Mixed Emotions

Going to be MS

2008-06-09T08:15:00.002-07:00

I will be MS by this time, next month. Wondering if its graduation time, for a person who is working? Well, I will be Mayuravalli Santhanam by 11 AM on the 9th of July, 2008.

Malaysia- Truly Asia

2007-10-09T10:24:00.001-07:00

God knows how I was selected for a training involving sales people who are very very experienced in my field of work. They wanted someone who was inexperienced in the Product that I work on and lo I was asked to go to Malaysia for a week. Malaysia surely reminds you of shopping and lots of places to see, but here I was going for some techie stuff. Not one person asked me to have a good training, learn something properly and come back. All of them only said, enjoy Malaysia and truly I did that.

29th evening saw me leaving from Hyderabad with about a 5 hour halt in Chennai. Caring that mama is, he fondly offered to bring me dinner and brought along mami, Krishna and Athuzhai apart from my brother. After having awesome Arisi upma and nice butter milk and some photo/video sessions(thanks to Krishna’s new web cam!) I went off into the immigration area directly, having gotten the Boarding pass directly from Hyderabad(sometimes traveling by the same airlines with halts helps). I was a little nervous when I was going, as it was my first trip outside the country. In spite of a couple of colleagues attending the same training from Hyderabad as well as Bangalore, none of them had the same itinerary as mine. I tried hard to doze off in the 4 hour long flight, but “Naan Avan Illai” seemed to be more interesting than sleep. The flight was full of fellow Tamilians. The colleague who had take the flight earlier to mine was waiting at the Airport and I was more than glad to see her. We took a Taxi for 60 Ringitts and the 75km long journey took just about 45 mins. Amazing roads and also the lack of traffic in the early morning seemed to have helped us a lot. En route to Kuala Lumpur from the Airport revealed to us the awesome skyline of Kuala Lumpur, full of tall buildings. We squeaked with delight at having seen the KL towers and ofcourse the Petronas towers. Apart from asking me to enjoy Malaysia all of them had told me to see the Petronas.

After dropping our bags off at the Hotel we did some roaming around to change the currency. In the meanwhile we managed to find a Malaysianish Tamil hotel, which served nice “Tosai, Onion Rawa, Masala Tosai”, apart from Kopi. The sambar wasn’t that good, but the chutney and dosai were awesome. We were not able to finish the Tosai’s. The pricing was also reasonable, with plain Tosai at 1 Ringgit and Masala at 2.20. 1 Ringgit is about 11 Indian Rupees. The Kopi was really bad. Seemed like a little cream was added to the already very dilute decoction. After having looked around a bit more, we retired back to the hotel and after resting for about an hour, we were woken up by the third colleague. After he also freshened himself, we tried to look for some good vegetarian meal, for 2 of the 3 were vegetarians. We managed to get some Veg Pizza at Pizza Hut, though the Pizza majorly had Pineapple. After lunch we decided to visit KL towers. To achieve this destination, we got across the foot over bridge and took a Taxi for some 10 Ringgits and reached KL towers. The winding slopes to reach the place reminded me of the local Mahendra Hills. There was nothing much to see there, except for the amazing height. After some mandatory photographs, we took a taxi to Petaling Street, the Burma Bazaar of KL. The place was really crowded and I felt we were back home, somewhere near Ranganathan Steet, except that the language there was a little alien.

We then went on to Central Market and after some shopping there, the male colleague of ours was quite tired(men get tired soon of shopping!!) and so we retired to the hotel. It was about 5 in the evening and so we took some welcome rest and dozed off for about 1.5 hours. Then we went to the famous Suria Mall, KLCC which is the basement of the Twin Towers. After lots of Window Shopping we started to look for the vegetarian meal. Most places point blank said there was nothing vegetarian available there. Then, we zeroed upon an Irish eatery which had a few vegetarian stuff called Wrappos. Quite tasteless they were I would say. How do those folks manage to survive with no salt too. Less spice is acceptable, but whats wrong with some little bit of salt? Anyways, something to fill the stomach and we retired to a good night’s rest to be fresh for the training(we hadn’t forgotten about that).

The early morning dawned pleasantly. After a breakfast of Cup Noodles and some biscuits we set off to the office that was just opposite to us. Carrying the Laptop was the only pain. After showing our passports we were given visitors pass to proceed to the 38th floor of the 45 floored building. There are 3 sets of lifts in that building for a set of floors. 1 to 19 have one set of 6lifts. 20 to 34 have another 6. 35 to 45 have another 6. The lifts are simply amazing. They just give the feel of traveling in an aeroplane. To stop at the 38th floor, it will start to slow down from the 33rd itself. There were people from all over the APAC region. Koreans, Taiwanese, Chinese, Indians and people from Singapore. With the training from 9 AM to 5:30 PM everyday we had about 2 to 3 hours to roam around everyday apart from searching for some Vegetarian fare. Lunch was for an hour everyday and it were the juices and fruits that were more tastier than the actual lunch, consisting of some cooked veggies and rice.

We again went to the Suria Mall on Monday. Tuesday was spent at Avenue mall, just opposite to the Suria mall and also another smaller one, with lots of Malaysian dresses all displayed at discounted rates for the festival of Ramadan. Wednesday was spent at Low Yat Plaza in the Bukit Bintang area, famous for electronic goods. One of the shops there, i-Setan had an awesome sale and we did pick up a few things.

Thursday was hectic at training and we were able to leave from work only at around 7:30 PM and so we just went out for dinner after making some calls home. Dinner was again at Pelita’s, now consisting of some Aloo Paratha and Naan, served with Daal and nice mint chutney and also some lassi.

Training finished quite early on Friday and we decided to roam around a bit. After some lunch of Bagels we took the mono rail from the Avenue Mall and reached Mid Valley Mega Mall. The Mega Mall deserves a special mention for it caters to the needs of the High Class as well as the Middle class. Amazing variety, satisfying men as well as woman. This 5 floored mall is 5kms in circumference. We were not able to finish all the floors. We just completed about 3 floors and left. Phani(our male colleague) took the train directly back to the Hotel, while we got off at Central Market to do some more shopping. Petaling Street was quite scary at that time of dusk, with hawkers calling out loud and forcing us to buy things. We actually tried to go the Masjid Jamek close to the Central Market, but that was open to visitors only until 4:30 PM, while we reached there at 5:30 PM. After the rest of the shopping at Central Market, involving small souvenirs from the place and chocolates to some extent we reached the Hotel at around 8 PM. Dinner was again at Pelita’s consisting of Masala Tosai. It was my last night there. After managing to pack my stuff with a jeans and my jerkin(which I didn’t need at all) pulled out of the suitcase. 4 hours of sleep and then the usual monotous things of settling the bill I got into the taxi to finish off my sojourn at Kuala Lumpur. The journey was pretty un eventful, except for some nice, general chat with the driver.

Now that I was relaxed, it was easier to enjoy as well as take in the amazing way in which KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) was constructed. The security check and baggage clearance are in one building, while the terminals are in another. They have the nice aero train facility to shuttle you across these places. The airport is maintained very clean and there are lots of sign boards to help you through. Also, the immigration clearance takes very less time. 4 hours from then saw me at Sunny Chennai, with immigration taking almost an hour for just our flight. People at home were flooding me with questions, as though I had returned from another world. They were quite proud to show off about me. My awkwardness didn’t seem to matter to them at all.

All in all, my first International experience was very good, albeit a short one.

Bangalored-yet again

2007-09-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

The last weekend was supposed to be a long one, with Monday being off for Ganesh immersion. But, the holiday was postponed to Tuesday. I had a strong feeling that the gults dont do much on Tuesdays, but was proved wrong this time. Inspite of the Govt of Andhra Pradesh wanting to have it on Monday, instead of Tuesday, the holy heads prevailed over them and managed to convince them for Tuesday. Thus, making this weekend really long for me. Managed to have Monday off from office, having convinced my Manager saying, my absence would not matter much(height of NTPK, what to do?). With things, finally falling in place by around 3PM on Friday, amma and I took the 7 o clock train to Bangalore. Inspite of the new iPod Nano accompanying me, I seemed to prefer my chit-chat with amma, to the new iPod, irrespective of amma's response.

12 hours later, we were welcomed by my sleepy brother. I believe, he had set his alarm quite early for a Saturday, just to welcome us. After some idly-vada, amma started her cleaning work. This is a ritual when she goes to Bangalore, thanks to the way my bro keeps the house. Well, it was surely cleaner than before, for he had made some efforts to make it clean for our visit, but like all mom's, amma was not satisfied.

After lazing around for quite sometime, I left home to meet Nirmal (my college senior, with the same roll number as mine), at his usual place, FORUM. Thought its easier to meet the lion in its den. It was not difficult at all catching up with him. Did not require any updates from him, as we have been in touch ever since he left college, but were unable to meet after July,2005. Hence, this meet. The meet was obviously amazing. Nirmal has changed quite a bit. Seems to have become the typical Banglorean, but for his time sense. He proved to be my senior, by arriving well in time for the scheduled 3 o clock meeting. His dress sense has changed. I only remember his collared neck, horizontal stripes, brown and white. This was the only t shirt he used to wear. Now, he has changed a lot!! Let me leave it to your imagination to think of what he wears now. All I can promise is that he surely wears decent stuff. The topics that we discussed ranged from CAT, MBAs at other instis, on site chances(we both work for the same company!), girls he might like, boys of my kind, why girls dress so badly in Bangalore(could be a feast to most guys), still. I wonder how they leave their hair open. Isnt it irritating when it comes onto their eyes, not allowing them to see properly? Well, tastes differ. After lots of chit-chat along with some Potato Wedges, Veg Burger and Sprite at Mc Donalds(my first visit there), all at Nirmal's cost, we moved out of Mc Donalds, only once we were asked to. After the Mc Donald's sojourn we roamed around a quite a bit with and then left. 2 hours well spent.

Sunday was spent with cousins. After break fast of Sambar Vada at Koramangala, we managed to get a bus to reach my aunt's house. Cousins are always fun, more so, when all the cousins in India meet together. It was just like old times, irrespective of the marital status of the cousin, we enjoyed immensely. Lunch was outside and then there was the mandatory Corner House visit. Corner House seems to have most ice creams with just chocolate flavour. For once, I thought of trying something other than chocolate and was surprised to see that there was very little choice, so went back to my faithful chocolate. In spite of the really heavy lunch, we managed not to fall asleep, thanks to the company. There were 3 generations in the same house, the generation previous to mine, my generation and the one after mine. The kiddos surely rock. Their childish banter seems to be the best stress reliever.

Monday saw some more cleaning of my bro's house and then we left. The iPod and Kumudam kept us company. The train was late by an hour. That did not matter at all, as today is off for me.

It is raining quite heavily here. There are about 20K idols being immersed in Hussainsagar just today. Atleast 10K idols are already immersed. Hyderabad is expanding. Will Hussainsagar be able to catch up to this? God save the Buddha!!

Ganeshas Ganeshas

2007-09-17T20:19:00.000-07:00

It is Ganeshas all round in the city now. The 10 days commencing from Ganesh Chaturthi has lots of Ganeshas in the city. Decorated in various Avatars that Ganesha is, yellow, black, brown and blue, sitting, standing, reclining are the various postures. The size also varies from as small as my palm, to about 60 feet. Ganesha is not just in various colours, but takes on different parts from Mythology. At places he is found sitting on Shiva's lap, sometimes Shiva has a conch and Ganesha is on it. Or sometimes he is with Durga, or for all you know he may be playing cricket or acting like Amitabh in KBC.

The already strained roads manage to accomodate the many pandals. The pandals come into life only during the evenings with lots of loud music. The songs need not be on Ganesha as such, but Ayyappa, Siva and many a time, the movie songs. Looks like its a time for get together, in the name of Ganesha. Yesterday, the Ganesha near our house had dappankuthu music played by about 10 ppl for him. Well, we werent actually sure for which Ganesha it was, there are so many all around.

On the day when Ganesha is sent back into the Lake, they also have the system of breaking pots filled with water, similar to what is done in Bombay for Janmashtami. The city is a total mess and so is the life of the policeman, on the day of Immersion. Immersion day usually starts late and goes on till day break the next day. Hussainsagar lake is totally cordoned off. It would be stupid of someone to take routes surrounding the lake on this day. But, you can surely visit the lake for some nice eye catching Ganeshas, if you have the right kind of company. Inspite of the Immersion day being split up on days 3, 5, 7, 9 and 10, the 9th and 10th days are totally crowded. These are days that liven up the city, inspite of the traffic chaos!

Weirdo Tag

2007-07-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Fairini. Sorry for the delay!

Have to think a lot to get a list of the weird things that I do...though I am weird in general!

1. While on the road, if I see some guy in a dhoti, I will automatically look at his face to see if he wearing a Thiruman!

2. Can remember the name of a person along with the roll number. Can guarantee this for my Engg class mates. The name is usually followed by the roll number, hoping my friends will remember it.

3. Anything anybody said, I had to counter it and say something else. But, the last week's meet with my Engg mates said, I have totally changed in this regard. A change in me is really weird.

4. I like to have curd rice with rasam. This really rocks!

5. I talk in my sleep. Mostly in a language other than Tamil. In school days it was Shakespeare, now it is usually some Telugu conversation with a friend.

6. Switch on to a different language(I mean the one that is spoken) easily. Was well known in my Satyam training period for this. People always used to tease me saying..arrey she keeps switching channels.

7. I prefer to sleep with my head covered from head to toe. Even in the summer season this would be ideal for me, provided the a/c is on.

8. I am so good at cleaning the house, that the house is surely clean when guests arrive. This is wont be the case if there are unannounced guests. If you just give me 2 mins, the house will be clean for them, provided they promise not to open the closed cupboards!

Taken Charge

2007-07-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

Amma is thoroughly enjoying herself. She will be away from home for another 6 weeks. Hence, I have taken charge of the household activities. My mind is full of things....has the milk curdled yet, have I turned off the gas cylinder, when I switched on the washing machine did I turn on the water tap, add the soap powder, and mainly switch on the machine at all? I tend to forget one of these most times! Before going to bed, is the door locked properly, have I put out the bag for the milk packets. The milk packet bag is fine, as I will surely be wide awake from tomorrow before the the milk boy comes. These are just a few things.

Once I start cooking in full swing, which will be from tomorrow, I will either forget the salt or some other thing and adjust it ultimately. It is sometimes easier to adjust the dish than to make it correctly in the first go! I have taken down a few recipes to try this time, not sure if I will manage to do them the way amma makes it. Obviously, there will be a small crib session that the dish didnt come out well and amma will say, it will come with experience.

Have planned out all weekends in August, as I will be all alone at that time, with appa gone too. First weekend will be with an Engg class mate, to chat the whole of the 2 days as we are meeting after a long time, in spite of the fairly frequent phone calls. The next weekend, have asked my bro to come over here, so that we can spend some time together in absolute solitude and talk over lots of things. The next weekend is a trip to Chennai for a Sudarshana Homam and also to meet a cousin who is coming down tomorrow from the US. Chennai trips are too busy irrespective of such planned meetings.

I am hoping to give back a fairly neat and clean house back to my mom. Have to see how it goes.

Sivaji-The Boss!

2007-06-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

After all the hype and expectation, I have seen Sivaji finally, though in Telugu. There are so many reviews already available on the net and so I am not going into any details. Rajini rocks as ever. Shriya has done a good job, though she comes only in bits(bits of the movie and in bits of clothing in the song sequences), the typical Rajini heroine. The scenes where Rajini and his family are trying to woo her are good. There are hajaar fight sequences, guess they became too many to combine Rajini’s style and Shankar’s grandeur. Shankar appears in the first song sequence. Looks like they have all taken a cue from K S Ravikumar and ofcourse Subhash Ghai. As expected there is no logic in the movie, though in parts of the second half, the strategy taken up by Rajini is good. The film reiterates the fact that Rajini is invincible. The scenes involving him as Mottai boss, though for a very short while, are good. Songs seem to miss the Rahman touch. And most of the song locales seem redundant, reminding you of songs from Shankar’s other movies.

I would typically use the the Telugu dialogue-“oka saari choodochu” (Can be seen once) for this movie.

Ahobilam

2007-06-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

As appa’s mama-mami were in Hyderabad and they were visiting us after almost 20 years, we wanted to go on a long drive somewhere. What better place would be there, other than a Divya Desam? Andhra Pradesh is home only to 2 of the 106 Divya Desams. One is Tirupati, which is closer to Chennai, than to Hyderabad. The other is Ahobilam.

Ahobilam is home to 9 Narasimha mUrthy’s. Compared to my earlier trip 12 years ago, there has been a lot of change. During our last trip, PV Narasimha Rao was visiting his constituency, Nandyal, due to which we had to divert our route, hence delaying the trip. This time it was straight, Hyd-Kurnool-Nandyal-Aallagadda-Ahobilam. Hyderabad to Kurnool is 210 kms. Kurnool to Nandyal is 80 kms. Nandyal to Aallagadda is 30 odd kms. Aallagadda to Ahobilam-25 kms, bringing it to around 350kms from Hyderabad. We had decided to leave at 7:30 and hence, managed to leave at 8:30. We reached the highway after going through some of the by lanes of Old city, most of them we would not visit otherwise. As it was the morning, there was no traffic and hence were able to hit the highway fast. The highway, since quite sometime is being converted to a four laned. 2 months back it was one side that was having the changes, now it is the other side. As, the summer is only now coming to and end, there were no fields full off greenery. December was nice, the time we went to Srirangam for Vaikunta ekAdEsi. Wonderful, yellowy sunflowers were guiding us along the way. But, to keep us good company was my dad’s mAmi, who is pretty strong in the Srivaishnava Sampradaya fundaes. She did give me a lot of fundaes, I doubt, if I remember even half of what she said!

We took 2 major breaks in between, one for breakfast and the other for lunch, apart from the small stops to put eye drops for mAmi pAtti. Breakfast was at the Reliance A One, near Shadnagar. The second break for lunch was after Kurnool, en route to Nandyal. The road was deserted and we sat on the ground with a cloth spread out. The pleasantly flowing breeze, amidst the small chunks of hilly formations that are part of the Deccan Plateau, amma’s thayir saadam. It rocked! Oh, how long is it since I had such a lunch? There have been many times, when we were young, we used to have moon light dinner around the well at Thatha’s place in Chennai, or at the terrace. Now, life is so mechanical. I am sometimes very happy if I find time to have food. As we were nearing Ahobilam, the whole surrounding seemed to change. It was more cloudy, the fluffy clouds, seemed as though they were painted. The vegetation kind of thickened and as we were still looking, we had entered Ahobilam. It was 4:30 PM. It had taken us almost 8 hours, mainly due to the breaks.

We then went into the Ahobila Matham guest house, freshened ourselves and were off to the temple. It took us sometime to get the rooms, as a set of about 30 ppl from Chennai were leaving only around the time that we went in. We were asked to finish sevai at a couple of other sannidhis, a little way off from the main temple at Lower Ahobilam. But, there were no archakas and we were told that they would be open only in the morning, which is also not sure. Compared to 11.5 years ago, the only change is that proper sannidhis have been built for the Narasimha vigrahams, in the forests. There were no archakas then, there are no archakas now. 11.5 years ago, we atleast had sEvai of the perumAL in the forest, after managing to light a kerchief or some such cloth. The main temple in Lower Ahobilam has awesome architecture, the typical Krishna Devaraya period one, similar to the Vittala temple at Hampi. I didn’t seem to remember much of the temple, and it was a nice experience to see a temple with wonderful architecture such as this in the midst of a forest. There is the main sannidhi, home to Lakshmi Narasimha perumAL as the moolavar, with Prahalada Varadan as the Utsavar. It is said the utsavar granted what Prahalada had asked for and hence called Prahalada Varadan. There are also a couple of more Utsava vigrahAs of the Narasimha mUrthy’s in the forest, apart from AdivaN SadagOpan. Also, the Utsava mUrthy’s of all the AzhwAr’s are there. There was this interesting mUrthy, where in a person with Narasimhan in his hands. We thought, it was nAdamuNigaL, akin to BhavishyadArchAryan at Thirukuruhoor, but they said it was AdivaN SadagOpan with Narasimhan in his hands. ThAyAr sannidhi had Ahobila Valli(moolavar and utsavar) and the utsava mUrthy of Chenchu Lakshmi, the thAyAr at “bilam”. The smile on Ahobilavalli thAyar’s face is still fresh in my mind. There are also sannidhis for AndAL, SrinivAsa PerumAL, Udaiyavar and Ramar. Udaiyavar didn’t have the tridandam, so I am still wondering, if it was Bhaashyakaarar as they said. And to me all AzhwArs and AchAryas seem a little different in Vadagalai ThirumaN. We stayed over for the “sAtrumurai” and got some awesome sundal with milagu dOsai (dOsa with lots of pepper).

Just as the things mentioned in Thirumangai AzhwAr’s pAsuram, we did get to see Jillikka( an insect, which emits sounds by rubbing its feet), mAmaram(mango tree), and were told that there are many “nelli” (amla/usirikkai) trees on the hills.
The next morning we went to Bilam. Bilam is 7 kms from Lower Ahobilam. After reaching a particular level, we have to climb up another 60 odd steps to reach the main temple. The view here is very picturesque, with small rivulets flowing here and there. There is also a main water fall, which is very beautiful. The perumAL here is right inside a cave(bilam). He in the “HiraNya vadham” posture. They have depicted that with the silver kavacham, with PrahalAda also standing by the side. The massive pillars in this temple left me in awe, as to how they managed to build a temple like this at the hill top, amidst a really thick forest. The thAyar Chenchu Lakshmi (of tribal origin) rocks. After taking few photographs, we came back and had awesome food at Ahobila matham and came back home at 6 in the evening.

BTW this is my 50th post!

Buses, yet again!

2007-06-08T00:58:00.000-07:00

I am not back to blogging. My absence from blogging happens from time to time, which wouldn’t be a surprise at all. The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy, with guests at home and work at office. Though my Orkut account does not reflect this!

Yesterday, after a couple of months, I traveled in one of my most liked modes of transport, the ubiquitous RTC bus. Somehow, I never seem to lose fascination for these buses.

Yesterday was very special. It took me the same 6 minutes to walk to the bus stop. I missed the bus at the signal. As I was just crossing the road, the signal turned green and the bus left. I got to see the “once a day” direct bus to my college-203A/102. It is really long since I saw a 102, which goes till a certain distance away from my college. Just to satisfy me, there seemed to be 2 more 102s. Then, there was 1V, which I have oft traveled to do a so called “combined study” with my friend. Don’t ask me what we used to do when were supposedly doing “combined study”. Then, I got into a Metro Express 1 J, paid the 4 rupees for the ticket, folded the ticket and put it in the usual place, under the dial of my watch(Habits die hard!). As soon as Koti came, as usual begged the driver to stop it a little earlier than the bus stop for 1J, so that I don’t miss the bus that was already waiting there. The driver stopped only after a lot of requests from my side. As I had to bug this driver a lot to stop the bus, I didn’t even say a “Thanks” to him. When I managed to stop my connecting bus and get into it, I did say a whole hearted Thanks to the driver there!

The atmosphere is a bus is really very good. I seem to be perfectly at home in a bus. How much have I missed all these in the past couple of months. The hustle-bustle of the bus. The many different faces, each with a different expression. The different ring tones, the different dialects that are spoken….they all make me feel so nice.

Today also, I have traveled by bus. But, on both these days I have not had to wait at the bus stop. The atmosphere at the bus stop is also very nice. Quite similar to the bus, but you have many other people also standing at the bus stop. Some of them standing at the wrong bus stop. And when the bus has come in to the stop, there is a great deal of hustle-bustle to get into the bus. Sometimes, people like me get in from behind, so as to get a seat fast. In Hyderabad, we have the front door set aside for the ladies and the back door for the gents. During college days, I think I have only got into the bus from behind, and I used to be the first person, managing to reserve 2 seats at least!

I am glad I have not lost touch with them. For a change, I tried to listen to music when traveling in the bus, but the music was drowned in the sound of the bus and also the traffic outside. And it surely is very nice to look out of the window, rather than be in my own world. The roads have so much to say. Oooh I miss all this in my cab ride!

Flicked, yet again

2007-05-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

I flicked this from Naren's blog, as usual!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Spiderman-3

2007-05-05T05:08:00.000-07:00

Having absolutely nothing to do on a hot Saturday afternoon, I readily accepted to the offer that Sree made to me yesterday, to see Spiderman3 with her. I have not seen the prequels to this, but that didnt matter much. The movie starts off with where it ended in the last movie(I was told so!). The movie didnt quite appeal to me right from the beginning.

The movie was a love story, with Spiderman(Tobey Maguire) doing his duty, if his girl friend didnt mind it. As usual in between they break-up, thanks to the fame that Spidey gets and some career problems that the heroine(Kirsten Dunst-didnt quite seem like heroine material to me) has (slightly un-Indianish in a movie which otherwise seemed a lot Indianish).

The old aunt as usual gives Peter aka Spidey on how to propose to a girl. She also gives Peter a ring(family heirloom), to be given to the heroine..MJ...a la Indian movies. Immediately after Peter gets the ring, there is a fight sequence between him and his best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco), who learnt that Peter is Spidey and holds Spidey responsible for his father's death in the prequel. In this fight the ring falls off from Spidey...and of course Spidey manages to catch it before it gets lost. If it were a Hindi movie, it would have fallen in the heroine's hand, no worries for the hero. He can continue fighting happily, having seen to it that the ring is in safe hands! If it had been a Tamil movie, it would have fallen right into the finger of the heroine. In a gult movie, it would have fallen into the heroine's dad's hands!

To add to Spidey's woes there is an escaped convict who converts into a mud-man, thanks to some high funda particle physics. He can convert himself at will, but he disappears in water and reappears at his will. Looks like the producer decided to save money on this guy and had only 2 costumes for this guy, one in the intro scene of this person and throughout the movie another costume. And this mud-man has become a criminal as in dire need of money for his daughter's treatment.

Then there is the venom which gets stuck only to spidey initially and he transforms into a bad spidey when this venom is on him. To remove it off from him, he uses exceptional means, which is behind the scope of this blog. And suddenly when spidey removes the venom from him it gets stuck to Eddie Brock(Topher Grace) , who is Peter's competitor in his actual profession of providing Spidey's photographs to the news paper. The editor of this news paper is equivalent to Brahmanandam in Telugu movies, providing poor comic relief. He goes to the extent of buying a dummy camera for 100 bucks, from a kid offering her a job as a professional photographer! Eddie Brock becomes another enemy to Spidey and how does he manage to save the heroine and set his life right. The last few scenes potray as good a friendship as Jai and Veeru in Sholay. At this point it was more like a road show where people gather and applaud when they see Spiderman, giving running commentary to the news channels and the news reader potraying awesome expressions and dialogues such as " In New York city this seems to be the worst day......"

Everytime we think someone is dead, they manage to come back alive(except in the end, we assume, so that there are no further sequels-God save us), just like Ekta Kapoor serials!

All in all a very entertaining experience for me!!!

This day, that year

2007-04-30T01:42:00.000-07:00

Fifteen years ago, this day, I must have been in Chennai, enjoying my summer vacation immensely with my cousin Athuzhai, who would soon be 2 years old. I would have also been looking forward to attend one of my aunt’s weddings at Srirangam in a month’s time.

Ten years ago, this day, we were all in Bangalore, along with lots of my cousins, awaiting eagerly the first big event in the family, that marriage of my cousin, which would happen 8 days from now. I didn’t know how the oldies felt gathered at Bangalore, with a lot of chores to do. But we, as kids had a gala time.

Five years ago, this day, I was getting ready to leave for Chennai. I clearly remember, that I was a lone girl in the railway bay full of men. The train halted for more than 2 hours at Nalgonda and hence reached Chennai late. That was the first time I had travelled alone in a train. I had also finished the local Engg and Medical entrance exam called EAMCET, the day before. I thought, I had done fairly well, but 17 days from then, I would know, I hadn’t done well.

Two years ago, I was waiting for exams to finish on the 5th of May. It was our Managerial Economics exam. After this exam, I would have to prepare for GRE and the eagerly expected Campus placements. This was the time I started Orkutting a lot too, thanks to the broadband connection that was set up at home.

Last year, this day, I was preparing for my last exam on Neural Networks, which was on the 6th of May. That was the only paper I finished one hour before time and handed over half an hour before the end of the scheduled time. I was kind of excited to finish off with the exam and start off on our trip to Badrinath. One part of me was worried, I was finishing college and I would soon start to work. In about 2.5 months from today, I would also be part of the big, interesting, chaotic IT sector. But, 1 month from then I would know that the IT sector was a little impatient to pull me in sooner and I joined 15 days earlier than first intimated.

Today, I am 10 months old in the IT sector. I would not say it has been very bad. I have learnt to attend meetings(without evidently dozing off ). I have learnt not to crib openly. The oft used term in Hyderabad “Yeh to aisi ich hain” has helped me remain happy. I don’t question many of the norms followed and ways of the people around here Just like I transitioned from an Electrical Engineer to a Software Engineer, I transitioned from Java to Mac, though it was initially tough. I am not sure if I would go back to Electrical stuff, but I would surely like to go back to Java, to survive here. Only time can tell if I can manage to do this.

Was just musing about how life has been for me and I came up with this stupid post, all abt myself!

Kanaa kanden

2007-04-24T23:10:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Sri. Have to write about dreams that I wish would come true. There are actually many dreams which I wish dont come true.

As a kid, I always used to have the feeling that I am falling off from some mountain top. Recurring nightmare, used to have it everyday.

Another dream which I vividly remember, which I really wished wouldnt become true, at that point of time, sometime in 2004 was a dream in which my mother died due to some illness. Some kind of infection in the brain. All of us are totally shocked in the dream, initially I cried a lot too...but later consoled myself saying probably God needed someone as caring as my mom, more than my need for my mom! Too philosophical I suppose.

There was this other funny dream wherein I was being married off to some guy. I was crying saying I wont marry, but my parents seemed oblivious to the situation and so were my friends. This is one situation I dont want to be in. I really dont seem to have any dreams which I wish would come true. It borders more on my imagination, that the actual dream that I have.

Phew....finally finished a tag. This has been pending for more than a month.

Chittiraiyil Eyinda Thiruvaadhirai

2007-04-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

"Indrulageer Chittiraiyil Eyinda ThiruvAdhirai nAL
endrainum Indri thanukketra men thAn
endravarkku chAttugindrEn kENmin ethirAsar tham pirappAl
nAtrisaiyum kondAdum nAL

AzhwArgaL thAngaL avadaritha nALgaLilum
vAzhvAna nAL namakku maNNulageer
EzhpArumuyya ethirAsar arudithu aruLum
chittiraiyil seyya thiruvAdhirai"

Swamy mAmunigaL in his Upadesa RathinnamAlai insists on the importance of Swamy Ramanujar's Thirunakshatram(ThiruvAdhirai nakshtram, in the month of chitrai). He tells us that of all the days in our life this is the most important day!

Yesterday was one of the most important days in my life. I attended the celebrations of Ramanuja Jayanthi after a couple of years I think. In the last few years, Ramanuja Jayanthi was always inbetween my exams. I was either studying for an exam or would have gone to write an exam. Used to only get updates from Amma. Thankfully this year it was not on a weekday, but on a Sunday, helping me to attend the festivities. As usual we were a little late to the temple, having taken time to finish the basic Thiru-Aaradhanam at home. Thirumanjanam was going on at the temple. They were almost at the end. Only the “elaneer” thirumanjanam was left and ofcourse the “jalladai” thirumanjanam. After this, when EmperumAnAr, PerumAL and piratti were busy with their alankArams, all of us chanted Thiruppavai. This was a nice experience for me after a really long time. Certainly a rejuvenating experience.

After the chanting of Tiruppavai, Sri Badri Narayana Bhattar, from the Bhattar vamsam at Srirangam, was asked to say a few words about Swamy Ramanuja. He was able to do a fairly good job in Telugu, for majority of the audience was Telugu. After this talk about "EmperumAnAr darisanam", Ramachar Swamy who is doing Bhagavath Vishaya Kaalakshepam everyday also spoke about the greatness of Udaiyavar, especially the lines from Aarthi Prabandham where mAmunigaL prays to Swamy to give moksha to him. Even as they were both talking, the AlankArams were over and Swamy was ready for his purappadu. With Ramanuja Nootrandaadhi being chanted, Udaiyavar was first given mariyaadhai at ThAyAr sannidhi. This only reminded me of Gadyatraya Ghosti, eventhough Gadyatrayam was not being chanted. Then Swamy was brought to his darling sister's presence, at Andal sannidhi. And then the Lakshmi Narasimhar sannidhi, which is also home to all the Azhwars. And then to mAmunigaL sannidhi. The weather was really bad and the stone floor was really hot, in spite of which the purappadu went on well.

After the purappadu, there was the usual sattrumurai and then the chanting of "Thaniyan", as follows:

"mEshArthra sambhavam vishnOr darsanasthapanOthsukam
thundeera mandalE sEsha moorthim rAmanujam bhaje!"

This was followed by "yOnithyamachytha padaam..." And then the paasurams(30 and 31) from Arthi Prabandham as:

seerArum ethirAsar thiruvadigaL vAzhi
thiruvaraiyir saaddiya senthuvarAdai vAzhi
ErArumseyyavadivu eppozhudum vAzhi
ilangiya munnool vAzhi iNaithOLgaL vAzhi
chOrada tuyya seyya mugachodi vAzhi
tUmuruval vAzhi tuNaimalargaL vAzhi
eerAru thirunAmamaNinda ezhil vAzhi
inithiruppOdezhil gnyana muddirai vAzhiye!

arusamaiya chediyadanai adiyaruthAn vAzhiye!
adarnduvarum kudittigaLai yarathuraindAn vAzhiye!
serukaliyai sirthumara theerthu vittAn vAzhiye!
thennarangar selvamuttrum thiruthivaithAn vAzhiye!
maraiyadanil poruLanaithum vAimozhindAn vAzhiye!
mAranUrai seyidha tamizh marai vaLarthAn vAzhiye!
arammigu narperambUthUr avatharithAn vAzhiye!
azhagArum ethirAsar adiyanaigaL vAzhiye!

After all this, there was theertham and panagam too. Then the mandatory "Thiruman-srichooranam" distributed to all on this day, to emphasise what Swamy Ramanuja lived for. Ofcourse the day ended with awesome prasadam of chakkara pongal, puliyodharai and dadhyonam.

Some advice that I got yesterday was: One uncle, Swamy Das, really a great Srivaishnavite, asked me if I wear thiruman-srichooranam to the office, as I do to the temple. The answer was obviously a no. He told me that he had got a lot of respect for wearing thirumaN to office. He said initially we would have to explain to a lot of people about its significance, but with time, we get a lot of respect. But, I felt, I wouldnt wear thirumaN to a place where they dont respect it. Another mAmi told me to wear a nose ring. She told me, I would look just like AndAL if I would wear a nose ring! I just could not stop myself from smiling, me looking like AndaL????

Literary Crushes

2007-04-06T00:05:00.000-07:00

Was tagged by Naren

Sherlock Holmes: My most favourite, best ever character. Everything is obvious to him. The fact that he would never ever marry made him even more appealing to me. His deductions have left me spell bound. I would have been happy serving him something like Mrs Hudson too!

Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind: Almost all women like him. This macho man has a way with woman, but he kind of conveys the impression that if he were to like someone he would do anything for them, as far as it is right. He would pamper the women with him. Isnt this what any girl would want?

Rajam: Swami’s friend in the book Swami and Friends by RK Narayan. This confident guy, who doesn’t screw up things always touched my heart.

Abel from Kane and Abel by Jefferey Archer. He comes up in life due to sheer hard work and ofcourse some amount of luck. As against Kane, who has had a comfortable life always, Abel suffers a lot, his miraculous escape from the Russians, his courage to face them in Poland and his fairly clear explanation at the Polish Embassy. His hard work in Chicago, doesn’t mind being said no by a woman….He ultimately has his way, except with Kane ofcourse.

The Count: From Edmond Dantès to how he becomes a Count in The Count of Monte Cristo. He is faced by the greatest difficulties in life and how he manages to overcome them and get rich in life, fascinated me as a child.

Dartagnan: From the 3 Musketeers, this again is a dare devil story where a normal guy wants to make it big in the French Army. He stumbles upon secrets unknown to many and manages to survive and though unable to save his sweet heart.

Phileas Fogg: The central character in Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, he is the “pucca” gentleman. He takes up the challenge laid before him, manages to save the young Parsi lady, Aouda and also wins the bet ultimately. An extremely entertaining book, along with the nice ending, made even more interesting by the character of Phileas Fogg.

If you can consider Cartoon characters into Literature, there would be Dennis, Calvin etc.
I guess, this is itself a long list, but I could go on and on about this. Will probably write a Literary Crushes 2 post!

Thavamaai Thavamirunthu-5

2007-04-05T23:19:00.000-07:00

After perumAL is allowed inside, starts another important thing, a sight which we cannot get whenever we want. The only time of the year when Namperumal and pirattiar are together. Immediately after they are both together they get a prasadam of Mysorepak, the special “sErthi” prasadam. At around 3 in the afternoon, the crowd from outside is allowed a sevai of this divine couple. Later in the evening, a goshti is conducted, to me the most important goshti, the “Gadyatraya goshti”, the time when Swamy Ramanuja decided to ask perumAL for moksham through periya piratti. One of the important tenets in the Srivaishnava philosophy is that if perumal has a abhaya hastham to say, come to me I will solve all your problems, it is said that perumal may see our mistakes when we are in front of him and put us on the wrong side, but piraatti has a abhaya hastham to say, “Donot be scared of perumal. I am there to take care of you”. And this is the reason why we go to the thAyAr sannidhi first and then to perumAL sannidhi, in any temple. After standing in the queue for a long time to witness the “sErthi”, and then breaking the queue thanks to Athu, I did manage to get a better sEvai as compared to Mithila, Yathindran, Krishna and Sraddha, who had also accompanied us to the temple. We then got some prime positions to sit before the goshti, but as the time went by, the crowd just increased and we were short of place, which was very difficult for Mithila. The recitation of Gadyatrayam started at around mid night. Those 50 mins of Gadyatraya goshti was the highlight of the trip. With the Gadyatraya goshti going on, we were also able to enjoy the company of perumal and thayar. I couldn’t have asked for more. I did manage to audio record the recitation, don’t know how it has come out, as I haven’t had time to check it. After the Gadyatraya goshti and kandaruladal to perumAL, vAzhi thirunamam of perumal and piratti was recited and the goshti was concluded at Emperumanar sannidhi. After this the 18 salavai thirumanjanam for perumal and piratti starts. 18 times water is purified with the invocation of all the rivers of India and thirumanjanam is conducted. I should have actually gone back for the thirumanjanam, but due to the hectic month that I have had and lack of sleep, I was totally tired and so was Mithila. So we decided to sleep tight for some 4 hours and come back fresh for the theru. Athu managed to go for the jalada thirumanjanam (crudely translated as a shower bath), but came back and slept. We were well in time for the theru porappadu, but Doddachar Swamy came home and we had a couple of more visits to make, thereby enabling us to see the start of the theru. To me “theru” always meant Chitra theru and Go ratham was slightly different in looks. I have always wondered why both Chitra ther and Go ratham are located in the eastern prakaram, ie the Keezha chitra veedhi. It took really long for the ther to reach our house, but the Adhyapaka goshti came in to our house and some 30 odd paasurams were recited at home. This was another highlight of this trip.

Once the ther had crossed our house, we were all asked to have food, so that the other ladies of the house could go on with their work. After some more chattings, we decided to have a sevai of periya perumal and Ranganayaki thayar also, along with which we could cover the other sannidhis. The first stop was at Udaiyavar sannidhi. His ever smiling face, reinstating “Kaarai Karunai Iramanuja”. Only one question was in my mind, why wasn’t Sree here with me, enjoying all that I was getting. I told Swamy to show his kArunyam on Sree and bring her to Srirangam. Most sannidhis were not open. We were walking across the manal veli (sand banks) and perumAL was coming back from his ther to have a good bath as it was his nakshatram that day. After this we went round again and saw that Kannadi Arai Andal sannidhi, near the Kodanda Ramar sannidhi, beside Chandra Pushkarani was open. This is one of my favourite sannidhis. The Ramar is really huge and majestic and here is were Kulasekhara Azhwar sannidhi is also there. Andal sannidhi also has Paramapada nAdar along with all the Azhwars. Paramapada nAdar is the pose of perumAL, where he is sitting on Adisesha along with SridEvi, BhoodEvi and NeeLAdEvi. This is how perumAL is supposed to be at paramapadam. There are 6 mirrors behind Andal, who is usually dressed in a 9 yards saree. The saree by itself is not 9 yard long, but is tied in the way to reflect a married woman. The 6 mirrors show Andal in different angles, her jadai is seen so wonderfully, the saathupadi (dress up) in this sannidhi is awesome, thanks to Adhyapaka Raghavan Swamy and Pandu Vaadhyar. During the 10 days festival of Thiru-Adi-Pooram and also during mArgazhi mAsam, saathupadi varies based on the context of the pAsuram, making people flock to this sannidhi. We came back home worried if we would get perumAL sevai at all! But, we did get awesome sevai, ofcourse after waiting for about 1.5 hours in the queue. Periya perumAL is surely due that much wait. On seeing him, I could only say “Unnai kanda kangal mattondrinai kANAvE”. Almost teary eyed I walked out, wondering when I would come back again to see him. It was almost 8:45 PM now and we had to rush to thAyAr sannidhi. Here there wasn’t much crowd and we got awesome sevai, as always. ThAyAr surely rocks!

The return journey was uneventful. Chatted with Mithila for some more time. Kamala periamma was also on the same train, but in a different coach. Mama was there to pick us up from the station. I went home and after telling my mami all that we had done at Srirangam, I hit the bed. Woke up before Kamala periamma left, did some browsings (back to my own world), ate good food, with maanga pachidi being the special for that day and slept again. I didn’t want to come back at all. This always happens to me, after a visit to some Divyakshetram, especially Srirangam, I never feel like coming back into my routine. Routine life seems mundane. Alas! I am back here.

Thavamaai Thavamirunthu-4

2007-04-03T01:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my continued training, I was a bit free and was able to make it for Panguni Uthiram to Srirangam this time. My first ever Panguni Uthiram. Inspite of Srirangam being my most visited Divyadesam, I have always been there only for the Chitrai utsavam time and again, thanks to the summer holidays. One thing I realized was that there is not much difference between Panguni and Chitrai utsavams, except for the Panguni Uthiram day and ofcourse Perumal goes to mandapams far off from Srirangam, as against the Chitrai maasam one, where perumal visits mandapams near Srirangam itself. One of the days in the Panguni festival he visits Jeeyar Puram, which is about 30 kms away from Srirangam, reached by crossing the banks of the Kaveri. Another day, he visits Oraiyur, his only visit in a year to Komalavalli thayar. The “serthi” at , the time when perumal and thayar are together is slisha different from the one at Srirangam. At Uraiyur you have perumal standing there with his surrounding peetam, which is absent in Srirangam. These are arbit details, as I have not seen this in person. Wish I could spend a whole year in Srirangam, before I get too old, so as to enjoy the whole thing in the pleasantness of my youth.

This visit actually going to be very special as, accompanying me were two of my closest pals, Mithila and Sreerangasayee. Sreerangasayee had been waiting for a trip to Srirangam. The first time I had met her was after my trip to Srirangam for Vaikunta Ekadesi. I had told perumal that time itself that I would be bringing Sreerangasayee the next time I came to Srirangam. Thanks to the Bandh supported by the govt in Tamil Nadu, her dad refused to send her and I traveled alone. The flight journey to Chennai was pretty uneventful. The check in of the flight had been done the earlier afternoon itself, thanks to somebody we know over there. That lady is also from Srirangam, and she was feeling pretty bad that she was not able to come for Panguni Uthiram. Due to her, I sat in starting seat with lot of leg space, not that leg space matters to me! Mama was there at the airport to take me home and the surprise package was to meet Yathu (Yathindran), a distant cousin. He is still in his 3rd year of Engg, but has been placed already. With the bandh taking effect from 6 AM itself, we were able to reach home in just 20 mins. On the way from the airport there was my standard dialogue to my mama, showing where Mithila’s house is on the way. After the usual chat with mami, the courtesy phone calls made to a couple of relatives and some mail checkings, mama dropped Yathu and me at the Railway Reservation office(thankfully this was open!) and it took us about 2 hours to cancel some 4 tickets. But this was a nice opportunity to talk to Yathu for a really long time and we didn’t realize the time that had passed. On a general note, the transactions that were going on at the reservation office that day was for cancellation only. With some more arbit chattings and visiting relatives on the same street, I was all set to leave to the station by 9. Mama dropped me off. Due to some carelessness by me, Mithi landed up at Central Station instead of Egmore, which put us in a frenzy. Inspite of this she was at Egmore with some 20 mins left for the train to leave. We comfortably settled down in our berths, with some swapping of places as we had got seats in different bays. As is our wont we were chatting till some 12:30 in the night. The ticket checker had told us that we would be reaching Trichy Junction by 4:00 and our alarms were set to 3:45 as we wanted to be good girls and brush in the train itself. The train ultimately landed up at some 5:15 and due to another mama and mami traveling with us, moving off from where we were supposed to meet them, there was some confusion and we reached home at 6. I couldn’t see much of the Kaveri when we were entering Srirangam. But the feel of the air was enough to make me feel peaceful and excited at the sametime. This was something I had been waiting for. Sree, I really missed you then!

There were many people at home, Indira patti and Sridhar thatha (the people who actually stay in the house), my own thatha and patti, Kamala periamma, Padma periamma, Shanthi chithi (all cousins of my mom), Ravi anna, his wife, Nithya manni and Badri. Mithila was introduced to all of them, I hope she wasn’t totally confused. At about 6:45 perumal left for the veedhi porappadu of Chitrai and Uttara veedhis (the last but 2 veedhis of the sapthapraakaram of Srirangam). This purappAdu is especially done to collect money for the finger ring that perumal is supposed to have lost, due to which he is late in meeting SriranganAchiyAr. This ritual is more a means of earning for the people who work in the temple, more than the money collected for the ring that is lost. As our house is near to the Therkku vaasal, aka Southern entrance, we saw perumal leave for the purappadu and then came home, got ready and went to the mAmunigaL sannidhi. The best way any Srivaishnavan can start his trip in Srirangam is to pay a visit to this wonderful sannidhi. I have no words to describe the greatness of Swami mAmunigaL. After this we met Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy, along with whom we had sevai of Nam perumal and then we went off to the Thayar sannidhi for the Pranaya Kalagam.

Pranaya Kalagam is the time when thayar refuses to let perumal into her sanctum-sanctorum. Perumal tries to rush in to the sannidhi and the door is closed directly on him-BANG! He tries again for three times, the first time he is pushed away with milk, after closing the door. The second time with some fruits, predominantly banana which is again mixed with milk and butter. The third time is usually supposed to be flowers, but this time it was again milk and butter. After this incident Nammazhwar comes to resolve the issue between perumal and piratti. It is the Arayar Swamy who talks on behalf of Nammazhwar and Namperumal to piratti. Perumal tries hard to cover up his mistakes, he lies so much, but ThAyar drills him with many many questions, but still agrees to let him in.

Post continued.

Waiting....

2007-03-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

Friday evening at 8PM:I am still waiting office ... waiting for my PL’s permission to let me go. The last 4 days have been hectic…thanks to my training and the impending visit of our clients. God knows what I did in some arbit PPTs, my PL wants me to stay and help her with the PPTs we will be showing the client. God alone knows how much they are going to understand about it. We have a weekly meeting, every Thursday and almost all issues are attended to in those meetings. Inspite of that we are going to show them many more of our issues. Wont they get bugged with so many issues.We are quite used to the way things work in this project….it is totally unstructured…which makes life easier for us…not for tracking information later though. Just as rules are meant to be broken, we are happy when we don’t have to follow a set path. Doing things the way you want….but ultimately reaching the solution seems tempting and obviously very easy too.

Life with a lady PL is not too good. She sometimes understands your feelings, but you cannot always have your way with her. If the PL were of the opposite gender, I could have kind of had a better advantage. They wouldn’t expect me to stay very late in office. Yesterday, for instance I took a bus from office at 9PM. My PL coolly calls up at 9:45 to ask the status of the PPT and also asks me how I am going back home. I casually say I am in the bus…and she exclaims at this time of the day(rather night) you are in a bus? How else am I supposed to go home? I didn’t even feel bad about traveling by bus…not until she exclaimed like this…Anyways…it is a pain to book a cab exclusively for myself and it wasn’t difficult at all to travel by bus. The first bus that came yesterday didn’t even stop at the bus stop….forcing me to use a lot of expletives in telugu…like sachinoda, daridrudu, etc..better to stop at that I guess..to maintain decency. The second bus did stop and I did manage to get a seat too. Lots of people had been waiting for the same bus and I felt I was travelling at 6:30 and not at 9. To me this seemed much safer than travelling in a cab all alone with someone I donot know! Basically…I like buses…have traveled in them since the age of 7!

Monday morning: I am waiting again. Clients are visiting us and we were all supposed to be in by 9AM. I came in 10 mins before 9. There is no sign of my PL or the clients....the office is pretty empty...except for my team members and a few others.

The power point presentation with started with 50 slides is now standing at 15! I dont quite understand how they managed to reduce it so much. So much of time has been wasted on it, I could have completed my training fully instead of doing this PPT!

There will be lots more waiting to do today, this whole week too....and probably forever....we keep waiting for someone, for something....when will the wait ever end?

Last Mile

2007-03-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

Amma has not been in town for the last 2 weeks. It didn’t seem difficult at all in the beginning. Waking up at 5, putting the kolam, doing some basic cleanings, washing of clothes, drying the clothes, cutting the vegetables, some basic cooking like cooking rice, once in a while making the kariyamudhu/sabji (in the morning), though major cooking has been only in the evenings and going to bed by 10-10:30 types didn’t seem too difficult the first 2 weeks. But this week it seems to be a little difficult. I just cant wait for amma to be back. Guess, this always happens with anything that we are doing. When it is almost about to finish, we are impatient as to when it will be done. The last mile is surely the toughest mile!

Bangalored

2007-03-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

Bangalore visits are pretty often, but not as often as Chennai ones. In the last couple of years, I have visited Bangy atleast 6 times, but they have either been too short, or I have always had some work to do, or I have gone to some place near Bangy, leaving me very little time in Bangalore. Last weekend I was in Bangalore, totally vetti...which was good, as I was able to realise how much Bangy has changed.

I have never liked to live in Bangy, thanks to our one year stay there, when I was 10 years old. I hated the school, the school mates, used to beg my mom everyday to allow me to take off atleast one day....inspite of so much cribbing I had not taken leave until December, 6 months since school started!

I landed at the Cantonment Station at around 6:45 am and zoomed off in the pleasantly cold morning of Bangalore on a superb bike, my brother's new Thunder Bird. The bike is too good. The best part is, most people look at the bike and not you, when you are on a Thunder Bird. The rest of the travelling in Bangalore was on Madhav's Pulasar, which is good too. Doesnt make much difference when you are just the pillion rider! After some morning TV watchings on that day, with absolutely no Tamil stuff, I had awesome masala dosai (surely to be had in one of the many darshinis in Bangalore, they make this extremely well) and met my cousin Madhav at MG Road and went off with him to my athai (paternal aunt's) house. After lots of chit chatting with Athai, Madhav and I decided to do some techie kind of shopping. I wanted a memory card for my mobile phone, so that it could be used as an MP3 as well. And may be even an MP3 for my dad. For this, we went into the Sangeetha at 4th Block, Jayanagar. Talking of Jayanagar, this is where we had stayed for a year at 6th block, a stone's throw away from 4th Block. But, 4th block has changed a lot.....it has become a little too cramped, too many shops, too many people to shop too! It is a different story that I didnt buy anything at all, but Madhav bought a 2GB memory stick, for just about 1000 bucks!

As we were walking down 4th block, I noticed the Puttanna theatre and was automatically transported to the same time 12 years ago, when we had all seen the movie Andaz Apna Apna. I still remember the yellow coloured, butterfly cut frock that I had been wearing for the movie, and when coming back home in the hot sun from the movie, we were discussing about shadows and the weird shapes that could be made out of it!

After 4th block, we spent some time at Barista having cold coffee....mine was majorly chocolate flavoured with lots of ice cream and less of coffee, as I am not a coffee freak. After Barista it was Forum, a dream come true for me. Inspite of so many visits to Bangalore, I had never visited Forum before. Not that there is something special at Forum, it is just similar to any other mall....with hajaar shops and more than hajaar shoppers...but have always seen people talking about Forum. It is still the most common meeting place for youngsters in Bangalore. After some shopping by Madhav at Westside, we looked around Landmark. Landmark seemed real good, as good at the one in Spencer's Plaza at Chennai. The only problem is that you would have to wait for atleast 15 mins for the billing, even if you are buying just one book!

After finishing off with Forum we went to Corner House, one of the most famous ice cream parlours of Bangalore. This was another dream come true for me. I have always wanted to have DBC (Death By Chocolate) here. Have heard so much about it before and the fact that it cannot be completed by one person alone. Even before ordering Madhav asked me if I would be able to finish it. I was confident I could finish. Even after seeing it I was sure I would be able to....but as I started having it....I realised how difficult it was....it was too sweet. I was reminded of the story of the King, whose daughter said she liked him as much as salt. But, I finally managed to finish it off.

Before going home we also went to Big Bazaar, another of those crowded places, where you get everything from vegetables to all house hold items to electronic goods, to look out for a particular type of table lamp. This wasnt available and we went back home, to see that athimber (athai's husband) was making nice palak paneer. Inspite of the heavy evening ( in terms of eatables), I did manage some of the palak paneer. It was obviously too good.

Sunday was just spend lazing around and as usual I didnt feel like getting back to work. The return journey was pretty uneventful. Business Class in Paramount Airlines is surely good, especially after having travelled second class by train on the onward journey!

Thavamaai Thavamirundhu-3

2007-02-04T18:19:00.000-08:00

Feb 4th, 2007 was the 29th year in a row, that Parthasarathy perumal was visiting my grand dad's house. Inspite of being born 8 years after this ritual started, I have never been to Chennai at this time of the year, when the Lord with all his karunai, comes to us, instead of our going to him. My grandfather's house is one of the places he stops (mandaga padi), enroute to check his property at EekaaduthAngal. Dont really understand why this never worked out before. But this time, I made plans as soon as I got to know of the date of Ekaaduthaangal utsavam and managed to be there on time.

As usual, I was all excited on the 2nd evening, boarding the train, dreaming abt the lord. If Sreerangasayee's brother wasnt to be married the following wednesday, she would have accompanied me too....she didnt want to get off the train at all, having dropped me off at the station. Thanks to her, I had a nice dinner of 2 adhirasams (arisalu, sweet made out of rice flour, which is soaked and ground, along with jaggery). The onward journey was pretty uneventful and I managed to complete the book, "The Man who knew Infinity", by Robert Kanigal, on the mathematical genius,Srinivasa Ramanujan. I had started this book on the earlier Sunday in the train, having borrowed it from my brother. Major part of the book was completed only on the train. Surprisingly, the train was late by just 10 mins, which is not the case when I travel alone. Whenever I go alone, be it flight or train, it manages to get delayed, by atleast an hour. Mama and Athuzhai (mama's daughter) were there to pick me up from the station.

The atmosphere at home was full of excitement and expectation, with so many preparations going on. Mami was getting ready to go to koyambedu market, to get lots of fruits for the next day. The Pandal was already put up and at around 11, maavelai (mango leaves), considered auspicious were being tied onto the pandal. There were so many things to be done, so much to talk, no wonder Chennai trips always seem too short. Colours were mixed for the kolam, the trays were washed, the back yard and front yard watered and cleaned, we started putting kolam at around 9:30. Dont know why, but this changu kolam which I try to put for some special occassion never comes properly on that occassion. When I practice it at home it always comes well, but when necessary it never comes. So, after the attempt with changu kolam (the dots moving from 15 to 8, decrementing by 1 in each step), I put another kolam, with some butterflies in it, coloured it with the help of Athuzhai and coloured a couple of other kolams. I also put yaanai (elephant) kolams at the entrance to welcome the lord, and couple of more padi kOlams. It was almost 12 by then.

Mama had offered to take me to Mylapore for the mangalaasasanam by PEy AzhwAr, which happens at 2:30. Parthasarathy takes the route from Triplicane to Mylapore and then onto Tnagar and then Eekaaduthaangal. Time having reached midnight already, we decided not to sleep and got ready by 1:30 Am and were in the Adikesava perumal koil by around 1:45. pEy AzhwAr was ready, waiting opposite Adikesava perumal, to be taken out in procession. It was an awesome sight. I was so close to pEy AzhwAr as to almost touch him. The whole time that we were in Mylapore I was close to pEy AzhwAr, for I donot know, how many more years, I will have to wait, to get a sEvai like this again. The people part of the ghoshti came a little ahead of perumal. Before perumal came into the mada veedhi of Mylapore, the kottu (drum beat) announced his arrival. Yet again, I will compare this kottu, to that of the one at Srirangam, because the kottu at Srirangam is a single beat and you should train your ears to realise that the kottu is that of perumal. Here is seemed more like a dappanguthu (sorry for the comparison). After the mangalaasaasanam of pEyAr to perumal he was duly commended with maalai prasaadam, sri satakopam and a shawl. After this perumal and pEy AzhwAr went round the streets surrounding the temple and Parthasarathy also went into the Adikesava perumal sannidhi. But, the pandal at the entrance to the temple had a vadakalai thiruman and there was a fight saying perumal should not enter this pandal....all materialistic things. Due to this, there was a delay of about 40 mins in his schedule. As soon as we came back from the temple, Chakrathazhwar came home to check if everything was alright for perumal. When Chakrathazhwar comes, hay is burnt and shown all around the place as a method of cleansing the whole place for perumal.

In about half and hour's time Sri also came home. And I got a dose from her also for wearing an arbit synthetic saree instead of a silk one, when perumal was coming. I had got a dose the earlier day also from another mami of mine. But, I had thought that wearing a new saree would be better than wearing a silk one, opinions differ. There was too much hustle bustle of activity, the kottu sound was heard again, some of the people accompanying perumal came earlier and before I could understand perumal was at home. The older people were obviously given first preference, then there was the activity of giving coffee to everyone who was there and then the prasadam of fruits, etc that were to be offered to perumal. Before I could understand anything, perumal was leaving. The only satisfaction was that, I was able to get Sri satakopam (satari), my mami wasnt able to get even that! I was totally upset, I had come all the way to have a nice sevai of perumal and now I had missed it all. But, then Athuzhai was confidently promising me saying, mama would take us to some place where we would get awesome sevai.

After finishing some more work at home, mama-mami, Athuzhai, Charu mami and I set out to somewhere near Thirumalai Pillai road, to some Giri Street. At this house in Giri street, they provide tiffin to all the people who come with perumal, so he stays put there for some half an hour. Here was my chance. I didnt leave his side at all, all of the half an hour, I was with him. Never have I seen Parthasarathy perumal this close, dont know what paavam I had done to miss such a thing. But, atleast now, I was able to get it. With some hajaar picture clickings by Athuzhai, with permission from the Bhattar swami, it would have been better, if I had had a digi cam, which is not working now. It was only on the 2 mega pixel of my mobile that I clicked all. I didnt feel like coming back at all. This time it was not only Chennai, but Geetacharyan too, that I am missing!!

Fussy Fifty

2007-01-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

Tagged by Naren

1. Were you named after anyone?
Yes, the Goddess at the Kesava Perumal temple in Mylapore.

2. Do you wish on stars?
No.

3. When did you last cry?
When I saw Bommarillu, the first time, on August 15th.

4. Do you like your handwriting?
Yes I do.

5. What is your favourite meat?
I'm a vegetarian.

6. What is your most embarrassing CD on your shelf?
I lose most of the cds that I have!

7. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you?
Surely :D

8.Are you a daredevil?
Sometimes! Depends on who provokes me into doing something!

9. How do you release anger?
Mostly crib and shout, sometimes cry out! Rarely think to myself.

10. Where is your second home?
Office!

11. Do you trust others easily?
No. I take a lot of time to trust people.

12. What was your favourite toy as a child?
Barbies may be :P Was never actually crazy about toys.

13. What class in school/college do you think is totally useless?
SUPW....dont even know the full form properly.

14. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Sometimes, with people I feel, who are not happy when they ought to be! And when they are impractical too.

15. Have you ever been in a mosh pit?
After googling, No. Dont think I would like it!

16.What do you look for in a gal(/guy)?
Takes life easy...bindaas kinda! But, should know when he has to be serious.

17. Would you bungee jump?
Surely!

18. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
I dont wear shoes which have to be untied. If they are sandals, I dont usually unlock the buckle, if I can take them off directly.

19.what's your favourite ice cream?
Anything with loads of chocolate thrown in.

20. What are your favourite colours?
White, Black, Red.

21. What are your least favourite things?
To wait, to lie unnecessarily.

22. How many people do you have a crush on right now?
Many....it keeps changing from time to time. The crush varies from Namperumal to any actor!

23. Who do you miss most right now?
Chennai! Came back only this morning.

24. What are you listening to right now?
The sound of my keypad, typing out this blog.

25. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
Red.

26. What is the weather like right now?
Very pleasant.

27. Last person you talked to on the phone?
Mama

28. The "first" thing you notice about the opposite sex?
If he is an Iyengar and looks like one too :D

29. Do you like the person who sent you this?
No :P

30. How are you today?
Sleepy and tired, depressed that I had to come back from Chennai.

31. Favourite non alcoholic drink?
Mor(Butter Milk), Lassi.

32. Favourite alcoholic drink?
Wine :P

33. Natural hair colour?
Black.

34. Eye colour?
Brown.

35. Wear contacts?
Yes.

36. Siblings?
Elder bother...oops brother!

37. Favourite month?
Maargazhi maasam. Lots of visits to the temple and I manage to get up early :D

38.Favourite food?
Anything south Indian!

39. Favourite day of the year?
Everyday.

40. Have you ever been too shy to ask someone out?
Never thought about this!

41. Scary movies or happy endings?
Both!

42. Summer or winter?
Rainy!

43. Holi or Diwali?
Sri Jayanthi! The last time I enjoyed playing holi, was in class 7.

44. Do you like your name?
Ofcourse.

45. What book/magazine are you reading?
The Man Who Knew Infinity.

46. What's on your mouse pad?
DELL logo.

47. What did you watch on TV last night?
Was on the train, so couldnt watch TV!

48. Favourite Smell?
The smell from the freshly watered earth, especially when it rains. Also, the smell of agarbathi(incense stick) and flowers at the temple.

49. Have you ever regretted breaking up with someone?
Nopes. All for the good!

50. Most tiresome thing you’ve ever experienced/done?
Waiting. Waiting is a pain, be it for a bus, or for someone, or in a queue to buy a ticket, especially if I am alone.

Phew...finally done.

I tag Gads now, on his request.

Andal of Edulabad

2007-01-22T18:13:00.000-08:00

A trip that should have happened in the month of margazhi (Dhanur maasam, Dec 15th to Jan 15th), happened a few days after margazhi. Thanks to Sreerangasayee's insistance we were able to make this trip. Going to Edulabad does not need any big effort, as it is just about 30 kms from Secunderabad, but somehow it didnt work out before. And trips planned out of the blue work out very well.

As usual, I met Sree on Friday, after office hours and as is our wont, we were chatting for a long time, and when she was about to leave she casually suggested that we should make a trip if possible on the next day itself. And thanks to the fact that the Kodhai at home (my mom) allowed me to go, we decided to leave early the next day. Early for Hyderabad is around 7. I picked up Sree from her place at 7, and Sree then zoomed off, inspite of the constant chit chat that we were having. But for a couple of stops on the way to buy some fruits or flowers, the exorbitant prices put us off and we reached the front of the temple at around 8. The archakar(poojari) wasnt yet ready and so we decided to look around the place. Not much to be seen, but for the pushkarani (temple tank) and enroute to the pushkarani a dilapidated Hanuman temple. So, the day actually started with the sevai of the siriya thiruvadi of perumal. After clicking a couple of pics over there, we went into the temple.

The temple isnt too big. I have a very bad habit of comparing any temple with that of Srirangam. But, the temple is neatly maintained. The prakaram has only one sannidhi, which the Archakar said was of Narayana. The Azhwars and Acharyas are within the main sannidhi itself. Coming to the main sannidhi, Andal stands to the right of Rangamannar and Periazhwar to his left. The utsava vigrahas are also similar. There are also small vigrahas of Ramar, Lakshmanar and Seetha piraatti. Hanuman temples are ubiquitous in Andhra Pradesh, almost every arch that is built will have a Ramar, Lakshmanar and Seethai along with Hanuman, or it will be Venkatesa Perumal. There were just 2 more people in the temple, who seemed like regular visitors. The Tirupalliezhuchi started off well and after the morning's wake up prasadam of sugar and rava mixed together(pretty commom prasadam here), the Archaka swami started to take off the old maalais(garlands) and he called Sree first and gave her the maalai which Andal had been wearing. Sree was totally touched and she thanked me profusely for bringing her there! And I got the maalai from the utsava vigraham of Andal. There is also a separate sannidhi for Thayar.

After the other routines and the usual enquiries by the Archaka swami as to where we are from, we helped him in cleaning the temple. The lady who usually helps him do the cleaning had not turned up that day, as some relative of hers was not well. Thanks to her absence, we were able to do some help to the Archakar. Inspite of the constant talking that we were doing, we managed to do a fairly nice job with the cleaning. After this, the Archaka Swami also asked us to get some thiruthuzhai for thiruvaaraadanam (main pooja).

Before leaving the temple, the archakar also gave us some bangles....the temple is known as Gajula Andalamma gudi. Gaujulu in telugu means bangles. There is a nice comparison that I got from one of Sree's friends, one Chaitanya. The comparison is as follows:
From one of the THANIANS ON TIRUPPAVAI written by Uyyak Kondar:

""O ! Andal ! You offered the garland of flowers worn by you earlier to the
Lord. You are bright like the golden creeper. You brought out the age old
custom of ' Paavai Nonbu ' through your musical hymns. You wear jingling
bangles which announce to the world the grace of God. Just as you declared
not to become the spouse of anyone other than the Lord of Tiruvenkadam,
please let us follow your footsteps in this regard without faltering".

As usual, we didnt feel like coming back at all....but the materialistic world, beckons us again and again!

Numaish Chalrein?

2007-01-20T22:59:00.000-08:00

Come January in Hyderabad and this is the most common question that is asked......"Numaish Chalrein?" Numaish aka the Industrial exhibition conducted yearly at the exhibition grounds in Nampally is a must visit for any Hyderabadi. This event starts on Jan 1st and goes on till the 15th of February. Due to the upsurge in the number of malls around the city today, many people may not visit the exhibition these days. But, this place has an old world charm around it.

Almost everything you name is available there. Right from branded TVs, fridges, other electronic gadgets to different brands of ice creams, Mehendi powders, instant geysers, vegetable cutters (with which only the person who is giving the demo can cut), varieties of clothes, shawls, chaat items and ofcourse some exciting rides. To add to the list of girlie items that are available, you have lots of sandals, ear rings, amazing collections of bangles and majorly hand bags. The most commonly available kind of clothing for women is the Lucknowi Chikaan work and Kashmiri sarees. Bargaining with the shop keepers is again fun.

With respect to eatables, different varieties of chaat, ubiquitous pop corn stalls, the fluffy pink cotton like candy (peechu mittai or panju mittai), nice chaai, and choco bar icecream of Vijaya Dairy is a must for me. Dont know why I have only Vijaya's icecrea, when I am at the exhibition. That is the only time we think of Vijaya Dairy!

The atmosphere as you are entering the exhibition is amazing, the excited bustle of women folk,( they are the ones who frequent this place the most), some of them dressed too well for shopping, some of the girls throwing coquettish glances at their boy friend's, with whom they have managed to come out all alone. Many road side romeos, sight aduchufying, and ofcourse the din of the shopkeepers calling out to sell their wares. As the evening progresses, the criss cross of lights throws weird shadows and gives more privacy to the couples.

I havent yet visited the Numaish this year. Looking forward to going there, atleast for the handbags. They come damn cheap at the end of the exhibition. Will probably be able to give a more detailed description once I visit it this year.

Analogy

2007-01-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I saw an iyengar friend of mine totally embracing Gods other than Sriman Narayana. That totally beats me. There is nothing which hasnt been explained by Udaiyavar (Swami Ramanuja) or the Azhwars. Be it the purpose of life, how to lead a honourable life with ethics, values, humility etc evrything has been not only explained in detail but also practiced by them for us to emulate. A small analogy will prove this.

A woman once, asked her husband to get a list of about fifty odd things. The husband goes to the market and buys some of the things from many different shops. He then goes to a super market and realises that everything that was there on the list was available there. The super market not only had everything, but everything of very good quality. Srivaishnavism is just like the Supermarket. Thanks to a chat with Rajeev I got this analogy.

Thavamaai Thavamirundu-2

2007-01-03T18:04:00.000-08:00

After visiting a couple of relatives, we went to the exhibition organised by Srimaan Trust. It had many models on display, showing various aspects of our Sampradaya. A room was exclusively allocated for the display of 108 Divyadesams. There were also other stalls extolling the greatness of Acharyas, Azhwaars, the different Upanyasakars aka vidwaans and also some relations between science and religion and also the sharanagathis done in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Acharyas and Azhwaars was simply superb. Each kid is a particular Azhwar or Acharyan and he clearly states when and where he was born and the important things done in his life. The pieces that I liked the most was the one by Kumudavalli Naachiyaar, done by a girl about 3 years old. She stated clearly that she wouldnt marry Thirumangai Aazhwaar unless he were to do Thadiyaaradaanai kainkaryam to 1008 Sri Vaishnavas for a year, everyday and also do his Panchasamskaaram. Another piece was the reason why Periya Perumal considered Swami Maamunigal as his Acharyan. Dissatisified with his priests in Ramavataaram and Krishnavataaram, where he was expecting them to ask for Moksham, but they asked for progeny (which he considered as alpamana vishayam), he was very satisfied with Swami Maamunigal and hence considered him as his Acharya. This piece was very well written and well said too.

There were also some game shows and quiz programs, all based on Sampradayam. It was an enlightening experience and I visited the exhibition twice, spending more than 3 hours, the second time I visited it. After the visit to the exhibition in the evening, I again had a sevai of piraatti, along with my brother. This time, it was slisha quicker, but the same stream of VIPs continued. We also went for Veenai Ekaantham. But before Veenai Ekaantham, we decided to get a glmipse of Namperumal in Aayira Kaal mandapam (1000 pillared hall). The place was obviously very very crowded and thanks to some VIPs, we managed to get very close to Namperumal, by pushing and being pushed. We spent most part of the evening with a distant cousin of ours, Ravi, also the grandson of cricketer C. R. Rangachari. Surprisingly, there was no discussion on cricket at all. Ravi pointed out to me at the Aayirakaal mandapam, that Namperumal was standing with one of his feet a little above...as though Namperumal is ready to move. This is so because Namperumal was ready to move out of the Aayira kaal mandapam at that time and go back to his usual resting place. Namperumal was fully covered in a netted cloth, except for his thirumugamandalam (face), making him look like a really small kid.

The Veenai Ekaantham rocked. I am a novice to Carnatic music, but still there was sweetness in the Veenai and in the songs that they sang. Most of the songs were familiar to me, as they were paasurams from the Divya Prabandham. There were 2 paasurams from Thirupallandu, one paasuram from Thondaradipodi Aazhwar's thirumaalai (pachai maamani pol) and Yen Palli kondeer ayya, Sri Ranganatha. The best part of the Veenai Ekaantham was that the voice of the singers did not drown the sound of the Veenai. Both the veenai and the voices were in synch and they managed different pitches too. It was a very exhilarating experience for me and at the end of the Veenai Ekaantham I was starting to feel depressed. This always happens to me at Srirangam. I am always in love with Srirangam and I am always forced to part from it...some harsh realities of life.

I am supposed to have fasted on the day of Ekadesi, but I didnt feel so, as I had 2 cups of tea, some kesari and pongal as prasadam and also one banana. Compared to what I had done for Kaiseka Ekadesi, this was too much eating. But, to break the so called fast we had awesome food the next day, made by Indira patti (mom's maternal aunt, she turns 60 only tomorrow, but we insist on calling her patti). The food consisted of the mandatory aathu keerai(made exclusively on dwadasi), averakkai paruppusili (french beans along with pulses), mor kozhambu, lemon rasam, superb chakra pongal ( this deserves a special mention, it was too good), vadai, nellikkai pachidi(again mandatory for dwadasi) and ofcourse good katti thayir (curd that can be cut into slices).

The journey back home was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that we were able to reach Hyderabad in about 9 hours from Bangalore. New Year's eve was spent in a blissful sleep by me. No better start to a day or a year, than a peaceful sleep. All in all a very welcome change, this trip was.

For some more fundaes on Vaikunta Ekadesi, you can read this , link got from Naren.

Thavamaai Thavamirundu-1

2007-01-03T07:42:00.000-08:00

Its a dream come true for me....may be the most important one. I had been wanting to go to Srirangam for Vaikunta Ekadesi. This ekadesi is not as important as Kaiseka Ekadesi is, for Iyengars, but there are grand celebrations in all Vishnu temples....and Srirangam obviously leads the celebrations.

Srirangam being far from Hyderabad and not accessible directly, unless we take a flight to Trichy, we decided to drive down this time and went via Bangalore, to take my bro also on the way. The drive to Bangalore took pretty long, with a few phone calls for my dad on the way and the usual delay in leaving from home. The road from Hyderabad to Bangalore is fairly good, not as good as the one from Hyd to Vizag. Most part of this NH-7 (which goes from Kanyakumari to Varanasi) is being converted to a four lane one, and hence many diversions and slowing down inbetween. And inspite of reaching the outskirts of Bangalore city by 6:45, we could reach my brother's house only at 9:15. After seeing this I am glad I was not posted in Bangalore, as I would have had to travel a lot to reach office. God surely knows best!!!

The next morning we left for Srirangam. We couldnt leave early and so reached Srirangam only at around 5 in the evening. We immediately went off to see Namperumal in Nachiyaar Thirukolam. He as usual rocked in it. He seemed more fashion conscious than the present day girls. They ought to learn how to wear the different kind of kangans, ear rings, paavadais, maalais, golusu, etc etc etc....there is so much...that I can never probably finish describing it. Before Namperumal, Udaiyavar, Nammazhwar and Thirumangai Azhwar were also taken in a procession. Thirumangai Azhwar was dresses in a very nice vastram, green base with orange border. They call this green Sneha pachai(green), but I am sure it suits Thirumangai Azhwar more than actress Sneha. The temple was obviously very crowded and it is always a tough task to get the best view of perumal in such a crowd. It is even more tough for people like me, who are short.

On the day of Ekadesi, we went to the temple at 5 in the morning. Perumal had already come out of the Paramapada Vaasal and was just entering the manal veli (sand bank). The place was totally crowded and I was really worried if I could see the lord properly. But, the lord being Namperumal he has amazing strategies and you can never predict where he will go next. He just moves around the whole manalvali and stops inbetween in the naalu kaal mandapam four legged hall). Irrespective of where you stand, he comes close to you and says "Hi!! Dont you worry, you can see me from anywhere. Just make an effort to come to my temple and I will take care of you". Namperumal was dressed in a rathanangi(dress full of precious stones, predominantly red stone). He was also wearing a valai veshti to beat the cold. All the azhwars also come to the manalveli and the Arayar finishes off with the Pagal Pathu sathumurai (10 day festival of reciting the parts of the Divya Prabandham, other than Thiruvaaimozhi.This is done in the morning. Commencing on Ekadesi day is the Raa pathu, which is done in the evenings and mainly has Thiruvaaimozhi. The end of Raa pathu is Nammazhwar moksham.) As we did not have a ticket to get into the temple at midnight, we went to the Manal veli. For a detailed version of what happens at midnight, you can read this.

After pathi ulaathal (thats what he does, I mean roams around the whole manal veli, without a defined route) with Namperumal, we tried to get into the queue to see Periya Perumal in his Muthangi. Thanks to a lady we knew, who had befriended the police, who were taking care of the Srirangam temple for 2 days, we were able to get into the line through the gate near Udaiyavar sannidhi. I feel Udaiyavar saw to this. After joining the line, we were able to have sevai of Periya Perumal in about 2 hours time. According to me there should be no queue system as it widens the gap between perumal and us. But, for practical purposes it is necessary. The queue did not have any local Srirangam people, as they prefer to come 2 days after Ekadesi and have sevai as it is too crowded on Ekadesi. To regulate the crowd, we were not allowed to go via the Ekadesi pradakshinam, but were directly let out of another gate, which leads to Paramapada vaasal. Most of the crowd comes to step through the Vaikunta Vaasal and sevai of Perumal is not on their agenda for that day. More than the crowd in the line, it is the VIPs who come on these important days to have sevai of perumal. The whole of the police quarters turns up at the temple. Probably the wife's of the police officers pray to the lord that their black money is not discovered.

It was due to the rush that we had to adopt the reverse strategy of having sevai of perumal first and then of thaayar. It is always said that we should have sevai of thaayar first and then of perumal as thaayar always shows her kaarunya gunaas and recommends us to perumal in the right way. Perumal may directly notice our paapas (sins), but thaayar always takes care of us and redeems us from these sins. And perumal never says no to thaayar. After an awesome sevai of thaayar, with hazaar interruptions by the so called VIPs, we went off to meet some relatives. Srirangam is full of known people, the most important being Namperumal, ofcourse.

Continued....

Flicked from another blog

2006-12-17T06:41:00.000-08:00

Flicked from Naren's

Your Brain is 60% Female, 40% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female
You are both sensitive and savvy
Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed
But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Atleast this says I am a female predominantly.

Typical Gult Bridegroom's mentality.....I got this as a forward

2006-12-17T05:54:00.000-08:00

CREATE PROCEDURE MyMarriage
@ BrideGroom Char(NotBad),
@ Bride Char(Good)??

AS
BEGIN

SELECT Bride FROM Andhra_Pradesh Brides
WHERE
FatherInLaw = 'Millionaire' AND
CarCount > 2 AND
HouseStatus ='TwoStoreyed' AND
BrideEduStatus='PG orAbove'
HavingBrothers='NO' AND
HavingSisters ='No' AND
AllowRelocate ='YES' AND

SELECT Gold ,Cash,Car,BankBalance FROM FatherInLaw

UPDATE MyBankAccout SET MyBal = MyBal + FatherinLawBal
UPDATE MyLocker SET MyLockerContents = MyLockerContents + FatherinLawGold

INSERT INTO MyCarShed VALUES ('BMW')

?END
GO ?

Then the wife writes the below query:

FORMAT HUSBAND

Check list to be called a Hyderabadi

2006-12-09T04:40:00.000-08:00

1. Your address reads as 23-404-32/67A-43 (New MCHnumber 56-678/4A/B-22),while you actually live in the second house in a lane behind Anand Theatre on SP Road. If you are living somewhere near Anand Theatre, it is most likely that you are a non local Satyamite.

2. You are a common visitor to one of these good old roadside cafes and you call them Kef.

3. Your street has at least one roadside mobile hotel that serves Chinese delicacies such as "Vegetable soft needles", "Navrotten Kurma", "Chicken Manchewurea" or "American Chompsee".

4. Your answer is 'seedha chale jao' (go straight) when somebody asks you for directions, whether it is to Malakpet, Masab Tank, Malkajgiri or Moosapet. Or some other place near your house then "Idar ich hain". Near your house equals to some 3 to 4 kms away.

5. You come across tailors sporting the board: "Immidiot delivery in two days onli."

6.You can speak Hindi, Urdu, hyderabadi hinglish, and if it is Telugu, it will majorly have hindi or Urdu words.

7.You ask the waiter to get you some 'Mango pickle' even if you are sitting at a lavish continental banquet dinner with exotic Chinese, Mexican,Italian and Lebanese cuisines.

8. You order for a tea just after having had a Caramel custard.

9. You have at least one cousin, friend, colleague or acquaintance in the US in software.

10. Everytime somebody gives you a piece of good news, the first thing you ask them is 'Party kab hain?' (Whens the treat? )

11. You refer to any past as 'parso', be it yesterday or long before three hundred years.

12. You call 11 AM as "subah subah." (Early morning)

13. You are 15 minutes late and you feel you are well before time.

14. You look at the fixed price stand and still ask 'dene ka daam bolo'

15. If you are riding a bike and somebody hits you from behind you say "Dekhe maaro" (Hit carefully) .

16. If you have surely decided to see a movie, on a particular day and a particular movie too, but dont get tickets you will surely see another movie, irrespective of the persons acting in the other movie. You have to surely see a movie that day. And after seeing most movies you will say "Ek baar dekh sakte hain, aka oka saari choodochu" (The movie can be seen once).

17. Even on a road with one way traffic you look to both sides of the roads and then cross.

18. Easiest way to cross the road is to put up both your hands, look left when you ought to look right and vice versa.

19. Bajaj Chetak is still the best vehicle one can have, and even after 15 years it is supposed to be giving a milage of 40 kms a litre.

20. Food at any function should have Bagara and Bagara Baingan. Dessert should consist of Gulab Jamun, Gajar Ka Halwa or Qubani ka Meetha.

21. Spitoons are not meant for spitting pan, but the area around the spitoon or any corner, for that matter is the best place.

Are you a Hyderabadi?

Once a Hyderabadi, always a Hyderabadi!

Karthigaiyil Karthigai Naal

2006-12-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

mAran paNitha tamizhmaraikku
mangaiyarkOn ArangamkUravadaritha
veerudaya kArthigaiyil kArthigai nALendru kAthalippar
vAythamalar thAzhgaL nenje vAzhthu

Today is the birthday of my favourite Azhwar, Thirumangai Azhwar. I donot know most of the pasurams that he has sung, but he still remains my favourite for the fact that, he was the Azhwar whose life was very similar to the way we live. His vigraham (idol) at Thirunagari, is just as a human would stand with the foot apart, unlike the idols of the Gods, where they stand straight.

Born in Thirukuraiyaloor, on the full moon day of the month of Karthigai, in karthigai nakshatram, he was the last of the Azhwars and is said to have visited more than 80 Divya Desams. He was not only well versed in Sanskrit and some other languages, but was also taught the art of fighting. Being born into a royal family, he went on to become a great conqueror in the Chozha kingdom. Due to his fighting abilities and his winning power he was called Kaalan(which takes life out of us) by his enemies and hence named Parakaalan. He then went on to become the king of Thirumangai and was hence called Thirumangai Mannan.

One of the Deva Kanya's due to a shapam, was found as a baby near a Alli flowered pond, near Thirunaangoor. A childless doctor found this baby and named her Kumudavalli. She was born to divert the mind of Thirumangai Mannan from war, onto Sriman Narayanan. In due course Thirumangai Mannan heard abt Kumudavalli and came to ask for her hand in marriage. To fulfill the purpose of her birth, Kumudavalli nAchiyAr put some conditions for her marriage, ie he should dedicate his life to the service of Emperumaan and his devotees. It was at this juncture that Thirumangai Mannan transformed himself into a Vishnu Bhaktan from the post of a king, in front of Thirunaraiyoor Nambi. She also asked him to perform thadiyaaradanai kainkaryam to atleast 100 Bhagavthas (Vishnu Bhaktas), a day. In due course, his wealth started diminishing on account of these social activities and he was unable to pay the taxes to the King. To overcome this, he resorted to many dacoities, along with his followers. There are many stories of how he committed some of these dacoities. During one of his exploits like this, in the darkness of one night, he came across a newly married couple, and took off all their ornaments. When checking if all ornaments were removed, he came across the metti of thayar and tried to take that off also, but it stayed there and he tried to take it off with his teeth. He then asked his follower Tholavazhakkan to tie up all the ornaments in a bundle and carry it off, but Tholavazhakkan was unable to do this. He became too angry and asked the Maapillai, aka Perumal to give some Mantram to carry off the ornaments. At this point, Perumal explained the Ashtakshara Mantram to Thirumangai Mannan. Realising the great mistake that he had done, he started visiting many Divyadesams and singing many hymns in praise of the lord.

He is the only Azhwar to have personally visited so many Divyadesams. Even today, with so much advancement in technology, a trip to Badrikashrama is exasperating. Imagine how Azhwar could have done this so long ago. Only the Karunai of the Lord could have helped him in his endeavours. Thirumangai Azhwar was also instrumental in building the walls of the Srirangam temple and also brought Nammazhwar from Azhwar Thirunagari to Srirangam and hence the Rapattu and Pagal Pathu utsavams. He wrote 6 prabhandhams (ie) Periya Thriumozhi, Thirukkurunthandagam, Thirunedunthandagam, Thiru vezhukootirukkai, Siriya Thrumadal, Periya Thirumadal, which includes total of 1137 paasurams.

kalanthiru kArthigaiyil kArthigai vanthOn vAzhiye!
kAsiniyalON kuraiyalUr kAvolan vAzhiye!
nalanthigazhAiratheNbathu nAluraithAn vAzhiye!
nAlainthu mAranithum namakkuraithAn vAzhiye!
ilangezhukUtrirukkai iru madaleenthAn vAzhiye!
imUndril irunUtrirpathEzheendAn vAzhiye!
valanthigazhunga kumudavalli manavALan vAzhiye!

vAtkaliyan parakAlan mangaiyarkOn vAzhiye!

A few observations

2006-12-02T19:37:00.000-08:00

1. It is fashionable to bring a tiffin set to office. The same tiffin carrier or hot pack was considered below dignity to be carried to school or college. But this is the most fashionable thing to bring to office. Almost everyone who comes to office carries a hot pack, even some jeans clad, fashionably dressed young men.

2. Most young girls laugh too much in the bus. More so if the conductor cracks a joke. Or teasingly looks at them.

3. There are lots of languages spoken in the bus and I seem to understand most of them.

4. When we are waiting for a particular bus, that one never comes. When we are waiting for another bus, there are many buses for which we used to wait.

5. Middle aged men are the greatest despos and they find new ways of trying to give their number.

6. You should never go to reserve a railway ticket on a Sunday.

Something's wrong with the World!

2006-11-24T23:09:00.000-08:00

The road is tree lined and well maintained. A pleasant breeze is blowing. There is calm all around, eventhough there is some traffic moving about here and there. As I am savouring this pleasant moment, sitting in the bus, there is a loud ring, obviously some latest movie song and I come out from my reverie. There is a loud Hello! The latest gossip in office is talked about or how Surya/Shahrukh Khan/Hrithik Roshan/Siddarth, as applied to each of the States, looks in the latest movie, or what plans are there for the weekend. Why is it that almost everybody when travelling by bus is talking on a mobile phone? Eventhough the signal isnt good, or they are not able to hear properly in the din of the bus, they are always found talking on the phone. Why do I have to know what someone's someone bought this someone some psued goggles etc from the US, or this is their latest mobile phone, or that they have bought some dresses at surprisingly cheap rates, eventhough its a good brand?

It is not only talking on the mobile phone, most of them are listening to some MP3 songs or are listening to the new FM stations that have cropped up in the recent time. Well, listening to music isnt wrong. The conductor is calling out to take the ticket and they are in some dream world, listening to their favourite song. There is time enough for doing all this, why in the bus? After all this of travelling everyday by bus, and they claim to know the area very well. But, if I were to ask someone where KBR Park is, or which road I have to take from Jubilee Hills Check Post to go to Ameerpet, I obviously dont get the answer. And I start to think, there is surely something wrong with the world! Alas, there is nothing wrong with the world. There is something wrong with me. I have not been able to move on with the changing times.Even if I have a good mobile phone, with the best facilities, I dont want to show it off. To me travelling by bus means to look out of the window. And when somebody asks me for some direction and I guide them correctly, they think I roam around the city too much, or I am showing off that I know. It is time I change myself.

The week that was

2006-11-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

Last week, was my first day at office. I have supposedly been going to office for the last 4 months, but last week was special as it was proper office. Not the class roon kind of training office or the bench office. Now, I am part of a business unit. I was supposed to reach office on the first day at 9:30, but I landed up at Hitech city at around 8:30 itself. So, met a friend who works for another company and then went into office. Our reporting manager came in late, only at around 12. We then had a long chat with him, a very general talk and ofcourse pulling the legs of some of the people there. Tuesday through Thursday was again training along with lots of practicals, which was good. Friday was fully a practical session, some Java programming to check if I do remember some Java.

I am back to commuting by bus now. 17 kms, in the traffic of Hyderabad meant I was not allowed to take my scooty. Except for the last 4 months, in which I enjoyed my scooty rides, now I am back to something I have been used to all my life, right from the time I was 7. Eventhough I have to take 2 buses, it seems pretty comfortable travelling by bus.

As of now, I am Orkutting and also online on GTalk and YM! Will blog again later on.

Bye bye Bench!

2006-11-18T03:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my last day of my bench period for now. It was for abt a month. It was certainly one of the most enjoyable periods of my life, though I did get bored and started craving for some work. The past month also saw some jet speed revision of Java by me. I am glad I am going to continue working on Java, though I'll have to learn many new things now. And having been released from the bench, I am now going to become a member of that pseud area in Hyderabad, where almost every person is in someway related to software, the Hi Tech city. But for the few people joining along with me, everything is going to be new to me. All I know is that I'll be in some floor of some pseud building, surrounded by lots of computers and may be people. Commuting from home to this place is going to be difficult, some 40 odd kms a day. So, no more Scooty driving on weekdays! I'll miss my Scooty surely. And I will also be missing my recent pals, who have faced the same grind of training, the joys and sorrows that were there. Hi tech city, here I come!

Srikurmam

2006-11-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

Having been to Vizag more than 10 times in my life, I had never had the opportunity of going to this wonderful place called Srikurmam. This is the only place, where Sriman Narayana is in the kurmavatharam (tortoise like). He is supposed to have taken this avatharam to get Amrutham from the ocean, to make the Devas immortal, and save them from the asuras. When Mount Meru, the churning ladle, was churned with the help of Vasuki, the serpent, the soft bed of the ocean could not sustain the weight of Meru and the mountain started sinking. To hold up Meru, the Lord took the form of a kurma and supported Meru on the hard shell.

Mythology apart, I couldnt have gone to Araku Valley or Borra caves, 2 supposedly beautiful places near Vizag. All Vizag trips have been short and going to any of these places requires some foreplanning, which is impossible with the trips that we plan. Having been to Simhachalam, a Narasimha kshetram, before, I thought Srikurmam would be nice. It is at a distance of about 120 kms from Vizag. There are many buses that ply directly from Vizag. Srikurmam comes under Srikakulam district and is at a distance of about 10 kms from Srikakulam. There is another famous Sun temple at Arasavalli, in Srikakulam itself. Most of the people who came to Arasavalli, also came to Srikurmam, causing Srikurmam to be crowded. I was told that Srikurmam is never crowded so much, but as it was a Sunday and it being Karthika maasam, it was so.

The temple premises is small. Any temple seems small to me, as temple to me implies only Srirangam. The Gopuram and pillars are beautifully carved, lending the temple an aesthetic look and I am sure the temple is pretty old, probably around 300 years. The temple also has a pushkarani (water tank), decently maintained. There is also a small park for the tortoises. There are some dozen tortoises of varying sizes.

The temple Prakaram consists of idols of all the azhwars and acharyas and obviously a separate sannidhi for Swami Ramanuja, fondly called Bhasyakarulu by the telugus. Inside there are small utsava vigrahams of Rama and also the lord. There are small vigrahams of the azhwars, Nammazhwar, Thirumangai azhwar, my favourite, Kulasekhara Azhwar, Mamunigal and Udaiyavar. The thayar, Kurmanayaki is very special, as she is seated on a Garuda Vahanam, which cannot be found anywhere else.

The drive was extra nice as it was in my periappa's new car, Indica Xeta. It was very spacious and comfortable. The roads were also extremely good, except for a stretch of 10 kms. The roads give a beautiful sight, as they have been built inbetween hills. And the food was obviously too good. We took puliyodharai and thayir saadham and had it in some fields on the way. All in all a nice holiday, it was.

Vizag beckoned

2006-11-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

With my reporting being on the 20th of Nov, I thought a nice break before it would be great before the start of the project. Chennai would have been a very good option, but Chennai trips are even more hectic than staying in Hyderabad. There are too many people to visit, apart from the temples to be visited too. And there was a long pending trip to Vizag. Until 2 years ago, we used to visit Vizag every year, but in the last 2 years, we somehow werent able to make a trip. And I thought, this would be my last chance to make a nice, long trip.

As usual, the trip was planned in the last minute. We didnt get any direct tickets, and even if we had got, appa wouldnt have been able to make it to the station. So, we took a bus till Vijayawada and then took a connecting train to Vizag from there. The bus put at us at Vijayawada at 2:45 am itself. We had fruit juice at the bus station at that unearthly hour and then came onto the station. We reached so early in order to avoid the earlier experience of missing the connecting train, on account of our train from Hyderabad reaching Vijayawada 45 mins after the train had left. We did take the connecting train on time here and reached Vizag at around 12 noon.

The stay has been very very pleasant here. The weather rocks! It is pleasantly cold, but is certainly a little hot in the afternoons, which you realise only if you go out. Steel Plant Township life rocks for the city people. There is calm all around. Surrounded by trees and mountains, it is very difficult to find people here. My periappa's house, which is where we are staying, has a small garden to it. The garden has lots of plants, predominantly, banana plants, coconut trees, lemon tree and ofcourse lots of other flowering plants, like Lily and all. And most importantly they have the marudhaani chedi(mehendi tree), which is my favourite. All I am doing these days is getting up late, having breakfast, going back to bed. Getting up again for lunch, trying to watch some TV after that and again sleeping. Same goes for dinner. This will continue for just another couple of days and then I shall be back to the routine city life.

Hyderabad retains me!

2006-11-09T05:23:00.000-08:00

I have got a project in Hyderabad itself. It sometimes seems, this was worth the long wait. The circle that I have been taken into, is said to one of the richest circles in the Organisation. It was pretty evident that this is a good circle, from the kind of selection process that was undertaken. It was just similar to a campus interview. There were 43 people who wrote the exam and 20 were ultimately selected into the project.

We had 12 questions each on aptitude, SQL and Java. Java was what I was trained in. 20 marks was the cutoff for reaching the next stage, ie the interview. Thankfully, there was no GD. Also, interview was only at one level( no separation of HR and technical). I did have an interview of about 45 mins (thats what my friends waiting outside told me). The interview started with the classical question: "Tell me about yourself". A wonderful question I should say. I never used to like it last year, but this year, I decided to talk about my comfort level in all 3 places that this project could post me in: Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. When, I told the interviewer about the college I had pased out from, I had made a mark, because the interviewer was from the same college. This doesnt mean that he didnt ask me any questions at all. He did ask me a lot of questions, but I was about 90% sure that I would crack this interview, thanks to my college. Until, that moment I had never realised how good it was to be working in a place, where I had been all my life. There seem to be many people from my college here. Hope this keeps working in my favour and I am sure I will continue to be in this company! I was then predominantly asked questions from what mistakes I had made in the paper.

As they say, the rest is history! I was selected and I am the only girl from my batch. There is one more girl, from the Java batch that is senior to us. Only 5 people have been posted in Hyderabad, out of the 20 that were selected of which 13 are from Java and the rest from .NET.

My initial feeling, when I was told I was to remain in Hyderabad, was a little depressing. I thought, I had lost one good chance of moving to another city. Well, if GOD wills it that way, who am I to think otherwise. In the last couple of days, I have got many mails from my seniors, asking me to stay with my parents itself, as life sucks when you are alone and you have to do the cooking and other household chores! Guess, I am really lucky, if you look at it this way!

When we earlier moved to Bangalore, we were back in Hyderabad within a year. This was when I was 10 years old. After another 11 years, when I thought I do have a chance of moving out of Hyderabad, this place doesnt want to leave me! Lets see how long this continues.

Musings

2006-11-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I saw the gult movie Bommarillu for the second time. The first time I saw, was with my family, that too within a week of the movie's release. Now, the movie has been there for more than 80 days and I have seen it again. This was the first movie that I felt like seeing again, though I did see Kaho Naa Pyar Hain and Kandukondein Kandukondein also twice, mainly because we didnt get ticktes for other movies.

This movie is awesome for the characterisation and the screenplay. The flow in the movie is maintained well. Eventhough, the ending and all is predictable, the story is said in a nice sort of way. The dominating father is potrayed well by Prakash Raj. Even with less dialogues for Jaya Sudha(hero's mom), her expressions convey everything, the doting wife and mother that she is. But, the fact that some of her aspirations were not fulfilled, and she looks up to her husband for permission to do somethings are well potrayed. Siddharth's character is shown well. The obedient son, who is bubbling to do something on his own, but is pulled down by the respect he has for his dominating father. He wants to do so many things on his own, but he doesnt want to hurt his father. I feel, this is the way Indian Society works!

Some of the dialogues in the second half were extremely good. When Siddharth tries to explain to his dad what his life has been all these years, he says

"Dad, you have been the best dad anyone can ask for. You have given me more than I asked for, but I never had the small small pleasures in life. And to make you happy I had to keep on compromising! He goes on to say, To make you win in life I kept on losing on what I liked!"

Prakash Raj is shocked, he almost faints and then asks him why he never told this to him before. Siddharth says, I knew you would react like this, this was why I didnt tell you. I knew, you were taking care of everything and you took a great deal of interest in us.

This movie, shows the father being dominating. In some movies there are children who demand for a lot of things and it is the parents who go on compromising. Compromise works both ways. Sometimes, it is more on one side, sometimes equal. One lives to be happy and to make someone happy. If compromise is the way, there is nothing wrong in it.

I wouldnt actually mind seeing this movie a hazaar more times also!

Will Koti be the same?

2006-11-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

The book stalls at Koti have been demolished. This happened yesterday, after lot of resistance from the shop keepers and also a couple of politicians of the CPM. I am unable to accept the new look that has come to Koti. That road wears a deserted look. I have so many fond memories of standing there, waiting for a friend, getting down from the bus, haggling with shopkeepers abt the price of a book while buying as well as returning it. My engineering has had a great deal of help from these shop keepers.

As soon as we go into that lane, irrespective of whether you are casually walking down, or you are driving slowly on that road, you are bound to listen to these people's cries of calling you to come to their shop to buy books. Each shop claims to give a good discount and also a good return price for any of the Physics, Chemistry or Maths books that you might have at home. None of the other books are in much demand. Their usual dialogue will be: " Idar Idar Idar amma, thakku ki isthaanu books, return bhi desakte ho, engg, BSc books, second hand kooda" (Come here lady, will give you books for a less price, you can return these books also. Engg, BSc books are available, even second hand ones).

In the four years that spanned my Engineering career, I started visitng Koti book stalls only from the 2nd year. I was initially appalled by the possibility that I would have to deal with so many shops, which would I chose. Then, I slowly got used to a couple of shops and would not go into any other shop, unless some friend of mine knew about the other shops. It was always an interesting affair to go into these shops, stacked with books, actually overflowing with them. But most of the books stacked in the shop are not sold. The books that we ask for are brought from a godown somewhere close by. Even if it were to take a lot of time to bring the book from the godown, the person would say "Ek minit amma...aajata book abhi" (Wait a minute lady, the book is on its way). There have been times when I have chatted with my friend for a very long time, waiting for a book. We can even clear some of our concepts standing there, the time that it takes for the book to come is sometimes so long!

Even after joining work, I have been buying books, lots of them, sometimes even for friends. Now that these shops are no more, the busy look of Koti will certainly be lost. I am sure these shops will be put up somewhere else, and we will surely get used to going somewhere there, but the charm that the road had, with those small lads calling out for customers will certainly remain a thing of the past!

Busy

2006-11-01T05:44:00.000-08:00

Suddenly life seems to have become busy on the bench. Dont ask me what I am doing, it is just that net access was cut off and we were all chatting away to glory. Most of them have come back after the long holiday, which was supposed to end with Diwali, but was extended further. I wanted to post a long blog, but due to lack of time and computers as well, I am leaving now. Abt to leave from office also.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

2006-10-29T08:03:00.000-08:00

You Should Get a PhD in Liberal Arts (like political science, literature, or philosophy)

You're a great thinker and a true philosopher.
You'd make a talented professor or writer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

LOL, me a thinker? And, I was under the opinion that I could never teach. This says I should become a prof. I have no chance of assistant lecturer also.

Oct 27th

2006-10-26T03:19:00.000-07:00

I seem to have absolutely nothing to do at office. Everyone is watching the match. 3 wickets down and we seem to be steadily improving. Sachin is out. I seem to have nothing much to blog too, so I decided to write about what I may be doing tomorrow and why.

Tomorrow is one of the most important days for a Thenkalai Iyengar. Tomorrow is Aipasi Moolam, thiru nakshtram of Swami Mamunigal. In the Acharya Paramparai of our Sampradayam, Mamunigal is the connecting link back to the Lord. The Lord Himself considers Sri ManavaLa MamunigaL to be his Acharya. He was born in the village of Kidaram in the year 1370 AD and attained paramapadham in the year 1433 AD.

Mamunigal undertook pilgrimage to holy shrines and made several innovations and reforms in the rituals at Temples. In tribute to his devotion, the Lord of Srirangam came down as a boy, when Swami was discoursing on Thiruvaaimozhi, a small boy came from the back of the gathering and sang the thaniyan (shloka solely dedicated to a particular deity, usually of Acharyans) , with which we start our day, ie

srIsailEsa dayaapaatram dhIbhakthyAdhi guNArNavam
YathIndhra pravaNam VandhE RamyajAmAtharam munim

He is the author of about 19 works. His works are in Tamil, as well as Sanskrit. His works include:

Sri Vachana BhUshaNam, Mumukshuppadi, Tattvathrayam, AchArya Hrudhayam, Jn~Ana Saaram, PramEya Saaram, PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi, RaamAnuja NooRRanthAdhi, Eedu, Sri Vachana BhUshaNam, Tattvathrayam

His Own Granthams in Sanskrit (3) and Tamil(5)

1. UpadEsa Rathna Maalai 2. ThiruvAimozhi NooRRanthAdhi3. Iyalc ChaaRRu4. ThiruvArAdhana Kramam5. YathirAja Vimsathi6. DevarAja MangaLam7. Sri Kanchi DevapperumAL SthOthram8. Aaarthi Prabhandham , his last grantham .

Of his works, I know abt:
Upadesa Ratnamaalai clearly states the Guru Paramparai. It also talks about the nakshatrams, along with the months and the place of birth of each of the Azhwars.

The Thiruvaaimozhi Nootrandadi gives a gist of Thiruvaaimozhi. Each paasuram (shloka) talks about each Patthu ( set of 10 paasurams). The Upadesa Ratnamaalai and Thiruvaaimozhi Nootrandadi come under the Nityanusandaanam, paasurams that are to be told everyday.

Another work of his that I know of is the Aarthi Prabandham, which is his last grantha. It talks about his devotion to Swami Ramanuja and his passionate desire to leave the material world and join the Acharya in heaven and facilitate his Kainkaryams (services) there.

All the above are Tamil works.

My plan for tomorrow: I am hoping to go to the local temple. And I am waiting for the Podalangai Paal Koottu (a sweet preparation made of snake gourd, jaggery, coconut and pepper), made specially on this day. The temple that follows the Vanamaamalai tradition has something called Annakooda Utsavam. The presiding deity is offered a variety of food preparations, and I get to eat lots of it. I have never been to this utsavam and I wont be able to go tomorrow also, as office starts at 2 and the utsavam also starts at the same time. But, I am hoping to go to the temple in the evening and have sevai of the acharyan, atleast tomorrow.

manavAla mAmuniyE innumoru nootrandirum!

2K

2006-10-24T02:26:00.000-07:00

This is the distance that my Scooty Pep+, has completed in the short span of 5 months that is has been with me. It is certainly a milestone, rather a kilometer stone for me. This wonderful machine came into my ownership on the 19th of April, 2006, when my project viva, of the final year was going on. But, I started riding the vehicle only from the 22nd. I had ridden a 2 wheeler after more than 2 years on that day, but I was glad that I was able to manage it, receiving absolutely no criticisms from my brother. I was actually expecting lots of it.

The first 500 odd kilometers were covered by my brother. I full fledgedly started using my bike only in June. It has become one of my closest friends, for I even manage to sing when I am on it. It has stood by me in rain and shine. When Hyderabad saw one of its worst rains, I thought my bike would stop right in the middle of the road and I would have to walk the rest of the way. Eventhough my bike did stop in the middle of the road, I was able to kick start it with the help of somebody on the road and ride home safely.

I have most enjoyed my bike, on my morning rides, especially when on Tank Bund. The flowing cold breeze is amazing and the empty road, early in the morning lets me drive upto 60kmph, which is otherwise impossible. In the Hyderabad traffic this is the best vehicle, which can move faster than the fastest car on earth.

The present reading on my bike says 2068 kms and I am looking forward to taking it many more miles ahead. And I am sure, this will accompany me, even if I move out of Hyderabad.

The D- word

2006-10-23T04:38:00.000-07:00

The most happening word. Everybody thinks it is cool to use this word, especially girls. People right from class 5 or 6 use this word. I was amazed when a boy of class 5 refused to have another vada saying, "inko vada thinte oka vaaram thaaka kaduppulo nuna thipputhundi" ( If I have another vada, I'll feel nauseatic for another week because of the oil in it). It is so difficult to maintain the regime of that D word called DIETING.

There is lot of enthusiasm when you begin to diet, but it slowly starts waning away. The first rule anybody would say in dieting is to avoid rice and sweets. A hard core south Indian like me, would find it very difficult to avoid rice. Rice is replaced with wheat in the form of chappathis, which are again rationed. Next comes the question of what do you have with this chappathi? Salad consisting of cucumber, tomato and onion( if allowed). Somebody told me that these can be had in any quantity. Give these to me free of cost also, and I would think a hundred times before eating these. There are so many other intersting vegetables that can be cooked to great taste, why do we have to choose these three of all?

When dieting intensifies to achieve a really hard target, then we have to forgo the liquidy white substance we start the day with...MILK. A hungry, empty feeling envelopes you as soon as you get up. How much ever water, or scented water in the form of black tea or black coffee we have, they cannot substitute milk. Its counterpart curd is a total no-no. If you are really tempted you can have buttermilk in liquified form, ie water which is pale white in colour. Hey, if everyone starts dieting what will happen to the various dairy farms coming up these days?

This is only the dietary aspect. If we start exercising too, man life is hell! There is always a tired look on the face. "There is this worst case scenario of aerobics.every Srilakshmi,Tejodeepthi,Yagna Deepika these days go to that Dinaz aerobics where all these maarvadi sethanis abound. Exclaiming continuosly that they are about how they have managed to lose weight, when it is just about a small millimeter that they have lost.

After all this, when there is a social gathering with tempting food being served, you are eagerly awaiting to eat all that, as though you have never tasted such good food ever before, the next morning, you end up with a bad stomach, leaving you without food for another day. Well you are already used to being without food, so it is ok right?

After all this diet and exercise combo, if you are lucky enough to reduce then you can be the cynosure of attraction at all social gatherings and may be start methods of weight reduction as your side business! If you have lost too much weight, a typical South Indian maami will say " chi ennathu ithu, elumbum tholuma asingama irukka" (Chi, you look so bad, composed of just bones). In a way it is sometimes easier and happier to be fat!

Arbit Post

2006-10-23T03:36:00.000-07:00

Bored bored bored bored bored, that is my state of mind. There is absolutely nothing that I am able to do at office. I dont even feel like coming to office and looking at the boring face of my reporting manager, who never responds to any of the queries put to him. He always acts as though he is busy, but GOD alone knows what he does.

The last few days have been pretty good though, having stayed at home and Diwali too. I wanted to desperately go to Chennai for Diwali, for we seem to be the odd ones out in Hyderabad, bursting crackers early in the morning. The patakis/tapakais(crackers in telugu) are usually burst only in the evening after the completion of the Lakshmi Puja in most houses. My spirit of Diwali was all the more dampened on Thursday night, when Kesavan(my bro) called at 20:15 to say that he had missed his train to Hyderabad, due the traffic in Bangalore ( a detailed version of which is given here). So, we had to look at all the available airlines (there are so many options now, thanks to the increase in private airlines) and book a ticket for him. My bro was simultaneously trying his luck at the counters in the airport. After lot of confusion as to whether we could travel to Bangalore, or to Chennai, or if he can manage to come to Chennai and take a flight from there, we finally decided that it would be easier for him to take a direct flight to Hyderabad at the whole price. I went and picked him from the airport on my Scooty Pep+, after waiting outside the airport for more than half an hour.

Diwali day was pretty busy. You can see it from the fact that I was not able to see TV at all. There were many phone calls, inbetween which we had to dress up and the routine of bursting crackers. We also went to the temple and then there were some social calls also to be made. The evening sky on Diwali was lit up with fireworks, an amazing sight it was, though the smoke was a little bad on my system, landed up in a slight cold and cough.

After the arrival of my bro, time has flown pretty fast. He is leaving tomorrow and I still feel there is lots more to talk. There is always so much to talk with him. No mood to post anything more as of now.

Wishlist

2006-10-19T05:40:00.000-07:00

The only way I find to update my blog is when someone tags me. Naren did the honours this time by tagging me. So, here goes my wishlist.

I wish I could get into a project ASAP, instead of whiling away my time on the bench, chatting on the office communicator when the person is actually sitting next to me or trying to login to an Orkut with the connection being too slow. I wish this project location is somewhere other than Hyderabad.

I wish to visit all the Vaishnavite religious places in and around India, not only the Divyadesams.

I wish to visit all of Europe. If not all of Europe atleast the United Kingdom.

I wish to take my mom on my scooty soon, havent been able to do it at all.

Cant think of anything else now. Looking back at it I should have posted this much earlier, didnt even take me 5 mins.

Simple Pleasures

2006-05-30T04:46:00.000-07:00

An opportunity to finally update my blog, having been tagged by Sri.

1. Getting up early in the morning...not too early, at around 6 am would be a perfect start to the day.

2. Reading a book before sleeping.

3. Watching a really good comedy movie.

4. Having spicy and piping hot Mirchi Bajji, especially when it rains. I wouldnt mind Mirchi Bajji at any time of the day!!

5. Applying Mehendi on my and...I simply love the colour, when it is green, before drying, a darker green when it has dried as well as the red/orange, the colour in which it stays for a while. The smell of Mehendi is too good.

6. A walk along the banks of the Kaveri or Kollidam. Or a walk in the veedhis of Srirangam.

7. Visiting religious as well as historical places, more out of interest, than Bhakti.

8. A call to my friend Divya any time of the day, even if the call is just for a second.

9. Chatting with my grand mothers.

10. The food fed by my maami, especially if she makes all of us sit near the well and gives us curd rice with mango pickle.

I now tag Penti, Kushal and Nikhil ( last 2 are my juniors).

Last Exam

2006-05-05T06:18:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will be the last exam of my Graduation life. I am not too sorry that it is finally over. . I am very happy to be done with all my Electrical stuff and I am certainly looking forward to working. But, a certain tinge of sadness lingers in my heart, that college life is coming to an end. There will be no more bunks, comments, SMSing in class and mainly sleeping in class. Hoping the big bad world treats me well.

Unfair kya?

2006-03-04T23:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I feel God has been unfair to me, with respect to my brother. He has always got the best things in life. He is very good looking. Fair, tall, handsome. On the other hand I am short, not too fair, fat, but decent looking. As a child he had small pearly white teeth, but I had large, ugly bunny teeth. He always studied well. Was the topper right from LKG. Any competition, he was bound to get a prize. There was only one time, when he was in standard 1 and I was in LKG, that I got the 1st prize and he got 2nd, in a shloka competition.

Even outsiders found my brother more intelligent and gregarious. Small children used to flock to him at any gathering. He was the cynosure of attraction. Anybody who used to see him used to praise him. He would obviously get introduced to many people. I had no identity of my own. In school, teachers even today recognise me as Kesavan's sis. Well, being the topper, he is well known in school.

He achieved the most difficult things with great ease. What was his worst in studies was my best! He made it to the best institutes in the country. I study in some local college.

In matters of food also, he was not very demanding, and most things made at home were said to be to his liking. It is a different issue that he liked almost everything.

But has God actually been unfair to me?

No, because God has given me something more precious, something more long lasting. He has given me something that he cant give my brother. He has given me a wonderful, loving, caring, handsome, BIG brother!

Samaj Seva!

2006-03-04T04:01:00.000-08:00

One day, as I was coming back home by bus in the afternoon, there was one old man sitting in the ladies seat. Hyderabad buses have the first 6 rows from the front reserved for ladies. One lady came in and asked this man to vacate the seat for her. Well, she could have actually considered the fact that he was an old man, who had come out in the sweltering heat of Hyderabad. She was probably tired, but she being middle aged and the man being old, she could have left him on that seat. The man was standing and looking for a seat. Nobody in the bus seemed to notice, so I got up and gave him a seat. At the next bus stop there was another old man, actually older than the previous man. He had a walking stick also to support him. Again nobody was ready to give him a seat. The girl in the seat, next to which I was standing got down, so I again offered the seat. At this point a man came and told me "meeru ila mee seat ni thyagam chesthunte, meeku seat dorakkathu" (if you keep sacrificing your seat, you'll never get to sit). "Emi paravaledhu" ( It is ok), was all I could muster in reply. I was actually fuming, because all I did was to help the old man. I didnt do it with the intention of overacting or trying to be magnanimous and showy. A grateful smile from the old men was more than enough for me . I can remain standing for a day, nothing wrong in it. Anything is possible when you are young. I am sure the old men would have taken better means of transport if they could afford it.

Another incident in college was a taunt by my class mate, who teased me for helping out in college for the college festival. He said "yeh roz college aake samaj seva karthi hain" (She comes to college everyday and does charity work). Well, isnt it my college? Shouldnt I help? Is it not the responsibilty of each student to make the function a success? I decided to do one thing. The next time he calls to take the syllabus for exam, or some notes I'll say " mein samaj seva karna choddhi yaar" (I have stopped doing charity work, my friend).

Results

2006-02-17T22:39:00.000-08:00

Results always instill a sense of fear in me, be it exam results or results of a medical test. Medical tests scare me even when the test is being taken because I dont like the prick of the injection, and usually the syringe is tried on both my hands before the blood shows itself. Two kinds of people get tensed up for the exam results. Somebody who has prepared in the last minute and the one who has prepared very well for an exam. The well prepared person is worried that his hard work should pay off. The semi-prepared person is just hoping that some luck favours him. I come under the semi-prepared cateogry, tensed before an exam, tensed before the results.

In my first year of engineering, I managed to do fairly well, inspite of not writing the exams very well. Probably, there was some kind of a fear in me that I had not got into engineering with a good rank. But since the first year results were pretty decent, I seemed to have taken 2nd year very lightly. Also, in 2nd year the subjects were too dry. But, that was the only year I prepared for my mid sems as well. The 3rd sem, was also pretty ok, though not to my expectations, I took it easy. The 4th sem was a shock, I flunked in one subject. That paper was certainly tough, but I had prepared well and I was sure I would pass in it, when many were apprehensive about their fate in that paper. At this juncture, I just thought GOD had given me another chance to do well in this subject. When most people tried to console me, I used to smile and say, well you people dont have another chance, but I have one more. A very silly attitude some may say, but I found that to be the best stand I could take.

The third year, first sem was also not pretty good. I had atleast managed to clear the back log I had in my 4th sem. The fear of results had increased in me. Every time, with the same effort my marks were only decreasing. May be I wasnt putting the right kind of effort. But the 6th sem was a welcome change. That sem was very enjoyable, because we went on a so called Industrial tour, but saw no industry. The whole of January and February of 2005 was spent in planning the tour and executing it. This time I was all the more worried, because I had been very laid back. All the more, I attended one practical exam a day later than scheduled, because of suffering from stomach fever. I had to take 2 practicals on the same day and another one the next day. I am usually bad at multitasking, except when I am on Yahoo messenger, Gtalk and Skype at the same time. The day the result was about to come, there were so many phone calls right from the morning saying resutls have come, just check and tell me. But the site had no such link. At about 5 pm in the evening, there was another call from a friend who had been to the Osmania University campus. She told me that I had cleared all the papers. I was relieved to a certain extent, but the overall marks matter a lot, as these marks would be considered for placements, starting in July. The whole of that evening I tried to get on to the website and finally at about 10:30 in the night, I was able to see my marks. This sem had the best score of mine till date.

Coming to the very recent results of mine, we were expecting the results to come out only in the next week. Everything was as usual in college. I had finished my lab and was waiting for my friends from the other lab to come out, so that we could all go back home together. Suddenly there was a phone call from my mother saying my results were out. I started panicking as usual. Then as she read out my marks, I pulled out my calculator hurriedly, totalled it, divided it by the grand total. Seeing the answer on my calci I was shocked. I asked my mom to recheck if they were my marks, because I had exceeded expectations!!! (Looks like Orkutting hasnt affected my marks much). I then told my friends hurriedly that the results were out, there was panicking all round in the college. Our assistant profs system was in demand and the most prominent sound was the clicking of my calculator to total everbody's marks. Most of them had done well this sem.

My overall aggregate has risen by 2%. But to reach the magical number of 80% , I have to get atleast 90%next sem. Certainly, a daunting task ahead of me, but still just hoping I manage to get there.

A new look!!!!

2006-02-17T21:21:00.000-08:00

Here I come back to the blogging world, after a hiatus of 5 and a half months. The last few months of my non-blogging days have not been too busy to keep me away from blogging. My laziness, trying to study for the final exams of my pen-ultimate semester, a few MBA entrances, which I was sure I would cup, have kept me away from blogging.

It is always so much more easier to read and comment on somebody's blog, rather than trying to blog myself. It is certainly very irritating to see a blog that is not updated. Sometimes my brother gets angry when I ask him why he hasnt updated his blog. When the same question is posed to me, I try to take the discussion onto another direction. But since many people in the recent past have asked me why I havent blogged, here I come.

I am hoping to keep posting on this page more regularly from now on. So, I have even changed the look of my blog, to give it a new feel. Keep reading and commenting on my blogs.

Bargaining is the word

2005-09-01T05:35:00.000-07:00

My outing today & Kesavan's blog about his "bloggy birthday" has forced me to write a blog.

Having bunked college, a few of my friends & I, decided to go to Charminar, for shopping. Inspite of living in this city for the last 20 years I had never been to Charminar for shopping of clothes. I had always been there with my mother, only to help her understand what the shopkeeper was saying in Hindi. I had never done some good bargaining there, but had always been overawed by the way my mom bargained( Kesavan had been wanting to blog about this for quite sometime, after his supposedly skilled stunt at bargaining, in Delhi for 3 fancy bags, bought for my cousin and me).

I decided to meet a couple of my friends at the Afzalgunj bus stop, which is one stop before Charminar( as there was no direct bus from my house), at 10:40am. This time may seem very late for a Chennaite, but it is too early for a Hyderabadi. We were at Madina by 11. Madina is a well known restaurant for the Ramzan "haleem", Iranian chai & Lassi(available only in summer). But the road leading to Charminar is known as Madina road. This road has loads of jewellery shops, footwear shops & ofcourse clothes. Not many shops had opened by 11am. So we went into the 1st shop that was open, but as the prices were too high, we acted as though we didnt like the dressses & left.

The next shop that we went to was reasonably priced & most of my friends were confident that the shopkeeper would bring the price down. Most of the white dresses available were pretty & universal in their appeal. All of us agreed upon a white dress, to be gifted for a friend's birthday next week. The shopkeeper quoted the price at a whopping Rs.850/-. My friends started the bargaining & said we would take the dress for Rs.375. The shopkeeper said he would not sell it for less than 400 bucks, mainly because we were doing the "boni" (beung the first to buy from his shop for the day). This 400 was reached after haggling for about 5 minutes. But we walked out saying the dress was not worth more than 375. Most people would think, paying another 25 bucks would not matter much. But to some one who is going to buy a lot, this meagre amount matters a lot. Not only the large amount that we are going to purchase, but also a matter of prestige issue accompanies this, when you are going with friends. We walked away in a huff. As we were about 10 yards away the shopkeeper called us back, to take the dress at 390. A big & unanimous NO. 385? NO. 375, YES. We paid the money, smiled at him, took his visiting card and left. Similar situations were faced for the next 3 hours. There are some shops selling at fixed price. These shops indicate exactly the price to be paid for a particular variety of dress. But there is no thrill & satisfaction of shopping at the shops with a fixed price. At the end of our shopping spree, we had bought 5 dresses, all priced between 300 and 400.

As I was coming back home, I reflected on the following poem by Sarojini Naidu on Hyderabad.

SEE how the speckled sky burns like a pigeon's throat, Jewelled with embers of opal and peridote.

See the white river that flashes and scintillates, Curved like a tusk from the mouth of the city-gates.

Hark, from the minaret, how the muezzin's call Floats like a battle-flag over the city wall.

From trellised balconies, languid and luminous Faces gleam, veiled in a splendour voluminous.

Leisurely elephants wind through the winding lanes, Swinging their silver bells hung from their silver chains.

Round the high Char Minar sounds of gay cavalcades Blend with the music of cymbals and serenades.

Over the city bridge Night comes majestical, Borne like a queen to a sumptuous festival.

Though we cannot find the white, scintillating Musi river , the hark, or the elephants now, the rest of the afore mentioned are still seen. I will surely miss this city, if I leave it.

Know Me Tag

2005-07-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

Have been tagged.After a lot of procrastination I am blogging this. Here it goes.

Three names I go by
Mayura----I love to be called this.
Mayurs----My cousins call me like this, I being the youngest[:D]
Valli--------Hate to be called like this. But my college mates call me this[:(].

Three screen names
mayuravallim----no other screen names, my name not being ubiquitous[:P].

Three physical things I like about myself
My smile----- it gives small dimples, by my lips. Somebody said it was the same smile as "Nam Perumal's", the presiding deity of Srirangam.
My teeth ( straight, never required a dentist visit so far)
My eyes-----they are dark brown, but nobody ever notices[:(]. I believe they are expressive too[:P].

Three physical things I dont like about myself
My hair----really wished it were longer, like my grand mothers have.
My hands----they are too small & fat.
My height---the biggest problem I have[:(]. I am too short.

Three parts of my heritage
Hyderabad(where I grew up. To me the best place to be.)
Chennai(where I was born)

Three things that scare me
Exam---never have I written an exam confidently.
Hydrophobia----but only at night.
Dogs

Three things I want in a relationship
A person who believes a bit of compromise goes a long way in establishing a good relationship.
Money should not be the most important thing.
And, I dunno what.

Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeals to me
Height---shouldnt be very tall, for me[:D]
A not too thin nor too fat person
Not too fair.

Three things I want to do badly right now
Have a longer vacation.
Do well atleast in the next Mock CAT
Finished this post ASAP

Three places I want to go on a vacation
See all of India if possible, if not...............
Hampi (the best place in India to understand our culture & achievements)
England (Visit 221B,Baker street & Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birth place, & the Lake district, based on which Wordsworth wrote his poems)

Three things to do before I die
Make a difference to atleast one person in this world by my deeds.
Read all the books published so far
To keep people around me happy, as far as possible.

Three statements about you which are not all true or all false
That I am not at all nervous for an exam, or an impending meeting with someone unknown.
I keep my room very clean.
To me, this question seems to be the toughest one

Three kids names i like
Nanda Kishore(My first son will surely be named this)
Neeraja
Vasudha

Three of my everyday essentials
Sleep
Food
Some book to keep me busy(could be even Kumudham, Number one tanizh vaara idazh:P)

Three things I am wearing right now
A bindi
Something to hold my hair back(I hate to leave it totally open)
Spects or contact lenses

Three reasons why I'm posting this
Cos Kesavan tagged me
Cos I am jobless
Its easier to post tags than come up with new stuff

Hurrah!! Chennai After a Year.

2005-06-26T01:52:00.000-07:00

The thought of going to Chennai was very exciting to me this time, as I was going there after a year. The onward journey was not very eventful, but for a couple of incidents.

We left home for the 4:20 train at 3:50. Though the station is not too far, having 2 suitcases, a huge air bag & a saapadu koodai is, and with my 77 year old patti, it is not an easy job. I just remember taking the suitcase, the saapaadu koodai(which should not be forgotten:P) and running to get the platform ticket for my dad. I didnt even look back to see of they were following me. I stopped only when I had reached the luggages that are transported by train did I stop. I stopped there, realising the fact that ours was the last compartment. The train came within 2 mins of my parents reaching the platform. The train usually stops only for 10mins in Secunderabad, but it stopped for abt half an hour, due to a frantic search conducted by 2 girls for their bag, which they had left with some unknown person at the earlier station, when getting into the train. A policeman later accompanying them said that the bag contained Rs.40000, which was unbelievable to me. I felt the policeman had said that,just to make more people search for the bag.

We were accompanied by an elderly couple sharing the side berths & two men, one of whom looked like a villain. I was asleep by around 9:30 PM, but was woken up by my mom at 10, to shift to the side upper berth as the old man was trying to force the old lady to the upper berth. Not only was her age a deterrant for her to climb, but also her knees. I thought I could sleep peacefully now, but to my horror I found myself to be wobbling up & down suddenly. I thought the train was about to derail. But, when I opened my eyes, I found the villainous man sitting near my legs. He looked all the more villainous in his night dress, which was red in colour. The man was just shaking his legs, before climbing onto his berth. The rest of the night did not hold any surprises for me.

In the morning, I was woken up by my mom on reaching Ennore. I was totally excited about seeing Chennai after a year. The usual sticky feeling that I feel on my skin was missing his time, inspite of nearing Chennai, due to the rains the night before.

Chennai continued in next blog.........

Victoria 203

2005-06-19T00:39:00.000-07:00

Our RTC buses are moving marvels. It is a wonder that they move at all packed to the brim as they are, to mention the `203' specifically. Groaning, grunting, wheezing and hissing, they nevertheless liven up our roads with their garish colours and fancy ads.

The thick moustached driver usually presents a macho image to impress the bunch of girls clutching the handrail behind him, for dear life.

Driver delight

He, of course, enjoys unnerving the passengers occasionally with his daredevil driving and sudden braking - the latter devilishly designed to send the unwary women lurching forward, much to his amusement.

Air-horn crazy, the driver delights in frequent honking, or rather trumpeting, much like a mad elephant - which incidentally is what the bus resembles at times.

Leather bag sandwiched under his perspiring armpit, the conductor would put to shame a professional circus man, as he literally snakes his way through the mass of humanity clogging the seats.

The bus may be packed tight, but nobody is turned away for lack of space. It is like the mythical `Pushpaka Vimana' and there is always room for another.

Three cheers

In its gravity-defying run, it could well rewrite the laws of nature. Three cheers to the student carrier!!!!

This article had appeared in the Education Plus of The Hindu. This is about my bus journey to college. The bus number is 203.