Sixth (non)SENSE

Auld Lang Syne..

2010-01-02T06:05:00.002+05:30

Wishing everyone a very happy new year, if anyone still reads this, that is. I don't blame noone.I haven't visited my blog page in the last year and a half. And it does feel like I have almost forgotten to write anything cohesively. For starts, I spent my new years all by myself, in the warm confines of my apartment without meeting anybody. Now Is that a good start to the year, well I do hope it is and that the rest of the year won't be so lonely and that it would be more fun and cheerful. I thought I'll make a start with writing a post and here it is.. To a merry , happy, prosperous 2010, Cheers :)

An Era - A Beginning or the End ?

2008-07-08T02:48:00.002+05:30

F1 - Schumacher
Cricket - Australia
Tennis - Federer

A list of legendary players/team, Dominance is the word, An Era that solely belonged to them and none other, they have established history that probably will never repeat and a certain kind of dominance that made the result of a game predictable, a victory to their credit was a foregone conclusion. Sport viewers have a different take at it, some watch it because they always want their favorites to win and they were treated to it. But, what about the classic competitions, a competition between equals where one tries to get the better of the other and constantly evolve. I am by no means demeaning the feat achieved by these champions, what they have achieved is by no means ordinary, maybe not even extra-ordinary but beyond that, something out of the world, their talent surpassed that of everyone else. Well it’s when you think about all this, you end up watching an epic of a tennis match- Federer - Nadal Wimbledon'08 .It sure was a clash of the Titans. Whatever people may say - that Federer would not have had a chance if the rain gods came to the rescue or that Nadal would not have made it at the end if not for the fading light. It did not matter, we have to give it to these players. It was Nadal’s day from the start and he won the match, deservedly so, Federer definitely was not at his best, but he is called a Champion for no reason, down two sets in a Wimbledon final, how often do we see such classic comebacks. The Final set could have been anybody's. One could draw a parallel to the 1995 Australian open quarter final between Pete Sampras and Jim Courier, I do not remember watching it, but have read about it so often that it sure is etched in my memories as one of the classic moments in Grand Slam Tennis history. Courier was the world's best and Sampras was the supreme challenger. You know what happened after that. Sampras won that match and now, the rest is history. Will yesterday’s Wimbledon final be one such moment - Many say it’s a moment that is going to signal the end of an Era and the start of another one, we got to wait and see if that is going to happen - Time will answer. For now, I am still relishing the amazing sporting moments from yesterday's match :).

When you look and you find..

2008-07-05T05:20:00.005+05:30

Growing up in India, the only words that you are fed with while shopping are probably discounts and sale. My first tryst with deals and mail-in-rebates is when I got here to Uncle Sam's land.

Have you ever felt the joy of finding something in the first place you look for?And,before you come to any sort of conclusions this is the story:

June 7 : My friend and roommate Miss.A is looking for deals for laptops and she finds one in Office depot, everything that a normal person ( excluding techies, nerds and gamers) would want came in a laptop costing 830$ with a mail-in-rebate of 175$ and it was the last day of the offer. Wow, both of us jumped in joy, but alas only one of us could order it, mail in rebates have this policy of one rebate per household, nevertheless I was magnanimous and suggested that she should take the laptop first since she was leaving for India soon and I will have some more time. She places her order. Somehow, I felt this was an awesome deal and not wanting to let it go, asked for another friend Mr.K to bail me out and order a laptop for me using his address. Yay I ordered mine too.

June 9: Ms.A's laptop arrives. She is sober.

June 10: My laptop arrives, we now have 5 laptops at home, 3 official and two personal.. Wow, this is my first laptop and am thrilled beyond description.

June 12: Realised that the mail-in-rebate form has to be post marked by June 28th. Ms.A and me decide to print the forms and checked for everything that needs to be sent - original bill, UPC and the form, just believing the ability of the self's knowledge of what a UPC could mean(Ms.A sometimes trusts me), we just sent the Bar code we received with the bill.

June 28: Randomly checked the office-depot website for the status - no updates yet.

July 1: Almost 10 P.M, A friend Mr.A comes over to pick up some card board boxes as he is moving to another place and while pulling out the cardboard boxes, we also realised we needed to throw away a few of them which we probably did not require, one of it turned out to be Ms.A's laptop box, I wanted to throw mine as well, but the lazy me hadn't removed some stuff from the box yet. So all the boxes that we decided were of no use were kept next to the door so that we could throw the next day when we leave for work.

July 2: Morning 8 A.M, very diligently I pick up all the card board boxes and threw it away in the trash bins.

July 3: I was working from home.
2.30 P.M Again a random thought to check the status of mail in rebate (its worth 175$ remember). I checked mine and there was the update that I did not want to see, a non compliance report - Incorrect UPC code and a note to send the UPC code.
3.00 P.M: Realisation that I should check what a UPC code means, a very gracious website had a description that it was the label that is stuck on the box in which the product is delivered, A sudden flash of thought, Ms.A's box is already in the bin and probably even recycled now, that's 175$ getting recycled, you know.

3.30 P.M: Decided to check the bin, odds against odds what if its still there. Walked up to the trash bin in a hurry, they have these huge trash bins out here (there were four of them) and I had left the boxes by the side of the bin the previous day. There was nothing on the sides on the bins, hoping that its probably hidden somewhere in the bins. These bins are taller than me, I just managed to look into one of them and voila there was a laptop box and what are the odds and that in an apartment of 100 houses, somebody was going to buy a laptop and still throw it, a ray of hope, I had to climb up the fence to reach to it, I did not care who was looking, but surprise and surprise, it was exactly what I was looking for!! You can imagine the feeling, It's beyond words.
I Called Ms.A to immediately tell her what I did for her, she now owes me a big treat but better yet, I still find that whole feeling very relishing..lol and also learnt a priceless lesson - Never throw your cardboard boxes until you are sure, but the thing is you can never be sure!
Yay, I now know the feeling of what it means to find something in the first place I look! Here's to - laptop, mail-in-rebates, cardboard boxes and trash bins:)

The Hin-dos and Hin-don'ts - Check this out

2008-06-22T02:59:00.002+05:30

God Bless Dasavatharam

2008-06-19T00:41:00.001+05:30

As Kamal’s just released magnum opus “Dasavatharam” faced its moment of truth, critics had a field time - they pounded , pranced and tore it apart. Kamal has set such high standards and the expectations out of him grew manifold with this movie and it was easy for them to dismiss the movie as something that did not meet their expectations.

Chaos theory, Butterfly effect , atheism, social issues, history , a brilliant parallel between the 10 avatars of Vishnu and the 10 roles that he plays in the movie – all this makes it the most innovative storyline ever seen in Indian Cinema and to that you can add Kamal’s out of the world acting. I sure do think the screen play could have been more crisper and the special effects in some scenes leaves a lot to be desired, you also need to realize we do not have the luxury of the budget with which English movies are made. Leaving that aside, you ought to be spell bound by the brilliance of the story, the acting. Even an astute mind cannot decipher all the minute details that every frame of this movie exhibits at one go. The more you think about the movie, the more you are in awe of the super human effort that has gone into the making of this movie and the genius in Kamal.

Anbe Sivam, to me was one of the best movies and everyone I spoke to about it acknowledges it , but it did not send the cash registers ringing at the box office. You really cannot blame the Indian audience, remember when Shawshank Redemption released, people did not take to it, today, many years later, it is a cult film.

I really hope, for the sake of Tamil Cinema, the audience will embrace it and make it a hit and thus paving way for people who will dare to innovate and not churn out movies, the way Bollywood has in the last year (saving a few movies here and there). The Americans are taking to Obama, for that Change that they believe in. Many miles away, we Indians still want to prove why someone should not do anything out of the ordinary and if and they when they do, we only want to showcase why it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

God Bless Dasavatharam!

When the going gets tough, DADA gets going..

2007-12-26T22:48:00.000+05:30

I used to be an ardent fan of cricket, following cricket matches played all around the world, could dish out a few statistics and get a little technical (at least better than most girls :)). The last one year, however has been different. I really found it difficult to be interested and to keep tabs on the happenings, but however a news headline this morning about Saurav Ganguly's 100th test caught my fancy. Personally, my favorite has always been Rahul Dravid, but I have always admired Saurav (Dada as he is called fondly) for his never-say-die attitude. It's not easy for someone who has always been glorified to handle the emotions and pressure that come along after being unceremoniously dropped from a team and to come out of it successfully. I have only seen cricketers fade away into oblivion when this has happened, but when the person in question is DADA, things are quite different. Sure he was out of form but I certainly do feel, he did deserve a much better treatment while being dropped. My heart really went out to him. For me, he certainly has been the best thing to have happened to Indian Cricket at the time he was appointed Captain. Under him, the team transformed from a selfish group to cricketers to "Team India". A Indian Cricket fan has never been more proud and entertained ,as he took the team thru some of the most glorious moments - A Scintillating Natwest trophy final, a world cup final, away and home test match victories. Aggression, youth, team spirit, playing to win - these words came to life while he was at the helm of the affairs. The team moved out of the "Tendulkar" mould and it was no more that India would win only when Tendulkar plays. The fact that he enjoyed undying support from the youngsters in the team is a testimony to a fact that he has been an unbiased and a great leader. He has been the man behind getting some of the finest talent into playing for India. And now he has shown the world what he is truly capable of, I respect him twice as much. For to be down and out and written off and then prove the world that they are wrong is no mean feat especially when the country is India and the sport is Cricket. As he plays in his 100th test, here’s wishing him the very best and hopefully I will soon return to following this sport.

Every Child is Special...

2007-12-23T08:56:00.001+05:30

Bollywood in 2007 has certainly saved "the best for the last" - The movie Taare Zameen Par. Movies that can make you relate to it, make you smile, make you cry, make you think -are really hard to come by, but when they do, make sure you don't miss it for anything in the world. It's a simple story of a 8 year old artistically talented child suffering from dyslexia and his feelings. With an amazing script and Aamir Khan making his debut as a director,this movie is a heart rendering experience. The kid who played the 8 year old Ishaan, is amazing to say the least. This performance could easily be a national award winning performance. I read a review which went with the tagline - Taare Zameen Par may change your life, I don't know about that but I can say with certainity that this movie will make you change the way you look at people and their abilities and especially children. It's a movie with a big heart and a great message. Its humanly impossible to not shed tears as you relate to some of scenes. It's certainly not a sad movie, its a story of success, its a story of a character you can relate to, it could be you..

It's a soul stirring experience, Go WATCH it!

Up above and all...

2007-10-22T06:31:00.000+05:30

A self confessed Agnostic, I sometimes do find it really necessary to have a "fall back" mechanism, to feel that sometimes things are beyond your control, things will fall into place as necessary and as appropriate and things do happen as per the plan charted out for us and that someone up above is dictating terms. Sure, I have experienced something close to being a miracle, realised that there is power in a sincere prayer. There have been things that have not worked for you for your own good, you realize it as the days go by but who is helping you make it not work.. I wonder.. I have been involved in many a discussion about this, people have talked about everything in this world being a result of a probability of being in a certain situation at a certain time but who is dictating the outcome of that probability ??

I am surely not talking about religion here, I am a Hindu , have studied in what you can call a staunch Hindu institution and in fact did most part of my education in Christian institutions', have grown up with friends who are Muslims (some of my best friends are Muslims), I enjoy singing "Om Jai Jagdish Hare" and Ayyapan padi pattu with the same fervour as singing "Showers of blessing". I have celebrated Diwali at home with my non-Hindu friends for as long as I can remember and I have been part of Ramzan and Xmas celebrations with my friends as long as I can remember as well. I go to the temple more often but I do like attending masses at the Church, The principles of different religions to me is fascinating, deep down they all preach the same goodness. But we end up sticking to the religion we are born with more often because we do not want to displace the God's that we grew up with and are taught to believe in with due respect to all religions. I do not want to delve into religion fanatism as thats something I have tried so hard to understand but I can never figure that one out.

If everything that happens to us is because of what we are and is a result of how much work you put into, why are each of us born so different with capabilities so different? Why do some people have to work so hard to achieve that, when there are other people who get the same thing done, maybe more efficiently with just about little effort. What about our natural capabilities, people born with disabilities, who is responsible for that? You cannot decide whether your child can be a boy or a girl, sure that is a result of a probability, so are so many other things that happen to us. The easiest way out is to believe that there is something thats controlling the outcome of these probabilities and if we can't believe in that, we sure won't believe in miracles, to me expecting miracles is HOPE and I cannot live without it. I have experienced it,so will everybody in their lives at some point, it could be as small as getting a 45 in an Engineering subject when you really think you would not make it.

All said and done, I do believe in Karma, or whatever you can call that, that if you feel or do something that is going to hurt someone else, it is going to go all around and come back to you in this very same life.. (I don't think in this world where everything is "instant", you are going to feel the effect in your next birth.. even the cause-effect principles follow "instant" gratification)..

St.Louis Part II

2007-10-21T03:13:00.000+05:30

[There is a Part I which I haven't written about, it was my first trip to the US, I would still think Part I was more exciting and I literally lived life like there was no tomorrow, I will save that for some other time]

I am going to India in another two weeks, after a year and half on a two and half week vacation, the excitement is just beginning to kick in, I will be home for Diwali, to say am thrilled would just be an understatement. As I was trying to get the suitcases out to get started on packing, I was just thinking about how life has been for me, this last one and half years.

Being on the wrong side of 25 years 150 days, you are bound to have met people from all cross-sections of society, changing your perspective about life. I have been so lucky for the kind of people I have met and have grown to be friends with in St.Louis, staying away from home for long can take a toll on you sometimes, I must say that I have never felt homesick (barring a few odd moments here and there), life always has been exciting, I never really had the time to sit back and think. Those friday night movies, impromptu shopping getaways, In-a-minute lunch and dinner plans, after work parties, mini trips to places around here, my personal favorite being the potlucks (reason: anything and everything) fun unlimited, food limited :).

Work life has just been great (I would not prefer to talk about the not so great part of it), I have got to work with some amazing people, people who have been around even when computers were worked with punch cards, learnt some priceless lessons, technical and otherwise. Well there have been days when I have had to go without my regular quota of sleep, but well I can discount that, for part of work is what is challenging and exciting and keeps you up without getting bored about the work you are doing.

Onto my favorite part, traveling and activities:

A get-together with friends from college is a regular and is something I look forward to, we usually meet once every 3 months and I come back all exhausted and tired after laughing incessantly and having a great time :)

Las Vegas and Grand Canyon: I loved it more the second time, cos this time we stayed overnight in the Canyon, watched the sun set and sun rise, an experience of a lifetime. Watched the circue de soleil show and gambled like crazy.

Tampa : Beach house party, jet skiing and parasailing, what a trip it was :)

Dallas and Austin: A very casual and chilled out trip, played paint ball for the first time..

Seattle : One trip where every one of my friends from college who were in the US made it, it was memorable for more reasons than one, my first camping experience..

This is the only major road trip that I was on and probably my only big trip with people from St.Louis, the Breckenridge- Colarado trip.

This trip needs a very special mention, It was my first road trip, with so many new people I was just getting to know, about 21 of us, 4 days. I decided to be a part of the party at the very last minute and am so glad I decided to go. My first experience with the snow, skiing and snow mobiling in Breckenridge is an experience that I would treasure, though I kept falling all over the place, it was still fun. Those wooden log cabins and amazing people, a perfect thanks giving retreat..

And a trip to SFO and Yosemite with friends who joined work with me, we were in the same induction batch.. I just loved the place..

Not to forget, the number of trips to Chicago (I have actually lost count of it).

But alas, still New York is on the list, yay I finally made plans for it, first weekend of 2008... :)

Attended some great live concerts: Aerosmith, Kadri Gopalnath, Sonu Nigam (St.Louis), AR Rahman and Linkin Park (Chicago).

Wasted many a 10 dollars on watching those Hindi movies almost every other Friday.. but watching Sivaji made up for it, well almost.. :)

Learnt a few lessons on the guitar, learnt swimming, became more fitness conscious( more like since I now pay for it at the YMCA, I better make best use of it) read a whole lot of books (the St.louis county library is my favorite place around where I stay, its an amazing place, I can spend hours together and not realize how the time goes by until someone tell me its time to close the library), got addicted to watching movies and sitcoms (long live blockbuster)..

Staying away from home on your own has its own way of teaching you lessons, and what have I learnt, I can say with certainty that I have learnt a lifetime's worth :)

And now am looking forward to going to Chennai, spending time with my parents and sister(I miss her like crazy) and friends who I haven't gotten to meet in a long time and a friend's wedding too... will be there for two and half weeks and have already planned something for everyday and a little tad disappointed that I will not be able to watch Dasavatharam(they have postponed the release now) and plays from the chennai theatre scene( looks like the chennai theatre scene is off the whole of November :( ) and before St.Louis gets to hear the last of me, I will be right back :)

A Namesake's Name..

2007-09-29T01:16:00.000+05:30

What's in a name?

A whole lot, me thinks. If you have lived all the years of your existence with a long name (13 letters for a first name and 10 letters for a last name, a total of 23 letters (English has a total of 26 letters, if not for a few repetitive alphabets, my name would be a running in close for having all the alphabets of this language) and to top it all, I have to answer questions like why do you have two first names and no middle names. Wonder what my parents were thinking when they decided to call me "Lakshmi Prabha", that nobody ever calls me by whole name and that people find convenient ways of calling me, the easiest being LP, officially Prabha and a few friends Lakshmi and Vinu at home and it’s a great feeling when you know of your ability to respond to all of these names under different circumstances. Well to go back to how I got my name in the first place, Lakshmi is from my grandmother and Prabha is kind of a family name for all cousins (girls) (thankfully better sense prevailed and my sister was spared of this torture which my cousins and me were subjected to). That's the origin of my name and that I still cannot understand why would anybody want to give their daughter my name, maybe my Parent's should know, I sure have brought it up on many occasions just in a lighter vein and well sometimes seriously too, well then again, I have to live with it now :). Just when you think all is cool and you have forgotten about it, there are certain things which will have to keep reminding you of what you want to forget...

* You read a forward which says you are from South India if your name will be that of a Goddess (Sure my name is of the Goddess of Wealth and well I am her namesake but I don't see how that has helped me until now, If the access to riches was as easy as naming your daughter after the goddess of wealth, won't everybody be naming their daughter Lakshmi.. well maybe they were being optimistic)

* A friend of mine says that before she met me, she had just heard of my name thru some common friends and she had painted a mental picture of what kind of person I would be like - a very quiet, traditional, well oiled hair (not that I have anything against these kind of girls) and we shared some laughs over it and after that I just asked her if she hasn't heard of a certain someone who goes by the name "Padma Parvathy Lakshmi" (she was Lady Rushdie until a while ago)

* It takes me a whole 5 minutes to get my name across spelling it out the American way.. A for apple.. yada yada to even get a haircut appointment and at the end of it, the lady at the salon can't find my name on the database.. sigh..

Well our life is what we make it out to be and that we are what we are because the things we do and the person that you grow up to be and what you want to really be and all that will be remembered by that one name that you were baptized with. Whatever is your name, try to live it up and just as long as it brings a smile on someone's face, you are OK :), the things I have to keep reminding myself to feel good about my name, I really try hard don’t I..

(On the contrary, in the corporate world, the name of your company, the name of your product speaks volumes for itself, we are talking about brand names here. I was reading about this company called Lexicon Branding which comes up with names for Product's for Companies, they are the people who coined Pentium for Intel and Blackberry. Quite interesting to know that so much of thought process goes into naming a product. That We now use the word 'Google' instead of 'search' and 'Xerox' instead of 'making copies' is evident enough)

Working your way...

2007-09-22T00:44:00.000+05:30

As misleading as the subject line could get, I am not going to delve into matters that are best left for a "typical software engineer" after work discussion and that I don't really fancy such a get together is a different thing altogether, I'd rather prefer to hang out with people who do see work and after-work as two independent entities at least for most part of it. I would agree that its hard sometimes to get your mind off "that un-crackable bug that is creating havoc" or "the manager who thinks you are doing a great job (what a cliché) but still rate you lower than everybody else" Well the fact is most of your time that you are awake is spent at work and its hard not to talk about it, but well then there is more to life than that. I digressed there a bit. Ok I got started on something that I originally did not intend to.

Two statements:

Over a dinner conversation, a colleague of mine : " Things are really cool these days, my manager listens to everything I say because he needs my help in getting everything done. But the sad part is that, you don't get to learn anything from him"

Over a phone conversation, a friend from college : " My brain cells are really dead, I think I need to be amongst people who are good at what they do, I don't seem to be learning anything at work, people around me don't challenge me enough, there is no drive to perform "

On a very retrospective note, how important is it for everybody to be surrounded by people who are better or at least as good as you on some occasions, to get your feet back on the ground, to learn something, to get the drive to perform better, so set higher levels of aspiration, to be inspired. You may have been a topper in school/college, best performer at work, but you are the best amongst the people you have been compared with, but only when you are pitched against people who are leagues ahead of you, you realize that there is nobody who can "best" at what they do, there is always someone out there somewhere who can do things "better" than you, if that’s enough reason for an inspiration to look for things to always improve on..

How Can I leave Garfield out of this "This is it. I've reached the pinnacle of laziness... How depressing. There's no place to go after you've reached the top"..

For now am working my way trying to get over my laziness , working quite well so far, I should say..

Talk about Performance Pressure..

2007-09-12T21:32:00.001+05:30

Over the years..

2007-09-12T07:39:00.000+05:30

The kind of people who influence you the most, are the friends that you grow up with, you end up influencing each other. Those school and college friendships are special. These are the friends who have grown with you, thru all your insecurities, sharing most of them. The friends that you make as you grow old, as nice as they can get, just aren't the same, you just don't take the same kind of liberties. It’s more of a mature friendship and not the kind of friendship that matures over a period of time.

You have seen each other thru the best and the worst, thru winning over their first crush to many heartbreaks
You scramble thru those examinations exchanging notes and giving few tips,
You see each other thru times of seeking jobs thru to their first jobs
You talk absolute nonsense thru 3 hours yet end up having a great time
You can say anything on your mind and still get away with it
You sure would have had your share of misunderstanding but then you learn to grow over it
You can be mad, insane and weird and they are still your friends

You don't have to be nice to them always, to be their friend
You did not have the money to throw around, yes shakes and creams was your favorite hang out
You fight over food, chocolates especially (me)
You are so different from each other
You get irritated and offended with them over small things, but
You end up understanding each other better and like the person for what they are
You share so many nostalgic memories with them..

Time goes by,
You may not stay in the same city and most often end up in different time zones
You may not be able to call each other as often as you would have liked to, but they will still be your 3 A.M friends, that they don't answer your call at 9 P.M itself, is a different thing :)
You may not get to meet for a long time, but when you do
You pick up the thread from where you left and end up having a crazy time :)

To all the amazing people I know,
I really do feel blessed!

Once in a while I suffer from this case of an emotional flu, mostly when am pondering over, what I can do next and when my options are to sleep(trying desperately not to fall for it) or to finish off the book that I am reading(when the book you are reading is Life of PI, I would rather read it when am not that tired, this book has already got me thinking and wonder how I did not get to read this before) and of course I ended up writing this.

The genuis that Calvin is..

2007-09-11T00:20:00.000+05:30

Calvin : Some people are pragmatists, taking things as they come and making the best of the choices available. Some people are idealists, standing for principle and refusing to compromise. And some people just act on any whim that enters their heads.

Hobbes: then what are you?

Calvin: I pragmatically turn my whims into principles.

LOL :)

The man, the magic, the game called Tennis - Go Federer!

2007-09-11T00:14:00.000+05:30

This man seems to be breaking records of all sorts, if not creating some. As a commentator pointed out that we are going to sound like a broken record if we talk about the records this man is going to break or create. That's Roger Federer for you, the man, many say is the greatest player this game has ever seen and he proved that yet again in the US open -It's four in a row for him, the first man to achieve this feat in the open era.

But Djokovic is the man to watch out for, all of 20 years, it wasn't easy for Federer, Five times close to winning the first two sets, he was out classed by Federer, clearly the results do not reflect what this man deserved. I am sure everybody's heart went out to him. Well he is just one of the very few who have the history of defeating Federer in the recent past, if this match and the past is anything to go by, this man is someone to watch out for, for he has great fitness levels and is playing amazing tennis too.. :) ( Don’t miss out on the imitation of Sherapova and Nadal by Djokovic, this man has a great sense of humour too.. Be sure to check this out on you tube )

Federer definitely was not at this best in the US open final, and this match was no way close to the edge-of-the-seat 5-setter marathon thriller in the Wimbledon final between Federer and Nadal earlier this year, yet Djokovic was the one who dominated the first two sets, being a shot away from winning a set 5 times, the final result was a lot different, it was Federer, who was not at his classy best but yet managing to emerge a winner. It is for this reason, that he is touted as the best. A 25,000 odd crowd, a legacy to live up to, a few records at stake, and being down but yet he does it yet again, not once but twice in the first two sets and there he is the undisputed king of modern day Tennis. ** Greatness ** Can anybody be better than the best, the answer is NO, but as everybody agrees that the gaps are closing in, Nadal and Djokovic are people to watch out for. We got to wait and watch.. but for now it's still Federer's ERA.. Rafa and Djokovic your time will come.. 2008 already promises to be exciting :)

Randomly Random..

2007-09-08T01:03:00.000+05:30

Why do people always think a "fun" weekend is only when you have some plans for an outing or a party or something of sorts, why can't a weekend where you are just home tucked under the comfort of your comforter, watching movies, sitcoms, reading books and you have absolutely no plans be fun.. I exactly "plan" to do that this weekend, and am more than sure its going to be a rocking weekend.. Ah there just got an invite for a get together on Saturday :)

Why can't I have a phone conversation that lasts more than 10 minutes these days?? Ponder Ponder..
(Rewind: I used to be a total phone person back in college and a little after that, to get with the same people all thru the day and you are back home and you still find something to talk about over the phone and yet again meet the next day and still you have something to talk about.. )

Why do people who have gone back to Chennai after a long time of staying outside of it, find that there is something amiss , that the charm of the city that they left behind is not there anymore. Has something changed about my most favorite city, (I hope not) am waiting to find out, 60 days to go..

Edit: I just heard from the friend who is on a vacation in Chennai, that they have implemented gps in the city buses and the digital board in the bus stands which says ' 21H arrives in 4 mins', its still in the pilot stage but will be implemented thro the city, now ain't that kewl :)

Did you know that the movie Exorcist was inspired by the St.Louis Exorcism. Yes I live in one of the most haunted cities in the US of A

India pulled off a remarkable victory against England, chasing a target - once impossible over 300 runs. will another thriller unfold at the Lord's.. can't wait to find out..

What's at stake for Federer in the US open- A fourth consecutive US open title (will he be the first to achieve it?) , a 12th grand slam title (only Pete Sampras is ahead of him) and some great tennis matches for his fans world over to cheer about, we have already witnessed two of them :), the higher the stakes, the better he plays. I think if you are even remotely interested in watching tennis or in the game, you should watch this man play, after all, he isn't dubbed as one of the greatest players this game has ever seen for no reason.. I missed out on watching him play at the US open this time around but if am lucky, I will get to watch him next year :)

The LP (Linkin Park) concert totally rocked (literally), a crowd of over 25000, electrifying music - it was my first hard core rock concert experience (if I don't count the Aerosmith concert in St.Louis which I think sucked, they absolutely had no stage presence), I thoroughly enjoyed myself and will definitely go down as an experience of a lifetime :)

If I have to talk about live performances and experiences, memorable ones at that,this one would certainly top the list and something I that would recommend to everyone, the cirque du soleil shows, I happened to watch one of their shows called 'KA' in Vegas (tickets are priced a little on the higher side but hell who cares, the experience is priceless), the acrobatics, the stage set up -everything extravagant and mind boggling to say the least, I have never seen anything more magnificient on a stage.I always happen to have so much fun in Vegas, there is something for everyone there, the grandeur, the magnificent buildings, it sure is an architectural delight and of course the fun gambling as long as you know the limits, I have only lost money but I stopped when I did reach the limits I had set. Let me correct myself, I was told that in Vegas, you don't say you lost the money, you say you spent the money :)

I want to see a Broadway show, I still haven't been to New York :(

That was as random as I could get.. Yippee it's a Friday!

I am not always right, but am never wrong..

2007-08-24T00:42:00.000+05:30

This is it. I've reached the pinnacle of laziness... How depressing. There's no place to go after you've reached the top.
Eat, sleep, be lazy, derive pleasure out of doing nothing. That's Garfield for you..

I think I was born to be like him. This world has changed me in many ways, I work for a living and like challenges, I have multitude of interests but all said and done, I like being lazy and love sleeping. No matter how many hours I sleep, I simply can't wake up in the mornings I have to force myself every single day to wake up. On a weekend , "Oh no! I overslept ! I'm late ! For my nap". I realized its easier to have an inspiration who is so already like you, so that you don't have to work towards anything.. yes Garfield is my inspiration..

His Philosophy is my belief.

Odie, let's talk effort versus return here. You know, you can still lead a pointless life without all that running around.
If you want to appear smarter, hang around someone stupider.
If you are patient...and wait long enough...Nothing will happen !
I'm not messy. I'm organizationally challenged !
Good times are ahead ! Or behind. Because they sure aren't here.
Anybody can exercise... But this kind of lethargy takes real discipline.
Avoid fruits and nuts: after all, you are what you eat.
Eat every meal as though it were your last
All I do is eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. There must be more to a cat's life than that. But I hope not.
You can bet it wasn't an exercise freak who invented power steering.
You know it's Monday when you wake up, and it's Tuesday
Diet is die with a 't.
I'll rise, but I won't shine.
I look back on my life with regrets. All those wasted years. All that time spent awake

Oh, I Love this cat, its zimply purr-fect !!

Of Garbage trucks and 200 $$$$...

2007-08-22T03:08:00.000+05:30

Just another normal day. 8 A.M we set out to work.I-55. Same way. Same lane. Music wasn't playing in the car, courtesy Miss A who was sitting in the passenger seat taking her offshore call. I was driving, M was sitting right behind me.

I hate driving in the mornings as I am usually grumpy and half asleep, but I still fight my mood and sleep and drive sometimes(mostly Miss A likes to drive in the mornings), its been a routine for more than a year now.. Gossip, insane conversations (courtesy M and me, Miss A tries to maintain sanity but in vain.. we tried to change her but that did not work either), Complaining (whats life if we have nothing to complain about), or sometimes just plain silent, this is how we travel to work everyday. Most days we do have floating members in the car. People who want to get to work earlier than their usual time or people who cudnt wake up in time to go in their regular car pool, new people who come in in.. when most of you who work in the same company stay in the same apartment complex invariably everyone would have travelled with everybody else at some point of time.

We were two exits close to work, I was driving, Miss A was still talking, M reacts to the sound of a shattering glass, well the only thing I knew at that point was that there was a really huge garbage truck to our right, and following instructions to move to the shoulder, I overtook the garbage track and moved over to the shoulder. I later found out that something flew from the garbage truck and hit the window pane on the rear right hand side, and the window pane cracked and shattered. There was no sign of anything else except for a polythene bag with a paper inside the car which flew into the car. There goes the garbage truck well past us.. and 200$ for a new window pane .. Thankfully there was nobody sitting on that side of the car today considering that there are usually more than 3 of us in the car. We drove back home( thank god for it wasn't raining nor was it winter, we only had to survive the wind blowing hard into our ears), gave our car for service, M drove her car and we were back to work to start what was another usual day at work, just an hour late than usual though... !!

The Wrong side of 24 years and 365 days..

2007-08-17T02:25:00.000+05:30

I thought and then thought all over again, What was I thinking? Is it cool to be 25 ? Being 25 certainly has one benefit in the US, your car insurance is a lot cheaper (the only logic behind this and I could think of is that they think you are responsible if you are older and perhaps even more responsible if you are married... ahem), someone asked me the other day about how it actually felt to be 25 (somehow this seems to be a landmark year for very many reasons) and for a minute I actually felt old.. somehow being 23 was so much more fun, and being 18 was lot more fun. Is it human nature to always think that life in the past was always better than what it is now or always hope that the best is yet to come. As a kid, I always wanted to be older and working, earn my own money and feel responsible and independent and now I feel being a child and those innocent years could probably be the best years of your life. May be that is why Costanza's theory of life is so relevant, he believes that you should be born old with all the knowledge and experience and as you live your life, you unlearn and grow young and probably live the best part of your life towards the end. Firstly the miseries of old age, golden age of retirement, then the midlife crisis and then the twenties where you live the time of your life and before you get bored, you are almost reaching the end of your life, happy and with pleasure and no burden of unwanted knowledge. The typical 25 going on 30 scene - You are going thru a phase, you are not sure about your work (if that’s exactly what you want to do in life), marriage becomes an integral subject of discussion, you either know who you want to get married too but there are a million hurdles before you could even think of walking the aisle or you don’t know who are going to get married, the fear of whether you will meet anyone you would ever think of spending the rest of your life with, you are scared if you will be able to pull off the responsibilities that marriage tags along, you are having fun with the way life is at the moment, but scared about what the future has in store for you. Well the best part is that you are not alone, every other person of your age is going thru the same emotions and same feelings as you, if that’s some consolation :) and before you realize, you turn 30 and you will look back and say somehow being 25 was so much more fun.. And that’s life..

These lines from the "Wear Sunscreen" by Baz Luhraman

"Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday "

So there!

Life is a roller coaster..

2007-08-14T20:51:00.000+05:30

Monday morning,woke up with my neck hurting beyond my tolerance levels and before you draw any conclusion ,I did not get involved in a physical brawl or neither was someone trying to strangle me, it was just that I did not manage to keep my head( "If" only I managed to keep my head :) and remembered Rudyard Kipling) on one of those crazy roller coaster rides.. yay finally managed to go to six flags over the weekend. Temperatures soaring and crossing the already uncomfortable 100F and feeling uncomfortable after eating a lot of cashews(I just got greedy, I love cashews) and just minimal sleep the previous night (after watching a late night show of bourne ultimatum- Matt Damon looked like he was born to play Jason Bourne), it wasnt a perfect setting for a theme park outing but neverthless we set out on a mission: to have fun and the destination was six flags St.Louis. It was an all girls outing, all the guys decided that heat was just too much for them to handle.

Temperature - 110F

Wait time for all the rides : 400 minutes

Actual Ride time: 1000 seconds

Thrills : Priceless.

This isn't the first time am going to six flags, but with every trip it only reaffirms my belief that I love roller coasters. I probably still havent been on the worlds most scariest roller coasters and may be I won't and all this considering that while I was in school/college , I was scared to ride on the only roller coaster in town in MGM at that point of time, I sure have come a long way. My personal favorite was the super man tower of terror. Its takes you to a height of probably a 38 (some random number there) storey building, and you are left hanging in there for a few seconds, as you get a glimpse of the whole park and surrounding and you hear the cars next to you drop, you await your turn, and there you go.. those 20 seconds of absolute thrill, there is no time to react or feel when you actually come down and before you realize you are back.. all excited :) and for the speed thrill, Mr.Freeze, the catchline is that its the coolest coaster in town, and for me it sure is, 0-70 mph in like less than 4 seconds, it is a ride that takes you through some great turns and twists and then vertically up, and before you realise you get to relive the entire ride, only this time its backwards and you are back to the start, 100 seconds of pure thrill.
Well there is nothing in the world that is 100% safe, there was a freak accident a month ago on the same superman tower of terror, a teen age girl lost her leg as one of the cables snapped and she came down the ride without her legs, hopefully the doctors will be able to help her walk. But then again the chances that we might get killed in a road accident are more, We still go the beach after the tsunami.

This line from the movie Troy as Achilles points out - " I'll tell you a secret. Something they don't teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again "

Life is a rollercoaster, Just gotta ride it !!

Will Klusener ever forget this or Will we??

2007-08-07T06:05:00.001+05:30

Will SA or Lance Klusener ever forget this?? What a series it was for Lance Klusener, he was single handedly responsible for getting SA to the semis and well so near yet so far.. What a player, Klusener.. under pressure. If only Gibbs did not drop the catch, if only better sense prevailed for the last run.. things would have been so different.. I was never so upset as I was after this match.. well some moments go down in history.. this one surely will in cricketing history.. Klusener may have lost his flair but he was a treat to watch in that series :):)

Gandhigiri....

2007-08-07T03:54:00.000+05:30

After spending many 10 dollars , many friday nights of watching movies from the world of bollywood and some self introspection, I believed - "Like a physicists search for the "Higgs Boson", the hindi film industry's attempt at making movies that can entertain or leave you thinking is only futile". But then again rules or resolutions are meant to be broken. I decided to go and watch Gandhi, my father. "Only one show" they advertised, but yet half the theatre was empty .Jhoom Babarar Jhoom, had people scrambling for seats for the first show. Doesnt it say too much about the audience of the biggest movie industry. I really think the tamil movie industry totally rocks. So many movies in recent times, some masala movies, some youthful, some with a message, but they have been different (Maybe am just biased, but hell do I care, I pay 10$ to watch a movie, I do expect to see something.. yes I paid 20$ to watch Sivaji but I was entertained to its worth and maybe more, ok am a rajni fan ) ok.. back on track. Gandhi, the father of our nation. Reading "My experiments with truth" will make you feel that, he is yet another mortal with his own flaws and limitations and maybe you will get cynical about Gandhi and his principles. This movie takes you thru the life of Gandhi as he is with his elder son Harilal.. There are many things you still dont understand after watching the movie, why is Gandhi upset about his son getting married to a girl he had chosen for him, was he being selfish, did he need his son to be a part of his struggle,sacrificing his life ? but well then he was married too.. at the age of 13 (talk about marriages in those days) and the reason as to why he did not want his son to pursue his dream of studying in London. Barring a few glitches, this movie is a perfect example of a well translated tagline "“One family’s tragedy was the price of a nation’s freedom” onto the big screen. I think Akshaye Khanna as Harilal and Shefali Shah as Kasturba played their role to perfection. Akshaye Khanna has played his role with great conviction and for many people who might criticise this movie saying, a lot of the freedom struggle was thrown in unnecessarily, but isnt Gandhi all about that and that is the exact reason why he did not give the needed attention to his son, when he needed it the most. The film has its moments, you feel the patriotism rise in you.. Whether it is a footage of Panditji delivering his famous "Freedom at Midnight" speech or the scenes in South Africa, the Indian in you will certainly take over. You will be misty eyed everytime you listen to "mile sur" or the soulful rendition of vande mataram or rahman's passionate rendition of the same, so will you be, after watching some scenes in this movie. I did not regret it one bit. A little heavy for a friday evening as it may not be a perfect setting to start the weekend party.. oh yes, sometimes bollywood can make movies which are heart rendering.. A Black and now this one... maybe we should wait for eons before the next one is churned out.. till then.. enjoy some tamil movies and some great movies that hollywood has to offer.. :)

P.S : I love Physics, I tend to read and discover some fascinating things, and today I learnt abt the "Higgs Boson" and it had to find a place in my write up, well what it means is "The Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive scalar elementary particle predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. It is the only Standard Model particle not yet observed, but plays a key role in explaining the origins of the mass of other elementary particles"..

Wow.. !!

2007-07-31T01:13:00.000+05:30

Its time to exclaim, if you are an Indian cricket fan, its time to rejoice for we don't know how often we will get to see this.. especially when its an overseas tour..

"Stumps - Day 4 - India require another 63 runs with 10 wickets remaining "

Hopefully tomorrow this time, we should be celebrating an Indian victory.. except ofcourse for the 'if' factor and the weather gods decide to break even, by bringing in the rains this time to help England, like they did to help India in the last test match from a sure shot defeat, or even better its not over until its really over, when the task at hand is to be completed by our famed batting line up..
And Enjoy this as well while it lasts, I don't even remember the last time I saw every single batman in our famed batting top order reach a double digit score.. surely a treat to the sore eye:

India 1st innings R M B 4s 6s SR

KD Karthik c Cook b Panesar 77 188 136 11 0 56.61
W Jaffer c Prior b Tremlett 62 175 123 7 0 50.40
R Dravid c Bell b Panesar 37 136 94 5 0 39.36
Tendulkar lbw b Collingwood 91 259 197 12 0 46.19
Ganguly c Prior b Anderson 79 233 156 10 1 50.64
VVS Laxman c Prior b Tremlett 54 183 152 7 0 35.52

Fingers crossed!

Update: India actually won the match.. :)

Watz On uR mInD ?

2007-07-28T03:15:00.000+05:30

What’s on prime time news these days? What is the nation debating about? World over, people are debating over the right age to impart "sex education", In India (a country of rich heritage, culture and all that, oh yaa its also the land of Kamasutra), talking about "birds and the bees" is still controversial, Its quite startling to see how this debate is taking moral and culture turns instead of actually debating how and when this knowledge has to be imparted. After all it wasn’t the storks who brought us to our moms. Well, this is just the start of double standards which Indians maintain. And if you are a woman, you are subjected to the societal double standards too, you cant really blame an Indian woman when she states that she has never held hands with a man, she is conditionally stating that she doesn’t have loose morals and values. Well I am not a feminist by any chance, but I do think there is a lot in this society in favor of men, maybe it is just the reflection of an age old tradition where the man was the only bread winner for the family and everything revolved around him, I know things are changing and that India as a nation itself is in a transition, so is its culture, and everything. We only hope, that as we move forward we take in the best of both worlds and not just ape the west. One of the major ways in which traditional societies control behavior of the young is by taboos. This is just a continuation of that mind set. Isn’t it a universal truth that when are asked to not do something, your curiosity levels are on the rise. It is high time that we realize, understanding human body and talking about human body parts is not a sin at all. The more you know, the more mature you will be and its definitely essential in a country like ours where diseases like HIV are on a rise in exponential variations, at least people will know how to be safe. If not in school, with the exposure that kids get these days, they are going to find the information from elsewhere which could be so misleading. Simply put, everybody has a right of information, and why should one be ashamed of learning about your own body and natural instincts. Without getting 'emotional' and 'subjective', do we get 'upset' when we read about how the world wars happened or when we read about the twin bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It's part of the subject (history) but why not this. Well I agree, its a little touchy or a sensitive thing to handle or teach about, but teachers are professionals too, they are qualified to teach. If only a medical professor was embarrassed to talk about human body to his students or if you gynecologist starts blushing every time you go for a check up. Well not many parents may be forthcoming, it can at least be made an optional subject with only those students having parental consent. Well if you are wondering what is the connection between the subject and the whole write up, absolutely nothing :). These are just some random muses and that’s just my two cents.

Life after Harry Potter...

2007-07-24T21:03:00.000+05:30

"All good things do come to an end",so has the harry potter series, with the final part - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows releasing the past weekend across 200 countries and 60 languages. The past 10 years has been quite a magical journey for JK Rowling, so has it been for all of us readers. Her personal life is what we can call the typical rags to riches story, but the difference being, in her case, she has taken a few million readers world wide on a journey, quite magical, simply fascinating and most of all an out of the world experience. I did manage to read book 5 and 6 in like straight 10 hours, but with the last part,I was taking my time, read it over two days, but nothing changed, as always I was living in a different world as I set out to read this book, the world of Hogwarts, the dashing Wizard, known to the world as Harry Potter, spells and curses, plots so amazingly intertwined and set, this is one hell of a magical story. I could never make up my mind whether Snape was good or bad, whether Dumbledore was actually helping Harry.. but being confused is normal, and it did lay a perfect setting and curiousity levels for me to read this book and well boy o boy, was I thrilled for I think this book is simply brilliant, everything falls into place, and yes its the last of the Harry Potter series. I knew the magical journey was going to end as I read thru every single page.To all the people who will dismiss this as another children's fantasy story, I would beg to differ, it's one of those books that has all the ingredients to capture the minds of all ages alike. To all the LOTR fans, there is definetly no argueing with JRR tolkeins master creation, he is the father of fantasy literature,Period. I will definetly not compare Harry Potter, cos for me Harry Potter is really of a different genre, its just pure magic and we are not trying to get into an argument here. But I simply love Potter, I have enjoyed reading each of the books, the boxed edition of the entire series will find place in my home library (whenever I manage to set up one) alongside the calvin and hobbes complete edition that I already own :). The magical journey that Rowling takes all her readers thru is simply enchanting will leave the readers asking for more. Its not a simple story with some fantasy thrown in at random intervals, nor is it an intellectual story with great knowledge being thrust upon you. Its a great story, a fantabulous one at that. The one that will leave you "spell" bound (literally). Whether its buying the book on the day of the release,trying to read it at one stretch, ignoring everything else till you are done with the book, trying to watch a potter movie on the first day, being a part of a harry potter club at work, celebrating a release of the book by printing tshirts (yes it happened in Infosys Chennai when book 6 released), I would cherish every moment of it. I don't know how many times I will re-read this series but I surely will. When JK Rowling went around creating this character -Harry Potter atttending the Hogwarts school, little would see have realized the character she created was going to be a phenomenon. For all those people out there who still havent gotten around reading this one,you should read. Period. You don't know what you are missing in life :). With a heavy heart I will have to say that, as much as I was looking forward to reading the final part, I will really miss the "looking forward to" part of it now.It's hard to believe and come to terms that there will be no more of Harry Potter, but then.. Amen!

Unconditional Love...

2007-07-07T00:32:00.000+05:30

Can be quite an oxymoron.. check this out, Nikil Chinnapa's take on it... :)

http://content.msn.co.in/Lifestyle/Moreonlifestyle/LifestyleIS_1116.htm#top

yeh hi hai right C.H.O.I.C.E baby !! aha!!

2007-03-23T07:18:00.000+05:30

A sudden crave to watch tamil movies, its been so long since I watched one... talking about tamil movies also reminded me of superstar rajnikanth... so I ended up listening to some of his songs... well and this one song of his ... from the movie Padaiyappa...

"Thaiiya therndhu edakum, thandhaiyai therndhu edakum - Urimai unnidathil illai
Nirathai therndhu edakum, mugathai therndhu edakum - Urimai unnidathil illai
Pirapai therndhu edakum, irrapai therndhu edakum - Urimai unnidathil illai
Yenni parkum velayil undan vazhkai mattum undhan kaiyil undu, adhai vendru edu'

which roughly translates to -

We dont have the right to choose who our mother and father are going to be..
We dont have the right to choose our face and our race
We dont have the right to choose the time of our birth or the time of our death
But we do have the choice to live this life of ours the way we want, and to make a success story out of it....

How true......

But the choices that we all make in our life are -

Sometimes cos we are restricted by societal norms
Sometimes thats is the best thing to do cos everyone else thinks its the best thing to do
Sometimes cos we want to make another person happy
Sometimes cos you want to make your dear ones happy
Sometimes cos thats the only thing you know to do
Sometimes cos we dont have any other choice...
But how many times do we do things cos that will make us happy... ??

Whatever we choose to do....
Que Sera Sera ("Whatever Will be, Will be") ......

This is an Experience -

2006-11-10T10:32:00.000+05:30

I have lost count of the number of times I've repeated this story, I can still tell it once more.... :)

I dont even know if I can relate to or even come close to expressing what this experience actually meant to me or how it actually felt at that point of time, but I shall still make an attempt.

Background : Discussing sports or taking to any kind of sport does not fit into the "typical girl" thing, ofcourse you can't blame us can you -we have many other interests ( you got to read those girly teen books, spend time in front of the mirror to get ready , discuss chocolates and guys) Well then as things had to happen, I started to watch cricket, courtesy the 1996 world cup.. and since then I have been a regular..(the other incentive is you get to watch some good looking guys) .. I started to like the game, I like the passion the people in India have for this game, I like the atmosphere in the stadium during a live match (what a better place than Chennai's Chidambaram stadium to enjoy a live match), I like the fact that it is family time , when India plays Pakistan the whole family is around cheering and rooting for India, everything else takes a back seat... when there is a cricket match on and if India is playing.. It cant get bigger than this game..
The game has a following more than any religion, so it wont be hard to believe the players are larger than life and treated on par to a royal, ofcourse ridiculed if they dont perform to their expectations, utmost pressure and burden of the entire nation to perform and ofcourse paid for it.You play for India for a while, you can save to live the rest of your life in luxury. When it comes to personal favourites, to each their own, never debate with the good old timers about their personal favourites, dont tell them gavaskar was a selish player, they might hate you for the rest of their life.I had many favourites , Tendulkar for one, he is the darling of the nation, everybody loves Tendulkar in India( atleast once upon a time, if Tendulkar plays well India wins, else India loses).I loved the agression of Ganguly, I still think he is the best Captain for India. But my personal favourite is Rahul Dravid, the consistent, cool, stylish player, he is not flamboyant in his game or in life and he was ofcourse every teenage girls hearthrob, good looking, conservative, stylish ... and the countries most eligible bachelor at one point of time and he was definetely one at the time this article is set in.. girls swooned over him everywhere he went, comfortably won all the polls about who was the most eligible bachelor in India... and me was no exception, a hard core crazy dravid loyal and a fan. While in college, before life's foremost ambitions came into the picture, to meet Rahul Dravid was a dream, was a dream any girl of my age (fourth year in college and remember he still was single and eligible) would want to live...
Fourth year of college, Seventh semester examination, first exam- Mathematics - Date October 17th 2002(Thursday), the same day the test match between India and the touring West Indies was set to begin in Chennai's Chidambaram stadium. I was all set for my examinations, trying to remember some complex formulae, ready to leave home to take my first exam, just glanced thru The Hindu, my day just wudnt go thru, if I did not get a chance to atleast glance thru the news paper in the morning. I spotted something.. a PEPSI advertisement which said, Wanna meet Rahul and Zaheer?? Just call a number and complete a slogan about why you would want to share a Pepsi with Rahul and Zaheer. Well it just registered in my brain and I forgot all about it. Mathematics and checking out the last minute details about how to work different sums, was now my priority as I set out to take my first exam. The exam was over, I did quite ok (it doesnt matter how I did not exam now, does it??).. My next exam was Digital Electronics, had a four day break in between. It was scheduled for the following tuesday. And now what next, went with my friends to a coffee shop to take a break, relive some funny moments in the exam, play a game of ludo... and then as we set back home, I remembered this ad that I saw in the morning, the whole way back home( we travelled a little more than an hour to college), I had all the time in the world to think of how I needed to complete the slogan, so much so that even as I was talking to my friends, this was the only thing that was at the back of my mind and that I get home, did not answer my mom's routine question of how I did my exam, went straight picked up the newspaper and dialled that number and told my slogan. The deal about the meeting was that, about 10 people would be selected among all of the callers and they would get to meet Rahul and Zaheer over dinner. And you would get a call that Sunday morning if you were selected and the event was scheduled sunday night. Remember it was still thursday. I then set out studying for my next exam. Saturday night, a few friends from my neighbourhood came home, I was still with my digital electronics text book. They all dropped by to find out how I was doing, and I just turned to them and said, I was thinking about which dress I should wear if I were to meet Dravid the next day, my mom over heard this and said, stop dreaming and get back to studying. That night before I went to sleep I told myself, tomorrow night this time, I would have either met Rahul or I would not. The D day arrived, it was sunday.. I did not let anybody talk over the phone for more than 2 minutes. The phone did ring, I answered and it was a wrong number ( I did not write this to build any suspense, it actually happened) and then it rang again, this time I picked up the phone and the voice at the other end just ended up saying what I wanted to hear... "We are calling from Pepsi, Could we speak to Lakshmi Prabha"... I just knew at that moment... the moment I was waiting for had arrived :).. I was so elated that I could not believe if it was true. I was actually going to meet Rahul Dravid that evening alongside Zaheer Khan.

2006-09-30T10:07:00.000+05:30

I havent been blogging for a while... various reasons... but I did not want this to be just another of those interests which just fade away with time, am all set for the second innings, will probably be more regular this time around..... here is something that I had written a long time ago ... so am starting with that.....

And here my story goes on...................

Aren't we all tired of listening, hearing and watching the same old story where boy meets girl and they lived happily ever after. The art of story telling has always fascinated me for a long time and I wanted to write a story for a long time!!!(I can c many faces frowning on reading this).Our Grand old story tellers have lent me their theme on lease..... ( soo.. its exactly what u fear...Im gonna write a story.... ...).I’m gonna tell u a story with a difference....(they say differences bring people together.... but I say words and lyrics from different songs world over can u bring the story.. my thinking skills have gone to the dumps so I have used the only resourse my ear fones... ure gonna read lyrics from all the songs that im listening to rite now)..A story if u can actually call this one ..... don’t ask me wat it is!!!! All weak hearts(who look for some sense in wat they read) plzzzz this is not for u, u can as well as carry on with ure work!! hmm All u strong hearted (ppl who can take the nonsense ) plzz go ahead and read this tale o'mine

With due apologies to the song writers all around the world ,here begins.... (I give u the priveledge of calling it whatever u feel like calling it after reading it)

Its summer time and the weather is fine,
In the middle of the night
I have been walking in my sleep
thru the desert of dark,
thru the river of dreams
thinking about Absolutely everybody
Absolutely everybody in the whole wide world....

Came across this Pretty woman walking down the streets
whose eyes seem to tell "hey I feel lonely"

It seemed to me that she had lived her entire life like a Candle in the wind
and I was singing to her
I can see in ure eyes,
I can see in ure smiles
ure all that I wanted

She tells me" That dont impress me much"

And Promises I make
Wherever u go, Whatever U do
I'll be rite there for u
And she still did not seem to understand the
Rhythm of my heart

I go down on my knees and say"Love me 4 wat I am"

She walked as if she was tellin "It wasn't me"
I go on and on and on saying
"plz give me one more chance, why shudnt and y cudnt I fall in love"

And told her that" the only thing that looks Good on me is u"
She seemed to say" can't help it if u don't look good in anything else"

Well I still go ........... my hearts set on fire
"baby i wud love u to want me the way that it should be"

She broke my heart with a quiver of arrows. I started singing "Quit playing games with my heart, It’s only words and words all that I have to take ure heart away"

Then I c her walking away with the guy of her dreams(hmmm I was thinkin abt pahla nasha...........)

Lets take the chance of happy ending
The past can stop the heart from mending
Somethings are Better Best Forgotten

Well that ends my story( wonderin y it ended abruptly.... hmm well if u ask me what the point of the whole story was..... I only wish I knew)

Dunno how many of u survived to read thru this ......... kudos to u guys!!!

Disclaimer: All charaters in this ...(watever) are purely fictional and any resemblences to any living or dead character is purely coincidental.... the writer or...( dunno wat to call myself) shall bear no responsiblity to any damage created to anybody's senses!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-05-22T23:08:00.000+05:30

Two posts in two successive days, am neverthless thrilled about it (it doesnt take too much for me to get thrilled), my previous post was not entirely original, it was an inspired write up(partly original), It didnt give me too much of a creative satisfaction (well even if its a write up that does not make sense and if its yours, it still feels good), so I actually thought I had to do something about it, and the topic had to be something that I could write about anytime, and every blog that I checked had its take on this, well here's my take .......

Arranged Or Love...

Is the most oft asked question - when you say you are going to attend a wedding, your friend is getting married, your friends sister is getting
married, or some random person whom you once gossiped about is getting married, and then you could be getting married.. and then the never ending debate of which one works better.. there is nothing like an ideal marriage, just like an ideal spouse, its all about making it work, about sacrifices or atleast so have I heard from people..
Well take most instances of people who are in love, ask them how did they decide that the person was the right one, 90 out of 100 will tell you "INSTINCT" , ask people who had to decide over a cup of coffee or over
just a 5 minute conversation in this whole saga of arranged marriage,
most of them would still say "INSTINCT"

( am not talking about forced marriages here, thats a different story altogether).

Sanjay and Zarine Khan decided they were made for each other, the very first day they met over a casual stroll on the beach ( they were 19 and
14 at that time), Anil Ambani and Tina Munim hadnt seen or spoken to each other for over two years after they decided to part ways, before Anil decided to break the silence and they got married, they say things could have gone so many ways in these two years but they are just destined to get together.
Both these marriages have worked or so have many others, Jackie Shroff first saw his wife in a Video library and then decided she was the one for him or is this one better, hrithik saw Susanne khan at his sisters engagement party and told his friend that "that girl" was gonna be his, he even had no clue who she was, what happened after that is well known to the whole world.
( Courtesy: Rendezvous with Simi Garewal and my ever favorite magazine FILMFARE).

And we all know of the countless arranged marriages which have been success stories, for atleast till a little while ago, LOVE marriages were considered a crime in the soceity. Times have changed or atleast have started to change, people have become more receptive to the idea, though they may not entirely approve of it. Just like most of us who are just in love, with the idea of being in love, than being in love, parents are beginning to see reason in the choice of their children. I still know many of our generation who very conciously avoid getting into a relationship for fear of upsetting their parents and the
same holds good for parents who still believe that they know best
when it comes to choosing a life partner for their children. Either ways,
it is the rest of a lifetime that we are talking about,

for holy matrimony is considered a bonding for a lifetime and everyone tries hard to make it work atleast in our Soceity.

There is always a flip side to this, not all arranged marriages are made in heaven, not all love marriages are rosy.. people who have had an
arranged marriage may realise they are just two different people and

cannot be compatible, then in love marriage, most often people

try to change the very basic characteristic in a person that they

fell in love with, then the blame game starts, who was responsible

for getting the match fixed, atleast in case of a love marriage,

you had made your choice, you live and you learn, but in the case of an arranged marriage, its just the case that your parents might be

supportive.. and then not to forget arranged marriages are the only

option for poor souls who got dumped, who were not able to impress

anybody or that they just did not meet the right person, but there is always someone for everyone in an arranged marriage.

They say "All relationships come with an expiry date, just that in most cases, the man or woman will expire... "

"In arranged marriages DESTINY chooses you, In love marriages you choose your DESTINY "....
either ways its destiny...... :):)
( I would like to say that I came up with this quote but recently I heard some one saying the same thing on TV, nobody would now believe if I say it was my
original quote)

"Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are
half chance. So are everybody else's." - Baz Luhrmann (Wear Sunscreen)

"Dining or whining... "

2006-05-21T20:07:00.000+05:30

Waiters who keep you waiting
Your hot date who is so cool, but you have to pay for her as well.. (oh yaa, you remember those people who said, a thing of beauty is a joy forever, but only until your credit card bill arrives..)
Your hot date who can talk thru with an empty wallet.. (He is spending all his money to get his muscles toned and of course you fell for that muscles which are bigger than his brains or wallet.. )
Menu cards that have alien, tongue twister names ... (the complexity of the name is directly proportional to the price)

Fine dining in Chennai's stylish restaurants can be rather unnerving, where else do you dress up to get a dressing down... ,
"the probability of meeting some one you know (in these so called stylish cool eat outs) increases when you are with someone you don’t want to be seen with" ( I google’d to find out that this was called the Ruby's principle of close encounters")

All this can last only for a while, before there is a day when you are broke, depressed , suicidal , especially when you don’t have enough money to take your "real " date ( you had to pursue her for a year and she finally agreed) out for dinner ( you had spent all your money on those innumerable dates , they were just not worth it)

Dining Culture in this so called conservative Chennai has taken a 360 degree turn from what it was a few years ago, we can take "pride" in the fact that it is the software industry that has caused this revolution ( ok ok we might have just contributed for a 330 degree turn.. ), the multitude of hotels that have sprung up on the ECR is just proof enough, you know they also give you a 10% discount if you are from a software company but I wonder if anybody else (the non-software kind)has even heard of them ... This is for a weekday lunch. If you can manage to get the time to go out for dinner (your project manager is a major deciding factor, the day he has time, everybody else invariably has to be free) , the hospitality of some of Chennai’s best hotels will be judged by your team, even as the top management of these hotels will be holding meetings in some part of the world to discuss how to serve you better( which only means, they are discussing what are the other ways to swindle your money) and the Finance Minister is busy contemplating increasing the tax for food and beverages.

"Those fruit forks, steak knives, dinner tables, starched table linen, table manners" , have you ever thought of moving ahead of all these and try out Chennai's very own "Road side dhabbas" and "Beach Bajji stalls".. This is the real eating “OUTSIDE” experience. But then again remember Eating out will not kill you but it just might, but dont worry in the long run it might just increase your immunity. You dont want to be like those paranoid people who think of the innumerable diseases even as they read the menu, you dont want to be called those overprotected, mineral water spoilt people, dont you??

Whatever is your style, eating out is just another way of spending some “quality time” with people, unwinding, or just chilling out …. and an excuse for people who just dont want to cook at home.... Happy Dining :)

2 Blog oR Not 2 blog

2006-05-14T20:48:00.000+05:30

In my attempt to try and explore, I landed up at this astrological site and tried this free reading for me... this is what it had to say..

"You have an extremely active, lively and versatile mind with a multitude of interests and an inexhaustible curiosity about life. You are quick to grasp new concepts and equally quick to lose interest in an idea or project once your curiosity has been satisfied. You like to taste a little bit of everything...”

Considering my different attempts in life:

1. To learn to play the guitar - I’ve always been passionate about music and of course the guitar and to prove that, I had to take guitar lessons, I was of course a nightmare for my guitar instructor, even after 4 months of training, I can’t shift chords fluently. Now that was almost a year ago, now with renewed interest, during one of those random shopping days at landmark, I have now invested a little more than a grand on this "How to play the guitar" book... I hope I survive my attempt this time.. and well play "Hotel California" some day.

2. Dancing: If you want to know what having two left feet means, you got to see me dance, of course that doesn’t stop me from enrolling for a free trial session only to decide formal dancing aint my cup of tea... and moved on.. well dancing is my passion ;);)

3. BOOKS: I absolutely love reading books, that’s one interest that’s probably stayed with me for my entire life and will always be.

4. Theatre: I love watching plays, during one of those days, I of course did have a fleeting interest to perform live on stage, and of course I did not make any further attempt, not that I would have gone beyond an initial orientation session to decide this aint for me.

5. RJ’ing: A big fan of Niladri Bose and radio, I wanted to be a RJ that I even mailed Niladri to find out if there was formal training to be a RJ, he even replied asking me to attend one of his workshops. and then again... of course I dint go to his workshop, need I say more..

6. Journalism: I am sure people will be much relieved that I did not take to this profession, imagine the torture of being subjected to read all that I write ( I am just being a little optimistic that if I did choose to be a journalist someone would recruit me)..

And now coming to the whole purpose of this post, I like writing, after contemplating for one whole year “Should I blog or Should I not”, finally my inexhaustible curiosity in life took the better of me... and voila.. This is my Blog and this is my first post.....

*Disclaimer: For all those people who have been forced to visit my blog... I hold no responsibility for disorienting your gray matter... but then again thanks for visiting this page... :-) & for the people who accidentally stumbled on this page... GOD Bless you!!