Monday, December 21, 2009

Indians Abroad !

I did come across this in one of the forums

Top 10 things a person do after returning from abroad !!!
-----------------------------------------------------------
1.Tries to use credit card in road side hotel.

2.Drinks and carries mineral water and always speaks of health conscious.

3.Sneezes and says 'Excuse me'.

4.Says "Hey" instead of "Hi".
-- says "Yogurt" instead says "Curds".
-- Says "Cab" instead of "Taxi".
-- Says "Candy" instead of "Chocolate".
-- Says "Cookie" instead of "Biscuit".
-- Says "Free Way" instead of "Highway".
-- Says "got to go" instead of "Have to go".
-- Says "Oh" instead of "Zero"

5.Says all the distances in Miles (Not in Kilo Meters), and counts in Millions. (Not in Lakhs)

6.Tries to see the % of fat on the cover of a milk pocket.

7.Tries to complain about any thing in India as if he is experiencing it for the first time.

8.From the luggage bag, does not remove the stickers of Airways by which he traveled back to India, even after 4 months of arrival.

9.Takes the cabin luggage bag to short visits in India, tries to roll the bag on Indian Roads.

10.Tries to begin conversation with "In US/UK..." or"When I was in US/UK..."


Top 10 things a person does after going abroad !!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.Fails to eat properly - As everything seems expensive. But Puts on weight

2.Thinks a lot to buy clothes - Coz he knows how much he can get it for back home

3.Multiplies the currency by exchange rate - and feels bad for buying anything.

4.Uses a bucket and mug in bathtub

5.Cooks at home and eats at home most of the time

6.Reads more about the new country’s culture / history / Politics

7.Watches a lot of movies of their native language or languages they can understand.

8.Starts talking slowly

9.Tries to eat with fingers during every available opportunity

10.Never fails to know what is happening in India; Realizes Indian values ; Realize that they are Indian

I have come across a no.of these from both the lists! Am sure every Indian living/lived abroad would have felt it.

You can take Indians out of India, but not India out of Indians :-)

Comment your experience !

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Look Through the " Windows"


Checkout the link about the history of Microsoft Windows.

The earliest I can remember using is, Windows 95 in twelfth standard ... And Spider Solitaire was my favorite game in the world! The feeling after beating the "computer" in dual player was great!

I'm one of the few millions in the world who would NOT have touched computers if there was no graphical user interface. I still prefer clicking than actually typing the commands. My genius friends kid me for my passion to the GUIs; And I know that there are millions of others who are glad for the simple-to-use GUI.

The growth of Windows in all areas of computing(UI, Power, Performance, etc) has been tremendous. And, It’s impressive to watch the growth of Windows from Windows 1.01 (1985) to Windows 7(2009)

I’m happy about the Windows 7. What is the earliest Windows that you have used?

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Favorite Quotes

Got a forward mail containing the quotes of Chanakya;
They are so relevant even in the present world. I find these quotations, really deserving.

Chanakya's Quotes
Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC - 275 BC


"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and Honest people are screwed first."

"Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous."

"The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. ! It will destroy you."

"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no Friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."

"Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead."

"As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it."

"The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman."

"Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest."

"The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction."

"Whores don't live in company of poor men, citizens never support a weak company and birds don't build nests on a tree that doesn't bear fruits."

"God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple."

"A man is great by deeds, not by birth."

"Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness."

"Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends."

"Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person."

"Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth."


Though I have reservations about a few of these quotes, on introspection, they seem to be true. Atleast, each of them would make a good topic for contemplation on a rainy afternoon or on a sleepless night with no other soul for company. Try it!

You'll learn loads about yourself. Keeping a journal of such times would enhance the journey. After such a free wheeled ride on your mind, you would feel so rejuvenated and you would have become your own best friend!

Do tell me your comments and views on it!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Anger & me ...


Well most of my friends would laugh if I say I am troubled seeing my anger.

My college friends or school friends won’t trust me when I say I get angry these days. I had never been angry then, I was such a COOL HEAD then!

But now, I happen to realize a new problem – ANGER.

I am surprised why I get angry more often than my college days. The work place may not be as warm as it could be, but off late I have managed to keep the place around me cooler than how it was when I initially came here. And to my surprise unless am forced to be rude I have managed to keep cool at work.

I am troubled when I look at the angry person I am growing into. But one good thing I am a little happy about is – I am able to identify when the monster is about to come out. For some strange reason the “Good me” WARNS people around to leave me alone for sometime & I take my time out to cool down the monster and not to hurt people around. But still I fail to do that and hurt my loved ones at a few instances.

I never get away just like that when I know I have been rude, I always get back and say “I AM SORRY! I shouldn’t have!” but I wish I never have to apologize but control my anger before it is late.

Tell me how you win your anger!

Monday, December 14, 2009

TASMAC tops...

Can you name one corporate which remains unaffected by the global economic meltdown?

Yes, you are right! Its is TASMAC. Its is everywhere and not even its single branch has ever registered a loss. TASMAC's growth has been outstanding amidst all the sectors. Well there are reasons for it.

1. People drink regardless of whether they win or lose.
2. TASMAC is easily accessible. There are more branches than ICICI ATM :-).
3. Its open all the day and 364 days a year (Except Gandhi Jayanthi)
4. Some branches have speacial bars and you dont have to take the saraku home.
5. Many of the branches' bars render value added services like side dishes, ooruhas ...
6. You get to connect with people from all walks of life.

The TN government might propagandize TASMAC's growth as one of its achievements. Though the TN government is not in the list of top 5 e-governance implemented states, it's not failed to put up a website for TASMAC.

Checkout the latest prices ... http://tasmac.tn.gov.in/Mrp.htm

I'm sure, soon we can expect it's IPO :-).

Thursday, November 12, 2009

2 States : The Story of My Marriage by Chetan Bhagat

Just started reading Chetan Bhagat's latest novel " 2 States : The Story of My Marriage".

Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy.
They get married.

In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl.
Girl loves Boy.
Girl’s family has to love boy.
Boy’s family has to love girl.
*Girl’s Family has to love Boy’s Family.
*Boy’s family has to love girl’s family.
Girl and Boy still love each other.
They get married.

2 States, a story about Krish and Ananya. They are from two different states of India, deeply in love and want to get married. Of course, their parents don’t agree. To convert their love story into a love marriage, the couple have a tough battle in front of them. For it is easy to fight and rebel, but it is much harder to convince.


Hope it's going to be another entertainer. Will let you know ppl, once I complete the book.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Wake Up Sid !

Wake up Pon !!!. It’s been a looooongtime you entered this page.

Yeah, I woke up… with a plot of “Wake up Sid”.

Okay.. Okay.. I know, it’s too late to write about this film…but is there a timeline to appreciate a good cinema? .. After a long time, I could smell some fresh air.. a good movie..

The story is about a guy Sid (Ranbir Kapoor), son of a rich businessman (Anupam Kher), who is seen struggling to make a choice between video games and financial accounting on the eve of the final exam ; who believes in enjoying the life at the fullest..


Ayesha Banerjee (Konkona Sen), Bold,independent and outspoken girl from Bengal, meets Sid at a party.Small favors by Sid makes him liked by Ayesha, who reiterates from time to time that they are "just" friends. Ayesha got herself a job at Mumbai Beat, a city based magazine as the assistant of the Editor-in-Chief.

Sid leads his own lifestyle with friends and parties, until he fails miserably in his exams while his friends get through. A sound warning and hard talk by his dad makes Sid wild and he storms out of the house. He moves in with Ayesha as a room partner. Sid, with the help of Ayesha lands the job of a photographer at the same magazine, where he discovers his true talent.

A brief period of Sid dating Tanya is thrown in as the parallel track to Kabir (Edit-in-Chief) dating Ayesha. As his dad asks him to come home, Sid leaves Ayesha, without realizing that Ayesha has fallen in love with him. What happens after that is… you might’ve seen in millions of Indian movies.

I really liked the freshness of the movie.. the characters were so natural.. just one of us.. no typical dialogues.. songs were placed very well..Great acting by Konkana. Ranbir looks impressive.

So, overall, the movie was pretty good, intact, I loved it… good storyline,good narration, good music, good acting, good direction & editing.. what more do you need from a movie..?

I would rate it 7 out of 10.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Water in Moon !!!

It was a hit news last week!!!.

CNN’s and NDTV were filling their slot with The Indian Space program chief, Madhavan Nair announcing that India has found water samples in the crust of Moon. Chandrayaan carried a payload from NASA (Moon Mineralogy Mapper) which has mapped water molecules in moon.


When the whole world is congratulating India on its major breakthrough, I also congratulate the scientists of ISRO for making this great discovery. Like every Indian, my heart also felt proud and happy.

But on the flipside, my mind was thinking in a different way. I wanted to scribe my thoughts on that day itself. I may be a week late, but my thoughts are still the same.

what do we gain through this discovery?
• To find the typographic nature of moon?
• To find whether life is possible in moon?
• To study more about moon?...

We've done enough damage to earth through ozone depletion and through CFC emission and now we are conducting experiments to damage moon and other planets too.

My lines might sound very childish. But this is a common man's thought process and I have every right to tell all the scientists around the globe to first do research on Earth, to protect the earth's environment and then think about damaging the extra-terrestrial objects.

Please clean Coovam and Ganges of India before you could even dream about experimenting with the water samples found in moon. Don’t you think that a bird in hand is worth much more than 2 in the bush!!

Save Planet Earth's resources!!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Anything For You Ma'am

Recommended by ‘The Special one’ , I rushed to get this cute, blue covered book, some three weeks ago. Can a love story be narrated in that simple way, I wondered… after reading a few pages itself .


It’s also a story of a final year student of IIT,Delhi. , who falls in love with her sister’s friend.He wants to make a trip to meet her girl Shreya in Chennai,where that girl lives..

He has to make escape of his educational tour to meet this goal as Chennai is two far from Delhi so he steals the same dates just to get out from the city in name of educational tour.

The story then moves with how he fools his professor, who is very passionate about his project and make his escape.. .Few twists and turns take place in this endeavor and in the last, everything fall in its right place.

As many ppl say, it’s more like a commercial entertainer - the charm of campus life, loads of humor and friends, Lively love story of an aspiring young man, the simplicity of relationships and the sweetest joys are spread just perfectly into the book.

In many scenes you ll think as it is all happening to you. You can not avoid a smile while reading this book. Language as simple as one speaks in his daily course.

On the bad side, there were many places so dramatic and lengthy, which made me yawn and took me some two weeks to finish with the book. The book has an interesting plot but a little too obvious anyways.

I’d say it as "Good" and recommend for a light reading .

Five Point Someone (What not to do at IIT)


Though I didn’t write for a month, I’d a chance to read two novels; both are penned by IItens; Both have loads of humor and romance. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the novels.

The first one is,
FIVE POINT SOMEONE
Author :Chetan Bhagat
Genre(s):Fiction

Plot:
Five Point Soemone is a story about three guys in IIT, Delhi, the 'fun' they had during their fours years together and how they almost screw-up their degrees in the process.

It begins with a guy (near death) is being rushed to a hospital and then flashback. The author, Chetan Bhagat, takes you through the four years of the three guys, Alok, Ryan and Hari (supposedly the author himself) starting off with a ragging episode.

Ryan saves the other two from some vulgar ragging and their friendship is sealed. Ryan is rich, smart and handsome guy who apparently has 'everything going for him', while Alok is is poor, intelligent, fat and (almost) ugly guy who has 'all the problems in the world'. And Hari is somehwere in between.

In the first semester itself they score a five point something score in their exams and that is how they come to be known for the rest of their stay, 'five point somethings'.

Ryan is irritated with the ' Grading System' because it does not allow one any freedom to innovate things, but rather produces human machines. He proposes that the three friends have all the fun they can have as 'these are the days to do it' and so between movies, food, chess, porn and vodka they spoil their studies. They never rise above their five point something.

In the meanwhile Hari falls for the daughter of their HoD. To impress her dad,he wants to score an 'A' for his course. And the easiest way to do,it is steal the paper! (Ryan's idea) So Hari goes to the professor's house to meet the daughter and with no one at home they end up in issues - get caught and expelled for a term.

Having 'screwed up' their degrees and chances at a decent job, they come to their senses and work hard on a project........................ the story goes.

What I say...
The title ‘Five Point Someone’ indicates the relative grading system in IITs. Five pointers are the worst performers in the class and are generally ignored by all the professors. The incidents, the characters, the plot everything is described very well. The book explains ‘What not to do at IIT’. Ironically you will find those ‘not to do’ things interesting :-D.

The narrative which is very humorous, witty & hilarious; provides light reading. But sometimes got irritated by the lengthy scences and wondered whether humor is a bit over done, especially when there are situations that call for atleast a grain of seriousness.

Maybe thatsy it is regarded as a book version of “Dil Chahta hai”.. Overall , I'd say it as Pretty Good but Not Excellent

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Back from Hibernation

What happened to my blog?
No posts in the last one month? What was i doing?
Did i loose the interest in blogging?

No... No...
I was busy.

I don't want to say it, that I was busy bcoz of work.

Had health issues, some personal allegiances; Also there was a hectic schedule at work to meet a delivery.

Now,things are almost stabilized and I'm back again to screw-up you ppl. Hope to continue blogging with some more interesting works.
Let’s see how far it goes :-D

Cheers..
me

Friday, August 28, 2009

Blue Attraction

I went to RmKV with my friend, few weeks back for getting dresses.

"Blue - Killer- Size X".

Shop keeper said it has to be "X+2" and asked me to try both.Infact he was right it happened to be X+2.;-)

Next T shirt, i just walked around the entire stretch once and picked the one (ofcourse, it’s also in the blue shades).

“Enda. Unakku Blue thavira vera colour kannukkay theriyatha” , my friend ired.

Yes. I’m also wondering…..No color other than blue attracts me so quickly… I don't know exactly, when I developed so much of liking towards blue. One day, I incidentally found out that more than half of my wardrobe are filled with various shades of blue. (If it’s not Blue, then it would be black / it’s shade).

Blue: The colour that makes me happy, the colour that I love the most and the colour that I wish should be in every part and parcel of my life...

Sea, Sky, Peacock, my college bus, Desktop Wallpapers, Nellai Express , Tata Indicom ads, My CD pouch, The first saree- I bought for my Mom - the list of blues that attracted me is endless...

I learnt that I can even overcome the effect of Monday blues with my favorite blue dress ;-)... Such is the impact of the color on me!!!

Monday, August 17, 2009

English Premier League 2009-10 : My Observations

Not only me, Soccer fans allover the world were eagerly waiting for the EPL, started on Saturday August 15th, 2009. What a start to the Premier League season… Every single game this weekend has ended with the result. i.e. there have been no draws.

As always, BIG FOUR’s Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea,and Liverpool are going to be in the limelight as Manchester United is looking to win their 4th straight title. But, from my point of view, it’s not going to be an easy job for Man.United. This year finds to be very competive at the top as Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester City will be looking to knock off the reigning champions.

Who will win the League Trophy?

It’s difficult to know how losing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez will affect Manchester United and if they can win the league title again.Liverpool was in contention all last season but struggled during the last few months.

Chelsea have the potential to make a run for the title but haven’t been able to put together a consistent run the last few season’s finals.Arsenal are a young side that tend to be inconsistent and are hard to predict.

Man City have made news with their spending spree that includes Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz, Gareth Barry, and Kolo. Will their new players help them earn a Champions League spot?

In my prediction, Manchester United,Chelsea, and Liverpool are the three real contenders for the league trophy.It would definitely add some excitement to the league if a club like Everton, Aston Villa, Arsenal, or Man City were fighting for the title but it just doesn’t seem realistic :-D.

Apart from the analytics,

Since from my schooldays, I’ve been a big fan of Chelsea. They had a very impressive pre-season and have got the potential to grab the title.Chelsea looks more stronger this time and Didier Drogba showed it.

I wish the Blues “Good Luck”.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Sweet Heart... Please come back!!!

Hi Honey,

I missed you last night... I missed you more than I ever imagined possible... You were there right before me and I still was not able to do anything...I was feeling a lot helpless too for the very first time in many days…Life can be so unfair at times... it can separate you from my love in many cruel ways...

I know that I have hurt you at times... also I have really frustrated you with my silly ways of loving you..I know you will say I am very selfish, I always take from you more and more...but darling, you are my life…Its because of you I breathe everyday...Its because of you I look forward to each new day.....

You know dear, last night I did try to come close to you... but it was really impossible however hard I tried... I am sure it was your dad's idea to separate us like this... I know he does not approve of me... He has never even tried to like me...

Last night I stood out there looking at you sleeping peacefully inside that damn mosquito net, telling myself that from now on I guess this is how its gonna be...never together again in this life time :-(

I miss u ... I miss u so much dear..

Please come back to me...

Buzzingly yours!
Mosquito no-420

----------------------------------------------------------------------
PS: I liked this piece of words, published in a Tamil magazine (by some unknown author). So here… my attempt to spoil that interesting article into my rubbish English :-)

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Five Plus

I turn five years at work today. “Time flies… “ people used to say; and I realize how true it is!

2nd August 2004 was the day,I started my career at Danfoss Industries. And then the journey continued with Datapatterns India and now at MindTree… So quickly five years have passed by !.

It's been a wonderful journey till now.

Everyday, when I wake up, I still have the desire to go to work with the same enthusiasm I had as a fresher!!! Certainly not even a percentage it drops…

Probably work is the biggest motivation to work! As we gain experience and show the success, everyone starts to expect more from us and we have to live upto those expectations :-D.

One good thing is the fact I have captured some memorable moments at work in this blog. I thought I could revisit some of my old blog posts!.

First ever on-site trip: My UK Trip - I

In and Around London in my second trip: My UK Trip - II

Moments At Work

And many day-to-day happenings: It’s my life

It's really a wonderful feeling when I read my old posts and the situations at which those posts were written!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Passwords ….Passwords

During the days when I started using internet, it was all exciting to create accounts on various sites! I had actually created E-Mail accounts on various sites Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, Rediffmail, and etc…

But now, I have lost track of almost all of them, except Yahoo and GMail…

I didn’t care much about passwords then… But these days… Lots of Login ID’s and Passwords. At Office – Work station, Intranet portal Login, etc. Then there are a bunch of Net Banking Login & transaction Pwds for each bank. Then…Money control, University Application ID’s and PWD’s and a lot many more… Even for this Blog I have to remember a password for admin entry, statcounter, blog aggregator etc etc...

Never thought I would have to remember these many Passwords! Poor little Brain of mine!:-) It’s already running out of space! Every time I Create a New ID with a New Password, the warning msg “Memory Low! Delete Some Data!!!” appears in front of me!

I use an Excel to sheet to save & track all my Passwords. But the worst thing is, I have to protect the Excel sheet with one more password :-D

The Passwords are chasing me even in my dreams… Yesterday, I had a dream… Everything went Blank, and a window opened up…

And I heard a sweet female voice (An Angel’s Voice, I presume! ) “Enter your Login ID and Password”

I asked “Why?!”

Again, the Voice, “To Enter your Dream World!”

I entered all the Passwords that i had ever used, but nothing worked!
Suddenly a warning Message came across the screen “Your Account has been Locked out. Contact the Administrator!”

என்ன கொடுமை சார் இது!!!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Wedding Bells

I have been getting lots and lots of marriage invitations from colleagues, friends, college/class mates, school friends. Every other day I check my personal email IDs I end up reading marriage invitations from the most expected friends.

Whats amazing the most is I have got more invitations from 83/84 (year of birth) batch guys. I stress guys here because I find a trend guys are getting married at such an early age. Of course there is no standard rule to say that marriageable age for guys is 27 or something.

Sometimes you think early marriages (I mean guys getting married before 25) are mostly love marriages because both will be in same age. But now....most of the marriages I attended are arranged marriages.

During my last vocation, some of my relatives had come to my home to invite us for their daughter’s marriage.

Overheard….."ennum 5-6 months la...enga vettla oru nalla vishiyam nadakanum..." my parents telling to one of them.

My first thought was "Oh are they talking about my marriage...?". My second thought was "Am I really ready for marriage?".

"Paaka arambichirukkom...eppolam nalla ponnu kidaikiradhu roumba kastam " parents continued...

“Nalla Family, Nalla Payan ( oru Vilambaram thaan :D), Nalla Velai, Nalla Pay, … vera enna venum?… Seekirama kalyanathukku koopidunga”, they replied.

I started to laugh! I remember in my very old diaries (nearly 4 years back), I claimed to be be single forever. Its funny to read that.

Its easier to claim to "live blissfully as single till I die..." but reality how far it can be implemented is a tough question for which even I have no answer.

Whatever be the case...whether you have the right age or right financial status to get married, you must have the attitude to accept someone in your life and share your life.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Platforms shops and Pirated Books


I was walking on the roads of T.Nagar ; happened to come across some pirated book shops on the platform. Tons of quality pirated prints of all the famous authors are available for 50 to 60 Rupees, 10 times cheaper than the original print.

Even I was induced to buy one of my favorite author’s. (I also bought one:-) … ) . While returning back to home, few sparks in my mind…

What is the reason for the huge success of these Pirated books ?
I hope the problem is that there is no economics behind pricing of foreign published books in India. Many of these books (published originally) in the US/UK...are quite overpriced for any normal Indian reader. Most sellers (so called legal), fix the Indian price of US published books by multiplying the US$ price with the exchange rate, which is definitely not affordable for our people.

Do you agree these pirated books have increased the number of readers ?
I think so...I can witness many regular visitors to the pirated book shops. Most of them are college students. I feel many of them read books, only because the books are available at the cheap price.They could have stopped reading,if these books are at their orginal price:-).

I’m not in support of pirated books. But it would be great, if the book publishers and retailers realize this and re-consider the price standards on Indian market. This may greatly reduce the book sellers in platforms across the country.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

It is Post No: 100…


(BAT, HELMETக்கு பதிலா KEYBOARD, MOUSE வெச்சுட்டு ரெண்டுமூணு ஸ்டில்ஸ் எடுத்துப் பார்த்தேன். எனக்கே சகிக்கல. அதனால நம்ம சச்சின்!)

Yeah!!!! It is post no 100. Incidentally, it’s good to see that the blog has 5250+ Visitors!!!

I was so excited and started to laugh when I saw such a status on the dashboard. There are few souls waiting for a post from me :-). I don’t know how many people read my writing regularly. But I’m sure atleast about 7 guys (Brothers, friends, colleagues and a spl one) would read my posts regularly. Be it good or bad, they always point out the mistakes. I thank them for their feedback and support. It’s been a good amusement/diversion to them and I love being a part of it.

Almost two years ago, first time I heard about the word “blog”. Padmakishore: my ex-colleague and a friend of mine, said he’s got some comments for his post. I was not aware of what exactly a blog nor know what exactly a comment meant :-D. He explained about and introduced the “Blogspot”.

Initally i wrote all kind of posts about Science, Technical Stuff, Movies, Books, Management Articles, Fun & Forward mails :-D…. and lot more. As days roll-on, I wanted some direction & goal for my writing and I choose a theme for my blog as "My Attempt to Write”. Started writing more about My Life and My Thoughts under the tag "It's my Life". Since then, I have stuck to writing posts based on real life incidents, happenings, about people I meet, college days, moments at work, friends and their thoughts.

I thank whole heartedly all those who read and commented in my blogs.I do accept that, at times few posts may not be upto people expectations. Every blog when you write you hope its better than the previous one, but not always you are able to meet your own expectations :-D. After all its fun to write. The fact is that I update my diary quite regularly; keep personal stuffs to diary, and others to the blog.

I hope to continue blogging for some more time with some more interesting stories. Let’s see how far it goes :-D

Keep me tuned with your comments.

Cheers…
me

Friday, June 19, 2009

The Royal Observatory, Greenwich

Another interesting and important place I visited was “The Royal Observatory, Greenwich,London”.The Observatory is home to the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and the Prime Meridian, and is one of the most important historic scientific sites in the world.


The Greenwich Meridian (Prime Meridian or Longitude 0° 0' 0" degrees) marks the starting point of every time zone in the World. GMT is Greenwich Mean Time is the mean (average) time that the earth takes to rotate from noon-to-noon. GMT sets current time or official time around the World.

The Zero longitude – Prime Meridian lines are represented by Stainless steel strips in the observatory courtyard. In the night time, a strong laser beam is projected from the observatory to mark the Meridian lines. The lines divide the East and West part of the globe and defines longitude for every country/region.


See my fingers pointing at the longitude of Bombay - 72° 50' EAST engraved on the Meridian lines.


The Royal Observatory and Museum are fantastic and the surrounding park is lovely. You can have a bit of a science lesson if you like and learn about Greeenwich Mean Time and the history of timekeeping…. Definitely an important and great journey in my history.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Tower Bridge,London

After the Trafalgar square, I moved to Tower Bridge station. Now the weather’s little better; Rain slowed down and the Sun started to shine.

From my school days, whenever I saw any picture of London, it always had either Tower Bridge or the Big Ben. As a kid, I always dreamt of visiting those places in the picture. Seeing them real in-front of my eyes… it’s a wonderful feeling.


This bridge spans the Thames. The walkways between the Towers afford excellent views of the surrounding city and the 20th Century’s unique cruiser - HMS Belfast Floating on the Thames waters.


There are also numerous interactive displays and such about how the bridge works, in addition to displays on the history behind its construction, maintenance, and ceremonial use. .. in the museums on both towers.

It becomes a special moment when the bridge is lifted from center when the tall boats/ships pass under the bridge. The road traffic on bridge is stopped for the time being!!!!!!!!!! I had the fortune to view that wonderful scene and captured the video too.

A real pleasant and life time good experience!!!!!!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Trafalgar Square, London

A 145-foot-high monument, bearing a statue of Lord Nelson guarded by Lions on the four sides, marks the spot considered as the center of London.

Infact, I was not at all interested to visit Trafalgar Square, but went just because I was on one of those “Hop on and Hop Off” tours and decided to take a stop there.


What a fantastic square! It was busy and lively with the lovely weather. Kids were playing, there were tourists and the space was jammed. It is great to sit down for a while and people watch.


It's defenitely one of the best people watching site in London :-)

Sea Life Aquarium, London

I'm not usually a big fan of Aquariums, but I loved my visit at the Sea Life Aquarium, situated near the London Eye.The SEA LIFE London Aquarium is home to one of Europe's largest collections of global marine life.


It has a beautiful,calm atmosphere and is organized and presented excellently.The mysterious experience starts in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Along the journey, a stunning Glass tunnel walkway offers us an unforgettable experience by walking underneath a real Ocean.


Other stars of the show include green Jelly Fihses,Turtles, Seahorses, Octopus, Zebra Sharks and the ever popular Clown fish.

The true highlight however, commences as guests complete their journey in the deeper darker zone of the Pacific Ocean - take a walk on the wild side and watch 6 species of Shark swim beneath your feet from a floating glass platform. Wow! You should have the courage for the Shark Walk. Yeah!!!I was brave enough :-)

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Houses of Parliament & Big Ben, London

I like places with nice architecture and rich history, so Westminster Hall was one of my "must sees" when I visited London.


The business of England Parliament takes place in these Westminster Halls. Westminster Hall is a striking building, standing on the banks of the river Thames.The great Bell of the clock at the north-eastern end of the Palace of Westminster is called as “BigBen”.


Every single corner, even the smallest detail of the Westminster Hall has a history to say! Every single tomb, every single statue, every picture, every item!


The feelings you get when you are actually there... It's like you get a taste of history. It's not easy to describe how beautiful, When you watch the building while sitting on the banks of Thames.

Buckingham Palace, London

Definitely one of the greatest places I have been to. The palace is very beautiful and there is a lot of history behind the Palace. Unfortunately,I couldn't take a tour inside of Buckingham Palace, but I had the luck to watch the changing of the guards.



The ceremony of Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace is a focal point for the many thousands of tourists who visit London. Change of guard is a custom of renewing the guard at the end of its duty, ‘the Old Guard’. It is relieved by a refreshed detachment referred to as the ‘New Guard’. It’s no way lesser than an army parade.


The outside of Buckingham Palace is stunning to look at. Acres of Huge lawn, Beautiful Flower Gardens, small Ponds, Birds, Channels,.... all inside the Palace fence!!!.

It was wonderful watching

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

May Flower Park, Southampton

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May flower Park is just adjacent to the Red Funnel ferries and Southampton Docks. It’s is very interesting since it provides good views over the water and is a place to relax.



There is an excellent playground for children and young people with slides built onto hills etc... It has large well maintained lawns that provide good sitting grounds to visitors.


You can view all the ships touching the coast of Southampton in few meters distance. The coast also shows you the pleasant view of Sun rise (It’s hard to see in the summer, around 4AM ;-) and sunset. You should visit the park during evening time when the sun sets….

Ocean Village, Southampton

Though I had covered most of the attractions of Southampton, unknowingly some wonderful places were missed out. This time, I have decided not to miss a single street at Southampton ;-).

Ocean Village Marina is one of the places I barely wanted to visit last time. But I couldn’t. Yeah! It is the first place I went out during this trip.

This waterfront is one of the UK's biggest marinas and situated in the shelter of Southampton waters. Ocean Village is not mere a marina. It’s surrounded by Huge Cinema Halls, Open bars, Big Shops, Restaurants, and it offers outstanding recreational facilities.It's nealry two times larger than the Redfunnel ferries, I visited last time.



Cine World - One of the beautiful theatres, fenced by the Ocean Village back waters. I badly wanted to see the “Terminator Salvation” at Cinema World. But the ticket fare made me to download the DVD rip from internet ;-).

My UK Trip - II: Travel with KingFisher (Contd..)

Shhh!, Fun apart!!! … Let me have some serious analysis on Kingfisher airlines.

I am not a very regular flyer. I do not know if I am truly qualified to make comments and observations on an Airline, which I just flew twice or thrice. But still I would like to give my thoughts about the Airline.

Some of the pleasing things, which I value about KF are,
1. End to End service and they refer to passengers as their “Guests”. They never use the word “Passengers”
2. Leg Space in Economy Class is much better.
3. Eye Candy .. [ Mr. Mallaya really knows what men want ]
4. Unlimited Drinks,Beverages and snacks [ In jet you have limited distribution]
6. Moderate in-flight services

But, I’m not impressed with KF’s Personal entertainment system. Though it has some games,movies and live TVs, It has limited options. [I liked the Jet Airways System which had a touch screen feature and covers movies in all regional languages, music, TV shows, book reviews, book summaries etc., and lets you pick anything you want. ]

Food : Still some way to go.. Jet’s food is better than KF [ may be an exception.. but I will update when I have a better experience ].

Overall, it was really a pleasurable experience and will love to use Kingfisher again.

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Ok!!. I have had shared enough of my expeiences with Kingfisher Airlines. Will continue with the interesting places I tour, during this trip.

Cheers..

Monday, June 8, 2009

My UK Trip - II: Travel with KingFisher (Contd..)

I reached the KF boarding counter , and was greeted by several girls in red outfit. Kingfisher promises a really different flying Indian experience. I was all set to enjoy this ;-).

“Anything to declare, Sir?” young girl whispered to me at the Security/Declaration counter near the flight gate. I had nothing to declare. She checked my boarding pass and wished me to get into the flight.

Got through the door and rushed to the plane - Wow!! – a brand new A330 Plane - with nice seats and monitors in each seat with Satellite TV. Kingfisher’s interiors looked very fresh and colorful whereas Jet interiors were more subtle. Kingfisher seats were more comfortable than Jet.Heard that Kingfisher is the only Five star Status flight from India.


Seat 26H - Window seat- settled in - can't believe it is going to be a full flight. But soon the crowd started pumping in. As usual, I was looking at the girls who’re going to fly with me :-D.

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Are you aware of the PGK’s Law of Airlines?

One of the laws says that the most beautiful girl in the flight will never sit next to you, and if you see two of the fattest blade guys in the flight, you know that your seat is between theirs’. (Well, I’m the proud composer of this PGK Law;-).

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As the seat next to me was blocked for my teammate, the PGK law was not applicable there.

The KF flight attendees (All are girls; not even a single boy there) took their positions in the aisles, but not for safety demonstration, since they already have a super cool video for that. (Yana Gupta Introduces the security features of the plane.. tell me, who will not watch the video ??:-D).


The attendees are all young cute, hot, with mini skirts - Vijay Mallaya,the Chariman & CEO knows how to make Kingfisher a glamorous airline. All passengers are amused and behaving relatively well ;-)

Will continue…
Cheers!!!

Friday, June 5, 2009

My UK Trip - II: Travel with KingFisher

Last time, I travelled with Jet Airways. But this time, It's Fly Kingfisher . I thought, I should share this experience considering the hype that surrounds this airline and its service.

As I entered into the Airport with my luggage, a man wearing a kingfisher shirt [ Bright Red, you will not miss them.. ] came up to me and asked if I was flying kingfisher and took my bags and walked me all the way to the security check point.

This service is available for all kingfisher passengers and the check-in lines were very well staffed making it an easy experience. Boarding was good.. I think, it was the only airline which board passengers by seat numbers in India so far and it made my life easy since my seat was pretty close in the head area of the plane :-D.


The service off-the flight was wonderful. But the flight i flied from Chennai to Bangalore was below average.

Mallaya should have got the flight as a second hand item from Indian Airlines. It was a oldest flight,that you could imagine. கரகாட்டகாரன் கார்தான் எனக்கு ஞாபகம் வந்துச்சு!.

I strongly believe, my company have put their best effort to findout this Super Flight!!.

Don’t mistake about Kingfisher by my statements!!!. Wait for the next post, in which I will say about the flight from Bangalore to London.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

UK Trip- II: Bangalore Airport

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It was the first time I visit the much hyped BAIL (Bangalore International Airport Limited). Though the new Bangalore airport was never in news for good things, I liked it very much from the first sight.

The airport looked so calm and beautiful. It’s very nicely done like most of the international airports like Delhi and Mumbai (don’t ask about Chennai International Airport :D).

There were very less crowd. I did not find people running in different directions like headless chickens. I completed my Emigration check and start roaming in the Shopping and duty free area. It’s definitely very small when comparing with other international Airports.


One look at the ‘Taste of India’ cafe menu, made my sleepy mood away. The Idli Vada,Dosa and the like on their menu are something that I really wanted at the airport. Finally someone understood that people who get into airports are normal human beings eating normal food, and don’t live on re-heated and overpriced Breads,Sandwich and machine coffee.

Don’t miss the ‘Taste of India Café’, if you get a chance to visit BAIL.

I had 3 hours waiting time for my connection flight to London. Even after roaming around the complete airport shopping area, only 30 minutes had gone. Still I need to spare 2 hours to board the next flight. Got bored and pulled out my Laptop.

I was sitting in near the Cafe Coffee Day stalls. Incidentally, my Lappy’s Wirless Assistant said “There are some Wi-fi networks available inside the airport”. After the enquiry, I happended to know that BAIL has provided complete Wi-FI connection in the waiting area at free of cost.

Immediately,I tried to connect to the network. It then asked me to send a SMS to a number 56767 so that I could get a password in a reply message to use the Wi-Fi connection. I did the needful.

I waited… and waited…. and waited, but no password arrived. But the Boarding call for my next flight had arrived.

Will continue on my experience with “Fly KingFisher” :-).

Cheers!.

UK Trip- II : Writing from Southampton

Yeah!! It’s almost a week stay at Southampton. Breakfast-Heavy work at Office-Evening Walk- Dinner…. was my daily routine for the whole week. It was very tough for me to touch the blog site between the tight schedules.

Happily, I’ve got some breathing space for now and turning back the memorable moments during the trip. And I have got enough interesting things to write about too.

From where, I shall start the story ? OK, as usual from “The Airport”. As there’s nothing special/exciting about Chennai airport, I ll start with the newly built Bangalore International Airport.

Cheers!

Monday, June 1, 2009

UK Trip- II

Thank God! I have safely reached Southampton (Just now, I saw the tragedic Air France crash on TV). And getting settled here….

This is my second trip to Southampton. The same Country, same Place. But “Different Season”. Last time it was wonderful winter and now it’s a splendid summer. Start from the Day-night timings, Climate,Shops, Behaviour and the mood of people…. everything have changed a lot this time.

While the thrill and excitement of the first trip is missing, it’s undoubtedly a different experience. Though the work at office soaks-up most of my time, I don’t fail to roam around the town. There are quite a lot of interesting moments to share. Will try to capture most of them in the coming posts.

Stay tuned :-)

Friday, May 29, 2009

Travelling..

It’s been a while since I scribed the previous post. With severe course of work deadlines, followed by a hectic exam period, it was bit tough for me to find the time to write one. Fortunately, everything went smooth and I’m preparing for the next “Thrill” at UK.

Travelling tomorrow….. Will be in UK for the next 2 weeks.


Will try to catch you from Southampton, United Kingdom :-D.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Vantage Point (2008)

I watched this film recently. No sir, Not in a Cinema Hall… DvdRip thaan, thanks to the high speed broadband and download sites.

Vantage Point is a 2008 American political thriller / action film directed by Pete Travis. The screenplay by Barry L. Levy focuses on an assassination attempt on the President of the United States as seen from eight Vantage Points(different points of view).

As you see each vantage point, from the camera man to the control room to the officer, its like a piece of the jigsaw is added to the puzzle, and once you complete the 8 vantage points, the story unfolds to show the extremely unpredictable plot.


Each vantage point, although repeating the same 23 minutes, from noon till the bomb explodes, it shows you a different story. Do not worry, you will not get irritated seeing the same shot and explosion 8 times - in fact, each time it happens you discover another piece of the puzzle.

With each shot and explosion, you have your nerves tingling waiting for the next. The action is set nicely with appropriate music, and even the setting is beautiful - which is filmed in Mexico.

At the climax, after the 8 vantage points, you will see some great car chase scenes, as well as gunfire and that sort of action. Everything you'd want from an action film is included in this masterpiece.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

ZooZoo

“Hey! You have to see today’s Vodafone ad ; It’s superb da !!!" - that's how my roommate greets me when I return home every night, to catch the last 2 Overs of the second IPL match of the day.

One of biggest hits of IPL 2.0 is definitely ZooZoo - the cute little stick creatures with the egg-heads. Right now about 10-15 commercials are on air and hold on, 20 more are coming up before May 24, till IPL ends.

ZooZoo myths: It's not animation, it's the human touch

It seems that the production team divided the outfit into two separate parts - body and head. The body part of the outfit was stuffed with foam in some places, while the head was attached separately. To make it look bigger than a human head, a harder material called Perspex was used, which in turn was stuffed with foam (with scope for ventilation).

Here's how they decided on the size of ZooZoo's head: a human head would typically reach up to the mouth level of this giant Zoozoo head. So the creators kept the hands and legs thin. Also, the cast comprised mostly of women – and occasionally children coz they fitted well into it. The thin limbs, contrasted with big bellies and a bulbous head, all add to the illusion that these creatures are ‘smaller’ than humans.

Sets were actually created to suit the size of the Zoozoos. Cinematically, ZooZoo's actual size was a trick: the creatures look smaller than they actually are on screen, this was done deliberately to portray a different world of sorts. For this, the speed of shooting was altered,it is originally shot in a high-speed format to make them look the size that they do and also make their movements look funny.

The films were shot by Nirvana Films in Cape Town, South Africa, with the help of a local production house there, called Platypus . Incidentally, the same combination of people also worked on the ‘Happy to Help’ series last year round for Vodafone.




Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Career Vs Marriage ?

2:30 PM

Post lunch sessions are the hardest for any one to focus on work. I generally read and do non-technical work since it doesn’t require much concentration. I was filling up my effort sheets for the previous week and got a ring on my mobile.

I picked the call and it was my friend R, who’s working in the next building.

R: "Machi !..I want to talk to you …Can you come to the cafeteria?
Me: Now…?.OKie..I’m starting….”

We reached the cafeteria,and
he opened “ Pon... I’m engaged da.. Will be tying knot in the August”
I wished him and asked about his sudden decision.

His one sentence reply was "...machi...sekkirum lifela settle aganum da...".

After a fun chat we departed.

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I had the tea cup in my hand and walking towards my desk, as R’s decision occupied my mind.I asked another friend who rejected his parent’s request for marriage proposals.

He also replied the same answer “Machi!.. First lifela settle aganum da.. Then only I can think about marriage..".

Yes. I admit that You definitely need to have money to get married! Very true…everyone wants to settle in life. Settling in life might be ending up with marriage,a good job,an own home,a car may be...depends on everyone individual perspective.

But, an advice my colleague gave me a few months back was "never mix up career with marriages...."When he was in 26, his parents were looking for a bride. He was very adamant that he would marry only after he reaches his goals. His goals included to travel on onsite, become a project manager, buy land and build home.

He achieved what all he desired but his age slipped to 30s and finding a bride was difficult, it took a lot of time and at last he got married @ 33.

So what i say ?? Onnumay puriayalppa !!!

Wedding Ceremonies

I had to attend one of my relative’s marriage last week. They are one of my closest relatives and also a good family friends too.

“Sorry!. I’m running with a hectic project schedule, I couldn’t attend the function”, I simply avoided their invite.

Project schedule is just a reason,I gave to them for not attending the function. The truth is, I’m not interested to attend marriages.

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I always loved attending weddings when I was a Child! Weddings meant running around the house with all your brothers, cousins, new shining clothes, Sweets , Celebrations…. I would be the most excited kid around, because that was the time where I can meet all my relatives and it was almost like a get-together!!

Ask me now to attend a relative's wedding and I ll definitely say “No”.

Now wedding has become like a market where you sell out all your best breed horses. Most of the aunties are looking out for a boy, so they can get their daughter married ASAP before she finds someone for herself :-). They just keep observing the boys out there like some secret talent show!

Going there would finally make us to realize that we are growing OLD.

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As for me, The best part of the weddings are: you are all dressed up well, looking out for some good looking girls in the crowd, and if you happen to notice one, then feeling happy that the wedding was worth attending after all :-)!!

Monday, May 4, 2009

A day with M.Night Shyamalan

The Hot Sunday made me to stay at home; till 7PM , sun was so arrogant yesterday.How to spend the whole day? My friend came up with M.N.Shyamalan DVD Collections. Yeah !!! I know, it’s very tough to analyse and review Shyamalan’s movies ; so I ll stop myself just with their plot summary.We started the day with “The Sixth Sense”.

The Sixth Sense in [1999]
I think, The Sixth Sense was the first commercially successful film that Shyamalan wrote and directed. Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a child psychologist who, after being shot by a former patient, tries to aid the hallucinatory Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment).


Cole tells Dr. Crowe that he can see dead people, and the skeptical Dr. Crowe advises Cole to communicate with and aid his ghosts. After successful therapy with Cole, Dr. Crowe returns to his wife to reconcile, and soon you will discover that Crowe was one of Cole’s ghosts all along.!!!

After the Lunch,again we started with Unbreakable[2000]
Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) is a fragile comic book store owner born with a rare bone disorder that severely weakens his skeletal structure. Elijah searches for the meaning behind his fragility and contacts security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis), who was the miraculous sole survivor of a massive train accident. Elijah proposes that “unbreakable” Dunn is actually a superhero.

Dunn has the ability to view a person’s immoral behavior upon touch and has only been sick once in his life – when he nearly drowned as a youth. Elijah tells Dunn these are typical super hero characteristics. The big twist occurs when Dunn discovers some of the blueprints and newspaper clippings of major disasters in Elijah’s store. Elijah calmly accepts that he caused the accidents to find his opposite – someone with an incredibly hardened bone structure.


The plot has creative potential – it’s a unique approach to the superhero mythologies. The movie offered theSupernatural, suspenseful mood that Sixth Sense had, but fell just short of achieving it..

Then “The Village”
The Village was released in 2004 and followed M.Night’s Signs (I’m awaiting to watch the “Signs”. Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) lives in an isolated village surrounded by a vast expanse of forest. The perimeter of the village is marked off by flags to warn the townsfolk of trespassing into the woods where “Those We Don’t Speak Of” reside. After a child dies of illness, Lucius volunteers to travel beyond the woods to retrieve medical supplies, but is wounded by a mentally unstable villager, Noah Percy (Adrien Brody).


The blind daughter of the town elder, also Lucius’ love interest, takes the mission upon herself and ventures into the woods to find the towns beyond, at the risk of upsetting the forest-dwelling creatures.