Mind Speaks Aloud

Easter 2008 - Day 1

2008-03-25T20:00:00.019Z

In front of the Cottage

The Cottage - Rear View

The cottage we stayed was on top of a hill kinda area. It had 5 bedrooms - three in the first floor and 2 in the second floor (loft conversions). We stayed in one of the two rooms on the second floor.The ground floor has a patio and 2 reception rooms and a large kitchen and dining area. Outside the house, there was a large caravan permanently fixed.This was more or less not usable, but it gave us a chance to have a look at how a carvan would be from inside. The cottage had large space by the side and the backyard had a view of the entire town that was at the foot of the hill. It was a very calm area. Thank god there were no house nearby at all.We would otherwise have been served ASBO orders for being such a noisy neighbour.

Our Room

Inside the Caravan

Piano Inside the Cottage

The Kitchen

Dining Area

With just around 2-3 hrs of sleep, woke up and quickly gobbled the sandwich that Preethi had made and a fantastic tea.

With our initial plans going for a toss, we wanted to make sure the next one doesnt, so started our trip to the Skandavale temple in Carmarthen. It was a little more than an hour's drive from where we were. The ride passed through lots of villages and the last 5 miles was the most exciting as it was not a pukka road and it was a single track which we need to share with the on coming traffic also.

After a nice drive reached the temple on time for the pooja. The pooja was for a good 2 hr plus and we were in for a pleasent surprise as all the poojas were done by the locals (The welsh). It was so nice to hear them sing bhajans and they were taking intricate care in every aspect of the pooja. The different 'Abhishekams' and the 'Alangarams' were done to the tee. Naresh's cousin, Srikanth joined us here.The pooja got over around 12:00 we were told that the lunch would be served only after the Lord Murugan pooja at 1:30 PM. To kill time, we had some wonderful teplas that Hethal had brought for Montu as he had special dietary restrictions and we took a small trek to the Maha shakthi temple at the top. It was a good 20 mins climb and the passage was very scenic. On the top there were some animals that were brought up by the Ashram. We took some photos on the top and started the decent for us to attend the Murugan pooja. The Murugan pooja also was done by the monks. At the end of the pooja, we were given a fantastic lunch as prasadam. We had our stomach full of the lunch and shortly after, started our way back home.

Lord Ranganathan

Lord Shiva

Lord Murugan

Cows in the temple

After a drive home, we had a refreshing glass of cofee and to kill time till the other group come home, we saw the "Pink Panther". What a hillarious movie it was.. Once all the group was back, had a good round of fun and dance. After which, watched Oceans 11 on DVD. Kamal had made lovely Mutter paneer for dinner and we had it with a sumtuous quantity of Paratas.

Post Dinner had another round of dancing and off we were to the bedroom..
zzzzz....

Easter 2008 Weekend - Day 0

2008-03-25T19:45:00.004Z

After my Easter trip to wales last year as a single, decided that this Easter, it has to be wales too..This time though was not single. I had my sweet wife with me..So its kinda special this time :-)

As the post lunch period..started feeling the excitement awake..Had Yash and Preethi come over to Staines to do some shopping. The plan was to pick them up on my way back from work. Ladies are ladies, they had done close to 2 hours of shopping and their shopping bags at the end was not very impressive enough to tell a tale of a mega shopping session.

A quick zip to home and found that a bit of packing was yet to be done. When the packing was all over, the clock was showing 07:10 PM. We were scheduled to meet up at Naresh's place at 07:30 and start off right away. Now i had two jobs yet to be done - Leave Yash back at the Hotel and buy some last minute groceries..Had Preethi to do the grocery and the me do the dropping job. So after the last minute tensions and screamings, reached Naresh's house only to see that things were no where near to hitting the road. The plans had changed by then and now we had a round of dinner and loading of the baggages before we hit the road at around 9:30 PM.

When we started, the news about the M4 was already haunting us. But we had no choice but to take it by the horns if it does..As we took the slip road into the motorway, things were looking alright. Our first sigh of relief..Was praying that this continues further..Our prayers were answered..Surprisingly, for the entire stretch till we hit our destination, queuing never affected us. We were zipping through the motorway without any problems.

Missed seeing the wonderful sight as we passed the tolled bridge into Wales. Decided that we should cross this bridge on our way back in broad daylight. At last got into Pembroke area, where our cottage was, around 03:00 AM. We were longing to have a quick sleep and start again to the temple for the early morning pooja. Finally our tom tom showed us the cottage based on the postcode. We were making huge noise as we were to start unloading the stuffs from the boot. A sleepy face appeared from one of the windows of the cottage. After a few minutes, a man opened the door of the cottage and only then did we realise that we had been taken for a ride (just less than 1/2 a mile extra) by tomtom. The cottage we were to stay was around less than 1/2 a mile away and since it was an area full of big farm houses, they all shared the same post code. What a learning at the wee hours of the day.

Took a left turn on the main road and now finally reached the right cottage. Now our next task was to find the key to the cottage. It was like a treasure hunt session at early morning time when all of us were already half asleep. After a good long time searching for the key using the hints given, we finally found it. The time was already close to 4 AM and we were not sure if we would be able to attend the early morning pooja on time. We decided that we shall take a quick nap and attend the 9 Am pooja instead. We had our round of pondering with the different equipments in the household. All was set except finding where the switch for the central heating was. After a good hour of experimenting with different possibilities, we decided that enough was enough and its high time we go to bed.

Moved our bags to our room and before i could realise, i had crashed in the bed and was straight to a tight sleep.

zzzzzzzz...

My Big fat Wedding - Part 3

2007-11-30T08:49:00.000Z

Grahapravesam

Preethi & me flew from Coimbatore to Chennai on the afternoon of 2nd Nov accompanied by my parents and her parents. Coimbatore airport was far smaller compared to the Chennai domestic terminal. But was maintained quite well. The flight was very comfortable. The journey was close to 1 hr. On reaching my home, we were taken aarthi again. Once taken inside the house, we were give milk & banana combination.

Aarthi on arrival @ Chennai

Paalum Pazhamum

Lighting of the lamp

Preethi was taken then to the pooja room and asked to light the lamp. We were then served lunch and we relaxed for sometime.

Chennai Reception

The reception in chennai was in the evening on the 3rd of November. Preethi had a bit of straightening done to her hair during the noon. Got dressed around 5ish in the evening and off we started to the Reception hall around 2 Miles away from our house. I was dressed in a rich looking Sherwani specially stitched for the occasion and Preethi was dresses in a gorgeous looking pink Lehenga to match it. We had a fantastic turnaround for the reception and hall was fully packed with people. That gave us virtually no time to sit for around 3-4 hrs. More of flashlights more greeting more smiling at cameras.

Ganesha made of Ice

We were dead tired in the night and all iredness just vanished when we entered our house. We then were chatting for another 2-3 hrs with our relatives who were in the house.Felt a sense of floating on thin air when we crashed.

My Big fat Wedding - Part 2

2007-11-30T08:48:00.000Z

After a tiring day full of events on the 31st Oct,wanted to just crash and sleep like a log.But before i could remember going to sleep i was woken up by the loud sound of people talking and my father was just about to wake me up. My wedding muhurtham was at 7
am in the morning. So was woken up at 4.30 AM to get ready for the rituals that need to be done before. Quickly took a shower (Mangala snanam) and i was helped by the priest to tie the traditional Panjakatcham.Its one of the most complicated piece of dressing perfected by very few.I was also told to change my sacred thread and this time given 2 sets to wear (usually brahmacahri wears 1 set and grahasta wears 2 sets) may be signifying i am all set to be a Grahasta??

Kasi Yatra

After getting dresses in panjakatcham and wearing an Angavastram (one to cover the top portion so that now you are now semi topless) got ready for the Kasi yatra ritual.This is just a small non vedic ritual.It often brings a sense of entertainment to the marriage process. I was given a bamboo fan to carry, an umbrella, a book (I think it was Gita) , wear new slippers and also a small bundle. I was garlanded by my Uncle. A heavy dose of Kajal was applied to my eyes and parts of my face (thanks to Preethi's mom).

The ritual goes like this - Better sense prevails and the the groom decides to give up all the earthly pleasures to go to Kasi in pursuit of more knowledge. The uncle of the groom holds the umbrella for him. The usual convention is that after a few yards of the walk, the bride's father meets him, gives him a coconut and tells him that he is knowledgeable enough and asks him to change his mind and give up his trip to Kasi (Kasi Yatra) and in return he promises to give his daughter in marriage to him. He accepts the same and is then brought back to the venue where the bride garlands him.

Maalai Mattal

Once the Kasi yatra is over, the bride and groom are bought into the mandapam campus and they are supposed to exchange garlands 3 times. Before commencement of this ritual it is noted that both the bride and groom wear 3 sets of special garland(called Mattu Malai) apart from the normal garlands. What is special in this is that the garland is not in the usual shape but in the form of an inverted "U" put around the neck.

This ritual is full of fun and frolic. During the exchange of the garland, the bride is lifted up by her maternal uncles and the groom by his maternal uncles and one after another the garlands are exchanged. When the bride tries to garland the groom either he is moved away or lifted much higher so as to make it difficult for her to garland him. The bride's party also tries to move the bride in critical time so that the groom has to try hard too to garland her. This ritual was done to relieve the tension surrounding the bride and the groom. Bride gets comfortable with the groom as she is entering a new life with a stranger.

It was of less relevance to us as we had known each other well before the wedding but yes,it did add fun to the wedding.

Oonjal and Patchai podi

This is another very interesting ritual.The bride keeps her fingers folded in to the palm in a conical form and the groom holds her hand.The groom leads the bride in front of the swing (Oonchal) and are made to sit in it. The swing represents the ups and downs of life. Then elderly women from both sides sprinkle milk on the feet of the groom and bride one by one and wipe their feet with the edges of their silk sari. They then wave coloured rice balls (red and yellow) all round them in a circular motion and throw them in different directions. This is meant to ward off evil from the groom and bride. After this they give a mixture of milk and banana to the bride and groom. I think the scientific reason for this is that the bride and groom are supposed to observe a fast on this important day until the solemnization of the wedding.This can be quite long (spanning many hours together).The milk and plantain combination has enough energy to keep them going without getting hungry.

Once this is over few elderly ladies of the household and the mothers of bride and groom with grooms paternal aunt and maternal uncle's wives of both bride and groom go around the swing with lamps.

The bride and the groom are then taken to the venue of the marriage.

All the above rituals are purely a entertainment aspect to get the tempo set for the vedic rituals that would be starting next. Neither of the above are part of the vedic rituals for the marriage. Now we get into the serious portion of the wedding proceedings.

Initiation of the Vedic Rituals

The vedic rituals are initiated with the "Vara Poojai".In this, the father of the bride welcomes the grooma and washes the feet of the groom.This is because, as per the vedic practices, the groom is presumed to be a swaroopa of the Lord Mahavishnu.Then is the Vigneshwara Poojai. This is to pray to lord Ganesha to help him finish all the rituals without any problems.

Kanya Dhanam

This is one of the significant rituals in the marriage. In this ritual the father of the bride gifts his daughter to the groom. The bride would be sitting on the lap of her father.The brides mother would be standing on his right side.The bride holds a coconut and betel leaves etc in her palm supported below by her father's palm. The groom stands facing her with joined palms ready to take possession of her palm (of course with the coconut..).While the bride's palms are being transferred, the bride's mother should keep on pouring water over her daughter's hand.This is called Dharai Varthu Kodukkal.Gently the bride's palms are transferred to the groom's hand. This ritual symbolizes the transfer of ownership (and all associated troubles) of the bride to the groom.

Please note, this is one point of high emotions and you may notice some bit of emotional crying. Was very surprised why Preethi did not weep(may did not realise the significance of this event).

After this ritual there are a host of other rituals that aims at complete transfer of power and in praying different gods for the purification of the bride before the marriage happens.

The bride is at this point gifted an Saree (called the koora podavai).She is to change into this for the next ritual.

Mangalya Dharanam

This again is a ritual that is of paramount importance. This where the sacred yellow string that binds the groom and bride is tied to the bride.The sacred string has 2 pieces of gold arranged in it called as Thirumangalyam. One of it would have been given to her by her father and the other from the grooms side. The shape and the characters etched on it (like Shiva lingam or Goddess Meenakshi) differs from family to family. For this reason the gold to be melted for making the mangalya is done on an auspicious day well before the marriage by the goldsmith. Before being tied it is circulated among the audience for their blessing and good wishes. The bride is made to sit on the lap of her father with her mother by his side.The groom ties the mangalyam round the neck of the bride. What is to be noted is that he ties only the first knot. Rest of the two knots are put by his sister.Don't know the reason behind.

At this point the groom is supposed to recite a prayer as he is tying the knot.This is quite famous and has been shown in different tunes in almost all the Indian movies (including the westernized version by A.R.Rehman). The meaning of the prayer is:
"This string is holy and giver of good things in life. It also is going to elevate my life. Hey, beautiful maiden, I am tying this around your neck and pray that you would live for hundred years."

Preethi did not dissapoint me here. She made a very prominent crying that spread to all her family members on and off the stage. I think the only person in her family who did not weep at this point was my FIL. He was rather very happy about which is the way it should be.

After the Mangalya Dharanam is over, the elders shower flowers and yellow coloured rice on the groom and bride. It is also common nowadays to congratulate the bride's parents and groom's parents after this ritual.

For the general public at the mandapam. This marks the end of the marriage rituals. You will find people moving out of the hall (mostly towards the dining hall). But for the bride and groom,its just the start and there are many more rituals before they are formally declared man and wife.

The new sister in law of the bride (Nisha in our case) puts on 2 toe ring each on the left and right leg.This is one more important ornament a married girl is said to wear apart from her mangalyam.

Pani Grihanam

In this ritual, the groom hold the hand of the bride and goes round the fire. Normally the bride folds fingers her right hand fingers into a conical form upwards and the groom holds it in his hand folded downwards by surrounding all her fingers.This is similar to the way they hold hands during the oonjal ritual.

Saptha Padhi

This is again is a very important ritual. According to Vedas, once this is over the bride and groom become wife and husband. This ritual consists of the groom taking the right foot of the bride in his left hand and making her take seven steps.

The following prayers are recited: -
First Step:
Let God MahaVishnu who is spread through out the world, Give you food in plenty
Second step:
Let Him come with you for a second step and give you sufficient strength
Third step:
Let Him come with you for a third step to make you observe all religious rituals.
Fourth step:
Let Him come along with you for the fourth step to give you pleasures
Fifth step:
Let Him be with you when you take the fifth step to give you lot of wealth (cow)
Sixth step:
Let Him lead you the six stages of life with happiness and welfare
Seventh step:
Let him help you in performing Soma Yaga and other prayers when you take the seventh step

Ammi Midhikkal & Pori Poodal

After the above the husband and wife go around the fire and go to a Ammi kal (a flat stone).The husband holds the thumb of the right leg of the wife by his left hand and places it on a stone and recites some prayer. Then they go back to the place they were seated before and take their seat.

The husband and wife then offer a handful of puffed rice(pori) with the help of the brother of the wife (Rajesh in my case) to the fire (Agni). Then they circle the fire and repeat this ritual 3 times.

There are a host of other smaller rituals which i don't remember. But what i remember was that my eyes were full of tears - not because i was emotional like Preethi but because of the smoke.You will need to put up with close proximity of smoke for around 2-3 hrs.

Aseervadam

This ritual is to get the blessings of all the elders present.The groom spreads his Uttariyam (Angavastaram) over his shoulders and his wife stands by his side. The elders in the gathering throw Akshathai(yellow coloured rice) at the couple with Vedic chanting asking the almighty to give the newly wed good things in life. All these would be collected in the Uttariyam. Once this is over the husband and wife do namaskarams to all the elders who stand together (During older ages it used to be one by one).

This is the stage when the newly wed are allowed to shake hands and accept gifts from friends and relatives.

After this an Arathi is taken. Arathi is nothing but water with turmeric and chunnanbu (lime) mixed in a plate and waved in a circular fashion by one female representative of the groom's side and the other from the brides side, along with a suitable song. The groom puts two coins as gift to these relatives.

Palum Pazhamum

After the above ritual, the wife and husband visit first the husband's house and then the wife's house.In these houses the female relatives gather and give the husband and wife a spoon each of banana pieces put in milk (The energy food). If the husband is from another town (as in my case) the newly wed are taken to one of the rooms allotted to the groom's party and the husband's relatives give Palum pazhamum there. Then they are taken to the room alloted to the bride's party or the bride's house.

Both of us were already feeling hungry and we were looking for the first chance to hog some food.

My Big fat Wedding - Part 1

2007-11-27T18:45:00.000Z

For those who know and don't know the fact.. I am please to announce that i am married to Preethi.

A typical Hindu-Palghat Iyer wedding last around 2-3 days depending on how detailed you want to have it. I was told that in the olden days, it used to be a 4 day affair. Mine thankfully was just 2 days.

Thought i would use this as an excuse to ponder over those "gruelling-but-yet-full-of-fun" days. Would double up for the readers to get an insight into the Hindu-Palghat Iyer wedding. I've titled each ritual for a better understanding.

Yatra Dhanam

Our Marriages always take place in the bride's place of residence. In my case, I live in a city called Chennai and Preethi's hometown was Coimbatore and so there is a need for me and my family members (inclusive of Uncles,Aunts,Cousins etc) to travel to the bride's place. This being the case, a customary ritual called Vigneswara Pooja (Prayer done to Lord Ganesha) is performed and dhanam (Gift) is given to priest to ward of evils. Apart from this it is also customary to break a coconut enroute at the start of the journey at a nearby temple to ward of evil eye. Also a small pack containing some rice and dal is given to the groom to symbolise means to eat enroute the travel.

The priest arrived spot on time at 5 PM and the ritual got over by 5.30 PM. That gave us the time required to do a final check of our luggages.

The start of the journey

Off we start on the train to Coimbatore (CBE) from Chennai Central station, a party of 40 odd people. The train started on time. Being at the recieving end this time, i wasn't spared a bit and was subject to in-human verbal torture (read as pulling legs and cracking jokes on me) by the party (Varsha & Yash in particular). Since most of the compartment was filled with our people, fun and frolic were at the peak and we would have had hardly around 2-3 hrs of sleep at the maximum.

Train reached CBE in the early hours of the morning and we were received by Preethi's Uncles and off we went to the wedding hall.

Receiving of the groom's party

In the past this used to be an important custom (well it used to be receiving the groom's party at the village boundary those times..Mine was done at the entrace of the Wedding hall where we were to stay for rest of the 2 days of marraige). Preethi's parents received us with Coconuts and Nadaswaram. Arthi was taken for me and i was garlanded by Rajesh, Preethi's brother. Looked like a goat ready for sacrificial slaughter ;-). We were then lead to our respective rooms in the Mandapam.

Receiving the groom..

In any palghat Iyer wedding, apart from the bride and the groom and their respective parents, the bride’s brother and bridegroom’s sister (Nathanar) play an important role as also the paternal aunts (Athai) and the maternal uncles (Maama) and their wives (Maami).

Oh i missed the object of interest (ok i am not talking about those coconut, flowers and Thamboolam)- the two conical structures called " Paruppu Thengai Kutty". These have a kind of sweet made of Paruppu(dal),Thengai(Coconut) & jaggery (u thought i would say kutty). Well, These nowadays need not be strictly made of dal.Dal nowadays can be replaced by Cashew and other similar things.

The Paruppu Thengai Kutty..

One good thing about the Paruppu Thangai Kutty is that these are offered not just once but many a times during the course of the wedding.

Similarly, the Nadaswaram (kinda wind instrument) is played throughout the wedding with short breaks. Heard somewhere that the purpose of this is to prevent ill words from being heard in the hall. Wedding hall is one place where so many people meet each other and this offers a very fertile grounds for gossips and bad mouthing ;-).One thing you observe in any south Indian wedding is the showcasing of rich brocaded silk sarees and elaborate jewelery worn by the womenfolk.The latest designs both in sarees and jewellery are on show there.

So we were finally put into our respective rooms. They would not let the groom stay alone lest better sense prevails and he decides at the last moment to run away from the life long prison he is about to enter :-).So was put up in a very big room with 3 others.

The mandapam where our wedding took place was quite a spacious and famous one in Coimbatore.

Nandhi

Was asked to quickly take a shower and come to the main hall in building (where all rituals are done).So here i was wearing the traditional Veshti (its kinda topless for starters). Well wasnt much embarassed as i have got used to this for quite sometime and moreover i am not alone on the stage (got my father for company dressed the same way)
Nandhi is a ritual performed to get the blessings of the forefathers before any important ritual like wedding.

Pleasing in progress..

Nandhi in Sanskrit means the beginning, so with Nandhi begins the actual rituals for the functions. Usually during the Nandhi before the marriage, priests are given rice and vegetables and dakshina. In our wedding a series of plantain leaves containing rice, thamboolam, dals, pazham etc were kept and priests were seated opposite each plantain leaf. Each priest was then offered the contents of the leaf along with dakshina.

Vritham & Kappu Kettal.

Folowing the Nandhi, the Vritham ritual was initiated. The background for this ritual is that the groom takes the permission from his Guru (his father) to end his life as a bramachari (bachelor) and take up a new life as Grahasta (married man).As per the ancient literature, a Brahmachari is supposed to life a ascetic life. The groom is made to do all the essential duties of a brahmachari (so as to give a crash course on these kind of stuff).

My side of the Vritham

A similar kind of thing happens at the bride side too. But this is not as elaborate as the one done at the groom's side. At the end of this a Rakshai or Kappu in the form of a sacred string is tied in the wrist of the bride and groom after reciting Vedic manthras to protect them from all evil spirits. After trying the Kaapu, we are no allowed to move out of the wedding hall.

Preethi's side of Vritham

Paaligai

This ritual consists of sowing germinated seeds of nine kinds of pre-soaked cereals in 5 small mud pots by married women (called Sumangalis) relatives of the groom and the bride. They first sow the germinated seeds and pour milk with water over it and pray for long happy married life for the couple as well as several children to brighten their homes (now you know why India is densely populated).These pots are watered for 3 days by which it would have sprouted, which indicates good progeny for the family.These sprouts are later immersed in well.

Seeding the growth of the family

That was the end of the ceremonies for the morning.

We had our breakfast (a pretty late one as we are not supposed to eat anything till this ritual gets over) after the Vritham and had a short break during the noon. Was busy co-ordinating the transportation for receiving other relatives and friends arriving for the occasion.

During the break in between

Nischayathartham

Was again hurried at around 4 PM to get ready for the Nischayathartham.Its the final sealing of MOU between both the parties that all is set for the wedding. The ritual starts with a preliminary Ganapathi Pooja followed by Preethi's parents inviting my parents and announcing the final agreement that they are willing to give their daughter in marriage to me. Me and my parents are left with the only option of accepting the proposal :-).

It is customary for the bride to receive a silk Saree from the groom's parent and to change into that saree. It is also customary for the groom's sister to gift the bride some articles for washing and make up, a saree as well as two dolls during this occasion. This called Vilaiyadal things. Similarly, the groom is gifted a suit.In this function elders from both families meet each other and bless the groom and the bride for a happy future.

MOU signed..

Reception

With a short break. Had to again get ready for the reception for the guests in the evening . Preethi and me were on stage by 6 PM when the guests were slowly beginning to arrive. It is customary that you have a reception either in the evening prior to marriage or the evening after the marriage. Though some old timers would prefer the latter, the former arrangement is what is practiced more in the recent times to save on the time. This is more to do with the
current social trend as some of the friends and relatives may not be able to attend the muhurtham time on the day of the marriage.It gives them a chance to meet the bride and groom in leisure and handover their wedding gifts if any.The mood is a bit casual too.

Dressed to kill??

I was dressed in a western outfit in a bluish-black suit with very thin stripes on it and a cream coloured formal shirt. Preethi was dressed in Indian attire on a stylish looking red saree with some minor curls done to her hair.

Laughter before the wedding

First time with so much of flash lights on you fired continuously for 3-4 hrs..Standing for long hours and sticking a permanent smile on your face..God..It can make you feel very tired...

Thats exactly what happened when i crashed on the bed that night.

Postal Strike..The Havoc

2007-10-09T21:06:00.000+01:00

What a week it was with the postal strike on. I am not going into any details if the demands of the Royal Mail postal employees are valid or not. But what the union leaders out there don’t know is how much of an impact this causes to the people out there (which might include the families of the striking employees too). The employees of the CMU union constitute a whopping 2/3rd of the Royal mail work force i am told. So the strike in turn puts additional load on the other 1/3rd of their colleagues.

The strike though against the management of Royal mail affects people no where in their Radar. There are so many people out there relying on their monthly pension cheques. Appointments with the GPs and PCTs for critical tests are affected, as the appointment letter is not going to come on time. The Prescriptions posted to elderly are gonna be lying in the mail center. These are the people who are going to affect not necessarily the Royal Mail bosses or the government. A day of token strike is understandable. But a series of strikes concurrently is atrocious.

Now, the big question. How has the strike helped the workers? In the end, they have lost a few days’ pay. They now have a large backlog that they need to clear once they resume work. Royal mail has lost millions in revenue, which is going to affect the bottom-line making the job cuts all the more inevitable. Now that its hit hard on the face, small businesses are going to seek alternative mailing routes there by causing more danger to the postal workers.

Moreover, people have started considering the electronic options all the more as there is no strikes to fear and its cheaper.

Shot On N95

2007-10-04T18:49:00.000+01:00

It was time for me to go for a new mobile and being a bit of a gizmo freak, could not settle for an IPhone :-). So got hold of an N95. Anyday N95 was a better phone compared to the iPhone.

One of the important parameter that drifted the N95 far better than the iPhone was the 5 MP camera. So decided to put it to test on low light and some on a dawn lighting.

See below some of the shots taken on a casual walk to work. As the saying goes.. A picture is worth a 1000 words...

Sainsbury's Petrol Station on dim light

River Thames

Town Hall

High Street

Farewell.Miss Moneypenny

2007-10-01T19:32:00.000+01:00

Saddened to know that actress Lois Maxwell, who played the original Miss.Moneypenny character in most of the 007 series died of Cancer in Australia.

She was 80 when she died. Though not a lead role, she was definitely an asset to all of the 007 movies she acted.

Her stinct with the bond movies (14 of them) started alongside Sir Sean Connery in 1962's Dr. No and continued in the part through 1985's A View To a Kill, the last with Sir Roger Moore.

The other character i adore is the Mr Q, who invents the gizmos for James Bond.

More can be seen here

IPhone in UK - Steve Jobs laughs aloud

2007-09-28T19:28:00.000+01:00

So finally the cat is out of the bag. The deal for releasing iPhone in the UK is won by 02 (http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone).They seem to be all gaga over it.
End of this deal..its steve jobs who is laughing his way to the bank. As per the arraingements between Apple and 02, Apple is to be provided apart from the phone cost, a revenue sharing of 10% when a o2 contarct is taken with iPhone and a whopping 40% when a customer switches to o2 from other operators for iphone.
What is to be noted in the case of UK,all operators use GSM unlike the US.Hence once unlocked, the iPhone can be popped with sim of any of the operators.iPhone Unlocking tricks are quite open on the internet.Hence its no big deal that people are going to be locked with o2.

For the bloke who goes and buys an iPhone its a huge rip off..bcoz its going to be £279 for the phone + a minimum of 35*18 quid (200 mins plan which is the minimal). That comes to a little over 900 quid.
If it was me, I would rather get myself a Nokia N95 which has almost technically what ever an iPhone has and host of more features (MMS,3G etc) on a 12 months contract with more than double the included minutes and unlimited webaccess (using T-mobile for example).
With the difference, i can buy myself an iPod video and still have more cash in my account than going for the iPhone option.

It takes a Steve Jobs to create this illutionary marketing magic around..Hats off to him.

What no more of Tendulkar in ODI?

2007-09-06T21:04:00.001+01:00

Cmon, they must be joking. Media know to create sensation out of everything. Well, to be frank, though i have been critical about Tendulkar quite some time,its just out of expecting too much from him. I also know that i am not alone in this. There are score of us who would have switched off the TV in pain when he gets out and blaming the failures on his innings not in good shape. There was a period when Tendulkar's performances have swinged the odds in our favour.Who can forget the glorious innings he played against the aussies and those last minute helping hand he had provided the team with his bowling when the opposition needed just 4-5 runs.

Yes. Agreed his injuries are taking on him. But its not the first time its happened and there has been countless occations when he rises back like a pegasus.As any ardent fan of his,i hope this does not happen.. atleast now when he is back slammering the opposition. Its just that morale boosting century that is due from him.

Hope to see many more years of the sachin saga to continue with his Master strokes..He has carried the hopes of the entire nation when he walks into the field for 18 long years.. Cant be more cruel to cut it short..

Perils of getting married

2007-08-29T19:07:00.000+01:00

This is an actual ad on UK's popular Auto magazine..I Admire Steve's sense of humour..

Puthu Razor..

2007-08-24T18:32:00.000+01:00

One lazy Sunday morning..Ila & Nila are sitting in the living room..Ila is grilled to his laptop reading the latest headlines on Indian news sites. Nila is watching top ten movies on Sun TV. Nila after some time starts getting bored..
Nila: Hey..Enna pannaringa..
Ila: News parthu kittu irukenma..The Indo-US nuclear deal..angey sema ragalaiya irukku..Poonaiya madiyila kattikittu sagunum partha kathaiya..Communist kooda kuttani vetchukittu..Namma aalu thalladararu..
Nila: Hmm.. Hey namma konjam Tesco varaikkum poitu varalama? Konjam vettu shopping panna vendi irukku.. Please..
Ila: Gives a sigh and closes his laptop. Seri..pogalame..Give me 15 - 20 mins..Naan kulichu kelambidaren..Ok Va..
Nila: More than enough..Naan athukulla shopping list yosichu vetchudaren..

Ila goes in and starts shaving..Just when he applies the foam, his mobile rings..He rushes to take the call and figures out that its a wrong number..
Ila: Ada paavingala..Mobile phonelayum wrong number vanthu padutharaanga da.. Starts going in to start shaving..Encounters Nila at the entrance to the bathroom..
Ila: Ennama..Kadava marachukittu nikkarey..
Nila: Hey naan onnu ketkattuma..
Ila: He he.. solluma.. he he
Nila: Illai..Oru kutty aasai..
Ila: Enna solluma..
Nila: If you dont mind..Naan summa oru vatti unakku shave panni vidava? Please..
Ila: First thinks..Ada cha..and then further thinks..Ayyo Ithu enna vibareetha aasai.. But tells.. Err.Hmm..Ithukku poi yen ivvalavu kettu kittu.. Panni viden..

Jumps on the opportunity and starts the shaving from the left side..As the blade approaches the neck..

Nila: Hey..Ippo thaan enakku nyabagam vandhichu..This weekend..Debenhams la summer sale pottirukkanga..Evening poi parthuttu varalama..Appadiye romba naalatchu namma Punjabi Spice poi..We can have dinner there.. Enna solaringa..
Ila:(Stiffens)..Gives a feeble Hmm..
Nila: Atha yen etho military soldier mathiri stiffa vetchu kittu pathil sollaringa..
Ila: Cha Cha.. Appadi ellam onnum illai..Konjam stiffa vetchukitta unakku shave panna easya irukumla..thats why..

After 10 - 15 mins..Nila finally finishes her razor job..Ila gets up and has a look in the mirror..
Nila: Correcta pannitena..
Ila: Perfecta pannite ma..Infact inimey neeye enakku shave pannividu..he he
Nila: Hello..Etho oru naal summa pannivitta..Engala partha enna savarakari mathiri theriyutha?? Huh??

Next day at work..

Collegue: Enda..Ivalavu naala shave pannarey..Parthu panna mattey..
Ila:Yen?
Collegue:Munjila ore vetta irukke..
Ila: Illai..Puthu type of razor..Athu thaan..
Collegue: Parthu da..Pazhagatha razor vetchu shave panna ippadi thaan aagum.. Anyways arasiyalla ithu ellam sagajam appa..
Ila: !!!

Kaathu Vaanga Ponen..

2007-08-15T20:49:00.000+01:00

Ila: Hi ma
Nila: Hello..
Ila: Engey ma irukke.
Nila: Hello..engala partha ungalukku eppadi theriyuthu?
Ila: Yeen maa..Whats wrong with my question?
Nila: Pinna.. 10 manikku phone panni engey irukke na enna artham? Engala partha rathiri nerathula oor suthura aal mathiri theriyutha?? Seri..Veetla thaan irukken..enna sollunga..
Ila: Summa unga area pakkam vanthen..Was wondering if we can meet?
Nila: Pannalame. It will take me 15 mins to get ready. Parava illaiya? How long will you take to come here? Also romba late ayiduchu..Romba dhooram vendam..seria?
Ila: Naanum athu thaan yosichen.. Hmm..Un room mate veetla irukala?
Nila: Illai.. inniku ava officela party. so lateaa than varuva. Yen ketkaringa? Kelviye seriya thonalaiye? Ethavathu edakoodama plan vetchu irukingala? Adi vizhum..
Ila: Aiyoo.. Appadi yellam onnum illai ma. Just wondering that i might feel a bit odd if she is around when i come.. Thats why..
Nila: Seri ava thaan illaiye..
Ila: Good. Vasathiya potchu.. I will come there in 10 mins.. Un veetu pakathula thaan irukken.

Ila reaches earlier than 10 mins..Nila opens the door.. Ila comes in and gives her a Hug..

Nila: Enna romba seekiram vanthutinga..
Ila: Veetu pakathula thaan en friend veedu..i had come to see him.
Nila: You had never mentioned that you have a frind near my home till date? Entha street?
Ila: Athuva..Hmm..Seri..Athellam viduma..
Nila: (seeing a bag with banana). Athu enna Kaila? Ennai enna ponnu parkava vanthinga?
Ila: Illai maa.. Amma veetuku varumpothu vangindu vara sonna..
Nila: Parava illai nalla porupana payyan thaan..
Ila: seri seri.. Dinner mudinjatcha?
Nila: Inniku mathyanam bayangara heavy meal.. Sayankalam vera 2 biscuit sapiten.. so feeling very heavy? Will have some moor sadam? Neenga Sapitacha?
Ila: Not yet..
Nila: Yen ippadi starve pannaringa? Naan vena ethavathu cook pannarene? Shall i make bisi bela bath? we will have it together?
Ila: Vendam maa.. Dont strain yourself..Amma would have already made dinner for me.

Just then Ila's mobile rings.
Ila: Sollu ma..
Amma: Engey pa irukke?
Ila: Ippo thaan ma parking lot vanthen..Oru conf call irunthuchu..Athu thaan
Amma: Seri pa. Sekkiram aathuku vaa pa..Nalaikku amavasai..Vathyar vidikalambaraye vanduvar..Sekkiram ezhunthukanam pa..
Ila: Seri maa.. Sekkiram vanthudaren..
Amma: Athukunnu kanna pinnanu ottathey.. Valluvar kottam kitte Metro lorry karan ishtathukku varuvaan..jakirathai..
Ila: Ennama..Daily vara route thaaney..Kavalai padathey..
Ila hangs up..

Nila: Ada paavi..Ippadi poi sollaringaley..
Ila: Seri atha vidu..Un room mate varathukku innum time aguma? Naan vena athuvarikkum bore adikama irukka pesikittu irukattuma?
Nila: Athellam onnum venam..Neenga Kelambunga..Paavam Amma kaathukittu irupanga.. Ungalukku sapadu pottutu thaan avanga thoonga mudiyum.
Ila: Parava illaye..Mamiyar mela bayangara akkarai thaan..
Nila: Enakku akkarai illamala..Athu mattum illai.. Nalaikku naanum ippadi wait panna vendiathu irukkumla..
Ila: Seri seri..Naan kelambaren..
Nila: Seri naalaikku engey meet pannalam?
Ila: Oh no..Nalaikku oru mukkiyamana conf call irukku ma..
Nila: En kittave vaa.. Nalaikku unga office mate bachelor party thaane.. Last week sonningale..
Ila: Ayyo..That is cancelled ma. Sathiyama nalaikku conf call irukku..
Nila: Seri seri.. Nanga nambittom.. Veetukku kelambunga.. Paavam..Amma wait pannikittu irupanga..
Ila: Ennai thurantharathe velaiya potchu..

Nila gets a call..Attends and puts off shortly..

Nila: En roommate phone panna..Party mudinju autola vanthikittu irukka..She will be here any moment..So..Seekiram kelambina renduperkum nallathu..
Ila: Seri naan kelambaren. (keeps a sad face)
Nila: Illa pa.. If she comes home.. you will also feel odd.. En case athai vida kashtam.. Rathiri muzhukka ennai otti eduthuduva.. Moreover amma vera wait pannikittu irupanga illaya..Thats why i told..
Ila: Ok fine.. Bye.. Good night..
Nila: Hello.. Vettuku thaan poga sonnen.. Poitu sapitta appuram regulara pannara good night call??
Ila: Oh..Sorry ma..Naan marathey poiten.. Kandippa i will call you.. he he..

Comes closer to give her a hug..
Nila: Kelambunga..Ippadiye summa innum time thalla vendam..
Ila: Ok..see you..tata..
Just then ila's phone rings ..Its his mother again..Ila jumps on his bike and rushes..

Living in Ashtray??

2007-08-07T21:39:00.001+01:00

With the smoking ban enforced in England roughly a month ago.. Much was the joys for the passive smokers like me. But a loophole in the law is being exploited by the smoking community out there.. The ban ststes that smoking shall be prohibited in public places that are enclosed. It has no holding on public places like the seating areas across the pub, cafe etc.

So in effect you find that the smokers now take it to the street literally.. Now in effect, while the pubs are smoke free the streets are filled with pubbers who also smoke and the other smoking crowd. Now in effect its a boon for the non-smoking pubbers but its made things worse for people like me wheo neither are pubbers nor smokers..

Makes me think, i am living in an Ashtray???

Heathrow - UK Border

2007-08-03T07:56:00.000+01:00

Back from a short vacation, was standing in the immigration queue at Heathrow. Noticed that now there is a prominent sign behind the desks of the immigration Officers that says "UK Border". This i believe is a step to inform the visitors that by passing through the gates, they are passing the UK border (which anyways was obvious). I could not really understand the hidden meaning of that though (if there is any).

What is interesting is that as i was waiting in the queue for immigration check at the port of entry, i noticed that the 2 officers who were in charge of the queue control were 2 Sardarjis. They were talking to each other in chaste punjabi. Much to my joy of seeing it, it just flashed in my mind - "Welcome to the new vibrant muti-cultural London, UK"

Thunive thunai....

2007-07-17T10:26:00.000+01:00

Ila: Hey..Busya maa.
Nila: Illa pa..Sollu..
Ila: Pallikaranaila en friend oru veedu vaanginaan..But he is going onsite for a long term. His native is also not chennai. So he wanted to dispose the house.i was also looking out for buying a house la. so wondering if i can buy it.
Nila: Great da..Kalakara chandru..
Ila: Illai.I know for sure avan parthu parthu kattinathu and he put the best kind of interors.That was why i was a bit interested.
Nila:Go ahead da. nice choice da.
Ila: More over he has put very nice kitchen interiors..all latest gadgets in it..you will love it.
Nila:Hello.. Engala partha samaya kari mathiri theriyutha..
Ila:Ayyo.. Illama.. Nee thaane maximum use pann aporathu.. atha vetchu sonnen..
Nila:Ok.Ok..
Ila: All things are fine.. but one of my other friend told me that since pallikaranai was a marsh land before, he told me that there might be wild dogs around.. But this friend tells me he has never seen any such things.. Nee bayapaduviyonnu thaan i was thinking..But the house looks fantastic da. i have seen it once when i went for a small get together..
Nila: Oh ho... Ayya ithuku munnadi angey thanni adichukara? seri seri.. ippo thaan unmai veliye varuthu.. Its true that i am scared of these kind of animals.. but athukaga.. nee nalla vettai vidathy.. Unakku thaan romba pidichurukke..
Ila: Amma thaye.. naan ennikku maa thanni adichirukken.. Get togetherna.. aduthavanga thanni adipanga.. avanga thainni nalla adicha appuram naan ellariyum veetla vitutu varanum.. Natpukaga ponathu maa..But that wild dogs and all might be just rumours..Ivan anavasiama maraikka mattan.. He is a very nice guy.. Either ways, nee wild dogs parthu bayapadarathu in some ways may work to my advantage..
Nila: Naan kattu naaya parthu bayapadarathu unakku enna advantage?
Ila: Enna advantage appadinnu wait panni paaru..hee hee
Nila: nee sollu.. idula enna advantage irukku
Ila: He He..Padam pakkara pazhakkam ellam illaiya?
Nila: Padam ellam parpene..so what?
Ila: Seri imagine a scene with wild dog coming in front of hero and heroine. What would be the typical sequence..
Nila: Enna hero will show heroism in front of the wild dog..
Ila: appuram..
Nila: He will kill the wild dog
Ila: Ok ..appuram
Nila: The dog will die
Ila: ada chee.. appuram
Nila: apparam if there is one more dog that will also come and he will show the same heroism..
Ila: Naan enna discovery channel padama sollaren.. Tamil padam maa.. so think on that lines
Nila: Nanum adha thaan sollaren da.. Vera enna? Appuram both will go away after killing the dog.. So nee enna solla varey.. oru ponnu munnadi heroism kamikarathu thaan advantage ah..
Ila: Ada cha.. Ennama Isthiri pottiya irukiye..
Nila: Hey..Cycle gapla..ennai Isthiri pottinnu solariya.. Appadina neeye sollu.. Enakku evalavu thaan yosikka mudiyum.. Neeye sollu
Ila: Konjam romantic tamil movie mathi think pannu..Dog parthu heroine gets scared... something on that lines
Nila: Seri.. Try pannaren.. Seeing the scary dog, the heroine will cry and hero will console her.. avan either heroism kamikanum illa bayanthu odanum..correcta.. So i dont understand where is the advantage??
Ila: Romba kashtam ma.. unakku puriya vetkarathu..
Nila: Hello..itha vida enna periya sequence iruka mudiyum..oru advantageum illai.. Enakku onnum thonalai.. Neeye sollen..
Ila: Seri seri.. I accept defeat in trying to make you think.. Typical tamil padathula.. On seeing the dog, heroine will scream and herova sandai poda frontla vittutu backla bayathula katti piduchupa.. Herovukku antha asattu thairiyam kudukarathe antha oru action thaan.. ippo purinjutha..hee hee.
Nila: hmm.. Ayya appadi varara..
Ila: Ippo sollu.. Will it work out to my advantage or not?
Nila: Intha mathiri kevalamana sequence ellam unnala thaan yosikka mudiyum.. Nee software engineer agarathukku pathila pesama film director ayirkalam..I could have seen some free movies..
Ila:???

Paadu Nilavey...

2007-07-12T11:55:00.001+01:00

One cold breezy night Ila calls up Nila.

Ila: Ennama kannu sowkiyama..
Nila: Ellma sowkiyam thaan. Enna iyyavukku nalla mood pola irukke.
Ila: (Hee Hee).. Summa thaan.. Enna pannikittu irukke?
Nila: Dinner pannikittu irukken.. En room mate vera innikku lateathaan varuva..
Ila: Thaniya samchukittu irukkiya?
Nila: Samkarathukku pinna enna patthu peer kutti vetcha panna mudiyum..
Ila: Wont you get bored when you are alone in the home cooking? Nee samaikkum pothu pattu padikitte ellam samaikka maatiya?
Nila: Ennikavathu bore adicha..Appo appo hum pannikitte velai pannuven.
Ila: Nee nalla paduviya? Enakku ivvalavu naal theriyama potche..
Nila: Avvalavu nalla onnum naan pada matten.. Just humming when i do my work at home to relax. Avalavu thaan.. Romba ellam ninaikathey..
Ila: What is your recent favorite?
Nila: Enakku "Munbe vaa en anbe vaa.."(she hums) romba pidikkum
Ila: I also like that song very much. Infact ne hum pannathu romba nalla irukku. why dont you sing a few lines of it for me da.
Nila: Chanceee illai. Enakku pattellam varathu. Athuvum thideernnu pada sonna..eppadi..
Ila: Illai un voice nalla irunthuthu athunaala ketten.
Nila: Illai da. My voice is not so good and all.
Ila: Ill ma, It was very sweet.
Nila: It looks very odd for me da..
Ila: Seri, ippo padaporiya illaya?
Nila:No way, rathiri nerathula paduthathe
Ila: Seri maa. I thought your voice was good. So i asked you. If you feel embarrased to sing, no problems at all for me.
Anyways, how is the cooking going? Enna pannarey..
Nila: Rotiyum tomato curryum. Its over..
Ila: Ok. Eat it before it gets cold. Ok va. I have a meeting early in the morning tommorow. so need to get up early. Talk to you tommorow.
seri ya.
Nila: Ok da. Bye..
Ila:Bye ma.. Good night.
Nila: Good night da..
Ila:Talk to you tomorrow (puts the phone down)

After sometime, Ila's mobile rings..

Ila:Solluma. What is the matter.
Nila: Thoongitiya?
Ila: Illai ma. Was sitting and preparing notes for tommorow's meeting.
Nila: Ivvalavu latavum work pannikittu irukiya? Dont excert too much da.
Ila: Un akkarai puriyuthu. But enna panna..its a very important meeting tommorow. That's why.
Nila: Seri seri.. Naan distrub pannalai.. Carry on.
Ila: I have finished. i was just packing up the notes. So sollu..
Nila:Illai, just felt..Did you get upset that i did not sing.
Ila: (Startled..Ithu enna kalatta) Appadi ellam illai..If you were not comfortable.. i did not want to force you. You sing later. No problem at all.
Nila: Seri. Romba ketkare..(Sings the pallavi and stops)
Ila: Super maa. Ithai..Ithai.Ithai thaan yethir parthen. Seri saranathaiyum padiden..
Nila: Summa sollathey. I know how horrible my voice is. Etho nee kettiyennu than ivvalavu padinathu..
Ila: Nee nalla thane ma padare..
Nila: Nee..Naan feel panna koodatheynnu sollare..poi sollathe.
Ila: You really sing very well da.
Nila: Poda..nee enna venumne ottara..
Ila: Illai maa..If you dont sing well, why will i ask you so many times..Ivvalavu ketturukka matten illaya..
Nila:Hmmm..
Ila: Ivalavu naal theriyama potche that you sing so well.
Nila: Seri Seri..Pothum..Pothum..You said you have some important meeting illa.. Go and sleep.. Good night
Ila:Good night
Nila: Hey!!
Illa: Ennama?
Nila: Unmaiyave u liked my voice.
Ila: God promise..Un voice nalla irunthuthu..Pothuma..
Nila: Parthiya..Nee sarcastica sollara mathiri irukku..
Ila: Illave illa maa.. Nan thaan solrenla..Nee romba nalla padrey..
Nila: Hmmm....Seri po..Good night.
Ila: Good Night!! Sweet dreams..

The last bit keeps going on for some more time and finally Ila gets to crash on his bed..zzzzz

Yaar Antha Thevadhai..

2007-07-11T09:15:00.000+01:00

Ila and Nila are software engineers working for different companies in Tidel Park. They have been engaged a few months back.

Its 12:30 PM and Ila calls up Nila on her extension.

Ila: Hey, Food courtla lunch pogalama?
Nila: Illa da. Konjam tight work irukku. I have an important delivery today. Onsite co-ordinator is already eating my head.You go ahead.
Ila: Sappidama odamba keduthukathey. Health is more important than anything in life. See you in the evening.
Nila: Ok da. I dont know how long this is going to take me.. Take care.

Ila goes to the food court below and stands in the queue to be served. Hears a hi from his back. To his surprise sees Radhika his college mate at engineering.

Ila: Rads!!! What a surprise.. Nee engey inge?
Rads: I am working for pqr softwares. How are you? Nee abc solutionsla velai seyyariya?
Ila: Yes da. Eppadi unakku theriyum?
Rads: Dai un pattaya kelattama suthikittu iruntha ellarukkum thaan theriyum. Friends kooda vanthirukiya?
Ila:Hee.Hee..Illa da, why dont you join me for lunch if you are alone?
Rads: Sure da. Sekkiram poo.. Angey oru table empty aguthu paaru..

Both sits and starts conversing very interestingly. Meanwhile, After 20 mins, A call from the onsite co-ordinator frees her up. She decides to join Ila as a surprise. Comes to the food court and sees him conversing with some one. Thinking it might be some HR person of his company, tries waving at him. No reply..

That Night Ila calls her.

Ila: Hello ma, Enna pannarey.
Nila: Hmm..Ennai pathi ippovavathu yosikkanumnnu ayyavukku thoniche..
Ila: (Senses trouble). Unnai thaan naal muzhukka ninaichukittu irukkene.. Marantha thane yousikkanum.. (Thinks his first bucket of water would put off the flame).
Nila: Yaar Ava?
Ila: (Totally confused..) Ava na Yeva?
Nila: Athu thaan ore kushiyoda vilunthu vilunthu food courtla pesittu iruntheengale.
Ila: (Got the matter) Hey, Ava en college friend da.
Nila: Pear enna?
Ila: Enna maa..Pear kooda marathutiya.. Ila.. Oops.. Sorry.. Ava Pear.. Radhika..We did engineering together..
Nila: Hmmm
Ila: You know what, she has joined pqr softwares..8th floor da..
Nila: 8th Floora.. In between you and me illa..
Ila: (Puzzled) Enna sollaraey..
Nila: Ammam.. Your office is in 10th floor and mine in 6th floor. So she works between your office and minela..
Ila: (whew!!) Athu va.. Yes.. Nee Numbersla very strong ma..
Nila: Hmmm.Appuram enna pesininga..
Ila: Ore Malrum ninaivu thaan..
Nila:Hmm..It would have been very nice to think about those days isnt it?
Ila: No doubt.. It was one of my best days in my life.. We had so many things to recollect. Infact we realized that we were able to talk so many things yesterday about our life that we hadn’t talked during those days.. Summava sonnanga "Friends and Wine better with years" appadinnu..
Nila: Ammam..BTW, Ivathane Rads??
Ila: Hey unakku eppadi theriyum. Do you know her?
Nila: Yep..
Ila: How surprising?? How do you know?
Nila: Athu eduthukuda unakku?? Summa viden..Noondina..Nonthuthaan poove..
Ila: Illa da.. Just wanna know how you know her?
Nila: Nee thane sathyasandhan mathiri sonne..About your college days crush on your classmate Rads..
Ila: ????

Hostel effect..

2007-07-08T09:34:00.000+01:00

Been pondering on trying a series similar to Hum Tum ever since i saw that movie (by the way, its one of my favorite Hindi Movie). So there it goes... The Ila-Nila Series..

Ilangovan (Ila) and Nilamathy (Nila) are engaged and are the usual Software consultants.

Ila's phone rings when he is shortly to go into his weekly status meeting.

Ila: Solluma.
Nila: Hey, Busya.
Ila: Ahem, Not very busy..Yenna matter..Ethavathu important thing?
Nila: Illai, Innikku en roommate ava friend receptionukku pora...So..was wondering if you are free in the evening
Ila: (very excited)..Naan freethaan..Sollu..
Nila: Was wondering if we could meet up and go for a movie and have dinner together..
Ila: (much less excited).. Haan..Meet pannalame..Its been long we saw each other.. (clearly forgetting that they bumped into each other at Spencers yesterday)..Nee Sathyamkku 6 Pm vanthiru.. We will go to some movie.. Do you have any particular movie in mind?
Nila: Illada..Anything would do to kill time..
Ila: No Problems..See you at 6.
Nila: See you..
Ila plsns to leave work early at 5 and go to the theatre..But luck would have it..He ends up with some urgent work from boss and reaches theatre only at 6:30. Calls up Nila.

Ila: Ennama..Yenge irukke..I cant see you in the crowd here..
Nila: Illai da..I had some urgent last minute work. So could not make it on time.. Ticket vangitiya? Padam Pottacha?
Ila: Athellam eppavo vangiyatchu.. Padam pottachu..No problem i will wait for you..

He hurriedly rushes to the counter and finds that all movies tickts are already sold out. Bugger, Was wondering what to do to cover up his face. He notices that the counter for a new english movie is still on.. Thanks all his lucky stars and buys 2 tickets for "Hostel 2".

Ila: (Thinks..Peyara partha..American Pie mathiri Comedy padam pola irukku.. He thinks of picturisation of Mala,Mala,Marutha mala song..We are going to have a good laugh today. That will set the setting for the dinner today)

Nila meanwhile jumps out of the auto and rushes towards him.

Nila: Sorry da.. Konjam late ayiduchu.. Enna padam vangi irukke?
Ila: Parthu vaama..vizha kizha porey.. Hostel 2 nu new film. En friend kooda nerthikku parthu sonnan. Very nice comedy movie da.. Definitely to be seen appadinnu.Seri seri vaa pogalam.

The movie has started..The hall is not even 10% filled. So they take up a better row. After sometime they realise that the movie not even remotely has comedy.

Nila: Dai, You know very well illaya how scared i am of horror movies..Why did you wanna play your stupid games with me.
Ila: (Realising there is no escape). Illai maa..That stupid Satish..He only led me into this..Anyways if you see the theatre is not even remotely filled. Lets ignore the movie and spend time talking..You get good A/C effect to escape the anal katthu outside. he he he..
Nila: This movies is getting on my nerves..Please let us leave now..

An interesting killer scene come up then..

Ila: Ok ma.. We will go just after seeing this scene..Looks very interesting da..please da..
Nila: I am leaving..Unakku ishtam iruntha vaa.Illai..See the movie and then come later.. I will go home. (She leaves immediately followed by Ila..)

Outside the hall..

Ila: Shall we go to City Center to kill some time before going to dinner? Beach is very crowded da..Pasanga yaravathu parthangana.. Nalaikku ottiduvanga..
Nila: Hmm..

Both go in Ila's Bike...

Ila: Yenna onnum pesave matengara..
Nila: Hmm..
Ila: Ennama atchu? Sorry. It was all because of that Satish fellow..
Nila: I feel very bad.. You wanted to see the movie no..

By then they have reached the City center and going inside..

Ila: Appadi ellam illa ma.. Dont worry..Antha padam enakku perusa onnum pidikalai..
Nila: Hmm..
Ila: Eppo enna..
Nila: Illai..Atleast i should have let you see that scene and then come out la..I feel very bad..
Ila: Athukenna ma.. I will see it with my friends tommorowla..

Nila: Appo nalaikku parkara program irukarathu naala thaan you came out immediatelyaa?? (and walks into Landmark in a hurry)

Ila: ????

(He sees the discounted books rack..Right in front of him sees the "Men are from Mars.." book)

Taj Mahala Parthu Pudungappa Vote (Vote for Taj Mahal)

2007-06-28T10:14:00.001+01:00

The last time i had been to the Taj mahal was around 5 years back when i was on a bsiness trip to New Delhi. Managed to sqeeze a day trip to Agra and Mathura. It was winter in Delhi and the by the time i reached Agra, the dusk was already setting. It was the first time i saw Taj in dim light. The very look of it was enchanting.

Thinking of it gives me a slight sense of goosebumps. Though not a very romantic person that i am, it still kindles a sense of love. It has taken hundreds of men so many years together to get this icon of love created. So much was the facination for this building that the Mughal emperor had, he ordered to blind the artisans who created this. This was to make sure that there was no other monument half as grand as this built again.

Apart from all this grand build up stories associated with this icon, it is the first thing which pops up in the mind for a tourist who is visiting India. It is by far the most publicised/marketed tourist attraction in India which has other great structures like the Tanjore Big Temple, Mahabalipuram etc. Taj is the crowning glory. It is the gateway that attracts the tourists to see the other treasures of our country.

That said, Coming to the point, On the 7th of July 2007, a new set of seven wonders is proposed to be selected from a set of 21 entries based on voting by the people worldover. As things stand, Taj is curently made it to the top 10. Thanks to our govenment's red tape, not many Indians know of such a thing happening. Other countries are vying with one another to get the coveted ‘Wonder of the World’ tag for their respective entries. Since there is a lack of response from the goverment, with just 3 weeks to go, its in the hands of the 'podumakkal' (aam junta) to vote for this wonderful icon of our nation to make it to the new top 7. We have one of the largest mobile base. Voting can be done both online as well as through mobile. Lets show our strength..

The ATM Story

2007-06-28T08:18:00.000+01:00

The world's first cash point was installed in a Barclays Bank in Enfield. It was 40 years ago.

This BBC story of how ATM was born has some interesting bits and the most interesting of it is the reason why we have 4 digit pin number.

Bye Bye to Blair..

2007-06-27T18:18:00.000+01:00

Its Official, Tony Blair is no more the British prime minister. He has tendered his resignation to the Queen today.

What next for him? He is believed to soon be the Quartet's (USA, Russia, EU and UN) Middle East peace envoy.

Gordon Brown is a happy man and has been invited by the Queen to be his replacement.

London switches off the lights

2007-06-22T09:43:00.000+01:00

Yesterday 21st June is supposed to be longest day of the year and to make good use of the same a major PR activity was planned called the "Lights out London". Its an activity to promote the energy conservation and thereby showing that we are interested in saving the future of our planet. So on the "Midsummer Night" whole of london was invited to turn off all lights and non-essential appliances between 9 PM and 10 PM. This is heavily promoted by the Capital Radio. A simple concept and easy for anyone to participate.

As per the reports, seem to have gone well.. The photos of the 2 icons of London below tell it all...
One small glitch though in the plan was that Yesterday being the longest day.. The Sunset was not quite till little after 9 PM.. So the visual treat of the light off was a bit shadowed.. Nevertheless, it was still a good to the planet.. The men at the National Grid would be able to tell a better story :-)

Picadilly Circus with lights off - First time after the world war blackout

Picadilly Circus with the light On...

Tower Bridge - Dark without the lights

Tower Bridge - Back with the glow

London Eye - Before and After...

And you thought its only Indians and Japanese...

2007-06-21T09:45:00.000+01:00

Sivaji to rock new shores alike too... Its already rocking in here, here and here ...

Like Pongal, Diwali, Christmas, Ramzan people are celebrating Sivaji...

Sivaji - Think Global

2007-06-20T14:45:00.000+01:00

For Chennaiites whether you are a Rajini fan or not, there is something nice you an feel about Sivaji. Apart from the fact that it has the superstar on the lead role or that is directed by a mega director or that its music is composed by Rehman or that its been produced by India's oldest production house.. Sivaji sure has put Chennai and Kollywood in Indian map as well as the world map.

How many times have you seen news about tamil movies ever appering in channels like CNN-IBN, NDTV, Times Now etc. Most part of past fortnight has had talks about Rajini and Sivaji on all the above channels. Leave alone the desi channels. Sivaji was on Reuters news scroll . Sivaji's Ringtones ate sold on iTunes, the first for any indian movie. Movies are running with packed theatres across the globe.

'Sivaji’ is expected to break the record for being the most screened Indian-language movie in theatres across the world. It's also the biggest budget film to ever be produced in India.

I would not be surprised if sivaji, chennai, rajini or kollywood would figure in the top search words this week. Approximately 60-70 shows are running in Chennai alone on 16 screens per day. The box ofice is ringing merrily. It sure is a revival for the current tamil film industry. Sivaji had bought the people back to the theatres.

That's the magic of BOSS

Sivaji !! Peyara Ketta Chumma Adhirudhula...

2007-06-18T16:37:00.000+01:00

Caution: Potential Spoilers ahead

Disclaimer: You have to remember that this review is coming out of an ardent Rajini fan..

Dashed from work to home to have a quick change over.. went out with the gang for a dinner and was praying the waiter brings the food on time. Though the waiter was a bit slow in the start, he soon picked up his speed in delivering the food on time to the table. So we were thankfully on time for the show..

For the gang of 9 people, It was plain zipping to the theatre from there. After a bit of a late start by the theatre (23:30 show started around 30 mins later), the certificate for screening came after a host of commertials including the ones of Ayngaran the worldwide distributors of the movie. That was enough for a huge round of whistles.

The opening has a myterious masked man (we all know who it is) being taken to the prison amidst a huge crowd of wailing women and crying men. One of the inmate asks the man what brought him here and the man replies "Tried doing good for the country".. and there is the BOSS.. The movie then goes into flashback mode..Well not the kind of intro you would expect in a thalivar movie.. But that's Shankar for you...That still did not spoil the koochals and gummalams when Thalaivar's face is shown..

Sivaji is an home-returned NRI from the USA with around 200 crores rupees in his account and lot of ambition in his heart. He doesnt do what the usual NRI do - like buy big houses, start companies, etc. He wants to use up all this money to realise his dreams of building engineering and medical colleges under the name of Sivaji Foundation and offer free education to meritous students. Red-tapism and corruption stands in between him and his dreams. Worst of all, Adiseshan (Suman), a king maker and a businessman who thinks Rajini would ruin his business empire if rajini's dream project succeed, makes him pennyless using his political links. Rajini vows to hit back. BOSS then raises like a Phoenix and get the baddys into trouble and also ends up reforming the society from evils of Black money. Oh yeah, Sivaji, in this process, also manages to find the "Typical Tamil" girl, Shreya, falls in love with her and marries her.

Thalivar as Sivaji rocks, no doubt on his capacity to provide all round entertainment. The movie has comedy, action, romance, revenge and style,Style,stYle, styLe and stylE..

It takes someone like Rajini to turn 25 yrs younger. Thanks for the makeup man and the hair stylist. Rajini has quit smoking and now into gums :-). The style of popping the chewing gum (in lieu of cigarette.. remember i told you he has quit smoking) is pure Rajini formula.

Shreya, does her part of playing a typical Tamil Girl wearing paavadai davani for most part of the movie and as super hot glam doll in the song sequences..She does her glycerine shows well too..

Vivek does a good job as Sivaji's maama and his sidekick. Its a good break for him and will hopefully go long in this innings..

The opening song "Ballarikka.." was not to the mark of a Rajini intro song to be honest. Nayanthara looks chic and slim in it.. Dunno what she did to reduce to that extent. Much of the money for the movie would have gone for the "Vaaji..Vaaji", "Sahana" and "Athiradee" songs. My personal favorite was "Athiradee". Its the best picturized. I am sure that many would agree with me after seeing the picture. The way thalivar enters in Harley-Davison in the song is super.

Unlike the way Shankar refered in his earlier interview, its definitely not a tight rope walk he did to suit his fans as well as Rajini's. From start to finish, the movie is carried only by Rajini and there is very very less Shankarness in the movie (which i feel was for good). Wherever there is Shankarness, it did not go well in a Rajini movie.

Another interesting thing in this movie is that there are no punch dialogues..The only time Sivaji tries to, Vivek stops him with a "Veendaam Sivaji. Ippo ellam chinna pasanga kooda verala suzhatti punch adikkaranga. Nee adhellam pannatha, naan paathukkaraen" and comes up with a "Six ku appuram seven da, Sivaji ku appuram evan da!" taking a dig on the wannabe superstars.

In the climax, Rajini blows you off as MGR...particularly the way he changes his glasses..

In all the movie has all the ingredients to make it a super hit, the most powerful one being Rajinikanth..The movie is simply cool buddy...

Does not dissapoint the Rajini fan but is worth a watch for the non Rajini fans too..

Yes..Its all set to Rock

2007-06-14T13:36:00.000+01:00

Seeing the Boss on the day he is arriving...

The Boss is arriving...

2007-06-07T10:33:00.000+01:00

The news is out..He will be on the nearby cineplex (Cineworld,Feltham) on the 15th of June (just a week more of waiting)..Need to see how thalaivar movie opens up in the UK. May not have champhor lighting etc due to fire and safety reasons..But i think most of the other things would be there..

Cant wait to see it..Should be dashing staright from work to the theatre..Cant see any advance reservation options..
Hope i get the tickets..

London 2012 Logo

2007-06-05T16:02:00.000+01:00

The official logo for the London 2012 Olympics was unveiled yesterday. The logo is supposed to be a representation of 2012. Its designed in shades of pink, red, green, orange and blue. Just to make sure that this represents the olympics and not to be mistaken as some scribble, they have put the 5 olympic rings on the digit 0 (after sucking all the colours from them). The venue ? Oh yeah.. They have it over the digit 2. The design for the logo has costed around 400,000 pounds (around 3.5 crore rupees).

Well, i was not very impressed when i saw it the first time.. I now see that i am not alone. Almost all the people i talk about this seem to be feeling the same. It looks like a lot of public money has been put down the drain. A poll conducted by BBC on its website has shown a similar pattern with majority of the votes disapproving the London 2012 Olympic logo design. Infact an online petition to scrap the logo has been set up and the it is fast growing.

Infact BBC had asked its viewer to send in their Logos and to be honest most of them look far better than the current logo.

We just need to wait and see if the olympic commitee would look into this soon and get the logo redesigned.

300 - The Movie

2007-06-04T12:09:00.000+01:00

Watched this movie last weekend. The movie is set around 500 BC sort of. Its about a story of 300 spartans who defend a mountain pass against a huge army of the persians. The mountain pass that they defend is the only way into the Spartan land for any invading army. A typical David v/s Goliath kinda scenario. Its a nice story. We all love the underdogs winning..That's exactly what the writer and director knew and its underlying the success formula for the movie.

What is interesting in this movie is the picturisation and the attire of all the characters. Dont ever try reasoning based on history as this story is purely from the point of view of a Spartan. It tlsk about a civilization which is centered around combat and value honour next to none etc. Hence it has a some of the finest warriors ever seen ruled by King Leonidas. There are some points in the story which i personally would not agree to like killing the messenger. But you side with King Leonidas (the hero) when he throws the persian messenger (who comes asking the king to surrender to the emperor Xerxes) into the pit for the disrespect he gives to the queen when she joins the discussions with a punch dialog something like "only spartan women give birth to real men"..

The director has employed huge sets and lots and lots of graphics to create the grand effect..The Villain emperor Xerxes looked sick.The movie also showcases bribery and treason is age old. The movie is heavily bloodsoaked and hence would not be recomended for kids and the faint hearted.

Ps: Heard that the movie is relaeased in Tamil called as "300 paruthiveerarkal"

CheeniKum - Less Sugar

2007-05-26T10:23:00.000+01:00

Saw this over the last weekend..With lot of express plannings and quick zip to the feltham cineworld straight from work..

This is roughly the same kind of theme as one of his recent movie Nishabd. Of late we end up seeing Amitabh in virtually every 3rd hindi movie.. Amitabh seems to be in a mode to fall in love with young females these days. In Nishabd it was a teenager Jiyah and in Cheenikum its Tabu (the age difference is also kum.. just 30 yrs). While the former bombed in the box office due to fact that it was too much to digest due to the serious nature in the movie, the latter i think will do considerably better due to the same presented in a extra light mode by Balki.. The best part in this movie is that the dad of Tabu played by Paresh Raval is supposed to be 6 yrs younger to Amithab.

The fact that Balki is an ad man shows up in the movie as he has cleverly put some ads indirectly. What is interesting is that Balki has shown that that life expectancy has nothing to do with age with Amithab's 90 yr old perfectly healthy mother and his cancer affected nine-year old friend.

As an ardent fan of Illayaraja, how can my review not touch upon the music. Raja does the background score with his impeccable perfection. He is undoubtedly the best when it comes to background scores. The songs in this movies are all from his yesteryears melodies in tamil. But he has spiced them up a bit to suit the new genre. I am sure the people who have not heard the tamil version would equally be mesmerised. Hope the hindi audience get to taste more of his works..

Cheeni Kum / Sooni Sooni - Mandram Vandha Thndrallu (Mouna Ragam)
Jaane Do Naa - Vizhiyile unthan Vizhiyile (Nooraavadhu Naal)
Baatein Hawa - Kuzhaloodhum Kannanukku Kuyil paadum (Mella thiranthathu Kathavu)

Cheeni Kum is the highlight song (you see it in all the trailers..). Soono Sooni is a bit of a sad song. The voice of the singer suits Amithab to the tee..

Similarly 'Baaten Hawa' comes in two modes 'With' and 'Without' Dialogs (spoken by Amithab). Though the without dialog mode suits casual audio listnening, the with dialog mode sounds nice while watching the movie.

Overall the movie is nice to watch. Good to unwind after a hectic as in my case..

Is your identity safe?

2007-05-18T11:56:00.000+01:00

Was shocked to read this. A glitch in the VFS site used to apply for Business Express Visa to UK (and to other countries like USA, China etc..) would mean that all application details submitted would be available to anyone free on the internet. All that was to be done was a simple URL re-engineering...

Those who have applied in the past for a UK visa would know the kind of details we submit when we apply for a Visa to the UK. This includes all your personnal details including the passport details..It is nothing short of a treasure trove for identity thieves and terrorists to impersonate you.

As things stand the Indian online visa applications have now been suspended. What is interesting is that in February, the UK Foreign Office had reportedly awarded VFS a five-year contract worth 190 million pounds for visa processing.

The channel 4 report added that the online system had been running since 2003 and was known to have been compromised for at least a year with tens of thousands of personal details up for grabs.

Bush..Not again mate..

2007-05-08T17:02:00.000+01:00

Its the US President George W Bush's another goof-up yesterday. This time its while meeting Queen Elizabeth. He has indirectly suggested that the Queen was more that 200 years old. To top it all, he also winked at her in front of 7,000 special guests.

As part of his welcome speech to the Queen who is on her visit to the US, he mentioned “You helped us celebrate our bicentennial in 1796…Er, 1976”.

The New york times has gone a step ahead and questioned "How does George W Bush, a towel-snapping Texan who puts his feet on the coffee table, drinks water straight from the bottle and was once caught on tape talking with food in his mouth, prepare for a state dinner with the Queen? With tips from an etiquette guide, of course - and a little gentle prodding from his wife."

We need to wait and see if more fun unfolds..

Mordern Day Kumbhakarna..

2007-05-04T15:33:00.000+01:00

I am astornished on reading this..

Its all a 'kissy' matter

2007-05-04T11:56:00.000+01:00

Last week it was the Jaipur court which issued an arrest warrant for the actor Richard Gere for what according to the judge was an act of "Higly sexually erotic" nature of the kiss he gave to Shilpa in an event organised for AIDS awareness. This event sent mixed reactions across the country.

This week we see the Iranians going a bit ahead in this race. Its their President who is now caught in the controversy. The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been accused of indecency. What he did was to publicly embrace and kiss an elderly woman on the hand. This elderly woman was his schoolteacher.

It all started with the Iran state media photographing him ahead of the Iranian Teacher's day last Tuesday. He was photographed stooping to kiss the woman’s hand and then clasping her arms in an embrace. The next day you find him on the front page of the newspaper Hezbollah critisised for his action.

It is to be noted that according to sharia law, it is forbidden for a man to have any physical contact with a woman to whom he is not related.

What is interesting is that this elderly woman, was wearing thick gloves along with a headscarf and long black coat. This meant taht that 'technically' Mr Ahmadinejad avoided any skin contact.

We need to wait and see how both these incidents unfolds....

Rewind to 2005 - Its Liverpool Vs AC Milan

2007-05-03T11:38:00.000+01:00

Liverpool's exciting win over Chelsea on panalties reserved their berth to the finals. With Manchester United losing to the Italian club AC Milan yesterday, the scene is set similar to the Champion's League final 2 yrs back.

Are they going to paint the town red again?? Hope Athens ends similar to Istanbul on 23rd May..

The 2005 Victory

Happy b'day UK

2007-05-01T14:14:00.000+01:00

Today is the 300th b'day of United Kingdom. The two kingdoms of Scotland and England proposed to be merged into a single state. After much discussion in both the parliaments, the resolutions were individually passed in the respective parliaments of England and Scotland in favour of the move.
It was brought to implementation as on 1st May 1707. After the unification, there would be one parliament for both the countries together based out of Westminster.

The United Kingdom adopted a new flag based on the merger of the scottish flag and the english flag as below

The Scottish flag

The English Flag

Original Union Jack

After the merger of Ireland to the Union, UK's flag became as below as is used today.

The Big Fat Sikh Wedding

2007-04-30T08:04:00.000+01:00

This Saturday was reserved for the grand wedding of my close friend. The guy is a British born Sikh. This was the first time i am attending a Sikh wedding so was a bit curious.

By the time we reached the the Alice way Gurudwara (place of worship for the Sikhs), the Baraat (Groom leaving his house to the Gurudwara) and the Milni (Reception ceremony of the Groom's party by the Bride's Party) were over. On entering the Gurudwara, we wore out head coverings. For those who don’t know, it is required that you cover your head with a piece of cloth and remove your footwear before you enter the Gurudwara. We were directed to the tea hall in the ground floor of the Gurudwara. I knew this Gurudwara to an extent as i had been here many times. This Gurudwara is just about 10 min drive from my house. It was not easy for us to recognize this bloke as i have never seen him with a beard and turban before (remember i told you, he was a British born 'Shaved Sardar').After some heavy scrutiny of the crowd applying elimination method, found him in the Tea hall. He looked pretty good with beard and turban. Met him when he was on his way to the first floor of the Gurudwara where the wedding (Its called as Anand Karaj) is to take place. We followed him to the Hall.

Inside the Gurudwara, we went straight and offered our prayers. We then sat on the left hand side in the carpeted floor. Inside the hall, men usually sit on the left hand side and the womenfolk sit on the right hand side. Not sure if it is a convention, but i have noticed the same pattern in all the Gurudwaras I have gone. After my friend - the groom offered his prayers and sat in the row right in front of us. There were some Kirtans sung and after sometime, the Groom was made to sit in front of the Holy Book (Sri Guru Granth Sahib) The Bride was brought in and made to sit on the left hand side of the groom. Later the Bride, Groom and their parents stood up and offered their prayers. The priest then starts the next part called Laavan (Virdi, the groom, had told me about this before. Hence i remember...). The couple then walked around the holy book with the Groom leading and the bride following helped by her close relatives (symbolizing their support I guess). They go around 4 times with a short break in between each round where the priest recites from the holy book. After the 4 rounds, they are declared as couple. At this stage the Civil wedding ceremony as mandated by the UK Govt takes place where a registrar takes the oath from the couple and they legally declare as Man and Wife. Not sure if such a thing happens in India also.

There were some other smaller ceremonies happening further. We came back to the ground floor had the lunch and off we went to our house.

Back in the house had to do the weekend chores and weekend calls to India and managed to get an hour of rest.

The reception was to start at 7.30 PM and reached there prompt on time. It was in a Banqueting hall in Southall called Monsoon. Didn’t have much trouble finding it. The seating arrangements were very nice. Was hovering around for a table to sit along with couple of other colleagues who had come there. Did take some time to figure out one but it was worth the wait as we were seated on a table right in front of the stage. A few minutes later the newly wed couple came in accompanied by a band of Punjabi drummers and folk dancers. The folk dance group did a nice show of dances for some traditional songs. After which there were some DJ shows and floor open. Met the couple after sometime. Virdi looked a bit more relaxed now. Did some bit of dancing. When i looked at my watch, it was already close to 11 PM and i had to take the bus back home. Rushed to the dinner hall. Had a good serving of Punjabi food and off i rushed home. Lukily another friend of mine gave a lift till home..

It was a day well spent and a bit tiring too. Had a nice sleep that night. The only regret was that i did not take my camera and my phone was not the best instrument to take pictures in the dark :-(. This page would have been filled with lovely pictures...

Walk around the Regent Park

2007-04-26T13:39:00.001+01:00

I had long been contemplating doing a walking tour in London. The first and the only one i had done before was more than a year ago where we went for a walk around Hamstead heath. So, last sunday did a walk around the Regent's Park. One of London's premier area. After finishing off all my weekend morning chores, started pretty late in the after noon (around 1 PM) from home and took the picadilly line from Hounslow East and changed over to the Northern line at Leister square station to reach Chalk farm Station from where this walk started. From the chalk farm station, walked towards the Primrose Hill through an old looking (may be victorian) iron bridge and walking along a busy lane.

The Chalk Farm Station from where it all started

The Victorian Iron Bridge

Had to do a small trek to the top of the primrose hill (just takes a round 10 mins). The view from the top was awesome. You could see most of the london attractions from there like the Canary Warf, London eye, St Pauls, Bt Tower (this was the most prominent of them).

The entrance to the Primross Hill

View of London from the top of the hill

Decented the hill and walked towards Reagent park through the St Mark's church. The entry to the regent park from here was again through a smaller iron bridge. Could see part of the lovely regent canal (plan to do a walk along the canal soon). The path had a series of John Nash's Terraces on the left side of the walk overlooking the park. John Nash was a renowned English architect and an architect to the Crown. Prince Regent had engaged him to architect the area around what was called the Marleborne Park (now its Regent's Park). Prince Regent (who later became King George lV) wanted to have this area as an exclusive area for the premire community. This park was originally leased out to the Duke of Portland by the Crown. This was initially used as hunting ground. It was after this lease in the early 18th century that Prince Regent engaged John Nash on this Masterplan. The original plan was to have a summer palace built for the Prince and a series of villas built for people close with the Prince's family around the park.

St Mark's Church

A view of the Regent Canal

All the developments planned as per the original masterplan did not see the day though as Prince Regent subsequently planned to move to Buckinham palace.Out of the 50 odd villas planned only around 8 were built. The proposed summer palace was also not built.

Some where mid way, there was a very nice looking drinking water fountain in the form of a church. On examining it further, came to know that the same was gifted by a Parsi businessman from Bombay during the period of the english rule.

The drinking water fountain

From there walked towards the lake inside the park. On the way were lot of football pitches filled with people playing. Also on the right hand side on the path was "The Hub", which is a recent develpment and hosts multi sprots facility with a swanky looking cafe on the top of it. There were a lot of people boating in the lake and one could see a huge variety of ducks, swans and fowls. Well..i am not an expert Ornitholist like Salim Ali but can definitely tell a Swan from Ducks. On this side of the park, the London Mosque's Dome was prominently visible.

View of the London Mosque

Floral Display in the park..Its Spring time here..

I had to cross over the lake to further on my walk. On the way to the Band stand, there were a large collection of flowers on the right side of the path. The band stand is the place where the disaster of IRA bombing which killed 7 Bandmen. There is a placade put up there in their rememberance. Good that the problem is approached a positive turn in the
past decade.This area of the park where the band stand is built is called as the Holme Green.

The Band Stand

The London Zoo is also part of the Regent's Park. Winfield house, the official residence of the US Ambassador to Britain is also located inside the Regent's park (though could not see it as it is private). The London Business School is also in the borders of the park.

Primross Hill as well as the Regent Park come under the Royal parks of the Crown's Estate.

After spending some time in the company of flowers, moved on to Queen Mary's Garden. This hosts a fabulous garden, the triton fountain and an large open theatre.

Queen Mary's Gardens

The Open Air Theatre

The Triton Fountain

After seeing most parts of the Regent park, what was left of the plan was to see some of the fabulous residential area around this. The first to see was the Chester terrace. This was one of John Nash's architecture. Whole of the residential area around the park had the rich look. It gave a teste of how regency looks...

I then walked towards the chester terrace. This is street with all the houses architected by John Nash. This is a street in Camden for all official purposes. All the houses in this street are Grade 1 listed buildings. Both ends of the street has a huge arch with the name "Chester Terrace" engraved on them on a blue background.There are two blue plaques on the street, one for Charles Robert Cockerell and one for John Salmond.

Entrance to the Chester Terrace

A sample of the Grade 1 listed houses

Once out of this street, moved towards the Perpendicular road where tere was yet another huge set of terrace houses called the cambridge terrace. As we walk further there was the Royal College of Physicians.

The Cambridge Terrace

Out of curiosity checked out at a later time, the kind of going rates for houses near this place and look what..a decent looking apartment would cost around GBP 500 thounsand upwards and a house cost to the tune of GBP 2 million and higher. The ones in Chester Terrace would cost upward of 3.5 million.

Had a quick glimpse of the Park cresent, another fantastic building architected by John Nash, from across the road and started moving towards the Baker Street Station to catch the Tube back home. En route walking, saw the Royal Academy of Music, Madamme Tussards and London planetarium from outside.

The Park Cresent

The Royal Academy of Music

Entrance to the Madamme Tussards Museum and Poster about the new addition

There was a statue of Sherlock Holmes in front of the Baker Street station. Boarded the jubilee line and changed over at Green Park for Picadilly Line back home...

Lone man Smoking..

Sinclair ZX Spectrum

2007-04-24T08:03:00.000+01:00

Thrilled to see this news today. This sort of rekindled my old memories as this was the first computer.

It was called a "home computer" those days and PCs were extremely costly and reserved to the corporates. The computer needs to be plugged into a tv to be used. The microprocessor used was developed by Clive Sinclair in UK.Though the graphics were not all that great as we have these days, who cares about those when your aim was to learn the art of progamming. It supported a customised version of Basic called the Sinclair-Basic. It was more or less similar to MS Basic.

It also supported games which needs to be loaded on its rom by way of audio tapes using a walkman. Later on there were micro drives introduced which can be used as an accessory. The programs done can be saved in the audio tape if your walkman supports record function.

I am sure you would agree it would have been real fun using this for an 10 yr old.. Thanks to my father...

Provoked - Review

2007-04-23T14:05:00.000+01:00

It was a boring saturday evening and me looking out for something to kill time. Remembered the poster of Aish's latest movie - Provoked at the Underground station near home. So thought of watching it. Heard that it was a very serious movie etc. Me being the masala film type.. Well.. took me to do a second thought. But still went against the resistance..

The movie was based on a true story of Kiranjeet Ahluwalia (that's Ash's name in the film too..). The story is based out of London. Ash is a Punjabi girl married to a British born desi. Unlike the usual indian husbands in the UK (:-)), this guy subjects her to a high degree of domestic abuse and violence. Unable to with stand this for more than 10 yrs, she decides one day that enough is enough and kills him.

Rest of the movie is about how she copes up in the UK prison, wins over some friends in the process and with the help of her new found friends both inside and outside the prison (Nandita Das - an NGO in the movie), wins her freedom. Her case is of historic importance in the legal circle as it altered the legal definition of provoke (or something like that..Did not quite notice that bit well.)

All the characters in movies (surprisingly Ash after a long time..) have acted well. I especially liked the acting of cell mate of Ash. She did exactly what she was supposed to neither less nor more. I think Ash has attempted to do her career best (did come very close to) before she bid adieu (going by her statemenst in the press). Nandita Das, but for some scenes has done an excellent job.

On having Ash to do this role, the movie indirectly gets a better attention on the international media and secondly, not many heroines look beautiful without or with minimal makeup.

Well.. In the end i did feel good going against my initial resistance and seeing this movie. Worth a watch..

Vishu Payasam

2007-04-20T17:04:00.000+01:00

Had to make something special for Vishu. Back home you are guaranteed a sumptuous food and a generous collection (by way of kaineetams).

Tried my hands to make paal payasam. Well..the veterans would feel its quite simple to make. But for people who know how good a cook i was a few months ago (not that i am an expert now..), would know how big an accomplishment it is for me. Anyways it did come out yummy and as the saying goes..Proof of the pudding is in the eating.. The Payasam was over by the end of the day (Please note: i had just a glass of it in all).

Easter trip to Wales - Day 4

2007-04-15T22:15:00.000+01:00

Note: Can enjoy better if you read Day1, Day2 and Day3 before...

Today was the last day of this trip. It had been fantastic till now and we were sure it was going to be good today too. But a fine line of grimness embraced us. Tomorrow its going to be back to work and it was like we are going to be pulled out of a fantasy land into the mundane 9 to 5 land. Today we did not have the late rising as it was me who woke up first and woke up on time (felt enough is enough.. :o)). But lady luck refused to come near us. What we saved on waking up early was made up in getting the breakfast finished. Nevertheless made it to the van on time.

Our first stop for the day was Carreg Cennen castle. As of everyday, this was the trek of the day as the castle is situated on a kind of hilltop. But the small trek up was well worth as the castle had one of the best view.Though the outer portion of the castle remain strong more or less, many of the inner portions of the castles were in ruins. The castle has a deep under ground passage leading to a cave and also has a natural spring en route.This passage gets pitch dark after few steps walking down and will require a torch (available on rent from the visitor information desk). Also walking the passage is very tricky as you risk a fall if you place your foot wrong or risk banging your head on the low roof that emerges all of a sudden. Since the passage is not man made, the floor as well as the roof are uneven.From the information plate, could make out that this castle seemed to have changed hands often.

Signboards at different parts of the short trek to keep you motivated to climb further i guess

At the start of the mini trek

The Castle

Passage leading to the tunnel

We next went to a scenic landmark the name of which i forgot..Welsh names are very tough to remember unless you note it down which i did not in this case..Nevertheless this place was awesome. Dan told us that in the olden days, this place used to be the place where smuggled goods from America would arrive on British soil later to be sold on black market. Took some photos including the one with Dan and quickly sprinted to the van.

We then went to the Cardiff Bay, the happening place in Cardiff. The Bay hosts the National Assembly of Wales (the only traditional looking building in that area) as well as the Wales Millennium Centre. The Millennium center has a inpressive copper looking dome inscribed with the letter "In these stones, horizons sing". Rest of the outer walls of the building is clad with the tradional welsh slate. The inside of the building looks very posh and hosts theatres and musical academies. There was a live show by some artists when we were there. Looked fantastic...

The Bay Area

The Welsh National Assembly

The Millennium center

Artists performing inside the millennium center

Cafe/Lounge inside the center

As we were going towards the point of pickup.. We met the other trip mates and to make good use of the waiting time, took our final group photo (though Dan,Claire & Natalie were missing in this). Dan picked us up in few minutes from then and off we went to the Cardiff castle. Due to shortage of time, could not quite go in and explore in details. Spend some time at the castle gift shop and off we were on our way back through the motorway to London.

The final group photo

Cardiff castle

Got dropped off promptly at Earls court Station and that marked the end of this trip.

The time has come to say good bye.. we had real good fun... As a matter of fact, the trip was like visiting your friend for a weekend and hanging around with them. Dan and Calire will remain our very good friends...

Took the picadilly service back to Hounslow West and and once back at Hounslow had dinner at Kharahi Palace, a popular indian restaurant near the station.

The weather had been very good to us. All the four days had been nice and sunny but for the fact that i came back with a bit of tan (i am told so..)

Easter trip to Wales - Day 3

2007-04-15T21:58:00.000+01:00

Tired after the long trek, we had a very sound sleep.. As usual Kamesh got up late and the saga continued similar to yesterday :-).

We were happy that there was no trekking today (at least that was what we thought). Had our breakfast at the farmhouse and boarded the van for today's outing.

At the farm

Our first stop was Pentre ifan. This was supposed to be an Ancient community burial ground (35th century BC).

At Pentre Ifan

The next stop was St Goven's Chapel, whare a ancient saint was to have had his hermit. This place was supposed to have been attacked by pirates often and the rocks in the chapel would open and close around him to hide him from the pirates. We need to go to the chapel through a steep flight of stone as steps.Legend has it that the number counted going down never matches the number reached on the way back. We did count the steps and surprisingly (well.actually not..) they seemed to match. Kamesh, Rajesh and me went further from the chapel to the rocks. Others preferred to restrict themselves to the Chapel. After climbing back from the Chapel,we then had our first round of sandwiches made ready.

We then started a 2 hour trek to the Pembrokshire national park from here passing through a military firing range (i had for safety sake asked Dan what to say in Welsh if we find a group of men with guns in front of us :0) ). The trek was very scenic and we passed through 2 hills and a beach in between these 2 hills to arrive at another beach. Dan and Claire had meanwhile come over there in their van. We then dumped our things and off we went ot the water only to rush back to the shore. No no not because the water was dirty (infact it was very clean)..but because it was freezing cold. Very surprised that though the weater was very sunny, the water was chill. We then sat in the beach chatting for sometime watching others play beach cricket with their kids. Another short walk from there up a hill and down and we had the van parked ready to leave.

Signboard warning us to keep away

At the trek

Off we went to a Fishing village called Tenby. We were scheduled to be only for a quick visit hence had to hurry a bit. We went through the Tenby market and bought some sovenuirs. Next we headed to the harbour and up we went the castle hill. The Tenby Castle has just one tower surviving and a statue of prince albert. Claire told us that this town used be very famous for stag and hen parties. Now the pubs in a bid to remove that image of the town have stopped bookings for stag or hen parties. There was another interesting market where there were lots of food stalls put up by people of origin from different countries. We bought some cookies from a french lady. They were plain yummy and rich. Got into the van and off we went towards our dwelling.

Tenby Harbour area

The Castle Hill

Prince Albert (birds are birds where ever they are...)

Board in front of a pub

Reached the farm and thanks to spring, we were still having a bit of daylight left. We guys were hanging around the farm after freshening up quick. Saw and shot some amazing photos of sunset. Dan and Claire meanwhile were busy cooking our dinner. For the vegetarians amonst us it was a "Curry Night". Once the curry was done, Kamesh and me did the tasting, while Claire waited like an nervous child awaiting its marksheet. The curry was fantastic and she infact had done far better than what we expected. So all the tripmates got to the dining table to have our last dinner of the trip together.

At the lounge in the farm house

Dan and Claire in action

Sunset at the farm

The Curry night (our last dinner together in the trip)

After the dinner we went to a traditional welsh speaking pub called the "Fisher's Arm" which was around 5 minutes drive from the farm. Spent some quality time there having a nice laugh and playing snooker. Back in the farm we had the usual rounds of playing cards in our room and crashed to bed. zzzzz...

Continued here

Easter trip to Wales - Day 2

2007-04-15T19:08:00.000+01:00

In the next morning, Kamesh (the first to wake up as per our plan) went in late to bath, there by making the rest of us to rush up. Gobbled up breakfast and when we set our foot out.. Realised we still have some time to start.. So shot more photos at the farm till we saw Dan moving towards the van.

At the farm house early in the morning

We then set out to our first spot for the day - Harlech castle. This one is a world heritage castle and was built by King Edward. Going by the display boards around it, could make out that this was one of his strong holds during the period of frequent wars. I still feel, with all due respects to the architect of this massive castle, that many of the forts in India seem to have been built much stronger. But what was impressive is that this castle is built that way that there is only one face of it was open for possible attack (i am talking of traditional warfare here..). There was also a provision for getting supplies to the castle from the sea which was interesting.

The Harlech Castle

Facing the town from Harlech Castle

Two..Three and all four of us..

en-Route to Snowdown

We then moved top Pen-y-pass where most of our trip mates began there trek of the snowdown (Highest peak south of scotland). Dan's parents had offered to guide them treking along. It was very nice of them to do.We initially choose to use the snowdown steam train instead as some of us were having a bit of pain in the hamstring and the other feeling they are near to getting one. Since the steam trains were all booked by the time we reached the station, we had no other option but to trek the way adjacent to the rail track. This was shorter by a few miles but is steeper and hence tougher to climb than the other path (we plan to visit snowdown sometime later in summer and trek the other path..I was told that that path is more scenic..lets see how it goes..). Whiler treking the snowdown, spotted some people doing parachute jumps. It was fun to see them land and to my surprise, the whole of the parachute when folded goes into a bag, the size lesser than my laptop bag. We had our lunch mid way of the trek. After the trek we started downwards and luckily met Dan in the foothill. Since the other parties on the longer trek were going to take some more time to come down, Dan took us to the National Slate Museum for us to kill time.

The Parachute Jumper

The Trek to Snowdown

Brooke en-route downwards

The area around Snowdown (Bleanau Ffestiniog) was famous for slate and at the peak of industrial revolution, i am told that wales produced more slate than the rest of the world put together. We did see some huge slate mountains. Not much of activity happens here now as it is commertially cheaper to import slate from other countries i am told. This museum also has the largest working waterwheel in the mainland britain (thats what the dispay board told). Kamesh and Rajesh jumped into a demostration session showing the art of slate cutting and got locked up for the entire demo (they still argue that they had the better time..). Ravi and me went around the rest of the museum. What was very interesting is at the end of the museum there are 4 houses of quarrymen reflecting the different time periods - 18th century, early 19th Century and end of 19th century when the quarry went into sort of downsizing an lay off mode.

The Slate Museum

The Slate Mountains

We then treated ourselves to a good round of ice cream. I got myself some sovenuires.. We then did a quick trek to a nearby castle (very small one..did not bother to note down the name of it..But a sign post in its proximity displayed a name "The Keep"..Hence i assume that the name of it). By then the other parties had arrived and off we hopped to the town of Aberystwyth.

The Keep

The group at Aberystwyth

Daffodils at Aberystwyth

This town is supposed to be between south wales and north wales. I was told that there are some minor difference in the slang and culture of the noth welsh and the south welsh (as in the case of people from Madurai,Kovai and Chennai in Tamilnadu). We went around the sea shores in the night while Clare got some fish and chips arranged for dinner. After a good helping of chips, we went back to our farm house. As usual had a few rounds of playing cards, arguments on who is going to wake first and what to eat tommorow. Slept with our Alarms set for 6.00 AM. zzzzz.....

Continued here

Happy New Year (Tamils & Malayalees)...

2007-04-15T18:35:00.000+01:00

Wish everyone a very happy Tamil New Year & Vishu (Malayalee New Year)

Easter trip to Wales - Day 1

2007-04-10T14:57:00.001+01:00

Got up from the bed around 4.30 AM (with just around 4 hrs of sleep thanks to Naresh's send off night). Packed up all the stuff remaining to be packed and off we went to the Hounslow west station to take the 6.30 AM Piccadilly service to Earls court.

As the the four musketeers came out of the Earl's court station, we were greeted by a good looking welsh girl with a charming smile (Claire, that’s you..). We were then introduced to Dan (finally we put a face to the voice we were interacting for the past 2 weeks). More on Dan and Claire as we go about on this virtual trip. In the next 20 minutes the van was ready to go with all the trip-mates (Indians, South Africans, Aussie, Swiss..what a mix).

After a couple of hours on the motorway from London where Claire gave us all a bit of a primer on Welsh language (Boy, pretty tough on your throat) and their culture, we hit the Big Pit National mining museum located in a town called Blaenafon. This was a coal mine operational till it got shutdown sometime in the 80s.

The Welsh Coal

We were taken down the underground coal mine more than 90 ft below ground with the miner's kit around us and the guide who took us was a miner in this very coal mine before it got shut and converted into a museum. We could see and understand how a coal mine functions and the typical work day of a miner. The way the air supply (using air doors) is handled, maintaining horses in underground stables and the methane detection techniques were fantastic. The best part was that there was no entrace fee for it. My only regret was that they do not allow you to carry camera underground due to fire and safety reasons :-(

At the mine

Miner's Outfit

The next place to visit was the Aberfan memorial of the tragic event of 100s of innocent school children and few adults died due to a slid of coal wastes piled up on the mountain above this small village. Many of the graves of these were very touching..Clare and Dan explained how the village missed a particular generation of people for years to come.

Aberfan memorial

The start of the trek

With the first part of the day with minimal activity, the time had come for us to sweat it out a bit. We hit the Brecon Beacons National Park where we had our lunch and post lunch went trekking the Pen y Fan mountain (Its the highest mount in South Wales). It was awesome to see the beauty of nature around and we trekked for around 3 1/2 hours. Clare had trekked along with us and made sure we were on the right track. In her own words, she acted like a "shepherd" (not that we were like sheeps).

Scenic shots on the way of the trek

The Trekkers (With the Shepard)!!!

Just when we thought its almost done.. (we saw the way ahead..)

Feels nice to be at the top !!!

Dan had meanwhile driven the van to the place the trek would end and walked up to see us when we were around 200 meters to the end of the trek.

At the top of the trek..Mission Accomplished (well..sort of..)

After the trek, all we wanted was get back home soon and crash. The first one did happen in around an hour when we reached the "Pentre Farm" in a small welsh village, Llanfair Clydogau. This was a beautiful farm run by Dan's relatives. Its about 40 mins drive from Cardiff. It boasts a fantastic view of the countryside with lush greenery around. We had reached the place around 6.30 and were shown our rooms. All four of us were put in a large room. We then relaxed for a couple of hours in the farm drinking juice and trying to imitate the sound of the sheep.

Additional sheds in the farm

The farm house we stayed in.

View of the farm from the patio

Our Room

Another portion of our room

It was dinner time and Dan's father had prepared vegetable Lasagna for us vegetarians. Truly, this was one the best Lasagna i have ever tasted (need to get Dan to send the recipe..). After dinner, went back to our room and had a long session of playing cards. We then had a round of arguments as to who should get up first and what should we eat for breakfast. After both these issues were resolved, had a very sound sleep with the alarm set for 5.30 am the following day.zzzzz.....

Continued here

A very innovative campaign

2007-03-30T10:54:00.000+01:00

Got it from a forward.. It is a practise for clubs to use rubber stamp to identify its patrons. Marriot Mumbai's night club, Enigma, has come up with a low cost campaign to caution its patrons against drink and drive. The usual stamp was replaced with the above.

St Patricks day - London

2007-03-22T19:47:00.000Z

Thanks to my collegue, i was reminded last thursday that last Saturday was St.Patricks day. Knew there would be a grand Gala in Trafalgar Square. Was in a dillema whether to go see the fun there or be a patriot and give moral support to the Indian Team for their maiden match in the world cup.

The Mayor of london probably knew this..Hence he had scheduled the St.Patricks day Celebration a day later (On Sunday). Great.. So went to trafalgar square at around 13:00 hrs GMT. Thank god, the parade had just begun.

An Irish Girl performing the traditional River Dance on a float.

Dancers on the Parade

Another dancer in the parade

Dancer in the parade

Cute looking kid who was watching the parade with us.

Celebrations begin

With the Irish Man who had the flag on his beard.

With a group of Irish guys and Gals

An Old Irish Couple dancing to the song

Indian Retail sector on the boom time

2007-01-17T12:55:00.000Z

Indian retail sector seems to be on the upbeat with more entries by multinationals like Walmart. The latest to enter would be UK based Argos.

Seems like the indian consumers are going to get themselves stuffed with options when they decide to go shopping.

To Pod ur ears or not??

2006-12-11T09:21:00.000Z

Is Ipods and portable Mp3 players taking us to an era of semi-deaf generation.

That's what this and this say

Well i should confess that i use the mp3 players very frequently (daily commute to work and on any long journeys..). Infact the latest Sony mobiles profess this trend in their latest ad campaigns for their walkman phone series.

Nevertheless its going to be hard for me to get out of this habit since the practice doubles up as an added protection for me against the very cold wind. I will, but, henceforth reduce the volume (lessen the extent of the damage..)

Thanniyil thathalikkum enga oor Thaikulam (Binge-Drinking Brit Girls)

2006-12-11T09:12:00.000Z

I am not being chauvinistic.. I have seen a lot of binge drinkers of both sex in my rather short period in London (Kudimakkals in Singara Chennai are sometimes far better).

But the Binge drinking crowd in the fairer sex is growing alarmingly nowadays.. I am not opposed to drinkers as long as they can carry themselves well after the session.. Its only when they drink to their full and cause trouble to the fellow people on the roads and on the streets that makes it a sorry state.

See this report

Naan Oru Nerd aa.. ??(Am I a nerd...)

2006-12-11T09:10:00.000Z

Ithu enna galatta -2

2006-12-01T16:35:00.000Z

This is a bit old but took me off the floor on the innovation that State Tax officials can get in findind new ways to tax.

Ithu enna galatta?

2006-12-01T09:01:00.000Z

First it was slated to be Salman, then came Vivek and then Abishek (leave alone the thousands who would also be interested)...

With three men in line to tie the knot..

Its going to be him who would eventually get to marry Ash..

Read this

Big Money in this??

2006-12-01T08:41:00.000Z

Thats what this says...

Borat - Kazhakh Cultural ambassador ???

2006-11-22T10:10:00.000Z

Those of you who would have seen Borat (a character played by Sacha Baron Cohen) shows and in particular his latest movie - "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (the lengthy title makes me feel is hollywood taken up the trend of the bollywood). It is evident how much of a dig he takes on the Kazakhstan and their culture. While its comedy after all, he does cross the lines at some portions of the movie and hurt the sentiments of the kazhaks.

The movie features a spoof Kazakh TV reporter, played by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, supposedly employed by the country's government to make a documentary on America.

That being the case, i was surprised to see that the visiting Kazhak President,Nursultan Nazarbayev, laughing off the remarks made by Borat in his movie.

The movie incidentally has topped the US and UK box office.

The President also adds "All publicity is good publicity.We are indeed concerned that Kazakhstan is not a very well-recognized country in Europe, although we have tried to make ourselves more recognized.."

We will know how cool the president is if Borat does takes up the invitation extended by the Kazhakh government to visit their country :-)...

Monkeys - South and North India

2006-11-17T09:43:00.000Z

See this snippet about a research done on Indian Monkeys.. How similar with humans...

" South Indian monkeys are more “civilised” and “cultured” than their North Indian cousins, according to an American expert on simian behaviour. Dr Leonard A. Rosenblum, a psychiatry professor from the University of New York, says that South Indian monkeys maintain close ties with other members of the group. Scientific research and prolonged observation of the behaviour of Indian monkeys for the past 50 years have proved that south of the Vindhyas are more caring, he said."

See here for more...

Money money money..

2006-11-17T09:42:00.000Z

Its official... Money can change one's Behaviour.

Software Engineers and Drug dealers

2006-11-16T13:34:00.000Z

Software engineers are very similar to drug dealers.. well almost

Drug dealers

Software developers

Refer to their clients as "users".

"The first one's free!"

"Download a free trial version..."

Have important South-East Asian
connections (to help move the stuff).

Have important South-East Asian connections (to help debug the code).

Strange jargon:
"Stick", "Rock", "Dime bag," "E".

Strange jargon:
"SCSI", "ISDN", "Java", "RTFM"

Realize that there's tons of cash in the 14- to 25-year-old market.

Job is assisted by industry's producing newer, more potent mixes.

Job is assisted by industry's producing newer, faster machines.

Often seen in the company of pimps and hustlers.

Often seen in the company of marketing people and venture capitalists (same thing).

Their product causes unhealthy addictions.

DOOM. Quake. SimCity. Duke Nukem 3D. 'Nuff said.

Do your job well, and you can sleep with
sexy movie stars who depend on you.

Damn! Damn! DAMN!!!

From an email forward...

Inkulaab..

2006-11-16T11:34:00.000Z

Trade Unions and West bengal are made for each other. So why leave IT alone.. Yes.. They have done it..
The West Bengal Information Technology Services Association (http://www.wbitsa.org/) has been formed..
Dunno if we are going to see angry Software Engineers (not satisfied with their appraisals or not seeing thier demand for an Onsite Assignment taken seriously by their managers) going to the streets with flags or calling a strike..The best bet though would be to get on to the next conference call and start yelling "Inkulaab Zindabaad.."
Would not be surprised if i hear a similar voice from "Gods own country" soon.

Devil Wears Prada

2006-10-18T08:58:00.000+01:00

Watched the new movie Devil Wears Prada last night.

The overall theme of the movie seemed a bit Girly..but its worth a watch. It did made me think why so much of emphasis is given to fashion initially but thought later that perhaps its just because i am getting signs of being nerdy.. Its about a 'not so inclided to high fashion' lady Andy who gets a job as assitant to one of the biggest magazine's (Runway) editor. The job is so called one which a million girls would even kill for. The boss is a ruthless and cynical Miranda Priestly (well i figured the name from the title :)). She will make even the worst of your bosses seem much better. Its then about Andy does a 360 degree turn in herself. In this she ends up rupturing the relationship with her family and her loving boyfriend. The change is very nicely portrayed.

Anne Hathaway was very sweet and yes beautiful too.. But i liked the character of Miranda Priestly more..

The end was an unexpected turn by Andy. Its a slight change from my routine High packed Action and Masala Movies.

London Diwali Celebrations - Diwali on the square...

2006-10-17T09:26:00.000+01:00

It was a Sunday and the place was Trafalgar square what other reason i need to not be there.. So, i did make it to the "Diwali on the Square" organised by the Mayor Of London. Did have to wake up earlier that day to finish all the weekend domestic works (dart those...) since i knew i would not be back home till late night.. Luckily the program starts only in the evening. So on reaching the place at sharp 4 PM when it is to start, thanks to the desi style of Indian Stretchable Time, i got a place quite near to the stage than i expected. The place was still not less crowded that time. It was around 5.30 PM that turned back to see a sea of desis behind me. I had expected to bump on some old friends here but now the chances of it was bleak..
The event started with some classical bits and as it progressed was getting a bit peppy.. Was expecting to eat some savories in some indian stalls as was the case last year.. But could not find one.. Dunno why?? In between for about 30 mins we had 8 or more people giving lectures which the crowd was obviously not very interested. Reminded me of my school days when we used to have cultural events where the chief guest would give a long sermon and all we guys waiting only for him to finish. Since i was close to the stage, the music was also louder for me but was very much bearable in comparison to the reception bands in our weddings. The Nelson Column was illuminated with orange and lavendar colour alternating. The crowd was sure very excited and we had some very exited ones shouting "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Bole so nihal.. Satsriakal.." etc.
We had some UK bands performing too. The Hunterz one was very nice and the last item was performed by Raghav - the local boy.. Reached home around 10:30 PM and took refuge into Tesco's Cheese sandwich and crashed..

Oil is the 'Heart' of the problem 'local' & 'International'

2006-10-04T09:46:00.000+01:00

The British Heart foundation has launched this fantastic campaign to response to a report on the habits of eating crisps within the new generation.

The report says that if you eat one pack of potato chips (crisps) per day, it is the same as drinking 5 litres of cooking oil over a year's time.

The report also finds that nearly a fifth of children eat two packets of crisps per day. A typical 35g bag of crisps contains about two-and-a-half teaspoons of oil, whilst a larger 50g pack contains three-and-a-half.

Was wondering how many litres of oil we people drink a year. Oh those Pappadams, Murukkus, Vadais, Seedais...

Wright post - Part 2

2006-09-06T16:56:00.000+01:00

After a late crash it was quite a struggle to get up in the morning.. Last to sleep and first to wake..Now you understand the pain dont you.. After a quick sprint to the bathroom, there i was, ready at 5.45 AM. The rest followed suite and we were all ready by 7 AM. Pretty cool... I happened to notice this rather unusual bathroom on the ground floor. It had the look of a victorian bedroom. Yes, it very much was a bathroom. It was bigger than any modern lounge you would find in London. So could not resist taking couple of shots in that (dont look at me like that we were fully dressed)...It had a huge wash basin at one end of the room and the closet at another corner. It had a bath tub (rather small for the size of the room though).

Back in our rooms, had hot Idlys (of course we had a microwave in our ammodation !!!) and vacated our accomodation. with our backpacks on our shoulder we proceeded to the very same beach in Sandown we had been the previous night. Had a cup of hot chocolate by the sea side restaurant with flapjacks and almond pastries.. Spend some time with cold breeze filled with a gush of droplets in the air. Oh what a feeling it was...

We then took the bus to Shanklin (another good sea front) and spent some time enjoying the sea front and the old village around the place. The roadside train took us around the area of Shanklin and by mid day we were off to Ventnor an another facinating sea side town full of action.

We has exhausted all our packed food by then. So we made a quick look around for some decent vegetarian restaurant in the town center. And be believe me, not one could we find. Thats when we finally decided we shall enjoy the beach first and cross the bridge when it comes. Back in the beach, you could see a whole lot of people doing para gliding and wind surfing on the sea. It was pretty windy too. So Naresh and me took some Keanu Reeves kinda shots with the wind blowing on your face.. There was a fantastic pool with the map of the IOW and a nice looking and decorative small water fall near the beach which were promptly covered by us in our cameras..

By then, the temporarily dormant hunger benag to raise again. We decided not to venture out looking for any more desi restaurants and decided to have sandwiches and vegge burgers. We were in for a surpise as we got a better food than we had expected. By London standards, it was far more less burdening on the pocket too. By now we were almost on the fag end of the trip and packed our bags to the Bus station in Town center to move back to Ryde. We were lucky to have a ferry starting immediately from the port to portsmouth. The ferry back was more pleasant as the rains had completely stopped and we had clear view of the channel we were crossing.

Took the National Express again back to London and the tube back home...

Though all of us were quite exhaused, we still felt it would have been all the more fun had we stayed a day longer...

Wright post - Part 1

2006-09-06T15:30:00.000+01:00

This weekend went rather funpacked with a facinating trip to the Isle of wright. It was actually pretty quick planned as we were still not very sure till 2-3 days before the trip. Though the decision was taken with very few days of notice, we were pretty quick in getting all other things organized.

We had 2 teams preparing food for the trip (The last we wanted to have was searching for good Indian food). Team one (the 2 ace bachelor samayal experts Naresh & Me)prepared the all famous puliyodharai (Tamarind Rice) and team 2 (My Mom & Eashwari) prepared idly and Chapathi/Subji in the night before the journey. Contarary to popular expectations, all parties got together in Hounslow east on early saturday morning and thus started on the initial long tube bound journey towards Central London (Victoria). From there the team took the National Express to Portsmouth. We had a non-stop marathon chat session throughout the journey till we reached Portsmouth by some section of the team while another section choose to rather conserve energy by going on to the Power-Saving mode.

Though Portsmouth port was very welcoming,the climate there was not so (bit of drizzles). That did not spoil our sprits though and we then took the FastCat ferry to Ryde (Isle of wright - IOW). This is where the drizzles played its first act as villain. We were unable to enjoy the full fun of a ferry across the english channel (i hope so..I am not very strong with Geography..More so the english geography). The ferry went whoosh across to the isle in matter of 15 - 20 minutes..

On landing on the Ryde port, we noticed some cinema shooting.. The typical indian excitement took over us and we did the classic crowd peeping act in a rather professioanl way. It was indeed a shooting for a Tamil movie starring Sham.. After a casual glance of him, went near the coffee vending machine to have a cup of hot chocklate. That was when i noticed a good looking girl dressed in white. I initially thoughtit was his wife since she was sitiing rather cut off from the shooting spot. That's when i was enlightened by Eashwari that it was actress Sandhya. With a sense of uncertainity, asked her if she was Sandhya to which she replied with a small yes in her lips and a big YES in her eyes. Armed with the initial success of breaking the ice, aked her if i can take a snap of her. Was a Yes this time too. By now my mom had begun her conversation with her. Both were excited to know that they went to the same school (of course with a huge gap in years). Came to know that she was a mallu too. After bidding adieu to her, we moved on to the Ryde Bus terminus via the long Ryde Pier (Its the 2nd longest pier in the South England).

We then took a 2 day Rover ticket (allows travel throughout the island for the weekend) and took the bus to Needles - the top attraction in IOW. Sure was a long journey and we had a quick lunch in between the journey at Newport. We were longing for some good break and what more can you ask when we have some delicious home made Chapathi & Subji. We had all along been surviving with few Bananas till then...

When we reached Needles, it was heavily windy. My fears grew more as we had some ultra thin gang members. These a quite a few occasion where being on the other side helps. Nevertheless we did manage to stroll around in the heavily windy and deserted pleasure park in Alum Bay and could have at most of privacy we could not even imagine. All others who had come prior to us had fled the place fearing the wind but for us and a few more...

When we felt we had enough of fun, we started our journey towards Sandown (the place where we had booked our accommodation for the night).Back in our rooms in Sandown, we relaxed for sometime, had a good dinner (Puliyodharai) and some brave members of the gang took a stroll around the sandown beach which was a stones throw from the place we stayed.

While most of them decided to end their tiring day, the die-hard movie buffs like me saw for the nth time "Behind Enemy Lines" which was broadcasted on the TV in our room. So ended catching a glimpse of sleep well past mid night.

Atlast what a day it was....

Gabtain strikes again

2006-04-20T11:43:00.000+01:00

Opposition beware...The Vridhachalam candidate opposing Gaptain.. Watch this..

and this...

Gaptain...

2006-04-11T07:58:00.000+01:00

Election time and Gaptain is in full form.. Watch this video..

Google Woogle...

2006-03-15T10:24:00.000Z

There was an interesting documentary - "World According to Google" which i chanced to see. Well, was bit curious if i can get more info on the lifestyles of their employees. So i googled for the same and hit on this photo essay on the Time.

Hmm.. Looks like these guys are having a ball...

Look Maa...

2006-03-14T13:02:00.000Z

Your Blogging Type is Unique and Avant Garde

You're a bit ... unusual. And so is your blog.
You're impulsive, and you'll often post the first thing that pops in your head.
Completely uncensored, you blog tends to shock... even though that's not your intent.
You tend to change your blog often, experimenting with new designs and content.

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Thanneer Thanner....

2006-03-14T09:39:00.000Z

Water shortage is taking shape in UK and London in particular. The signs have started with the Thames Water, who is britain's largest water company is going to impose ban on hose pipes. So now people here cant water plants or wash their car using hose pipes. For those in chennai, this is nothing big as we have never had the chance of using hose pipes (not considering those who dont have the luxury of water in pipes).

This has come as a shock for many here in London. Many have started panicking if this would lead soon to a situation decades back when they had the worst water shortage in London. The people had to collect water in buckets from the nearby tap installed by the government on the roads.

More can be found here.

I Swear…I wouldn't SWEAR...

2006-02-23T16:27:00.000Z

Came to know on reading today’s newspaper that a guy was fined GBP 80 for using the f**k word in public while talking to his friend. It seems that there is some law in the country which allows fining people using swear words in public.

Very surprising that such a thing exists in a country where swearing is so common….

Dr.Kalam's Speech at Hyderabad

2006-02-20T13:27:00.000Z

Happen to come across this transcript of Dr.Abdul Kalam's speech @ Hyderabad. Quite thought provoking. May take just about 5-6 minutes of your time to read.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalaam's speech in Hyderabad

"I have three visions for India. In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards, The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and Tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect the freedom of others.
That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of Independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect us.
My second vision for India's DEVELOPMENT, For fifty years we have been A developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self-reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?
I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of space, Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr.Brahm Prakash, father of nuclear material. I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.I see four milestones in my career:
Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be the project director for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role in my life of Scientist. After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of India's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in 1994.
The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss. The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material. A Very light material called carbon-carbon.
One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over three Kg. each, dragging their feet around.
He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300-gram calipers and took them to the orthopedic center. The children didn't believe their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. load on their legs, they could now move around! Their parents had tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss!
Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.We are the second largest producer of wheat.We are the second largest producer of rice.Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self driving unit.There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary.
It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE?
Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.
Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.YOU say that our laws are too old.YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, the airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.YOU say, say and say.
What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS.
Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best.
In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground Links as they are. You pay $5(approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity. In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, "see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else."
YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai sala main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost." YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand. Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?
Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," he said." And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?" He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.'
So who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government.
Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
Dear Indians,
The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....
I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....
"ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"
Lets do what India needs from us.
Thank you,

Abdul Kalaam

Match Point

2006-02-06T09:46:00.000Z

Watched this movie this weekend. A simple story but with a lot of unexpected twists. It helps if you watch the movie without any background on it. So, When the movie began,i was initially thinking its some classic movie about some Tennis player similar to the case to Cinderella Man. Then it went in a way of some romantic story but i was wondering why scarlett was paired with the wrong man. It is after the movie progressed that things began to come to light. Even the final few minutes had the twist. If you apply the traditional thought that all movies need to have the good winning over bad... I suggest you are going to have a hit...

Scarlett is gorgeous throughout the movie.. The poster would tell you better..
My advise..Read no more reviews for the movie and watch it with no expectation..

Happy New Year 2006

2006-01-03T08:39:00.000Z

Chennai Senthamil in wikipedia

2005-12-22T08:37:00.000Z

Wikepedia has covered a write up on Chennai Senthamil.
A very interesting read...

Peter Tamils...

2005-12-20T07:41:00.000Z

See this interesting clip on a group of tamils putting peter...
For those non-chennai guys 'Peter Putting...' is a slang for guys who behave as if they were born and brought up in America when they would have not seen anything other than Aminjikarai...

Really a nice clip to see and enjoy.. Dont forget to keep your speakers on...

Thavamai Thavamirunthu

2005-12-16T11:03:00.000Z

Saw this movie this week. This should impress any normal tamil film viewer who does not come to see the movie with any preset notions. This has no comedy tracks & no masala songs.

I could see a lot of similarities to his previous movie Autograph. This story also takes the flash back route. He seems to realize that this is his strength and he is building on it.
Like any of Cheran's movies he strikes where other movie makers have not touched much upon. We would have seen countless number of tamil talking on the greatness of the mother.

Cheran in this movie takes a different route in portraying the hardships faced by a poor father who wants to give his son the best education for his sons. He even goes to the extent of borrowing money heavily for their education. What i like the most about cheran in this is that he does not portray any heroic deed for his character. There are but few scenes in the movies which test your patience a bit.

I should say the hero of the movies is not Cheran but is Rajkiran who plays the role of the Father. I wish gets the National award for his role.I should say this should be his career best after the role in Pandavar Bhoomi & Nanda. Saranya as his wife has done well too though she has been shadowed heavily by Rajkiran's acting. The newcomer Padmapriya is also done an excellent job for her first movie.

Cheran i am sure has done a lot of home work in picking up all the characters including the ones with a minor role like the first daughter-in-law. She fits the role to a T. Another interesting change i noticed in this movie is that all flashbacks are in colour and the present is in black and white mostly. Though the Music directors Sabesh-Murali have put a decent show, i wish movies like this require the decoration of Maestro Illayaraja.

I wish this movie gets the same or better response that Autograph had. Heard that the movie has been awarded with 53 points in Anada vikadan.

Thavamai Thavamirunthu means 'a long wait' in tamil. I know it was a long wait for Cheran & his team to complete it (an evident hardwork is seen). I hope it is not the same for the viewer to see that 'The End' put.

The king is back again...

2005-12-14T16:21:00.000Z

San's B’Day Out

2005-09-27T22:37:00.000+01:00

It was supposed to be a day of utter serenity. All the more reason bcoz i was banished to an extremely worthless training (sounds familiar??) away from work. Though in vanvaas, I did receive greetings from the members of the gang in regular intervals. Lucky me the training got over ahead of the schedule. Then started the turning point. With a series of SMS and mails going around. the gang decided to have a regroup in the evening. The place of the regrouping was unanimously decided as Holborn station and the gang meeting would be at Alperton Saravana Bhavan. Surprisingly, we did regroup without much delay (The notorious gang member I think was bit punctual in starting from office). We traveled in the modern version of the bullock cart (Picadilly line) towards Alperton.

Luck did favor us again as the usually crowded restaurant was bit deserted. So we did not have to wait much to be seated. After the cerimonial cutting of cake (thanks to the hotel management who did not make any fuss about it...) ,we got to have the typical South Indian dishes like the Utthappam , Idly, Parotta etc. I did get to have the feel of being at home. The gang did made the valuable difference.

Hail the comrades…

Happy B'day Google..

2005-09-27T11:32:00.000+01:00

Yes..Its Google's 7th B'Day today..

So what interests me?? Well.. Its mine too ;-)

When nature calls...

2005-09-23T16:51:00.000+01:00

Find below the cheeky snap the reuters reporter took when Bush asked if he can answer the call of nature..

Have a nice weekend..

Mid September weekend wandering - Part 2

2005-09-20T16:31:00.000+01:00

Late crash to bed results in late waking up..Thats exactly what happened on Sunday. Got up late and realised that there were lots of more places yet to be explored as part of the london open house and there is this Thames festival to be covered too. Taking into consideration the fact of limited time and unlimited events to cover, broke my head over this and with lots of compromises, dicided that i would see the India office and the City Hall. The rest was decided to be devoted for Thames festival.

So off i started towards the India Office. For those of you who would have thought it is some indian missionary's office,Let me give a brief about the India Office. India Office was the office of the British Secretary of State for India. This was formed after the Sepoy mutiny in 1857 ('The Rising' thing...) after which the powers were transferred to the British Crown from the East India Company. The India Office was largely funded out of Indian revenues unlike the other departments.It was a miniature Government in itself.The Viceroy of india reports to the Secretary of State for India who in turn reports to the cabinet. Post Independence of India and Pakistan, it took the shape of Commonwealth Office. It is now called as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). True to expected lines, it portrayed the architecture existant during the time of the British Raj. A statue of a Gurkha (supposed to be belonging to the Gurkha Regiment) welcomes you. The building boasts of long stairways and big pathways. The DurbarHall is a huge open area with plenty of natural lightings.

The designs on the roof is truely facinating. I, in short, felt like taken through a time machine to the days of the British Raj. This talks why it has been classified as a Grade 1 building.

From the architecture of the British raj off i rush to the architecture of the present mordern Britainnia..The GLA City Hall.Well,GLA stands for Greater London Authority. The architecture is that of a Helmet and an out of shape egg. The Ground floor has an area which has the flooring depicting the arial view of the london city.I infact saw lot of people looking around to see if they can spot their neighbourhood. Another interesting architectural point of interest is the spiral stairs. The view of the city of london from the top floor was amazing. The gallery where the City Council and the Mayor conduct the proceedings was too good with the members having individual LCD monitors in front of them.

Westminister..Yes Minister

2005-09-20T09:49:00.000+01:00

The expedition around the westminster area started with the vist of a methodist church opposite to the Westmister Abbey. We could spend a lot of time inside let loose as there were no other visitors in the church. We could have a fabulous view of the top of Westminster abbey form the 3rd floor of this church.

Westminster Abbey was closed for public when we had gone. But we did not lose our sprits and found that a backway to the Westminster Abbey was open and we saw 3 people go in through it. We went behind them (not to be mistaken to tail-gate them...we did not breach any security..It was just that we discovered a new way..). This just gave us a trial version of the Abbey (a sneek preview). Plan to visit the westminister abbey later..along side of the westminster we saw the Big Ben from a close proximity (we've seen it from different locations in london..But this was the first time we went near the Big Ben and the Parliament).Another detailed visit to this is on the cards.

Tiered of the long walks we had..We decided to get back to our den and rest is the usual history with weekend movie and late crash to bed...

Mid September weekend wandering..

2005-09-19T11:23:00.000+01:00

It was a busy weekend with the london open house and the Thames festival. Though i would have loved to have a clone as both of these events were happening in parallel (Missed the thames boat race :-( ). Though of sharing across multiple blogs...Here we go... Our expedition started with us sitting at the underground station (not to be thought of in the likes of Underground hideouts :-), we are no gangsters though we have a strong gang) and charting out the plan for the day.. It was unonimously (i think it was..) decided that we first start with the Meadlands classroom of the future. Its located off the busy locations in Richmond. The school did look elegant. The classroom was located in a secluded location from the Main building (maybe they thought of giving it a special ambience). It did resemble a space ship when seen from the outside. The interiors were also done very well. White boards (magnetic too) covered all the walls of this room. The seating arraingements were also bit unconvensional. A notable thing was that the classroom was self sufficient in all ways (it has a provision of a wash area and rest room within the room). Mr.Meakin (not sure if i got the name correct), the head teacher, explained us how the project took shape and the future direction of this project. It seems that 2 schools in the borough of Richmond are involved in this project. See below the pictures of the same. Another worthy mention was about the borough of Richmond, it looks quite green for an area in London. Its got a nice Lake, which we could see when were on the bus (will be explored by the gang soon :-) )

Next place to be invaded was the Tanaka Business school, Imperial College. Well, it was my first entry into a Business School so apart from the interests of new architectures, i was also curious how a business school looks like from the inside. True to our expectations, the bulding was truely facinating. Had a chance to talk with a student persuing his doctorate in the business school. He provided a lot of insight into doing masters in the Business school. MBa is quite a costly affair in the UK :-).

We hit the Channel 4 studios next and the first thing we see is ... the long queue waiting to get inside. Since we are used to longer queues in most part of our life :-). we continued not losing our heart. Fortunately for us, the queue indeed moved fast. After the routine security checks, we were let inside the studio building. We were initially shown the conference room and the adjacent open discussion area. Later, we went to the studio waiting area called 'Tandoori', not sure why it is named so.I now feel i should have asked someone around...
By the time we finished with the Channel 4 expedition, it was already 5.30 PM. Since all other places listed in this initiative closes by 5 PM, we decided to spend the rest of the day seeing other places in Westminster area. More on this in the next blog....

From the other side of the fence…

2005-09-14T10:01:00.000+01:00

Got a forward with a recent column posted in The Nation – A Pakistan National Newspaper. The column titled ‘RAW victims’ talks about how India’s Intelligence RAW allegedly plays games with its neighbours. Though most of the things written were dubious, the height of it was connecting India with the London’s Bombing. Find below the snippet form the report:

According to CBC News released on July 25, latest investigation reports say that the police in Britain have identified two of the suspects in the last attempted bombings in London as Moktar Said Ibrahim and Yasin Hassan Omar. According to Peter Clark, head of Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch, “Bombs were placed in a same type of plastic food containers and carried in backpacks. These containers were manufactured in India and then exported to UK.”

The author has taken cue from the above fact and summarizes that India had a hand in the August Bomb Blasts in London. I wouldn’t be surprised if the author goes on pulling in US if it was found that the bomber was wearing a Nike Shoe and Germany stating he travelled in a Volkswagen before boarding the train etc…

Ganesh Chaturthi @ London

2005-09-13T10:51:00.000+01:00

I heard an augur (not literally :-) ) that there is Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations to happen in the Maharashra Mandal (Dollis Hill Lane, London). So accompanied with a pack of devotees (I am not sarcastic here…If any one of them happens to read this blog), we started our journey towards Dollis Hill...

What was supposed to be a simple journey from Alperton to Dollis Hill Lane via a straight bus, too lot of dramatic turns and with all the comedy of errors we reached there with trumpets blowing (No..No.. Its not the reception we had... It was the sound from our belly). Yes, it sure was a good dharshan we had. They had done a good job considering the fact that it was London and not Mumbai.. There was some person reciting Shaayaris.. Well, My knowledge of Marathi is questionable.. But I could make out that people gathered were enjoying..Hats off to them.

The snaps were taken in the Mandal(The resolution might be a bit poor. Its taken in my Mobile camera).

Pillayar Chaturthi

2005-09-08T13:22:00.000+01:00

Everyone would agree that Pillayar (Ganesh) Chaturthi can’t be more interesting than how it is celebrated back home. It starts with getting a ‘Mann Pillayar’ (Small idol of lord Ganesha made out of clay) home and decorating the house with ‘Thooranam’ (Hangings made of coconut leafs and mango leafs). After the pooja, we hang around the rest of the day to friends place or in worst cases get fixed in front of the idiot box watching some ‘India Tholaikatchikalil mudhal muraiyaga…’ (First time in Indian channels variety…) movies. With the channel wars getting very adverse, we get so much of choice of seeing programmes.

Yesterday being Pillayar Chathurthi (and working day here in London), got up a bit earlier and did some extra prayers for Lord Ganesha (after all it’s his birthday...). In the evening after getting back home, went to the nearby temple in wembley. By London standards, they had done a decent job of doing some alangaram. In the late evening, there were some satsang organised in my Landlord’s house (they are Gujarathis). Though I did miss the ‘kolakettais’ (South Indian sweet usually made on Pillayar Chaturthi), we were given delicious laddus.

This being a 10 day festival, I hope to make it to East Ham, for a South Indian feel of the festival....

Post Blast London

2005-09-08T11:42:00.000+01:00

After the serial blasts that took Londoners by storm, there is a noticeable difference in the security. We can see more cops on the roads and on the tube stations. I am sure many of those CCTVs that weren’t working for long (performing the work similar to a scare crow) would have been looked into by now.

Anyone causing a slight suspicion is interrogated and bags checked. Though it at times caused discomfort for many, I somehow feel, I am much safer now than before. I noticed something very interesting couple of weeks after the blast (Pretty late to realise the change).

I had finished a can of coke while rushing to catch my tube in the morning (hmmph those early morning rush almost everyday) and when I was searching for a trash can to dump the can.. This is what I found….

So, you would have imagined what would have happened next…
I had to carry that empty can till I reached office where finally I could dump it in the bin next to my workspace. For those who thought otherwise, well I am quite civilized… :-)

Old London Bus…Vroom

2005-09-07T09:48:00.000+01:00

Yesterday with the tube service I usually commute to office (Piccadilly) temporarily suspended for the whole day, I had to resort to another route which involves a bus travel in addition to a train travel. Since the Piccadilly service was partially suspended (it goes till 3 stations prior to mine) the London Underground had arranged for train replacement services. On my way back home there were 2 replacement buses that would cater to my station. One amongst them was the old model London bus which I got into.

It was quite a nostalgic feeling to be traveling in it. It did not have the hitech driver controlled doors or the power brakes that the current London Buses have. The seating capacity was also lesser in comparison. It looked very similar to our Pallavan Bus and BEST Buses (Actually resembles BEST buses more due to the colour).

I wanted to take a picture of the bus but could not quite make it. So I have managed to get hold of another picture of the same.

India's Anti Hijacking policy...

2005-09-02T10:16:00.000+01:00

Read this piece of article in the Indian Express today.. Makes mockery of our civil aviation..

What does the government’s new, ultra-tough policy on hijacking really mean? A look at a ‘breaking-news’ item on TV that we might expect soon...

(0915 hrs): Indian Airlines plane may have been hijacked! According to sources, flight IC-911 with 196 passengers on board took off from Patna for Delhi at 0900 hrs. Air Traffic Control lost contact with plane thereafter. The plane’s transponder appears disabled,” says an ATC official in Delhi.

(0930 hrs): IC-911 located by IAF! A Home Ministry spokesman confirms that the IAF located IC-911 within minutes of its reported disappearance. Two MiG-29s are escorting the plane as per procedure. So far there have been no demands by hijackers. Two members of Crisis Management Group are in Geneva, three in Adelaide; they will hold a tele-conference at 1100 hrs.

(1030 hrs): Anger grows at government apathy. Hundreds of anxious relatives of passengers throng Delhi and Patna airports. “My bhatija’s second cousin’s nephew Tuntun is on it. Why hasn’t the government talked to the hijackers yet? Why shouldn’t they release a few terrorists in exchange for Tuntun?” snarls H.L. Raunak, a Patna businessman. “Are terrorists more important than Auntie Kichkich?” asks socialite Poonam Loneckwali.

(1200 hrs): Protestors lathi-charged! Police use ‘mild force’ to disperse a 2,000-strong crowd gathered outside the PM’s residence to protest against government ‘inaction’ over crisis. Some protesters injured. The PM has appealed for calm. CMG says a tough and proactive strategy will be followed.

(1230 hrs): Hijackers foiled! Acting on the CMG’s recommendations, the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House, 15 malls, and the residence of the Opposition leader have been blown up. “The hijackers will be left with no targets; we will demolish other vital installations shortly,” says official.

(1345 hrs): Hijack crisis over! IC-911 landed safely at Srinagar airport at 1315 hrs. Turns out that the plane was never hijacked. Sources reveal that the plane’s transponder did not work because of incessant use of cellphones by passengers. Significantly, 185 of the 196 passengers are related to a Union minister, currently lodged in Beur jail and awaiting bail in 37 criminal cases. “We would have landed in Delhi, but found that all runways had been blown up by the government,” explains Capt Joe De Mentia, pilot of IC-911.

(Flash) Capt Joe De Mentia has been arrested for violating air traffic laws. The government has set up an inquiry commission.

The source of the article can be seen here

Google goes skyward

2005-09-01T09:39:00.000+01:00

For the people who are already fascinated with the concept of Google Earth google has yet another to get you off your feet… Google Moon.

Gates da Gourmet

2005-08-28T18:13:00.000+01:00

The gate gourmet problem brought to light the ‘strength da Southall’. Southall, near the Heathrow is the home of majority of the Punjabi population in London. When Gates gourmet sacked a large number of labours most of whom were Indians settled in London, the women folks in Southall joined the crowd in protest against the management. Many of the ground staff of BA who were Indians too joined them.

It was the united strength of these which brought to light what a force it could be. BA had to cancel most of its flights taking off from Heathrow. It was then that BA realized that apart from the pilot and stewards it also takes many other people like the staff who handle your baggage, who supplies the food inside the flight etc to ensure that the flight could take off. The people who are involved in these works were predominantly desis (Punjabis in particular)

Insiders say that everything at Gate Gourmet were going smooth till it was taken over from a British firm by a American venture capital firm which put a German manager. This manager it is believed had sacked a lot of Indian workers to be replaced by Poles and other EU workers. This had sparked the protest.

Heights of Fundamentalism

2005-08-28T15:20:00.000+01:00

Wanna see the height of Fundamentalism? See below a Driving license in Iraq.
I hope the driver doesn’t drive dressed the same way. ...

Fast...Forward...

2005-08-28T14:56:00.000+01:00

A recent study by US scientists have revealed that Forwarding emails helps people maintain social ties. The research had been done by Benjamin Gross at the University of Illinois along with his colleagues. The research studied e-mail forwarding behaviour and the same has been published in the New Scientist.

He says, “Forwarding a genuinely amusing or interesting link to a friend shows that you are thinking of them and are aware of the sort of content they like. At the same time, passing an irrelevant or out-of-date link on to contacts can be annoying, thus lowering the sender's social status in the recipient's eyes”.

The power of the email based networking has been used by the internet marketing firms who use the free mail services like yahoo attach marketing links along with the message sent.

So people improve your social ties…Forward more mails… J

Garam Garam Rajini

2005-08-28T14:37:00.000+01:00

We have heard of Rajini movies doing well in Japan. ‘Thalaivar’’s (as called by his ardent fans) fame has taken the next step when a local Japanese company decided to cash on his fame by making him their brand ambassador. Tohato, the company markets snacks in the name of ‘Garam Masala’. The package has a still from his super hit movie ‘Muthu’ (Called as Dancing Maharaja in Japan) – a photo of Rajini and Meena.

Just have to wait to see if Rajini has plans of joining the Japanese politics....

Thanda is not always 'Thanda'..

2005-07-13T08:05:00.000+01:00

The above photo is the latest controversial hoarding put up by India’s one of the best digital photographer Sharad. This has been put up in Cathedral Road, right at the heart of the Chennai business hub to advertise his services. This had rubbed the Coca Cola India’s officials on the bitter side.

In reaction, Coke has filed a defamation suit against him and asked for a ruling to remove the hoarding immediately. Sharad has not scumbed to pressure and is filing a counter for the same. What is interesting is that Sharad is a very prominent photographer in the Advertising field and he has done quite a number of shoots for Coca-Cola India too.

Volkswagen a prelude..

2005-07-13T08:02:00.000+01:00

After penning my previous blog on the Volkswagen scam in India, it interested me on the company’s roots. It sure is quite interesting too. The origins of the company date back to 1930s Nazi Germany. It was a pet project of Hitler and part of his economic reforms he brough about in post World war I hit Germany (I may be blogging on this very soon..). He wanted a car that every German could afford. He backed up his plans by means of a savings scheme, which around 336,000 people eventually paid into. What is great about this scheme was that Volkswagen honoured its savings agreements after World War II even after the massive collapse of the Nazi government which introduced the savings scheme.

Volkswagen literally translates as "people's car" in English.

After the Second World War in 1945, the British Army took control of the Volkswagen factory and restarted production. In 1948, the British Government handed the company back over to the German state.

For the records, Volkswagen is currently the third largest car-manufacturer in the world.

Taking Volkswagen for a ride …

2005-07-13T07:50:00.000+01:00

Many amongst us would have heard or experience the ride in Volkswagen, but a delhi based firm has taken the german auto giant Volkswagen and the YSR Reddy government in Andhra for a ride. The firm Vashishta Wahan Private Limited with its registered office in Community Centre market in south Delhi’s East of Kailash neighbourhood has claimed to be the Indian representative of the German Auto Giant. Volkswagen has been long speculating on setting up its manufacturing in India and is in the process of zeroing on the location.

The Andhra Congress government pumped in close to 2 million Euros (about Rs 11 crore) in equity into Vashishta Wahan to apparently help set up a Volkswagen manufacturing unit in Vizag. But Volkswagen AG says the deal is a fraud and that it has nothing to do with Vashishta Wahan which passed itself off as its Indian arm. Helmuth Schuster, who was the chief negotiator from Volkswagen with the AP government, has been sacked.
In early January, the state government received a letter from Schuster. The letter, neatly typed on Volkswagen letterhead, confirmed that the company was going ahead with the project. For a joint venture with the government, Schuster sought transfer of 2 million Euros to Vashishta Wahan, a company affiliate. It was later found out that Schuster has been bribed.
The interesting fact to be noted is that Vashishta Wahan’s initials are VW, the same as that of the global car giant….

Technology to the rescue…

2005-07-11T09:57:00.000+01:00

Speak of technology and Indians know how to plug them into their customs and rituals. Gujarat has been heavily flood struck thanks to the continuous torrential rains. But this did not hamper the spirits of a couple in Gujarat. They went ahead and exchanged wedding vows by cellular phone. The bridegroom residing in Gujarat who was to reach the bride’s house in Mumbai quite could not make it to the marriage ceremony…

Witnesses on both sides kept their phones on speaker mode to ensure all relatives heard the bride and groom's assent in the 30-minute ceremony.