Life is to Enjoy

பிட்ஸ்பர்க் நகரம் உறங்கும் நேரம் செல்போன் ஒலித்தது... தொல்லை தொடர்ந்தது... நான்கு கார்ட்போர்டு சுவர்களுக்குள்ளே நானும் லாப்டாப்பும்... தொல்லை தொல்லையோ... கொடுமை கொடுமையோ... கேள்விகளெல்லாம் தலைவலி போல என்னைத் தூங்க விடவே இல்லை தினமும் ஒரு தம்மு தந்து ஜோக் அடிக்கும் நண்பன் இங்கில்லை பகலில் வரும் பசியைப் போக்க நல்ல உணவுக்கு வழியில்லை மனதில் எழும் குழப்பம் தன்னை தீர்க்க எவனும் இங்கில்லை நான் இங்கே டீமும் அங்கே இந்த தனிமையில் பசியும் மறைந்து போனதேனோ ஆன்சைட் இங்கே ஆப்ஷோர் அங்கே இந்த உவமைக்கு இருவரும் இளக்கம் ஆனதேனோ (பிட்ஸ்பர்க்…) ஒவ்வொரு நாளும் நூறு தடவை என்னை திட்டுவானே க்ளையண்ட்டு திட்டியதை நினைத்துப் பார்தால் மனதும் ஆனதென்ன டயர்டா ரிக்வயர்மெண்டும் ஹெச்.எல்.டி யும் எப்போதும் குழப்பமாய் இருப்பதேனோ வா ஆப்ஷோர் நீயும் வந்தால் என் பிரச்சனை உனக்கு புரியுமே... (பிட்ஸ்பர்க்…)

It was a long queue at the entrance. We were smart enough (naan irukkum bothu smartness ku enna koraichal?) and had purchased the ticket online expecting such a crowd. We skipped all the crowd waiting to buy tickets and entered directly with our online tickets. Traveler hint: There are automatic online ticket machines avaialble outside the studios. One has to make his identity clear (by inserting credit card) and type the online ticket number. Then you will automatically get the tickets from the machine. There are 2 parks or zones in the Universal studios. One will be Film zone and other is adventure zone. We first went into the film zone and enjoyed many rides there. Most of the rides here are simulations of the movies produced by Universal Studios. Some sample would be Shrek, Mummy and Jurassic Park. Shrek was a 4D movie (wondering whats 4D?). We all are familiar on 3D. 4D is the smell and feel dimension of movies. So in the film, when a person is feeling water is poured over him, yo...

If you are expecting day 2 details, I am sorry. I already warned you. We started as 6 from Pittsburgh. I didnt forget to introduce you the folks in first (episode?). Its a new style :-P. Here is the list. Me, Badri, Subbu, Magesh, Soms and Manish. Karthik started about 2 hours before us as he booked tickets in a different time than us. Totally there were 7 of us. Once reached the resort, no one was in a mood to take rest. All of us were hungry and each of us had noted while we came into the resort itself that there was a Chinese buffet restaurent just outside the resort. We all walked straight into the restaurent cum bar and everyone had what they wanted. As you folks know, I am a vegetarian and had limited options. I drank what I would usually and we were all done by 11:00 PM. Just because we all wanted to start early by 8:30 AM itself to Universal Studios to avoid rush, everyone half heartedly went to bed by 1:00AM after all the hangovers. 2nd Sep, 2006 - Universal Studios : Till the...

Here is a series again. It is gonna explain the great experience I had at Orlando, Florida in the long weekend of 2nd, 3rd and 4th of September, 2006. Please quit reading the series right away as I am going to praise about myself and the tour more rather than the place itself. Those ready for the journey, I pray to God for your well being. 1st Sep, 11:30 AM: Phone call from Badri. "Machi, kelambalam vaa". I just set my automatic out of office reply saying "I will be out of office for the rest of the day. If there is anything urgent, please contact XXX". escapeeeeeeeee 11:45 AM: Chill wheather outside the office. The body needs a warmer place. Soms said "The taxis generally stand over there. We shall cross." We then hired a taxi and directed to airport. 12:30 PM: Checkin formalities followed by lunch and chatting session until we boarded the flight at 2:30. 8:00 PM: Arrival at Orlando and renting of car. 9:00 PM: Arrival at the resort where we stayed. Trave...

Long time since I took a break... Time to visit different places in and aroung Orlando. Places planned are 1. Disney Land 2. Universal Studios 3. Sea world. I hope I come back alive as it is the place where Katrina and Rita hit last year around the same time (If you are wondering who Katrina and Rita are, they are Hurricanes). The weather forecast is not so good. They expect Hurricane to hit Florida (the state which contains Orlando). God save me.... "Ponaal Pogattum poda... Intha boomiyil Nilayay vaazhthavan yaarada... ponaal pogattum poda...." I promise to send you photos when (rather if) I am back...

One of my collegue's parents are here at Pittsburgh. His mom was very generous and she had invited us guys to a dinner yesterday night. She had prepared sweet, vadai, usili, vatha kozhambu and rasam. It was a great experience for us and for a dead tounge which had pizza, buns and breads primarily, this was as good as a grand dinner we could have at a wedding.... Vaazhga SK, Vaazhga maami.... :-)

I am used to playing Sunday morning cricket back home. When I was leaving to US, I was in a worry that I might miss this playing cricket. But that is not the case. I am playing cricket on both Saturday and Sunday here except for changes in timings. Morning cricket now became evening cricket. As long as I am not missing my regular activity, I am happy.... One more new game to me which we play alternatively with cricket is tennis. I have watched tennis in TV as well as 2 semifinals in Chennai's Nungambakkam stadium. But I have never even thought on playing it until I did it here. It is relaxing game unless you take the game seriously.... One more weekend routine I dont miss here is... well... ok I guess you can understand it now... yupp I sense smile in your face... :-)

There are quite a few things I hate here. Some of them are listed below. May not make sense to all, but I hate it. 1. Waiting for or giving way to Ladies while crossing road, going in elevator, etc... etc... Where is the equality here? Its all dying to my knowledge. 2. When there is a meeting to discuss on work related matter, a lot of discussion on personal life of each person happen before the actual discussion start. About 40% of meeting time is lost due to this. 3. There are quite a few Indians trying to intrude your privacy by asking you questions on whether you have interest in a part time job. Its terribly bad to my liking. I can go on and on and on.... lemme put a break here...

Last Saturday was the first weekend outing (oor sutha kelambittan da) in US. I went, or rather, we a group of Infoscions in Pittsburgh went on drive to Baltimore. There is an aquarium and Murugan temple there. The aquarium was very big and world class. But the only problem for me was I wasnt interested in such things :-(. Anyway, sitting idle at home is worser than visiting such places. Hence no regrets. There was a dolphin show in the aquarium and it shattered all the hopes i had over it. It wasnt good at all, to be frank it was pathetic. Murugan Temple visit was a good relief. It was a medium size temple and had Lord Shiva, Amman and Vinayagar also. The temple was free and we had a great darshan. Got a banana as prasadam. Pleasure was what I felt when I sat in the car. The roads are amazing and considering that we travelled 8+ hours totally, there was no feeling of getting tired. Superb outing. Will last for long in my mind as it was my first outing in a foreign country. Oh yeah... I...

Queues is what you find everywhere here. No crossing/intruding in the queue is done. If at all you do, the looks of the people will make you feel guily! Always ladies are given preference especially when entering lifts or entering a hall thru the door (I really wonder why? In what way they are superior/inferior?) Independent working style is dominant here. You find people come in as early as 5 AM and leave as early as 2 PM and also people coming in at 12 noon and leaving by 9. There are a lot more which I cant post... u can mail me and get such updates... I know many of you would have got the clue ;-)

At last the day has arrived. I got my laptop. I am living normal life now in US. So continuing here with my series.... The public transport in this part of US is absolutely excellent (I heard a lot of complaint from my US friends that they dont have public tranport in their part of US). We have buses and subway trains flowing almost everytime. The maximum waiting time on peak hours (Office going hours) is 10 minutes. The buses and trains have AC and you have better seats. You cannot walk freely as you do in India. Its restricted. So one has to either use public transport or own a car. The nearest shop you could have from your resedential area is about 1.5 miles although it may vary. The home here has carpets in the floor and not a mosaic or tile. This is primarily, as I heard from my friends, for the winter season. I will update about winter here once I experience it.

I will start bugging my readers with more experience of my stay in US. This will be a 3 part series (periya mega serial director style la). Here everyone is very very helpful and everyone respects the laws and rules of the Government (or federal as they call it). Dont think that people in US are conservative or racists. Boy they help always. Not even a single time I was denied a help so far in my 6 day's life by US citizens. There is always preference for elderly people and people with disability. They always have access to all the places where normal people can go. There are special ways/outlets provided for the disabled to reach the lifts. The road rules followed here is excellent. On the signal of red, vehicles stop immediately and most importantly before the stop line. There are special places where pedestrians are given preference to the vehicles in the road. In front of my office building there is such a place. You can blind foldedly walk in that place ignoring the traffic an...

I am just telling summary of this posting in the heading itself. It is a big struggle in US without laptop. I am getting kandan (loan) from my friends as of now and waiting for the day when I will be having my laptop. Mostly its this weekend and I hope to get it soon. I already have quite a few requests from my friends (yaaru nu kekkathinga :P) to post my USA experience. I will do that once I get my laptop for sure. I have a lots to put down.

To all who have no info on my arrival, I have arrived safely to Pittsburgh, PA and there was no delay in flight timings anywhere. I wish to elaborate certain points which you may try to take up on your first flight to US. I missed these things badly. 1. Try to bring some eatables like chips, buiscuits. You never know when you are hungry as time zones are varying. of course flight personnel can help you serving but you may not like them. 2. Try to carry a water bottle always. I was waiting in Chicago for more than 3 hours and found that you have to pay for getting water. Pathetic aint it? but thats how it is. How did I manage? well, they have wash basins and water comes in that. I just drunk water in typical Indian style... 3. Try to get maximum sleep so that you can get adjusted to timezone easily. I just had a good sleep on Saturday night as soon as I reached and its really fine and active health. More tips on demand. I am not doing a free service here ;-)

I was really happy until yesterday on my trip to US. Suddenly some force has made me to feel bad on my travel. Anyways no chance to revert back now. Let me see whatever happens.

Today I went to a temple near my home where my mom had reserved to do a special Poojai today for my welfare and successful trip of mine. So the morning cricket is lost today. I had no options but to say "yes" to my mom and dad's request. Anjaneyaa... enna nallabadiya kaapathu.

Good breakfast made everyone fresh except me and Vijay. After taking a heavy breakfast, I was feeling very tired and sleepy. The original plan was to go to Suseendram, where a temple for lord Hanumanji is there. Most of you know that Hanumanji is my favourite God and would in fact scold me by reading this. Yes, I missed going there and went directly to room and slept nicely. In the mean while the rest 7 went to Susendram and had a nice darshan. It seems that they also went to a Thennai mara pannai (a place where plenty of coconut trees are grown) and had a feast of cocunut water (Ilanir). Once they were back, we all went to Vivekanda Rock and Tiruvalluvar Statue. It costs Rs. 20 for each to cover these 2 places by boat. There is no other route. We have to reach there only by boat. It was an exciting trip in boat. It is quite a big boat ridden by motor and can carry about 200 people in a ride. Even standing is allowed. Naturally, as you expect, I was standing when I boarded the boat. We...

But in my room we 3 had already planned to see the Argentina VS Ivory Coast first round Football (for US fellas Soccer) match. The match was at 12:30 AM but the time in the clock only showed 11:00 PM. So we went out for a walk. The breeze from the sea shore flowed all over the place and it was a pleasent walk. The whole day's story flew in my mind and believe me, I would have blogged at that time had I been provided with an opportunity. Well, it wasnt there. So we can forget that. After returning back, the match was on. But my 2 team mates Amjath and Vijay were off by 12:30 and 12:45 respectively. I alone watched the game till halftime and was out by 1:15. Sudden sound of an alarm was all I could hear when Amjath called "Thalai, ezhunthurunga... mani 5:00 aayiduchu. Seekram". Thats it. The sleep was over. But my body pulled me down again and again. With great grit and determination, I managed to pull out from bed and get ready to see the sunrise. Five of us Vijay, Ashok, ...

The leisure zone was supposed to be a good 1.5 to 2 KM walk along the hilly (or mountainy?) area filled with some statues in the way. They gave a paper which directed us and had 20 different statues. At last this turned out to be a walking for us after some mediocre lunch. Everyone was exhausted by then. Not a happy place we visited, but still no missing with enjoyment and fun. At last we directed back to the cottage where we had the luggage, packed it back and pointed the van to go directly to Kanya Kumari. By that time mostly all were exhausted but little conversations/arguments were going on side by side and we had all planned to get Halwa in Tinrunelveli which was en-route to Kanyakumari. Especially all were interested to buy IRUTTU KADAI halwa which is very famous. Once that was done, a huge baggage of halwa also joined our trip's luggage. The ride then started with a trigger of ANTAKSHARI. It went on and on and on until every throat was out of water (thonda thanni vathi pogut...

If you are planning for going to Kuttralam, there are ample number of places to visit and take bath. Some of the key places are Old falls, Main falls, Five falls, Palaruvi (in Kuttralam) and Palaruvi (In Kerala). If you go there in peak season, there are several other sub-falls where you get good falling water to bath. Moreover one important point to note is that if you take a public vehicle that doest have right to go into Kerala, you can register in the near by RTO office and get the paper ready for one time visit which has a fee of Rs. 300. Also the entry into the Palaruvi region is not free. It costs Rs. 10 per head and Rs. 100 for the Van. Always ensure that you have sufficient funds to make yourself enjoyable. At last the Palaruvi in Kerala was reached and we didnt expect too much of water there. But to our surprise the water was falling with a great force and the crowd was also very less relatively. I also heard that this is the mother of all falls that come to Kuttralam but I a...

The freshness of the hot drink in early morning remained with us when we got back to the van and started to travel towards Kuttralam. I am not sure how many of my team mates enjoyed the morning drive but I certainly did. The fresh natural air that blew fast from the window near me was truly great feeling. The songs of early to middle 90s by Illayaraja was also played which suited the mood very well. Just as I was enjoying the drive a lot, I saw a signboard saying Kuttralam was just 5 KMs away. So we were almost there not knowing where to go for lodging. At last we found a cottage to put our luggages and get ourselves ready for the dip in water. When I just went to a shop nearby and enquired about the water levels, the news was not encouraging one. Clearly the message was "No water in any of the falls as you may expect. Only Five Falls (Aintharuvi) has some water falling". That was very disappointing, but it didnt dampen our spirits too much. We had enquired about other possib...

As a part of my onsite trip treat (vera vazhiye illa treat kudukkalanna my team will not work properly when I go onsite), we as a team went to Kuttralam and Kanyakumari. I dont say that the whole expense of the trip was borne by me (kaasu avvlo irunthaa naan yen vela senji pozhakkanum). Hence dont come back to me asking that you have given a big treat to your team and why dont you give me at least a small treat. Ethuvaa irunthaalum phone pannunga, illa mail adinga... thayavu seithu comment eluthi treat kettu maanatha vaangathinga. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee Friday 9th June was the date when we started to Tirunelveli by Kanyakumari express. 5:30 PM was the time it starts at Egmore. Half of the team was boarding in Egmore and half at Tambaram. I was in the later half. Its time to introduce my team members in this blog as some of the experiences will involve them also. There are totally 11 people and only 9 of us made it to the trip. I will list them. Here we go... 1. Balasubramaniam (Bala) - The...

I will be going to Pittsburgh, PA, USA for an onsite assignment thru my office on 7th July. Its a sort of happy as well as sad news for me. Happy because its a long term assignment and sad because I will lose living happy life with parents and friends... vaazhkai la onna vittu thaan innonna pudikkanum... One happy thing is that most (in fact all) of you who read this already know it hence I dont have a problem from people reading my blog asking treat ;-)

On popular demand (Sathyama oruthar kettanga pa, nambunga), the "My special friends" series is back from my side. My (not my own) Tea shop master - Nair Greetings and wishes is what I (infact we friends) get from Mr. Nair whenever we enter and leave the Tea shop. He is always behind us asking whatever we might need which is available in the shop. We used to have very long conversations in the tea shop and we rarely get complaints from him urging us to leave. We have taken special and important decisions in the Tea shop and after our conversation Nair will have the final smile. It is almost 4 years now with Nair being introduced to me. He doesnt know me by name but would certainly recognize me any time I peep in. There are days where I would start a day with him, with a tea at about 6:00 AM and end the day with a tea at about 1:00 AM. He would have changed shifts by then but would certainly enquire, "Enna ya nethi night vanthiyame? chinna vayasula olunga thoonganum. Evvo ...

My best friend Sundar is leaving to UK tomorrow on an assignment. I would miss him a lot till I meet him next time around. We had "the last fun" today for some time in the near future at least. I wish him all the best for his travel and achivements. Of course the world is very short and I can always catch him over Yahoo and GTalk. But still nothing is compared to chat we have over the tea kadai benchu. So the post made early by me would make sense at least to many who are regular visitors. On a given day, I would get a phone call from 2 of my best friends and from home. One is going. So only two people who will really worry about me. Tears flow from my eyes as I blog. Its a sentimental day. Any ways life has to move on... :-)

Well all people who know me personally will also know that I hate reading books. But circumstances pulled me to read a book called "The Da Vinci Code". The urge for reading it came because of the controversies surrounding the film and most of my friends who read the book said, it is better to read that book and watch the movie. So I thought why dont we give a try. I was so very seriously involved in the book that I had to bear with the following comments from various people. 1. "Dey enna da book lam kaila? Enna examaa?" 2. "Intha maari olunga unnoda MS ku padichirunthaa exam paas aayirukkalam" 3. "Enda nethu cricket kooda paakaama appdi enna da book padikkara? Score kooda theriyaatha?" 4. "Enna machi, Peter gang la sera poriya?" 5. "English vocabulary improve panna solli office la sonnagala?" 6. "Oh intha booka ippa thaan padikriya? Too late" Just think from my position. There is a big group around me to enquire why ...

I wanted to do a posting from my native. At last my dream (or rather a wish?) came true today. Once this city was void of internet browsing centres and there used to be only one or two near the bus stands and railway junction. Without boring much, I will tell you the city I am in now. Its Trichy!!! It has off late devoped very much and I am posting this just 30 feets from my aunt's home. I happened to come here as we had planned to go and get darshan from Lord Muruga from Palani and on the way back, just pip into my aunt's home in Trichy. I just enquired my cousin if we had any browsing centre near by at all. He was fuming at me hardly " Itho thirumbina vodane oru kadai irukku. Enna nanachittu irukkinga unga manasula. Trichy narayya munneriduchu ". He is right. I didnt realize that. I had been thinking about this city the same as I when last visited here by April 2005 (just after watching our Thalaivar's Chandramukhi). I had a nice break from the routine Chennai l...

The cleaner of my office bus - Anand He joined as a cleaner of the bus I ply from my place to my office about 6 weeks back. He always has a smiling face and wishes me good morning and evening daily. Not much of time I had spent with him. But the ones I spent are memorable ones. He identified himself with me only because I am the incharge of the bus. He never speaks to anyone else in the bus. I heard him once saying " Enna Sir ellarume en vayasu la thaan iruppanga, anaa yaarum ungala maari jollya pesa maatranga " - meaning "All you people boarding are more or less of the same age as mine, but why no one is speaking with me as jovial as you" None of my bus readers read this blog I guess (might be one or two occasionally), so I expect no improvement in the current situation.

I am planning to write a series of incidents with some of special friends in my life. They are not ones I always chat, mail or make fun with. But certainly I meet them regularly. Its not a sentimental series of posting. But just a reminder for few of you to think some of such characters in your lives. My dad's driver - Vijay: He is one character I have seen so happy even after all the disasters he faced in his life. He studied only upto 9th standard, not a fault of his as his dad passed away. He came out and had to earn to support his family of a sister, brother and his mom. I have never seen him complaining the problems he faces to support his family. He always would post a smile which would make you feel good before starting a drive into the traffic city. He always would have a joke to share and a story to describe. He is up to date in film news and release dates on all new movies. He can always get me tickets in RAKKI theatre in Ambattur for any new movie. Next is VETTAIYADU VIL...

Today I went for exercizing my democratic duty. I have voted 2 times before. I havent seen turnout of this much both the times. There was a sense of hurry among public to vote. Probably there are 2 reasons which I saw. 1. To beat the heat. Come early before the sun takes full strength 2. Avoid bogus votes or hearing from the officer, "You have already voted." Gotto wait and see if this might be a record turnout this time around. Hope for the best and may the best party win the elections.

After a pathetic performance over my arrear papers, I was totally down and out. I messaged some of my friends and got these encouraging and motivating words. 1. "Vidu machi... arrear ellam oru periya vishayama. Namma life la arrear vakkama loan ellam settle panroma nu paru." 2. "Hey free a vidu. Dont take it 2 heart" 3. Dai question paper pannavanukku unnoda therama theriyala da... chinna payyan polachu poran, freeya vidu 4. Wow... Congratulations... more things to come in life... keep updating. enna irunthaalum Srirama... arrear paper la arrear vakkira alavukku nee mosama padikkamaatiye da... unnoda inth disturbance ku karanam enna?

My parents after a 2 week outing to Kasi, Allahabad, Gaya and Rameshwaram returned home today morning. I was upto listening to all stories that was narrated by my mom. That was really thrilling. I am supposed to write an exam on "Management and Managerial skills" tomorrow. I didnt even touch the book so far. I think it will fall in as an arrear one more time. :-(.

Rava upma is one of the best bet recipie which most of the Indian bachlors should and would know to cook if they are self dependent for cooking food. There are several points which support this argument. Key points are: 1. Less utensils to wash after preparation. 2. The overheards involved like cutting vegetables is less. 3. Faster preparation. (helpful when you are feeling too hungry). Sari ethukku ippo ivvlo build up? Inninkki naan athaan pa panni saapten. Summa solla koodathu da Srirama, nanna beshaa pannina po. Unakku neeye oru "O" pottuko.

I listened to couple of election campaigns that happened in Ambattur O.T. Bus stand. One today and the other on Friday evening. The point all parties make is different. But their approach seems to be same. They tend to hype thier party with the achievement they have done and start critisising the other party's agenda as well as their schemes. Hmmm Evvlo naal thaan ippadiye panna poraanga? There is a lot to getting vote than these is what I feel. How about keeping a commitee/group for a temporary basis and find out new solution to reach people? The protocol has been the same for doing campaign. It is really boring and frustrating for a common user when he tries to commute across the stage that is put. Ask the two wheeler riders and four wheeler riders they say "Eppo da May 6 varum nu irukku. Appo thaan intha sandalanunga nimmathiya vandi otta vazhi viduvaanunga". No one really gains out of these small and silly talks they do. If the intention is to reach the public, then i...

So at last queue la wait panni Voter ID card naanum enga appavum vaangittom. It was not so frustrating as it was when we got a ration card. EC deserves a pat in the back for making such quick turnaround times and making the process simple enough. But some basic things still needs to be made right. Anyway an improvemnt is an improvement and it needs to be noticed and given due recognition. Next step is to decide who I should vote. Well, both 'big party' contestants in my constituency are reported to be all time rowdies and rouges. Which porukki is a better porukki and whom shall I select is the real question. I may be forced to use the rule called 49-O. According to this rule, you need not vote for any one and you may just tell the EC officer there that no one is fit enough to be voted and I wish to use 49-O rule and register my dissatisfaction. It is as good as voting against all candidates. I got this info thru an e-mail forward. Guess this is true. I will enquire and update t...

I watched yesterday's cricket match in Sahara One for the first time as I didnt know that it was also telecasting the match. Before watching I said to myself "He is a private channel and wouldnt cut the cricket as DD does". But on the contrary it was other way around. He is cutting both the first and the last ball of an over. Moreover when a four is hit of the last ball of an over, we didnt know whether it was a four or a two. To add to the woes, whenever wicket falls, the next 2 deliveries are guaranteed to be not shown. When looking at all these, Doordarshan is better off in many ways. Although he is ad prone, he is ready to cut the ad and take us to the first delivery of an over which is n times better than Sahara One. Gone are the days where ESPN and STAR sports were telecasting the Indian matches. They are the real pros and they still are. I remember last they telecasted the Indian tour of Australia which was done excellently. If only giving high money to BCCI is the...

Today morning on my trip to my office, one of my old friends Dinesh happened to board the bus. We as a group used to chat and wake up whole of the bus which would sleep otherwise. He is travelling to Chicago this weekend. So we had a practice round on how he would behave there and how he wants me to behave (he believes I will be onsite with him soon). In US people talk about MDs and BDs (Million and Billion Dollars). If you had seen a movie called "We are not Tata Birla", you would have come across the scene "Dollar na intha Amman padam, murugan padam lam irukkume, athuthaanengo?". Just for a moment we had a thought over that dialogue and immediately Dinesh said MD - Murugan Dollar and BD - Balaji (Lord Venkateshwara) Dollar. After that he said he will send me 20 MDs and 35 BDs. It will be always fun when he is around. I will be missing him. All the best da Dinesh. Seekrama MDs and BDs anuppu.

Thideernu leave pottu veetla summa ukkanthuttu irunthaa sema bore adikkuthu. At least one consolation was that I helped my project mates over the phone to solve some issue. Match la kooda namma pasanga sothappals. Hmmm arasiyal news thaan varuthu TV news channels la yum. Athayum meeri matha TV channels a paatha MEGA SERIAL... orey azhugai thaan. Avanga azhartha paatha, " Enda naaye leave potta, office ku olunga poyirukkalam illa " appdinnu kekra maari irukku. Somehow I should push to office tomorrow.

Its one of our practice to go to our Jayashree tea stall in Ambattur OT every sunday evening and have a chat of our last week's work, life and what not. Me, Sundar and Senthil would gather on every Sunday evening to have a discussion of our lifetime every week(end?). The tea shop owner is a good friend of Sundar as he had been a regular visitor of that shop right from his college days. So he wont mind us blocking some of the chairs there which might affect his business at peak time. The week that was, the week that will be, politics, cricket, next weekend plans and a host a lot of things would go in our dicussion. Nothing in the world can equal that chat. Although technology has advanced a lot with mobiles, internet, chats, emails, etc... nothing equals a chit chat over a cup of tea (tea mattum thaana da Sriram?). Looks like I might miss it in another 15 weeks. (please dont question me why).

It is always good to go outing with your close friends. But if the team with whom you work become your best friends, then its time to enjoy with them also. After a lots of hiccups, my team finally agreed to an outing to Queensland - A theme park in the outskirts of Chennai in the Bangalore-Chennai Highway. There was a 'Youth Factor' (I will reserve the meaning of this word to my team and myself) that was a part of our team always which kept us going (boring?) always whenever the sun was blazing on us mercilessly. We tried and covered almost all possible rides available there. The happiest part of the outing was a last minute dropout of one person whom we always had an issue with. Orey friction thaan pa with that person for each and everyone who made it to the outing. Any way God was with our side to make sure that person didnt make it. No prizes for guessing who that is. On a closing note, I would say that 'Youth Factor' was the talk of out team throught the outing. Th...

I must admit that it was a good movie and tried to convey what it had to in a crisp way. But the following are the questions I have on this movie. 1. It is supposed to be a Patriotic national movie. But why is the local slang used heavily? I know hindi to some extend and I can follow a decent speed hindi. But the problem with this was the slang used. I felt a bit lost. 2. Since it had to reach quite a few people down south (remember, it is campaigned as a movie that every Indian should watch) it is important to put the songs fully (as south indians prefer song to be in full in most of their movies). Most of the songs had dialogues in between and especially the "Paatshaala" song was really messed up. 3. The final question is that in the group of 4 friends, isnt even one single person very serious about his life until such incidents happen? I mean the stuff shown about the college students is too much. Now I know no one would even care (or rather dare :-P) to see my blog or res...

I saw pattiyal last saturday. It is really a worth watch movie. All so more for Arya. His acting was outstanding. Bharath also had shown a lot of maturity in acting. Towards the later part of the second half, the movie resembled "Pithamgan" a lot. Arya simply makes you feel good and entertained throughout the movie. He constantly tries to avoid Priya, his opposite in the movie. The way he tries to do and the spontaneous reactions give really make us to think that this man has some potential to deliver. Hats off to the director for having chosen such a heavy subject but handled most of the movie in a very light manner. He also deserves a pat for having tried to reduce the violence to maximum extent possible. But no way is this a non-action movie. Those who strive with sentiments, please avoid watching this. overall I would rate this at 7 points in a scale of 10.

Today is my friend Balaji's Birthday. I wish him all the best and pray the almighty to bless him.

Not for a moment I was talking like the wrestling star Rock. This blog is quite big and you can read it when you have time. I involved myself in cooking today. No, please dont think what I did was for a normal day's cooking. It was time for doing yearly ceremony to my grand father called as "Thevasam" in tamil and "Shrartham" in typical Brahminical language. Now the interesting question could pop up "What was I doing in cooking for Ceremony? Why should I do involve?". The answer is simple. No one was there in my home to help out my mom. My dad popped into home today morning @ 5 from Mumbai and had to rush to office immediately for urgent work. He had to be back by 10:30 AM for doing the ceremony. So who else is left? It was only me. My mom really is great. The situation of last year's ceremony was no different from this year's. But the only villain this time is the tennis elbow (Athaan namma Sachin Tendulkarukku vanthuchhe athe thaan) problem m...

It was a long time since I spent a saturday fully at home. I got up at 8 AM, lazily brushed teeth, sat in front of the TV. Started playing my Sony Music system with a filter coffee. It went on till noon. I applied oil to my head and was sitting for about an hour relaxed with music. There was one more tea at around 10:30. Then finally decided to take bath after the first 2 rounds of F1 qualifiers were over. at 12:15 it was time for lunch. After filling my belly (for those who havent seen me, I am a very slim guy), it was time for a little nap. Since India didnt perform well in today's match, I decided to sleep but not before seeing the intro scene of my Thalaivar's film MURATTUKKALAI. Once I was back from my sleep, I tuned into TV again to see KAATHALIKKA NERAMILLAI a classic comedy movie directed by veteran director Shridhar. If you are a comedy movie lover and have never seen the movie, I feel pity for you. Once the movie was over, I had to go away to reserve tickets for my pa...

If you are one of those unfortunate souls who have to travel about 3 hours a day to reach your office and come back, dont worry. I am one among you. I travel approximately 3.5 hours a day to and fro office. Then why this blog? I am in a mood to suggest what all activities that can be done when you travel. If you are not using comfortable means (like office bus) to travel then the suggestions given below are of no use to you. Pick up a pocket radio: This is one of the most important thing one should never forget especially if you are a music buff. As I am in Chennai, I have previlage of 4 FM stations to which one can tune and listen to one's favourite music. Start grouping friends: Make sure you have got a good group of friends who travel atleast 2/3 of the distance you travel. Note that have a group of friends so that you may catch hold of atleast one each day to have a chat, discussion, debate and some games. Try catching a girl/guy: This is what most of my collegues do. They star...

For the first time in my life after a big pressure from my Chithappa Mr. Venkat and my Mama Mr. Natrajan. They are in Dubai and Maldives respectively. They had been voice chatting for almost an year now and they were telling me to join them. But I wasnt aware of the usefulness and goodness of this facility. I had a great time chatting with them today and they were really happy chatting with me. I am a dear to both of them. I was finally moved by one of my friends who said "Hey you are a software engineer and you should be using and knowing all the latest facilities in computes". I just thought if I was lagging behind the trends as I had gone into the good old mainframes. Hats off to Yahoo for such a tremendous service! If you are reading this and still not using this service, please try and explore it. Its great!

My friend has started a blog site on .NET. Here it is http://spaces.msn.com/ksundar

The car vendors might very soon be coming to the roads of our country and sell their cars just like vegetables are sold. It has become that much easy to buy a car these days. You get easy loans, with on the spot approvals etc. But the point is, where is this leading to? As far as I see heavy traffic, accidents, loss of time, fuel, energy, and quite a few other things. The most cruel part is people buying hi-fi AC cars with booming music systems without knowing to drive. Most people prefer self driving and think putting a 'L' board would project them badly when they drive the car. You can definitely feel this pinch if you are a 2 wheeler driver in Chennai. Sari, ivvlo buid up thideernu ethukku? Atlast my dad has bought a car and from today, I have to get all the above scoldings when I travel in that or drive that. So be ready da Sriram. Unna asaikka innoruthan poranthu thaan varanum. Evan evvlo thittinaalum naan kandippa vandi otta poren.... Orampo Orampo Sriram vandi varuthu......

It wasnt really a happy past 2 weeks for me. In fact I havent felt so much down in my life so far. There are 2 reasons for this. One is that I have failed miserably in my PG exams. I wrote the exams so well that I told everyone that I would pass. To make even more miserable, I gave it for a recount confident that I would have cleared, it also didnt give me any fruits. The second major issue was the appraisal results that was announced for my performance in my office. Even that was disheartening after putting in a hard effort for the past year.

In my life from my last posting. But i didnt get time to update (a lame excuse for not posting). Really I must admit that the passion for doing blog is not within me. I have to improve the skills. One advantage I have is that no one follows my post and no one really cares to ask why blog is not updated except for 2 persons. One is Balaji and the other is Venkat . Thanks folks. Coming back to what has happned, I have bought a new bike and laptop. I have got DB2 certified, got an unofficial promotion (a hierarchial move with no change in pay) in workplace. A little explaination on these items below. Bike - A brand new black Honda Unicorn. Yo man, it rocks.... "Na na naa naa na na naa naa... Ride onnnnnnnnn". A bike which can get as smooth as it can, no big fuss making engine sound. Its really a good bachlor's bike. Laptop - After a long hitch and damn things that happened in my old comp at home, I finally decided to buy an Acer Laptop. I am posting this only from that. I f...