My Experiments with Life

A new experiment: Baking bread

2012-01-23T17:13:00.001+08:00

Finally I bought a combination oven (microwave + convection + grill), a Samsung CE117AE-S model, to start my long awaited baking experiments.

The inauguration was done by our friends Aarthi, her mom-in-law and Prathiba with a yummy Chocolate cake over the last weekend.

Today was my first solo experiment, trying to bake bread. The recipe I used was from a personal finance blog :) Trent@TheSimpleDollar has this popular post Homemade Bread: Cheap, Delicious, Healthy, and Easier Than You Think. Followed the steps quite religiously and here is the outcome:

Looks good to me, and the house smells so delicious right now. I hope it tastes good too :-p

My take from this first time bread making:

The effort required is not huge at all. Totally I spent about half an hour in activating the yeast, preparing the dough, kneading it, punching it down, preparing the oven, etc.
But the process takes long time, about 3 hours, though your attention is required only for about half an hour.
Your kitchen work top can get messy, so some cleaning is necessary afterwards.
If you can buy yeast in bulk, and not the sachets which I bought (3 sachets for $3.5), it might be more economical to make bread at home regularly.
Just to get the aroma lingering around is worth making the bread!

Vegan Wagon - Part II

2009-06-26T12:37:00.004+08:00

So, how is my vegan wagon of almost a month? This is a sequel to my last post.

I have an enthusiastic partner to try the vegan way, and that is my husband. Any initiative or undertaking is definitely much more sustainable when you have a partner who is equally enthusiastic and like-minded. Guess that's behind the "gym buddy" concept, huh?

That apart, our Vegan lifestyle changes:
We have decided to be domestic vegans. That is, no dairy consumption at home but we might relax this when socializing, if need be. Because, we don't want to create a fuss when we dine out with friends if there is no vegan food available. Being vegetarians already, when we dine out with friends, the places that don't have vegetarian choices are automatically out of question. If we place tighter constraints, it would be unfair to the people we go out with, and eventually going out might not be fun anymore with us. Man is a social animal, ain't he?

We don't buy dairy milk anymore. It's Soy milk and Rice milk instead.

We have stopped fermenting curds. Curd is an integral part of a south Indian meal. I thought that would be the most difficult thing to let go of, but surprisingly, it has not been difficult.

To substitute for the calcium cut, we have mandated green leafy vegetables regularly, for now its 2 times a week, thinking of making it daily. I was someone who hated green leaves for food. After learning about its health benefits and having grown out of the "picky-eating child"(this was the difficult part, believe me) syndrome, I am quite Ok to eat them now, and regularly, no less!
For those uninitiated, visit Health Benefits of Green Leafy Vegetables.

And, we have also increased the fruit consumption, at least one fruit a day and a glass of fruit juice. Just to not take chances!

Since our bodies have gotten used to dairy products for so long, and for so many centuries(for the mankind), we don't know if there would be any ill-effects out of rejecting it. But research points otherwise.

I stumbled upon an interesting concept of producing silk without killing the silk worms, called Ahimsa Silk. Quite interesting to read about the concept, technique of producing silk without killing the silkworms, and the patent. Do browse through the website. The downside of silk produced this way: it's less lustrous than the traditional silk, heck, less lustrous is a much better proposition than having 7500 silkworms killed for a single silk sari.

And that makes my journey into Vegan-ism much smoother, I may after all not be required to explain and re-explain to my resolute mother(who, by the way, thinks I am crazy to become a vegan) as to why I refuse to buy silk anymore.

The Vegan Wagon

2009-06-08T12:41:00.006+08:00

Last week I came across an article on milk, called the milk letter, written by a doctor, Robert M. Kradjian. This well written article tries to claim why cow's milk is not at all necessary for humans, and also about the ill effects of consuming dairy milk. The article is long, but worth a read.

Apart from the health reasons and justifications, I was more struck by the ethical part of it.
A cow's milk is for its calf, as much a human mother's milk is for her baby. How about depriving a baby of his/her mother's milk and using that milk to feed kittens and puppies?
Milk has been an important part of the diet all over the world for a long time. I heard some African tribes do not consume milk.

In India, or rather in India-of-the-olden-days, cattle were treated as a part of the family. While bulls worked in the agricultural fields, cows gave milk, after the calves had their share. Cows were revered as "Gomatha" or the 'mother cow'. The idea was that, after a baby weans from mother's milk, he/she starts drinking cow's milk, and this habit is to stay for life. So in this sense, the cow that provides milk becomes a mother of sorts, for life. The cattle were always treated respectfully, festivals were held in their honor, so on and so forth. You can still find this reverence and culture in rural parts of India.

Sadly, none of this is true in the modern dairy industry. The cows are continuously and artificially impregnated, they are injected with Bovine growth hormones(traces of which are excreted in the milk), if the calves are male, they are sent to slaughter houses, and when the cows had had their time in producing milk, and are no more useful, they are queued up to the slaughterhouse.

I have been a vegetarian for 9 years now. Getting educated on all this, it doesn't feel adequate at all.
Switching from vegetarianism to vegan-ism does not sound easy. "I wanna be a vegetarian" - many people understand that, but if you say, "I wanna become a vegan" - I doubt it.

I love butter, cheese, panneer, ghee, curd, ice creams, pizza, pasta, Gulab Jamun, Pal Payasam and many more food items that contain dairy products. I don't particularly like drinking milk or milk-coffee/tea, and I don't drink these regularly either.

Mayo Clinic has an article on its portal which discusses the vegetarian and vegan diets, and how to make up the diet to have required nutrients, et al. Thats one up in the hope ladder.

If the primary reason to give up dairy products is the cruelty meted out to the animals in the name of human consumption, I guess leather, silk and wool also will have to go.

Hmm, Sounds like a big social exercise. But I am ready for it. I am waiting to see how it goes.

Libraries in Singapore

2009-06-02T16:31:00.003+08:00

One of the many things I fell in love with in Singapore is its library system.

I used to be a book-worm during school days. It was quite difficult for me to balance between various activities when I d a book at hand, I had to finish it! So, during times when I needed to devote my time to more important things, I would take care not to start reading new books.

When I was 7-15, I used to read mostly, magazines and newspapers, from 16-~20, it was predominantly fiction. And then, I guess there was a short break to my voracious reading habit. Thanks to the public libraries here in Singapore, I've again started back on reading, but now its moderated and my readings are diversified, I don't read only fiction these days.

Almost all neighborhoods in Singapore have a library, either public libraries, or bigger regional libraries. The national library at Bugis is the biggest one. The value the library adds to the life of the residents is quite remarkable. For citizens and Permanent residents, the library membership is free(with a small joining fee, though). You pay a yearly premium only if you opt for premium membership, with which you could borrow audio-visual material apart from books.

Apart from the fundamental idea of the libraries, i.e. borrowing from a huge collection of books, I find the atmosphere at the libraries itself to be quite a nice experience.

A typical scene at the library:
The floor at ground level would house the 'Kids' section, wherein you can see toddlers to primary school children in various levels of their "reading habits", some getting introduced to the whole amazing world of books, some having a parent reading aloud to them, some browsing through the colorful illustrations in the books, some listening to a voluntary story-teller. I would say that's a nice way for kids to start reading from a young age.

All across the library you could spot school kids doing their home-work, assignments, projects, with a pile of reference books in front of them, some on desks and some squatting on floors. Access to so much material is really a catalyst to independent reading and research.

Every library has one activity or the other going on all the time. The last time I went to Jurong East Regional Library, I saw this campaign to collect old spectacles, in order to donate to less fortunate people around the world who cannot afford spectacles. I've seen friends and relatives discard spectacles for switching to cooler frames or contact lenses, this sounds like a sensible way to put your old specs to use than stashing it away in an old drawer.

I've seen families coming to library, like some family outing. Being someone who loves books, all this seems quite enchanting.

One downside about libraries here(rather, any place in Singapore), they are way too cold. The aircon temperature is set very low, you definitely need a sweater or a jacket if you intend to stay longer.

To sum up, I love libraries in Singapore. For that matter, I would love libraries anywhere in the world, if they are well-maintained, well-stocked, and provide a stimulating environment to read.

New Kid on the Block - II

2009-01-20T11:08:00.004+08:00

Kangal Irandaal

Arithmetic Progression

BJP?

Ray of Hope

The Reluctant Kiss!

New Kid on the Block!

2009-01-17T13:17:00.001+08:00

Concrete Corridors

Cherry Berry

Rock Climbing for Toddlers

Pebble Walk, anyone?

I'm watchin you!

2009-01-16T12:43:00.000+08:00

What a year!

2008-12-19T13:19:00.000+08:00

Hi folks,

After my starting to blog, this is the longest hiatus I've taken, not without reasons though.

Lots of changes in life this year and they gave me a hands full.

Used to be in India. Not anymore.
Used to be working. Not anymore.
Used to be single. Not anymore.

In a span of 20 days in July, I got married(to my best friend), quit my job, moved to another country and started going to school for my Masters studies.

So, you see, I had little time for everything else.

Initially, I started blogging to share/record my experiences, ramble about any random feeling I might go through, just to yap any sense/nonsense. But now that I have my hubby to whom I do all these things to, blogging has not been so very necessary for the same purposes in the recent past.

But I do want to keep writing. Maybe with a different flavor. Here's a hi5 to my restarting blogging!

Messy!

2008-01-31T17:19:00.000+08:00

You could call some days happy, some sad, some even in-between.

For me, today has been a messy day, till now.

After breakfast, I decided to have a lime & mint juice, and somehow manage to feed my salwar too.

For the afternoon lunch, the soup I had was coriander & garlic soup. I am this person who cannot talk without gesticulations. I was rattling a lot of non-sense to Vidya, my team-mate and friend, while having soup.

No prizes for guessing, I spilt the soup all over my salwar and some on Vidya’s too. Yikes. Before you start wondering what a messy person I am, I usually concentrate on my food religiously, not letting go off even one morsel’s taste away. I love eating tasty food, and consciously enjoy the gustatory sensations they transmit.

Now here I am, smelling of a combination of Eva Deo + Archies Chill! Perfume + lime + mint + coriander + garlic.

God bless my cubicle-mates.

Random ramblings

2007-11-07T01:47:00.000+08:00

1. Been shuttling between Coimbatore and Bangalore like crazy. I think I 'll get something called train lag one of these days.

2. Finally saw Sivaji. RajniKanth should consider retiring, or at least not pair up with heroines as young as his daughters or even younger. And the movie stole my 'cool'. Yeh, I am someone who uses cool in every other sentence. Once when a friend of mine told me that her father was ill, I replied 'cool' and cursed myself for that for a week.

3. It's raining crazy in Coimbatore. And it brought me a gift - what else, common cold.

4. Diwali is day after tomorrow. Bangalore sucks, absolutely no crackers and the place is QUIET. And added to that I am home alone. House-mates are gone on their vacations. I'll be going to Cbe tomorrow and reach early morning on Diwali, right in time for a Ganga snaanam.

5. It seems mom has made all my favourite Diwali savouries and those being Murukku, Ribbon Pakoda, Adhirasam, Cashew cake, Halwa, Gulab Jamun. Waiting!!!

6. Just discovered that maintaing a wedding website is getting popular, visited a few 'xwedsy.com' kinda websites, and they were cool!

7. An interesting thing I did last weekend was to read "Garuda Puranam". Yeah, the same one that is referred to in Anniyan. An intriguing book. It got me thinking into what are all the paavams and punniyams(good and bad deeds) I have done and that caught me confused.

8. Work is getting interesting after quite some time.

9. Met sissy after 2 full months.

10. Am yearning for an opportunity to wield the camera, and shoot some shots(another episode of misadventures?). Should do that.

11. Something I started all by myself a few months back, looms large in front of me asking some soul searching questions, and I am digging to find the answers.

Kannada songs!

2007-10-22T02:27:00.000+08:00

Never did I think I would be hooked on to Kannada songs. I was never exposed to Kannada songs for the first 21 years of my life, despite that being the language of a neighboring state. But I have heard quite a few Malayalam and Telugu songs, which are also from neighboring states.

Well, there are some Kannada songs, recent ones, which are so so so nice. The list:

1. Mungaaru Maleye - Mungaaru Male
2. Anisuthidhe - Mungaaru Male
3. Araluthiru - Mungaaru Male
4. Yeno On tharaah - Hudugaata
5. Ninnindale - Milana

Somebody please pull the song #5 out of my head now!

Operation 'Garbage Disposal'

2007-10-16T03:45:00.000+08:00

I and three of my friends, who were my classmates, who are also my colleagues live under one roof since last December.

In the beginning, every house keeping job was done so enthusiastically and regularly by all the four of us. And then you know what follows, 'dailies' became 'weeklies', and 'weeklies' became 'monthlies'.

Previously we used to dispose our garbage daily. Now the frequency is like, once in 3-4 days. But somehow, this time, the gap got wider, a little over 1 week. Oh no, we are not insensitive, it was just that whenever the garbage covers were filled, we'd tie them and put in an alcove in the kitchen. Tonight I thought I'll collect all the garbage and place it near the door, so that we can dispose it off, the first thing in the morning.

I have to tell you that the fruits consumption in our house is enormous. Most of our garbage is composed of skins of Bananas, oranges, sweet limes, and seed chambers of pomes.

And we know what happens when these are left to rot for a week. Putrescence, of course. I just couldn't bear the odour, and was like, "Yuck, yikes, chee", hearing these sounds, Ramya came to the kitchen to see what was going on, and she too joined in the operation "Garbage disposal". We counted 5 garbage bags, and around two of them were the most odoriferous. And it was beyond the tolerance levels of our olfactory systems. I am wondering how we did not get asphyxiated. So we wrapped towels and dupattas around our faces, much like some terrorists.

We succeded in putting the garbage covers in bigger bags for disposal. But still, we could see that the place was smelling like a compost pit. The time was past 12:00 midnight, and we can put them away only tomorrow morning, but no, both of us did not want anything to do with the noisome stench again next morning, but anyway we will have to carry them out. So we decided we'll perfume the garbage bags.

I brought in my ZeroOne and she brought in her Lomani(which she bought from Paris, no less!) to perfume our garbage. There we were, Ramya and I, in our terrorist face masks, at 12:00 in the midnight perfuming our garbage bags! I wish someone had taken pictures of the sight! Now, that place where we have put those bags smells exotic with a fragrance very desirable!

Now we both know, we'll dispose off the garbage DAILY. YEah, we mean DAILY.

The global village

2007-10-07T15:06:00.000+08:00

A friend of mine traveled to France some time back, and see what she clicked on one of the streets of Paris:

[Click for a larger view]

Chak de, India!

2007-09-25T00:05:00.001+08:00

I have to record this before the excitement wears off. I just watched the match, the finals between India and Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Championship Tournament. Boy, What a match!

I have not been actively following Cricket for quite some time. I watched only a couple of matches of this twenty20, The Indo-Aus Semifinals and Indo-Pak finals. Awesome matches, in terms of thrill, energy and suspense. The best part is that I watched the finals match at office on big screen and with some 200 colleagues. So much fun, it was. I always thought watching cricket matches with my mom was the best fun, for all the extemporaneous comments my mom make. This was no less. Too much verve and witty comments, most of my friends got nostalgic about their college hostel days. Apparently the scene resembled that. But I have never been in hostel before, during my studies. So it was new to me.

The fun we had was topped by India's spectacular victory. Even if India had lost, it would still have been a memorable match.

God of Small Things

2007-09-13T14:29:00.000+08:00

The next book I read was 'God of Small Things' by Arundhathi Roy.

I think of myself as a Goddess of small things, Ok ok, not a Goddess, may be a demiurge, I mean, I am kind of obsessed with small things in life. Small, nevertheless gratifying things. one of my favorite quotes is, "Small things make perfection, but perfection is not a small thing". Well, I am kind of obsessed with perfection too, even though there is no such thing as perfection in reality.

Coming back to the book, it had a slight framework of gloom woven over the entire book. The real human emotions about even the most insignificant things of life have been rendered. Roy strikes the truth about human values right on the face, no deception, no closed pages.

The book goes back and forth in time, which was a little irritating at times, even though the author connects the seemingly anachronic incidents pretty well and to the minutest of the details.

The characters were like, they remind you of someone you have seen somewhere, sometime. If you have been brought up in South India, it is more so. I was brought up in Coimbatore, which has strong Keralite connections. So it was all very realistic for me.

The strange mystique around Estha, and Rahel's girly chirpiness, the bonding the twins share are all so very well written.

A lot of times, I think words are superfluous in explaining emotions in real situations, emotions should talk for themselves. In explaining the situations so meticulously, the emotions are clearly depicted in this book, that explaining the emotions become unnecessary.

This book won the booker prize too. A good one.

Life of Pi

2007-08-10T18:24:00.001+08:00

My bedside table should have at least a couple of books, whether or not I read them in regularity. One book has been lying on my bedside table for the past 4 months; I had not gone beyond first 10 or so pages in all this time.

Not that the book was not interesting, I was just plain disinterested. The last weekend of July was the salvation of the book.

And I am wowed, by the book.

'Life of Pi', by Yann Martel is one of those books, which gives an idea about how far and daring human determination can get and how survival is the strongest intuition in the most adverse times. I was vaguely reminded of 'Papillon', by Henri Charriere, as that book (which is an autobiography) too has the same underlying idea: Portrayal of the strength of human determination and endurance.

And there is a beclouded humor, charming to the mind, in the early parts of the book, in the parts where Pi is not a castaway. The style of narration is too realistic and simplistic, from the mind of a boy of 16 who has strange profundity in his thoughts. At times, some elaborate explanations were putting me off a little, no fault of the author, my fault, mea culpa. I prefer to shy away from cloyingly ingenuous explanations.

A book not to be missed. It won the Man Booker Prize too. I am glad I bought that book.

A dabbler's album

2007-07-08T03:07:00.000+08:00

Azhagu malar aada

Enna Samayalo
(Of course, Salt and pepper!)
Oodhaa, oodhaa, oodhaa poo

Country Roads, Take me home
(Model: Cuz Raghav)
Veetukku veetukku vaasappadi venum
(That infamous shack : Read previous post)
Sendhoorap poove

Poo pookkum osai

Enge sellum indha paadhai?

Victoria Holt

2007-07-04T20:05:00.000+08:00

Why am I suddenly having this urge to read a Victoria Holt Book?

Victoria Holt’s books used to be my favorites during high school and early college days. Bride of Pendorric, Shivering sands, Menfreya, are some of the books I can remember. I can remember Bevil Menfrey from Menfreya as one of the fictional characters I had a crush on ;-)

The others being Percy Blackeney of Scarlet Pimpernel, Frank Hardy of Hardy Boys, Chendhan Amudhan from Ponniyin Selvan, I cant remember any more:-) A short list!

Coming back to Holt, the story line is invariably on same lines, a mysterious castle/house in English countryside; some curse on that house or on the people of that house, a girl comes to the house, kind of becomes the victim of the curse, but manages to disentangle the mystery. And there would be a very soft romance in the background between the girl and the guy of the house, most probably.

And to top it all, usually the story would have been set in the timeline of 18^th-19^th century.

Even though the story line is so cliché, the plot would be so gripping, and there would be no give away about the climax.

Ehhh, somebody give me a Victoria Holt! I want to go back to my high school days!

Rains, cousins, old friends and Asparagus

2007-07-02T14:26:00.000+08:00

This is the longest I have not been home, a little less than two months!

I used to make sure I go home once a month.

But this time, the gap got a little too huge because of no reason at all. Just did not feel like making a trip.

Boy, how did it feel to be home after 2 months? Great!

A couple of my cousins had come over and it was fun.

One cousin, I am seeing after 2 years (He is out of country for his studies), another one even though he's right there in Cbe, am seeing him after months.

We went for a looong walk about 4-5 kilometers taking pictures of the birds, trees, flowers and such. Well, that was me who was wielding the camera and trying to remember the rules of photography, which I had learnt sometime back, and promptly forgot too.

On that road where we walked, there was a dilapidated shack, tall grass surrounding it, no fences, but only a huge gate which was locked. That was kind of ironic. Nobody seemed to be living there. That hovel did not have a roof, and anyone can easily go to the shack, since there are no fences, but why the huge gate and that too, dutifully locked?

I found it a little err…different, or mysterious? So I was clicking pictures of it, and my younger cousin, Ram got embarrassed and irritated with me clicking pictures of odd stuff on road, and declared he'd never come out with me in the future if I turn a lenswoman on road.

And Coimbatore was in its cool grandeur. Incessant rains, right from when I reached, to when I started back. But then, there were intervals of non-rain times too, albeit very few.

Met friend Rama after a year at Nilgiris (that’s a restaurant, not the mountains :-)). We went for a walk along the racecourse, and had that, you know, "woman-woman" talk.

Not to forget the yummy yum mushroom (not the one we have in Pizzas, et al, this is the Asparagus officinales, I go gaga over it) curry my mom had made. Again the yummy yum obbat my grand mom had made :-)

One nice weekend, it was!

Get a life

2007-06-24T22:13:00.001+08:00

What is the most adventurous thing I have done till now?

1. White water rafting in the river Cauvery
2. Jumping into the water in the middle of the river Cauvery, when I knew no swimming. Of course I had the life jacket on, though:-)
3. Walking in heavy rain, along a very aloof stretch of 1.5Km road, completely devoid of humans, one late evening when I was 15.

Thats it? I mean, that's IT?
Divya, seriously, Get a life! Time to rev up the engine!

P.S.: Is having a room mate who sleeps with her eyes three-fourth open considered adventurous? :-)

Kaasu Mela

2007-06-20T13:22:00.001+08:00

Place - Commercial Street, Bangalore

Time - Some weekend over last month

There was a small shop selling trinkets, me and my sis decide to check it out. I spot a black bracelet. Na, its not a bracelet, if you have attended mechanical workshop classes, you’d be knowing something called O ring. What caught my interest was an O ring that you could wear as a kind of bangle. Looked cute. I took 3 O rings, and asked for the price. The shopkeeper says ’10 bucks’, which I perceive as ’10 bucks per piece’, I am like, ‘Oh that's exorbitant for a rubber ring which you find in the workshops like dirt, I’ll pay only 20’ , ‘No Ma’am, its 10’, ‘No, 20’. Then my sis interrupts telling, ‘you nut, he’s telling it is 10 bucks for all the 3 O rings you’ve taken’. I gave out that sheepish, docile smile, and handed out a 10 ruppee dinero.

The seven-year itch?

2007-06-15T14:40:00.001+08:00

It was in 2000 that I decided to give up non vegetarian food.

What triggered that decision, I don’t remember too well. I was 15 then. I think, I wanted to test my determination to give up something and holding on to the resolution.
Once decided, never have I cheated on my resolution, even in my thoughts. I mean I was never even tempted to think of going back. I had made a commitment and it was very important to me to honor commitments, be it to self or to others.
Oh yeah, there was my mom trying to convert me back to a non vegetarian and she had to give up after some 2-3 years seeing my tenacity.

And, what now?
After 7 years of abstinence?

I feel I have become too Sathvic. At times I feel we do need some amount of aggressiveness, and I could definitely have more helpings of it.
I have a calm and gathered mind, definitely. But is that enough? Don’t you need a little bit of hot-bloodedness?
And I have a thought/whim/impression/notion that I have become too sathvic because of my vegetarian diet. And I have read articles which substantiate the idea.

So I am in the “Should I go back or not?” phase!

And yes, mom will be happy if I decide to revert:-)

Which side of the bed?

2007-06-08T21:47:00.000+08:00

When I get up in the morning, I always have this one moment of indecision; Get down from which side of the bed?

Having developed no regular habit on this, I go either one way or other randomly, and what usually happens would be that my slippers would be in the other side of the bed, and I would walk around the cot to wear them.

Why am I recording this in the blog? Long time ago, I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who claims to be a conformed antagonist of the institution of marriage. One of her arguments was,” The first freedom you loose when you marry is the freedom to get down from both sides of your bed”.

I would rather like if I had no choice in this, than that one millisecond of incertitude.

Daddy cool!

2007-06-07T23:24:00.000+08:00

To the person who thinks it is a human duty to help another human being in distress, whatever be the implications on the self,
To the person who motivated me to become what I am now,
To the person whose love I am assured of, come what may,
To the person with whom I can connect with, through that unspoken word,
To the person who never said no to any of the things I wanted to do,
To the person who can be so selfless, not only to the loved ones, but to anyone,

To dad,

Happy birthday.

Another one in the family crossed a lane!

2007-05-28T17:06:00.000+08:00

Sissy graduated!!

Ms. Priya Balakrishnan, BE

Looks like only a few days back I posted a similar post for my graduation, oh, but that was 11 months and 27 days back! On 10^th of June, 2006.

There was an ad long time back

2007-05-25T12:18:00.000+08:00

This is to post before I forget.

There used to be an ad on TV sometime back (not anymore, I believe)

I think it is Bajaj’s some bike’s ad.

A guy comes home to his wife and son, from armed services, on a vacation probably.

They have a rapturous reunion, and the very next morning, he receives a radio message asking all the men in service to report to duty immediately, since some emergency has risen in the meanwhile.

He leaves for his work in some distant borderland on a Bajaj whatever bike, while his wife and son see him off with pride and pain.

And the song in the background goes like this (in Tamil):

Naalai nadapadhai yaararivaaro, neeyo naano sollavum thagumo?

Kaalam vaguthadhai edhirkondidave, ovvoru ganamum kaathiruppome, kaaathiruppome.

A very rough translation:

Who knows what will happen tomorrow... would you or I be able to tell?

Let’s wait every moment, to face what the time has designed for us.

How so profound! For a bike’s ad.

Somehow, I used to like this ad, and it registered in my neurons, and this morning, that neuron came to the forefront out of the blue. I thought I should record that, before I lose that ad’s memoriesJ

The solitary Reaper

2007-05-23T22:10:00.000+08:00

This is ONE poem, one of my favourites from school days.

THE SOLITARY REAPER by William Wordsworth

BEHOLD her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands 10
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago: 20
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;--
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill 30
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

Write, write!

2007-04-03T22:59:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, when I was in an idle mood, and didn't know what to do, I just took a notepad and pen and just started writing. Dint have anything particular to write down, was doing that just for the sake that it was better than doing nothing and not liking it. Of course, I do have times, when I would have nothing to do and would love it:-)

All these apart, then I realized how my writing habit has almost died out. Never wrote anything significant in the last 1 year.

The last memory of having written down something significant was the last semester exam in my 7th semester, should have been 'Embedded Systems'. Three hours, 20 something sheets. Now I don't think I would recognize my own handwriting, simply because I've lost touch with writing.

I had the same thought some months ago, and it was my parents' wedding anniversary month, so I thought why not wish them through a hand written letter. And later I came to know through my sister, that my mom's immediate reaction on receiving the letter was panic!! 'Only this morning she spoke over phone and this letter now, is anything wrong?' kinda stuff!

After reading the letter, it seems my mom's reaction was 'What's the big need to write a letter, she wished us on phone, right?'.

Hmm, Old timers in the 21st century, oops, who is that, my mom? Nah. thats me:-)

Circle: The set of points in a plane that are equidistant from a given point O.

2007-03-22T00:57:00.000+08:00

Hi all(who is the all? One or two poor souls who still read my blog:-))

I never ever thought I would be able to make perfect Dosas. As in round in shape, thin and crispy.
I didn't get much of a chance to try and make Dosas when I was in my home town. I even blogged about the various shapes of Dosa I make and how each turn up in the shape of each continent. After moving out of house, came the need to start cooking. So I was introduced to cooking and kitchen. Plastic surgery would have invariably been done on every Dosa I make. 4 months and I think I had given up.
I was proved wrong today. Made around 15 Dosas. Every Dosa was perfect, no plastic surgeries!! Crispy too!! Just like how my mom makes. That made my day! May be a very small thing for many. But an accomplishment for me. The challenge is in keeping it up consistently:-)

Disclaimer: The picture of Dosas is not of what I made today, they were even better than these:-) I pulled it from here.

Calvin rocks!(Hobbes too)

2007-03-05T01:41:00.000+08:00

When I was in school, I used to read "Dennis, the menace", comic strip in "The Hindu". And I liked it.
Now, pretty recently I've started reading "Calvin and Hobbes", And I am LOVING it. Oh, how did I miss this all these years. But then in these 2-3 months, I've completed all the 80s collection of CnH. And now into the 90s collection.
The parts in which Susie Derkins comes are so so cute. The way Dennis thinks and expresses are sometimes so brilliant, and Hobbes' maturity in tackling Calvin is legendary. Not to forget two poor souls, aka, Calvin's parents:-)
Calvin's innocence, his cliched things like insurance, UFOs, making new machines, dinosaurus, hate-for-girls, love-for-mom, hate-for-bath, hate-for-rosalyn, Ms.Wormwood, his imaginations with wierd creatures, boy , I am loving this.
Calvin, you rock!!

Finally, I got something to blog on!! - Part II

2007-02-16T22:59:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Some 6 months back, I had blogged on my favourite romantic somgs. Time to update, or to add a few more..:

->Iru vizhi unadhe - 'Minnale' - but the sadness in the song is stirring
->Nee paartha paarvaikku oru nandri - 'Hey Ram' - Sensual
->Aathangarai marame - 'Kizhakku Cheemayile' - The pep in this song is unmatchable, usually romantic songs are melodious, this one is not of that genre, but still very romantic
->Pennalla pennalla oodha poo - 'Uzhavan' - NO guy can really feel and sing about his girl so much as being sung in this song.

Nice songs indeed!

A rainy day, some buds and leaves.

2006-11-23T22:13:00.000+08:00

I hate to start again with this infamous dialogue of mine,"It's been
long since I blogged".
I have a feeling I have used the above sentence previously:-) Never
mind!!
My latest digital acquisition has been a digicam, and you know what
follows, a series of misadventures with the new machine.
Precisely, I too followed the ritual. And I present before thee, my
fellow bloggers, the results of my misadventures.
Well, seriously, I think its not all that bad for a greenhorn.
And people, do any of you know any website, that gives proper tutorials
on photography. There are lots, if you google. BUt then, any
comprehensive and sensible site?
Hey guys, you know what, already a couple of my friends have the photos
that I took, as their desktop wallpapers:-)
But, miles to go.
IN my workplace, blogspot is firewalled:-(
So it isnt very easy for me to catch up on your blogs, next time when I
get to read you blogs, please do have the "Subscribe for posts" option
on, so I'll get them in my mailbox. And thanks for that in advance!
Am right now, enjoying new place, new people, new found interests(I
never used to listen to mumsic seriously, meaning, I would have some
favourites, and never experiment beyond that, ,but me been exploring in
that direction too, photography(which I think I'll positively continue,
and thanks to my senior and good friend Arun, for instilling that
interest in me))
Noticed that religious double closing of braces??? *sigh* software
instincts :-)

Over to the much awaited pictures:

Last weekend, I had been to my hometown, Coimbatore. It rained, but not
cats and dogs, ,but really pleasant and incessant rain. The evening,
when it stopped raining for a while, I went out to terrace garden to get
these shots.
A budding Jasmine

A dementor flying away

Earth's casuals

My favourite

Test

2006-10-25T20:32:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Never mind this post. I am just trying to post from my email ID. So this is a test post.

Bye

I am back! I am back!!

2006-10-23T02:51:00.000+08:00

Hiiii All

I am back!!
After a long (3 months,in fact) hiatus, I am back.
I dint mean it to be a gap this long. But then things went this way, in between was this ban on blogspot here in India and things like that which also promoted my laziness:-)
3 months were great. New place, new people, new lifestyle...So all going cool.
I am planning to start my blogging back again seriously. SO here I come to bore you all again..And also to start reading other blogs too.
And in this time when I wasnt here my blog crossed 10000 on visitors count.
Thanks to everyone for your visits.
Enough for a reunion post. Rest in next post.

Bye. Have a great time.

Bye Bye

2006-07-13T18:58:00.000+08:00

Bye Bye Coimbatore
Bye Bye Home
Bye Bye buddies
Bye Bye Siruvani water
Bye Bye to all athais, mamas, pinnis, chinnaainas, pedhammas, pedhanaainas

This reminds me of a movie I saw some 7-8 years ago, it was called , "Bye Bye, Love"

Finally, I got something to blog on!!!

2006-06-25T04:45:00.000+08:00

Hi all
I have had 62 days of holidays till now, and 23 more days to go!!
Got an audio cassette called 'Marriage songs' by Padmashree Sudha Ragunathan.
Na, no one's getting married yet, just that some songs are too good, that I wanted to listen to them. I love a song called 'manmadhanukku maalaiyittaye"...Man, thats too good. I kinda find these classical songs more romantic than modern the ones..

So why not list my favourite romantic songs??Wow..finally got something to blog on:-)
This is gonna be a predominantly Tamil movie songs list though.
NO particular order:

1. Sundari, kannaal oru sedhi - from the movie Dhalapathi----------------it roxx it roxx it roxx
2. Ondra renda aasaigal - from 'kaakha kaakha'
3. Enna seyya pogirai - from 'Kandukonden kandukonden'
4. Yevano oruvan vaasikiraan - 'from 'Alaipayuthey'
5. uyirin uyire - from 'kaakha kaakha'
6. Paartha nyabagam illayo - from 'pudhiya paravai'-------------------it roxx it roxx
7. maalai pozhudhin mayakkathile - from.. err.. some old movie
8. Venmadhi - from 'minnale'-------------------it roxx it roxx
9. edhedho ennam valarthene - 'punnagai mannan'
10. kaadhal rojave - 'Roja'------------------------it roxx it roxx it roxx
11. Engirundhu vandhayada - 'Five star'
12. Enge andha vennila - no idea what the movie's name is.

Writing this list, I felt all these come under a sad genre:-O About a lost love or longing or mostly of a not so fun mood.

So now for those fun romantic songs;-)

1. Kadhal sadugudu - 'Alaipayuthey'
2. pudhu vellai mazhai - 'Roja'
3. Kadhalikum asai illai kangal unnai kaanum varai - 'Chellame'
4. Nee oru kadhal sangeetham - 'Nayagan'
5. Vaa vennila unnaithane vaanam thedudhu - 'mella thirandhadhu kadhavu'
6. Madhura nagaril thamizh sangam - some old movie---------------------it roxx it roxx it roxx
7. Jaadhi malli poocharame - 'Azhagan'
8. Sandai kozhi - 'Aitha ezhuthu'
9. Unnai vida - 'Virumandi------------------------it roxx it roxx it roxx it roxx

The english list:
1. You fill up my senses (The Anne's song)- John Denver------------------------it roxx it roxx it roxx it roxx it roxx it roxx it roxx it roxx it roxx it roxx(If you have not heard this song, please do it)
2. Please dont go - No Mercy------------------it roxx
3. Everything I do, I do it for you - Bryan Adams
4. Lets make a night to remember - Bryan Adams------------------it roxx
5. The way you look tonight - Frank Sinatra------------------it roxx
6. The only thing that looks good on me is you - Bryan Adams
7. Quit playing games with my heart - BSB
8. Unbreak my heart - Toni Braxton------------------it roxx
9. Have you ever really loved a woman - Bryan Adams
10. Heaven - Bryan Adams

Now, since I have written this, you can actually get how jobless I am. In normal days(the days when I would have something to do:-)), I would never have believed I would write a post on my favourite romantic songs:-x
But still, it was fun writing this.

Crossed a lane...

2006-06-12T03:47:00.000+08:00

Divya Balakrishnan, B.E.

Thou shall adapt!!

2006-05-18T03:07:00.000+08:00

Hi all

I was watching a sitcom the other day, in which the leading lady tells,"you can't get everything from a single person..."

I was pouring into it.

When I look into all the friendships I have, the statement mentioned above has always been underlying, only waiting for me to see the pattern. And I am not the same with everyone. Serious with serious people, funny with fun-loving ones, etc. And this is not something I cultivated purposefully.

For those frank talks its KD, gosipping its gotta be Abi, Girly talk its Nandy, professional talks its MK, Heart-to-heart talks its Aarthi, feel good talks its Dj, Soul-searching its Amma, Logical and fun talks its Rama, Fashion talks its Kaushi and Priya, 'old friends' talk its Ramya. assorted talks its Bhav, the big R talks its Choo.

Adaption is the buzz word here. But your principles will lie in the deepest of our values, which will not be affected by these adaptaions, but only can be enhanced. In fact your principles base is the rock on which all the adaptations are built.

I guess, everyone of us takes feedback and kinda refine ourselves in moving with each of our friends. of course , we do this only with friends and people we hold dear. And the process is mutual. So we are made of a million tiny bits of all of our acquaintances, as we are a part in a million others.

Oh..so...perhaps this is the reason, why marriages fail? Expecting everything from one person??? Of course, there are certain mandatory stuff that must be expected and fulfilled in a matrimony, but that line is not an easy one to draw, I mean what is to be expected and what not to.

Woof...I thought I could never write serious stuff!!

Family Consensus?

2006-05-09T03:19:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Thanks for all your suggestions for the previous post.
Yesterday was election in TN. I pushed that big blue button, And whoa I performed my Democratic duty!!

Afterwards, it was all 'whom did you vote for?' talk among us friends.

Me: I voted for X
Friend: I voted for Y
Me: Oh, cool, my dad voted for Y too.
Friend: Oops, how come..no unity in your family or what?
Me: Oh please, If you want more, my mom voted for Z.
Friend: Oh...

So tell me guys, is it necessary to support a party as a family? Isn't it an independent decision..I always thought so, and will continue to think so.

Too much?

2006-04-16T03:20:00.000+08:00

Flash back...
2006>>2005>>2004

November 2004..

Divya,a sophomore in an Engg College, starts blogging. She starts writing stuff about her college life, the funny incidents, some nice forwards. She is content with just posting. She doesn't read much blogs. To be precise she reads only one blog, which inspired her to start her own. And she doesn't expect anyone to read her blog. And no one used to visit too, the reason being there wouldn't be anything interesting or enlightening.

Forward 2004>>2005

She writes about stuff she thinks, feels and some more reminiscences.Inspires a couple of friends to start blogs. Slowly discovers a lot of interesting blogs, gets to know about lots of html add ons and cool stuff she can put on her blog. Eventually she finds a tool called blogrolling and adds all those blogs she finds interesting and would regularly read. Slowly, her blog's readership increased. She gets tagged. She is happy to be noticed. She gets some nice blogger friends.

Forward 2005>>2006

She starts to feel she has put a lot of personal stuff on her blog. Her friends help her realize that, especially 3 of her close friends. So she deletes all those posts. The HTML add ons, which, once she considered cool, now felt like time gobblers in downloading the page, so she takes off all those extra fittings(A blog needs to be just a blog, a lotta extra fittings do irritate)

Forward NOW

Hasn't my blog gone through a cycle? Is this what is called "oru round varradhu"?

Ok, So no more personal posts (this is the INTERNET)
no more funny reminiscences(Inside jokes got to be inside)
I am not a tech freak to write about all latest tech stuff(excited about latest nano iPod? nah..not me)
politics is a strict no-no(i have political views, so..why should i share..to start heated discussions? and in the process turn friends to foes?)
I dont write poetry(Tried writing when i was in 8th std, realized i was a no-natural)
There are news sites to get the up to date stories.(News sites or horror portals?)
No more college cribbings, cos, 5 more days is exactly till when I'll be in college(Finally an Engineer, I am:-))
Of course i cant write about my job(SHshhhh! confidential!!)
No tags..(they make you look like an open book, i.e. if you decide to fill the tag truthfully, not if you make it a fun tag)

So

WHAT DO I WRITE ABOUT???

I am in a deliberation phase...Will let you all know when i am through the thinking..:-)

options I am considering:
shut down the blog, and just read other blogs?
Shut this one down and start a new blog, of a different and a purposeful outlook?
Just change the theme of this one? If so , how?

Another Cliched post...

2006-04-08T15:55:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
As everyone in the blogosphere now, I too am taking a brief hiatus from blogging for sometime. The reason is that my project report submission date is too close, and lots of works to do:-)
Till then have a nice time, all of you.

Poll Results

2006-03-22T04:21:00.000+08:00

Hi all,
This is the result of the poll on my blog...
See for yourself.:-)
Pretty Interesting the results are.

Which of the following do I read?

2006-02-28T16:22:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
Last I was starving for some good book to read..Was vetti too...But I dint get one.
Now I got work to do. But there has been a flood of books, which one shall i read first?
--------->God Father-Mario Puzo
--------->If Tomorrow Comes-Sidney Sheldon
--------->The Brethren-John Grisham
--------->Love in the Time of Cholera-Gabriel Garcia Marquez

My personal Choice is God father...What say?

%#&$&$^#^%##@$@#(Cant think of a better title)

2006-02-26T01:34:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Is there someone who reads my blog, who is from Carrollton, Tx, USA? If so, please comment back.
Been to Bengaluru. I hate Bangalore buses. Hell on wheels. Who built those buses..? Bad design and even worse running of the show. It seems as a cost cutting operation,in some buses, the dirver also acts as the conductor, issuing tickets. So in escence what happens when the bus is crowdy? It takes a loooong time for him to be done with issuing tickets.And the bus gets delayed.
Bangalore traffic is yet another thing. Feels bad to see my birthplace in such state:-(
People should see buses in Coimbatore. They seem like heavens now. Even buses in Chennai are bad when compared to Cbe buses. No, am not telling this because I belong to Cbe. Anyone who have travelled in Cbe buses would nod their heads.
Another thing, the Bangalore city's environment is a way too dusty too. As I travelled across the city to reach office, I looked at my mobile, it looked like I've kept it open in a sand storm.
I see myself shouting "Who moved my cheese?" in some 4 months time.
Bye all.

Musings and a bad movie

2006-02-20T02:17:00.000+08:00

Hi all...

I was thinking about something today.When I go out on my own or with my friends in crowdy places, I find myself kinda on an alert mode. You can see all sort of guys trying to hit on you(physically), a brief grope or a little brush on your side. So I always have my fists clenched ready to attack if any nuisance arises. And I have blown punches a couple of times too. Am not a martial arts expert, but in a crowdy place, just showing your courage in a small way can take a guy off guards and make him run away. They just hope that the girl would not rise a hue and cry over a thing like this, which they might think as a very small insignificant act. But when they see a vehement protest coming, they just back off, not wanting to involve in any sort of trouble.
But, when I go out with my parents, I have never encountered anyone trying to make a pass. Being with parents is kinda a shield. I can be myself, carefree.
I was just wondering why are some guys programmed this cheap?
I saw a movie today. Its called kalvanin Kadhali. When I heard that the lead actor is S J Surya, I felt like not going to the movie. But still i went. Now I realize how important it is to believe your instincts.

Bye all..Have a great week ahead.

Help!!

2006-02-17T16:33:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Do anyone of you know a good site for downloading free e-books. Or specifically, do u have the e-book version of "Love in the time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?
I've tried Gutenberg.org with no luck:-(
Thanks in advance.

Rest In Peace

2006-02-07T01:34:00.001+08:00

[UPDATED]
[ ]
Look at these guys...
Too full of life?
But they are no more.
These guys are my friends, also my classmates, The guy in right is Arun(AKA Delhi), the guy in left is Arun Sankar(AKA Dubai)[They are from Delhi and Dubai respectively]. They met with a terrible road accident yesterday night. And now they are no more.
Let their souls rest in peace.

[Had a pic of those 2 guys posted here..They were too haunting for me to look at each time I opened my blog, so deleted it.]

Lokmanya Tilak and a young couple

2006-01-31T15:17:00.000+08:00

Date:Sometime in December 2005
Time :11:00 Pm
Place: Aboard the Lokmanya Tilak Kurla Express train

Once when I was travelling back to Cbe, this happened.
I was alloted a side upper berth....Nearby there was a young newly wed couple...ONe of their seats was right under me...and the other was in the adjacent bay, side lower.
When I was about to start to the slumberland...that newly wed guy told me,
"i dont have my mobile now, could you please keep an alarm in your mobile for 3:00 AM and wake us up..We have to get off at Salem"
"Ya, OK..no probs...", I told.
And the wife slept in the side lower under my berth and the hubby in the adjacent bay...
At 3:00AM, my mobile Sang its "we will rock you"..I promptly woke...Tried to reach the girl from my berth itself and wake her..It wasn't possible...So i got down, woke that girl up..and went back to my berth...

I kinda lost my sleep. I heard the girl getting up and waking her hubby...he told,
"Salem is half an hour away...so you get back to ur berth.."
That girl too came back to her berth and apparently lay down...
Then I heard that guy getting up, and coming to his wife...I sensed him getting into the same berth as his wife!!!???

Then I heard sounds of "mmuah..mmmuah" and some more undescribable sounds...this went on for like 30-40 seconds..then he got off...both of them got up, collected their stuff..Salem station had came by then...Off they went....

Doesn't it sound bizarre...

I was feeling like.."what the heck..after all train is a public place.....What if someone woke up and switched on a light..."
I dont think anything beyond smooching would have happened though:-)But still....

Post a mug week

2006-01-28T11:38:00.000+08:00

Hi all
GP brought to my attention that this is post ur favourite mug week..Why not....THis is my favourite mug, bought 2 years back in Westside.

I kinda travelled more than 1000km in last one week.Had an Industrial visit to Trivandrum, Allepey and Cochin...(yeah..an INDUSTRIAL visit:-))Then to Bengalooru.
Back to home now.
Finding less time for posting. but i do read other blogs...Will try to post regularly..:)
Byee...

Pongal, treats and Blogs

2006-01-14T01:27:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
Long time, now see.
I tried my hands on making Dosa today for my dinner.
I dint know that, preparing Dosa, plain and simple DOsa, had so many nuances.Dint get them in cicular shape at all. And One vaguely resemled the shape of the continent of Australia too:-)
And tomorrow is Pongal, The Indian Thanksgiving. Should be fun.
I caught up on most blogs today, got to read lots of interesting stories. In some blogs, the backlog was too much, so they remain in the pending state(I am reminded of my Embedded Systems, where I learnt pended, waiting, running, suspended, states, et al. Too geeky?:-))
I should say i went to a lot of treats(in chronological order..dhoda..)
1.Rama's at The Residency for her awesome GRE score.
2.Abhishek's sis' at her home for her birthday.
3.KD's at her home for New year.
4.TCK's at People's Park for his birthday.
5.Ramya and MK's at Alankar Grande for their birthdays.

Yet to come:Kaushi, Nandy and Sumedha's are on cards:-)
January is a month of birthdays in my friends' cirlce...

With such tight schedule of treats, I must stick to a fitness regimen, lest I should become a WEIGHT party...:-)
Ok then, Happy pongal and Makar Sankranthi everyone.
Byee.

Ammi midikka Kanaa kanden thozhi naan

2006-01-08T18:03:00.000+08:00

Hi all
This is the 3rd and last installment of Vaaranamaayiram, 7-11 hymns.
Enjoy the beauty of these hymns.

7th Stanza:
Vai Nallar Nalla Marai Odi Mandirattal
Pasilai Nanal Paduttup Paridi Vaittu
Kai Sina Ma Kaliru Annan En Kai Parri
Tivalam Seyyak Kanak Kanden Tozhi! Nan

Translation:
Chanting the good veda-s and reciting the appropriate mantras, the professional vaidikA-s spread the green grass surrounding the agni and placed the samit (wooden sticks) on them. Oh dear friend! I saw Kannan, who came majestically like an angry elephant, hold my right hand and circumambulate the agni walking slowly.

8th Stanza:
Immaikkum Ezhezh Piravikkum Parravan
Nammai Udaiyavan Narayanan Nambi
Semmai Udaiya Tirukkaiyal Tal Parri
Ammi Midikka Kanak Kanden Tozhi! Nan

Translation:
Godai describes the next part of her dream to her friend: "Narayanan, who is our protector for us in this birth and all the forthcoming births, and who is filled with kalyana guna-s, held my right foot with His red-hued tirukkai(hand) and placed it on the ammi (stone).

9th Stanza:
Varisilai Val Mugattu En Aimar Tam Vandittu
Erimugam Parittu Ennai Munne Nirutti
Ari Mukhan Accutan Kai Mel En Kai Vaittu
Pori Mugandatta Kanak Kanden Tozhi! Nan

Translation:
My brothers, who have attractive eye brows that look like bent bows, ignite the agni by adding samits and make me stand before the agni. They place my hands on top of the hands of Kannan (who has a majestic face like the lion's) and put rice puffs (pori) in the agni and help me do the homam. I saw this poriyiDal vaibhavam in my dream, oh sakhi!

10th Stanza:
Kunkumam Appi Kulir Sandam Mattittu
Mangala Vidi Valam Seidu Mana Nir
Angu Avanodum Udan Senru Angu Anai Mel
Manjanam Attak Kanak Kanden Tozhi! Nan

Translation:
I dreamt that a lot of kunkumam and sandalwood were applied on our bodies, and Kannan and I were placed on top of the majestic elephant and taken in procession along the streets which had been decorated in celebration of our wedding, and then we were given the holy bath with the sacred waters, oh sakhi!

11 Stanza:
Ayanukkagat Tan Kanda Kanavinai
Veyar Pugazh Villiputtur Kon Kodai Sol
Tuya Tamizh Malai Iraindum Vallavar
Vayu Nan Makkalaip Petrru Magizhvare

Translation:
Godai, the TirumagaL(Blessed daughter) of periyAzhvAr, has sung this Tirumozhi(Divine hymns) with ten pasurams(hymns) in poetic tamizh, describing her divine dream about Kannan wedding her. Whosoever is able to learn and chant these pasurams, will be blessed with good progeny and prosperous lives with them.

I found the hymns and the translation from this site

Missed calls from Saudi Arabia!!

2006-01-05T11:55:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Loong time(Not exactly, I posted last on 30th dec, just, 6 days went past without any blogging activity, but still, considering my frequency of posting, this looks like a long break).
I dint read any of your blogs...Should I say my project work is demending...yeah..something like that...
I think I should catch up on all your blogs this weekend....
The project is going on wonderfully, but with hiccups then and there though....
Something strange, I've been getting missed calls from Saudhi Arabia!! I dont have any friends there..And the rings aren't long enough for me to pick up...And I get calls at kinda after 11 at night:-s..The call would be just a 'tring' not even 'tring tring', so no way of picking up..
[+]And I've started writing a diary...
[+]And I've started doing exercises...
[-]And I've put my German on hold
[-]And I've put my cooking lessons on hold
[-][-][-]And I find no time for blogging:-(

Anyway, Let me try to balance.
Byee...

Anne Frank

2005-12-30T17:37:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
I finished reading "Anne Frank:The diary of a young girl". For more info visit this site.
Oh my God, what was that feeling I got when I read that book,it was just a diary of a
young girl, but when it hits you that this was the diary of a girl who was gonna die a horrible death shortly, before even turning 16, it was different.
And I used to hate Hitler, before too. Bu the hatred has intensified after reading the book, especially the afterword of the book. What non-sense, anti-semitism, holocaust and all.
Next I've started the book Autobiography of Lee Iacocca.
The project is going on well. As a chill out, we had fun at Rama's party yesterday at The Residency.Shall post pics of the party, I got a few of them already, but I dont look good in any of them(Ahem, the lighting is not good in those pics u see, so lemme wait for other pics to come)
By the way, I've put up a new poll.Do check out.
What are the advantages or plus points of Windows Longhorn over XP..any idea?
Ok then ..wish u all a happy new year. Let all your dreams come true.(just in case, a post doesn't come on new year or tomorrow:-))

Buh Byee

kaithlam patra kana kanden thozhi naan

2005-12-28T13:14:00.000+08:00

Here I'll present the next 4 hymns from Vaaranamaayiram

THIRD STANZA
Indiran Ullitta Devar Kuzham Ellam
Vandu Irundu Ennai Magal Pesi Mandirittu
Mandirak Kodi Udutti Mana Malai
Antari Suttak Kanak Kanden Tozhi! Nan

Translation:
Indra and the other Devas gather together and make the proposal to offer me in marriage to Lord Ranganatha. Then the sambandhi-s converse with each other to agree on all arrangements. Then durga, krishna's sister, helps me wear the kuraip pudavai (the sari worn at wedding time) and I am also decorated with exquisitely smelling flower garland.

FOURTH STANZA
Narrisai Tirtham Konarndu Nani Nalgi
Parppanac Cittargal Pallar Eduttettip
Puppunaik Kannip Punidanodu En Tannaik
Kappu Nan Kattak Kanak Kanden Tozhi! Nan

Translation:
Several brahmana sreshtha-s bring holy waters from all the four directions; Brahma, periyazhvar and the sapta-rishis and vedic scholars take the tirtham that has been purified with udakasanti mantrams and sprinkle it on my head and chant asirvadam for me. I see Lord ranganatha, who stands like a sarvanga sundaran, decorated with colorful garland. I saw in my dream, my hand and His hand being tied together with kankanam.

FIFTH STANZA
Kadiroli Dipam Kalasam Udan Endi
Sadirila Ma~Ngaiyar Tam Vandu Edir Kolla
Mathuraiyar Mannan Adi Nilai Tottu E~Ngum
Adirap Pugudak Kanak Kanden Tozhi! Nan

Translation:
In my dream I saw many beautiful young girls, carrying mangala dipam-s which shine like the bright Sun and with golden kalasams. They were welcoming mathurai mannan (Kannan) who was walking with His sacred sandals on with the majesty and firmness that made the earth shake.

SIXTH STANZA
Mattalam Kotta Varisa~Ngam Ninruda
Muttudait Tamam Nirai Tazhnda Pandal Kizh
Maittunan Nambi Madhusudan Vandu Ennaik
Kaittalam Parrak Kanak Kanden Tozhi! Nan.

Translation:
Mangala vadyams were being played; conches were being blown; under the canopy that was decorated with low-lying pearl strands, Madhusudanan took my right hand into His and did panigrahanam; Oh dear sakhi! I saw this in my dream next.

I found the hymns and translations from here
By the way, the sixth stanza, 'matthalam kotta" would be printed on wedding invitation headers...
So long then..bye

Festival time..

2005-12-24T14:36:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
Guess what, I've formatted my volume and reinstalled XP, now things are going great...right now, doing all the software installation stuff...
Merry Christmas all of you.....
I was just looking into my mobile statistics:
Here you go:
Total time of calls(hh:mm:ss): 97:26:23
SMS counter : 10911
Contacts stored : 246
No. of pictures saved : 57
No. of sound files stored: 47
Hmm...I used my phone so much?.....All these statistics are from 2004, september....

Ok then enjoy the holidays..
have fun..
Byee

Denial of Service

2005-12-22T03:24:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
Something irritating...
In my pc, I got both win98 and winXP installed.
And sometime for like 3 months, I dint have any anti-virus software on my machine, but I was using the internet as usual. And when I finally installed anti-virus and scanned my machine, it had some 500 viruses, worms, trojans and lot of variants. I cleaned up the system.Now this a bit of history
I find that in XP, when I connect to the net(I still use a dial-up connection), it connects, but doesn't let me do anything with the connection, as in if i try to go to any website, I would get the message,"please connect to internet" or so. Even yahoo messenger and MSN messenger were not connecting, while I am connected to the net.
Strangely , when i reboot and startup in win98 and connect ot net, I would be perfectly able to browse, my chat client also would connect, et, al.
So I dint bother as somehow I am able to access the net. But, you see, win98 is not something I would call cool, when compared to XP.
I think my winXP is screwed up by some zombie virus, which uses up all the internet resources, Something like a Denial of service attack, I guess.
So anyone knows what my way out is? I have not gotten expert help yet. Thought of asking you guys before doing that....
Any solutions....
And yeah..thanks in advance.
Byee

P.S.:Am listening to the song "Uyirin Uyire" from Kaakha Kaakha now....Aaaaaaah..what a song...esp. KK's voice is too good. An all time favourite of mine...
And by the way, Coimbatore is kinda lovely in the mornings nowadays with heavy mist...Visibility is reduced though....but a sight to relish as soon as you look out of your bedroom window first thing after you wake up....

Kalai pugudha kanaa kanden thozhi naan

2005-12-20T20:49:00.000+08:00

The second stanza of Vaaranamayiram is,

Naalai vaduvai manam enru naalittu
Paalai kamugu parisudaip pandar kizh
Kolari madhavan govindan enban or
Kaalai pugudak kanak kanden tozhi! naan

Translation:
Tomorrow is the day that has been fixed for the wedding; I saw a handsome young youth, who goes by the names Narasimhan, Madhavan & Govindan, enter the wedding dias, that is decorated with betel-nut trees, in order to participate in the nischitartha (engagement) ceremony."

I found the translation and the hymn from this website

Kanaa Kanden Thozhi Naan

2005-12-19T11:37:00.000+08:00

[UPDATED]

Hi all..
Back from Bangalore..ooops, ,Bengalooru with a cold...Will write about my Bangy trip later....
Now, the holy month of Maarkazhi started on 16.12.2005...an important month for vaishnavites.
This month would be marked by early morning recitals from the holy verses of Thirupaavai, written by Shri Aandal.
And this month is supposedly ideal for young girls to pray to get a good husband. The girls would go in the early morning around 5A.M to temple and anoint Lord Ganesha, incarnated under the tree in the temple, with water and perform a small puja, lighting the lamp.
Then 30 stanzas of Thirupaavai would be sung in front of Lord Vishnu and the Nachiyaar, followed by other bhajans.
I used to perform this puja till I came to 2nd year in college. We shifted our house then, and somehow I let go off the tradition, too bad.
Anyway my mom performs this puja at home for me and my sis till date.
Of all the Bhajans, I absolutely love Vaaranamayiram, the sixth of Shri Aandal's 14 Thirumozhigal.
It has 10 stanzas, which are absolutely lovely and romantic, every stanza would end with the phrase "Kanaa Kanden Thozhi naan", which roughly translates to "Thus I dreamt, my dear friend", I feel the beauty of the hymn is not carried when translated. These are verses of how Shri Aandal dreamt of marrying the Lord.
The first stanza is,

Varanam Ayiram suzha valam seidu
Naranan nambi nadakkinran enredir
Purana porkudam vaittup puram engum
Toranam nattak kanak kanden tozhi naan

Translation:
"Oh my dear sakhi! I had this wonderful dream; I saw Naranan (Sri Ranganathan), surrounded by thousands of elephants, going around Sri Villiputtur. My father, periyazhvar, and the citizens of the village are ready to extend a grand welcome to Him with purna kumbhams placed on their heads. The whole village is decorated with toranams (streamers) to mark the festive occasion."

I found the translation and the hymn from this website
I plan to cover up all the 10 hymns in this month....
Bye all.
P.S.:I always wonder why is it that our tradition insists only the gals to pray for a "good" spouse,when it is equally important for guys too, if not more important....
My last year maarkazhi post is here
BTW, KD never gave a treat.

Bengalooru

2005-12-13T12:22:00.000+08:00

[UPDATED]

Hi all...
Read in todays The Hindu that Bangalore is gonna be called Bengalooru from November, 2006 onwards...So kannadigas also are taking are into this renaming spree....
And in the Tagged!! post, I had tagged Gokul, who has done one just a week ago and requests not to be tagged, me thinking of who I can tag...Let it be Gangadhar...

So long then...
Byee

Blogthings

2005-12-11T02:45:00.000+08:00

I took this test on blogthings and guess what...I act exactly the age i am...cool na...Heres the result:

You Are 21 Years Old

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

.

What Age Do You Act?

Ya very much embarassing indeed!!

2005-12-04T02:45:00.000+08:00

The other day I read Ajit's post on his stint with dancing, it got me thinking about mine...
I should tell that dancing and me are like, say, simply a cat and rat or any fancy antagonistic comparison you can come up with...I always feel that when I dance, it looks like a guy trying to imitate girl's way of dancing!!I dont have those graceful movements that a dancing damsel should have.

I still remember, when I was in 8th Std, that was in the year 1997, the year of golden jubilee year of our independence..and our school, Alvernia MHSS, was supposed to give a performance in the celebrations in VOC park in front of some state minister, collector and some bigshots and a lot of crowd..When I heard that some sort of dance was involved, I promptly crawled back from the event. But my physical instructions teacher, Mrs.Thangam, told me" child, why are you not having an enthusiasm in this? This is our independence's golden jubilee...imagine when our independence's centenary celebrations come up you'll be something like 63 years old, you can very proudly tell your grand children, that you participated in a butterfly dance in the golden jubilee...just think of that".....(oh yeah right!!)
And yes, people here I come, I did join that dance, but for what or rather whom?Absolutely for my lovely grandchildren(!!!)
And during the practice sessions, hmm...do i really have to write all these embarassing stuff...big deal....
And during the practice sessions, I was trying some limb-shaking thing and called it dance. My tutor then, Ms.Ambujavalli told me, "Divya, listen, dance like a girl"....Ultimate insult...I gave her a paavama-illaya-enna-partha look, but anyway I tried and somehow managed.By the way, Ms.Ambujavalli is one of my favourite teachers....

But vidhi yaara vittadhu...
My second year in college....
Fresher's party given by our seniors in Jenny club...
There were some games going on, and all girls wearing high heels slippers were called upon the stage...And till date I curse myself for wearing those pair of slippers that day, and also KD to have pushed me onto the dias saying that my slipper's heels were high enough...
And guess what, all 5 or so us were asked to dance!!!And to my horror, I found that all the other four girls were natural dancers and were rocking with the music. And i was standing there dumb, bewildered. Somehow I did mustered courage and left the dias...boy, wasn't it embarassing....

Some of my friends say that, this is because I am too self-conscious.
And in all the industrial visits, the bus would rock with music, and all girls and guys would be dancing and hip-hopping, but by now I 've learnt not to be embarassed of my inability to join that kind of fun, rather, I would sit, encourage, watch and enjoy the dance....

Templates..

2005-12-02T17:21:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
I am in an experimenting phase wit blog templates...Of late I've discovered that haloscan would gobble up my LRU comments...I dont want my blog's precious comments to be deleted..So I enabling blogger comments...

I request my readers to please comment in the blogger comments rather than in the haloscan comments...Thx

Happy birthday to my sweetie blog

2005-11-30T14:11:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Last year, this same month, this same day, this same time...what happened? Too much build up, haan?
Anyway celebration time...Its one year since I've started to blog....I've been fairly active I should say....Happy birthday to my blog....
Long live My Experiments with Life!!

Hymns

2005-11-28T01:26:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
Two hectic days of conducting mock interviews for our juniors...
Was a good experience...
.......................................
I studied in one of those schools, whose students are branded, "convent educated", which is considered a prestigious tag here.
I love the hymns that we sang during the general assembly every morning. Some lines of certain hymns are my all-time-favourites. I'd give them here. I like the third one very very much.

#1Count your blessings:
Count your blessings; name them one by one
Count your blessings; see what God hath done
Count your blessings;name them one by one
And it will surprise you what the lord has done.

#2:Liberation
There are those who have talents they do not use
To build a true community.
And we know that we all have the talent to love
But leave it burried in ourselves.

#3:in his time
There's a time
There's a time
Both for sowing and for reaping, there's a time
Time for losing, time for gain
Time for joy and time for pain
Every purpose under heaven
Has a time

There's a time
There are days
Weeks and months we cannot understand god's ways
If for years we fail to scan what is his eternal plan
We'll remember that he can all the time

Funny incident #2

2005-11-25T01:27:00.000+08:00

Date: sometime in mid 2004
Time; Lunch time
Venue: Hotel Saravana Bhavan, Anna Nagar, Chennai
Occasiion: Class Industrial Visit

Me, Ms.Y and a coupla others shared the same table in the restaurant. All of us were having meals. And I finished eating first, and after i came back to my table after washing my hands, I found that there was a glass of watermelon juice on my table in front of my chair...I thought, perhaps, every meals was complemented by a juice and I happily drank that...When Ms.Y finihed her lunch, she was waiting for her watermelon juice, and alas it never came, when she enquired about this to a bearer, he said,"oh madam, you need to get a tocken for the juice from the counter paying Rs.40..."...We were kinda taken aback as in how was I served when I hadn't ordered. Before we could clarify, we were rushed up to get into the bus so that we would reach the industry on the appointed time...In the bus, one Mr.X asks Ms.Y, "How was the watermelon juice?"...OOOOooohhhh, so thats the story. Mr.X ordered a juice for Ms.Y and asked the bearer to take it to our table and serve it to the girl there, and that bearer, finding that the table was free only in front of me, placed it in front of me and I drank that happily..:-) when this story was realized, I really dont know who was the laughing stock....

A Classmate's wedding

2005-11-22T01:10:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
I was not in the town for the past two days...went to Salem for my classmate's wedding.
Oh wow...that was nice...the first wedding in our class...
We went day before yesterday by intercity express to Salem and spent the night at Mehala's house.Mehala is also a classmate of mine from Salem. Her mom was amazing in entertaining us, that too with 8 guests. Hospitality and tamilians are always synonymous.
And then the next morning, Parveen's wedding. She married her first cousin Nazeer Ahamed.This was the first ever time I attended a Muslim wedding. The rituals took like less than an hour. The groom was in the hall and the bride was in another hall upstairs when they got married!!! Then some men (I guess they were godmen from mosque) went to both places with a register and got signatures from both the bride and the groom. And then some recitations from the holy text of Quran. I guess that meant the declaration of the wedding, then they showered buiscuits and chocolates on the groom, and all men in the hall went and greeted the groom with a hug.
We went upstairs and greeted Parveen.
Non-vegetarian people had a sumptous mutton biriyani and mutton fry, and i dont know what else...We, the vegetarian people had a regular Tamilnadu three course meal with desserts.
It's long time since i went to a wedding, usually I've been to receptions a lot. But weddings, only of very close friends and relatives.
I plan to write about how a hindu wedding goes about shortly. Three days of pure fun and grandeur. Whatever said and done, a marraige is a joyous event.
Until next post Byee.

"Tamilnadu gals" or just "gals"?

2005-11-19T01:55:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
In girls, I find this phenomena, if a guy comes and talks to you, definitely he is a flirt...Look at him like dirt..and show your attitude...
I hate this...
I can assert I am definitely not this kind. Strangely, I find that I've been in positions where guys think I have an extra soft corner for them just because I listen them out or be friendly..whereas my friendship with them would have been completely on a platonic basis. Is this the reason why girls never give so much space to guys, which might put them in not-really-required awkward positions..
So girls, never sit and listen to a guy's problems unless you are too close to him or if you are willing to take the relationship to another plane.....I mean, we girls do talk out our problems within ourselves na...never do that with guys you dont wanna get involved with..When a guy sees an extra care coming from someone, wow, he gets emotional...now we don't want that...do we?
But nevertheless nothing wrong in being friendly and social...and no, guys are not flirts just because they come and talk to you...just respect them as you would respect any other girl for that matter...
Am I advising, by the way....?!I hate advising but this one just slipped out...(cliche`?)..Oh no..not advising, it is kinda sharing with a little consultational(read "unslolicited advice") tone.

Any bye all...

"Tamilnadu guys" or just "Guys"?

2005-11-17T02:56:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
I find a phenomenon in Tamilnadu guys(I dont really know whether it is the same case with other guys as well...)
They are soooo withdrawn...in the sense, they find it extremely difficult to talk with girls...Ya..they are street smart and all...but when with a girl, no ...they can better themselves...There is this guy in my class, who should interact with me for certain official reasons, he sees to it that he never calls me by my name(for that matter, any girl by her name...)....even when he has to pass on something to me from a couple of benches to my back...he would not call me, rather, he would come all the way and hand it over without an extra word...And mind you, this not an isolated case...happens pretty often...
But I know that these guys are not shallow at all. Only with the opposite sex...they are drawn back...They have a voice only when they are in a group of their own kind...never an individual move...
On the other hand i see that girls are pretty open...in their convertational outlook.
And people, please don't pervertise this. I am telling it in a well-meaning way.
Of course, there are guys who are pretty fine in this matter....But the other group is definitely not a miniscule portion of the society...
So what might be the reason..?

Exams...i'll miss you...

2005-11-16T02:22:00.000+08:00

Exams got over yesterday...The last ever exam of my undergraduate course (final semester is a project sem)
I'll miss my exams, eventhough am a little relieved. Those sleepless nights, those book depot bench last-minute clarificaions, those xeroxes, those heavy books ), that hall A310, those stationary lootings from Priya, those phone teachings, those after-exam long sleeps, etc, etc...

I'll miss all these people: Halkias, Stallings, Proakis, Pfleeger, Feher, Sam Shanmugam, Reza, Schaum series, Gabel&Roberts, Kennedy, Rappaport, Tanenbaum, Floyd, Boylestead, Taub&Schilling, Dorf&Bishop, Oppenheim, Gaonkar, Gayakwaed, Hayt&Buck, Haykins, Lathi, Pucknell&Eshragian, the three authors, etc,etc

Funny....

2005-11-11T16:57:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
One more exam to go....Thats network security on monday, so a little bit of breathing space here...
Here lemme write a coupla funny stories...
#1:
Everyone knows that guys never take notes for any lecture...but they are really prompt and shrewd in finding out which girl takes best notes and get them photocopied...
This guy, Abi, whom you can see a coupla posts down, he always xeroxes Kruthika's notes...This time around, for the subject communication switching systems, as usual he took her notes and started learning the day before the exam, and there came a topic of image transform techniques, and he sits and "thattifies" that like for an hour...now for non-ECEans, Image transform and switching systems are like two things that are oceans apart...
now coming to the real time scene..
abi, in his room , learning..
tring tring......tring tring
abi-hullo aravind solda...
arv-ennada padikre..macha its too much da this subject ...
abi- i know...this image transformation thing is a lot...i 've sitting with this for an hour...
arv-ennadhu, image transforma....apdiyellam onnume illaye..
abi-no da its der...kruthika has written...
arv-ada paavi, that shd probably be from her Digital Image processing notes da...
ABI...ABi..Abi..abi..
And Now he realized...
#2 :
this will come later...

Till then Byee...

Rain rain, come again(but in lesser qtys)

2005-11-05T02:48:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
Coimbatore is kinda air conditioned with such chill climate and rain everynight ..kinda nice too...
Got CSS on monday..
A bigger post later...
Bye
my prayer for the day:God please make a new and horrible punishment for these spammers in garuda puranam...like kumbhipagam or krimibojanam, or something....and before that please make them realize that i absolutely need no viagra or cilais or clialis or whatever ....!!

Diwali

2005-11-03T01:23:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Ate soooooooooooo many diwali sweets, that i am sure i'd have gained some extra kgs in the last coupla days...not that i am very weight conscious or anything...
My friends visit me often, and they have a meal at my place, and i've noticed how less they eat...For eg.if it is chapathi, i'd grub atleast 7-8, and my friends have a max of 3...the same case with rice and everything else too. When i visit them i notice the same thing, and their moms would be telling me "my daughter isn't eating at all..." and stuff...But my BMI says I'm perfect with a score of 20.5...So not bothered there...
Watched the cricket match...man I again reinstate my admiration for Dhoni's gutsy shots....Hey i wrote the same thing exactly 6 months ago(the last post also says this correlation na...?) So history repeats itself in 6 months, atleast in my blogs...but, no, dont just read my blogs for 6 months and think you have consumed everything, things do spring up anew.:-)
After a long time, i watched a full cricket match.Good to see a rejuvenated (Indian)team.
I am hooked to the Sudoku software nowadays, despite the fact that i am in the midst of my sem exams. This is the s/w developed by Wayne Gould himself...
By the way, My latest deo-MTv plugged (sway)
---------------------

I Read Chetan bhagat's second novel, "one night @ the call center"

I had this urge to compare this book to FPS, I would definitely rate FPS as the better one for the following reasons:
-------->FPS made me laugh crazy.No other book till date did that to me.
-------->I can read FPS n number of times.
-------->There was never a question on reality or believability in FPS
-------->Being an engineering student i could easily connect to the characters in FPS(this point may be irrelevant for a call center agent or absolutely anyone else though, guys dont ask me whether i need to connect to the characters to enjoy a book, the answer is that i need not, but here am taking that as a ground for comparison in MY PERSPECTIVE)

But neverhteless I enjoyed the book no lesser. In fact i spent a good 3-4 hours reading ON@TCC right on a day before my Wireless digital communication sem exam.His style of writing is amazing. The dialogues are very natural. I couldn't kinda take up the ch.#1 when Shyam's narration excessively reveals his loser attitude. Thankfully from ch#2 on, this loser thingy in him doesn't manifest itself that explicitly or did i get used to it? A typical Delhi atmosphere. I feel the book could have done better without the prologue and the epilogue.
I felt like I was watching a hindi movie(or for that matter, some not-so-special indian movie )in that GOD episode. Too much of drama there. If I can personify God in that episode as the inner voice of each person stuck in that Qualis, then its ok.
But this is a good book. A good peak into the call center lives. And a real good view of how a boss ought not to be. I felt like whacking that character Bakshi a lot of times. i did learn a lot from that book.
The hero of ON@TCC is the Chetan's style of moving the plot forward, his way with words, his down-to-earth approach.
It is a book to be in my shelf.

Ok then Byee

Browsers

2005-10-31T01:14:00.000+08:00

Hi all
I have been a loyal user of the Opera net browser...has a lot of utilities et al.
But recently i switched to mozilla firefox, man isn't it cooler..frills free, no ad tab or anything....But one utility i miss from opera in the "find in the page" search, it searches for the typed word in the page you are in. It is a very helpful util when you download long pages of information and wanna goto a particular part of it..Firefox does have this option, but you should go through edit--->find in this page, which of course is a bit boring thing to do.And i am used to having tabs at the page's bottom, so firefox' tab bar at the top isn't quite comfy, no option to change that.
Firefox is definitely faster than Opera, atleast here, with my slow dial up connection.And its definitely better for offline browsing too. Some browsers tend not to dispaly images when you browse offline, but firefox is cool in this way too.
If any of you know of a browser that is equally cool, frills-free, and all, please let me know, I am in an experimenting phase.
Internet Explorer, well, no comments, pretty primitive. But there is one website that shows some vital info only in interent explorer, thats my coll's website. All the pages i visit, like attendance checking, marks checking, result, etc works only in IE. I can't figure out why..
Talking about all these techie stuff, in some browsers my blog posts appear at the bottom, so any HTML wizard out there, who could help me...?
So Diwali is coming, Happy Diwali.
Let's also reach out to the victims' families and survivors of the delhi bomb blast, ap train accidents, pak and kashmir earthquake, katrina, rita, wilma, beta..whoa lets also pray that this list just remains this long.
And Indian cricket, cool, men in blue, kudos...

Another day..

2005-10-24T01:38:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
My sem exam starts this wednesday...
Yesterday i finished an assignment, that is the longest i've ever written, it came upto 60 sides!!! This is the last assignment of my undergraduate course.
The other day i went to library, it had a bill that prescribed the dress code for students, which said "students shall not wear 6-pocket jeans.."among other rules. I dont really get the point. What if a student wears 5-pocket or rather 8? How can this become anybody's problem?
Read something about sudoku in yesterday's 'the Hindu'...its gaining popularity crazy it seems.. cool..
ok then...will start with my wirless digital communication now..
Byee

Study hols..

2005-10-18T15:38:00.000+08:00

Hi all(here she goes...)
Started the study holls fo my sem today...
I get the nostalgia of writing a similar post 6 months ago..neway...
Will switch to study mode(high priority) from now on..
yet to catch up on a lot of things like..
1.this big issue of iipm vs. blogger gaurav sabnis
2.Clean up my shelves, that look like whatever with so much photocopies, books, strewn around, with post-its everywhere...
3.write my dcs assignment that is due tomorrow...
4.Give my Diwali blouse to be stitched...
5.And a lot more..

So when i get free..next post comes...
Byee

I went to a lot of labs!!

2005-10-02T03:35:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
Today let me recall some moments in labs all through these semesters...now that all labs are getting done with...
What?no more labs..?No more fun?hmmm....
#1

Semester: 3
Subject: electronic devices lab.
batch: me, devi and kalaharan
Now about the uniqueness of this group, in each lab class we used to break atleast one component...maybe an IC or a transistor, an opamp , absolutely anything..but the unwritten rule was that we break something....
During the Zener diode voltage regulator experiment, we made this dumbest mistake of connecting +5v power supply to the ground or interchanged pins of 'p' lead and 'n' lead....i dont remember exaclty...
The bridge rectifier got extremely heated up....now alittle bit about the structure and look of the bridge rect ic, it's shape is diamond with one blunt edge, with a reasonable surface area....
Even before we could realize it was getting hot, something arose from the top surface of the IC, it was black in color,thin in size,perhaps the plastic container of the IChad melted and defied the gravity....It was kinda,,you know, bolt out of the clear sky....Something like some arisal....cool to see and was funny at that moment....finally kalaharan braved the task of nipping it off after switching off the power supply...and to our utter surprise that component worked pretty fine after that, and we could neatly get the output...and that was the only class when our names were'nt included in the breakage list...:-)
#2

Semester: 7
Subject: elective lab.
batch: me, devi and chandrasekar
We were doing the experiment of "scrambler design" in hardware...
We had some messed up digital IC trainer kit, which was extremely confused(this, later we found)
The table in which we were doing our exp, had an other side where kaushi,kans and bhav were working...
We were fiddling a lot with the equipment to make it respond and stuff...and suddenly we discovered that whatever input we were applying in our kit, the output was appearing in their kit!!!!!We checked out if any wires were entwined or any nonsense...nothing, everthing proper..We are still clueless as to how it happened...
Abhi was commenting..."wow, you people are connecting the digital kits in networks!"
#3

Semester: 7
Subject: DSP and communications lab.
batch: devi and Chandramohan
Now this character chandramohan is an over perfect charcter fast approaching infinity in perfectoin...we call him ambi when has oiled his hair, and remo otherwise..
Poor devi had to put up with him for this whole sem...he would literally make teachers cry,"enough, enough, i understand that u know the concept, u know the working, u know simulink, tms.., I'll award you marks, now stop this unending explanation please.."..
And he writes like crazy for 10 pages in his records...Just for this devi also had to write so much....
anyway this lab was so much fun....I'll miss it.
#3

Semester: 1
Subject: workshop-foundry.
batch: me, bhav and akshu
Oh this foundry used to be a fun place...there is this thing called hand ramming...you'll have to ram that black mud(i forgot what that is called...)using bare hands..and believe me you should have a lot of strength for that...Me and akshu would start trying, and eventually and dutifully give up with "bhav, wont u like to try?" But bhav used to do it with expertise...bhav rams...oops..bhav rocks...In one experiment which, if i am right was "T flange with a funnel", the funnel had to be cut with extreme care or it would break...we somehow managed to bring it to a good shape, just when bhav or choo accidentally moved their fingers across, and it broke...and we had to take that kutti peace of mud cake carefully and put it back there and whoa we had a satisfaction of having performed a plastic surgery...
#4

Semester: 1
Subject: workshop-welding.
batch: me, just me
I hated this lab....
i dont know why i dont have much strength in my hands, and welding required that u had to hold that heavy holder in one hand(which already is adorned with the safety gloves, also you would luk like a bhooth with those wierd safety goggles)
I always used to get the welding wrong....miss the aim of whatever....
Ok...tired of typing so much...
rest in next post....
To vivek manjeriBy the way please check out the previous post's comments.
buh byee

Those were the best days of my life...

2005-09-19T02:03:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
Yesterday i ment up with my friend from school, Dhivya, now doing her MBBS in Kilpauk Medical College(You have made it to the right place dee:-))
We are meeting up after 6 long years, wow babe, didn't it feel great. We had really fun time at school, especially in 9th std, when we used to be benchmates too. Oh my god, how much fun we had, esp. during Mrs.Mabel's hour. In our bench, me, Dhivya, TK and gayathri were a party. By the way, TK got married last month, Happy married life buddy. Kinda feels wierd when someone as young gets married, ofcourse she graduated, she's 21 and all, but still...
One specialiy in our bench used to be that all our parents got married on 11th November, 1983, save Dhivya's.
Yesterday we met up at Nilgiris. She was like,"hey divya you have become chubbier, fairer, and you look like a woman"?!!
After 2 hours or so of our rendezvous, I was singing
"Me and some guys from school
Had a band and we tried real hard
Jimmy quit, Jody got married
I shoulda known we'd never get far"
Standin on my momma's porch
You told me that you'd wait forever
Oh and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Oh yeah... back in the summer of 69
Those were the best days of my life",
only that I would like to change it to "summer of '99".
By the way, bryan Adams is my fav.My favorites of him are:
1.Summer of '69
2.I wanna be your ...
2.Lets make a night to remember
3.Everything I do , I doit for you
4.The only tihng that looks good on me is you
5.18 till I die

My sweet mother-in-law

2005-09-17T03:52:00.000+08:00

Hey all..
Oh my God, I don't want to start with this "I am sick" tone...
Yah,I have fallen sick again. I guess outside food doesn't go with me well. Well, today I gave my birthday treat at Aryaas to my friends. And then, something din't feel right in me. Started fever and throat infection.This emphasises that I should learn cooking before I leave home.
Cribbings apart, I read something interesting today in The Hindu which says that in North eastern India, they believe Christ was born on 13th september, and they celebrate Christmas on the above mentioned date!!!!! If true, I will be sharing my birthday with the Christ:-)
Hey parents got me this cute Sonata watch....
My sis gave me a card that reads "She's hip She's hot She's so great Se'll never fade She's full of fun She's 21" thats chweet.
Bhav and Choo gave a card that requested me to ** *** **** ** * ** (censored):-)
I wore flowers on my hair on my birthday...and it dint dry even in the evening(which is what will usually happen), Mk told me that if your body is cool, the flowers wont dry...cool..am a cool dudette, i guess.
And it seems Nandy has a myth about it, if the flowers you wear on your hair doesn't dry off, it means you'll get a chweeet mom-in-law.Wow...thatz new, and ofcourse great...Oh my dear mom-in-law, i love you, please remain as sweet as you are for ever, hope to meet you soon:-)(of course your sonny too;-))
Signing off...
Au revoir

/&%$#$(*(for the lack of a better title)

2005-09-11T01:31:00.000+08:00

Well...
The second internals just got over. Finished off with a frenzied note with me turning up an hour late for the test(test duration=1.5 hours). Wait, wait , not my fault, actually the test was supposed to be from 3 pm to 4:30 pm. Since today is a saturday, no one wanted ithe test to drag on till evening and the test was rescheduled to 2pm, and the word was supposed to spread, ofcourse it did, except for me.
So me, the naive self, went to college at 2:50 pm and go to A310, which was amazingly empty and locked. The block itself was deserted. I thought it would be better if I called up someone and find whereabouts of the test. I am not carrying my mobile to college nowadays, after the Anna University ban.
So when I came out i saw Bhavna(she doesn't have this elective, Network seurity).When I inquired her, she said the test supposed to be at 2:00 pm, and the time was 3:00pm already, but she din't know the hall. So I ran to the J block and searched all the rooms there, finding no activity there, ran to the E block, to the department, at last in EC301, I saw all my fellow classmates writing their test.I went in and explained to my teacher, that the news of the time change and hall change din't reach me at all, and she allowed me to take the test. In 10 min or so everyone left, (their time was over), i had to sit alone and write my test. Boy, isn't this bizarre...Ok, let me take this as a good(??yes it is) experience...
.........................
Yah, this most talked about stuff in my class, the sari day, as in the day when we(all the girls) come in sari to college, the day has been now, then and everytime...it isn't materialising. Usually it would be on 15th of july, our date of joining college...but this time, since the hostellers hadn't brought sari from home, it had to be postponed. I hope it comes sometime atleast within this semester.
And the interesting thing about that is this girl KD never ever wears sari, you wanna listen to her story why she won't...Here is it in her words:"If my parents see me in sari, they would think that it is high time they searched for a groom for me!!"...Can you beat that?
But this time i have convinced her to wear sari. When i tell this to others, they are like,"KD?sari?promised?oh yeah right.."
KD, this much is the believability you got..:-)Please prove them wrong na..pullease..
.........................
What else,..hey I handled the engineering economics class for my juniors, on the teacher's day. This has been a long standing tradition in our college, for the final year students to handle classes for the juniors, on teacher's day. And did i tell you people, that I love teaching? If only the pay-scale was good in teaching profession, I would surely have gone into that direction. i have a passion for teaching.
.........................
Rest later....

Teacher's day...

2005-09-05T14:34:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Read this:
the hindu

Makes an interesting read...
Let me know your comments too..
Bye

Jinx!!

2005-08-31T18:27:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
This might sound like a lot of cribbing...
As mentioned in the previous post...
-cold..
-then viral fever...
-then I tried my new slippers i bought in B'lore on Janmashtami, and they have given a bloody wound on my feet, so am with a band-aid...
-then yesterday when i was probing into my pouch for getting a pen or something, a blade cut my finger deep(then just remembered that I had put it in like 6 months ago..)so a band-aid in hand too...(gosh, it isnt comfy to type anything excluding your right hand index finger..crib)

Today i heard Devi telling that there is a pop myth that when your birthday is nearing, you are more prone to getting injured...So maybe thats why:-)Just kidding...
So if at all,any of you people have forgotten my birthday(a rare probabillity though.;-)), it's two weeks down the line..13th sep...
Okidoci..
Bye

Common cold

2005-08-24T18:21:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Guess what..
Caught cold....thats it? virus fever too....
Recovering now.
My class has become like a hospital..
viral fever cases-4+
typhoid case-1
jaundice case-1
leg-ligament tear case-1
Anyway I was down last week with this fever and stuff...
Last week celebrated varalakshmi puja...
A full fledged post will come by in some time i guess..
Buh..byee

Tough proportions

2005-08-17T01:29:00.000+08:00

Well, this is a separate post about my train journey, because I was disturbed by something that I decided to write about it exclusively.
We were playing cards, when suddenly we could hear some clapping sounds from adjacent cabins, and whiz...our friends(only the guys) just quickly put their cards down, and ran off. I was just clueless. Then came the person into our cabin clapping all the way. Then I realized (s)he was a eunuch. But still clueless why our guys would run off like that.
When I noticed her (Let me use the female nouns and pronouns), she was going to cabin after cabin, literally marauding the men and managing to frisk away money from them. And she din't even turn to the side of women or old people. The victims were only men, young and middle aged. And when men refused to part with money, she threw obscenities at them and did some lewd gestures, disgusting enough that men just threw away their money, hoping she would just leave. What happened was, at a regular interval of about 45 min, a different eunuch kept coming, much to the horror of men.
Ok, now I realize why our friends ran away like that.
This was the first ever time I had seen such a bizarre thing happening.Boy was it frightening, to see people helpless.
It was disgusting. I was thinking like, what, dont we even have the freedom to travel in a train peacefully? Can't anyone do anything about it?
But as an after thought, when I think why would these people do this...a disgusting form of pilfering...bringing themselves down with their damnable actions, ditching their dignity and self-respect, i come to realize that they have no other go, perhaps.
Had the society given them their rightful claim to a normal life, would they not have resorted to such an abject plight?
Yes, they are different, very much indeed. So whats the big deal? Have we not sophisticated ourselves to call handicapped people as differently-abled or specially-abled? So why don't we accept these people too...
Of course, nothing can change over night. But still we can take steps. Steps in the sense, we've heard of women and men self help groups, why not for these differently created ones too? I guess(only guess) that they would not be accepted into normal governmental services with ease. So I think some measures can be taken by the government to educate and induct them into the society gradually so that they dont bask in a separate identity and lead a miserable life. I am just putting forth my views, maybe they can't(won't) mingle with the society, i don't know.
OK, so long then...

A travelogue

2005-08-17T01:27:00.001+08:00

Hi all,
Well, I had one great weekend, at Bangalore.
Went there on official purpose, which was a success.
Then had two days of absolute fun and shopping spree.
Okie, now to the full account of my visit to B'lore:
12/08/2005:

Got up at 3, and went to Coimbatore city junction by 4:45, picking up Ramya, Sumedha and Kruthika on the way. All together, 9 of us went.
Sandwich guys were already there.
Boarded the lokmanya Tilak Kurla express. We chatted all the while in the train. Had lots of fun. The guys taught us how to play "5 cards" and we all(9 of us) played that for like 3 hours...and guess what I was the grand loser in the game to cross 300 pts first....hehe...great going..(actually that was due to my early loses when I hadn't yet caught the game's nuances properly..)
Reached Bangalore at 1:15pm, a good 45 min late.My uncle had come to pick us up.
Had lunch at Swati palace.
Took a bus to ITPL, and man, what a traffic jam out there, all due to numerous fly-overs being built in the city.
Landed at ITPL at around 4:50 , 20 min well behind the schedule. Had the meeting, went on great. Looked around the place. A cool place to work in.Boy, was I just awe-struck..
Then went to a crampy place called kalasipalya to send off Ram, Sume and MK.
Reached my uncle's house around 11:45 pm. And had a yummy Puri with green peas masala my aunt had made, and we called it a day.
13/08/2005:

Enjoyed to the fullest with my cousins, Namita and kartik, who are in 5th and 2nd std respectively.
They are crazy of me and Priya, and we are even more crazier of them.
Went to Bangalore central and Garuda Mall...Cool places...but the thing was I could only window shop..:-)
Neway bought some stuff...reached home late.
14/08/2005:

Okie, today was also almost as same as yesterday, only that the places I visited was Big bazaar and The Forum.
Had my aunt's tasty vegetable biriyani.
15/08/2005:

Happy independence day...
Caught 6:15 intercity express and reached Coimbatore at around 1:30. Haa, felt great to be back to home sweet home. Grubbed my mom's mouth-watering dish of mushroom biriyani. Dad and mom felt lonely without us, it seems.

Well, this is my little travelogue(I really doubt it'll pass as one though).

My Experiments with Life

2005-08-09T19:03:00.000+08:00

Now guys,
What I meant about the relationship between Dominique and Roark being perfect is the kind of understanding they have and the "birds of same feather" intimacy. My emphasis was on the inner harmony these people enjoyed. I did not take into account their ethics, who married who, etc, which was not my motive in the dissertation(??chumma, never mind).
Nevertheless, When you take the physical person Dominique is and her marital fickleness, she is a ......hmm...let me preserve the dignity of my blog.
Hi Sathya, that is a relationship better ought not to be, I agree to that when i look at the polyandry, denial and stuff. But when you look deeper into just the two of them, that is the relationship that ought to be. Forget that Wynand and Keating even exist. Then what I say might make sense.
I am not at all seeing the ethical point of the plight and turns of their relationship, only the emotional point. This is an abstraction that i am taking into account, for my discussion.
Hi Jugg, I dont like th e Roark character in and out. He is not my idea of a perfect man. By this statement I dont mean that lesser mortals and pseudo-objective men as perfect, only that everyone has his/her own idea of a perfect being. So I just like some part of his character.
Well, does this post sound so vehemnt...or anything...i dont know. i just felt I needed to explain my stand and defent my statements...
Okidoci..
So long then...

Everything else is superflous...

2005-08-08T19:14:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
I just completed reading Fountain Head by Ayn Rand. An amazing book, in the sense that it strikes truth on your face. It presents the raw facts about human psychhology in the most explicit manner. But I think the existence of a man like Howard Roard is a very remote possiblity in today's world. Nevertheless i admire something of his character. I loved especially his testimonial in the court the 3rd from final chapter. Very enlightening.
In that book, the relationship between Roark and Dominique, or that between Gail Wynand and Roark or that between Wynand and Dominique is a perfect epitome of how it should be. Thats my idea of a relationship. As such there has never ever been a need for words between the these 3 pairs to understand each other. They are perfectly compatible and harmonised in their thoughts and ideals. When there is a harmony of such fashion between people in any relationship, words are superflous.
I find myself searching for words in certain emotional moments. I dont really express anything sensible verbally in such a situation. I just keep mum. But my actions and countenance do convey what i really mean and hold. I was thinking that I am incapable of handling very emotional situations. But I think now that words are superflous for me with people whom I hold dearest in certain moments. Or I expect them to be feeling so too.
Well..I have a feeling i am writing too much about myself in my blog.So if anyone were to read my blog in and out, he/she would get a really good idea of what I am. So am I an open book ..sorta? Is it a good thing, I am skeptical. The readers comments pleaase.. So maybe I should write more about other things.
Other things later...
Bye
Thoughts for the day:

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.

Variety is the spice of life

2005-08-01T02:35:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
I was cleaning the house and came across a lot of used and empty deodarant cans...
Well...coming to think of it...it struck me that I've never stuck on to one brand...every time i shop for my deo...its a different one...
My deo list(as much as i can recollect) is:
Rexona(the first one i used...wen in 8th std)
ponds
Fa
El Paso
Axe.(pheoenix)(ok ok i know its for guys...but i liked that masculine fragrance so much that I dint mind using it)
Remy
Eva
yardley
Nivea(the current one..)
It's not that I am not satisfied with anything....It is my fundamental urge to try out everything and find the best...Also I believe that .variety is the spice of life.
For the same reason, I find myself reconfiguring my living room and bedroom once in 3 months...reconfguring in the sense...just reshuffling stuff and rearranging couches, tables, wardrobes, cots, dressing table, dining table, tv, refridgerator, etc...
It always gives a sense newness...And also we can analyse the best and worst part of each configuration...well I actually am interested in designing homes and stuff...I have a couple of detailed plans and elevations made in the first year...
Know something?..Engineering drawing was my v v favourite subject in first year....I just loved that subject, the reasons and techniques..and all. I even thought perhaps I shd have taken up Civil Engg or architecture..By the way, I got 98/100 in the that subject....:-)
Hey i decided just yesterday that i would go on a "atleast 60% natural" diet...lots of fruits and veggies and stuff...but the problem is I am very very selective about vegetables....i just love potato...nothing incredible about any other vegetable...:-(..Should learn to eat vegetables..somehow..
Well then..
Adieus

Internals are over...

2005-07-28T20:34:00.000+08:00

Hi all..
My internals got over today with the network security test...
Well...internals are just happening to be some sort of thingy(for the lack of a better word) that just comes and goes once in a while..
I get hysterical laughs whenever i remember what happened in the first semester...
We were still a bunch of dutiful nerds, fresh out of school....and stuff...
And guess what the first internals were fast approaching..the very first internals in life..."hey dude , we gotta learn something..internals is fast approaching in 15 days(??!!!)", So we did "group study"(for the first time...and last time..).The "we" includes me, kd, ramya and sankari...and it was on a sunday at kd's house..for the subject engineering mathematics I....rocking our heads over the three authors book....
Oh my god,,,,how naive were we...
from second year on , lil by lil we graduated and here we are...
"Internals..?wen?which hall?tomorrow?wat subject...got xeroxes..?can i borrow urs...?shal we story tell each other?..nice movie tonight on HBO..well lets watch that then..morning we'll study..no yaar neway 2hrs gap between exams...that'll be enuff..."
This sounds a lot better and a lot cooler..
What else...harry potter is released...Well i am not a HP gal..
I hav watched first 2 movies..and that's about it..dint get any motivation to read that book....
Is su-do-ku on the hindu getting a lil tougher by the days(3/7 days in a week..),,,or am I just the one feeling so..clarifications plz(sathya..u gotta reply..)Am taking 15 min to solve,..earlier it used to be <10 min...
OKidoci..
Byee

Am I abandoning my blog?

2005-07-22T16:39:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
After I have started Orkutting, i find myself blogging very less noawdays...
Evolution I guess..
Nowadays my life is like this: Get up at 7 or 8 in the morning(depending on whether i have class at 8:30 or 9:30). Go to coll, visit the impact lab during free time, check mails, orkut..In the evenings, it is like...some company would have come to campus, we go, cheer the candidates and have fun time in the placement cell..and going back home be 7 or 8.
Me and kruthika have conducted 2 quizzes in class, both went well...Maybe another one today in the TWM hour..
Presently am reading 3 books(in round robin, i guess) namely:Fountain head(Ayn Rand), Bridget Jones' diary(edge of reason by Helen Fielding) and some seagull story(forgot the title:-))
Gotta run for WDC class now.

Well..Well..

2005-07-05T20:15:00.000+08:00

It is yet another ordinary day in life where you dont feel you have accomplished anything.
The only interesting thing from today is the chit-passing activity in the class. Well, this is supposed to be a classified information..but still nothing wrong in bringing out a saviour-activity...
In one of the benches in my class, there is an inscription that reads "This bench is dedicated to all those poor souls who waited for the lecture to finally end.."
Hey I read a book, "Why men can't do more than one thing at a time, and why women cant stop talking" by Barbara and Allan Pease...Was a pretty cool book.Was somewhat in the lines of "Men are from Mars and women are from Venus".I would like to own a copy...
Thoughts for the day

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too, can become great.
- Mark Twain

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.- Eleanor Roosevelt

Do not wait; the time will never be ''just right.'' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
- Napoleon Hill

Nth blog today(aarko?)

2005-06-30T01:26:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
Saw Anniyan....was pretty good...the story line was very much a Sankar cliche`...
But it was in a different pack though....hats off to vikram...every muscle of his has acted in the movie.Sadha..well...they could have made the movie without her, if the Remo character wasn't that essential....I couldn't stand the murder scenes...they were too Machiavelian for me...kumbipagam, kirmibojanam....hmm....does garuda puranam really exist...?
I liked "anniyan" vikram the best,ambi was a way too naive and innocent....remo, more a fake facade(may be thats what most guys of that calibre are?i have no clue), Anniyan was agreeable of the three...
But the "bestest"(well, i just made my contribution to the english dictionary) vikram was the one in the last scene, who supposedly was cured of MPD. The anti-climax was just as expected....Exact copy of the ending of "Tell me your dreams" by Sidney Sheldon...."pop goes the weasel" from that book just stuck on to me.
I just finished reading "Rage of angels" by Sheldon...Really great...But very sad...Why did he(sheldon) have to kill Joshua Adam parker? He was an adorable kid...For once, a sidney book without the lead female sleeping around with anyone and everyone...that was a good aspect.
My next book would be either "Fountain head" by Ayn rand or good old sidney's "Memories of midnight"...
The problem with me when i have a book in hand is that I forget everything(Sadly this doesnt happen with my text books:-))), I keep putting off my dinner, my sleep, etc until i finish it....Maybe i should try a little balance game here. My mom pities my future family, who would be denied any attention from me when i sit with a book...Well, lets see how it turns out to be...
For a change, I put my sony ericsson(t610) to rest for a while and took my sis' motorola...Oh g i cant stand that phone...SE is a very smart phone with the most logical menus and with all hi-fi stuff....(maybe the volume of rings can only be its negative)..so I am back to my dear SE...It can hold charge for atleast 3-4 days...motorola's charge lasts just a day...pain in the neck to charge it daily...SE's screen size is awesome too...I guess when i switch mobils in future, I'll go in for SE...I am not excited about nokias too.
By the way the hit counter is fast reaching 1000...cool.
Thats it for now....
Trivia for the day:

Why I Can't Go Out With You:

I'd LOVE to, but ...
-- I have to study for my blood test.
-- I have to floss my cat.
-- I have some really hard words to look up.
-- I promised to help a friend fold road maps.
-- None of my socks match.
-- My chocolate-appreciation class meets that night.
-- I'm running off to Yugoslavia with a foreign-exchange student named Basil Metabolism.
-- I'm going to count the bristles in my toothbrush.
-- I have to sit up with a sick ant.
-- My favorite commercial is on TV.
-- I'm attending the opening of my garage door.
-- I'm converting my calendar watch from Julian to Gregorian.
-- I have to bleach my hare.

Thought for the day

Universities are places of knowledge. The freshman each bring a little
in with them, and the seniors take none away, so knowledge accumulates.

My pic

2005-06-29T17:37:00.000+08:00

Well this is the first time I am posting my picture on the net...(almost).Dont i luk cute?

Am not posting a bigger pic...cuz ..u know...kan patrum...he he..

Random thoughts

2005-06-26T02:16:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
Well, i see myself starting all my posts with the inevitable.."long time.." so this time I am dropping it out(am i hearing "oh pplleassee"?)
My latest fad...su-do-ku....every morning it is a dual at home between my mom and me as to who will get to do that day's su-do-ku in The Hindu....I dint actually give it a try until i saw the post on sathya's blog.
Me and my mom have reached an amicable solution that says whoever does su-do-ku first will have to do it in pencil and erase it when done...:-)
I went to my kuladheivam temple today...kinda thanksgiving visit....
Jack Kilby is dead...Here is the man who revolutionized electronics with his invention of IC that changed the whole idea of applied electronics...RIP...
I am gonna watch Anniyan tomorrow with all my class girls...I liked a few of its songs..."kannum kannum nokia..", "ayyangar veetu Azhage..",for a sample...
I was thinking what was i watching on TV these days....believe it or not...my favourite right now is pogo channel....and my favourite shows are "Takeshi's castle", "Just for laughs:gags", "world's most funniest videos", necessarily in that order.Thanks to nami n kartik (my lil cousins) who introduced me to these shows...(he he)
I am wondering why it dint rain today...rain y? cus i did a lot of domestic work today, cleaned my home...i mean just swept, and mopped the floor...and a lil bit of dusting...
Abi has come up with a quote:
"A guy can sweep any girl off her feet, given he has the right kind of broom"
---------no comments----------
Read "The other side of midnight" by Sidney Sheldon...read a fiction after a long time...It was just ooook...
My favourite of Sheldon is "Stars shine down".
What else is special today..hmm...ya...Saturn is transitting from mithuna to some other rasi right now...i mean 11:16pm of 25th june...God only knows how crowdy temples here are for pujas on this divine transit.
Well then...Me signing off..Byee
Thought for the day(or until next post):

Do not pretend - be
Do not promise - act
Do not dream - realise

Dropped in my blog

2005-06-01T03:22:00.000+08:00

Hi all...
Long time...Am pretty busy with my placement preparation...
Well what happened in my life in between....
recap....
1.Visited Guruvayoor Krishnan temple, for the second time(first time being, when i was 1 year old, I was taken there for the "chorootal" ritual...) Stayed overnight there and had been blessed with the nirmalya darshan the next morning at 3:30 am.
Fine, Kerala is green, but seriously i dont see any sign of developments there....will write about it sometime later...
2.Me and Kd doing a lot of group studying.Lots of sleepovers at kd's and my place...
3.Me communicating less with Priya (coz of the prep), but she, as always , understands. Why do they only say.."Thambiyudayaar padaikku anjaar"?, I would rather say, "Thangaiyudayaar edharkum anjaar"
Thats it for now.
I hope to update elobarately in the near future..
Bye.
Thought for the day(this section is resumed after popular request..he he..refer previous post's comments:-)..)

Dont tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big your God is.

The theory life management(OK ok i recently read Arindam Chaudhuri's CYCBTH)

2005-05-13T04:06:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Long time...No blog...
Thats because I find myself more engaged in my placement prep( or so i say), and having a gr8 time wid my cousins.
Well I got my results, my GP comes to 9.52, second in class...Cool.
This time I am pretty happy with my results(unlike last time). This time or rather all through this semester i have trained myself not to expect anything for anything, this way whatever i get looks like some thing bonus, and more than anything i am not cribbing.
I have gone through a radical rechange in my thinking process the past 6 months.I am much more relaxed and taking things cool.
I have never done anything like watching a movie in the midst of the exam month or dining out or sleeping early(???). That abstinence was to protect my concentration and to be focussed.Come on, I am a Virgoan(a beautiful damsel:-)), so am supposed to be a perfectionist, am i right?
But now i am taking things ultra coolly. Wanna watch a movie? got exams morrow?So what ...That doesnt matter, Will you have a nice time if u watch the movie?go ahead , have a great time....But as my basic instincts would have it, I did my duties as in studying(as for now, those are my only duties, I suppose) without any regrets. And here I am, happy with my results...
Does this all sound I am too much of a palam, always talking about studies, exams and all those stuff(after re-reading through what i have written, i myself get that idea).But I am definitely not a palam and am far from that.
So where was I?Ah, the attitude change. This new attitude has the following qualities, I guess:
1.Ultimate aim in life: Be happy
2.Short term goal: Be happy
3.Taking things cool
4.Making people happy.
5.Being fair.
6.Enjoying life
7.Doing my duties cheerfully
8.always Remebering to be happy
Ideologies of the new attitude:
1.People are much much more important than materials
2.Money is not that really great as it is hyped, It may, at any time, be earnt or lost, that is not really a measure of anything worthy(nevertheless it is essential)
3.Life is not worthy wasting on cribbing or getting tensed or having perpetual apprehensions..nimmadhi nimmadhi ungal choice
4.There should not be any regret in your life's sunset

Ok I'll enlighten the world on the rest of this new policy sometime later. Many of these qualities, i already had, some acquired, and some being freshly practised. I may revise these at anytime as i perambulate through the maze of life.
disclaimer: A printed copy of this document can never be used as a legal evidence blah blah....(lol)
Well I guess I'll get to my bed now. Bye.Au Revoir.

Too many reminiscences?

2005-04-29T05:00:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Aaaah, what a long day...
Hey this "Aaaaaaah" reminds me of something...
Once Rama had put on a new nail paint. During lunch hour, KD sees that and exclaims in all her Shakespearean tone and modulation, "Hey Rama, you have painted your nails, aaaaaaaaaah"(Read it with a lot of modulation and victorian prudish pronounciation). I(for that matter anyone other than KD) would have said,"hey cool, new nail color?". But you see, Kd got to be different. From then on we have been telling her.."haaaaaaaaaai kd", baaaaaaaaaaaaai kd", n stuff....to the point that someone exclaimed that it sounded pretty sexy.
Me and KD had planned to go for an early morning walk from my house to the airport and back again. But it turned out to be a flop. When we woke up at 6:10 we felt too sleepy that we decided to sleep for just "few" more minutes. Alas the few minutes went on till after 7, and sun was pretty up by then, so we dropped the plan.
Hey this reminds me of another incident.
During the fifth sem IV to Chennai, we stayed in a resort called "Blue Lagoon" in the East Coast Road. That resort had a private beach too. Had a really great midnight party in the beach, pure fun, with our staff around though.That night before retiring for the night, Akshu(popularly called as Choo) and me decided to go to the beach at early morning after 5:30 to the beach to see the sunrise.
And at morning i wake up at 5:30 and i try to wake Akshu up, she wakes up in a trans state and asks me why i woke her. When i reminded her of our sunrise plan, she says oh-so-cutely..."Div, today the sunrise is cancelled na, lets sleep" and dutifully goes back to slumber.Hmm....I...well...hit the bed too(did i have any other option? of course i dint want to go all alone in that resort during that odd hour).I came to know that that Choo can 'cancel' a sunrise. The sun and the moon are at her command,of course many other mortals too(akshu, am i right?;-))
Coming back to today i attended TCS PPT in the afternoon.
And spent the whole evening in formatting my project report. Dj and me decided long back that the project was dragging as in the report work and "results" work(only me and Dj know the glory of acquiring results....).We have been working on this project for like almost a year i guess. But serious works were done in the past 6 months only. The VLSI design lab has been our evening sanitorium for this whole semester to the point that dataflow modelling and multiply driven signals(we bear a special grudge on this one, grrr) and illegal sequential statements became our nightmares.
But then it has come out pretty well. Looks like a research work.
Enough of blogging today. Me feeling sleepy. Bye

Prefinal to final

2005-04-28T02:00:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Yippee...exams got over today...Embedded systems was a cake...
Went for a movie...Mumbai xpress....had a nice laugh...I always like KamalHasan's comedies and i hate his serious movies...
But nowadays his comedies are getting stereotypical...some comedy of errors and mistaken identities, it is a time tested style though, right from Shakespeare's time, no idea whether it was even before Shakespeare's time.
Me, Rama, Nandy and Kd went...almost everyone we saw in the theatre was a known face, from coll. Some CSc girls, G2 guys, some production boys...This is the problem with Coimbatore, i feel it is such a small city that anywhere you go you always catch up some one or the other you happen to know. The plight of those who are romantically involved should be pretty bad i guess, with no place where you won't be spotted by anyone...hmm...it is a small world(rather, city?) after all..We have concluded that Jenny's should be the right place for these people, with its ambience, crowdlessness, and not-so-rushing bearers.
Had a nice sleep in the evening. Kd came over at around 8:30, we went to the CD shop and have taken this movie: " 50 first dates", had dinner at Aryaas went to Nandy's place and caught her unawares while she was being a couch potato.The movie is supposed to be real fun...We are gonna watch that now, Kd is staying over at my place tonight. Well i'll catch up with the blog shortly...
bye all

men may come and men may go, but exams go on forever

2005-04-24T04:57:00.000+08:00

Hi all
Two more exams to go...
today gave ASIC....Some comedies in between too...
Yesterday abishek calls me up and says..
"Dude, listen, do we have to learn "queen mickey" method?"
What mickey..., i have never come across any mickey method. Then i figured what he actually meant was "Quine McClunsky method"....!! When i pointed this out, he was like,
"yeah..? cool..now, tell me, should we learn queen mickey?"
.................
DSP and embedded systems are yet to come...
.................
I watched 'Laws of attraction" today afternoon on Zee Studio...Quite OK..resembled the tamil movie "azhagiya theeye". Pierce Brosnan was cool.
I loved a catchy phrase from "Azhagiya theeye" which goes like
"Booom, unakku love vandhrum"
soo cute.
................
Thats it for now.
Bye

Musings of an optimist(yeah..?)

2005-04-13T01:06:00.000+08:00

Hi all
My sem exams started today. Gave my ProfComm exam today, was pretty good.
When i woke up in the morning i dint know whether the exam was at 9 or 9:30. Anyway to be on the safer side i went by 8:30 and the exam was indeed at 9( the time table online in the coll's website specifies only the forenoon or afternoon session, not exact timings).
When i went into the hall(A310, as always), there was a confusion because in my row for some 5 seats 2 people were alloted the same seat. Not a big deal though, got it resolved soon(was a mistake of the other studs). And started the exam."Good morning students " starts the all too familiar voice of our princi elaborating on fairplay and shunning malpractices and stuff.
At around 11:30 we were distributed the Group I sheets. And suddenly comes this song from nowhere..."Enge andha vennila". I guess it should be from some festival from a nearbly residential area. It looked like many guys were carried away by the song and its romantic calibre and put their pens down and started enjoying it rather than getting done with their paper...
All this has never happened happened before in exam halls. So it all kinda looked out of the box.
There is something i like about wrinting exams in our coll, especially at A310. It is such a huge hall and almost around 300 studs give their exams distributed in the west and east wings. Somehow the hugeness of the hall gobbles up any exam fear or whatsoever you might have( the effect may be exactly opposite for many). And the kindness of the maintenance cell in providing drinking water at regular intervals during exams by their staff bringing it to our place is somewhat cool and a nice gesture it is.
So writing exams in Tech is cool in its own way, tell me, where else someone(Princi or Dr.P.V.M) welcomes you to the exam and wishing you all the best(only during the first exam though), hospitable staff bringing you water to quench your thirst, wrinting your exam in a 52-year old building opened by none other than Dr.Rajendra Prasad,romantic songs occasionally to ease your tension(happened only once to my knowledge though), a plethora of supervisors who keep your cell phones safe(since mobiles are not allowed to be taken with the studs)...
Well this is the way i look at it.It looks cool this way.
I can also look at it rather differently: what a place this is yaar, huge intimidating hall, age old wretched victorian building, people disturbing your flow of wrtiting asking whether you need water, a song to spoil your concentration in the midst, et al.
If anyone thinks about it this way, he is missing the very essence of the journey called life. Life is made of petty things. I feel that petty things bring happiness more than bigger stuff.
If life is a bed of roses for you, congrats, you got a cool attitude, great going.
If it is a bed of thorns, time to change, dude.
Hey i was reading a book, "Pearls of Wisdom ", a compilation of Swami Vivekananda's quotes.(Is that why i am getting too philosophical?) I liked a few of them. One sample:

If there is a conflict between the heart and the brain, let the heart be followed

Well then i got my IM exam coming thursday.
Belated Ugadi greetings...
Advanced Happy tamil new year everyone.
Bye.Au Revoir.

An ounce of cricket, a cube of cheddar,a rainy day and lots of STC

2005-04-07T03:28:00.000+08:00

Hi all
My study hols are going pretty saggy...
And the climate here is so unpredictable...
Its raining cats and dogs at times and scorchingly hot at others...
I have been going to Nandy's home for our supposed group study(me, Nandy and kaushi) but it so happened that yesterday was gone just in watching the match and eating. I should tell what a host Nandy is when it comes to the dining table especially. She puts like a mountain load of rice on our plates and as little as a few crumbs on hers...Madam is kinda dieting, it looks like.
Let me see what all i ate at her place yesterday, to start with we had cucumber with that chilli powder-salt mix, after that apple juice...
Then a little cricket...Swishhh came the lunch time....
Had Sambar buvva, rasam buvva and curd buvva with appalam and some greens(it was chukkiti keerai, it seems). And then i had cheese, some imported stuff. I love cheese and just grubbed a lot,(though mozzarella would have been better than the cheddar i had).
Of course we were pretty tired and full in stomach after the lunch. So we dutifully decided to rest for some time, again a little cricket....Oh boy, I've almost become a fan of Dhoni...Just loved his gutsy shots...as for his looks he can go for a better, cooler hair-do.
Hey now, time to study, we decided. And did a little bit of STC(for the non-ECEs,STC=Statistical theory of communication). It was 4pm(God only knows how time flies so soon!!!). Eveving snacks came by, the menu was as follows: Tutty-fruity puffs, mini veg-puffs and plum cake, and ofcourse tea. I dont drink either coffee or tea(i kinda can do without the theobromine in tea and caffeine in coffee).
Another thing, namitha and karthik(my cute lil cousins) have come from B'lore. Having a cool time with them as well. Algar, pinni and chinnaina also had come in the evening.
And again today i was supposed to be at Nandy's at 9am, but when i got up and sleepily gazed into my bedside clock, it was exactly 9:-).Well, got ready hurriedly, went to nandy's(nami also tagged along), kaushi hadn't come yet and then again same story as yesterday, but the difference is that today we did learn. Then the trio(me, nan n kaush) went to coll at 6pm and returned kinda 18 books and took some 9 books (Ooooof, why dont they make the engineering books any lighter?).
Again went to Nan's and a little more of thattifying. When we thought we should call it a day, it was 8:45 pm, had dinner of Puri with Paneer gravy and Onion sabji.
Then we thought we should be going(me n kaushi), it started raining like cats and dogs. No sign of it stopping. kaushi decided to stay back. My dad came at around 10pm and picked me.
Realxed with my kiddy cousins playing cards with them(sad that they can only play 'memory' and what is popularly called 'mangata' with cards). And they are all into their slumberlands now.
Here i am sitting in front of the comp, like a zombie, typing all my day's musings...
I dont know why i am recording the petty details as to what i did and most important, what i ate and all. But i felt like doing it and am at work fulfilling my urge...
(by the way couldnt watch serendipity:-( )
Bye all
Happy studying.....:-)

My Experiments with Life

A new experiment: Baking bread

Vegan Wagon - Part II

The Vegan Wagon

Libraries in Singapore

New Kid on the Block - II

New Kid on the Block!

I'm watchin you!

What a year!

Messy!

Random ramblings

Kannada songs!

Operation 'Garbage Disposal'

The global village

Chak de, India!

God of Small Things

Life of Pi

A dabbler's album

Azhagu malar aada

Enna Samayalo

Oodhaa, oodhaa, oodhaa poo

Country Roads, Take me home

Veetukku veetukku vaasappadi venum

Sendhoorap poove

Poo pookkum osai

Enge sellum indha paadhai?

Victoria Holt

Rains, cousins, old friends and Asparagus

Get a life

Kaasu Mela

The seven-year itch?

Which side of the bed?

Daddy cool!

Another one in the family crossed a lane!

There was an ad long time back

The solitary Reaper

Write, write!

Circle: The set of points in a plane that are equidistant from a given point O.

Calvin rocks!(Hobbes too)

Finally, I got something to blog on!! - Part II

A rainy day, some buds and leaves.

Test

I am back! I am back!!

Bye Bye

Finally, I got something to blog on!!!

Crossed a lane...

Thou shall adapt!!

Family Consensus?

Too much?

WHAT DO I WRITE ABOUT???

Another Cliched post...

Poll Results

Which of the following do I read?

%#*&*$&$^#^%##@$@#(Cant think of a better title)

Musings and a bad movie

Help!!

Rest In Peace

Lokmanya Tilak and a young couple

Post a mug week

Pongal, treats and Blogs

Ammi midikka Kanaa kanden thozhi naan

Missed calls from Saudi Arabia!!

Anne Frank

kaithlam patra kana kanden thozhi naan

Festival time..

Denial of Service

Kalai pugudha kanaa kanden thozhi naan

Kanaa Kanden Thozhi Naan

[UPDATED]

Bengalooru

[UPDATED]

Blogthings

Ya very much embarassing indeed!!

Templates..

I request my readers to please comment in the blogger comments rather than in the haloscan comments...Thx

Happy birthday to my sweetie blog

Hymns

Funny incident #2

A Classmate's wedding

"Tamilnadu gals" or just "gals"?

%#&$&$^#^%##@$@#(Cant think of a better title)

/&%$#$(*(for the lack of a better title)