Miles to go before I sleep...

TGIF!

2006-11-17T07:47:00.000-05:00

Friday is here!

And the weekend mood has kept me going even though I was surprisingly up by 530 am today! (That is a good 2 1/2 hours earlier than normal :)

Anyways since, I was up at 530, I was able to get a couple of glimpse of the sun raising magnificiently behind the woods!

And here is another one!

Such rare occurrences need to be preserved somewhere - naalaiku yaaravathu 530 ellaam nee paathu irukkiya- nu kettuda koodaadhu paarunga?

Sari, have a good weekend!

Vallavan

2006-11-09T21:52:00.000-05:00

Simbu: Deii, neee yen ennoda friend-kitte I love you sonnennu naan kekkalai da.
Ava love pannalai-naala konnuduvennu mirattiniyaame?

Ponnungala miratti varadhu illa da lovuuu, avanga nammbala paarthu chumma mirandu varanum-da, adhu thaan da lovuuu...(swish, swooosh, twish.... finger makes sounds) (venaam!)

Simbu: Dei, Ambani-ponna love panni periyaalagaradha vida, manasuku pidicha ponna kalyanam pannindu Ambani-maadhiri periya aala varanum!!. (valikkudhu!)

Simbu: Dei, muthalla evan jeyikkaradhu-nradhu illa da mukkiyam, kadasilaa yaaru jeyichu nikkkaradhu-nradhu thaan nirandharam.(swish, sw...tw...) (azhudhuduven!)

Intha maadhiri pala arputha dialogues niraintha padam! Kaana thavaraadheergal...
Vallavan, vallavan, vallavan.......

ps: Yaam petra inbam(?) peruga ivvaiyagam...

Married into Maryland

2006-11-02T19:15:00.000-05:00

Okay Okay here I go...
After the usual absconding, here I am back to blogging!!!
At the rate I blog, I fear I will lose my precious few readers on the circuit as well.....

Readers Question: What on earth is making you update this blog so infrequently? (Not that we are the best fans, but atleast the comments section usually is good time-pass).

My excuse: Okay here is my last 2 weeks schedule - Attend an interview for a full time position, work on getting my visa transferred (w/o letting know my then employer), research about the new city that I am moving to, be perennially worried about the visa transfer to happen smoothly, give a day's notice to my then employer, pack-pack-pack-pack(illustrated below), constantly look out for room-mates in sulekha (man!, this place is expensive!). To establish how costly this place is, which by the way is Germantown in Maryland, 30 miles north of Wash DC -- When I was staying in a 2b/2ba apartment in Lexington, KY 1 year back, I was paying 50$ less than what I am paying for a shared 2 bed/2bath here. And this would be the right place to put it: And I found a good room-mate after all - no complaints, no sulks. Roomie, hope you read my blog someday and you can be proud of!:))

That really is few of the things that I did do in the last 2 weeks.
To give you an idea of how much I carried in my lachumi, this is how it was in my bedroom with all my stuff put together.

And this is how it is after my elaborate clean-up-and-throw-out-unwanted job.

A quick self-advertisement: Top-left la irukkura painting super-a iruku-la?
I know you guys would have thought that. Not wanting to keep the suspense any longer, that was the artistic work of yours truly, and not something that was bought in a art & craft store.

A question might come to you: Why the painting was not photographed closely?
A: Only if you look at it from a distance does it look good, the closer you look at it, my amateurishness at painting will show up!

So here I am in Maryland, wanting to know more people lest I will be bored to the hilt and start watching crappy tamil movies like Emtan Magan, Varalaaru (the story of godfather) and such moviess...

Otherwise, life is a chill (its getting to freezing here :(

Will keep you guys posted!

Festival of Lights

2006-10-20T14:26:00.001-04:00

Deepavali - Over the years

15 years back!

Months of preparation go into planning how to be the dada in our street. Dada refers to the household which sets off (rather sets on) the biggest sara vedi in the street. The three of us (with Yours Truly being the youngest), will make diligent plans and we would even forgo spending on rasna after cricket matches and save for this cracker-burst. "Kaasa kari aakkaradhu" ku literal meaning na idhu than, but then I was too young to realise that :) Ippdi vayathula eera thuniya kaaya pottu, save panni, added to that amma's contribution, appa's contribution, appa side thatha-paati contribution, amma side paati contribution elaam senthu oru 400rs. varum. Andha 400-a eppdi ideal-a spend panradhu, edhu edhu thevai, edhu venaam, ellaraiyum thrupthi pada vekkaraa maadhiri oru prelim-list pottuduvom.(alliance-la seat pirikkaradha vida idhu kashtamaana kaariyam).Intha 400rs dabbu vachundu thaatha velai panra office manager kittenthu recommendation letter ellaam vaangindu avaroda oru thoorathu second cousin vachu irukkura cracker shop la poi shop panni, rendu anna's um veetuku vanthaa, deepavali a vida ellaaroda faces-um brightly lit aa irukum..

Adutha naal- oru 430am ku ezhunthu ennai thechu kulichu ganga snaanam mudichu (madras-la thanni vardhe periya visheyam, idhula gangaa-vera... romba thaan over - aana onnu idhe clever-aa oru company Lifebuoy soap-a, Ganga Soap nu peru maathi vikka aaramichutaan), vaanathai pola brothers- maadhiri pudhu thuni ellam pottundu oru 2 hours vedikkai, konjam crackers burst panni kondaadaradhu. Over- enthula neraiyavum vedikka koodadhu, aporama night- paraak paaka vendiyadhu thaan...

Then we used to go visit my father's side relatives - cousins-gumbaloda konjam avanga pattaasaiyum vedichu. And those streets were very small - oru lakshmi- vediyo, kuruvi-vediyo vachaa, antha pakkam pora cycle/motorbike ellaaraiyum niruthi vachuduvom... If it had rained in the night, paadhi crackers bussu thaan...paper-kaaran-a oru 30 seconds wait panna vachuttu - "Sorry sir, bussu" nu solra sugame alaadhi thaan :-)

And the reason of going to dad's side relatives first is - so u can wind up faster and spend more time in mom's side veedu. Does anyone else think the same - That somehow I always feel closer to Amma's side relatives than Appa's side relatives. Dont know why, even though I have cousins of my age only in my dad's side, still feel a lot closer to my amma's side relatives and cousins only!

Idhellaam mudichu - amma side paati veetuku ponaa - sooper timing, 930/10 aagi irukum. A cup of paayasam with Sirappu Oliyum Oliyum would follow. Apporama angeyum kari-aaki (vera enna kaasa-dhaan), madhyaanam lunch-um mudichukka vendiyadhu thaan.

Afternoon time pass kaagave antha bijili pattasu kandu pidichu irunthaanga nu ninaikiren. 100 single bijili's will be like 10rs. Aaluku oru packet eduthundu motta maadi ponaa, oru 3 hours pozhudhu pogum...

Apporama evening kalai-kattum, again back to Saram, rocket, hydrogen bomb, same - "sorry bussu", etc etc.. The best cracker that I liked when I was young was the double sound. Basically you hear one sound from the ground, and a piece of it flies high in the air and goes off there - adhula yaaroda vedi highest pochu-nu vera bet. And chinna paiyan-aa irukkaradhunaala "pavam kuzhanthai - avnaukum oru rocket kudunga da, avana bathirama paathukkonga" nu konjam over-gavanippu vera.

This was my typical deepavali when I was in middle school...

7-8 years back:

College vanthaachu - main-a simran, manisha, poandra chappaathi maavu ponnunga tamizh cinema-la iruntha neram. SUN TV-la "First time in TV" - nnu, irukura ellaa artist-oda interview/songs etc irukum. Also, chinna vayasula iruntha enthu konjam kammiyaachu..(sari vayasaachu-nu othukaren), Hostel-la irunthathunaala deepavali-ku munadi naal thaan vetuku vanthu settle-aagi, next day-ve kilambara maadhiri irukum... antha kadi vera...

Recent years:

Its been the 6th straight year I am missing Deepavali at home, and luckily this time it falls on a weekend. Weekday vaa irunthaa romba sutham. Atleast this time, I am with my Anna's family - so konjam-aavathu antha feel varum...And as usual US ishtyle-la potluck, group games, senthu oru veetla lighting crackers etc...aporama veetuku vanthu sera vendiyadhu thaan...

But, whatever it is still the biggest festival in India and here is my warm wishes for you on deepavali.

Thalai-deepavali irukkaravanga- santhoshamaa irunga...
thalai-deepavali pass panni romba naalachu-naa safe-a irunga,
thalai-deepavali illaadha "Thani" deepavali kondaadaravanga, someone somewhere is there-nu ninachu console pannikkonga!

Alrite,
Friday adhuvuma oru 330pm ku escape aagalaamnu pathundu iruken...

ps: Kudukkara kaasu-ku sooper a irukura ore pattasu vantu "Paambu" thaan....
50 paise-ku uleenthu padam eduthunde irukum...and oru dabba-la oru 10 irukum...
Veedu naasthi aayidum aana...

Matter hierarchy!

2006-10-17T00:28:00.000-04:00

Definition:

Matter - Its more of the college/univ term. A one-liner would equate to "Whats hot happening around you?". Its about the latest developments b/w usually a guy and a girl (whether you know them or not is immaterial). The sources could be third-hand or even fourth, but more the hands (actually ears) it traverses, more spicy it could get.

Sharing Matter - One of those idle evenings when you have nothing else to talk to your friend, you share the karma, cha matter. Again, for the friend to divulge matter to you, you have to prove yourself over time, that something told to you, dies with you. (Actually none of the matter die, it would have been shared somewhere sometime to someone).

Matter Dissemination - Adhaaga pattadhu, no matter will escape the eyes of the people. Someone somewhere will have an inkling to whats happening. The sharing of matter usually takes a route, as to who gets to hear it first and who last.

Objective:
To build a tree according to the hierarchy of matter dissemination.

Analysis: Idhu kadhaiyaa irukee... experiments or test-cases are never revealed to the public (for accounts of extreme privacy). So I am going to jump to the observations and results straight away.

Observations:
The number 1 position goes to:

1. Single Girl - She gets to know of all the things that are happening in and around the place - as to what's going on between x and y and if there is a possibility of this turning real.
Reasons: One - she is single and has all the time in the world and second "She is single" and people tend to get closer to her! (You dont have to worry about angry stares from her BF!).

The number 2 position goes to:

2. Single Guy - Now this race was close. I almost chose committed girl, but then being single definitely gives you lot of time to talk-gossip. Even if you dont know something, you can ask as many questions possible without getting hit on your head by your GF!

The number 3 position goes to:

3. Committed Girl - Cheer up girl, you are still not the last. And you were not the second just because of lack of time! (and to a lesser extent your cold-staring BF next to you :)

The ignominy of last position goes to:

4. Committed Guy - Maanida pathar-la arpa padhar intha jenmam- thaan. Orutharum kandukka maattanga, evanum call panna maataan. Neeye paninaalum - voice message-aa vittu thallanum. Ellaarum avan settled-nu odhukki vechuduvaanga, nee busy-aa iruppa nu nakkal vera viduvaanga. (Sathiyamaa, illa-da nu sonnaa nambavaa poreenga?). Unaku oru matter- evanaavathu sonaa - kandippa that must be like 6 months old (and you think no-one knows when actually every-one in the friend's circle knows about it).

The End.

ps1: Reason for this blog - the drastic fall of emails and phone calls to me over the past 2-3 weeks :(
ps2: For reasons mentioned above, atleast comments vanthaa email varume nu oru sandhosham.
ps3: Thanks to my friend VV who coined this "Matter-sollu" word, but avanum......

Me, myself Tag - NIIB syndrome

2006-10-09T17:31:00.000-04:00

Inspired by Archana's ideology and thoughts, here I go with the Tagged post to make up for the NIIB syndrome. (No-idea-in-brain!)

The rules are as follows (copy & paste from here):

Rules of this tag:

1. Name the person who tagged you.
2. 8 things about you.
3. Tag 6 people.

Here is my entry:

Archana tagged me (yaanai-ku oru kaalam vanthaa poonaai-kum oru kaalam varum (or vice-versa if you prefer it :), Beware).

Eight things about me: (now, this really gets me thinking)

1. Planning:

When I was at school and during my undergrad days, I start planning on how much to read each day during the study holidays so that I can do 2 revisions before even the exam starts. And more often than not, they will be realistic plans (not like finish 5 chapters in Physics in 1 day, aiyooo!!). But then as you would expect, none of the plans take off. Atleast school-level la plans worked to an extent because of Board Exam fear. Undergrad exam plans were the worst. Since I studied in a hostel, study holidays are times when we can get home, enjoy home food (hostel food sucked big time!), and watch TV with gay abandon. Idhula engenthu padikkaradhu? There were semesters were I did not even open a single page during my study holidays. But then, there were always a minimum of 1 day holiday between exams.

Also, thanks to my 'mandai-mandai' handwriting & underlining skills, I always used to manage more than I expected. So after college days, I felt making a chart with my planning is just a futile exercise. Thats when I decided, "No-plan-will-be-my-plan".
But then, when it comes to planning for a get-together, or visiting some must-see places in the U.S. no-one can beat my enthu in planning all the nitty-gritty detail for the trip.

2. Deals:

I often visit deal sites before buying stuff, like many guys around here I guess. And the best satisfaction you obtain is when you buy the same laptop as your friend, with free wireless upgrade, and that is $150 cheaper. (PB, mannichukko, but then you did not ask me before buying :)

Quicktip - Guys in the U.S., if you use Google checkout (there is a nice video), it saves you another 10$ as a promo offer. For those guys who do not know the value of $10, it is 78 minutes of talk time if you use reliance to call India. :)

3. Cooking:

I love to cook. I would rather eat homemade food for lunch than burgers/pizza/chinese fried rice. And I love to cook quick, so I prefer frozen vegetables to fresh ones which require cutting.
But it has been like 9 months since I cooked - I am now so used to my manni's (sis-in-law) cooking that I dont know if I still love cooking. But atleast I used to :)

4. Movie Buff:

I am a movie buff, not as in I watch every movie thats released in lankasri. (There are some movies that dont even release in theaters, but they can be found in lankasri).
Ya, I dont watch every movie, but I read every cine news possible. (Read as: I love reading gossips). sify/movies, thatstamil, vaaramalar are my regular reads to keep me updated on the movie news side. I dont mind reading crappy stories of Ileana (the new glamour queen of telugu cinema) and her brother's bandhaa's/conditions in studio sets.
And I have to accept I have started to watch a lot of movies than when I was in India. Cabtain's Perarasu is what I want to see next.

5. Music:

I have to accept my music knowledge is very limited. (music knowledge is zero-nratha dejent aa solli irukeen). I have never been exposed to carnatic music, but have listened to a lot of friends who sing well, but then my interests were never kindled. And usually in a pot-luck & movie get-together, thanks to the event-organizer, there will be a singing session inevitably.(while in Lexington).
I used to flock together with guys and we proclaim ourselves as zero-talent-group(ZTG). And the pain that you feel in your heart, when someone from the ZTG sings well is more excruciating than a cup-in-a-semester exam.

Inimel ezhutharadhu ellam oppukku chappa (ran out of ideas after number 5)

6. Legs everywhere:

I like to try everything. Be it sports/arts/cooking. But then I dont become an expert on any of those things. For eg: I started my Guitar classes, but left after my Level-1, had I gone on the Lexington music troupe (not like the karagaattakaran ghoshti) would still not be searching for a guitarist :)

7. Afternoons:

I hate sleeping in the afternoons. No matter how little I had slept the previous day, I prefer to be up and doing anything other than sleeping. I can almost hear my manni-say "weekends la nee ezhunthukkaradhe almost at noon, idhula afternoon thoongine-na avvlo dhaan..."

8.
In sport games that usually Indians-involve in, If your opponent is very weak, one would say "I can beat him with even my left hand, its that easy". That applies to me as well. I can beat a lot of people at tennis/TT/cricket if I play left-handed. And hold-on, that does not mean, I am good at all these games, but just that I am a southpaw. Except for eating with my hand, I use my left-hand to do everything in day-to-day life.

Well that pretty much ends my blah-blah, suya puranaam.
I once again thank (in a sarcastical tone) whoever gave me this opportunity.

Now comes the tagging part....

hmmm, any volunteeers??

News clips

2006-10-04T18:20:00.001-04:00

So, me back to working full swing. Full swing as in work-check email-check news-stare at the monitor-check email-news-work!!
I have become a complusive email checker and a news ticker. And this does not mean, I get emails quite a lot but atleast a lot of things (good and bad) are happening in the world to comment upon.

Pardoning Afzal??

Okay, here is the guy who was the mastermind of the Dec 2001 parliament attack and a known terrorist. He took main part in the plan of action, knew what they were aiming at, and understood that if they succeed in the attack what will happen to the country. Comeon, had the 6 or so head constables/inspectors on patrol not fight these terrorists, who knows our parliament building would have been history now and I vaguely recollect some of our ministers were inside the building that time. So with this in mind, think of the magnitude of the plot and its after effects. And Afzal has been convicted by the Supreme Court, he has told his relatives that he will not file for pardon, and yet there is an opinion-building going on to pardon him. J&K Chief Minister publicly goes on record saying he should be pardoned, does he give a reason - NO.
I feel this is total b.s. to even talk about pardoning his acts.
Take a look at what All India Anti-Terror Chairman says on this count.

Anyways, moving on...

Chickening out?

Today''s Hindu quotes..Anbumani Ramadoss ascertaining Chikungunya was not the primary reason for any death in the country so far. He goes on to announce - "In almost all the cases involving deaths-of-chikungunya patients, the primary reasons were different". And this is just 2 days after the Kerala CM publicly accepting that Chikungunya has resulted in 60 odd deaths in the state.

So, who is right?, Who cares...

Here is a Winner...

To finish off in a lighter vein, Laloo Prasad announced the opening of a Gharib Rath, a low-cost fully A/C train between North Bihar and Amritsar. It seems a lot of Bihari people usually go to Amritsar for picking up a decent living and hence the decision on the route. After the flagging-off, he announces all the raliway-development work in Bihar, new broad-gauge connectivity will be completed before 2009. He quips, "after all everyone knows the Lok Sabha election will be held in 2009."
LOL :) That is an honest assessment, thats two things rolled into one - a clever remark to make people feel good and also make them laugh.
No wonder, he charmed & ruled Bihar for 15 long yearss...

Backkkkk and the world has changed for me!!!

2006-09-28T14:41:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone..... long time no seee??
Hows u all?

Me back from a very very hectic trip to India and settling in...
Actually I came back to the US last Friday but was reeling under jetlag for the next 2-3 days.

My trip to India was a grandeur success in all ways.....
I was there in Indian soil exactly for 13 days, but then I feel like I did things, ran around like I had to pack 30 days of ooru-suthufying in those 13 days.

To list, I did:

I attended a very close friend's wedding immdly after I landed in Chennai, and his marriage was in Nagerkovil which is like the bottom-most city in India. But while there, I also went to the Kanniyakumari scenic spots, and took a lot of pics.

I attended my H1b visa interview coming back and it went off smoothly without all my scary thoughts :)

I went with Amma, Appa, chithi's on a pilgrimage trip to Madurai, Sankaran Kovil and Tiruchy.. visited countless number of temples there and they were wonderful to say the least.

Aporama madras-la shopping for my trip back-nnu all the sun was on me ooru-suthufying...

Visiting all my relatives, thaatha-paati, appa's friends etc etc that my mom started complaining I am not staying at home and spending time with her at all...

Eating-in, Eating-out... I almost ate like 6 meals a day...if I eat out and come back home to amma's cooking, just because she shouldnt feel bad, I ate one more meal :). Also, every one I visited invariably made somthing I liked, and couldnt resist as well.

I believe I did put on some weight while in India.

Movie - I went to Sillunu oru Kaadhal and was disappointed like anything, the movie sucked big time...no logic, no story, and over-action literally, but to see a movie in Satyam after a long time was so different.

Autos -- I took an auto almost everywhere, and invariably I had to cross Duraisaamy bridge all the time and it took ages during peak time..

Besides alll these things, I have one more thing to tell you all. Idhu ellam nadula - I saw a ponnu and was totally bowled over and kalyanthuku okay solitten...Yup! so the world has changed ever since...:)

Before seeing her, veetla I put all the scene I could, I dont think I can decide by seeing and talking to her just once, I will need to talk to her over fone a couple of times etc...Avala paathu pesi, veetuku varadhukku munaadi PCO lenthu phone panni okay solitten!! :-)

Will detail-blog as soon as I get sometime again....but guess I will be regular from now on...
Lotsaa stories and lots to write, so little time though.....

Will keep you guys posted...

ps1: Inimel ennoda regular blogs ku elam poi comment vidanum, appo thaane neenga varuvenga thirumba...

ps2: Idhuvaraikum ennoda monthly minutes usage will not exceed 1000 minutes, but this last one week, i have used like 1200 minutes.(including nights/weekends), I should get a headset soon, otherwise my hands are going to pain most probably....

India here I come!

2006-09-05T23:32:00.000-04:00

The initial seeds were sown sometime in March. Yes, that's how long you have to look ahead while planning an India trip especially if you have to schedule a visa interview.

And this 6 month wait is after the so-called-rush-reducing rule - that you have to pay a non-refundable 100$ to book an appointment. I guess things were better before this rule. It is high time they open another embassy in Hyderabad or Bangalore.

Anyways, the crux of this blog is about me leaving to India tomorrow for a very short 2 week trip. I know its going to be hectic - my close friend's wedding to attend, the usual routine places of worship to see, visit family and friends, shop for my return and all this in 2 weeks time. Now that's quite some challenge. Let us see.

Most importantly this blog is also about :
India-ku varennu a request to fans - no red carpets, no cutouts, no bands esp no paal abhishekam et al, thalaivi Trisha maadhiri me opposed to all that - oru child-ku udhavum adhu :)
Mujhe aap me se ek banaa-kar, sirf apne anuraag deejiye.
Ya, ya I have a 8 hour stopover at Delhi and am prepping my Hindi for it!!!
(dhayavu senju hindi la comment vidaatheenga, naan reply panna matten..)

(jiii haaan, haaan ji, aiyaiyo ji, tholla thaangalai ji, nu soli adjust panna poren)

All rite guys,
I shall try to blog from India, but if not, atleast I will have lots of experiences to talk about once I get back from India.

You take care,
P

Home Alone && Sunday Samaiyall...

2006-09-03T22:36:00.000-04:00

Manni enna ambo-nnu vittutu family-oda Florida vacation pogave, buvaaku I had to go back to basics and dig into my culinary skills.

Inniku morning SUN TV-la TOP 10 movies kum, Ungal Choice program-ku naduve oru 30 mins gap ( Sapthaswarangal program - nammalukum meejic'kum dhaan konjam dhooram jaasthiyache...)

So naan pannina 30 min quick lunch:

1. Toor dal a cooker la vega vaikkavum. ( 15 minutes) -- US la irukkaravanga - Toor dal vilai vaasiku, vera alternative - Channa Dal.
2. Side'la frozen Spinach and frozen french cut beans bag open pannikavum.
3. Oru kadaaai-la beans a vega vaikavum with salt ( like you do for a curry) - kaaram aporama pathuppom...
4. Spinach + tamarind water + sambar powder, salt udan sethu vega veikavum.
5. By the time the dal is cooked in the cooker, the spinach and beans would have cooked well...( keep an eye on the beans, since beans is been fried dry, adi pidikaama pathu kollavum)
6. Vega vecha spinach la ippo dal-a mix pannina spinach sambar ready.
7. Ippo beans curry la konjam-a cooker la irukkura adhe dal mix panni, deep fry pannunga... deep fry as in - beans'um dal'um ottikka koodaathu... udhir udhir a irukkanum.
Kaarathuku konjam-aa red chilli's a udachu podavum...curry powder potta sodhappidum...(by the way, if you still didnt get what this dish is : quick paruppu usili idhu thaan)

Intha spinach sambar + paruppu usili 30 mins la ungalaala panna mudilla-naa, enna blame pannaadheenga, thappu unga perula thaan...

By the way - taste eppdi vanthuthu nu kekkaatheenga.. oru 6 months a kitchen pakkame pogalai, so konjam so-so nu thaan vanthuthu...

Later,

Quicktips:

QT1: Thottukka - appalam/vadam ku easiest way: Use the microwave, its healthy also. Each appalam 15-20 seconds on each side will make it look like the original.
QT2: Spinach- ku dal add panracha, konjam thanni jaasthi aachu-na dont worry, you are smart. :) Konjam meloda eduthaa rasam, middle-la edutha keerai... One stone two mangoes.
QT3: This may not apply to this recipe above, but ennna samachaalum kadasila Cilantro (adhu thaanga kothamalli) poda maranthudaatheenga. evvlo thaan sumaara irunthaalum, kadasila antha cilantro smell will nullify things - applies especially to north indian side stuff...channa, bhaji et al.

Aathaa Naan Pass Aayitten-1

2006-08-31T23:30:00.000-04:00

It took 43800 hours to complete, 1825 days that is. Its graduate school for you, no.. no.. me no PhD material, I knew that while I was at undergraduate studies itself.

Yup, after taking my first graduate level class on August 23rd 2001, it was coincidence that I completed my defense for my MS degree last Friday - August 25th.
(Well if you still dont see the coincidence part, aug 23rd and aug 25th - almost similar datesl??). I felt so happy after my defense that I was smiling for no reason, times when I should have felt sympathetic, apologetic (when a friend of mine talked about how difficult getting married is), my natural reaction should have been "aiyo paavam", but nope not right after my defense, me still smiling, my ex-roomie detailing his second consecutive parking ticket, nope no sympathies, only smiles..Infact this should be the second most happiest moment in my life (Disclaimer: acads-wise), I think this would rate right after the days of smiles when I got into Infy just before I finished B.E.
Anywaysss, I know this calls for a toast, but the least I could do is write a blog series on this....
(read: lack of ideas for the blog :P)

And there goes the reason for "Aaathaaa... naaaan pass aayitteeenn**" series...
(Hindi padam maadhiri padathoda title a appo appo nyapaga paduthuven...)

Day 4: The travel back...

So this was the 4th day of my stay at Lexington, KY. This is where most of my friends in the US are. One thing about being in a city for quite some long time is you will know almost everyone in the city, namma senior, senior-oda senior, namma batch, namma junior, junior-oda junior, indian store aunty, uncle nnu poinde irukkum. More friends imply more places to eat at when you visit them :D, ofcourse means more fun as well, but then lets concentrate on the food part for now :)

So here I awake knowing I need to leave by noon to take the 8 hour boring lonely drive, winding through the mountains of Virginias, so I have ample time to sleep for the next day at work. oooopsss!!! leave at noon? and it is already 930am? And we have a starbucks coffee morning, lunch invite at our family friend's place (really, a friend who has a family), and then some shopping to do for a girl and hoooo, that is a tough one to buy something that a girl likes. Okay, all these done by noon, noo wayy....

So I wake up thinking its okay if I leave by 2pm, I can still get home by 10pm. Okay, plan confirmed, wakeup and brushup... and I wake up to a very bad news on TV. A passenger plane from Lexington crashed killing close to 50 people 1 minute after it took off from the airport. Man! I feel only when things like these happen close to where you live, you realise the magnitude of the incident. By realise, I mean, you will ponder a bit longer, feel sorry a little more than when it happens somewhere in England, and ofcourse get on with life. And the reason behind the crash - pilot took the smaller defunct runway, and the plane crashed into the ground exactly 1 minute after it took off, just 1/4 mile away from the runway. So after a sympathetic minute or two, there I was at Starbucks exactly 30 minutes after I woke up.
Same time, last year a Sunday morning at Starbucks would have a junta of 15 people. Our usual tendency is to comment like "ooohh, cant believe its been one year since blah..blah..". But come to think of it, one year is a pretty long time for drastic changes to our established relationships, work-related relocation and family committments. So, there we were, 15 turned to 4 at the starbucks - P,V,V and yours truly. And what will 4 guys talk about? Work/studies/family are never talked about and there is no rhyme or reason to talk about it as well :). After some wholesome gossipping, me and V left to the mall to get something for the girl S who had her housewarming the previous day.

We entered Garden Ridge, a home decor store and my head spinned. I am so vacillating when it comes to shopping for others, because I dont want to get them which they dont like or better still, I dont want people to keep it just because it was gifted. (Remember, Rachel in Friends!!??). So there I entered the humungous home decor store not knowing what to buy. First thumb rule while shopping for a gift - I should like it first of all, and then visualize the "Wow" in her face when getting something as a gift. So the biggest visualized "Wow" will finally be chosen :) That is why it makes it all the more harder to shop for a gift.
Walking a few aisles, I suddenly saw something on the left that "Wow"ed me....

To be continued...

**Maathaaji, mein pass ho gayaa.....

One Man 10 Roles

2006-08-17T13:27:00.000-04:00

Can't believe from looking at this poster that Kamal is a 52 year old.
I feel he still looks like the young-bubbly, MMKR- Madan .
He is just unbelievable...
This is probably the eagerly awaited movie after Shivaji.

Sify says - Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu has cleared the censors & its account of financial troubles and hitting theaters next Friday. Waiting for next Friday then..

ps; I know I am posting too much on cinema, but thats my forte probably :)

SSUE

2006-08-15T16:45:00.000-04:00

Something Something Unakum Enakum

சம்திங் சம்திங் உனக்கும் எனக்கும் - ஜெயம் ரவி, முக்கியமாக திரிஷா, மற்றும் பலர் நடித்து, ரீமேக் ராஜா (ரவியின் அண்ணன்) இயக்கிய படம்.
படம் வந்த சூட்டோட download பண்ணி பார்க்கிற சுவையே அலாதி தான்.

குடும்பத்தோட வந்து படம் பார்க்கனும், மெசேஜ், பன்ச் டயலாக், இத்யாதி-னு கஷ்டப்படாம, அரைச்ச மாவாக இருந்தாலும், பரவாயில்லை னு அரைச்சிருக்காங்க. அதுவும் தெலுகு-ல ஹிட் ஆன படம் வேற இது, மசாலாவுக்கு கேக்கணுமா என்ன?

love sentiment, amma sentiment, annan sentiment, doll sentiment, villain sentiment-nu எல்லாமே உண்டு.
லண்டன் பையன் ரவி, cousin கல்யாணத்துக்கு india வர, அந்த cousin'இன் பிரண்டு தான் நம்ம திரிஷா. அண்ணன் பிரபு சின்ன வயசுலேர்ந்து தூக்கி வளர்த்த தங்கச்சி - பாசம், நேசம் னு நிறைய விக்ரமன் sentiment'nu vachukonga. பிரபு இருக்கிற பார்த்தா, 10 திரிஷா தூக்கி வளர்க்கலாம். பிரபுக்கு பணக்காரங்க-னாலே பத்திக்கிட்டு வரும்.(அதுக்கு ஒரு குட்டி flashback-vera).

So, city-ku vantha Trisha-va எப்படி, ரவி மடக்கறாரு - அது தான் கதை. மடக்கினா மட்டும் போதுமா?, மடங்கின figure'ku என்ன என்ன எல்லாம் விட்டு தரணும்-னு நம்ம மக்கள் ரசிக்கிறா மாதிரி சொல்லியிருக்காங்க.

நீங்க, Maine Pyar Kiya பார்த்து இருந்தா, second-half எழுந்து வந்துட்டே இருங்க. Ditto- adhe story in the second half. (அதுக்காக Hindi-la வர Antakshari எல்லாம் கேக்கப்பிடாது.) பட் first half, actually moves in a good pace, that makes you glued into the second half.

படத்தோட highlight'lenthu ஆரம்பிக்கிறேன் - திரிஷா first-half la செமத்தியாக இருக்கா. ஒண்ணும் பெருசா நடிக்க கஷ்டபடலை, அழகா வந்துட்டு போனா போதும்-னு கொஞ்சம் நிறைய அழகாவே இருக்கா. இவ்வளோ நாளாக, திரிஷா-voda talent- தெரியாம போச்சே. இந்த படம் release போது, திரிஷா-வுக்கு உதயம் தியேட்டர்-ல கட் அவுட் வச்சாங்களாமே, next time me too join the gang, pananum...

ஜெயம் ரவி, - ஹ்ம்ம்ம், அவ்வளோ மோசம் இல்ல, சகிச்சிக்கலாம். His chemistry with Trisha was good, in the first half... adhu kooda trisha naala thaan rasikka mudinjutho?

பிரபு - பார்க்க பார்க்க அப்பா சிவாஜி மாதிரியே இருக்காரு, size'la மட்டும், ஏதோ சம்ம ரோல்'னு சொல்லி ஏமாத்திட்டாங்க.
இவங்களுக்கு அடுத்த படியா, பெரிய ரோல், அந்த குதிரை பொம்மை-க்கு தான். எவ்வளோ நாள் தான் இந்த sentiment varumo?

Ivvlo solliyum - I think I liked the movie, mainly because it was way off from the violence that I saw in recent movies, and if you like watching a movie once-in-a-while that kindles the romantic inside you with boy-meet-girl story, I think you will like it too.

படத்தோட பேரு, சம்திங் சம்திங் உனக்கும் எனக்கும்- னு வச்சதுனால, நம்ம ஹீரோ, first half-full'aa "something-something" னு சொல்லி அலைஞ்சிருக்காரு, ஆனா கடைசி நிமிஷம், tax-cut காக, Something Something-a தூக்கிட்டாங்க, title-lernthu. ஐயோ பாவம்...

சுருக்கமா சொல்லனும்னா, திரிஷா, பாட்டு, dance, first half super...ஒரு தடவை பார்க்கலாம்.

உனக்கும் எனக்கும், Sometimes - Inikum, Sometimes - Pulikkum...

Machakaari

2006-08-06T15:07:00.000-04:00

I am listening in infinite repeat mode the Machakaari song from Sillunu oru Kaadhal.
A close second to me was the New York Nagaram sung by ARR himself.

And for now, I hate the MajaMaja song, it resembles strongly the "thazhuvuthu nazhuvuthu" feel from Anbe Aaruyire...

And as you all might already know Jo-Suriya's marriage has been officially confirmed for September 11th.

Jo - Innoru kili um paranthu poguthu.. Sigh!

Closing Down

2006-08-03T18:32:00.000-04:00

No, No, No!!!

For all those happy faces, NO i am not closing down this blog.
But I am scared to visit blogs these days. I am just hoping I wouldnt see a "I am getting busy, I wont write any more blogs", " from now on, there wont be any more writings from me" sort of things.

I mean it really is catching up everywhere. This last week alone, I saw 3 of my regular reads closing down their blogs for a variety of reasons. While I wish them luck in their endeavors, I have to find 3 more blog sites to regularly visit and keep myself occupied.
That is so mean of all of you! :)

Actually, thinking of it, these 2 months have been the busiest I have ever been - with work and a variety of things - including some summer engineering courses, my project, working on a IEEE paper with my advisor (yes, you heard it right!), and ofcourse the other innumerable things...

But it feels nice to be occupied all the time with something or the other. But hopefully all these other things will end this month and I will have more time to blog and make-up for all the "Curtain"ed blogs.

Signatures

2006-07-27T00:10:00.000-04:00

Namma Shankar ovvoru padathulaiyum oru message solraa maadhiri (actually all his movies have the same message), I have had lot of friends who have advises-a- la-signatures at the bottom of their emails.

Some people have such a big signature that you would wonder if it is their resume they have attached. Anywayss, I am quoting a few that I remember seeing in my emails.

(Periyorgale, thaaimaargale, dun-dun-dun-dun -- Idhunaal therivippadhu enna vendraal, blog ezhutha vera topic-e illa enbadhai me accepting with all pride :)

Here it goes...

Dont be too open-minded, your brains might fall-off!!

Don't resist any temptations, you may not get the opportunity again. (Now, I have done that a lot of times :)

Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Doing nothing is very hard to do...you never know when you're finished.(Reminded me of Charlie's role in Anniyan - "rest eduthu tired-aagi rest eduthundu irukken")

The best of all that I read -

There are 10 different kinds of people in this world,those who understand binary and those who don't. (It definitely took me a second reading )

Later,
P

Bug-bite

2006-07-21T00:26:00.000-04:00

The war was suddenly launched. The provocation on the previous night was the reason for this sudden attack. For so long, there was no one to contend with and none to wage a war with. This time, once there was a realization, swift actions were taken.

The enemy territory was not huge by any means, but their army power in sheer numbers surprises anyone. "If you dont have the numbers, you better play clever in the battle". They definitely followed that - they had secret hideouts, surprise weaponry and some Weapons of Mass Destruction's hidden.
But there I was, with a tanker like vacuum cleaner in my hand and host of Mootai-pooochi's in my bed to contend with. (Mootai poochi = bed bug).
Never thought I will see this day in the US where there were so many mootai-poochi's in my bed. Engenthu thaan vanthutho, and I dont know how on earth did I not even feel their effects for so long.
Anyways yesterday was mootai-poochi cleaning day and at the end of it, even though I was tired, sleeping again on the same bed seemed repelling to me. I just hope, I did not miss a male and female in the bed itself. After all, I can only claim victory for a week, they will come back in full force. And for my dear readers, I will definitely be updating my part of the story.

As is the trend these days, I also want to complain about the summers being too hot. One good thing is, I wake up early these days because of the sunlight. Mind you, early is a relative term.
By the time I leave for work (early 9's), sooriyanaar already top gear la nikkaraaar. To crib even more, I most probably will be travelling to Texas this weekend :(

Adhe sangathi.

ps1: Indha maadhiri blog poatta, yen India la blog ellam block panna maataanga? :)
ps2: On a side note, its been 5 years since I landed in the US of A. Time really flies.

Three things

2006-07-14T12:05:00.000-04:00

Loose-u Ponnne:

Listened to Vallavan's music last week and this Loose-uu penne song instantly caught on to me.
Its a remix and rendered nicely by Blaze. So Blaze is now with Yuvan?, thats a rocking combination!
I am no music expert - but then the sounds and strings in this song are very different and peppy.
Its in the genre of "Suppose-Unna" from Sukran ( I still like Suppose for its better lyrics :P)

Pudhupettai:

I finally watched the last part (in 4 days) of kutti-thalaivar's Pudhupettai yesterday - completed the movie at "one part a day" policy!
I know the movie hasnt gotten the best reviews, but then I liked it and Dhanush has tried his best to fit in this role and he has done a terrific job at times and his stature not suiting the role sometimes.
But then for all the Selvaraghavan-Dhanush fans, do see it, if not already.

Imsai-Arasan:

Imsai-Arasan 23am Pulikesi is releasing in our theaters today and just for the sake of the curiosity it has raised, me going to see it this evening. I am not going with too much of expectations, so should be a good viewing especially because it is Raja Gaalathu kadhai and not yet another gangster-movie.

Addendum: Just back after watching this movie, and this is one movie you dont want to miss if it is screening nearby. It really is a laugh riot :) More later ...

ps1: Be prepared for a flurry of movie reviews in my next post(s).
ps2: Listen to Loose-u ponne in mp3 format, the songs sucks if you listen from Musicindiaonline. If you want it, drop me a line.

Blasts, yet again

2006-07-11T12:12:00.000-04:00

hmm, I wanted to blog about movies, but then thanks to yet another serial blasts in Mumbai, did not have the enthu to write one.

How do they get hold off all the soft spots in the city? What were the police doing? Shouldnt they have a better spy network to unearth all these plots?

I just have 2 things to write:

1. This Home Minister (Mr. Shivraj Patil) that we are having at the centre is the weakest that we ever had and that does not augur well for us. Home Ministry is supposed to be on par with the Prime Minister because of its need to the country's safety. There have been strings of violence off-late (the repeal of POTA is a reason also, I believe) and everytime he goes to visit the casualties and offer apologies. I have not seen him pro-active and do something to prevent such acts. Its time to go, Mr. Patil.

2. Shiv Sena did actually help the blasts to be conducted smoothly. No doubt the desecration of Mrs. Thackeray's statue needs to be condemned, but they took the streets, indulged in violence, bandh'ed mumbai thereby the policemen were concentrating on containing this domestic violence. They need to be blamed as well.

And, all I could do from here is feel bad, pray that the casualty count does not go beyond the hundreds it already touched and get on with work. After all none of my known relatives/frends live in Mumbai - that's all I care about :(

Hope tomorrow has better things stacked up.
ps:
To put salt in the wound, here goes Mr. Patil's reaction to ndtv.com
" I am in the process of getting the exact information. Before getting full information, it is not correct for the govt to disclose anything. We would take precautions but not a national alert. -

Not a national alert????!!, I am puzzled, so what calls for a national alert?

The Third Eye

2006-06-29T18:22:00.000-04:00

Question:
What happens if you break a peacock's leg and ask it to dance? Or put a cuckoo in a cage and force it to sing?
(A litransalation of "Mayila pidichu kaala udachu" from Chinna Thambi)
Or you tell yourself "You have to post something today", hence squeeze ur idle brain for a thought process?

Answer:
A posting like this will result :)

I am no more active in Orkut. Inactive as in not searching for my old friends, not looking for new friends. But I once in a while log-in and read scraps of friends, friend's friend etc etc. By quirk of fate, the scrapbook that I read generally belongs to be of the fairer sex. Anyways, whats the fun in reading a scrapbook of a guy??

A guy's scrapbook usually reads:

Ajith: Machi, eppdi irukka? Enna aale kanom?
Raja: hey dude...whast up.....romba naal achu....so whast up with ur lean manufac,.....???
Vijay: Any idea about Magesh Babu,Karthik,R.Vinoth and others? (Idhu ellam oru scrap'a? :)
Karthic: hey! what are you up to this weekend? I will call you.. ( venaam pleaseeeee...)

(All scraps were copied and pasted from Orkut)

Compare this with a girl's scrapbook
Scrap1: iillda chellam....chumma .....yaro sonadha sonenda....kannu....nnee romba alaga (Adapavingala!!!)

Scrap2: Oh! u coming till Detroit? I am 50 miles away from Detroit, probably I will come and meet you, give me a call when u r here. This is my cell number 3245667654, home#7654328876 ( deiiii, paiyana poranthuttu unaku cell fone e too much, ithula cell fone + veetla vera fone vachu irukkiyaa? :)

Scrap3: Hey, finally found you! I was searching for you in Orkut for the last 2 days and got hold of you atlast (Ogo, ippdi pesinaa kooda pidikkuma? Sigh!)

Scrap4: hey......u got a cute smile......(machi antha ponnu settled nu theriyaadha?)

(Again, all scraps from Orkut)

To paraphrase things:

Promise, will make a better effort next time.
Yours truly,

Naan romba busy!

2006-06-25T22:09:00.000-04:00

En Iniya Blog World Nanbargale/Nanbigale,

Ungal paasathum nesathukum uriya Bharathiraja errr... Prabhu ezhuthi kolgiren...
(I was amazed at Wikipedia, when I saw such a detailed page on Bharathiraja and his filmi works, Wiki really rocks!)

Its been a real busy couple of weeks and it still hasn't ended for me, so will be back, lot of things to write upon (oh, ya I should start with the travelogue lest I will forgot the whole story :)

Till then you guys keep blogging, I am definitely reading blogs!

Ogeys,
Prabhu

A Jack or a King

2006-06-14T00:54:00.000-04:00

I am not a sports freak, but I love to go out and play in the sun than stay at home and watch TV. Unfortunately for me, I was never a king of one trade, but a jack in a few games that I indulge in. Wish, I would be playing alongside Sania if I took tennis seriously, or would have been with Yuvi/Kaif if I had chosen cricket...sari sari...adangikkaren...

(Reminds me of the Singaravelan dialogue -- "Intha veetlaiye ellaa instruments melayum kai vekkaravan ivan oruthan thaan, ethaiyum vaasikka maattan, aana thudachu veppaan :)

When I relocated to North Carolina almost 6 months back, my brother's family were the only one I knew here in NC. To come from KY where I almost knew everyone ( no, not the other way round, not everyone knew me!) to this place where I was a nobody, I thought I will engage in some activities that I didnt have time to.

So I started playing volleyball at the local YMCA, and they had a volleyball league going on. So being the jack I am, I enrolled myself in the league games as well. Talking to me over the fone, the organizer said -- A league ellam konjam over, so B la senthukko. Every Monday we have a round-robin game with the finals in June.

One advantage that I later realised was -- one I am getting to know a lot of people, and the other since these games were on Mondays, they were no more mundane Mondays, and I wasnt actually cribbing on Sunday nights. I actually was not happy when Memorial Day came on a Monday :)
So finally I found the magic -- do try to do something special on Mondays and next time on you will want the Mondays to come a tad faster.

And yesterday was the semis and the finals at the Y.
This was indoor co-ed volleyball and our team was named "Wheres the Sand". I didnt quite catch the meaning the first time they told me, but then it dawned to me. We had a very good run in the season and completed the formalities in the finals as well.

Edhaavathu rolling cup kudupaanga, Federer maadhiri adhuku kiss kuduthu foto eduthukkalaam nu paathaa, oru Tshirt kuduthu emaathittaanga.
Anyways a win is a win is a win and here it is....

Coincidentally, we had a cricket tournament won almost the same time last year. Adhukum oru tshirt thaan for the winners. Looks like June is one month I can save some money on shopping.

And I am pretty tired the last couple of days. Had a thoroughly enjoyable camping trip with people in Lexington, KY and I continue to amaze myself by driving another 1000 miles in 2 days (Fri-Sun). I was dead meat on Sunday though.
Lots of adventures to write upon and as the trend is these days will write it up as a travellogue. (I promise to keep it short, not essentially sweet)

Alrite then,

Intha dialogue enna padam???

2006-06-05T08:59:00.000-04:00

Thanks Kuttichuvaru for the idea...
Thanks PK for letting me use the He1, He2 logic
(PK use pannikkalaam la? :)

Dialogue 1:

He1:Unga appan peru enna?
He2: Theriyaathu
He1:Unga amma peru enna?
He2: Theriyaathu
He1: "Amma appa peru theriyaathavanaa nee?".
.......
....
He2: "Enna paetha ammaa engiiiiiirukkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeengaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?".

Dialogue 2:

He1: He has misappropriated 25 lakhs of my father's money.
He2: aa.. aaaan, nallavaru-ngara?
He1: Yov, enga appa kittenthu eruvathanju latch roobai suttu irukaanu solren.hee.. hee..
He2: Ennayaa sirichukune solra? eruvathanju latchama, avan avan eruvathanju aayiram kadan vaangikinu thiruppi kuduka mudiyaama irukaan. 25 latcham irunthaa 100 pathaaan kadan adaippene.

Dialogue 3:

He: Thirunelveli laye enaku pidichathu alvaa thaan.
She: Paathu di unaku kuduthuda poraaan.

And no contest this one, so that KC thalaiya udachaa madhiri contest rules ellam illa and no comment moderations :)

I await

2006-06-02T00:25:00.000-04:00

Dont be afraid, everybody has to go through to this next stage. I hear a constant word of advise from near and dear. "He is not going to last long, I think we should prepare him for it, its already too late. People his age have already crossed the bridge" - people ponder. We will get the process rolling to inform all his known ones about the impending event and make this a grand farewell.

Its farewell to this world and he would enter an entire different world - some people have pictured the other world to be heavenly where you are not shackled by clutches, where you do things you were doing in your previous world, where you atlast get luxuries for the soul and the body, where you blissfully sleep. There have been stories about the other world being torturous, with oil-containers for you to drown, loud shrills that leaves your mind in tatters, your own personal space stolen, you have to carry loads and loads of burden, and painfully sleep in the night.

I know I had to come to this stage some point of time - after all it happens to every mortal in this universe. I am not ready for this though. I cannot imagine myself sleeping painfully in the new world. I am plain resistant to changes that are going to happen. When I am happy and content with my current living, why should I leave everything and move on?

It is the definition of a conundrum -- an irresistible force against an immovable object. Something has to give up, not sure which one would.

I await.

Kollywood news

2006-05-25T23:14:00.000-04:00

Si digo una vez que equivale a cien veces

No! No! Me no Spanish, but then soon Superstar might be singing like this. ( which translates to "Naan oru thadavai sonnaa - nooru thadavai sonnaa maadhiri"

The shooting for Sivaji has been going on in full swing and Shankar must be churning out yet another "my aunty got killed, so I am going to kill everyone who doesn't flush the toilet/ wash their hands" theme. With thalaivar in it, adds more spice n curry to it. Cha, I feel Rajini's costly miss till date was refusing to act in Mudhalvan. That story was tailor made for him and would have been the ideal launch pad for an entry into politics. I loved Mudhalvan, despite the presence of Arjun in the lead role. Anyways, look at thalaivar dancing as a whitey in the streets of Spain with Shreya.

Rajini Sir, Pakkathula Shreya voda dress, ungalukke konjam over-aa illa?
Shreya (from Fan#1), "Nee varum bothu, nan maraivenoo?" (When you come, why will I disappear?)
Eagerly expecting this movie.

Another eagerly awaited movie is releasing tomorrow. Dhanush oda next padam. I like Dhanush for his acting abilities. This guys might be lean( I think Namitha will be twice his weight :), no physique to crave about in a hero, has vulgarity forced in almost all his movies, but then his acting is top-notch when compared to his peers (jeyam ravi, simbu etc). Comeon, Vijay-oda padam ellaam career start la eppdi irunthuthu - his initial films were hits just because of Sanghavi! Anyways, this Selvaraghavan directed (kaadhal kondein, 7g rainbow colony) movie is releasing tomorrow and I am hoping the desi-theater here in Raleigh area will screen this movie sometime. Music is awesome by Yuvan if you haven't already heard it. Its yet another gangster movie but atleast hoping it to be different.
Kutti thalaivar padathulenthu oru still :)
Jerry is another movie releasing tomorrow - a movie by the Crazy Mohan troupe, with Mumtaj in a non-glamorous role. Thats weird! But dont worry Mumtaz fans (if any!) - song sequences la sure' a glamor irukum. I have put down this movie to watch list because of Crazy's presence. And a thing about Crazy's movies - if you are laughing on a particular joke for more than 5 seconds you will lose the next couple. So dont laugh the first time you watch it :)

Yayyyy!!The season of long weekends are finally approaching for guys in the US. This is like festival season where you get 3 day holidays frequently in the next 6 months. (Like in school - independence day, vinayaka chathurthi, navarathri, deepavali, christmas all come within a month gap). The first one is Monday, Memorial Day. Planning to watch some wildlife this weekend, family'aa zoo poga porom :) What are your plans?

Thanks to thatstamil.com for Sivaji movie still
Thanks to sify.com for Pudhupettai stills.
Thanks to freetranslation.com for the spanish translation :)

Have a good weekend all of you! Yaa, my team lead is on a vacation starting today, and its already the long weekend for me :)

Midweek Rambles

2006-05-23T23:25:00.000-04:00

The Word Verification Mystery Solved:

Dont know if anyone noticed it, but I was complaining the word verification scheme had started testing out my eye-sight, my typing ability and my nerves by dishing out words like "wxvvwglkhm", "xcmnndsel" all tangled and curved up. Now I seem to have an answer for that -- I remember incorrectly typing the first few when commenting on some blogs and "blogger" has identified me as a spammer!! With lots of time at work, and no restrictions internet usage wise (unlike my previous employer), I do spend a lot of time reading a number of blogs and commenting more often than not. So its no wonder I have been identified as spammer :(

Orkut Binary Tree:

Are/Were you watching Chidambara Ragasiyam in SUN TV? I started watching this series right from day one, and have been obsessed with this on Wednesdays that sometimes I even refuse to switch to cartoons even if my nieces plead to me :) (No, I am not that bad, I switch to cartoons during SUN tv commercials :) Although its dragging a bit these days, I am still waiting for the mystery to unravel. I like this one having missed Marma Desam, Vidaathu Karuppu from Naga. Anyways - there was this dialogue 2 weeks back --"Any person could be linked to another person through 5 connections". I see that vividly in Orkut. Search for any name in Orkut and 7/10 times, you see them connected to you in less than 5 hops. Ofcourse dont search for people like Svedlen Voltchkov or Curtly Ambrose - more likely than not, my statement will fail :)
And ya, beware of the new Orkut "Profile Views" feature. It sucks :)
You dont want some "Charanya"/"Shobha"/"Ganesh" to know that you have been viewing her/his profile!
Wonder how Orkut can trace a friend's friends'friend's friend's friend by giving me the path.
A binary tree probably??

Uyir:

Did you like Kaadhal movie's songs? I liked it very much especially the Kaadhal theme song.
The music director is Joshua Sridhar and he became famous for his other acts of wooing a singer, eloping with her etc. Thats all personal :) He has come out with his next movie Uyir.
I have been listening to the songs, they are very good. A couple of average ones, but 2 songs are really good. Listen to "Aanum Pennum" and "Kann Simittum".
Although the songs are good - the hero of the movie is Srikanth. Yuck!!!
I hate seeing this guy on screen just for the reason that he doesnt have any modulation while talking, no emoticons. He always a dialogue in his movie "Yennanga, ippdi solreenga?, Naan solradhu correct thaana?".

Anyways,
Thats my mid-week ramble!

Her Birthday

2006-05-19T16:20:00.000-04:00

Its that time of the year. Spring is almost on its way out and enter Summer. This last week, everyday he woke up - he thought "Its another day nearer". She likes getting surprised, especially if its him. That makes the job all the more harder for him. Every birthday he starts to plan on her birthday gift weeks before the actual date. Over time he understood his gift to her need not cost him his bi-weekly paycheck, it doesnt need to be a bouquet of red roses and a candle-lit dinner, but it needs his personal touch. The gift is more a sentimental value than a face value. The harder part is keeping it a secret from her, the harder part is to get away from her by lying - "I got to meet this ooolld classmate", throw tantrums like - "I am sick, Will you leave me alone this evening?". Finally when the day arrives, and he reveals the gift to her, she would go ecstatic about the gift. She would tell all her friends, all her cousins, her mom/dad, his mom/dad and make everyone envious. She loved him even more.

But this year it is a lot different and this birthday is a lot harder for him. This year, he has all the time away from her but then he need not plan on her birthday, make the effort for the gift. Will she be expecting his birthday message? Should he leave an offliner wishing her on the birthday? Will she reply back? Will she be happy to see his message? He thinks about the hard times they endured the past year, the broken olive branch and then closes his eyes decidedly. As always he decides he didn't want her to feel unhappy, especially on her birthday. He did not to send her a birthday message.

Miles away... she wonders - "Will he send me a birthday wish?".

T'y'red!

2006-05-16T16:20:00.000-04:00

I was on a looonng weekend this past weekend. No, I wasnt resting or vacationing at all.
My parents are here in the US for 2 months now and they were wanting to see the place where I studied my Masters. We also decided to visit my cousin in Detroit to see the new arrival in her family. I rented a car from Avis - got a bonus double car upgrade because I shared my birthday with the guy who was at the desk. (Sometimes, I have to accept I am lucky :)

So I took them to the Blue Grass state first, showed them around the beautiful country, the greenery, and better still showed them the gang I belonged to! (hmm and they did act goody-goody :). Then we drove all the way upto Detroit and stayed indoors most of the time - thanks to the cold-welcome in Michigan and to make matters worse it was raining. Then we drove back from Detroit to home, North Carlolina and thats a sweet 750 miles :( I had taken Monday off and I would have preferred the Monday morning work than the 750 mile drive. At the end of it all, everyone was relieved home was there and I crashed to blissful sleep yesterday.
Altogether - I had driven 1900 miles in 4 days. Oooohh, that some miles on the Avis rental. I am sure he will think twice before renting a car to me next time. And guys, next time try the Pontiac G6 - its a smooth drive and it drove beautifully in high-speeds and was a veryyy smooth drive. But then, I am back to my "lachumi" today.

Today as I slide under my desk at work, my legs inadvertently look for the gas and the brake. How I wish I was in India where I could call an auto to drop me home :( Sigh!

My first eMail...

2006-05-10T20:30:00.000-04:00

Computer illaama, internet connection illaama oru naal kooda yoschu paakave mudilla. Enna dhaan emails varaathu naalum check pannaama irukka mudiyarathu illa.

Oru 10 years back!!@@@@@@@@@@@@

My first tete-a-tete with the Email world was like the 'bali aadu going to the kasaapppu kadai'.
Naan college la 1st year to 2nd year pora time la Computer Science pasanga ellam pesindu irunthaanga - "dei enga computer lab la internet vara porathu next week, apporama neraiya browse pannalaam".

Me - "anne, browse naa ennanganne?".
Them - "dei, intha vingyana ulagathula, computer thaan da ellaame nnu aaga poguthu. Nee computer la ukaanthuku nu, engeyo US la irukkura figure kooda email panni pesalam, chat panni pesalaam, greeting anuppalaam. Innum ennaalamo iruku da."
Me - "anne, atheppadi anne inge irunthundu velinaattu figure ku ellam route poda mudiyum? Chumma vilaadaatheenganne".

My initial image of the internet was - makkal e-mail annuparathukum, messages transfer pannavum use aagum pola iruku. Puli varuthu puli varuthu kadhai maadhiri internet connection um vantha paadilla, naangalum gumbala night computer lab ku poi unix account create panni, adhula "display calendar", "maximum of 3 numbers", maadhiri programs type panni engaloda tech knowledge and typing ability develop panninom. Hostel la irunthathunala adhu oru vasadhi, night lab ku poittu jolly a kadhai adichundu varalam.

Atlast one day, the internet connection was all setup and there was a special class for all the staff and lab assistants first. Then it was time for the geniuses (not gene-a**es) in our batch to create email accounts for everyone. Avan kitte appoinment vaangi, appointment vaanga rendu criteria vum satisfy aagama - 1. paiyana poranthu tholachaachu 2.antha padikkara pasanga kooda sagavaasam-um kidaiyaathu.

Oru vazhiya "dei inniku night unaku create pannidalaam da" nnu avan solla - Yennatha create panna poraan?, naan edhavathu documents eduthundu varanumaa nnu yoschu, nalla moonji alambi, thalaiya vazhichu vaari, vibuthi elaam ittindu (photo eduthaanganna?) neraa computer lab ku ponen. (Ippo bali aadu kasaapu kadai feeling varuthaa?). Computer lab la avana paathavudan - aattuku oru sandhosham varume kasaapu kadakkarana paathu, antha feeling oda avan kitte poi chair pottu ukkaanthen.

Edho oru malaysia figure kooda chat pannindu irunthavan - "dei konja neram pakkathu computer la ukkaaru, dho vanthidarennu" solla thirumba unix account la naan ezhuthina code a eppdi better/innovate pannalaam nu pathundu irunthen.

"Sari da inge vaa, unnoda first name, last name (appadinna?!), date of birth ellaam type adi. Avanoda help oda ellaathaiyum type adichu, next page poyaachu. "Sari unaku enna email id venumo type adi da". (Aadu kitte poi entha kathiyila vettaradhu nu keppaangala?) Thiru Thiru nu muzhichunde "nalladhaa neeye onnu sollu da, enaku idhelaam theriyaathu, moreover nee dhaane elaarkum create pannina."

Ivan edho try panna, computer "asku busku - adhellam vera evano use panra id - venumna prabhu_ks_19_79@hotmail.com iruku eduthukko" nu solla, "thundu (towel) pottu deal panraa maadhiri" oru 2-3 times deal pottu kadasila enaku ksp100@hotmail.com nu vaangi kuduthaan. Sari padipula thaan noothuku nooru(100) vaanga mudilla, email id la oru "100" irunthaa oru geththaa irukkum, class la nammala pathi oru positive effect create pannum nu sandhoshama email id OKAY nnu koovinen. Password easy aa nyapagam vachukkura maadhiri type vachuko nu advise kudukka, Sari da unaku nandri solra madhiri vekkarennu avana pathunde "monkey" nnu type adichen. Prabhu voda password "genius" nnu oorula solindu alainjaan. (****** thaane avan paathathu :) Yaen monkey a poi password a vachennu iniku varaikum therilla, edho oru patchi sollichu vachen avvlo thaan.
Aaga ennoda muthal id and password: ksp100@hotmail.com, password:monkey.

Makkale, intha password a poi ipo ennoda id ku try pannatheenga, enna thaan naan "all accounts same password" policy follow panninaalum, monkey ellam eppovo change panniyachu.
Pirkkaalathula naanum avanum jigiri dhosthu aagi oru naal enaku internet la "Aishwarya Rai" photo kaamikkarennu (Sathiyamaanga idhu dhaango unmai) help panna vanthu, lab in-charge kitte maatti, avanoda unix account la save panni vacha palaana palaana photos ellam pidichu, pinni pedal eduthuttaanga.

Oru informative piece oda mudichukkaren:
Appadi kashta patu email id create pannikkara nilamaila antha kaalam irunthuthu. Ippo pasanga 7 vayasula email id, chat nnu kilambidaraanga. Enaku therinju avanga use panra oru abbreviation - POS adhaavathu Parent Over Shoulder. "Amma/Appa irukkaanga, ozhunga pesu, swear words use pannaathe nu solraangalaam.

hmmm, intha vayasulaiyevaa? Vilangidum ponga!

Naan Vegetarian

2006-05-07T16:05:00.000-04:00

"Can you make this dish without the meat?"
"Do you think this soup is made in chicken or beef broth?"
"Is this vegetarian?" - Pat comes the reply in a hardened tone "Sir, this is garlic bread" :)
(The cute waitress wanted to ask you - "Dont you even know what a garlic bread is?")
"No meat please, Thank you!".

Everytime I go to a restaurant - I have to ask atleast 5 clarifications if the dish I decide upon, has any meat, if I am ordering a soup have to make sure there is no beef broth in it.
One thing - some restaurant guys dont consider chicken to be meat (what is it, then?) and next thing they assume - beef broth is only for flavoring hence its not considered made of meat.
The reason for this post is - me and my brother went to a chinese place to take out some stuff for the home - Neo China (peru ellam nalla thaan vekkareenga!). We made sure we asked the customary 5 clarifications, made sure we said " does not contain any meat", "No meat", "vegetarian" (No, we didnt want to get a weird look by saying "pure vegetarian":), "no egg, no meat". It was a nice smelling 15 minute ride back home with the "to-go" bags on each side of the rear. I had my first dig into the spring rolls that we ordered for appetizer and I was sure something was not right. I emptied my mouth and saw a small cube of "I know its some meat".
(yuckkkkk!!).

Then I had to jump before anyone else could get a taste of it. I had a feeling of let-down and am no more in the mood of eating anything. I think its more of the mind than my mouth that I felt the same distasteful taste lingering on even when I was eating the fried rice. Is something wrong with what I said or they dont care - I said "medium spicy" on my fried rice and I got a "medium" sized SPICY one. Finally the only good thing of the meal was the fortune cookie.

The same thing happens with Tacobell also. They grind the beef so much that you eat thinking its bean. There was this one Tacobell experience which I cannot forget - I made the order and before I could say my "no-meat" things, he said "I know sire, No MEAT right? and here is your glass for water" ( How did he guess I am not going to take a drink? I think he has a strong belief that Indian guys never drink sodas).

Its been a while since I ate outside food and I guess it will be a while before I go back to Chinese food again. The final word from my SIL was - "Idhukku sambar-rasam-curry combo ve saaptu irukkalam, edho en samaiyal venaam nu poneenga la?".
And I didnt want to differ. I am waiting for the traditional mammu in the night.

The world of Book Cricket

2006-05-03T00:09:00.000-04:00

4..2..6..8..err..1..2..outtttttttt....2.1...outt.......4..6..6...6..6...6...4..(sooper da)...4...outt...
total 168. Nee aadu (~you play)

Even the recently introduced 20-20 matches take 3 hours to complete and wont be as fun & run filled like this form of cricket. There are no special One-day clothes to wear, just the regular clothes would work. And you dont have to wear helmets or pads while playing this form of cricket, actually there is no ball or bat or fielders in this form of cricket.

Its still fun and its the World of Book cricket. This was the elementary school mantra in my school going days. I dont know if school going kids still play this form of cricket, but I hope the rich tradition is passed on and its still a game that kids enjoy during a boring Geography class (where you read about the type of rocks present in the tropical rainforest in Savannah), or a Moral Science class where they teach morals you already know. (Like - "The God gave Raman all the three spears because he was not greedy"). Did your school also tested you on Moral Science ? Every set of examinations started of with Moral Science, why do they test me on Moral Science stories? What good does it do to test me on this subject?

Anyways, coming back to the book cricket, the rules are very simple - flip the pages and see the last digit of the page number, thats the amount of run you score. If its a 0 you are out, if its a 8 its not eight runs (no! you did not hit the ball outside the stadium :) but just a single run. This game has always been unfair to the trios - no 3 runs in this game. But for such a good time-pass game this can be excused. The rules might be simple, but there are a lot of NO-NO's:

1. Since this game is high-frequency flipping, pages tend to wear out, and sometimes you can deliberately make sure the "sixer" page is easy to find. Thats a strict NO-NO.
2. It should not attract the attention of the teacher. There would be multiple tournaments going on simultaneoulsy in the class and its everyone's responsibility to make sure our Mam is happy to see us deeply involved with the book. If you do get her attention though, you have to remain in the "kneel down position" for the rest of the class and if you are shrewd enough, you can take your "partner in crime" also with you :)
3. When you are winning a match, make sure you win it without dubious claims. The other guy whos losing the match would be waiting to say "deii, nee page a madichutta - poda bongu naan othukka maatten, bongu bongu".

Ivvlo risk irunthaalum intha game aadarathunala konjam advantages iruku:

1. You can play mixed-cricket, since girls and boys sat in random order and not as flocks of sheep those days, you get to pick a girl partner to play with. Enna than 3rd/4th standard naalum, its fun all the way. :)
2. Page flip panrathunaala the book tends to wear out and veetla amma appa paartha thittu vizhaathu. They would actually be proud that "nee padichu kizhichu irukka" nnu. :) "Nalla padikkaraiya da kanna" nnu aasaiya keppaanga. Adhuvum report card vara varaikum thaan. :)

Later (with more dare-devil sports.)
P.

ps: Whats your record breaking score?

ஒண்ணரை பக்க நாளேடு- முதல் அரைப்பக்கம்

2006-04-28T20:06:00.000-04:00

Thuglaq regular reader aa iruntheenga na, election time la "Onnarai Pakka Naaledu" nnu oru politically sarcastic article veli varum. Basically election results a funny a imagine panni, practically not possible events nadanthaa eppdi irukum nu poduvaanga. Athu niraiya vaati nadanthu vidarathu thaan vedikkai. Antha maadhiri oru effort ithu.
Disclaimer: No offenses meant when talking about particular individuals. Kindly take them lightheartedly. One crore kettu case pottudaatheenga, enkitte avvlo panam ellam illa :)

முரசு கையில் அரசு!

1. சிக்சர் அடிச்ச கேப்டன் - முதலமைச்சராகிறார், பந்தை காவா விட்ட திராவிடக்கட்சிகள். Sixer adicha cabtain - Muthalamaichar aagum vaayppu. Panthai goal vitta dhravida katchigal

Thamizhagathil nadanthu mudintha election mudivugal innru maalai adhigara poorvamaga arivikka pattullathu. Yaarume edhirpaarkaatha nadigar Vijayakanth'in Desiya Murpoku Dravida Kazhagam 43 MLA padhavigalai thatti sendrullathu. Thi-Mu-ka koottani katchigal anaivarum sernthu - 96 MLA seat kalum, Aa-thi-mu-ka kootani katchigal anaithum serthu - 87 seat kalum, idhara katchigal matrum suyechaigal 8 seat vendrullaargal.
Pattiyal keezh varumaaru:

DMK Front: 96
DMK - 45
Congress(I) - 30
PMK - 18
CPI - 1
CPI(M) - 2

ADMK Front: 87
ADMK - 55
MDMK - 25
DPI - 5
INL - 2

DMDK - 43
Bharathiya Janata - 2
Forward Bloc - 2
TRajendar katchi - 1 (avar jeyikka villai)
Janata Party - 2
Suyechai - 1

Ithanaal thamizhaga varalaatril muthal muraiyaaga thongu sattamandram vanthullathu. Yaarume edhirpaara vagaiyil Vijayakanth katchi ivvalavu MLA seat kalai alli iruppathaal, mudhalvaraagum vaayppu avaruke endru arasiyal matrum pathirikkai vattaarangal therivikkindrana.

2. திடுக்..திடுக்.. முடிவுகள் ஒரு ஆய்வு: Thiduk..Thiduk..mudivugal oru analysis:

Intha therthalil Thi-Mu-Ka matrum Aa-thi-mu-ka katchigaluku perum sarivu erpattullathu. Mudivukalai satre koornthu nokkinaal - % of winning kanippu eduthu varisaipaduthiyathil keezhkanda unmai niroopanamaagirathu.

ADMK 55/182 30% win
DMK 43/129 33% win
Congress 30/48 66% win
PMK 18/31 56% win
MDMK 25/35 73% win
DMDK 43/234 16% win

Aaga intha therthal thi-mu-ga/Aa-thi-mu-ka katchigaluku kidaitha oru savuku adi en arasiyal pechhaalargal koorugirargal.
thi-mu-ka aa-thi-mu-ka iru katchigalum valuvaana nilaiyil illamaiye, captain vijaykanth irku perum balamaaga amainthullathu.

3. கேப்டனின் 50-50 ஃபார்முலா: Captain's 50:50 formula:

DMDK president um chief minister in-waiting thiru.Vijayakanth than thogudhiyaana Virudhaachalathilirunth seithiyalargaluku paetti alithaar. Appothu koorugaiyil - Mudhalil en uyirinum melaana thamizh makkal, enaku vaakku alithavar, alikkathavar ellaarukum en nandri. thamizhagathl entha kootani kum thani perumpaanmai kidaikkavillai.
thamizhaga aatchi poruppil amara naan aavalaaga ullen, atharku erandu vazhigal undu:

1. mudhal erandu varusham enaku aa-thi-mu-ka kootttani support thara vendum, adutha erandu aandugal enaku thi-mu-ka support thara vendum. 5th year, ennudaiya aatchi ya paathuttu, athi-mu-ka, thi-mu-ka makkal ellaarum support seidhaal - ulagileye muthal muraiyaaga ellaa MLA's um aalum katchi a senthavaraaga iruppaargal. Apporama thamizh naadu - japan, china alavil munneridum. Ippdi maathi maathi support panrathunaala - yaarum yaar melaiyum sothu vazhakkku case poda bayappuduvaanga. Intha madhiri puthu puthu idea ellaam naan implement pannuven. Naan karuppu MGR ( election thaan mudinju poche, innum en athaiye solraar?), nallaatchi puriven.

2. erandaavathu option : aa-thi-mu-ka, thi-mu-ka ivai erandum thaniye irukkatum, matra elaa katchigalum sethaale enaku majority vanthu vidum. Adhuvum oru vazhila nallathu thaan. Opposition bench la DMK, ADMK senthu ukkaanthaa thaan avanga sandai la en kitte kelvi kekka maattanga.

4. தளபதி Stalin படுதோல்வி, தலைவர்கள் வெற்றி-தோல்வி விவரம்: Thalabathi M.K.Stalin loses in Thousand Lights, Leaders' Constituency results:

DMK aatchiku varum patchathil Mudhalvaraaga varuvaar ena edhirpaarkapatta mu.ka.staalin thannudaiya aayiram vilaku paguthiyil padu tholvi adainthullaar. Ange padhivaana vaakukalil 20% mattume avar petraar, aa-thi-mu-ka serntha KAK ange vetriyadainthaar. matra thalaivargal varisaiyil - karunanidhi cheppakam thoguthiyilum, jayalalitha aandipati yilum, vijayakanth virudhachalathilum 40000 melaana votukkal vidhiyaasathil vetri adainthanar. Peraasiriyar Anbazhagan thuraimugam (harbour) thoguthiiyil mayirizhaiyil vetri adainthar. VIP constituency aana Mylapore'il ADMK vai serntha SV Sekhar vendrar. DMDK vai saarntha matra ore perumpulli - banrooti ramachandran avar thoguthiyilum vendraar.
Prominent losers varisaiyil - stalin thavira munnaal CM panneerselvam tholvi utraar.

5. உடைந்தது திமுக-அதிமுக கூட்டணி, கேப்டன் ஆட்சி உறுதி: Udainthathu ADMK & DMK front, Vijayakanth rule imminent:

ADMK matrum DMK kootaniyilirunthu ADMK, DMK thavira meedhi anaithu katchigalum, Vijayakanthin katchi ku aadharavu therivithu kootaniyilirunthu veliyeri ullana. Adharkaana vivaram varumaaru:

PMK thalaivar Ramadoss pesugaiyil - DMK kootani thaan neraiya seat vaangina koottani, adhunala alunar(governor) kitte poi government form pannunga nu Karunanidhi avargalai kettu kondom. Aanal avar - "Stalin e thothaachu, inimel yarukaga government a form panni, enna rule panrathu" nnu kaiya virichuttar. Ippdi avaru pesinaal engalukum pullai kutti illa, Anbu ku onnu aachunna naan enna panna mudiyum? Adhunaala enga katchi nirvaaga kuzhu edutha mudivu thaan idhu.

MDMK thalaivar Vaiko koorugaiyil - Antha punniyavathi thayavula engaluku 25 seat kidachuthu, 1994 la uruvaana enga katchi ipo than muthal muthalaa MLA seats win panni azhagu pakkarom. Katchikkaga ratham sinthinavanga neraiya peru - avanga makkaluku innum thondu seyyanum, adharku mandhiri aaganum nu aasai pattanga. Enna petha aatha kooda appadiye sei nu sonaanga. Adhu thaan intha mudivu.

Congress thalaivar Krishnaswamy koorugaiyil (mannichukkonga, High command lenthu vantha letter a padikkaiyil) - Congress 30 MLA vetri kaaga makkaluku nandri. Ithu engal annai Sonia ku kidaitha vetri. Avanga 1 day campaign pannathula 30 seat, 2 days panni irunthanganaa 60 seats win panin iruppom (atheppadi??). ithu rajiv gandhi, indira gandhi kanda iyakkam, avargaloda latchiyam.. (sari pa visheyathu vaanga). Naangal eppome kootani aatchi thaan endru kooori kondu irunthom, ipothu Vijayakanth azhaikkiraar nilaiyaana aatchi ku, nangal udhava pogirom. "Appothu thaan maanila mathiya co-operation irukum" ena Chidambaram solgiraar.

6. Petti Seidhi: Pettiya Paarka :)

கூடிய விரைவில் அடுத்த இரண்டு அரைப்பக்கங்கள் வெளிவரும்.

அதுவரை கோயான் கோபு.

Work Culture

2006-04-27T00:20:00.000-04:00

Read this news article in CNN:
Spanked Employee seeks $1.2million

Quick excerpts from this article:

* Alarm company says it was part of a team-building exercise.
Questin: Oru alarm company ku intha team building konjam over.

* The winners poked fun at the losers, throwing pies at them, feeding them baby food, making them wear diapers and swatting their buttocks.

Questin: Made to wear diapers?, venaam vittudunga azhuthuruven!

* Lawyers for Alarm One, said the spankings were part of a voluntary program to build camaraderie and were not discriminatory because they were given to both male and female workers.
Questins: 1. To build camaraderie a?? Dei ippdi ellam pannina camaraderie-aa, pheelings thaan develop aagum.
2. They were given to both male and female - aagha US layum oru Samathuvapuram.

ALARM ONE - A LONE ARM waiting to spank?
- ANE MORAL left?

Sari rite,
Until later.

ps: Also its been an year since I started blogging, thanks for all those visiting my blog and commenting on it as well. I treasure the support. Appuchiate. :)

Intha naal ennoda diary la kurichu vachuko!

2006-04-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

It took 3 months of training, 3 little angels to try it on (All of 'em my nieces). And finally the day did indeed happen.
I was able to put a 1 year old to sleep. I am so happy and proud of my achievement :)
The occasion was - my brother is out of town on a trip and my SIL had to attend a party with her first daughter, he saw a need and stood upto the occasion. (thanq thanq)

Its an angelic feeling. Reminded me of the ad "Sila neram ungal tholgal saaynthu kollum nenjangal!".

Sari sari romba over a scene pottutten.

Later,

ps: btw, thats my youngest niece Keerthana and the red tshirt is yours truly. Hope she does not sue me later for using her potograph.

Too late in the night for a sane post

2006-04-19T23:59:00.000-04:00

It is a bright sunny day - you are all excited about the long weekend that you are going to spend. You are even more excited to get to the all-boys-gettogether that has been planned meticulously by the enthusiastic, aarva kolaaru parties in your group. To digress a little bit, I have always enjoyed the all-boys road trip more than any other trips that I have been to. Yes, I enjoy the company of girls in some long road trips ( who doesn't?) but the all-boys trip is fun all the way.
With all guys, you really are not going to enjoy the scenic beauty of the place u r visiting or to enjoy the artisticly built structures but you are definitely going to enjoy the drive up until there - that is if you get there on time. The innumerable restroom breaks in your already long drive- if you have 5 guys in a car, the probability of someone wanting to use the restroom or a dhum at any point of time is always close to 1.
Anywayss, wanting to enjoy the long weekend with guys, you call the cab, setup a time for him to drop you at the airport. Then with 30 mins left for the cab to come, you hurriedly come back home and you think - what should I pack?. I know I am going to forget something - it better be something like a toothbrush/soap/deo which are things that you could do without and worst case there is the "beg/borrow/steal" policy. You wouldnt want to leave without your undergarments ( which has a high probability of 50%) as the policy 'cannot' rather 'should' not be applied here. Deodorants deserve a special mention here - there are a lot of guys would conveniently remember to leave them unpacked because they know there would definitely be someone (read as eevaa), who would be fully loaded with deo's and sprays.
Okay, you have packed everything that you could remember (Oh, I forgot to get this - is a scene that is a sure thing after I get to the airport), call up your friend to tell him that you are leaving now and ask "what flight number, I am coming via Delta" when he asks for the flight number.

You catch the cab, take the back seat and enjoy the radio show that the 6o year old driver is listening to. Two points here - 1. Are all the cab drivers in the 55-60 year category or is it just me? Or do they have a filtering criteria based on the caller? Namma ooru maadhiri lady auto drivers en anuppi vekka matengaranga? 2. Enjoying the radio show is a misleading term - you try hard to listen to the host, you think you are understanding what the host is saying and suddenly the driver gives a loud laugh and you have no other go, you have to laugh as well, enjoy the laugh to make-beleive that you understood the joke part.

Finally, you get to the airport - pay the driver his tip and he says "Thanks, and have a good trip to Texas."
You reply "You too".
Driver - "????!!!! Duh!".

Some people might escape this trap but will be caught offguard by the lady(atleast a lady here:) who gets your boarding passes. "Thanks sir, have a nice trip." You reply "Thanks you too!".

And your all-boys trip has already begun with a bang if you were with a friend. He will make sure your acts get the proper coverage that it deserves.

Stop it guys!

2006-04-13T19:55:00.000-04:00

I went home early on Thursday ( ya, I know the weekend is within hand's reach!), switched on Headlines Today TV channel and was shocked at the visuals that I saw.

Headline Number 1: Dr. Rajkumar passed away, but that is not the news. The fans in Karnataka have made sure they have eclipsed the death of an icon in Kannada cinema with the violence that they have unleashed. The visuals were disturbing to say the least. Irate ( what are they irate about? they should have been sad instead) fans setting fire to city buses, smashing windows of shops, using sickle, spades to destroy the median in roads, attacking policemen - Man! I wish we were a bit more civilized than that. Now its going to be a tense life in Bangalore till this frenzy over Rajkumar melts down.

I remember every one of us would have heard from our parents: "What if he is an actor, avan onnum unaku saapaadu poda porathu illa".

Headline Number 2: Saluting Javed. He came out unburnt from the Meerut fire. Then saw a bunch of students inside the fire struggling to come out, went inside the fair again to save lives. He saved 7 students and then trying to save one more, suffered 90% burns when a tent on fire fell on him. He succumbed to burns and died in the hospital yesterday. Rightly hailed as a hero for his acts, his death again left some bad taste at the end of it all when his friends ransacked the hospital alleging negligence on the Doctors' part. It was a government hospital and now no patient could be admitted for the next 3-4 days.

These people cannot get away from the laws of book or from their conscience just because they acted on impulse.

ps:
Off the topic - " Wishing all of you a cherishable tamizh new year wishes". Iniya puthaandu vaazhthukkal.

Irksome's-1

2006-04-09T00:40:00.000-04:00

"Be careful, its a solid green - so you have to yield and take the left. wrrrrrrrr....While turning left, turn to your closest lane. wrrrrrr....Dont go so close to that car, follow the 2 second rule, you will bump onto him if he suddenly stops.". You mutter to yourself - "Comeon! I have been driving on all these roads for more than 4 years, I KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!".

So thats a hot-button-blood-pressure-raising-issue (HBBPRI for brevity) that irks you everytime someone tells you to drive like this, drive like that. Looking further some other HBBPRI's ---

"How tall are you?"
"I yam 5'9" feet tall"
"With shoes or without shoes?"
"Aamam, shoes enna 4 inches aa irukku? Athu enna stool-a/ platform-a?? I am 5'9" foot tall with or without shoes"
"Is it, stand up against the wall, I will bring an inch tape." (Vanthuttan da sekkoority singaram pulan visaaranai panna.)
"Iniku intha height issue resolve aaganum, inimel evanaavathu height pathi pesattum... (Leaning against the wall.)

"Oh aamam, you are 171 cms, I didnt think you were this tall."
"I told you, I am closer to 6 than 5".
"Noo, you are not. One inch vanthu 2.54 centimeters, so nee 5'6-1/2" thaan (Intha maadhiri visheyathuku elam takku nu kanaku potuduviye...), -- With a grin at winning the battle and the right to use "How tall are you?" for the rest of his life to irk me.

"Sari, basically I am only 2 inches shorter than you are. Othukkaraiyaa?"
"Illaiye, from naked eye pakkaracha, nee ivvlo height a irukka mariye illa, people looking at you will say you might be in 5'5" or 5'6".

Okay and he had the last laugh :(

Reminds me of an episode in "Everybody loves Ray" -
Debra says "Rayyyyyyy.. you are not 6 foot tall, you are only 5'11-1/2".
Ray replies - " Yaa, I always wish if I were 1/2 inch longer." (pun intended by Raymond, dont blame me!).

Depending on my work schedule next week shall try to continue...
Later-

Mandai kanja Monday

2006-04-04T01:20:00.000-04:00

1. My team lead would have come from a vacation from last week and emailed me about the "to-do" list for the upcoming weeks! But I dont know what he has sent me yet.
2. I might have got a lot of emails from our "vetti" group since its a Monday. ( This group is really inactive during the weekends, but the mailing freq starts on Monday reaching a crescendo on Friday with "weekend plans" flying all around.) Unfortunately I cannot check them.
3. My yahoo would have received an email from ex-ex-ex girl friend of mine who might have suddenly remembered my umteenth email to her and replied back today. Sigh! I cannot read it until atleast late in the evening.
4. What has happened to the world? Probably, something important has happened in India but I cannot go to websites like rediff, hindu, expressindia yet!
5. Shucks, I cannot even login to the chat, what if the "aadiku oru thadavai amma vaasaiku oru thadavai" buzz panra ponnu, wanted to buzz me now?

Ya, my Monday started off rather bad ( or was it good :D) with my hard drive crashing in my office laptop. So had to wait all day to get it fixed. And man! its so hard to be at work without work to do. It really is kadi pottufyings.

Anyway got my PC back around 5pm ( what a long wait it was - 9am to 5pm even though I took 2 trips to the cafeteria to get coffee, and multiple trips around workbench to restroom - just for the heck of it!). After 5pm, I logged onto email, web, chat, gmail everything and found out there were NO email messages, NO news updates, NO offliners and NO one was looking for me!

I should have probably buzzed that girl and asked her "Did you want to buzz me?".
Now I didnt want to face an embarrasing end to a Monday, I will probably ask her tomorrow. :)

Later

23 hours

2006-04-01T23:29:00.000-05:00

Oorukke oru sattam na intha US ku oru sattam!

Nalaiku Day light savings time nala clock -a 1 hour forward thalranga.
Wikipedia la quote - " The US government decided on Day Light Savings time to avoid wasting of time when people sleep well past dawn":D.

Nalaiku 9am ku ezhunthu paatha 10am.. I hate it :(

Anyways... already Monday is waiting to dawn, and this one eats 1 hour from the precious Sunday :(

Alrite no more cribbing.

Later.

ps: Quick info: From 2007 Day Light Savings time comes into effect from the second Sunday in March and goes on till First Sunday of November (instead of last week of October till 2006)!

Selection Idiosyncrasies

2006-03-23T11:45:00.000-05:00

Yet another selection meeting and the selectors come out with yet another combination for the first three one dayers. Kiran More answering the reporters with his traditional tagline "We are looking at the future and more importantly the 2007 World Cup". His tagline seemed to be in no danger of vulnerability the last few times, but this time with India coming out of a series loss with England, its bound to raise a few questions on the selection policy. ( A 1-1 home series verdict is the same as a series loss right?!)

A few thoughts that occured to me after the team has been announced -

With Sachin out, doesnt this Indian batting order look real shaky?
Look at the batting lineup now
Sehwag
Gambhir
Dravid
Yuvraj
Kaif
Raina
Dhoni
Pathan
Harbhajan
Munaf
SreeSanth
Batting:

Sehwag looks a pale resemblance of what he was - physically he has started to resemble the yesteryear Rantanuga. Arjuna is a clever nudger of the ball never losing his wicket easily. With English bowlers reportedly seeing Sehwag's awkwardness at playing rising deliveries, he is far from a threat.
Gambhir is mercurial at best.
Raina is still untested. Kaif and Dhoni are still unreliable.
We have Dravid, Yuvi to rely upon and hope Dhoni can continue his scintillating form from the Ind-Pak series.
Doesn't a Ganguly at the top of the order make the batting order more stable? That being said - I am not a Dada fanatic, but I still feel he is a better ODI batsman than any of the Yuvi/Raina/Kaif's. I feel he is just a victim of board politics than the "look out for the future strategy crap".
And Ganguly is still a GradeA contract player! (He is still earning money sitting at home)

Bowling:
Its yet another department which the selectors have really messed up with.
Dravid after the recent fiasco will only go with 4 bowlers - 2+2 or 3+1.

If you plan on going with 2 spinners in the eleven which combo would it be Kumble/Bhajji or Bhajji/Powar? Kumble is in the form of his life ( even battingwise - trivia: he was the third highest run getter for India in the recently concluded series :) and why would you drop him from the ODI team? Every english batsman has struggled against him and yet you drop him and make him feel miserable.
Reminds me of Gilly's statement about VVS: "He always scores against us effortlessly, has made several hundreds against us and yet I read in the papers he has been dropped from the team, that puzzles me".

And then you have 5 pace bowlers selected - Pathan, Munaf, Sreesanth, Agarkar (I never understand why Agarkar get picked every time, he is harmless at best!) and RP/VRV Singh (Dont know who it is!). I am 100% sure one bowler will be changed after 3 ODI's without giving him a chance at all. What a confidence building measure!

We beat SL 6-1, RSA 3-2 Pak 4-1 letsee what we do to England. I think its going to be another close since we relied on Sachin for bowling options as well.

Later.

TGIF!

2006-03-07T19:47:00.000-05:00

Reflections:
Why does most of indian names are only 5 letters? oru gumbal la nnu paathaa - 10 perula 6-7 have 5 letter names.
ennathaan lexington a vittu naan kilambittaalum - ange irukura gumbal e yoschu paarthaa ...
namma lexington thalai VV aagattum, RS, KS, SS, DR, AL, SB illaa muthukumar a chellama muthu nnu koopdaraathu aagattum, illatti namma cat specialist poori agattum ...
illa namma vidukathai ( antha blog a naan innum padikkave illa) /scooty pugazh PV aagattum!
ithula enna naa periyaa peraa irunthaalum surukki 5 letters aakuvaanga athu evvlo worst a irunthaalum - nalla inimaiyana sangeetha peraa irunthathai "s(a)ongi" nnu vekkarathu ellam konjam too much!
intha kandupidippa ellam blog pannanumnaa nu thonithu - but then padikkaravanga irukura varaikum enna venumnalaum blog pannalaam nu ullernthu oru kural solliyathaale post panren!

People I Know:

My amma and appa arrived in the US after a prolonged delay and a seemingly endless wait of 1 ½ days in Frankfurt airport owing to snowy conditions and inclement weather. My father called me and said all flights are cancelled and we have been rebooked in tomorrow evening’s flight. Lufthansa didn’t provide them with a hotel to stay nor did they get proper food at the airport. It was so heartening to see them at the Washington Dulles airport. They have begun settling in the US, with Indian food although they are still waiting on their lost baggage. 

Kay-Kay && Kay-Kay:

The 1 1/2 day lazy wait for me @ Washington DC in an Extended Stay America hotel provided the right kind of setting to keep watching movies. Thank god, I took my office laptop while leaving to DC, so at least I was able to get to the internet. I saw Kalaba Kaadhala and Kalvanin Kaadhali the two KK’s. The Kaadhalan has a different storyline – not the usual masala, but not the unseen also. It involves the feelings that a girl develops towards her sister’s husband and justifying her love towards him in the end as well.
The ending goes like – in love there is no distinction between the pure and the illicit one. :( Arya va thavira elaarum nallaa act kuduthu irukaanga.

The Kaadhali has a storyline suited to SJSuryah’s crass comedy and Vivek’s oft repeated jokes makes his part in the movie a liability. The surprise package in this movie is the refreshingly good looking Nayanthara. She looks nice throughout the movie. And ofcourse Yuvan’s music made sure I didn’t forward the songs. Mathapadi onnum perusa illa padathula.

Ofcourse rendu padamum paarunga – pozhuthu pogaathapo pozhuthu pogum.

Empty thoughts and mutterings:

How much did I love my old Siemens cell phone? The reason being – phone varutho illaiyo, athula minutes use aaratho illaiyo, athula daily 5 times Time paathaa kooda night “Please recharge the battery nu vanthudum”. Intha puthu phone – Motorola, phone use pannalai na almost 5 days varuthu without ever recharging. Its frustrating to say the least . Since I have moved to Cingular which generously offers roll-over minutes, I am going to soon surpass KP’s record of 1800 minutes  ( 450*4 months is it?)

Maayaa:
India and England face off at Mohali tomorrow and India is planning on going with 5 bowlers. That means – 5 batsman and Dhoni in the batting lineup. (Although you can count on Pathan as a batsman). I think in an effort to get 20 English wickets we are pushing the all-round abilities of Dhoni, Pathan, Kumble(?) just a bit too much. If they go with 5 bowlers, our batting would be deemed weak – with Sehwag not in form, Jaffer getting caught by the law of averages and Yuvi coming out of an injury. I would say it’s a risky move and its better to be safe by picking 6 batsman. Namma batting order appadi patta Maayai ( habba, I justified the title Maaya:)
Anyways, next test match Mumbai dust-bowl la thaan. (Remember the test match with Australia where we defended successfully 100 odd runs and the test match went only 20 overs into the third day?
Edit: Its already been 2 days into the test match and I have not posted this yet. Anyways the rains have made a result in this game almost impossible. So no worries.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggg…… VVS ku sangu oodhara satham kekkuthaa?

எங்கே செல்லும் இந்த பாதை யாரோ யாரோ அறிவாரோ ....Where do you go? வைகோ!

2006-02-18T21:48:00.000-05:00

கடந்த சில வாரங்களாகவே தமிழக அரசியல் சூடு அனல் பறக்க ஆரம்பித்திருக்கிறது. முக்கியமாக வைகோ திமுக அணி /அதிமுக அணி எந்த பக்கம் சாய்வார் என பல தரப்பட்ட யூகங்களும், அழைப்புகளும் வந்த வண்ணம் உள்ளன. இதில் அடியேனின் கருத்துக்களும், வைகோ எந்த பக்கம் சென்றடைவார் என்கிற யூகமும் சொல்ல விருப்பப்பட்டேன்.

ஏன் மதிமுக வெளியே செல்ல துடிக்கிறது??

1. இட ஒதிக்கீடு பிரச்சனை:
திமுக அணியில் - திமுக, காங்கிரஸ், பாமக ஒட்டு வங்கிக்கு அடுத்தபடி இருப்பது மதிமுக என ஒரு தோற்றம் இருக்கிறது. பாமக வை பெரிய கட்சி ஆக ஏற்றுக்கொள்ள என்னால் முடியவில்லை - ஆண்டவன் புண்ணியத்தில் இந்த election' ஒரு 5 சீட் வெற்றியை குடுத்து ஓரமா உக்கார வைக்கனும், ரொம்ப ஆடராங்கப்பா ஆனாலும். காங்கிரஸ் எதைக்குடுத்தாலும் வாங்கி கொள்ளும் (central government இருக்கே!) அதுனால் அதுக்கு 40-45, பாமக விற்கு 25-30 (21 sitting MLA's இருக்கு பாமக, so 25 மினிமம் குடுத்தாகவேண்டும்), கம்யூனிஸ்ட் சேர்த்து 16 இடங்கள் மினிமம். இதில் திமுக தனியாக ஆட்சி பிடிக்க வேற நினைக்கிறது - ஸ்டாலின் முடி சூடிக்கொள்ள அது தானே வசதி. ஆதலால் மதிமுக க்கு மிஞ்சி போனால் 18-20 இடங்கள் குடுப்பார்கள். இதை விட நிறைய இடங்கள் மதிமுகவிற்கு கிடைத்தால் திமுக தனி ஆட்சி, பரண்ல போட வேண்டியது தான்.

2. மீடியா இருட்டடிப்பு:
நிஜமாகவே சன் டிவி செய்திகள் - அவ்வளவு ஒரு தலை பட்சமாக இருப்பதை தினமும் கண் கூடாக பார்க்க முடிகிறது. தினமும் அரசுக்கு எதிராக பல complaints - "அரசின் இயலாமையால் இது முடியவில்லை, அது முடியவில்லை" எனத்தான் தலைப்பு வசவுகள் இருக்கின்றன. இதில் இப்போது "சும்மா நச் னு இருக்கு தமிழ் முரசு" மாலை நாளிதழ் வேறு, அதையே print media விலும் கொண்டு செல்கிறது. திமுக-சன்::அதிமுக-ஜெயா மாதிரி மதிமுக விற்கு ஒரு டிவியும் இல்லை, பத்திரிக்கையும் இல்லை. அதனால் சுத்தமாக மதிமுக பற்றி செய்திகள் வருவதே இல்லை. எந்த கட்சி தொண்டனாக இருந்தாலும், வருடா வருடமாக தோற்க நினைப்பதில்லை. வெற்றி பெற்று, மக்கள் சேவை செய்ய முடியாவிட்டாலும், வீட்டு சேவையாவது செய்ய நினைப்பது தவறில்லை. அதைத்தான் இப்போது மதிமுக தொண்டனும் வேண்டுகிறான். பழுத்த அரசியல்வாதியான வைகோ விற்கு அது தெரியாமல் இல்லை. அது தான் அதிமுக செய்த அவமானங்களை மன்னிக்க துணிந்து விட்டார். அதுவும் தனித்து நிற்கும் அதிமுக விடம் சேர்ந்தால் குறைந்த பட்சம் 40 இடங்கள் கிடைக்க வாய்ப்புண்டு.

மதிமுக ஜெயாவிடம் போனால் ஏற்படக்கூடிய நெருடல்கள்:

1. தடை போடுகின்ற தடா:

வைகோ-வை தடா சட்டத்தின் கீழ் 18 மாதங்கள் சிறையில் அடைத்தது ஜெயா அரசு தான் என்பது தமிழகத்தில் அனைவருக்கும் தெரியும். கீரியும் பாம்பும் போல் இருந்து இப்போது கைக்கோர்த்துக் கொண்டால் எதிர்க்கட்சிகளுக்கு அதுவே ஒரு easy talking point for the elections ஆகி விடும். (என்ன தான் இப்போ காளிமுத்து, central government law அது நாங்க போட்டது இல்லை ன்னு comedy அடிச்சாலும்!)

2. ஜெயாவின் history of alliances:

அதிமுகவை பொருத்த வரை ஜெயா வில் ஆரம்பித்து லலிதா வில் முடிந்து விடும் கட்சி ஒன்று. அங்கு வைகோ வை எப்படி நடத்துவார்கள் என்பது ஒரு தன்மான கேள்வி. Basically, one should be ready for all kind of insults. தேர்தலில் வெற்றி பெற்றால் - ஜெயா அலை, தோற்றால் - எதிர்க்கட்சிகள் போலி வாக்கு போட்டு வெற்றி. மதிப்பும் மரியாதையும் அளவு சாப்பாடு மாதிரி அளவாகத்தான் கிடைக்கும். ஆனால் அதிமுக வின் வோட்டு வங்கி எல்லா தொகுதியிலும் இருப்பதால், MDMK can expect to win more than if contesting alone.

தொண்டனின் குரல் கேட்பாரா? அல்லது மனசாட்சி யின் குரல் கேட்பாரா?

எப்படி முடிவு எடுத்தாலும் - வைகோ ஒரளவுக்கு clean image ஒட இருக்கும் அரசியல்வாதி என்கிற நினைப்பு மக்களிடம் இருந்தால் அடுத்த election he will be a major force to reckon with.

Vaiko - my heart tells me you should go with the ADMK front - she has definitely done some good in the recent past and after all - there are no permanent enemies in politics!

Valentine's Day!

2006-02-14T22:32:00.000-05:00

Vaasagargal anaivarukum iniiya valentine's day vazhthukkal, Ippothu inraiya mukkiya seithigal.

Intha range la vara vara namma oorula valentine's day kondaada aarambichuttanga. Sari appadi enna than intha day voda special nnu paatha konjam interesting facts theriya vanthuthu.
Valentine's day vantha kathai:
In the early days of Rome, fierce wolves roamed the woods nearby. The Romans called upon one of their gods, Lupercus, to keep the wolves away. A festival held in honor of Lupercus was celebrated February 15th.One of the customs of the young people was name-drawing. ( அட நம்ம சீட்டு குலுக்கி போட்டு பேரு எடுக்கறது). On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew a slip. The girl whose name was chosen was to be his sweetheart for the year.
Two questions at this point of time - 1. itha thane namma college la seetu kulikku pottu gift ellaam kuduthu valentine's day vaa kondaduvaanga?? 2. Athu enna sweet heart for the year?? Adapavi makkka, ithu nallla rules aa irukuthe.

The emperor at that point of time Claudius II ordered the Roman militarymen not to marry as they will want to stay at home than fight. ( Vaasthavamaana pechu thane, military rule naa இது தானா??). Inge thaan namma hero Valentine varaar - he wants to break this rule that the Emperor is enforcing on the militarymen and he secretly gets military men married ( Ada namma இளையதளபதி விஜய் நடிச்ச ஷாஜகான் கதை). Raja ku kovam vanthu valentine a pottu thallidaraar on feb 14th.

Ithunaala Valentine is declared a saint (ada pavi ithelam ungalukke over aa therilla) and avaroda death day va santhoshamaa kondadalaam nu mudivu eduthu Feb14th a valentine's day aakaranga. First para la sonna Lupercus day vum Feb 14th aakki leave vittudaranga avanga nation la. (ohhh, valentine's day national holiday vaa sooper!)
Valentine na oru aaloda peru nnu ivlo naala thonave illa enakku - athunalaa thaaan Lexington la oru Valentin Vijay'o!!!
( Enna panrathu vijay - intha sothai padamaanalum interval la Rajini padikkara maari Dinakaran ad podum pothu whistle parakkum theater la- antha maathiri ippothaikuk Lex hero nee thaan, so athu than unnoda pera potu ennoda blog popularity ethikaren avvlo thaan da saami!)

I got a warm Valentine's day message and a card today from my 5 year old niece. (avvlo thaan)
So ungaloda valentine's day elaam eppdi pochu?
On a serious note - திறக்காத மனதில் எல்லாம் களவு போக வழி இல்லை. நியாபகம் வச்சுக்கோங்க சொல்லிட்டேன்!

Penn Paarkum padalam - 1

2005-12-01T18:44:00.000-05:00

Enna pannalaam, enna panna koodaathu??
Ponnoda foto va paathu - iva namaku OK solluvaala?? Soluvaa - nnu thonina than ponna paakave ponum. Namma azhagukum, arivukum,COLOR ukum ethaa maathiri irukanum...
chumma oru simran maathiri irukkura ponna paakarathu ellam waste :(

Basics:

Enna thuni pottukkarathu??

nalla kanji pottu thochu, gummu nu iron panni pottundu ponaa policekaara maama maathiri iruppeenga, so antha idea va freeyavidunga...

vella veleru nu oru sattai, moonu fleet oda oru trouser and oru karupu shoes pottundu ponaa.. "ivvlo pottundu vanthu irukka tie kattindu vanthu irunthaa narayanamurthy oda relasion nu ninaipu" nu ponnu vootula ninachuppanga, athunaala athuvum free leave.

romba casual a oru tshirt jeans nu pottundu polaam thaan, but alaipayuthey la "MS in offthamalagie, ppprinseeton universiteee" nnu solra samma peter pola nu ninachuppaanga...

So ennatha thaan pottundu porathu sollunga?

Aduthathu ponnu kitte Q&A session:

"Ungaluku paattu paada theriyumaa??"

Athe kelviya unkitte kettaa peru naasthiyaa poodum, onaaam solitten...

"Ethavathu dance geence aaduveengalaa??"

Venaam machi, danger area - aporama namma kathai thaan dabba dance aadidum...

"Sports la ellaam interest and participation undoo??"
Aaaan unde, intha tennis la mixed doubles maathiri - mixed kabaddi aaduvom college la, eppdi vasathi?....

Aandava, intha mari ellam kelvi ellaam kettaa pinni pedal eduthuduvaanga...

Sari rite,

Will continue...

Vachaanga da Aaapu

2005-11-12T18:22:00.000-05:00

Ganguly a ninachaa paavama thaan iruku...
Last month varaikum avan thaan India voda captain - Greg Chappell oda samaathanam pesinaanga nu ninachundu irunthen. Etho tennis elbow injury - athulenthu recover aagi Sachin maathiri varalaam nu paathaan, antha meanwhile la vachaanga da aapu avanuku.

Muthal rendu moonu match thaan naan scores ellaam night muzhichu paathen, athuku aporama, naan sooper aa thoongittu morning ezhunthu office ku poi browse pannum pothu - "eppdiyum win panni iruppaanga - enna margin nrathu thaan matter " nnu paaka arambichen.

Kalaaasittanga pasanga - beating anyteam 6-1 is a great effort and athuvum world #2 kitte gelikkarathu ellam periya matter thaan. SL kitte vera solli solli kadantha oru varushamaa thothukittu irunthom. England ku aporama adutha azhuguni pasanga avanga thaan - onnnum rich in talent illaama ; bowling wide off the leg stump strategy a 8 varushamaa kadapidichuttu varaanga.

Intha series win la rendu peruku aapu - Ganguly - inimel thirumba team kulla varathuku ellaam innnum 1 year aavathu aagum to loook into him again.
Kiran More every team selection pothum solraan - "Hes a terrific player, he will come back and we will look into him definitely in the future nnu". Konja naal la atha solrathukum kekkarathukum aalu irukka mattaanga. Onnu mattum nichayam - I feel Gang was a better player in ODI's than Tests. So inimel avana Tests la edukka koodathu - edukka mattaanga nu thaan thonuthu.
Pavama thaan iruku, but enna panrathu? --" Naalu peruku nallathu nadakkum naa, ethuvume thappu illa" nnu solli irukkaangale.

Innoru aalu aapu vanga porathu - Dinesh Karthik; pavam dejent aa thaan aadinaan, but Dhoni irukkura form ku inimel kasstam thaan namma DK ku.

Finally, I think Greg-Dravid deserves a pat on their back and the whole team a big applause.

- Prabhu

Unfair on Chappell's part

2005-09-15T17:59:00.000-04:00

Things are not looking too rosy for Indian cricket team. They are expected to win 2-0 against Zimbabwe, but that has been taken for granted even before India embarked on this tour.

Ganguly's indirect reference on Chappell that Gangs was suggested to drop himself from the final XI doesnt make things any easier on the already depressed dressing room. When I saw the scores on the first day (Zim were 263/7), I thought this is a test series between the bottom 2 teams in the icc table. ( A simple reference: NZ defeated Zimbabwe in under 5 days and that is both the tests included)

Agreed, Ganguly has been woefully out of touch for a long time and its been eons since he came with a winning score, I still feel India doesnt have a batsman to replace him. To ask him to step out on the eve of the test and that too against Zimbabwe (where he could attempt to gain some form and confidence) is atrocious. Thank god, it is always the captain's decision and not the coach's.

Now that this issue has flared up and will be blown out of proportions by the media soon, it doesnt augur too well for India in dressing-room ambience.

Hope, Ganguly comes back with a string of high scores and leave the cricket scene with a bang than a whimper.

What a comeback!

2005-09-08T22:46:00.000-04:00

If Pete Sampras is called Pistol Pete,
If Becker is called Boom Boom Boris,
If Federer is called a phenomenon happening once a lifetime,
What would you call Andre Agassi?
I would call him Andre the Phoenix.

Man!, what a match he played yesterday against James Blake. I didnt follow scores until I reached home like 11:45 in the night. Agassi was winning the fourth set and the momentum was with him. I started to see the match unknowing of the breathtaking moments that are going to unfold. Agassi started off the fifth set well but suddenly Blake found his rhythm back and went up 4-2. Soon it was 5-3 Blake serving to win the match and upset the people's champion. He is 35 years old, he is playing for the 20th consecutive US open, still in the top 10 players in the men's circuit (and you know men's circuit is x50 times competitive than women's) and what a situation for him to come back and prove his detractors that he still possesses the mettle to go to the final of a grand slam. (I think with Federer's aurathese days, everyone now dreams only to be in the final, not go beyond that :)

Agassi broke back at 5-3 and what a game it was. The touch drop shot, the stunning return of serve and the overhead top-spin lob still remains etched in my memory. And what is a feast without a mouth-watering desert? The tie-break was played on equal footing and both of them didnt give up an inch. Atlast it was more of the experience and the big-match play of Agassi that pulled him to the win than anything else.

I think Agassi is rightly said as having the best ever return of serve. Sometimes his returns are faster than the serves itself and you wouldnt want to be on the other side of the net when he does that.

And a word for Blake too - He definitely played very well, looked powerful, court coverage was great but looked flat in big points.
Hats off Andre! It was a stunner of a match that I saw in recent times.
Hope Federer falls in the other-half and you will have a more realistic chance of winning the US Open one more time.

குட்டியம் - 2

2005-09-08T14:03:00.000-04:00

குட்டியம் ஏதும் வழக்கமான சினிமால வரா மாதிரி பச்சைப்பசேல்னு இருக்காது. நிறைய காய்ஞ்சுப் போன பூமி, தண்ணி வராத பம்புசெட், அழுக்கான ஏரி, பரட்டைத் தலை மக்கள், ஆங்காங்கே கொஞ்சம் vegetation அவ்ளோ தான். எங்க பெரிய தாத்தாவோட வீட்டுல மட்டும் தான் restroom எனப்படும் கழிப்பிடம் இருக்கும். அதுவும் நாங்க use பண்ணமுடியாது, பொம்மனாட்டிகளுக்கு மட்டும் தான். அந்த ஊருக்கு போனாலே poverty struck land என்கிற நினைப்பு வரும்.

அங்கே வாழற மக்களுக்கு நாங்க வர time தான் தீபாவளி மாதிரி. அவங்க முகத்துல ஒரு ஏக்கம் இருக்கும், வாழ்க்கைத் தரத்தை மேம்படுத்திக்கனும் என்கிற ஆசை, "வாங்க சாமி" னு கூப்பிடற மரியாதை (ஒரு வேளை complex'aa கூட இருக்கலாம்). The conversations usually goes like - " என்னப்பா, எப்படி இருக்க?, சரி இதை கைச்செலவுக்கு வச்சுக்க, இது கொஞ்சம் பழைய துணி இதையும் எடுத்துக்க".
" ரொம்ப நன்றிங்க சாமியோவ்! ஏலேய், சாமிக்கு கொஞ்சம் இளநீர் பறிச்சு போடுங்க...... போயிட்டு வாங்க ஐயா".

அந்த கோவில் திருவிழா கூட வருஷம் ஆக ஆக commercial ஆக்கிட்டாங்க. 7th standard படிக்கும் போது போனப்ப - TV, VCR எல்லாம் வாடகைக்கு எடுத்து விடிய விடிய சினிமா படம் போட்டாங்க. சும்மா ஒப்புக்கு ஒரு சாமி படம் போட்டுட்டு அப்புறமா நல்ல mass படமா போட ஆரம்பிச்சாங்க. எனக்கு தெரிஞ்சு என்னோட முதல் night-out அது தான். So வர வர எல்லாத்தலையும் மசாலா தேவைப்படுது.

அப்போ எல்லாம் ஏதோ சொந்த ஊருக்கு போறோம் என்கிற நினைப்பை விட இரண்டு நாள் ஜாலியா இருக்கலாம்னு எண்ணம் தான் மேலோங்கும். பூஜை எல்லாம் முடிச்சு, பிரசாதம் எடுத்துண்டு, வீட்டுக்கு திரும்பி போற வழில அப்பா படிச்ச schoolனு ஒரு பாழடைஞ்ச கட்டடத்தை பார்த்துட்டு வீடு திரும்புவோம். என்ன இருந்தாலும் அந்த மண்ண விட்டு சென்னைக்கு திரும்பும் போது மனசு கொஞ்சம் கனக்கத்தான் செய்யும்.

அது தான் சொந்த மண் சொந்த இரத்தத்தோட சக்தியோ?

- முற்றும்

குட்டியம் - 1

2005-09-06T23:56:00.000-04:00

அமெரிக்கா வந்ததுனால என்னோட சொந்த ஊர் குட்டியம் க்கு நிறைய recognition கிடைச்சு இருக்குனு நினைக்கிறேன். அது என்னெமோ தெரியல, என்னோட last name பார்த்து நீ mallu va? அப்படினு தான் கேக்கறாங்க. "இல்லை, கேரளால இருக்கறது கோட்டயம், குட்டியம் வந்து ஆற்காடு பக்கத்துல இருக்கிற ஊருனு எல்லார்க்கிட்டயும் சொல்லனும். சொந்த ஊருனு சொன்னா, எங்கப்பா தான் அங்கே பொறந்தா அங்கே தான் junior school வரைக்கும் படிச்சா. அவ்வளோ தான் எங்க குடும்பத்துக்கும் குட்டியம் என்கிற ஊருக்கும் இருக்கிற உறவு. எங்க தாத்தாவோட அண்ணா அங்கேயே தான் இருந்தார் போற வரைக்கும். நான் இது வரைக்கும் ஒரு நாலு அஞ்சு வரைக்கும் எங்க ஊருக்கு போய் இருப்பேன். வருஷா வருஷம் இராம நவமி முடிஞ்ச அடுத்த வாரம் அங்கே இருக்கிற ஆஞ்சநேயர் கோவில்ல இலக்க்ஷார்ச்சனை நடக்கும். அந்த கிராமத்துல இன்னும் இருக்கிற ஒரே பிராமண குடும்பம் எங்களதுனு என் அப்பா, சித்தப்பா தான் நடத்தி வைப்பா.

சின்ன வயசுல எல்லாம், அதாவது ஒரு 5th standard படிக்கும் வயசுல எல்லாம் நானும் என்னோட cousinsum எப்போடா ஏப்ரல் வரும்னு காத்துண்டு இருப்போம். அப்போ எல்லாம் அது ஒரு பெரிய trip plan மாதிரி. இரண்டு matador van வாடகைக்கு எடுத்து ஒரு 30 பேரு சென்னையிலிருந்து கிளம்புவோம். என்னோட அப்பா side'la எனக்கு இரண்டு அத்தை, இரண்டு சித்தப்பா. அதை தவிர பெரிய தாத்தாவோட பசங்க and அந்த cousins வேற இருப்பாங்க, so எங்களோட cousins பட்டாளமே ஒரு 12 பேரு இருப்போம்.எல்லோரும் சேர்ந்து ஏதாவது விளையாடிட்டு, சண்டை போட்டிக்கிட்டு போவோம்.

போனவுடன் சம்ம சாப்பாடு கிடைக்கும். அப்பாவோட போனா அங்கே இருக்கிற main தெருல (இங்கே lexington downtown Main Street மாதிரி) எல்லாரோட வீட்டுக்கும் போய்ட்டு வருவேன். எல்லாரும் அதே கேள்வி தான் கேப்பாங்க - " என்னடா எத்தனாவது படிக்குற?, 5th standard போறியா இல்லை படிக்கிறயா?, ஒழுங்கா படிக்கிறயா? எத்தனாவது rank வாங்குற? (யோவ், இதை இப்போ அவசியமா கேக்கணுமானு தோணும்!). எங்கப்பா ஒரு வேடிக்கையான உண்மை சொல்லுவார் - "இந்த் ஊருல நமக்கு தெரிஞ்சவாளே அஞ்சாரு பேரு தான், ஆனா கோவில்ல நவக்கிரஹம் மாதிரி ஒருத்தர ஒருத்தர் பார்த்துக்க மாட்டா, அவ்வளோ politics இங்கேயும்."!!

- Part 2 Soon!

Good Morning :(

2005-08-31T00:13:00.000-04:00

"Hello Good Morning"
"Hey eppdi irukka da?Vanthu senthutten da inge US kku, anna veetla thaan irukken, samma tiring journey and I missed you a lot da"
"Naan nalla irukken da, bore adikarathu nee illaama. Nalla velai oru 2 minutes munnaadi panni irunthaa amma eduthu iruppa phone'a".
"Naane anna veetlenthu thiruttu thanamaa calling card la panindu irukken,unga amma eduthu irunthaa, ISD call-la blank call vitta perumaiyum enaku serum :)
"hehe, unga anna phone bill check pannina engaathu number kku phone panni iruku nu therinjuda porathu"
"yaa i know da, sari etho unkitte oru 2 minutes pesanumnu romba thonithu, athu thaan paninnen. Sari naan appurama unna chat la pidikkaren da. Love u da and miss u anddd....??"
"adei, ippo eppdi da?, sari same here(with a blush)"
"ok bye"
"byebye".

****
"Yaaru di phone-la?"
"En classmate ma, nalaikku midterm exam irukku maa college la athu thaan bayamaa iruku nnu pesindu irunthom".
****

"Divs, phone a edukkaracha, nee pesaraiyaa illa unga amma pesaraalaa nnu theriya mattengarathu enaku. sila samaiyam nee thaannu pesa vanthudaren then only I realise its ur mom and not you" nnnu.
"sari enna pannalaam?"
"how abouttt ...."

"sari Good Morning it is, that way I think of you everytime I pick up the phone".

Moral Sciences!

2005-08-27T06:16:00.000-04:00

Scene1:
Next day vanthu, avaloda number a thedi pidichu, call pannina general aa 2 mins pesittu, she asks him "so vera enna visheyam?", he replies, "vera onnum illa, nee thaan sollanum". Pat came the reply "sari appo naan unga kitte apporama pesaren. Bye, goodnight". Beep. Beep.
Ada pavi makkaa, nethiku introduce aana ponnu onnu kilambaracha "It was nice meeting you" nnu sonnatha ivvlo serious a eduthunttiye da...
Moral of the story: "Varaatha porullai thedi pogaathe!!"

Scene2:
"Illa illa inniku venaam, nee thaan innoru naal sappda vara sonniye, anniku full fledged aa unga veetuku vanthu saapdaren". Ponnu manasukkula - "podaanga, ozhungaa innike coffee a kudichuttu kilamba vendiyathu thaane, naan ivana saapaadu vera podanuma?? :)
Moral of the story: "Naalaiku kidaikkara palaa pazhatha vida, iniku kidaikkara elumicham pazhame perusu!"

Scene3:
"Amma next time naan pakkathu veetu gayatri a vida neraiya vaangi kaamikkaren. Naan nalla thaan ma ezhuthinen, but ava handwriting nalla irukum, athu than avaluku mark neraiya vanthu iruku". Mom - "Sari next time vaangalai na iruku da unaku". Aandavaa, eppdiyo amma va intha vaattiyum samaalichaachu, next time kulla avanga appa kku transfer aayidanum, illaatti avaluku udambu sari illaama oru exam kottai vidanum. Appadi mattum aachu naa, naan un koviluku vanthu.....
Moral of the story: "Vetri-tholvi nnu vanthuduthu naa, nee panra elaame nyaayam thaan!

Scene4:
"Ennanga, intha rendu pudavaila ethunga enaku eduppaa irukum?" "Enakku ennama theriyum, neeye etho onnu nallathaa eduthukko". "Chumma sollunga". "Enga, unga pondaatti aasai pattu ungaluku ethu pidikuthu nnu kekkarangale, sollaama scene podareengale" "Ada nee vera ya, enaku onnu pidikum nnu soluven, avalukku innonnu pidikum, rendu perukum pidichuthu nu rendume eduthukkalaam nu soluva, aporama naan thaan thundu thandam azhanum, ithellam unaku engeyaa theriyum??" - Dialogue from a recent Junior Vikatan.
Moral of the story: "Mirudangathuku rendu pakkam adi naa, drums' ku naalaa pakkamum adi!"

Scene5:
Ganguly after a dismal opening match for India against NewZealand, where we were struggling at 44/8 says "Actually the match was really close, we bowled well, fielded well, but the batting was off today. We can only get better from now on. Even when our batting failed to click, we lost only by 50 runs."

Moral of the story: "Oruthanuku ezhunthu nikkave vakku illaiyaam, avanukku ombathu pondaaattiyaam......."

No rhyme or reason not to!

2005-08-11T14:24:00.000-04:00

Oil prices hit a record high 66$ per barrel.

If you had been on the road here in US the past 2 weeks you could have noticed that gas prices are indeed rising alarmingly. It rose an incredible 30 cents a gallon on Monday and is still hovering around $2.45 per gallon. (Mercy god, I am not living in CA or NY).

I was wondering what I can do on my part to make this a little less burden on myself and everyone else around me.

Did you know all your electric - for airconditioner, lamps, television, hot water (in the US) are generated by the heating of oil or gas of some kind (directly or indirectly).

I feel everyone of us should play a part in conserving all these resources just for the sake of our own well-being. Whatever little they might be - like 'walking to the nearby store, instead of using your car' to 'turning off/hibernate your personal computer when you are not using it' to 'making sure all the lights are put out when you leave the home' and by simply being conscious of what we have and what we may not be having tomorrow.

I have also been the guilty part so far, but thought I could atleast play my part by making sure, I wont let go of any energy resource to waste from now on within my capacity. I am not asking you to change the world, all I am asking is to change what you have been doing all this while and you will automatically feel and do better. There is no point in cribbing about the rising prices otherwise.

It actually takes less than a minute to make sure everything is turned off before you leave home.

I pledge to be conscious... Do you?

ps1: This applies to people everywhere in the world. It is the same problem everywhere.
ps2: You need not pledge just because the oil prices are rising. Infact there need not be a reason at all to "waste" resources (whatever they may be).

Waiting to Fall

2005-07-31T02:55:00.000-04:00

Its been a painful sunny week or so here in Lexington. With temperatures almost touching 100 degrees (fahrenheit thaan, celsius a vittu romba naalachu), I think this is the hottest summer that I have ever seen in my 4 years of Lexington life.
It was so scorching hot, that I couldnt get into my car @ 530 in the evening - the car felt like a hot oven and the steering wheel was too hot to handle. And before this heat wave, we had to bear with a "rainy week and a half" which sucked.

I have started missing the wintry days - the raw wind chill that hits your face once you step out, the ears that start to pain once you are out in the cold for a long time, the essentials - the leather jacket, shoes, full pants, gloves makes you look like a tamizh cinema villain dressed to kill. I run in 10 seconds the distance between my home and the mailbox in shorts, tshirt and just sandals, feeling bored to dress up just to see the junk mail that I receive. (email, phones thaan illa, snail mail koodavaa anuppa koodaathu yaaraavathu? or is that too much to ask?!)
But then as you would expect, I will definitely miss the summer in December. And it goes on a cycle.

The time between the summer and winter is the best part of my year in my opinion. Temperatures are mild and pleasant, you dont get rains that time of the year, the trees and scenery are picturesque, the colors vivid and rusty and school reopens here at the university (read as lot of ponnunga to look forward to :)

You can get an inkling of how things are going to be soon by looking at the trees. The leaves of the trees start to go pale yellow - an indication that that Fall times have just about begun, then to bright red to say out loud that it is starting to like this time of the year, it turns dark brown to ooze out the gloominess that fall is about to end and leaves fall out unable to withstand the cold winds and remain that way for another quarter of an year.

hmmmm! and thinking of Fall times of the year, I can't believe I am going to see the 5th Fall here in US. :(

Shame Shame!

2005-07-15T15:37:00.000-04:00

Edit: From yesterday night till today @ lunch, I got 1 email. Enthuvoda poi paatha, athu naane oru group kku nethiku amucha email, athuvum one day late aa vanthu verupethiyathu!

Sari sari, dont be too worried that this would follow the pattern of Elixir, Vagary etc...
Intha blog is about the suffering of a man in his 25's looking for a partner to settle down in life, who recently got out of school & employed in the US, who lives in an apartment away from the university, who has probably grown a bit older to be still living in the university atmosphere, who has 600 day time minutes and unlimited nights, weekend minutes to call all the people he knows. He has email accounts with all the popular and leading email providers - gmail, yahoo, hotmail etc etc...

Scenes:
Reach work @ 9am:
Logged onto mail.yahoo.com, and you get to see Ignominy 1: -- You have 0 unread messages. "Its been 10 hours since I checked my mail and no one has even thought and emailed me?, How bad can that be!" Worstttt!.
Konja neram velai pannittu within an hour, manushanukku irukkura nappaasai la, poi thiruppi mail check panninaa same scene repeat.
Oru for loop pottu, ithe scene repeat aagum till like 3pm.

When you login @ 3pm, you would naturally think that "You have 0 unread messages" screen is going to pop up one more time, you see something in bold. Your heart leaps up for a moment and on seeing clearly, you see that it says "Bulk(2)". Okay atleast etho forward varuthe nnu ninachundu antha folder a open panninaa first email would be from 123greetings.com "Get great gifts for your lover" -- deiiiiiiiiiii! ventha punnila yen da vela paachareenga
(Translation tried : "heyyyyyyyyyyyyy! in cooked wound, why do you inject a spear?).
2nd email would read "Get bigger, make your wife happy", "ada paavingalaa, how do you know, you know!)

Email scene ippdiye pogum through the entire day. Ofcourse you do manage to get a mail or two everyday. The tricks that might work are:

1. Become a member of 4-5 yahoogroups and set it so that you get individual emails. (Intha daily digest/no email option choose panravanga ellaarukum nijamaave avvlo emails varuthaa?!) Anyways I never choose daily digest/no email option :)

2. Ithu puthu technique, blog ezhuthittu make sure when people comment, you get an email. Oru blog start panni, oru post ezhuthi athuku comment vidalaiya makkal, dont worry, innoru blog start pannu - athu kathaiya irukkalam, vera language la ezhuthalaam, illa etha pathi venumnaalum comment adikkalam...
Ithuvum work out aagalainaa, freee aa vidu email/blog ellaame Krishna Raama nnu poga vendiyathu thaan :(

Sari appadiye cell phone scene ku thaavuvom:
Minutes Plan: 600 minutes day time, unlimited weekends and nights.
Additional Features: Free Tmobile-Tmobile calling for 8$ a month (deiii, kaasu iruku nrathukkaga, kandapadi selavu seyyarathaa?)
Monthly bill varacha thaan stomach-burning aa irukum, used minutes - 100/600 minutes....
deiiiii, naan use panrathukku enakkaga konjam concession kuduthu 20$ a month nnu oru plan kudunga da pleaseeeeeee!

Nalla velai naan Cingular la illa, rollover nnu solli maasam maasam minutes vera accumulate aagum. ( Ithula avanga tag line : "Its your minutes, keep them" -- dei enaku venaam da aala vidu)
At the end of the year, Available minutes: 6000 minutes appadi nnu vanthu nikkum. Athuku bathila oru muzham kayiru use pannikkalam.

Weekdays aavathu office, work nnu poidum, intha weekend thaan bore. Nijamaa solren, last weekend the first call that I got was on Sunday afternoon. Appadiye pathari adichu eduthu antha paiyan kitte (pinna ponnaa call panna poraa?) "deiii unaku naan endrendrum kadamai pattu irukken da" nnu urugi sonnen...Avan avanoda soga kathaiya sonnan avvlo than.

Some funny ones that I heard from PB:

3rd person: "unga veetu keezhe yaaru irukka?"
PB: "moonu cell phone irukku!" :)

(3 girls live in the apartment and they talk over the phone all the time)
That brings us to an inevitable question -
"If the girls are speaking over phone all the time and naturally they speak with guys most of the time, where are the guys who talk with the gals? Enaku therinje - D, PB, VJ, naan (naanaavathu konjam parava illa ;) ellaam vethuku ukkaanthu irukkom. (Kay, Vasu ellam enga kooda thaan irunthaanga, aana ippo ellam rekkai mulachu paranthutaanga... :)

Onnume puriyala ulagathulaaa... Ennathaan nadakumo theriyallee....

ps1: Nethiku night lenthu inniku afternoon varaikum no mails to me ( no office emails as well :)
ps2: Inniku morning lenthu Vijay mattum call panni irukkaan... ( Athuvum he was returning my call :)

Swiftnews blog's up

2005-07-14T22:16:00.000-04:00

Swiftnews

Vagaries of Mind

2005-07-07T12:12:00.000-04:00

You read the papers first thing in the morning. Yet again, it is a suicide terrorist attack. Hundreds feared killed, more injured. Every news channel beaming pictures of people killed, people bleeding blood, firefighters helping people rescue. You pick up the phone immediately, call your niece to make sure she is doing ok. You heave a sigh of relief that her family is safe, feel sad for the rest of people and get on with work.

Time - The Elixir of Life

2005-07-06T18:28:00.000-04:00

The person who gave him blood, education, shelter, food passed away last year. The elixir of life wiped away all the sad feeling he had.

Her best friend from childhood - she used to play with him after school, she could see her spirits lifting up on seeing him, she loved the affectionate kisses that she gave her pup, died of an unknown ailment last year. The elixir of life shredded all despairing thoughts she had.

He always dreamed of being at the service of people and thought what better profession than a doctor. He worked hard, did well in the exams and still fell short of a seat in a reputed medical institution. The elixir of life consoled him and eventually he became a software engineer.

His room mate at college - the one person whom he felt comfortable to confess his personal ambitions, his love interests, reasons on why he doesnt like someone - died of a tragic drowning incident sometime back. The elixir of life made him get over it.

The one person who would understand all her concerns, the one relationship that she thought would last a lifetime, the "warmth" that she enjoyed in the company of this one guy, this one guy of hers who utters "I Love You" just to see the twinkle in her eyes and the blush in her face - their relationship broke up for all the wrong reasons and she was filled with tears and a thinking of there is no tomorrow. Once again, the elixir of life dried her tears, brought to her vision what life would be without him.

Why does this "elixir of life" take care of everything from our past?
How can all our cherished, dark, haunting, unexpressible memories be hidden and forgotten inside of ourselves like the lonely desert plant in a sand storm?
To me, Time - "The Elixir of life" makes you get over things, forget the past, makes you believe you can do it better this time, makes you understand that it is not the end of the world even if you lose a precious one - And that is why I whole-heartedly think this "Time" is GOD to me and I trust it the most to make me better.

Direct Dil Se...

2005-07-03T16:13:00.000-04:00

First things first. Its Independence Day long weekend here in the US and as always everyone has their own plans. For me, it is the same usual drive to North Carolina where my brother lives. It is a 500 mile drive from Lexington, KY and it is really long and tiring especially if its all you who is driving. That being said the drive had its own moments - the West Virginia part of the drive is mountainous but nevertheless really scenic. For a stretch of 10 miles you travel amidst the fog. At 75mph you get kissed on the forehead by one cloud (fog that is) and it passes by for the next one.

Long, lone drives could sometimes be good - you can get to talk with yourself about some idiosyncrasies that you still carry after 26 years in earth, sing aloud without having to worry about shruthi and thaalam and ofcourse shame?! (that you dont sing as well as some of your friends can!), and on the lighter side take restroom breaks when you really want to and not force a restroom break on yourself just because your friend had to "you know".
Everytime I drive this 500 mile, 8 hour course to NC, I always think " Next time I am not going to put myself into this hassle of tiring drive but instead going to fly", but then it ends up with me driving.
And I listened to songs all throughout - Tamil, Hindi, English (FM radio) sparring sometime calling friends with conversations like " I am here, where are you?, How is your drive?, What did you eat?". Yesterday's best song while on the drive was "Jee khar dekhta rahoon, Kitna sonaa thuje rab ne banayaaa" from Raja Hindustani. Who said you have to be in love for you to like these kind of songs, I just fell in love with the song.

I am having a gala of a time so far - two lovely angels (my nieces), anna, manni, manni's amma cooking, SUN TV, sumptuous lunch @ Udipi today comprising of Idli, Vada, Set Dosai, Channa Batura, Masala Dosai, Carrot Halwa and the list goes on endlessly....

To take a kutti nap after a weekend lunch is too tempting and I go off to the sleep mode of my Eat-Sleep-Eat-Watch TV cycle.

Later...

To us, winning was a habit!

2005-06-27T12:15:00.000-04:00

The smell of success,
The blood of opponents,
The belief that your team can come from deep down and win,
The strategy of successful superstitions,
The palpable change of mood from despair to ecstasy in the dressing room(?),
The moment of pride when you say your team is the best,
The once-in-a-lifetime inning played by your teammate in turning tables.
Yes indeed - We are the best, We beat the rest.

There were stunning catches held, vital innings played, quickfire momentum built, coming out on top even when some of the premier players were not involved, tight-line bowling spells, the occassional bowlers turned their golden arm, the men behind the stumps doing a great job.
All in all, it was a great team effort from a team that was rich in talent, effort, spirit and that believed in themselves. And I am personally proud that I went out to the toss everytime and did my job to some sense of satisfaction.

Yes, I am talking about the cricket tournament organized by the ISA here at UKY.

Some tidbits that I enjoyed during this tournament -
1. The stunning catch that Kay produced under the tree (doesnt he love the trees when taking catches?) that saved us some runs more than taking that wicket.
2. The beautiful last 2 balls bowled by Pradeep when all the opposition wanted was 3 runs off 2 balls. Man! that win I will savor for a long time because we were a make-shift team for that match and that was a huge win for us!
3. The bowling effort that won us our second league match by restricting the opposition to just 65 runs. We won the match during the break itself.
4. Semis was another beautiful bowling effort. Never were the opposition in contest. An easy win with new found bowling talent in Laka and Dins. Breathtaking couple of catches from Dharma.
5. Finals, still 77 runs from 7 overs with only 3 wickets in hand. The opposition thought that the match was in their pockets by then. They talked with a sense of air during the drinks break - "You guys have already lost the match, you have to wear the runners-up shirt". Alas! Dudeeeeeeeeeeeee! Vasu and DineshP really kicked some a*&e%. What a sweet win it was :)

No wonder, when I said "We were the best team in the tournament and we proved it", I really believed it so!

Tagged, me!

2005-06-20T11:12:00.000-04:00

Subhashini had tagged me a while back - close to 2 weeks, and I thought long, hard, real, sincere and came up with this list of mine.

I went through a lot of blogs and was amazed by the range of topics that people read books on. To be honest, I dont have any of those style books (the classic ones) on my list. But reading all your blogs, I do came up with a list that I have put down as must read by the end of this year and believe me, that list is already pretty long.

My first few reads : The first 2 were from the school non-detailed section -

Oliver Twist (for some reason, I never felt sympathetic towards Oliver after reading the story).
Around the world in 80 days - easily the best that I read when I was young. I so liked the story and narration that I re-read it like 20 times within one summer. It was pacy, entertaining and thrilling to read.
King Solomon Mines - Again the non-detailed book for 8th standard English and man I liked it very much. It describes the quest of a team determined to find the gold mines in Africa(I guess!).
500 Panchatantra tales - I dont remember any one of them, but I borrowed this book from my cousin and read this one summer.
Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare.

My college day reads:
When I was in my 2nd year of college, it dawned to me that everyone around me is reading a fiction-novel and I started reading one too. My first one was Rage of Angels and so it always is special to me. Then read a series of Sidney Sheldon novels - If tomorrow Comes, Other side of midnight, Memories of midnight (not sure about the name of this novel), Tell me your dreams. Sheldon is like our typical masala movie director - has all necessary ingredients to his novel.

Then switched to Michael Crichton - read Congo, Jurassic Park, Sphere. I liked reading Sphere - it was riveting to say the least, and sustained my interest through out. But when I watched the movie later, I felt disappointed. :(

My friend Rajaram then introduced me to Robin Cook's novels - Outbreak, Mutation and Terminal. I read Mutation first and was spell-bound. The theme was different but then the subsequent novels lost that touch.
I read this novel - The Second Lady, not sure who wrote it (any one knows the author?). It is about a body-double that Russia develops who is trained to be look, behave, talk the same way as the first lady of USA and swaps them somehow. I liked it as well.
One more short writeup that impressed me was Seagulls. Although I am not a big fan of philosophical-spirit-lifting theories in books, I liked this one mainly because this was short and to the point.
Ok, now that completes my list of read books.

Let me finish this one with the list of books that I lent from the Lexington Public Library last weekend -
Rising Sun - Crichton, Michael
Debt of Honor - Clancy, Tom
Sons of Fortune - Archer, Jeffrey
Sphinx - Cook, Robin

I still have Thunai Ezhuthu by S.Ramakrishnan (published as a weekly article in Anandhavikatan) to be read.( aamam PB, unnoda book thaan, naan vachu irukken - dont worry!) and I borrowed Bhagavat Gita from Pradeep that I need to read as well.

My list to read includes top of the list - "Ponniyin Selvan", Atlas Shrugged, "Parthiban Kanavu", "It is not about the bike - Lance Armstrong","A brief history of time", "Not a penny more, not a penny less".

By the time I finish writing this blog, I feel good (I thought this will be my shortest blog, but turned out the other way) and thanq Subha! :)

My turn to tag people -
- VS (yes, my lesser seen roomie!)
- Moni
- Ananthu

Go on guys, I did it, you can do it too!
- Prabhu

ps : hmmm, on seeing Subha's blog again I left out one thing - The last book I was gifted? It was Love Story ( what 4 years back, was it?). hmmm, now that people know I have become an avid reader all of a sudden, I think can expect to get few more :)

My new(s) blog

2005-06-15T08:17:00.000-04:00

Visit my other blog : http://swiftnews.blogspot.com

As the title suggests, its a news blog, that I was wanting to initiate for quite sometime.
Keep visiting the other one as well.
- Prabhu

Husky voices inside ...

2005-06-13T15:31:00.000-04:00

I dont want to be called manipulative,
I dont want to be called selfish,
I dont want to be called egoistic,
I dont want to be called over-indulging,
I dont want to be called incorrigible,
I dont want to be called boring,
I dont want to be called flirtatious,
I dont want to be called biased,
I dont want to be called artificial,
I dont want to be called moody,

Everyday I try hard to satisfy the moderator in me who raises these voices!

Friendship - Winds of Change

2005-06-10T11:34:00.000-04:00

Gangadhar was married happily to Revathy for 3 years. Gangadhar had a really close long time friend, Amitabh who also became a very good friend of Revathy. Three of them went together all the places and talked endlessly on every topic that could interest them. Amitabh's feelings towards Revathy was that of a genuine friend - no adulterations, no inclinations. The three of them went on a holy trip to Kashi once. The Ganges was surprisingly turbulent when they had a dip in her. They went pretty deep inside the river and felt Ganges indeed had the miraculous cleansing power. "Helpppp......" screamed a mother scurryingly attempting to save her 4 year old son carried away by the river. Gangadhar looked to his right and the kid was within 30 feet from him. He dived into the fast flowing river trying to save the kid.

Revathy was sobbing inconsolably. It had been 3 weeks and there were no traces of him. The police found the 4 year old kid the same evening washed away, but they could not find Gangadhar. Amitabh was trying everything within his realms of possibility and nothing had helped so far.

8 years since that incident happened, Gangadhar had taken to spirituality and that day he could not believe his eyes. In the streets of Kashi, he saw Revathy and Amitabh with 2 kids. He was so happy that day. "Thank God, Thank God" he repeated. "Thanks for providing just the logical solution to Revathy's life. After all not everything defies logic", he mumbled.
He did not want Revathy or Amitabh to spot him. He could remain out of guilt just this one day. The guilt that he decided to save his life ahead of the 4 year old kid when the currents were just too strong for him to plunge and save the kid.

Kings Island June 5 2005

2005-06-06T16:54:00.000-04:00

The day hopeful,
The drive enjoyable,
The rides thrilling,
The water a blessing,
The talks amusing,
The group total fun,
The lunch just about right,
The winding queues,
The ssllooww train ride,
Choosing the next ride,
Following the leader,
Video shots, photographs,
Drive back awesome,
The talks rode laughter,
Newer relationships? :(
Late dinner feast sumptuous,
Before bed the heart lighter,
the age lesser,
the mind in unknown territories...

Simply put in blogging terms, the trip a classic! Keep'em coming :)

Recipes down the memory lane - 2

2005-06-03T17:51:00.000-04:00

Chapter -1 : It's a perfect world, so far ...

Chapter 2: From present to past, via the future

April 2008:

Anjali's life has taken its own wild course through the last 4 years. Back when she was in college, not even in her worst nightmares she thought she would end up with what she is doing now. Just like every other fellow-student in her college, she too had dreams of getting a Masters degree from a reputed school in US, make new friends, make money that would entitle her of a good living, explore and ad-venture into some picturesque scenic places that she heard America possesses.

All her close buddies went onto top schools and started pursuing graduate studies. A fraction of them might be chasing a PhD degree now. The others might be with a handsomely paying job with a leading technology company. She least cares about them now. Its been more than an year since she last uttered a word to anyone. Just like the turbulences of a heavy gust of wind blowing away the sand castle along the beach, the unfortunate, unfathomable events put her life into astray.

Back in her college days, when asked what she considers her negative traits are, she would take almost a minute and reply " I dream big! and sometimes I get carried away with the dreams so much that I dont know where to land".And then she would continue on - " then the regulars for a girl - I tend to be overly sensitive over trivial issues, I would be disappointed badly if someone close to me hurts me". She would go on "But I am a sweet lass and that more than compensates for all the negatives". Could someone really go into her brains and alter her genes for their own benefits? How did she let that happen to her? Or is it just her figment of imagination?

It was ten to one in the night. The house looked deserted both from inside and outside - there are no neighbors, no houses nearby. That's not surprising - no one would want to live at a place in the thick of a forest, far away from the mainland. The room was dark, pitch dark that you could miss a glittering cat's eyes in the room. The trees and the guttering winds were making quite a noise and have gone silent for a while, probably informing about an impending rain. Anjali was lying on the floor like a dead-girl, her body stone cold, heartbeat erratic, breathing intervals irregular.

Her mom. Flash. Chemistry lab at her college. Flash. Photograph of her bunch of friends at an amusement park. Flash. Her closest friend. Flash. An ugly little creature. Flash. The wretched cell-phone of hers. Flash. A beaten-up herself. Flash. Rehana Begum's throat cut slit. Flash. The hospital. Flash. Her mom. Fla..

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh" - Anjali suddenly sits up with her heartbeat galloping like a horse, sweat pouring all over her face, breaths taking in more air than her lungs could handle and her face crunching with an excruciating pain in her body.
The past is yet to come ...

To be continued...

Recipes down the memory lane -1

2005-05-31T14:01:00.000-04:00

Chapter 1 : It's a perfect world...so far!

October 2004:

It is the usual hectic day for Anjali and she was cooling her heels off at home. She is a typical city-bred girl pursuing her undergraduate degree in computer science engineering. She is just out of her teens, she is probably touching 5'7", her eyes are oft compared to the shape of a fish and when they do, they speak a whole lot than her mouth does. Her cherubic smile, her long legs and a body that turns heads, she could have been easily in the modeling industry. She is adventurous, brave, always inquisitive, bubbly, fun-loving and an endless list of adjectives that would bracket her into the 'this girl is a lot of fun to be with'. She has a varied range of interests - from cooking dishes to speaking dirty politics, from playing tennis to commenting on Crichton's science fiction novels, from shooting digital video on scenic trips to learning carnatic music.

Ramanan wasn't doing well for the past 2-3 days. He is barely able to walk and take care of himself but he is not unduly perturbed by his unwellness. All he is hoping is this bout of suffering to end sooner because he has got bigger dates to come. He is one of the nicest guys that you can get to meet. He is always helpful and he listens more than he talks. He was considered a sick child when he was young - always had the habit of getting into some unknown ailments that would take its toll on his body and emotions and by the time he recovers from one another unknown arrives. For the amount of suffering he has underwent the spirit he shows towards life is truly amazing.

A first look at Aditya makes you think he is a technical freak and someone who talks more than he knows. He is not particularly good at getting high scores in his exams but when you need some technical help ranging from computers to 'my-cellphone-antenna-is-broke' to how do I assemble this piece of furniture, he should be the first guy that you want to go to! He analyses things differently and loves to make mistakes for it helps him to get better each time. He is just done with his undergraduate degree in India and is in the US of A to pursue a PhD degree in Radiation Chemistry. He is hugely curious when it comes to the working of day-to-day electronic gadgetry and loves to fiddle around with them whenever he gets a chance away from his already busy research life. But then, he doesnt complain often!

Rehana Begum is a down to earth lower middle-class wife living in Hyderabad. She lives in a multistoreyed, multi-portioned complex right in the downtown of Hyderabad. She works as a janitor in the same office as her husband and their wages put together help them meet their ends. They have a 1 year old boy who is taken care of her next-door grandmother during the day and she is carrying a soon to arrive baby. Hers is a happy go family life, no big plans about the future, a living for today, a loving husband and kid, tasty food to eat everyday.

Is life a worthwhile trip when everything remains perfect and predictable?
Isn't it the popular perception that 'All of us had a past to deal with?'

To be continued ...

Irunthum Illai...

2005-05-27T15:57:00.000-04:00

Recently read :
Its a story and there are only two characters - Mom Camel and her Daughter Camel.

DC : "Amma, namakku en maa kaal ellam perusaa irukku?"
MC : "Desert la naama neraiya thooram nadakkanum la, athuku than long steps kaaga aandavan kuduthu irukkaan da kannamma"

DC: " Amma nammaloda vaai en ivvlo sora sora nnu irukku?"
MC : " Desert la cactus flower sharp a thaane irukkum, atha sappdarathukkaga aandavan kuduthu irukaan da kannamma"

DC : " Amma nammaloda vayathukula en oru water storage edam irukku"
MC : "Paalaivanathula thanni kidiakkathu la, athu thaan kudikkarachaiye store pannikka thaan aandavan kuduthu irukkaan da kannamma"

DC : " Ellaam sari maa, naama en circus la oru cage kullaa irukkom?"

****
Courtesy : Aanandha Vikatan.
Trivia : Super star ku romba pidicha kathai ithu thaanaam.

Awakening

2005-05-22T11:54:00.000-04:00

Her arms around Him, She hugging around his back,
They talking a gamut of things under the sun,

- Suddenly he was woken up by his 5 year old kid born out of His marriage.

Is love a misnomer?

2005-05-19T13:00:00.000-04:00

Back when I was young, I thought if two people were in love there can be nothing that could go wrong between them. As I started to grow older and started understanding things a little better, I could figure out, people truly in love tend to agree over differences and find ways to love each other better on arguments.

But I have this feeling creeping inside me for quite some time that these days, love is commonly misconstrued for some convenience relationship. I vividly recollect my final year days, when we counted the number of girl-guy combinations who were "going" together and expressed their mutual love and it touched 40. Whew! I thought all these people are going to get married in another 3-4 years and lead a fun-filled life. Alas! that was not going to be, hardly 4 or 5 pairs only made it till marriage and beyond.

My personal feeling, these Americans treat love as something like a convenience relationship - more of companionship, than true emotions involved that we always talk about in a love relationship. Ofcourse I am not saying they dont care about the hearts, but all I am saying is they are ready for a break in the relationship in the future. They dont think of marriage for a long time in their love relationship but the first thing that we do when thinking about love is think about getting married.

I see more and more of these cases happening where in its more of a need for companionship and someone who can really take care of you being represented as the person you love.
TO get married is just a big step taken from your love relationship. It involves more of committment and loyalty than just love and being loved. A sustained marriage is not the goal but the liberty you take to encroach upon your spouse's 'own' space makes marriages work beautifully.

Having said all these about love being grossly misrepresented, marrying someone unknown still gives me jitters!

Incomplete triangle

2005-05-15T14:05:00.000-04:00

His intimacy toward Her, His ability to know what Her wants are,
His gentle caresses over Her hair, His sense of humor,
His Warmth, Comfort of His holding hands,
His hugs, His kisses,
His support in making Her dream more, His unflinching love for Her,
His panache in making Her believe they are inseparable from each other.

Few months passes by and She gets married to Him.

She starts to like the love and affection shown by Him.
She liked the way she was taken care by Him when she fell sick.
She liked the understanding and patience shown by Him knowing truly about Her hurt past.
She liked the loyalty and dedication shown by Him to make this relationship work.

One day it suddenly dawned to Her - "Why should She still be in His thoughts when She thinks She actually is in love with Him?"
Realising this, that night, She made love to Him for the first time...

Things that I learnt!

2005-05-09T12:06:00.000-04:00

Things that I learnt after coming into the blogging world:

1. When talking about your friends in the blog never type in their full name. If your friend's name is "Maadasaami" type in just an M (he will also feel better and you can save yourself some typing).

2. You can be as abstract in your blog as much as you think you can go. You can absolutely type in two disjointed words like "Sunrise" and "Cathectic" (i.e. to invest emotional energy in) next to each other. That lets the readers use their imagination and relate those two words.

3. Avvai sonnaa maari "ondru, erandu, moonu, naalu, ainthu, aaru" ena oru group-la irukkaravangala varisai paduthi ezhuthalaam.

4. You can get atleast 125 comments on your blog easily by replying individually to each one of the comment'ers ( which includes you, so that it goes into an infinite recursive loop)

5. You can talk about anything in your blog, it could be the long road-trip and how you saved yourself from some charged up cattle the previous day.

6. You could write up a blog just because all the people around you talk about it all the time and because of the "hype" that they give to it.

7. You can create your own abbreviations like "YAGIYAG" meaning 'You Also Get If You Also Give' and there will still be some people who describe that blog to be a master-piece.

8. Last but not the least, there need not be any particular reason for you to blog. You can blabber and blog just because its lunch time on a Monday and just so you can say "I will always blog once in 2-3 days".

- Prabhu

ps1: As always, all intentions and references were meant to be sarcastic and they are all (un)intentional.

ps2: This is slightly off the topic. For all those comment'ers only - you can have the same comment :
1." i wonder who this anonymous is", 2. "enjamaai maa"
in every blog that you read and still have some elder brother of yours laugh at it heartily.

Amma...

2005-05-06T15:54:00.000-04:00

Uruvam Koduthu Uyir Koduthu,
Unarvu Koduthu Unavu Koduthu,
Urimai Koduthu Ullam Koduthu,
Inimai Koduthu Inidhe Koduthu,
Illam Koduthu Ikkanam Koduthu,
Imai Koduthu Iyal Koduthu,
Anbu Koduthu Aravanaippu Koduthu,
Amuthu Koduthu Agam Koduthu,
Ennai Koduthu Ellaam Koduthu,
Yekkam Thanitha Ennin Ammaa,

Naalai naan unnin thaayaga varam kodu!

To believe or not to!

2005-05-03T22:45:00.000-04:00

To believe her or not to !

Imagination1: You are reading this blog when you are lonely at home.
Imagination2: Your home seems suddenly eerie and too calm to you to believe its just you in your home.

Sometimes when you are all by yourself at home do you ever get a feeling that something strange is happening around you? Have you heard strange sounds in the other room, leaves rustling outside the window and when you go to check things out, everything seems to be not-out-of-ordinary? When you are in the shower, have you noticed that something is pulling you into the tub/swimming pool?
Innikum mani night 12 aachunna, udambula poooraan neliyara maari, bayam neliya aarambikkuthu. Chinna vayasulenthu, panirendu mani, nammudaiya time illa, athu peigal nadamaadum neram nnu namba vechuttaanga.

So, do ghosts exist? If you keep scientific explanations and facts aside and listen to the stories rendered by our ancestors, you can be made to believe that ghosts a.k.a spirits do "co-exist" with us.

Now from the stories that go around in rural india:

- There's always a ghost residing in water - pool/well/bathing tub (in modern times). Athuvum thannila kannu avvlo thulliyamaa theriyaathu, yaaro kaala pidichu izhukkura maari irukkum. And dimly lit areas are definitely preferred places that a ghost can reside. (So, ushaar inimel...)
- Female ghosts clad white all the time. ( And this is universal, even in western countries).
- Aangalai kaattilum, Pengalukku thaan eppome pei pidikkum. Enga ooru kizhavi ya kettappo " aambalainga erkanave pisaasunga, avanungala pei vera pidikkanumaakkum?" nnu nakkalaa solluvaanga.
- Ghosts are very territorial by nature, they wouldnt want to leave their home unless forced to. Thats when they get angry and you can hear/see some strange things.

**
Imagine this: A little indian innocent, plain faced kid appearing from the woods with widespread hands is supposed to be the most widely seen ghost/spirit . People from all over the world have supposedly seen this kid and got scared to hell.
**
Next time you are cooking and hear something in the living/bedroom or when you are too concentrated on your PC and hear something at your back, think that its just some Nancy/Amy who also co-exists with you and give her some space. Dont be too worried about her :)
**
If you ask me whether I believe in ghosts & their stories, I would say "Well, I dont believe ghosts do exist, but I definitely get scared".
**
And dont be too dismissive of this blog or its contents. If you havent experienced any of these yet, you will definitely think about this blog when you "do" feel you are "not" alone.
**

Rest in peace,
- Prabhu

Reference: This week's AnandhaVikatan, Kathaavilaasam.

2005-05-03T15:33:00.000-04:00

Vaasagargale,

Night -kaa paarunga intha idathai!
Till then,

Being explicitly expletive!

2005-05-02T13:56:00.000-04:00

Whats your favorite one?
I was talking to a close frend of mine and was wondering, what choice of expletives do girls use?
Whats the most that they know? I am sure for once, we guys know more than they do.
Wait a second, do I know that for sure? Atleast from the curiosity that they exhibit in knowing the definitions, I can only hope they know a lil less than we do!

I wonder, how can guys who can tend be so explicitly expletive, be that goody-goody amidst the girls?
I dont swear, but I dont mind expletives coming from a few guys, as it adds spice to the scene and lightens the mood generally.
Atleast in the group that I have been, swears were never meant to be swears, it just adds a punch to the point that they are making.
The puns that they intentionally give to certain parts of the words, really does the trick and evokes instant laughter in the group. That being said, I think, swears from some guys dont look good at all (and that is one reason that I dont swear :)

To finish it off, a swear, that puts me into fits of laughter, "thambi ithu unga aaathaa!"
vivek:"podaaannnnnnngggggggggggggggooooo****" ( roja kootam is it, the film?)

- Prabhu

TGIF!

2005-04-29T12:15:00.000-04:00

Thank God Its Friday,
Since work is not tightening its noose around me this week, wanted to try out something different. I assumed people are kind of getting in the weekend mood just like me and thought this might interest them for a while.

English words, all of them are,
some jumbled, tell me what they are.
( aahaa, kavithai, R antha anonymous naana kooda irukkalam. :)
EDIT:
If you want to try it yourself, I suggest do not look into the comments section at all.
All the answers are out in the comment section, will post the logic behind arriving at the answers soon!

Clues:
1. tent here to get connected to the world. (8)
2. an author's own, etchy trivia not on Hell.(10)
3. a girl wearing her pic with care.(7)
4. run away from, twice a bonded Nancy. (9)
5. Its a classic art Harry!, Thou Poetry (7)

Ippo rules:
1. Comments section la answer pannunga, and 2 mins thaan aachu nu sollatheenga, ( oru 1 hr aachu enaku prepare panna :)
2. Dont look at the comment section before attempting these.
3. Have fun!

EDIT: Probably, I didnt express things correctly. All 5 clue words are anagrams (like jumbles). So, if you look closely at the clues, u can get which letters to jumble to get the word! Clues also have meanings of the to-be-found-out words.

Brittania Milk Bikis Ad

2005-04-27T11:46:00.000-04:00

"Oru naal naanum annan maari periyavanaakiduven... annan pola brittania milk bikis saapduven..."
This was the milk bikis ad, that you might have seen when u were pretty young. He liked this ad particularly because it tells him to dream so he can achieve things for himself!

Age 7:
He had a lot of fascination about scientists and astronauts. He vividly remembers the day when he thought he discovered something outstanding - was using soap and saw that if it were to be blown to a bubble and shown in sunlight, he could see vibgyor. (Thats what a prizm does right?). He was so excited about this that he talked with his friends for hours on how all of them could start discovering new things.

Age 9:
He was considered pretty good at math and being the favorite student of his math teacher (or is it miss - thats how they used to call her. "Miss! Miss, intha paiyan en penaa va eduthuttan miss"), he wanted to be a teacher, teaching school going kids on how they could do math better. But that wasnt adventurous enough.

Age 12:
Very much into sports. Although, he hadnt played tennis till then, he used to watch every grand slam tournament shown live on TV. Breath-taking as it was, he loved Becker's lounging volleys, his wonderful serves and his delectable touches in front of the net. He dreamt of himself as a tennis star, someone who can really knock out real-world champions. Alas, he realised sooner thats not what he can become. :(

Age 15:
In his XI standard, IIT classes - attempting to solve complex physics problems. Getting a zero in Balsu's first test ( he was the god in madras giving IIT coaching lessons) - he realized immediately - "IIT, Are you kidding me P?"

Today:
What he desires at this point is probably a stable job, an understanding set of close friends, efforts to make parents happy, good things happening to loved ones and his intentions not being misrepresented.

Tomorrow:
He looks for an understanding wife (who doesnt?), loving kid (girl that is:), going up the ladder career-wise, retaining old friends, and few (un)expected, (un)interesting twists in life.

An inner voice asks him, but why are you hesitating in telling "I want to plunge into politics sometime. Is he afraid/hesitant/worried?"
Pat came a reply from another inner voice - "but thats not a decision easily made".
It sure is not!

- Prabhu

WUGIWUG

2005-04-26T17:33:00.000-04:00

Did u know, WUGIWUG means - What U Get Is What U Give?. I didnt.

I read this very impressive blog from a fellow blogger
diyaaram.blogspot.com

I related to whatever was mentioned in that article and I was particularly impressed with the way she ends it!
Intha rendu moonu naal la - I feel all the blogs originating from UK have impressed me (dinesh, ramya, subha, PB) and this one completes the list!

- Prabhu

Murphy's laws

2005-04-26T12:30:00.000-04:00

Its as simple as it can get - google, copy and paste. That is all it took for this post. :)

Some Murphy's laws:

Any given program, when running, is obsolete.
If a program is useful, it will have to be changed.
If a program is useless, it will have to be documented.
If such a program has not crashed yet, it is waiting for a critical moment before it crashes.
Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.

When a man wants his wife to hear, she doesn't listen. When that same man doesn't want his wife to hear, she's all ears.
All the good ones are taken.
If the person isn't taken, there's a reason.
The nicer someone is, the farther away (s)he is from you.

Put in anything that you seem to know!

Magnet Schools

2005-04-24T21:33:00.000-04:00

I was talking with my brother today and he was pondering upon which school to send his eldest daughter to. His dilemma was - she got an admit in the nearby local school as well as one of those "magnet" schools ( kind of 40 minute bus ride everyday).
He sent me a website about the magnet school and asked me to look into the
website and I was amazed at the electives (amaam janangale, ELECTIVES) that each kid can decide on science, math, social study etc...
If you decide to go it is : http://www.wcpss.net/

Chumma antha website la paathathula silathu pathi sollalaamnu thaan intha blog.
1. MAGICAL MATHEMATICS - AG G169-1009
Discover the magic of numbers and mathematical concepts.
Comment: Namma Vasu intha course a edutha enna? Apovaavathu, numbers la steady a onnu solluvaana?

2. CREATIVE DRAMA G215-1001
This course will give students the opportunity to learn about acting and the stage. They will explore their own experiences through acting, improvisation, and short plays. It is suggested that they take this course before going on stage.
Comment: PB, nee intha course eduthaakka cchhumma pichu pichu sanththoshamaaa (chandramukhi paatha effect) clear panniduva da...

3.WEATHER WATCHING G209-2012

Beginning meteorologists will be assisted in understanding the elements which make up weather. Students will perform experiments and build their own weather instruments.
Comment: Vijay, you should definitely take this one! ( Avan enniku veyil adikkum inniku tennis aadalaam nnu solrano anniku "Jo" nnu mazhai peyyum!)

4. LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP - AG G214-2031
Students will study leadership techniques and the characteristics of persons that are, or have been, influential leaders in our country. Students will be asked to assume school leadership roles and practice techniques acquired through this course.

Comment: Dinesh, enakku therinnja circle la unna vittaa intha course vetrigarama mudikka koodiya ore aalu nee thaan!! ( machi, there was also a course - "Know your calories" - athula un pera podaama itha quote panni irukken, nyaapagam vachukko intha favor a :)

Sari, these things apart, I was really stunned at the options that a 5-6 year old kid has when choosing electives. I am excited about her going to school as I think I would really learn something from her sooner than later. I really like the education system in this country. There are no stupid - "read the entire book for 100 marks concept" but the course work instead emphasises on learning and implementing things that you read.
Accepted that these guys have the best infrastructure in schools than what we had in our colleges, but things can definitely a lot improve back home in Indian education system even otherwise.

That being said, I still want my girl to grow up and study in India rather than here!

Chandramukhi & Mumbai Express

2005-04-24T13:49:00.000-04:00

Saw Chandramukhi and Mumbai Express yesterday - first show and second show.
Liked both of the films equally - Mukhi was unusually revolving around a plot for a Rajini's film and Rajini looks youthful and refreshing after the Baba-fiasco. Thalaivi Jo as usual kalakkitta athuvum antha "ra ra" paatula.
Mumbai Express - is yet another misconceived identity film but the film had its moments of laughter and funny sequences. I liked the first 1 hour of the film atleast.
Okie, looks like am writing a lot about cinemas these days.
Will try to come up with an (un)interesting blog in the afternoon sometime on a topic that I wanted to dwelve on sometime.

Later...

At the right place, at the right time...

2005-04-23T09:46:00.000-04:00

How often have you wondered - "what if I had been there at that time?".
How do you feel when people say - "Well, you werent doing nuthing at home, you could as well been there and got to witness the event, you just missed it!?"
How do you react - "when you miss a PTC bus and end up with nothing when you could have ended up with Jo ( as in 12B)?"

Statement: I have always been considered one hell of a lucky guy all these years, just because I always seem to be at the right place at the right time and things seem to fall in place for me.

But, if you ask me, I would say " I have seen my share of ups and downs", but if you push me for an answer, I would say thinking hard, probably I would agree with the above statement.
I would say the Almighty has been kind enough to bestow all that I have with me and things thats going to follow.:)

There is a popular antithesis that I use when people say I am lucky. I feel luck is the rendezvous of opportunity and preparation. There's nuthing like plain luck, if you are ready and up for it, you are most probably going to get what you want.

I generally love the rains, and I especially loved the rain yesterday for it came at the right place at the right time!

Ragasiyamaaii...

2005-04-21T21:58:00.000-04:00

Was seeing this movie DumDumDum just now. This has always been my favorite songs composed ever.

I tried to type in the lyrics for u guys as well as for me.
Soothing music, aptly written lyrics and thalaivi Jo, mannil vera enna vendum!!
Here you go --

******
ragasiyamai ragasiyamai punnagaithaal porullennavo?
solla thudikkum vaarthai kirangum, thondai kuzhiyil oosi irangum
ilai vadivil ithayam irukkum, malai vadivil athuvum ganakkum
sirithu sirithu siraiyila sikki kolla adam pidikum...

athisaiyamai, avasaramai mozhi tholainthal porullennaavo?
solla thudikkum vaarthai kirangum, thondai kuzhiyil oosi irangum
ilai vadivil ithayam irukkum, malai vadivil athuvum ganakkum
sirithu sirithu siraiyila sikki kolla adam pidikum...

***
1:
nilam neer kaatrile minsarangal piranthidum...
kaathal tharum minsaramo prapanjathai kadanthidum...
nijamaai nee enna theendinaal...
nijamai nee ennai theendinaal, paniyaai kaniiyaai uraigiren
oliyaai nee ennai theendinal, nuraiyaai unnull karaigiren...
kaathaal eval thaane eval thaane eno ularalgal thaano

athisaiyamai avasaramai mozhi tholainthaal porullennavo??
athisaiyamai avasaramai mozhi tholainthaal porullennavo??

2:
vellai thaalai polave en ithayam irunthuthu
mella vanthu un viral kathal endru ezhuthuthu

oru naal kathal en vaasalil ...
oru naal kathal en vaasalil varavaa varava kettadhu
marunal kathal en veetinil adimai saasagam meetudhu

athuvo athu ithuvo athu ethuvo ena naamariyomee....
****
ragasiyamai ragasiyamai punnagaithaal porullennavo?
athisaiyamai avasaramai mozhi tholainthaal porullennavo??
solla thudikkum vaarthai kirangum, thondai kuzhiyil oosi irangum
ilai vadivil ithayam irukkum, malai vadivil athuvum ganakkum
sirithu sirithu siraiyila sikki kolla adam pidikum...

***
Dont you want to listen to this song, I do and off I go!

Final(s) Week(s)

2005-04-21T11:20:00.000-04:00

Its those times of the year. If you are a student, I understand its going to be a tension filled, sleep/food starved couple of weeks of total pressure.

Yesterday, I had been to a get-together sort of at a friend's place. I saw a few of "still-studying guys" ( dei neenga ellam engaluku munnadi vanthavanga da, eppo da padippa mudippeenga?? :)
leaving the place early citing assignments, projects and exams pending.

When I had course-work, I always liked the last couple of weeks of school. It always looks like - too many things to do and too little a time to complete them. For late starters like me, even if the professor gives 2 weeks notice about an impending project, its always the last 3-4 days that you start worrying/putting in some time for the project.
Athuvum as the deadline nears - you can see all sorts of reaction from people - "enakku mattum en thaan answer varalaiyo therillaiye", "maapplai,dei nee itha eppdi panna kaamiyenn, naan variables peru maathikkaren ( podaaaanga nu sollanum nu thonum...)", "enna manipulate panina intha maari output varum??", "ot** antha aalu saavadikkaraan da" :)

Ithellaam thaandi antha project, night 12 kku due irunthaa, 11pm ku submit panrathula irukkura thrill e alaathi. Mudichuttu chumma iruppomaa??, aiyo itha professor vanthu check pannum pothu avar test case kku work aagumaa, aagaathaa nnu pottu confuse pannikka vendiyathu...

Beyond all these fears, worries - time flies by in the last 2-3 weeks and the end of it all I really miss this type of activity for the rest of the semester.

Good luck guys, seekuram exams a vetrigarama mudinga. Vaazhthukkal!!

To quote Michael Bevan - when asked how he can come back from impossible situations to win games for Australia - the classic finisher in death-situations replied "The asking run-rate is always lower than what you can achieve".
( Correct me here Vijay, if I'm wrong!)

Random thoughts

2005-04-20T17:15:00.000-04:00

A scene from Thenali :
Jayaram and bus Conductor talking about Kamal -
J : "Sir, ivara madurai bus stand la erakki vittudunga."
C : " Yen avare eranga mattaara?? "
J : " Appadiye mudinjaa, madras pora bus la ethi vittudunga"
C : " Yen avare era mattaaraa??"
kaduppaana J : " Thenali, ivar unakku mela"
Bus Conductor jumps down from the stairs and says "Ippo??"

A scene from Minnale -
Maddy, Vivek and gang talking.
V: dei unakku thaan english nalla theriyum nnu solra la, enge i am suffering from fever nnu oru leave letter ezhuthu da english la..
Friend: "respected madam..mm.. mm.. ?? dei.. enna daa thideernu ezhutha sonna eppdi da ??"
V : tho paarunga da, leave letter ezhutha ivan kitte appointment vaangindu varanumaam da.....

A scene from Aan paavam:
An angry pandiarajan talks to his father VK.
"Appa, anna kalyanathoda enakkum kalyanam pannalainna naan enan pannuvennu theriyaathu, nan apporam intha kizhavi (his grandma) ya kalyanam pannindruven..."
VK: "podaa porambokku, athukkaaga engamma va enda kalyanam pannikkara kazhuthai?"
An instant reply from P: "nee mattum enga amma va kalyanam pannikkalaiyaa, athu mattum enna nyaayam?"

A scene from HeyRam:
Vasundhara das and Kamal, just married and sharing a water-on-top-of-lotus relationship:

V: Ithu thaan first time!
K: Ennathu?
V: Neenga sirichu naan paathathu..
K: :-)
V: Second time!!
K: :-)
V: Ahh, hat-trick!!
Later when Kamal decides to go to Maharashtra with vasundara without letting know their families,
K : "ippo naan naalaavathaa oru vaati sirichene nee pakkalaiyaa?? :)"

A scene from Alaipayuthey
Maddy in the hospital "shakthi, muzhichukka, kalyanathukku munnadi un pinnaadi suthinathu ellaam love illa, ippo nee illa nu
naalu mani nerama ellaa edathulaiyum unna thedi alanjen paaru, ippo thaan love naa enna nnu purinjuthu, muzhichukka shakthi muzhichukka..."

- Kadasila senti aa mudichuttene...Thats ok, yaaaru kandukkaraa?

Sting

2005-04-19T11:39:00.000-04:00

Knowing that a full week of hard-work?! is ahead of me, I always like an extra half-hour sleep on a Monday morning. It helps me get out of bed - fresh, eager and helps me in avoiding the crib that it is a Monday.
Yesterday was different though, I got up early as my friend told me that you can get 20 bucks of free gas in a nearby gas station. With gas prices sky-rocketing I felt this is an easy way to quench my engine's thirst for a week or two. My room-mate and me backed our cars and bam!!, we didnt notice we were so close and our cars hit each other!
I was like " what in the world was that!, oh comeon! dont do this on a Monday morning".

Already, I lost my precious 1 hr sleep and now this. I felt like the stupidest that I have ever been.
My entire day was not going well, with a deadline on Tuesday and I have no clue why my code isnt working, I started to mutter things - "This is the worst possible start to a week".
But after all, I found out life isnt all about tough lucks, by the end of the day @ work - I got my code do what it intended to do, checked the code in and came back reasonably happy to home.
But wait, the surprise isnt over - the interesting part came in a trifle late in the night - I caught up with a personality with whom I hadnt talked for a while, and who means a lil extra for me. It was an interesting conversation and I enjoyed it and felt a lot lighter eventually.

When I hit the bed, I began to wonder - "Life throws up a lot of things at you from time to time and if you are too busy cribbing/regretting about events, you will surely miss the bus to the interesting ones. After all Life is Beautiful whatever form it takes." (Did I read that somewhere recently, I tend to forget!!)

ps1: I read a blog yesterday and found a one liner that really impressed me - "to feel that you are being loved makes life a bliss".

ps2: Life is like a scorpion, with a harmless sting ofcourse!! You need those stings to get you going. Right?

Dishing out your favorites

2005-04-18T15:06:00.000-04:00

Who doesnt love to eat?
That too when you are asked to list your favorite dishes you get into the mood and start uttering out your favorite ones. Here's my top 5 list :

1. Soodaana Idli - Milagai podi:

My paatti's classic combo this one is. It is an unwritten rule in my family that my paatti makes thuni (cloth) idlis and milagai podi on saturdays. This dish would be the clinching factor on my decision of whether to take a 1 1/2 hour ride by route "13" bus to her place or staying at my friends' to play cricket.

2. Onion sambar - potato curry:
Another of my paatti's classic combos which my mom faithfully inherited. This would be the Sunday lunch menu reusing the sambar for evening's tiffin with dosa.

3. Morkuzhambu - Paruppu usili:
I didnt know of this combo till one of my friends dished out to me when I came to US and it has earned its place on my list. The combination is devastating and is very healthy - buttermilk + paruppu + beans. I have tried this many a time in the US that I could call myself an expert on making this.

4. Thachi mammu - Vathakuzhambu :
What is dinner/lunch without ending it on curd rice. Its just not complete. Think of a lazy weekend with a sumptuous lunch ending on thachi mammu - vathakuzhambu combo... saapptu mudicha, sorgame theriyum kannu munnaala... I bet no one can sit idle for more than 10 mins - eppo da thaachukkalaamnu irukkum.

5. Rasam saatham - Omelette :
For the period when I was staying away from home and hostel @ Shanmugha College, this would be the ideal combo for lunch. Unlimited meals onnu 10 roobaikku order pannittu, "boss, oru omelette" nnu sonna, rasam satham sappdaracha sooda varum...top tucker aa irukkum combination...
I am restricting myself from eating omelettes these days - jus bcos they are high in cholesterol. (erkanave makkal ellam - "ivanukku kozhuppu jaasthi" nnu solrathu en kaathula vizhaama illa...)

When I was thinking of these dishes - I could visualise - my home, what I would be like, which plate I would be using, where I would be eating from...
Is someone around me eating idli's?? Infact I could even smell the aroma of hot steaming idlis - ok, now thats pushing the imagination just a lil bit.

Off I go....

The likeability factor

2005-04-15T11:48:00.000-04:00

Someone triggered a thought chain in my mind yesterday.
"I like every girl that I come across."

Is that true?
What does it take for me to say "I like this girl, she seems interesting" :
Honestly thinking - a cute hello, an infectious smile and the way she carries herself in a group.

So that means she doesnt even have to talk to me for me to believe that shes interesting and I like her.
I wonder what it is for others? What does it take for you to believe someone (a guy/girl) is interesting?

To be brutally honest and I know most of who know me wont accept this - I take the same parametric scale when I form an opinion on guys as well.
But it is always my leanings toward the fairer sex that gets all the news. Sometimes I feel sick, but that is the price you give to be at the center many a time.

I go back to my good old days ( after all, old days are always good when u think retrospectively) - I have a few girls whom I can talk for hours because I have a special liking for their tastes and their ideas/decision-making, there have been some girls whom I wanted to talk with extensively but never got so far, and there are still few with whom I would like to get acquainted better.

And finally - yeah, I never have said, "I dont like this girl".
And I dont think I am going to change that standpoint yet.

To get a girl's phone number

2005-04-13T21:39:00.000-04:00

These set of writings have no relevance as of today.
I am trying to go through my memory lane few years back and talking about my experiences.

******
1. What does it take to get a number from a girl and call her up?
2. Why is it always nerve wracking the last few minutes that you intend to call her up and that your lips suddenly lose the moistness that it always has?
3 Why is it always tough to keep the first conversation going?
4. Why do you run out of ideas in the first talk, sooner than later?
5. Why is it people consider you as a guy with guts if you ask her number?
6. Why do you always hear more of " kalakkitta da" and " naanga irukkom da kavalai padaathe" and less of "thambi ithellaam nallathuku illai..."

Thinking of all the above things -
7. Why do you think " what in the world was I thinking in asking her number in the first place?".

Well after all - by the time that you wrote this blog down - your nerves kind of settle down and you think so what, you can have people laughing at your expense for one more time.