Music Festival 2006

While browsing this morning, I found this interesting website with details on the December Music Festival schedule in Chennai. Better late than never, but I thought this would be extremely helpful for all those Carnatic music lovers out there.

Here, you can look for the music schedule either by sabha or by artiste. Contact/tickets/reviews et al can be found in the same site.

Have a musical month (Dec-Jan)!

Top 20 reasons to be a Woman

1. Free drinks, free dinners, free movies (you get the point)
2. We get out of speeding tickets by crying
3. New lipstick gives us a whole new lease on life
4. We can sue the President for sexual harassment
5. Brad Pitt!!!
6. No one passes out when we take off our shoes
7. We can congratulate our teammate without ever touching her ass
8. We have the ability to dress ourselves
9. We pout better (those puppy dog eyes always work!)
10. We're cuter
11. We lie better
12. We’re better manipulators
13. We have an excuse to be a total bitch at least once a month
14. We can talk to people of the opposite sex without having to picture them naked
15. We get candy, flowers and jewelry all the time ‘cos men screw up so often
16. There are times when chocolate really can solve all our problems
17. Our friends don't pick on us if we aren't sleeping with anyone
18. We’ll never regret piercing our ears
19. Most women actually look good in short shorts- men DON'T
20. If we’re dumb, some people will find it cute <grin>

Source: Internet

I Hate Being Good!

What better way to send a Christmas wish than through Bill Watterson's words? See what he has to say here...



Me too! <grin>

Happy Holidays!!!

A friendship, I hope will last forever

This post is dedicated to a special friend.

It is true that a professional blogger should focus on writing posts for the audience that frequently haunts one’s blog. Albeit I am not a pro, I did make a conscious effort at doing so during the initial phases of my blogging experience, which later turned into a personal memoranda of thoughts and opinions being poured into my personal space.

I promise to get back to blogging on more generic subjects after this one last personal post.

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Since the time I’ve been blogging, (which is about three months ago,) this friend has been constantly bugging me and been asking if he will ever feature in any of my posts, and if yes, what will it be about? Honestly, although I had promised him that there will be a post about him, I brushed it aside and didn’t bother to give it any serious thought. But now, thinking about it, I reckon, how could it hurt to write about someone whose mere thought/call/IM/email brings me immense joy!?!

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It was a little more than a year ago when I first met him on the Monday I first reported to my new employer. His desk, diagonally behind mine, remained empty till he walked in at 2:00 PM. Not that I am Miss. Punctual, but the fact that one could walk into work much after lunch hour, shabbily dressed, excessively grown scalp and facial hair, with a dull “like-I-care” gait, (all this with an easy air of confidence around him) at 2:00 in the afternoon, appalled me.

I instantly disliked him!

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Since then, he has made numerous decent efforts to win over my discomfort level with him and in the process created an utterly sweet relationship. I have had my share of a lot of close friends in the past that I am grateful for, but often, they are short-lived and fade away sooner than I expect it to. Mostly, because I slip away from keeping in touch and sometimes because they do. But I’ve never had any regrets; none at all; sometimes I wish to stop just for that; to stop with good memories and not risk what I already have…

Anyway, getting back to reality, here’s a note for a friend who has made a great deal of difference in me. I ain’t that great with poems, but here’s a sincere effort…

When in a friend like you, I will always cherish
All those days when the dark clouds did perish
In a jiffy, would you bring a smile on my lips
Then follows, the unmistakable trail of your annoying blips

Shine unto me every single day
Your chirpy self, all true and gay
Bind us together with the adhesive of love
Fit in together like a perfect glove

An email, an IM, a chat, a call
Keep me grinning until I roll on the floor and have a ball
Promise to keep bugging me with those noises
Believe me! To my ears those are the sweetest voices


I can’t thank you enough for all the snickers that I can’t count, the endless amount of luncheons, the innumerable milkshakes/juices …

Thanks Allen for being there for me, whenever I needed you, and whenever I didn’t :). You're the best thing that happened to me in a long long time!

* Hugs *

The Cries of Men in Agony!

IMHO, this post is in perfect timing for a Christmas message.

I received this forward from my sister yesterday, and since then, I had wanted to write out a narrative of what I thought about the forward, but then decided against writing. It turns out, a picture can say a thousand, nay, a million words… and so here it is.

Clearly, Christmas is not just a day to celebrate the birth of Christ, but also to follow what Christ preached, “Love They Enemy"

In conjunction to the above, rightly pointed out by my sister, I got reminded by a song I learnt in school about a decade ago! Here’s my attempt at recalling the song…

The world stands in need of Liberation my Lord
It still has to feel your power

The blind and the deaf
The dumb and the maimed
All need to feel your healing touch!

The world stands in need of Liberation my Lord
It still has to learn to love

There are those who have eyes but refuse to see the inhumanity that’s done
There are those who have ears but refuse to hear the cries of men in agony

The world stands in need of Liberation my Lord
It still has to learn to love

There are those who have mouths but refuse to speak against injustice done to others
There are those who have hands but refuse to help them out

The world stands in need of Liberation my Lord
It still has to feel your power

The blind and the deaf
The dumb and the maimed
All need to feel your healing touch!

The world stands in need of Liberation my Lord
It still has to learn to love

A silent prayer going out to all those differently abled men and women!

Chennai IT Corridor - Pleasure or Pain?

A little more than a year behind schedule, the IT Corridor project with the State Highways Department still seems to be giving problems to fellow commuters. The 200 crore rupee project that includes strengthening and widening of the road between Madhya Kailash at Adyar and Siruseri on Old Mahapalipuram Road, which was supposed to have completed in December 2005 in phases, still isn’t! In fact, I’d say any road beyond NIFT (that is 3 km) isn’t worth driving on right now.

(Picture courtesy: The Hindu)

A couple of days back, I was talking to my cousin, Manu, working with CTS in Thoraipakkam, and he told me about the hassle all the employees that commute to work beyond this first stretch, face. He aptly chose to put it as “Since they are beautifying the road with fountains and trees/plants in this first stretch, we still have bumpy roads for about 10 km at least before we reach work!” Aaah! Now that’s a shame. He refuses to take his brand new Skoda Octavia because of this and chooses to ride down on his scooty to work; darn, that sure sounds painfully funny. You know why it’s painful; but why is it funny? Because, his fat self sits on poor tiny scooty… LOL!

Now back to our topic, we know for sure the Government is not going to take any action on this matter (No, we won’t learn from the Bangalore experience. We will continue to bring in new employers, provide for 20,000 new jobs and have lousy infrastructure.) For all you know, there are going to be Malls and Supermarkets popping up along side this road soon and tolls would be levied (but naturally!). The only question is, why is it taking such an unreasonably long time to complete?? Considering, they were awfully delayed at the start of the project itself, why is the “beautification” so important at this point??

At such a rate, all hopes of the project getting complete by the end of June 2007 is already lost. Hopefully, the company that is monitoring this project lays some stringent milestones and deadlines soon, so the morning commuters can heave a sign of relief!

Happy Birthday, Ramya!

(Picture courtesy: Google)

Today is my sister's birthday. And no, I didn't surprise her with a gift this year, simply because she said she didn't want anything. It’s not the shy expression "Oh I don't want anything..." It was the “No, don’t buy anything this time.” I didn’t bother to argue with her ‘cause when she says something, she means every syllable of it. And why doesn’t she want any present? Maybe she thought it best not to get me into all the trouble of getting a gift for her and then end up customizing it for my use!?! [grin]. That’s right. I’ve always been grabbing her gifts and often, I choose gifts keeping in mind MY requirements. Sly, aint I?

So that explains why I didn’t get her a gift. But of course I can wish her, here in my space. So here it is, to the one person that loves me unconditionally! Playing multiple roles; sister, mother, grand mother (when she places her hand on her hips and gives me that dirty look following some mischief of mine), friend, guide, money manager; AND plays them all pretty well with great finesse… here’s wishing you a great birthday and a wonderful year ahead!!! Muuaah!

And since I am terrible at a birthday song, here’s a post from Prasita, with a birthday poem for you!

The Open Door: A Mature Effort

The Open Door, the music album by rock band Evanescence, released in September 2006 is arguably a very mature effort by the band after their first release Fallen.

A friend of mine, Beta, was good enough to drop the album with me a few weeks ago. Although at first, honestly I was a little disappointed to hear their tracks, listening to this album for the second or third time, really made a positive impression on me.

The Open Door, which is certainly not another Fallen, has more bold lyrics as opposed to the edgy ones in Fallen. “Call me when you’re sober” referred to most people as their most successful single, didn’t sound catchy to me. Lyrically biting with dark music, I didn’t think it would be accessible to a wider audience.

Either ways, I like Lithium and Good Enough a lot. Lithium has very nice piano work and it’s undoubtedly Amy’s best vocal in the album. Sweet Sacrifice reminded me of Haunted from Fallen and Like You was written by Amy Lee in memory of her sister; a rather boring song compared to the rest.

Taken as a whole, although Fallen was a classic, I have to agree that The Open Door is an amazing piece of work by the entire band. With its distinctly dissimilar lyrics and music, it's a great album to listen to.

Rock on Evanescence!!!

Forfeiture

Time ticks away, as did I spend
Looking above at the stars
When the hopeless day did end
Night befell and left behind the scars

Looking back in time
Of the once innocent trait
That turned into crime
And made me a bait

Caught me off-guard, fought away my blue
Cherished every moment and made me anticipate
But say goodbye if you really want to
Without a whisper, make your escape

The Ultimate Latin Lover

An idle mind is the devil's workshop. How true!

Was searching for Antonio Banderas fan videos and found this one. A video tribute to the actor Antonio Banderas - The Ultimate Latin Lover! ;)

PS: If you're wondering what is special... I don't need a reason to pay a tribute to him!

Only in Bollywood

I watched yet another one of those mundane Bollywood movies last night. Mundane, because I can almost tell what is going to happen in the next 3 hours before they present the first couple of scenes.

Come to think of it, almost all Indian movies follow some conventions. There are certain rules that are a mandate and should be followed with strict diligence. Others may or may not be followed depending on the screenplay that has been adopted from one of the other Indian movies, or from Hollywood.

• Rule #1: The guy and girl will hate each other on first sight; Or, the guy and girl will fall in love at first sight. They will not fall in love gradually! [Note: There is no surpassing this rule.]


• The hero and heroine would run across a narrow road to meet each other for a full two minutes (with violins playing in the background) her silken hair falling over her face under the scorching sun!!! And we, like retards wonder why it takes her such a long time to run across or why any other vehicle hasn’t passed through yet.


• When the hero is 20, the heroine (18) would move in right across the hero’s house (Rule of thumb: the heroine should have lost at least one parent before moving in.) Rule #1 follows…


• The show cannot run without a villain. The hero evidently gets into trouble with the villain, mostly because of the heroine.


• If either the hero or the heroine has a child, you can bet your last buck, that the spouse is dead or the child is not theirs. Otherwise, how can you justify them falling in love? After all, we are Indians, extra-marital relationship isn’t typical yet!


• In the event of one of the stars having lost his/her spouse, there HAS to be a classified story behind his/her death. That is mandatory! Much to the frustration of the movie-goer, the story will not be told almost till the end of the movie.


• The villain, who has been wanting to kill the hero for a full two and a half hours (off late three hours), once encountered with the hero toward the end of the movie, pistol on hand, will keep talking (giving gyan) to our hero until the hero comes up with a brilliant idea and be-hold… the hero not only gets away, but all of a sudden, the tables turn, and the villain is dead!


• That’s not all… at least six songs (one needs to be romantic and another needs to be feet-tapping), sing and dance around trees with music in the background, beach, bikini, mountains, get transported to Mars within seconds (NASA needs to stop spending all their time and money and simply take classes from Indian cinema makers).

Now, aren’t we morons???

All the same; don’t miss DHOOM 2 and Don; you’d be missing a lot in life if you didn’t watch them hunks and babes in wide screen! [grin]

Of Death and Myth...

To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure!
- Albus Dumbledore

Been too distracted to post anything sensible in the past few days….

Often times I fall short in understanding the ways of religion. I’d rather follow certain values that I truly believe in and discard the others, than blindly follow all of them.

It sure is hard to comprehend why religion would ask you to pour milk in the mouth of the deceased; or better yet, throw rice on their face?!? A lot like punishing the kith and kin of the departed soul...I’d say!

Death doesn’t affect me to a very great degree. But rituals and ceremonies such as these really start to concern me, even if the dead isn’t one of my near and dear...

You are already mourning the death of a dear one, observing sorrow… and then, how do you justify performing rituals that are even more disturbing??

Leonardo da Vinci said “Our life is made by the death of others.” If that is true, and if matter can neither be created nor destroyed, then why do people have to die?!? And go to the nether world?!? Where is that?

I know I sound silly, but talking about it, I get reminded of a Sheldon book I read a very long time ago... don’t remember too much of the excerpt, but here it is:

"Life's a very thin thread; it only takes a second to snap it!" I can't agree more...

BBC Rowing Song

Stumbled upon this inspirational rowing song (by Brisbane Boys' College) while browsing...

Verse 1

Glorious April weather,
Southerly blows the breeze;
Blade on the feather, Shade of the trees;
We’ll all swing together,
Our bodies between our knees;
We’ll all swing together,
Our bodies between our knees.

Verse 2

Cricket may be more clever,
Football may make more row,
But we’ll swing together,
Steady from the bow;
And nothing on earth shall sever
The ties that are round us now;
And nothing on earth shall sever
The ties that are round us now.

Verse 3

Quickly the stream is flowing
Back to the sheds again;
Quickly the months are going,
Months that will make us men;
Worst of all is knowing
That we shall be Old Boys then.
Worst of all is knowing
That we shall be Old Boys then.

Verse 4

Others will take our places,
Steer to success anew;
We’ll recollect our races,
We’ll to the flag be true;
And youth shall be in our faces
As we cheer for a BBC crew;
And youth shall be in our faces
As we cheer for a BBC crew.

Verse 5

Forty years hence such weather
May tempt us from office stools;
We may be slow on the feather,
And seem to the boys old fools;
But we’ll swing, swing together
And swear by the best of schools.
But we’ll swing, swing together
And swear by the best of schools.

Workshop on PMP Certification

For all those aspiring to appear for the widely accepted PMI's Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification, there is a four-day workshop on PMP Certification held by The Computer Society of India, Chennai Chapter, in association with Digital Illusion India on December 2, 3, 9, and 10.

The highlights of the programme are how to apply for PMP, how to prepare, and how to emerge successfully. The programme is designed for professionals with a minimum of five years of experience including middle and senior managers. You need to register in advance though!

For registration and further details on venue, email csimds[at]gmail[dot]com.

Chennai Police Goes Global!!!

Received this as a forward, and found them in Panangal Park too.

Chennai cops get new cars...

Chennai Police goes NYPD Style with 100 new Hyundai Accents !!!

7 Boys and a Pizza Hut

Last weekend, I had dinner at Pizza Hut. It had been a long time since I had had pizzas and it was perfect timing since my parents were not at home that evening and I didn’t bother to make dinner by myself. Since it was a Sunday, the T-Nagar Pizza Hut exceeded its seating limits and I found a few people sitting outside waiting for their table. There were four, 11-year old boys sitting outside in those miniature chairs that look like the chairs kept outside dental clinics, quietly talking to each other. I was under the impression that their parents, or whoever they came along with, are inside Witco the shop beside Pizza Hut doing some window shopping. Pretty evidently, these four kids could not be less interested in window shopping; they were fine by themselves outside Pizza Hut eagerly waiting for dinner.

A couple of minutes went by and as soon as a few diners left the place, these children were ushered in. They promptly sat down in a table for four, and immediately ensured another table for four is reserved as well. Curiosity got the better of me; here I am wondering “Whatever happened to the parents? Why aren’t they here yet?” When all of a sudden, three more 11-year olds pushed past me and ran in.

By now, you should know that for the remainder of my meal, I was observing these seven children (all boys) not caring less to what is happening at my table. They deftly ordered seven pan pizzas, all with different toppings and no sodas! As it goes for every big crowd, the waiter took his time in bringing the meal (seven pizzas IS a big order). In a little while, the impatient children started asking each other about when their pizzas are gonna arrive. And when they did arrive, unlike us, they continued their chitter-chatter even while eating. Now, I don’t have to tell you what will happen to us when the food arrives, we’ll royally ignore the others at the table, stop all conversation and concentrate only on what is right in front of us! [grin]

After their meal ended with ice cream for dessert, they talked a little more about how disgracefully India lost the match (which they just about picked up from the news on the TV in Pizza Hut) and started throwing opinions on each of the players (which I enjoyed the most). When dinner was done, one of them bigger boys paid for the bill by cash and carefully counted the balance money. When they left, each one ensured to ring the bell that said “Ring bell if you enjoyed!”

But of course, the whole time, my sister was trying to have a conversation with me, and she finally realised, I wasn’t even listening to her.

The thought of how children go out by themselves and eat whatever they feel like surprised me. When I was 11, we would hardly go out for dinner, and even if we did, I’d need my mom to pick my food for me. Serious! I wouldn’t know what to order and eat. Not that I felt embarrassed looking at these children, but all of a sudden, I was speculating if my children would be going out by themselves when they are 7, or maybe 6 years old? Ahem!!!

Beat This

For Sale!

The first thing that catches all our ladies’ attention to the newspapers (that is, IF we do get anywhere near them papers) on boring weekends is the “For Sale” sign. Throw in some bright flashy colours to the advert, and you can be rest assured, you will visit the place, even if they are selling away winter clothes and you know you can’t wear them in Chennai.

Come to think of it, I know of clearance sale for apparels, footwear, even air conditioners (during the off-season), microwave, and all other consumer durables. But have you heard of a sale for laptops?

The insert on yesterday’s paper said “Mega Clearance Sale!!!” Notice the three exclamatory marks, all part of promotional activities, I guess. It’s not jus a sale, it’s a cry “Mega Clearance Sale!!!” And what? Yes, brand new HP and Compaq laptops (and they choose to call it Mega Clearance).

At first, I didn’t believe the ad, or anything associated with it. But when I went there last evening, I should admit I was appalled by the display of them laptops, really cool ones starting at 50 grand and even the high-end ones didn’t go beyond Rs. 65,000. Free USB mouse, Bluetooth kits et al. (Just so you know, I still can’t believe what I’m writing.)

The sale is on till today at Vani Mahal, GN Chetty road, T-Nagar.

Crossword in Chennai

At last, Crossword is here in Chennai. Considering the market for books has always been on the higher side in Chennai, I’ve been wondering why a bookstore like Crossword took such a long time to land up here. Well, better late than never, they have opened up their second shop fairly three weeks ago at T-Nagar, Chennai (their first one was above Shopper’s Stop in Harrington’s, Chetpet) along with the UK chain Mothercare and Brio, the coffee shop. The bookstore itself is located on the first floor while Mothercare is on level one. Although the store isn’t as big as the one I’ve been to in Bangalore, it sure is exciting to be inside one after a boring Sunday at home. Thankfully, no stuff toys, very little CD/DVDs, which creates ample book-space for book lovers.

I also found The Oxford Bookstore at Haddows road although I really am not sure how long it’s been since they opened.

Crossword is on Kuppu Archade on Venkatnarayana Road in T-Nagar.

Chennai now has our very own Landmark, Odyssey, Fountainhead, Crossword, AND the Oxford Bookstore. Now, DO I have places to go to on weekends?

License to Kill

Note: This post has got nothing to do with the latest Bond movie with its tag line “License to Thrill” although it’s in perfect timing.

I am on Lord Yama’s “Most Wanted” list.

Don’t believe it? (Or are you among those who really want to believe it and desperately want to see it happen soon?) Ahem! But yeah, at the end of this narration you sure will believe that I really am on Lord Yama’s “Most Wanted” list. In fact, I top the list.

For the benefit of those who do not know what I am talking about — I dream a lot. In fact I dream tonnes! I can dream almost every night and most nights I dream more than once. And strangely enough, unlike others who have trouble even remembering if they dreamt the previous night at all, I can well remember my dreams the next morning. And it’s not as if I dream that I’m out camping, or learning how to dance ballet, or being on a date with Antonio Banderas! These are crazy dreams that require a lot of mental stability to remember the next morning; know what I mean? :-D

On a serious note, often times, they are everyday events or events I would wish happened. But one of them recurring dreams is of someone killing me, or at least trying to kill me. Although each time the person trying to cold-bloodedly murder me, is different. (Poor me, don’t you think?)

I was six when I first dreamed that I was going to be killed by a lion and a snake hiding under my bed. I am aware of the fact that they are there, but I know for sure that if I put my foot down they’d pounce on me and eat me up. Fancy how a lion and a snake would team up on an act like that, AND sure enough WAIT for me to get out of my bed and not actually jump on the bed and eat me up!?!?! Phew! That was more like a nightmare than a dream o’course.

And then the tradition carried on till when I was 15 when I dreamed that my uncle was trying to kill me by strangling my neck. This time, not just me, our entire family; the best part being, all four of us diligently standing in a queue awaiting our turn to be strangled.

The next was when I was 23; a pal of mine stabbing me on the stomach multiple times with that devilish laugh of his on the background (much like our Bollywood movies). I dare not give his name here, lest he stabs me for real!

A few months back one of these creepy nightmares had me call every single person on my phonebook living in the city of Bangalore. I successfully had half the city up at 2:00 AM and told them that someone was trying to kill me through the phone. Through the phone? Yes, through the phone. You’re NOT listening. I told you it’s my dream!!!

If by now, you are thinking of closing my blog and moving on to read something on a much saner level, hang on, you still haven’t read the part where I am on the “Most Wanted” list remember?

Alright, getting to that, last night I dreamt that I am crossing a swamp of wasted land with some of the farmers in the village (don’t ask me which village or how I got there). The next minute I hear them screaming at me asking me to run for my life and then all I see are hundreds of thousands of wild buffalo’s running at my direction (picture the stampede from that Lion King movie). That is correct! All of them trying to attack me and I’m running for my life. In the end of course I dauntlessly shake them off!

So what has this got to do with poor ‘ol Lord Yama? Well, legend has it that Lord Yama, the Lord of death rides on a buffalo and pulls the soul from the corpse. Now, if he has to send thousands of them buffalos, he sure must need me desperately and yeah, I must really top the "Most Wanted" list, don't you think?

Meanwhile, I’m seeing my psychoanalyst to try and analyze my peanut-sized brain if any of these dreams are conveying anything brighter than death!

Of Horlicks and Rasam Rice

Whoever said “all of a sudden I went down with temperature” must be a lot like me. Because, believe me, I never know that I am falling sick until I’m almost half way through with it. Even when my mother sticks that much predictable thermometer under my tongue, removes it, narrows her eyes, and makes that “tch tch” noise, I still wouldn’t know that I am sick.

Not until she tells me with that perfectly guileless expression;

“I’ll fetch you a glass of Horlicks” What? At an unearthly 2:00 AM??

Notice, no “would you like to have a glass of …”

Or

“Will you drink a glass of …”

No! It’s a simple statement!!!

Mom: “I’ll fetch you a glass of Horlicks”
Me: “Horlicks? Maybe” Do I have a choice?
Mom: “Without milk?” Alright NOW I have a choice, with or without milk; like I cared a tinker’s damn if a glass of water from our infamous Adyar river went through my wind pipe at that hour!

And then, if I still chose to be stupid and said “Nah! I don’t have fever.” Then comes the inevitable Rasam rice. It’s almost like the “meal for the ill.” For all the times I’ve ignored the rasam rice, this is how it avenges.

That is why sometimes I think that I was keeping better off when I was staying away from home for a brief seven months. Not that I didn’t fall sick, I DID. But well, by virtue of doing what pleases me, I have stayed away from Horlicks AND rasam rice!

As much as I loved it when my pals stopped by to see if I was doing ok, it sure is easier to kick them out if they behaved like my mom, is it not? Thankfully enough, none of them behaved that way.

So what pleased me? Making my own grub when I was unwell? Nah! At most, I’ll make Bournvita. Now you’d say “what? You drink Bournvita? Euuuww!”

Well! Try the Horlicks (without milk)!

When you have an eye as big as Madras

I have managed to stay away from Conjunctivitis for years now, and abruptly, it appeared last night at 8 PM while I was trying hard to finish writing a document. I must’ve been having the irritating sensation for a couple of hours before it actually struck, but I realised that I was a victim too, only after I felt that my eyes were on fire.

It started off with dirt being discharged out of my right eye; and then; the real pain starts. Your eyes feel like they are being constantly rubbed against sand paper. Watery and puffy eyes, redness, and irritation follow. All nerves split across in different directions. :) I think I’ve made my point here. Don’t mess with me for the next two days!

Care? Yes, keep your hands clean. Stay out of pollution, and wash your hands as often as possible. Yes, it is contagious, and NO, it does not spread to other people if they look into your eye. So if people in your workplace treat you like an untouchable, don’t give a damn. Look at the positive side, you can run as far away as possible from them! Ain’t that good?

Even as I write, my left eye is also having the same symptoms. Right now, I look like I’ve been shipped right out of Monster Inc.

See some pictures of me, here!

Why I like Calvin and Hobbes so much!

November 18^th marked the birth date of the famous comic strip Calvin & Hobbes. This is one comic strip that has worked its way through my attention and has got me glued to the morning papers every day, having me riffling through the papers to the last but one page, to read this strip. Often times, I get the feeling that my morning isn’t complete without getting to read what this amazing six-year old has to say in just a few words.

Here are 10 reasons why I like to read C&H over and over again:

1. Calvin can penetrate deep into your emotional thoughts making you think about certain things the way you would never imagine.

Calvin to Hobbes: “Did you ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real, and you're just a reflection of him?”

Profound!

2. Calvin always finds a work-around to complete (or not complete) his homework. And most often, you will find Hobbes helping him out (essentially with math) and Calvin agreeing with him in entirety.

Calvin to Hobbes: “What is 8 plus 3?” Hobbes, without missing a beat “83”

Innocence!

3. Friends Forever

Calvin forgets to buy Hobbes a Christmas present or make him a Christmas card. Hobbes admits that he has forgotten too and that it really didn’t matter. Then, Hobbes gives Calvin a Tiger Hug. Calvin then says “Not so tight you big sissy. You’re squeezing my tears out!”

Sweet ain’t it?

4. His totally perplexed expression when he finds it annoyingly bothersome that his parents can’t comprehend his ways.

When his mom asks him what the hell he was doing when she sees him hammering nails into the coffee table...

“Is this some sort of trick question?”

No Comments!!!

5. That very occasional smile on his face depicting that he is extremely satisfied with whatever he just did.

Blissfulness!

6. Levelheaded

“I would hate to have a kid like me.......”

Woah! How far-fetched can HE think?

7. The way he hates girls and how Hobbes troubles him by asking over and over again if Calvin actually likes Susie Derkins.

Calvin to Susie: ”How is it like to be a girl? Is it like being a bug?”

Ready to ship the girls to outer space, you would think.

8. Innovative

G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS)

Calvin Ball

Time Machine

Stupendous Man

Transmorgifier

Duplicator

Tree House

Monster Snowman

and many many more...

(Do I really have to explain?)

9. Brilliance:

Calvin to Hobbes: Sometimes, I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.

No doubt about it!

10. Let’s go exploring!

There is not one moment that Calvin finds boring, and if he does find anything boring at all, Hobbes is always there to indicate that television is not truly the right way to spend summer. AND, have you seen them spend winter? Exploring unknown territories every single time ending up getting lost in the process…

Finally, the last C&H strip that Bill Watterson wrote in December 1995 depicts Calvin and Hobbes outside in freshly-fallen snow, reveling in the wonder and excitement of the winter scene. "It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy!" The last panel shows Calvin and Hobbes zooming off on their sled as Calvin exclaims. "Let's go exploring!"

Phew! It really must be very tiring being Calvin!

Nostalgia!!

Children's Day has always brought back to me the familiar thoughts of my school days. We would all save our best dress for a whole year to show it off on this day and spend the rest of the day at school, eating candy and trying to see which fat teacher danced better than which other fat one. Aww! I swear, those sure were the best days!

While I was thinking about Children's Day this morning, I was trying to recall all my class teachers since class I. Here's my attempt at remembering most of them:

• Class I: Ms. Prema (She gave me 1/10 in a science paper for the Final exams. There was one question and it carried all 10 marks. Distinguish between Living and Non-living things. I wrote them all right, and in the wrong columns! All non-living things under Living things and vice versa :-D )



• Class II: Ms. Prema (Not the same one)



• Class III: Ms. Sheela (She'd write a note to my parents everyday in my school diary "Talkative in the class" and made me get it signed from my mom! How I dreaded it.)



• Class IV: Don't remember :-/ (Although I vividly remember the room, my classmates etal)



• Class V: Ms. Lalitha (Don’t know the last names of most of them)



• Class VI: Ms. Anita (The cruelest of them all)



• Class VII: Ms. Marina



• Class VII: Ms. Anuradha (By far the best class teacher I’ve had)



• Class IX & X: Ms. Shanthi Francis



• Class XI & XII: Ms. Anuradha (No one can give you the idea that economics is fun the way she did)

Kudos to all teachers of Holy Angels for making all my Children’s Days fun for me!

Blogger Beta

I have started blogging only for three weeks now and it is wonderful to have discovered that I can now move my page to Google’s Blogger Beta. Much like all other Beta’s, it has its own hiccups, but there are loads of stuffs that no-good coders like me can make use of.

For a start, you don’t have to wait for eons for your post to get published. I have less than 20 posts online, and if I am saying that I have to wait for eons, you can imagine how impatient a woman I am. The time it takes to publish your post, depends on the size of your blog, and if you have a large one it makes matters even worse. Anyway, now with Blogger Beta, all you have to do is, write your post, and hit on the “Publish” button, and ta da your post is online in less than a few seconds.

But first things first, you need to use your Gmail account to sign in and move to Blogger Beta. Don’t have one? You need to create one! That’s one of the most admirable promotional efforts I’ve seen with Google. Any webpage associated with Google, needs you to access it using a Gmail account. Remarkable, ain’t it?

On the eBlogger home page, you need only click on the link that says, “Switch to Blogger Beta” and you can simply enter your Gmail account to sign-in.

This is how my Dashboard looked like, as soon as I moved my blog:

Under “Layout”, there is a whole new tab that says “Page Elements”. You can include, remove, and edit practically any part of your Blog by simply clicking on the appropriate Page Element. Here’s the best bit; you can also move the page elements around, the way you want them to arrange, add header, footer et al. ALL this, without having to touch any messy HTML code! Seriously!!

This is how I can now arrange my archives on the LHS:

Know what I mean?

Fiddle around, change fonts and colors, click on Save, and refresh you blog… all changes updated within a matter of seconds. No re-publishing and looking at that silly sun-like figure, showing the percentage of your changes in progress.

Starting November 8th, all new sign-ups are being created on the new version of Blogger in Beta. Check out its new features here.

I’m still fiddling around with it and if you encounter any problems/bugs with Blogger Beta, you can report via the Contact Form.

Happy Blogging!!

Weekend Getaway with my Boyfriend

For those of you who know me extremely well, you’ll know that the only boyfriend that has the audacity to take me away on a tryst at anytime of the year, weekday and weekends alike, HAS to be my Migraine.

Very well, it appeared first thing on the morning of Saturday and got even worse during the day; what with all the roaming around in the sun. The constant throbbing on the temples, traveling way down to the back of my ear, nape, and the upper and lower jaw making it impossible for me to concentrate on anything! Now is this a headache or what? Maybe I should term it face-ache?!?

Some people can sleep through a headache but I can’t. :(. It gets worse; I wake up with a heavier head, a higher intensity hammering, and a tougher attitude. As a rule of thumb, my parents try and stay away from me when I suffer from one. They get to see me throwing things at them; making an already tough me, tougher to handle. Well, Sunday is almost over and my head is still pounding.

One of these days I’m going to chop off my head at the neck, scoop out the twisted nerves, and fix my head back in place. Aaaah! The very thought of it, makes me feel soo much better!!!

Windows Vista

Almost five years after the release of Windows XP, Microsoft has finally announced the release date of the subsequent version of Windows. Windows Vista will be available to consumers starting January 30, 2007.

The next generation operating system will encompass features such as desktop search, Flip 3D; where you can navigate through open windows using the scroll wheel in your mouse, a new Vista Document Explorer with improved features, an enhanced speech recognition software that enables you to dictate into it and it automatically fills out documents and email forms using voice commands; AND smart enough to adapt into your speaking style and vocabulary.

It also includes Internet Explorer 7 with tabbed browsing much like our good ol’ Mozilla Firefox (looks like they’ve improved the user-experience here). I’m not too much an IE person, what with all the extremely useless service packs that it needs, I detest working on that browser. Believe me, I still don’t know what those service packs are for!

Getting back to Vista, check out more on the experience here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/

Overall, on first look, I can see a lot of ‘Mac’ from the look & feel perspective in Windows Vista. With all the jazz, let’s hope Vista doesn’t crash as often as Windows 98 did!

:|

Scenario:

I am 8 years old, playing with some of my previous generation toys; mum is in the kitchen of the tiny two-room house we stayed in when I was young, and daddy on the chair reading the morning paper. Four feet away from dad, the ugly black telephone we used to own (now considered as antique) begins the ring the steady tring tring… Dad continues to pour into his paper while mum is oblivious to the fact that someone at the other end is desperately waiting to talk to one of us.

Then abruptly, as if dad all of a sudden came back to reality, asks mum to answer the phone and tell whoever that is on the other end that he isn’t available. Mum dutifully does what she has been told. Mum takes down a message, hangs up and returns to the kitchen as if everything was normal.

All this while, I stopped playing with my toys, raised my head up and with a tiny "O" in my mouth, watched the entire episode in awe!

Why I recall this incident now is because I found myself in my dad’s position last weekend. I was confronted with the same situation; I avoided answering the phone on Saturday afternoon (with my mobile phone conveniently switched off) and asked dad to answer it instead and asked him to tell whoever that was on the other end that I wasn’t available.

When you are 8, you yearn for someone to call YOU! And it is difficult for you to comprehend why your dad does not want to talk to someone who’s taking all the pains to call him.

Well, as they say, what goes around comes around. Oh, did I mention not to provide your residence numbers to credit card guys?

Yahoo can now talk Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, and more

With the new Yahoo Messenger release version 8, a lot of you know that Gabbar Singh from Sholay could talk to you. But did you know that in IndiChat (India launch), yahoo is also offering free plug-ins in Hindi, Kannada, and Tamil?

Thanks to the UTF-8 format (Universal Transformation Format), you can now chat in your desired language using our very own Standard English keyboard.

Check out for more at

http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/
http://in.gallery.yahoo.com/messenger/

Monsoon Woes!!

Five days after the monsoon depression moved away from the coast of Tamil Nadu, most part of the city of Chennai is recovering from rainwater clogging,

T-Nagar

Ambattur Industrial Estate

Relief measures in the Pallikaranai marshlands

(Images Courtesy, The Hindu)

Air and water can turn into a deadly combination

The recent heavy rains in Chennai and the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu last week hit normal life and saw a lot of chaos, destruction, and death. Not to mention the scores of diseases that the slums have picked up due to rainwater stagnation, there were also reported and unreported incidents of drowning, deaths due to ineffective sanitation facilities, accidents due to traffic holdup et al. Oh! and the freak accident of three young men dying in their sleep while simply sitting inside their parked car with the engine and air-conditioning running.

That is exactly what the three software engineers did on the night of October 28^th on a busy GN Chetty road in T-Nagar. The stormy night had the rains lashing against every vehicle on the roads and had forced numerous car owners to crawl along the jammed roads to get home. The trio was found dead inside their car the next morning. With the postmortem report indicating that the cause of death was suffocation, most believe that it may have been due to the fatal Carbon Mono-oxide gas creeping into their system.

They had apparently parked their car alongside the road to wait for the remainder of the traffic to edge by. Their air-conditioning set in re-circulate mode (which is set by most car owners to ensure the polluted air does not sneak in), the engine running, the windows up; the occupants inside the car were oblivious to the fact that they were being silently killed. Since the exhaust pipe was submerged inside the waters, there was no outlet for the exhaust fumes, invariably, leaving the deadly CO gas to get into the car through the air-conditioning vent. CO has the property of entering into the blood stream at a tremendous rate causing little or no symptoms of suffocation at all. In fact, the only symptoms that a physician says are nausea, giddiness, and fatigue that we would brush off as a result of the stressful work day.

How would you justify someone drifting off to a peaceful sleep and never waking up at all? The incident sent shock-waves among many vehicle owners in the city.

However, Chennai City Traffic Police (CCTP) has given a report on how to stay out of CO trouble in your car.

• Keep your windows down
• Keep your car’s air-con system in ‘ventilate’ mode
• Turn the engine off if the situation looks difficult to handle
• Ensure your power-windows and central-locking are kept open. It’s rare, but your car’s electric system can short out with rising floodwaters and may jam the system.
• Carry a hammer with a pointed end or an ice pick in the car — if you have to break a window open
• Finally, if you find symptoms of CO poisoning, take it seriously, get out of your car and get as much fresh air as possible.

(The above report is from CCTP: courtesy The Hindu)

More on the repercussions of the monsoons in my next post.

Moonlight Becomes You

After The Kite Runner, which was one of the very few books that made a significant impact on me (more on The Kite Runner in my subsequent post), I hadn’t read in a while until Mary Higgins Clark came along. I haven’t read any books of hers before this one and being an ardent reader of whodunits, I wanted to give this book a try. It’s called Moonlight Becomes You. At first, looking at the title and all, I thought it had a lot to do with romance (the sleazy M&B kind of romance, if you know what I mean), but no, this one was a full-length crime novel that unveils itself by unraveling the mystery of continuous deaths.

However interesting Stephen King can get, I’ve never really cared to read any of his nauseating, disgusting, gross ….. (call it what you may) books. But with this particular work by Ms. Clark, I had to perpetually tell myself “Don’t forget to breathe!” What amazed me most about this book is the plot around which the storyline is woven. The author starts her tale by giving an account of a very peculiar age-old tradition which was followed by the rich in the Victorian age. Legend has it that Victorians were so afraid of being buried alive, that they used to tie a string around the finger of the dead before they were interred and the string would stretch right through the casket above the ground where they were buried. The string would then be tied to a bell. The grave would be patrolled by a guard for seven days to see if the bell rang, which would signify that the person is actually alive.

Only in this story, the young lady who has been buried alive by someone with a macabre sense of humor, in much the same manner as was done in the Victorian ages, knows for sure that there is no guard on her grave to listen to her even if she screamed out loud. The most chilling part of the narrative is when you discover that the clapper on the bell above her grave is missing, which means that however much hard she tries to tug at the string, the bell would not ring!!

I should mention that notwithstanding how repellent the above account may sound, the book sure was un-put-down-able. It grabs you from page one and never lets go of the suspense until the last chapter. I read it while on my way to Calcutta and completed it within the 30 hour train journey which included a lot of fooling around and playing cards.

My next book of Mary Higgins Clark is called “I’ll Be Seeing You” which I’m not going to be seeing or reading anytime soon. No more night-reading and no more nightmares of me getting stuck inside a chilling casket; not for another couple of months!!

Happy Birthday, iPod!

Apple iPod celebrated its 5th birthday a few days ago. When Apple launched the iPod five years ago, it claimed, that the iPod was a one stop shop for the most important of the digital devices; the digital camera, the digital camcorder, the DVD player, and portable digital music player. Over the years, the iPod has taken a lot of shapes and has gone through a lot of criticism. Well, I'm not here to comment on the iPod simply because I have never owned one.

Nevertheles, I know a lot of people that consider the iPod as God. And oddly enough I did happen to see a lot of disfavor toward this tweeny-weeny music player.

Here's a related story. (Courtesy gizmodo.com)

Showers of blessings

It is 7:50 PM and here I am, sitting at work mindlessly chatting with a friend from Bangalore but beyond all my thoughts, trying to figure out how to get back home. It has been raining non-stop for the past 3 hours and needless to say the traffic has been lousy. My work is 12 Kms away from home and I usually commute either by car or by public transport. Today of all days, I brilliantly decided to tie a saree to work and drive down by car. And now the messy rains spoil every bit of it. I’m not allowed to take my car back home. Instead, I’m suggested to leave it here, right where it is parked and get back home by public transport. With saree and all? Are u freaking kidding me?

Anyway, I haven’t been working in the last 2 hours, didn’t give a damn. Yep, have been busy Orkutting and chatting waiting for the rains to stop!

Oh Oh! Looks like it’s gonna stop any minute now. Let me get moving and see how I can make it home tonight.

Gadgets and all!!

I’m not really a gadgets person in the strict sense. I mean, I’ve never owned a laptop, a printer/scanner, microphone, webcam, a CD/DVD player, an iPod, a palmtop…and the list goes on!

The only electronic equipments that I own and use are, a home computer (that has been in my possession for the last 6 years now,) a Sony Ericsson K500i mobile phone (a year old) and a 1 GB USB flash drive (which was a gift from someone a few months ago). Oh and of course a walkman that I used when I was 12.

To continue the endless list of items that I don’t have ….. a playstation, a handycam, TV/video games, a camera, … oh wait! Maybe I do want a camera, oh yes I do. I’ve always wanted to own a digital camera and every time I decide on buying one, I run into a whole load of puzzling suggestions from ‘N’ different confused friends. Finally, when I do decide to pick up one, it either gets way beyond my budget or my dad candidly asks “Why in the hell do you need a camera?” As rightful as his question is, I’ve honestly never found an answer to it. I guess it is just the fact that all my friends own one and it has almost become a style statement! You own a digital camera, you’re cool. Really!!

Anyway, parents of a friend of mine, Prasita, are off to Dubai to visit their elder daughter this time of the year and I thought it was a good idea to get them to buy a digicam for me on their way back here. What with the Dubai Shopping Festival and all, I’m hoping it would cost me a little lesser!?! Don’t you think? I did my bit of research which mostly consisted of gawking at some of the high-end models (read cameras) that looked sexy. Remember, I don’t give a tinker’s damn about their specifications, features, et al. When I looked at them, sexy was the word on my mind.

With a little guidance from a friend (read a LOT of guidance from a friend,) I tried to figure out the specs required for a digital cam for someone like me who doesn’t know shit about cameras or lenses. Anyway, the most important things to look for while selecting one (verbatim from a friend): zoom range, macro range, purple hinges (purple what?), color reproduction (oookkk!?! But how?), shutter speed, aperture etc, etc,. I almost got exhausted, trying to compare all of these. Finally, I narrowed down on 3 models; all Canon Powershots and zeroed down on one of them; it’s a Canon Powershot SD700 IS. I have no clue how much it costs right now, but I know I’m not spending more than 12,000 Indian rupees on any of these babies!!!

Nevertheless, I’m still gonna have to go through the ordeal of asking my dad if it’s ok to spend so much on a digital camera.

Wish me luck and comment with any suggestions on my digital cruise!

Yip Yip Yip Yip Yippiiiieee!!!

If you knew me from childhood, you’d agree that I could go “Yip Yip Yip Yip Yippiiiieee” at the drop of a hat! But no, this time I’m really elated. And, this is not one of those occasions when, if it rained hard one morning, I’d exclaim “Yip Yip Yip Yip Yippiiiieee, no school today!!” No no! This time I get a chance to show that one paper with scribbled signatures and government stamps all over it, which states that I possess an LLR!!!!

Ok? So what? Does it mean that if I crash my car, I can now claim insurance? Lest my dad hears it, he’ll never let me touch that car again with my fingernail.

Anyway, it was on a Monday after the Deepavali weekend that I decided to go to the RTO to apply for my Learner’s License, and dad’s first words were “Aaha! Today is not a good idea; they’ll expect more money than ever. You’ll get sandwiched between the two festivals, Deepavali and Eid!” But yeah, like I cared about it.

Nonetheless, after spending 40 something minutes in front of the Ashok Nagar RTO gates trying to fill various forms (all of which made little sense to me) I went upstairs and paid Rs. 30 for the application. Once that was over, I found myself standing in front of the Sub-inspector (or so I was told) trying to get him to scribble his name on those dotted lines where it said 'Issuing Authority’s Signature.'

The most amusing part of the whole process was the written test. The test paper is given to you, along with the cheat sheet sitting right in front of you. Psst, they don’t want you to get the idea that in the event of paying 30 bucks you MAY or MAY NOT get an LLR. Luckily for me, the answers were all in numbers (printed in English) which made it easier for me to do away with reading the question paper which was evidently in Tamil. The whole test process was over in 20 seconds. I scored 8 correct answers out of 10 questions after having made 2 intentional mistakes. And Viola, all of a sudden, without having to shell a penny out of my pocket to any of these 40 year old potbelly men, I had the required paper in my hands. So, why didn't I try doing this much earlier? Plain lazinesses!!

Anyway, the LLR is valid for 6 months after which I need to apply for a permanent one. However, after a minimum period of 1 month, I can go ahead and get myself a regular Driving License.

More on my permanent license one month from now! :)

Scary, ain't it?

Mum and Dad have been actively looking out for a groom for my elder sis. Almost every evening, the three of them position themselves in front of the computer and exploit the internet scanning through the various matrimonial sites. I usually burst out laughing at some of the wired pictures these prospective grooms post (belive me, "burst out laughing" is an understatement.) During one such incident, my sister gave me a glare and said two simple things:

“Stop laughing! You are looking at your future Brother-in-laws.” My my, how many BIL’s am I actually gonna have?

AND

“Remember, the ones that get discarded, will be the ones that will be considered for you!”

Now, which one is scary? The former or the latter?

Deepavali and Cops

Why? Why? Why do I get to see traffic cops milling around the city of Chennai only during the festive season? As devoted as they are to their work, you can spot these 40 something Sergeants, standing right in the middle of all the four-road intersections; come rain or shine. And mind you, Chennai doesn’t see a lot of rain, but during Deepavali, the city sees an awful lot of rains. And I choose to call it ‘awful’ since Chennai rains aren’t really friendly.

So what really is with Deepavali and traffic cops? They sure aren’t helping regulate traffic. Nooooooooooo!!!! (That’s like the longest No.) If there’s anything they’d ease out, it would only be of a little extra buck from your pocket. And that’s precisely what one of them wanted from me yesterday.

I was at a traffic light waiting with the impatient crowd to take a turn into Taramani to get to work last morning. Oh, did I tell you I’m brilliant? You’ll see! I took off in my car in the second gear and needless to say, the car wouldn’t move an inch and it stopped, leaving all the vehicles behind mine honking away. Ain’t I brilliant? I told ‘ya!!!

Anyway, good ol’ uncle spotted me and asked me to pull over. I did as told. He came over and asked me for my license. I gave him that perplexed expression and went “What license?” Can you imagine the look on his face? Nope, not the “Are you freaking kidding me?” look. It was the “O’course I know!” look. Out came daddy to my rescue from the passenger seat and spoke to uncle for a couple of minutes. He got back into the car and didn’t utter a word. I drove off in jittery silence. Later, I asked him if maybe he should take over. He said it was nothing and that I shouldn’t worry about it.

Dad waits till I drive into my office, park the car in the allotted slot in the second deck, and then artfully says “Now that he has noted down the plate, he’s gonna catch you another time when I’m not around!” :

PS: I’m getting my license sooooooon.

First Post

Honestly, I do not know what should be my first post. I've been wanting to blog since a long time now, and sure-enough each time I want to start, something much more interesting or important would pop up and that would be the end of my bloglust (for a brief 24 hours). Aaah! Well, that would be me, a typical Gemini; cannot focus on one single activity for an extended period of time. That would typically mean anywhere between 5 and 6 minutes!!!!

And then again, I'd wonder what befell of my craving to write. Anyway, if you are here, be ready to read my ramble and comment on them.