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Precious Thots

2011-12-06T06:06:00.001-08:00

There is so much to write
That I dont know where to start
You have left an imprint so bright
That a lifetime will not help distort

The journey so far, travelled so fast
Has been filled with memories from the recent past
Leaving me dumbstruck in considerable awe
That I had to fall back on my forgotten poetic skills to hem and haw

A lot of happiness and excitement
Interspersed with a lot of anxiety and disappointment
Your birth has been a miracle of life itself
A story so lush with action of yourself

The anxiety started much in advance by everyone
With your arrival eagerly expected and prayers done
I was the first to know the news, slightly before it came
For I had read tonnes of literature on the same

So when the results came, I was thoroughly overjoyed
And we shared the happy news with everyone and enjoyed
But immediately came the scare, bringing a tear
Rushing us to the hospital in nervous fear

The first 3 months were quite hectic
With your demanding mom becoming more erratic
With weird requests late at night, it was hard going
But for you my dear, nothing was beyond my doing

I have been following your growth right from when you were 8mm long
When I first saw you, a lovely angel with a heart fluttering strong
That brings tears of joy to my eyes even as I recollect the moment, so frozen in time
The most enduring of images there ever will be, seeing a life being born from mine.

Just when things were settling down in earnest
And everyone was getting excited and getting some needed rest
There came another shocker to our hearts, another stern test
For getting a baby as precious as you, everything has to be at its best!

I already had the checklist ready based on my extensive research
And was glad when the doctor checked all the boxes based on her scan and search
But my heart stopped a beat when she consulted her senior and saw a shift in her tone
And the mood became sombre when she finally broke the news that you dont have a nose bone!

This event triggered the most frantic search ever
From the US to India to Australia, family members wherever
To understand whether further diagnosis is absolutely required or not
Given the procedure will put you at risk, we didnt want to, but we were in a knot

At the end, we decided to put your well being at the forefront
And trust in the power of prayer from everyone we knew, and bear the brunt
Your mom had the courage to take in the longest needle I have ever seen
All to ensure that you are safe and healthy, the most precious gift there has even been.

The results came out normal, bringing collective relief after a while
And from then on, with due extra care, you didnt give us any further surge in bile
You took your own sweet time to finally develop your sweet little nose
But everyone around you went into panic mode until then, I suppose!

The first kick you gave had your mother screaming in joy and chime
And gave me the same feeling as seeing your heart beat for the first time
As days went on, she was making me jealous as you were responding to only her brush
But then soon realised that I had a calming effort on your adrenaline rush

We enjoyed the days counting down to the arrival of my dame
Scouring the internet and arguing countless times over your name
While enjoying your attention from inside your mom's tummy, constantly shifting positions
And keeping you engaged and singing lullabies through my ameteurish piano compositions

There was no shortage of drama just prior to your birth, a week ahead
First rushing us to think you wanted to meet me in a hurry, turning all our plans on its head
And then when we have finished re-scheduling everything, taking your time to come out
Keeping all of us waiting and guessing, 26 hours in all, even to the point the doctors were in doubt.

I was there all along, keeping your mom and yourself company, anxious after every BP drop
Waiting for my precious daughter to arrive, my most sought after prize
And then as suddenly as it was, there was a surge of activity and your head appeared with a pop
Taking even the doctor and experienced nurses by complete surprise

November the 12th, just as my sister always wanted and I had secretly hoped,
You came out with a loud sneeze, and just as soon I had you enveloped
My darling was in my hands and the next 15 mins were absolute bliss at last
Just you and me, looking into each other's eyes, while an eternity walked past

Not a word spoken, not a cry heard, you were just exploring with your eyes dashing
Having me completely mesmerised, I wouldnt have noticed if the world came crashing
I would have even failed to capture the previous moment if not for a eager nurse who told
Hearing her complement your long eyelashes, I was filled with pride as a dad only a few minutes old!

Then started the flurry of calls I didnt want to make
Although only a few minutes it would eventually take
I didnt want to lose even a few seconds of that precious time
When that instant connection was established between us, poetic beyond rhyme.

Even your great grand mother flew in at 85 yrs to witness your birth
So precious were you, although at 2.6 kg you were quite small in girth
Of all the names shortlisted, Sahana (Patience) was finally chosen as it struck a chord
And it did resemble the times you have made us desparately wait for you to break free from your cord.

To say that your mom has been through everything to bring you here
Is but a massive understatement, for the sacrifices she made for you my dear
From her food to her job, from her sleep to her greatest fear
Has all been for you and only you, my precious one born in the Rabbit year.

There is a lot more to say, but I am sure this verse is just one of aplenty
To describe my loveable girl that I have always wanted, my most precious dainty
But what better way to celebrate my 30th birthday than to compose this poem, long overdue
Smiling ear to ear as I commence describing the precious thots about you!

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The search has just begun !!! (to find my way back to earth from Cloud 9 - on second thot, I dont want to!)

Song of the day

2010-02-26T22:24:00.000-08:00

I am not a fanatic of the Airtel Super Singer Junior, but once in a while I jump from my computer to hog the TV screen to hear one of the younger ones blast out the most beautiful of songs. I do at times feel dejected when they dont render my favorite songs as per my wishes. I am definitely not a vocal expert and my judgement usually defers from those of the judges!

It was one of those days today when I was just rivetted in front of the TV for 4 minutes, hearing Prasanna and Srinisha render one of the most melodious love duets in recent times, "Kangal Irandal" from Subramaniapuram. As astonishing as it seems, I havent heard this song of the year 2008 till today. But it was so impressive that the song runs in a loop for the past 2 hrs in my DVD player and I have hunted down all relevant youtube videos. I have hardly been so excited about a song in a long time, like this one.

I would be extremely glad if someone gives me the link to the Super Singer Junior version. Music not only breaks down barriers, but its the best medicine for a sick guy like me who is recovering from a surgery. The song definitely made my day today!

PS: Prasanna, you rock machi!!! I have become your fan after today's rendition!

Lyrics
Kangal irandal unn kangal irandal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai poodhadhenna
chinna chiripil oru kalla chiripil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mooddi maraithai (x2)

Peysa enni silla naal aarugil varuven
pinbu paarvai podhum enna naan ninaithen nagardheney maatri
kangal ezhudhum iru kangal ezhudhum
oru vanna kavithai kaadhal thaanaa
oru varthai illaiye idhil oosai illaiye idhai irrulillum paddithidda mudigiradhey

iravum alladha pagallum alladha pozhudhugal unnoddu kazhiyumaa
thoddavum koodadha paddavum koodadha iddayivelli appodhu kuraiyummaa

madiyinil saindhidda thoodikudhey
marupuram nygaanamum naddukudhey
idhuvarai yaariddamum solladha kadhai

Kangal irandal unn kangal irandal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai poodhadhenna
chinna chiripil oru kalla chiripil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mooddi maraithai

thiraigal anddadha kaatrum thinddadha
manadhurkul eppodhu nuzhandhittai
uddallum alladha uruvam kolladha kadavulai poll vandhu kalandhittai

unnai andri vear oru ninaivillai
inni indha vuon uyir ennadhillai
thaddai illai saavillumey
unnoddu varra

kangal ezhudhum iru kangal ezhudhum
oru vanna kavithai kaadhal thaanaa
oru varthai illaiye idhil oosai illaiye idhai irrulillum paddithidda mudigiradhey

Peysa enni silla naal aarugil varuven
pinbu paarvai podhum enna naan ninaithen nagardheney maatri

Kangal irandal unn kangal irandal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai poodhadhenna

chinna chiripil oru kalla chiripil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mooddi maraithai

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The search has just begun !!!

An Ode to the 200

2010-02-24T22:21:00.000-08:00

I have always considered Sachin a very good batsman, a very good selfish batsman who ensures that people talk about him 20 years after he has retired, much like his mentor and city-dweller Gavaskar. Famously, fierce foes from both sides of the border, Gavaskar and Javed Miandad, concurred on one thing, that this new kid on the block will re-write all batting records. Well, may not be everything, but definitely he replaced one yesterday. And what a knock that was!

Enough has been said by now in the surprisingly low 893 news articles in google news about the match and the context in which he achieved it, which I read through all morning. Having missed the live version yesterday until my passionate friends rang me up to tease me, I even caught the replay of the entire innings in my own 4*4inch tv, aka mosaic in this part of the world, as I wanted to write a proper account of it. What caught by attention was the quality of the innings, rather than the number of runs scored. Here was a guy timing his innings to perfection, he wanted to achieve the landmark and he knew exactly what he had to do to achieve that. Having gone to 191 in the 43rd over, he strolled to his 200 in the 50th over and left it till the very end, keeping the billions watching to the edge of their seats. No one knew whether he would make it, but for himself. He also was keen to ensure that he batted the whole 50 overs "to test himself", so that injects more sense into it. It was least surprising for me, who has watched almost all of his 46 hundreds, and his agonising and lengthyyyyyyyyy 90s.

That Sachin would be the first to the landmark was a bit surprising to me. I would have expected the dasher version of Sachin in the 90s to have done it, I would have expected the frenzy of Sehwag to have accomplished that, I would have to even think the 6 hitting chaos of Jayasuriya to have gone past it. But the Sachin of today is more focussed, he knows he doesnt have the time left in him and he has to make the most of what comes to him. With 10 hundreds in the last 12 months, and with 93 centuries to his name now, I am sure hes on the right track. Yesterday, he could not have asked for a better combination than a small ground, flat pitch that road contractors would be proud of, a number of able partners who took the pressure off him and a wayward attack that pours full tosses and full length balls. But still, the credit goes to him for making it stick, where a lesser player would have thrown his wicket away.

Although I do crib about the selfish attribute of Sachin's innings, there have been some classy innings by Sachin which I have admired along the way. The Perth genius of 1991, The Cape Town massacre of 1996 with Azhar, Desert Storm at his peak in 1998 and a lesser version of it in Australia 2009, the Chennai heartbreak of 1999 which I happened to watch live at the stadium and the equally poignant Hyderabad version of 2009, the World Cup classic against Pakistan in 2003 are the ones that have stuck to my mind. Being a critic of Sachin is never easy, but given only a handful of gems in 600+ innings doesnt make my feelings any better.

I always rate the quality of an innings by a few factors, the number of edges, the number of threes, the number of fours to name a few. The bowling attack is irrelevant as you are as likely if not more likely to get out to a poor shot than to a good ball. It is in this respect that the innings yesterday stands out for it was of an outstanding quality. Sachin had the discipline yesterday to rival his cover drive-cutting innings of Sydney 241 and Nagpur 100. He hardly had any edges, with every ball striking the middle cleanly. It was phenomenal that in 50 overs and 200 hard runs, there wasnt even one half chance. That the maximum consecutive dot ball count was 4 at the start of the innings is a glorious statistic. He even ran two 3s, and quite a few singles, which has characterised all his innings and shows that he doesnt mind working hard for his runs. He doesnt mind having to run unlike some of the lazy bums around in international cricket content with whacking the balls out of the ground. The 25 fours that he hit yesterday was another record I am proud of, cos it means he found the gaps to the boundary on a small field with 11 fielders on it. This is where the men are sorted out from the boys who whack 6s like in street cricket. His accumulation of runs were brilliant, his 50s taking 37, 53, 28 and 29 balls respectively. This is where most of the dashers like Sehwag, Jayasuriya and Afridi fail. Theirs is more likely to read 19-26-out. The beauty of the innings is the way the acceleration comes after reaching the primary 100. While the others done care if they get out at 0 or 99, Sachin doesnt care whether he gets out at 100 or 139. Definitely, he does care about 99, 149 or 199, where he wouldnt mind offering a perfect defensive stroke or two to the combined agony of a billion souls ;) And the way he takes a single to fine leg or square leg or third man to invariably reach his hundred off a single behind the wicket is testamount to his superior skills of eschewing risks while reaching landmarks.

Sachin is definitely the world's premier run machine whose consistency is outstanding. While there could be one off wonders like Zimbabwe's Coventry who will continue to threaten this record created yesterday, I am sure there will be some like his overall ODI run tally that will stand the test of time, similar to the first ODI 200 which took 39 years in the making. Records are meant to be broken, like he himself said it, but class is permanent. He is a class apart when it comes to run scoring and creating benchmarks for others. Hats off to Sachin on breaking the unbreakable. Like the famous Roger Bannister's mile under four minutes, I expect that many will follow suit now that the seemingly unbreakable has finally been broken. If there is a winner yesterday, its the spirit of sportsmen, which constantly breaks the barriers considered unbreakable.

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Europe Day 13 - London

2010-01-03T00:51:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day of the tour, and had loads of time to reminiscence all that happened. The flight was in the evening, so we had a slow and easy morning lazing around and packing our stuff. It didn’t appear much when we bought it, most of it small items, but only when it all went in that we knew exactly how much. With suitcases blown up to their maximum limits, we were sitting on top of them to close it. We went to the airport quite early and it helped as there was a bit of an issue with the VAT refund counter. Not being chauvinistic, but the ladies usually tend to be more aggressive than men when handling these kind of roles, especially customs and any refund. As usual, there was an Indian and a Chinese looking woman at the counter. I knew what was coming when the Chinese woman accused the previous customer who was talking in an East European language of accusing her in a foreign tongue. She refused both my requests without any consideration, and I had to go to the VAT counter after immigration where it was fine within 2 minutes. We were laughing when we were told stories about the inflexibility during check in and VAT counter, where they did not even give refund for a pen!

On board the flight, I was doing a quick recap of the tour and what I found special about each of the places I have been to, and the people there. In short, this is how I would describe the people based on my extremely short time spent there.

Italy – Stylish
Austria – Beautiful
Switzerland – Graceful
Germany – Hot
Netherlands - Fabulous
Belgium - Homely
France – Elegant
England – Sophisticated

The trip has definitely been quite a fantastic one, with so many different experiences and visiting so many places in such a short time. Although rushed and I cannot claim to have visited any place in great detail, this tour was meant to be an introduction to central Europe and enable us to identify which parts we would like to explore more in detail. I would definitely want to visit Switzerland and France again, spending a lot more time to comprehend all that these countries have to offer. I have been thrilled and fascinated by Europe during winter, coming from the tropics to experience the snow and the chill. It has been great to spend this Christmas and New Year in Europe and this trip will always remain in my memory.

Europe Day 12 - Paris and London

2010-01-03T00:50:00.001-08:00

Paris was a very fascinating city in most aspects. Today morning, we were supposed to board the Eurostar to London, so we arrived at the Nord station 3 hours before, after a nice French breakfast including the tastiest croissant. The station wasn’t very massive, but had enough facilities to keep the travelers busy. It was a unique sight seeing quite different engines in each platform, ranging from the Paris local train to the German TGV to the French Eurostar. Sensing the opportunity to click more photos, I went out looking for the right angles and the right light setting. I came back after a while, and we had to fill up immigration forms and go through the security checks. I have never been to a place where the emigration and immigration was next to each other, so it was different to see the French and UK border agencies together. Once I went through it, I realized that my camera lens cap had gone missing. This is not the first time its happening this way, and I had got enough warnings from my wife about my carelessness, so now I had to hear the “I told you so” stories. I was feeling quite sad, as the lens cap was an integral part of the well being of my dear D5K. It was quite a lousy cap though as it was tough to take it off and put it on every now and then. So taking care of the camera on the last day of the trip to take photos became the highest priority.

We had kind of created a trend of buying souvenirs in every country we have been to this trip. We got a nice Venetian glass in Italy, a painting of Salzburg and Swarovski crystal showpiece in Austria; a Swiss knife from Switzerland, a glass shoe from Germany, a model of houses from Netherlands, a model of the Atomium in Belgium. We used this last opportunity in France to buy a model of the Eiffel Tower with a marble base, and did some last minute hurried shopping. Actually, the leather handbags were cheap and nice in the train station.

Boarding a train is a nightmare if a big group of 40 people have to take in their luggage and organize it, while being compassionate to fellow passengers who are not part of the group. With boarding allowed only 15 minutes before train departure, it was a hell of a rush, with old people struggling to take their bags up and people placing their bags in a haphazard manner blocking the way for others. With 5 minutes remaining and more than half the bags and people waiting outside, a group of young enterprising guys including me decided to take over the situation. We quickly organized ourselves and divided the work without any explicit agreement, so that the bags can be loaded in. We just about finished the job when the train departed, right on schedule to the minute.

There was a train from Paris to London every hour. The train was impressive, with enough room for all the luggage, hand carries and shopping bags, nice seat with cushions for the neck rest, and a nice pantry. The only negative about it was the leg space, with the Caucasian opposite me poaching my space. Once the train started galloping, we were off to the pantry to see what it has in store. We got a couple of drinks and were chit chatting as the train noiselessly whizzed past the French countryside. The speed of the train was impressive, and much faster than any other train I have ever been in. I could hardly hear the “toddok toddok duduk duduk duduk” rattle of Indian trains, although it was traveling more than 200 kmph. On the outside, the countryside was beautiful and serene. The smoothness of the train is like a nice lullaby nursing you to sleep. The Euro tunnel is an impressive 50km long tunnel below the English Channel, although we couldn’t see much once is was underground. The English side of the track had a lot of small tunnels, and it was bad for the ears, with every tunnel clogging the ears. We finally arrived in London at 12.30 pm, right to the minute on schedule. It was impressive speed and accuracy. It just feels so nice to start on time and arrive on time, even if you are not pressed for time. 5 stars to Eurostar.

Once in London, the first thing I noticed was the massive number of Asians and Blacks there. England seems to be totally diversified across different ethnicity. There were a few Indians hounding us to buy some calling card and mobile connections every time we passed them, there was a restaurant run by Indians and there was Indians just everywhere.
We boarding the bus and went on a city tour. We learnt about the three parts of the city, the Westminster, the city of London and the new More London part being built up for the Olympics in 2012. London was more like a modern Paris, with old robust buildings but with more vibrant colors. It was interesting to know about the history of the “London bridge is falling down” nursery rhyme. It seems that they built houses on the bridge which made the bridge collapse. They rebuilt it and made the same mistake quite a few times. Then it fell down due to other causes like fire and rebuilt again. I was surprised why they never learnt from their mistakes. We passed over the other famous bridges in London, including the Tower bridge which opens up, the Millennium bridge opened on this day ten years back to commemorate the new millennium and so on.

We saw the nice skyline of the city of London, and visited places including the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. The Westminster Abbey is the most famous Anglican church and many important persons are buried there, including Sir Issac Newton. This burial was praised by the French revolutionary Voltaire. The Big Ben was named after the nickname given to a short and stout Ben who created the bell on top of the tower. It was such a nice coincidence that when we were at the Big Ben, the clock struck 4 and boomeranged with its chime heralding the New Year in Singapore 10000 km away! We had a look at the prime minister’s office, the London eye and the houses of parliament on our way to the Buckingham palace. We saw it from the front, but after seeing the Versailles one the day before, it seemed quite ordinary. We learnt how Queen Victoria, who became a queen at the age of 18 opted to shift out of the then residence of Kensington palace to this palace. She was a famous queen and a golden statue outside was a tribute to her. The London eye is not as tall as the Singapore Flyer, but it was very colorful at night. We could also spot some rehearsals for the big New Year’s Eve party. Half of London was being closed down for the celebrations, and we were strongly advised not to come anywhere near the centre of town, which is what we all wanted to do. Bummer!

We went to Piccadilly to do some shopping and were given the directions to go to a Chinatown restaurant for dinner. We went around Picadilly taking in the sights and sounds of the festivities. We went into a few souvenir shops to do some shopping. We got a nice 3D glass image of the London skyline. Once we were done with the shopping, we started on our way to go to the restaurant. However, the direction was from the main road, but I thought it was from the place the bus stopped. Going straight from there, which was the other side of Chinatown, it was a very sleazy place with every shop selling adult content and services. It is definitely not the place to be with your wife next to you. We realized that we had lost our way and after crossing a few streets and finding more of the same, we traced back to the main road and asked people for directions to Chinatown. When we finally reached the restaurant, we found more of the same crap Chinese food we had grown to hate during this tour. Here in London, the Chinese restaurants strangely put mashed shrimps into the Sichuan chilli, so we were careful to confirm with them and avoid taking it.

We checked into a hotel in Wembley near the new stadium due to the lack of accommodation on this special day anywhere else. There were Indians in the reception and it took a hell lot of time to check in, much more than we had ever waited. Looking around I spotted very Indian trademarks, so I realized that the place is run by Indians. They had put up posters everywhere to let us know that they charge for everything, and even had a poster warning us of thieves in this area! We went through a maze of doors to our room. I have never gone through so many doors in a hotel before. The room was shoddy to say the least, and I was almost rolling on the floor laughing seeing a century old Thomson TV.

Europe Day 11 - Paris

2009-12-30T15:05:00.001-08:00

Paris is a city of the arts and the artists. We explored this beautiful city today. We started off with a city tour, in which the famous buildings were revisited by daylight. Paris is a romantic city and the romance continues onto the day with the Champs Elysees being lit up during day time as well. Each building in this city has its own character and effervescence amongst the Parisians. Paris can have a maximum of 9 storey buildings and nothing modern to preserve the sanctity of this historical town and its landmarks. However, one of the buildings was built in a modern way with dark glasses on the outer edge. The Parisians are so disturbed by this development that they wanted it to be brought down. The guide was so upset that the gentle French guy started an emotional outburst, terming the building as ugly and a huge mistake and a black mark on the city. It was funny at first, but behind the words, I could sense a deep pain inflicted by their passion being hurt. The guide was so proud that Paris has become a clean city in the last decade due to some government initiatives that he just repeated it a mere 25 times in 5 minutes. Again, the pride of the French was in ample display. Paris actually has a network of underground sewers that cleanse the city of the waste.

Paris is really a city of the arts, with more than 100 museums. The biggest and most famous museum is the Louvre, which can rival any Indian palace for its size and structure. It houses the famous smiling beauty Mona Lisa, which catapulted the imagination of millions worldwide. I couldn’t believe my eyes or eyes when I heard that all the big queues outside buildings were for some art exhibition by a Polish painter, some theatrical by a French group and a comedy by another French group. I have only seen such lines in India when Rajni film opens or in Singapore when they are giving away some goodie bags. They even have a museum for the sewers and they charge an entrance fee due to the high demand. They say that your lifetime is not enough to go through all that is on display in these museums, which does say a lot.

Paris is a very vibrant city with a lot of traffic, about 10 million people and a lovely atmosphere. It has a beauty and symmetry in its designs and structures that I have not seen elsewhere. An example is the Arc de Triumph, which Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to be built so that he can ride into the city through it when he won a war, and ironically did not live long enough to do so. However, the arch was completed and he stands proud looking at the Champs Elysees all day long. The building is majestic and stands tall at one end of the biggest road in town. The Champs Elysees itself derives its name from the palace on that road which houses the French president. 12 roads lead to the Arc de Triumph making it look like a brilliant star when looking from above.

We had lunch in a Chinese restaurant after which we took a few photos of the Eiffel Tower by daylight. I should confess that I was not all that pleased with the big piece of metal that reached out to the clouds as compared to its glittering beauty at night. In fact, I heard that the Parisians had termed this tower built for an exhibition by Gustaf Eiffel ugly at first, but later it became a symbol of the city. Another interesting fact was that he actually lived on the Eiffel tower for 4 years after its completion before he died there, possibly due to walking up and down the 1700+ steps everyday.

Then we proceeded to the Chateau di Versailles, or the palace of Versailles, which was built by Louis XIV and home to two subsequent kings. The magnificence and grandeur of the palace cannot be described by words, but can only be witnessed in person. Photos cannot fully replicate the splendor of the palace built by the sun king. We had to wait in a long queue for about an hour to get into it in the biting cold winter, which tells you how popular this place is with locals and tourists alike. Starting with the gate adorned in gold, Louis XIV ensured that the entire palace can place anyone in awe. He had so many rooms, each one dedicated to a specific thing like welcoming visitors, rooms for the royal family, king and queen, the guardroom, the library, the study room, the hunting trophy room, the war strategy room and so on. Each room was decorated appropriately with full size portraits, the ceilings covered with beautiful drawings with some dedicated to the Roman gods and others from scenes in the bible. The long hall of mirrors with fantastic chandeliers, sculptors and paintings was meant to intimidate any visitor before he is allowed to see the king. He had corridors full of sculptures of his knights, kings, gods and intellectuals. The gardens outside the palace were as beautiful as the palace itself and spread far and wide, with symmetrical greenery and lakes. This palace really takes an entire day to explore, but we had to rush everything in 2 hours, which was a bit sad.
Once the palace tour was done, we went to the Galeries Lafayette, which is for shopaholics. We went into it thinking of buying some cheap leather bags, but it turned out to be worse than Takashimaya in Singapore, with prices in 3 or 4 digits. We did a bit of window shopping before going out to hunt out some food outlets to have dinner in. We had crepes, fries (frites) and cappuccino for dinner before coming back to the store to find our tour mates carrying numerous bags of Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Lacoste. Some of them were so much of a shopping freak that they skipped Versailles to start shopping! I heard from the husbands and boyfriends that its more of a peer pressure that drives these women to procure these status symbols.

We would be starting for London tomorrow, but I felt that of all the cities I have been to this tour, Paris is the city that seems to have so much more that I haven’t touched upon. I don’t know if it’s the lure of passion and art or the mystique around the history of this city or the romance in the air, but I definitely want to be coming back to this place again to explore more of the city. Bonsoir Paris!

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Europe Day 10 – Brussels and Paris

2009-12-29T15:56:00.000-08:00

I woke up to the after effect of being in Europe for 10 days now. My skin was extremely dry and it has become red in places where I was tempted to scratch. Even loads of moisturizing cream don’t seem to help. We had a nice breakfast and with people high on energy after the day out yesterday, we started off on the 3 hour trip to Brussels in Belgium. We arrived in Brussels around 11.45am amidst moderate rainfall. We walked around with an umbrella to a Chinese restaurant for a quick lunch. It is almost a standard set of items that we get everywhere, with cabbage, broccoli and some greens. The Sichuan chilli was quite hot, and the Chinese vegetarian girl next to me was quite surprised by the amount of chilli I had. I boasted saying that Indians are used to lots of spice and chilli, and nothing would happen. It might probably be good to clear out my running nose, I added.

Once the food went in, I started noticing more about this new country. Belgium is a small country of a million souls sandwiched between France and Holland, and notably has a nice mix of both cultures here, although I heard there is a bit of a tension between the two groups. All the road signs, street names etc are mentioned in both French and Dutch. Looking at these, I was more at ease as I know a bit of French (Je parlez francais cava). Brussels is a pretty old city, although it houses key EU departments, and it is used for conferences. The walkways are lined with bricks while the roads are not perfect. The ambience of the streets was more like India, with puddles of water and homeless people shivering on the streets. This was the first time in Europe that I have seen such a thing, and it was quite sad on this otherwise wonderful trip. As with other small cities on this trip, Brussels contains a nice big square with cathedrals, city hall, museum and a few commercial places. The streets lining up the square contains shops, and we got some nice Belgian chocolates and truffles from one of those shops at a very competitive price.

Belgium contains a curious story of the entire Belgian army being inspired by a little boy pissing on the French occupied territory, that they fought against the French to regain their land. The little boy probably just did what he had to do, but the consequences meant that his act is the celebrated Manneken pis, with a small statue dedicated to him near the square, and lot of watery mementos lining up the shops. Brussels was quite cold, although the temperature was about 9 degrees, maybe due to the rain. We also went to the Atomium, which is a wonderful 60s structure, mimicking a giant atomic structure, which looks like a tilted cube. It was very impressive with its size, and it houses a museum and science galleries. It was used earlier for some multinational symposiums. Brussels had its own character, but nothing really stood out as great or wonderful in my opinion.

Once we were done with Brussels, we took a long 5 hour journey to Paris, the city of romance. On entering the city, the tour manager promptly took us to the Seine river cruise, which is a fantastic way to see the famous landmarks and buildings of the city that line up on the edge of this river. The Eiffel tower was in all its glory, and later I learnt that it changes its color every hour. We started on the cruise and went past countless bridges and historical buildings, including castles, forts, the unfinished Notre Dame cathedral, and host of public buildings, museums and parks. Unlike the Amsterdam cruise, this was very open and the buildings were all majestic and huge, but each one different from the other in style, era and purpose. I just got a few glimpses of Eiffel Tower today; just enough to take a few photos, but the memories will always remain. What a wonderful structure and with the splendid lighting, it appeared to be a diamond necklace tapering down from the sky. I played around with my favorite D5K camera to capture as much as I could of the different hues, trying to match the projected color of the tower and those of the skies above. I don’t know if it was the city or the atmosphere or the slight chill in the air that made us enjoy it so much, but the 1.5 hour river cruise was really one of a kind and something we will treasure forever.

We kept turning to look at the Eiffel tower as we went to the bus walking in the middle of the road, oblivious to the few buses and cars crawling behind us. It is illegal to horn in Paris from the time of Charles de Gaulle, but maybe someone did honk at him when we was walking down the river to make him so pissed as to change the rulebook  When we got onto the bus, we did see so many other couples do the same thing walking in the middle of the road holding hand in hand without a care in this world, so I guess its just the magic of this city that makes people want to fall in love all over again. As Mettalica screams, “Nothing else matters”.

We had Thai food for dinner late in the evening, in the old town past the opera house and the famous luxury Café de la paix. I heard space is an issue in this popular place, but then it was a 20 sq m shop trying to cater for 40 people in the group and it was crazy. When we reached there and squeezed in to take our seats, the waiter realized that they forgot to prepare some vegetarian food for us, so we waited for 20 mins while the others finished their dinner, and then we got our share of fried rice, some vegetables and a jasmine jelly. With half a stomach full, it was time to walk out into the Paris night again and onto the hotel. I realized the potency of the Sichuan chilli immediately after I reached the hotel and it took me 1 hour to get rid of it from my system.

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Europe Day 9 – Amsterdam

2009-12-29T15:55:00.004-08:00

The breakfast at the Crowne Plaza hotel was one of the best of the tour so far. With a full stomach, we started off on the tour of the Dutch capital and surrounding areas. The chill wind couldn’t dampen our spirits today as everyone was looking forward to the day with the least travel. The Dutch are a very enterprising lot. Starting with preserving the Herring fish for over a year, the Dutch had made a name for themselves as very shrewd traders. They were one of the first European countries to be unified, possibly the first European republic, started the first limited company through issue of shares, started the first modern stock market, gave rise to the first bank (Bank of Amsterdam) a hundred years before the Bank of England was established, and started the multinational company called the Dutch East Indian Company. It was one of the great powers between the 14th and 18th centuries.

The city tour started off with a visit to the cheese farm on the outskirts, which was filled with a beautiful spread of blue in the sky, green on the ground, and white on the frozen lakes that feed the wind mills. The Dutch are very famous at using wind mills, and it’s a very ingenious idea in using what they have (water) to make up for the lack of natural resources. After all these days of snow and cathedrals amongst the great mountains, the spread of colors over the flat countryside was very pleasing to the eye. We went to see a demonstration of cheese making, where I was surprised to see how hard a two year old cheese can be. After sifting around in the souvenir shops and walking around the beautiful landscape, we got on the bus for a short trip to Volendam.

The streets in Netherlands are really small, with cars, buses, trams and cyclists all sharing the same space, except in the city centre where they have separate cycle tracks. In took us longer to find a parking space than to travel to Volendam. Volendam is a beautiful little village on the shores of Holland, with a few parallel lanes of houses lining up the shores. The famous dykes of Holland save the houses from the power of the North sea, but they are hardly a few meters high. We can fully appreciate the danger posed by global warming in places like Holland, where 60% of the land is below sea level. Volendam has a great stretch for shopping, with souvenir items being much cheaper than at the other places. We also had our lunch here in one of the food outlets, including vegetable salad, fries and tomato soup. I realized how careful you need to be with your words in Europe when I got a big stare on ordering French fries. Most of Europe has been fighting amongst themselves for hundreds of years, so you have to be careful with associating something with the country. The houses in this part of the world are beautifully decorated, and most of the windows are not drawn, giving the keen onlooker a wonderful view of the beauty of the halls and rooms. Porcelain items and paintings are a big draw here, along with lace curtains.

After lunch in Volendam, we went for the Amsterdam river cruise through which we got to know the true blue Amsterdam. It was like the modern Venice, with an intricate network of canals and locks to keep the height of water in check. The buildings of Amsterdam that line up the shoreline are distinctive with its lack of gaps between the walls of buildings. Due to the lack of space, the Amsterdam dwellers are charged by the width of their houses, so they build houses which are narrow and deep. We heard that the stairs are quite narrow as well, so they shift their stuff mostly through the windows. Most of the houses are three windows wide, which open up to move stuff in and out. The canals themselves are home to many, similar to the Ton Le Sap River in Cambodia. House boats line up the canals here, but are strictly regulated with no new house boats possible due to lack of space. These boats can cost from 200 to 500k Euros, which is a pretty costly affair if you want to be floating around in Amsterdam. The low level bridges and the locks are pretty cool. I could even touch those bridges when we were going below them. There are more than 88 beautiful canals in Amsterdam, connecting the city. Outside, the phenomenal Delta project run by the government ensures that the city can run efficiently below the sea level. There are a phenomenally large number of cycles around the streets of Amsterdam, and the parking lot is extremely jam packed, with each stand holding upto 4000 bicycles. God knows how they manage to even find their cycle from the stand.

We went to Gassan diamond factory at the end of the cruise, where there was a demonstration of how they make diamonds. We got stuck there for a while and then had dinner in a Chinese restaurant nearby, before heading to the hotel. It was a glorious day with bright sunshine, temperature of about 5 degrees and a nice tour of the famous city, so all in all, a very nice day.

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Europe Day 8 – Rhine Cruise, Cologne and Amsterdam

2009-12-29T15:55:00.003-08:00

We traveled further along the Rhine this morning to commence a cruise down the river. Germany is known to be quite strict with its numerous regulations, and this stretch of the Rhine river bordered by old castles have been regulated as well, to keep with the old traditions. The dawn sky looked fabulous on the way to the Rhine. A nice hour long cruise was started amidst light snowfall which was very pleasant. I took a cup of Denmark ice cream to complement the chill weather outside. The ice cream with nuts and whipped cream was a treat, and nothing like anything I ever tasted before. The dairy products over here in Europe are so pure and creamy and it just melts in your mouth. There are quite a few castles over the Rhine, built to protect the kings and knights against the invading armies. We leant about the ways how they built the fortresses, how they lived inside and how the invading armies usually go about destroying it. There are some nice stories surrounding the castles themselves and the forests nearby. The river itself was greenish in keeping with the surrounding rocks. The Rhine seems to be the heart line of goods transport in this area with many cargo liners going past us during our short trip.

Once we were done with the cruise, we took a 2 hour trip to Cologne, to visit the famous Cathedral, which has been classified as a world heritage site by UNESCO. This cathedral took over 600 years to complete and houses the relic of the 3 kings who offered geese to Jesus. The cathedral is huge with the dome rising more than 160 meters. It has a very flimsy look, but from inside it is quite sturdy. The 10000 sq m of stained glasses that adorn this cathedral inspires awe. The clarity of the paintings on glass is astonishing. We looked around the cathedral, which is based on the trinity concept of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. The relic itself is placed in a golden casket at the altar. We had a quick lunch at McDonalds. There were a few Chinese staff, which was no surprise now. However, they couldn’t understand simple English like “no meat”, and I struggled to explain to them that I am a vegetarian and I needed something to eat. Finally, her German superior made sense out of it, and I got myself a burger and salad. In Europe, we need to pay extra for the sauce, and I got a couple of chilli sauce packets to go with it. In keeping with the quality of food in Europe, both items tasted fresh and delicious and very different from what I am used to in Singapore.

It was a long 4 hour drive to Amsterdam, so I slept most of the way. We stopped for a quick halt along the highway inside Holland. Netherlands is a very liberal country and it was no surprise finding porn magazines on the shelf, which guys were very eager to browse through while their wives, girlfriends and moms were desperate to drag them away. What was funny though was to see a teen guy beg his mom to get a copy of playboy. You can travel in your parents’ company and get them to pay for your trip, but at least you need to have some money in your pocket to buy what you want: P Of course the poor guy never got what he wanted. The Singaporean customs officials won’t be too liberal even if he had managed to convince his mom! We went to the city centre in Amsterdam where there were a few restaurants, including Indian and Chinese. While waiting for our seats in the crowded Chinese restaurant, we had a glimpse into the equally packed Indian restaurant next door and a souvenir shop. Most of the souvenirs made it obvious the city’s status as the sex capital of the world. There should be something in the air, as adult jokes were in free flow all of a sudden amongst the guys. Once the food was ready though, the priority changed and we gobbled up the not so great Chinese vegetarian dinner before heading back to the hotel near the airport. Tomorrow, we will get to know what this city is all about.

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Europe Day 7 – Rhine Falls, Titisee and Heidelberg

2009-12-29T15:55:00.001-08:00

The day started brightly with a lot of sun. We started off on time for the 2 hour drive towards Rhine falls in Schauffhausen canton of Switzerland. More of the beautiful scenery was outside, but everyone was tired from the high altitude stresses yesterday, so most of the trip there was slept off. When we arrived at the Rhine, the sun was shining so brightly that I did not get perturbed by the 0 degrees temperature and ventured outside with just a jacket. One thing about Europe in winter is to not be swayed away by the apparent brightness of the sun. The temperature and the wind by the falls made it bitterly cold to stay out without any gloves or cap. I thought Rhine falls was in Germany and so I put all my Swiss francs in my suitcase, which was a mistake as we lost out on a desperately needed hot cup of coffee. The Rhine falls is the largest falls in Europe, which pours 160000 liters of water per second from 23 meters up. The scenery around the Rhine was spectacular, with a castle, a wide river and some old factories lining up the shores. Even spotted a Siemens office there, so if anyone is working there and want to go onsite, you know what place to choose  We took some photos and off we went again.

The drive from Rhineland to Titisee was one of the most beautiful drives we have had on this tour, with slippery and winding mountain roads with numerous hairpins. The drive also took us past the border into Germany. With heavy snowfall, the ride through the famous Black forest was irony very white. The landscape as far as the eye could see was filled with snow. I didn’t expect Germany to have more snow than Switzerland, but that’s the way it was here. I was surprised to hear that it takes 3 generations to harvest the fig trees that are abundant in this place. This temperate rainforest is one of the most beautiful places I have seen. The bus had to take detour a couple of times as the usual roads were too slippery for the driver’s comfort. When we finally reached Titisee, with a population of 30000, the guard there had already seen more than 30000 tourists today even in this cold wintry morning.

Lake Titisee is wide 2 sq km lake, which is 480m above sea level with a beautiful backdrop of the black forest. We walked along the brick road to the lake, which was frozen! This was the first time in my life that I had seen a frozen lake  Titisee is famous for its marvelous cuckoo clocks, and we went for a short demonstration on the clock making. The clock parts are got from different villages and assembled together. We hurried for a special black forest lunch which contained the local specialties of pork knuckle and a lovely black forest cake. The vegetarian meal contained a very nice mashed vegetarian patty, looking similar to hash browns. The lunch was surprisingly very filling and very nice to taste. During the meal, I could sense the German obsession with timing. Every second of delay with us finishing an item made them really restless, as if the world would collapse the next moment. The German sophistication was also on display with the numerous beer glasses being dried using a centrifuge in a matter of a few seconds. Now, who would imagine that!

After lunch, we went to the frozen lake, where some ducks were trying their best to keep a small puddle of water from freezing by furiously flapping themselves. Some local kids tried to help by breaking the ice. The water was not very cold to touch, compared to the surrounding. The other thing about this place was the obsession with dogs. Almost everyone had dogs and some of the smaller ones were dressed in down jackets, which made them look very cute. Some of the bigger dogs were really BIG and scary. The snow in this place was rock hard and more like ice than the powdery ones that we found on top of Mt Titlis, which wasn’t to my liking. But it was nice to touch and feel the chill run up your hand and numb it in seconds.

The next part of the day was the long 4 hour drive from Titisee to Heidelberg. The snows disappeared from the landscapes and became more flat as we went along. Our photographic hearts sank along with the snow and we tried to sleep most of our way, except for a short break in between. When we reached Heidelberg, it was dark and cold. Heidelberg is a scenic small town on the banks of the river Neckar, famous for its centuries old bridge, castle fort and nice town square. We went to a Chinese restaurant in the town and took some pictures along the bridge. We also spotted a Taj Tandoori restaurant in this place. Wind usually blows over these rivers giving rise to the intense chill. With all our warm clothes on, it was still freezing. Chemical hand warmers are very useful in these places. Today was filled with travel, and marked the halfway point of our trip, which I am sure will be an unforgettable experience.

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Europe Day 6 – Lucerne

2009-12-29T15:54:00.003-08:00

A thing I noted in the last 3 days in Austria and Switzerland is that there are many Chinese people around, and I reasoned that it might due to the increased number of Chinese tourists who cannot speak English. And they do bring new ideas and use their connections to get more travel agencies to tie up with their place of work, like hotels and shopping complexes. And based on the small talk this morning, I confirmed that Chinese were good businessmen. The guys were chatting about how they get their Rolexes from here on heavy discount and go back home and sell them for a huge profit. On the other hand, I felt that doing business on travel makes them enjoy the travel a bit lesser and give more importance to the associated shopping.

I came on this European trip primarily for this day. This day started off beautifully, with overnight rain clearing up the sky. The roads were deserted as today was Christmas day, except for a few buses, in which almost everyone carries their pet dogs as well. I did spare a thought for all those people in the Service sectors, who need to do their job and wouldn’t be able to spend Christmas with their families, like our coach captain who has a lovely 3 year old daughter. We went to the Lion Monument, the symbol of the Swiss guard and took a few pictures. The sad looking lion is a symbol of faith and loyalty until the last breath. The tour manager told an elaborate story around this monument, but I was too busy using my camera to bother much. We even spotted an Indian restaurant Kanchi nearby, but as with everything else, it was closed.

Next up was my favorite part of the tour, the climb up Mount Titlis. We had seen a few pictures prior to booking the tour and it looked awesome. We went in the bus till the base and took a series of 3 cable cars to reach the top, the last of which is the first rotating cable car in the world. The view was simply stunning during the journey with the snow covered slopes forming the core of the spectacular scenery. Given that this was the main activity of today, we had more than 3 hours at the top, which was great. We were cursing a lack of snowfall during the trip, but on the top, it was snowing constantly. We could admire the beautiful structure of the snow flakes as they dropped onto our hands. We were covered with all the warm clothes we had, but we were a bit skeptical about the sports shoes that we had, which might get wet. So, we wore two pairs of woolen socks each, and it turned out to be a wise decision as our feet did not become too cold.

The top of Mt Titlis stands at 10000 feet and it recorded a temperature of -10 degrees Celsius today. That itself wouldn’t have been too bad, but for the strong wind at the top around 30 kmph. The first time we went out in the snow, it was too cold for me to bear, although I had myself covered from head to toe. We had a bit of an experience in the snowy conditions, but had to return back into the roof within 10 minutes. I was so freezing cold that I felt numb especially in my hands and face. I was guilty of trying to act smart and make a snow ball with my bare hands. I had also lost the feeling in my nose and it was more like a squishy lobe when I touched it. I couldn’t see my nose, but I could see my wife’s had turned all black. I have seen a lot of Discovery serials about people being caught out on the snow and Mt Everest treks and so on, but this was the real deal. What a first experience with snow. We then went for a hot lunch. We heard about an Indian restaurant up here, but that seemed to have closed this winter, so we had to make do with some French fries, salad, spaghetti and cappuccino/ shocolade. But I was sick of the constant spaghetti bash in my stomach, so I acted a bit rashly by overdoing the fries, which I had to waste. Switzerland costs a bomb and a simple lunch cost us around Fr 60, which is close to Rs 3000. I had a gulp when I realized that I was sorely running out of Swiss francs and our dinner was at stake.

Having a hot lunch (and it was searing hot) in my stomach and having had a taste of snow, literally, made us better prepared next time around. We had taken a plastic cover which enabled us to slide around in the snow easily, given us an exhilarating experience. The snow was so soft and powdery, and it spits in your face and just melts away seamlessly. It is not like rain which keeps dripping, but it just disappears without a trace once you are in warmer weather, leaving you a bit cold though. We had great fun throwing snow bombs, making snow man and playing around in the abundant snow. The brain reacts a bit slower in these conditions. Before I could comprehend what my wife said, the plastic cover she handed over to me just flew off, and off it went with the wind. I realized it a second later and gave chase, but the wind was just too strong, and it just flew away. Having given up on the precious plastic, we started trekking to the other end of the cliff. It was probably a kilometer long, and we thoroughly enjoyed the trek. In the far reaches of the peak, the snow was so soft that my leg went in almost knee deep. And like it happened with the glove yesterday, God sure didn’t want to disappoint us during this trip. I saw the plastic cover fluttering on the guard rails at the far end like a caged butterfly. I lifted it carefully and presented the trophy to my wife, who couldn’t be bothered less. But what a view we got at that point, with cliffs hanging around precariously. We stayed there for a few minutes before I felt my hands starting to get numb. Knowing that we had a long trek back, I turned around and realized to my shock that we could see not more than a few meters ahead, with thick fog eclipsing everything else. I thought I will feature in the next episode of “I shouldn’t be alive”, if I were to make it out of here :P We carefully mapped the path we had taken earlier and retraced the same path, trying to stay away from the guard poles along the way. We were surprised to see a few skiers starting to ski down slope just as we were coming back in that thick fog, but they would be more used to these conditions than we were. It was such a relief when we finally made it into the roof, and within a couple of minutes, I was back to normal again. We took a quick break and couldn’t resist a couple of other minor excursions out into the wild snowy peak. The snow shower became thicker, but our hearts melted away faster than the snow flakes at this experience.

We went to a photo shop below and were made to wear a traditional Swiss dress and pose with a yoodle. While collecting the framed photo, I was surprised to see Virender Sehwag and Nana Patekar staring at us there, from similar photos. Arghhh, if Sehwag can do it, so can I! We went down through the cable cars, but I began to miss the mountain already. Our perky single tour manager proudly announced that he had SMS-ed his ex-girl friend whom he claims is unhappily married. “Wishing you a Merry Christmas from 10000 feet above in Mt Titlis and wishing you were here with me.”

Having come down from the highs of the mountains around 4.30pm, we went for a walk around this small town. We had glimpses of the beautiful swan lake, a bridge built in 1333 and numerous buildings with distinctive architectures. The shops above the ground were all closed, but the weather was much better than yesterday, so it was pleasant walking around. A 5 minute walk from the hotel lies the railway station, which was bustling compared to the rest of the town which was aghast today. We found quite a few Indians wandering about, who might have been here on-site from one of the numerous Indian IT companies with Swiss clientele. I was impressed with an inter-city train departing Lucerne every 2 minutes. The sleeping coaches are single deckers while the seating coaches were double deckers. It was nostalgic for my wife who had spent the better part of this decade traveling between Chennai and Bangalore. We did find that all the shops in the railway station were functioning as normal, including supermarkets, shops and eateries. We did a quick roundup and found packed Bombay pulav in the supermarket and Indian vegetarian fried rice in an eatery run by Indians, which we promptly had for dinner.

Mount Titlis was indeed a truly wonderful Christmas present for everyone on this tour, especially for us who had never felt snow in our hands before. Good things never last, but then how many people were doing better things this Christmas? Off to a different country tomorrow after a good night’s sleep, knowing that I had a truly wonderful experience today. And that I didn’t run out of Swiss francs and compromise my dinner.

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Europe Day 5 – Innsbruck and Lucerne

2009-12-29T15:54:00.001-08:00

The breakfast at Salzburg was pretty good, especially the cake was yummy. Yoghurt seems to feature in the breakfast in Europe, at least in Italy and Austria so far, and I loved it along with the fruits on offer. We kicked off quite early in the morning having only one aim; to reach Lucerne in time for some shopping and dinner. We heard that the shops close there by 4pm with some shops open till 6pm, so it was a rush against time from the start.

We went to Innsbruck first, stopping briefly at Auto Grill for some hot chocolate (Shocolade in these parts). Innsbruck is a small town in Austria with a population of about 150k, named after the Inns river that flows through the town with a fabulous background of the Austrian Alps. Innsbruck immediately struck me as a more commercial town than Salzburg, with buses and trams, residential apartments and a very lively Christmas atmosphere. The small streets had been decorated very well by the residents, with various life-size dolls hanging alongside the houses. It was very different and an exciting experience.

The world famous crystal shop Swarovski is based out of Innsbruck with a factory nearby. It was a very rushed, but very enjoyable experience looking through their impressive collection. Once we were done with a flower and bird at Swarovski, we were on the road again towards Switzerland. The mountain ranges were whiter, with more snow capped mountains filling up my camera. I have taken more than a thousand pictures so far under 5 days, and it can only get bigger. Suddenly, I realized that I haven’t changed the time zone on my camera, ensuring that the pictures were embossed with the date as of Singapore, rendering all photos taken after 5pm to be the next date. I had realized this when I was at the Singapore airport, but then I totally misjudged my memory power, leading to this pathetic mistake.

By this time, the tour manager had established a rapport with the traveling party, and started rambling with his life story interlaced with humor and wit. He smartly injects his meaningless talks with points of note, history, geography, philosophy, art and music. I have a feeling that he might be worried about his customers being bored, but with a scenery as abound as the one outside, that’s the last thing to happen even on 6-7 hr journey between places. The Alps has countless tunnels, and some of it is quite long. Sometimes, it acts as a distraction to a photo shoot, but usually offers some breather between spectacular views, where we can try to doze off. Invariably the eyes open once the sun comes out of the other end. I couldn’t help admiring the hard work that should have gone into building these highways in these places.

We passed through into Switzerland at about 2.30pm, a new country and a new currency for the next two days. Liechtenstein is a small principality of about 160 sq km, which we passed within 10 minutes. Next up was the highway to Luzern, which is the German form of Lucerne. I have read a lot about this wonderful place, which is a 20 mins walk end to end and is the tourist capital of Switzerland, as three of the famous mountains are accessible from here, and it has a beautiful lake nicknamed the Swan Lake, which is full of, guess what, swans. Switzerland is not all snow as people expect. It is a very nice mix of green hillsides, snow capped mountains and beautiful lakes all blended into one. Unity in diversity also applies to its languages and religion, with German, French and Italian all widely spoken. We arrived at 3.30pm and were supposed to buy whatever we can by 6pm.

We went to Bucharer, which is the largest retailer of watches and jeweler in Switzerland, famous for its premium Rolex. Pressed for time, we threw in whatever we could get our hands on, and not shockingly raked up a huge bill. We then went out to find out a pitch dark sky at 4.10pm and the wind blowing extremely cold. We went to the next shop that was open and shopped around a bit more, and then got some bread to munch for dinner. We spotted a couple of Indian honeymooners shopping around as well. People were running here and there to find an open shop without much luck. Having not had lunch and exposed to an extreme cold, I was running a mild headache and desperately wanted to eat something. We went to the nearby McDonalds to hear that they have closed. I came back to the central square by the lake only to find that one of my gloves had disappeared. The cold weather took over and made my hands numb within a few minutes. Never underestimate the cold, never. I was shaking all over at 5pm. Dropping all the bags in the bus, I went back in search of the missing glove. I traced back a couple of shops we had gone into, but the people here are least interested in entertaining people after their closure time, even if the person is desperately searching for his glove without which he is certain to freeze to death :P With fervent prayers in my lips, I ran around to McDonalds when a guy came out. I went around to check on my glove and caught him just as he was about to throw the glove into the bin. God does exist in cold dark high corners of the world at 6pm! What an experience today was. Tomorrow is the highlight of my trip, going on top of a 10000 feet high snowy mountain. Can’t wait to get started, with my gloves on :)

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Europe Day 4 – Salzburg

2009-12-29T15:53:00.003-08:00

Looks like everyone’s heart was fluttering as we got rid of the SAD (seasonally afflicted disorder) syndrome to get ready an hour in advance! However, rules are not meant to be broken here, and we had to wait for the clock to strike 8.45am to start off. Bonjourno (good morning in Italian) to the captain and off we went. The climate was fantastic with a very pleasant 5 degrees. I was freezing in Rome at 9 degrees with all the winter clothes on a couple of days back, and I was just in my sweater today enjoying the weather. Yes, that’s how fast the body adapts! I still had my moisturizing cream and lip balm on, not to take any chances.

The journey today was through the Italian and Austrian alps, and was thoroughly memorable. They say life is measured by the moments that take your breath away, and we had plenty of those today during the transit. “Wow” came out involuntarily out of me, and by the time we passed the Austrian border, I was smiling so broadly that my neighbor said I wouldn’t want to leave this place. I didn’t, actually! What breathtaking views were bestowed upon us today. I was thanking God profusely to just feast my eyes on the natural beauty. My camera was hyperactive, but soon I realized it was fruitless. The camera is still not as powerful as the human eye, and it can only capture so much of the beauty. And compared to what I saw in front of me and what I saw on the screen, it was such a shame that I felt like deleting the picture immediately. Capturing the photo was almost like blemishing the dreamy landscapes all around me. Bliss is a state of mind where nothing else matters, and I was in pure bliss for the entire 7 hours. I did prefer the snow capped mountains of the Austrian Alps more, though! I could not believe both the world wars begun in such a serene country!

We stopped on the highway for lunch in the best location I have ever had my lunch in. What a view on offer. The Austrian food was another highlight. We have to pick whatever you want and pay according to the size of the plate. The garden salads came from the opposite slope! Rice, potatoes and vegetables were cooked in Austrian style, which was very different but equally nice. I thoroughly enjoyed the food and was smiling even broader than when I had come in. Much better than the grilled Italian eggplants! “Piatti Stupendo”. I did notice that the Austrian people were more stoic and composed than the emotional Italians. Most of them speak German, although they would hate you for life if you called them one. Italians are very fashionable people, with attention to the finer details of dressing, where you can pick any male or female to be a model. Austrians on the other hand are very serene people who are happy doing what they are doing. The Austrian gals seemed to have more natural beauty, possibly due to the low make up. They did not seem to be obsessed with the way they look, and came across as more homely. I just muttered “Danke” (Thank you) on my way out, and I would tell that they were pleased with that.

The emotional torture continued with more fabulous landscapes all along the way to Salzburg. We also caught a glimpse of quite a few cable cars and skiers on some of the gentle slopes. I would love to race down the slopes one day, but I knew it won’t happen on this trip, so was content with looking out of the window. We reached Salzburg just as the sun was going down at 4pm. Having walked through the famous Mirabell garden park, we crossed the river to catch a glimpse of the old castle that protected the great Austrian-Hungarian empire a few hundred years back. We also walked past the birthplace of Mozart and the various statues that adorn the place.

The beautiful Salzburg city was full on with Christmas celebrations with the town centre lit up and the old town church area full of Christmas stalls. The whole area had a very festive ambience, and we couldn’t help but be drawn in by the feelings. We roamed about the numerous stalls selling everything from Christmas tree decorations to artwork and winter wear, taking our time with each. We got a few mementoes and were frantically searching for the winter shoes that are waterproof. This was our last chance, as Swiss shops in Lucerne would be shut down during Christmas and we will be left out in the cold, literally. Just as we spotted the shop and the shoes we were looking for, we noticed that the shop has closed! Most of the shops here close by 6pm, so unfortunately, we were a bit too late. The shop keepers are least interested in going that extra minute for a potential customer, and that is how it is in this part of the world, even in a tourist town like Salzburg. We realized a lot of other tourists also got caught out by this timing issue.

We had our dinner at Restaurant Yuan, a Chinese restaurant with a decent ambience and dinner. But after yesterday’s gourmet meal, we were left a little disappointed, although we weren’t too hungry due to the late lunch. Having checked into the hotel quite early in preparation for a long day tomorrow, I caught up with my yesterday’s backlog to keep my tour diary up-to-date. Austria seems quite relaxed in terms of sexual content, with porn magazines on display in highway stops and erotic channels available on TV. With a lovely wife beside me, I did not dare take advantage of either: P

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Europe Day 3 – Venice

2009-12-29T15:53:00.001-08:00

The day started off with a stern warning from the tour leader to not mess with the tiny little string in the bathroom, which seems to invoke emergency help. The irony is that it’s so close to the shower that it can be triggered quite accidentally. The travel from Florence to Venice itself was something to remember. European drivers have a strict regulation on travel and rest times, and so we could only start by 8.45am due to the late night yesterday. We were on routine travel on the highway, and had a hot cappuccino along the way, ignorant that our first taste of winter travel awaited us. As it happened, one stretch of the road was snowed in, and there was a huge jam for a few miles. We had a long wait for about 2 hours, during which time some of us had the pleasure of relieving ourselves in the snow with a backdrop of the Alps. As the guide said its part of the experience! Lunch stop was a bit of a hassle as we did not know what vegetarian items are available. After a long fruitless scan of the menu, we decided to trust our eyes and spotted some pizzas. I realized by observation that the folks there do not understand English. My preparation of the European dictionary came in handy as I proudly blurted out “Avetti Piatti Vegetariano Pizza” (Do you have vegetarian food/ pizza?). Then it happened. The waiter talked for about half a minute in Italian at the end of which I had no idea what to say. With my wife threatening me not to make any fatal mistake, I did not know how to respond. Thankfully, the next guy in line helped with the translation. So, we settled down with a pizza margarita, which means tomatoes and cheese. It was very soft and creamy and by far the best pizza I have had in my life.

The Italian Alps offered very nice picturesque scenes, keeping the camera in constant action along the way. We finally reached Venice at around 3.30pm, along with a double decker train that pulled up into the railway station. Venice has captured the imagination of the world in more than one way over the years. It is supposed to be a very romantic place, and Shakespeare glorified it in his Merchant of Venice novel. Discovery channel has, in more than one occasion, classified this sinking city as a primary target of global warming. Venezia as the Italians call it is really a unique city, with its own culture and art. It is essentially some 116 islands interlinked through canals and numerous bridges. Mussolini’s smart-ass minister threw in a few industries to impress his general, thereby adding some carbon footprint to the otherwise green city. In fact, Venice is one of the eco-friendly cities of the world, with most of the travel through foot and gondolas.

We took a water taxi from the pier to St Marks square, from where we took in the breathtaking sights of the square and the cathedral. Venice’s cathedrals are classic, with different eras contributing different architectures to them. Surrounding St Marks, you can see gothic, neo-classical, renaissance and Roman Catholic architectures, each with its own distinctive features. It was drizzling when we reached it, so we had to use the umbrellas to get around. We were a bit lucky that it was low tide and so we boarded one of the gondolas to take a 45 min trip around the streets of Venice, pun intended.

The Venetians are quite laid back and know how to enjoy life. The gondolas are amazing things. Very narrow, very buoyant and very stylish just like the Italians themselves, they made sharp turns with the slightest twist of the one-sided paddle. Venetians are decreasing in number, with only about 60k people still left, which is quite obvious from the numerous dark alleys and ghost buildings. It’s such a shame to leave such a historic and unique city. However, life goes on with Christmas preparations in full swing, adding color to the vibrant city on water. Numerous tiny bridges connect buildings, making libraries and shops accessible by foot. A lot of houses and restaurants are just an inch above the high water mark, leaving me wondering the immense damage that is posed by rising water levels to this city.

We went to the original Murano glass factory, whose business is no less affected, with only two families still in this business. We had a short demonstration of glass blowing, which is a dying art in itself. The artist was fabulous and well known throughout the world. I had seen him on Discovery before, but to meet him in person and seeing his skills was exhilarating. We did get a couple of beautiful red and blue Murano glasses with our names engraved on it for posterity. Venetian red is unique, just like the city itself, so any article with that color is usually about 20% costlier than the other colors.

There was an hour to roam about after that, and we went helter skelter through the numerous zigzagging roads and bridges in search of a toilet. WC is the acronym for that, although I am yet to figure out what that stands for. After 15 mins of frantic searching through every corner with an arrow, we were about to give up and possibly burst out before we traced it. Euro 1.5 later, we were satisfied with our finished business and walked back through the alleys. Guys are generally good at directions while gals are pathetic, and Venice is a nice place to prove that theory correct!

We went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and stuffed ourselves with the best meal on the tour so far. No grilled eggplants and lots of Sichuan chilli that reminded me of my mother’s molaga podi (chilli powder)! It was a fantastic 9 course vegetarian meal, and I couldn’t have enough. I would have eaten all night long if the tour leader hadn’t dragged us into the bus to get to Hotel Antony before our rival group. The effort was worthwhile as we got the best room of the tour so far! I was so impressed by Venice that I started to write the day’s account when the computer battery died and my droopy eyes won over the excited heart. But I knew that the tour is just getting into the fabulous part of Austria and Switzerland where our experiences can only get better!

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Europe Day 2 – Pisa and Florence

2009-12-29T15:52:00.001-08:00

Having crossed 7 time zones and roamed about Rome, we were quickly off to sleep in the hotel on the outskirts. Early morning, we took one of the highways that connected Rome to Pisa. As they say, all roads lead to Rome, and it indeed true going by the traffic in and out of the city. We started off in bright sunshine and a couple of hours into the journey, it was all snowy landscapes. It was enchanting and dreamy to say the least. We did a halt in one of the expressway petrol stations, which doubles up as a food outlet. We have to exit through a shop selling chocolates, biscuits and the like, and are so enticing to buy. This we heard is the norm in Italy. We did get some chocolates to munch along the remainder of the journey to Pisa. The whole journey was a solid 5 hrs, but we did not mind.

We had to take the public bus to get to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I was surprised to see a few blacks touting in Pisa with imitation goods like umbrellas and leather bags. We were forewarned about things to watch out for, including pick pockets, gypsies trying to mug you, as well as tout at popular tourist places. Since we were behind schedule, the plan was to have lunch first, followed by the tower itself. However, there was some issue with the place that the tour manager arranged, so we ended up at an ala-carte Italian restaurant nearby. We did spot Indian and Chinese restaurants as well near the Tower for those who are planning a trip there. We were three vegetarians in the group, so we ordered a pizza each. By the time the huge pizza turned up, it was too late to cancel. We could each eat only half the pizza in the allotted time before we had to rush to capture some hurried pictures of the leaning tower of Pisa.

The leaning tower of Pisa is a bell tower to a cathedral that is inclined at the 6 degree angle. The government banned tourists in 1990 once they realized it could topple over. They then used lead blocks as well as digging out some earth to stabilize it by 0.5 degrees. We heard that it was on the top of this leaning tower that Galileo used his telescope for his studies, before proposing to the church that earth orbits the sun and getting himself killed. But what’s more interesting is that the leaning tower of Pisa started leaning while it was built itself, with only 3 out of 8 stories having been completed! I was inspired that the ancient Romans never gave up.

Once Pisa was done with, we took a 2 hour trip to Florence, which was an ultra successful commercial hub built by Lorenzo the magnificent. Florence has a very rich culture detailing the innovative ideas executed by Lorenzo, including the introduction of the first Italian currency called Florin, trading in gold, establishing the working middle class with workers being employed by corporate rather than the church. This magnificent city also contains the biggest church in Italy outside the Vatican, has the first stock exchange and has a dedicated square for banks. This city was the 500 year old Wall Street and much more. The city itself derives its name from a flower, which is omnipresent here and still remains the symbol of pride. Lorenzo also developed key ties with other city states as it was the financial hub, helping him in times of war. He is said to have defeated Pisa and Venice. A big river Alba divides the city into two, which was used to separate the quiet residential and happening commercial parts. Bridges help connect the two parts for easy access. Work hard and play hard seems to have been the moto of this city.

We had a long walk by the river in the biting cold night, which was an experience in itself. We went for a stake dinner at La Casa, being entertained by classical Italian songs while we had our dinner. The dinner was the usual three course meal with Spaghetti with tomato sauce, grilled eggplant and desert. I was sick and tired of eggplant on Day 2 itself. By the time we reached hotel it was almost 10. It is no big deal back in Singapore, but here we were just dog tired and all we wanted was to get some valuable sleep.

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The Kingdom - Day 2

2009-05-17T03:11:00.000-07:00

The first thought of the day was that it would be tough to match Day 1 in excitement. So, I was bracing myself for a less than spectacular day. Yesterday started with the awe and splendour of Angkor Wat and the rest of the day just flew by. Today, we started off with Tonle Sap lake, a good 45 mins drive in a car that was "flying" at 30kmph. And it was the fastest object on the roads by a long way!

The drive gave me a glimpse of a normal Cambodian lifestyle. Houses were raised on columns of wood to prevent flooding during monsoon (May-Oct). The high-rise roads had seafood restaurants along the way, with all having karoake, although none of the locals are interested. It is to please the tourists, many of whom are Koreans. I am glad to bee in a place where I could spot only 3 other Indians in a day apart from my family. All the houses have a small spirit house at the front, where people offer their morning prayers to bring good luck to people and businesses. Depending on the status, it could range from some form of house made out of flattened coke cans, or could be mini houses in themselves. Almost all the houses (whether fixed or floating) has a swing made of cloth, where people take a nap whenever they can. The average Cambodian travel in mopeds or a cheaper version of a tuk tuk, which can carry 10-12 pax to the markets once a week for about $1. They have their own wood houses, a small rice field, a fruit garden and possibly a cow. They earn just enough to lead a life and never have enough to even travel to the next province. They eat at home everyday and are mostly self-sufficient. Only the extremely rich get to travel abroad. The people say they are poor with a tinge of sadness but they never crib or cringe. There are hardly any beggars around. I think Cambodians are rich in their captivating smile, amazing service attitude and their positiveness radiates everywhere in this country. It was a humbling experience having interacted with about 20-30 people in these 2 days.

Coming back to the first attraction of the day, the Tonle Sap lake is the largest (man-made) lake in Cambodia and links to the capital Phnom Penh. The travel is about 5-6 hrs only during rainy season. A manmade river links the mainland to the lake. A trip in a boat costs $20 a head, but its well worth it. Its not a lake, but almost a village in the middle of a sea, complete with floating residents, school, hospital, church, mosque and environmental organisation. The last one was a misfit as there was more environment than men at this place. The fresh air hustling your face makes one forget everything else and immerse in the surroundings. The climate was hot, but the heat hardly mattered. Floating shop boats touted for business, but we bought our souvenirs from a floating restaurant-cum-fish/crocodile farm. It was awesome to see a Vietnamese christians and Cambodian muslims float alongside each other yet have distinctive features. The Vietnamese fishermen have funded a floating orphanage school when they scarcely manage to eek out a living themselves. Top that for social responsibility! When the rains come down, everyone moves inland to avoid the high waves. It was a great trip and an eye-opener, showcasing how people adapt to their harsh surroundings and co-exist.

After the lake, we had a trip to Ta Phrom temple. It was another wreck characterised by hugh trees encroaching the walls, which have buckled under the immense pressure. Big blocks of rock were everywhere, like in the other temples. I again wondered how these temples were torn apart, but it looks as if large boulders were thrown from the top to create this crazy mess! The temple itself was dedicated by King Jayavarman VII (hailed the greatest) to his mother, and was used in times of victory to celebrate. All these temples were in fact walled cities, with thousands occupying each. Cambodia was landmined heavily, and people who have been injured by the landmines have formed a musical troupe. You can see these groups in every temple. They play on whenever the visitors are in sight. They have their own CDs and their placards request you to buy the CDs, but their shoulders never droop, even if we ask them for a photo without dropping a single note. The people here have real character. I did get a musical instrument as a souvenir from a tout outside.

Next up was lunch at the roadside Khmer Family Restaurant. The food and the service were good. Then, we made a longish trip to Bantray Srei temple in the outskirts. It translates into temple for women, but there were sannadis for Garuda and Hanuman, apart from the many unknowns. The temple was remarkably intact, with only a few broken blocks. It has definitely stood the test of time. Our next stop was Preah Khan, which is the translation for Jayasri, the original Sanskrit name bestowed upon it. It was huge, second only to Angkor Wat, with 7 concentric squares (prahara). This was also a walled city and a palace dedicated to Jayavarman's father. It has a dedicated dancing hall and demarcated areas for Apsara dancers. The innermost square contains a Siva Linga and a stupa. We all felt like explorers, navigating our way through endless blocks of rock. It is for this reason that we declined tourist guides in a couple of temples. We took our time at each nook and corner which interested us, went our own way, even got lost and had to get help to get out, but it was immense fun this way.

After numerous temples, it was time to try something different. On the suggestion of our taxi driver, we skipped the National Museum containing 1000 Buddhas and relics for a trip to the Cambodian Cultural Village. This is a one-stop to see the evolution of the Khmer culture, the different sections of people and their traditions and get a closer look at their living style. We watched a couple of dance shows, which were simple and elegant. Coming from a place renouned for its complexity and diversity, I did get bored of them quickly. The park inside was huge and had replicas of the important landmarks around the country. It was worthwhile browsing through.

The final stop for the day was the market and souvenir shop. Our driver mistook our needs and took us to a posh Indian souvenir shop trading Indian items. These were the last thing we wanted from Cambodia, and after a quick cursory glance, we were off. Dinner was great as usual, I told them as much and they were pleased.

As the trip came to an end, I was really happy with the way everything went on this trip. Everyone was equally pleased, which was a bit strange, but was much better than I anticipated. The Kingdom, especially the ruins of Angkor, is definitely a must-see for anyone worth their USD. No Riels please :)

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The Kingdom - Day 1

2009-05-17T02:33:00.000-07:00

There are 3 kingdoms that I really want to visit. Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal. I am happy that I have made it to 2 out of 3 so far. When I boarded my flight, I tried desperately not to think of my last visit to The Kingdom - Cambodia. It was a business trip that gave me the creeps. All 3 days I was there with my Singaporean boss, we were being escorted by Z-grade security! People say its cool until they hear that I was in a meeting trying to negotiate with a big Don who owns a corporate with 10 guys with guns standing around us. The meeting was a real win-win, the guy got what he wanted and we still were alive!

Back to the present, I couldnt help but admire the nature along the flight path en route Vietnam into Cambodia. The mountains, valleys and meandering rivers gave me a sense of inner peace, especially the last one. Its been so long since I saw one. It has a sense of nonchalance, where time almost stands still and senses are forced to admire its beauty. A sense of calm prevailed, a calm not found in bustling cities like Chennai, Singapore or Hong Kong. Right from landing in Siem Reap, two things has stood out. The first is a lack of crowd, which naturally took me a bit of time to get used to. The second was a distinctive architecture, where everything has to have a pointed end.

As soon as I landed, I committed a big blunder. I had changed from SGD to USD, but I wasnt quite sure how prevalent USD was. So, I changed 100 USD into Cambodian Riel, but had to stuff 380,000 in my purse. The next girl changed SGD 10 and immediately I realised my folly. Outside the airport, it was pretty obvious. Everything was sold in USD, and if you wanted to transact in Riel, you will be so royally screwed that you wouldnt think twice to go to your friendly neighbourhood robber aka money changer. I was shocked at first that a foreign currency is preferred to local currency. Then the taxi driver explained that the locals do use the Riel and get "real Riel" rates. Who would cry over getting paid in USD? So, the USD rulez in tourist spots.

As a true blue Chennai-ite,I got an instant aversion to the taxi driver when he started driving at 20 kmph and touting for a 2-day sightseeing trip. I tried to bargain just for the fun of it with no intention of hiring his services (just like we have fun with autos back home) but he seemed strangely earnest. Then he pointed to the standard day-trip rates and feedback telephone number for complaints. The pangs burst and turned into pity and I gave into his demands (by stopping the negotiation at standard rates - $5 :P). Not often do you get praised from your family for your bargaining skills, but I actually felt sad for those $5. Anyway, I hired him for our stay here, and he was all eager to start straightaway.

It was a hectic day with Angkor Wat, 3 temples in Angkor Thom and a trek on a mountain for sunset. Not withstanding the fact that everything was broken, the sheer enormity of the structures and that all this was achieved 1000 yrs ago was breathtaking. Angkor Wat was first, but it really is THE place to visit. What a glorious reminiscence of the past millenia! The 200m moat surrounding the temple, the huge grounds inside, broken structures said to be libraries and army commands were all awesome. A blend of south-indian and Khmer architecture and huge (I mean HUGE) walls depicting scenes of Ramayana and Mahabharata were strange to be found in a remote nation. Yeah yeah, I know history and all that, but in a place like this, heart rules over mind. And I dont mind it in a place like this one bit. For the uninitiated and non-wiki geeks, the long and short of the history is in Wiki!

The second stop was a bit further north in Angkor Thom, a region with a group of temples close together. It is here that I realised a trend. The temples were built out of 1m cubes of rock, assembled by hand or a not-so-accurate crane. But one thing baffled me. The steps were so damn small and steep that we can only place the foot sideways and need to reach the next step by hand in some places. You cant imagine it until you see it. Its tough for the oldies. But thoroughly enjoyable as its unique to this place. Bayon temple had faces as gopuras. But it is amazingly steep, with long dark corridors and stone-strewn outdoors. It was so surreal that I was thinking the temples were either bombarded by big boulders during a war or was deliberate sabotage of the highest magnitude or the workers were so frustrated that they left the job incomplete. Strangely, all but a very few heads of statues were missing in all temples. Whatever the actual reason, it does not seem to be nature's act. Its definitely a treat to watch though, in this war-torn country.

The last stop was a hill-top Phnom Bakheang, which has a spectacular sunset view on top of a, guess what, another temple. This has the steepest steps of the lot. The oldies missed out on the fun and sunset. It has a great view from the top of atleast a 100 miles. I could better appreciate the topology of the Angkor landscape from there. The legs became a bit weary after all the walking and trekking, so we came back to the hotel. The dinner was the best I have had outside India and Singapore. Every item was just perfect for everyone, a hard one for an Indian veggie family.

So, at the close of Day 1, it was just great and I am really looking forward to the stuff lined up tomorrow.

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No frills cricket

2009-04-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

Having unsuccessfully waded off my passion towards all things cricket, I subscribed to the IPL for the second year running. It comes with its own sort of entertainment that viewers back home sorely miss. So, I wanted to write a note on this. I have listed down the top three reasons why I am so glad to have subscribed outside India..

1. No advertisements
For the ordinary Indian in me, cant exphasise how pleased I am with this aspect! This is purely no-frills cricket. We get live feed all the time, without any advertisement (well, almost). This means that the overs still has 6 balls, and we can see which batsmen talk a lot, and which batsmen are content with just having a glove-smack.. And how the fielding captain arranges the field for the next over.

2. Camaraderie
We can get to see surprising camaraderie between players who are made out to be enemies by the media. Hayden-Flintoff focussing on the match at hand, Hayden-Harbajan having a laugh together.. Guys from various countries practicing and joking with each other.. It was encouraging that there is a sportsman at the heart of the increasingly commercial venture called cricket.

3. Inside stuff
We do get the inside story of the commentators and their thoughts and preparations. We get live audio feed too, which means a Richie Benaud pre-pitch report preparation, a Ravi Shastri banter, a Geoffery Boycott sigh, everything is spied on by the unsuspected mic left on. The other funny thing is that we can see every move of the umpires as they leisurely stroll the pitch and outfield in any rain delayed games, like the one today. Usually there is one Indian and one international umpire. The funny thing is that the Indian umpire behaves like a small kid who wouldnt go more than a foot away from the mother. This is in total contrast to the way they behave in local cricket leagues, as if they are God's representative, and everyone should comply to their whim and fancy.

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Sehwag - The Phenomenon !

2009-04-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

A cricketer who is better described as a known unknown...

10 random things about this random guy...
1. Has an average of 30+ in ODIs, but has a maturity beyond what might come to mind with comparisons against Jayasuriya and Afridi
2. Has a strike rate of 100+ in over 200 ODI innings, and he did have 100+ strike rate in the recent test series..
3. Has crossed 150 the last 11 times he has crossed 100. He crosses 100 once in 7 innings, with an average of 50, comparable to his idol, Sachin Tendulkar.
4. Gets voted Wisden Leading Cricketer - 2009 and part of World XI
5. Gets voted #1 in The Confectionary Stall's unpredictable XI
6. Hits a 100 in his maiden test innings in South Africa on a bouncy track.
7. Hits a 201* out of team 302, playing the unplayable Ajantha Mendis in his maiden test series, which duly gets voted best innings of 2008.
8. Nobody knows what he will do next ball, including himself.
9. Has a simple philosophy - Hit every ball out of the ground.
10. The only guy to have brought up a 100 with a six, 200 with a six, and 300 with a six.
11. Looks like Inzi but he runs singles like a mad bull..
12. Amazing temperment for a guy whose instinct is to make every ball disappear
13. Has the audacity to feel pity for the bowlers bowling against him in a press conference..
14. Never plays without a helmet, just like his idol..
15. Has an amazing hand-eye coordination - while batting or slip-fielding. He has the best hands in slips after Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.
16. The only guy I have seen hit the first 3 balls he has faced into the stands.. never mind it was the first ball of the first match of a series.

Yeah, I said 10, but hes Sehwag, and the numbers shud be a bit unpredictable at the least...

This guy has just been everywhere where cricket has been mentioned this year.. Go viru go - for a six, what else! IPL is worth subscribing, just for this guy...

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MILK

2009-04-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

I love kids.
I love being with kids.
I love playing with kids
I love being one of them
I love being treated as one of them
I love when they scold me
I love when they threaten me
I love when they play with me
I love kids who are playful and naughty
I love kids who are quiet and observant
I love kids who are ummmmm..
I love kids who blare for everything
I love to adore kids
I love buying them things.. if they ask for 1, i wanna give them 5.. i usually give them 10.. and the next time they want 100 :)
I love it when they speak
I love their slang
I love their touch
I love their spontaneous embrace
I love it when they run off when u wanna embrace
I love it when they have their way with me
I love to do whatever they want
I love to do whatever it takes
I love to enjoy with them
I love everything about them..
I miss kids a lot...

Mainly, I love kids.

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The Class of 2009

2009-03-29T01:27:00.001-07:00

Here is a round up of the class of 2009..

Massa - Fiery latino deserves it, but will he get the support?
Kimi - Iceman has done it, has the speed, but wouldn't care less if its F1 or bullock cart racing. Will he have the fire?
Hamilton - Arrogant guy who everyone wants to beat just for the sake of beating. But hes in a McLaren and hes got the luck!
Kovalainen - Talkative Finn who's got nothing working for him.
Kubica - Great driver who would win some silverware for sure. Championship - lets see. I like him.
Heidfeld - Vexed ever since Merdeces ditched him.
Alonso - The champ who will try hard in a not-so-good car.
Nelson Piquet Jr - Father's money hasnt got him too far.
Trulli - Good but not great. Counting down his time in F1.
Timo Glock - Action packed. A bit like Massa in a Sauber.
Bourdais - Torro Rosso seems to hire only if your first name is Sebastian, so hes in luck.
Buemi - Impressed by his debut. Lets see...
Mark Webber - Steady, perennial under-achiever (from teams' perspective). Personally he just makes up the numbers.
Vettel - The champ in the making.. Comparison with Schumi are not too far-fetched.
Nico Rosberg - Good driver in under-achieving car. Needs his team to buck up if he should not be in a McLaren next year.
Kazuki Nakajima - Vying with his father to be the guy who crashed the most...
Adrian Sutil - Does well in circuits that suit him, I guess he has a lot of spare cash.
Fisichella - My fav gentle Italian whos better suited to fashion shows. Drives well in the wet. Farewell year I guess.
Jenson Button - The spark when he stepped into a Williams is back.. The question is will he achieve when the going gets tough?
Rubens Barrichello - Plays the foil the best, hes seen it all, done it all.. A good rear-guard. But I still remember Germany 2000.. Boy-o-boy, what a drive in the wet...

Bottomline is that the class of 2009 is 80% class, 15% lousy and 5% wicked. My guess is its definitely gonna be a class of its own!

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The search has just begun !!!

The New Age is in!!!

2009-03-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

When was the last time we saw a conviction and guts of a team owner to take it from a verge of closure to a resounding win? Never.
When was the last time we saw a 1-2 from a debutant team? Fangio in 1954 at French GP.
When was the last time we saw a guy race from last to 4th position based on pure luck? Cant remember.
When was the last time we saw the second and third take themselves out with 2 laps to go? Never, although it did happen with Senna-Prost for 1-2 in Japan 1988.
When was the last time the race finished under a safety car? Schumi in Britain 1998.
When was the last time a rookie in a end-of-the-line car scored points? Mark Webber in Australia 2002.

Definitely, the new age for F1 has begun! Australia was always a very dramatic season opener with things happening, so it cant be the benchmark, but it seems like F1 has got a fresh breath of air. I haven't got so excited by a race, and blogged about it minutes after the race ever since Schumi retired.

People like Sebastian Buemi and Timo Glock provided more overtakings then seasoned ppl like Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica provided steady runs on different strategies to the podium till their spectacular run-in with 2 laps to go. And to think both of them thought they had got away with it until a couple of corners later.. haha.. Giancarlo Fisichella, my favorite under-achiever, provided steady block using his extensive experience and kept Force India in contention until their pit-stop screw up. Jarno Trulli found just the right time to overtake Lewis Hamilton to get onto the podium (reminds me of Brazil 2003 when Fisi boy overtook Kimi to take the 1st place on what happened to be the final lap).

I am really glad about this season as it trully represents the new age, with plenty of young guys worth their weight in gold put themselves in the driving seat for million dollar salaries. And to think of it that no one wants to settle for second place - I wonder what would have happened if FIA hasnt reversed their decision on the "gold-winner" strategy.

Well, I am all smiles.. As Ross said at the end, "Go get it boy!"

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The search has just begun !!!

Perceptions

2009-03-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

The glass is half-full or half-empty ..
The door is half-open or half closed ..

I have seen all kinds of people in my short life so far, and its amazing to see the perception of work among those.. What is great for one is a torture for another, whats needed for one is a wretch for another, whats important for one is disdain for another..and both go along with it to their own sublime ends..

I tried to reason out a logic behind the "chaos" in this world. Why are things so much amazingly different...in the body and in the mind? Five fingers are not the same..but then, whats the benefit, even if they are? Opposite tend to attract each other, promoting even more diversity through mix and match. Scientifically it offers more flexibility and balance and better chance of survival if things are different. Learn to acknowledge and appreciate diversity in life, and then you will see life in a different style, leading to a change in ur lifestyle..

I have seen a trend in the perceptions.. People who are positive in their mind tend to be positive in their words and actions, they even tend to subconsciously put positive words before negative ones when they use both in the same sentence. And vice-versa. Knowing a bit of astrology and numerology, I believe positive vibes are very important at a micro and macro level for a person's well being. And its easy to identify, but very difficult to acknowledge..

What [good] have I done today? What [good] am I gonna do tomorrow? How [good] am I? If something positive is being used in the question, chances are you will get a positive response from your mind. I have fancied counting the number of good or bad things people say or do in one day and present it to them. But then I reckon the positive ones would take the feedback as positive and do things more positively, while the negative ones would take the feedback negatively and shout at you for projecting things negatively. Do you get the point? Most things are easy to change.. Hobbies are less easier to change, Habits are tougher to change, Characteristics are the toughest to change. But then, positiveness is well worth changing for.

Think positive. Be positive. Do positive.

And to leave you with one that struck me as I left office today:
You either work, or you work-around..

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

THE END

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Did you see the positives? As National Geographic says, Think again!

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The search has just begun !!!

Whats in a color?

2009-03-12T02:27:00.000-07:00

Who gave this world mauve, beige, purple, rose and pink? Is is treason if someone looks at the same colors and identifies them as yellow, green, blue and "light" colors?

This has been my most hated topic, and I have refrained from this in the past 4.5 yrs that I have been blogging. But Microsoft powerpoint pushed me off the cliff, just like Warren Buffet describes America right now. The 2007 version of it is aweful for special people like me, who appreciate the simple world full of colors, but not the world that is obsessed with identifying each one of them correctly.

It all started quite young, 2nd standard admissions to be precise. My parents knew I was their special child, one who could give you black and blue anytime with ease, but who couldnt quite make out red from green 9 out of 10 times. And the one time would be due to the arbitrary god of luck smiling on me! Having boasted enuf of my abilities, back to topic. My parents were admittedly very worried about getting me into a top school. I aced the exams, but the interview gave them jitters. Not for the As and Bs, birds and bees, but red and green. My mom was fervently praying my fraility shouldnt be exposed by a short bespectacles stubborn headmistress. I stepped into the room, and I saw 4 objects of different colors. 2 I knew for sure, the other two were two different colors which I couldnt quite make out. The colors came, but only 2 were asked and 2 were answered correctly. *Sigh*.

Still below 10, I was an object of ridicule among family and friends alike. My cousins used to taunt me day in and day out, not to hurt me but just that they found it unbelievable that I couldnt make out some weird colors off their jaded clothes. So they used to ask me colors - again and again and again and yet again till they got bored of the fun. Needless to say, my favorite childhood game was "the crocodile", where we need to cross a river holding the right colors, unless u want to become the next croc :P

I have always been confident of my abilities, and that somehow I could work out solutions for problems has been my forte. Every color teachers taught me got embalmed in my mind - if I dont forget them, I do not need to identify them again! So, leaves have always been green in my dictionary, although they might "appear" rotten brown for others.

In my teens, physics and chemistry wasnt that much of a mystery, theoritically. Colors were an integral part of it, so I needed to upgrade my skills to deal with the menace. I used to thank god for the guy who invented multi meter cos he was my saviour through secondary school Physics - I didnt need to figure out a single color from a resistance. Chemistry was a bit more of a challenge, but once u know the test cases and test results by heart, its just a matter of a bit of practice to get things right. I was very good at theory and manipulation to get "realistic results" that I didnt really have to "do" an experiment to write my logs anywayz!

My worst moment with colors came after my Std X. I have always wanted to be a fighter pilot, and was on my way to become one. But unfortunately, I couldnt get past a medical - they said special kids shud stay away from aeroplanes, chemicals and mining. A nightmarish looking circular color book in a local hospital gave me the full picture. I sweated like never before, the nurse looked at me as if I was from Mars, and I wasn't even half way through when she gave up on me. She dragged me to the doctor to complain about my inability to identify colors in their full glory. I protested, I can identify colors, but only that what looks like green to the doctor looks like red to me! Add to that the slight discomfort in seperating out similar looking colors or to identify hidden alphabets and numbers within a myraid of colors. And I just need a bit more contrast between colors to differentiate. I can definitely differentiate something dark blue and something in the red-green-brown range. Fine - I am human, whats the big deal!

Most of my twenties has passed without much of an incident with colors, except for corporate presentations when everyone is amazed by the full-color display. And that drags me back onto Powerpoint. Someone tell Microsoft to make things a bit more accessible to special people like me. For a start, the name of colors in brackets (at least for the common colors) on mouse hover would go a long way.

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Heart broken!

2009-03-02T06:29:00.000-08:00

Unashamedly positive Not many times in my life have I had to say the above, but it aches till it breaks when my friends leave, just like that...

My top two bloggers.. My top two poets.. My two damsels.. out... just like that..

Its not treason, knowing the person
But without reason, I reason
It wasnt just another one, but THE one
One more aint fun, its Victorian arson

God maketh thee thus pure lifeth joy
God maketh thee thus pure death decoy
God maketh thee thus pure crieth soul
God maketh thee thus pure liketh fowl

Life goes on, but life aint the same
A maiden love lost or a friend lost is a shame
Cos its as much to do with you as with the other name
A life unfair, a casino where all is lost in the name of game...

Random Access
The search has just begun !!! (for my lost friends)

PS: Bloggers should have a family song to sing in distress to locate runaway souls..

The joy of a few words

2009-03-02T05:23:00.000-08:00

Ever thought of a person, and wanted to mail them, but never actually got to type out a few words to say hello? Ever thought I will mail them tomorrow, when I have a bit more time, a bit more content, a bit more context?

Everyone goes through the pain of procastination, especially if you really really want to, but never get to do something.

I spent a year and half saying tomorrow I will definitely do it, regretting every single following day. Every time I desperately wanted to type in that precious email, I didnt have a damn computer in front of me. How unfortunate. I have often thought I will draft an email once I reach office, send it to my personal id and just fwd on, but every time I thought so I would be in a train reaching office, and once in office, immersed in official work.

My memory isnt that great and I did forget quite a few names after I got hit on the head with a cricket ball, my office doesnt allow me to connect to my personal email, family life comes with a lot of responsibility, I spend a fraction of time online as I once used to, I dont even feel like switching on a computer after being in front of one all day, but all this is just a plain old excuse, which I knew in my heart, but tried to defend with my brain. How sick and vain!

Today that I DID get to do it, it was a huge huge thing off my heart. The satisfaction of that make me jump all over my place like a bunny. I felt so light I could have flown. Thats one heck of a feeling. And whats more, I got a reply from the person 5 mins later. After a year and a half, nothing like the joy of a few words to a dear friend.

Back to flying...

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Disgusting!

2009-01-12T03:39:00.000-08:00

Is the word that first came to my mind when I saw cricinfo today. Being from a country where billion is a common number to calibrate fans, where fans break across barriers of sex, religion and race, the ads in this popular website makes me wonder whether I am searching for cricket news or software cracks.

Cultural context is very important in some stuff, and advertising is one of them.. There are much better ways to make money guys..

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The search has just begun !!!

Arise, Awake and Stop not!

2009-01-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

I have always believed in not crying about problems, but taking it as a challenge and to come up with solutions. Better still, see the opportunities arising from this peculiar situation and we can be better! I am not an expert, but I did think about it from a layman's perspective. With so many doom sayers around, what would it really take for the economy to really get back up on its feet?

For this, I went back to the Great Depression in 1929, which was the only comparable thing. Then, the Black Tuesday in October put a halt to the parties flung by merry men counting illusionary gains in the stock market. Same effects as today, Black October, trade decline, job losses, debt inflation went in a vicious circle. Back then, Roosevelt came and thought of a way out of the mess with the First New Deal, by providing more jobs mainly through construction work.

In this current scenario, with cities bursting with skyscrapers and unsold houses, construction sector could hardly provide any scope. So, whats the alternative. In my mind, the solution lies in the often neglected sectors and neglected things in a booming economy. Right now, lets do a Random Access analysis..

My Answer: Be Clean, Be Green, Be Seen

In the internet age, people are glued to the gadgets for our emotional needs. Our physical needs are catered by junk foods which are portable along with our laptops, mostly wrapped in cans and plastic. These are then mindlessly thrown into bins by decent souls and everywhere else by the majority. This means that in this cyberage, we often neglect their surroundings without even knowing about it. Wall-E, which some say is the best movie of 2008, brings it right to the point in the only way people seem to see things nowadays.. in animation.. Even cities boasting to be the cleanest place on earth, like Singapore, has seen its effects on its roadside pavements and inside lifts. Given the mess we have made in the last few decades, the Be Clean movement can create a lot of jobs in itself. And needless to say, it makes our home a much more liveable environment. So, Be Clean!

They has been a hightened concern about being green in the last few years, under the veil of global warming, but thats just one aspect. People do not realise anything until quite a few lives have been lost, because thats when the survival instincts kick in and they wanna set things right. As scientists have been screaming it could be too late before humanity wakes up to reality. But as always with scientists, they do not concur on anything and everyone has a different opinion. Some say global waming with screw things up, others say we are inbetween two ice ages and we are looking at a Global Freeze. Whatever it is, doesnt justify the way we are living right now. All bad things have good precincts, which even applies to atom bombs. Lets face it, the current situation is Do or Die! Given the current state of affairs, you would probably need a billion people on this movement to set right the impact of lousy decisions and lousy stuff our predecessors have done. In finance terms, increased jobs increased (green) resources, increased awareness and increased recovery. So, Be Green!

Its one of the ironies of life that its always easier in hindsight, but enough effort is not spent in foresight. In hindsight, people blame a lack of accountability, lack of responsibility and lack of due diligence, while forgetting the root cause of this round of recessions are due to lack of trust, which is the single pillar of the financial systems. Trust is linked to many factors and is as fragile as a girl's mood, which the world has realised in the harsh last few months. One of the most important things that trust is linked to is transparency. Complete transparency is scary, as the "Moments of Truth" show in Star World shows. However, better transparency is required to form the bond of trust in the first place! This is what the finance experts need to hold on to to revitalise the economy and the financial systems. Better transparency from firms allow it to "be seen" by the public and regulators, who would have better trust in investing in them. If they cant see what they are going into, they would just not go into it in a sinking economy. Bear Sterns to Satyam, things can be traced back to a lack of transparency. So, we need to ensure that companies are as transparent as they can be, and get in the regulations and enforcement as soon as possible to restore the public confidence in the system.

Lets start from the invidual by being clean, progress through our neighbourhood by being green and reach out to the masses by being seen!

I would love to see more solutions and opportunities arise from this situation we are in, rather than problems and cribbings.

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The search has just begun !!!

Buzzing around Hong Kong - Day 5

2009-01-06T05:42:00.000-08:00

It was the new year, and the last day of this trip. After the late night sojourn yesterday, we decided to cancel the Macau trip for an easier shopping day. By accident, I had forgotten the jacket on what was the sunniest day of this trip, but it sent shivers down my spine, literally, after the first 10 yards. I decided to be brave and bore the brunt of it till bfast.

Once warm inside the jacket, we went after clothes. After a couple of hours trying and complaining, my wife said the grapes are sour, the girls here are too short and too thin. No size seemed to fit an average Indian around here. Next up was shoes. We didnt have luck for the last 2-3 days with finding shoes long enough, but today we spotted a shop. The resultant buy was more of a sigh of relief rather than anything great. I had a feeling that the money is better spent shopping in SG. Then we went hunting for cosmetics and other stuff.

When the hunger came, we were again lost. We had a list of vege and Indian food options, but it took a wise old Indian uncle to understand our situation and point us in the right direction. So, we landed up in Lock Road in search of Branto. We were told it was in 1st floor and there it was, but we didnt know how to reach it! The one place we found a lift was in the middle of a major repair activity and the building looked as if it was marked out for demolition. After some hesitation, we went up to find a small dungy room. On Day 1, I thought it was weird, but by Day 5, this is what we have come to expect of HK "hotels". The interior was markedly better and definitely overcrowded. This restaurant had a healthy mix of south and north indian cuisine, just like its owner who is fluent in Hindi and Tamil. Having had a Gujarathi thali for lunch and idli dosa for dinner, the quality looked pretty good. A thumbs up for this place.

In the evening, we roamed about Nathan Road in Mong Kok and bought by wife a girl's best friend as a New Year's gift. Learnt a lot about 4Cs along the way. Clarity definitely influences the price the most. Having burnt a hole in my pocket and retiring to the hotel, I reflected on this trip. I would definitely remember HK for its natural diversity and as a city of dazzling colorful lights. And as always at the end of a good trip, I leave half heartedly, since there is so much more to see and experience in this city and surrounding areas. I am not a Terminator, but I guess I might just be back here a few years later.

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Buzzing around Hong Kong - Day 4

2009-01-06T05:16:00.001-08:00

A day spent dreaming. The local version of Disneyland had drawn flak from some friends but still was one of the things to see for a first-timer. The journey was worthwhile too, taking us across the gigantic central HK station. HK is a small city, but has an impressive 8 rail lines, with each station having atleast 6 exits (although not all of them have escalators), connecting to all nearby streets. It was slightly confusing at first, but turned out to be much faster. The MTR trains themselves look cool, but the indicators inside specifying current station, next station, direction of travel and even side of exit was awesome. Probably something for SG to catch up on. It was heartening to see the young rise and shine by offering seats to the needy, which has sadly reduced a bit over the last decade in SG.

The disneyland resort line was theme based and the train windows and carriages full of disney characters, history and profiles reflected that. I was a bit sceptical on what to expect, but got into the mood as the day wore on. Disneyland was split into 4 quadrants, starting off with the shops on Main Street to the thrill rides in Tomorrowland, the meet-and-greet disney characters in Fantasyland and short trips in Adventureland. We rounded it off with a rickety train trip around the place. Out of all that the theme park had to offer, Fantasyland was probably the best as it captured the essence and history. Ocean Park has better thrill rides and there are numerous hiking trips around HK, including one in Ngong Ping for the adventurous souls. Fantasyland offers more for the kids and I could see the kid in everyone really coming out there. This is something that everyone enjoys. Stories are brought to life in stunning fashion. Winnie the Pooh story ride is a classic example, and a must-see. The 3D Phillar Magic show was lovely. Two 80 yr olds beside us were so taken in that they wanted to grab all the cute things that "flew" to them. It was probably the best of it all.

Disneyland has a nice concept of FastPass, wherein you take a priority ticket upfront and come back after an hour to enjoy the show. This helps people avoid wasting time standing in queues at these attractions, while it allows organisers to space out the audience. We grabbed one such fast pass and managed to find a veggie lunch, surprisingly including a Naan, before coming back to enjoy the show. I was one satisfied customer at the end of it!

I spent 4 times the ticket price on purchases, which could have been the obvious ploy when they made ticket prices "reasonable". But then dreams are special and it doesnt seem too much to spend on characters whom we had loved as children, and have grown to love more. My favorite character is Donald Duck and I had only a pencil box to show for it till today. Not anymore!

It was a special place to visit on New Year's Eve, and both of us were extremely reluctant to turn our backs on this magical place. They had made special arrangements for the countdown party, but we decided we would rather shiver closer to home than 1hr away from it in the midst of mountains and chilly winds. The whole day floated by and we just physically left it behind when we boarded the train where we heard "Thank You for visiting the magical world. We are now heading towards the futuristic city of HK". Truth is bitter, harsher and colder!

It was nice to see the entire Tsim Sha Tsui locked down for the New Year Eve. It was the masses everywhere with no vehicle in sight. Shops open and people enjoying everywhere. Small kids braved the chills to smile and it gave us hope that 2009 would indeed bring us joy and happiness; that we the people of the world can withstand everything thats thrown our way. The moment arrived, not with a bang but with a whimper of pong bongs in a street corner with a band and the better half right beside. Nothing else mattered when the clock struck 12.

Surprisingly, the crowd dispersed quietly as quick as it had gathered, with the band trying to entertain the few who didnt budge. Humble and passionate, the crowds of HK!
The chills brought us back to the hotel faster than we would have wanted. I am gonna get up late tomorrow, not bcos of hangover neither bcos of the free condom pack I got from a gal on the street who was impressed with what she saw, but bcos I wanna dream and go back to the fantasyland of my childhood. A day I will hold close to my heart forever.

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Buzzing around Hong Kong - Day 3

2009-01-06T04:50:00.000-08:00

It was a busy day. The plan was to cover Ngong Ping and Disneyland in Lantau island. It was a scenic ride in the MTR. When we landed, we knew it would be a cold day. Seeing the cable cars disappear in the fog atop the mountains, we quickly wrapped ourselves up. The cable car ride was a special one, with chilly winds blowing and the scenery abundant for the cameras. We were so drawn into clicking our photos that we didnt pose or the ride photo, taken with the sole aim of squandering money from tourists.

Ngong Ping itself was a beautifully adorned simple modern village. Souvenir shops lined the way to the famous landmark. The giant Buddha statue was very graceful. It was probably about 7-8 degrees up there and the winds made it seem lower. I have been to Kedarnath, about 13000 ft above sea level, but didnt feel as numb as here today. Painstakingly, we made our way up to the feet of the Buddha seeking his blessings. The temple was full of paintings in wood and sculptures of wisdon in Chinese. The journey was exciting and the entire place was so serene that it almost made us forget the cold. The nearby monastery offered Buddhist veg lunch, which was delicious and had much more variety compared to the dinner last night. The tea was aromatic and distinctly lighter than the Chinese version. We had an entire teapot (about 16 cups) during lunch. One look at my wife and I could sense that this would be the last Chinese meal of our stay. The return journey through bus through steep inclines traversing around a few mountains with ocean on one side was one scenic ride. By the time we reached our base camp (Tung Chung), it was 3.30pm. Having an itinery takes the fun out of travel as it imposes time constraints on everything. Having enjoyed more than we had hoped for, we ditched Disneyland for the Peak.

The Peak is #1 on the list in any HK tourism related site. And the Peak Tram is a must for first timers. The tram line was built in 1888 when there wasnt anything around. Now that there are huge skyscrapers all over, this normal tram service worth 10 cents linking 4 stations in a hill has taken a spectacular form eeking millions. Roads and condos and bridges cut across at a 45 degree angle. Its breathtaking views are second to none. The Peak also has the Madam Tussad's wax museum and I spent a fair bit of time hugging Angelina Jolie, showing off with Meryln Monroe, dribbling with Ronaldinho, shooting Bush and standing shoulder to shoulder with world leaders. And there were numerous Asian actors who would have been offended by our ignorance. There was a brief 5 min scare, bringing to life some Japanese horror movie themes. It was good fun. Jackie Chan costed $80, so he was kindly refused the honour of having a photo with me. We went up to the sky terrace to experience the coldest part of the day. The gusting wind threaded hair into needles. We stood there amongst the shivering crowd to catch a glimpse of the light show at 8pm from the tallest point in HK. The show itself was less comprehensible and most of the action was facing the harbour. So much for almost killing myself for 1 whole hour!

Once down to double digit temperatures, we walked to Hollywood Road to dine in an up-market Indian restaurant. The food was good, but the price reflected the locality rather than the quality of food. The blast of chill air was too much after a candle-lit dinner, so we took a cab home, spilling a fortune along the way. Never take a cab, worse still across islands, when MTR and a bit of walk is all it takes. It burnt me $100 to get across two MTR stops.

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The search has just begun !!!

Buzzing around Hong Kong - Day 2

2009-01-05T06:37:00.001-08:00

I made a promise to enjoy what HK has to offer and forget about SG for the next 4 days, which I rigourously broke first thing today morning. I was surprised when the light shone brightly at 7am and woke me up. My best laid plans for the day were torn to pieces when I wanted to enjoy the foggy morning by lazing around a bit more..

I didnt know where to go for breakfast, so I hopped into McDonalds (Max), before setting out to Ocean Park. A nice theme park with thrill rides, fun activities and even the scenic views when zipping around in roller coasters beats everything else. The queue at the bus stop was a good indication that long waiting times are going to be the order of the day. It was more like 45 mins waiting times broken by short bursts of adrenalin. Space Wheel was a good appetizer. After cooling down with Raging River, it was a cranky mine shaft. Flying Swing was fun, and the giant wheel was a breath of fresh cool air. Somehow, the dragon seems to scare most people, including my wife, and incidentally had the shortest queue. When the stomach grumbled, the only thing veggie was at Max. A slight drizzle and the mist kept things cool the whole day.

Love at first sight does happen sometimes. One look at the Pacific Ocean and I did feel it. I looked at it from different heights, different angles and even in different apparatus, but I just cudnt take my eyes off its serene beauty, punctuated by lush curvy mountains, veiled in a thick mist. Everything was just so perfect about it that even the ships seemed to understand by travelling in a straight line at regular intervals into the harbour. The display of seals and sea lions couldnt get the Pacific off my mind. People seem to be wary of typhoons at one end and hurricanes at the other end, but on a day like this, it seems sinful to even think of this sleeping beauty stirring!

The heavy heart became heavier as we had to give the cable car a miss due to an extra long queue halfway downhill! It looked good from below though. I dont know what the fuss is about the giant panda. Just the name seems to drive people wild here! Needless to say, the jingle bells were ringing the loudest in the panda souvenir shop.

I didnt wanna make Max our life support system here, so we decided to try Chinese veg. The Three virtues veg restraurant in a shopping complex at the junction of Nathan Road and Jordan Road was recommended by the hotel staff and it turned out to be a good pick. But we spent 30 mins trying to locate the place, roaming all around the place. There were other veg restaurants but one look at the menu and people eating inside seemed to scare my wife off. We were staring so intently at one place that a genial waiter became a bouncer. Not knowing where to go, we were stuck at the signal when my ever-so-observant wife spotted the virtues perched on the 4th floor. The ambience was excellent and the food was very good from an Indian-who-has-eaten-Chinese-veg-for-10yrs perspective. My wife desperately needed some chillies to down the white rice, and then desperately needed a lot of water, tissue and ice cream in that order. The mile nausea was a direct result of her deviating from the only chinese dish she has ever had - fried rice - and does not dilute the quality of food there. Must Try!

We rounded off the evening roaming around Nathan Road's trendy malls. I learnt a thing or two about women's shopping trends. Their likes and shopping skills are deeply rooted in their brains which we, mere men, cannot fathom. Blind following and humming your favorite tunes inside, aided by no lip movement and slight nodding of the head helps, provided your credit card is secure in your wallet. Women definitely dont trust men with their shopping, so it helps pushing your wife to buy a costly cloth or show she likes. She wont! Women trust other women, so crumpled clothes lying around are the most deceptive targets. Looking around, I could sense another strange girly phenomenon. When it comes to fashion, looks doesnt matter to them as much as fit! Girls might admire a shoe, but if it doesnt fit EXACTLY, they wont bother a second more. I was perplexed why they never ask the assistant for a size that fits them! Fashion stores is tough business.

Before I chill out, two observations from today.
Me: There is a much more Asian culture visible in HK compared to SG, be it more talking, smiling and grouping or less smoking, kissing and sprinting.
Better Half: The girls here are much more trendy and fashionable. They are 10yrs ahead of SG. I have got to buy these stuff here!

Girls will be, will forever be, girls.

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Buzzing around Hong Kong - Day 1

2009-01-05T05:09:00.001-08:00

Hong Kong - Try squeezing the words into a 30cm x 2 cm rectangle, then compress it by 1 cm widthwise. Thats HK! Geographically, HK is half the size of SG, yet packs twice the population. Buildings progressed in the only dimension it possibly could; upwards! Worse still, half of HK has beautiful hills. Instead of getting daunted by the sheer pressure of the population, the builders of HK were brave enough to shear it. Steep slopes? Terrible typhoons? Massive earthquakes? Seeping erosions? Landing aircraft? The souls who dared to answer these questions deserve a pat. The fact that HK exists today is high credit to them.

Hong Kong is definitely a city of contrasts, and it is immediately apparant. 12 visitor counters with snake like queues leading to only 3 of them, new megastructures among old how-come-it-doesnt-break structures, hilly terrain and beaches, 5 star hotels slightly bigger than matchboxes with fridges in bathrooms in alleys of buildings crying for a coat of paint for 20 yrs, nice streets with antique traffic lights and stinking drains, tourist agency brouchers in English while tourist guides speak mostly in Cantonese, and it goes on and on...

It is tough being a first time visitor to HK from SG. I came in with an expectation this time. The fables of HK made it look very similar to SG. It indeed is, albeit a half cooked predecessor. Thats credit to SG and not a discredit to HK which pioneered most of the stuff adorning SG. Taxis, MRT..er..MTR, train network charts, double decker buses, EZ-linking-octopus, information plaques are very similar. But there is an eerie feeling of getting lost in HK. You can NEVER get lost in SG. Well, thats what makes a travel out of the secure hail-a-taxi-catch-a-MRT SG that much more exciting.

But the expectation haunted me today. I dared not to venture more than 10ft before poring into the map to reliably take me to the desired location. And I quietly grinned having noticed so many people do the same. Having no toilets in MTR stations hurt. HK is colder than SG, definitely so in Dec, making things worse. Hooke's law was proven when SG flyer was static for over 6 hrs, and people "broke down". I dont wanna repeat in HK!

Having got off the hotel at 3.30pm with hands on belly, it was time to head south to a Nathan Road Chung King Mansion, an Indian bazaar modelled on the romantic alleys of Burma Bazaar. A red postcard with a half naked babe and a wink from the marketing manager got me scared for a second but we ended up in an extremely small place serving north indian cuisine for the past 6yrs, which was worth the price. Pity then that only the two of us and the chef were eating those!

Taking a stroll and getting a taste of the MTR crowds, we landed up in Mong Kok ladies' market. It was akin to stepping out of T Nagar railway station and stepping onto the world famous Ranganathan Street. After dragging down the price from $200 to $80 with my famed bargaining prowess, I bragged all the way to another stall where I got a similar smaller painting for $100. Hold on a second! But the $100 was on the wrong pair of hands at that second :( Pouring oil on fire, the girl offered me a second piece at $60 as I was walking out. I was gutted even as my ever-so-caring wife concealed her laughter to console me. Needless to say, that was the last barlosing of the day.

A not-so-great Symphony of Light ensued amongst the most amazing skyline I have ever seen. The skyline never ended and seemed all 360 degree around. Taking my sister's advice, I sought dinner at a famed Tsim Sha Shui (TST) restaurant which recently moved base. I was astounded to see a long queue outside until I was ever more astonished to see 2 menus with the same items with different prices. A third color printout sat on the table with yet another (higher) price. How convenient! As I sat there gaping after 30 mins of waiting, a complement from the owner that I was lucky to get a seat having come just (1.5hrs) before closing time. I soon found out why, as the order was taken by a sole waiter after 15 mins and the delicious south indian idli vada and dosa plate arrived 1 hr later. In my humble 10K days of survival devouring atleast 25K idlis and 25K dosas, these definitely ranked amongst the top few - from the bottom. This was a north indian restaurant masquarading with a south indian name where 6 chappathis costed less than 1 idli. Based on my expertise, I could spot that those came straight from the oven, and I didnt wanna hazard a guess when it came out of the cooker. By this time, my neighbour who was within a foot of grabbing this thing was visibly drooling over it. Having brought to your attention the congestion in HK and the lightening fast service at this restaurant, I couldnt let my neighbour gobble up my precious Rs 270 idli! To hell with it!

As I walked through the streets back to my hotel, I felt pity for my poor sis with her two small kids who would have blown a fortune dining in this restaurant for one whole week! One final thought as I freeze for the day, too many cities have come to be known as cities that doesnt sleep. HK is one colorful city that doesnt get dark! Although I cant fathom what colors those are...

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My 2 cents on all things Finance - Part 3

2008-10-05T05:59:00.001-07:00

I always believe its easier to understand through examples. Too many financial terms out there, but here are the basics:

Risk Averse - When you get all excited about bonds and shares and commodities, and you want to jump in and invest, but you dont.
Counterparty - Almost everyone whom you need to deal with.
Credit Risk - Risk that your friend will never return the Rs 100 that he owes you.
Market Risk - Risk that tomato will go upto Rs 30 a kilo suddenly due to some bad news on TV.
Counterparty Default - When your husband cheats on you.
Asset - Your house/ bike/ car
Depreciation - When your house looks "dull" compared to the new flat down the road.
Liability - The rent/ installments that you pay for your house/ bike/ car
Mortgage - When you proudly say its MY house, when the legal title is with the bank.
Capital - Your salary
Reserve - Fixed Deposit with your bank
Reserve Liquidity - Savings Deposit with your bank
IOU - Recurring Deposit with your bank
Accrued Interest - Interest from FD/ RD/ SB
Position - Current value of your house.
Unrealised profit - When your land cost shoots up and you are happy to have bought a house earlier.
Unrealised loss - When the laptop price slumps and you curse yourself for having bought a laptop last week.
Mark-to-Market - When you walk past a TV shop and see how much your TV costs currently.
Notional - Amount of bank loan that you always worry about, but never get to pay.
Know Your Client (KYC) - When you research all possible relatives and friends to see if the potential bridegroom is a "good boy" for your girl.
Guarantee - When you certify that the next door boy is "very good" when a potential father-in-law comes to check on him.
Collateral - The gold that a bride wears, that could go into a pawn shop when times go sour

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My 2 cents on all things Finance - Part 2

2008-10-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

The tough get tougher when the trough gets deeper.

Passing out of school brought about a whole new change for me, new country, new friends, new passions, new distractions, new way of life. It was all too overwhelming, and it took me a good two years to realise its just as challenging as my beloved Chennai. Money started disappearing faster than it has, all my life. Expenses became the norm of life. I spent everyday, my "own" money. Its enormous risk spending money that you did not earn. And one fine day, it all disappeared. I had to borrow, for the first time in my life. It pains, worse than the worst sin you had ever committed. Debt came into my dictionary. Debt was bad, debt pains, debt is horrible. Stay away from debt. And so I fought for the next 4 years to repay my debts.

It was almost a natural progression that my gentle curious interest in money and piggy bank savings should lead me to work in a Financial Services firm. I did learn a lot on how to work; and learnt a bit on how they make money work for them. Margin became more than a pencil line on a white sheet of paper. I was surprised how much people risked, and for a few shares which they dont even get to see! Financial statements of companies made a lot more sense, although still meant little.

A switch to an insurance firm gave me an all too simple view of insurance. People paid for something which could never happen. People paid for a perceived risk, and some smart companies calling themselves insurance gave assurance that in case something bad happened, they would cover their families. And millions believed in this concept. And the fun part of it was that I did learn that insurance companies themselves insured!

Moving on to an investment bank, it felt weird. Is the world really this simple and foolish? People think banks are the safest places to put their money in, but banks invariably take the most risks! They give loans to people, they invest in companies, they trade like crazy. They borrow money from government/banks/people at a lower rate, lend to banks/corporates/people at a higher rate and pay people with the margin.

After a good five years in the financial services sector, I realised the entire financial system relies on one main thing. TRUST. If you lend money or borrow money, there should be trust between the parties. Worse still if you deposit the money in your favorite bank, which uses this money to buy shares, and sells shares that it does not own, and enters into repurchase agreements to fill the missing shares, securitises these shares with another bank to get more cash, and uses this cash to buy some government bonds, and gives this bonds to another bank to borrow more money and uses this money to give loans to a start up company hoping for a return on capital and to you as a house loan hoping you will pay the monthly interest, mitigates the risk of not getting back the money by getting another bank to act as a guarantee, gets whatever shares the company currently owns, sells those shares in the secondary market at a higher rate. And this example is just the tip of the iceberg. So, where is YOUR money? Its extremely complex in today's world, and nobody really knows where is your money. And my gut feel is that your simple deposit with your bank will lead that money to tie virtually every bank out there in some kind of transaction! So, if you want your money back, you are giving virtually every bank a run for their money :)

But, you say, the government is there to regulate. The bank does continuously calculate its balance sheet and tries to maintain a balance between its future cashflows, and keeps a percentage of the money it owes people as reserves, to please the regulators. But again, nothing is 100%. For you, the money you keep in the bank is safe. For the bank, the money it keeps is a loss! So, they went to a resort in Switzerland and came up with Basel 1 and Basel 2 to convince the government to let them trade as much money as possible, leaving their coffers as dry as possible.

Now, what if the key word goes missing. If TRUST is not there, between the bank and customer, or bank and bank, the whole financial system goes topsy turvy. Nobody wants to cheat, and no cheat can exist in the system for long. But then, what if you cant pay your house loan of Rs 10000 per month? Nothing happens. What if a million such people cannot repay. One housing loan company might go bust. What is one housing loan company goes bust? Nothing much maybe. What if 10 such companies go bust? The bank that fund these companies is screwed. As in the example above, that means almost every bank!

The survival of the fittest kicks in. Since risk is like a time bomb being passed across from one institution to another, the one that has the highest risk when the alarm bells ring bursts. The rest are tested for their survival. If someone does not have cash at that point of time, its time to say goodbye. ML and Lehmann found this out recently. The cash rich companies and banks see this as an opportunity to buy whatever they can. Consolidation results. The big and bounty survive. The small and fragile break. Its just the nature of the financial system.

Rumours test the keyword TRUST. A 4-pager "The boy who broke the bank" by Ruskin Bond is a highly recommended read for starters. Anything and everything in the fragile environment is a bank-breaker. A current example is of ICICI, second largest lender in India, whose shares dropped 14% in a day based on rumours that it does not have enough cash.

So, what can you do about it?
1. Have trust with people and institutions that you deal with financially.
2. Dont put all eggs in the same basket. Diversify your portfolios.
3. Bank is just another person. There is nothing which is 100% safe.
4. Dont go with the flow. Dont buy a house because every other colleague buys one.
5. Watch out for market signs. You should be very careful if you see every housewife buying and selling shares without knowing what it is!
6. Dont think you are too smart. A billion others out there are not idiots.
7. Start small, grow in chunks. You can dream big, but dont risk big.
8. Knowledge is power. Dont do anything without knowing what you are doing.
9. Patience is a virtue. For an individual, investment is good; trading is not.
10. It all boils down to fundamentals. Dont go by perceived value when the times are bad.

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My 2 cents on all things Finance - Part 1

2008-09-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

Finance is THE hot topic now, with the banks going down the drain. Most people would have a rough idea of whats happening, but in layman's terms, its a sea of icebergs out there. In Lehmann's terms, it was just a poor Titanic!

Having worked in a Financial Services company, Insurance company and a Bank, I have a pretty good round up of the sector. Well, they say people who know more talk less, so before I get to know more, let me ramble on :P

I clearly remember the first bank account that I opened when I was entering into 2nd standard. My mom gave me Rs 10, the biggest amount I had seen till then in my own hands, and asked me to save. The next 11 yrs, I did just that; saved, saved and saved. My father was my first depositor, and my sister the first customer. Only that my customer returned neither principal nor interest. I learnt valuable lessons along the way. Seeing my piggy bank bulge and break, rise and ebb, I learnt what is love, sustenance, support, suspicion, sacrifice, despair, hope. Every month, I used to seggregate my 1p, 2p, 3p, 5p, 10p into seperate boxes and keep accounts. Over the years, I saw my beloved 1p and 2p disappear. Why shud those lovely chiselled aluminum coins be given back to the bank? New strange coins of Rs 2 and Rs 5 denomination came into being. My first taste of inflation. I did keep a few 1p, 2p and 3p though. It lost value, but did it?

Once in 6 months, my mom used to "buy" all my coins and give me a few equivalent notes, usually a bit more than the value of the coins. I didnt think much about the interest received, but I did cultivate interest. She used the coins for the daily bus journeys. I used to go to the bank and deposit the notes, way easier than depositing coins. I learnt how to deposit money. Occasionally withdrew money for emergencies, and got to know all the friendly neighbourhood bank employees. The bank used to have its own peculiar smell, just like a hotel.. It smelt of money and burning coils in the fans. I used to wonder why they worked only from 9-11am, until I realised my neighbour aunty working in the same bank came home only in the evening. As time passed by, I realised the bank shut itself inside, and people scribbling hard after people left. "Keeping accounts" I pondered, and mused how many 1p they had inside.

I opened my second bank account. This time my mom gave me Rs 100. WOW! And time went by and money went into the bank account. I ensured that hardly anything left the bank. I would be so delighted when they put the interest entry, as if I had won a lottery! When I ran from home near the closing time, and saw the shutters close agonisingly close, I used to pray to God to extend the banking hours. Its only when my passbook showed Rs 500 did my prayers get answered. And things started to get worse.

Did I open the pandorra box? The question would never go away. Growing up, I learnt it was not my prayers, but the world that was fast changing, but inside I always wish I hadnt wished 9-11 to change. The friendly neighbourhood aunties were now learning to type into the huge boxes obstructing my view of their bespectacled sincere work. I had grown enough to use a computer at school. I knew I could teach them to type faster. But the computers that I was so fond of at school transformed into frustration in their eyes. They were still scribbling in their ruled notebooks and into my passbook.

My balance grew into mammoth figures. I could hardly believe my eyes when I passed my 10th. I had a whopping Rs 1200. I screamed in silence. I wanted to tell all my friends, but I didnt. It was my WEALTH. Then my sister got engaged. My parents had to raise capital urgently for her marriage, and realised how tough it was to raise capital. Maybe people were as possessive about their wealth as I was with mine. I didnt think twice to open all my beloved boxes filled to the brim by then. 5p onwards flowed out.. totalling another Rs 250. They said they needed Rs 2.5 lacs. Thats when I realised how insignificant it all was. I wanted desperately to help my sis I had grown to love in hate. But I couldnt. I had saved all my life, and it came to nothing. I learnt the time value of money. In hindsight, I can see why its the first lesson in almost every financial book.

Quote of the week: Two investment banks were taken off the equation in a day.
Quote of the day: The Fed can take a dead dog as a collateral for lending money.

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Be a Leader!

2008-09-03T06:30:00.001-07:00

It takes a leader to talk the walk
And a manager to walk the talk.

Carriages are good cos they carry the coal, but its the rail engine that drives them to their destination.

Well.. I was in a project leadership course today :P

The guy started off with a quote by Omar Bradshaw, "Its easy being a leader, its getting people to follow you thats tough!" and chipped in with Eisenhower's "Plans are useless, but Planning is good"

And then the participants did their bit...
"Rome wasnt built in a day.. It took time to convince those Romans!"

Maslow and Herzberg came out from their graves in my masters coursebook today; X, Y and Z stopped their association with algebra to become theories in themselves; blah blah blah.

After spending a day in classroom, I learnt a thing or two about leadership; or so I think.. And definitely learnt a thing or two about gujjus! I had the honour of meeting yet another specimen (used to be the favorite word for one of my school teachers) today.

The icing on the cake was the last exercise for the day. Doing the exercise, we made as many leadership errors that we were taught to avoid the whole day.

Perspectives changed; Practicality didnt!

And then I realised why the 40-80 year old theories are still taught, again and again and again, in vain. And I looked back at the thousands of years' worth of "sayings" with respect.

Its so easy to say things!

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Puls My Dear

2008-09-03T06:22:00.000-07:00

Join me in wishing Mr. Puls a very very happy birthday. I dont remember which year he was born though. Anywayz, hes always young thanks to God's grace. I love him from the bottom of my heart. So does a million others, but he would always be special to me. My friend, philosopher, guide and God. He has an amazing personality, and his charisma can draw people towards him. I am proud to be associated with him in an endearing way for about 18 yrs now. Love ya puls. Love ya so damn much. Just next to my parents though. Knowing him, he wouldnt mind settling for second best in my heart :)

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Insignificant You

2008-09-01T05:42:00.000-07:00

The world goes round and round and it doesn't suffice
While you are lucky to go round maybe twice or thrice.
The sun burns down our planetary neighbour's face
And a thousand degrees cooler, we scream about its unforgiving rays.

Rocks orbit aimlessly amidst the vast expanse
But we look to strip every rock here to make our cars and fans.
A friendly wave would take 8 mins to reach the next lifeless rock
But we don't stop to greet our elderly neighbour in the block.

Stars and parents are solely responsible to incubate life
But alas the cinema stars are more revered, what a strife!
We reach out to planets and aliens and the search does continue
While the plants and animals suffering next to you doesn't subdue

Like a mother the sun burns itself out to make life comfortable, with no regrets
While we burn all our ancestral fossils to light our pubs and cigarettes
Ants live in the billions and thousands get stamped out everyday
Perhaps there is a lesson if only you pause to think on a busy day

There are a billion rocks out there in the sky
But only one where a billion lives can fly
You will only begin to appreciate the beauty around you
When you realise you are but an insignificant you!

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Bheema - The Hit List

2008-01-19T23:20:00.000-08:00

1000 hits
500 broken limbs
100 bullets
50 rowdies
10 killings
5 "no-idea-where-it-came-from" songs
1 line message at the end
0 story

I gave it a 20/10... (20 bucks on ticket and 10 bucks on snacks.)

Not many movies can be rated "Not worth watching even a free downloaded version". Absolutely stunning!

Lingusamy - Thaangala da Saamy!

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Autobiographies - Whats wrong?

2008-01-19T22:52:00.000-08:00

The first autobiography I had read was "The Black Beauty", a classic tale of a race horse. I still remember most of it. I am not an ardent fan of autobiographies, but I have read a few including those of Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Adolf Hitler and Michael Schumacher.

Lewis Hamilton made a dream debut in Formula 1. Bestowed with a McLaren which was running at its best (although its upto individuals to speculate how a pathetic car in 2006 became a race winner in 2007), he was in the running to become the champion until some rookie errors made him look mortal. His rise during the season came as a surprise to many. Even a hardened fan would have been stunned by what followed next, an autobiography named Lewis Hamilton.

Michael Hussey is a fascinating prospect in the Cricket world. His bradmanesque average has created an awe. Being a part of a team that hasn't lost or drawn a test since his debut does ease the pressure of having to perform at an international level. But that is not to take away his abundant skills on display. However, after a couple of years at the helm, he released his autobiography, titled "Mr Cricket - ....".

The purists would say something is wrong somewhere with the autobiographies nowadays. They have become the latest marketing strategy. Name and fame has been utilised to make money, especially in sport, for a while now. But what has that done to the actual people who count. The normal person who shells out the bucks to get a copy of these "stuff". A person's life is put in words and published to make a difference far from the bank accounts of those concerned; to make a difference in the life of those who read them... The rise of a person from humble backgrounds is inspirational, the fall harrowing, the lessons learnt proverbial, the comeback awe inspiring, the anecdotes evergreen. Its priceless.

Needless to say, its all missing from the newer ones. A rise alone isn't worth trumpeting about. What should be in one's diary shouldn't be published to the world at large. It could have been a struggle to come thus far, but its still is worth less than a one sided coin. For all you know, there might be a guy getting a double century on debut and publishing an autobiography titled "The Debut", or an on field incident resulting in an autobiography "The Monkey beats the Donkey". No racism meant there, for those who want to fan the flames. Going by the trend, a guy might publish his autobiography "Twelfth Knight", how he came from behind to pass the greatest ordeal of human kind - the Std 12 exams!

Agreed that the dictionaries do not tag a time line to an autobiography, but that shouldn't be disadvantaged in this manner. Learn to live life, make a difference to this world and then if you think (and think twice) if its worthwhile for the readers, publish your account of it. "Shut Up!" is as simple as it gets for the rest.

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Poetic News

2008-01-18T05:34:00.000-08:00

I switch on Channel News Asia everyday morning, for more than just news... But I never expected to see this pop up. The video is something that cant derive its poetic justice from words. But the verse in itself was absolute bliss.

Here it goes...

I saw a peacock, with a fiery tail
I saw a blazing comet, drop down hail
I saw a cloud, with ivy circled round
I saw a sturdy oak, creep on the ground
I saw a pismire, swallow up a whale
I saw a raging sea, brim full of ale
I saw a venice glass, sixteen foot deep
I saw a well, full of men's tears that weep
I saw their eyes, all in a flame of fire
I saw a house, as big as the moon and higher
I saw the sun, even in the midst of night
I saw the man that saw these sights.

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A vegetarian honeymoon in Phuket - Day 2

2008-01-01T00:45:00.000-08:00

The second day was more relaxing and enjoyable, a complete foil from the intense first day. Bangkok is the shopping heaven, but other Thai tourist towns are not far off. Needless to say, a lot of shopping was done, filling the travel bag to the brim. For once, thousands seemed to disappear without a moment's bother. That I already had a closset full of T-shirts didn't seem to matter. And the shopping stretches and malls seemed to go on and on. Strangely though, it doesnt take a toll on the body, even after roaming about a dozen streets and a two-mile long beach road to and fro, going in and out of shoe shops at every corner in search of that elusive pair, visiting a T-shirt centre, a cashewnut factory, honey preparation centre and a local handicraft showroom. At Phuket, its all in a day's work! Where else in the world would you find a sound and light laser show based on a water fountain (akin to the one at Sentosa, Singapore and Petronas Towers, KL) to describe the rich history of... a shopping mall! Visit Jungceylon and you would even find an art and culture show in the midst!

That brings me to the other highlight of the day, the cultural awareness of Thailand's rich heritage. Having a non-stop chatterbox as a guide helps. The ties with India and China is unmistakeable in this pristine city. The culture is a rich blend of Chinese acumen and Indian exotism, intricately fabricated with local flavour. The King's name (Rama IX) reflects the Indian touch. Yellow colour that is associated with his birth on a Monday revolves around Chinese beliefs. That the whole of Thailand wears yellow on every monday is the local spice. Beautiful!

Buddha is a common deity here, and the famous monks are waxed in memories and memorials. Even Brahma and Vishnu are worshipped here, although they are also called "Buddha" in local households. The architecture is a mix of Indian "viharas" and Chinese "dragon" toppings and Srilankan interiors. The gardens outside the temple resembled the grandeur of Budh Gaya, while the garlanded elephants and continuous burst of firecrackers almost brought me back home. Folklore associated with the temple are distinctively Chinese, with anti-black magic and immortalising inscriptions on a white cloth tied to the forehead of the local villagers gave them the might to fight off the invading Chinese. Exhillarating stuff!

Back to food. Jubiliant from yesterday's dinner, I was bolder to try out some other Indian joint. There are a heck of a lot of Indian food options here at the beach road at Patong. After vain attempts at locating one led to a dead-end (literally), and some rather "interesting" paintings and sculptures of the human body, I got lured into an Indian joint at a fog end of a lane of restaurants. Seeing beautiful looking scantilly dressed women all day long does affect the cognitive abilities of a man. Although I did notice that there were no other customers there, I didn't turn back. Half an hour later, I came out of there with a nauseating feeling and desperately drowned a McCafe and an icecream to mask it. Worst spend of the day. There are definitely two sides to the coin that you toss over at the food joints. Seafood and Thaifood is everywhere on the streets, with every possible sea creature on display. Today, I saw culture amongst chaos. Heritage couldn't hide more old caucasian men with beer on one hand and young asian woman on the other!

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A vegetarian honeymoon in Phuket - Day 1

2007-12-31T23:50:00.000-08:00

The title might sound like a pun in more than one sense. But this is going to be the crux of what I am going to narrate. Its a story of the places that formed a part of the honeymoon of a vegetarian couple; of how the emotions of the places themselves blended with the most memorable moments of my life; the constant conflict of personal joy and inner agony...

It all began even before I started on this journey. The day I left my sweet little island that I called home for a third of my life was Dec 26, three years from the fateful day when an unheralded wave sung an orchestra of its own, and made mankind sit up and take notice. I was travelling to the very place which was one of the first hit by the Tsunami, a japanese term that resounded across the Indian Ocean.

I know it was going to be a journey with a difference right from the start. Being greeted by a Scandinavian in Singlish was strange enough, and I laughed my way to the cabin when he started courting a Japanese stewardess. I know I was gonna see lot of this over the next five days - caucasian guys drooling over asian gals.

The plane was probably 90% caucasians. I did spot a couple of Indians, and a couple of Indonesian maids accompanying expats in Singapore, who hardly spoke a word or two in English. Before I realised, the plane landed, with the captain beaming "Welcome to Phuket!".

Once on the ground, the fun started. Thai on arrival visa guy was bewildered by guys forgetting two simple instructions in English on the airport counter. Have Baht, and ticket! Irate Indian guys shouting at the counter guy in Hindi as if that guy was at fault didnt help!

A bubbly girl with a charming smile was the tour agent, who took pains to explain the intricacies of travelling in Phuket, and trying to strike some tour-deals. Looking around the streets, it doesnt take long to realise whats driving this desolated hilly island into a vacation town. It did seem wise to shake hands with a person I knew, albeit for 30 mins. Having quickly arranged something for a day and half, I had blown away half the money I had! When your mind wants to scream, having your loving wife by your side helps :) After all, its my honeymoon!

Having had a nice dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant advertising hot curry, I was actually pleased I was only 750 baht lighter!

It was midnight, and I was in two minds whether to hazard a stroll by the beach. Hardly ten yards from my hotel was the shore, just across the road. The sky, rather than the beach, took my breath away! A hundred lanterns made of a simple plastic cover and some cotton threads made its way up into the night sky, and then more and more. I was touched by the people's gesture for the departed souls on the third anniversary.

Then I realised how the locals here had turned this day into a thriving business. Tens of them thronged me within a kilometer, making my heart sink deeper and deeper. The quotes ranged from 100 to 500 baht, giving me a sense of how much I could bargain on the Thai streets. Suddenly, I stopped. I noticed a boy about 6-7 yrs building a mini castle of sand right next to the waves, and lighted a dozen candles inside. He stood in silence, watching over the flickering lights and scanning the lights flying high above. Barely 100 feet away was a busy road jammed with vehicles and shops with bright lights, and partying people everywhere, so much that it was hard to believe it was 12.30am!

Today, amidst all the chaos called the world, I found humanity in a dark corner.

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New Year Resolution

2007-12-31T21:01:00.000-08:00

To get back to my usual self.

I have bogged down my marital pressures and responsibilities for far too longer than I had initially expected, and tried to start and restart my social activities including blogging now and then, in vain.

Resolutions are meant to be broken, but I hope this one doesnt break as easily.

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At the Altar

2007-06-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

I was born on a day when the Finns got their independence, and were gleaming
While she made her entry when Cricket world cup victory was beaming.

Born on a cold winter morning, I like being cosy and warm
Coming down to earth in the summer heat, I wonder how she remains calm.

I savour the goodness of life, also known as sweet
While she favours the salt and sour as her ultimate treat.

Slow and steady wins the race, I praise
Variety is the spice in life, she says..

Beauty and brains dont go together
So I dont mind giving up my top floor to get her.

I venture beyond boundaries, feeding on creative pasture
She expands her intellectual horizon, while maintaining a silent posture.

Sports gets me passionate, with which she doesnt really resonate
And with words I go like a rocket, while her words would fill a locket.

Where she feels down, he is overconfident to the brim
Where he spends on her, she saves for him.

Opposites definitely attract each other, and I am just the one
Come and witness me tying the knot on the other half, a gal par none.

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PS: For the finer points as to when and where, with whom and what not, just drop me an email.

Wedding Invitation

2007-05-31T00:15:00.000-07:00

Finally, here it is.. Never liked anything better than what I create myself, personally :)

If the words are not clear:

He says	She says
I am born in December	I am born in June
I am a fire-sign	I am a water-sign
I like warm climate	I like cold climate
I like sweet dishes	I like salty dishes
I love melodious music	I love fast beats
My tastes remain the same	My tastes keep changing
I love being in a group	I love being alone
I am an extrovert	I am an introvert
I am passionate about games	I am not impressed by games
I never get tensed	I don’t admit getting tensed
I am over confident	I am under confident
I love relaxing	I love working
I spend money	I save money

Come see the opposites attract each other on 19th August 2007!

For those who see this, get your tickets to Chennai now!

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Airline - On the Line

2007-01-03T20:30:00.000-08:00

This is a bit of an outpouring of something that haunted my mind over the past few weeks, so it may not be as powerful as I feel.

I have flown almost every airline that offers a route, direct or indirect, between Singapore and Chennai. This will be a direct personal (maybe even brutally honest) opinion as to what I feel about each airline. I know some of them will be least bothered about customer feedback, but in the race to the line, I do hope they will start bothering.

I dont know what "Indian" tries to achieve by truncating the "Airlines". Maybe its honest enough to accept its not worth being called an Airlines. With the bright orange color, it can be easily located in the event of the aircraft landing on water :P Although I found excellent research articles (www.iegindia.org) on the incapacities in its ranks, and what it needs to focus on, ranging from resource utilisation to inflight service, the airlines itself does not seem to do anything about it. For a 4 hour flight, an average delay of 1 hr is inevitable. If there is one airline that can be assured to be delayed for half an hour, cos lone lazy passenger out of 300+ hasnt arrived yet, it is bound to be Indian. Dharma is doing the greatest good for the largest number, not in trying to please one lazy soul at the expense of so many others.

Air India turned Air India Express without notice. As a Air India customer, I got a rude shock when I wanted to reconfirm my ticket. The worst was that my ticket got invalidated cos of overnight change of name dreamt of by some recent MBA grad minting millions in its top brass. Thank god I waited till the last few days to reconfirm my ticket! Worst is that there is hardly any change in price, though it was supposed to be "Budget" flying experience. That cool dude who thought of this pathetic idea could have tried it out on domestic flights first. But maybe he knew Singapore is as close to Chennai as Delhi, so why not... I was surprised when I was handed over a tray to eat something. Gracious me! I spent the next half an hour trying to open the packets, spending more energy than I would get by eating that. Being a true Indian, I did not want to waste this gift, and I ate the snacks they gave. I spent the next day spending Rs 600 for filling up two of my wisdom teeth. I sure did not deserve the "wisdom" tooth after eating that! One more surprise. Oh my! A film being screened on a budget airliner. Although it was the most pathetic movie, FREE!! FREE!! Again my Indian instincts took over. My dreams were interupted by shouts by cabin crew. Rewind 6 yrs. Air India. "Can I please have a glass of water?" met with "How dare you ask me for that, you moron?" kinda stare from a hugely built aunty, as if I was asking for my 11th bottle of beer. You would be frozen in your seats after that stare with your mouth shut. Fast Forward to present. "$2", "$2", "No sir, you cant hear the movie sounds until you rent this headset for $2". I would rather feel pity for that begger on Anna Salai. The entertainment on board is so immense with these characters that you dont realise you are running 30 mins late. Ofcourse, in Chennai, we were made waiting 1.5 hrs for luggage to arrive, making me think that maybe the flight has gone back to get our luggage from Singapore. The most surprising thing is that both the government owned airlines are usually ontime during night flights, while the delays are on day flights. "Just a few hours more" kinda attitude shown by these airlines are deplorable to say the least.

Jet Airways, given that its a desi airline, who compete on competitive prices to sustain their small fleet of aircraft, wasnt much of a consideration. However, given that its privately owned, I was thinking of giving it a try. Surprisingly, they are on time, almost always. "Desi" did you say? Although running with older aircraft, which invokes some pity, they are professionals. Good branding image, they have created in the recent past. Hope they continue and do a good job and make India proud. However, all's not well, with their inflight service being next to nothing. They have realised one key point. People value their time, and 4 hrs flight means 4 hrs. Good job.

Moving onto International ones, how do they fare? I am not really an anti-Indian, and those who know me will tell you I am the contrary, but I do think the international guys deserve the pat on the back, with not too much to seperate them.

Malaysian Airlines are good and cheap, although it entails a circuitous route through KL with a lot of waiting time. Good way to see the nice KL Airport. Boring flight though.

Singapore Airlines are very good, with good entertainment once inside. Games and movies galore, you wont know time flies. They land as smooth as silk, so nothing to complain, except that they dont go really "desi" for my taste, like latest Tamil movies and songs, south indian vegetarian meals and stuff... Ofcourse, the worst about them is their pricing. For an economy traveller like me, its a fair bit on the higher side.

Best comes last, and ahoy, here comes Srilankan Airlines. From the first time I flew it, I never wanted to fly anything else! That tells you much about their standards. Singapore Airlines style comfort and service with a smile, not to mention hot figs as air hostesses. Also, pakka desi style stuff, be it food or entertainment. Never mind a short stopover at Colombo, its a nice place and you can also get some Srilankan tea home! Beat them if you can. Professional crew, captains, flight make it a pleasure. Ayobowan!

Customer loyalty comes not out of loyalty programmes or from MBA masterminds, but out of the customer automatically.. if only...

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Courtship of a different kind - Part 1

2006-12-26T06:13:00.000-08:00

Define: seeking the affections of a woman (usually with the hope of marriage)

Among Indian guys, it is popularly divided into two stages. The first phase is known as "Adhu oru kanaa kaalam" known for the intense self beautification ritual instigated by even the faintly beautiful girl, followed by neer abhishekam (jal abhisheka for the tamil-disoriented). This divine water flows incessantly following a self realisation called adolescence. Since Dubukku has mastered the art of story telling in this period, I will shelve the (ghost) stories from my own past.

The second phase is the legal jollu uttufying period between engagement and marriage afflicting unsuccessful participants from the first phase. More likely, the same applies to both the genders. This is analogous to a match to decide the third place that nobody cares to watch. Thus, the couple seek solace from being undisturbed in their courtship. Unlike the first phase, where volatile reactions occur, engagement turns the Indian parents from Indian Ocean to Pacific Ocean within a blink of an eye. Late nights wakey talkey singles are cooed, and blank calls are blush-interpreted. Mock anger is put forth once in a while to ensure "adult" intervention. This is also the convenience period, where the guy does not smoke or drink, and the gal is homely and shy. She talks only when talked to, while he is handsome and adoring. "Everything is nice when nobody is wise" saying comes into play in full force during this extraneously extravagant exciting exercise.

The phrase "Subhashya seekram" (Do good things fast) plays spoil sport, although it correlates well with trying to tie up two losers with the throngs of marriage, before their "honeymoon period" gets over and to ensure that they dont do any "silly things". Ofcourse, the "exciting" things on offer after marriage makes the two fall into line. It slowly dawns on them during the marriage day that they are the two most neglected souls in the ceremony full of cricket, current affairs, politics and future marriages. People bless them with long lives, definitely long enough to realise their folly.

And then "the third person" hears "they lived happily ever after...".

In the next part, I will venture into my personal life, and the funda behind the heading. Viewers' (in)discretion might suggest that I might be the author of Harry Potter, and that I might author another 6 parts that might make their stomachs rival Shakira ending in a rather bemusing, yet utterly disgusting, excretion from the wrong side of the body. Please rest assured that the former is incorrect, and that I would stand aghast at even a mention of one of those books. For further information, please contact M(r)s Princess.

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Bloggers' clog

2006-12-23T21:34:00.000-08:00

Increasingly I find that my blogger circle has become dormant. While fully aware of the reasons for the sharp slump in my own frequency (laziness masked as excuses), I am not sure about the reason for the rest of them switching off. Surfing blogs used to be an everyday ritual, when I wished I had enough time...But now it seems like everyone is stuck up or too hung up to post a few things...

Maybe technology has given them an alternative avenue to vent their feelings and expressions... Analogous to the SMS and Chat luring teens, much like Email captivated teens a decade ago, I do find a lot of people go in for Orkut rather than blog nowadays. Although it could prove exhasperating trying to follow another person's scrap book entries, it does provide an avenue for quick and short communiques with your own friends. The visibility is much less, but precise and concise messages take centre stage.

Interestingly, I was one of the first few to use both these technologies, and I have been a jack, stuck between the two, with a 100+ blog entries, and a 100+ scrap book entries. Masters of these are counting in thousands. Although I see the good points of both, I do think blogs are etched in time, while scraps are meant for that moment in time. I started a blog as a bigraphical log, and will definitely continue it in the same vein.

The purpose of this post is to reach out to those lazy guys and gals present as links in the right hand side of this page, who havent posted for a while... wake up and get going... for, there will always be some who love to read what u have got to say...I am sure everyone had their own sweet reasons for starting it, but I am damn sure they have none when they really think about why they stopped.

You will stay atop until you stop!

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Inspiration

2006-12-18T22:40:00.000-08:00

When a man fights from the brink of defeat and humiliation to prove himself again at the level he was revered, it shows a man of character. Sourav Ganguly has just done that, and it is indeed fascinating. I have always been a fan of the classy left hander, and his impeccable grace, let alone his mighty sixes. Let me draw on his inspiration and apply it to blogging, so that this blog doesnt go down the drain.

I remember starting this blog with a remark that this is just an online catalog of my life. I have never bothered about the number of comments in here, and I hope to stay that way. A lot has been happening the last few months that had kept me too busy to blog (aka lazy). For those viveks who exclaim "Figure a paathu friend a cut pannittan", it is just one side of the story. The last six months, I have worked harder than ever, inside my house. I have gained great appreciation on what my mother had done all these years, literally bone crunching tedious tiring exhasperating work. Worries were never my forte, and I do know the reason now. Your purest is in your thoughts, and my dearest friends were definitely part of it. My planning skills were put to a test and my communication skills suffered as a result. I do hope things will be back to normal, now that I know commitment means a lot.

For those eager souls, the last couple of weeks flew in a flash in India! My formal engagement ceremony inbetween made it quite hectic and enjoyable as well. Expectedly, it was a sweet shock for all my relatives. For the first time in my life, I had no clue what I am doing during that ceremony! I have always shied away from the spotlight, and it was quite flestering to be in the centre. For statistical purposes, this is the first ceremony that I have actually seen properly :P I have always been entrusted with looking after kids and playing with them during any of the family gatherings. Although a couple of kids were fighting over who wanted to sit on my lap, I did not have much of my "usual work" to do. Trust me, my sis and aunt didn't make it any better by making up all kinds of jokes. I did wonder how I am going to get through the marriage day sitting 5-6 hrs in the smoke. I get suffocated by even naptha, so I am quite concerned. A flurry of introductions on my in-laws' side interjected my thoughts, and before I knew it, there I was, engaged to the girl I fell head over heels for, 3 yrs back. I guess thats life!

Back to the present, days are going through at a snail's pace. Nothing much to do at work or home. Relaxing was never my strong point, so I am eager to latch on to the things I have missed the past few months, and enjoy the last few months of my bachelorhood. Reminiscencing, life has indeed come a full circle for me, and having seen both sides of the story, I definitely like this one :)

When time is wrong, miseries throng; When time is right, things look bright;

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India here I come!

2006-12-01T03:25:00.000-08:00

Hi guys,

I am home bound for a couple of weeks. Not that I have been posting much of late, but anywayz, if anyone cares, pls give me a call or email...

Off from Changi Airport!

In the name of masters...

2006-10-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

I am currently pursuing my masters course in NTU, wherein I am undertaking a research project on the applicability of a new software business model.

I would be glad if you could fill up the associated questionnaire (Should not take more than 5 mins). We are targetting current or ex IT CEO/Project Managers/Project Lead/ Team Leads.

If you have been in any of the above-mentioned positions in your current or previous jobs, please fill in the details accordingly.

Survey

Please pass this on to your friends as well to aid in our research.

Please drop me an email as well, if you are interested in receiving a copy of the aggregated survey results.

All information gathered will be kept strictly confidential.

Thanks in advance!

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The end of an era...

2006-09-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

I was getting used to being too lazy to blog and telling people that Im
too busy to blog... But it all changed in the matter of a few mins.
Having been pumped up by the fact that Schumi has managed to claw back
to within a couple of points of Alonso, I was in for a shock. The moment
I saw schumi look down at the start of the press conference said it
all.. That this was going to be his last. Sure enough there will be a
lot written about him in the next month, but that's not all that hes
worth. Competitors will be relieved but say there wont be a difference,
but that's not what he is to the sport. He has been an icon, he has been
a lot more, he has shown himself to be the ultimate Champion. I will
always wonder if I loved F1 cos of schumi or loved schumi cos of my love
for F1. Such has been his presence in this sport he has dominated that
rules were written and re-written in vain just to plot his downfall.

He is not the best sport, and he has admittedly been a rogue. He has had
his share of good and bad. Yes, he is a man, who wouldn't mind 'crossing
the line' to win, and one who wouldn't mind crying when he felt so
(Imola, 1994; Imola, 2000; San Marino, 2003). And yes, he is human, and
he showed it when he gave the trophy to Rubens Barichello (Austria,
2002) when he was 'gifted' the win by his team, atracting a small fine
of $500K. He has had his share of clashes and bashes (Spa,1998), with or
without reason. That's the nature of this sport. He has had his share of
laughs as well, He has lead a genre of drivers, and shown the way to all
of them, while so many of them were shown the doors. He is a competitor
to the core, never wanting to yield a place, even if he has nothing to
gain and everything to lose (Germany, 2006).

But all that doesn't take away the awesome driver and team player that
he is. Seven, and hopefully eight, World Champion titles do not come
easy. A lot has been screamed in the media about his No. 1 status at
Ferrari, but the subtle albeit forgotten moments (like letting Eddie
Irwine win the Malaysian GP 1999 which he could have easily won) are
what defines the team player that he is. When the going gets tough, the
tough get going, and surely enough a career threatening leg breaking
crash (Silverstone, 1999) did not deter him. He has always said that
statistics do not matter to him, and true enough he is gonna retire with
a 100 wins in sight, so near yet so far. Statisticians are the only guys
who will be pleased with that.

I can write and write a lot about this gem of a guy, but my heavy heart
is taking its toll. Let me sign off by saluting the maestro. F1 will
definitely miss him, and so will all of his innumerable fans. Never have
I felt so happy, being just 1 in a billion. I have indeed been lucky to
watch him race. Drivers come and go, but Champions like him come once in
a lifetime. With gaping jaw, there is just one phrase I will always have
for him: That man loves to race, and wants to win!

Truly an end of an era... whatta man! I love you schumi!

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Yahoo goes bust :(

2006-08-04T05:50:00.000-07:00

I discovered that my Yahoo account (sooper_crack) has been hacked. I am not able to log in to my msgr or check my email. If you see this msg, please contact me thru ra_rajagopalan@yahoo.com. Im damn pissed that I have lost all my contacts cos of that!!! Whoever it was, feel free to get a free flow of curses from me. Im quite tied down trying to settle down in my new lifestyle and new surrounding. So will get back to blogging in sometime. Meanwhile, get back in touch folks!

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Nothing else matters

2006-07-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

The day I have been waiting for all these years has finally arrived. When you have someone special with you, nothing else matters. Absolutely nothing.

And for once (and probably only once) I love Indian Airlines, for safely ferrying my beloved across the mighty ocean..

RAQ: When bliss hits you at the speed of a blizzard, it feels like a wave of the magic wand by a wizard.

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Hold On

2006-07-19T06:05:00.001-07:00

This is for a special friend looking for a special someone...

Hold on...

Dont flee, with doubt in excess
Yet there could be that special someone
Who sees you as his princess
Whilst your sordid fear, long bygone

When things do seem as you need
It only increases your pride and greed
But when things go all so wrong
We tend to let go a tired song

What we need is a moment of clarity
Truth, alas, is but a rarity
Lets face it and see the brighter side
Casting your worries about present and future aside

Let not a decade's misery blind you
Be positive and indeed there will be a few
Who think the world of you, and soon
You will realise failure is but a boon

Not all love is full of roses
Ending as a pair under an arch
Time will decide when that someone proposes
Till then, let not the past deter your determined march

May God bless you with all you want
We all search, intrigued by the questions that haunt
Most choose to feel the pain and grumble
But the successful say it makes them humble

When we forego our needs and learn to accept
When we learn to gain from pain, pleasure we intercept
When we grow out of our wants, we see the world as it is
Nothing's more special that living your life, with not a second to miss

So my dear miss,
Your Prince hasnt gone amiss
All I say is enjoy your day, till you get an instant fizz
When he comes into your life and takes you to eternal bliss.

RAQ: In a list, there is always a first and a last; If the first is the last, the list doesn't last!

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JPM - Flair and Flare

2006-07-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Shocked was I to see the news yesterday. I never considered him a Champion, but he was a fighter, always up for driving the wheels off any car hes got into and never afraid to bang wheels with a competitor. Such was his intensity that he had broken down innumerable Williams'. From a rookie who had the guts to stun the World Champion in just his third race, he has been a terror in the offing. Too bad he has to go out after being subdued by his new boss over the last couple of seasons. Just why he wasnt able to click at McLaren would be anything from unreliable car to an admonished soul. However, now he has gone as he came. In a whirl of fire. He showed his Colombian aggressiveness aplenty during his 6 yrs in F1, but never had he garnered my respect as much as he does now, for the simple fact that he had the guts to show the finger and walk out mid season. Ofcourse, even a layman would know the real reason is not NASCAR but the accident that took his teammate out last GP. I think it was more a manifestation of his bosses' anger over not able to retain their number 1 driver due to poor results like the last one. And this guy aint one to gulp down insults and eat his pie. I am still very much an F1 fan, and absolutely a Schumi fan, but Im proud of u Montoya, for you are a man! And F1 has surely lost some of its flair and flare, with him...

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My Best Friend...

2006-07-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

I miss quite a few things of late.. Talking to my friends as much as I would, running to meet them online with every buzz as I should, sharing their happiness and sadness as much as I could, but now I feel like a dead wood...

Its the time when time doesnt seem to chime, when every rhyme seems not so sublime, when speakers dont blast and songs dont last, when I sleep till it gives me a creep, when I say goodnight before midnight... something is terribly wrong.. the reason is I long to be where I belong...cos its been so long for it to come along...

The reason... my best friend. He is gonna leave me forever. I broke down in tears the moment I realised hes gonna leave. He has been my best friend in life. I have had a lot of my friends stab me in my back, but when the role is reversed, it is just heartbreaking. You dont realise the true value of anything until it leaves you. I have only seen one person in their deathbed so far, and I am reminded of it.. The painful affectionate last touch, longing for him to never leave you, but knowing fully well that you need to let go. No pain, no gain. I mean, how mean!

I have always been proud of my friend. He has always been on my side. Whenever I needed him, he was there. Bore the brunt of all my faults, even my parents used to scold him for all my faults, and he has been ever so patient and never left me even in my worst of times. We promised each other that we will always be there for each other, forever. My parents used to even call me by his name at times! Such was our closeness. We used to be such pals that there wasnt a day when I hadnt met him. And now that he is leaving, it hurts. Like never before, like never again..My whole body shudders with the fear of the unknown, a life without him, my veins strains knowing it can never relax again, my best pal being snatched away by fate right in front of my eyes. And I can do nothing to prevent it. Its only a matter of days (18 to be precise) that would change my life forever.

This is probably not an ode that my famed laziness deserves, but all I can say is that I love you, my precious laziness, and im gonna miss u lots! Being the eternal optimist, I do hope against hope that my better half will allow me to catch up with you, my pal, ever so often! Meanwhile, 18 days is a long time isnt it? Be with me, all that time, will you?

RAQ: When all seems lost, there is still hope to breach. When hope seems lost, there is dope to reach. But when dope is in scope, say nope, is what I preach!

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One Step Closer

2006-06-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

One Step Closer

Lot of things make news these days
But the most important ones are not those the newspaper conveys
Something that touches the heart and triggers pleasure rays
Are often the result of innumerable prays.

Neither the ones which make you smile in happiness
Nor the ones which make you scream in delight
Not the ones which make you squeal in excitedness
But the ones which make you cry, though not in plight

For the news is something
That is worth everything
At that point of time, nothing
Else seem as important, as that thing.

The way your emotions surge
The result of your long subdued urge
The way you always wanted it to be
Now that it is, emotions are let free.

The hop in your step, the end-to-end smile on your face
Your heart and its pent up feelings, it betrays
With nothing to stop you, all your emotions surface
And when one spots it, the resulting blush adds to your grace.

Sparkling eyes that makes the sun envious
The added pink tinge in your cheeks quite obvious
Happiness that abounds the heart is most precious
That there is still a long way to go, seems oblivious.

Aching hearts, crying souls and painful farewells
Been through it all, and now the sounds of wedding bells
Seem to ring in the not so distant future
Though till then, we might be a step ahead of our culture!

A missed opportunity a couple of years back
But God gave a good job to fallback
Experience, we gained, in work and life
That will stand us in goodstead when we become man and wife.

A lot we learnt through these years
Felt close in joy and dealt with our fears
Every fight brought us closer together
Waiting and longing and praying for fate to bring you hither.

Finally the day is nearing, when you will be with me
I cant wait to experience that moment of unprecedented glee
That we are meant to be together, God can foresee
Close together, from now on, forever we shall be!

Life is not going to be a smooth ride
And I need to find resources to provide
But with you by my side
I can leave all my worries aside.

The moment I met you, I knew this is it
That I have finally got my dream girl, every bit
An innocent girl with a golden heart, mine she did split
And here she comes, to set ablaze the light of love and life, in that slit.

Wish you a very very happy birthday, J :)

RAQ: History tells His Story, Mystery tells Miss Story

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What do you want?

2006-06-17T03:47:00.000-07:00

Its that time of the year again.. when you grow up, atleast on the record. And when family and friends greet you with glee and wish you all the best... you would love to have more than just one birthday a year. But wait, did you think about your family and friends? Birthday and "surprises" go together. Presents have to be showered on the birthday gal/boy. But what to get them? What do they like? What do they need? What do they want? Its like writing an examination, one too many, every year. Other occasions like marriages are often straightforward to get "gifts" for. And if u cant think of any, a white cover wud be the obvious (and most popular) choice. No, not that for a birthday! If its a close friend, guy or gal, its a severe test on u to conjour up the right present. Even more for loved ones. Ofcourse, they wouldnt want anything more than to hear a pleasant "Happy Birthday" but then, if family and friends do something about it, why not you? So, in a way its indirect pressure to think a million times before you act (to get a present).

So, now that we "know" we need to get something, what do we get? For a guy, things are quite easy. A cool gadget or a nice shirt or tie or shoes and matter settled. Atleast you can be assured of getting a clear answer when you ask them. But for girls, its not as simple, for the simple reason that they themselves do not know what they want, most of the time.

Top three choices for what a guy wants...
This thing, That thing - means I want this thing or that thing. In reality, anything will be fine.
Nothing - means I dont want anything but you to be with me.

There are no three choices when it comes to guys, only two. This or That. Done.

Top three choices for what a girl wants...
Nothing - means I definitely want something, but I aint gonna ask u. Its your job to find out.
Something - means buy me something that I want, lets see how much u know me.
Anything - means get me something that I like, I dont know what I want myself, but you should know.

As it stands, that makes us none the wiser as to WHAT we should get them. So the ultimate quest follows, with everything on the line. Thats quite a challenge and I like challenges! (Now I know why some people thank heavens for bdays coming only once a year)

I have a "reputation" amongst some fellow bloggers as being a MC, and I know this post doesnt help alter that image much. But sometimes, things are not what it seems. Anywayz, right now, Im in the middle of trying to figure out the toughest puzzle, for a special someone, for a special day... so lets hope I get it right.. atleast this time :P

RAQ: If you venture into uncharted territory, make sure you come back to tell the story

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Bank on me

2006-06-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

A lot of people get their interest from the bank, or even salary from a bank, but I get my salary paid by a bank. I have maintained a very low profile for the last couple of months, partly due to getting flustered by the new working environment. Ever since I got into the new company, I have had a tough time explaining to people that it really is a bank and Im not making names up :P Atleast for the football freaks, I can mention the title sponsors of EPL and that settles the matter. Not quite. The immediate question: "Do you get free tickets to EPL". As if I care a damn abt EPL. Yeah yeah, being the world cup time, I need to bring in football somewhere. And my fav? Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany in that order.

Anywayz, coming to the bank, I realised that banks in general are one of the lousiest working environments u can find. My work is making me yawn in boredom rather than in lack of sleep, like a few months bak. Banks are highly structured in terms of products, heavily dissected in terms of resources, largely unstructured in terms of processes and just chaotic in terms of technology. If you find 101 systems to manage 100 products where most of those products interact with each other, 50 systems are so out of date that vendors dont support them, 75 systems give you the same data in different formats and suddenly one day u realise 25 systems are redundant, and one system is erroneous and u dont know which system that is, now u r talkin banking language!

Added to this, all the fuss on top of it in the name of security and compliance, and a nosey manager who doesnt seem to know anything but to say "yes" when talkin to the top management, while being hellbent on finding faults in u. And these "faults" range from spending too much time on the company's internal technical forum (?) to doing stuff in my desk other than my job scope (like helping my colleagues) (??) to not having written proof of having gone through the company's online knowledge bases (???) to not knowing english cos I wrote "I will intimate you once its done" to a business user and he took "intimate" to mean "imitate" :P

The only consolation is the people there. They usually have the best in the business, but whts the point recruiting the best to do the worst? In no other industry do u find 3 ex-architects and 2 ex-project managers working as developers in the same team :P Why? The key selling point (and maybe the only one) is the domain. Financial Services, Banking and Insurance (FSBI sector in short) is the only place where the money really is! So, everyone does suckle up to get the domain knowledge in this area. So did I. But I have an unique perspective, having been in all three of those areas, and I do find that Banks are the most complicated (need not necessarily be the most complex) place to be in. In most industries, hardly anyone cares about the "bigger picture", while in banks, nobody really knows the entire stuff.

Ofcourse, I expected it to be as messy when I joined, and being the eternal optimist I look at it not as a problem, but as an opportunity. I realised that in the formative years of your career, it is of utmost importance for you to take on the challenges, instead of finding faults and escape routes.

RAQ: Knowledge without Application is useless, Application without Acknowledgement is worthless, Acknowledgement without Appreciation is pointless.

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Today's Special

2006-06-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

Not everyday is today. Not many days brim with news like today did. Maybe its cos its a PR expert's bday. So lemme start off with wishing the Princess a very very happy bday! Today was also the day of a special function for my cousin looking forward to her first kid. One of my best friends through college, Sriram Saroop, is getting married today as well. My best wishes to him! And to top it all, ofcourse, came the BIG BIG BIG news from J. Finally, thanks to all the prayers of the well wishers, my life is gonna change quite dramatically in ejjatly 2 months' time. As expected, I am just too happy and cant hide my smile anywhere. Why should I? ;) At the end of all this, I pretty much got ragged by my own parents about things to come with subtle warnings about things that might happen :P What they forgot what that as much as they know me, I know them :)

Anywayz, for those who feel that they might not be able to talk and chat with me as frequently, I always value my friends highly, and as I always say, I am never too busy for my friends :) Ofcourse some will disagree after my recent abscondings :P

Special and unforgettable day, this.

RAQ: Failure teaches more than Success, but life makes sure neither is in excess!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!! (to welcome THE ONE)

Back to Earth

2006-05-31T08:31:00.000-07:00

The last 10 days have been just amazing. Too many things happened too fast and I was literally in heaven. My sis visit was a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed it! So much that it has taken me 2 days after she left, to come back to earth. To give you a gist:

Day 0: The night before THE arrival. Havent been so excited abt anything like this, for long. Damage limitation exercise in full flow as I sought to keep everything out of reach of the kids.

Day 1: Went to airport to receive my sis, her hubby and the two kids, Pratul (6 yrs) and Jayanth (2 yrs). From the start, the trip was all about the kids. Jayanth insisted on pushing the empty trolley all the way to the gate where an alarmed guard had to coax him to leave it. Came home and immediately went for dinner in Komalas (one of the many visits there). Came back home. Jayanth showed me a glimpse of why he is a terror back home. In 30 mins, there was nothing to be seen on the floor (btw, its a typical bachelors' apartment, so u know...). His elder bro did not wanna be overshadowed, so he locked my room from the inside, forcing me out of my own room for the rest of the night.

Day 2: Paid a hefty sum for a 2 sec job by a locksmith. Room sweet room! Planned for a trip to Sentosa Island, but aborted half way through. Realised travelling with kids needs a lot more time than planned! Was suddenly aware of a buzzing sound. Turned to look at the taxi door open travelling at 100 kmph. Look on the taxi drivers face suggested I wouldnt be surprised if he had a heart attack. Diverted to a friend's place and Jayanth professed his love for the 10 month old baby there with a tight ringing slap across the face :P Went to BirdPark. Pratul got scared of the hawks and eagles but Jayanth was there, as always running upto the trainer shouting "mama thaa". Then we travelled by train, and Jayanth wouldnt have anything of it. It started off with a small moan saying "train venaam" and soon became a hysterical cry. Actually it was more of an order than a cry. We had to get off about midway as my sis and her hubby were just too embarassed by the whole train looking at them in stunned silence.

Day 3: Finally went to Sentosa Island. Water, milk and nappies were the most valuable products of the day (and the rest of the days to come). Realised Jayanth is a two word freak. He only talks two words at a time but conveys very effectively. "Paal venum", "dhathi venum", "chuchu ponum", "mazhai peiyardhu", "express(train) vendaam", "call taxi", "college bus", "samaan lorry", "double-decker bus" are a few of his vocabulary. 2 - nothing more, nothing less. Would have made thiruvalluvar jealous!

Day 4: I was off to office, never cursed monday like this. Heard they enjoyed themselves in Zoo and Night Safari. Came back home at 12.30, so nothing much. It was something Pratul really enjoyed, I heard. He is a really sweet soft shy kid. I have seen him grow up and guided him along the way (taught him a trick or two in his younger days). Cud literally see that lack of guidance can turn a constructive energy into a destructive one.

Day 5: Witnessed a gruelling act. Saw Jayanth maul a poor cat in my house. He went and grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and hugged it tight (real tight). It cried in pain and me loving cats, bled. And by the time I forced him to let go, the cat had had a painful haircut.

Day 6: Cut short my day's work and wanted to meet them in Mustafa. Searched for 1.5 hrs in that shop for them, and gave up. Most frustrating experience. Went to temple and came back home, only to get a rude shock. Called up my handphone (with my sis), and realised she had lost her (my) handphone in Mustafa. I had no other way of contacting her, so I rushed there. After a frantic search and rescue operation, I could finally relax for the day.

Day 7: Last day of work for the day, as a Malaysian trip was planned for the next couple of days. Hectic work though, and everything was last min. They had meanwhile enjoyed being to the Science Centre. After a hell of a delay, managed to go halfway around the city to reach the train station and caught it just in time. This period also involved frequent tensed calls to Visithra to check up on a few hotels in KL (I had just realised that I havent booked a hotel in KL). Train saw Jayanth with renewed energy and this time around, it was a 5-6 yr old girl who bore the brunt of his "affection".

Day 8: KL, here we come. Stranded on the streets as there was no hotel available. And the one that was took the liberty to charge a humoungous amount. Bore the brunt of my sis' short temper. Probably this was the first time I noticed her presence amongst the chaos ;) Made a fool of myself by not planning for my "dear" sis. Got into some decent hotel and then off to the towers to book tickets. The best thing about KL is the tallest things there.. Petronas and KL Tower are just too good. Esp the former, which attracts young and old alike (did not seem to bother Jayanth's "running around routine" though). His Goal in life is simple. Do whatever his bro can do. This involved a vertical jump of about 5 feet in the garden there. Rounded the day off with a trip to the Airport (which is in a distant isolated location 70km away). Just thinking how people in India will react if they hear that we spent Rs 3000 to just travel to the airport and back.

Day 9: Went to Batu Caves (a beautiful scenic climb) and Putrajaya (a freaking hot distant deserted place in a land far far away from KL). Came back exhausted to do some shopping (and lotsa bargaining) in China Town. Once we realised there was no more cash left, the day drew to a close as we boarded the train back. I never got to meet Visithra, but sure thanks for her valuable info. On hindsight, she would have more than met her match, if only she had!

Day 10: Final day of a sweet little journey. Back to same old monotonous city. After a morning nap, went to Mustafa and bought nothing, then went for some ice creams (in Swensens) and a movie Poseidon (mini version of Titanic). Inbetween Pratul tried to emulate his bro's antics and in the process fell off the sofa and bled his nose. Poor guy.

Day 11: Couldnt even say tata babye cos I had to rush to the office. Got a lot to reminiscence, but a lot more to curse for the week flew off so soon.

Even though the talk of the town was the young kid, by heart goes out to Pratul, for whom the trip was all about. Atleast for me, it was all abt him, his enjoyment and satisfaction. I did what I could to entertain him and he was overjoyed to get a "Power Rangers" toy and shirt-shorts, at the end of it all.

RAQ: All good things have to come to an end... for better things to start

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Visa Power

2006-05-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

I hate credit cards. They are the biggest trap in life, but according to some smart fellas in the US, they have found a way to reap "rewards" from it. Donno how true it is. Heard that the avg savings rate in the US is -4% though. I would be happy with the 52% here. (Though all the time I have a feeling of living in US!).

Talking of rewards, I am going to finally reap the benefit of having a multiple entry visa to Malaysia. Every year, I get a multiple entry visa hoping to frequent the country across the bridge, but I somehow end up going there only once a year. This year, I am going to go there for the third time next week. I know, its not much, but better now than never. Donno where Visithra has disappeared, but if u do read it before next fri, gimme a buzz. Ozhunga suthi kaami.

And the reason is BIGGGGGG. My sister is coming down for a whirlwind tour of Singapore and Malaysia (sorry, election hangover) starting this friday. Cant wait to see my two nephews in "action". God save the things in my house, though I could hardly care less for a bundle of mess anywayz. I did clean my house though, for obvious reasons. And I realised I need to get quite a few stuff for it to look inhabitable. I do hope my nephew isnt an avid expert in drawing like Ms. V!

Talking about my nephews, I cant stop, so hope to post some pics soon! The first guy is gonna ensoy himself to the core, but the second one is gonna be busy turning Singapore upside down, I guess! Cant wait to see them! Curse my work, but atleast there will be a good reason, for the next 10 days, for me to rush home!

And with my bank balance fast approaching zero, I am tempted to go in for Visa power, but no thanks, I will stay with Mastercard for now!

RAQ: Nobody dies a virgin, as life screws them right from the origin.

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Quote me!

2006-05-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

I think I promised this a while back, but as all promises, it went undelivered. But my rejuvenated self wants to bring it on!

Each post from now on will end with a quote. Sometimes more than one. Whats so special? Its a quote, not an unquote. Will let you figure that one out. And since we are all so familiar and so dejected with FAQs, I will call mine RAQs.

RAQ: A person full of hope hangs by a rope. A person without does it too, only difference being the scope. One cannot cope, the other wants to elope

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Yours Anonymously

2006-05-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

Anonimity always has the buzz. A sense of curiosity, a certain inquisiteness builds up in your heart when you see something anonymous. It started long before blogs.. Knowing the unknown has been the quest of mankind, a means of continuous exponential progress that we have seen. Maybe thats why they leave christmas presents without the name of the sender. Sometimes it might be a safeguard and sometimes its due to the fear of the unknown. I wonder what people would have felt to receive a letter (not an email.. I mean hand written letter) delivered to them without a sender's name or address, and the contents making them none the wiser! Its something that gives you goosebumps... something that triggers your imagination.. something that makes you gush even before you have realised it. Just like a "secret admirer" or a "from a friend" email. On the other hand, there are other things like automated birthday emails sent by some stupid website "on behalf of" your friends, which make them so near yet so far, and synonymous with anonymous. To them, you elicit the most explicit, worth a censor edit.

Now in the fast age, even confusions and surprises dont last long. "If i dont get it, I leave it" policy is whats prevalent. Ofcourse, as communication channels increase in number and frequency and decrease the distances, the opportunity to remain anonymous have increased too. Alas, in the electronic age, anonymity too, doesnt last long! With free easy to use trackers, even the simple blogger has now become a computer specialist. Increasingly I find people keeping track of IP addresses of accesses to their blogs, with reasons ranging from security to satisfying their basic instinct (aka ego). Some have a wry smile writ large in their faces when they see the per-day access go above a limit.

But still anonymous comments are quite abundant in the blog world. I think the main reason for that is the main concept behind blogging being anonymity. Your space. Your thots. Your feelings. Your words. Ofcourse, you cant get away with everything you say or do here. BBC reporting today, the arrest of a few bloggers! But the idea remains that its a free medium of diverse expression. Every blogger is, in a way, anonymous. You see their electronic self, maybe far fetched from their true self. Yet, you like some, you dislike some, you forget some, you treasure some. Thats the way it is. Thats the way it was meant to be! And anonymous comments sure do add to the fun. A bit of spice, a bit of ire, a bit of hate, a bit of spat, a bit of forgery, a bit of fallacy, a bit of mock... These bits are sure the tid bits of the blogworld.

Needless to say, I was totally overwhelmed by the "anonymous" comment to my previous post. I cant stop gushing with pride at having enticed an elusive soul to comment on something at long last. And before you need to say, that sure triggered this post ;)

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

The height of laziness

2006-05-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

Just thot I will list down my holy deeds to get a perspective of my lazy self.

1. I have forgotten the last time I cleaned my room.
2. The bedspread that I diligently washed 1 month ago is still lying on my bed, crumpled, waiting to be spread out.
3. My parents asked me to get covers for my pillows when they visited 5 months back. They followed it up and gave up this weekend.
4. Last weekend, I wore the same shorts and t-shirt everyday as I was lazy to open my closet to take out a new set.
5. Last week, I took bath everyday in the dead of the night so that I dont have to do "yet another task" in the morning before going to work.
6. I have been "trying hard" to clean by house every weekend after the last time I promised to do so, but never actually got to do it.
7. I googled for an "=" as my keyboard key doesnt work. And I forgot which site I got it from! Later, I put it as a textfile in my desktop, so that I dont have to google it everytime. And this was one year back.
8. Sometimes I sleep with my lights on as I have to get up to switch it off. (excusing the times when I had a sedative called book in my hand)
9. Two of the most important keys from my laptop came off (microsoft developers know how often they use F1 and F4), but I havent given them a call yet, even though it is under on site warranty. This happened 4 months back.
10. I have slept without dinner on days I dint wanna walk for 5 mins to get my dinner packed or having to make my own dinner (in 2 mins in an oven)
11. I went late for my interview. Said my biggest strength is my time management and proudly said Im the best cos Im the laziest they can find. And I did get the job :P
12. In my previous company, all meetings were scheduled for 9am when I joined. My manager postponed everything to the afternoon 1 month after that.
13. I have bought bottles of coke/sprite/7up as I did not want to go all the way to my tap to fill up a bottle of water.
14. I have left my clothes in the washing machine for almost a week. My roomie reminded me about it and I washed those again... at this point, it struck! and I left it in there again.. My roomie got fed up and put it up for drying himself.

Ofcourse, it doesnt mean Im proud of all this. I feel bad about some of those things, but everytime I wanna do something about it, I just..I mean.. I know but.. well... am lazy :(

And if a certain someone gets pissed off by reading all this... April Fool... I was just a bit too lazy to post it last month!

Life is tough cos we choose to live it the tough way! But if thats the way life is meant to be, so be it!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Best Blogger of the Year 2005

2006-05-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

I dont really differentiate among my friends or foes, if any. But since I have a lot of time on my hands and a lot of bloggers have been getting on my nerves by not posting anything, I am gonna start this... No no, no tags. Just my opinion. Plain blunt unbiased opinion (to such an extent that both Sun and Jaya TV will telecast the SAME thing!).

Triggered by Ms. V's lack of self respect, and borrowing from her huge vocabulary, I will spout my critique. Everyday is gonna be a nightmare (for those who know me, my day starts at night) for some blogger who did enough bad deeds in his/her last life (or blog life, whichever is shorter) to warrant a thorough bashing and lashing at this blog. In no particular order, I will let out my fury. The ones in my 'preferred' list will surely get a mouthful. Meanwhile, if you think there is any other blog worth commenting about, keep it to yourself. As I said, this is strictly MY OPINION of 2005 wrt the blogs that I visit.

Ofcourse, it will end with naming my favorite blogger!

Btw, every one of you can vote for a particular blogger in their 'exclusive' posts. This will definitely be taken into consideration in this secular forum. For example, if we are the UN, your votes will equal the votes of individual nations and my vote will be the US vote.

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Katham Katham

2006-05-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

Finally... Evil Dead! Exams over. It is really bad when the professor looks down on your paper and stands in utter silence during your exam. It often doesnt get worse then having to submit an assignment AFTER the final exam. But sometimes it does... when the professor singles you out for a special mention of how pathetic you did your exam right in front of everyone :P So much for the professor "recognising" you in class!

Anywayz, who the heck cares. Time to enjoy. Time seemed to go really slowly the last couple of days. I was literally bored to death and was too lazy that I dint wanna do anything, even blog. Ofcourse all good things have to come to an end... like my readers' sigh of relief at seeing no posts ;)

Due to overwhelming demand (too much build up and hype i know), I am back in action.. Its still not sunk in that I am FREEEEEEEEEEEE for the next 3 months, partly cos important decisions have to be taken in the meantime, but have to enjoy this freedom while it lasts.. So beginning today, the search has just begun... yet again...

And final word deservedly reserved for those lazy buggers (aka bloggers) who havent put up anything citing every possible irrational excuse.

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Is it a bird? Is it a rocket? No it is...

2006-04-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

Michael Schumacher! Six years have gone by since that picture at the same location, but for sure he was flying high at Imola tonight. What a comeback and what a drive! Holding on a faster car behind might have been a hugh challenge for Alonso last year, but all of 40 laps, with everything from mid-corner breaking to spewing break dust and all of his 240 GP experience, Schumi reigned supreme. And with Alonso making the mistake by choosing the wrong corners to attack (Rivazza is supposed to be the best place to overtake - in the 950 degree tyre heat), trying variants at Variante Alta doesnt help! Anywayz, this was just a wake up call for the fair weather fans I suppose :P Some proclaim this as one of his best races, but for those knowledgeable few, it wouldnt come close to his heroics in 1996, when he won 4 races with a Ferrari that spewed everything from wings to engine covers to exhaust pipes. He controlled the race and the pace beautifully, and even visibly he was much better shape than an exhausted Alonso. Ofcourse, I couldnt reason out why Renault would opt to come before and not after Schumi's second stop, but Im sure Renault boss (Briatore) was the most relaxed man on the pit wall (trust me its fun pitting ur past vs present and enjoying experience prevail from the sidelines). Anywayz, hats off to Schumi!!! A champion, he was, and he is! Ferrari is still not the best, but a champion with a decent car is more than a handful, as Alonso would vow. For those who spit fire after Schumi's "inability" to overtake last year for 12 laps, atleast he gave it a shot! Anywayz, I do hope the Ferrari challenge starts here, rather than being a one-off like last year Imola. Bridgestone gotta lot to work at, but I do hope it rises upto the challenge. F1 is all about man and machine, and the man surely made up for the lack of pace of the machine today! Whatta man! Hail the meister!

I did wanna restrain myself from blogging before the end of my exams, but what the heck... as if I study.. anywayz, I am so full of pride now... and am glad, the first of my waitees has come to an end... Hope the rest follow soon!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Waitees

2006-04-01T18:24:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I rote anything, but as everything its got a reason.. I am in a phase of my life when everything is on hold... for something else to happen.. trying hard not to make into a deadlock situation!

I am waiting... for my blady masters projects to complete
I am waiting... for the masters exams to finish
I am waiting... to test my fitness in the corporate run
I am waiting... to resurrect my cricketting skills
I am waiting... for a special arrival
I am waiting... for a special friend's life to fall back into order
I am waiting... to talk to my friends which I have missed lately
I am waiting... for Schumi to take his first proper win in almost 1.5 yrs.
I am waiting... for the resurgence of Ferrari.
I am waiting... to own a BMW.
I am waiting... for a special relationship to begin.
I am waiting... to make sure all these waits end.

So wait, till the next post...

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

The Million Dollar Question

2006-03-19T06:22:00.000-08:00

Seems like everyone has this kostin nowadays.. "The search has just begun!!!" - What is that mean. I would forgive people for thinking its about a gal at first, but even people close to me sometimes wonder.. Whats in a name? But I have a story to tell... so listen mite (yeah yeah, i love everything aussie after their defeat.. so cool!)

It all started when I landed in this country. How am I to know that my initials stands as a source for giggles here? So, during the orientation (aka ragging), I was christined RA. That nick, 7 yrs down the line, still is recognised in my university campus, which is quite a surprise in itself. Anywayz, it all started when I got my computer barely into the new millenium. My friend kindly 'volunteered' to fix my comp up for a humble token of a cigarette pack and a night of watching 'popular' movies on my flat screen monitor. When he was setting it up (and I knew nuts abt computers back then), he asked me to give a name for the computer. My instinct told me RA, but my creativity wanted to expand it. Expand, I did.. Thus it became Random Access. And ofcourse, it needed a computer description. I thot for a second to get a phrase with a bit of correlation. There it was.. "The search has just begun !!!". Whatever made me write those 2 things at the dead of the night made a lot of sense later on...

Random Access became hugely popular. It became the pen-name for my poetry as well. It gel-ed in nicely with the kind of carefree attitude that I seemed to possess. It became synonymous with my supposedly random poetry. It became the lifeline of the indian forum that we had. It became a source of inspiration. It became the talk of the university. But more was to come. I got to know about chatting and went into ICQ. There was only 4 Random Access at that time, but thanks to ICQ for giving a number than an unique id, I was able to keep my favorite. This nick alone was so popular among gals (I wonder why!) that a lot of gals added me into their lists. A lot of people were jealous of the fact, and some named me "ladies' man" just like Ms. V's latest nick for me :) I never imagined the nick was so powerful! Needless to say, its been with me for the last 7 yrs and I have kinda grown fond of it. It kinda gave me an identity that people were able to map to. As recently as today, I got a comment saying it ties in well to my memory prowess (or the lack of it).

The second part of my online signature ("The search has just begun") was just instinctive, but something I have grown to love and respect. This talks a lot abt me and the way I am too. I, like a true saggi, is driven my curiosity to wander out there in search of knowledge. Many times I have been stumped by the fact that there are so many things out there in this world to be learnt that 24 hrs aint enuf in a day. And there is just no limit to the depth of knowledge that you can acquire. This kinda explains the fact that I am probably a jack of all trades, but the master of none. I also realised that its the fact of life, that there is always a search.. both inside and outside of us, that keeps us going.. in pursuit of the unknown. This has really made my signature meaningful, so I decided to stick on. To add spice, I sometimes tie down my sign to the context (esp in my poems, if u have noticed). And contrary to expectations, the search never ends, as the end of one quest is merely a beginning of another!

So there u go.. now gimme those million dollars ;)

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Fate

2006-03-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

"Its fate.." is what we get to hear a lot of times.. from ur family, friends and even us... now what is fate?

Fate is our friend... We dont know fate till we are in the stage where we run around. Fate plays games with us. We always want to prove ourself against fate and make us the winners. However, we lose almost all the time. This might make some of us disillusioned. We elevate fate to be the invincibles and most of us just give up on our prowess to wrest the advantage from it. However, some of us take defeat on our shoulders and keep improving with every game. We may not master the game, neither understand our opponent, but we can keep improving our skills. There comes the time when the odd victory stares at us. And what do we do? We attribute it to LUCK :P

So in other words, all of us are inherently self-abstracting.. we dont want credit for our victories nor blame for our failures. We want other entities to suffer. Do u realise the invaluable friendship that fate brings to our lives and how we conveniently blame it for everything? A true friend is one who gives unto thee without expecting anything in return. They even shoulder ur ill spat but still continue to be with u and guide u along the right path, however hard or harsh their words might seem! Embrace fate, acknowledge reality and live ur life! Then u will be surprised tht u can take almost anything that fate seems to throw at us and whack it for a six!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Shame on us!

2006-03-13T07:52:00.000-08:00

I have always been a proud Indian. And I have always respected women and gals for what they are. A lot of my guy friends think of me as an online casanova, but I guess only those gals who I have interacted with, who can give the right answer. Anywayz, coming to the point, I have been totally disgusted and depressed the last week or so, when I have come across a series of posts like this and this triggered by the Blank Noise Project. Trust me, I have never been as ashamed of my country and fellow brothers like what I did recently. I wudnt like to bypass the serious issue by saying I am the goody goody guy and others are to blame. I believe responsibility lies with all of us, even though only a sparse few might be causing these disgusting acts. I wud have been even ashamed to bring up these posts to public, but this attitude, I realised through those authors, is what has been preventing the scale of this social evil to seem lesser than what it actually is. And looking at the alarming rate at which I hear girls say "yes" to the simple question posed (and I havent heard one "no" till now) is making me freak out. Worse still, its almost always followed by the casual after-comment "Its so common, why are u making a fuss out of it now". This nonchalant reply completely bewilders me and sends a chill down my spine, thinking of gals, young and old, prone to the vested interests of, shame on us, men. I dont believe in reporting things and keeping quiet. The next time I see any person doing such "roadside romeo" tactics (pi, if u ever read this, doesnt refer to u da), I am gonna take it up personally, irrespective of the consequences. After all, India is a land where a woman is treated more than God! And I will do my best to make it stay that way. And those guys whom I know who are already on the wrong side of things, better beware. I cant take an insult on my motherland, and every woman who makes up my motherland, so better think twice before crossing the line with a gal!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Mother of all Games !!!

2006-03-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

This is by far the most spectacular game I have witnessed... I am happy that I kinda pushed 3-4 people into watching it as well... If you have missed out, u sure have missed out an opportunity of a lifetime buddy! Anywayz, it was totally engrossing and nailbiting than anything else I have ever witnessed. Trust me, I am a die hard fan of South Africa from today (except ofcourse when they play India), but they were just too good. Amazing is an unpretentious understatement for their game. The sheer mammoth total (not often do u see 870 runs in a one day game!) followed my blistering attack and counterattacks, the setbacks, the fightbacks... juz too good. To be honest, there can be only one winner, and thankfully it was the team that deserved it (unlike the World cup campaigns - the 22 runs in 1 ball fallacy and the tie win, for those who know what I am talkin about). That they beat Australia is an icing on the cake. Just too good !!! Screw those baskets who kept bleating that South Africa have never won a series against them.. This was just the kind of statement that cricket is all about. No kings or pawns. Its all about how good u r on that day... And South Africa, dented by Pollock's absense, really meant business, atleast in the latter half of the match!

Even though I only followed the scores online, thank god I got to follow it live !!! Whatta match! You only witness these things once in a life (like watchin the Schumi massacre in 2004) and this is definitely one of them! Hats off South Africa! You juz did it!

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You made my day!

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

Somethings do make our day special.. Ofcourse, here is my top 10 (no no not a tag..please...) that brought a smile to me recently... no rating.. just numbers...

1. Seeing J after a long time.
2. Ms. A's prayers inspite of her personal tribulations
3. A mention by sukku
4. Preethi taking away WV.. yeah word verification, ur ardent fan has ditched u.
5. Ms. V reaching 100 posts.
6. Me getting my dream job sort of.
7. A chance to resurrect my cricketing career with my new company
8. A chance to see and hear APJ AK
9. Got to meet up with an old skool mate.
10. When I finally got my first Java component working

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A beautiful relationship...

2006-03-04T03:59:00.000-08:00

Its not often that I dont find words, let alone finding the right words. Its often in ur most difficult of times do u find ur best of friends.. or so they say. I was in a middle of a crisis when she came into my life, to conduct a little background check. Countless hours of talking and chatting later, we were the best of friends. Ignorant of the constant heckling of friends, I came to know about the intricate world of the feminine mind through her. And then she wanted it to be a bit more...

A joyful beginning paved way for the narrowing of distances. Timed whizzed by and I started getting blur... I knew she was next to me, holding my hand.. One fine day, she said she wanted some space... I gave her some. I knew she was nearby, I could hear her voice.. I became blind...And then she wanted some time alone... I was reluctant but I was confident, and had to yield. I knew she would come back.. to hold me and walk me through.. I waited.. I pondered.. I construed. I hallucinated. I wished. And then she came back. I knew it. I always knew it. A year hence, I cud hear her. I wanted to proceed. Then she said the time has come... I was overjoyed.

She slowly peeled away my bandage. I was blur at first. Then I was able to see. I could see! There she was, with him... A tear streaked across from my eyes. The glaring light, I mused. I hid my face to be comforted by the darkness. There was none. Take a pill, she insisted. I knew I can never get cured. People laughed and cursed and advised and bullied and made a joke. How will they ever know? Things always change, but some things dont.

Then it was time for her to leave. She said goodbye. I thot abt holding her back, but did I ever have a choice? She wanted me to stay in touch, but I just smiled and said I wouldnt disturb her. She understood that I finally understood and sighed in relief. She went her way. Away.

Now I cud see, but I was still a bit blur. I turned to find a smiling face offering me a helping hand. I was hesitent, but the smile seemed genuine. I prayed to God, and held that hand. Never to let go.

There are many unforgettable memories in life, some brings a smile, others a tear. But in my life, she features in more than one of them. And sometime this month, she is joining hands with him... With a tinge of sadness engulfing my heart, I hereby bid farewell... may God bless her, cos she indeed was one of my best friends!

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Se7en

2006-03-02T08:36:00.000-08:00

Seven seas? Seven continents? Seven days? Seven worlds? ....

Whether people are ruled by numbers are open to debate, especially among the folks who hasnt realised it first hand. But I am a guy who has been brought up with as much examples of numbers as anything else. Being fascinated by them from a very young age, I am always on the look out for nice numbers. If there is one guy smiling at a car number plate 9369 or 9786, it might be me. A simple example is my mom, who was born on Sep 21, married on Oct 21, joined her (only) job on Nov 21, when she was 21 yrs, her son born on kaarthigai 21, married her daughter on May 21, resigned her job on Feb 21, her son joined his first job on Jul 21, and a bit more that I tend to have forgotten.

Everyone tends to be ruled by numbers, and you would be in awe, if only you cared to stop and look at it. I am myself ruled by 6, but for the last coupla years, my life has taken the 7 route. Needless to mention, it was due to a person ruled by number 7. From the date I met the person (16th), I have felt its influence on all the major activities in my life. Though 6 and 7 dont have that much of a chemistry between them, it has really sparked between the two of us.

OK, now to the crux of the matter. After 7 weeks of job search, where there were severe doubts on my sanity, and offers that were interleaved, making me akin to a gambler in terms of playing my cards right to get the best possible outcome, and rejecting the likes of Mahindra British Telecom, Strategem Technologies, Deutsche Bank, Microsoft, SCS, Credit Suisse First Boston, I have decided to take up my 7th offer with Barclays Capital. Thanks for all the prayers, guidance and well wishes from a lot of quarters, and equally so the screams, the tensions, the doubts, the questions, the advices and the bashings that made me more circumspect than i usually am, I think Im finally in the right path towards achieving my long term goals. Incidentally, I set foot on the 7th of the 7th month 7 yrs back in this country. Needless to say, Im in seventh heaven! And thank you, Ms. 7 ;)

Now off to 7-Eleven to celebrate!

PS: Thanks for all your concerned remarks in the previous post! I might have made it a bit blur, but heres the news. Yes, it was abt my job and my offer was withdrawn, but due to "exceptional circumstances" and after a high level meeting, it was decided that my case seemed to a "honest mistake", whatever that is, and a new offer was given to me today. After being given a 0.1% success rate yday, its a huge sigh of relief. Surely more things are wraught by prayers than the world dreams of :) So, from monday, I am no longer a velai illa pattadhari... :P After 1 month in the gutters, its gonna be bak to hectic life..donno to laff or cry, but it definitely a smile to others! And trust me, honesty is definitely the best policy... though very costly :P

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Too good to resist

2006-02-28T04:53:00.000-08:00

An offer. A dream job. The hope of it made you wait for a whole month rejecting 7 other credible offers. And finally it comes.. the best in town. dreams can now become reality. A glitter in the eyes and relieved happiness to those whom u love. the best career path drawn before u as dotted lines. Just had to sign.. An offer too good to resist...You become the HERO.

During the process, there was one innocuous arithmetic mistake. You realise it a day after u signed the offer. Keeping quiet will harm no one. Finding out will be almost impossible. If you accept the mistake, all hell will break loose. Your professional integrity will be on the line. Your job ends before it starts. Your career path becomes a mirage. Your family will be shattered. You lose everything u ever thot of. You have nothing to fall back on. You become a ZERO.

Yet u choose to maintain your personal and professional values (aka honesty, integrity) and go for the second. If you are me.

An(y) offer too good to resist....?

Epilogue:
Things happen as expected. Im pissed at the big bad world. Tomorrow I start from scratch. Literally. Atleast with a positive mindset, I can only expect to do better!

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Chaos

2006-02-23T06:50:00.000-08:00

Once again the most successful Indian captain has been dropped.. this time from the Test squad. The reason given: Performance. The reason I think: Chaos.

"All's well that ends well" has been the pragmatism of Indian cricket and cricket lovers for quite a while now. Winners are awarded with plush lands and houses, while losing entitles stone throws on the same houses. Voices have been hushed in the last few months as the Indians are on a rare winning streak. People, alas, have never mattered lesser.

There is a understated overemphasis on World Cup 2007. Yes. Its a big tournament. Experienced cricketers are needed in crunch situations. Winning it is prestigious. Degrading proven winners is not the way to achieve it. Young talent is important. Spot talent and give them chances, but not on needless biased basis. VRV Singh is being figured in, while he leaked runs today in the warm up game against England, while Munaf Patel who bowled lovely spells with 5 wkts to speak wasnt. Baffling decisions. Batting should be flexible. Why isnt Sachin in any other position but opening and 2 down in tests?

Let us look at Ganguly, the leader. He revolutionised Indian cricket. He epitomised attitude and courage, he backed his younger players like no one. Yuvraj himself admitted his respect for Saurav, who was accused of keeping him away from Tests to get his spot. Ganguly like any ideal leader, was selfless. He brought himself down from opening slot in ODI (splitting the most successful opening pair of all times) cos he cudnt fit Sehwag in any other position and he thot he was experienced and flexible enuf to handle other roles. Who is flexible and who isnt? He got team spirit into a individualistic team of the 90s. One fine day, he dint fit the bill anymore.

Let us look at Ganguly, the player. A short search in Cricinfo stats will leave u spellbound. Hes the quickest player to get 5000,6000,7000,8000,9000 runs in ODIs in the world. He has an amazing average in tests that he has lead, much more than any other captains, including Rahul Dravid. He was an ideal number 5 and bailed out India in times of crisis and beautifully meandered the tail at times. Sachin has a pathetic record in the last 2 yrs in both forms of the game, yet he is persisted with. Ganguly meanwhile had a decent couple of years, averaging more than Sachin definitely. I thot he played one of the most brilliant knocks in Karachi, when the top order just fell in a heap. He steadied the innings with 30s in both innings, when the rest of the top order dint total to 30. Why is Sachin never dropped even after a string of dismal performances. If fitness was a yardstick, why isnt Laxman dropped, as he is worse than Ganguly, as a batsman and as a fielder.

The main thorn in the flesh seems to be Greg Chappel, along with the Board comprising of people who hate him to the core. I dont give a damn what they trying to do, but its created Chaos. Young guns have been brought in and old chaps have been axed. Long term, yes, but think about the experience those guys have. Our bowling department is fully young now. But its faring pathetically, cos there was no one to mentor them, like Kapil was to Srinath. Sadly Sachin's only role seems to be that nowadays! Given Greg's affliction towards young guys and the Board's policy of giving every new prospect a chance, I see a lot of players with 50 ODI caps and 10 test caps for India. Not gonna be many who will reach 300 ODIs and 100 Tests. Given the fact that Sachin needed 76 innings to hit his first ODI century, and his first 8 were below 40, if Sachin was newly inducted into the team today, I would bet against retaining his position for the next series. If this goes on, I doubt if any new Champion will be born. Experience should not be underestimated and it teaches players a lot more than just mere exposure! Ganguly has a lot of cricket left in him and hes an excellent player. Alas, his last few years in international cricket is marred by politics. Its leaking blood to see a player of his quality sitting out for reasons apart from cricket.

I have been tight lipped about this issue till now, but when I saw Kiran More's pathetic comment on Saurav's exclusion - performance, caused an outrage in me. If you have been watching Indian cricket for the last decade, Im sure u feel the same. Its not about what he is or how he is, neither about Indian cricket. Its all about what a player he is and what he does out there in the middle. And hes indeed a champion at it! People are blinded by ravenous youth display, but I feel that its quite a sad chapter in Indian cricket, and Im ashamed to bear witness to it.

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Yey I am the first to comment

2006-02-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

As with all good things, there are quite a few evils lurking in this blogosphere. Ofcourse my dearest word verification tops the list! I am no blog analyst, but recently, I have been noticing this trend in blogs of different types. Needless to say, it is only appearing in high-popularity blogs, so has nothing to do with mine, but still its kinda unnerving to find the sort of "craze". It really doesnt mean anything if u r the first to comment or the tenth. Comment is meant to be more of a viewpoint, but its turning out to be a rat race for "signing attendance". Maybe Blog as a school of thot is being misinterpreted! And in the near future, maybe we can see proxies operating in this area! Quality of posts might roughly remain the same, but the frequency of posts have reduced, while the comments have increased. Bloggers have been stereotyped, and they feel indebted to their readers to follow the treaded path. Blogs are also tending to follow the law of averages, any stupid comment will attract roughly the same number of comments as the most brilliant post, as the readers are themselves indebted to "sign in" to anything the blogger says.

Another case of indebtation comes when there is a comment from the unknown person. Two events are triggered. The blogger must thank the new visitor, and invariably visits and leaves a comment to the same effect on the visitor's blog. Comments like the title and anonymous hate comments have become more frequent in blogs. Also, a lot of bloggers tend to moan about not finding anything to blog about. If you dont think of writing anything, dont! They feel forced by readers, decreasing blog hits, their inertia of momentum or whatever crap to keep writing.. and writing.. and writing more... and writing less about themselves, less about their feelings, less about the things that bother them, less about what they care about...

Truths and feelings are spiced up to add more entertainment value. "Not me" I hear u screaming. Do you post and forget about it or do you read through/ edit your post before or after submitting? Do you write what comes to your mind or do u think "This is worth blogging", "I shud blog this tonight"?. Will you dare to disable the comments for ur blog for a month and still continue to blog with the same frequency? You can argue about a symbiotic relationship, but has the "core" of what a blog is missed along the way? If u read the first ten posts of a blog and the last ten, you would know what Im whining about. Blog courtesy, blog etiquette, blog values, what next? Maybe Im not following blog ethics in the content of this post! And my dear spammers have also reduced their indulgence, decreasing the entertainment value associated with a blog! Somehow I find the "fun" element of blogs decreasing and ""compulsive" factor increasing. One blogger stated that the page hits continued over 50 a day when he had not posted for over a month. Another said he blogs for improving his english skills. Another said he loves to make people laugh while another said its to improve the networking opportunities. Another said Im not able to keep people interested, so im quitting. I know there might be a lot of defences for these, and are usually portrayed as advantages of blogs, but is it a good thing or a bad thing?

And I feel everyone of u shud do something to make me more satisfied.

Im sure u r thinkin "there is nothing wrong with my blog", "whats wrong with my blog", "how to make it more interesting for this guy"... Indebtation it is....

Blogs are supposed to be ur thots expressed in ur way. Lets just keep it at that!

Quoting the god of services, "Do no evil"! Will you? Wont you? Its upto you!

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Biap

2006-02-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

This is my latest nick name. I hope u remember my nick name woes, but this is one I loooove hearing. Cos its from the latest addition to my family, my dearest nephew. Few of his achievements in the 2 yrs of his existence include 18 stitches to his ear, when he tried to sneak inside a dog's cage through the steel gate of a kennel, innumerable wounds inflicted by his adventurous nature, and an unexplicable feat of pushing the TV onto his feet.. TV broke, thankfully his leg did not. Ofcourse, the best part of it is that he evokes the screams (of fear) from everyone who has had the opportunity to see him in "action". When he comes in, destructors (forgive my developer instincts) stand astonished! Everything in his grasp is either crushed into humiliation or battered into submission or thrashed into humbleness or shredded into pieces. The only smile in the room is often his! Ofcourse, I couldnt help but gawk at this young wonder. He is not as specialised as his elder bro, but is as observant and looking at every opportunity to "prove" himself. Such diligent workaholic i shud say ;)

And btw, today is his second birthday... :D

I would leave you with this, something I wrote when he was born.... that i wanted to give his mom, but never managed to... but if u ever get to read this, my dear Jayanth, I love you!

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V-day

2006-02-13T18:55:00.000-08:00

I love you.

I dun have anything to give you.

I dun have to give you anything.

I have already given you everything I had.

I neednt say less, I neednt say more.

It applies to everyone of you, in one way or another.

Its more like love 21-7, 365 days a year. Those who know me know that when I sleep, nothing registers in my mind... absolutely nothing. so thts the 3 hr gap ;)

I dont know why people profess love today.

If I have to convey my love, I would profess my undying love to ....
!~~~ THE INDIAN CRICKET TEAM ~~~!

Whatta match yday !!!

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Long long ago

2006-02-13T18:52:00.000-08:00

Long long ago

Long long ago came along a girl
Who has since taken over my world like a whirl
I have since seen the most beautiful love unfurl
Cos goddess as a gift, I had got through an URL

It all started off, seems just like yesterday
When all things gone wrong, I would still make hay
When my life was all about misery, and one kill
When I thot everything was nothing, you fit the bill

Just looking at you standing still
Motionless, seducing me like a pill
Grinding me to the limits like a mill
I have never thot abt dying but u created my will

Nice memories I will always have, of you my lovely garden
Of the moments you arrived through a beep and all those buzz
Wishing it lasted forever, I guard those memories like a warden
Happy and sad, those filled with flush and blush, fury and fuss.

Words seem endless, when your beauty plays a song
They seem non existent, when you do come along
Flutter, my heart does, whenever your mind screams
Cos I feel your feelings as fast as lightening beams.

Moments, so precious, have I collected
Across the two years, since we connected
Something I lost, the same thing I abducted
Alas, yours seem to weigh on me as its recollected.

A million things said and done
Doesnt equate to your brilliance and beauty
And the search has just begun,
For making you happy in life, is my duty.

Girls I have always revered and respected
And you, for the golden heart that you depicted
I have never been so closely inspected
And all my actions changed and perfected.

Without you, I wouldnt have been myself
Where in every action, thy come before self
Everything I do or say, you have changed to suit
Your sense of style and gentleness, you command to boot.

You have been my best loot
My most precious thing, I will hoot
Your health is the only sore foot
On shining silver, like soot.

"I love you" is all I can tell you
Undying love for you all through
Im sad that nothing much I can give today
But I really mean what I keep repeating everyday.

Im still in a flux on where I will be
But I want you always close to me
Every second, through my thots, I see
Your reflection in my heart, making me glee

Valentine's day is nothing special
Just an excuse for me to cover up our spatial
Seperation by uttering those words many a time
Only when I hear your voice, these thots become sublime

My current situation is grim
But you fill my heart to the brim
I have to get a heavy purse and frequent the gym
And as always your name becomes by fervent hymn.

Love is universal, so they say
And all I can do this day
Is to make u happy, I pray
Till the time, together we stay.

An effervescent passion
A controlled compassion
And a selfless deed for education
Together with a confused vindication

These are just a few of your traits
That acted as charming baits
For me to fall into a "trap"
Amazing how each other, we can fully map

You came into my life and filled my heart's gap
You are the best of the best, I can continuously rap
Thinking of you, my eyes resemble a tap
Cant stop admiring you, even when you are taking a nap

Im very proud of you, my dear
My heart beats for you, Im sure you hear
A thousand miles apart, we still appear
So close, our love always shifting up a gear

Time has never been on our side
But sooner or later, it has to abide
As our love transcends boundaries, bonafide
Sticking together for life, a wild ride

You can run, but you can never hide
From the fact that relationships rise and slide
Together, we have laughed and cried
Longing for my proudest moment yet, when you become my bride

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Quadralemma

2006-02-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

The New Year has kinda created a dent in my blogging frequency. I am kinda shocked myself, as being jobless wud have meant more, and not less, posts from me. Anywayz, I am officially jobless in a quadralemma. I got 4 choices from which to choose one. On a scale of 1-10, everything has been between 6-7 (yeah, rate yourself is one of the most FAQ in an interview), so its been kinda hard to choose.

Alright, now to the interviewee saga...

I realised that interviewees over a period of time tend to formulate a standard set of answers for the usual FAQ (strength, weakness, projects, challenges etc). I hate repeating things that I have said. My astrounding memory apart, I do tend to consciously avoid saying the same things over and over again (Rahul Dravid r u listening?). And a lot of interviewees tend to repeat the "magic formula" to get in, rather than give the interviewer a good perception of what the interviewee is. There is always a dilemma. Should I tell him what he wants to hear or what I really am? The more desperate u r for the job, the answer tends to slide towards the former. But in this race for the vacant seat, the interviewees who are true to themselves tend to lose out as well. Interviewers can best be described as a bridled horse, looking through a focussed lens. If you deviate, no matter how good u r, u lose.

But on the other hand, what if, the interviewee, like myself, decide I dont really need the job, if they want me, let them take me, else leave it. Even though some jobs can be simply "irresistable", which I can simply not say no, I havent got such a job yet, so I prefer to remain with the "dont care" attitude that is in direct contrast to my usual passive self.

Especially if you are in the place I am, you would definitely hear this statement "Are you prepared to work late to complete your job". Ofcourse, the truth is the worst possible answer. This is an implicit contract that u sign during ur interviews that increases your work load while reducing ur wage and demolishing ur health. Cost cutting technology at its best. Even though most guys would spend time in their offices late, checking emails and chatting, I hate to be in the office or anywhere near, if I am done with my work. I want my bonus to be a function of my job, not a function of my work hours. I would love to see it in a Human Rights Violations document. I think in about 1912 or so, they brought down the working hours to 8 hrs a day. Does any of the companies realise why they brought it down?

Some of the companies really get on my nerves during the interview process. Not only do they think too high of themselves, they tend to frustrate u with "i-have-lost-count" number of interviews. Worst still, they tend to repeat the same questions and i refuse to go into an infinite loop saying "im the smart amazing flawless dedicated guy that u want", complicating things. Interviewers have a valid point. They want to get the best person for a position. But how do they decide on whoz the best, if everyone repeats the same phrase over and over again? Technical, aptitude, business, people, aptitude, behavorial tests after... what more? And if any interviewee knows what he/she wants with their career, it acts like a warning symbol for them. Doubt creeps into their hawk like brains.. "If this guy knows what he wants, wont he become frustrated with this job soon?". Worse so, cos I have some constraints, like my concurrent masters degrees. Talks of commitment, implicit overtime agreements, explicit behavorial threats, lectures on company policies and regulations tend to dominate for the next hour.

The most hilarious part is when the interviewers at the end of the interview ask you "Do you have any questions for us". I thot it was nice of them during my first ever interview, but I soon found a pattern in this as well. They expect you to shoot only "certain" questions to them. They dont want to face questions they are not prepared for. If you ask them more about the role or the job or the growth, they have standard template answers for you. You should see the look on their faces when I ask them questions like "Whats the average age/experience of your Team Leaders, Managers". They take it intrusively, while I am just being practical. Equal opportunities, Meritocracy, Scholarly are buzz words for corporate communication officers to portray the company in a nice way. But are these really the case inside the organisation? These stats might help me validate those claims made on their website. Ofcourse, they avoid it by just saying "Confidential". In other words, they dont know.

So in essence, they end up recruiting guys who dont know what they want in their career, able to comfortably lie in/about their resume, able to work their ass off, not expect any kinda growth, infinite patience towards beaurocracies, do the job day in and day out with a wide smile on their face. And they end up losing them just as quick! As one company aptly put it.. "You know, you have comfortable chairs if you have to work late and we offer free coke". Thanks buddy! But its bad for my health!

Future interviewers, just think about the interviewee, just a little bit, and you will get a much better person to work with!

PS: Im taking a big risk in this post as some of these quotes are from my current offers. But I dont mind, cos I love to be transparent. I want to be able to work in the way I feel most comfortable in, in the organisation that I see the most fit for me, meeting my personal goals.

PPS: I still havent decided on where I want to be. Its decision time, so taking it rationally and slowly.

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The Man Himself

2006-02-02T07:07:00.000-08:00

"HE APJ Abdul Kalam" screamed the banner. After breaking our heads over the additional initials, we realised that "protocol" does come into play. Anywayz, I got myself a great seat in the third row, just behind the President's entourage, and bang in the middle. After a tense, fiddling, boring, exhausting wait, we cooled ourselves on sharing of anecdotes about our beloved President, and the beauty of his own anecdotes. Ofcourse, for those of you who havent gone through it till now, please visit The President of India.

Aint his lectures and speeches fascinating? With only one out of the 20+ comments I got being negative about his talks, I was eagerly awaiting his presence. Hidden amidst the powerful big men came a humble little man with ruptuous applause (that was more instructed than spontaneous). However, the sponteneity of the applause was in the duration. It reminded me of how popular he actually is. He had to turn around twice to get us to stop clapping and be seated.

After a short inaudible intro about the President, it was time for his speech. He dint disappoint, with his subtle humour and his purpose-filled talk. "I have prepared a presentation, but let me know if you dont like, I can talk about what you want" lightened up the atmosphere. He went on about the importance of Education, the the need of the present (Info-Nano-Bio technologies merger), the pillars of the future (Knowledge, Education, Healthcare, PURA Grids), and above all scientists and science and technology.

You could see a sense of gratitude in his voice when he referred to Vikram Sarabhai, Verghese Kurien and Homi Jehangir Baba, and pictures of these greats (with their accomplishments) were truly inspiring. One statement was very powerful indeed. He said "Technology has borders, but Science does not". Ofcourse, hardly a speech passes without one of his trademarked anecdotes. So here it was. He had the honour of presenting an award to a 92 year old Nobel laureate. During the ceremony, the Nobel winner not only thanked Abdul Kalam but also picked out persons in the 3rd, 4th and 6th rows to thank them individually for their researches and scientific contributions, saying that it was the collective effort that has made the earth a better place to live in. He emphasised that this "Scientific Magnanimity" is what should run in the veins of all scientists the world over.

He had the knack to tie the whole presentation (that he has meticulously prepared himself) to the purpose of his visit to the Univerisity (to sign MoU on Nanotechnology) and lead to his closure with its impact on scientific enhancements for the world.

Then followed a hilarious Q&A. The first question was quite straightforward, on the importance of Education towards India 2020 - his vision. The second question was from an Indian student doing his MS here (not so hilarious in itself, but tht he did his undergrad in IIT Delhi and grad studies in Stanford made every other Indian question his sanity). He was asking about what measures the President is taking to ensure there is no brain drain :P I thot it was he who has to make a decision whether to go back or not. The President said that 10-15% expats are normal and does not affect the brilliance of the country (man, am I proud :D:D:D) and that they are having a lot of R&D effort back home, if they are interested. The final question was the shocker. One communication engineering gal wanted to put her theory to the ultimate test by quizzing the President about how he is going to abolish the rampant Child Sex Tourism in India. He got the word Children alone at first, but taking note of the shock in the auditorium, and after 3-4 clarifications from the gal and the MC, he proceeded to stop his Advisors from shooing away the gal and asking for the next question. Even though it was ill advised of the gal considering this is not a debating forum but a question to the Head of State, he calmly said that "We need good citizens. Govt cant make good citizens. Women, Family and Education can only make good citizens. And once we get good citizens, these things will automatically cease to exist".

All in all, it was really a humbling experience to meet such a nice down to earth humane scholar of gigantic proportions. Even though I couldnt manage to ask a question, neither get an autograph (he only managed to sign for 2 before he was ushered away), I really felt it an honour to have him with us today. Today shall go down in history as the day - I almost fell down on his feet.

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All about aussies

2006-01-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

Been a while, but the pause had nothing to do with me being jobless :P Its more to do with my inherent laziness.

Yeah, the title...No no, its not about Camille in the Australian Open, even though she was definitely worth the camera time she got in the finals! I did follow a few matches in the Aus Open (after a long long time), and there were indeed a few stunning moments, capped by the brilliant rally during the Men's doubles finals. The take by Paes.. kinda made me forgive the atrocious almost comic facial expressions he showcased, in the pretext of passion. I was happy to see Hingis back, being one of the last classic champions! One look at Mauresmo, Williams and Davenport and u will understand what I mean! That she was lookin even more gracious was juz a plus! Federer's whine at the end of adding his 7th crown, which sadly I saw only in one of the replays, added a melodramatic touch.

Last week was quite hectic and it flew off like anything. I did have a surprise visit from my cousin from Sydney (athai ponnu). I dont think many people will be blessed with 7 athai ponnu and 2 mama ponnu, but alas fate intervened with their average age being 45 :P Only one of them is younger to me (way too young). Before I do another Federer, let me get back to topic. This cousin came along with her 11 yr old gal, who showcased so much of an aussie attitude that I was stunned beyond belief. She was way too self obsessed, shopaholic (not for toys or barbies), care-a-damn attitude, way too sensitive, suspicious rather than courtious, "i know everything i dun need u to tell me", artificial wide grin to a camera, too much fuss, and so on.

Dealing with 11 yr old Indian kids is totally different from dealing with 11 yr old Aus kids, and I got to realise it quite soon. I gave her a chocolate and her mom asked her to give me a piece. And when she refused I juz put on my most innocent face and asked her, "Thaa please". "You dont have to beg me like this, dont you have any shame" greeted me. A slap in the face would have been better and less shocking. I tried to reason it out. I realised the nonchalant attitude of the parents towards the child's reactions and the audacious comments being met with laughter might have something to do with it.

Children are capable of stunning you with umpteen questions and put u in embarassing situations, but the sweetness and innocence comes through. Not shock and bewilderment. I have been around with quite a few kids, but this one was quite a jolt. Children dont know the right and wrong and parents are responsible of showing them the right direction and the wrong things should be immediately stymied (by a glare, a raised voice, a caution or an advice). Giving them a free hand in everything may not be the best way.

Finally, a future aussie Filter is in town and gotta take him around. One adv of being jobless I guess :P That Visithra cudnt make it here is a bit sad and a bit fortituous, as I can roam about without worrying about bashings from behind :P

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Opportunity of a Lifetime !!!

2006-01-16T18:46:00.000-08:00

Well, opportunity knocks but once, and u just have to be at the right place and right time to grab hold of it. This is what knocked on my NTU inbox just a couple of minutes back.

Dear Deans of Schools/Institutions, Vice President/Directors of Offices,

Dr Abdul Kalam, the President of India, is scheduled to visit NTU on Thursday, 2 February 2006 between noon and 2.00 pm as part of his state visit to Singapore.

Dr Abdul Kalam will address our students at 1.00 pm at the lecture theatre, level 1, SBS Building. We wish to gather a total of about 300 students for the address.

And my dean says:

If you are interested in attending the following event – which is rare for the President of India to be here -- please let me know by today. This message was forwarded to me this morning, and I’m sorry for the short notice. SCI only has 10 seats. Since we are allocated 10 seats, I’ll just have to do it on a first come first serve basis. Let me know.

Well, what do I do..what do I do.. Summon all my typewriting skills and put it to the test to send my details across in the shortest possible time. Oh yeah, regarding right time and place, I just happened to open my webmail for sending some project-related email and there this is!!! And a total of 4 mins elapsed from the time of the mail to the time of my reply, thereby increasing my chances for attending the same, given that most of the undergrad will be sleeping at this hour(10.30am) and most of the masters students will be busy working to check their webmails now.

After this crazy few mins when my heart narrowly escaped unscathed, I forwarded this email to my masters colleagues, and hope some of them do make it!

I always wanted to be only in three professions, namely a bus conductor, a fighter pilot and an astronaut. The first went to the thrash once my huge collection of over 10000 bus tickets that I had accumulated were thrown to the bin after I came to Singapore (yeah, was there till my 12th). Next I wanted to become a fighter pilot (I dont know when, maybe from my 4th or 5th standard). I still get excited seeing a fighter plane and was on my way to serve the nation, even passing the NDA written exam, until I was diagnosed with my lifelong agony, aka color blindness. Though partial, I was to go nowhere near mettalurgy, chemical industry and ....aeronautics :( Why god why... Meanwhile I also wanted to become an astronaut (most astronauts are pilots and most of the early ones were fighter pilots, apart from being scientists). So, my dream was to become an astronaut, but for a person allergic to text books, I find it hard to fulfill that dream as well. I satisfy my desires by looking up at the night sky and wondering how it will be...

So naturally, it was a dream to meet the scientist/ researcher/ leader/ genius/ ISRO guy/ intellectual/ Vedic Scholar/ Visionary/ President of India! I have heard, read, revered him ever since I first heard about him. Followed his (partial?) autobiography in Kumudham or Vikatan, when it came out, to the hilt and can never stop admiring his personality, persona and grace. His love for science is only surpassed by his love for children. Looking forward to the opportunity of a lifetime, I do wish it materialises and I get to salute him first hand!

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Getting into the mood

2006-01-14T06:41:00.000-08:00

A very happy pongal to all of you. There is something called getting into the mood to do anything, but even after being 2 weeks here, I am juz not able to get going in my "usual" way. There is something amiss. Maybe its time I need some company (pun intended). But I am still gonna be my usual lazy self when it comes to blogging, but in the meantime have a look at the photos I took in KL and here. Sure shot worth a visit! Just a visit, anything more than that and u r treading on boring monotonous territory!

Part 1
Part 2

Btw, this is my post 143, and for those of you who get a blush on seeing the number, the best of luck cos I have heard of quite a few breakups in the last few months than in my entire life before that!

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Economics of a Stupid Game Show

2006-01-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

You can avoid the computer, you can even stay away from ur fone, nor chat with ur neighbours, nor visit your relatives and friends, but what u cant avoid when you are in India is the constant nuisance of the idiot box and the idiotic programmes that people are glued to. So much for my stay in Blore and Chennai for a week!

Ahalya (Perisu)
My dear bootham (Kutti)
Malargal (Perisu)
Manaivi (Perisu)
Muhurtham (Perisu)
Anandam (Perisu)
Kolangal (Perisu + J)
Selvi (Perisu)
Thanga Vettai (Kutti)
Sahana (Perisu)
Kalki (Perisu)

I think the last 5 years have reversed the roles in a way. I remember when I was a kid, I was being screamed at for sitting so close to the tv and watching news, educational (sshhh!) and sports channels. I even used to pull the remote from their hands if they tried to change channels. Now, I was the one trying to pull them away from the tv to watch the news, but I didnt get to watch even sun news or jaya news cos they pulled the remote from me :(

Anywayz, coming to the point, I was thinking about how such stupid shows survive. Especially a stupid game show where they give out 200 gms of gold every episode "challenging" participants to the post trivial stupid questions and giving blatant clues! This is what I found out.

Disclaimer: The following are the author's own viewpoint and conceptual figures are not based on actual facts. Any attempt by any of the named parties to contrieve against the author or disrupt the much-read publication (aka blog) for this attempt will lead to unwanted vulgarities and unprecedented bitching on the part of the author and his unnamed powerful aides. Sources close to the author are willing to go to any extent to protect him against legal, municipal and physical damage. The author feels the figures arrived at by the parties concerned might be even more shocking to the general public who waste their precious time watching the entertainers mentioned below. Please proceed on account that you will take it in the spirit it is meant!

Note: I am considering extreme figures for expenses and minimalistic figures for income sources.

Expenses

Gold per year: 200 gms/episode * 104 episodes * Rs 750/gm = Rs 1.56 Crores/year

Operational cost (Ramya Krishnan + show logistics) = Rs 1 crore/year.

Sun TV Screen time payment = Rs 50K/ sec/ year * 1800 sec = Rs 9 crores/year

Total Expenses: Rs 11.56 Crores.

Income sources

Time of actual show : approx. 15 mins
Time for advertisements = 15 mins = 900 seconds.

Heard from sources that chithi netted about Rs 1 lac per month for every second of advertising. Considering the show is run by the same production (Radaan), lets assume about Rs 1 lac per second of advertising for 3 months.

Advertising revenue = 900 sec * 1 lac/sec * (12 months/3 months adv block) = 36 crores!

Gross income = 36 - 11.56 = 24.44 crores
Tax (assuming honest payment of 40%) = 9.78 crores
Net Income = 14.66 crores/ year

This ideally translates to about 60-40 profit sharing between Radaan and SunTV as one would expect in a business dealing.

Is it really a stupid game show? Think again!

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Happy New Year!

2006-01-06T21:35:00.000-08:00

Belated Happy New Year to everyone! I just realised I havent had the time to really wish anyone on the new year itself, so hope all of you have a great time! Ensoy urself and make the best out of what this year offers u! I am hearing about a lot of health problems lately and wonder if its due to the high stress levels and lesser nutritious diet that we are subjecting ourselves to.

My apologies to the friends in Chennai, Bangalore and KL who I havent met during my visit there. I was sleeping in Bangalore, lying down in a bout of fever, cold, cough and nausea in Chennai, and was cabbing around in KL.

Feels so damn good to have a feel of a keyboard after a month. Will start visiting your sites shortly and I shud be back to my usual self quite soon.

My sincere apologies to all those (few?) people who missed me.

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Monthful Bliss - Part 4 (Malaysia truly asia - Selamat Datang! Hari Krismas!)

2006-01-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

One weird thing about travelling by train from Singapore to Malaysia is the midnight stop at the border where young or old, you need to get down and walk a mile to the emigration clearance and back. With paati along, and me wisely choosing the last compartment, had to walk an aweful lot. Her legs were already worn out in Singapore, as she had to walk quite a bit inside the tourist attractions. We travelled by Teksi from KL Sentral (train station) to our hotel in Jalan Raja Laut, trying to ignore the Malay discussion the teksi driver seriously had with us. But my parents were quite interested in the teksi driver's views, so I had to translate for them (What?????). I just let out whatever I knew about KL. My amma and paati's fears about escalators only grew as time passed, but it was mitigated as Singapore has lifts in most places. However, in KL, finding a lift in a shopping mall can be equivalent to finding an oasis in a desert.

If the KL's shopping complexes lack of lifts were a concern, the biggest problem of the whole journey occured inside them. With watches and clothes in abundance, the tiresome threesome were hunting for clothes for kids (paati's set of grandchildren). Having 8 kids and 13 grandchildren doesnt help. Everytime they calculated * 8 or *13 and my heart stopped! Luckily none of the selections materialised. Kota Raya was one of the hilarious ones. My paati found a piece of dress suitable in size for one of the kids, and I had a tough time explaining to her that it was meant for ladies. On the other end of the shop, appa selected one malay long shirt and said he was looking for himself. This repeated in numerous shops until I was vexed. Then when I took a break from gasping, my father was in heated mood. When I enquired, he was holding a piece of short sleeve T and asking the sales girl for the same for a 6 year old. Her eyes almost popped out. Sometimes, I forcefully had to drag them along to the exit. The sight of Petronas cooled them off a bit. I had to wait a crazy 2 hrs to get the tickets, but was colorful and with gorgeous people from around the world standing there, I had shall we say a pleasant wait. Not to mention I had packed off the rest of the adverture gang back home for some breakfast. With the touring party pretty fussy about their food choices, we spent the whole two days eating only in the three places I could find serving veges there... Saravana Bhavan and Annalakshmi.

I also took them to Batu Caves. I was surprised when I heard that there is a temple there. On reaching there and seeing a small set of about 300 steps, I thought it shud be a cake walk. It was exactly that (it slips, especially as it was a rainy season and it doesnt rain, it pours). The stairs were steep but it was quite enjoyable none the less. I admired the caves with an opening on top more than the religious feeling. Also, I saw the board "patthu malai murugan". Then I realised Patthu malai became Batu Caves in Bahaya Malayu. Long Live! Saw a glimpse of a 140 foot Murugan statue as well.

Tired but thoroughly enjoyable, the 9 days went off at a rapid pace. I wore a thick smile on my face, when I bid them good bye, as a 6 year wish finally had come true without any untoward happenings. Now finally, I can rest and get back to my hectic nomadic life yet again. Juz a little bit happier.

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Monthful Bliss - Part 3 (There is something about Singapore)

2006-01-04T20:44:00.000-08:00

Let me describe the incredible four who were present at Anna International Airport embarking on a 9-day journey of their lives. Except for one demented fella driven to the limits of sanity by their pre-journey enquiries and concerns, the three co-passengers were all new to travelling onboard. The chaos started much before, as there was a miscommunication and they booked for an afternoon Air India flight while I had booked for a night Indian Airlines. So, I had to change mine to an afternoon flight (afternoon flights are cheaper than night flights by Rs 5000 aam..juz an indication of whats gonna hit me!), so that I can travel 30 mins before them and land before as well. One of the main concerns of amma was on her technique to negotiate the stairway to hell aka escalator. Appa was confident about his abilities, and after an initial stutter was through. Amma had the technique, but was scared like hell. Paati trusted me, so after some initial coaxing everytime there is an escalator, she would go up. Trust me we made a mini traffic jam at every escalator for the whole week that followed!

So, once we were safely seated after the security check, I got a lump in my throat. A quickfire briefing on what to expect onboard followed. As expected, amma and paati had nothing to do with the food served onboard, even the peanuts, cos they found people enjoying a glass of wine and beer, as well as using their trained fork and knives on things amma has just seen on tv. On the other hand, I was agitated as my flight was delayed by about an hour, which meant the possibility that I will reach after them and they might get lost in the vast airport! Then I realised I hadnt given them my address and telephone number! So much for planning! Finally when I reached the airport, I rushed to their exit to find that their flight is also delayed. Vaazhga India! Valarga Indian kalacharam!
Not only that, the pilot parked at the wrong bay!

Finally I got to say "Welcome to Singapore" and usher them through the formalities. They werent as astounded as I was when I first saw the airport or the high rise buildings or the smooth roads. All they remarked was that everything was clean. Yeah right, more emotions people!!! We reached home just in time to grab something from a closing nearby Indian restaurant. So much for the welcome day I thought.

I showed them around all the tourist attractions in Singapore and my university, but whts more interesting is how they took to it. As I had predicted earlier, my dad was quite comfy and liked the place a lot. His first concern was on the allowed smoking spaces. He was just upset he couldnt see more things and roam about more freely cos of paati. Paati was eager to come along everywhere, but her 80 year old body and her weakened legs did not offer her much mobility. This meant I had to take them everywhere in cabs, which contrary to expectations, had an increase in my wallet. What else with ATM and Debit cards and accumulated bills? My paati saw a few "things" here and there, but to be relief, chose to ignore it. My mom, on the other hand, did not like much of what she saw in the people, their lifestyle, their "behaviour", their clothes and so on. She did like a few things which largely had to do with vegetables and birds and animals. This was another reason I took them in cab most of the time, even if paati wanted to go by bus and train. Just once, planned to perfection on Christmas day morning, when I know all the teens would either be at their parents or bf place, I took them in a bus and train. But it was a 30 min journey and my heart stopped a few times along the way (in every station intently analysing the boarding passengers for any cause of "concerns", like I have never done in my 7 yrs here). Ufff, was sure an experience! If any "concern" arose, I would stand in the way of their eyesight and start talking seriously about some topic that came off my lips. Once I even clapped above my head and said "mosquito" only to get the weird stares of everyone around :P And when I was sittin with them, I admired the intricate design and plating of the train floor, so that I neednt look them in the eye. After telling me about how they served wine and beer in the aircraft, the first thing my mom checked out was the fridge and lying there proud was a couple of half empty whiskey bottles. So much for her first impression about her "nice boy" living in "foreign". It followed an intermittent week long hushed enquiries about my drinking and eating habits, as well as reminding about a "girl back home". My amused smile on all this was conceived as dont care attitude and she was even more worried! Countless assurances later, she was just the same :P

I also took them for a brief 2 day tour of Kuala Lumpur and its pheriphery, but more about Visithra's territorial terrors later in the day....

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A Monthful Bliss - Part 2 (The Chennai Odyssey)

2006-01-04T08:08:00.000-08:00

I love travelling in trains. The blow of the whistle, the hustle buzzle of the station giving way to the "tadak tadak" chant slowly gaining in tempo, gently swaying its hips rocking those underneath to blissful sleep. The first time I travelled in Kaveri express from Chennai to Bangalore, I was all excited as I was about to see the gal of my life for the very first time. I enjoyed every second of the sleepless journey. This time around, I was in the same train bound the opposite direction, with the gal with me, looking intently into my eyes. elation, ecstasy, exhuberence, effervescence were all sleeping. Moonlight shone on her silhoutte, illuminating her crystal necklace, when yet another crystal formed in her eye and tumbled down her cheek to join the other beads around her neck. We talked through silence. The Chennai skies joined us in loud chorus and tears galore on our arrival. Thus I went home to be greeted by surprise screams and affectionate bashings. My nephew screamed in joy and rushed to my house to meet me. Smiles can be contagious and soon I was joining them.

I made elaborate plans in my mind to make full use of the 1 week. Called up a few friends who either wasnt reachable or promised to meet up which never materialised. With appa singing "tension tension tension mujhe loag bhole", it was what I would call one hectic week. Finally ended up doing nothing I had planned. But I enjoyed it to the hilt. The elder nephew dragged me into playing cricket (with a wooden bat and plastic ball) at the smallest excuse and I enjoyed the intensive battles for supremacy that followed. Meanwhile, the younger sibling had grown into a fully blown local dada, terrorising people wherever he goes with his acute sense of observation, his power of destruction being the talkin point of the town, what with his strongly built 1.5 yr body! The latest victim being a TV double his size and 10 times his weight being broken into pieces. Like a sincere uncle, I did my best to improve his "skills".

I have always been a fan of puls, but I never knew that I am making someone else jealous! Our computer mouse went on strike demanding its fair share of appreciation and I realised how much humans have become slaves to the mouse then. I tried to be heroic doing some things with my keyboard, but gave up when I tried connecting to the internet and browsing. So, that explains the absense of a blogpost nor email during that period.

Finally the day came when I could fulfill my 6-year old wish! I was accompanying my appa, amma and paati for a tour of Singapore and Malaysia! When in the airport, my elder nephew suddenly turned damn sad and enquired if he can come with us to Singapore. How I felt I could just drag him along. Singapore is a paradise for kids to visit! It was really tough for my father to try and explain that he needs a passport. When finally he realised what it takes, he asked me to buy him a hundi so that he was save money and come during the annual vacation. I did what I could, just lifted him and hugged him tight till his mom persuaded him to part ways with his uncle. With a heavy heart, we went inside Anna International Airport...

More info about Culture shock, Fish and Chips, and Showtime....check back later!

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A Monthful Bliss - Part 1 (Back to Bengaluru)

2006-01-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome back! Random Access is back in business after such a long delay. Im sure this post is gonna be quite huge considering I gotta cramp in one month of awesome experience. Anywayz, Bangalore went like a breeze except to say that the number of figs this time seemed quite less compared to last time. With gals resembling drums out in the open wearing the shortest possible tops, it looked more like the penguins I would get to see later. So much for bangalore bashing. I got sooperb home cooked food for most of the says thanks to J and Filter & Co. I was pleasantly surprised by Filter's masala dosai. Good prep for aussie voyage mite! Seems like aussie land will suit him just fine, for more than one reason! Thanks to him, I was able to do a lot of things, especially the tryst with my eternal passion called cricket. More about it in a short while...

Meanwhile, with the monsoon ravaging the city, seemed like all the blore babes were stuck indoors. So, I was engaged in morning pillow talks, afternoon siestas and evening naps. After romantic dinners in local Sagars to Forum to Aangan, that brushed past like a gentle breeze, followed a nightmare called kolangal. So much for thinking only oldies are into this serial crying business! But time whizzed past, and it was time to bid good bye...Needless to say, for the first time I went home a bit sad.

Filter made my day some days, and we roamed about a bit from his college to his house for a sumptuous lunch to the National Market which tests ur bargaining power juz like Palika Bazaar, Burma Bazaar, Pataling Street, whichever u r familiar with. With a handful of English DVDs tucked in, we came back home. My cricket obsession took a turn for the worse. Lifting the bat after 3 long years, I felt my past flutter in its colorful brilliance in the blaze of the rare afternoon sun. I proceeded to play a few shots and the ball flew to every corner of the net. Juz that only a few went after hitting the bat! The passion was there, but timing the technique comes with practice and I quickly realised I needed more time in the middle to meddle the ball. Alas, nature couldnt bear my pathetic stature and cried its heart out, thereby cutting short one of the memorable days. And wait, did I mention the gals in the Bangalore colleges (esp Jain) who thought the world of themselves. They werent the jaw dropping kind, but some of their attires were worth my sneer for sure. Also notable is my apparant lack of appreciation of the much hyped "aaha oho" food in Nandinis.

One of the highlights of the Bangalore visit was that I got to meet my friend Ramprasad after about 8 years. Dragged him to Coffee Day during his office hours for a short chat that went on for about 1.5 hrs! When will I realise that not all guys are as vetti as me? Coupled with accidental meetings with Ramprasad and Narayanan, it was quite a pleasant surprise in Bangalore for me! Btw, the city got renamed to Bengaluru.

River cruise, Nephew magic and missed dates will all be featured in the next episode...so hold on tight....

PS: for those lookin for pics, Im too lazy to upload now, will do so this weekend.

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Travelogue

2005-12-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

Hi hi hi hi all,

After a brief Malaysian sojourn, nothing like setting foot on my homeland! Extensive exclusive brief later this week, but its been fabulous so far. Im in the city of lakes now (for god's sake, its got only two lakes and they name it city of lakes...chennai got like wht.. porur, chemperambakkam) Maybe chennai shud be named city of rivers, with coovum and adyar rivers and the innumerable rivers running in the erstwhile streets. Damn am I eager to set foot there! 5 days in Blore will end in a week of bliss in Singara Chennai. Waiting to meet all ya guys soon. For all the lazy bums who havent bothered to contact me or leave their contact nos, do so RIGHT NOW (love the Van Halen song, but dont mistake me for a Peter). It was nice meeting Filter and Ferrari and exchanging some high rev thot exchanges. Apart from a Ferrari helmet, nothing to suggest hes a hardened fan, though a coupla Schumi references and the smallest bottle of vodka (even the sprite bottle was bigger) I have seen so far cooled me down a bit. Atleast it was a Smirnoff :P

Thaai Mannae Vanakkam!!!

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Mismatch and Miss Match - Its all in the game!

2005-12-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes its hard to make the right decision..and even worse is communicating the decision. I have been flummoxed with hard times, stressing myself to my limits and beyond at times. In a way, the job I am in has let me know how much I can take it. In other ways, it has really made me lose everything else I had (aka time). I am not the freakout guy whoz missing the bar hops, but the normal guy who needs his quota of 4 hrs sleep. And when I look back, the number of days in the last 4 months when I have enjoyed this simple pleasure tends to zero.

Stress leads to friction, which converts into heat and burns a few people's hearts. The more the stress, the more the impact on people. A spark somewhere in the world creates a World War. Likewise, you know you dont belong when you get a letter from your director asking you to come to office on the day of your exam. The last 20 days was spent in working out a nice way out and today, I am relieved.

A lot of people always think I have lost out on better deals, but even in the above scenario, I have won. I made a smart move to coax the company to relieve me, instead of submitting my resignation letter, so that I can still get something. Oh btw, let me officially announce the biggest news :D:D:D

I AM FLYING TO INDIA FOR A VACATION !!!

Wow, looks so great to finally have that smile on my face! I havent had time to even think about it, nor cherish the last few days here. I have to pack and buy stuff as well. OK, the route seems to be a bit circuitous. Following a Malaysian trip (company work - yeah I know!), I will be landing in the "Silicon Valley" to a rousing welcome by Filter, followed by the endearment and home food cooked none other than J. Hopefully can also get to stroke my bat a bit (cricket bat for the uninitiated losers). Once I am done with the Valley, I am going to the River, aka Chennai. Brings a smile to my face just typing that word. Hope it still remains when I land there! A week long escapade will result in my 6 year wish. Getting my parents to Singapore for a visit. Only one thing is my mind now when I think of that. Culture Shock! With my grandmother planning to visit, it might just be a psyching out-of-the-world experience for her! But I cant decide if its her or her daughter whos going to be perplexed more :)

Anywayz, lotsa enjoyment followed my lotsa expenditure this month. So getting prepared for a really wild ride through time!

I would juz love to meet up with all u ppl when Im there. So, if u r in Chennai or Blore, do mail me ur contact no! Gonna miss a few dear friends out here who aint in those two cities, so a heartfelt sorry for u, but frankly, I am in the holiday mood now, so yeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I will try to update once in a few days, so it wont be all high and dry in this blog! Will keep u updated with an NRI perspective of the resurgent India! (sounds more like a MBA talk huh?). To all the bloggers out there who drop in here, Adios!

Signing off to a Bon Voyage with a Bon Crete :P

Meanwhile, keep praying for this poor soul who is destined by fate to fly Indian Airlines.. *gulp*. You can refer to Dinx's blog for an obituary if you dont find any post here for a whole month :P

Wishing all u fellow bloggers whose birthday falls in December, a very Happy Birthday !!! (seems like self appraisal, but anywayz). Especially Visithra, who strenuously keeps track and wishes all her fellow bloggers!

Gonna miss u guys!

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Join me in Welcoming...

2005-11-26T17:46:00.000-08:00

This is the most hilarious phrase that I have found in emails in my new company...(old company, but new company ma...) I love reading the emails which are ditto copy pasted and just altered. Heard the original was sent my the CEO 13 yrs back, and given the "respect" for "command" here, I am not surprised the format has hardly changed! More about my new adventure in the acquisition venture soon...

OK, Now for the new additions to my coveted (:P) right hand side...

Caught me unawares and instigated my lazy soul to write this post after considerable delay, introducing the bold and the beautiful Witchy Angel. Whether the above description is pun or not, it sure is fun to raft through her spicy adventures while tickling your heart with sentis now and then. Masala padam, but a lot more entertaining!

Next in line is Mr. I have been all over India but never abroad. Soon to hear the words "Welcome aboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ 409" and yell his heart out, his recollections of his voyages bears little semblence of his build. But as they say, if u have the stuff where it matters (in his case, on the cricket field), nothing else matters!

Lastly, Ms. Vernacular, travelling her own bit inside south india, fluent in all the languages (means no one can spur a slang onto her and get away without her returning the "greeting", so be careful). Soft and gentle, it requires great temperment to get along with so many diverse ppl like she does...

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Perception of Life

2005-11-24T07:09:00.000-08:00

Mathematical view
If life is an ECG and time is its X axis, wont our happiness resemble the curve it plots?

If you are in love, and y axis denotes the amount of happiness AND pain in your life's timeline denoted by x axis, life will trace e power x,always asymptotic to the limit that is parallel to the y axis!

Scientific view
Life has a standard formula for everyone. Its either we accept it or we dont.

Physics analogy
If you increase the volume of a closed container, the pressure will increase and it will burst out. If you put a hole, it will ooze out and lessen the pressure. At what depth you put the hole depends on the depth of the relationship.

Philosophical view
Science is what you think you know. Philosophy is what you think you dont know. But its often the other way around!

Chemical view
There is only an ionic bonding or covalent bonding between people isnt it? Ionic bonding leads to high energy of interactions, but its easy to break. Covalent bonding leads to more stable structures and is much harder to break. We have been made up of innumerous covalent bonds. Nowadays ironically, people ignore it!

Political view
Very less people see life as the means of bringing happiness to others. The rest just curse it till they die.

Social view
Lives, like people, come in different forms. You have to accept the difference and provide for it. Some say they are satisfied with how things are, but no one is ever contented.

Poetic view
Some have huge content
Others have subtle intent
People try to view the sky from a small tent
Life is juz your understanding to whatever extent!

Cosmological view
You always strive to find whats out there and whats inside, and there is no end for both.

Biological View
There are so many things in this life that most people choose to conveniently ignore it and only see superfically. It will be really humoungous if your entire life is viewed under the microscope!

There is birth and there is death. Its all about whats inbetween!

Statistical view
You are a coin tossed around by life innumerable times having happy and sad faces, but at the end of it, when you look at it, its 50-50

Judicial view
Think a lot of times, get a lot of adjournments before you decide. The decisions you make shape or destroy your and others' lives!

Practical view
Live life as it comes till it goes!

My view
When you are sick, you get more philosophical than usual.

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