Life Untold

Ninety 9

2011-12-30T07:01:00.003+05:30

I know the world (I am talking aboutthe Sachin fans) wishes Sachin to get the 100^thinternational ton. So do I. I have witnessed the most of this recordsand certainly, this record is one milestone that others can onlydream of.

Most of the records including thedouble century (which was recently broken by his follower VirenderSehwag) came unexpected. But the 100^th international tonwas marketed and publicized by the media and his followers to such anextent that it aggravates the pressure on the little master. Thechampion had faced several pressures and hurdles, he had singlehandedly faced the teams and his wicket could cost India the match.Such was his wicket price.

Though few realize that 100 is just anumber, the hype surrounding it doesn't die. A couple of days back,at the Melbourne cricket ground, when I saw Sachin walking down thepavilion into the ground, there was a tremendous applause from thecrowd. It was not just the Indian crowd at Australia but also theAustralian crowd who has tremendous respect for him. I adore thatkind of respect they have for the batsman; no expectations and theyjust adore him for the class of a batsman that he is. Ofcourse, he isconsidered as a God by so many people but there is a match that ismore important to it than Sachin getting his 100^thinternational ton.

Sachin proved, once again, why he is amaster blaster. He hit the shots all over the ground with such ease.A gentle wrist work to put the ball into the fence raises a questionover other players' performance. The only batsmen to complement suchperformance are the likes of Dravid and Laxman. The wicket was doingwell for the seam bowlers, offering them a lot of movement andbounce. An awesome ball and a gentle trick got the wicket of themaster blaster but truly, if there is one batsman who kept thebowlers in a panicky mode (and ofcourse Sehwag) is Sachin Tendulkar.

Its Friday!

2011-10-01T06:37:00.000+05:30

Fridays are special. Not only it has apromising lure into the weekend but the day itself has something instore for people. The Universities here, surprisingly, doesn't haveclasses. The office goers tend to be lazy on Friday afternoons.

The tables, the chairs, the sofas atthe University are all empty reminding me of the empty campus duringSummer. The open lab also closes at 8 pm on Fridays in contrary tothe closing time of 11 pm on other days. What mistake I did to go tothe lab at 8:15 pm.

Not only in US, I have noticed thispattern in Indian schools and colleges as well. The Fridays usuallywill be void of classes. The management must have been very carefulabout understanding the mentality of the students and the staffs. But then, it is a friday!

"Never felt an earthquake"

2011-08-29T04:49:00.001+05:30

“Is the table shaking?”

“Yes it is. Now the chair is shaking as well!”

“It is definitely a tremor. Why is no one reacting?”

“Oh my God! The building is shaking. Now the people downstairs are screaming. I must run”

“Am I not supposed to leave everything and run for my life? Why am I taking my bag with me?”

“Why is that guy going back to his place? Is he going to pick up his belongings as well?”

“It has stopped already. Should have been like 5 seconds”

Random Group:

Guy: “Isn't that an earthquake?”

Lady: “Of course it is”

Random Lady: “Did something happen in this building? In our building, we thought the shake was due to construction”

Me: “No it is an earthquake”

Outgoing message to Roommate friend: “Tremors at gmu!”

Outgoing mail to Mail friend: “Slight tremors here. Had to run. Calls not working”

Exam Friend: “I have an exam today. Am not sure whether they will conduct it”

Me: “Which one would you prefer? Writing it today or some other day?”

Exam Friend: “Definitely today. I don't want to drag it to another day”

Incoming mail from Mail friend: “Omg! Be safe”

Incoming message from Roommate friend: “Here too. It is not a tremor. It is an earthquake”

Exam friend: “The calls are not working”

Me: “The mails and messages are working”

Exam friend: “Ya. They are working fine”

Busy Friend: “Did you notice that some people were crying? We were all laughing it out”

Ph.D friend: “In the Ph.D comics, there is a comic strip which compares qualifiers to earthquakes. Today, I am waiting for the qualifier results and it came true”

Ph.D friend: “You guys had something to eat?”

Busy Friend: “Nopes”

Me: “I did. Just before the earthquake”

Announcement: “We will be closed at 3 pm”

Ph.D friend: “The food court is closed as well”

Group of friends: “We were signing the contract and then there is that dadadada-dadadada”

Exam friend: “I am going to the exam hall to find out about the exam”

Me: “All the best!”

ZeitJalgeist friend: “What da? We met and then there is an earthquake. What did you do?”

Ph.D friend: “I guess our guys were laughing because they must be thinking that it is after all life”

ZeitJalgeist friend: “Do you have a coin? Any coin?”

Me: “Indian coin?”

ZeitJalgeist friend: “Any coin. With heads and tails”

Me: “Are you by any chance going to decide like Rajni in Sivaji movie?”

ZeitJalgeist friend: “Heads and I will remain here. Tails and I will be joining you guys back home”

ZeitJalgeist friend: “It is heads. I am going to spend sometime here somewhere”

Ph.D friend: “That is the most stupidest thing I saw today”

Ph.D friend: “Earthquake changed our day plan completely”

Me: “Ya. It completely did”

Roommate friend 2: “I called my brother in New York. Within few seconds of hanging up, he had received tremors as well. See how the wave had travelled”

Roommate friend : “By the time we decided to go down, the trembling stopped”

Roommate friend 3: “He had searched for his identity card when the trembling occurred. He wanted to use it for his identity in case of severe damage”

Roommate friend 2: “The id card is fine but shouldn't the real person live first?”

Some other day:

Professor: “First earthquake, and now Hurricane! What a way to welcome the students!”

Tickle your senses

2011-07-31T19:13:00.000+05:30

There was once a famous comedy programme in a famous Tamil TV channel where comedy artistes played call pranks on people and showed clippings of comedy scenes from Tamil movies. Many people with whom they played prank on claimed that they love that programme because they were relieved to see some comedy scenes after their busy daily routine. That programme was an instant hit. What followed that is either a boon or a bane!

Every channel started following that tradition of airing comedy scenes during the late hours of weekdays. That could be considered worth it cause they were competing with each other. It soon happened that they started competing with themselves. Yes, the channel giants brought in music channels and the music 24/7 would have been a perfect addition to the huge list of channels.

Either the demand for the comedy scenes or the lack of programmes prompted the music channels to air comedy scenes as well. So at the late hours of the weekday, every channel would be airing comedy scenes and one might start wondering about the purpose of music channels. The saddest part, the irony, is that there are two dedicated channels for comedy scenes and the music channels owned by the respective channels want to air the comedy scenes as well. God help them with their creativity! More on the idiot box soon!

Whats the score?

2011-06-30T20:53:00.000+05:30

Original Background score earlier belonged only to the Western movies. Some of the music gets so recognized and becomes famous that it is still being played now. For example, we got the Jurassic Park, Brad Fiedel's Terminator theme, Mission Impossible theme, James Bond theme. There are plenty of movies that went unrecognized even if they had good scores.

In the recent days, thanks to web products like YouTube, iTunes that we are getting to hear most of the soundtracks that we hear only in the movie. Every music is liked by thousands and thousands. The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, The Matrix soundtrack, Inception, etc soundtrack are all being listened daily as the views suggest. Musicians like Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore are like being compared to Beethoven and Mozart.

Soundtrack, in the form of songs, is not new to Indian cinema. We have been having these soundtracks ever since the inception of cinema. There is a separate sales for the cassettes and CDS that contribute to the gross revenue of the movie.

Also, background score is not new to Tamil Cinema. Music directors like the Maestro Ilayaraja composed such awesome background score that got forgotten with the movie. They were not released as a separate track or along with the music album which is already replete with songs. However, his son Yuvan Shankar Raja and Mozart of Madras A.R.Rahman were the ones who put serious thought into background score and even went about releasing them as separate tracks.

Yuvan Shankar does the honor to his father by bringing back those forgotten background scores in his own movie compositions. Remember Nayagan music in Chennai 28 or the Sarvam background music? That may sound unoriginal to people but it sure did bring back the magic that his father did.
A.R.Rahman's magic is well known to Indian cinema, let it be with respect to songs or with respect to background scores, he went on to rock the Western Cinema as well. he got the honor to compose background score for the 'Lord of the Rings' play adaptation at London and also for the Hollywood movies 'Slumdog Millionaire', 'Couples Retreat', '127 Hours' and still many more to come.

Tamil Cinema is quickly catching up to the background score. The recent movie 'Aaranya Kandam' doesn't have any songs and so, the background score has to fit into the missing link and as expected, Yuvan lived up to the expectations. The songs will never die, not for atleast another ten years. It is too early to predict whether more such movies will come. It will take long for that trend to happen but songs have been one of the highlights of Indian movies, aren't they?

A cup of coffee

2011-05-29T08:29:00.000+05:30

It is not too often I stop by at a nearby tea stall and asked for a coffee or tea. I once had to walk two - three kms as I had no other choice. I wanted to take a break before I boarded any bus and guess where I stopped? At a coffee stall for a hot coffee. It may not be new for you guys. I always go for energizer or refresher cups only on long rides. Rarely have I had any tea or coffee at a tea stall in Chennai. But needless to say, the coffee that they make is awesome. It is what they call in the American market as cappuccino. It came into the Indian market as such and was sold at a higher price.

I tried coffee at most of the famous places here and I savor each drink. One of the coffee shops here make coffee from purely blended beans that they never taste like coffee. It needs a lot of sugar to compensate its heavy bitterness. I had to buy them to avoid sleepy evening classes and within no time, I got used to that cappuccino taste. I used to buy too often that the woman at the cash counter knew that I would be ordering cappuccino and would be prepared to serve me one as if she is acting on defense.

I tried cappuccino at all the other outlets at my university and I already know which place is better for each type of coffee. For example, the coffee variant mocha somehow tastes wonderful only at one place (I am not advertising any product here; so ping me if you wanna know ;) ). This gave me plenty of options to choose from. In the last semester, I started trying one alternative which tasted much better than cappuccino. I ordered regular coffee; they give pure dark bitter coffee. Some shops give you the privilege of choosing your own flavored coffee. I recommend Hazelnut or Vanilla. Then they have the choice of milk – skimmed milk, milk, half milk & half cream. I go for the half and half as it gives a creamy touch to the coffee.

I once ordered tall hot coffee and the vendor, no idea what he understood, gave me tall iced coffee. So it was one of those days when you just go for it wanting to try the road not taken. I once ordered iced coffee at Indian coffee pub and it was not my cup of tea (oh yes, I mean coffee). It was cold outside and I had no winter coat as well. I thought that the drink is going to give me a difficult time outside but luckily, it didn't. Once, the hot coffee did save me from the cold weather outside but cold coffee for cold weather, kidding?

How simple and easy is to order a cup of coffee at a stall in India? The only question you might probably have to endure is whether you want it strong or light. Today, my roommates and I went for a coffee outing and I began to wonder how much these coffee lovers were ready to try new flavors or types of coffee. The climate was perfect enough to have a cup of coffee at the outside of the shop but I believe it couldn't come close to the feeling of independence or the feeling of bliss when you have a cup of coffee at a tea stall in India.

Cause I told so...

2011-05-08T09:26:00.000+05:30

Back when I was a kid, I used to be a hater of sports commentary. Maybe it was because I did not comprehend what they were speaking or maybe I was more interested in the actual sport rather than the expert comments. I don't know how it happened but it underwent a process for me to like the commentary. “Commentary is not for the kids”, I had to tell myself.

To keep it simple, they explain what is going on in the screen. I have to agree that it is useful for someone who is not able to view the match. Remember the times when you were cooking (no? Reading? No again? I leave it to you) when you hear “That was a huge six” and you run over to the screen and see what is happening and, in the process, forget what you were doing. Commentary is more than that, you get expert comments. Half of the people may not be sure of the sports event and they learn by hearing the commentary.

Being a fan of cricket, I am going to bring in cricket. Also, I bring in WWE. (Any WWE fans out there?) Recently, I read from Wikipedia where there are two types of commentators – play-by-play announcer one who speaks a lot asking questions to the other commentator, known as the color commentator, who holds valuable experience in that field.

So, back to the topic, all the WWE fans must have heard about Stone Cold Steve Austin. His success is mostly to the fact that he was shown as the larger than life guy, who could beat up ten people single handed, could save a girl from the clutches of the evil and also rise from the ashes. If 80% - 90% of his success is because of what he did, part of his success should also be credited to Jim Ross, the play-by-play announcer of WWE. His catchphrases were so popular that he would literally scream when Stone Cold enters the arena when the thousands of fans erupt. To keep the TV audience glued to the screen, portraying an ordinary man like a hero is not an easy task. Have a look at one of the popular Stone Cold – Jim Ross combo. For those of you who are not aware of these two people, the bald person in the video is Stone Cold and the guy who screams "There he is!" in the commentary is Jim Ross

A year back, I read a satire in a cricket website about the usage of WWE standards to promote IPL. The article was hilarious. As an addendum to the article and to keep it simple, I would suggest bringing in commentators such as Jim Ross to the cricket commentary. Imagine the batting maestro walking to the crease and Jim Ross shouting, “There he is! There he is! Sachiiiinn Sachiiinnn, this arena has erupted!”

Recently, West Indian Chris Gayle hit a monstrous century knock playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore of IPL. How interesting it would have been to hear Jim Ross saying, “What the hell is this?” or when Sehwag was playing a similar innings, “The Upper Cut!!! My God! It is the upper cut!!!”

The power of Jim Ross's commentary is that he could make anyone a hero with his speech. He could end a simple match by saying, “My God! What a night!

The unofficial sponsor of 'The Sub-continent Effect'

2011-04-09T12:28:00.000+05:30

It has been almost a week since India won the coveted World Cup – a title that has been evading India for 28 long years. After losing to Australia in the finals in the 2003 WC, India got back pretty strong with Greg Chappel coaching the Indian team and started as a favorites in the 2007 World Cup but as everyone knew it, their short stint at the World Cup ended up in a losing attempt evoking furious outrage from the Indian fans. It did not even spare Sachin Tendulkar, the God of Indian cricket who admitted that he faced his worst moments that time. Not just him, the then-captain Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh echoed his views that those were the bad times for Indian cricket. It is also evident that Sachin was booed in front of his own home crowd just a few months earlier. This even prompted the media and the critics to ask Sachin for his retirement – a thought that never crossed his mind and thankfully, it didn't as he still had many records to be beaten in the following four years.

Coming back to World Cup defeat, the tournament had a particular phenomenon about it which I called the Sub-continent effect. I wrote an article regarding the same four years back. To give a brief note about it, ever since the 1992 World Cup until 2007 World Cup, Sri Lanka and Pakistan - two of the three biggies of the Indian sub-continent had reached the finals twice – only one ended up in a winning cause. India, the third biggie had reached the finals once which means that they not just would reach the 2011 WC final but also would win it. That was a pattern that crossed my mind; coincidentally, some others had pointed it out as well. Some even went on to say that the pattern is useless; just to alleviate the 2007 WC loss.

At the beginning of the 2011 WC, I told that there are chances of a India – Sri Lanka final. My friend, who was predicting an India vs South Africa finals encounter, challenged me with a bet. I regret denying the bet :P, the result of the South African debacle came just two days later. Setting my prediction skills aside, it was plain obvious when these two teams reached the knock-out stages. The Australian and Pakistani coaches pointing out that the pressure is on India would not have helped for their cause; the same reason that Dhoni had called it as a responsibility rather than pressure just before the World Cup began. They lived up to what Dhoni said.

Just before the World Cup final, I saw a break in the pattern. I had pointed out in my previous entry that India will be facing a non-Asian team in the World Cup. Of course, it broke the pattern. Now one of the three biggie had made it to the finals thrice. It was an Asian vs Asian on an Asian ground. Without a doubt, it was touted to be the biggest contest. India, clearly, had an edge following their awesome performance in the quarter-final and semi-final. Their counterpart did not have to face a rough phase as India as they had to face a relatively weaker team in the sub-continent soil.

Right from the moment the toss was declared, the tough contest began. It was the much-awaited event for Indian fans and also the Indian cricket team who wanted to win for and dedicate the victory to the same person – Sachin Tendulkar. It was also a pressure match for Sachin himself (when it had not been and he knew how to handle it). Sri Lanka wanted to win for Muralidharan, who was in his final ODI match. The stage was set - it was Wankhede stadium at Mumbai, Sachin's home venue. The entire day was a festival; the final was attended by the biggest personalities of India. The Indian and Sri Lankan presidents were there; apart from that, Rajinikanth, Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Mukesh Ambani and a lot others were there. As Sunil Gavaskar pointed out, how come India would lose if Rajini was there?

Coming back to the match, India gave a splendid performance; a lot of events that happened. Jaywardene's century knock – a theory that went behind the scenes was that no century knock in the finals had gone in a losing cause. India had lost in the statistics already and also a several pattern combos that did not favor India. Also, there would have been a debate on whether Sachin should score a century or not, a perfect dramatic fairy tale, bringing up his 100^th ton at the right time, if he had, and a win for those believers in superstition who went on to say that India would lose if Sachin scores a century. Sachin did get out; the openers did not give India a good start, the one that India needs to chase 270. It looked easy with the Indian middle order who just proved it yet another time that they could deliver when it is needed.

Dhoni's huge six that won the match and his bat twirl, a rare display of emotions and the cool composure that he maintained after the win, when most of this teammates were not able to hide their tears, would be the most talked about in near future. There is a debate going on right now whether Dhoni is the best captain India has ever had. Sachin and Ganguly had admitted the same; the question is whether it holds true. Undoubtedly, his mastermind helped India solve the puzzle in their seventh attempt.

Sachin is the true master blaster. The only accomplishment that was missing from his belt was the World Cup trophy. Now he would be pleased to be having that as well. As Virat Kohli pointed out, it was Sachin who bore the Indian team on his shoulders for several years and it was the time that the teammates bore him on their shoulders. It came right after the team carried Sachin on his shoulders as a gesture of respect and his World Cup farewell; also it came right in front of his home crowd which booed him once. The comeback of the little master is a true story of a great comeback that others need to learn. No wonder the England football coach wanted his teammates to learn from Sachin the spirit of sportsmanship.

Every player of the squad had atleast one thing to be proud of in the tournament. Hence, congratulations to team India for winning the World Cup 2011! This is the beginning of a new era!

Also this is my 175th post! :)

Those morning walks...

2011-03-20T07:49:00.001+05:30

Heard about the moon coming closest to Earth? Have you ever wondered about the sun and the circle of life, and not just Earth, that revolves around the sun?

If you wake up early as 6 am (or before that) when the sun has just risen, you may see people walking in the streets. Every wondered why people go for a walk in the early morning? It is the most refreshing walk you could get; a walk that could rejuvenate, just like an early morning swim or an early morning yoga could do. I don't walk at that time, neither do I swim; but those are the activities which are worth sharing.

Why is it refreshing? The just risen sun is the safest to look at; it has the perfect blend of rays (by perfect blend, I mean lesser UV rays and thus, no harm). It is refreshing to the body and your eyes. If you are the fan of yoga or a practitioner of yoga, go for that Surya Namaskar, the most practised yoga exercise.

Also, if you place a glass of water exposed to those sun rays and drink the same, it is also very good for the body. That is the reason ancestors have passed on the tradition of offering tulsi (herbal leaf) water to the sun and drinking it. Now you should be knowing what to add to the water :)

The Screen Play

2011-03-06T10:55:00.000+05:30

Take a look at the films in the past decade and notice how much they have changed as time unfolds. You could notice the change in the pattern of filmmaking. One particular challenge in film making is the art of screenplay. The recent trend of the film industry is to put forth a screenplay that has been used only in thrillers earlier. In thrillers, the storyline will not be clear until the first twenty movies of the movie is over. Now that theme does not belong to thrillers alone.

Earlier, the movies used to be sequential. It maybe a narration but it does follow in order. In the recent past, there are some movies which defy that rule. Take the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' for example. The movie switches back and forth between the past and the present. There is not any hint to be shown that the movie is at the past or the present but with clever transition and the characters shown, it is implied. This shows that the audience is ready to accept the challenge and find out for themselves; it keeps their brain ticking.

One similar movie is the Inception, where it is clearly implied by the transition between the levels of the dream. The characters in each level makes the level unique. Though I have heard that the movie was confusing to some people, it has also won praises for its screenplay.

In the Social Network, it gets a little more complicated. There is no transition nor any change in the characters. The characters remain the same but only the scene changes. The quick transition could confuse the audience but the clever trick done by the director makes the screenplay interesting and that has won many praises for the movie. These kind of screenplay could not be followed for all movies but would be great if exploited for most of the movies.

Nostalgic Games: Part 1

2011-02-01T04:27:00.000+05:30

A couple of days back, I had the chance to look at some of the very first few games that I played on my PC and it brought back nostalgic memories just watching the video. I would like to share those games in this post.

Dedicated to all the old school game lovers.

Hocus Pocus: (One of my most favorite)

Jazz Jack Rabbit (I always thought that this music resembled DX of WWE. Anyone else thought the same?)

Jill of the Jungle

Prince of Persia 1:

Ofcourse, who can forget this game! A classic! Watch this video if you want to see from level 1 to the final (rapid fast - in 10 mins)

Prince of Persia 2:

A sequel to the above game but with upgraded colors. We used to love the opening video (looks like an Indian movie)

Cricket:

There was one Allan Border cricket that I used to love but I couldn't find it.

Golden Axe

An addictive game with great screenplay.

A New York Pittsburgher

2011-01-06T07:41:00.000+05:30

Last December, I decided to leave the town for holidays just like I did last year and the result turned out to be an amazing 10 days trip. Here is the list of special events.

Destination NY

It turned out to be a surprise ride for me. One of my roommates Jasmin had planned to go to New Jersey and was joined Karthick and Hemant who were going to NY and NJ respectively. I joined them to spend few days at New York. It was a pretty fast ride even though there was no sleep during any time of the journey. We dropped at a world famous fast food at New Jersey and for the first time ever, I had a taste of the famous chicken and for the hype that was created, I would say that it is not definitely finger lickin good. An unexpected stop was the Newark airport on the way where we had to pick up Jasmin’s friend. It ended up being an amazing car ride.

Xmas NY

Last year, having spent the New Year at New York and witnessing the ball drop, this time, I decided to go there again for Christmas. Although we did not spend much time outside owing to the blizzard, it was nice to spend wonderful time at New York. Thanks to Karthick’s brother and his roommates.

Destination Pittsburgh

I had decided to spend a few days at my friend ABC’s house at Pittsburgh. So I decided to go from NY directly. It was a long 7.30 hours of journey and the views on the sides were outstanding. The bus was going uphill and a river was flowing below very fast and it reminded me of one of the hill stations of India. The wi-fi in the bus was not at its best and hence music saved me throughout the journey. The bus reached half an hour earlier than expected.

Pittsburgh

There are plenty of special things to talk about Pittsburgh. The first, meeting my friend ABC after a long time. It was a nice ride to his home by bus and walk.

The downtown was amazing. Unlike Washington DC, which had Greek architecture, sculpted all over the place, Pittsburgh had this European touch to the buildings. It was like visiting England. Although the downtown could not match that of New York, it had its own unique touch and it was special.

The Carnegie Museum was awesome. Certain parts of the museum worth mentioning are the Dinosaur section and the sculpture section. The sofas in the art section were helpful for people to observe the arts and several visitors did that evoking curiosity of what they could be observing of the art. Another interesting place at the Museum was the stones section and the Egyptian section where a mummy had been kept for observation.

The SV temple at Pittsburgh was the place I wished to go for the New Year. It was such a busy day for everyone and as expected, it was difficult to get a taxi via phone. But just to try my luck, I booked it online and it came immediately at estimated time. The temple was beautiful. Getting the dharshana and the place itself felt had the distinctive feel of India because of the dominantly massive presence of Indians.

The Incline

One of the highlights of Pittsburgh is the view from Duquesne Incline and its fellow view point Monongahela Incline. It gave the view of the downtown on the other side of a river and connected by bridges. It was a breathtaking view in the cold weather and thanks to the experiment that went bad by ABC for himself, the hazelnut flavor shot in coffee turned out to be awesome for me.

Destination Washington DC

It was time to head back home; adieus to ABC; adieus to Pittsburgh. Just at 40 mins drive from Pittsburgh, the bus driver stopped the bus as he expected it to have a break down any minute and one hour was expected to be delayed owing to the wait for the next bus. However, the bus again reached half an hour earlier than expected (with delay). I am not sure but I assume it to be a marketing strategy put on by the bus company making the customers happy that they reached early. It was clearly evident as one lady was praising the bus driver as she got down the bus. Who knows, the expected travel journey could also be an average duration of journey. But anyway, the bus stopped at just some distance from China town, one of the happening places of the Washington DC downtown. The huge arch of the spot helped me in finding the metro station and not just in identifying the place itself. The familiar busy street raised my level of enthusiasm but I didn’t have time to look around with my suitcase. I left for the train back home. Home sweet home! :)

Happy New Year 2011!

2011-01-06T06:49:00.002+05:30

The last year went away so fast especially the second half. It just came and vanished like a lightning bolt. By the end of January, I would have successfully completed my 5years of blogging. Recently, I was awarded 5 years of orkut usage by Orkut (LOL). Not just that, a special event is that it would be five years anniversary for my undergraduate class during the month of February.

It might be yet another year but I wish you all a special one that is yet to come. Let us embrace this New Year with confidence and hope! Happy New Year everyone!

Celebrating the 5 years anniversary of this blog :)

Manmadhan Ambu: A review

2010-12-26T04:16:00.000+05:30

Just two hours after knowing that the movie ‘Manmadhan Ambu’ has already been released, and just three hours before the movie started, my friend asked me whether I am ready to go instead of him for the same. It didn’t take me long to decide that I will be going and I was at the theatre with my friends at the right time.

‘Manmadhan Ambu’, revolves the story between three important characters Major Mannar (MAN, played by Kamal Haasan), Madhan (played by Madhavan) and Ambujakshi (Ambu, played by Trisha). Other important characters in the movie include Ramesh Aravind, Sangeetha.

Plot:

Madhan is a big time business man who became famous after the talks about his wedding bells with the heartthrob of the city Nisha alias Ambujakshi. Madhan’s mom is slightly apprehensive as Nisha is an actress and adding to it, Madhan’s suspicion leads to Nisha asking for a break. Nisha decides to spend time with her close friend Deepa (Sangeetha) and her children on a European Cruise trip. Madhan suspects her intentions and sends in former Indian Army Major R.Mannar on a mission to spy on her activities. Mannar agrees to do it for the sake of saving his best friend Rajan who is in a critical condition in a hospital undergoing a chemotherapy operation. When Mannar certifies Nisha’s credibility as strong, Madhan calls off the mission and refuses to pay any amount as he felt that Mannar had not found anything useful. This prompts Mannar to start with a lie that Nisha is seeing some other guy and follows it up with a series of lies. What happens then forms the rest of the story.

Touted to be a big comedy entertainer, the movie lacks in comedy. Kamal himself had mentioned that the movie is not fully of comedy and there are serious scenes as well. Just like he said, the movie is partly a serious movie and full of emotions that it should not be considered a comedy movie. Taking that into consideration, the last half an hour of comedy that leads to the silly climax is a big let off. The movie ended just before the last half an hour and the last half an hour was added for entertainment. Apart from that, the movie is beautiful where Kamal’s story and screenplay makes sure the emotions of the characters are conveyed and how people react to situations.

The first half was dominated by Kamal and Trisha with both stealing the limelight just with their eye expressions. The second half of the movie (especially the last half an hour) was dominated by Madhavan and Sangeetha (surprisingly, not much of Kamal) and Sangeetha’s son Vishwanathan’s performance is a bonus.

Certain scenes of the movie are worthy to be mentioned. Kamal’s introduction scene where he puts his martial arts skills to use in a foreign land and proudly says that he is from Indian Army is one of those scenes. The scene where Kamal follows Trisha; both going in cars and looking at the moving flock of birds in the sky and feeling sad for different reasons each was well taken. The screenplay of the Neela Vaanam song was awesomely taken and one of the best of the movie. Also the scene where Kamal talks about the true meaning of bravery is applaudable.

The man behind the lens has done a really awesome job. The songs are listenable though Neela Vaanam is towards the outstanding part of the scale. As I said, the video is also well taken. Dhagudhu Dhattam is good to listen and the title song is hummable. Kamal Kavidhai is definitely missed in the movie.

The cons of the movie include the lousy ending that makes it look like it was dragged unnecessarily. Also the live recording of the dialogue makes you want to listen very hard. The other good things in the movie plus the presence of Kamal (You do know the magic of Kamal’s full length comedies!) makes it a watchable movie. Although, I do have to warn again that the movie is not beautiful for the comedy but for the mixed emotions faced by people owing to circumstances. Watch it for sure.

The Solstice Lunar Eclipse

2010-12-22T02:18:00.001+05:30

“Wake up! Wake up!”

Maybe that is what I heard but I woke up hearing a voice and it was Karthick who had awakened me. I realized that I wouldn’t have slept much longer and kind of guessed the reason why he woke me up.

“Come and look at the moon!”, he said and walked away.

My guess was right. The reason is the Lunar Eclipse that was happening at that time. I looked at the clock in my mobile and noticed that it was 2:38 am. My guess was right again; I had slept for only two hours.

“Bring your coat! It is cold outside”, told Karthick as he left.

Trusting his words and also the statistical data of the recent temperature outside, I took my coat and headed to the balcony. We had a distant view binocular and my roommates Karthick and Hemant had already set up the binocular making it easy for me.

I entered the cold balcony and immediately swung into action focusing my binocular up at the sky. I noticed a bright star but that was not my object of concern. It didn’t take me longer to find the biggest viewable object in the sky.

Speak about white moon, blue moon; I was seeing the moon which was almost semi-orange. The moon was three-fourth orange-red in color. It was an awesome sight!

More interesting facts about this Eclipse are that it occurs on the December 21, 2010 which also happens to be the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year marking the beginning of winter. Also, the last time this phenomenon occurred was in 1638. It took 372 years for the history to repeat. The next time for this to happen might even take more than 300 years. For more information about this Lunar Eclipse of December 21, 2010, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2010_lunar_eclipse

The Deathly Hallows Part 1 Review

2010-12-20T05:58:00.000+05:30

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is the movie worth talking about. The movie was liked by almost everyone. There were several people who did not like the movie and they fell under the category of not having watched any of the previous movies or not having read the book. One of them even asked me whether I liked the movie only because I am a HP fan. Apparently, it is not.

Plot:

The movie unfolds the final book of the series where Harry Potter goes on his quest to destroy the horcruxes of Lord Voldemort. He does not go alone. He is joined by his best friends Ron and Hermione.

Director David Yates may have given his best for the previous two movies but they didn’t turn out the best although they were enjoyed by the fans. As this movie was split into two parts, he had the freedom to explore and make the movie go like a novel instead of rapid screenplay like the previous two chapters. The fact that the director made the scene where Harry looks into the closet and feels sad for a moment is one of those scenes. He wouldn’t have been able to accommodate it if he had not been given the freedom to do so.

Acting wise, it turned out to be a great performance by the trio yet again. The trio never failed to let the emotions very clearly as it was very much needed for the movie. Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange once again proved her mettle in the acting.

The decision to explain the story of ‘The Tale of Three Brothers’ in the movie was amazing and it was well taken. Also the scene where Harry meets the Nagini was exactly like I imagined and it was taken less scary than I had imagined it. However, I term the scene a success.

Overall, the movie turned out to be awesome and the last scene leaves huge expectations for the next one where there is a promise of more adventures and the final battle between Harry and Voldemort. Even though you may have read the book, I am sure you may not want to miss it.

Stand, Wait, Go crazy!

2010-11-29T05:38:00.000+05:30

I always happen to watch the Harry Potter movies on the third day after its release in India. For the first time, I watched the movie here in the United States on the second day. Technically speaking, it turned out to be the third day in India because of the time difference. :P

The movie was awesome. The review will follow this post sooner. What I would like to talk about in this post is the audience.

Almost two months back, I saw the movie 'Endhiran' in US the second day itself. It was $21, an amount that I would never regret paying for a Rajini movie although that is the most costliest ticket that I bought so far for a movie. One of my North Indian friends told, “I guess that is cheaper for you guys considering the ticket price in your hometown”. I agreed cause watching Rajini's movie in the second day itself in India is like getting special Dharisanam in a temple. The theaters all over the world such as theatres in New Jersey, Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, Malaysia had tickets sold out very fast. One theater revealed to its surprise that the tickets for the entire first week was sold within the first 10 minutes. Such is the effect of Rajini.

We reached the theater an hour back and for good reasons. A short queue had already formed outside the theater to get the tickets. One thing that is unfair in the theaters here is that no matter when you get the tickets, the seats are always first come first serve. No seating number and no reservations of any specific seats. After a while, a very huge crowd had gathered behind us. We got good seats and although, the audience's shouts and whistles wouldn't match the ones heard in the theaters in Tamil Nadu, it was still awesome. When we came out, an even bigger queue was waiting to see the next show.

That was catching the Indian audience in US theaters. For the first time, I caught such a huge crowd in US after the Endhiran movie. That was for the HP movie. People were standing in line for such a long time to not miss the good seats. It was just the second day and I could see the vast crowd of different categories – ones who grew up reading Harry Potter, ones who are still in their tiny tots, ones in their schools, ones who have read the books and also seen the movies, ones who have not read the books but seen the movies, and the others who have neither read the books nor saw the movies. This movie was awesome again. Because of bad luck, we had to sit in the second row from the first but luckily in that, I found the center seat when we had a worst corner seat initially. But nothing could stop us from enjoying the first part of the final Harry Potter movies.

It is happening really!

2010-11-19T02:49:00.000+05:30

One month but several weather changes. Yes I have seen this pattern before but experiencing it all again is different. We noticed all sorts of climate sans snow in the last one month. One week, it would be cold; the next week, it would be sunny.

I earlier lived in 1st floor and the temperature that I feel in the balcony is pretty much the same temperature outside. Now I live in the 5th floor and just when you decided that the day would be cold, standing in the balcony, you would be proven wrong when you take the coat.

In the afternoon, it will be hot and in the evening, it will be cold. Sometimes, vice-versa. Can't complain much about it as there would also be bright sunshine combined with cold breeze. What a combination is that!

Two days back, one of those thunderstorms came. It came with no hype, no expectations; all it did was a pour, couple of thunders, wind, showers again. My roommate decided to open the window when it happened and it turned out to a mistake. The water splashed into the room for like two feet from the window. The very next day, it was very sunny and there were no signs that a thunderstorm occurred only the previous night.

I would like to talk about an incident where one fine morning, I was going to university. I was welcomed by a very cool breeze and the trees were swaying a lot like it is passing on a message in rhythm. Just then I saw a guy walking backwards. Yes, he was walking backwards. I don't really know why that guy was walking backwards but it reminded me of the scene from 'The Happening' movie where people kill themselves after walking backwards because of the wrath of nature.

It is yet to snow in my place although snowing have started in some other states. Of course, there are plenty number of websites to help you out with planning for the weather without which life here would be difficult.

Chennai Super Kings: They played like Champions do – A fairy tale Part 3

2010-10-28T06:40:00.001+05:30


Photo courtesy: Cricinfo

It was the Champions League 2010 in South Africa - a tournament which everyone was eagerly waiting for. Three of the Indian Premiere League teams – Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore had qualified for the tournament that would determine the Champion of Champions. Yes, it was a tournament that comprised the best T20 teams of each Cricket playing nation. Some nations didn’t participate for reasons unknown but the tournament was all set and ready to go.

Chennai Super Kings had an easy opening match against the New Zealand’s Central Districts Stags team. The latter looked ordinary against the Chennai team and their clinical victory against Sri Lanka’s Wayamba earned the critics’ view that Chennai play like Champions do. Ashwin and Bollinger were again praised for their deathly attacks. Albie Morkel was in his best form in his home ground. Raina’s batting won was extraordinary and Hussey was proving to be a best supporter for the other side slowly clinging on to partnerships.

However, in the very next match against Australia’s Victoria team, they almost slipped but couldn’t stop the chasing Victorians to equal the defending total thus leading to a Super Over. It was another day of Dhoni’s blunders when he handed the single Super Over to Ashwin when it should have been handed to Bollinger instead. Though Ashwin torments the batsmen, the batsmen had no other choice but to go for every ball of the slow bowler and they ended up scoring 20+ runs in that over. Chennai couldn’t chase the massive score and thus lost the match.

It ended up again in a thrilling must-win encounter against South Africa’s own warriors. Chennai had managed to get only 136 which they would have easily lost. However, Chennai’s bowling was at it’s best during the match. Warriors had to get only 110 odd runs to reach the semi-finals whereas Chennai should win the match to reach the semis otherwise they would pave the way for Victoria to reach the semi-finals. Warriors lost the match but not before getting the required target to reach the semi-finals. Yes, now both teams became qualified for the semis. As the commentators had pointed out, it was a rare occasion where both teams went home happy when it was not even a draw. It was clear when Warriors’ captain Davy Jacobs raised thumbs-up to the Chennai team after the speech at the match presentation.

It was an exciting semi-final between IPL’s own teams Chennai vs Bangalore (Mumbai didn’t qualify for semis). The match never went well for Anil Kumble as rain delayed the proceedings and reduced the match to 17 overs a side. That did not stop Chennai from hitting every ball they find. Raina was in his massive form hitting five 4s and six 6s at a strike rate of 195 to reach 94 and also to take Chennai to a massive total of 174. It was Bangalore’s worst day as the team fumbled in their fielding, bowlers bowled expensive spells and the worst part was that Dale Steyn, their strike bowler, got injured when he caught a ball by moving backwards. There ended Bangalore’s hopes and Chennai did well enough to win by a good margin.

It was the finals and though the home team Warriors was the favorites among the crowd, it was clear to everyone that Chennai had high chances of winning the title. Chennai half won the match when the slow bowlers of Chennai – Ashwin and Muralidharan bowled miserly spells and also scraping 5 crucial wickets among them thus restricting the Warriors to a total of 128. With Chennai’s mighty batting lineup, no one had a doubt that Chennai would be going home the winners. Chennai however played slow and steady. They lost quick wickets in the middle however they were nowhere near losing. Even the face of the Warriors showed that. In the end, Chennai became the Champion of Champions. Davy Jacobs accepted that Chennai outplayed them in all the departments.

It was an emotional night for them. They not only won the third edition of the IPL but also won the prestigious Champions League thus making them the Champion of Champions. The team was applauded for their team effort and not relying on individual performances. Everyone delivered when it mattered the most. Ashwin was the spotlight of the tournament and it was not a surprise when he was declared the man of the series and also given the golden stumps for being the highest wicket taker. It was an emotional moment for another reason – it is the final time that this team’s composition would be playing for Chennai. Only four players of this entire team might be retained in the next edition. It was definitely a fairy tale ending for a team which stuck together and supported each other, a team that deserved to be called the Champion of Champions.

Chennai Super Kings: They played like Champions do – A fairy tale Part 2

2010-10-10T08:11:00.001+05:30

It was the third IPL, the last one for the teams after which all the players would be re-auctioned. Chennai was not at the best in the first stage losing 4 out of 7. They lost for the first time to Kings XI Punjab in a devastating Super Over that favored the Punjab team. It was all not going well for the team until Chennai decided to buy a man whom they would have only imagined in their dreams that he is going to save Chennai for the rest of the tournament. That man is none other than Australian pace bowler Doug Bollinger.

Doug made no mistake right from the beginning; he picked up wickets at regular intervals and bowled unplayable deliveries that threatened the batsmen. Batting was never a concern for the team even though Hayden was failing miserably at every match. That was the first time the Mongoose bat was introduced (a bat which was short and easy for gripping). It was a complete failure and Hayden only suffered trying to use the bat. The only time he delivered with the bat was against Delhi team where he hit 70 odd runs. Though Hayden was a failure, there were other batsmen to fill in his position. Justin Kemp, South African all-rounder was bought by the team and he proved his worth now and then.

Also now, the bowling was not a concern with the arrival of Doug Bollinger and also Muralitharan was at his best. Then came a surprise package; it could be regarded as a bonus. Chennai specialist spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (proud to mention that he is from my college SSN J ), who was there in the team as a second spinner made little contributions to the team. He was benched when Chennai lost the super over not to forget the reason for the Super over being the unreasonable shot by Ashwin. But then, Ashwin was brought back suddenly and the new ball was given to his hands. As if a wizard has been given his magic wand, Ashwin performed miracles with the new ball. He was able to make the ball turn on either sides and also he specialized with the new carom ball, a technique which only the Sri Lankan special spinner Ajantha Mendis possessed. Ashwin was doing the impossible – he was bowling maiden powerplay overs.

With Doug, Ashwin, Murali taking care of the bowling with some help from Balaji and Morkel, the team’s chances of going to the semi-finals increased. The team’s fortunes, however, was that they had to win a few matches because of equally ranked teams. It got into a close situation with their final match against Punjab where Dhoni, himself, hit more than 15 runs to win the match to reach the semi-finals. At the end of the match, Dhoni struck his fist into his chin emotionally and he admitted that it was an emotional moment for him to win the match for the team as heavy stakes are on him and his teammates. Chennai made no mistake in the semi-finals beating Deccan Chargers comfortably. The final was touted to be the most thrilling match of the season because of the clash of the Heavyweights Mumbai and a team that barely managed to reach the finals – Chennai.

The odds were against Chennai but the determined Chennai team gave in their best batting performance on a track that wasn’t offering much for batsmen. They managed to reach a score of 160 where it was declared that even a score of 140 would be difficult to chase. Ashwin and Bollinger kept up to their expectations making the batsmen struggle. Mumbai captain Sachin made a blunder by making their special batsman Kieron Pollard wait. It is rare to see Sachin angry and it was one of such days when he failed to make a single. He did get out and instead of sending Pollard, came Harbhajan Singh who was expected to hit. He was instantly out; the required run-rate became pretty huge until the 15^th over when Pollard came to the crease.

For an over, the Mumbai crowd was roaring at their feet; only minutes earlier, they were too silent. When the match was left on Pollard’s shoulders where even a wicket was sacrificed for him, Dhoni did the impossible. He expected Pollard to hit straight and placed Hayden between short mid-off and long off. The very next ball Pollard got out hitting straight to Hayden and there, everyone had unanimously decided that it was going to be Chennai’s game. Chennai didn’t fail to the expectation and Chennai won the third IPL season – a feat that they came very close to achieving the last two times. It was the final IPL before the teams get shuffled; it was special; it was a dream come true for Chennai. Yet they had one more thing that they had to achieve – the Champions League T20 2010 in South Africa.

(to be continued)

Chennai Super Kings: They played like champions do - A fairy tale Part 1

2010-09-30T04:59:00.000+05:30

If one asks about the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) team in general, it would be no wonder if people respond dramatically, “It all began in the year 2008…”. Such has been the fairy tale of the Champion of Champions – The Chennai Super Kings franchise of the Indian Premiere League (IPL).

During the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008, Chennai raised their expectations after winning straight four out of four matches. When they started losing, the expectations fell but their earlier wins made sure they had to win only few of the remaining matches to secure a berth in the semi-final. But it was never easy for them as the other teams were equally competitive and posed a threat to Chennai’s dream. But Chennai Super Kings already had a lion in their team in the form of MS Dhoni, the captain of Indian national team. When he was there, he assured a place in the semi-finals. Chennai’s dream of winning the IPL failed that year when they lost the IPL finals to Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai stadium where it looked as if the entire stadium is favoring the Rajasthan Royals. Any captain would agree at the end of the day, “The better team won”. Yes, T20 cricket can be cunning. It could raise your temptations in a cricket ball and then burn it down to earth at the very next ball. The inaugural edition of the Champions League in the year 2008, a tournament comprising the best T20 club teams of their national side, did not happen because of security issues and thus Chennai, which was one among the selected teams, did not play in that league.

In IPL 2009, a fresh war happened in South Africa far away from its birth place. Initially, the crowd paid a visit to their matches to see what the excitement is all about but then the IPL fever got over every one in the cities. In Durban, it was claimed that most of the audience are Chennai Super Kings supporters. The King of Chennai MS Dhoni led from the front and took the team to a higher level winning matches again. Chennai’s batting was destructive in its own way – with the likes of former Australian opener Matthew Hayden and Indian specialist batsman Suresh Raina. If they had not delivered with the bat, MS Dhoni himself came to the crease to give the proceedings to a total above par. In fact, Chennai registered the highest ever total by an IPL team even in its very first match in the inaugural edition. If winning gave credits to the team batting, the losing exposed the team’s poor bowling performance. Even though Chennai had the spinning wizard – the 800 test wicket taker Mutthiah Muralitharan, they still lacked a fast bowler who could threaten the opposition right from the front. But then, they went for one of the best all-rounders of all time – England’s Andrew Flintoff.

Chennai was still giving the opening spell to South African all-rounder Albie Morkel, a task that he is not accustomed to doing even in his home pitch. Chennai did have home players coming for their aide but they didn’t last more than the week. Manpreet Singh Goni, who had a dream come true inaugural tournament, struggled with his bowling during the second edition. Joginder Sharma, considered to the man with the golden arm, added every match to his misery with his conventional bowling style not suiting the T20 format. Lakshmipathy Balaji, the experienced medium pacer from Tamil Nadu, was not getting the rhythm right after recovering from a very long injury. Sudeep Tyagi occasionally bowled well but was not exceptional. Shadab Jakati proved to be a useful spin combination along with Muralitharan. Flintoff was expected to fire with his bat and also bowl fiery spells but none of them happened. The costliest player of the IPL failed to deliver and it all ended when he had to leave the IPL due to a knee injury that also made him to retire this month. Chennai had tried all bowling combinations and none of them worked well for them. Then MS Dhoni admitted that his team’s bowling is very poor and then decided to concentrate on the team’s strength – the batting.

Matthew Hayden was in the best of form that year smashing every ball for sixes and fours. Occasionally Parthiv Patel was a good companion to Hayden hitting the balls for boundaries when he had his chance. The middle order lineup of Suresh Raina – the rigorous hitter of the ball, MS Dhoni – the team captain, a blaster himself, Subramaniam Badrinath – the consolidator, Albie Morkel – the T20 specialist as a finisher; everyone had a tale for themselves, each contributing in their own way. They had good replacements as well in the form of Jacob Oram who played in most of the matches, George Bailey – the Tasmanian hitter.

That is where MS Dhoni’s role came into play. He knew his team’s batting strength and capitalized on it. The team’s batting won several matches for them with also a little contribution from the bowlers as well – not to forget Mutthiah’s four overs of hell for the batsman. However, the bowling always depended on the batsmen to deliver. Though MS Dhoni took the team to the semi-finals yet again, the blunders he made during that match cost him the entry into the finals as well as the Champions League of that tournament. Several blunders were made. You can read my version of the tale here. Though unintentional, it proved to be an exit for the team. Chennai’s bowling woes were clearly visible and Dhoni and the selectors had to pick a quickie for the next year. It was left to the confusion and a wait that followed that IPL.

… to be continued

A new look

2010-09-27T01:40:00.000+05:30

Almost five years of my blogging has been done and this is the first time that I am changing the layout of my blog! My blogging has become real slow in the last year. I am hoping to increase the number of posts every month (I do say this everytime). But this time, I am hoping that I will start posting a lot. Enjoy the new look of the blog :)

Which flavor?

2010-09-25T06:47:00.000+05:30

When you go to an ice-cream shop and it is not often you visit to an ice-cream shop, the vendor asks you the ultimate question, “Which flavor?” Yes, which flavor would you go for? Is it a flavor that you always go for? Or you want to try out new flavor?

I rarely go to ice-cream shops. If I do, I just briefly go through the menu and just order one of my favorites. Occasionally, I do try something new. Even there, it would be a pretty safe one. Ofcourse, once I had to try ‘coconut’ flavor. It was aweful. Then there was this ‘mint’ flavor which I happily neglected. There was this orange once and it was pretty okay.

Recently, in my university, they were giving free ice-creams as a part of a social gathering. When I went to collect the tickets, the lady at the desk asked me, “Which flavor would you be going for? Vanilla or Chocolate?”. I was like “Chocolate, ofcourse! Why would I choose Vanilla?” When I replied Chocolate, there were some cheers among the group of three over there. Maybe there was a bet! Who knows?

It doesn’t stop with the ice-creams. It goes with food selection as well. Would you go for different ones or stick on to your favorites? With respect to food (ice-cream excluded), I did see people trying out different items.
Now relating this to normal life, would you go for something that you always liked or would you go for something new, interesting and adventurous? Ofcourse, it is unfair to relate both! But it is just a question, “Which flavor?”

That extra five minutes!

2010-08-31T08:49:00.002+05:30

At one point of time, everyone would get to ask that extra five minutes. It may be at an exam hall or when you are about to wake up. Today, I was working with a program and it was not working. I knew that it was a simple mistake but it took me four hours and yet the solution never turned up. Finally, I don’t know how but an idea struck my head and after that, it all seemed obvious. It just took an extra five minutes to perform that task.

It has happened before in a lab exam. I was struggling with the program and when the staff in charge came and advised to start from the beginning and think clearly. The solution came instantly. A similar incident happened at my project review. At times, beginning from scratch is the best solution.

The Excitement and Hype

2010-07-31T21:05:00.001+05:30

Every movie comes with promos and sometimes, especially when it is combined with huge star cast and good technical crew, it triggers excitement among the fans. Sometimes, the excitement level reaches too high and the audience goes with very high expectations to the movie and the movie ends up utterly failing to their expectations.

As popular South Indian actress Trisha has pointed out that right promo could prove success for a movie. The actress who has ventured into Bollywood has passed this comment. The comment, though, is appreciable as sometimes, the crew of the movie goes hush about the storyline of the movie. This creates anticipation and formation of their own stories among the fans.

One such movie that failed the audience expectations is 'Raavanan'. Many are not sure what the director Mani Ratnam wanted to say. It was not sure whether the director meant the original story of Ramayana or he just wanted the flavor of the great epic. This movie was taken for so long with great hype. It also released simultaneously in three different languages with different star cast and yet the audience failed to see some good aspects of the movie.

There is a movie though that many people had high expectations and still it exceeded. Yes, it happened for me as well. I went on to the movie with high expectations and I simply loved it. And yes, I am talking about the much talked about movie in the recent past - Inception. Christopher Nolan knew exactly how to market the movie. He did not reveal too much in the teaser trailer released in December. One was made to wonder what the story is. Two months later, the first trailer was released and audience had a little clue about the movie. Already the movie started to tingle some senses in the audience. Next the ultimate trailer came which gave complete clue about the movie. Is that how a successful movie marketing is done? Slowly feeding the story of the movie was the best way to keep the audience interested and the fast paced storyline did wonders. More about the movie later in review.

Multi-Level Experience

2010-06-28T23:02:00.000+05:30

“Hey, you were looking for a part time job, I do remember. Still interested?”
That is how it started when I was doing my 11th or 12th. David Naveen, one of my classmates beckoned me and Arun Kumar to join him in a place where he could possibly get us some way to earn money. He brought a friend along with him. The place was in Nungambakkam and strangely, the place was too crowded. We got a name badge for ourselves and had to wait for too long before some of the volunteers including David Naveen invited us into a hall.

The moment we entered in, the volunteers who were standing along a line near the entrance started clapping their hands in rhythm until everyone entered in. If they thought that was the best way to set up the mood, they were absolutely wrong. It was a pathetic attempt. After almost the entire crowd managed to get a seat, we were started showing some videos on personality development linked with Multi-Level Marketing. The other friend David had brought that day wanted to punish David that day and David ended up giving us a treat in Pizza Corner.

It was the tense moments for the students of George Mason University as the final exams were just in a couple of days. We got to know a guy who wanted to introduce me to a business project which has tie-ups with companies like Dell. It definitely sounded interesting and Karthick also joined me in. After four months in US, it was the first time we decided to go to a American Restaurant which is very close to our apartment. Two working Indian guys had come to discuss about the project. They ordered coffee for us and the waiter was more than pleased to serve us one.

I seriously wished the guy started and ended the meet with the phrase “It is MLM”. Instead, he decided to start up with the way of living, expenses, blah blah blah and then gave a hint what he is going to talk about. Then he talked about student life, work life, married life, blah blah blah, bank savings, income, blah blah blah. Never did he say the word ‘MLM’ but just talked about the possibilities of the huge earnings. Karthick and I weren’t interested in it at all and it got worse when he said that we had to pay for the initial process. The amount was definitely huge for a student. We said no. We were frustrated that nearly two hours of our time were wasted especially before the final exam. Their faces were clearly frustrated that their two hours of trying to convince us failed miserably and also the expense for the coffee. They decided to try us one more time and gave us a free chance to meet up with the successful people of this so-called business project after the exam. While leaving, they gave a health drink, one of the products that they sell, to Karthick as he said he was tired. If they had planned to impress us with that cola energy drink, it didn’t work out. After all, it was consumed, by me, several months after they gave it to us. (Yes it was good)

It was December 18th 2009. It was already a tiring day and we knew that we had to attend that party or get together that these MLM people were going to have. It was the night on which the worst snow storm in years was yet to come. A working Indian to-be couple picked us up and we travelled to someplace else in Virginia. It was a beautiful residential place decorated with Christmas lights in every similar house. We entered through one of the garages. I didn’t realize what it was when Karthick said “Oh no!”. We had just entered the house what seemed like a family get-together. The entire house was filled with Indian families who had all ventured into this MLM. We were the only students to be present there.

The host of the meet made us all seated and started presenting us with the products and also the various ways of selling them. Many took turns in giving a speech about various topics. I, being seated at the front most row, had to face the face-to-face presentation sometimes. The host, meanwhile, gave jokes in between every presentation. Again, if he had thought that it was the best way to cheer up people, though it did not fail, he messed it up. He had read some online jokes of Santa Singh and had thought it to be Santa Claus instead. He was frequently referring to Santa Claus in every joke which included Santa Claus’s girlfriend. I am sure no kid would want to hear that story. I heard everyone laugh including a loud fake laugh by Karthick from behind. He later told me that it was because of the reaction to the stupid jokes.

The next part of the meet was the introduction of the new comers. The minute that I heard that word ‘New Comers’, eyes started staring at me, the front most person around. After some words spoken by the new comers, it was finally over. The best part of that meet was the buffet prepared by every attendees. The Indian food they served was great. Another best part of the meet was the return ride in the snow. The storm had just started.

I had already decided not to go for the meet again but we were again asked to attend some meet in Ohio. This includes a free ride to Ohio and also stops at various places. We could have gone there again except that we had already made plans to New York. That was the end of MLM.

How to make a 50th movie flop

2010-05-31T10:47:00.003+05:30

1. In the past, make sure that your reputation is at the bottom.

2. Pick a movie that contains action -> comedy -> song loop sequence.

3. Tell the audience that the Pt.2 is for the taste of the fans and for their expectations.

4. Pick a director who has given previous hits with you even when you know that repeat of success is not in your area.

5. Pick a top reigning heroine only to romance with her and for the song sequences. Give the least important role to her.

6. Pick a comedian whom you can bully on but then you make the most comedy of the movie.

7. Pick a famous Telugu villain who should be responsible for punch dialogues of the hero.

8. Always have an accomplice on the villain side to tell some punch dialogues for the hero.

9. The movie maybe a flop but never let down the songs. Dance well. When you are good at something, do it.

10. Get some Telugu flavor. If not the movie, pick a top Telugu music director and ask him to remake his best hits even though it may be one of his old hits.

11. In the movie, make sure that you are the best among the people and everyone else is depending on you.

12. Speak unnecessary lengthy dialogues that doesn’t matter to the entire movie.

13. Break logic and rules in fight scenes and normal course of the movie.

14. Try to win the sentiments of the woman and general public which should fail miserably.

Bonus:

1. The producers and distributors will not just suffer from loss but also from severe criticism.

2. Your reputation will go down further.

3. Extra Bonus: The movie distributors will go against you and ban your movies if you do not compensate for their losses

Naanga Poi Solla Porom (We are gonna lie!)

2010-04-06T04:15:00.000+05:30

It is more than apt to post this during the month of April. This post is dedicated to my undergraduate classmates :)

It should have been September 20, 2008. It was time for yet another treat; this time from myself and another guy to my undergraduate classmates. We love to go to restaurants and hog food but we had done more of that during the previous treats. So we changed our minds to make it different – to watch a movie. The unanimous choice was the movie named ‘Poi Solla Porom’, a Tamil remake of the Hindi movie ‘Khosla la Ghosla’. We decided to follow it up with a snack at Pizza Hut. Did I mention that we love to hog food?

The movie was at 3 in Sangam Cineplex. Constant reminders kept coming to me asking me to start early. Having booked the tickets, only I had the authority to collect the tickets from the window. The theatre is just 20 minutes drive from my home. 2.20 pm was an ideal time to start; in fact, it would have been an early start. Not trusting the day’s traffic, I started from my house at 2.20 pm. Then came the twist of the story :D .

I was supposed to pick up Karthick at his house but he had left to one of his friends’ house. So instead of going towards the theatre, I went in the opposite direction to pick him up. Karthick was on the way towards my home in a bus. A fact worth mentioning about this bus is that not only it is swarmed with a huge crowd but also roams into interior corners of the town and thus makes it slow. I was constantly messaging Karthick asking about his locality. None of the messages came from him as a shocker except for one message, “The movie is at 4 pm, right?”… “Well… looks like the movie title is designed for us from now”.

It was 2:45 pm. Karthick and I were standing near Ashok Nagar. The first message that we sent to our friends, who were already waiting at the theatre is that we are on the way and then we started. Karthick offered to drive fast with me giving directions. Everything went fine until in T.Nagar, the CCTP beckoned us. It was 2:55 pm and the traffic police had decided to make us wait. After paying the duties, I offered, once again, to drive. It was probably a minute or two past 3 and I drove like I never did before. I was constantly getting calls from my classmates and then Karthick responded the calls and also messaged that we were stuck in traffic and also almost there. We reached the theatre at around 3:15 pm and there we saw our classmates, with dull faces, waiting eagerly just like the Lagaan cricket team eagerly waiting for rain in vain.

The first 15 – 20 minutes of the movie didn’t have much story and hence we hadn’t missed much. Also, the rest of the movie happened to be too funny and interesting that all of them decided to forget that we turned up late causing them (and us) to miss the first 20 minutes. Yes, we did go to Pizza Hut (or is it Domino’s?) to spice it up before we called it a day.

It is completely unfair!

2010-03-08T11:53:00.001+05:30

‘Illogical’. Such word has been cast as a persona for a popular Tamil actor who has been in the industry for more than 15 years. His stereotype roles as a hero are often been criticized even before the release of his movies. There were days when these so-called illogical scenes were often forgotten. Nowadays, it so happens that these scenes are the reason that the people want to watch the movie. They claim it as fun. Yes, he jumps off a long distance to catch a train. He does ride a car using his mouth. I don’t deny the fact that such scenes are illogical but I have to put forth the points that he is not alone in doing such scenes.

No I am not going to talk about heroes who turned as politicians or a famous hero who could make trains move with a flick of his hand. I am going to talk about movies which are considered to be a big hit but yet have those scenes. There may be plenty of scenes in that movie but I am willing to point out either one or two.

Recently, I saw a Telugu movie that was well taken. It is a fantasy movie centered on ancient age and rebirth. The movie was good but there is one scene where the hero tries to catch a horse. That is where the logic breaks. Here is the portrayal of that scene in words. The horse is running towards him and he starts running in the direction of the horse. Just when the horse overtakes him, he uses his gymnastic tactics to mount the horse. He jumps over several vehicles including a car that is running in the opposite direction and uses that force as a leverage to mount the horse. After seeing the scene, one should be like “What the hell just happened?”. Logic defied.

There is a famous Hindi movie whose prequel is a blockbuster. The sequel is also a hit for various reasons. The film deals with the story of robbery and police chase. In this movie, the hero who acts as the thief uses several robbery tactics that involves technology. There are several scenes which completely defies logic. In one scene, he is caught by the police for inspection. He would be standing on top of a drainage lid and he presses a button that lets acid emit from his shoes. The acid crafts a hole in the drainage lid making him fall inside the drainage thus leading to his escape. If that is not enough, he flies out (yes, literally!) from another end of the drainage with a completely different refreshed look and also with a pair of glasses. There is another scene from the same movie where he uses magnet, which are attached to his hands, to fix his grip on moving vehicles, to change vehicles and also to move in the traffic. Logic defied.

There is a famous Hollywood movie that has several illogical scenes including the opening scene of the movie. In that scene, a guy in a top floor of a skyscraper is being targeted for murder by goons from another such building. The target instead of running for his life jumps out of the building breaking the glass exteriors and shoots his enemies in the millisecond duration that he gets (the director manages to get away with that by claiming that the guy has an anxiety disorder which could make people have stimulus as 10 times faster than normal people). However, the illogical scene is the one when the target manages to jump to the other building and finishes off the only remaining enemy. In the end, he gets shot by a sniper who is probably a km away and the sniper’s accuracy is such that he precisely calculates the aim as to miss the narrow gap between buildings. Again logic defied.

The point that I am trying to emphasize is that the Tamil actor, who is being targeted, is not the only one. There are several people including other Tamil actors and Indian actors who defy logic in several places in the name of heroism. Blaming this actor alone for defying logic is completely unfair. In the cinema world of heroism and entertainment, anything is possible. If we compare it with day to day life, bring out faults and declare them to be bad, then we won’t have any movies left.

Its happening again!

2010-02-11T09:13:00.000+05:30

Last December, they said that it was the worst snowfall Fairfax has ever seen in eight long years. With around 15 inches depth of snow, it sure stacked up the streets for more than a week. It is always a fun to be out in the snow. Wear the right kind of dresses and you will be fine. I know a friend who went out in the snow wearing shorts.

In fact, snow is not the worst thing you would like to face. Chilly and frosty windows sans snow would be a living hell to face. One day at New York, we had to go to a nearby shop to get vegetables and that was the first time I faced such heavy cold. The gusty winds whipped over my face and through my coats. The stats said that it was less than -20 c. It was not so long before hands started feeling numb.

Last week, the meteorological department had one bigger announcement to make. A snowstorm, which was worse than the storm that struck the I-95 corridor last December, struck last week and snow piled on for two days up to two feet high. Before they could clear up the mess, there was another announcement – an announcement that there will be a little more snow that is pending on Wednesday. So it not just snowed, but also topped up with chilly winds that made snow flow horizontally.

Due to this, I think the entire I-95 corridor had declared a holiday due to inclement weather. It so happened that the entire working week was shut down to allow people to safeguard themselves at homes. What seemed like a trailer to the Spring break turned out to be a complete one week break! It is all happening!

Days of our Lives

2010-01-16T06:34:00.000+05:30

I guess I am little late in wishing you all a Happy Pongal but yet the festival season isn’t over yet. So I wish you all a Happy Pongal and a Happy Tamil New Year as well! I guess I am late in posting the first post this year too.

It is pretty surprising that I am into my fifth year of my blogging. The journey continues. As far as my blogging goes, it goes pretty slowly at the moment. But it seems just like last month, I stepped into SSN College of Engineering. Now I am just a part of the SSN alumni. Last week, they had conducted a wonderful tribute to the SSN alumni and I really appreciate that, even though missing it by thousands of miles.

Every year, we look into the rest with a new hope, trying to build a future that has been carved perfectly in our minds. We try to recreate that model. Sometimes we fail but sometimes we win. Some people drive with the hope of winning. Some drive with the fear of losing. The former is preferred as when driving a car, you go with the intention to go to the destination safely and you don’t drive with the fear of crashing.

Again ‘Safety’ is a weird word and I need to use it carefully. ‘Safety’ is closely associated with fear and it is contradicting my opinion. The positive hope is what drives us forward but at the same time, we need to have a small touch of fear that helps us defend ourselves to whatever obstacles we are facing on the journey ahead.

I pray for the millions of people who lost their homes and their dear ones in the earthquake at Haiti. May God be with them!

I hope to be back in blogging at full throttle this year. As the previous post says, the journey continues…

இனிய கமிழ் புத்தாண்டு மற்றும் தமிழர் திருநாள் பொங்கல் நல்வாழ்த்துகள்!

The journey continues

2009-12-31T23:05:00.000+05:30

The year 2009 is coming to an end. Many of my batchmates would agree with me that we would have thought about 2009 for so long. I wondered, in 2005, how 2009 would be because just like 2003 and 2005, we always know that 2009 is going to be a big year, atleast for our batch. Now the year 2009 has almost come to an end. Yes it did make one of the most important changes in my life.

2009 is a tag for us. If we wish to go back to SSN or attend an alumni function, we would be calling ourselves 2009 passouts. I would be referred as Kavin of 2009 batch. Kavin CSE ‘A’ is all gone. It is going to be Kavin of 2009. Lol.

Every one of our batch mates would have known that they were travelling in the same road of education until 2009. It is in 2009 we departed, each taking our own ways. Some went on for jobs, business, and some want to travel in the same path of education. I belong to the latter.

Looking back 2009, it has been a great year for TAGS. It gained popularity which spread like wild fire. More people came to adopt and we were able to do it really fast. This day happens to be the Second Anniversary of TAGS. I wish TAGS all success throughout.

I would like to wish everyone a happy and a prosperous new year. Entering a new year is just like entering a new phase. You take all the experiences you had in the previous phases and you enter the new phase with courage, determination and happiness. I wish you all a successful New Year! Let the next decade begin!

My name is 'Kavin'

2009-12-20T05:18:00.002+05:30

It is not often that people fail to pronounce a five lettered word perfectly. I often wonder how people could find different vocal pronunciations of my name. It has occurred many times that people look at my name curiously to find out how my name is actually pronounced, stutter a bit and then pronounce it wrongly. I avoid myself from correcting them unless they ask me. Some of the pronunciations I could remember are ‘Kevin’, ‘Kaveen’, ‘Kaavin’, ‘Naveen’.

It is often funny that when people read my name, they come up with new names which could only mean one thing – they think that I wrote the name wrongly. They would ask me “Is it Kevin or Kavin?” They fail to realize that it is evident from what has been written or printed. Do I have to answer them? Lolz. If replacing vowels is a sin for a short name, then what should one call a person who replaces a consonant that clearly has complete different sounds? One of such names is Navin or Naveen. Replacing K with C is forgivable but with ‘N’?

Even these days, one of my school friends would tell the story of how he got shocked in 7^th std when my class staff in charge asked him to call a guy named ‘Kaavin’. Yeah, that is me. Since then, I am able to convince myself that people are finding it difficult to pronounce my name. Then, there used to be a tutor who pronounced my name correctly at the first time and brought in a little surprise. After the first two classes, he convinced himself that the way he was pronouncing my name was wrong and called me ‘Kevin’.

There are still some childhood friends and newly sprouted acquaintances who call me ‘Kevin’. In one of my chats with a super senior of my school, he told that he remembers me because I am full of pranks. That made me realize that he was talking about another guy named Kevin, who is again from the school I studied.

Earlier when I was in 10^th or 11th std, my name used to come as first in the Yahoo! people search results but now my name has been pushed back and it seems like a lot of Kavins were born all of a sudden. It goes the same with the Orkut community. Earlier there used to be just 5 members with the name Kavin and then after a year, the community had grown to 50 members. There was a topic in the forum about how often the name gets pronounced wrongly. That brought in a conclusion that I am not the only one. Lolz.

If I were to write down how it is pronounced, it should be ‘Kah-vy-n’ (Thanks to Wikipedia for the written form of pronunciation) and I am glad to say that this is my 150^th post and I am more than surprised to say how slow my blogging rate has become. I would like to blog at a higher rate from now on. See you people. Cheers, Kavin.

College Redemption

2009-12-07T09:54:00.004+05:30

There are many things that I missed posting when I was back in India. One among them is this post.Being in SSN, the rules and restrictions of other similar colleges seemed so weird. When one would talk about the rules and restrictions of such colleges, I have often thought that it is either a rumour or an exaggeration.

One of such rules that you may see is the formal dress code of engineering colleges. Such rules exist in most colleges. Some of certain rules are wearing absolute formal dress like pants and tucked in shirts. If that is not enough, some restrictions are also imposed. One of the worst cases would be asking the students to wear only light colored shirts and asking them not to wear black.

Few of my friends happened to go to one of the college to distribute promotional posters of our department symposiums and they had happened to go to such college by wearing a tee shirt and jeans. One of the security guards didn't let them go until they proved that they were students from other college. There is also an instance I heard that the security guard didn't let one person with a tee shirt to enter the college and that person ended to be the father of a student studying in that college.

There is one rule that exists that gives you a glance of the upper limit of stupidity of engineering colleges. That is the rule of asking boys to not speak to girls and vice versa. How stupid can they get? What are they trying to do? There is one famous college, which also came in news channels for the same reason, that appoints security squads to prevent such things from happening. The management tried to elude the accusations of the reporters by saying that the boys and girls are allowed to speak during class hours but not allowed during the rest of the time.

One day, after the classes got over, my friends and I exited the college to board a bus to go to Kelambakkam. We didn't get any bus for a long time and right then, a bus from such college stopped for us. It was empty and it seemed the driver wanted to give a lift. My friends boarded in the front staircase and I alone boarded in the rear staircase. As I tried to join my friends in the front, I was shocked to see a rope tied between two pillars and that separated the front portion of the bus and the rear portion of the bus. "The rule is true!", I thought. The rule is that girls should occupy only the front portion and the boys should occupy only the rear portion.

Not to forget, the driver was actually expecting money for the short lift to Kelambakkam and also started demanding when we got down. After negotation, we did pay a little amount. Speaking about the bus drivers of that college, my college buses would seem nice when compared to them. There are more than 100 buses in that college and a student is not allowed to board any bus he likes and the driver wouldn't even consider stopping for the poor students who missed the bus. A student wouldn't be allowed inside if he goes late and hence the student has only one option for a day, i.e to catch the bus. Another thing to be noted was that a student was not allowed to write a semester exam because he did not follow the dress code and was asked to do the necessary corrections and come. The only place where he could do the corrections is hostel where he is banned from going.

Are there any other ways to make an engineering life like hell for the students?

The path not taken

2009-11-01T06:00:00.001+05:30

After many long days, I got up early in the morning at 8 am. I tried to wake up my friends. They said, "No I am not coming". Looked like I had to go all alone. A workshop was conducted at my university.

I got ready, had quick breakfast, saw the next available bus. It was due in 10 minutes from then. I said bye to everyone, took my coat and walked out of the door. One of my roommates was standing near the door. I walked past him. 10 minutes remaining! I opened the door and...

"HEY!", a loud voice came, almost a shout.
Confused, I turned around and looked at my roommate to confirm whether he called me.
"I just sneezed nah. You shouldn't go out immediately. Wait for sometime"
For the next one second, my thoughts were like, "What? Did you sneeze?" but ended up saying "Oh!"

I respected his words and reentered. I waited for sometime. Then, taking my coat again, I walked out of the apartment and then out of the building. Sprinkles of rain welcomed me. As I was having a thought whether to go back and take my raincoat, I saw the bus status in my mobile and it said "7 minutes"

Thinking it more likely to miss the bus if I get my raincoat, I started further towards the stop. The workshop and the day did go well except for a very near miss of catching up with an office person later that day.

The question is, "Does sneezing, cat walking across and other such things reflect the things that are about to happen? What power does a cat have in changing the destiny of mankind?" Do you follow or do you not?

Nostalgic!

2009-10-23T03:58:00.001+05:30

It has been two months since I came to US. With the high speed internet of upto 15 Mbps available at home, I thought I could blog much more than I normally do but it has been never evident in my blog statistics so far. Unlike the coursework back in India, assignments, here in US, really add to the grades and you have to face a situation that you must do it. With the mid-terms almost over already, I can see that my first semester has already started moving towards the end.

The leaves have started turning yellow and red and the mellowness and the beauty of the fall is visible clearly. The lawns and the pathways remind me much about my undergraduate college SSN College of Engineering. It is only a matter of the days when the greens become whites.

The probability of me being idle is being more than me being involved in coursework and assignments. The remaining time is being spent on net and watching videos and listening to music that I heard in the past like 10 years ago. I even chose to listen to music which I used to listen when I was like 6 or 7 years old.

I have improved with cooking the traditional South Indian recipes like Sambhar and vegetables curry although I don’t get much chances during a week. One of the instant coffee roasted beans sold here smelt so good that it didn’t taste as good as it smelt but you would love it for the smell and the taste is also good. ;)

The climate is getting colder and the lowest it has reached when I was awake is 5 degrees Celsius so far. The chillness wouldn’t have been an issue if you hadn’t been whipped with a chilled wind topped up with rains. Two days of 5 to 10 degrees in the Celsius scale and 18 degrees felt so hot. I believe that I am getting adapted to the climate.

When the monsoons become torrential, when the coolness becomes so hot, when the greens change colors, when the neglected becomes a duty, you would know that you are not here. The essence, the flavor, the aroma, the colors that makes you travel farther than light are the gates to your cognitive real world and you would then know that you are still here.

The Longest Day of my Life – Part II

2009-09-29T11:12:00.002+05:30

1:30 pm

I walked along the very long terminal to enter the emigration check. A young lady greeted me at the counter. After checking my passport and my ticket, she gave me back the passport and before I bid goodbye, I asked her where I could make an international phone call. “You can find a booth in the terminal upstairs” I thanked her and headed for the escalator.

Once I reached above, I was asked to go for the security check in any of the counters. I had to stand in any of the queue that all does the same job – security check. As I was standing in the queue, a young girl from behind asked me if I am going to Fairfax. Astounded at her guess, I replied yes. She added that she is heading to Hyderabad. I was still confused at her guess (only later I realized that the destination address was shown flashing in my luggage).

After the security check was done, I looked at the terminal which didn’t look like one. It was a busy pathway. A car was on display. A video game console was on display and was being tested by young people. I took out my phone to check if there is any chance of catching a network. I switched it on and to my surprise, a network showed in the display. I dialed to my parents line. It didn’t work. So I thought I could send a message but for testing, I sent it to myself. Rs.25 gone!

I went to a money exchange counter and asked a young British lady at the counter about where I could make an international phone call. She pointed to a phone beside the escalator to the gates.

” Do I need England currency for that?”, I asked

” Yeah”

” How much would I need if I need to make a phone call to India for… a minute or two?”

”Probably a pound”, she said with an uncertainty.

" Alright. I will have the same”. I took out a ten dollar bill and gave her. She gave back the appropriate dollar change and also the pounds in coins.

I went to the phone booth and tried making a phone call. It didn’t work. I was trying different combinations of ISD code and phone number but it wouldn’t work. An Indian girl just left the adjacent phone booth.

”Hi, how do I make a phone call to India?”

” It is not working for me”

" Me too!”

We both tried again, then asked a shop for the help desk which happened to be one floor below. We both headed down. This girl, from Andhra, had already completed her Masters and has come for Ph.D in the University of Massachusetts. As we reached the lower level, to the left was the glass wall showing a full view of the runway and the planes. To the right was what looked like spencer plaza. The helpdesk wasn’t much helpful and I went to trying out different combinations of phone numbers in a similar telephone again. I put an extra zero to the front of the number and I got connected. I informed that I reached London and the pound didn’t let me speak for more than a minute. I said the same procedure to the girl, bid bye to her and went to the lounge and sat there for the gate to be announced.

I met a tamil guy there who was going to SUNY. We went around the airport for two minutes when I noted that the gate for my flight has been announced. I left to the terminal gate and waited for the omni bus. We were taken to the flight and I took my window seat. A young American guy sat beside me. He helped me find the entertainment screen which was below the seat. I opened the movie guide and I was glad that this flight entertainment is going to be superb, It contained the list of my favorite movies and series. I was waiting for the party.

3:30 pm (British Time)

The flight started and very sooner, the food was brought. “Lunch again?”, I thought. This is probably the first flight for many passengers so the lunch was provided. I just accepted it. I opened the first box, found it to be a pasta based with TOMATO. I opened another box which had chocolate mousse cake. It was based on mandarin sauce, which I have only heard of. But certainly, my instincts said that the combo would not be good. Moreover, the travel was not getting into me and I was getting sick. So I just stirred the pasta eating a piece every two minutes. The guy sitting next to me would have probably thought that I didn’t like the food. But there were several more reasons to it.

I had only coffee and slept for most of the flight journey. I saw one Friends series and little of hindi Ghajini when the flight landed in Washington airport.

7:20 pm (EST)

We exited the flight into the terminal into a room which had two exit doors. Some people got into the exit and closed the door. I wondered what was really happening behind the door when the opposite room started moving. Only then I realized that the exit door was connected to a bus which had extendable doors. One more bus came after ten minutes and we all boarded the bus. The bus had two paths that had seats on either sides to accommodate many people. The bus moved along a big ground to reach the other side of the ground which was the other side of the terminal.

I finished the formalities, took my luggage which had already been sorted and put in one place and placed them in my trolley. I took them out and came to the arrivals gate. The place was crowded with people waiting for the arrivals or eating in the restaurants there.

8:10 pm (EST)

I tried to make a call to the Indian student association as I was asked to do so. Now I didn’t have any coins. I missed a money exchange counter on the way and I can’t go back. There was a vending machine through which I could get a calling card. I could use $10, $20 and $50 bills. I tried $10 and $20 bill but it didn’t work. Another Indian guy came and tried his $10 bill and it worked. After sometime, I lost hope in trying and asked the guy for exchanging $10 but he didn’t have $10 but only $20. I finally got my calling card and I made the first phone call using that to my parents and then to the association.

”Hi. This is Kavin. I have arrived in US. Where can I find you?”

”Hi. Sorry, we were unable to come today because of the rain and I didn’t get any car. You can catch any shuttle directly to this place”

”Ok. That is no problem”

”Or you can wait for a guy named Jagadeesh. He is also coming tonight. You can probably wait for him and come along with him in the shuttle”

”Jagadeesh!” (I couldn’t help but thinking about ‘Billa’ Jagadeesh. lolz)

”He will probably be there in sometime. Must be blue shirt. Just look out for him. Don’t panic. Am sorry again”

”Ya. I am ok. Nothing to panic. No problem”

I hung up the call and saw the time. Still more than 20 minutes to wait and I waited for any sign of Jagadeesh. I thought the guy who exchanged the money would be that guy but he was not when I confirmed with him. At 8:55, another guy was enquiring the ‘money’ guy about something and I didn’t bother to ask. I had a doubt that he would be Jagadeesh. The ‘money’ guy’s relative came and picked him up. Then the other guy came to me and introduced himself as Satish and that he is looking for a guy named Jagadeesh.

”Hi. Even I am waiting for Jagadeesh. Waiting for him to go together to the place”

”I actually came to pick him up”

In not more than two minutes, he said “There he is!” and ran away. Before I could catch hold of him, I missed him. I had to go for the last resort but this guy came back again.

"That is not him. I can wait for him for 5 minutes. Else I can pick you up if you don’t mind”

”No problem. We can wait”

We waited for five minutes. There was no sign of Jagadeesh and so we left to the gate. Satish called someone and sooner, a car came. We kept the luggage in the car and Satish said that he would like to look for Jagadeesh again. We parked the car in one corner and the guy who was driving the car introduced himself as Augustine. He was working there after studying in IIT Madras and we spoke a lot.

After sometime, Satish joined back and we both travelled the path to my place. They were talking something and meanwhile talking about the awful climate and journey and also told me that it would take time to settle in. The highway in which we were travelling was superb and it was dark except for the street lights.

We reached the apartment in 30 minutes where I bid goodbye to the two and bid hello to four Student Association mates who helped me in carrying the luggage along the garage to an inner door. Before we opened the door, someone opened the door and out came Karthick.

We both took the elevator to the 12th floor and reached the apartment. I placed the luggages, introduced myself to my roommates, logged online, updated my status. It was 11:30 pm. I still had half an hour for my longest day so far to end.

The Longest Day of my Life - Part I

2009-08-29T19:07:00.002+05:30

August 22, 2009
12:00 am
I was doing random things at home. Going online, filling a slam book, checking the baggage, updating my status in online communities, speaking over phone. I was about to travel to US to pursue my higher studies in George Mason University. Relatives had come to my house to send me off in airport. Some relatives were taking a nap while some were busy chatting. Mom and dad were busy with the preparation. My sister and my cousins had prepared a precious farewell gift for me, a gift of memories put together and specially signed.

My friends Inchara, Nithya and Hari had already left for the airport to send me off. It was kind of them to come as I had told that it is unsafe to do that even if you are sending off your best friend. I was receiving constant messages from them about when I would start. I replied to those messages constantly about the time I would be coming.

3:00 am

We started from house. The flight was supposed to start at 5:25 am. We reached the airport at 3:15, met all my friends there and to my pleasant surprise, Arun had also come to send me off. He told that he would not make it. I read that mail just before I started. They presented me with wonderful gifts.

We entered the airport and I was taken to the luggage check-in. I was told that there is delay in the flight. After the check-in was done, I decided to spend my time with family and friends. Dad had got a box of sweets to distribute to everyone and I took some precious photos with them.

I tried my best to speak with everyone in the family and circle. I knew that I wouldn’t be meeting them for a very long time. I would badly miss them.

4:45 am

It was time for me to leave to flight. I bid goodbye to almost all my family members and friends. My dad, my mom and my sister were allowed to accompany me till the security check-in. I stayed with them till 5:30, bid goodbye to them and left for the security check-in. It was time for me to enter the flight.

I entered the flight and was asked by the air hostess to go to my right. I spotted my seat and sat there. I scanned my place. I was seated in a well cushioned semi-sleeper chair with plenty of legspace, a remote, a pillow, a blanket and a screen in front for entertainment. I received calls and messages from my friends and parents that they are still at the place where they can watch my flight take off. It was 6:30 when my flight took off and as it happened, I looked at the building where they might be standing. I could not see where they were, but I assumed it to be the place where I bid farewell to my cousin when he left. Bye bye Chennai!

6:45 am

A lady who was probably in her 50s was sitting beside me. She introduced herself by asking me where I am going to. I was going to Washington and she was going to Seattle. Her son is working in US for 15 years and she lives her split life in both Chennai and Seattle. She explained about how the changeover is done in London and how it is confusing.

They gave the morning breakfast even before I could decide on the entertainment channel that I wanted to see. All the movies were in halfway and I decided to skip them all after watching few scenes. I had requested for a lacto-vegetarian diet which means it should be full of milk products. I got a cream roll, bun with butter, chappathi with panneer, two cutlets and orange juice. The food tasted pretty good and orange juice was awesome.

I slept as soon as they switched off the lights in the plane to get the passengers to sleep. I woke up again at 11:30 am in my watch. I didn’t know in which country the flight was flying over. I had the box of biscuits they had given me and I took every chance to ask for orange juice when the air hostess came. I couldn’t sleep anymore. I decided to open the gift that my friends gave me. It was a book filled with memories and it is the most precious gift given by TAGS gang. I read it for almost one and half hour and time fled by. Then I decided to scan the channels and saw a scene from the X-men: Wolverine which happened to be the climax. I decided to skip to the other channel where my favorite series “Friends” was running.

After watching the episode, the lunch came at 1 pm. It was too early to eat lunch for me. I gently refused the lacto-vegetarian diet that was offered to me by the air-hostess. Then the air steward came carrying the dishes for the people who had not requested for a special diet. As he saw that my table was empty, he asked me, “Vegetarian or Non-vegetarian sir?”

“I am not hungry at the moment”

He mentioned something which I could not make out what he said.

I said, “I don’t get you” and the lady came to my aid.

He had asked me when I wish to have it.

I replied “May I have it sometime later?”

Now it was his turn, “I don’t get you”

The lady came to the aid again and after I repeated the question, he said, “Sorry sir. Now or never!”

“Ok Vegetarian please”

He repeated the word “Vegetarian” with a smile and I think I missed out when he had mentioned “Non”.

I opened a cover and I found rice with dal and CHICKEN! As I was not hungry, I didn’t bother to change it. I just had part of the rice and the dessert which they gave and again orange juice. I checked the map in the screen and we were nearing London

12:15 pm (British Time)
The flight landed in London Heathrow airport. The airport was really big. The first thing that welcomed me when I came out of the plane was a really cool and gentle breeze. I joined the other passengers into the bus which took me to the terminal. The ride was like as if I was riding in an empty road which consisted of lanes and subways.

There was a halt in the middle of the travel due to a parked towing vehicle and some of the Indian co-passengers were like, “Oh my God! I got to catch a flight to Houston in an hour. Why is this halt?” After five minutes, we started moving again and we reached the terminal.

There was a lady in the terminal waiting with the board “Houston” probably to pick up the passengers as it was getting too late. At 1 pm (British Time), I joined the other passengers up the escalator to the Flight Changeover.

Change

2009-08-28T11:18:00.003+05:30

"Be the change you want to see in the world"

- Mahatma Gandhi

Change comes in everyone’s life. You wouldn’t know when it comes. Some people feel the change. Some people don’t. Some expect. Some do not. Some predict. Some do not.

There are certain things in the world that will change. Sometimes you may want the change and sometimes you may not want the change. Change is neither good nor bad. When you got to gain something, you got to lose something.

There are certain things in life which can never be understood; something that you would have never known, something you may not know forever.

There are certain things in life that you can never get them back. They can be relished only through memories. Keep your memories safe.

I expected it, I predicted it, now I see it.

Btw this is my first blog post in US. Welcome!!!

Boom boom Aadi : Tricksters

2009-08-13T13:33:00.000+05:30

The aadi season has almost ended and one could see the massive crowd in T.Nagar. It was really massive that there could be even 5000 people in a textile showroom. I guess people would save up all their cash to buy dresses and jewellery and other goods only during the Aadi season but are they really saving money or is it only their mind that gets tricked in to believing that they are saving money?

I would like to tell an incident which I heard from a relative. There were two dresses, both are exactly alike except for the color. Let us assume the first one is yellow in colour. It was bought for Rs.100 before the aadi season. The other color, which is green, was sold at Rs.225 and reduced to Rs.150 in the name of discount. This was done by the same shop which sold the previous yellow dress. If you think this is a joke, it is not. It is a true incident. This is what they call as aadi season. Shops actually sell their goods at profit and people get fooled into believing that they are actually saving their money during the aadi season.

I have been to shops during the aadi season. One of the famous shops, also famous for giving big discounts, is also one of those shops. The reason that made me believe it was a new prize tag that was attached to every dress. Why should they attach a new prize tag to every dress? Why not use the existing tag and just put a board saying 10% discount or 15% discount? The new prize tag has the 'claimed' original prize of the dress which is striked out and below is the new discount prize. If this is a marketing strategy, they can't stoop more.

I am not blaming all the shops but only a few. I have seen shops where they retain their original prize tag and have a banner or board saying the discount rate. Discount should be made only during the billing and not before it. I hope people do realize it and put an end it to the bogus discount sale.

Paradigm Shift

2009-07-27T18:25:00.002+05:30

If you go and ask an automan why he wouldn't reduce the charges even after the petrol prices have gone down much, you shouldn't be surprised if he replies, "Recession". This word has spread around the world much that everyone is claiming to be struck badly by the recession. We cannot blame them. Starting from the prices of petrol cans to the cost of vegetable greens in the market (I wonder why!), the prices have soared up. Thanks to recession!

Everyone knows that IT sector has most deeply been affected by recession. If that could affect the jobs of the IT employees, then it has affected the future IT prospects as well. I am not talking about the recent graduates from colleges but am talking about the future college prospects. It seems that in the present counselling for the engineering seats, students are opting themselves out of the Information Technology field.

Five years back, when I, one amongst fellow batchmates, was sitting in my school auditorium for a workshop on job opportunities, the guy in the dias looked at us and asked us how many of us want to be a doctor. Almost the entire bio group students raised their hands. That would be around 110 students.

Two years back, the demand for medical seats got too less and the demand for IT seats were at the peak. Are students inclined to choose the course that is always at the top or do they choose it with complete interest? Students tend to choose the field that will keep them secure. We cannot blame them. Fruits like mangoes, water melons comes only during summer season and not during any other season. One cannot see them in the roadside vendor stalls. Just because they don't come in the other season, you wouldn't begin to hate them, would you?

Move on?

2009-07-23T09:34:00.004+05:30

Earth completes a single rotation in 24 hours. Man seems to be moving faster than that. He is so agile that he doesn't care to stop in between. Does man need to stop? Why should he stop? Should he move on to make him secure? Should he move on to stay in the race? Or should he stop to give a lending hand to those who have fallen down in the race? Should I emphasize that this race is only for the humans and that we have already pushed the animals far behind? Now should the man run in the opposite direction to save the animals too?

As far as I have known, only animals create a stampede. Now recently, humans also create a stampede and all those as wild as the animals itself. The cause of the animal stampede will be due to fear and survival but the causes of the human stampede has always been greediness or desire for more. He has to survive and move fast to get what he wants no matter what happens in the surroundings. He is sideways blindfolded and he doesn't bother to remove it.

Man also invented machines and unfortunately, for animals, they too have to get adapted to the machines. Some don't get adapted and die as a result of their misfortunes with the machines. Many months back, one such dog was there lying in the streets wanting to die and not letting a human interfere with its life. One of the automen in the city stopped to help the animal to the hospital but after seeing the bloody state of the animal, he refused and left the place.

One of the attenders of a famous animal shelter almost shouted at the automan before he left, "Can't you help a poor animal? Who will help, if not us?". He was a nice guy, not just for his kindness but also for his boldness and bravery. Such animal shelters need more of such guys. Earlier that day, that guy asked his fellow attenders, "There is a dog that needs help. Would you like to join me in helping?". One of them replied, "No way. It might have rabies. I am not going to touch that". The attender gave back a scorning look and said, "No worries. I can handle it myself". I was curious enough to ask the question, "How can you be so sure whether the dog has rabies or not?". He replied, "A rabid dog has excess drooling and will keep on biting something. Also most importantly, a rabid dog won't let a human near it". It did growl at us but I knew it was for its own security.

Was this attender taking risk by letting himself exposed to the diseases that man could not prevent? Should the other attender be blamed for his carefulness? It is not a big surprise as I have even seen vets refusing to attend to an injured stray pup. "Why do you people bring these pups? It looks like a rabid dog!". Not being a biology student in my high school, I myself knew that the dog was not infected by rabies but I trusted his words although I didn't like it. I have heard vets discouraging people to help stray animals just because they are prone to getting diseases. "Take care of yourself first!" is what they imply.

Should those animals be let to die just because they couldn't cope up with man's inventions? I heard from an helping automan that the animals are not the only victims. "Yesterday I went to a govt hospital to check on my relative. There was an old man lying down outside the hospital shouting in leg pain. No one bothered to help him and the hospital staff has been refusing to admit him because the old man had no relatives to admit him. No one is there to help humans. I was glad to help because you people were helping a pup".

Though man and rest of the animal kingdom belong to different species, the case is always the same. Not every man wants to give a lending hand. The question remains the same, "Do you want to stop? Or do you want to move on?"

Here is a famous video from MJ about the need of protecting the world. The video and lyrics are really great.

God of Pop!

2009-06-28T00:29:00.005+05:30

I woke up on last friday morning with a news that the legendary singer and dancer Michael Jackson has passed away due to a cardiac arrest. It was a shocking news to the world and to all his fans. The fact that this has happened at the time when he was about to perform his final concert is really sad and I am sure a lot of fans throughout the world, and also all the people, who loved him and also hated him, would shower their respect to this legend.

It is as if I know MJ right from my birth.I remember my dad and uncle listen to Michael Jackson songs when I was a kid. I still remember watching a young guy waking up from his bed and dancing to the tunes of 'Beat it'. It was only a few years later when I was introduced into the world of pop music from the 'Dangerous' Album of MJ. I even remember the day when they announced on music television that they are going to play the premiere of a song from his album 'Invincible'. I remember the days when I listened or watched MJ songs without break along with my cousins. But now I have to remember the day when I heard about the demise of the King of Pop - Michael Jackson.

MJ was surrounded with controversies right since he became famous. He overcame all the controversies and stood like a king as he is. He loved children. He built a theme park for children, called it as Neverland and also took children from orphanages and schools on a free trip to his theme park. Though he suffered financial crisis, he never wished to sell away the land and in the end, but in the end, he sold that land as a last resort.

I always wished that MJ and ARR should perform together in a song. To my shock, they were indeed preparing themselves for a performance to support unity in humanity. This incident had happened after ARR had won two oscars. People would always remember MJ for two things - his passion for entertaining people and his concentration on social causes.

There may be people who would try to fill his place but it is not really easy to replace a king who has ruled for more than three decades. He is the King of Pop and will always be the King. I pray for his family and well wishers Let his soul rest in peace. The world may have lost him but his music will be remembered forever. His dance will be remembered forever, not to forget the famous moonwalk. And most importantly, just like every other legend, MJ would be remembered forever. The fact that the increase in the download of the music video thriller, which has been a record breaking sensation of all time, even after his death only proves that his music journey has not ended. It will continue forever. His voice will still be heard, his moves will still be watched and like God, his presence will be felt wherever music is. He is the God of Pop!
The following video appears in the Dangerous video album. This video is a great tribute to him. Brace yourself!

The day I got my driving license

2009-06-22T00:40:00.001+05:30

"You will lose your touch if you don't come in for a month", the driving coach said to me when I said my exams were coming by. It was the second week of November and the exams were scheduled to begin on November 25,2006. Only three or four classes were pending including the two classes for reverse drive. He wanted me to finish it as soon as possible. So I agreed with finishing the remaining classes and attend the driving test which was scheduled on November 18th.

The remaining classes went smoothly and with ease. Driving the scooty was left to me as I had to practise driving the vehicle in the shape of 8. I practised two nights before the scheduled test. Irrespective of the place, whoever stood there, especially kids, stopped their work in order to watch me drive in the shape of 8 as if I am doing a stunt show. After practising every night, I was ready for the final show.

November 18, 2006.

I was asked to be at the RTO in the morning and I made it correctly on time. We were asked to go to a place where I first started driving. That was the place where the two wheeler test was supposed to be conducted. I started practising along with everyone. I was almost making the shape when I realized that the road was empty and I was the only person there. Everyone else had left. I circled the area to find any group standing there but there were none. Just then I received a call from my driving master that the test is in the RTO office itself. How did I miss that announcement?

I was back at the RTO. I was told that the senior most police was there for inspection and his policy is to keep it simple. Thats why he wanted the test to be conducted at the RTO itself. Everyone taking the test were allowed to use their own vehicles. They took turns in riding their two wheelers in the shape of 8. Almost everyone succeeded in doing so and got a nod from the police.

My turn came. It started out well. Almost made the shape and then I had to take a U-turn. That was when I kept my legs down. I thought "Gone!". But this police was not really strict and gave me one more chance. I have to do it again from the beginning. I started again but this time, it ended up in a worst scenario. Before I could make the U-Turn, I placed my legs down and even went out of the path. The police need not say anything. I knew that I had lost the battle.

I was waiting out with my scooty for the car test. Just then the driving assistant came to me and said, "What is this? Why couldn't you balance your vehicle?" Then came the turn of the coach, "What happened? If you fail in two-wheeler, there are high chances that you will fail in four wheeler as well. Let us see what happens!". That was great news for me! If that happens, that would totally be unfair. "If only I had one more chance", I thought.

The two wheeler test had ended. All of a sudden, the coach came running to me and said, "Start your scooty fast. He wants to give you another chance". I couldn't believe it was all happening. The police is giving me a third chance? But why? I immediately took my scooty in. I was almost near the starting place when the coach told me, "No, he didn't call you. I misunderstood". I got frustrated and looked at the police as I started turning back.

The police looked at me again and gestured to me to come back. I got my third chance! I started again. It seemed the entire place was too silent. I completely concentrated on what I was doing. It came out simple. I completed the 8 and also took the U-turn and brought it to a halt with a hand signal. I looked at the police to know the result. After giving a brief thought, he gave a nod. I had passed the test!

Then came the car test. Again the police wanted to keep it simple. Instead of the usual drive in the road, here we just need to start the vehicle, move it to a little distance, stop, put the reverse gear and move back the vehicle to where it started. As simple as that. It was easily finished. As I was little upset about my performance in two-wheeler test, the coach came and cheered me up. It was indeed a day to cheer up as from then, I was licensed to drive in the entire nation. "Why don't you drop this old man in his house on your way?" The coach told me pointing to an old guy standing nearby. My experimentation with driving had begun. It began on a happy note! :)

Confusions

2009-06-05T09:51:00.002+05:30

Confusions happen in everyone's life. They are bound to occur when you don't understand what is going on either with the surroundings or with the people. A thousand of confusions would've occured in anyone's life. Some of them would have been funny. I would like to tell some of those of mine.

Mathematical Confusion

I was in the VI std and a Scholastic book fair was going on. They were offering 10% discount on any book exclusively for the students of my school. After searching for a book, I landed upon a good kids horror book. The book costed Rs.60. I had Rs.50 in my pocket. I thought to myself "10% discount means 60-10 = Rs.50". Satisfied with my calculations, I went to the only counter where a young lady was handling it. I gave her the book and also the Rs.50 note.

The lady said, "I need four more bucks"
I stood there giving a shocked expression.
"How? 60 - 10 = 50, right?"
I held my stand but the lady gave a chuckle and continued to explain clearly, "The book costs Rs.60. 10% of 60 is 6. So after deducting the 10%, i.e 6, the remaining amount should be 54. You gave only 50 bucks. I need four more bucks".
I didn't have any more money. I had just brought a 50 buck note. When I stood there still confused at the calculations, the kind lady smiled again and said, "All right, You did not understand. I will pay the four bucks for you. But you must promise me that you won't tell anyone, ok?"
I nodded, still confused with the calculations she did. After giving a brief thought, I thanked the lady and left.

Pronounciation Confusion

It happened four or five years back. Arunkumar, M.S.Karthikeyan and myself went to a Pizza Hut outlet. After ordering for a pizza, the delivery boy asked us whether we want anything else to eat and after a negative reply, he placed a bill. The delivery boy did not come to collect to bill after we finished eating. So we were busy chatting after eating the pizza.

The delivery boy finally came and said, "Check"
Karthikeyan looked at the guy and answered sincerely, "No cheque! Only cash!"
The delivery boy smiled and now said the complete words, "No sir, Check the bill!"
We laughed aloud as we exitted the shop.

Language Confusions

This incident happened six years back. The train had just stopped in Howrah and we were still waiting in the station for further arrangements to be made. People were lying spread on all the spaces available and atop a pillar, there was a TV attached and the movie "Predator" was being shown in a channel. We were waiting for a long time and my uncle told me to get two bottles of pepsi from a petty shop in the platform. I got the money and went to the guy handling the petty shop. Though I knew only a few words in hindi, I decided to test my hindi with him.

"Dhou pepsi bottle" (Two pepsi bottles), I said pointing at the 500 ml pet bottle.
He took out two bottles. I knew the standard prize but I still decided to test my hindi knowledge further.
"Kitna rupee?" (How much rupee?) Only after saying those words, I realized that I wouldn't understand whatever he replies. Too late! He said some amount in hindi which I hoped he didn't lie. I handed him a hundred buck note. Like all shopkeepers, he was also honest as he handed me the remaining amount. I realized one thing, "Look before you leap"

Another incident happened in a hotel in Nepal. We have heard from people that the nights in Nepal would be chilly. Who would know much better than the room boy? So my aunt and myself and one more person were there questioning the room boy. We expected the room boy to know some hindi and the room boy expected us to know hindi. Unfortunately, all of us knew only little hindi (or we knew worst hindi than the room boy). I knew that the word "baahar" means outside and the word "thandaa" means cold. "Kya" means "what?". So I decided to experiment.

"Baahar mae thaandaa kya?"
The room boy blinked.
Then I wondered where the word "mae" came from. I replaced the word with some other word.
"Baahar thou thandaa kya?"
The room boy still blinked. My aunt also tried to explain. I decided to go on with word by word.
"Baahar?"
He nodded.
"Thandaa?" He nodded again, smiling, probably proud that he is getting to understand us.
"Baahar thandaa kya?"
He once again blinked. We decided to quit with the idea as it was turning out to be fruitless. In another fruitless conversation, my aunt ended up saying in tamil, "Poda, neenga pesuradhu engaluku puriyala. Naanga pesuradhu ungaluku puriyala" (You don't understand what we are speaking, We don't understand what you are speaking"

Tagged #2

2009-05-31T21:46:00.003+05:30

Tagged by Nithya. Alright here it goes...

AMICABLE- Friends ofcourse

BEAUTIFUL- Mountains, sea, clouds, nature, altogether Earth

CUNNING- Fox

DARING- Bear Grylls of Man vs Wild

ELEGANT- A thing that you need when are you are walking on something like a red carpet

FRESH- Fruits

GRUDGE- Horror movie... lolz

HUMBLE- Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam

IMMORTAL- Immortality - something which is believed to have been existed, and crazed by most living.

JOVIAL- Too many I know

KILLER- Sharks

LAZY- Other than me?

MAJESTIC- Kings

NINCOMPOOP- Can't think of anyone right now... but I guess it would be Suppandi ;)

OPPORTUNIST – ya I know a few

PRIDE- The way to motivate oneself

QUICK- Instant coffee

RATTLE- Stone Cold Steve Austin :D

SERPENT- Cobra

TREE- shady, selfless

UMBRELLA- oh, I kept losing that

VENOM- Spiderman character... lolz

WIT- Albert Einstein

XYLOPHONE- wish I could play that

YELLOW- pleasant

ZEST- without which things go unpleasant

Now I would like to TAG

Arun Kumar
Karthikeyan
Vijay Ganesh

Destiny

2009-05-22T14:03:00.004+05:30

I wrote this song a month back. The original song is 'The Call' from Backstreet Boys. I have modified the lyrics here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6GRKRDicTU

Hello.
Hello. Hi dude. Where is the bus? Listen, I am going to be late today. So don't wait for me, ok?
Where are you?
Could you hear me?
Hello?
Listen I must catch the bus. We will meet in college, alright? Now gotta go!

Let me tell you the story about the bus miss that changed the history
Me and myself stepped out just when the bus had left for its destiny
Was about to go to Mad Kai when there was a 19b in the Saidapet
I thought, "Wow! I got a place in the bus, Now it should go!"
I shouldn't have boarded, the bus was moving forward
But stopped a distance apart, conductor said,
"Listen people, I am sorry. Wanna tell you this bus is so crowdy.
You will be fined, so just wait and get the tickets from me"
"We would like to tell that we are being crushed like a tomato green
Oh no! Do you know? I could have got a dozen other buses on time,
Had I said no!

Now four years gone, nothing has been done.
Yes I can't take it back, what's gone is gone.
One of my friends told me that 19b wasn't the only one
I should've kept the list aside. But they don't start on time.
Its just because I missed the bus and so I said,
"Listen friends, I am sorry. Wanna tell you not to make a row over me
I am being late. So please stay there and wait for me
I am telling you again that I will be there. So be panic-free
Say it aloud. So you know? I will be there in the place in sometime.
Now gotta go".

Let me tell you the story about the bus change that decided about my destiny
Me and myself stepped out just to board another mystery
Almost reached the gate when the watchman was
standing in front of me, he said "ID Card!?"
"I got it somewhere in my bag! Let me gooooo!"
"Listen boy, I am sorry! Wanna tell you, this is my duty!"
"No I am being late, so don't make me stay and wait for silly things.
I will tell you again you are making me lose my class duties
It almost now! So you know, I must reach the class on time, Gotta go"

Listen friends, I am sorry. Wanna tell you that I am worried
that I will be missing the class again and wait for eve
But I shouldn't be missing here, cause I am dropping out my morning meals
So you know, we should wait and know, I have reached the class on time
The staff should allow me; should be fine but
"NEXT CLASS!"

... and a glass of lemon soda

2009-05-16T09:07:00.000+05:30

Last week, we went for the final year trip to Wayanad in Kerala. It was definitely an adventurous trip. The entire trip was special as it can be called as the farewell tour. Here are some of the things that happened in tour.

- Onward journey:

Playing cards upto midnight.
The whole class wishing Noodles at midnight for her birthday.

- Day 1

Visit to Soochipara falls; the falls was huge and the way down the slope was easy but the way back up required two glasses of lemon soda.
Visit to Pookot lake boating. Though I offered to pedal, ABC and Kumar took up the pedalling while I willingly took up the photography work.
Celebrating Noodles birthday with a big chocolate cake in hotel. The party plan which all went secretive until the evening broke out like a shattered glass. Thanks to them and the cake ;)

- Day 2

Visit to Chembra Peak; visit to the base in jeep; then to a view point and then to the actual peak which required almost three hours of trekking. I backed off and returned to the view point after travelling quarter distance; so did many; but had to travel the same distance again due to an unfortunate circumstance.
Visit to the Kathambara falls. This falls required a cool two km walk to the falls. This falls had a kinda steep rock but nonetheless enjoyable. The walk back was great. The interesting thing about the walk back to the bus is there were no shops to sell lemon sodas but kind hearted people who gave water on the way.

- Day 3

Visit to Kuruwa Islands. Again a two km walk to the Islands but the most enjoyable walk of the tour. The walk in the water to cross to the other island required careful planning and co-ordination and was simply amazing and then there were two glasses of lime soda.
Prank calls made to friends through intercom and almost everyone got fooled

- Day 4

Watching a famous "Bluffing" tamil movie in the bus with friends
Visit to Edakal caves and climbing up the rocks into the caves to watch the beautiful inscriptions by the people who had been there thousands of years back.
A glass of lime soda.
A glass of buttermilk

- Return journey

Being awake the entire night.
Playing cards and chatting with friends.

Nearly missed!

2009-04-27T10:05:00.003+05:30

April 8, 2009

It was the day of my model review. I had to finish my project review early and also catch a train at 4. My batchmates and I successfully completed the project and brought it to college that day. The review was scheduled at 12:45. We still had more than one and half hour left. The other batch of our project guide was preparing with their robot for the demo while we were busy testing our project. My job was to take a printout of an analysis and also teach my sister 'photoshop' through phone.

The day also marked the record-winning painting event done by my college students. The students were divided into pairs and each student had to paint on the other one's hands and vice-versa. They had to do it within an hour. I witnessed the gathering and the work as I passed the inter-dept corridor to the stores. I took the printout and managed to come back to the dept and also managed to teach my sister what is to be done. Meanwhile, a call taxi guy called me and asked me when he should pick me up at college. He was at Mahabalipuram, so he would take just a little time to come to my college. "1:30" was my reply and I hung up.

Everything was fine but the problem just then arised. The project was unexpectedly not working. We were trying to figure out the reason for the problem and we were still trying when the clock striked 12:45. We went to the lab where the review was held. The project co-ordinators were reviewing the other two batches present there and we were still configuring the system in my friend's laptop. My project guide, seeing our tensed faces, asked us to be calm and to solve the problem. My friend, who owned the laptop, lost the charger. He had to go searching for it cause the laptop was on very low charge. I was getting constant calls from someone but I didn't bother to pick it up. Things turned out well when my friend realized that the charger is still in his bag and now the project was working. The review went smoothly and when it got over, it was almost 2 pm. I told my project guide that I got to catch a train at 4 and left the place.

I went out of my department. There were no call taxis. I picked up my phone, noticed that it had only a single point charge and immediately called the call taxi guy. The guy told me that the driver wouldn't have made it and so they had cancelled it. They had tried to call me but unfortunately, I was there in the review. I had to get out of my college fast. So after informing my mom over phone, I went for the last resort - I got to join my mom and sister in train.

It took me 10 minutes to reach my college gate. Around 20 students were standing there, waiting for the bus. I was glad that there are too many 521 (from my college) and 21H (from Kelambakkam) buses which goes to broadway, a place near the railway station. No matter what, I had to take the first bus. If I am lucky, I could get 521. If I am even luckier, I could get 521 AC bus. But a van arrived. It was a good choice especially when you are in a hurry and also when there is a crowd waiting for the bus. The crowd wouldn't prefer the van. I got a seat, as I had expected. I gave the conductor five rupees and expected him to give me change. When he didn't, I asked him, "Kelambakkam costs only Rs.3.50, right?". He smiled at me and said, "Those are old days!". Old days? These vans must be suffering a lot from recession. Lolz

I got a 21H bus immediately at Kelambakkam. I paid the money for Broadway - the final stop. Thankfully, the driver was driving fast and it was a pleasant ride. At 2:50, I had reached more than half a distance when my dad called me. Knowing that the charge for my battery is too low, he had to inform me fast, "Coach B1 11,12 for mom and sister and Coach B2 6 for you". The next second, I couldn't hear anything. Just then I realized that the charge had completely drained.

The driver was very tactical in driving the bus at top speed in the traffic-less IT corridor but after we reached the town, he had to adjust with the traffic and it got delayed. Earlier that day just before I started from Kelambakkam, my dad suggested me to take a call taxi or an auto as soon as I reach the town. I had that option but didn't give a second thought about it. It was 3:10 when I reached Adyar. It will take around 30 minutes from there to reach the final stop. All this while, I had to look at the neighbour's watch to know the time since my phone had no charge. He left at that instant and I had no source to know the time.

As the bus reached the Marina beach, I spotted a huge clock in the middle of the road. It was nearing 3:35. The long road of Marina beach, the seond longest beach in the world, had low traffic at that time and it was pretty easy for the driver to move fast. The bus finally reached broadway. I had to know the time. I asked the guy in front. He need not open his mouth cause as he tilted his hand, I noticed the watch that read 3:47. He said "3:45". "Is he rounding it off or is the watch being faster?" was my first thought. I hoped the latter would be true and I immediately got down the moving bus cause the road was a busy one and there was a higher probability of getting an auto from there.

I found the first auto and told him "Central Station please!". "Thirty bucks!", he said. It is just a 5 minute ride and it was reasonable, especially because I was in a hurry. "Please hurry up!", I told him as I got into the auto. The driver understood the situation and picked up speed. He dropped me opposite the station, otherwise he had to go a long distance to take a U-turn. I got down the auto and paid the money, not before asking him "What is the time?". He told that its 4. "Rounding off should be banned!", I thought Anyways, he had just pressed the panic button. Wearing my bag cross shoulder, I ran down the subway to the other end and got up the subway. I had to slow down cause there were two buses heading into the station. With great anxiety, I entered the railway station.

I looked at the digital clock hung above. It just struck 3:58 pm. I immediately searched for the digital display that showed the list of trains on schedule for that day. Mixed emotions on seeing it. The good news was that the train was still in platform no.11. The bad news that I was not sure which direction I should head to reach platform 11. The platform numbers, as I could see above, was listed in descending order. So the Platform 11 should be to the left but to make sure, I contacted one of the police who confirmed my guess.

I ran to the left to find the platform 11. The train was still there. Now that the train is there, I had to make sure whether my mom and sister are inside the train or whether they are waiting for me somewhere else. Thankfully, there was a PCO booth at the beginning of the platform. I immediately headed to it. The lady, who operated the booth, was busy arguing with some man. She might have thought that I had come there to listen to the argument as she didn't even notice me standing for 5 precious seconds. I decided to interrupt "I need to make a phone call". That was when she noticed me and nodded and then continued with her argument. I dialed to my mom. Line was engaged! Next to my sister! She picked up and the first question she asked was "Where are you?". "I am in the station. Are you both inside the train?", I asked. "Yes" was the reply. That was enough for the day but I asked the coach number for confirmation which confused her. So I had to hung up, paid the lady with a 20 buck note. She was mumbling something about having no changes as she handed me the change.

I ran towards the train. As I neared the second compartment, I spotted a police again and asked where the AC coach is. Luckily, the AC coaches were just three coaches away. But I could hear a man whistle to mark the start of the train. I spotted the coach as well as my mom standing near the door. I got into the coach and as I opened the inner door to the coach, I looked out of the window and saw the train picking up speed. I nearly missed the train by around 2 seconds!

Tamil Fools Day

2009-04-21T14:18:00.002+05:30

The title of this post or the post itself is not meant to be offensive. This post is made just for fun and not intended to hurt anyone's feelings or sentiments. Thank you.

Phew... how long since I made a post? Almost a month! I even missed out on writing this post a week back... on Tamil New Years day (is it?)

A rumoured theory says that in the ancient days, April 1 was considered to be beginning of the calendar until the change of the calendar. The calendar adopted by the French people stated that January 1 (three months before April 1) was the beginning of the calendar. Some parts of the world were still celebrating April 1 as the New Year and people say that they were fooled into believing that April 1 was still the New Year. Thus, April 1 was called as the April Fools day. It is just a theory and may not be true.

All the Tamils in the world considered April 14 to the New Year and was still considered to be so until last year when the governemnt imposed a sudden change. They shifted the New Year exactly three months prior to April 14 thus making the Pongal, a famous South Indian cultural Festival, as the New Year.

Whether people liked the change or not, the media addressed April 14 just as beginning of Chitthirai "tamil" month whereas some people still kept forwarding Tamil New Year wishes to families and friends. If the news does not make it to the entire public atleast in a few years time, some people will still consider April 14 as the Tamil New Year. It is not unlikely that April 14 will be called as the Tamil Fools day if the news doesn't reach to the entire public.

On a lighter note, everyone will miss a government holiday in some years from now and most of the awaited films, which would be stated for a Tamil New Year release, for a grand open, now would have to release it on just a normal day. Fooled by the days, aren't they?

An Old Confusion

2009-03-28T21:22:00.002+05:30

When I boarded my first ever PTC bus to go to college from Madhya Kailash, I noticed a board on which was written (The road of our dreams is under construction). Beside the writings was a beautiful portrait of the upcoming road. On that day, I wondered whether it would be completed in a year time. But then it was being constructed on and on and it seemed like forever. The Old Mahabalipuram road was under construction and I didn't think that, for any reason, that the road will be renamed. Just few months back, the road was constructed (not completely but ya) and they are collecting toll already.

The road was fondly called as the IT Corridor as it had too many IT Companies along the road. I even saw too many shops bearing the hoarding that read "IT Corrdor'. Some still read "OMR" alis "Old Mahabalipuram Road" There came the twist from the govt who renamed the road as "Rajiv Gandhi Road", which extends up to SIPCOT, a place 5 km from Kelambakkam.

Now the people who either live in that road or have a shop in that road are confused - whether their address will read "OMR" or "Rajiv Gandhi road" or "IT Highway". Even the answer sheets in my college have both OMR and Rajiv Gandhi Road written. This is what we call it as confusion!

I read an interesting article in a newspaper contributed by a reader "Names which are comfortable with the people are most often used even after they are renamed". This might be true in this case. The road would've been changed to any name but it will always be remembered as the short and sweet OMR.

TAGS on ERGO! Hits news stands again.

2009-03-19T19:31:00.004+05:30

TAGS hit the news stands yet again! Just a month after appearing in 'Pet Passion' column of Metro Plus, TAGS made it to ERGO, the free tabloid for the IT professionals. The 19th March issue was published online on March 18th and distributed to various companies today. TAGS team is yet again happy and would like to thank Sriya Narayanan, the editor of the article and for her tremendous support to the TAGS team.

To read the article in the original newsletter format, kindly visit the following link and turn to Page 2.

http://www.goergo.in/?page_id=1242 or view it here

Ergo March 19 Ergo March 19 goergo Ergo tabloid published by The Hindu Group, Chennai

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Periodicals & Report the hindu ergo

To read the article alone visit the following link

http://www.goergo.in/?p=3865&id=6

I would also like to congratulate and thank the rest of the TAGS team members. I would also like to thank Mr.M.Karunakaran, the photographer, who was kind enough to patiently wait for us and also to suggest how the photo can be taken. Also thanks to the TAGS team who turned up on March 14th for the photo. It was a great day!

Instincts 09

2009-03-12T00:25:00.007+05:30

I may have missed writing about Instincts 08. But Instincts 09 is something special. This Instincts is the one of my final year in college. If Shane Warne, at IPL, was praised as the best captain Australia never had, then Instincts 09 is the best culturals I truly missed. Yes, credit goes to my college for organizing project review right after the college culturals.

I wouldn't be talking about much of Instincts now too cause I never witnessed most of it. I missed Arya inaugurating the Instincts. Now how did I miss that? Especially when inaugural function got over too late. Er... Project work!

JAM finals was superb as usual and obscene as usual again but this time more than ever. The 'ping' round, i.e to say ping between each word and the revenge round was the best!!!

DJ Night was great for the dancers who wanted to party that night! But for the DJ, it was "Why is this faulty tonight?"

The bike stunt show, which I missed previous Instincts, was great. Kudos to those guys who put their lives in entertaining the audience. Here is one of the videos.

Karthick's concert was the best part of Instincts 09! The band absolutely rocked. Karthick chose the best of his songs and also sung some of his favorites from other artists and kept the audience on moves! Here is one of the videos I took - The Anjala song from the movie Vaaranam Aayiram.

Not to forget about the food, some of them were horrible and overpriced. But some were really good and worth the money! Atleast the food was much better than the previous years.

Light music solo final was average. I know it is hard to go and sing out there in the main stage, especially when the audience keeps on jeering and you can see rockets being launched at you! :p

Choreo Nite was good except for the fact that I was bored of watching the hip hop dances and people standing on one hand. After watching more than half a dozen dances, we set off for the real party!

The other best part of Instincts 09 was the chat (not the food chat) we had in the lawn! Absolutely a rocking farewell Instincts!

Due to unexpected circumstances, our college buses left very late at 11! Another memorable one for Instincts! lolz

SSN EDC Cup 09

2009-02-22T23:06:00.000+05:30

The EDC team of my college conducted a mega fest known as E-Week last week from February 14 to 19. The event went well though I didn't witness any of the events. I heard that the event had very good response from my fellow college mates. Though it had many events such as Blog design, slogan writing, EPL bidding, interesting seminars and lots more, one event got my attention - that was the EDC Cup, the first ever intra college Cricket tournament conducted at SSN College of Engineering.

I thought it was a very good move. Having seen many cricket matches played by college mates in front of the hostel, I always thought it would be a good move to introduce a cricket tournament, especially a T20 tournament would've been great. But only one committee thought it to be a nice move to introduce it - the EDC student team i.e the Entrepreneurship Development Cell of my college.

The 12 teams knock-out tournament was a very good move but one flaw gathered too much of attention into my mind. The flaw is the imposition of too many rules to test the players of the tournament. Some of the rules are:

1. - 5 for every wicket lost.
2. If not all out in the entire play, +20 runs bonus.
3. Two powerplays of one over each in which every scored run doubles and -10 for every wicket lost.
4. Every dot ball in the powerplay over costs 1 run.

Clearly analysing some of the rules mentioned above, one would say that the team batting second has higher chances of winning (not unless the captain is too dumb). The team batting first would have to put up an exceedingly massive total so as to really challenge the team batting second.

For example, if the team batting first gets all out for a negative score, then according to the rules, the team batting second instantly wins without playing a ball. It is totally unfair! If the team batting second has to chase a target of 50, and if he does it in 5 overs with 5 wickets in hand, then he has won! But if fair play is considered into play, then the team batting second should play the entire innings to decide the match.

So in whatever way the match progresses, the team batting second would always win if the captain can use his brain. Anyway, its a very good effort by the EDC team. It was a successful week for them and I heard that the seminars were great. Also the movie this time was "Inconvenient Truth". Couldn't see that movie! This move by EDC could be a great encouragement for the juniors.

Dogs and me!

2009-02-17T13:26:00.000+05:30

Not only humans have varying characteristics. So do dogs. Each one is different. Here are some of the dogs I have petted and their characteristics.

Jimmy (Male): Pride, Jealous, Extremely grateful, Dominant, role model :p

Ricky (Male): The most gentle dog I have ever seen. Emotional. Extremely loving and grateful.

Milo (Female) : Beautiful, introvert, playful.

Joe (Male): Extremely silent, introvert.

Max (Male) : Cute, smart, playful, extrovert.

Tiger (Female) : Silent, sensitive, possessive.

Rosie (Female) : Smart, Extrovert, playful.

Pepper (Male) : Scared, possessive, cute, playful, sensitive.

Ginger (Male) : Dominant, Pride, Greedy (in case of food), smart, obedient.

TAGS hits the NEWS stands!

2009-02-13T22:38:00.002+05:30

TAGS hits the NEWS stands. The article on TAGS appeared last wednesday (11th February-09) in the Pet Pals column in the Metro Plus of The Hindu. The TAGS team is extremely happy and with this encouragement, it will work better. :) You can read the article here.

A special thanks to ArunBalachandran and Pramod for making this possible and special thanks to the editor who made sure that the article got published.

Congratulations to the TAGS team!!! TAGS has gone to the next level. :)

I would also like to thank the people who helped TAGS in some way or indirectly. Kudos!

Meeting THE BOSS!

2009-02-04T01:38:00.002+05:30

Speaking of stars in the previous post, its time to speak about the Superstar.

Last Wednesday, I happened to miss the college bus and reached college late by 9 am along with my friend Hemnath. I found several vans which I immediately recognized as Film service vehicles. I asked my friend Hemnath what shooting is going on. He said it is the much hyped Enthiran (Robot) starring the superstar Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai and directed by Shankar. I thought the film shooting held at my college premises ended during the pongal holidays but Hemnath confirmed that it did not and it was postponed to that day.

After attending the next two classes, several of my classmates left after the lunch to catch a glimpse of the superstar. I didn't want to miss the extended afternoon class that day but only when I read message from one of my classmate Lokesh that he has already got autograph from the Superstar himself, I got frustrated. Almost the entire class started to the auditorium, where the shooting was held, after the class got over.

The superstar had come out for lunch and he was inside the caravan. A small crowd of final years were there as the other batches had classes going on. It was said that the superstar would come out by 2:30. The time was still 1:45. I decided to wait rather than going home. I didn't know what the crowd was doing as I was speaking to my friends over the phone. At that time, one of my classmates came and asked for any paper or notebook to get autograph. I lended my notebook to get autograph for her and for me too.

Then suddenly the tension in the crowd arose and only then I came to know that the Superstar had signed yet another set of autographs for the eagerly awaiting fans from inside of the caravan. Mine had still not gone inside the caravan. We waited for few more minutes when the security asked us all to move away. We all went back when I heard a loud cheering sound from the surrounding college mates. I immediately knew the reason and turned around to see the Superstar himself.

To describe his character style in one word, it was COOL. He looked as young as a thirty year old guy and he smiled and waved at us as he moved towards the auditorium through the back door. My friend ABC tried to take a snapshot of the superstar but the security found the camera mobile in his hands before he could even think of the word 'click'. He snatched the mobile and examined it before giving it back to him.

The entire students galloped in joy and headed to the main entrance to catch yet another glimpse of the Superstar. One of the few foreigners, who had possibly come for the shoot, was taking a video shoot of the craze of the students when they moved up and down at every chance they could get to see what is happening inside the auditorium. But luck didn't favour them as many of them left in vain. Luck didn't favour me too as my classmate didn't manage to get autograph as it had got late for the superstar for the shoot.

Although the security was tight and strict about the camera rules, someone had managed to take a photo of the superstar and it was even leaked and published in a recent edition of a newspaper. It shows how people are well and good to get into others' privacy and also news agencies' desperation to get a copy of a hot news.

(Un)Identified Flying Objects

2009-02-01T12:20:00.001+05:30

Day before yesterday, I was working with my system when I got a call from Vivek. The avenger boy seemed to be in a hurry.

Vivek : Go upstairs and look at the sky.
Myself : Where?
Vivek : In the west

As if he is Gandalf telling me "Look into the east" (Vivek has mentioned the same dialogue in one of his posts ;) )

Myself : Ok. Whats special?
Vivek : Go and watch.

After hanging up the phone, I went to the terrace to watch the night sky. It was a clear sky except for some patches of clouds here and there. "Look into the west", Vivek had said.

Part of the west sky was hidden behind a building and in the remaining visible sky, there was nothing special. The sky looked normal. I turned around to see the sky in all the directions. When I turned back to west, I noticed a bright star. "Must be Venus", I thought. But it was moving. I thought I was imagining things and concentrated on the bright object. Yes it was moving and it was flying towards east.

It must be an aeroplane. It had blue and red colour lights flashing now and then. Something weird about the flying object was it made no noise. It was flying silently and it was close enough to trouble my ears. But the thing never made any sound and it was moving at a high speed that made it look like it is going to conquer something.

It was flying towards farther east when it suddenly turned its direction and moved towards the north. It was at that time I realized that I have my mobile with me. I took out my mobile and tried to take a shot. It was still in the east when I tried. The result was worthless. I tried to take a video which was also not good. It flew towards the north and even as it travelled in the distant sky, I saw its light flash for the next two minutes.

I turned east again when another flying object appeared from the east. This must definitely be an aeroplane. It was pretty close and I don't remember seeing it much as I turned towards the North west to see another flying object. This one was flying too high. The plane below was flying low. In Chennai, one doesn't normally see Planes flying at high altitudes as the airport is located close to the city. "Must be an aeroplane from the easter part of Asia",I thought.

I watched both planes fly towards the west. The plane flying at higher altitude was interesting to watch as it emitted light that seemed to rotate around it (atleast I imagined it) and it looked like a flyiing saucer in the distance. Ha ha.

When it went out of sight, I remembered the reason why I came upstairs. There was still nothing special in the sky. "Look into the west". I thought again. He is in the east of my place. So his western sky could be the sky above me. I looked above and noticed few stars. I saw the Orion constellation. The Orion belt was clearly visible, only this time it wasn't bright. Planet Venus was missing. The Aphrodite which was seen in the sky for the past two or three months was either hidden behind some building or it is missing.

Nothing much was there and I still wonder why Vivek asked me to go upstairs. I decided to leave the sky in peace and continue the battle with my computer.

Here comes the "BOOM"!

2009-01-31T17:22:00.002+05:30

Month of January isn't ofcourse the fastest. The last New Year seems ages ago to me and it also seems ages ago when I made the last post. But here is one.

Quote of the Month:

Silence is the true friend that never betrays.

- Confucious, Chinese Philosopher.

Image of the Month:
Top view of the Mount Kilimanjaro. Looks like a choco-vanilla duet cone ice-cream ;)

Videos of the Month:

These videos are bit old but I love them for the cool graphics and visuals in it and also the music in the first one is cool. That is SSN for you :). Here are the Instincts 2K6 videos.

DOGmatic!

2009-01-11T13:02:00.003+05:30

Some day in May/June 1998:

It was a sunny morning. My sister, cousin and I were in the balcony looking at a lady in her late twenties or her early thirties. It was a surprise call from our neighbour. Her son, who was probably 8 years old, was with her and they were both admiring the pups at my home.

"My son would like to play with them", she was telling us.

"Can you bring them to my home?", she added.

A sparkle of joy spread through us as we knew that the pups were going to be adopted and they would be living a happy life thereafter.

The pups were given. My cousin and sister did a good job of giving instructions on what to feed the pups. They were still drinking milk.

That evening, the neighbour called us again.

"The pups have made my house dirty. Please take them away"

We didn't know what she was expecting from a pup, let alone animals. She was probably expecting a miracle from the pups. We never heard a word from her again. The pups were at my house again. They were in a better place!!!

Ten years later:
December 2008

"Take it away!", the guy said. It wasn't a request. It was an order. There was harshness in his voice. He spoke in a tone that spoke of his desire to let us know that he is a rowdy. The sun was setting fast and darkness was already prevailing in that vibrant but lonely street.

I looked at the innocent harmless pup in the road. It was more than two months old and was just developing teeth.

"It is very naughty", the guy told us earlier that evening.

The last time I saw the pup was two months before that night. A lady had adopted it. The pup was tiny and innocent and it still was innocent that evening. And now, the lady was out of station and her brother was facing us.

"It is biting everyone here", the guy complained

Ganesh, a member of TAGS, was also with me. He went, took the pup and brought it near us.

"Take it away!", he again ordered.

"People like you should take care of the pup. How can you just abandon it?"

He looked at me as if I had made a big mistake.

"You take it!", he said. He made me look as if we were forcing them into trouble.

"The pup is growing and so is its teeth. As it's teeth gets bigger, it will tend to bite anything it sees, even humans", I started explaining. Ganesh was helping me with showing him the teeth of the pup.

The guy gave a "you can't cheat me" look and he adamantly refused.

"We would like to speak to the lady who adopted the pup", Ganesh requested.

"I am in charge of the house now. I am her brother. You can tell me everything".

After a while, he obliged to the request and within minutes, I was speaking to a lady over the phone.

"Please take away the pup. We don't want it", she echoed the voice of her brother.

I was frustrated when I heard it. I was told that the lady had adopted the pup out of her own will. And now she wants us to take it back. After a few minutes speaking to her over the phone, I knew it would be fruitless.

"Alright. What do you say if we vaccinate the pup and bring it back here?", I asked over the phone.

"Oh? Injection?", the lady thought for a while and then continued, "Ok. We will take it back".

I gave the phone back to her brother, who after hanging up the phone, looked like a kid who had just got a candy he requested.

Ganesh held the pup and we both drove out of that place. I knew for good that I should never bring that pup back to that place again. It needed a better place. If that lady wants vaccination to be done, she probably would want us to take care of all the medical expenses in the future. Moreover, with that guy around, it was not a safe place for the pup. It did get a better home. It is now safe and lives a happy and luxurious life.

People never change whether they are educated or not!

P.S: A special thanks to Karthikeyan for helping the pup.

Bommalaatam - A review

2009-01-06T15:24:00.003+05:30

I went to this movie recently and it was awesome. Bharathiraja has shown that he can still deliver quality story movies. I don't want to reveal the story here as it will spoil the surprise. For a little detailed review, check my blog post Tastes best when chilled...: Bommalaatam - A review at Cold Koffee.

The movie is a suspense thriller. It is the story about unexpected mysterious murders that take place during a film shoot and all eyes are upon the director of the movie. A detective comes into the party to take in charge of the case.

The movie awaits a surprising climax with an unexpected twist. The main actors in this movie has done commandable performance. Nana Patekar has lived the character. Arjun doesn't have much role but has done good.

Except for the editing part, the movie is great. I wonder why not too many reviews about the movie has come. The movie runs in few theatres but that does not reflect the quality of the movie. Go and watch it in theatres before they take it off screen.

Gear up!

2009-01-01T20:30:00.004+05:30

Happy New Year 2009! I am into my fourth year of blogging. I have been blogging a lot in the recent times which was evident during the last month. Last month, I had posted 18 posts altogether - 10 in this blog and 8 in Cold Koffee blog.

The Cold Koffee blog was started during the end of November last year and it would contains reviews, sports, movie reviews and lots more. And unintentionally, I had equalled Vivek's total number of posts during the last month. So Vivek, I was upto the challenge, wasn't I? But anyway I didn't do it intentionally.

This year is going to be more interesting and exciting. Let us step into the world arena. I hope this year is peaceful and joyful for everyone.

I would like to try out some new stuffs when it comes to blogging. Also I would like to start more blogs. Ha ha. Let us gear up!

Step into the arena

2008-12-31T23:07:00.002+05:30

Yet another year comes to an end. This day marks the First year anniversary of Tags. Tags has gone through a long distance now and tags team is very proud and happy. We have successfully got around 30 adoptions so far and we are on the way to create our official website. There has a lot of people who helped us a lot in making all these things possible. I would like to thank them all in making this possible.
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!

Whats your status?

2008-12-31T02:08:00.002+05:30

It is really a wonderful option of having status messages in messengers but some of them are really funny and I wonder why people use them. Some of the funny status messages I came across are

"I am sleeping. Do not disturb"
Why is he/she online then? Is the messenger capable of auto reply? Lol. He/she could sign out and sleep.

"Snoring!"
Ha ha ha... No comments. Same as the above.

These are just the ones I could remember. There are lot of funny comments I have seen in messengers.

Status messages could also be really useful. One can display the song he/she is listening. A simple wish in the status would suffice.

It is just that people are so crazy about the online world that they would want to stay online even when they are sleeping.

Marudhanayagam : Running in theatres???

2008-12-25T22:14:00.008+05:30

I was going through the showtimes of the movies and came across this.

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6272/mgngmrr2.jpg

This is one of the funniest online things I ever came across. Click on the link for a larger view.

These guys have stated that Marudhanayagam, actor Kamal Haasan's dream venture, is running in Mayajaal. There can be mistakes while publishing the web page but this seems to be really too much. Kamal would've been dreaming about the film's release but not until he has completed it. Ha ha.