Whiff of Life

The Final Insult: Short Story

2010-09-17T21:32:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: This story is fictitious based on certain true incidents.

Comments/Criticism is most welcome.

All men are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Larsen Gangte was born in the easternmost part of the country, the land of dawn lit mountains, Arunachal Pradesh. A piece of neglected landscape which draws attention of daily newspapers in the country only when there are disputes with China. Born to a local administrative officer with the State Govt. and a housewife along with three other siblings, Larsen’s life has always been a struggle. But one thing Larsen’s father didn’t fail to impart into the soul of Larsen was the pride of being an Indian. Larsen’s father never made him realize that they represent only 3.8% of Indian electorate and are represented by a meager 25 members in a house of 547, more importantly he failed to educate him about the preferential treatment he would be meted out once in open world.

Getting a decent education was such a difficult thing there that Larsen automatically began to be interested in sports. Larsen’s father was a big fan the hockey sensation Dhyan Chand. Every night Larsen slept listening to the stories of the golden period of Indian hockey and how Indian hockey team is the only one in the whole world to win 8 gold medals. The story of the finals of Olympic final in 1932 at Los Angles where India beat United States 24-1, Dhyan Chand scoring 8 goals is the favorite for Larsen. Along with these stories Larsen could sense the disappointment in his father for not being able to play hockey. It was then that Larsen decided that he has to play hockey for India one day.

But being from one of the most backward and neglected corner of the country never helped. He joined a boarding school in Delhi to continue his education so that he can also start playing hockey. Though the family had very limited income, it somehow managed to pay for these expenses. Larsen never dreamt of the kind of reception he would get in Delhi. He was looked up as a complete stranger. His limited knowledge of Hindi didn’t help either. He soon became the fun element of the class. Regularly being referred as a “chinki” and being looked upon as a foreigner became a part and parcel. Larsen though remained focused on his goal. He became the captain of his school captain and was one of the finest players in Delhi.

When he was 18, he went for selection to Indian team. Players from all over the country came for selection along with the selectors from their respective state. Poor Larsen was the only one who had no backing, but managed to get selected solely based on his merit.

His entire family travelled from Arunachal Pradesh to see the first match Larsen would play, but the captain of the team made sure that the players from his own state and from the same region were in the playing eleven and Larsen was made a reserve player.

Indian team travelled to Australia for the world cup that year. Coincidentally Indian cricket team was also in Australia at that time. It is at that time Larsen realized the kind of importance Indian hockey players have in this country. The hockey players were given a meager amount of $ 14 as daily allowance during this trip. Larsen saw cricket players pocketing easily in excess of 100 crores each year from contracts from BCCI and the advertisers, even though it was not the national game for the country. Displaying a large heart, the Indian hockey team’s players told reporters that they would go ahead and play on their own expenses in the World Cup if the apex body, Hockey India, was out of money. The only concern for them was that there was no assurance for the clearance of their dues in the future as well. After a tough fight and media pressure, hockey players managed to get match fees of 25000 INR per match.

Against all odds, Indian team managed to perform well in the world cup and Larsen was the key player. He gained popularity and acceptance among all members of the team and for the first time in his life, he felt that he belonged to the group. Indian team managed to finish 3^rd in the world cup which was a proud moment for the entire country. Indian Govt. announced cash prize of 25 lakh for each player who was the part of the team.

Larsen and his family’s joys knew no bounds. Finally their prayers were answered and finally Larsen was a hero. The team and Larsen were given a hero’s welcome to India. Larsen became a national hero. All news channel with camera crews reached Larsen’s place in Arunachal Pradesh. Larsen was all over the nation.

However, a rude shock awaited Larsen and his family when he returned to his home. Something happened which even his father had not anticipated in dreams.

Even before a victorious Larsen could reach home, a letter asking him to send the copy of his passport to prove that he is indeed a citizen of India to claim the prize money of 25 lakh reached his home. Apparently, some doubts were raised because it was discovered that the ancestors of Larsen were from China who migrated to India almost 2000-3000 years back. It was Larsen’s father who received the letter. All his dreams that his son was finally accepted all over shattered in a single moment. He tore the letter and decided to let Larsen still have his dreams. As for Larsen, he never knew of THE FINAL INSULT and he kept waiting for the prize money to reach him which never did.

Story: The Hidden ME

2010-08-28T08:17:00.000+05:30

Note: The characters and the events are fictitious and are purely imaginary.

Comments and suggestions are most welcome.

It took six hours of strenuous exercise from the internationally famed make up man and six long hours of boredom in my busy life for me to hide my identity and to bring out the “hidden me” out. I was advised by my security experts to keep the whole exercise a secret, hence no one other than my family knew. As was planned I sneaked through the back gate of my large office to join the crowd out and got mixed with the crowd as I slipped out of my official residence, the CM’s residence. The fact that my own main security at the main gate was not able to identify me meant I had passed the litmus test and I set out to live the life of a common man, the hidden me.

I had made plans of visiting the college I graduated from. They say college life shapes the personality of an individual. During my last visit there, all I was allowed was to light the kuthuvilakku and spend only twenty minutes in the college as per my security expert’s advice. Today was going to be different.

I went and stood in the appropriate bus stop for the bus to come. As it was peak hours a crowded bus came, I somehow managed to sneak in and got down at my college stop. Now it was a walk through the kilometer long stretch into the college. Lost in my nostalgia I started walking, only to be stopped by the security at the gate. “ID Card”. I told him I am an old student and wanted to make a donation, he showed me the direction and let me go. I was experiencing a strange freedom, there were no red siren cars leading and following me, there were no security experts guiding me, there were no PA’s making way for me and the red carpet welcome was missing, I was on my own after a really long time. I went straight to the college canteen to have my favorite elaichi tea. Then I decided on taking a stroll around the campus. The trees under which we used to chat all day long were no longer there, instead stood new dept blocks. The stage where I gave my first speech very nervously was decorated and changed beyond recognition. The classroom benches where we used to sit were occupied by fresh students. It seemed all had changed, till I reached the hostel.

I went up to the first floor to the room no. 121, where I spent the first year of my college life. There in a corner of a shelf, were inscribed two names, “Vetri” and “Sankaran”. It was then that I remembered about Vetrivelan. My roommate for the first year, the topper of the college in the first year, who had to drop out of the college as he had no funds to finance his education. All our efforts to pool in money and make him continue the studies were able to sustain only for the first year. After which he had miraculously vanished and became untraceable.

With a heavy heart, I finally went into the college office to give donation to the college. I was given the donation form. Inside the office room was a board showing the gold medalist of each year. There my name was inscribed in Bold letters for the year 1980, Sankaran S. There was a big banner near to this board on my last visit bearing my name being alumni of this college and that too a gold medalist. But today for some reason I was seeing the name Vetrivelan on the gold medalist board. The “hidden me” had identified that it was Vetrivelan who truly deserved to be the gold medalist had he been born into a wealthy family. Suddenly all the events which happened more than 30 years back ran in front of my eyes.

Then I looked into the donation form. It had various options where I could donate. I chose “Student Funds”, which would finance the poor students who cannot manage the steep fees and filled in the amount. Then there was a space asking for the name. I had to give a name to the “hidden me”. I had not thought of it still now. For obvious reasons I could not give my original name. After thinking for a while, I wrote the name “Vetrivelan”. The “hidden me” got a name.

Back to school! Never the same

2010-07-13T19:53:00.001+05:30

The June sun was beating down hard, rain had not yet started this year which is very strange for this part of the tropical world. Looking at the ruins of what once stood out majestically in the city center, I was thinking who is to be blamed. The memories of the school just before the summer break came to my mind in a flash. The promises made, the good bye waved, the smiles, the sound of the children shouting, the ever notorious Vincent of 5^th ‘A’ playing pranks, children sharing their lunch with each other ,all were missing. Instead what stood was ruins, ruins after a severe battle, battle fought with guns and bombs at a place where the only noise used to be the children shouting amidst the birds chirping in the beautiful setting the school was in. Now silence ruled at the Siddhartha Primary School in North Sri Lanka.

While leaving the school on the evening of April 24, 2009, I had the happiness of meeting with my family on the other side of the country. I could see the smiles on the faces of all the children, who were all going on the much awaited summer vacation. With new hopes of returning to a new class, a higher class when they come back from vacation, the students, like me left the school for the day, not knowing that they will never be back to the same school.

It was during May when intense fight broke out in the country between the warring group and the Govt. The Govt. which got information about terrorists being hidden in this very school and scared of the guerilla warfare used by the warring group decided to do air strikes. May 7^th, 2009 was the ill fated date for this school and today June 21^st 2009, the usual re-opening date for the school, there is a deafening silence.

But there is no such silence inside my brain. There are umpteen number of question. When children of two different groups can study sitting side by side, why that is the grownups fight over the language? When Vincent from the warring group can be the school topper in Sinhalese, the Govt.’s official language why is there so much noise on which language to be used? Why did the warring group not think even once before taking shelter in a school which was used by their children to build their future and why the Govt. force did not think even for a second before demolishing the only school in the 20 km radius completely? In a land where Buddha and his teachings is a household thing, why is that the grownups have chosen comfortably to ignore the teachings of the great preacher?

Being a Sinhalese teacher in the primary school in an area dominated by the warring group I had this proud feeling of teaching a new language to the children and learning a new culture altogether.

I am thinking what does “Back to school” mean to the students who were studying in this school, will it mean walking through dense forests for 20 kms! Or will they also leave this area forever! Back to school for me is in a different school in a different area teaching the same thing to a different set of students. But “back to school” will never be the same for me, ever!

My Tryst with the "Red" Shirt

2010-07-13T19:48:00.001+05:30

I know I have not been blogging here off late. But I am back, this time I am attempting to write short stories. Hope you like them.

Note: The below is completely a work of fiction written solely for the purpose of humour. The views expressed and actions performed are no way endorsed by me. J

It is indeed surprising how the surprises of life come from all unexpected corners and change the life forever. I had never expected a “red shirt” to come to me in such unexpected fashion and change my life forever. For the record, I despise the color red for a shirt.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Was it the noise from inside my head or on the door of hostel room no.490 in the final year hostel in the erstwhile Govt. College in the state? Looking into my wrist watch from the corner of my eye, it read 8.40 AM. I had no mood to go to college at 9 on this morning after the rendezvous with half a bottle of VAT 69 the previous night. I decided to end one of the knocking and opened the door to find my dear friend Venkat at the door.

Venkat: Hey Senthil, Still sleeping man? We have placement at nine, don’t you remember, International Business Solutions (IBS) man, the last of the software companies….

Me: Yea man, I will be there, what time is the written?

Venkat: PPT is at 9, written is at 10, but PPT is………..

I banged the door shut to catch up with my sleep for one more hour. Twenty minutes to reach college is a luxury by my college standards.

At sharp 10 AM, I entered the hall where the written was supposed to be conducted and managed to find a place to sit, but the knocking in my head failed to subsidize.

Guess I had too much yesterday.

The written was a usual affair, I tried my best to concentrate and complete the written. Once done with the written, I sped through the crowd to my way to get rid of the headache. And as was expected, fell asleep.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Damn, who is it now? I looked at the watch, it was close to 1 PM, the usual lunch time and fortunately I could hear only one knock, the one on the door. I opened to see my savior of the day, Venkat standing at the door.

Venkat: Man, you have cleared the written man, congrats man and your interview is at 7 PM, mine is at 8:30 PM.

Damn, how can that happen, I was only in half of my senses while writing the exam, how could I qualify.

Venkat: The cut off was 20 out of 40 and you just sneaked through with 20 man, how lucky.

I managed to smile at the irony of the situation.

I ran into my closet to find if I had formal clothes for the interview, but could not find any. I had given all of them to dhobi (washerman) as I had not anticipated IBS to come out hunting for people. I called up dhobi on his mobile to find out, it was not reachable.

Damn all the cell phone networks!

As usual, I turned to my savior, my friend Venkat, he had only one shirt, which he needed and hence, he gave me his new red shirt. A “red shirt” for placement is really not a great idea, but from the position I was in, I couldn’t demand for an Einsteinian idea.

I was looked at as if I was from the other planet in the campus that day with my red shirt, cream color pant and black shoes.

Finally, my turn for the interview came. As I entered I found a bespectacled man, who looked as if he was having a stomach problem and a pretty lady with a familiar face in the interview panel. The lady was wearing a black color salwar and had a strand of her hairs falling on her face.

What was I doing?

I recomposed myself, and went in and wished them, Good Evening Madam, Good Evening Sir.

Ladies first.

I got nods from them and was shown a seat to be seated. Handing over my resume to them, I waited for the ordeal. After a brief introduction from them, (The lady’s name was Rashmi) I was asked to introduce myself.

First question from the man: Why are your marks just above average? Managing just about 75%? Though I see, you scored well in the first year.

Actually, the first year into this college, we were put into a jail; second year was August 15^thfor us.

Me: In the first year, I studied sincerely, Second year onwards I lost interest in the engineering syllabus, found it to be quite boring and monotonous. I tried doing things which are more creative and challenging.

Rashmi: Oh! Is it? Interesting, what creative things have you been doing? That’s an unexpected bouncer.

Me: Well, I have been researching on the topic I would do project and I have been helping my project guide in his thesis for his PhD.

Was it the question from lady, or the traces of VAT 69 inside me which is doing the magic?

Man: Tell me about your final year project.

After explaining at length about the project for about ten minutes using various animated hand movements, I settled down to look at their reactions. Rashmi seemed interested. The man looked at me as if I had spoken in a language he hardly understood.

Rashmi: Why are you wearing a red shirt for the interview, don’t you think it is not a formal wear?

Venkat, I want to kill you man!

Me: Ma’am I think the real thing you are looking for in people is their skills and the inner personality rather than the outer personality. And I love the color red. I believe it gives me immense confidence, which is more essential for me in this interview rather than appearing in a formal dress.

Now I was sure, it had nothing to do with VAT 69 and it was indeed the lady.

They exchanged glances; I realized the man indeed understood English.

Man: Looks like you are the only one who understood the pre-placement talk. Good.

Wow! I had scored a six of the bouncer.

Man: Final question, why IBS?

Well, because no other software company took me quoting low marks. I goofed up my previous interviews. I don’t want to do all this exercise for another company coming in future and software jobs are the high paid ones, not the core ones.

Me: Sir, IBS is a dream company to many. I believe it has the right platform and it surely will provide the opportunity for a non-computer science background guy to outshine himself and I firmly believe only IBS can satisfy my thirst for the non-monotonous job. I see immense growth in the company and I want to grow with the company.

Again they exchanged glances and I could not believe my eyes. The man smiled. He shook my hands and then Rashmi and I was asked to leave and wait for the results.

As soon as the results were announced and my name featured in the list of candidates selected, I went straight to Venkat, to get the red shirt forever from him.

It cost me two bottles of Chivas Regal and umpteen number of reference in front of the whole world, of me getting job because of his “red shirt”.

I still look at “The red shirt” lying in my closet once in a while to give me the confidence.

Chetan Bhagat Vs 3 idiots team: The controversy

2010-01-07T10:20:00.001+05:30

The controversy involving the makers of 3 idiots and the author of the book five point someone Chetan Bhagat has been going round for quite a while. Before I take a stand on the issue, it is better to have a look at what has transpired. So, here goes the story.

3 idiots is one of the biggest hits of the year and is touted to become one of the biggest hits of all time. It is apparently loosely based Chetan Bhagat’s five point someone. According to the director and makers of the movie, only 5% of the movie is based on the novel and the rest has been penned by the writers of the movie. HoIver, those who have seen the movie including me feel a lot has been taken from the novel and it is definitely higher than 5%.

If one looks at the business side of the whole episode, the makers of the movie claim to have bought the copyrights of the novel before making the movie. But what Chetan Bhagat’s complaint is not about the percentage of inspiring from the book. He is claiming that he hasn’t been given proper credits for the story of the movie. The makers hoIver claim that as per the agreement he was given the payment and also the bonus promised if the movie turns out to be hit.

As per the copyright laws, one can use the product he or she has brought the copyrights for, but there is no clause about giving credit to the author. It is purely based on one’s ethics about giving credit for the original work. Hence, I feel the makers of the movie should have given more credit to CB for the story department. Having said this, CB took more than 3 or 4 days after the premiere show to vent out his anger and that too he claims was started only when he started getting fan mails to his inbox.

I feel it is irresponsible on the part of CB to not have raised this before , during the filming of the movie and discussing about sharing credits during the agreement phase itself. Also, if I look at the fact that CB is a MBA from the country’s top engineering college, it is disheartening that he himself has not taken the copyright laws seriously and not ensure proper justice for himself. This tends to show the way Indian look at the copyright laws. Overall, I feel 3 idiots team have done injustice to CB, but CB himself could have avoided that. It is high time , the media and the film industry become more professional and take copyright laws and its agreements seriously like Hollywood does.

The original post on moneymint: link

3 idiots: Masala puri , but where is the taste?

2009-12-26T16:48:00.007+05:30

3 idiots is a movie about 3 friends, each having different family backgrounds and hence different nature and different view of life meeting at the country's top engineering college, starring the marketing machine of the country, Aamir Khan and with an ensemble of cast who can make any other movie maker jealous,. The story follows their life for these 4 years of their lives with loads of comedy and sentiments in the movie. Sounds perfect, right?

But in my humble opinion the movie is hardly perfect. A movie preaching about doing things unconventionally and questioning the conventional ways of our education system , takes the conventional bollywood masala way of becoming a hit. Otherwise how do you explain the typecasting a south Indian as being one who does not know hindi and all he knows is to rot the books and vomit it out on the papers. How do you explain the over dramatic and loud climax where a vacuum cleaner is used for doing delivery of a baby or the scene where a paralytic patient is carried to a hospital in a scooty that too with two other passengers. These were nothing but an insult to the medical profession in my humble opinion.And did you know that you can steal another person's degree and get a job with it and that too a degree from the country's number one engineering college. Well this was a news to me and I feel how come I did not know this all this while.

3 idoits teaches us to be unconventional in a conventional way.

Two 40+ men and a 30+ man playing engineering college students, well this sounds so much filmy. Yes, the movie has certain funny scenes and dialogs, but most of them have been lifted from forward messages one gets on his/her mobile phones or from you tube videos. And as for the sentimental scenes, they have been lifted from the maker's previous movies,how convenient. Then why not read the same engineering book again and pass out with flying grades. After all it is the same thing right. As for the performances, Aamir is as usual very good, apart from that Sharman Joshi gets good scope. Kareena has a very miniscule role. Bomman Irani is over the top and bad. Music of the film is strictly ok and goes well only with the scenes. Cinematography is first rate. With more than dozen sponsors for the movie , the kind of publicity done for the movie and the kind of compromises the movie has done for becoming a hit, the movie is sure to become a massive hit and the makers can safely say " All Izz Well" but I doubt if they will be able to do it with their hands on their hearts.

Rocket Singh: Sheer honesty

2009-12-21T15:23:00.006+05:30

You have rooted for Bhuvan's team in Lagaan, Coach Kabir Khan's team in Chak de India and many such under dogs in the films. Prepare to root for Harpreet Singh's small team of salesmen, who prefer to do business honestly rather than following the usual path of salesmanship. On the upfront neither the premise of the movie, nor the pace of the movie looks appealing to you but what underlies is one of the most honest and realistic portrayal of the characters and situations seen in recent times. The opening credits of the movie, watch out for what comes while showing names of each person, sheer brilliance.

The movie preaches a very simple and fair formula for business, which all of us seem to have forgotten that of being honest with the partners and being loyal to all of them. The office politics, the usage of the word "attitude problem" , the bullying of the weaker one in the office are all portrayed in a never seen way. They look straight out of our own experiences.

The way inexperience shows up and the plans screw up on the part of the Rocket Singh team are a treat to watch. The scene where Ranbir talks on phone with the head of the same firm he is working in as head of Rocket Singh team are a fun to watch. You wait for such scenes when they actually meet again in the climax, when eventually hero wins but alas they are not there. What you get is a silent and underrated symbol of triumph in a simple dialog. Wonder why, we all are more confident to speak to our superiors over phone than face to face, that too about such topics. The best thing about the movie is the honesty it preaches and also practices. None of the scenes, the scenes of victory or the scenes of defeat are handled over the top. There is no steorotyping of the characters. Each character seems so genuine take for instance the computer assembler Ranbir loans from. They are not shown to behave in a fashion just because they are from a certain part. The writer in the movie is a winner all the way. Even after the hero has won all he is fighting for he finishes the job he currently is doing . That is the kind of simplicity and honesty the movie is preaching. As for the performances goes, you will not find any great performances. The reason being that they are not actually performing, they are just acting natural. Such natural performances are difficult to find. Couple of songs are good and hummable. Cinematography has no great role as most of the movie is shot indoors. The movie does not make any compromise like the characters in the movie for it to be a hit and that is what makes this movie the most honest movie I have ever seen. Hats off! Respect the honesty of the makers, watch it for once, am sure you won't repent. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity at least for now.

Life rolls on...

2009-12-16T10:51:00.002+05:30

Well, it has been more than 2 months since I have posted. Not that there was nothing worth posting. Lot many things happening in fact. So much that I did not find time to post it here. This ,this and many other events both on professional and personal front keeping my clock ticking. Meanwhile, the things that I found worth quoting here:

India Australia ODI series was an amazing tour. A second grade Australian side, beating India quite convincingly was indeed a proof of the strength Australia have and it rebuffed claims of anyone toppling Australia from the top spot in near future.
The India-SL series has been a who cares series for me at least. With pitches like concrete pitches being used for the series it is a nightmare for the bowlers and test matches lacked the intensity.
The NZL-Pak series was a well fought one. After a long time we witnessed some quality fast bowling in that series.
Watched umpteen number of movies in this time frame. The best among the lot being Paa. Balki had impressed me tremendously in Cheeni Kum itself and I was waiting eagerly for this one. And it proved to be a worthwhile wait. If you are not of the kind who is impressed by the wit and the casual dialogs in the movie, there is the genius Amitabh in a never seen avatar. Overall a tremendous movie experiece for me.
Another movie which impressed me during this tenure was Peranmai in tamil. Though you get a feeling that it could have been so much a better movie, still it was a nice attempt. The lessons on the global economy and guerrilla warfare are indeed a nice thing to be shown in a tamil movie. All this comes with a cool and restraint performance from 'Jayam' Ravi.
Watched a highly violent and offensive movie called Renigunta. I feel it is time tamil movies stop churning out the violent and sad ending village based movies. What started as a fresh trend has so fast become mundane.
Lot of movies to be watched in pipeline. Rocket Singh, 3 idiots,Kurbaan,Avatar all looks promising.

Symbiotic money minting ways of Indian television channels and movies

2009-10-22T15:32:00.003+05:30

The showbiz business is the one of the biggest money minters in the country. Over the time, the movie industry in India has metamorphosed itself into a fully grown professional business unit. Now and then there have been changes which have helped those involved to mint more and more money.

One of the recent advancement is the entry of the movie makers into the TV world. While UTV took the approach of venturing into movie making first and then launching a movie channel of its own to showcase the movies and to leverage maximum benefits from the television rights of the movies. Down south, Sun network and Kalaignar network have well established television channels with a strong viewer ship and now they have ventured into the realm of film producing. This helps them to market their films to the wide audience they already have through their strong television base. Now with Sun TV cruising fast in the DTH space through its Sun Direct DTH, it has more control over distributing contents and can play strategy games with competitor show times and signals.

In either of the cases, the aim is to leverage as much from a single product possible and more importantly not allowing other competitors to gain out of it. Apart from the earnings gained off the movie’s theatrical runs, the producers have the television rights of their movies specially guarded for their channels to showcase the film on a festive season , thus gaining maximum revenue possible.

The television channel also acts as a publicity media for the movie telecasting exclusive premier of the movie songs for the first time . The relationship between the movie and television channel can best be described as a symbiotic one where both parties stand to gain from each other. The best thing about the whole part is that audience get to see these movies very early these days but 50% running time for advertisements as well.

Shopping this Diwali: A boon to the customer, Written for moneymint.in

2009-10-12T09:53:00.003+05:30

With the biggest Indian festival just round the corner, the consumer is flooded with attractive offers from various brands to woo him. Here are some of the best ones. The list of what ,where and how to buy this diwali:

In the auto market, the manufacturers are offering discounts in the range of Rs 50,000 on select cars. Added to this is the attractive loan rate offers from various banks. A skoda Fabia is costing you Rs50,000 less than the same time last year and a Hyundai Sonata would end up making a saving of Rs35,000 for you. As far as the car loan rates are concerned, as usual SBI leads the race with as low as 8.5% while ICICI and HDFC hover around the 11% mark.

Moving on to the consumer electronics, the market is flooded with discounts and offers of gifts and other attractions. Samsung is giving out 22-inch LCD TV free with every purchase of 40 or above inch LCD TVs. ompanies such as Sony, Samsung, LG and Voltas are offering interest-free finance schemes, some even translating into zero downpayment and processing fee. If you turn to the newspapers, it is full of offers from all major retailers with their offers.

House buyers are also in for some good news. In case you have zero’ed in for the house, the banks are offering attractive teaser rates for initial years with some lenders giving an option to shift to either fixed or floating rates in subsequent years. Please bear in mind that the loan rates are a must to go up subsequently but we can at least save some money in the initial years. And the concept of processing fees has been waived off by majority of the banks.

Going to mobile segment, Nokia offers gifts upto Rs1,00,000 on purchase of mobiles and attractive gifts such as reebok sunglasses worth Rs5,000 and reebok bags and many other assured gifts on select models. Retailers are not far behind. Univercell, a prominent brand in Tamil Nadu is offering attractive discounts and also 5% cash back on purchases made with a HDFC credit card. The Mobile store has come up with a money back scratch card for all brands except Nokia , by which you stand to win upto 55% of your mobile cash back.

With such huge offers pouring in, cosumers need to observe some restraint and spend some time researching on various topics using internet and calling the respective stores in order to figure out the real offers from the fake ones and get benefitted. Happy shopping Diwali!!

The main article can be found here.

The Business of IPL:Written for moneymint.in

2009-09-18T12:25:00.001+05:30

What started as a small idea conceived in the most improbable circumstances for a cricketing league in London’s Wimbledon suburb in the year 2007, today is the hottest sporting league the world has ever seen. It is amassing itself with each passing edition and promises to enthrall not only the audiences but also to spring up money like never before. Cricket has got its money minting machine, its own kuberan in the form of the Indian Premier League and hence, the epicenter of world cricket is no longer in London or Sharjah or even Australia but it is India.

The magic began in Jan 2008 when eight teams were auctioned for a whooping sum of $724 million. The revenue generated from media and sponsorship deals not withstanding in this figure. A part of this whole sum was reinvested in the aging cricket stadiums in the nation and specifically to those which were to host IPL matches. A typical example of successful business strategy. It was a win win game all the way. The players were not left behind. For instance, players are being offered a fee of $1.55 million for just a five week season, against $500,000 to $1 million, depending on the country, for an almost year-long slate of national team games. This was the beginning of a revolution in cricket world, A revolution which took the whole cricketing fraternity by storm.

The shift in paradigm is so huge that many players have already leaving their national teams to focus on the IPL. To cite a few examples, Hayden and Gilchrist have a lot of cricket left in them which is evident from the form they are displaying in the IPL chose to retire from the international cricket to join the league. The stage was set up just like a blockbuster movie and what a fitting finale the first edition met. The results of each of the matches had its influence on the business. How? Let me explain. The fact that underdogs Rajasthan Royals triumphed in the first edition increased their worth by a whooping 71% against an average of 31%. But the road was not as smooth as it looks. In spite of the huge success of the first edition and the enormous amount of money it was minting for everyone involved, the terror attacks on Indian soil had taken its toll on IPL. Govt. of India, rightly so weighed security of elections as being more important that the security of IPL and hence, after a long period dual IPL was finally moved to South Africa for the second edition. Now, an Indian premier league in SA, the doubts of it being successful again began to surface in some minds. But proving everyone wrong, the second season began with bang with the new players surpassing the older ones in terms of revenue they would generate. Even though, South African govt. welcomed IPL with open arms, it was left to smart business strategy of the league to draw in the crowds. Giving out charity tickets to the local schools and the success of local players in this edition pulled in more and more crowds and eventually it seemed like the match was being played in India only. Knowing that the ticketing revenue would be lesser this time around, the moves like having strategic breaks of 7.5 mins in mid of each innings which was to be filled by commercials was a smart move and it paid off in terms of revenue if not in terms of cricketing virtue. All corporates chose this time as the moment to cash in. Vodafone went out all guns blazing with its zoo zoo ads and 15 of them had the audiences in splits.

Though cricket is played in 104 nations across the world for a period of 165 years, before IPL, the professional leagues had never truly looked into cricket from a business perspective. Most leagues around the world are operated by non-profit entities. But private franchise ownership opened a new chapter in the history of cricket and it has changed cricket like never before and the change is a permenant one.

As for the after effects of this, the third season is going to be bigger with more teams joining. Other countries like Pakistan, USA have plans to start similar leagues of their own. 20-20 cricket has found new meaning and it is all set to rule the cricketing fraternity as the youngest and richest member of the lot.

IPL is all set to transform the way cricket is played all over the world.

The same article on moneymint.in

Reliving Ashes 2009

2009-08-25T10:17:00.003+05:30

Wow! That's the only word which comes to my mind when I think of the 2009 Ashes. It was one of the most awaited test series if not for anyone else, but for me. And it lived up to the expectation and how. Australians had their pride at stake, their champions tag at stake for the first time since may be around 200 or 2001. England were fighting for redeeming their lost pride. They had lost the last ashes in Australia 5-0. Added to this was the additional pressure of playing on home soil and to top it all, the responsibility of giving Freddie a fitting farewell. Freddie, one of the heroes of the 2005 victorious England team. So, this series had all it takes for a blockbuster.

Well begun is half done. Indeed, what a start the ashes had. The first test England holding nerve till the last moment to draw what seemed to be an Aussie game all the way. The second test began exactly from where the first ended. England picking up the confidence it gained from denying a must win for Aussie in the first game, came well prepared to Lords to defy history by winning in Lords against Aussies. Though rain tried its best to play a spoilsport in the third test, it was never short of excitement. It was England's turn to dominate and Aussie's turn to save the day. It was more like a repeat of the first test but just the roles were reversed. A charged Aussie after their effort in saving the 3rd game, caught England on the wrong foot in the 4th test and England lost by an innings, leaving it all to the final game. The tally at 1-1. The fifth test in itself had its ups and downs.After a brisk start by England in the first innings it lost its way but ended up with a pretty decent total. Aussies too began in style with the opening pair notching up quick runs but then it was Broad magic. He caused a remarkable collapse for the Aussie middle order and Aussie fell well short of England score. The confident England then amassed a big score in the second innings too leaving Aussie a improbable 546 to win in the last innings of the Ashes 2009. As expected, Aussie fought bravely, but for some run outs, I felt they would have still given more close finish. Finally, it was England which had the ultimate elixir. More than anything, it was a classic example of history repeats itself. Sample this, the final tally of ashes 2005, 2-1 in England's favour 2009 the same. 1st test and 3rd test formatted the same way. Only roles reversed. 2nd and 5th test , mere action replays of each other, only the numbers and stars change. It went to show the maturity which Aussies have gained to put up a brave front in all improbable situations and fighting it out to their best abilities and it is very welcome move from the Aussie board not to blame Ponting for the defeat. What goes up comes down and it is the downfall time for Aussie team. It is time for them to re-group and bounce back, which I am sure they will do sooner or later. Also, all through the series it is the test cricket which is the clear winner. This series has served as a life saving boon to the test cricket, the purest and oldest form of cricket.

Kaminay: Treat to the brain

2009-08-24T09:43:00.004+05:30

There are those good movies which make you watch them again and again. But very rarely you will find a movie which while you leave the theater you want to feel the pride of making one such movie. I felt the same pride this sunday when I watched Kaminay.

Kaminay is from one of my fav bollywood directors Vishal Bharadwaj. The feeling you get after watching the movie is that of reading a fool proof novel. The writing is so powerful. The best thing about the movie is its boldness. No, I don't mean the boldness in the dialoghes and the handling of the story. I meant the boldness in the director saying that if you have come for mindless entertainers go to the other screens in the multiplex. Because if you leave your brain at home, better be at home. When I spend so much money,brain and energy in making a movie, you ought to spend at least a part of it in watching it. And no I am not spoon feeding you.

It was an entirely new feeling for me , may be because I have not seen movies by Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie and the Coen Brothers, which many claim are the inspiration of this movie. But the dark humor interspersed with unpredictable turn of events are a treat to watch. All the characters in the movie will remain etched in memory for a long long time. Though I am not very convinced with all ends well ending, nevertheless I believe that was a compromise done towards commercial success.

If this is how a Kaminay is, then Kaminay's are wow and I want more of them.

Life rolls on...

2009-08-18T12:27:00.003+05:30

Life's been rolling on. To say I have been busy with work would be a false statement ,but yes I was busy with so many other things. One after the other, the twitter bug and now the linked.in and lastly facebook bugs have had their toll on my blogging time and hence, could not write in earlier. So here I am giving an upate on whats been happening all these days.

I have suddenly realized the immense free time we have during weekends and am trying to put it to some good use apart from dozing around and spending time watching movies. Not that I did not watch any during this time. In fact I watched some very good movies. Subramanyapuram, yeah I know, but I could watch it only now, is indeed a path breaking movie in all aspects. Superb. So was Nadodigal a new phase in tamil cinema , I would say; Love aaj Kal, well it is like a chat item at your favourite shop, you know it would be good and it was good , only that nothing in it was original; Angels and Demons, though I am no big advocate of the story itself, which I feel is very meek in comparison with Da Vinci code, the movie though was watchable; Hangover, one of the most hilarious English comedies I have ever seen, though I don't watch many english comedies, I just missed the company of people I would have loved to watch this one with.

As for ashes, it is always there to thrill me. I somehow predicted the outcome of the last test match that Aussies will win it. But I never thought it would be this big. Now I think Aussies are all set to win ashes or at best retain the ashes. For me, England do not have the fighting spirit to pull back things from here. Just hoping Freddie gets a good farewell.

Things like 63rd independence day celebration and Shahrukh Khan being detained at the airport and all the media hulla surrounding it, well I felt there is no need to sensatinoalize either of these and there are other pertinent issues in the country which deserved more attention.

That's it from me.

Ashes Rises from Ashes

2009-07-13T11:25:00.002+05:30

It was a typical case of old wine getting tastier with time. Ashes always lives upto the expectation. This time the expectation was sky high as this ashes was supposed to challenge the might of aussies, who this time have one of the weakest bowling attacks among australian teams of all ages as per me. Surpassing all the expectations, what we were treated to was an absolutely thrilling experience which brings out the best out of test matches dismissing all notions of T20 eating into other forms of cricket. And full credit goes to both these teams for fighting it out. What started as a England's match turned Aussie way and when the extra long Aussie innings went on and on, looked set for a draw. Smart thinking Ponting had other plans. He wanted to bat once and for all in this match and it seemed to work till the last twist in the tale. 10th wicket partnership going on for 11 full overs and surpassing the lead by Aussie was indeed a treat to watch irrespective of which team you are supporting.Each ball was greeted with sounds ranging from pin drop silence to a roar when the batsman survives. Aussies wanted to bowl for some more overs, but the stipulated quota of overs being over, England were a tad luckier than them. Though one felt bad about Aussie losing the game, it was cricket on a whole which was the winner. With just one match over, Ashes promises to raise from the ash like a Pheonix to enthrall one with the pleasure of test cricket.

T20 World Cup Fixture is Buggy

2009-06-11T09:45:00.002+05:30

The fixtures and schedule for the ICC T20 World cup 2009 are faulty. The concept of pooling them into groups based on the previous world cup rankings is pretty justifiable but ranking them this time based on their last world cup's performance is sheer stupidity. For instance, even though England and South Africa have topped their respective pools this time they have been named as B2 and D2 and hence they have to play against the tougher teams A1 and C1. So for the super eights you have a pool which has teams like India,England,South Africa and West Indies. Three out of these four have topped the tables this time around. And the other pool has Pakistan,Ireland,New Zealand and Sri Lanka, only one pool topping team among the four. Ideally the pools for super eight should have been decided based on what ranks the teams achieve this tournament. Now, this has resulted in huge imbalance among the pools for the super eights. Another effect of this mistake is the the last few matches have become inconsequential. For instance, the match between West Indies and SriLanka and the match between New Zealand and South Africa. They just served merely as a practice match where teams tried to seize the momentum as they go into the next round.
I believe the reason for making such fixtures was to boost the sale of tickets and advance bookings as it was known well in advance where will the teams meet for super eights match unless there is a upset like the ousting of Australia. It is time the organizers think beyond petty gains like this which kills the competitive spirit of the game and makes the series a lackluster one.

Memories down under in Coimbatore

2009-06-08T13:51:00.004+05:30

Well, somethings don't happen when and where you wish . They just happen when they are destined to. And till then you have to wait for the moment. I had been thinking of going and visiting my college and the beautiful city of Coimbatore where it is situated ever since I completed a year into this corporate world but then the thought had a wait time of 4 years before it finally materialized.

Yes, indeed this weekend I visited Coimbatore and more importantly spent a time of full 2 hours inside the campus taking snaps and recollecting memories of lost times, of times which will never come back again. It was really bad that there was no one in the college except some staffs who were invigilating over some exams happening. So, here I had an unrestricted access into all the hostel and department blocks. Of course, the labs were closed. The Coimbatore weather in June, stayed true to its expectations and was at its typical best. It was breezing all the while with intermittent drizzle now and then. Many things have changed and many new things have cropped up new. Like the new Civil Engineering block. But some things are rock solid and unchanged. Like the hostel and the greenery around. It goes to the credit of the college administrators for not giving in to expansion at the price of greenery. As for around the college, there are a lot of new bakeries which have sprung up. Also, noteworthy for me was the new snooker,billiards and pool outlet which has come up. Brave move by the owner I would say knowing my college mates finances. Nakshatra has become Ponnusamy, K.R Bakes has become K.R. Restaurants , I think this change is all across Coimbatore. Somethings have vanished, like the all famous Karthick mess.

Life has to move on and so have we. But some memories remain etched in ur minds forever though in dormant state. It was like hitting the rewind button on the remote control and then watching the highlights of the play again.

Hits and Misses of IPL 2

2009-04-29T10:21:00.003+05:30

I know this one is quite late. But it had kept me too busy to write one here. I am talking of IPL 2. Here is my own list of bests and worsts of the season 2 of IPL starting from the worst.

Kolkatta Knight Riders: Yes, this is indeed the worst thing that can happen to a sporting extravaganza of this magnitude. Right from the point of Ponting pulling out and the team losing out on it's Paki players to the continuous losing streak and the never ending controversies in and around the team, this has put IPL2 to shame. KKR are in news always and always for wrong reasons.
Loss of form of Rajasthan Royals : May be due to key players like Shane Watson and Sohail Tanwir or may be b'cos of off the colour Greame Smith making a comeback after injury, the champions are not in true color. It was sheer fun to watch a young team led by an inspiring leader making it to the top the last time. The same doesn't seem to happen this time around. Adding to their woes is the loss of Shane Warne now.
Kevin Peterson and Andrew Flitoff : If you think they are on this list b'cos of their huge pay cheques which everyone envies ( including me) you are not entirely wrong. These are players who did not perform worth their money. Both were out of touch throughout their stay and after the exit of these two players the respective teams appear to have strengthened.
See-Saw Mumbai Indians: Very much like the season 1 of IPL, Mumbai Indians are having a see-saw in their fortunes here. Starting with a win against the runners up of the last year, they slumped to a defeat failing to chase 120 runs on the board and some inexplicable captaincy in another match from Sachin. However, recently they seem to have regained the touch and are in contention of the semi-final spot yet again.
Re-charged Deccan: On papers Deccan were and are one of the strongest side. Just that they couldn't perform as a unit last time around. The Chargers this time with changed jerseys are a different unit altogether. From being the bottom team in the last edition, this time they are right on among the top teams.
Daring Daredevils : This is the case of old wine becoming tastier. If they were good in Season 1 they are the BEST this season. Being on the top of the tables consistently they are an amazingly strong side with players of calibre Glen McGrath and Danile Vettori warming the benches.
Namma Chennai : After initial hiccups, Namma Chennai looks all set to reach semi-finals in style and are a very formidable unit. With Hayden,Raina and some other new timers like Jakati and Tyagi in top form all I can say for Hayden case is Australia's loss is Chennai's gain.

The best things about IPL are undoubtebly the unlimited entertainment they are providing. Hence, the top three feature entertainment as their major contributor.

Unlimited Entertainment: With doubts of the season's success, IPL 2 shifted to SA. But what a tournament it has been so far. If IPL 1 was more to do with Batsman only, this season has been even to both batsman and bowlers. Matches turning either ways like the turn of the page in book, each match is so damn exciting to watch. Due to smart marketing strategy, it has managed to pull in crowds to the stadium and make the whole season a success.
Fake IPL Blogger : I need not introduce this guy to you for sure. Beleive him or not, Agree with him or not, He is speaking truth or not , who really cares. All he speaks is so much fun to read and is guaranteed entertainment.
Vodaphone ads starring ZOZO: Now this has to top the list. I call it innovation at its best. Vodaphone has always been keen on making ads without big stars and this one continues the trend. But I believe by the time all the ads are out, ZOZO would have become stars. The ads are so much fun to watch. The best was the "Make up alerts".

Well, skeptics may list out negatives of the tournament. But negative and positives are just two sides of the coin and is bound to exist in everything, IPL is no exception.

Is India ready for Nano?

2009-04-02T20:14:00.001+05:30

Nano has been unveiled in India amidst huge hulla and it has all the build up for a blockbuster. But, IMHO India and Indians are not yet ready for Nano. Why? Here are the reasons:
• Indian roads and infrastructure are not yet ready for something like Nano. Imagine people buying a pulsar today buying a Nano(cost difference being only around 25k) and driving it instead of Nano. Even though the car is just 3 mts in length and has a turn radius of 4 mts it still is much more than the volume occupied on road and parking lots than of a pulsar. Considering the current scenario of traffic in India and the number of two wheelers getting registered daily, the image I see terrifies me.
• Indian social and economic climate still considers cars as a mark of luxury and not a necessity. In fact, Indian climate is also conducive to the fact that cars are not necessary.
• If we go by the logic, that each guy buying a pulsar buys a Nano, then the requirement for petrol will double assuming Nano delivers the promised mileage of 25 kmpl. This indeed is not a good news for already fuel crunch country India.
• There are claims that this is the birth of Indian technology and that it is a great step for India in the field of technology. I agree, but there are many other spectrums where India can and has to prove its technological power. Let us concentrate on those areas.
• I am no auto expert to be writing this comment. But from what I read and heard from my friends, the car design is not very good in case of any unforseen event of it crashing. The front hardly got any mass to tolerate the impact of the collision and hence, it can be fatal for the driver.

I do not mean to crash all those having a Nano dreams. All I want to say is it is a no no for Nano from me.

Me and my cricket fetish

2009-03-27T10:08:00.002+05:30

This one goes to me. A personal recollection of my cricket fetish. I am a self acknowledged ardent cricket fan. But it was not always so. Like all our famous cricketers I too had a lean patch in my cricket fetish.

The very early memories of me enjoying cricket was of 1992 world cup. I was a Martin Crowe and NZ fan back then. I watched all the NZ matches waking up in wee hours of the morning. And I still remember how I felt when a deserving NZ lost to Pakistan in the semi finals.

Then there was a period when I supported teams like West Indies for merely Lara and Pakistan. I know it sounds odd , but then those were the days when bowlers like Wasim, Waqar used to create havoc and then there was a period of Shoaib adoration. His body language,his style,his aggression all appealed to me.

Somewhere on these lines, I became a Aussie fan and was one till very recently when the India bug bit me. Talking about the lean patch, well it actually began when I decided to take a dip into my HSC books, the dip which was a bit longer and then the college days when we lacked both time and the logistics needed to follow a cricket match. It is during this period that I somehow lost both interest in cricket and my Aussie adoration also died off. This dormant period had some activity in the form of occasional matches I watched like the 2003 world cup.

However, the passion or the fetish , was back when one particular match changed the way one day cricket is played over. The day was 12th March 2006, when Australia amassed a record score of 434 only to lose it to South Africa by 1 wicket. I must confess I did not watch this match too fully live but I managed to see the recorded version so many times. And with the advent of 20-20 cricket , cricket has generated whole new interest in me. Not only 20-20 version, I watch all versions of the game.

Even the test match once considered boring , has got new life infused into it by the fighting spirits of teams like Australia,South Africa and to certain extent India also. The recent SA-Aus series in Australia first and then in SA, have been one of the best test matches ever played. So, thanks to 12th March 2006, I will continue to haunt you with my write ups and rants about cricket.

IPL:Indian Political League

2009-03-24T09:37:00.002+05:30

Enough of hype and hoolah around IPL. What started out as a innovation in cricket , at the culmination of its first league turned out to be an entertainment gamble which paid off money in millions to the organizers and players. It sparked off war of words between the franchise owners over the selection of players. Then it metamorphosed into a dream to play for, even among prominent international cricketers. England who had opted out joined the bandwagon. The auction which was conducted just months before was another slap on the face of the common man, tycoons like Vijay Mallya paying 7.2 crores to Peterson while firing employees who merely earn in thousands in the name of recession. But the juggernaut rolled on.
Finally it has hit the roadblock in the name of elections. For those who consider it more important than the general elections, well I don't have anything to say. It is nothing but the arrogance of the organizers and the BCCI to be stressing upon having the event amidst such security crunch. In fact, IPL has now become the Indian "Political" league now. With politicians reaping out benefits from each and every leaf that falls from a tree, this is like a boon. They have started throwing stones at each other. Statements like moving out IPL out of India are a National shame is exaggeration. After all this is just a game and that too not something like an Olympics or a commonwealth games. At the same time, the decision to move out is not justified either. Sample this, Chennai Super Kings Vs Mumbai Indians at Centurion Park or Lords. How exciting does this sound? I feel that IPL should wait for the other big game, the politicians game to finish off and then begin somewhere in October when the weather will be ideal for playing in India and be the true Indian Premier league. As for the existing schedule which will be affected by this move, well we can’t have a win-win situation always. Let’s say, this is the price we pay for not foreseeing the elections while planning the IPL 2.

Vennila Kabaddikulu: Movie Review

2009-03-17T09:19:00.003+05:30

Warning: Spoiler ahead. Details of the plot and twist revealed.

Vennila Kabaddikulu happens to be one of the progressive movies in the Tamil industry by one of the directors who have now started to think beyond the obvious. The plot , or the absence of it , is filled with such twists and turns which the viewer would not have expected at the least. The movie is character driven and moves along only with the help of some situations and the reactions of the various characters. Some scenes are certainly worth speaking about, for instance the way the friendship between the bus driver and hero develops and the scene where the heroine is scared of the dog. The movie gradually shifts its focus to the kabaddi game in the second half and those portions and the nuances of the game are portrayed well. The photography,music,background music ,performances and the comedy are all first rate.

The only sore thing for me in the movie is its climax. I mean, it seems to be forced in. There is no logic for the hero to die while playing a kabaddi match and it ends on a jarring note which is otherwise a smooth narrative. One feels happy when all the problems hero faces vanish , call it luck or due to humility of the hero but in the name of a final twist at the end , the director gives a sour taste in the mouth which otherwise is a delicious watch. I beleive the director got carried away in his intention of giving twists and got inspired by the recent village based filcks which all had a tragic end to it.

delhi 6 : A pleasant journey

2009-02-26T10:18:00.002+05:30

Delhi-6 happened to be one of the most eagerly awaited movie for me this year and I managed to catch it during the first weekend of its release. Amidst all the contrasting reviews for the movie(mostly terming it as a boring personal movie) , I found a simple and likable tale in this movie. The movie is very different from the average Hindi film. There are no main and sub characters in the movie. All characters have equal footage and it is the simplicity of these characters that scores for me. The scenes also are very simple and look to be straight out of life. Take for instance, the scene where hero and heroine meet for the first time, there is no slow motion, there is no showing the same scene from 3 different angles and there is no background score specially for the scene, the scene comes just as another scene in the movie. This realism is what I liked in the movie. The movie is about the two sides of human personalities, the good and the evil and the way we switch from one to the other at the slightest chance. The situations on which the good and bad come out seem very simple and childish but a look into ourselves will tell that this is exactly what we have been doing, reacting to very simple situations. It rightly shows the way media feeds on the news created by them and the way rumor mills work overtime always in India . The movie has terrific music, beautiful photography and some very good acting from one and all. Except for the climax which appears cliched and artificial the movie is a treat to watch. Overall, the movie catches and grows on you slowly like a typical ARR song.

Inspirational photography

2009-02-17T10:09:00.003+05:30

Some really cool photography tricks...

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/100-funny-photos-taken-at-unusual-angle-humor/

And technology at its best...a pic of 1,474 megapixels.

http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=15374&window_height=824&window_width=1263

Go Goa: At last

2009-01-30T10:40:00.004+05:30

Well, this one has been pending since a long time. I mean, both the trip and the write up on the same. Ever since we formed a gang of ours in Bangalore and settled down well, the Goa trip is on the cards and every time we do lot of planning and then eventually drop the whole thing because of one reason or the other. I guess, destiny had chosen Jan 2009 for us to bless Goa and so it be.

We 5 set off for Goa on Jan 16, not before another glitch of one of us dropping out at the last moment and we finding a replacement for him. We three , me , mohan and his bro(the replacement!) set off from Chennai by Vasco express on Jan 16th , the Friday to be joined by Rajeshwaran and Deepak from Bangalore on the same train but in a different compartment 5 bogies away from ours. Well, the journey mostly went without any big events and problems except for the last wing of the journey i.e., after the station called Castle Rock. This is when the train cuts through the western Ghats to descend to the beaches of Goa. This one hour or so of the journey makes the whole slow train journey worthy. We got amazing view all famous Dhoodh Sagar falls and many tunnels. The way the track is built here makes one thank Indian Railways for all the hard work which would have gone in , in bringing this up. Finally after much confusions about whether to get down at Margaon or Vasco, we got down at Margaon. Our hotel booked at Calungate was equidistant from both of these places. And we took the public bus all the way till Calungate which is definitely a good bargain against the fares the taxis charge there. And we checked into our cool and cosy Alfa guest house in Calungate. Once we got hold of our honda activas, we set off to Aguda fort which was closing in another hour.

Aguda fort is a old 17th century fort with some scenic view of the sea from the top and some nice spots for memorable snaps. We followed the herd and did the same.

Our next destination after a lavish lunch was Anjuna beach. For some reason, this place did not live upto its expectations for me. The reason might be that it is a rocky beach and we cannot go down and touch the water and also may be the point that we reached here late in night to find nothing but some drunkards lazing off there. But I believe this would have been definitely a pleasing site during day time. There was also one single way to get to the sea which was clear during the night hours.

Once done with this, we went back to our rooms, put our bikes to rest and decided to have a stroll around, which ended up being an extra long stroll and without our knowledge we reached the beach next to Calungate beach, Bagha beach. Goa beaches look amazing in night. The waves are still very low and calm during night hours and hence the beauty of the beach is not at all diluted in the night. For some reason, there was no light on the beaches except the lights the hotels had. After having a stroll back and dinner we went and retired to our room.

Next day was a big day in our trip. Our only complete day and the first thing in the morning we hit a beach called Vagator beach. Now, this beach is by far the best beach I have ever seen. Very small , hardly 200 metres in length, this has nature in its pure nascent form. Due to ground level being not even, bathing was prohibited in this beach. May be because we hit this very early in the morning, we did not find much crowd here but the abound beauty of nature was enough for us to keep us engaged. It is here that we realized the bliss sometimes being alone can bring.

Next, we went to our own Calungate beach. Now this is a hustling bustling business beach. You have various restaurants at the beach and all sort of water sporting events and for calmer ones, you can have a cool bath in the sea here. The waves were just lovely and calm. Among the various sporting events we tried dolphin watch,water scooter and paragliding. The 3 minutes of paragliding were the moments of this trip.

By the time we were done with all the activities of Calungate beach it was well past lunch time . We went to our rooms freshened ourselves and then headed to Panaji. First we booked for our mandovi river cruise and then headed towards old Goa to visit the famous churches. We managed to visit just St.Francis Xavier's church in the time we had. The beautiful drive to the church was along the Mandovi river . Then, we headed to Miramar beach to catch up sunset there before our river cruise. And for this we had to drive through almost the whole of Panaji. Miramar beach is just another ordinary beach but the sunset we saw here and the pics we took made the trip memorable. The next stop was the Mandovi river cruise. Frankly I expected it to be a cruise where they would show us some memorable places but it was just a party. It was a celebration of the goan spirit and we celebrated it in our own way. Once down with the 1 hour crew, we drove back to Calungate and then that was the end of this long eventful day.

Next day was when we had to start. So we preferred a simple walk to the Calungate beach in wee hours of the morning before finally starting off from Goa and this is how our long planned, late executed mission "Go Goa" culminated. The moments that stood out for me : Moments in vagator beach and paragliding moments. And finally, Goa is only as good as the company you go with. Have a rocking time!

Album link

A Few Good Men: One of the few good films

2009-01-27T09:46:00.004+05:30

I am urged to review a movie after a really long time. Some movies linger in your memories for a long time after the movie is over merely by the performances and the strong characterization done in it. One such movie I saw recently is "A few good men". I know it is a very old movie and reviewing it now seems absurd to many but I was trying to grab a copy of it since a long time and somehow i managed to miss all its screenings on HBO till yesterday when I got hold of its DVD. At a running length of 2 hour and 15 minutes it is a bit longer than the normal English movies but it carries the intensity and the sincerity of the story throughout the movie mainly due to the amazing background score. The story is set in US Naval Base in Guatenamo Bay,Cuba and deals with the sensitive and controversial topic of "code red". The movie unfolds itself in layers and as each layer gets unfolded to you, you tend to believe there is more in this story. And tell you what, the expectations come true. For example, when you think its all over and hence forward it is going to be honky dory, comes the latest sting in the tail where the true honour of being in US Marine services is realised. Some scenes have great power held in them. For example, the all famous "You cannot handle the truth scene" and the scene where the accused are finally acquitted but stripped off their Marine post and the reactions thereforth. Also, worth mentioning is the last scene in the movie when after the whole proceedings is over and Tom Cruise is all alone in the court room and he looks at the court room. It is then that you realize that he has got a whole new meaning to the court room at that moment. The only disappointment for me was the character fo Demi Moore which went on a downhill after raising huge expectations of being a brilliant lawyer. Watch it, for the performances of Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise.

Voice of the common man

2008-12-01T10:10:00.003+05:30

With the investigations revealing newer truths daily into the Mumbai war, as the media has chosen to call it, the common man has many grievances to report. Some of them in my list:

No resignations please. No, you cannot run from your responsibilities. If you have screwed up something, you need to stand back till it gets fixed. Running away from responsibilities cannot be called "Taking moral responsibility". Work under pressure till you close the case and then offer to resign. I am sure this resignation is a holiday in disguise and this whole drama would be forgotten when it comes to election time again.
No movies on this war please. I remember the movie "Shootout at Lokhandwala" about one such real life incident where the terrorists were given real life caricatures and it was one of the roles of a terrorist who walked away with all the laurels. Hence, NO movies on this.
Keep media away from the actual sit of the operation. With unrestricted access to the place of operation, in addition to projecting the forces as heroes (which is commendable), it also provides accurate and classified information on TV of the hideouts and operation details which are accessible to everyone including the terrorists bosses who can communicate with them very easily and hence, aiding the terrorists in turn. This was depicted very clearly in the movie " A Wednesday" where the protagonist shows clearly how the media can be used to gain accurate information of the operation.
Stop ALL ties with Pakistan. With more and more evidences showing a Pakistani hand, we need to stop all sort of ties with Pakistan. Stop all Samjhauta Express trains and buses, imports,exports (including movies,songs and artists), cut off all cricketing and any other sporting releations with them. To go a step further, with the power BCCI has over the ICC it can threaten to boycott any series where Pakistan participates hence, meting out a South Africa like treatment to Pakistan to make it loud and clear to the world "Enough is Enough". Some of this was done after the attack on the Parliament. This is bigger attack than that , then why not this time.
Stricter laws dealing with terrorists is needed. Mercy petition from terrorists should simply be thrown like the files which are stacked up in the Govt. Offices. Terrorists must go through a spine chilling experience before they even think of attacking India. Terrorists should not be turned into heroes. No. Not even their names should be reveled to public. They are anti-social and should be dealt in the same way.
Take the warnings seriously. The warnings from ATS and other investigating agencies are not mere "instincts". Also, I fail to understand how did they enter so easily through the sea with the presence of so many coast guards and navy fleets in and around Mumbai. Imagine if it is this easy in a place like Mumbai how easy would it be along the long coastlines of Gujarat where there is nothing apart from the marshes of Kutch.

These are the voices echoing inside this common man. Lets hope at lease some of them are heard!

Tale of 2 cities

2008-11-29T21:43:00.003+05:30

We Indians had our own share of "Tale of 2 cities" during the turmoil which happened over the last few days( 4 days to be precise). It all began on the fateful date of 26th Nov when some terrorists waged a war against the financial capital of the country. About a 1000 kms away, another metro, considered one of the lifelines was preparing itself for the nature's fury. If the terrorists were from Pakistan, the cyclone "Nisha" came from the Bay of Bengal, the credit for the christening goes to East Pakistan(Bangladesh). The battle was between the terrorists and the army,ATS,NSG,Police in Mumbai while in Chennai after 2 days of continous rain in Chennai, it was a battle between the Sun and the clouds with each playing hide and seek with Chennaite's life for another couple of days. It can only be called irony that both these battles began and ended on the same day. The precision with which the terrorists had planned the events and the fury of the nature during the rains over Chennai are unparallel and lets sincerely pray that it is not repeated in future. In both of the cases, the common man could be felt wanting for more in terms of the relief measures and the counter-offensive against the terrorists. One thing is for sure, both the cities were not at all prepared for this kind of day. Perhaps we need to do some more introspection before claming about 7.5% growth in GDP and Chandrayaan success. We need to get the basics right.

Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikalam

2008-11-26T10:19:00.002+05:30

Some random thoughts on a not so random day. I say not so random because in my Chennai life so far , I haven't seen Anna University exams getting postponed due to rain in addition to schools and colleges being shut for the day. Alas! there are some souls like me who still have to work [sigh].

The continous torrential rains caused due to the low pressure bring in my mind the title" Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikalam". This happened to be the title of the next Gautam Menon's movie after the phenomenal success of Kaaka Kaaka . Now the buzz is that this is the next movie from his camp again after the mixed resonse to Vaarnam Aayiram. Also, this will be the first time A. R. Rahman will work with Gautam Menon whose movies have been known for their beautiful songs, coutesy Harris Jayaraj. This reminds me that I am yet to see Vaarnam Aayiram.

Also running through my mind is that amidst this rainy weather is the thought that we have to go to offices. How I wonder our offices were also shut or at least we were allowed to work from home. I mean, companies should think seriously about this option. Imagine the amount of cost cutting it can achieve from transportation,electricity,AC costs and the goodwill it will gain from the employers. To take it a step further, I would suggest that each team should come to office only once in a week and hence dividing the total number of teams into 5 groups working from office on any one of the working days. This will lead to cost saving of 80%. And if this is made a permanent option then they can curtail the building costs also providing seating space for only 1/5th of the employees. Agreed that additional expenses will include giving laptops to everyone and broadband connection but I guess most of the companies already have internet allowance as a part of their monthly salary and computer buying option as a part of the total CTC. Hope, someone who can take such decisions reads this.

Another thing to be felt happy about is the very fact that my company has transportation. Otherwise, coming in public transport or own vehicle in this rain would have been a mountain to climb.

Good that there are no matches scheduled in Chennai these days , otherwise the list of matches being washed out in Chennai would have got another entry appended to it.

The rains also remind me of my childhood days in Bhubaneswar where it used to rain cats and dogs and once we could not see sunshine for 7 long days.

Hoping to see sun again soon.

Border Gavaskar trophy

2008-11-11T21:23:00.002+05:30

The Border Gavaskar trophy of 2008 will be remembered for reasons many for each one of us. My own diary of the series

The most unaustralian side I have seen. When do you see an Australian team with not a single bowler who has average less than 30. How often you hear of figures like 0/199 in 30 overs for an Australian bowler even if it was in a practice match.
The most sporting (read uncompetitive) Australian team I have seen in recent times. The only episode of unruly behaviour came from the Indian camp in the form of Gautam Gambhir. Perhaps, rightly they have learnt to lose now.
It was Indian festival all through. The series ran parallel to the most famous indian festival Diwali came as a blessing in disguise to Indians. Begining from Sachin's record breaking run, we had Anil Kumble's grand farewell and Dada's winning farewell.
War of words was started and also won by India for a change. This is primarily because Australians chose to remain silent this time and Indians ... well we had all of them speaking volumes. Once again the focus was not on war on field but off the field. Indians should have surely avoided it especially the Gambhir incident.
Post series win Indians have been on a rampage giving one statement over the other and claiming that we are the no.1 side in the world now. Australians attained the no.1 status after tasks like beating Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and beating NZ in NZ. India is far from doing these. India won a series at home which is nothing but expected because home pitches are tailor made. If Indian attains the same win in Australia then may be we can claim to have moved a notch towards the no.1 spot.One more important factor what I felt was the matches were mostly decided by the spin of the coin and not the spin of the ball. Whoever won the toss dominated the match. Had Australia been luckier than probably we would not have been celebrating this.
The last day of the series was something to watch out for. The aggression with which Aussies came out to bat especially Hayden and the way Indians matched their aggression, it was test cricket at its best.
No doubt Ponting will have more than a few questions to answer over his game plan of preferring to think about the ban in the next series and letting a winning chance slip away in the final test.
Australians have learnt to lose in spirit. Indians have just started their winning ways. Hope they handle their win maturely by not giving any horrendous statements.

mundinam parthen:indru thaan ketten

2008-10-24T14:16:00.003+05:30

I listened to the song "mundinam parthen" from the latest Gautam-Harris combination movie "varnam aaayiram" and this blog is dedicated to that song. Now, let me make some things clear, this song is not the best one I have ever heard or probably the best I will ever hear but still, this happens to be my first blog about a song. Before you close this page, let me go to the topic.

This song undoubtedly one of the best I have heard in recent times. The song begins with a small prelude and then guitar takes over eventually giving the reins to the singer Naresh Iyer who takes the song to great heights as usual. Soft guitar follows the song throughout along with the beats and the saxophone piece played out in between stanzas is something which is very novel and great from Harris. Never before I have seen him handle saxophone and guitar so nicely.

The song leaves a lasting impression and is definitely addictive. The lyrics by Thamarai is at its usual best and this one is a super romantic song ably in the subtly of the words and feelings expressed. To me this song is a winner all the way and find some space in my heart and my new ipod for a long time for sure. And I am sure, the video should be equally exciting.

Link for the song: Click here

Back to cricket

2008-10-15T21:23:00.002+05:30

It has been quite a while I wrote abour my favourite topic, cricket. And thanks to Zaheer Khan, I got the topic to write about. To be very precise about my point here, Zaheer khan's comments about australian team are uncalled for. Statements like this australian team is the most defensive australian team are completely uncalled for. It is clearly evident from the score cards as to who dominated the game. The very fact that Ponting dared to give a sporting declaration with a target of under 300 on a day to finish is enough to show the amount of courage he has and the amount of confidence it has in his bowlers. Then , it was left to India to find out ways of delaying the inevitable and to put it in best words for India, they managed to salvage some pride in this tailor made slow pitch for them. Yes, it is a fact that Aussies are missing a key spinner in their side for this tour, but nevertheless, this match was always under australian control for me and we just managed to sneak through. Hope such statements from players do not start the war of words again and eventually we end up losing the main focus on the game .

The unforgettable tour 2

2008-10-10T11:16:00.009+05:30

Here goes the second part of the so called unforgettable tour which I made to LA. After a wonderful and entertaining day at the universal studios and an overnight stay at the hotel, next morning we headed to the supposedly, happiest place in the world. The place where the clock never strikes midnight, the place where everyone irrespective of their age becomes a kid. We thought we would be the early birds by making it there before others come in but we were in for a rude shock. By the time we entered disneyland after wading through the marathon crowd on foot, we saw the entire world there. Again due to maverick planning of our tour guide, we managed to hit all the famous and not to be missed spots first.
As soon as we entered, we saw a breathtakingly beautiful disneyland railroad station and the street called main street U.S.A. And there was goofy waiting for us to take snaps with it.
First on our list was the most famous indiana jones ride. After a really long walk to the ride from the entrance into a cave like structure we were made to sit on a jeep prototype and then made to ride on rough roads having lots of ups ,downs curves and artificially created dangers. The best part was the statue of a man hanging from the ceiling as if he will just jump into the jeep and the big dummy stone being rolled over as if it would straight land on your head. After around 5 to 10 minutes the bumpy ride came to and end but not before giving us very nice thrilling moments.
Next was the best of the lot, the pirated of the carribean ride. This ride was a very smooth ride , no ups,downs,thrills whatsoever. But the effect they have created of the sky and other sets relevant to the movie inside this ride gives an out of the world experience. At one point it looks like the end of the world, meaning there is a dead end in the ocean and the way it looks here in the ride is nothing short of the real experience. This ride lasted for more than 10 minutes and all the time as expected we were seated on a boat navigating on an artificially well created ocean.
After this rather calm and spellbounding experience, we were headed for some short and quick thrill in the form of splash mountain. Which is nothing but just another water ride with a steep and thrilling fall at the end of it. A good place to take some memorable picture at the cost of 15 bugs though.
Next we headed to the other side of park , tomorrow land where our first destination was space mountain. The amount of thrill felt in this ride cannot be expressed in words. Your carriage(if we can call that fast moving thing a carriage) , moves at breathtaking speed in a pitch dark auditorium kind of structure. The only small source of light throughout the entire ride is some artificial shining star. The twists and turns, the steep climbs and falls, the sharp U turns, all at a breathtaking speed and pitch dark environment, this is surely enough to give a nauseating feeling but fortunately and intelligently we had hit upon this ride just before lunch. The single thought that came to my mind after this ride was about the amount of testing and planning that would have gone in for this ride .Our guide was smart enough to get us fast pass for this one when we were enjoying the other rides.
Fast pass means you do not have to wait for the next ride in the queue. You will be given a ticket with the ride timings and you can just report at that time.
Once done with space mountain we went for lunch and that’s when the other group among us who wanted to hit california adventures, the adventure park opposite to disneyland moved on after lunch. And post lunch we were left on our own as our guide moved on with them and this is when we were left on our own for the rest of disneyland trip . Post lunch we were not sure where to go and we lost lot of time and post lunch rush at all the spots was very high.
After deciding to go to the Findind Nemo submarine ride next, we boarded Disneyland monorail , not knowing that it is less for sight seeing and more for real transportation from nearby hotels to the disneyland. So we reached back to the same place after a rather disappointing ride on monorail. My personal recommendation, use monorail only if you have to , otherwise it is just worth a snap.
Once back from here, we found that the queue for the much hyped submarine had a waiting time of more than 1.5 hours and hence, we made our way to the the nearby autopia but again a long queue and a waiting time of more than 20 minutes. This was a kid dish version of the go carting experience, and to be frank the hot sun blazing us did not allow to enjoy this either.
The next we decided to give the finding nemo submarine ride a try nevertheless and waited in queue for more than 1 hour and 15 minutes before getting into an kid dish submarine ride. With all artificial fish and creatures underwater, I would say this one was not worth the 75 minute long wait but nevertheless when you become kid you are bound to enjoy all these stuff.
Once done with this we headed to the other side of the park , Mickey's toon town to meet all the famous characters created by Sir.Walt Disney. And yet again another queue at Mr.mickey's house as if it is a visit to tirupati devasthana. We finally waited and took some nice snaps with the richest mouse of the world in his own house.
Next after having a stroll around the toon town which was indeed very beautiful , we took the Disneyland traditional railroad back to the main area from where we began our morning trip as it was time for some refreshment before the ultimate fun.
After meeting our California adventures folks and then taking all the memorable snaps, finally we went and waited for the two best part of the day.
First one being the disneyland parade. Where all the world famous disney characters, you name them they are there march in front of you in their beautiful and decorated carts. Mickey,minnie,goofy,snow white and the seven dwarfs,pinocchio,donald duck all of them were there and this whole parade lasted around 18 minutes and I had to see the entire parade through the small 4" display of my digital camera as I was recording the entire parade video. To say the parade was awesome would be understatement by all means.
Finally after the parade, we managed to grab something to eat and then started the rock music by an unknown brand singing songs unknown to me but the whole auro surrounding the place was enough for one to be engrossed in the music. It went on for around 40 minutes for every hour and we managed to watch it for two consecutive hours and it was a nice experience. The amazing sound effects created using the high tech instruments was indeed a superb experience.
After buying some souvenir, we went to back to the main street U.S.A reluctantly though, from where we were supposed to see the next of the show stealers. It was the disney fireworks. It started at 9 pm with all the other lights put off. It was by far the best fireworks I had ever seen. The amount of precision they maintained and the flawlessness which was observed can only be felt and cannot be described.
After about 20 minutes of this fun, we were all set to go back but the park was open , open till midnight. We returned back to our hotels, with our minds, hearts and cameras full , full of some everlasting memories. For me it was a day of mixed responses but the two events towards the end of the day the parade and fireworks worked for me. They stood out as the man of the match for this one day entertainment package. As one of the pamphlets of disneyland read " here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday ,tomorrow and fantasy", we experienced the world of fantasy. The world where everyone turns into a child.

The unforgettable tour I

2008-09-18T11:59:00.007+05:30

There has been no trip for which I had done so much pre-planning like this one. Right from the moment I landed here, I eyed the long weekend for a visit to LA and had been eyeing at various options available to me for this trip and when nothing worked out we joined the tour operated by joy holiday. It was a 4 day trip and it began on the Saturday, 30th August 2008. LA is at a 7 hour drive from San Jose and the journey was pretty much comfortable and mostly uneventful . The moments that stood out in this journey are a visit to the winery, a Danish town called Solvang and the best of it all, the drive from Santa Barbara beach along the road adjacent to the ocean. With my favourite music playing on my ipod and the scenic drive, I was in heaven but alas soon it was dark and the marine drive came to an end. We reached LA at about 9 pm that night and checked into hotel after yet another struggle for vegetarian food in US. A average hotel room but all we had to do there was just sleep overnight and get ready the next day. Ken our tour guide had given us a strict deadline to keep. Morning 7.30 AM we were supposed to be on the bus. And to everyone's surprise not even one group in the bus delayed and we set off for the first day of adventure at the universal studios, LA. After a journey of about an hour into the city, we landed up in universal studios and my first impression of the place, well man..it it truly is a place not to be missed.

Our tour guide made nice plans for us, he had all the ride timings in his mind and hence, all we had to do was to be with him and follow his spartan timings. First we set off to Simpson's ride, the newest attraction to the universal studios. It is a ride fully based on simulation. They trap you into a seat and just shake the seat, the way you would feel when driving on a really pathetic road on india say hosur road, bangalore but the effects they create around you in the screen make you really feel as if you are flying. The ride was simply awesome but a short one. Once done with the simpson's we moved to the other part of the studio where rides like mummy and jurassic park where there.

The jurassic park was a very quite ride apart from a steep fall at the end and the mummy was kinda ok, nothing much to crave about but what is commendable in these are the amazing sets they created for the riders to feel as if they were really there in the movie playing the real characters. Next we headed to the nearby special effects stages. After making one feel how the real characters in the movie would have felt, this was a place where they showed us how fake the hollywood world is. They showed almost every trick they use in their movies and a short sample of how all this is done in a very engaging and enlightening way.

Our next ride was the Backdraft. A set of the the movie backdraft which is based on the life of firefighters. Here the set which we all stood in caught fire right before our own eyes and we had a glimpse of how difficult the life of the real firefighters would be . It had amazing effects which will linger in memories for a long time.

Next, we headed to the universal studio tour and here our guide was slightly off the target and we lost some 15 minutes , but nevertheless the tour was amazing. They took us to different sets which were and are still used in some of the hollywood movies. We saw sets of movies like Fast and The Furious,Psycho,King Kong and many other and the very famous serial Desperate Housewives. Also, we experienced how the create floods and rains in the movie. This tour of more than 30 minutes was a great experience and some ardent fan of english movies would have had the time of his life time for sure. The man who stood at the psycho set with knife still in hands just to give the feel of the audiance shows the amount of thought that has gone in to entertain people. Once done with this we went for our lunch, once done with it, we chose to do more of quite things.

We headed straight to the Terminator 2 : 3D show. I would term all these 3 D and 4 D movies here as the next level in entertainment. You have real people and a screen running the characters, you have breeze blowing over your head when a helicopter flies above you and the 3 D effects they create.... simply marvellous. The next stop was Shrek 4 D. Where you feel all the adventure and jerks sitting right there in your chair in addition to the 3 D effects and the water sprinkled over you when the same is happening on the screen adds to the thrill.

Finally we landed up in the biggest attracion of all, the water world. Well , the set of this movie have been amazingly re-created right here with a big space for audiance to sit and man how it was packed. After a struggle for the seat and waiting for the show to begin, it was more than 20 mins of great fun and excitement. With the plane crashing into the sets towards the end of the show marks the climax of excitement. Though I did not enjoy the movie water world, this show was among the best I have ever seen in my life. Awesome stunts and action sequences and some snaps with the star added to the glory of this. Our last stop was a trip to the horror house and frankly nothing much to be scared about.

This marked the end of our trip to Universal studios. Overall the experience can be summed up as an effort to make the visitors re-live the moments the characters would have lived, to feel the same thrill,fear and excitement the characters would have felt. To be more precise, it is entertainment taken to the next level. It is indeed worth all the praise you might have heard and all you are going to hear in future because they are on a trot to improve it and take it to the next level.

Feel proud to be a human

2008-08-24T11:54:00.003+05:30

Most of the time looking and aspiring for better things in life, we forget to appreciate and relish the very fact that we are humans and the life is to be enjoyed. A film preaching this very simple but usually ignored message is "The Shawshank redemption". Now, this is a very old movie but I may look crazy to be writing about this now. But the fact is that I watched it only recently and that it left such a mark on my mind that I can write about it even after another 30 years . Now to get to the movie, it is one of the most under-rated movie according to me. And I read somewhere that it didn't make money and to everyone's surprise it didn't win even a single oscar. Though it does not contain any earth defying stunts and a complex narrative, it is a film with a true heart in its right place. It is the story of hope and freedom. It is the story of celebrating the very fact that inspite of all our problems in life, we are human and that itself is worthy of celebration.

The protagoinst of the story is Andy, who is convicted of double murder, which he claims he has not done, and hence, he is subjected to 2 life sentences in shawshank prison. Now, shawshank prison is portrayed as one of the toughest and worst place to be in. And the prison inmates have lost all their hope about life, some even fear about going out. But Andy comes in as a fresh air. He , with his skill with his bank and money matters starts helping inmates and also prison guard and also warden in the meantime getting a lot of favors for the inmates like a very good library. Mid way through the movie he find proof for his innocence, but then when that proof is also lost forever , he still shows a lot of compassion in recovering from the situation. His character is a benchmark in taking positives from the toughest situations in life and then moving on with life with a smile. What happens to Andy and some of his friends marks the rest of the story culminating in a brilliant climax.

The movie is marked with remarkable script,dialogues and acting. The narration by Morgan Freeman is simply awesome. All characters live their part. Though the pace of the movie is really slow, by the time it gets over you end up yearning for more. And each time I see the movie, I derive out a different meaning out of it, probably a different message it wants to convey. And at the end of each such viewing, one thing is for sure, I feel energized to take up the challenges in life. In fact, this is the best movie I have seen yet. Like they say in the movie , Remember hope is a good thing, in fact..the best of things... I will be hoping that you like this blog and keep visiting this page of mine again and again.

Mysteries of mystery spot

2008-08-19T07:20:00.004+05:30

Visiting a lot of places grants you the virtue of reviewing them and here I am reviewing one of the places I visited last weekend. The Mystery spot, Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is a small town situated around 35 miles to the south of San Jose. Santa Cruz boasts of a beautiful beach, a theme park and mystery spot. Now before we headed for it, I did some homework about it over the net and found it to be a good place to visit. However, the whole story was not as honky dory as the homework was.

The first mistake we did was to go on a tour without a person who knows to drive a car and of course without a car. Nevertheless, the took the greyhound bus to the place from greyhound station of San Jose. The journey took alomst 1 hour and there we were estranged at the Santa Cruz bus stand , clueless as there were no taxis around to take. After a wait of almost 1.5 hours at the bus stand and many calls to the call taxi service, finally we found a taxi at around 12. Mystery spot is in the outskirts of this small town, in deep red wood forests. Next, came the shocker, we had a huge sunday crowd there. We stood for the tickets and and got the tickets for the 3 pm tour. Even though there were 45 minutes tour starting every 12 minutes. That was the amount of rush there. So we were left waiting for another 2 hours for our tour.

Now to the tour, as every other thing in US the tour started bang on time and we got a nice tour guide. Mystery spot is a place where the laws of gravity go haywire.

The first thing we saw here was a plain platform. With one part of it inside the mystery spot border and the other outside it. The magic here was the difference of height between 2 persons who stand there. The difference in their heights vary a lot when they change places. To be precise, one looks to be shorter when he is inside the mystery spot boundaries.

The next thing to experience was the uphill climb. The slope which looked to be less steep was difficult to climb and the slope which appeared more steep was easier.

By the time we finished climbing, we reached a tilted wooden hut. This was built for the purpose of tourist attraction only and it was built straight. But due to the mysterious gravitational force here, it started tilting on its own and here it was tilted at about 15 degree. If you are inside the house, ideally you should be tilting at the same angle as the house but thats not the case. Wherever you stand in the house you are tilted at the same standard angle of 17 degree. Now to prove this point, there are planks in the room with a different angle so that you can stand countering the tilted angle of the house. But again you stand tilted at the same 17 degree.
Here, we saw things rolling upwards on the plank indicating the anamoly in the gravitational force.

At the other side of the house, we were shown some more instances of height illusion on a flat plank and then our small mystery tour was over.

Now I won't call this place breathtaking probably because you are really not allowed to spend your own time and do some research on the things over here, and thats probably because, we don't know what is wrong where and it would take a long time to discover things yourself. And seeing the sunday rush expecting this is too much. But at 5 $ ticket, and in a car's drive from San Jose this place is definitely worth. What more, you can flaunt some very brilliant photos and videos.

My contribution on you tube.

One more trivia about this place is that, the owner wanted to buy the flat piece of land which is currently parking place for mystery spot. The owner was forced to buy the mountain which is the mystery spot earning thousands of dollars every day.

Another very mysterious aspect of the place was what do Indians have to do with this mystery spot? I mean more than 60% of the crowd there was indian. It was not a one day story. Prove to this, there was dal and rice served as a dish at the local eatery.

Johny Gaddar: Watch it

2008-08-14T02:19:00.002+05:30

During the evening hours of my stay here and when office spares me, I managed to see a movie which I wanted to see since a long time and it is Johny Gaddar on you tube. The movie is very much worth the hype which I had heard it from word of mouth because the box office collections of the movie suggest a completely different picture.
The movie begins with 5 goons planning for a 'deal' where everyone has equal amount to share and equal share in profits also. The real story begins when one of them, the gaddar plans to ditch others and take the whole money for himself. Now, the audience is aware of who the gaddar is from the very moment the treachery comes into the mind of the of the gaddar himself. So, what keeps the viewerd engaged is what one might wonder. It is the casual and cool way of the characters, the apt characterisation, the bang on spot dialoghes and the excellent cinematography. Now one might wonder, cinematography has no role to play in such a movie where there are no songs and no foreign locales but what impresses you is the way the cinematography manges to reflect the mood of the movie. The screenplay is another stellar. As for the performances, newcomer Neil couldn't have asked for a better debut and he manages to perform well also. Dharmendra in his new second avatar has been a reveleation like the movie 'Metro'. Other members support aptly. By the end of it all, when you feel the gaddar has just pulled it off and also for some strange reason I felt happy on that, the last sting is left. Songs by Shankar Ehsaan Loy are another plus for the movie especiall, the title song for me. Must watch for people who have a taste for interesting and sensible movies.

Life in San Jose

2008-08-08T09:41:00.004+05:30

Well, I am in San Jose for the past 2 weeks and will continue to bless this land with my presence for another 10 weeks. So how's life here, or how's life different here. These are some of the points which were markedly different from what I had seen or experienced so far.

San Jose(esp the region I stay in) is the most artificial place I ever will see. Yes, it even beats the places you dream about. Everything here is just about perfect. Where else do you find deserted roads all through the day. The VTA train which runs for local transportation also runs all for itself.
Where do you find trains and buses running bang on time. I mean, if the train is supposed to come at 7.23 it will come sharp at 7.23 .
There's not a spec of dust on roads. The reason for this is that the roadsides from where sand can fly into the road is covered by wooden flakes which are left behind from construction of trees.
The climate seems to be tailor made for comfort. Well that is for the time being though. Sunny and windy afternoons and chilly but comfortable nights.
The city is amazingly clean and the people unbelievably friendly.
The city is well planned in all aspects with perfect roads and infrastructure.
But even though they thought of all this they missed to think of an important aspect which one might need and that has to do with toilet. Hope you got it.

Not until I visited places like San Jose downtown and San Fransisco did I realise that this place is no dreamland and it is indeed a place very much on earth with all the earthly things like traffic,rush,poverty,begging etc etc. So I am out of my dream now.

Inflation the true picture

2008-07-17T20:16:00.003+05:30

Came across this price list board in Sri Rangam. This board tells the story of inflation.

P.S: For those who cannot read Tamil, the board shows the prices of various dishes.

BSNL land line and broadband story

2008-07-07T12:31:00.002+05:30

If I was found searching for antonym for the word "service" on my desktop wordweb , the credit goes to BSNL. First the broadband stops working for no reason and no one picks up at the customer "service" center. When contacted to one of the agents whom we knew, he gave all stories(not solutions) possible by him. Like reconfiguring the router and changing password etc etc. Finally when we were able to raise a complain we came to know that the problem was that the phone number was itself gonna change and without any prior notice and without any change to my physical address. The reason being that some exchange is being changed. So now here I stand with a new changed phone number and I have to inform all my relatives and friends of the change. Whats more taxing is that this is the phone number which is updated in all my previous employers,passport and all other important documents. As of now when called to the older number they redirect to the newer number by a message, but I am not sure how many months that message will be played.

And by the way the antonym for service happens to be a simple "disservice".

Sporting extravaganza on the weekend

2008-07-07T11:16:00.003+05:30

This sunday I witnessed two big sporting extravaganzas. One being the cricket final for Asia cup played between India and Sri Lanka and the other being the Wimbeldon finals and I was found switching my channels at every chance I get. Though cricket failed to garner my interest for long (as has beent he case of late with 50 over matches) , some moments truly stood out in cricket as well.

India's decision to field 8 specialist batsman and only 3 genuine bowlers came as a surprise move to me but nevertheless, Dhoni should be appreciated for thinking out of the box.
Though the match was a lackluster fair especially if you were supporting India, the presentation had its own drama. Rameez Raza in his typical anti-India comment quoted the statistics of India losing out 18 finals out of 22 played from 2002. Dhoni was quick to bounce back with " At least we came to finals, some teams(Pakistan) even failed to make to finals." Bravo Dhoni once again.

And what a tennis match it was. Inspite of rain interruptions now and then we were in for a treat. The match initially in Nada's favour found the champion in Federer when he bounced back like never before with 2 set wins. It was a contest of Champion vs The Aggressor. It was the match between two men who showed true character. How else do you explain the amount of focus and determination shown by both during this 4 hour 48 minute battle of nerves. Hats off to both of you! I could only wish for some more of the match.

Some random thoughts

2008-07-03T09:54:00.002+05:30

The issue which is taking the whole country by storm these days is sky rocketing inflation. Now added to that are sever shortage of fuel and a indefinite truck strike which is set to create a sever shortage of essential commodities which in turn will raise the inflation again. And as has been the trend in recent times in movies and various talk shows , people are blaming IT companies and the economic imbalance it is creating in the society for all these. Is the blame game right? I feel no.

The Govt. has failed to capitalize on major opportunities of growth and employment generation and this is the major cause of the economic imbalance existing in the country today. Which sector of Govt. in the past 61 odd years of Indian independence has created as many job opportunities as the IT sector. And why is Govt. not coming ahead in implementing some of the key development projects in India for instance the interlinking of rivers which is all set to generate more than 2 lakh jobs and eradicate the problem of floods and drought. It is because of the petty politics of the parties where they pull each other's legs which is the main hindrance in the successful completion of such projects and not the economic imbalance created by the IT sector. IT sector pays more. Agreed. But the reason for the same is that an IT company initial investment is very minimal and the profits it earns are huge. No IT company pays employees as a charity. Hence, Govt. must concentrate on uplifting of other sectors for equal growth rather than trying to pull down IT's growth.

However, I feel that the IT cos and employees on their part have to be more socially responsible. Especially in the aspect of saving fuel. The entire world will face a very severe fuel shortage in near future with the current growth rate in all the sectors. IT cos should invest some amount of their research in fields to develop energy efficient computers which will cut down fuel usage. Also the employees should shed off their ego and refrain from using unnecassary ACs. I mean, you don't need AC at night 9 pm even in the sultring heat of Chennai in the bus or cab. And the lightning used in the IT cos is also a major concern for me. The lights are shielded with glass walls. All this is done just for a decoration purpose. But makes lights useless in terms of their primary role.
Also, the buildings should be constructed in a way to promote natural light to peep into. Many a times sitting in the office we do not realize what time of the day it is. And lastly, we employees can resort to some basic energy saving tips like shutting off the computer at EOD and switching off the monitor whenever away from seat. I know some companies have already started to work on these but majority still have not.

Lets save power and lets save the world.

Dasavatharam: Leaves us gasping for better

2008-06-23T12:59:00.007+05:30

Kamal Haasan is one of the rarest gems in the world who I think lives,eats and sleeps cinema. And when you have him saying Dasavatharam is the biggest film in his career you are bound to go to the theater with huge expectations. That was exactly the feeling I had when I went into the theater. Was I let down by the genius this time around? The answer is yes and a No.

Dasavatharam is a multi layered film for me. It is a very very ambitious attempt to make in Indian cinema. There are three main elements in the film according to me. One is the concept or the basic story line of the movie, which is usual in Kamal's movies of late like Anbe Sivam,Hey Ram etc. Second being the fact that Kamal has dared to do what no one else has ever attempted, playing 10 different characters with different makes ups, mannerisms and voice modulation. The third aspect for me is the special effects involved in the film. Majority of the film has scenes involving special effects. Kamal as a script writer had a difficult task to manage a script which accomodates all three of them in a logical sequence with a smooth flow. And as is typical to Kamal he adds his own doses of humour and atheism here and there.

Now to my interpretation of the movie and what I liked and disliked about the movie. To me the movie has two faces one atheism and other theism. It is the way you look at it that it will reflect upon you. The fact that the idol caused the tsunami due to chaos effect which killed thousands of people makes one feel "enna maari kadavul idu" but when we think of the fact that the tsunami saved tamil nadu from total extinction due to the bilogical weapon makes a statement in support of theism. This is evident in the film as there are characters who represent atheism and theism alternately. Also, the film stresses upon the fact that good and evil co-exist in the society. The synthetic bio-weapon is inside the statue of God for majority of the movie. Also, one of the avtar(role) of Kamal is the villain of the movie. To me the concept of the movie is an Indianised version of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons.

The movie has lot of interlinked scenes and characters and Kamal has left it to the viewer to interpret them in his/her own way.

To get to the point of what I liked about the movie.

The movie opens really well. The opening sequence and the mere screen presence of Rangarajan Nambi is awesome. Kamal throws a stellar of a performance as Rangarajan Nambi.
Rangarana Nambi's acting is superb even though he lasts for hardly 15 minutes. It is truly of Kamal standard.
The basic premise of the story and the concept involved is very good and the effort taken in showcasing these on the big canvas needs to be applauded.
Make up for some of the roles like Christian Fletcher,George Bush and Naidu are really good.
It is indeed an edge of the seat thriller.
The humour quotient provided by Naidu is really good.

Now to what I disliked about it:

The special effects in the movie is rather poor in some sequences. For example, the scene during the first scene when Rangaraj is taken in a boat to the sea. I feel these animations could be avoided in the first place instead of doing such a shoddy job at it.
Make up for some roles are really shabby like Avtar Singh,the patti, the Dalit leader(his full body is not black). How can a genius like Kamal miss something so obvious.
Avtar Singh doing typical Kamal steps was something which can only be laughed at.
And what was Kamal thinking when he thought of the first/last scene of the movie where Kamal is delivering a speech. I mean, what was the felicitation for. The dupes for Kalaignar and Manmohan were poor. George Bush dancing before going to the mike, well.................. The movie should have ended with Kamal explaining the chaos effect to Asin , both of them leaning on the statue of Vishnu.
Too much make up on faces of the majority of characters prevents us from seeing the usually brilliant facial expressions on Kamal's face.
And the biggest sore point of the movie for me was the music. How can Kamal do such a gruesome mistake of chosing Himesh for music for such a film. A film which he is terming to be his biggest in his career.

So, can we say that it is a bad movie. Definitely not. Just that Kamal fails to live upto the expectations we have from him. Just for the sake of playing 10 characters he has created certain characters/sequences which has played its part in hampering the script and narration. I feel Kamal had too many things in his hands to deliver and hence these small goof ups. First, the concept of Chaos effect and Butterfly effect in itself is enough to be written into a full length script with inter-related characters and sequences. On the top of it Kamal in his typical self praising arrogance chose to play 10 characters. To add to all these he had sequences which needed international quality special effects. Special effects are definitely very good when thinking of standards of Tamil films. But when viewers these days have so easy access to movies made in Hollywood and when we are trying to catch up with the movies being made there, the special effects in Dasa leave a lot to be desired. So in an effort to make an all please movie Kamal has failed slightly to impress and deliver what he is known to deliver always, THE BEST.

Note: Had this been a movie by any other star than Kamal then all these shortcomings could be neglected but not with Kamal.

Chose this Happiness :In the pursuit of Happiness

2008-06-16T12:23:00.004+05:30

Sometimes simple things impresses you the best. Amidst the hype surrounding Dasavatharam, I watched a simple and moving movie. "In the Pursuit of Happiness" starring Will Smith and many others. Though it is quite an old movie but I got the chance to watch it this weekend only. And indeed it was worth all its praises I have heard from friends. For me the highlight of the movie was the narration and the dialoghes. It goes on to prove that you do not need path breaking graphics and animation to make a wonderful movie or you don't need a very complex narrative beating user's intelligence every now and then to make a brilliant movie. It's simple but poignant tale makes an excellent watch. It is the story of triumph of human aspirations and hope.
There are no unexpected twists and turns in the movie, 15 minutes within the movie you know what you are gonna see in the movie but it is the way it has been portrayed on the screen wins your heart. Each scene in the movie is a beautiful piece of art but the one that scores for me is the one where Will Smith baffles his son to seek solace for a night inside a public toilet.
The movie watching experience is summed up nicely by Will Smith himself in the climax where he says " This .. this very little part of my life is called Happiness".

Book review of "3 mistakes in my life"

2008-05-29T19:37:00.003+05:30

With huge expectations I grabbed the third book by the author Chethan Bhagat titled " The 3 mistakes in my life" within weeks of its release. Here is what I felt about it.

What I liked

The book is written in typical casual Chetan Bhagat style which makes the reading a wonderful experience.
The characters are next door characters to which we can easily relate.
The way Chetan describes certain events and characters is absolutely mouth watering. We somehow start aspiring if we could be there in that situation.
IT surely makes a compelling read. It is undoubtedly a book which cannot be put down before finishing.

Now to what I did not like

Just to sensationalize things certain characters and events have been penned. That looks amateurish.
It is like a typical bollywood movie with doses of romance,action,humour and even it has characters traveling abroad. It has long drawn action sequence as well.
The flow is not natural at places.

Overall, it surely is a good read but I found it to be no where near five point someone by the same author.

This Kuruvi should be shot down! Immediately

2008-05-19T11:49:00.004+05:30

If I am blogging amidst my really busy schedule , there must be really a very strong reason for that. And indeed it is. On Saturday I was subjected to Nazi style of torture for 3 hours the difference being that I was the one who voluntarily chose to be subjected. Now if you want to escape from the same self-subjugation , please go thru this.

On Saturday morning I gathered enough courage to watch the latest Vijay movie Kuruvi. Not that I remember too much of this horrible movie to share with you , but surely I can share with you the torture I experienced. The movie begins with an amateurishly shot car race scene. Vijay's histrionics during this scene make u cringe in the seat. But if you thought you had enough, the film proves you wrong. Vijay lands up in Malaysia in search of a "Kocha" as Kuruvi only to beat up the goons in their own bar. Somehow the movie drags till the portion where Vijay discovers the truth about his father and "Kocha". From here the second half of the movie talks about how Vijay single handedly lands into the villians's fort to kill him and free his father. Running parallel and rather uninterestingly is the love track between Trisha and Vijay. It is really hilarious when Trisha compares Vijay to Mask of Zorro Antonio Banderas. Director should have portrayed Trisha as playing a blind character or a mentally retarded person to justify this comparison. The long drawn action sequences and the gory violence in the second half only goes to prove the movie ends on the same note as it began. There is nothing , absolutely nothing watchable in this movie. Vijay is his usual self not showing any sings of improvement. All villains act as if they are not going to act in future and they want to finish all their acting dues in this same movie. Trisha is as horrible as ever. Songs and their placements the lesser talked about the better. Vivek is horribly wasted.

To sum it up, instead of seeing this movie in a AC hall, you can bake yourself in the Chennai's hot sun blazing down at 43 degree for 3 long hours . At least you will end up making up some Vitamin D for yourself.

IPL: A Walkthrough

2008-05-15T12:10:00.004+05:30

IPL has been a blockbuster. Like it or not, you simply cannot ignore it. With more then half of it over, its time to recollect some of the important milestones. Some moments which stood out . Here is my list of imp events in no specific order.

Harbhajan Slapping Sreeshant: This will rank as one of the top event in the IPL. Never before in cricket we have seen such an incident involving players from the same team. Harbhajan has been portrayed as synonym for indiscipline and as for Sreeshant, well statements like" Don't cry like Sreeshant" have become common.

Rahul Dravid not good enough for T20: This event comes as the biggest proof for Rahul Dravid's inefficiency in the shortest form of cricket. Not that this is the first instance. But here he has failed in all aspects batting,captaincy,leadership,chosing the right players resulting in backlash from team owner Vijay Mallya.

IPL means money and everyone loves money: Players from all over the world enjoy playing for IPL or at least they pretend to enjoy playing for IPL. Gilchrist retiring from international cricket citing "age" and speculations about Hayden considering retirement in another year are some proofs. Pakistan board planning to come up with PPL (with the same money spinning plans as IPL) ,well I won't call it exactly a proof but a rather immature attempt .

McGrath still the one of the best: With his stingy bowling, he surely has proven that he still is a match winner. Delhi still manages to find ways to lose in form of other bowlers is another thing.

IPL Loyalty Dilemma

2008-04-24T19:39:00.001+05:30

Off late I am in a new state of dilemma. This is over the tsunami which has taken frenzy over the entire nation called the IPL. Whichever TV Channel you open or whichever radio station you tune in to people are ga-ga over it. Now I am not going to write about whether it is worth the hype or not. Time will tell the answer. My dilemma here is to decide upon which team should I be supporting. And I think this must be a common feeling.

There can be numerous logics in deciding which team to support. I tried the following:

When I looked for my favorite players, Yuvi and Pathan is in Punjab , Gilli is in Deccan, Gayle is in Kolkotta, Warne is in Rajasthan, Murali is in Chennai ,McGrath is in Delhi, Jayasuriya and Sachin are in Mumbai and last but not no way the least Nathan Bracken and Praveen Kumar are in Bangalore. So, I am torn into pieces if I decide to support based on players of choice. But still If I manage to make a decision, I would go with Punjab.

If I go by the logic of location of the team on the map and my nativity , Chennai is the place where I belong while Bangalore is the place where I have some wonderful memories and Delhi is a city I really really like. But still as nativity counts above other factors this factor draws me towards Chennai.

Then, I decided upon to support the best team, but with surprise results being thrown in like Royal Challengers being dismissed for 82 going on to beat Mumbai Indians. When I thought Rajasthan Royals were the odd men out in this league they came up with a surprise win over Yuvi's men. Still going by this philosophy, as per the points table Kolkotta team looks to be favourite. But the level of uncertainity raises serious doubts over this philosophy.

And if I decide to go by the team ownership and ambassadors of each team, one side we have Shahrukh Khan (for Kolkotta) and Preity Zinta(for Punjab) from Bollywood while the rest of bollywood seems to be rooting for Mumbai , Kris Shrikanth and Vijay (Oh! God didn't they find anyone else) are rooting for Chennai cement's Chennai team, Business tycoon Mallya has Bangalore to his name and so on. Based on my preference of the ownership, I would go with Bangalore team.

And in case I decide to think as silly as to decide by the gersey, I felt Delhi's gersey was the best and Chennai's the worst.

So, here I am still unable to decide whom to cheer for apart from the cheer girls as of now.

Banes of reservation

2008-04-15T11:17:00.001+05:30

It is shocking to say the least that supreme court has passed the judgment on the reservation row justifying the 27% reservation for "Other backward class" in educational institutions. I fail to understand how this reservation is going to help the real "needy". If a person from the OBC can make it to an engineering institution then I don't think he is backward enough to be given reservation for entering into IIMs. And I do not see how this will help the really backward villagers to gain their primary education and forget IIM, at least attain a matriculation. I am not completely against reservation.( Though this may sound cliched, this is the truth.) Reservations need to be made on the economical status and the residential status . I have personally seen in my own Govt. Engineering College seats from ST rural going vacant which clearly says that people over there have not risen enough to attain education upto Class 12th. How will reservations in Engineering Colleges and AIIMS help is anyone's guess.

Consider this:

One out of every 2 students passing out of IIMs henceforth, doesn't deserve in the first place to be there.
If the power hungry political parties have their say, this is going to be true with all the Engineers graduating out of India when the same law is passed for private Engineering colleges of India. This wil in turn increase the money laundering done by Private institutions in the country.
More and more patients will die due to doctor's negligence and more and more bridges will collapse because of the quality of doctors and engineers graduating out of our country .
With outsourcing industry already facing threat from other countries and US election promises, this will hit India further.
IITs,IIMs and other premier institutes will surely lose their global recognition though not immediately.
This step will further boost the confidence of the political parties to introduce reservations into Private sector Jobs as well

Well , Have I written anything path breaking here. No, all of us know this and realize this. But none of the political parties dare to raise their voice against this injustice fearing to lose the vote bank in an election season. The only relief I see here is a clause in the judgement which says that this needs to be re-considered every 5 years. Lets hope this nightmare lasts for only 5 years.

The dogs of war: Not as good

2008-03-14T20:29:00.003+05:30

Of late I have turned to be a termite , gobbling up lot of stuff all useless of course. Hence, here I am writing about the 3rd book of Frederick Forsyth I recently finished. Titled "The dogs of War" it is a tale of treachery and double crosses. Once again Forsyth surprises by the meticulous detailed planning for the toppling of the Govt. in erstwhile African state. And as always it is full of information about the black market of weapons,African politics and the difference between Capitalist and Socialist economies. In addition, he provides a certain humorous situations in the narrative wherein the humour is at the expense of the poor uneducated Africans.

However, when it comes to the story, one is left wanting for more once you turn the last page. Lots of strings are left untouched. And the operation seems to be over very easily and smoothly. It cannot be recommended to a non Forsyth fan to turn him into one, but it is a defnite read for a Forsyth fan like me.

Search unix here

2008-03-04T21:19:00.002+05:30

Got an interesting search tool for unix lovers. Click here to use it and find out how to create one such google custom search page.

All credit goes to the creator of the site. Me just a postman. :)

Australian Mind Game

2008-03-04T18:22:00.002+05:30

Australia have been using this mind game since a long time. Right from the time when the tag " Ugly Australia" was given to them. It has always worked and this time is no different. But the difference is this time it has worked out for the opponents.

Consider this. Which was the turning point in both the final games of CB series during the Australian innings. For me and many other I talked with it was the wickets of Symonds and Hayden. Out of the total 4 wickets( 2 players in 2 matches) harbhajan took 3 . Now you would ask me what has this to do with mind games and sledging. Turn back news papers of the past week or so and you will it full of stories of wars of words between these individuals. Now lets leave out the investigation of who started these and who retaliated. But the ultimate effect is that it affects your performance on field.

My logic is that once you know that you are involved in a mental game with an individual you become mindful of the individual rather than the game he is playing or the ball he is bowling. I think this has been primarily the problem with Australia. They want to dominate people on and off the field with both actions and words. The same was the scenario between Sachin and Shane Warne some years back when Sachin was in the form of his life and the same is now. I believe when you are hostile towards someone you tend to under perform against him. It might be that you start taking him very casually and start committing mistakes or that you become over aware of his performances that you forget to play your natural which ultimately leads to your downfall in the eventual battle of actions. So my logic is see each individual player as a player and not as an individual with whom you have a grudge.

I think Sachin is a perfect example of this. He never indulges in any of the word battles and he shows all his aggression with his bat and saves all his mental energy for the game.

Accept or defy my logic. Comment me.!

Safe path chosen by Chidambaram

2008-03-01T11:38:00.003+05:30

This is the first time I have followed budget so closely and it deserves a mention over here. So here I am with my own review of the budget. Jotting down the merits and pitfalls of the budget.

Disclaimer: Information provided here must already be known to you . Opinions expressed here are mine.

First the merits:

Farmer's loan waiver has to be the man of the match for this budget. This will help crores of farmers across the country.
Income tax slab revision is another master stroke targeted towards the middle class. The revision is beyond expectations. The salaried class is all set to benefit hugely from this move up to a whooping amount of 45000 a year. Another point here which might be missed is an amount of 15000 is eligible to be exempted from tax under 80G for medical insurance for parents.
Cars ,bikes,fridges and other household items will be cheaper from April 1 2008. Another arrow in the quiver targeted towards the election.
Lots of new institutions, 3 IITs among them and many other sops for education.
Duty on cigarettes without filter raised which will turn people towards "safer" filtered cigarettes.

Now for the pitfalls. The biggest pitfall with this budget is FM has NOT spoken about many crucial aspects. He has simply chosen to avoid them.

Nothing being told about extending the STPI sops beyond 2009 March, IT cos future still hangs in balance.
Nothing being told about Interlinking of rivers. As soon as summer comes this issue is set to rise its ugly head.
No announcements about the pay commission report on revising the pay of Central Govt. Employees.
Increase in duty for packaged software, another small blow to the IT industry.
No change in the corporate income tax, corporates were expecting a reduction so that their operational costs get reduced.

FM has tried to please everyone with the budget but as an IT professional I feel betrayed except the decision on the other IT, income tax.

Agree with me or counter me... let me know.

Rules change in cricket

2008-02-28T13:25:00.001+05:30

On behalf of cricket Australia I propose the following changes to the cricketing rules to enable Australian players and teams to continue their winning ways.

*) Any bowler who picks more than 10 wickets in any series in Australia will be treated with rotten eggs and will be boo ed by the crowd.
*) Any player who responds to aussie sledging must be immediately banned for at least 3 matches.
*) Any comment which an Australian player makes is made in the spirits of the game as it is "fun" and any comments from the opposition is NOT.
*) No team can beat Australia in Australian soil, even if they manage to do that , for the next match three of their main players should be dropped or banned from playing.
*) No opposition team can lodge a complaint against any Australian player.

And finally these set of rules come to effect immediately and these will be modified and new rules added with each match and each series with the sole consent of Australian cricket team and board.

Welcome to the new world of domination in cricket by Australia!!!

The Afghan: Must read

2008-02-21T21:10:00.002+05:30

Being quite busy in the new place settling down and the fact that blogspot is blocked in my office has contributed to the delay in posting. Here I am back with another of my review on the book “The Afghan" by Frederick Forsyth which I managed to finish today.

Afghan is the latest offering from the master of thrillers and it surely lives to the high expectations I had after “The Negotiator". As is my cup of tea, it is a fiction which gives us with lot and lot of facts and edge of the seat thrill.

The story begins in Pakistan when the Brits get a hint about a Al-Qaeeda mastermind plan. The rest of the story goes about how the Brits and Americans bond together to send an imposter into the Al-Qaeda to figure out what the plan is. Giving any further insights into the story will be injustice to the book.

My favorite part of the book being the part when he talks about the two warriors, the original Afghan and the imposter. How each of them became the stalwarts in their respective fields. Esp. the portions involving the Afghan which give us a good insight

into the Afghan story, the evolution of Mujahideen,Taliban and Al-Qaeeda. These are the portions where I understood the

ideologies behind each of these forces . Some more facts which I got through this is that the so-called West friendly countries like UAE,Singapore, Malaysia etc. have their own supporters of Al-Qaeeda who are fortunately comparitively dormant.

The book is so detail in all these aspects that one starts wondering if Forsyth was ever involved in any of these. :)

Same is true with the details of the operations performed by CIA and other US forces. His knowledge of the subjects is encyclopedic.

By the time I ended up reading this, one fear starts lingering in your mind. If someone plans an attack to this precision as is done in the novel, it is really difficult to counter it.

Hats off!

IT crash

2008-02-08T21:10:00.000+05:30

Is the IT dream over? This question is pondering on everyone's mind. With the dollar values refusing to surge ahead, this is very much a valid question. If any such thing happens, IT is all set to become the most scary profession to take up. The IT companies and Govt. of India who have reaped out so much benefits from the industry should have some moral responsibility to bring it back to track. Companies have made such huge profit during hay days and now it is time to pay back. It is time they adjust with slightly lower margin of profit. As for the Govt., it should take some economic steps like some more sops for the industry to keep it alive. They should just think about all the employment IT has created for the country and the whooping amount of honest tax payers who belong to this sector.

Finally, we the IT people, should be ready for any inevitable change and be prepared with our armors on.

Indian cinema != Bollywood

2008-01-22T14:38:00.000+05:30

I was delighted to see the NDTV entertainer of the year award for the year 2007 being given to Rajnikant. Not because I am a hard core Rajni fan or a big admirer of the movie Sivaji . But because of the fact that Indian media has started to recognize beyond the horizons of bollywood. There have been always quality movies which come out of 'woods' other than bollywood but most of them have gone unrecognized. For instance, it fails my understanding as to why was Paheli sent to oscar last year and why is eklavya being sent this year. I know of many movies which were better than them in Tamil, the only regional language movie I follow and am sure others following will give more of such instances. So it is time the term bollywood gets redefined and no longer means Indian cinema. World should realize that bollywood is not Indian Cinema and there is much beyond that. Its time we stop seeing the movie industry from a myopic view point.

One last note on Rajni, according to me he is the most bankable actor in the whole country. Have him in the movie and you can definitely achive six sigma level success or may be more.

Check out the video.

Battle of Perth 2

2008-01-18T15:38:00.000+05:30

This happens to be the most exciting test match of my cricket crazy years. And hence ,I am writing a daily account of the match here. India are right at top at the moment. Indians began the day well on an aggressive mode with Viru going for the shots. It is a pity Sachin and Dravid failed to capitalize on their first innings form. Dhoni played a hand after a really long time . But the hero of the day has to be Pathan. Sent in as a the night watchman after Wasim Jaffer failed yet another time, he played a gem of an innings. Laxman played his usual best against Australia. RP Singh gave some thrills towards the finish and Indian tail wagged than longer giving Australia a record score to chase. Aussie run chase has begun on wrong note with both openers failing to fire again and Pathan the tormentor again. Ponting seems to be steadying the ship with his aggressive best. This is a cracker in store for the weekend.
Being an Indian fan and also a Steve Waugh fan, I want Indian team to come victorious and as of now the prospects look 70-30 in favor of India. With the early morning conditions , Indians could well peg back the Aussies with some quick wickets. Hail India!!

Battle of Perth 1

2008-01-17T12:07:00.000+05:30

With the verbal battle between CA and BCCI over , the focus now shifts to the action down under in Perth. With Australia showing some discipline on the field , no sledging so far in the match and only genuine appeals and Indians putting up a fight on field rather off the field, this match is poised to signify positive cricket again. The focus is on whether Australia can manage to win without their usual sledging and mental game and if India can come out of the mental block of not winning on a pacy wicket of Perth. All in all a cracker of match in store. Hope the better team( for me India :)) wins.

Australia : Down Down

2008-01-07T08:42:00.000+05:30

Australians are the champions, in one day cricket, test cricket and non-cricket. Yes, what happened in the one of the first test matches of the new year was NOT cricket. Right from the horrendous umpiring decisions ( a whooping 11 in number) to the 'sportsman spirit' shown by the Aussies have been unprecedented. And I sincerely hope no one repeats also. This Australian team has earned the dubious distinction of being the most 'aggressive' and unfair team I have ever seen play cricket.
When you have players who nick the ball with a loud noise and still stand their ground hoping umpires would rule them not out and the same player who has clearly grounded the ball while taking a catch off the pad appeals his heart out , you know something is not right and this is not a fair game. I had high degree of respect for Adam Gilchrist as he was one of the most honest and fair player in the Aussie team but when he appealed for Dravid's pad nick which would surely be visible to the keeper, it was clear to me, this team is all out in full strength in full cooperation to win the record 16th test by ANY means. Sincere appreciations to Anil Kumble and the Indian camp who have tacked the whole issue very nicely putting across their views in a very tactical way. Till last night I thought it was 14 men against the Indian team including the 2 ground and 1 third umpire, now it is clear it is a 15 member team, including the match referee. I mean how can you give a decision without conclusive evidence. And that too on Australian charges, who have been synonymous to sledging in the past,present and the future. This is not cricket and this series doesn't deserve to be finished. Indian team should call off this series and come back home and teach Australian board a lesson. Teams like Sri Lanka, Pakistan will endorse this move of Indian team if it happens as they have also been subject to hostile reactions.

In a nut shell, the cricket has lost in this game and an over aggressive and unruly 'mob' of men has won. Winning a match is not everything. Winning hearts is more important and Kumble's men have won that.

World of ads

2008-01-03T11:20:00.000+05:30

Some days back had a very good experience. Through one of my friend from the ad world I got to see some of the best ads which have been featured on television ever. It had memorable ads like mile sur mera tumhara,hamara bajaj, nirma, titan watches,surf excel, le sancy soap, and many many more. It was truly a nostalgic and wonderful feeling , reminding one self of the childhood days when we used to see 20 minutes non stop ad before mahabharat serial used to begin and then non stop serial. If we compare these ads, my personal favorites were the one of cadbury's dairy milk. The music, the theme, the catch line of " kuch khaas hai zindagi main" all are stupendous.

Click here to view my favourite one.

end of chapter in life : Part 1

2007-12-18T17:41:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: Pls don't get hurt with any of these comments. All in fun.

Life is lived in chapters. This I had believed right from childhood and it stands very true for my life. I say so because each part of my life is completely disjointed from the other part ,if not mentally at least physically. And as the wheels of life have turned again , I am at the juncture of end of another chapter in my life. Undoubtedly one of the happiest chapters in my life, the chapter when me and my roomies stayed in Bangalore. Now when it is time when all of us are moving ahead /have already moved with their lives , with a heavy heart I am penning down whatever I can remember of the days we spent together. This could turn out to be the most sentimental blog I have ever written .
Our association started off in Oct 2004 when me,Vinu and Partha decided to take a house. I can't forget the day when me and Vinu gradually drifted without realising into egipura while searching for house. Fate intervened and we were joined by 2 more people Jo and Mama and later by my old pal from college Sajith(Bhaiya). How we missed the first house we saw and then entered into 8/1, Aswini Layout is a funny tale. There began our first association. Breakfast skipping on sundays to walking all the way to godavari for a decent meal and the stare waiter used to give when we told no for all the side dishes except for meals, Vinu's constant quetchings about the house and partha and murugan's unnecessary duel are some of the memories which will never be erased. Not that I was the perfect one in the house, I too had lot of shortcomings , lots of angry outbursts for petty things were some of my 'achievements' at the house. By the time we planned to leave the house Murugan had become an inevitable part of our gang. Nov 2005 was when we vacated the house but not so smoothly.

Some unforgettable things/events at this house in no specific order:

Vinu's histrionics :The way Vinu as soon as he entered the house and put his bed in the first room saying" Naan inga thaan , yaaru venum nallum enga vennalum ponga" and within days he came with his bed to the other room. Vinu packing his luggage to leave the house and inspite of all our efforts he didn't change his decision and one fateful sunday when he asked" kandippa poi thaan aaganum a?"
Kovai International: The long queue at this place for eating, how the chutney was full watery and the kanjathanam he used to do for putting chutney, the paper thin dosa for 4 rs and the unhygenic serving of the food.
Sunday morning breakfast: Which we never had. Whoever ventured out first to have T or puffs was made the scapegoat and people used to call him to get something for them.
Partha vs Murugan vs Natraj: This will undoubtedly be the funniest incident when we recall it say 10 years later. No one knows the exact cause of the dual between Partha and Murugan and how I jumped up in support of Murugan. Silly ! All very Silly!
Safal , rival for Kovai: For a long time Kovai was the undisputed destination for food for all of us until Safal came up. The red color chutney, the watery dal, aaloo paratha and the endless wait for all of this .
Entry of the neatness freak Bhaiya:How bhaiya's dad commented on the house being very dirty and dusty and how we had very high hopes on bhaiya being a netaness freak and how he turned our house into a dustbin. Remember the bad smell one day everyone was chasing to find where it is coming from to finally find it is from bhaiya's sweater
Exit from the house: The exit from the house , the owner's behavior and the way he tore away the agreement upon petering him for the balance advance amount.

Hope these memories are everlasting not only in the google server but also in our heart.

Evano Oruvan: Straight from heart!

2007-12-11T15:28:00.000+05:30

Truth is always bitter. And that's exactly what I felt when I came out of Chandran theater in udhayam complex in Chennai after watching "Evano Oruvan". The movie comes as a hard punch on all so called happy go lucky youth of India. How we manage to laugh at our problems. How we manage to escape from the basic problems without even thinking about whether what we are doing is just or not. Movie stars Madhavan in an excellent role ( one of his best according to me) as a typical middle class man. The magic of the movie is that his simplicity is maintained throughout the character. Not unlike other such social upheaval movies wherein the protagonist undergoes tremendous change in character and that's what makes these movies unrealistic. This is by far one of the most realistic movies on the social issues till now and the director has managed to maintain the same till the end. The situations where the hero reacts are all very subtle and very common situations and what pinches us hard is how did we manage to neglect all those till now. The climax and the scenes which lead to that are the best in the movie according to me . The movie works only and only because of its simplicity and straight from heart approach. As for the cons , I would say, it is a very slow movie , there is hardly any pace and no "masala" items. A pure classic cinema at its best! But all of us know it's fate. :)

ICL Matches: Fun to watch

2007-12-06T11:13:00.000+05:30

ICL matches have begun and have begun with a bang. Packed houses in stadiums and full toosh entertainment. Watch them in all Zee channels . For now I can show you one of the advertisements for my favourite team. Watch it for yourself and have fun.

Advertisement link

The Negotiator: Book Review

2007-12-03T12:16:00.000+05:30

This is first of a book review which I am writing. And the book is "The Negotiator" by "Frederick Forsyth". The book begins off rather slowly giving us a backdrop of the cold war and how the two superpowers US and Russian Govt. are trying to patch up and sign a treaty of disarmament. Meanwhile it introduces us to a set of people spread across continents who will be destroyed by this treaty. The kidnapping of a young oxford student happens next which catches you unaware. The real drama begins when the master novelist discloses the identity of the kidnapped boy. And it is from here that the novel picks up amazing pace and generates immense interest. The character sketch of the negotiator is truly awe-inspiring. And he lives up to all the characterization till the very end proving that he is one of the smartest. The novel again reaches its peaks in its penultimate pages and a thrilling climax gives a fitting end to a masterpiece.

I won't call this the best book I have ever read , but it is definitely one of the best. This is the first book by Frederick Forsyth I have read, and am planning to read many of his books now. I am hoping all of his works are equally appealing. People with a taste for thrillers and politics and with considerable amount of patience, recommended for you!

Can't help it

2007-11-22T13:42:00.000+05:30

I can't help it. I deliberately do not want to write on cricket as my blog will look full of cricket posts. But Indian cricket board and its management committee think otherwise. And hence, here I am ranting about our cricket board. And as for the title, I did not want the reader to know that it is a post on cricket from the title. Thats' it.
Indian team for the tests came as a big shocker to me. How could they leave out a player like Yuvraj Singh who is in the form of his life. After a series winning performances in the T20 world cup and the Pakistan series where he dominated in all games, how could one leave him out of the test side ? Some argue that he is not a "Test Player". My question to them is why do you brand players? Everyone is playing cricket and it is just about adapting to the situation whether it be tests, one days or T20s. There are moments in test cricket where you need to go out and attack the opponent and there are times when you play literally on back foot in a one day game. Then why this branding like Test player and one day player. The next argument I want to put is we all admire Aussies as champions ( leaving out the sledging and stuff) . If you want to be champions we should start thinking like one first. They don't brand their players like one day players and test players and as a result they have got a match winning batsman in Adam Gilchrist who is equally good in all the forms of game. According to me Yuvraj is better than Gilchrist as a " test batsman" . Then why not give him a chance.
One side they showed signs of "moving ahead" by dropping Dravid ( Though I was not in favor of that as well) and the other side they are taking a step back by choosing a so called typical test team. Hope they show some consistency in their errors at least.

muziboo.com: Music everywhere

2007-11-20T14:49:00.000+05:30

Have you ever felt like making people listen to your composition? But could not find people who give honest feedback on it. Here is a site muziboo.com where you can share your music, rather upload it for users to listen to it and comment on it. There are groups,bands of common interests . To upload music all you need is a login account which takes 15 to 30 seconds depending on your name length and your typing speed to create. Once you are done with this, you are all set to harass people with your compositions. The look vise, a rather plain and sober pretext for such a musical site, but you won't complain as it is really fast to load. Song quality also is good. I listened to couple of songs and to tell you what, they were not at all bad. Good going guys!!

So next time you have to show up your music talent you know where to hit.

My experiements with BCB5

2007-11-20T14:27:00.000+05:30

BCB5 didn't come to me as a surprise as did BCB4. I knew its date and venue details much ahead in time and I did register also well in advance. Saturday, the way it began I thought we would have a blast. Me(without my camera),Vijesh,Raghu,Prem,Ambuj all met up at Sony world signal and set off to be joined by Suresh in IIM-B. With audi not booked no formal announcements. It was nice innovation to have mattresses and bedsheets for "discussion" based collectives. As volunteers we helped them finish some of the chores. No card hanging around your neck this time. It were stickers. " Cheaper doesn't necessarily mean worse, Natraj". The collective which attracted me from the very time I registered, XP collective, thats where we spent our first half of Saturday. Interesting session on Agile methodology with healthy arguments from all skeptics of the model. Post lunch spent some time (though did not understand) on Ruby collective and then went on to attend the quiz screening teaming up with Raghu. Then there was an interesting arguement going on " Myths and facts about generic girls and boys". After participating in it passively we headed home. Hey! I forgot to mention, we got the T-shirts on Saturday itself. And this proved out to be a mistake on the part of organizers. Sunday morning wore a deserted look. Prem, Ambuj and Raghu from our group did not turn up. First half went for a session on Indic languages and how to use them for various purposes on computer. Though I don't or plan to use it in near future, it was a good session. And hey, were wait listed for quiz finals.Afternoon attended a session on a news site taazza.com, a nice news site which localizes your news contents . After that we did participate in quiz finals.(Raghu came all the way for this). Lets not discuss the results of it here. Then headed back home.
If compared with BCB4, personally i learnt more or rather it evoked the thirst for knowing a lot of things in me, but overall I think the absence of audi and the absence of crowd on Sunday proved out to be spoilsports.

Bangalore Traffic and Diwali

2007-11-16T18:13:00.000+05:30

I have experienced it for 3 years. The mad rush of Bangalore traffic on the eve of diwali to reach majestic/station (both are adjacent to each other in case you do not know). This year it began as a different experience for me. First and foremost, no rush in 171 bus from Koramangala stop. So here I was seated comfortably in the bus. Surprise no.1 : Shanti nagar depot having some buses going out to various places. Instant reaction from my brain: Good! They have done their home work well. Surprise no.2: Not much of traffic after corporation circle. Usually this is the place where the whole thing comes to a stop and people walk to bus stand/station during diwali break.
Surprise no.3: I reached majestic in 1 hour time which is a normal duration for Bangalore. Surprise no.4 : By the time I reached my bus platform my bus number was already marked on the list. I was very happy and elated on all this. Thinking that Bangalore has found an answer for the mad rush. The next surprise, told me the truth. Conductor was shouting "Chennai ,Chennai." Thats when I realised, seats in the bus were vacant. Which meant today was not the diwali eve which Bangalore is famous for. Diwali had begun one day earlier for me. And hence without a traffic blast.

Om Shanti Om can be missed

2007-11-13T09:39:00.000+05:30

What happens when you buy a cheap canvas and in your efforts to show it as beautiful you paint it all with the most expensive colours of the world? The result is a movie like Om Shanti Om. The colors added are reincarnation , story of a ghost, a half baked love story,mother sentiment blah bhah blah. But, the basic problem of Om Shanti Om is it has nothing new to offer. No story. Funny moments here and there can't compensate for the story. Roping in all the stars of bollywood also can't.
Shahrukh Khan hams all the way in the movie like never before. Deepika is ok. Shreyas Talpade is wasted. I wonder what he saw in this movie. Arjun Rampal is the only performance which stands out. It claims to be a humorous movie. If that is the kind of humor one wants, one can rather watch MTV spoofs on movies. It is no different than that.
Music comes as a saving grace for the film which is well shot as well.
Watch it only if you are a hardcore Shahrukh fan .

My happiest day in Life: A personal diary: Part 1

2007-11-02T14:02:00.001+05:30

A very common question one asks is which is your happiest moment in life. Well, even thought no one has asked it here, I would still like to draft this for my own sake.

After missing out on couple of occasions TCS and e-Funds, I was really depressed as far as the placement scenario was concerned. I had started concentrating on CAT as it looked like that was the last resort available. Came 25th September 2003, a day when my life was going to change. Previous day eve my placement rep told IBM has opened for us. With a single eve and a company of IBM's stature I never thought I had a chance. Unusually I slept early that day at 10 pm , to wake up and go for the written exam. Written exam was a usual affair for me. 20 questions on general aptitude and 20 questions on computers. Aptitude questions I not only managed to do it but to cross check it a couple of times. But computer questions, all were kind of bouncers. Come on guys!! only 1 bouncer allowed per over but 20 of them.. back to back... too much... mudiyalai... in vadivelu style. With no hopes of getting selected I continued with the normal life, went for lunch and after that went to hear the results out. And I was one among the 47 selected. 2 from my class. Later came to know the cutt off had been 20 and I had scored 21.

Then, began the preparation for the interview. Unexpected selection meant I was not at all prepared. Luckily, Sundaram Claytons was knocking the doors the next day, off -campus at PSG Tech, so had a shirt and a pant in place. Otherwise I would have been in deep soup, b'cos of my body stature. :)

Somehow collected the rest of it and got ready . Interview was scheduled at 6.30 PM but even a duffer could tell that it will be much later than that. Interviewers asking for the syllabus book started giving me goose bumps. Hence, began my preparation, ( lasted for about an hour only) where I was reading through my own syllabus book and making sure I know to speak on each word mentioned there.

I made sure my freshness was confined to my room till it is time for the interview. My friend went to the interview room and was monitoring. Once my turn came, he came and called me and I was set to what happened to be my last placement interview of life.

As this post is getting unusually big, I will post this in parts. So watch out for Part 2.

My Happiest moment in Life : A personal Diary: Part 2

2007-11-02T12:55:00.000+05:30

Our calculation was on target and within 30 mins of me reaching there I was given a call to enter into the interview room. It was a 1-1 interview and one Sridhar was there to decide my fate. I was wearing my fav. sky blue shirt , new one ( wore only for the 2 previous interviews) and a cream color pant, a rather unusual combination, thats what everyone thought. But the black pant had been not so lucky for me. I had decided to take the interview my way and the first question" Tell me about yourself" just made things easier for me. After the initial braggings about education and all I went to my favorite topic of paper presentation in IIT Delhi and ended there for Sridhar to pick from there . I was lucky for this trick to work out and hence, began my explanation of my paper where I was in full form.(must be, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this blog)

On software and languages side, I played safe this time saying I do not know any of them. After about 20 minutes of mostly me talking and he listening he seemed impressed and told me to go on for the HR interview , which meant that I had cleared the "technical" interview. Officially I was informed that I had cleared outside by another gentleman from IBM whose name I did not know. Then after waiting for around 30 mins , I was called for the HR interview, there a very stern Balasubramanian was waiting for me. I tried to be as friendly as possible with him. But he was all the same. He asked " you look tired. It is a long time for you". I replied back " It is the same for you sir" . Then began my HR interview. I had questions on my role model which I had put as the Australian Cricket team of 2003. I had questions on 5 uses of pen apart from writing. Again I tried to use my sense of humour to lighten the mood but to no avail. I had questions on my career ambitions and where do I see myself after 5 years. This is where I thought I had blew if off yet again. I replied back " I do not set myself any goals in terms of position and money. I just want to grow with the company. I will look for challenges at every juncture". To which the question was " What if there are no challenges?". A very tricky one indeed. I tried to manage it with some excuses like I will ask for challenging role and that I will fight for it . He was stern on his stand that there are no challenges. The million dollar question. I played a gamble. I replied " In that case I will quit IBM and look for somewhere else sir". His reaction did not tell me anything. He was a thorough professional. On that note my HR interview was also over after 20-25 minutes of what I will say grilling.

Then it was a wait forever, for the results to come. After interviewing full 47 short listed candidates which went on till about 12 midnight, results were finally announced t 1.40 am. All of us, including friends of those who attended waited with out heart in our mouth. Finally , the HR came out with a list. He announced that they had selected 19 of us. Good news! I thought. Then he began announcing the names. And my classmate's name came . I thought I had screwed it up again based on our logic of only one production guy being selected among every two. But still I was praying and waiting. 16th name was announced " Natraj M" and here I was.... Didn't know how to celebrate I just did a punch in air and then ran out. Followed by our class PRs and other friends who were all happy as we had 2 on 2 in IBM. The late night call to my parents by my friend will not be forgotten by them for the lifetime , I am sure. Rest of the night was spent talking and trying to digest the truth. The truth that I had got placed in IBM. And I spent another sleepless night.

Bangalore : Rediscovered!

2007-11-02T11:14:00.000+05:30

On Rajyotsava day, I was served with true delicacy of the real Bangalore and its life. I went for a quiz to Malleswaram, the area which supposed to be the older Bangalore (I would say the truer one ). It had a typical small city feeling about it. No big flats, No big malls, not every third restaurant was a place where you burn half of your day's pay for a meal,(there were not much of hotels also), not a place where every guy and girl dress as if they are going to de-throne Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai respectively, not every 9 in 10 people on streets where 20 something's and the best of it a smoother and better traffic . It was the older and the traditional Bangalore at display. A nice place for dinner, New Krishna Bhawan , a place established since 1954 , where you can find all Mangalore style dosas and stuff, which you won't find in any other part of Bangalore. But as soon as I finished my dinner and went on to catch an auto, I was brought to the reality that I am still in Bangalore when more than half a dozen autowallas refused to come to Majestic. Once I reached Majestic, I was completely brought back to reality , mad rush, mad traffic blah blah blah... all which have now become a part and parcel of Bangalore life.

Dravid's omission: Pains me

2007-10-31T10:53:00.000+05:30

Way back in my TCS placement interview to the question of who is my favorite cricketer I had answered Rahul Dravid and it is shocking to see him out of the Indian team now. Though my answer in the TCS interview was just to sound different than the usual Sachin Tendulkar, I have to confess that Dravid has been one of the pillars of Indian cricket in recent times. How can we forget the contributions he has made to the famous Australian tour when we managed to salvage some pride or the Calcutta test against Australia where India won the game after being made to follow on, which changed the approach of follow on forever(Now teams don't ask teams to follow on ). How can we forget the role he played in 2003 world cup directly with the runs he scored and indirectly with him donning the double role of wicket keeper batsman so that India could play the extra batsman. I am not a vivid supporter of historical statistics and I don't argue that he should be kept in the team based on his previous performances. But replacing him for someone like Sehwag is what pains me. Sehwag's form is known to all. Dravid has an impressive record against Pakistan. Can Indian selectors be brave enough to leave him out of the Australian tour? Then why this step motherly treatment towards him ?

Google: The BEST!

2007-10-25T13:24:00.000+05:30

Working at Google.. Have a look..No doubt people dream of working in Google.

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd6BPhJjYL4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YA9QWceEfE

Democracy: Facts

2007-10-16T10:15:00.000+05:30

Be it the reservation row or the Ram sethu row or the nuclear deal row, One wonders whether the policies and actions taken by the Govt. truly represents the mood and opinion of the entire country. Being the largest democracy in the world ideally it should. Here is some mathematics to show how wrong we are if we answer in affirmation to the above question.

Elections are held in constituencies where , lets say on an average 10 contestants from various different parties contest. Lets say the winner gets 30 % of the votes and is elected as a MP/MLA. Now just extrapolating this situation to all the constituencies we get a house of say 500 members each member with 30 % votes from his/her constituency. Now to form a Govt. a party needs majority that is more than 50 % members in the house which is 251 in our case. So the % fo votes for this so called majority is 251/500 X 30/100=15.06%.

Hence, the party having "majority" in a house has typically the support of only 15% of the people who have cast their votes and they in turn choose a leader of their own to run the country/state.

So what's the point? How do we solve this? I am of the belief that the leader of the Govt. say PM/CM must be chosen directly by the people and not by other members who were chosen by people. Along with the ballot box/EVM for chosing the local constituency member there should be anothet box/EVM to choose the PM/CM of their choice and this should be taken into account for choosing the PM/CM. Also, the total % of votes for a particular political party should be taken into consideration for choosing the ruling party.

Banks or Us? Who is to be blamed?

2007-10-15T17:15:00.000+05:30

Recent incidents of banks harassing people who are unable to repay loans are making headlines. Who is to be blamed? The banks or the people who fall "prey" to such offers? Here is my analysis to the story.
Banks are doing nothing but selling themselves when they offer loans,credit cards etc etc with lesser interest rates and other lucrative offers. You really can't blame them. Don't all of us do that at some point of time? I personally feel we should be careful about such "lucrative" offers.
Some personal tips and advices.

We should go through all documents religiously before taking a loan/credit card or any such thing. Any * marks should be clarified first shot and all promises made by the agent should be read and verified in the documents.

Do not go for more than one credit card. All the plans of transferring balance from one card to other will surely land you up in trouble one day. As you never know how much you are spending as it becomes difficult to track all the credit cards up to date.

Do not pester bank for more loan or to increase your credit limit on your credit card. Banks have their own mathematics which they use to calculate how much you will be able to repay and most probably that will be the maximum you can do.

Last but most importantly, do not go for anything if not necessary. This is applicable for loans,credit cards or any shoppings you do using your credit cards.

I am not giving a clean chit to banks here. But all I am saying is that , it is our responsibility to make sure we can make ends meet before jumping into something and then repenting for it.

P.S: I know I might be in a minority here supporting banks. I am open to comments. Pls keep them coming.

Chickmagalur trip

2007-10-15T15:48:00.000+05:30

There are places which are truly in the lap of nature, It is only nature and nature wherever you see around. I had been lucky the last weekend when I got to see one of such places. I am talking about Chickmagalur, Eagle Eye resort. Chickmagalur, a district in Northern Karnataka is indeed a beautiful place. Our resort was around 50 kms from Chickmagalur town in a ghat situated in deep forest. It was truly a wonderful experience. For the first time in my life I saw real life bugs(not the software ones) and photographed them also. The journey which began with a wrong note ( buses getting delayed by 1.5 hours and journey taking more time than expected), it was sheer thrill once we were on ghat road and we truly didn't mind the length of the ghat journey unless our way was blocked by live electric wire. The hardcore optimist I am, I found this opportunity to photograph some of the best shots I have ever taken and of the live wire which threated us. The moment we reached the resort, the first feeling which came across was that all the sufferings of the 8 hour long journey vanishing in the serene locales which surrounded our resort. As evening set in, we had bon fire and loads of fun before finally calling it a day. Experience of the tree house and the view from there was once in a life time opportunity for me. Next day was full adventure lined up, trekking(with live leeches), boating with self rowing , fishing and swimming ( for those who knew swimming) . Like all good things, this one also had to come to an end. So, post lunch we left for Bangalore with our hearts full of wonderful moments but still yearning for many more.

Australia Vs India : In words

2007-10-15T14:13:00.000+05:30

Recently the relations between the Indian and Australian cricket team have gone from worse to worst. From the time India has beaten Aussies in the T20 world cup, there has been a downward slide in the relations between the two teams. But this is nothing new. Since a long time, the arch rivals of India have been Australia and not Pakistan according to me , because the matches played against the formers have been more thrilling than the later. But why this hue and cry now? Relations have touched an all time low now. With Symonds accusing of racist comments from a section of crowd and BCCI playing a deaf ear to the whole episode involving Sreesanth also. As you can't clap with one hand, I feel both the teams are to be blamed here. Sreeshant is to be blamed for staring at the batsman evey ball he bowls. Come on, not even a bowler of Wasim Akram's caliber can manage to dominate the batsman in every ball he bowls. Symonds giving out statements like Indians will have to pay back in Australia , clearly shows the kind of mentality they have. What does he mean, T20 champions have a lot to learn? Agreed he is a part of a champion side, but that doesn't give him rights to make such comments on other sides. With both sides captains and board giving a deaf ear to this whole episode, matters have turn worst. Australia may have won the series , but it is cricket as a whole which has been defeated in this whole series. It is more of a verbal battle than a battle with Ball and bat and the loser is of course cricket.

Chickmagalur : A fun trip

2007-10-11T17:44:00.000+05:30

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words. So here comes 1000 x 400 odd words on Chickmagalur trip.

Photos link

Chennai going the Bangalore way!!

2007-10-03T12:08:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: People not very well aware of Chennai will not be able to relate to this post.

With IT growth affecting all quarters and all places , how can Chennai be left behind. But what scares me is the area where the growth is happening. The so called urbanization is happening in Arcot Road, which is barely 30 ft road on each side of the road divider and is open for two way traffic. I already see the construction of a multiplex theatre , a purvankara project a prestige group project going on , on this road. Traffic is already at its peak in this road, one wonders how will this road be able to manage the heavy traffic which these structures will generate.

Is Chennai growing the wrong way? Is Chennai not learning from the mistakes of Bangalore? Only time will tell.

Have a look at the map of Arcot Road.

Technology at its best!!

2007-09-27T13:08:00.001+05:30

Awesome stuff...

Microsoft Surface

The fever is on!!

2007-09-26T08:48:00.000+05:30

Many were skeptical about the new version of cricket , the 20-20 version. With the first world cup coming to an end , I want to put my points in favor of the newer version of the game. So here I go, why 20-20 looks better to me.

1) 20-20 means less time and the match would end soon. Hence you won't have to sit through 7 long hours to finish the match. And which would in turn mean you can do your normal chores on a match day . Which also means fewer advertisements.

2) 20-20 means full entertainment. Not a single over can be take for granted saying nothing important will happen. Just imagine what would have happened if you would have missed the over in which Pathan got Afridi out , it was in the middle of the innings.

3) 20-20 means more focus on youngsters who are physically fit and mentally tough. Yes , this is not a game for chokers. You have to hold your nerves throughout the 40 overs of the game.

4) The onus being on the team effort , individual milestones are of lesser importance. The importance of centuries and individual contribution takes a back seat. For instance, west indies lost the match inspite of a century ( the only century in this world cup ) from Chris Gayle.

5) There is no place for complacency. You just simply can't take things for granted. Every single run counts, every single dot ball counts. Take this for instance, there were matches were 13 runs were scored of the last 4 overs by Australia and matches were 36 runs were scored over a single over.

6)Dynamism is the need of the hour. You just can't simply pre-plan things. The decisions on the bowling, batting line up, fielding etc have to be taken dynamically. Harbhajan Singh was kept shielded for Shahid Afridi to come on is the best example of this.

7) 20-20 cricket is set to make its impact on the bigger version of the game as well. The way one day cricket changed the test cricket , esp. the way Australians play a test match.

8) "20-20 is a batsman's game". I would counter this argument with the logic that bowlers won all the crucial matches for India. Just that the desired level of performance from the bowlers is different now. If he bowls a 6 run over , among the last 3 he can well be the reason for the team's victory.

9) All rounders have come to spotlight. We no longer need specialist batsman or bowlers who can't even manage to do the other thing reasonably well. We need batsman who can chip in with an over or two and bowlers who can bat reasonably well .

10) And the biggest reason why 20-20 will be in spotlight , India are damn good at it. We are the champions.

Lets hope 20-20 fever catches on everyone.

Me:A part of History

2007-09-25T10:52:00.000+05:30

There are times when you are short of words but you have the strong urge within you to express. I did not know how to start this blog but then Shahrukh Khan came to my rescue with a statement of his. " I am a part of history". True indeed. Yesterday all those present in the Wanderers and all those who witnessed the breathtaking T20 finals sitting in their house or at office or wherever through whatever means are a part of history. India had surpassed arch rivals Pakistan in a humdinger by 5 runs , a match which went on till the last over and which was equally poised throughout the match. I bet there can't be any one who did not feel the pressure. Two teams knocked out at the first stage in the world cup held in West Indies, what would have one expected out of them. But destiny had different plans. A team going through crisis had in its fate the most coveted trophy of all. And what a way it was achieved. With 13 runs required of the last over and a very tense but firm Joginder Sharma began with a wide delivery all of us had our heart in our mouth. A dot ball followed and then a six on a full toss. Indians held their nerve and Joginder Sharma bowled the decisive ball which was a slower one and Misbah-Ul-Haq , the Pakistani Star of the day tried a backward scoop, one of the recently invented shots in one day cricket only to find Sreeshant who held on to the heaviest ball he had ever held in his life. He had weight of crores of Indian fans on his shoulders and his able shoulders did not fail India. As Misbah knelt on the ground out of disappointment the Indian celebrations began not only at the Wanderes but throughout the world. One of the sample of the celebration in Bangalore. A mob stopped a moving car in the middle of the night and asked everyone to shout "Hindustan zindabad" before letting them go.
The youth and freshness of the Indian team did the trick for me. The way each player backed each other and Dhoni held his nerves at all crucial junctures made us all witness history.
Jai Hind!!

Movie review of Manorama Six feet under

2007-09-24T12:17:00.000+05:30

The trailers itself was enough for me to watch the movie. Very simple and next door characters and a weird but interesting title. So here I was in innovative multiplex watching this taut thriller with my friends. We were six of us and including us there were only 25 of us in the gold class :( .

Abhay Deal as Satyaveer Singh , a small town PWD officer and a flop novelist ( how many heroes would have accepted to play this character is another question which lingers in my mind) suspended for taking bribe for the first time. His wife played by Gul Panag is a typical middle class woman constantly bragging over her husband's joblessness and stuff. And their kid.
Enters Sarika , wife of the irrigation minister of the state asking Satyaveer to spy on her cheating husband and hence begins a treasure hunt for Satyaveer. The plot has enough twists and turns to keep the viewer at the edge of the seat. It has the intelligence to make the viewer think at the same time it is not a very complicated stuff. It was very difficult to find any logical flaws in the movie.

As far as the performance goes, Abhay comes around with non-designer clothes throughout the movie and pulls off a stellar of a performance. He plays the man next door with complete ease. Other actors all play their part brilliantly. Special mention must be made of Raima Sen. Music front, only a couple of songs which run in background in the movie which are hummable.

The only thing I found lacking in the movie was pace. I savor movies with this pace but not many ( which was evident from the fact that only 25 people were there on the 3rd day of the movie release). If only the screenplay had been more taut along with being flawless it would have been a better bet for the producers of the movie.

People who savor sensible and realistic movies.. Do not give this a miss.

A Wonderful Weekend

2007-09-24T11:11:00.000+05:30

After nearly a month I am spending a full weekend in Bangalore and it proved out to be an excellent weekend. Great entertainment from all quarters. First and foremost , the best moment in Indian cricket as far as I have seen, India entering into the finals of the first T20 world cup beating none other than the world champions Australia. It was a breathtaking match and we were having so much fun late into the nights. Indians all over India celebrated it with equal fervour as I could hear the sound of crackers bursting.

Next to this comes a movie which I saw over the weekend. "Manorama Six feet under" a rather strange title for a bollywood movie, but it is indeed a movie to show that bollywood is going in the right direction. A top notch movie with a flawless screenplay coupled with excellent performances , it had all to woo the hearts of movie goers. But it was sad to see only 20 people in the multiplex i saw it on this Sunday just after 2 days of its release. Of late I am very impressed with this guy Abhay Deol. He stands true to his name "Abhay" as far as his choices of movies are considered. Take this for example, which hero do u remember wearing checked shirts throughout the movie with a simple trouser (no jeans nothing). Twists and turns in the plot catch u unaware as u sit at the edge of the seat. I only hope such movies make some money so that people become "abhay" to make such movies in future.

The joy continues!!

2007-09-19T09:45:00.000+05:30

Back to back..this is my second post on cricket which shows I am excited. Yes I am indeed. T20 cricket fever is catching. The new format of the game the twenty twenty cricket or T20 cricket is a fun to watch . With matches ending in about 3 hours we are guaranteed full entertainment. For the first time cricket appears more to be a team game than individual game. Players no longer bother about their personal milestones of 50s and 100s. With more importance to all rounders and team effort this appears like a corporate culture using the scrum model. After a lackluster world cup of 2007 ( not only because of India's early exit but because no team dared to challenge aussies) we have this T20 world cup is a good break. Just when we thought aussies supremacy is over after their humiliating loss to Zimbabwe , we saw them bouncing back with victories. When we thought they had found their way back they suffered a surprise loss to a determined Pakistan yesterday. With "minnows" like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe putting up a good show, one thing is guaranteed, T20 world cup will be entertainment and pure entertainment.

Joys of Watching Cricket..Rediscovered!!

2007-09-06T15:13:00.000+05:30

I must confess... After a really long long time I was tense during the last few overs of a cricket match and all that paid off. India pulled off a spectacular win to bounce back in the series and to enter the Mecca of Cricket with a confident frame of mind. We shouted and celebrated like kids after the match was over. Indians showed professional ruthless approach throughout their batting . Sachin and Saurav threw open the gates of heaven for India followed by sensible knocks from Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni. But the man who stole the show had to be Bangalore based Uthappa. (Bangalore is not famous for Uttappam but bisi belle bhath.) He played the gem of an innings under very tense circumstances maintaining his cool and ensuring India were home with just 2 balls to spare.
Hope India performs in the same spirit at the Lords and pulls of a win very similar to the one in Natwest trophy finals which we cannot still erase from out minds and heats.

Learn from mistakes!

2007-09-05T08:47:00.000+05:30

How often we hear this phrase " Learn from your mistakes". But no one tells us what to learn from these mistakes. Thats why we learn to do the same mistake all over again. I am referring to the incident of tying a 10 year old to the horse he shooed away as a part of his daily chore. This incident happens within a week of another such incident where a petty thief was beaten mercilessly for over three hours by a mob which included a policeman.

Hence, we should go back and revamp out moral lessons and change the phrase from "Learn from mistakes " to " Learn from mistakes not to do them" for more clarity.

And I thought Indians were one of the sharpest brains around!!!

Bar Camp 4

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

As promised in one of my previous blogs, I am back with a blog about BCB 4, though late.
This happened to be my first BCB. I had some pre-conceived notions about BCB thinking it might be a place where we are enlightened in a very formal and organized way. Also, I had not registered till the previous night. So this was how I ended up reaching IIM-B at around 9 AM on both days. Climate on both of these days turned out to be at its best. Frankly and honestly I did not expect to see what I saw there. A record crowd of close to 500 people and a total informal environment. I mainly attended blogging collective talks . Apart from some sessions in start up,start up,photography and biking (cycling) collective.

Overall it was a en lighting experience and on thing is sure, I won't need anyone to call me for Bar Camp 5.

Lesser the words , the better it is.

Go thru the album.

Google Desktop...Simply Rocks!!

2007-08-27T11:12:00.000+05:30

It's been quite a while I wrote. The reason for that primarily is that I did not find
a topic worth sharing all these days. Last Friday I came across a very good utility
Google Desktop.

For beginners , here is the link for Windows
and for linux

Any words I give would be not much of use. "Try it yourself"
is 3 golden words for the day.

2007-08-17T09:47:00.000+05:30

Sub: Mercy petition for our Munnabhai Sanjay Dutt

Respected Madam President,

This is a humble request on the behalf of all the bollywood fans to grant presidential pardon to our own munnabhai. After all what crime has he done? Just had an AK56 for "self protection". So what if people in Iraq and Afganisthan also don't carry AK56 for self protection , our own Bombay is more dangerous than war torn Afganisthan and Iraq and any other such place. So what if he got those ammunitions from his underworld links, he is our own munnabhai preaching gandhigiri. So what if he used all his influence and destroyed the evidence of the guns he had. He still is our own lovable goon, who was the son of a MP and a minister and now is the brother of another.
Entire film industry is right in saying that the judgment is harsh on him because they might not have lost any lives during the riots or the Bombay blasts. And because many of them like Salman Khan might be having loads of such cases pitted against them.

So, hereby I request you pls consider our humble request and grant pardon to Sanjay Dutt so that this comes out as a lesson to others like Afzal who can do whatever they want and then shed some tears and ask for presidential pardon.

Thanking you,
Munna"bhai" fans

India the SUPERPOWER

2007-07-31T16:19:00.000+05:30

We hear this so often. India has come of age. India is a globally known super power these days and no one can ignore India anymore. But have we ever wondered how true is this?

Take some recent instances which prove this to be wrong. First, the episode of Shilpa Shetty and Jade. This incident still goes to prove that Indians are still facing racist remarks all around the world. This piece of news got all the attention as it was involving a big bollywood star like shilpa shetty. What if it was you or me?

Next, we can take the episode of Mohd. Haneef, who was framed by the australian authorities and when they released him due to mounting international pressure , we see an arrogant Australian Govt. who is refusing to apologise. They fail to recognize this as an insult to to a country and a community rather than an individual. At least, their co-citizen Ponting was reasonable enough to aplogize to Sharad Pawar after the incident during the finals of champions trophy.

And last, the present England-India cricket match, where England are unable to register the fact that they have both the luck and weather Gods pitted against them in the favor of India and are involving in sledging and all other unparliamentary behavior on the field. And to add to this the umpires don't seem to take notice of that at all.

All this makes me beleive that India still has a long way to go. For me, we have not gone much ahead of the station where Gandhi was thrown out of the first class compartment in South Africa more than a hundread years ago.

If .. only if..

2007-07-28T22:50:00.001+05:30

There are moments when you feel overwhelmed and lamented at the same time. You feel you could rewind your life to re-live(read re-plan) some parts of your life again. I had these kind of mixed feelings when I attended the BarCamp Bangalore 4 today.

Overwhelmed because the aroma of intelligence in the air was filling my heart with happiness, sad because I was a guest in a place where I dream to be a part of. It was a dream for me once to be a part of IIM-B. But this happened to be my first visit there.

Lets take the architecture first. (P.S :I am not a hardcore architecture analyst to give this review but just trying to put up some feelings. ) Awesome piece.. The half finished look makes one wonder if some construction is still going on or what. The big blocks used gives the building a royal look. The unpainted look gives the building a feel which cannot be matched by any ( or may be all paint was used by likes of Shankar for painting roads and mountains). The lush green campus, creepers on the walls, the rainy cold weather of the day all added to the magic. The hostel blocks are also made of the same blocks and are equally aesthetic in look. Not to mention of the infrastructure available, most of the campus is Wi-Fi enabled and each hostel room contains a wired network in addition to that.

After relishing all this for a full day, I wish life had a rewind or re-boot switch with which I can go back to the past and plan and prepare to join IIM-B again. But then, the bird in bush may be more tempting but not always better than the one in hand. And when I think which feeling is more dominant in me about the day, I would definitely say it has to be the feeling of an accomplishment of participating in such an event . How wonderful it would have been if... only if......

Details of the events and experiences will follow soon. Keep watching this space.

Cheers. :)

Click here for the album link.

Future of Indian cricket

2007-07-25T15:43:00.000+05:30

Headlines read " India NOT in world cup 2015". The story starts this way... India is out of the contention for playing in world cup 2015 after losing its final qualifying match with Canada in the ICC qualifying tournament held here in Sharjah. .......

And it continues with intricate details of the match played which are not of concern to us for this blog. Believe it or not I dream of reading this headline. I mean I yearn to have this piece of newspaper in my hand soon. Before you jump into conclusions of calling me a traitor or some one who hates cricket or some one who is pessimistic, I would like to explain my point.

I feel this should happen because the current Indian team, its management, coach (or no coach) and the selection process are all hopeless ( to put it very mildly). Ever wondered how many selection flaws keep happening and how poorly the richest cricket board in the world is managed. After 2007 world cup debacle we had the board taking some stern steps like linking performance with pay but for how long... Even before India played a single series they reverted back to their old ways of grading players into A,B and C grade and paying them according to their grade which God only knows was decided on which ancient match. Regarding the selection process, we know players are selected into the national team from the ranji and other domestic cricket matches.(* Conditions Apply) But how are players selected for ranji. To be a part of a prestigious cricket club in India you need to be at least from an upper middle class family. How many from the lower and lower middle class really get a fair chance to play and try for the ranji teams? And as soon as someone gets selected for ranji next target for him is to appear in the national team. And they make their debut at the age of around 20. So where is the bench strength of India team. Just to give an example how things should be , a player of Mike Hussey's caliber made his debut into international arena at the age of 30 + .

Coming back to my dream, the next day, BCCI is dissolved and all the money in it is used for conducting a national level talent competition for cricketers where anyone can participate and then a team is constituted for each ranji team from where the national team is picked up.(*Conditions Apply)

And then...........well lets not dream too much.:)

*: I am taking an ideal corruption free selection process into account for this.

Saluting the true Indian Spirit

2007-07-20T17:15:00.000+05:30

To the question of which is the most memorable event of your life , he answers ( not in his exact words) " Removal of pain of a young girl affected by the polio and her ability to ride a bicycle after using the light weight Floor Reaction Orthosis made by using carbon-carbon material was the most memorable event in my life."

I am not talking about any hi-tech doctor , I am talking about our honorable President Dr. Abdul Kalam. ( Read: former President if you read it after July 25). This was spoken to a gathering of IBM employees as a part of their annual gathering called the INNOVATION AND LEADERSHIP FORUM held at Bangalore on the magical date of 6/6/06. Many believed it to be the date of Satan, but for me it was one of the happiest moments of my life. A day when I was really proud of my country.

Mr. Kalam spoke about IBM, its history,its founder, its path towards innovation for more than 45 minutes which concluded with a standing ovation from the more than 30000 people gathered there. Such was the power of his speech. He had gathered more information about IBM , than may be any of the IBMers gathered there.

Coming back to his favorite moment, he came about discovering this light weight material while doing some research for rocket launching while he was with ISRO. But he found true happiness when it came of use to a young girl who used artificial limb made of that material was able to ride by bicycle in front of him. Thats compassion according to me and thats what India has been showing to the outside world. His life can be an ideal example not only for Indians but for the whole world as to the fact that our origins have no relation with the heights we can reach in our life. And that the higher you reach the more compassionate,humble and gentle you become.

P.S: This is not one of the numerous mails getting circulated canvassing for a second term for Kalam as the President.

tring! tring!... The bugger!

2007-07-19T19:03:00.000+05:30

Imagine... Monday morning 9.30 AM ..you set off late from your house for office due to whatever reasons and you are stuck in a very bad traffic in the Hosur Road.. You still happen to maintain your cool and wait patiently wait for the traffic to clear so that you stand some chance of reaching office in time.. Suddenly your mobile rings.... Thinking it is a call from office as you are late for the meeting scheduled.. you sideline your bike (which means you allow another 5 to 10 vehicles to pass you in a minute's time).. pick up the phone seeing a new number which you cannot identify.. you remove your helmet and then put the phone on to your ears.. and then you hear a recorded message from hutch or airtel( P.S. : Such calls are more frequent from the former than the later)... you feel like scolding the person on the other side of the line in all goddamn languages you learnt all through your college life.. but there is no one to listen to you.. angrily you disconnect the phone and start back on the road but by the time you do this you have lost at least 15 mins of your time as the traffic is growing now.. and you are stuck again..

This is the height of consumerism... a mobile subscriber already subscribed to a particular service gets a tele-marketing call....And worse so... the call is immediately followed with an sms informing you of the same scheme... These are not the only useless calls which we get...There hardly goes a day when we do not get a call selling credit cards.. or personal loans or some health insurance or some country club membership... It is really pathetic.. We cannot (read should not) show the anger on the person making the call b'cos this happens to be his/her profession.. But what we need to think is .. is this the correct way to sell a product...

I am thinking now how to end this blog... I mean, what solution can one give.. may be chuck the mobile phone altogether... Oh! I am getting a call on my mobile... Need to attend it and find out if it is a useful call...

A peep into the future!

2007-07-17T09:53:00.000+05:30

It is Dec 31 ,2022. Some amusing news about the year that went by.

Indian cricket team still on the look out for the correct "winning" combination for the next world cup in 2023.

Microsoft still holds 90 % of the desktop market with the latest version of windows. It has announced that it will not support Vista any more , however, migrating from vista to the new OS is not recommended. New OS needs to be installed from fresh.

US is still on the lookout for Osama Bin Laden who released 14 videos this year as compared to 13 last year warning the western countries of the growing power of Islam and Al Qaeeda.

US has set 2025 as the deadline for complete removal of troops from Iraq as there is still some political "imbalance" there.

After razing Pakistan, US has North Korea on its target list. Sources say.

Rajnikanth still is the biggest super star of the country at the age of 73. He still happens to be the biggest money spinner in the country.

Kamalhaasan still waiting for the right time to start his mega venture marudanayagam.

Vijay has remade the latest Burmese movie into Tamil which ran to full houses all across the state. In this film he plays a policeman disguised in the form of a milkman.

Amitabh Bachan still features in every third movie that comes out of Bollywood making him the busiest star in Bollywood.

The only post office in the state of Karnataka ( GPO Bangalore) vacated its main building and moved to a single room. This still is the largest post office among 14 post offices spread across the country employing more than 300 people throughout the country making it one of the largest PSU in the country after railways.

TCS declares that it will recruit close to 1,00,000 people this year for its new operational facility in Rajapallayam.

Land prices are set to fall next year. Claim experts. Land prices touched an all time high last year in Chennai and its suburbs with a ground costing more than 15 crores .

India continues its growth as the biggest outsourcing unit for US. India is now the 3rd biggest super power in the world after US and China.

Rahul Gandhi manages to draw crowds yet again in the UP election campaign but failed to woo voters to vote for him as he lost his election to the lok sabha from Rae bareilly.

BJP planning to conduct a Rath yatra from Delhi to Ayodhya to start the construction of Ram mandir in the disputed Ram janmabhoomi.

Google became the biggest company among all this year . it is a Fortune ONE company now.

Bangalore's traffic woes continues inspite of the successful completion of the metro train linking the entire city last year.

And as for me, I am still trying in vain to put on weight.

Happy "Anniversary"!!

2007-07-10T19:07:00.000+05:30

We love to remember the past. So much so that we end up remembering all the bad /good things which happened to us that day. But seldom do we realize that what we are doing is not just remembering the event but also creating some unwanted disturbances(in and outside the mind).

For example, every year we all are aware of the tension that grips the country on 6th December, the day Babri Masjid was demolished. We even went out of our ways to "celebrate" 10th anniversary of the fateful day as if it was some marriage or birthday to be happy about. Same is the case with the anxiety we are now generating about 7/11, the date which Bombay suburban trains saw a blast. We have special features and programs across all news channel covering it in full detail.

Are we doing the right thing here? I am of the opinion that instead of concentrating on genuine issues and events we still want to cling to the past and re-live its mourning. By doing so we are giving anti social elements who were the reason for these fateful events a chance to pride upon themselves. I am not of the opinion that such days should not be remembered at all. It should be. But as a day when human spirit truimphed over evil . As a day when people irrespective of their social and economic backgrounds helped each other come out of the agony. Why not celebrate the day when India truimphed in the India-Pakistan 1971 war for instance? I don't know how many of us even remember that date(It is december 16 1971, courtesy Google). Why not celebrate the day when the first Indian super computer was manufactured? Why not celebrate the day when India won its firts olympic gold or the world cup?or any such wonderful moment.

It is absolutely essential to learn from the mistakes but to achieve this the "anniversary" celebrations should concentrate on what loopholes lead to so and so disaster rather than concentrating on the goriness of the event. Lets try to rediscover the optimisim in ourselves and that would add much more colors to our life other than RED.

CNN-IBN Blog: down down2

2007-07-05T14:46:00.000+05:30

This is in reply to the below blog in CNN-IBN.

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/anuradhasengupta/164/2079/thank-you-sivaji.html

To answer your questions one by one:

1)We agree that you did not review the film. may be you are not supposed to do also. but you have no rights to call all those who waych sivaji pigs. including yourself into that category doesn’t make it any less offensive.

2)It is not about the regional films thing. just one question on this. which is the film in any god forsaken language which generated this much hype.which was multiplied by all the news channel including CNN-IBN.

3)We are not only protecting Rajnikanth the person. We are out there to protect Rajnikanth the actor as well. For your kind information Rajnikant is a very good actor. If you want proofs for this I would suggest you watch some of the old movies by Rajnikant (for your kind information Rajnikant has also won national awars) and in Sivaji also he has done enough hard work at the age of 58 and the mere fact that the entire movie stands on his able shoulders shows his status.

4)If you can call all who watched Sivaji as pigs then you better watch out and protect yourself from these pigs.

5)Making money is not a bad thing for films and if you are of the belief that whichever movie is not making money is good then i am sorry you are in an absolute minority. The very logic behind pointing out that Sivaji made money was that it has reached so many people and so many people have liked it to watch it shelling out so much money from their pockets.

6)You can understand the story of the movie without knowing Tamil, agreed. But what about the dialoghes of the movie and the healthy comedy track of the movie. If you don’t know that dialoghes are the highlight of a Rajnikanth movie then I am sorry.you need to do some more homework before you see a next Rajnikant film.

7)Well at least now you appreciate things. Thanks. The same energy is being shown by Rajni and all those who were a part of Sivaji. Pls try to appreciate them as well.

8)Well we agree and sincerely hope this is true.

Pls try not to hurt in future.