soo she comes in..

prof and she got into a general discussion of their friends.. and at a point wen they were discussin bout one of their friends who got married in a very young age opposin the family.. the guy used to be filthy rich i understood from the discussion.. and the nutritionist gets really furious.. if one cant provide stability, then he has not to spoil a gal s life.. tat was her comment.. and the discussion revolved around this for sometime.. and then topic change..

wats the reason behind so much of fury? wel after she left, i leart tat she was a divorcee.. she cud not stand non-sense.. wel i cud understand the reason behind her anger.. radical thoughts.. the world does not under stand it.. she s now happy alone.. works with the famous nutritionist Dr. kannan pugalendi.. and accordin to info from the prof, she s the nutritionist of many popular personalities like tamil hero surya..

she leaves and v sit to have our grub.. prof and i go back to the topic wher v left.. the corporate culture.. everybody madly runnin behind money.. and it went on and on..

wel i return back to college.. i was to apply for the PC.. me and kannan bro walk to the dept.. already havin the form with us, we walk straight to the exam hall zone.. v had to get the signature of our class advisor.. he s god knows wat.. examination superintendent or somethin.. so had to wait for him.. and can u imagine how long? 45 mins. bull shit.. after all one loththa sign.. so much scene..

with tat v go the so called HOd of my dept.. and wait again.. guess of all the things i did in the dept all these four is the maximum time alloted is to wait.. so there s nothin new bout waitin.. (wel i remember waitin for economics class for 1 hour for a class of duration of 1 hr 30 mins!!!)

so finally gettin the attestations, the Hod makes us go to the office of the controller of examinations to submit the application... and they send us back to the dept.. vethu scene everywhere.. finally threw those application forms on the head s table and walked away..

me and kannan bro walk down to the coffee shop.. had some cold coffee.. v went walkin around the ceg mount road..a nd sat down to talk.. v almost spoke for 3 and 1/2 hours.. and obviusly, either of us pissed offf with the irrational things happenein around us.. more the discussion in the next blog.. so ret hot i was with the system around us, ppl around us...

"guys" or gals!!

2006-05-01T23:54:00.000+05:30

after y day s party, today was jus another day.. after uploadin the pictures and videos, i slept pretty late y day.. and obviously got up really really late..
nothing much happened except goin to ascendas to have dinner..

wel pradeep and his childhood friends boopalan, vivek, bhuvan and i were suppossed to have dinner today.. the scheduled time was 8 o clock.. place.. waldorf..

sometimes i wonder why ppl complain tat women r ones who take a lot of time for everythin.. to decide, to dress up etc... but do men ever realize wat they do?

wel as it was decided to be at waldorf by 8, pradeep has to pick me up before tat.. and he comes by 8.35.. v reached waldorf around 8.45 only to find that there was no place inside and ppl r already waitin for tables.. v thought v can check it out in wang s kitchen.. same state there too.. despites many phone calls, the rest of the guys reach adyar itself by9.20.. wat can v do with them???
and yet they say women r the ones who take time for everything... and they?

now v thought v ll do somethin sensible.. v ll go to ascedas food court.. its huge and nice and v ll definitely manage to find some place as it was not old enough for huge masses of ppl to barge in.. and then these guys had the issue of the seating loctions.. each of them with their own place of preference to get the best possible look of their choicest chicks.. and.. no consideration for time at all!

finally parked themselves... now comes.. deciding wat v gonna eat.. with so many discussions.. wen the menu was decided, there was a long wait for the food to come..

we finally got the grub.. the chicken pieces were not just fried in oil.. they were soaked in oil.. oh my..

finally finished the food, got up to leave.. wait a min.. i noticed somethin.. the acendas food court has wi-fi.. so a blue tag hangin here and there advertisin ppl bout it.. so one more good thing bout ascendas in addition to space and ambience is wi-fi!!!

back home.. nothin so unusual bout the day.. it was.. jus another day.. it was very funny to c the guys like "gals"

sevikkum suvaikkum!!!!!

2006-04-30T21:33:00.000+05:30

party time at last..

this was the day v awaited for!!!

v.. and the v includes me, pradeep, ravi, karthick, varun, srividya, priya, ramya, thilaga, mithuna, srikanth, roshun and arun..

v had been planning for the party for quite sometime. the plan for the party was somethin like this.. v all meet together in the morning and cook ourselves(!!!!!) and then lunch followed by a post lunch party..

initially ravi was the most enthusiastic one to fix it up on this sunday... he offered to make juice and dessrt in the menu.. but later he ditched me saying he had family get together in the mornin and cant make it in the mornin..

anyway.. the looong menu goes like this.. veg pulav, veg noodles, egg noodles, palak paneer, dhall, aaloo mutton, musk melon dessert, ice cream.. and watermelon as the opening drink.. (and due to lack of time had to skip egg noodles and paneer). somehow with gr8 help from the gals and of course karthik and pradeep too... managed to finish it off on time!

anyway.. though there were lil faults like less salt, more water here and there.. the food was not bad.. and these ppl.. with lot of scene like they had u cal an ambulance, everyone had food with a lot of teasing and nakkal!!!

and after tat.. the real fun starts..

with 2 gr8 singers karthik and varun, wat else can u expect..? varun started started with his most popular medley "nenje thulli po and avvai shanmugi". he s so damn famous in our coll for it. and then karthick gives an entry with "neela kaaikirathu" which he sent for airtel super singer auditions..

the music was so infectious.. everyone was taken to a different world.. varun and karthik were fabulous with "kumaari...." from anniyan.. karthik was on a different world with serious singing.. and varun.. animations!!! it was so entertainin to c them both seated next to each other and singing!! time just flew by.. cud not realise.. they almost sang 10 songs!!
check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDLtFhu8rIU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRk6Hnv6e00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lecAgwH4NC8
mithuna also added up with her fave "ae ajnabi" from dil se, the hindi version of uyire.

and the maestros winded up the katcheri and left.. they were so happy to meet each other.. atleast wen college ended (better late then never buddies!)

and after tat.. the person caught was ramya( they cal her the judge!)
v had this thing.. the snow spray.. we bathed her in foam.. made her look like santa claus!! and of course the never endin ootals.. pullin each other legs(not literally.. hi hi)

it was a gr8 party on the whole.. and i must admit.. it realy rocked coz of karthik and varun..

ya.. it was wel said long long ago.. sevikku unavillatha pothu.. sirithu vayitrukkum yiyya padum!

hats off to u.. u both jus made my day!!

tats it.. am outta here!!

2006-04-28T20:38:00.000+05:30

hmmm..... my final semester results r out!!! yippee i am an engineer now. or rather a technologist now. 4 yrs fo B.Tech.. finally over!!!! suprisingly, i got 9 GPA this semester. the highest of my track records in my entire college life .( and.... all those pandus and geeks out there, u dare not say anything.)

wel wel wel.. i have happy tat i got 9 gpa. it was day before yesterday i got the results. i was in my driving class wen kannan bro messaged me tat results r out.. "hi da.. results r out. contact bass for details" read the msg. and as obvious as u can predict my immediate reaction was to call bass( and more on who s bass in the next blog. v have a whole lot of nick names in our class)
he was not in the dept. i called up pradeep. he was in the CEG hostel. obviuosly, i can reach dept myself before him. so i had to go to college myself to check the results. went runnin to the dept. nothin was there in the notice board. thank god an M.Tech scholar came and told me tat the results r put up in the main building(guess my body language told him wat i was lookin for!)

pradeep and his friends were also on the way to c my results.. just wen i reached notice board, bass msgs to me tat i ve got a 9.. wat can be more refreshin than this!!!

am so proud of myself!! pradeep marches in along with karthick, m kannan and a junoir called suriya prakash..

they were in a mood to pull out a treat from me.. and i was merrier than ever.. so walked to hot chips.. had some juices and shakes.. and besides m kannan had to leave home.. the bus to madurai he had to board was at 6.30.. and v were all at hot chips til 6.30

and we somehow v dragged ourselves back to my dept. v took a couple of pics in actech with karthick s digicam..

these guys finally left with so much difficulty and i go to my guide s room to meet him.. after a long wait an da long talk i come back home with a lot of feelings laden inside tat little heart of mine!! tats it i am out of this place!! out of this dept!! out of this college!! am outta here!!