குப்பை தொட்டி

Verdict

2010-10-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

The Ayodhya verdict is out. Though I was not in India to feel the outcome of the verdict, it looked peaceful than what was expected of an old and on-going issue, blown out of proportions over the years. Or has the time healed the wounds? Or is the current generation really not interested?
The only news about the verdict I could find were mostly the thoughts of different leaders on the verdict. As expected, Advani had written a post in his blog citing the verdict aligned with the thoughts he had posted in his autobiography “My Country, My Life”.
Reading articles about this verdict took be back to my college days, when I had spent more than two weeks researching on POTA. I was writing an article for one of the competition thrown in by a popular magazine (I do not recollect its name now). With no internet access, I had to browse dozens of magazines in our college library to study about the law before putting my thoughts about it. I was missing the CTRL + F functionality very badly. I had to go through a number of magazines, different issues, one by one to see if there was an article on POTA. But I can swear that, if I had written the same article now, that would not have been better, even though I am armed with more resources now.
I still the remember the day, when I was sitting in the last row of the library and trying to take some notes from one of the magazines on POTA. Thanks to the sunlight from the translucent window, I was not straining my eyes fighting with the dimly lit tube-light. I think we were not supposed to lend the magazines from library and I was trying to save 50 paise on photocopying, so that I could go to dinner to one of the five restaurants in that village or for the morning Poha or evening Kachoris at More Bhau’s shop. It was around 3:30 PM and I had bunked the class as usual. Given the time, students were either at class or sleeping in hostel, the library was almost empty.
My research was suddenly broken by a swarm of students entering the library. I have never seen so much except for the days when we used to get 5 books for that annual year for our course of study. And to my surprise, all the students found a desk to sit. Within minutes, the library was silent and it looked like everybody had found a place and a book. It took some time for me to really understand what was going on. When our college photographer (I think it was Mr. Pise) entered the library with his big camera and a big flash accessory plugged in, I knew it was for the annual college magazine. Two shots from the lower level and two shots from the upper level (the upper level was more of a mezzanine level with view of the lower level), his job was almost complete for that year. He rubbed his shining bald head (Good that they go behind the flash all the time) and indicated that he was done. There were noises in the library once again, as all of the students left.
I knew I was the only one left apart from the library staff as I continued my research on POTA.

PS: I did send a wonderful essay to the magazine, but it was never published or awarded. I think I have a copy of the essay hidden somewhere in the shelves of my home in Chennai. I will publish it whenever I get a hold of it.

.....

2010-08-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Whenever I start writing, there is some mysterious force that stops me. I am not able to define it.

MMX

2009-12-31T11:49:00.000-08:00

End of one thing is the beginning of the other. 2009 was better than previous year for me (aka kuppathotti). A little magic was weaved. Will it grow, or continue to be the same, or decay. Need to wait and see.

A closing note for a great year and a beginning note to make 2010 a wonderful year.

Wishing you all a very happy, peaceful and prosperous MMX

Ash

2009-10-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

Ash generally marks the end of something and nothing after that. Sometimes, even it can mark a beginning for something.

I think I stared at the sky too long that I almost forgot blogging. Days came and went by. Nobel prize winners have been announced, a big earthquake shook Indonesia, a storm in Philippines and in my own country India created a widespread disaster. The station fire in Los Angeles county, one of the biggest in the county's history was contained fully (there is another one going on now).

Even weeks after the fire died, I could see ashes in my house balcony/patio.

It kept reminding me of the blog i was planning to right about the fire. The ash had just settled down like the sitemeter for my blog.

A light breeze blew (it is cooler in Glendale nowadays) and lifted the ash. It lifted my spirit too, for starting on my blog again and hopefully my blog's sitemeter too rises with this.

As the ash flew in the breeze, I thought it has done its duty here and it is on its way to lift somebody else's spirit.

Its raining meteors!!

2009-08-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

When was the last time, you just stared at the sky continuously for five minutes? I bet it would have been years ago, when we were kids, when we felt that the sky had a lot of hidden treasures. It was the time when we dreamed of becoming a pilot to go near the sky or fly in a rocket into the outer space. Those days when we badly wanted to become a rocket scientist or an astronomer.

Yesterday was different. I did stare at the sky for almost 20 minutes just to catch a glimpse of the pereseid meteor shower. After spending 20 minutes on August 11, 2009 in vain just staring at the fog covered black sky, I was very skeptical on catching a glimpse of the same yesterday.

With a great view of the Verdugo mountains (The same view as you see in the photo in my blog header.) from my balcony or patio at the third floor of an old 70s wooden apartment, me and my wife almost had one-fourth of the sky under our view. With lots of fog (might be smog given that we are in Los Angeles county) and the temperature low, it was a mixed chance of seeing the meteor. Being close (almost 30 miles) to LAX, we had lots of airplanes flying by and the city lights from Burbank towards the West made us more doubtful.

Then suddenly we saw it. It was a quick streak of white light, bright at the front and fading away forming a long tail. It was really an exhilarating experience (I haven’t seen one before). I had missed the Comet Hale-Bopp, which was visible from India at some point of time. We waited for some more time and we ended up seeing 10 of them. It was really worth the wait.

The only sad part of this entire story is that I could not catch it in my camera. A very sad thing for me, given my liking to photography.

Postcard

2009-08-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

Postcards have been an integral part of the Old Indian Postal Service.

I still remember the days when my grandfather would write letters to my father in those light brownish postcards with the dark brown Lion Capital of Ashoka printed on the back side top right corner. My grandfather with his English knowledge gained by reading "The Hindu" newspaper regularly for more than 6 decades (I am sure it will be more than that) would write his blue Chinese "Hero" pen, making a dark imprint on the post card with little smudging wherever the post card's top layer was not well formed. It carried along with it a smell so specific to the postcards, a mixture of paper and the old print houses where they were printed.

In those days, Inland Cover and the Office cover (I am not sure how to phrase it) were my favorite than the postcards. Inland Cover, with the small font letters telling where to fold first and where to fold second was my all time favorite. The Office cover and the greeting card cover were special because of the postage stamps they carried. Most of the Indian postage stamps that I had collected and which are lying somewhere safe in the newly built shelves at my father's home in Chennai have been sourced by those covers. Most of the foreign stamps were bought by me, when I used to vacation in my Grand Parent's house in Coimbatore and some came from those relatives staying abroad who still remembered to drop a card during the Indian festival season or the English New Year. Some of them still remember, but have switched to those fast and easy ways of communication known popularly as the Internet. Maybe DARPA never thought that the Internet will revolutionize the world to such an extent.

When I started studying French, I came to know about the art of sending post cards.

The French whenever they travelled or visited some new places, they never forgot to buy some postcards of that place. They then sent it to their friends or relatives back home with a very short description of the spot they visited and the weather at that place. If anybody is planning to take a French course, be assured that one question will be based on these post cards. At that point, it made little sense to me about the cards like the light decorated Golden Gate Bridge that we used to receive as a young student.

Why this sudden post about a post card? Has the Indian Postal Service woken up suddenly and started to commemorate the post cards or have they introduced something like the Post Card day. Well, I am not aware of them even if they existed, thanks to the marketing strategy of the Indian Postal Service. I got inspired from a post card image I saw in the Internet which I took and added it to this blog on the top right hand corner, with a small note about me :).

El Sur Grande

2009-07-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

It is a place where height meets depth. It is a place where Cliffs meet the Ocean. It is a place where land meets water (in a unusual way). It is place where terrestrial wildlife meets marine wildlife. It is a place where a Waterfall meets the ocean. It is a place where the undisturbed beauty attracts a lay man while the forbidding wilderness makes it ideal for an adventurist. It is actually a place where Man meets Nature. It is Big Sur (Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south", or from "el país grande del sur", "the big country of the south") on the coast of California.

Perched on the volcanic mountains on one side and the mighty Pacific ocean immediately on the other side, it is a place for hikers, trekkers, swimmers all
alike. Explore the redwood forest and at the end of it you can go for a swim in the ocean. "You must see it to believe it" surely applies for this place, for one cannot describe it in words.

Fractal is the word that comes to my mind immediately. It looks very irregular and it still looks perfect. Not a strange thing for Nature.

The CA1 neatly blends with the terrain and keeps the place as is, while making the journey a smooth one. The Bixby bridge is awesome, connecting two slopes of the cliff, and looks like a man made wonder embedded naturally. The fog in the mountains add to the beauty of the drive. The wild flowers blossom along the slope down to the blue waters.

I have heard that the coast along Oregon leading to Canada through Washington is also a wonderful experience.A drive down this coastal highway is surely a time to be remembered.

Twitter

2009-06-25T20:40:00.001-07:00

I am a kind of person who does it last. It is Tweeting (or whatever it is called) now. After the entire world which uses Laptop started tweeting, I have successfully signed up (Signing up is pretty easy). Anybody interested can follow me here

Quotes

2009-05-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

All along my life I have always been impressed by quotes. Quotes by authors, writers, poet, playwright, screenwriters etc.
In my school days, they were mostly written quotes. Quotes from my English Non-Detail and the novels dominated them. Then when I started watching movies, there were few from them. There were times, when I used to write it down in my diary, whenever I came across a good one.
The “Good” quotes were those which helped me in my tough times, on reading which I got inspired or the quotes which aligned with my way of thinking or which created a sense of Déjà-vu.
This weekend I got a chance to see Spiderman-I for some nth time. But it was this time, I heard the last line said by Peter Parker (The Spiderman). The line goes something like this.

“Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With great power comes great responsibility." This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-man”

Somehow, I liked this line. And I decided to start a set of posts, where I can put my favorite lines. I decide to put a logo on the blog title (the “ in the title) to say that, the post is an outcome of one of my favorite quote.

Keep watching for that logo!!

Waste

2009-05-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

My blog has got a lot of stuff in the first quarter of 2009. A few blogs (little better than last year), many links, pictures on the left side, a header with an image (again!!), two followers and of course the web 2.0 technology. I had tried to put my blog link in my other online avatars like linkedin, flickr, google IM status message, technorati and recently in blogadda to make more visitors visit my blog, not just visit, but read it and not just read it, but also comment on it.

I can say I had succeeded a lot in the first one, very little in the second one and failed in the third one. Except for few (it is ONE) person, there will be no comments from others. As people jokingly say, the comments in blogs are mostly from your friends, whom you have threatened to, unless one had really a good way of writing or put things in a way that appealed. The first way works better for me :), still with no luck (because I do not know how to threaten).
If you reached this line of the blog, thanks for spending some time in my blog. As I earlier said, I had again succeeded in atleast making people read this.

Earth day

2009-04-24T15:48:00.001-07:00

As a late dedication to earth day, i have added the tree picture to the header!!!

Yeh jo des hai tera...

2009-04-23T22:41:00.000-07:00

A song from Swades. This is one of my favorite song now. It is almost three months since i reached the United States. It is not that I like this song since i have become a "Desi". It is just that i heard the song recently and i do feel that I have missed it for so long.

As far as I am concerned, there are songs in my life, which indicates a transition. A physical transition leads to a mental transition. I kept moving through different places in India and each such transition had a different effect. It is just the fear of a new place and the kind of effort I need to put to adapt to the new place.

This often led to remembering the early days at the new place and I also somehow ended up in relating to a song. This song would mostly be from a new movie released during that time (of course there are exceptions).

I well remember the songs from "Kaho na pyar hai" from my first year at my UG college. As one passed through the hostel corridor, all rooms on both sides had computer playing the songs from this movie.

It was "Uyirin Uyire" or "Ennai konjam matri" from the tamil movie "Kakka Kakka" during my PG years. I had moved to TamilNadu now and it had to be a tamil movie.

It was "Ghajini" (Tamil), when i joined my job. Almost all of my collegues in my training batch had a cell phone and songs from this movie. No wonder that songs represented this transition from college to job.

After almost three and half years, being in the same company and in the same place, things were pretty monotonous. Now coming to the United States was a change. Almost a week after i reached here, I stumbled upon this song in youtube searching for some other AR Rahman's songs, and that was it. It is this song for this transition.

I seriously do not know what or when the next transition is going to be and what song is going to represent it. I am waiting for it to unfold whenever it is supposed to. I am sure, people who read this also will start to map songs to their past and i swear it is going to bring back a lot of old memories.

My space..

2009-04-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

The entire structure was crumbled. The majestic circular dome which rested on four strong pillars was lying on the sand. The broken pillars lay scattered around the dome. The dome tried its level best to stay majestic in spite of the salty sea water, trying to wash away the smooth and shining structure. Being near the sea in Tranquebar (or Taragambadi in Tamil), Tamilnadu, the entire structure seemed to be an old one built centuries ago and had seen many natural calamities. But 2004 was a different one. The sudden waves of tsunami bought the entire structure down in seconds.
Now it lay on the shore, washed by the sea daily. The pillar was not as smooth as the dome. Some supposed to be old form of Tamil was inscribed on it. It seemed to convey a message to the people, waiting to be discovered and protected. It was waiting to convey to the world, the life of the people who wrote on that pillar and those who built the magnificent structure.

Since the old times, many things have changed. The life and culture of people have changed a lot in both positive and negative way. Blogs are one of those pillars which reflects the life and times of “now”, with the advantage of being written by many people around the world. Just as the pillar rested on the sea shore, I sometimes wonder, where do these blogs sit? It should be spread across the world and some place which will redirect to it on request. What if one day another tsunami hits this place where the blog resides? Will things remain the same? How will people 200 hundred years later know about us and the life we lived?

Though the old inscriptions on the pillar and the new blogs both are written on sand (real sand and silicon), will the latter survive nature?

திருவாசகம்...

2009-03-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

திருவாசகம் -

திருவாசகத்துக்கு உருகாதார்,
ஒரு வாசகத்துக்கும் உருகார்

இது என்றோ எங்கேயோ படித்த ஞாபகம் இருக்கின்றது. ஏதோ ஒரு வகுப்பில், கடைசி பெஞ்சில் உட்கார்ந்து, நோட்புக்கின் கடைசி பக்கத்தில் சிறு சிறு படங்கள் வரைந்து கொண்டே கேட்ட ஞாபகம். பத்தாம் வகுப்புக்கு மேல் ஹிந்தி படித்ததால், இதை பற்றி தெரிந்து கொண்டது இல்லை.

சில வருடங்களுக்கு முன்பு, இளையராஜாவின் இசையில் திருவாசகம் அவர் குரலிலேயே வெளியானது. ஆபீஸில் வேலை செய்யும் ஒரு நண்பனிடதிலிருந்து அந்த இசை தகடு கிடைத்தது. அதை என் கணினியில் காபி செய்தேன். ஆனால் அதை ஒரு முறை கூட கேட்கவில்லை.

சில மாதங்களுக்கு முன்பு, எங்கிருந்தோ திருவாசகத்தின் இ-புக் ஒன்று கிடைத்தது. நானும் வெட்டியாக இருந்ததால், அதை சிறிது நேரம் வாசித்தேன். அப்பொழுதுதான் எனக்கு புரிந்தது, இதற்கு உருகாதார், ஒரு வாசகத்துக்கும் உருகார் என்பது உண்மை.

அதில் ஒரு பாடல். (சிவபுராணம் பகுதியிலிருந்து)

சிவன் அவன் என் சிந்தையுள் நின்ற அதனால்
அவன் அருளாலே அவன் தாள் வணங்கிச்
சிந்தை மகிழச் சிவபுராணம் தன்னை
முந்தி வினைமுழுவதும் ஓய உரைப்பன் யான்.

இப்பொழ்து இதை முழுவதும் படிக்க ஆவலாக உள்ளது.

134 East

2009-03-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

There was a long line of cars ahead. It looked very orderly with a pair of red lights at the back and the left light blinking on the all the cars on the left most lanes. The headlights of each of the cars illuminated the license plate of the car ahead of it. A little ahead, just on the signal pole, hung a board. The white letters on the green signboard were clear even in the dark. It looked as if it was feeling a little bit shy being in the limelight, with all those vehicle’s headlight on it and it was more illuminated. The letters/number on the board read “134 East”, the number being circled by an inverted triangle with round edges. It had two arrows pointing down the road, directing the vehicle’s to the correct lane. I took the compass to find the directions and the arrow pointed to me, indicating that East was indeed to my left.
The highways in India have improved a lot over the years, with a similar green board with white signs, sans the documentation of them for the people to use. No concept of East or West in a country which had the concept of “DikPalas” (Guardian of directions) in its early age. This is a country where Gods were assigned certain directions to protect, the concept of sunrise and sunset to determine directions and time.
But sometimes I do feel that, the infrastructure of highways in India is simple to introduce the directions. It is kind of odd to compare both of them. But introducing the directions is surely a better way. Directions are kind of universal constant.
Who knows.. one day people will be taking the “NH-4 West” bound for Bangalore from Chennai

Longfellow!!!

2009-03-04T23:50:00.000-08:00

Who is this Longfellow? The people who have a liking for poetry will be the first to recognize him. His full name goes as Henry Wadsworth (not Wordsworth) Longfellow or popularly referred to as H.W. Longfellow. He lived during the 19th century in Portland, capital of United States’ east coast state Maine.
His writings are inspirational and rhyming. In my early childhood days, when I was fascinated towards rhyming poetry (anybody would have been) and when I came across one of Longfellow’s poem, I instantly became a fan. There were only four lines, and I bet I will get it correctly even in my sleep.

The heights by great men reached and kept;
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.

Fractals!!!

2009-03-02T21:15:00.000-08:00

"A fractal... something considered simple and orderly that is actually composed of repeated patterns no matter how magnified. A fractal is almost infinitely complex. I love fractals, so I put them everywhere" said Sarayu

"Looks like a mess to me" muttered Mack under his breadth.

Sarayu stopped and turned to Mack, her face glorious. "Mack! Thank you! What a wonderful compliment!" She looked around at the garden. "That is exactly what this is- a mess. But", she looked back at Mack and beamed, "it's still a fractal, too."

Fractals are really interesting... Go and get to know more about.

Kuppathotti 2.0

2009-03-01T13:03:00.000-08:00

The blog looks different? It might not if you do not follow it closely. Well actually it is different. After the entire world has migrated to web 2.0, it is time for Kuppathotti to do so.

Well this is just the beginning. The changes will keep continuing till you get a totally revamped Kuppathotti.

What a coincidence!!!!

2009-02-26T18:17:00.001-08:00

I observed it just now. It seems like a coincidence. A wonderful coincidence indeed. My last post starts at Glendale 7:00AM and it was posted at 7:03AM. It seems like everything happened within 3 minutes. But it is very difficult to have put all those thoughts into words in three minutes.
Actually I had written the post for the entire day in office in small gaps and around 5:30 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time) I pushed it live (That’s the language I speak in office).
And I never thought that my blog settings still corresponded to the famous IST (Indian Standard Time).
Generally IST is referred by Indians for things that gets done late, be it reaching office, attending meetings or reaching any appointments for that matter. But here it seems exactly opposite.
So for people who run out of time or those who are popular for being late, change your clock to some other Standard Time and you will never miss an appointment!!
It is time for me to leave home. This is the only thing that most of us want to do on time, but even this ends up getting late.

PS: This post also corresponds to IST. My next post will be PST and till my next post keep counting the time difference.

MRTS ---> MetroLink

2009-02-24T17:33:00.002-08:00

Today, 7:00 AM, Glendale
The blue skies with little white clouds here and there, a gentle breeze, the bright sun, all of these made today a pleasant and wonderful day. Except the fact that, it was Monday and I was walking towards office and not jogging, everything else looked the best. But this does not conclude the fact that I go to office at 7:00 AM or go for jogging daily. Today was an exception in almost all senses.
The side walkway was almost deserted. It is always that way with only few people prefer walking. Again it is not that I prefer walking, but I do not have a vehicle and the office is very close for some kind of public transportation and I end up walking daily to my office.
It was very silent, except for the rustle of the trees in the gentle breeze and the dried leaves getting crushed under my $200 Florsheim shoes. It made me feel that man made sounds are the ones that irritate the senses. But sometimes, these sounds strike a chord with each and everybody’s life that, they are no more irritating.
At that very moment I heard that. It should have been the Metrolink Antelope Valley Line bound for Los Angeles Union station. It did not sound to me as a cacophony. It suddenly struck some chord with me.

1996, 4:30 PM, Chennai
We had crossed “The Oasis”. Oasis in Chennai? Sounds like some restaurant? Well it is not. It resembled a real Oasis, the ones that are found on the deserts. There was a big tree, and we (Me, Keerthivasan and Prakash) used to stop there on our way back from school, drink some water that we were carrying, and if anybody got some little money from home on the pretext of buying a pencil or eraser, we used to buy some snacks from the little shop nearby. Keerthi’s house was pretty close by and I and Prakash waved goodbye to him and proceeded towards our houses.
We pedaled our cycles in slow motion till we reached the slope that leads to the railway gate. The gate was closed as usual and we crossed all the four wheelers waiting for the train to pass and the gate to open. We ducked down the gate, pushed our cycles below it and were almost near the tracks. It was then I heard it and I knew I will. I could see the engine at a distance. Then within seconds the Bangalore bound Lalbagh express crossed by, its siren seemed like a perfect example for the Doppler Effect. We stood very close to the tracks, just to feel the power of the speed in which the train traveled, ignoring the dust rain that the train would spill over both of us. Lalbagh express was considered one of the fastest trains originating from Chennai after Rajdhani express during 1996, a period when Chennai did not have the Shatabdi Express.

2004, 3:30 PM, Chennai
I saw myself wearing a white and blue uniform, holding the handle bar of my old Atlas cycle, a big bag stuffed at the stand just behind the seat. I was actually traveling to Bangalore in Lalbagh Express and when I looked out of the window as it crossed the suburban Villivakkam station, the scene just flashed for a second.
Almost eight years had flown by. I had left Chennai in 1997 and did not return before 2003, except for the occasional visits. Even now I had not moved to Chennai. I had become a Post Graduate student and was working on an academic project at Electronics and Radar Development Establishment, Bangalore, which came under the Defense Research and Development Organization of Indian Ministry of Defense popularly called as DRDO. To visit my parents in Chennai or to report to my college at Vellore, it was this Lalbagh Express that I traveled mostly.
Every time I traveled, I would go back to those olden school days and wonder, if at any point of time, did I have a very little clue about me taking this train very frequently, or making me feel a little bit nostalgic. I really do not know if nostalgic is the right word, but something very similar to that.

2005, 7:18 AM Chennai
Time flew and I almost forgot about Lalbagh express and in general the trains, though about hundreds of train passed right behind my house. As I told earlier, it had kind of struck chord with me and the noise of the passing trains never really bother me. It was to such a great extent that, I was surprised by guests who kept asking us if the train sounds continued all through the day.
I was now working in a software company. The proverb “All roads lead to Rome” had become something like “All engineering colleges lead to software industry” regardless of the engineering branch of course.
When the option of taking train or bus to the office training center came, I naturally chose the train. I took the 7:18 AM bound for Chennai beach and my fellow colleagues used to join me at different stations. Since the training session was for a fixed schedule, we got the 6:40 PM return train from Thiruvanmiyur MRTS station, come to beach and used to take the next local bound for Avadi or Tiruvallur. Even when there was a 15 minutes of time between the connecting train we used to grab a dosa from the newly opened Saravana Bhavan in the Chennai Beach station. It was a time, when we knew the money we were spending was earned by us. The best part was when we were made to run with the last piece of dosa in our mouth by the train horn. Those were the times, when we kept our ears open for the horn. If we missed the train, we had to wait for almost an hour for the next one to come.

2008, 7:00 AM Chennai
Two months flew by happily. Fixed working time from 9AM to 6PM. The train journeys. Everything came to a stop, when our training got over and we were posted to projects.
I got used to the new routine, a routine that I hated more than the job. A company bus at 7:45 AM and I never knew the time when I will be starting back for home. I was lucky if I reached home on the same day. The traffic jams, the honking and the cloud of poisonous gas surrounded me, and I kind of got used to it.
Now after three years, there was one more change. Trains were back in my life. My office building got shifted to MEPZ Tambaram, close to Tambaram Sanatorium railway station. I had to take two trains, but that never bothered me. In spite of the crowd, it was comfortable. I could never imagine traveling the same distance by bus. I never came across Lalbagh express, because I never had the chance to leave the office so early to reach Chennai Central by 3:30 PM; still I had trains around me. I will be doing injustice to myself if I do not mention about Navjeevan express, which I took during all my undergraduate years. I will make up for this by writing a separate post on that. I am really confident of filling three more pages when I talk about that.

Today, 7:00 AM, Glendale
As the security at my office wished me “Good Morning”, I came back to reality. A quick journey triggered by the train horn ended there. Be it MRTS or the MetroLink, both have struck a chord in my life.

Glendale....

2009-02-09T19:54:00.005-08:00

Glendale.. What does it sound like? A fairy tale location? A remote village in England? Nope. There might be one, but what I am talking about here is my new home. My home for the next one year. Glendale is a city in California (there is one in Arizona too), very close to Los Angeles and Hollywood.
Glendale is a cute little city. This is called as the Jewel City or Jewel of Verdugo, because this has a jewel like formation to the Verdugo mountains nearby. The climate here is very pleasant, not much cold, not much hot.
For people who have heard or tasted Baskin-Robbins ice-cream, this city is the birth place of this world wide famous ice cream chain.
I have just started exploring this place, and will surely write more about this place. And writing about this topic as my first blog this year makes a lot of sense. Doesn't it?

Reborn???

2008-11-26T06:58:00.002-08:00

Sounds different.... reborn has become a phenomenon with the media and advertising industry using it everywhere. Wear a shirt and you are reborn as..... (something like that). Anyway this post is nothing to do with it.
After about three and half months of "dormancy", what better day it could be than my birthday to start this blog again. I have to sustain the resolution that I had made at the beginning of this year.
Things have changed a lot after August 7 (My previous post). Chandrayaan has reached the moon, Obama is in White house, the world reeling in an economic crisis, the small plant near the tracks in Egmore station grewn a bit (more about this in my next post).
The only thing that has not grown is the posts in my blog. Its again a time for a change... time for a rebirth.
Harish is reborn with this post....

After Three years…

2008-08-07T06:55:00.001-07:00

It might sound like O. Henry’s Short story. Well I really cannot say how it is going to be once you are done reading this. But I am sure this is not a story.
Serving the society or giving back something to the society is one thing that most of the people want to do, but there are only few people who really succeed in it. John Milton once said,

That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."

So if the people who stand and wait also serve the God, then it also means that, there is really no measure of success in serving the society. Whatever little a person does, can bring a good amount of change. And if many people start doing the same at small levels, it is definitely bound to bring a sea change.
As I walk back four years in my life, I remember that day very well. I was getting prepared for the first job interview of my life. Who will not forget that day? Though it was bound to happen, I was least prepared for it. The most surprising part was that, I had cleared the first round of written test and had reached to this stage. Wearing a formal full hand shirt (I hate them always..) tucked properly in my trousers, I walked towards the block where the interviews where being held.
There I met a few fellow mates, who have attended the interview already. Most of them had been grilled in all computer concepts for around an hour. I was very happy. I did not know anything about Computer Science. I would have gladly answered questions on RADAR than about computers.
Once the questions on computers were done, the students were asked about their interests and hobbies and then the students were supposed to ask anything about the company, work environment etc.
Before I could think about anything, I was called inside for the interview. Seeing me “Areas of Interest” as RADAR engineering, he asked two basic questions on RADAR. I do not know how much aware my interviewer was, but he immediately started topic about my personal interest and hobbies. Once this started, it was more like a discussion rather than an interview. We “chatted” for about ten minutes and then it was time for me to ask some questions.
I did not want to pose the same questions about the corporate work culture etc etc and I did not know what else to ask. I badly wanted to ask something, as there was not much scope for me in the interview, because of my lack of computer knowledge. From some where in the middle of the mind, the question came out. “Is Cognizant (that’s where I work) involved in Social Service Activities?” I asked as though, I was involved in such activities from my early childhood, and the company also should provide a platform for the same. That had never happened. I gave my interviewer a big smile when he answered “YES” for my question and told about few activities that they were involved in. The smile in my face would have surely made him think, I was born to help the society.
The interview was over with that, and hours flew by. It was evening and the results where supposed to be declared. Fortunately or Unfortunately I got selected. And as I write this blog, I have almost completed three years in the company.

But, it was only last week that I was involved in some CSR activity. Our team had donated a set of age specific toys to the Neo Natal Care at Voluntary Health Service (VHS), Taramani, Chennai. These toys will be used for analyzing new born babies for any abnormalities. There are therapists who analyse the response of the child to these toys. We had a demo of the usage of these toys to babies who were 5 to 6 months old to kids aged 2 years. People who have seen the movie “Taare Zameen Par” (I have not seen it) would understand this better.
At the end of the day, it was really something different. Few things learned and few things done is what I can say.

New fashion in town...

2008-07-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

It has become an old fashion accessory, but I got into the groove just now, a little late of course. But that does not mean, I too follow that, it is just that I have started noticing it now.
Thanks to the shifting of my office, and with the administration saying there will be no office bus, I have started using the public transport. And now I see a lot of people, people from different backgrounds, different jobs, schools and college students. And it seems, this thing has taken everyone into itself.
It comes in both wired and wireless formats. Not surprising, because this is a period, where you can make anything wired or wireless.
I did not notice this at least for two or three days. The strangest thing is that, I too own that, but have never used it like how people use it.
I got down at my station, and started walking. The sun was well on top, and was determined to fry the people who ventured out. Suddenly I heard a guy saying hello. I turned back thinking it must be somebody from the office who also must have taken the same train. But to my surprise, I saw a man, whom I have never seen. Just when I was about to think, If he is a long lost school friend of mine, I heard him continue his talk, and walk past me, never bothering to turn towards my side. Anyways, there was no necessity for him to do so.
Just then, I realized he was talking to somebody over the phone, through what is called a “Handsfree”. His hands were really free. A bag in one hand, and the other one free.
It was then that I started observing people’s ear, for any such thing. In an unofficial and random survey, I found that more than 40% of the people used it, with the ladies using it more than the guys (From ages back, the ladies always had more to talk.).
The best thing was how it had turned into a part and parcel of one’s life. Just like the bracelet or any other thing, it had become a necessity.
The thing that made me admire was how it blended very much with the guys. Taken over by curiosity, I attempted to wear it one day in vain. First I did not know where to put the phone, and then the other was to take the wires from the phone to the ear with the wires visible only near the ears. Hmm…. It was really tough and I have dropped the idea of using it.
If one did not get that many calls, then this was used for hearing music, radio or mp3, whichever one wanted.
The guy who introduced me this handsfree, and the one who overtook me and went was in his own world.
As he walked down the platform, and crossed the tracks, he never bothered to look for any trains coming. If luck was not on his side, the words which he talked in the phone would have been his last ones.
Though, handsfree is a better option, with people not being exposed to radiation, it is still wise not to use while walking. Else, it would be their last words or the last song they hear.

New York/Chennai

2008-06-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

The building was on fire. It was so tall that more than half of the people working there never realized that there was a fire in the building. With two towers, each with 110 floors, it was considered to be the business center of the world and its name World Trade Center was more than apt for it. But on this day, 9/11, everything was different. People from big businessman to the bell boys where running down the stairs.
The local train pulled into the park suburban station in Chennai at a good pace. The train was almost empty. But within seconds, the seats were occupied and it was on its way to its next destination.
The aero plane had hit the building at the correct place. The crash had started. People started running down the emergency stairs. As they looked down at the ground, it seemed as if, they were spiraling down in an infinite well. The World Trade Center had been attacked. It was a black day. Millions of dollars transactions have stopped, with people not knowing when things will get back to normal.
A small girl bought me back to ground reality from ground zero, from New York to Chennai. Jeffery Archer had described the last minutes at the World Trade Center in a detailed way. I closed the Jeffrey archer novel and looked at her. She would have been some three years old. Her white dress was almost brown with dirt.
She tried her luck with an old fellow sitting near to me. The reward was two rupees. If that was the start for the day, then I bet it was a good one.
As the next train pulled into the station, I hurried as usual, a routine, which I almost got used too. As I took the window seat, my eyes rested again on her. She was running now.
The train driver blew the horn, and the train started. My eyes refused to move away from the small girl. I was curious to see where she was going. The train slowly started picking speed. She reached a place, where three people were sitting, a man, a woman and a small boy, whom I presumed to be her father, mother and brother. Her father and mother were busy talking something. She went to her brother and showed the two rupees coin. After a very very brief pause, they both smiled and hugged each other, a very spontaneous action. The train moved out of the station, but that scene refused to move out of my mind.
Most of the days would have been black for the small girl, unlike one black day for New York. She had told a story better than Archer.

3...2...1...Go..

2008-05-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

The facility was different. It was half constructed, and still the workers were moving around, trying to complete the construction of rest of the facility. Something always looked different here. I was a newcomer to this place. It was only a week since I started working from here.
The environment was totally different from my previous office. Doors with access check everywhere, two or three doors for canteen, rest rooms etc, people with robes as if it’s a nuclear plant made it look very different. As I walked into my small cubicle, I perfectly looked like an engineer, who is designing a small part of the satellite that was going to be launched in 6 months.
Satellite design involves a lot of technical complexities. That is the reason “Rocket Science” always involves people belonging to a different plane. It requires a lot of precision and even a simple calculation may lead to its complete failure.
I had a bad habit of sleeping. So anyone who passed by my cubicle could see a poster with my writing in big “Do not Sleep”. The people who did not knew me, also stopped by my cubicle, just to find out why I had put it up there, and my lead when he finds me sleeping, waked me up and shows the poster (I give a wry smile in response).
Rocket science was a field, which interested me a lot (It is for many people in this world). Becoming a rocket engineer was a dream for me. Here in this office, I found my dream come true. The IT job I was doing had paid me more, but never satisfied me.
I was woken by my lead suddenly. I had slept again. I responded with my usual wry smile. He had lost all hopes of keeping me awake and so did not bother. He directly asked “When is the launch?” Without realizing that he was asking about the web site launch, I replied “6 months” telling about the satellite launch of my dream.
If you really did not understand anything in this post, it is not a fault of yours, since I wrote this in office half asleep.

Hibernation...

2008-05-19T08:18:00.004-07:00

The books lay scattered in my bed. I rarely read nowadays, and the reason I give is lack of time (though the real reason is lack of time management), the rubik's cube, which I bought with a lot of enthusiasm lay on the stand, hoping that it would be turned and rotated one day. The shelf was haphazardly arranged. It is always like that, except for a week after I arrange all of them.
My office desk too was in a bad shape. Having moved to a new office two weeks back, i never had the patience to arrange the things. I had just dumped everything on the desk and it loyally remained there. My beard started pricking my face in this Chennai summer. Then I realised that, I had not shaved.
All these indicate my hibernation mode.
Today, my beard is gone. So I am not hibernating. But all the other things i mentioned above remains the same. The only change is more posts in this blog will keep flowing. Be ready to get wet this summer.

Perfect 10 satellite gone with the wind...

2008-04-28T10:03:00.002-07:00

The sea was unusually silent. They did their job of reaching the shore and receding very quietly. It was an island, not very far from the main shore. A perfect place for satellite launch, the island of Sriharikota, generally a calm island was buzz with activity. The clock showed the time as 0723 am 28th April 2008. The two hour count down had just began at that instant. It was a big day. Ten satellites being launched at one shot. A day not to be forgotten for ISRO. It was a world record. As 9:23 am approached, the launch vehicle took off and within minutes, put all the satellites into orbits. It was hailed as a theoretical launch.As I logged on to www.ibnlive.com at around 10:30 am to check about the launch, the main screen splashed with Harbhajan Singh's photo. I had to search the page to find about the launch. Other sites (NDTV,headlinestoday etc) were not far behind. Some sites had photo of Sreesanth hugging Harbhajan. I was very disappointed to find no comments in the news "Perfect 10 for ISRO, PSLV lifts off successfully" whereas the Harbhajan singh's news had more than 100 comments from the readers. The worst part was the interview of Harbhajan's mother about the incident. Does the media knows what needs to be projected and what need not? If the India's leading news channel do like this, what can be expected out of others?The satellite launch would have taken years to complete with crores of rupees spent. The Cartosat which was sent in the PSLV (Was a major payload) would be used to analyse the Earth, soil and earthly resources including water. Is this not a big achievement? Why does the media shy away from putting this in the front? putting in a big banner? These satellite launches are not to prove to the world that India is a super power. These are for the development of the country. They have been developed by the country, for the country and of the country. What is the media going to lose by projecting this? Is Harbhajan slapping Sreesanth needs this much hype?
Shame on the Indian media....

Chennai....

2008-04-20T10:54:00.002-07:00

At last I saw Chennai... I have been a Chennizen for the past 3 years. Though my home town is Chennai, I had been moving around to many places, and for the past 3 years, I was here, and most probably going forward, will continue here.
Please do not get surprised, when I say that, I am seeing Chennai at last, even after being here for 3 years. It is almost the same case with everyone in the city.
The Chennai Corporation's order to remove all the big and illegal billboards and hoardings did the trick. The city is very different now. At some places, people are able to see the blue sky now only. Some hoardings were so huge, that it looked like they were painted on the sky.
But now, only the steel frames remain. The city looks different. For a change, many buildings can be seen.
Though the ads in the billboard were eye catchy with some of them being too good, still the removal of them is also a welcome thing.

A long gap..

2008-04-17T10:40:00.002-07:00

Not again... I cannot allow this. It almost half a month since I last blogged. In this duration, there were many times, when I just logged in to the site, then decided against posting anything. Lack of topics, personal and professional life, I can keep on adding reasons for all this. But does that makes sense? Not at all. Will keep this going through all kinds of trials.

The wonder that was India

2008-03-29T23:02:00.002-07:00

The thought of a visit to a book shop makes me happy. It is as if, I love being surrounded by books, browsing through different titles, different section, checking out new authors, all being more fun than reading a book. Sometimes, browsing the cover pages of many books, gives an immense satisfaction of really gaining some knowledge, rather than reading one whole book (novels excluded).
With the same intention, I was there at landmark at Spencer's. I directly went to the special and new books section. Most of them were Sujatha's books. Though Sujatha is not with us, his words will remain for a long time. அவரை பற்றி எழுதுவது என்றால் தமிழில் தான் எழுதியாக வேண்டும். தமிழில் புதிய எழுத்தாளர்கள் வருவதற்கு, அவர் ஒரு முக்கிய காரணம். தமிழ்நாட்டிற்கும், இந்திய வோட்டிற்க்கும், அவர் செய்த பணி என்றும் மறக்க முடியாத ஒன்று.
Then, I moved on to other sections. As i was browsing, a name caught my attention. The book's title read "The wonder that was India". Curious to read what it meant, i pulled the book from the shelf. This was a History book, written by A.L.Basham. The title struck to me as an odd one. Why is the author saying "The wonder that was India". India has been a wonder, and it still is a wonder, and it will be one always. So just to know how the author justifies the title, i bought the book. Its a big book with around 500 pages, almost resembleing an old time dictionary. As i started reading, the title was justified in the "foreward" section itself (I could have read that in the shop itself, and kept the book back).
It seems, the author was totally against this title, because he too felt that it was not relevant. But the publishers said that this book was a sequel to other books on ancient civilizations like "The grandeur that was Rome", "The splendeur that was Egypt", and even this book should have a similar title. And so, India is no more a wonder according to the title.
I am currently reading this book (Completed almost 200 pages). I think my history teacher would have been very proud and happy, if she came to know that i am reading this book. Just like a typical history book, its taking a lot of time for me to move ahead. I completed 3 other books in the meantime, but this one is still going on.
But it is not as boring as a history book. The author has tried to present many interesting facts about the lifestyles of ancient civilisations. Be it the public political, economical details or the private life of a man and woman, the author has tried to throw light on whatever is known about those days.
A good read for people with a lot of patience and time.

Does the human race think??

2008-03-21T10:29:00.003-07:00

I do not know what you people think, but Edward de Bono says "How the Human Race has never really learned to think" in a book with the same big title. In a book of about 120 pages, he tries hard to put down many a example to say that, what humans do is work on a pattern or recognition. The brain is trained to handle all things, based on patterns that are stored, including the previous experiences a person has had.
The first 30 pages went very fast, and at a point I thought I will complete the book in two hours (That would have been a record, considering my poor reading speed which is about 12 pages/hour). Even with such a poor reading speed I was one among the person who read a lot of books. But this was before i started working. Things changed once i started working. "I was born intelligent, but my job ruined me", kind of works for me (Hope my manager does not see this).
Anyway coming back to the discussion of human race, thinking, pattern and de Bono, after 30 pages I found myself asleep for about tem minutes. Then the book did not raise any of my interests and after struggling for 3 hours i completed about 80 pages.
I do not know how long more I would spend on reading this. The only thing in the book is some of the practical examples the author had explained about some simplex (simple-complex) problems. One more thing was about the general tendancy of human beings, sticking holily to the proverb, "Necessity is the mother of invention". Even i am no exception. Currently I am into a maintanence project, and I do not bother about the system that is existing. It is really designed bad and pathetic, but since things are running, I do not give a damn to it. The author has pointed out this example only in the book. It was as if he was talking to me and telling me to do something extra (Just like my boss). This is generally called "Value Add". Frankly I do not know if I will follow this or not.
If the author by any chance reads this (Which is impossible), he would put a comment saying that, i had written this post wearing a "Black Hat".
Luckily, I did not spend money on getting this book :).

Odyssey

2008-03-09T07:49:00.005-07:00

A journey that i took 2 years ago had stopped suddenly. Stopped for no apparent reason. The odyssey (thats how i refer to the journey), took a back track with me not able to balance my work personal life. But its the wish, desire and whatever one calls it, made me start this journey once again. And i badly want to continue this journey till where my legs and body take. Because, my mind can assimilate many places, but not my legs and body. And i am very happy to invite you all to join my ODYSSEY

New Year Resolution II....

2008-03-07T23:30:00.002-08:00

New Year resolution…

New Year resolution? Again? People might think, it is already March, too late for a New Year resolution and early for a Tamil New Year resolution (Tamil New year generally falls on 14th April). This is a result of the “New Year resolution” (http://kuppathotti.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-year-resolution.html), I had already posted.
I am a person who strongly believes that a resolution can be taken at any time, but the important thing is to keep it going. Yes, keep it really going (I have flunked many of the resolutions that I had already took).
The “New Year” post I had put was just to motivate myself. Yesterday, in one book, I had read that “Tell your plans to your well wishers, then at least to show them, you will follow the plan”.
Unknowingly, I did the same thing.
But it turned out to be in another way. After reading that post, many of my friends were more inspired. I got a couple of mails saying that, the post was good and they too were going to blog regularly. Few of them had a blog and were not posting regularly, and others did not have one at all.
This made me realize the positive effects of something told positively. Once, Kalam had commented about the print media in India. He was presiding over a function hosted by a leading newspaper in the country (I am really not sure which one). He generally commented about the news that is printed in the front page. Mostly, they were about some bad incident that took place. When the reader starts his day with this news, it fails to boost the morale of the person. He starts cribbing about the world in general. If the good news, however small it may be, is put in big and bold letters, it will surely bring a visible change.
So, “Happy blogging” to all those who have started fresh and for those who are continuing their old ones. Spread the positive note and do your bit. It does bring a change.

Reel to Real

2008-03-01T09:48:00.001-08:00

As i took the news paper in a hurry to have glance before i started for my office shuttle, the photo in the front page made me sit down. But time never stops for us. As seconds ticked away, i quickly decided grab a few minutes to read the article. It was the photo of Thanjavur Brihadisvara temple, and my recent visit to Gangaikondacholapuram had evinced an interest in the ancient temples. The story was about the tamil historian Kudavayil Balasubramaniam (http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/02/29/stories/2008022951100100.htm) in the Friday Review published by The Hindu. As i read through the article, i felt as if the character in my previous blog "proposal" (http://kuppathotti.blogspot.com/2008/02/proposal.html) resembled this person in real life. When i had written the post "proposal", half was true or rather i can say that i could map the characters to real life persons. This part was not so. The archaeologist i had mentioned was truly and completely imaginary till i had read this article. Though i had a hint that there will be persons in the real world just as i had mentioned in the post. But i came to know about it pretty soon.

Result...

2008-03-01T01:46:00.002-08:00

I didn figure in the list of first three prize winners for the proposal writing competition :(.
http://kuppathotti.blogspot.com/2008/02/proposal.html

What now???

2008-02-24T08:31:00.002-08:00

Its one week from my the time i posted my last post and its time for the next one and i swear i am dried out of topics. I was pre-occupied with many things last week that there was no idea that sparked out. இப்போ தமிழிலும் ப்ளோக் செய்யலாம் :). ஆனால் இப்படி செய்தால் தமிழ் மறந்து விடுவோமோ என்று தோன்றுகிறது.

சீக்கிரம் மீண்டும் சந்திப்போம் .

Proposal...

2008-02-17T07:12:00.003-08:00

The following is a proposal writing i had to write in an hour for a competition at my office. There was actually a day, but i was able to give only one hour to it.

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The terrain was very rough. Each step spelt danger. One wrong move and you are deep down into the valley. Ramesh moved very cautiously. The dawn had not broke still now. The temperature did not wish to rise above the zero level. The gun firings which had started the day before had not stopped. He heard few hours before that, the enemies had been marching continuously and they more and more troops had been deployed on heir side. Trying to throw away the memory of all his family members, the chillness that was boring down into his bones, the death that awaited on the deep valleys on one side and the enemy bullets on the other side, he bravely marched ahead, to chuck the enemies out of his country.

The train entered the station smoothly. It was the Delhi Metro, an engineering marvel even in the 21st century, executed in time and within the allocated budget in spite of the red tapism in the government. An alternate, affordable, pollution free, fast transport was developed with the efforts of a lot of people from engineers to workers under the leadership of Sreedharan. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has bought in many “Best Practices”, even to the high performing private sectors in India.

In a village in Kerala, as the kid reached the school, he was surprised to see a small TV there. One can easily count the number of times he would have seen a TV, and he never expected to see one in the class. As the class began, a lady whom the boy never saw in his village appeared and started teaching him. It was a very new and exciting to him. It will still take him few years to know, how the efforts of scientists at ISRO and other organization has started making impact on the education in India.

The old man tried hard looking at the photo. It was very easy to spot him among the big chunk of people, who had gathered to visit the “Exhibition on Wheels” organized by the Indian Railways to celebrate 150 yeas of “Revolution of 1857”. The expression in his face told that, he still remembered those times. He was wearing a White Khadi shirt with white Khadi Dhoti. As he walked along the compartments of the train, it showed that his will power and love for the country has not aged with him.

The man felt the stone for one more time. He had always loved them. It all started from a visit to the Brihadisvara temple at Gangai konda Cholapuram in TamilNadu. He would have never thought that he would be spending most of his life in this temple with the beautifully carved stone structures. As an officer in the Archeological Survey of India, he was posted at the same temple, where his love for old temples began. He was responsible for maintaining the temple, the temples which are the living proofs showing the ingenuity of Indians.

“I love you ‘my country’. I love you ‘the people who love my country’”

Metro..

2008-02-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

December 2006

The building stood 100m away. Never did I think it concealed something amazing. It was a very small building and can be better called as a structure. I had just come out of the New Delhi railway station and as I approached the building, I could see the fluorescent signboard; a circular one with two horizontal chords and a forward slash connecting them. It was the sign board of the now famous Delhi metro. Though the metros all over the world have signs of similar sort, I do not know if there is one which is exactly similar to this. The entrance was quite normal, typically Indian with pan spit over the walls, but as I descended down the stairs, I was magically transported to another world, without a 9 3/4 platform or the Hogwarts express; ahead of me lay a neat platform; bright advertisements on both side; Kajol was smiling at me with her tata indicom phone. With bright displays guiding me at all places, I think I never stopped at any place looking for directions; I walked as if I was a regular commuter there.
I passed the uniformed persons at the ticket counter and the security persons to reach the platform (Check out the station photo that I took @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharishkrishnan/331001132) . The train entered smoothly and I was transported to my destination within a quick time frame, in a time that’s not possible in the fumy roads of Delhi.

January 2008
As I was browsing through the list of Padma Vibushan awardees, one name struck different. Most of them were famous personalities in different fields. But this name sounded familiar, but I was not able to relate it with anybody. I read the name once again E. Sreedharan. Then from some corner of my mind, I recollected him as the Managing director of Delhi Metro. A quick search in wikipedia gave away his resume (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Sreedharan). It reveals the strong personality and integrity of this person who has executed some biggest railway projects within the stipulated time and budget, given the red tapism in the Indian government.
The Delhi Metro is one among them. It had made lakhs of people happy just like how I was that day, and it still continues to do so.
Hats off to that gentleman. India needs more Sreedharans in the future.

New Year resolution

2008-01-29T09:32:00.000-08:00

The first month of 2008 is going to end. Still it is a new year, new month everything is new. A time when people start many things they had always wanted to do. It all starts with the New Year resolutions. Resolutions are always funny to hear. Though the people have noble intentions of achieving something, it ends up being very different for most of the people.Recently I have started blogging regularly (at least two posts for a week is regular for me). I was very happy for it. I felt as if I am writing a “regular featured” column in a leading newspaper. I had started this in the end of December and it had nothing to do with New Year or New Year resolutions.That day I had started from office at 8.15 pm. it was the last office bus that directly took me to my place, and I was happy to get into it. As I took the window seat, I saw my school buddy keerthi come. It was long since I had met him though he sat just two floors below me. It sounds strange in a world revolutionized by telecom technologies. People have still moved apart despite the development of technologies. Technology is just a medium. At last it ends up with the people utilizing it or not. There are many technologies which are more misused than used. The latter is more dangerous than the former one.

As the engine of the bus roared to life, and I started feeling the vibrations, a smile came to my face, just like a school kid reacting to the evening school bell. It was then that I started talking to Keerthi. We kept talking, basically discussing about the things happening in each other's life, in technical terms “updating” each other about various things right from the things at office to home, a 26 Km drive which swallows almost one and half hours of my life in a day.

Then we reached to that point of discussion. I had recently started putting my blog address in my email signature. Keerthi being a professional blogger, no wonder wanted to ask me about that. The first thing he asked me was “Do you post anything regularly?” It came suddenly and in a time I never expected. I had hardly posted anything. That was the truth, truth till few weeks ago. Things had changed. Changed for good. All the happiness of writing was washed away from my face for an instant. Then I told him that recently, I have started posting regularly.

Then immediately he shot his second questions. On hearing that I wondered the first one was a lot better than this one. “New year resolution? Will your blog have the same frequency during November 2008?” Hmm I don’t know if I had started at the right time or wrong time. Neither had I related this to the New Year resolution. But the time I have started had made people think that way.

I will leave it to time to answer the question.

Different walks of life...

2008-01-22T09:48:00.000-08:00

It was 9.30 pm as I descended at my stop from my office bus. It will usually take me about fifteen minutes to walk to my home. I hurried most of the time, just stopping by when I had to cross roads. It was according to the popular line “Children walk to school, but run back home”. I usually rush back home once I get down, just to have a quick dinner and relax (I have already told this in my previous post). Just as I started walking down the road, I saw a husband and wife walking. The wife seemed worried. Something was bothering her very much. It was very much evident from her face. The husband was talking to her in an advising tone.
I have a habit of walking fast. At least faster than the people’s average speed of walking. But when I crossed the couple, I heard the husband say “why don’t you see the good things”? It was as if he had asked me. I suddenly noticed that I had slowed down. He had told his wife in some other context, something for which she was upset.
It was then that I started seeing things around me. As I walked some distance ahead, I saw a man carrying a small child for a night walk. The kid was so small and cute. I was pretty sure, it was so young, but the man kept talking to him. Then I remembered that, kids start hearing things from a very young age, and if good things are told frequently, they get registered in their minds. I just thought how much the kid would enjoy this walk every night, whereas I was walking like a dead man.
Then just a few blocks I saw a group of boys having pani puri. They were just back from a cricket match. The tiredness in their face and the bat and stumps they carried told the same. They were chatting and laughing loudly. It was as if the fun had just begun.
Few blocks away, I saw a family back from beach. The family of four was squeezed in the hero Honda bike, driven by the skillful by the family head. As they got down from their bike before their house, they dusted off the sand from their legs, but they would have surely liked to carry the memory forever. It was kaanum pongal day, a day which most of the families spend at the beach.
A 15 minutes walk on a road can bring many different things before our eyes, is what I realized on that day.

She....

2008-01-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

Our eyes met just for a second, and I couldn’t resist myself from staring at her. She looked the most beautiful. The new dress, the big bindi in her forehead and the flowers all added beauty to the beauty. She was standing in front of the house, with a hint of shyness in her face. I think she felt, she is attracting a lot of attention from the people going through that way.
I usually used to see her on my way back from office. She would be standing before the house. I never used to pay much heed and used to rush to my house. Dinner would be waiting for me in my house, and I really would be hungry. After a tired day’s work and a more tiring journey back home, I always wished back home early, and completing my dinner and relaxing will be on top of my mind.
But today, it was a sheer accident that our eyes had met. Even if they had not, I would have surely seen her. It was as if, she was at the centre, with a white spotlight that was following her wherever she went.
She had a gang of 2 friends. Mostly I would find all of them together. I had seen them sometimes near my house, sometimes in the next street. The people in the house never cared where she went.
I don’t know how old she was, but my mom liked her. My mom used to give bananas, which was her favourite.
All this new dress and make up will only be for one day. As Maatu Pongal (The day after pongal, when the cows are celebrated) ends, she will be back to her old ways of her life, standing before her house, grazing in our next street, trying to get a banana from my mom, till the next maatu pongal comes.

Life.....

2008-01-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

--------- Today

The car was moving slowly. The rain had just started. The song was going to end, a melodious song, a good one to hear during a drizzle. Then the RJs voice crackled in the radio. The RJ talked in a great way. Shyam, a software engineer, who was driving his white Toyota Corolla, was enjoying it. He felt as if the program was being played for him. It had an invisible element, which seemed to connect with Shyam.

--------- Two months ago

Arun could not believe that it had happened. I was not an unusual thing, still he could not understand. He had tested the code very well, but one of the core functionality was missing. Arun was an expert programmer. He exactly knew the best way to write any code. It was as if, programming was born with him. No wonder that, the functionality was missing, because, if Arun would have done that, he would have done that perfectly.
With a project release nearing, and a tight work schedule, he could not do what he liked the most. This made him more sick and frustrated. He could not even spend one fourth of the time which he used to spend, when in college.

------------ Today

Shyam had started late from his office, and he cursed himself for setting up the onsite call that day. He never expected it too last too long, but things never turn the way we think. Shyam’s wife called him up asking him not to drive, but to take the office cab and come back home. But when Shyam stepped out of the office, it had just started to rain, and he decided that he should not miss the joy of driving. He wanted to relax, by driving on such a good climate and a traffic free road. He just prayed that, the radio be tuned up to his mood.

------------- Two months ago

But Arun hated the job. He hated it the most, though he was the best in his team and was expected to grow high in the corporate ladder faster than many others. He never showed his hatred, except for his talks with his close friends.
Arun’s success was more attributed to his voice and speech skills. A wonderful voice with a wonderful talking skill made all the girls in the company his fans. He had the sense of humour which appealed to everyone. He had a great fan following even in his college. From the college fest to the company’s annual event, everything went uneventful without his participation. Arun not only liked it, but thoroughly enjoyed it too.

---------- Today

It was called as Nair’s tea shop. Venu was not a Nair, but any person from Kerala, who sets up a tea shop in Tamil Nadu ends up being a Nair. He was a content and happy man. He had a large chunk of regular customers, and they had become more a friend than customers. His shop was open till midnight and he was back early morning to start his work. His rest was mostly in the afternoons and evenings. His customers were mostly the shift goers in the offices nearby. Around midnight he used to be idle, for very few customers used to come by. His entertainment was the radio he had got recently. The RJ never ceased to impress Venu.

------------- Two months ago

It was around 11 AM and Arun got into the white indicab. He had spent a whole day and night at the office and was not in a state to stay anymore. He just got in and rested himself. As the driver started the cab, Arun just wanted to get back home and sleep. He was in a semi conscious state, and he rested his head on the seat and started staring at the outside world through the window. It was twenty hours since he had seen this. The computer screen, which he had been seeing all day flashed in his mind. It refused to go away, and Arun tried hard not to think any more about that.
Suddenly the radio cracked to life, and he could hear the RJ say something. Then came the song and Arun was more into the song than the computer screen. He started talking to himself commenting on the song. He then dreamt about his voice flowing throughout the city, reaching all the people at all times.
It was supposed to happen. If it was supposed to happen, who could stop it? None. Arun never thought that its going to be a turning point in his life, a day which he will never forget throughout his lifetime. He could not figure out how he reached the radio station for the audition. Within an hour, he found himself surrounded with lots of audio equipment and he was anchoring a dummy show.

---------- Today

Within two months, he was a hit. He had a huge fan following from Venu to Shyam. Just as he came out, he saw the drizzle has not stopped. He boarded the radio firm’s car to his home. It was half an hour past midnight, still he was with his full energy. He was even ready to do the next programme.
He was staring out of the window. A man was closing his tea shop. There were no vehicles found on the road. After sometime a white Toyota Corolla overtook his car and zapped away. As Arun lowered the window glass more, he could feel the chill air brazing his face. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear his own voice drifting in the city air.

ஊனம்

2008-01-07T08:32:00.001-08:00

திங்கக்கிழமை காலை அலுவலகத்திருக்கு கிளம்பி கொண்டிருந்தேன். இரண்டு நாள் விடுமுறைக்கு பின்பு அலுவலகம் போவது எப்போதுமே கடினம் தான். மனதை திட படுத்தி கொண்டு பள்ளிக்கு செல்லும் பிள்ளை போல் கிளம்பி சென்றேன்.எனது அலுவலகத்தில் மூன்று அடுக்கு மாடி கட்டிடங்கள் உள்ளன. அதில் மிகவும் உயரமான கட்டிடத்தில் தான் நான் வேலை பார்த்து கொண்டு இருந்தேன். அதில் ஆறு மாடிகள் உள்ளன. என் இருக்கை ஆறாவது மாடியில் இருந்தது. அங்கே தான் கம்பனியின் சீ இ ஒ வின் இருக்கையும் இருந்ததால் எனக்கு எப்பொழுதும் உள்ளுர ஒரு மகிழ்ச்சி. அதை தவிர தென் சென்னையின் பல பகுதியினை எங்கள் மாடியில் இருந்து பார்க்கலாம்.
ஆறு மாடிகள் உள்ளதால் அங்கு லிப்ட் வசதி உண்டு. இருந்தாலும் நான் தினம் காலையில் மட்டும் படியில் செல்வது வழக்கம். நான் செய்து கொண்டிருக்கும் ஒரே எக்செர்சிஸ் அது தான்.
மென்பொருள் துறையில் இரண்டு வருடம் வேலை பார்த்த பின்பு நான் சம்பாதித்தது உடல் பருமன் மட்டுமே.
அதை சரி செய்வதற்காகவே நான் மாடி படியை நாடினேன். எதோ நம்மால் முடிந்தது அது தான். வழக்கம் போல் லிப்டை கடந்து மாடி படியை நோக்கி சென்றேன்.
தினம் ஆறு மாடி ஏறுவது கடினமாகவே இருக்கும். போக போக பழகி விடும் என்ற நம்பிக்கையில் காலத்தை கடத்தி கொண்டிருந்தேன். ஆனால் இன்று பெரும் நம்பிக்கை உடன் சென்று கொண்டிருந்தேன். ஏனென்றால் இரண்டு நாள் முன்னால் தான் திருப்பதி சென்று வந்தேன். அங்கு நான்கு மணி நேரத்தில் நாலாயிரம் படிகள் ஏறின விளைவு.
ஆறு மாடிகள் ஒன்றும் இல்லை என்று தோன்றியது. லிப்டை கடந்து செல்லும் பொழுது போலியோ நோயினால் தாக்கப்பட்ட பெண்ணை கவனித்தேன். அவள் லிப்டுக்காக காத்திருந்தாள். நான் என் வழியை நோக்கி சென்று கொண்டிருந்தேன். மூன்று மாடிகள் ஏறிய பின் நான் அவளை பார்ப்பேன் என்று நினைக்கவில்லை. ஆம் கிழே பார்த்த அதே பெண். அவள் வேலை பார்ப்பது நாலாவது தளம் போல. மூன்று மாடிகள் லிப்டில் வந்து ஒரு மாடி படியில் ஏறுவது தான் அவள் வழக்கம் என்று உணர்ந்தேன். அந்த பெண் அவள் செயற்கை கால்களை தூக்கி ஒரு ஒரு படிகளாக ஏற என் கன்னத்தில் அறை விழுவது போல் ஒரு சத்தம். இனிமேல் எந்த காரியத்தையும் துச்சமாக நினைக்க கூடாது என்று முடிவு எடுத்தேன். அந்த பெண்ணின் நம்பிக்கை மற்றும் முயற்சியை பார்த்து மகிழ்ந்து கொண்டே இருக்கையை நோக்கி சென்றேன்.

Modi too is back...

2007-12-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

Modi too is back. He is back into power in Gujarat as its Chief Minister for the third time. A clean sweep for the BJP, and he is the Gujarat CM for the third time. His next target must be to beat Jyoti Basu’s record of the longest serving CM.
So what is that makes Modi tick, with lots of controversies and talks about him (though this is common for any politician)? Looking into the news for the past few months, it seems Gujarat has shown exceptional growth, with a GDP higher than the national average. Modi is considered to be a smooth talker. Recently during the chief minister’s meeting, Prim Minister had stressed out not to read from the report that was prepared. Modi had immediately prepared a power point slide show about the developments that has taken place in Gujarat. This reminds more of Chandrababu Naidu the IT savy Chief Minister.
Modi might have done a lot to Gujarat and for its development. But he has surely missed out on one thing, the Ahmedabad railway station. Recently I had a chance to visit Ahmedabad, and the railway station was in a pathetic condition. Being the entry point for me into Gujarat, it was not a welcome scene. Gandhinagar may be a developed and a planned city, but that cannot be a reason for neglecting Ahmedabad, which is so close to it. May Modi take up this work as an agenda during his third year stint as CM. This may not be a high priority thing, but still doing that will not cause any harm.

Back Again...

2007-12-25T08:19:00.000-08:00

At last somebody read my blog and sympathesised with my feelings. I got one personal email too. Not that I write a blog to get sympathy. Still it feels good in a way. It feels good to know that there are other people in this world with the same kind of feelings.
When i started writing this blog, I didn’t think of any title. Just started scribbling in the large blogger text box. Since it is related to my previous post, I then named it "Back Again". Hey hey, but don’t worry, I will put an end to this topic with this post, and wont bore you all people too much.
I think this itself will load you all too much. This post is somewhat different; in the sense I woke up my other personality to write this. So I am not sure about the response that I will get for this one.
The sad part is my other personality is not waking up. So I will end my second and final part here. Bye bye.

Back...

2007-12-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

Today i learnt that i am suffering from multiple personality disorder. Not a surprising revelation, for most of the people in the world suffer from it. It gets bad only when it crosses the limit and thankfully only few persons fall in that category (I too do not fall in that category).
To make the other person in me happy, i am writing this blog. Yes, that personality occasionally comes up and forces me to write down some lines. I feel the "other" personality is suffering from a "compulsive writing disorder". The result is all the posts in this blog. But when my so called original personality comes back, it starts laughing at the posts and starts teasin my "other" personality about how "good" a writer it is. The "other" personality being weak and one which comes out rarely, stops doin that also. The result being a long gap between two consecutive posts.
The other problem is the length of each post. The "other" personality being so weak does not stay for long. Hence all the posts are very small. And i dont think that this post will be an exception.
I have already started feeling the "other" personality fading away. So before it fades away completely, let me tell you Good Bye.

Once again

2007-05-01T00:45:00.000-07:00

This post is once again going to be the musings of my mind. I can hear the grumblings of the people who know me and who have read the first line. For those of you, who do not know, let me tell you one thing. If I say the post is going to be something that’s coming out of my mind alone, then its going to be damn boring, similar to the lecture of the teacher whom you hated the most.
I can broadly divide my posts into three kinds (looks similar to some theory)

1. posts that come as a result of my travel or reading
2. posts that looks like a short story
3. posts that are musings of my mind alone

This posts falls into the third category and the most boring of all the three. (I can hear people saying all the three are boring kinds). But based on the comparison, the third one gets the most votes for the boring category.
Its almost two weeks since my last post, and during the tamil new year only I had made a resolution to post at least an entry a week. Resolutions are to broken. Correct?

Bengalooru.....

2007-04-12T01:59:00.000-07:00

As I got down from the K.R. Puram railway station, I could feel the change that Bangalore had undergone in the past one and half years. The railway platform was a newly laid one and thanks to the people of Bangalore and south western railway, it was still dirty and unclean. As I came out of the station and started heading towards the city, I could see new platforms on both sides of the road with rain water draining facility. I don’t know if they really work coz, it was real hot when I went there and it seemed there will be no rains for few days. In some areas, especially the Airport road, these new platforms had given rise to petty shops. When I peeped into one of this shop, I saw Mr. Bean smiling at me from one of the CD covers. They had a wide range of filmi CDs, ranging from the latest English blockbuster to the Indian language movies, mainly Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and of course Kannada. The auto trip was short and I decided to explore the city later.
The same evening I planned to walk around the city, as that will help me more in looking around. The first thing that caught my eye, when I reached the airport road was a red color bus, with some advertisement of a blue chip company. It was a low floored, air conditioned bus with the driver wearing dress similar to a chauffer. There was one more guy, dressed in the same way and standing near the door. The front, side and the back side of the bus had a digital display with the number 335 and some kannada text scrolling around next to it. The text then changed to English. It was the BMTC run new Volvo city buses. On enquiring, I found out that they charge something around 30 to 50 rupees based on which place you are going. I was not lucky enough to travel in the bus.
As I reached the Manipal Hospital Junction, a sign board said “Go only when it is Green”. It was a usual sign board you find it in many cities across India. That was not the one which had caught my attention. There was something else written under it. It read as follows “You are in a Wi-Fi zone”. I vaguely remembered coming across this term for the first time some four and half years ago. It was a sort of revolutionary technology at that time and it had not been implemented commercially. It was more on the research papers only. But now it had moved from developed country and it was trying to make in roads into developing once too.
Opposite to the Manipal Hospital stands a grand pink building, The Leela Palace, the five star hotel under the Leela Ventures group, with an architecture that more resembles a palace in Rajasthan. This hotel boasts of highest ARR (Average Room Rent) in India, with rents starting from Rs.7000/- and of course it is dollars for other country peoples. I had seen the hotel daily, when I stayed in Bangalore and something was different now. It took sometime for me to realize that, they have constructed a new section of the hotel, with their trademark large round pillars and domes at the top which decorated the old section of the hotel. When I left Bangalore, there was totally no sign of any work going on there. But now a whole new big section stood there. When I came down to Chennai, I went to their website just to find out that they had added 105 large sized premium rooms. They had mentioned that the hotel is ten minutes away from the airport. But the people of Bangalore know that’s only possible if there are no vehicles plying on the road. Some other articles about Leela Palace said that, the rooms are occupied throughout the year and booking had to made months in advance to really feel the Leela ambience.
Has India really changed? Can I answer this question positively by seeing these things? It has to be a yes, though I have to agree it is still the beginning and we have a really long way to go. I realized this on walking some more distance down the road. The beggar whom I used to see daily sitting in the platform stretch from britania industries to Nilgiris supermarket in the airport road was still there. The only difference was that he had a better platform to sit. Then another familiar face was the paani puri vendor just between the murugeshpalya stop and kempfort. Domino Pizza and the Hyderabadi Biriyani occupied the new building that had been constructed in the once vacant land behind him. I still remember seeing him once packing his little shop very hastily. That was to escape the police menace. The police used to come there to collect some money, as it was not legal to put shops in the platform.
India is really changing. But the effect should touch much more people than what it does now. Putting in the lines of Robert Frost, India has got a long way to go before it sleeps (incidentally, Nehru liked this line of Frost and has been seen quoting this often.).

Indian Railways

2007-04-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

posted in alayam on 11/14/06

As I typed the southern railways URL, I was feeling proud. I was an ardent fan of the Indian railways, and tried to defend it when somebody criticized it. With 100 of trains passing daily behind my house, the sound of a train was dissolved in my mind and I never found it odd when a train passed by.
Today I was going to the Southern Railway website to check the spot the train section, a section which was introduced more than a year ago. It showed live positions of the train in the Chennai division covering a radius of about 200kms in the west and around 120km in the north and south.
I was looking for Bangalore Chennai Shatabdi Express. My dad was coming form Bangalore and the train had left Bangalore an hour late than the scheduled time. It was not found anywhere and so I concluded that it has not come within the Chennai division (Jolarpettai to be precise). It was around 6.30 pm when I checked that. With no work in office pending, I decided to start for home. After a tiring journey through the so called roads and the heavy traffic, I reached home at around 9 pm.
I directly went and switched on the computer and went to the same site. The site didn take much time to load and I was surprised not to find the train in the map. Has the train reached? No way. It would have been a before time, very unlikely in this case.
To my surprise I found all the trains very safe in the same place which I saw about one and half hours before. What happened to all the trains? It was raining but not that heavily to stop all the trains in the place for such a long time. The page kept on refreshing every minute, but strangely all the trains were at the same place. Then I saw a label at the top right hand corner of the map which said Last Updated Time: 13/11/2006 18:45.
I had seen the site only once before and all my impression about it crashed. It was raining heavily and I thought I will go to the station to receive my dad. I started cursing the railways and started towards the local station. I had to take a EMU train from that station to Chennai Central. I got the tickets and I walked towards the platform still cursing the railways.
I had a local train at 21.55 pm. As the time came there was no sign of the EMU coming. At the same time, I heard the sound of another train going at a very high speed. I turned around to get a glimpse of the train. The coaches were different Cream and blue in colour and air conditioned fully. Nobody could miss that even if it just flew by. Yes it was the Shatabdi Express.
I looked at my watch. 9.55pm. The train should reach central in another 10 minutes, delaying the journey time totally by half an hour and actually gaining half an hour in such a small time span. I smiled for the first time in an hour. Though many trains would have been sacrificed for making up this half an hour, I didn feel bad. I used to hate when Passenger trains were stopped to let express trains pass by. But not now. Dunno why. I called up my father to say that I will be waiting in the local station.
As I left the station after half an hour with dad, I was not cursing the railways.

Google....

2007-04-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

posted in alayam on 8/12/06

As i typed "http://www.google.co.in/" in my internet explorer toolbar, I knew a light glowed in the globe at the Google's headquarters. Yes, they got a globe which glows according to number of people using google from that place. It seems Africa remains a dark continent there also.
I happened to read about this in the book titled "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman. An extensively researched book about the latest trends in technologies by the American Journalist. The book also mentioned about a survey done by google on the searches that are carried out in google.The top 4 are as follows

1. Sex (no doubt in that)

2. God (hmm... good)

3. Jobs

4. Professional Wrestling.

Check out this link http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_World_is_Flat.
The last one do sounds different just as the author mentioned it in his book(I say this to avoid blogiarism.... does blogiarism exist???). It may be that anyone who is reading this searched for "professional wrestling" just to handle his Manager at office. Anybody out there????
Even the results mentioned form only 1 to 2 percent of the total searches(courtesy the same book). They keep changing with time, like Osama bin laden toping the charts for most searches after 9/11 attacks.

Vijay Divas

2007-04-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

posted in alayam on 7/26/06

TODAY IS VIJAY DIVAS. ON 26TH JULY , 1999 WE RECAPTURED OUR LAST HILL FROM PAKISTANBUT WE LOST OUR MOST VALUABLE , GREAT WARRIORS,BRAVE BROTHERS .TODAY IT’S TIME TO REMEMBER THEM
AYE MERE WATAN KE LOGON ,JARA AANKH ME BHARLO PAANI ……….JO SHAHID HUYE HAIN UNKI ,ZARA YAAD KARO KURBAANI ………
A SALUTE TO KARGIL’S FIRST HERO
Lt. Saurabh Kalia
Capt.Vikram BatraParam Vir Chakra(Posthumous)
Grenedier. Yogendra SinghParam Vir Chakra
RFN .Sanjay Kumar(Param Vir Chakra)
Major Padmapani Acharya,Maha Vir Chakra (Posthumous)Of the 2nd Battalion of The RAJPUTANA RIFLES
Lieutenant Balwan Singh,Maha Vir ChakraOf the 18th Battalion of GRENADIERS Regiment
Major M Saravanan,VirChakra,1 Bihar
Lieutenant Kanad Bhattacharya,Sena Medal (Posthumous)(22 YEARS)
Captain Saju Cherian,Sena Medal307 Medium Regiment
Lieutenant Keishing Clifford Nangrum,Maha Vir Chakra (Posthumous)Of the 12th Battalion of JAMMU AND KASHMIR Light Infantry
Captain R Jerry Prem Raj, Vir Chakra (Posthumous),158 Medium Regiment
Major Sonam Wangchuk, Maha Vir ChakraOf the LADAKH Scouts
Major Padmapani Acharya, 2nd Rajputana Rifles, leads his men into battle after the successful capture of Tololing Top. The 2 Raj. Rifles' next assignment was to capture the Knoll mountain feature in the Black Rock area, which is in the Drass sub-sector. It was here, that Major Acharya laid down his life in the highest traditions of the Indian Army on 29 June 1999. He was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, posthumously.
The Leh-Batalik road is as notorious as the Srinagar-Kargil road. At its beginning lie staging areas, at its end fierce fighting and often, death. Jawans patrol the rugged slopes near Batalik. For them, there is little time for rest and little time to think, always poised on the edge of action.Capt.Vijayant Thapar (Robin)He Laid down for OUR BETTER TOMORROWAt the age of only 22
JAY HIND !!!

Good Traffic Cop

2007-04-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

posted in alayam on 7/8/06

I was crossing the road near the anna nagar round tana junction. A Traffic police had caught a car taking a U turn at the junction where U turn's are not allowed.
The car's window pane rolled down and the driver started telling something. It was not audible for me. The cop also started yelling at him and asked him to go ahead to take the U turn.
By the time i reached the middle of the road near the median, the car started moving. The cop wanted to vent his anger out and i was the one in the middle of the road that time.
Before he could reach me, i just saw the nameplate of that car. It had a 'G' in it. The cop came towards me and started talking about the way people drive vehicles. But i was thinking how did he stop a 'G' car and asked him to take the next turn.
I really could not stop my curiosity and asked him this. He only said one line.... "All vehicles are one and the same"... I was really surprised to hear this.... and really felt happy. I was just able to say "Good" and i started walking towards the other end.
India does needs cops like this....

No Horn Please....

2007-04-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

posted in alayam on 6/12/06

Last week i had the opportunity to go to Cuddalore (visit cuddalore.nic.in) , a small town in east coast some 180 kms down south of Chennai. It came to limelight after the Tsunami devasted this town. It became after the visits of Bill Clinton and Vivek Oberoi. Vivek Oberai stayed there for weeks and helped the people in re construction.When i talk about Cuddalore, I need to mention about its collector Shri Gagan Singh Bedi. A dynamic person, who speaks a broken Tamil, has done a lot for the district both during pre and post Tsunami period. When i hear about him i think that India does require such Civil Service peoples.I got gone there to attend a function and i was supposed to return back the same evening. I generally prefer train tavel to bus. But since bus service were better to Cuddalore than trains, i had to travel by the bus. Moreover the NH-45 had been renovated under the golden quadrilateral scheme and it does really look good (Dunno how long it will look the same). My morning trip was very peaceful without any events.But the evening trip was a horriblr one. The reason for my journey being horrible was the bus' horn. Yes its horn only. A blaring one and it crossed many a decibels above the limit of allowed sound (I really do not know if one exists, but i know for sure, even if it existed, nobody bothered to follow such a thing). And on the top of it the driver was pressing the horn every 5 minutes. I really do not know how he could hear it daily. He should be driving that bus atleast once a day to a maximum of 3 trips. But he seemed to enjoy pressing the horn again and again. The vehicles had to give way for him, else he would keep on pressing the horn. But still he took the same time as the other buses do.

But when i came to know the reason, why he was using the horn, I was more horrified. The driver very calmly n coolly said "eppapo thookam varutho, appapo horn adipen" (Whenever i feel sleepy, I press the horn). I just could not say anything.

Inspiration de basanti

2007-04-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

posted in alayam on 6/6/06

Pramod Mahajan's family is having a bad time. They have not yet come out of the sorrow of the late BJP leader and the latter's son is still in hospital. It is said that he has consumed drugs. This news did not create that much flutter as that of the appearance of Sahil in a leading News channel before surrendering to the Delhi police.As i was browsing through the TV channels, I happened to see Sahil's appearance in the TV. Rang De Basanti immedietely came to my mind. Though this was not the same like in the movie, the thread connecting them is their wish to talk to the people what they thought, whether it be right or wrong.This incident raises the memories of the movie just like the protest of the young doctors in Delhi. I surely feel this movie has inspired people just at the right time. Though you have got lot of movies with good inspiring stories, the release of this movie had a good timing, and the people are able to relate the events to this movie.
I liked the movie for all the fun they had in the beginning.... Apni tho paatshaala.... masti ka paatshaala..... The song will rekindle all the old memories of the fun n masti one had in their college life. I was no exception. But now i look at the movie also in a different angle. As an inspiring movie....

World Environment day

2007-04-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

posted in alayam on 6/5/06

Harish.... Harish.... I could here my mom shout. I was still half asleep. Since it was monday i was feeling more lazy to get up. The clock (my cellphone is my clock at night..) showed 6.45. I pulled myself out of the bed and forced myself to go through the morning routines. It was around 7.20 when i sat for my breakfast, I was browsing through the news channels. I really had only 10 minutes to finish my breakfast and also to take in all the news i could. By seeing TV i felt, i could get more information in a short span of 10 min than going through the newspaper, though both of them had its own pros and cons.
Though i was late, still i could get into my company shuttle in time.I went and took a window seat, and as usual the radio was playing. Thanks to the radio, i came to know that today was World Environment Day(WED).
It was then i vaguely remembered how i used to memorise all those days when i was in my college quiz team.I had a small diary with all the important dates copied from the library's latest yearbook of Malayala Manorama. I just used to memorize... 17th May... World Telecom Day.... 5th June... World Environment Day.... and the list used to go on.
So i thought i will better search in the web atleast for some information regarding this. In 1972, the United Nations designated 5 June to be the World Environment Day (WED) as a reminder to all nations to protect the environment and fight against pollution. As usual we got lot of White papers and manifestos prepared in making the world a better place to live. I really cannot comment on those coz i really do not know whats happening to make it work.But what i feel is all the plans formulated by the United Nations have to be modified to be applicable in each country.We have Bharat Standard II emission norms applicable for all vehicles in our country from April 2005. This Standard is equivalent to the European II norms. As far as the Major cities are concerned, its Euro III norms now and the Government is planning to start implementing Euro IV norms from April 2010. But sadly when i move out in Chennai, I see the famous city buses, still called PTC by old timers here, spilling the most amount of poisonous gas. Ironically the buses are painted green. If this continues maybe those buses only will form what is called as greener Chennai. If the government vehicles do not follow these norms, how can the Government expect others to follow.
There are lot of issues to be discussed when it comes to environment, some concrete steps to be taken to really make this world a better place to live.

Anti Tobacco day

2007-04-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

Posted in alayam on 5/29/06

May 31st Anti Tobacco Day............

I do not know the statistics about the smokers in the world, neither do i know about the chemical substances present in it that causes harm to the human beings. The only thing i know is that whenever i pass a smoking guy, i frown and sometimes tend to close my nose. I always wonder how do smokers bear that smell. I have a few friends, who are chain smokers and the surprising thing is that everbody says he wants to quit but unable to do so. Few people had reduced the number by a considerable margin. The ban on smoking created a lot of flutter in the last year. The law regarding the ban on smoking in Television and Movies did not get that much response from the media that it should have exactly got. It would have been better if the Government would have planned for a total ban on the manufacturing and sale of Tobaccos. Though this cannot be acheived completely, this will reduce the cigarette consumption to a large extent. Banning this can be done slowly and not in a single day. Bhutan is a country that has totally banned smoking. Though its a small country and implementing laws are much easier than the doing it in large country like out India, there have been no visible steps taken by the government before the last year's act. The most surprising part in the last year's act is that, the tobacco manufacturer's never raised any opposition against this act. Did they know that though this law will come into force, they still can go on with their selling???Lets all smokers pledge to quit smoking......

Travel

2007-04-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

Posted in alayam on 5/23/06

I was walking towards the office canteen with my friend. A small smile was in my face. I was leaving my office. One may wonder whats so special with that. Yes it was coz it was not even 5pm when I started. Not a time for a software engineer to start. He should have be in the office with some Burgers and coke around.

I was starting for Lucknow to attend Pooja’s marriage. Pooja my College friend...... all the things about college came fresh to my mind…. Most of the people in my gang were planning to come there………. A get together after some 3 years…..I made sure I drank the juice in a single gulp so that I could hurry. I got to reach home pack, have dinner and start…. Generally I used to do all these things early…… but nowadays…. Was very lazy actually.There was a company shuttle service to the city at that time. I had double checked it in our company's internal website.

But as fate would have it, i reached a bit late and the shuttle had already left and i had very less time to afford reaching the station. So i came out of the office to take the private cab services, which used to ply in that road. They generally are those famous green Mahindra vans more popular in south India. As i walked in the side of the road, a van approached. I had to get into the front seat as all the seats at the back were occupied. To be frank, there was no seat in the front side. People had to sit in a sort of wooden seat and also share the big gear box. This made the people running this service to accomodate a lot more than the number of people who are suppposed to travel. Actually this is nothing compared to traveling in North India. When i was in Maharashtra, I have seen Sumo's carrying around 50 people.

As i got into the vehicle, a lot of shocks were awaiting me. First one was that the guy who was driving the vehicle, was not more than 16 years old. His legs were hardly reaching the brake, clutch and the accelerator. I became selfish by thinking about my safety rather than being pity for his state. I never thought if his hands which was in the steering wheel would have ever touched a slate or note book. The vehicle was in a very bad shape. There was no base in the front portion where i was sitting. So the road moving beneath my feet was clearly visible. The front portion too was open with lots of wires hanging all around and a bulb dangling down the holder. That was the headlight clearly visible from inside the vehicle. All the capacitors and resistors, about which i never remembered during my examination, were all hanging down. The Dashboard had all the meters, but everything was as if fixed in the Dashboard. The most funny part was that one of the meters was placed upside down. I raised my head to find out if the front glass pane existed. Yes it was there. "Thank God" was all i could say.Then i noticed a small Pillayar (Lord Gansha) photo sticked to the glass pane. The Journey was only for about 20 minutes, but being in such a vehicle, it seemed very long (This is a very common line and is applicable in many places and cannot be said as plagiarism). The road i was traveling was the Old Mahaliburam Road popularly referred to as OMR and according to its name was really old. The whole journey was like a Joy ride in an amusement park. Somehow i managed to reach my destination.

As i was getting down, I looked up at the Pillayar. He looked at me as if he wanted to ask me "How was the trip?". I just smiled, thanked him for bringing me safely (driver please excuse) and got down carefully.

Blog

2007-04-03T23:42:00.000-07:00

My last post was something related to writing skills and my inability to write frequently in my blog, the cause being lack of my writing skill and not my work pressure. On reading this, people may come up with the question, if you lack writing skills, why do you blog?

My answer is I blog because I lack writing skills. If I was a good writer, there would have been a novel published or there would have been a column in the local newspaper under my name. Atleast I would have figured in the college magazine, if I wrote a little better. Thanks to one of my friend in the college magazine editorial team, I had one of my article published in my final year. Else even that would have become a dream.

Blogs are totally different. It never says you should be a writer. It gives everybody equal space to put down their thoughts. It’s a platform for amateur writers. If one has got the skill, he can become a professional also.

The best thing about blogs is the freedom of expression it gives. This gave rise to banning of many blogs that arose anti national sentiments. It was that time, that the entire blogging community joined together to fight for its rights. It’s the same old story, where many people are targeted for mistakes of few people.

Any new technology that comes up is certainly going to have shortcomings. I would rather like to put it in another way. It can be said that people (mis)use the technology for all the wrong reasons. Most of the cutting edge technologies are results of the research undertaken for military purposes by governments and most of those technologies are effectively used by terrorists.

The best way to avoid this is to educate the students on how to use “anything”. He/She (to avoid gender bias) should be taught the technology and also how to use it in a better way and for betterment of all people. Educating the children in a proper way will pave way for a real better society. This is the reason our honorable President Kalam has always been stressing on this. As far as India is concerned, there will be still another problem that is getting the children to schools.

Writing skills

2007-02-21T00:23:00.000-08:00

My last post’s date reads Dec 25, 2006. Its almost two months since I posted anything.
Why? What is the reason? I was just pondering over this question. Though I was held up at office for most of the time due to work, still I could not blame my work alone for not posting some thoughts and views, for thoughts are the things that comes along with everybody at all times. So after a long thought process, I concluded that it was my writing skill that is stopping me from posting. It was that time I decided to post my small thought process on writing skills itself.

This is not any fine researched article on writing skills. One can find a hell lot of articles about writing skills in the internet. What I have put here are my thoughts and feelings on writing skills. I use the word feelings because, I always wanted to write, though I never aimed at becoming a full time writer, I badly wanted to be a part time writer. Ok lets stop this and move on to the writing skills.

Writing is a skill, which comes more with reading. People who read more tend to have good writing skills. Well there may be a big set of rules or classes conducted to improve writing skills. But unless the person has a good reading habit, he might somehow miss the real essence of writing.

Reading introduces us the concept of writing things in different ways unconsciously. Your writings will automatically start following the practical writing rules set by your predecessors.
When we go through the experiences of amateur writers, we can conclude that, new or different ideas come at any time, and noting them down immediately saves a lot of re thinking. This is considered as the success of amateur writers.
With many channels opening up for people to express their ideas, the number of amateur writers has increased many folds. Blogging is considered to be the top most among these channels.

People now have started pouring their ideas and view points about the things that happen around them. The best thing is that, the audiences for these writings are people all around the world.

The other channel that has revolutionized writing is wikipedia. The only difference is that, this does not post your thoughts and viewpoints, but it takes what has really happened and what it really means. Its an encyclopedia written by many people all around the world, who have never seen, and who may never see each other.

So lets put all our writing skills and start writing. And to start writing, first lets start
reading…………

PS: The article might have been a serious note on writing skills with no trace of humor in it. I had to write this article just for the heck of posting something in my blog.

????

2006-12-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

Ramesh entered the class room. He did not have any books in his hand. He had a stand which held some 8 glasses of water. He exactly knew what to do. Go around the classroom once, and provide water to the "annas" writing exam. As a 11 year old boy, he had never attended any school. He worked in the college whenever there was any exam. Sometimes he had to be there for the whole day when there were exams during the morning and evening session. He didn mind that. He was very excited being in the college and especially when he crossed the labs with different equipments that he has never seen before. He used to look at the people writing exams, some seriously writing, some thinking, some looking outside through the window. Everything amused him and he too wanted to be a part of it badly. He wanted to study and become a big officer one day. His dad was not in a postion to send him to school. Rather he thought of sending him to work to get some more money.

Today something was different there. Usually there used to be only one "Sir" in a class going around checking if the students were writing the exams without cheating. But today there were three people. But Ramesh continued with what he used to do.

Sandip was trying to solve the last question. He very well knew his life was dependent on this exam. This was going to be the last company in the set of firms that were supposed to visit the college for campus placements. If Sandip misses this chance, then life gets very tough. He tried to concentrate hard and tried to solve all the puzzles.

The test was for a short duration and Sandip came out few minutes early. He was not sure of what he had done. As he came out, he came out and stood near Ramesh and waited for his friends.

Ramesh turned and looked at Sandip and thought when will i become a officer like this "anna" and Sandip was thinking when he will become an officer.

A story

2006-07-09T06:32:00.000-07:00

It was my first year in engineering, and I was trying to adjust to the hostel life, seniors and ragging. It was that time I heard her name 'Arati'. She was a third year student then and hailed from the same place as my roomy. She had a striking face, beautiful eyes and chubby cheeks. She was the angel of the college.

I started liking her the instant I saw her. Though I used to see her many times (I used to go behind her whenever I got a chance), I would have talked to her only two or three times. I really do not know the reason behind this. All those two or three times too happened only if I was with my roomy and she came across both of us.

First year flew by and second year came. We started moving out frequently. We had become seniors also. So I almost saw her daily. She would come with boy friend (villain). Yes she had a boy friend, who studied in her class.

Once I was in the bank extension counter inside our college campus and she too came there. She was wearing a bright yellow dress and I could not take my eyes of her. She said Hi to both of us and started talking to my roomy. They were neighbors in their home town and knew each other well. Indeed it was she who asked him to try our college rather than going for some other one. Few minutes passed like this and it was time for her to leave. So as she left I had told her only a 'Hi' and a 'Bye'.

Time flew by and my second year was coming to an end and she was going to leave the college forever.

I started to attend my third year in college. She was working for a company in Pune. Two or three months went off in third year. College was boring without her. One fine day, I came back to my room and saw my roomy getting ready to go somewhere. As soon as he saw me, he said "Yaar, Woh aayi hai". I did not know if I should feel happy or sad. I started to go with my roomy to meet her. Again my talk was restricted to a single Hi. She was leaving the same night and invited us for a dinner. But as my luck would have it I had a meeting about the quiz competition to be held at our college and I had to go.

All along the meeting I was cursing everybody there. I thought if the meeting gets over I would just join them for the dinner. But..

When I reached, my roomy had not come. He had gone to see her off to Pune directly after the dinner. When he came back, he told me "Woh pooch rahi thi ki thu kyoon nahi aya".

ctrl-alt-del

2006-07-09T06:23:00.000-07:00

Never knew this could do lot of things. I really mean it when Ii say lot of things. People in the Indian software industry use this most of the time and I can say that its difficult for them to live without using this key combimation. Be it locking the system before going out, to restarting it when the system hangs up, ctrl-alt del is the mantra. But i feel the best use of it is done when the system is actually locked.

With the swelling crowds of employees in the IT industry, it has now become very common that you come across many new people in your office. And the good news is that the average age ranges some where between 25 to 30, with the age of those joining the organisation still less.
It is very much possible that you go to the office one fine morning and finding a very cute cubicle mate :). Hmm but what if she sits right in the other corner of your floor. You want to talk to her, but feel it would be better to know something about her before talking to her. Just wait for her to leave the office, go to her seat and a simply moving the mouse will do that magic. You will see a window saying "This computer is in use and has been locked. Only 'Cute Gal' or an administrator can unlock this computer"(Check the screen shot i have posted here). Just forget the administrator and you have the gal's name. With the office maintaining a good database of the employees, its not tough to get other details.

But a word of caution. Be sure she logs in with her name only. For people who want more details regarding how to find if she logs in with her name only.... pls mail me

Story

2006-06-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

The score stood at 40-40 .........

Duece....

It was the Finals of the Wimbledon Championship......

I was supposed to serve.... My serve was to going to make the difference.....I was tensed and nervous....My hands were shaking....

Suddenly i felt as if i heard my mom's voice....

But I did not let my concentration jump out from the ball i had in my hand...

This was the first time i have reached the finals and i did not want to miss out....

A grand event..... and winning it will put me in History.....

Harish.... Harish.... I could hear my name being called.... It was my mom's voice....
Cursing my mom, i closed the tennis game running in my phone and started to search her....

Nalla Neram (Good Time)

2006-06-13T01:17:00.000-07:00

I was walking down the road. It was 4.45 in the morning. I was going to visit my grandparents and had to start real early (Before i never knew suc a time existed). The one problem i used to daily face was people asking me time. This happened to me almost daily.
With daily one or the other person asking me time, now i can fairly guess from a distance, if the person approaching me will ask me time or not.

And whenever such person came i used to say "Vandhutanyaa Vandhutanyaa"..........

And after sometime i would console myself saying "Enna irritate panrathukku nadakkara ulnattu sadhi thaan idhu" and move on.

On this day (rather very very early morning), i was really happy. "Pei suthra indha nerathla aevan time kekaporan..." . As i thought, there was nobody on the road as i was moving to catch the bus at 5.

As i reached the bustand, i stood still for some time. There were some 10 people standing there. I directly looked at their hands to see if they were wearing a watch. Namma neram nalla iruntha watch illana kooda time kekka maattan.... Ana neram eppovum appidi irukadhe.....
Namma ooru alunga.... kaila watch katti irunthalum..... chumma check pannavathu pakkathula irukravan kitta time keppan.....

I went and stood in a corner of the bustand, away from all the people. Soon a bus came and everyone of them got into it. My face slowly lit up.
I told to myself "Inaiku vetri thaan..... evan time kekkaran pappom..."

As the bus went, the place was deserted and i was just praying nobody should come. Even if they come, they should not ask the time. As few minutes passed.... the bus i was waiting for came.... and i was the only person... so i was more happy...

I boarded the bus and took a seat. The whole bus was mine only now. I was feeling as if i have conquered someting. As i settled down the conductor came to my place... I was taking my purse to pay him, and in the mean time he asked a question...... " Mani enna thambi"...... I totally didn expect this... "Anju" (not anybody's name.. its 5) was all i could say....

As the condutor blew the whistle, signalling the driver to start, I could just say "Enna Koduma Saravanan Idhu".....