Blogging!!! The need of the hour

My top 10 fav songs

2009-07-18T14:33:00.019-05:00

A visit to the farmer's market and some beautiful songs on my onkyo system, what could make a better Saturday? Every single time I listen to some of my favourite songs, I just feel a sense of importance in being born. Makes me feel so light but very motivated to do something which people can look at and appreciate. What sets a clear demarcation between great people and legends is the difference in making people happy. Did it sound like entertainers = philanthropists? Aren't they trying to make the earth a happier place to live in?

Again success is relative. To some success is gaining self importance and recognition. To some its all money. To some its all peace. But I think vast majority consist of people who feel happy about making others happy. Although the degree varies widely, the motive is the same.
Enough blabbering. I have wanted to list down 10 of my all time fav songs for quite a long time. So here it goes...

Vaseegara (from the movie Minnale) - video This song just drives me crazy every single time I listen to it. Every single aspect of this song was made to help people close their eyes and take a trip to the heavens. Harris Jeyaraj and Bombay Jeyashree having given their soul to this song. No part of this song sounds artificial. The flute piece is divine.
Happy together (1967 song from Turtles) -video. If you love someone very dearly in life, you might want to listen to this song. This is just the perfect song anyone can imagine to sing to his/her dear one. Special parts of this song are the seconds background chorus and the trumpet. Of course the lead is fabulous too. This song is just simplicity at its best.
Ilaya Nile (from the movie Payanankal Mudivathillal) - video Two facts about this songs are undeniably true. Illayaraja is a genius and this song was the biggest trend setter of the 80s. The guitar interludes are fabulous. This is every single guitar aspirant's dream song. Needless to say SPB was at his sublime best. If you don't treat yourself to this song, you have missed something in life.
My heart will go on (from Titanic) - video Celine Dion's voice is enchanting. Lyrics are superb. And as always, the flute piece is fabulous. James Horner's music is very rich but not overdone. Just the right ingredients to make this song an all time best.
Netru illadha matram (from Pudhiya Mugam) - video I believe in what SPB said in one of the live shows about A.R.Rahman. His music comes from the heavens. We are very unlucky not to have heard more of Sujatha's sweet voice. She is just excellent. What I like most about this song is the bass rhythm. Very unique and trendy. It is such a melodious song portraying ARR's versatility and greatness.
Liberian Girl (Micheal Jackson) - video Micheal Jackson proves again that he is the best entertainer the world has ever seen, but this time with his voice alone. This song features loads of celebrities from Hollywood. Dedicated to Elizabeth Taylor. I have watched this over and over since Micheal's death. Makes me so sad. There will be only one Micheal Jackson. He was born to entertain, but he exceeds that by entertaining even after his death.I wish I had at least 10% of his talents.
Thriller and Dangerous (Micheal Jackson) - Thriller video and Dangerous live Munich video That Micheal Jackson revolutionized music and dance is an understatement. His dance steps still remain the most imitated all over the world. Above all, he wrote many of his songs himself, choreographed, sang and visualized them. Again there can be only one Micheal Jackson and I guess we are appreciating it more after his death. I consider the Munich live performance as his best dance performance ever. Watch this if you haven't.
Unnai partha pinbu naan (from the movie Kadhal Mannan) - video Now this is really out of nowhere. This song has enchanted me right since my college days. I still can't determine as to why this song sounds so special to me. Was it SPB's voice? the composition? mix of rock and melody? This is a gem from Bharathwaj. Don't quite understand why this song didn't get the recognition like many other main stream hits. But this song is very special to me. Listen to the jazz guitar interludes. Well, to be honest I did have a temporary crush on this actress, but believe me it is not the only reason which influenced my liking to this song.
Anjali Anjali Anjali (from the movie Anjali) video This is one of my niece's fav songs and mine too. Well, only that she is 3 and I am 30. Shows that illayaraja's brilliance spreads across generations. This movie is one of my all time favourites too. Hats off to Manirathnam for this wonderful wonderful movie. This song features the voices of a lot of kids who have done an excellent job with their voice and of course with showcasing their dancing talents. Hope we can get to see more such masterpieces in our lifetime.
Yenakku oru girl friend venum (from the movie boys) video This song brought Karthik to the forefront of stardom. Something to notice about this song is that this song is very jazzy. Seems ARR asked him to sing like a saxophone and he did just that. I am not sure if this song would have made it this big if he had sang this song with a very formal tone. Of course this song is a fast number filled with ARRs genius.

Well there is my list. Until next time cya..

Chicken Kolambu for a lazy saturday afternoon

2008-12-06T20:13:00.002-06:00

Blogging after quite a while. In fact first after getting married. Made chicken kolambhu today. Find recipe here . Very simple and easy recipe. Kudos to Devi.

Having an urge to write tech blogs since moving to the bay area. Learning a lot of new things. Hope to catch up with the tech blogs. Well, for now got to get back to the Spurs vs GS warriors match. Parker and Ginobili are back after their injury layoffs. Love to watch them play.

I love my car

2006-12-09T21:05:00.000-06:00

Lazy saturday. Got up pretty late. The best thing that could happen on such a wonderful day was my car ditching me. My dear car refused to start. I was so surprised that I didn't get furious. I kept my calm and there was no indication of something inside me telling me to lose my temper. That inner voice just didn't speak up. Other than my sympathy for my poor car at having found such an irresponsible owner, no other emotional attack. I vow to service my car the moment she gets better. Hope she will cooperate when it gets a little warmer outside. She's sick right now with all the freezing cold.
Learnt a big lesson. Whatever has gone wrong has already gone wrong. You can only screw it up more by worrying or fretting about it. It's time to get outta your comfort zone and do things.

India in 2020

2006-11-10T23:17:00.000-06:00

Velmurugan struggled past the thick layer of snow covering the North Usman Road. 30 degree Fahrenheit, pretty stern winter. He couldn't help but wonder how hot chennai was just a few years back. Things had changed around so unbelievably. Same with his life. Climbing from a fresh college graduate to be the CEO of the most established bank in India was something he least expected. J.P.Murugan, the bank named after him, saw nothing but profit under his leadership. Now he was in an acquisition spree, buying products off the shelf to render services. One such acquisition was to buy software packages off the shelf and plug it in to the bank's requirements. Obvious choice was to bring people from countries like the United States and Australia, where labour cost was almost half and he could get more work done with offshore leveraging. The way companies like Ogle operated was based on such a strong onsite offshore model that all that the onsite resources in India would do was to work and their offshore counterparts live up to the name of the company, Ogle. Whether the projects were completed on time or not, these companies knew the art of money extraction. Promise a rosy 4 months delivery time for a 10 month initial schedule and push for a phase II when the defects go beyond control. All they were after was Rupees. Each Rupee was worth 102 dollars and by pushing, (or at least acting like pushing) more work offshore, they could push more rupees into their pockets.

Murugan, as his colleagues addressed him, walked to his Maruti Neon. This was the latest hybrid gas filled V5 engine with a 200 miles per gallon of neon. More smiles per mile. Neon being lighter than hydrogen, which was the main fuel source for the low end cars, enabled him to maintain a higher altitude while traversing through traffic. Cool stuff. He switched on his SPS (Shuttle Positioning System), which he recently ordered from appason.com (appa+son=variation of amazon). It just cost him Rs.200,026. Pretty cheap for the features it provides. It beeped as he entered the freeway 1956781 North. He had to travel at 220mph for 15 minutes before taking flydown (exit) 107 to reach NH47, which was once a highway and now just used as a parkway for the employees of JP Murgan. Parking was not that costly here, just Rs.15000 per hour. It was like a drop in the ocean for Murugan. Pushing the autopark button in his Neon, he stepped on to the escalator which would take him to his cabin, about 5 miles away. His Secretary robot held out the cup of Bru coffee. His day wouldn't start without it. Bru had bought the coffee giants MoonBucks, the biggest acquisition known to mankind. They were now sweeping the International market as if they were the only coffee company around. Either drink Bru or die thirsty. hihihihi pretty good slogan eh?? (Tamil start) Dei Raj, ni yengoyo irukka vendiyavan da. Yellaam thalai vidhi, inga kuppa kottura (Tamil end)

After an entire day of pouring into his daily chores, he set home with a sense of accomplishment.

Wake up dudes and dudettes, this was an exaggeration. Filled something in to pass time. Not even giving it a review before posting this blog. Hope in the near future, we get to see a time like this.

My perspectives of staying alone

2006-10-19T19:58:00.001-05:00

Definitely Swetha has got me thinking today with her blog (read the blog below). Never in my life have I imagined I could stay alone. Infact I never belived I could. Being a very talkative person, it was simply not possible. I find myself staying alone now for the past 6 months or so. I never crib about anything. I seldom get angry, seldom feel sad, seldom feel happy. I have been living like a machine. I would feel happy when Federer or Schumi won. I would feel terribly sad when they lost. The only person I spoke to in office and after office was Kapil. The only person I spoke to everyday was my brother. During my childhood I always hated my brother, sometimes even to the level where I wished I didnt have a brother at all. At this point of time, if you ask me who I loved the most in life, I would say it is my brother. Well perspectives change and staying alone helps you get a thing or two into your head. When things go wrong for me, he feels more for me than I do for myself. But the way he handles it and induces confidence in me is something I yearn for.
I am still sorry I hated him when I was a kid. I know he loved me and he will love me always. But what I owe to him is something more than just an apology. He is a great guy and I am damn lucky.
Well I started writing something and ended writing another. Whatever, a blog is a blog.

Alas, we can never undo the past.

2006-10-19T19:42:00.000-05:00

Wish I had written this blog before she did. But would've never got close to writing it so well.
We all have moments in life which we would like to forget. But those moments keep haunting us forever. How good it would be to go back in time, to change them. We all know we cannot. Atleast, we can apologize to those whom we hurt, even though they might not remember those incidents.
Wonderful read.
http://mytwaddles.blogspot.com/2006/02/undo-past.html

Kudos to the dodo...

check this out, reX geORge at his personal best

2006-10-18T19:49:00.000-05:00

He is a great musician... great friend... great philosopher... great poet... now he proves he is good with the lens too... If you dont check out his album, then you've missed something wonderful...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rexposure/

Fascination for horror movies

2006-10-11T00:27:00.000-05:00

Was just wondering why I have this fascination for horror movies. Has it got something to do with my character? Majority like comedy or action movies very much in line with their characteristics of wanting to forget their worries or a very active life. People who are hyperactive don't seem to like slow romantic movies. Well, which category do horror movies belong to? How can I judge my own character by this quality? All I can feel is a sense of contentment when I watch horror movies. God knows why...
And there goes the itching in my palm again. According to an adage, when palm itches, money flows in. My palm has been itching for quite sometime now, but haven't found the treasure yet.

Some interesting facts

2006-10-09T22:48:00.000-05:00

Grapefruit scent will make middle aged women appear six years younger to men. The perception is not reciprocal and the grapefruit scent on men has no effect on women's perception.
Women blink twice as many times as men do.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening. Layers of cartilage in the joints gets compressed during the day.
There are approx. 550 hairs in the eyebrow.
The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue.
The life span of a taste bud is 10 days.
The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
The largest known kidney stone weighed 1.36 kilograms.
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
Kidney stones come in any color--from yellow to brown.
Babies are born without kneecaps. They appear when the child is 2-6 years of age.
Your body is creating and killing 15 million red blood cells per second!
The average human produces 10,000 gallons of saliva in a lifetime.
If you ate too many carrots you would turn orange.
The force of 1 billion people jumping at the same time is equal to 500 tons of TNT.
A baby is born every seven seconds.
You can tell if a skunk is about if you smell only .000000000000071 ounce of its spray.
You breathe about 10 million times a year.
The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you'll have a bad dream.
The foot is the most common body part bitten by insects.
The most common time for a wake up call is 7 a.m.
The typical person goes to the bathroom 6 times a day.
The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger.
The most sensitive finger on the human hand is the index finger.
The human body weighs 40 times more than the brain.
After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp.
A person swallows approx. 295 times while eating dinner.
Your urine will turn bright yellow if you eat too much asparagus.
There are more people alive today than have ever died.
The human body is better suited to two four-hour sleep cycles than one eight-hour one.
A man's beard contains between 7000 and 15,000 hairs.
A beard grows an average of 140mm a year.
A hair is 70 per cent easier to cut when soaked in warm water for two minutes.
Women's hair is about half the diameter of men's hair.
During an average lifetime, a man will spend 3,350 hours removing 8.4 meters of stubble.
4.5 million people have their health 'adversely affected' by air pollutants each year.
4 million children die each year from inhaling smoke from indoor cooking fires that burn wood and Dung.
4 million people die annually from diarrhea infections, caused by poor sanitary conditions.
The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone.

Tennis

2006-10-07T21:55:00.000-05:00

Played Tennis for about 90 minutes. Hit winners off the backhand. Was timing the ball really well on the backhhand side today. Volley was really good too. Hit some delicate dropshots near the net. Came to the net quite often and felt comfortable coming to the net. Quite contradicting my earlier style of playing. I play from the baseline usually. Forehand was my most dangerous weapon. I could get some great angles and could hit my forehand with a lot of spin. Today was different. I was playing balls which were bouncing above my shoulder very well. Got a lot of topspin off those shots off my backhand. Passing shots were good too. Didn't serve all that well. But not too bad either. Was serving with a lot of speed, but placement was really bad.
Noticed something important today. I spend a lot of energy preparing for the shot. I relaxed on court and spent the energy only during the execution of the shot. I realized I was able to hit the ball better and harder. I could also hit the ball deeper making it uncomfortable for my opponent.
Good things:
1. The timing on my backhand is improving all the time.
2. Am able to hit the ball with a lot of spin off my backhand.
3. Am able to get angles on the shot a little better than before, but definitely have to improve on my backhand angles.
4. Volley was amazing today. Almost 90% conversion on net approaches.
5. Forehand setup. I setup the point really well for the kill using the spin and pace off my forehand. Main idea of pushing the opponent well behind the baseline to make a volley easier worked very well today.
Bad things:
1. Have to improve on the spin on my serve. I get the ball to bounce exactly to the comfort zone of my oppenent. Have to change that.
2. Stamina. Definitely has dropped a lot. Was feeling very tired after the first couple of games.
3. Unforced errors. Sometimes get too carried away with the previous winner and tend to hit a lot flatter or overhit the next few points.
4. Consistency in my game. One day, my backhand is good, the next day forehand is good. Should try to get both of them working at the same time.
5. Return of serve. Weakest point of my game. No spin on returns. Tend to hit it flat and short for the opponent to make the kill. Should learn to hit it deep and put some spin on it. Backhand return is really good though. Tend to get an upper hand with the spin. Forehand returns are pathetic.

Syanora (Fed's inspiration)

Timing ++

2006-10-06T19:43:00.000-05:00

Busy Friday... surprisingly... Fed played a tough match today.
In office, well yes something quite interesting happened. I was just walking around the corner to get to my seat. Just then realized someone from the other side walking fast and BANG!!! sigh, well almost. It was my sweetheart on whom I have a major crush. We looked at each other for a second, eye to eye, atleast my heart to her heart. Vice versa has always been the missing part in life. Needless to mention she looked beautiful. Many of my friends know my liking and by now are teasing me because they think I dont have that great a sense of liking. Well appreciating beauty is a thing only a few great people can master and I am one. But listen, she's truly and honestly different. She's more beautiful than I thought she was. Well by now all the indications of a "Crush" are in me. I notice her in a crowd. I have a sense of her presence even when I dont see her. That floor is something I associate with her. The best part is the picture of her in my mind. The flawless smiling face of her's. I must admit, I felt like I could hear only what she spoke (even though she was well ahead of me in the subway queue). I could see only her beautiful face. Naturally, about 10 angels in white dancing in the background, clouds and smoke from dry ice everywhere, vaseegara playing in the background. But well, its just a crush. I have lost count of the number of crushes I have had since my college days and especially after getting into work. A phrase so well framed by my friends "Timing". A pat on the back for Vino, Padmaja, Rex, Sanjesh, Siva, Libu, Smruthi, Swetha, Ragav, Vijay, Rajesh and Srini (he took over most of my timings back in India, but managed to ditch them all and find one himself). Thanks guys and I love you all.
Timing ++
I am like Ganguly, deadly timing, but hardly get ball to bat.

Libu's blogs

2006-10-05T00:17:00.000-05:00

For a change an eventful day. Had somethings to cheer about and somethings not too great to hear. I always seem to reach the pinnacle just to hear a bad news which makes me slide down the peak. Nowadays I try hard not to climb up the peak on good days. Always wonder why grief is stronger than happiness? Why cant it be the other way? Whatever the case, some decisions are tough to make and I hate making decisions. I hated/hate and will hate it all my life. Hope to get a wife who can takes easy decisions so that I can outsource the decisions part to her.

Just felt like reading Libu's blogs. He writes so well. What I like in him is that he writes whatever he feels like. Just a thought which passes his mind for a second he manages to put down in his blog. Have a feeling that he is releasing a lot of boredom and tension with his blogs. Good for him. Just hope he cuts down on his beer a little bit. Hope to visit him before he gets back to India.
Guys reading this, I suggest you read Libu's blogs. The link is on my blog page.

Madly in love with Gracy Singh

2006-08-13T00:20:00.000-05:00

After having shifted my sleeping bag to office for about a month, I am back home. Feels great to be back at home. Just had a 13 hour sleep and watched 2 movies. Wow how much I missed this over the last month.
Amidst all this, saw Munna Bhai MBBS. End result, fell madly and hopelessly in love with Gracy Singh. She impressed me quite a lot in Lagaan, but she looked more beautiful in this movie. Too bad my love doesn't get too many movie offers. Only wish I knew her to tell her how hopelessly I was in love with her. Anyway my dreams never come true and I cannot complain about it. Sometimes I have nightmares and I definitely don't want them to come true.
But listen, the most impressive and interesting dream I ever had was when Bush and Kerry were fighting it out to be the President. I was so closely watching their debates on TV that I had a dream that I became the President of United States. People reading it might feel, offf another bluffer. Well it is true and I did tell some of my friends about it, the very next day.
I dreamt like I was giving a speech after having become the President. Here is how it went.
" My fellow countrymen(Wait a minute, I am no American to be calling these guys my country men). To be in this role brings me immense pleasure and is of great honor. I understand the immense responsibility this win brings along. I am here to make a difference and I am going to do it with your help (a huge roar of applause). Me as the President of the United States (in my dream I wondered why was I saying this being an Indian, felt odd to me), vow to safeguard all its citizens. Let's roll in to the 21st century and show the world why we are on top."
Oh boy that was quite a dream. It's been so long since I had that dream and I still remember every second of it. Again, only if my dream could come true. If at they did, then I would be the President of United States and Gracy Singh would be the first lady. :))) Cant stop smiling at the thought of it.

Cheap act of Terrorism... Can't move a single stone out of India...

2006-07-16T14:46:00.000-05:00

Dear all,

Today's Mid-Day edit begins by saying that you don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that the chain of events starting from the Bhiwandi riots to the desecration of Meenatai's statue and what happened as an aftermath, to the serial blasts on the trains yesterday, means somebody somewhere wants Mumbaikar's to spill out on the streets and grab each other by the throats. Incidentally, these same somebody-- the faceless outcasts that they still are-- have at least succeeded in one part of their plan. Mumbaikars have actually spilled out on to the streets. The catch here is that they have failed to succeed in the second and most important part of their plan: that of getting Mumbaikars to grab each other by the throats. Mumbaikars spilled onto the streets-- in a collective show of the middle finger to those who proposed otherwise. I know very well that you are already aware of how Mumbai stormed onto the streets to help the injured, the stranded and soothe the injuries that were still gaping along its life line. There were capsules and capsules of streaming video that showed them offering water and refreshments to people stranded on SV Road and the Eastern and Western Express Highways. There were captures of students of Sydenham and SNDT college, who camped at Churchgate station with the sole purpose of offering a bed to those stranded at the starting node of the life line. And there was also that memorable grab of people standing patiently in front of KEM Hospital-- all in a serpentine queue, to donate blood. A result of which has been a no-shortage syndrome, when it comes to blood at all the hospitals where the injured are being treated or are recuperating. But this is not about all that. And yet, it is about all that and more. It is about the sights I saw and the people I met with, while travelling along the Western Express Highway to Kandivali yesterday, between 7 in the evening and one in the morning.
It is about that little kid and his grandfather near Dadar, who, perhaps in the absence of anybody else in the household, took to the streets with bottles of water and packets of biscuits to contribute in whatever way possible in managing the crisis. "Uncle, you must be thirsty," the kid told me while offering the bottle. A parched me drank gratefully. And I saw in those eyes no fear. So what did those terrorists think while planting the bomb? That was at least the silent way of making one statement-- "Terror, my foot.!"
It is also about those housewives in front of a housing society near Santa Cruz, who were standing with pots of piping tea, water and God only knows what else to help those passing by. And they had this board beside them which read "Beyond Borivli, Can Stay'. I was lucky to get a cab, but there were people who were trying to make it on foot. And they needed succor. Rest. Shelter. It was raining.
It is about the autorickshaw driver, who finally reached me home in the interiors of Kandivali at 1 in the morning. And refused to take the night fare, despite being legally empowered to charge extra. "Nehi saab, aaj ki baat alag hai. Aap thik thak ghar pohuj gaye, yeh hi kafi hai," he bade me goodbye at my doorstep.
It is also about the dabbawala who provides me with my dinner everyday. His shop is near the Borivli station, where there was one of the biggest blasts at 6:34 in the evening. Yet, at one o clock in the morning, the dabba was there waiting at my doorstp to be picked up. It didn't need a note. The piping hot food at such an unearthly hour said it all.
The terrorists succeeded in synchronising a series of blasts that stopped the Mumbai lifeline for somewhere around seven hours. That was all that they achieved on 7/11. The trains were back on track by 1:30 in the morning and they plied all through the night. I wonder if the masterminds will consider this before planning their next attack. I would urge them to-- if this reaches any one of them-- to rethink. After all, what did a year of planning, six months of smuggling dangerous explosives, extensive netwroking and crores achieve at the end-- arond 200 lives and just seven hours of disruption? Bus! I won\'t budge for that. In the deal they united more than they dreamt to rip apart.
It is about that little kid and his grandfather near Dadar, who, perhaps in the absence of anybody else in the household, took to the streets with bottles of water and packets of biscuits to contribute in whatever way possible in managing the crisis. "Uncle, you must be thirsty," the kid told me while offering the bottle. A parched me drank gratefully. And I saw in those eyes no fear. So what did those terrorists think while planting the bomb? That was at least the silent way of making one statement-- "Terror, my foot.!" It is also about those housewives in front of a housing society near Santa Cruz, who were standing with pots of piping tea, water and God only knows what else to help those passing by. And they had this board beside them which read "Beyond Borivli, Can Stay'. I was lucky to get a cab, but there were people who were trying to make it on foot. And they needed succor. Rest. Shelter. It was raining. It is about the autorickshaw driver, who finally reached me home in the interiors of Kandivali at 1 in the morning. And refused to take the night fare, despite being legally empowered to charge extra. "Nehi saab, aaj ki baat alag hai. Aap thik thak ghar pohuj gaye, yeh hi kafi hai," he bade me goodbye at my doorstep. It is also about the dabbawala who provides me with my dinner everyday. His shop is near the Borivli station, where there was one of the biggest blasts at 6:34 in the evening. Yet, at one o clock in the morning, the dabba was there waiting at my doorstp to be picked up. It didn't need a note. The piping hot food at such an unearthly hour said it all. The terrorists succeeded in synchronising a series of blasts that stopped the Mumbai lifeline for somewhere around seven hours. That was all that they achieved on 7/11. The trains were back on track by 1:30 in the morning and they plied all through the night. I wonder if the masterminds will consider this before planning their next attack. I would urge them to-- if this reaches any one of them-- to rethink. After all, what did a year of planning, six months of smuggling dangerous explosives, extensive netwroking and crores achieve at the end-- arond 200 lives and just seven hours of disruption? Bus! I won't budge for that. In the deal they united more than they dreamt to rip apart.
And by the way, I did not spot any member of the celebrated Readers' Digest survey team yesterday on the roads. Or perhaps they were there-- reconsidering their statement. I request whoever receives this, to forward it to as many people as possible. At least that way, we will build an opinion against these faceless faces of terror

-- Sudip Ghosh
Deputy Editor Medianet Times of India,
Mumbai 000059

Blogging from San Francisco

2006-06-22T02:57:00.000-05:00

Finally the wait is over now. Couldn't wait for this day to get to SFO. We are having a total family get together. My parents arrived here about 2 weeks back. Wonderful to see them after more than a year now. Abinaya, cutie was sitting on the carpet juggling with something in her hand. The moment I entered she looked at me like a complete stranger. She didn't take her eyes off me for almost 5 minutes. I was so scared that she had developed a bad baby syndrome and thought she wouldn't come to me. But quite the contrary. She smiled when I picked her up. Wow! heavenly. Want to spend as much time as possible with her in these 4 days. Possibly will attach some snaps later on. Mom and Dad were quite impressed with my weight gaining capabilities. All they could talk about was how handsome I had become. Can't judge myself if I have, but when my parents say that, it definitely feels good. Whatever, its great to see them again. My brother and sis-in-law, ditto as to what they were 7 months ago.
What dinner could I ask for as soon as you step into SFO? Crab curry, fish curry, rasam (I love rasam, tasted it after almost one year). Guess I might go back to San Antonio with some extra pounds. And not to forget, crab curry is my sis-in-law's specialty. Slurp!!! Am ready for second round dinner ;-)

The Penguin Trail: Playing a DVD

2006-06-21T02:15:00.000-05:00

The Penguin Trail: Playing a DVD

10 things/people I love most

2006-06-19T01:10:00.000-05:00

Ok here is what I decided to write on a Sunday night (Monday early morning). Life had become too boring by this point that my mind refused to stop searching for reasons to go back to the past and think about wonderful as well as horrible things. Well idle mind, yes, devil's workshop, no. Was wondering how stiff my life became and how different I am today, comparing the Raj only just an year back. Why all this seriousness? Where has the light hearted kid in me disappeared? I used to love that kid in me so much. Well a confused question runs through my mind. Am I getting old? Old enough to take up responsibilities and start living a tight life? That's something I will never want to do. My motto in life was always, just live for today - anyway you have to face tomorrow. Seems like the devil has started invading my top floor, right?
Let me write about wonderful things that I had/have/miss in my life.
Mentioned in reverse order for no reason at all.
10. Sleep until 12 in the afternoon, scolding from my Mom. Gosh! I miss that so much now.
9. One hour tea break in HP center with all my friends.
8. My Bajaj Pulsar. My first bike. Bought it without my Dad's investment. He was mad at me for not letting him pay, but he appreciates that fact now. I miss my bike so much.
7. My Yamaha PSR 350 keyboard. Those were the best days of my life ;-). Me and Rex playing it on stage together. That's a dream yet to come true.
6. Wonderful morning breakfast waiting on my dining table when I get ready to office. I used to scold my Mom for preparing Idli the nth time that week, but now I cook myself and crave for that idli..
5. My 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer. The first car I bought.
4. Libu, Rex, Padmaja, Vino, Sanjesh, Subbu and Smruthi. My HP center friends.
3. Kapil and Aruna, I am like their kid brother. Going to miss then badly when they go back to India.
2. My brother, my sis-in-law and my cutest, sweetest, loviest, most beautiful angel, my niece Abinaya.
1. Ofcourse, my Mom and Dad.

Federerophobia

2006-06-17T00:18:00.000-05:00

Right since 2004, a player is not judged by how many grandslams he wins nor by how many tournaments he wins. He would be associated with high quality of the extraordinary league of players only if he has defeated Federer. A very few achieved the feat of defeating this extremely talented player. Other than the losses to Marat Safin in the Australian Open Semi final, Rafael Nadal in the French Semi final, David Nalbandian in the Shanghai masters series Final and Richard Gasquet in the ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo, he had a 81 victory stand in 2005. That's an unbelievable 81-4 win-loss record for one complete year. Such was the dominance of this magician on court. Even extremely talented and top players like Leyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi had admitted to Federer being closest to undefeatable. Most players would loose the match even before they went on court. Such was the mark he made on his opponents minds. Correctly termed as "Federerophobia". Hewitt lost a whole lot of confidence and dropped out of the top 10 in the rankings. Roddick dropped out of the top 3.
Then came Nadal, the only kid who Federer is stil not able to figure out. While Nadal always had problems with many other players like James Blake and Leyton Hewitt, he somehow found the way to attack Federer's backhand with his extremely heavy topspin. They go 6-1 head to head in favour of Nadal. Now maybe Federerophobia has struck back at Federer himself. The French open final suggested a very weary and demotivated Federer. He seemed totally off focus and as if his mind was someplace else. Maybe he has this mental block over Nadal what many other players had over him. Even in the Gerry Weber tournament in Germany, he has been thoroughly tested by players like Olivier Rochus, Tommy Haas, Richard Gasquet against whom he saved four match points before scrapping through. This is totally unlike the magician we witnessed on court. People like Hewitt and Roddick have begun to believe, that Federer is afterall not invincible. Even though it's a good sign for tennis, with increase in competition, it is bad news for Federer and his invincibility. He now needs some tournament victories, especially wimbledon, to get back on track. Let's hope he lives on to the hopes of many legendary tennis stars like John Mcnroe and Matts Wilander that he would go on to be a legendary tennis star.
Go Federer Go!!! You are the emporer of tennis...

2006-05-08T21:23:00.000-05:00

This is the cow!

There are no typos in this essay. Everything is legal and as it was written in the exam. If you develop cramps reading this or find your English gone haywire after reading this, please don't blame me :-)

CALCUTTA's Telegraph has got hold of an answer paper of a candidate at the recent UPSC examinations. The candidate has written an essay on the Indian cow:

The cow is a successful animal. Also he is quadrupud, and because he is female, he give milk, but will do so when he is got child. He is same like God, sacred to Hindus and useful to man. But he has got four legs together. Two are forward and two are afterwards.

His whole body can be utilised for use. More so the milk. What can it do? Various ghee, butter, cream, curd, why and the condensed milk and so forth. Also he is useful to cobbler, watermans and mankind generally.

His motion is slow only because he is of asitudinious species. Also his other motion is much useful to trees, plants as well as making flat cakes in hand and drying in the sun. Cow is the only animal that extricates his feeding after eating. Then afterwards she chew with his teeth whom are situated in the inside of the mouth. He is incessantly in the meadows in the grass.

His only attacking and defending organ is the horn, specially so when he is got child. This is done by knowing his head whereby he causes the weapons to be paralleled to the ground of the earth and instantly proceed with great velocity forwards.

He has got tails also, but not like similar animals. It has hairs on the other end of the other side. This is done to frighten away the flies which alight on his cohoa body whereupon he gives hit with it.

The palms of his feet are soft unto the touch. So the grasses head is not crushed. At night time have poses by looking down on the ground and he shouts his eyes like his relatives, the horse does not do so.

This is the cow.

P.S.: We are informed that the candidate passed the exam.

Kannathil Muthamittal

2006-05-07T23:13:00.000-05:00

"Oru deivam thandha poove. Kannil theadal yenna thaaye" and "Vellai Pookkal ulagam yengum malarave. Vidiyum Bhoomi amadhikaaga vidhihave." AR Rahman comes first and then there is God. I am so blessed to be born in the same world as ARR, Vairamuthu and Chinmayi. Sometimes makes me wonder what these people are made of. What goes through their minds when they perform such wonderful songs. There seems to be so much unison as if all the maestros creating these masterpieces speak a common language. A language so totally different from any known language any living being can talk. A language which has more to sense and feel rather than to put in words. There is so much spiritual satisfaction to even listen to these songs. I only wish I could stand next to ARR when he feels this sense of spiritual satisfaction in him and share the feeling with him.
What do I say about Vairamuthu? To even say he is the best, is totally above my dignity. He proves again and again that what matters most is the thoughts and language is very much secondary. There is so much emotion in the song "Oru Deivam thandha poove". And where did the emotion build up from? Vairamuthu's lyrics.
Chinmayi. This was her debut song. To sing for a maestro like ARR itself is a benediction worth a lifetime. To do it with two maestros ARR and Vairamuthu, wow. Most people get swept off their feet with such a big opportunity, but she still stands with her feet very much on the ground. There is so much character to her voice. Singing comes so naturally to her. Only a person who can get emotionally involved with a song can sing it with that much perfection. If at all I get to meet any of these people, I just want to share the emotional satisfaction I get each time I listen to their creations. God bless all of them.

Ubuntu a real wonder

2006-02-05T00:57:00.000-06:00

Ubuntu is the latest wonder in the linux world. Soon it's becoming the buzz word among the software freaks. Personally this is the best operating system I have seen in my life. Ubuntu is a very easy to install OS combined with a highly user friendly look and feel. Most components are recognized and installed and you don't even need to partition your hard disk using partition magic or a similar disk partitioning application. Needless to say it configured my wireless network card with ease and I was able to connect to the internet the very first time. Windows did not recognize my wireless card. I had to get a driver for it from Dell for my laptop. I also noticed improved download speeds with ubuntu, not sure if I am biased towards ubuntu in thinking so. The fonts look excellent. Feels like everything is so much more organized when working with ubuntu. I had Red Hat 9.0 previously, but ubuntu beats RH hands down. It has loads of wonderful features and a very easy way to keep upto date with the latest applications. All this at the cost of nothing + OS cd shipped to your doorstep. This is like eating your cake and having it too.
Some minor bugs I noticed are with Eclipse behaving odd and throwing up exceptions. But this is more to do with the linux version of eclipse rather than ubuntu I guess. Still havent researched on it much. Other than that, my DVD player doesn't read DVDs. This is because of the missing DVD codecs which don't come for free.
Overall picture, ubuntu strikes gold, microsoft better watch out.

Some thatthuvams for you... Only for Tamilians...

2006-01-20T14:53:00.000-06:00

1. Pant Pottu Muttipoda mudiyum aanaaa muttipottu pant poda mudiyumaa...........
2. Fan-ukkum rekkai irukku. Paravai-kkum rekkai irukku. Fan-ala parakka mudiyaathu. Paravai-ala sutha mudiyaathu. Aaanaa... Fan-a amukina suthum. Paravai-a amukina kathum...
3. tool box la tool la parka mudiyum... match box la match a parka mudiyuma!!!
4. Irukkurappa enna daan complan, bournvita kudichalum sethadukkapram ellarukkum pal daan...
5. South India-la Narthangai kidaikkum. Aaana, North India-la Southangai kidaikuma?!
6. pache molagale pache irukkum aana kodemolagale kode irukkuma
7. lunch bagla lunch eduthuttu pogalam... aana school bagla school eduthuttu poga mudiyathu..
8. nee evlo periya paruppa irunthalum, unga veettu samayalukku paruppu kadaila than vanganum....
9. meluga vachchu melugu vathi seyyalam... aana kosuva vachi kosu vathi seyya mudiyathu....
10. kovil maniya namma adicha saththam varum... aana kovil mani nammala adicha raththam than varum....
11. Kosu Kadicha Yaanaikaal Varum... But Yaanai Kadicha Kosukaal Varathu...
12. Vaalkaikum Valukaikum Orea Vithyasam... Onnumae Illatha Valkai Bore Adikum... Onnumae Illatha Valukai Glare Adikum...
13. Policesikkum Porukikkum enna Vithyasam... 'Adi-Thadi' Senja Porukki... 'Thadi-Adi' Senja Police...
14. Ennathan Karatela Black Belt Vanginalum... Naai Thorathina Odi Thaan Aganum...
15. Ennathan Naaiku Naalu Kaal Irundhalum... Athaala Kaal Mela Kaal Pottu Ukkara Mudiyathu...
16. 10 Yerumbu Oru Yaanaia Kadika Mudium Aana... 10 Yaanaila Oru Yerumba Kadika Mudiyadu...
17. Cream biscut la cream irukkum..................anna
Nai biscut la nai irukkuma????????????????
18. Busla nee aerinallum..............
Busu UN mella aerinallum..........
Ticket vanga porathu neeeee than..........................
19. Ticket Vangitu Ulla poradu cinema theatre, ulae poitu ticket vanguradu operation theatre...........
20. Gold chain-a adagu vachu cycle vaangalaam - aaana Cycle chain-a adagu vachu gold vaanga mudiyaathu !!!
21. Neenga Bikela evlo thaan fasta ponaalum.....ungalayae neenga overtake panna mudiyaathu. 22. Thoonga poradhukku munnala thoonga porennu sollalaam
Yelundhukkurathukku munnala yendhrika porennu solla mudiyumaa???
23. Train ticket vangitu platform la Utkaralam
Ana platform ticket vangitu trainla Utkara mudiyuma...
24. Ni evvulavu peria dance master'a irundalum, un savukku unnala aada mudiyadhu. Adhu thaan ulagam.
25. koli muttayila irundhu omlett podalam!AAma(turtle) muttayila irundhu komlet poda mudiyuma??? think!

Pongal day hullabaloo

2006-01-16T14:14:00.000-06:00

Just another typical saturday, got up pretty late. Had absoultely no plans for the day. Got a call from Suba, she asked me in her beautiful voice, "Do you want to come for lunch? I have prepared pongal". Well what do you think I did? The thought of Indian food made me hungry. Needless to say she is an excellent cook. The first thing I noticed in her house was the guitar. Wow! cool. I took the guitar and she taught me the chords. We went into a deep discussion about music and its complexity and simplicity. She played some songs for me and for a moment, I forgot my hunger. Hope to get a band going in future. Learnt a bit of guitar and then we sat to attack the pongal. To simply put it in words, thats the best Indian food I have had in months. I forgot all sense of discipline and hogged. Sweet pongal and ven pongal with puli kulambu, went in one after the other. I ate like I hadn't eaten for a long time.
Evening show? King Kong? ok let's go. Show starts at 7pm. But we reached at 7 (Indian Streachable time). Add another hour to it. "Fun with Dick and Jane" started at 8pm. King kong, some other time. Moreover Suba was too scared for "Hostel". Liked the movie. Jim Carrey has done a fair job.
Then to Papa chittos for some Mexican dinner. By the time we returned, it was 11:30. Only if everyday was like this. Thanks to Suba and Shiva for making it a wonderful day.

Tennis to keep me going

2006-01-14T13:09:00.000-06:00

5:30 pm and we start mailing and calling our group of friends, asking them to be in the tennis court at 6 sharp. Well we have never started at 6, but then we do play. At first it was just about hitting the ball across the net, but now we have matured and come to a decent level. We can serve aces now and wow it is fun to see your serve speed across the court.
Well yesterday was one such day. Kapil came on to the court at 7 and we started a round of singles. I was serving completely at ease until he picked up his game and began hitting winners and his ever deadly chops off both sides. We were thrilled about our game having picked up so much within only a week. Wow it really feels good, believe me. I had to change my strategy to prevent him dropping the ball close to the net, so I started going near the net as often as possible. That seemed to put him off a bit and I began winning a lot of points with my volley. I won the first set 7-6 (7-5). We started the second set and he shifted gears to a different level. He began hitting the ball crisply. I really had to run around a bit. He raced to a 3-1 lead. I could never pull back the lead and eventually he won the set 6-3. But we were so happy at the end of the game. One good day of tennis.

Grim Brother's tale

2006-01-13T15:01:00.000-06:00

A typical example of how one can make a complete mockery of a horror flick with a good theme. Well it was a good timepass, but nothing to add to that. Liked the heroine, she kinda looked cute. The story is a typical picture of one's best imagination of a horror flick. A forest driven by evil spirits which refuse to die even after 100s of years. The evil spirit, played by Monica Belluci, tries to get back her beautiful image by killing young kids and the rest is blah blah blah...
Hope to get better movies. Next in line are all the parts of LOTR and Indiana Jones. That's what weekends are for. :)

New to blogging

2004-10-13T09:28:00.000-05:00

Well!! This is simply my first blog. Bubbles and bubbles of information to share about me, but let me take it in steps. Don't want to write the usual "about me" stuff, well lets try something different. Lets talk about my keyboard :-).
Music is just another medium for expressing emotions. The more you being to understand it, the deeper and more complex it gets. Its more than a year now since I bought my Yamaha PSR350. She emits just not sound but emotions. Let me tell you guys the main inspiration, my teacher, my dear dear friend ( I call him Anna, in Tamil it means brother), my philosopher, my guide, none other than Rex George. Well Rex if you are reading this page, the ceiling isn't that high. Both of us bought our PSR350s on the same day, same shop and that's something I can lift my collar about.
To talk more about my PSR350, she's someone who I can never live without. Have played almost every song I have heard + some songs which my Guruji (Rex) taught me. My favorite number is the "Bombay Theme". Managed to find a very similar sounding instrument, and believe me, it sounds heavenly. Will try to get some midi/wav/mp3 files on net for all you guys. She's got a floppy drive, which lets me carry my songs in a floppy. She's got loads of demo songs + background scores for loads of songs + a huge set of DJ functions. Wonderful partner to have in your life. She's definitely my first love. Rexy heard that??? ;-) Miss you da Rexy...