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.