My experiments with life

Into the Wilderness - Part 2

2011-12-29T14:42:00.002+05:30

So guys, this is the continuation of the first part written in the December of 2010.
This is a fully updated list of places I have been to(worth mentioning) in 2011.

Meesapulimala,Munnar

1. Munnar Everyone has heard of the misty tea estate location of Munnar in Kerala. And almost everyone has been there too. But we went to a less traveled place near Munnar, which is Meesapulimala. It is the second tallest peak in South India, after Anaimudi. The trek route consisted of a total 15km round about path covering few waterfalls, dirt roads, pure jungle tracks and rocks. The view is truely enchanting. Tours are arranged by the forest department at INR 300 per head.

2. Kuntibetta Kuntibetta and Onakke betta are two rocky hills situated near Pandavpura in Mandya district of Karnataka. Both the hills provide challenging rock climbing/trekking options. For the rugged people, Onakke is hardly an hour of trek, whereas Kunti is even lesser. But for normal people the whole place is a one day indulgence. There is also a temple, a pond and a lake in the vicinity. Please avoid climbing in the hot sun without proper protection as the rocks offer almost no shade, and can burn your feet. Also, don't forget to grab some of the juicy sugarcanes from the nearby cane factories( Pandavpura is famous for its sugar industries). I climbed these hills two times over, different routes and all.

3. Kabini Reservoir Situated at about 60km distance from Mysore, is the reservoir of Kabini. Better known for the resorts and tourist lodges in the location, the destination is good for a short bike trip. The roads leading to the place are in excellent condition, and the location is good for playing around river banks with various kinds of flora.

4. Mullayangiri Situated near Chikamagalur,it is the tallest peak in Karnataka. What else do you need to know to visit it, if you are in Karnataka? The place is ultimate in the mornings, with all the clouds and mist floating around everywhere. But even during usual morning hours, you can savour the experience of looking at the little world below, so it is worth visiting any time of the day. Also, the view along the road up to the peak is quite breathtaking while the road itself can be lifetaking if proper precautions are not taken. Watch out for the strong winds. Keep kids and lean people out of its path, else you might have to search high and low to locate them in the wilderness below. You can try different things like practicing gliding, flying paper planes etc in the strong winds through which you communicate only by signs or shouting in each others ears.

5. Shivagange It is a popular pilgrimage location, near Tumkur. Involving, nearly 5+ kms of highly steep climbing and walking, this was the most strenuous trek I had undertaken in recent times. Though there are plenty of hawkers selling tonnes of refreshment stuff along the path, the insanely steep climbs and narrow steps make it a very difficult trip indeed. In places where steps are nothing but shallow cuts made on the smooth rock, the railings erected on the rocks are the only apparatus you can use to help yourself. Unless you are perfectly fit, your limbs would soon give in to the painful and continuous climb. The view from atop is certainly deserving of all the pain taken. Don't forget to click some pictures of the 90 degree rock faces you climbed.

6. Devarayana Durga This place is also located near Tumkur. Broken fort and temples.Has a very short trek also. The USP of the area can be considered as the good view it provides, the pond filled with cold water even in the hot mid-days, and the temples.

7. Baba Budangiri Baba Budangiri is famous religious place for both Hindus and Muslims. It is near Chikmagalur, and is reached after a long drive through beautiful forest areas and picturesque mountains. Though there isn't much at the spot to look out for , it can be a spot for the families to visit.

8. Kalhatgiri This is a water falls in the vicinity of Kemmannugundi. There are three levels of this waterfall. The higher the better. The lowest part is quite dirty due to the people taking bath and also has a temple tucked under a rocky face over which the small stream creates a fall.

9. Kemmannugundi It is a very popular hill station of Karnataka. It is also the major tourist spot in the Chikamagalur region. There are some parks and view points which make it look like a usual tourist spot. And that is exactly why we didn't find it interesting at all. (We had visited it after Mullayangiri and Baba Budangiri, hence kemmanugundi had nothing new to offer to us).

10. Halebidu Located in Hassan district, this was the crown of the ancient Hoysala empire of the 12th century. You can find buildings with the fine architecture of that period, depicting battles, mythological figures and stories. It is a good place to explore the ancient history and architecture of South India.

11. Belur A few kms drive from Halebidu, Belur was the capital of the Hoysala empire. Major attraction here is the Chennakesava Temple complex. The beautiful temples and sculptures inside this complex are worth a visit.

12. Wayanad - A north-eastern district of Kerala, which shares border with both Karnataka and Tamilnadu. Wayanad is a popular destination for people from all over the world. The major attractions are Kuruva Islands, Soochipara falls, Meenmutty falls, Chembra peak, Banasura dam, Vythiri,Tholpetty Wildlife sanctuary and so on. Gives lots of opportunities to enjoy the natural beauty, and do some adventurous stuff. Also famous for the tribal settlements. There is a deep history buried in there for people interested.

13. Madurai is a major town in Tamilnadu. It is situated near the Kerala border and hence is quite accessible. The drive to Madurai from Kerala side passes through scenic locations especially in the Kambam, Theni areas. Famous for the ancient and majestic Meenakshi Temple , Madurai provides a great location for lots of religious visits and some country tour.

14. Vagamon is one of the least exploited scenic beauties of Kerala. Lying in the Idukki-Kottayam border , the road passing through Vagamon provides lot of breathtaking views of the meadows and valleys. It is ideal for family trips or from schools/colleges. Even nature lovers and shutterbugs find many secluded spots to explore.

View from Nandi Hills

15. Nandi Hills - The only immediate go-to hill for Bangalore people, Nandi hills provides a good location to chill out (in all senses). Ideal time to visit is early mornings, to catch a glimpse of the sun rising from amidst the dense fog and mist. Try going on two-wheelers, especially bicycles for some extra fun :)

16. Sakrebailu - This place near Shimogga is quite similar to the Ana-kottils in Kodanad,Kerala. It is famous for the elephant camps. Good place to go especially if kids are accompanying.

17. Kukke Subrahmanya - Kukke is a popular religious destination in Karnataka. The deity is Lord Subrahmanya who is worshipped as the lord of the serpents. Worth a visit.

18. Kumaraparvata - Nothing I can type here matches the experience I had climbing this behemoth mountain. Kumaraparvata rises above the clouds and makes its presence felt aside the gopura of Kukke Subrahmanya temple, albeit far away in the background. Totaling nearly 15kms, the trek route provides a very challenging set of steep climbs over a variety of terrain ( forest, plain, rocky, grassy, misty). There are a variety of techniques/routes to climb this hill and each one is interesting in its own sense.
The cold winds and the dense fog covering the dangerous routes near the top gives you an adrenaline rush while trying hard to stay aground. We even camped there overnight on New year's eve,making it a very memorable experience of my life.

Google search the above locations to see beautiful photos of the places, or if you are my friend in Facebook, check out my albums for most of these places. I shall be updating pictures here when I find small sized ones.

2011 as it passes

2011-12-28T00:58:00.000+05:30

At new year's eve, most of the people do two things:-

a) Prepare a list of noteworthy events of the year
b) Prepare a list of resolutions for the new year

The former is largely observed with the media which would be obsessed with summarizing the year in a set of events, and get comments/articles from noted celebrities or politicians regarding the same.
All that blah is there every year and is not going to stop.

The latter is done by individuals trying to fix something up about themselves, like eg. stop smoking cigarettes, workout regularly etc. For most of the people, these goals never materialize, as they aren't serious enough at the first place.

Anyway here I intend to jot down some memories of the year that was 2011. As a whole it was a very special year indeed for me, and for some reasons for many of us too.

Lets see..

a) I changed jobs.
b) I travelled a lot. Some new and exotic locations.
c) I bought a bike.
d) India won the ICC World Cup
e) The end of American occupation of Iraq
f) Some of my friends flew away while some settled
g) Some really popular personalities in the field of art,music and technology passed away
h) Most importantly - New perspectives. New temperament. New strategies ;)

That is all that 2011 gave. It might sound less,but it is quite big indeed.

Have no resolutions for the new year, only some plans which have no relations to the year by themselves.

"Chala jaata hoon kisi ki dhun me..dhadakte dil ke taraane liye"

Bookery!

2011-12-08T11:42:00.001+05:30

My favorite 50 books from Goodreads records.

My favorites

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Also, I successfully completed by 2011 Reading Challenge of 15 books. Will push it further.. :)

2011 Reading Challenge

Vivek has completed his goal of reading 15 books in 2011!

hide

15 of 15 (100%)

7 AM Arrived and Departed!

2011-11-08T08:35:00.001+05:30

A quick review of the movie Ezham Arivu (7th Sense or "7 AM Arrivu" as known to many) is my intention.

Not considering the technical side of the movie and the other stuff behind the scenes. You can find all such information and reviews elsewhere on the net. I am a bit short of time, so getting to the point.
And btw Spoiler Alert. Don't tell you weren't warned.

The story revolving around the historical figure, Bodhidharma who is known in some quarters as the father of Martial Arts in China, had a brilliant and vast set of plots to choose from. But the plot selected for the movie turned out to be half baked against the gigantic plot they could have used.

OK, Bodhidharma was a Tamilian, no Tamils ever heard of him, all Chinese know and worship him. This point is delivered at the very beginning. OK, where is the story?
Now, all that the plot could turn up was English speaking Chinese officials sending a one man army Dong-Lee (sounded like Donkey in many scenes) with hypnotic powers(seriously!) and superhuman strength, to start a bio war in India. Lets not forget the role of genetic engineering students played by the heroine and her pals who change the DNA of Aravind(Surya), who is from Bodhidharma's genealogy, to that of Bodhidharma.
OK, interesting so far leaving the questions regarding the capabilities of such students and the science itself.

But in the movie by the time these scenes unfold you would have been subjected to long sequences of suicides, and zombie attacks powered by Donkey Kong's eye power. You would be wishing to see some story or some real fight. Lets consider for a moment what Bodhidharma's DNA infusion can do to Aravind's. What I expected was that his natural strength, stamina, metabolic capacities and many more features of the body would be enhanced to the level of Bodhidharma. I didn't expect Bodhidharma to be reincarnated into Aravind. This fellow started fighting in sleep as if he were doing it for centuries. I didn't know DNA stores memory also!!!
Disappointed.

Another itching point of the story which is quite a political point is the comments regarding Malaysia and Srilanka. Aravind talks about how Tamils have been beaten everywhere and they couldn't hit back. He even praises the LTTE leader Prabhakaran for being a tiger. He encourages Tamil separatism even more. This seemed quite out of context except for maybe the political interests of the investors who are known political supporters. In Tamilnadu there is no differentiation between politics and movies, both are part of one other. Even the heroine lashes out at professors who are supposed to review her research with obscenities which are muted out when one mocks the Tamil traditions. Again, cheap way to promote the already sick idea of separatism.

Overall, the initial part where the story of Bodhidharma is depicted is the only interesting one in the movie. Rest everything is filled with cheesy stunts with thousands of vehicles launching kamikaze attacks on the untrained hero-heroine and both of escape with minor botches of red on their cheeks(heroine) and a torn shirt revealing muscles(hero). Not to mention the Dong Lee fellow getting his ass kicked by the modern Bodhidharma in a matter of seconds when he does his dry-leaf-wind-blow-attack. Disappointed is one word I have for these stuff.

Want to hear my alternative plot which I believed was more interesting? Instead of some silly students holding up a major research to protect against Chinese attack, the actual stuff is done with the full support of the central intelligence and secret labs. They let this girl collect samples, and get Aravind to agree for undergoing the transformation. After the DNA is transplanted, he is given extensive training on martial arts, medicines etc based on the Book of Pallavas. He slowly learns to use the qualities of Bodhidharma's DNA to invoke the superhuman strength and abilities of his body.

After Dong Lee attacks with a hopefully more sensible mode of attack, the training is hastened, which leaves the process incomplete by the time he is attacked by Dong Lee. Then by his will power, Aravind awakens the spirits of Bodhidharma within him to fight him a hitherto unknown technique which defeats the master Dong Lee. Throughout the movie, the officials and scientists who hail from all parts of India are awed by the rich knowledge of the Tamils, and greatly respects the people. Doesn't this suit the political needs of the investors, while making sense and putting focus on the hero properly too?. Sigh. I only wish Murugadoss had consulted me with his story before squandering it like he has!

Ramblings of a Positive Day

2011-10-04T20:06:00.003+05:30

Oyy..today was a great day.

Morning:- Slept a lot. Haven't slept like this for a week or more now.

Day:- Received my brand new USB mouse. Now I can play all those games I have kept aside.
I even received the complimentary 2kg Mysore Dasara Special Sweets from office, this time supplied from my favourite (even Mysore's) "Shree Mahalakshmi Sweets".
Had a great lunch with all colleagues who joined with me as freshers, on the occasion of the farewell of one of us, who was also my college-mate.

The entire day, I was congratulated and was centre of attention of all colleagues for the phenomenal bandwidth usage against my name(yes, they do that now), as declared by the IT Dept. I came clean from their audit and my R&D efforts were lauded while the IT dept had to be embarrassed for questioning a 'sincere and hard-working' employee. :)

Finished up my day by collecting a few beautiful and elegantly designed wedding cards, and some Hard Disk Drives with loadful of movies. And, mainly I nailed a pain-in-the-neck wireless issue for which I had to suffer lot of humiliation and questioning from superiors. I am glad that I could answer their challenge in a what I call "Mooh-thod jawaab" fashion.

So, all is well that ends well.
Have two days holidays ahead, in which I am planning to travel to good locations..so enjoy..happy Dasara and God bless you for your patience, for reading through this. Sayonara.

Ramblings of a Slumbering Idiot

2011-08-27T18:23:00.004+05:30

I wake up after a deep slumber, and sit up in my bed taking my time coming to senses. My laptop sits on the table, a glimmering blur in my eyes. I rub them to see clearly, and suddenly something bothers me.

I crawl over to the chair, and slump into it, simultaneously activating the laptop screen. A few tabs of browser are seen open. I find the one with the blue icon, and am relieved to see that number in the bracket says "1". I quickly check it out, and being nothing of much interest, I start scrolling down reading all the things people said, did, shared, liked, over the past many hours. And that too, people some of whom I know personally well enough, others being mostly acquaintances and a few complete strangers whom I connect via a mutual friend or two.

But, the nauseating thing about all this, is the nature and diversity of contents which can only be described as mundane, repetitive, randomly boring, exclusively surprising and quite unnatural. It brings a bad taste to the mind, having to thrive on such news about people to entertain oneself.

Every time I involuntarily scroll to the bottom of the feed, trying to find if anyone said anything 'interesting', I wish I would not be so addicted to this junk medium. Now, that I am mostly out of my sleep, another side of my brain has woken up which is advocating for this kind of 'socialization' which gives a multitude of information from diverse content sources, all connected through some 'real-life' connections (which are no longer being sustained).

But anyway, the debate will rage on, like those within the network itself which range from the trivial to the most important matters. Decisions are not close by. But yet, I decide its better to get freshened up and go for a walk , and meet a few pals outside rather than being inside here typing away.

Adios amigos. Life is calling, and it is very much real.

Something serious

2011-08-11T22:44:00.003+05:30

I was thinking about writing something serious, something that took quite a lot of my brain cycles to process.

But now I just can't recall what it was about.

So take this junk post instead, you netizens of the blogosphere.

I promise to come back and post the path-breaking discovery of my research soon enough.

Watch out. :)

PS: I am on a vacation.

Motivato

2011-07-29T20:10:00.003+05:30

Some people motivate you by showing you the path, i.e walking on the path you want to.
Some others motivate by showing you the path you shouldn't walk.

You might wonder how the latter can be termed motivation. Any deviation or sense of direction is considered as motivation here. Anything that pulls or pushes towards a state that provides more hope and happiness is motivation.

Any state where you are capable to do more than when you are doing things that you know are bad, is worth calling motivated state.

Motivation is all around, you just need to pick the right one at the right time and move on. When you are excited, you tend to pick up more motivation from all around, and in the process also radiate some of it to others. That is the observed theory of motivation.

My heart goes out for some people who wait for a motivation. It is true that when you are depressed and quite unable to pick yourself up, you 'await' the motivation by other people, events or thoughts. But one thing you never notice is that even at that moment a choice is made to be motivated. And that choice is entirely yours. Hence you are enough to motivate yourself, but it is easier said than believed.

If you ever get motivated and do good things, the credit is entirely yours. No one who motivated can take the credit, unless they had undergone special pain to motivate you. In that case, what they deserve is a heartfelt thanks for lighting the lamp in you. And also, keep such people close to yourself. They are precious. But as your own motivational team is more important than the external one, give yourself the praise you need and then share it with the others too. Be proud for each time you beat the odds, each time you felt that you stood up for what you thought was correct, each time stood up after a big fall, each time you repainted yourself after a period of paleness..

Go ahead.. you need all the sabaashi you can get.

Be motivated to motivate the motivational motto :)

Finally a Kannada Movie

2011-07-20T20:50:00.004+05:30

In spite of being in Karnataka for the last two years, it is now that I finally watched a Kannada movie.
And that too... without subtitles!!! Yeah!
(I still wonder how I managed.)

But it did happen.

The movie was "Mungaru Male" or Monsoon Rain(2006), a hit Kannada movie or rather as per what I heard, the only one until recent times. The movie was quite good, with lots of picturesque locales and nice cinematography. I struggled a bit at points where heavy dialogues were delivered. I might re-watch those parts with subtitles later on. But for time being, I understood their feelings and moved on ;)

Frankly, I didn't expect the subtitles to be absent when I started watching. But then I just got along, and saw the entire movie.

The part where they show the Jog Falls was simply awesome, because they showed the exact spot me and my friends had sat when we went there last year. It is an AWESOME location.

Sort of like the cult Malayalam movie "Thoovanathumbikal", rain has a very important role in the romantic scene. I loved that part very much. Leaving out some complicated dialogue delivery, it all seemed like a normal Indian movie. So it was very pleasing to watch the movie sitting in my cubicle at office :D :D

Psyched up games

2011-07-17T10:07:00.003+05:30

"Speak out a word that comes to your mind when you hear my word"

So began the rules of the game I created sometime back during my college days. At that time, it contained a pinch of psychology to gauge emotional and intellectual depth of all participants. And it was a rage. I even named it Neural Network Mapping (NNM).

But when applied during long journeys in a large group of friends, it soon started turning plain as people lost out on depth. So the game metamorphosed into a more flashy style wherein all were encouraged to explore wacky and witty answers to maintain the tempo. During these changes, I discovered that the vocabulary and memory capacity of honest participants showed a remarkable improvement, especially for me as I played sort the role of a sort of referee.

Anyway this continued as a hit game into my corporate life, where I effectively deployed it during boring training sessions and long journeys. I even presented this idea to a trainer. That is when I came to know that it is a known method for psychoanalysis. I was pleasantly surprised and patted myself on my back for discovering the "psych frequency".

But, I was taken by surprise after nearly 1.5years when in the movie "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara", Abhay Deol uses this technique to make his friends talk about their problems. Everyone in the gang which accompanied me threw me a glance, threw comments and appreciated as if my idea was used by the movie.

I was just walking a normal psychology line, where people's subconscious always has the real feelings. When the person has to talk about what he/she sees in the mind, it doesn't engage the brain. It comes directly from the subconscious. When the brain tries to restrict or modify, a significant and observable delay or stammering can be seen in the subject's response. Their lies the key to whatever is hurting the person. Key to psychology is observation, understanding and inference.

Happy Psyching!! :P

Zindagi Shayad Na Milegi Doobara

2011-07-17T00:49:00.004+05:30

Heavy food, 60rs worth petrol in each bike's tank, full heart, empty roads and no plans.

So began our small trip.

Maybe inspired by the movie "Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara" which talks about living life king size, we guys decided to roam around instead of returning to our rooms.

It was fun! After a long time, the small group of travel-frenzy guys got together.
Adding routes and deviations upon each other, we wandered and sometimes stopped to crack some jokes or catch a glimpse of some beautiful landscapes.

Through the pouring rain, the two bikes moved at very even and normal pace, enjoying every moment. Every now and then, when we encountered unknown routes we just took a call and continued. It happened to lead us through new ways to our planned destination itself.

The plan was to get to Ooty ;) knowing well enough that all four were joking. But on the way, the lit up stairs to Chamundi came into view and we went there. What a beautiful spot at night it was. We climbed only a few steps and then climbed some rocks for an awesome view of the lit-up city. Sat there and discussed about the moon, the NASA missions and other blah-blah before deciding to go ahead till Bandipur forest owing to a fierce but crazy argument between me and another guy whether a hill we saw to our South was in Tamilnadu or Kerala. He said it was TN, whereas I stuck to the point that it is Kerala. Hence, we called a truce and decided to go there and check out.
But it was getting too late and a black cat crossing our path caused everyone to drop the plan and we returned.

Soon we realized that we circled the Mysore city thrice :)

List

2011-07-15T23:01:00.002+05:30

Kemmangundi, Hebbe, Yana, Kudremukh, Agumbe, Kumaraparvatha, Kunthibetta, Sravanadurga, Brahmagiri, Mullayangiri, Meesapulimala, Chembra, Karakoram, Kanjanjunga.. Alps..

A day in the life of Vivek

2011-07-07T23:44:00.003+05:30

Today was our product release. Yes, we have a weekly release(i prefer to call it 'weakly').

In spite of that, I went late. But did my part, helped everyone, calmed down things, solved problems, negotiated with concerned parties and other blah blahs. But unlike other release days, I went for a lengthy lunch- that too outside. Felt like college days.

Then like crazy college kids, we went for a ride around the industrial area through unknown roads. That too, without notifying superiors - especially after having heard a dress-down awarded to a colleague for behaving similarly.

Anyway from that moment I was getting the feeling that I was in a different world. Everything was so light and easy. I closed tasks in 1/10th the estimated time, zipped between cubicles handling various domains and various technologies as well. All done by 4pm. Smooth release, ours and our neighbors' - both involving my hands. Increasingly I was feeling that today was Friday and tomorrow is Saturday.

All was well, everyone left early. I sat down for a moment of quiet, reflecting on some strange behavior of our products. Rebooted the machine which was shutdown as a reflex. Sat through the scenarios meticulously simulating and ready to hammer it then and there. And lo - everything worked so smoothly that I wondered whether this was the same application everyone including myself cursed for the last week.

So got to the business of printing huge programming reference books ("Programming Pearls") for office purpose. After a marathon queue of print jobs, walked out to the printer - just to find dark corridors, wet with the fresh drizzle dripping through the slightly open windows. Suddenly felt so good about being there, but not about being there at that time. The clock said 7.30pm. Not good when you don't have any legitimate work in office.

Rest of the story is boring. Skipping it, prepared extended curd rice with special vegetable mix(mumbo jumbo).Mumbai Meri Jaan - Awesome.
Stirs the spirit of an undying attitude of perseverance.

The business spirit of India Inc.
A minute for the day to end.

Seasons in the rain

2011-06-25T21:14:00.006+05:30

Monsoon season in Kerala.
Some year in the late 90s.

Evening time after school hours are over.

Each puddle on the road was an opportunity to try something exciting.
One day it is about soaking the shoes and socks, and another day it is about splashing the water. Sometimes it feels best to make paper boats and watch them flow endlessly across the gutter filled roads to the overflowing canals.

Sometimes it catches you unaware without an unfurled umbrella, and fetches you a nice thrashing at home or even worse, a cold. Actually cold was good. It meant not having to go to school, and mother would sit along preparing hot food, while you sit out and enjoy the rain to the maximum, which you can't do in school.

But over the years, the season formed a happy part of life and the fun kept on increasing. Started trying crazy things like getting drenched with the umbrella safely furled up, dancing during heavy thunderstorms, and having running races with brother and local kids across the puddled roads.

Having an extensive background of falling in water bodies makes a person sort of accustomed to water in a strange manner. :) You love it when it touches your face. The cold droplets transport you across time and geography to imaginary places that might exist only in an imaginative kid's mind. Even the now-familiar noise of heavy downpour, or the slow rhythm of raindrops falling from man-made constructions have their own inner meanings, which attract and hypnotize the mind.

Monsoon was fun season for everyone. But during the last decade there has been drastic changes in the weather patterns. And it has led to very disappointing performances by the monsoon many a times. Being well aware that the loss to the city dwellers was nothing compared to what the agriculturists faced, I still like to mark my disappointment. And now moved to another location which has a moderate climate, with an excess of nothing. Love the climate here, but deeply miss the monsoon.

A short walk in a drizzle is always lovely, while a short walk in a roaring Kerala monsoon is adrenaline pumping and exciting. :) Happy monsoon dreams.( Couldn't get any better title. Might be little cheesy )

Work Philosophy

2011-06-20T21:50:00.004+05:30

When you have a choice between the easy and the difficult route, and you choose the difficult one, it is called foolishness or arrogance by the quick-guns, but the wise and perseverant call it courage or far-sightedness.

In the same way, when you know someone deserves to be punished and then you let them go, that is pure power. Nothing beats that kind of power. No king who followed the paths of Dharma alone was able to wield such power as those who used the same rules to instill respect in every heart.

Watching "Schindler's List" gave me the above idea, which has been sinking slowly into my mind for the past two days.

Also coming to my mind is an advice given by my father's elder brother when I visited him after I joined L&T. He said: "Those superiors who behave well with you even when you make mistakes are the best employees, and your best guides. Judge people by the way they treat subordinates". And I found that it is so far the best advice I received about corporate conduct. I have this rule carved in my mind: "Be strict about your work standards. But when others slip, don't curse them. Help them come to your level or go even higher. Also, never lose a chance to appreciate a good effort or to learn from someone more skilled than yourself."

And most importantly, never let the stress get to you. Do what you love and love what you do. The day you feel you are unable to do these, it is time to move on and try your luck elsewhere.

Happy working..

Ulterior Instincts

2011-06-17T21:17:00.005+05:30

I am a very mean fellow.. sometimes. No, almost always. Yes, that is the truth.

However good I might be in X number of things, the fact remains that from within I am quite mean and ruthless. And the worst part is that I feel like I enjoy being so.

Often I find that my mood swings when I am unable to get to something I want to, or someone makes me feel bad about myself. Once that is done, I have often felt the anger and the negative intent corrupt all my positive side's efforts. And my conscience watches in silence. This might be due to the apparent difference in strength between my dark and shining sides.

This being a part of my nature from long back, and having been at the receiving end of lots of advisory sessions and bad experiences, I have been exercising severe caution in handling these instincts. But sometimes I feel my level of dedication is too low to make any difference.

But over the past three years, I had been strictly controlling such tendencies and almost felt like I had turned over a new leaf. But few 'leakages' here and there recently puts the things back in their original place. A deep cause analysis has shown increased stress levels as the culprit. So I had been actively defusing all unnecessary stress over various fields. I guess that sink needs to grow to suit my growing appetite for risks and associated stress.

Anyway I have decided to exorcise some of my own demons, and make myself a better person. As some great person once said. Know thyself first, then thou shall know everything.

Shower of Memories

2011-05-25T07:11:00.002+05:30

For the last one week, I had been planning to start working out and as a part of it, go out for a morning walk.

Yesterday I was determined to do that, but fell asleep. So, I had kept all hopes for today, and wake up I did, just to find that God had other plans for me. It was raining already..

And what rain it is. Beautiful, subtle and enchanting. Unlike the rains we have in Kochi, which can be quite heavy, this is a subtle downpour ; more than a drizzle, but so lacking in the intent. The experience of just standing in the balcony watching the coconut palms sway lightly and the rain drops splatter against the walkways and roads, while the cold wind gives you goosebumps was invigorating to the soul and body alike.

I felt so refreshed and realized there is no better thing in life than people you care for being with you in such a nice climate. Mysore has given many such moments owing to its specialty as a beautiful place to settle.

But nostalgia always finds its way into all your emotions when rains are involved. So, I was reminiscing the experience of sitting in the sit-out of my house, watching the early morning showers, sipping the hot tea that my mother used to prepare.

Rains always provoke lovely feelings of calm, providing sense of purpose and energy to me. I have tried rain music and rain dance also to figure out the science behind it. It somehow eludes words even now.

So saluting those fun, inspiring, lovely and sometimes crazy things I have done on rainy days..

Chamundi Night Ride

2011-05-15T22:30:00.004+05:30

A ride up the Chamundi hills on my new bike: I had wanted to do this after getting the bike. Today I had the chance.

It was freaking awesome. And to add to the pleasure, the weather was very good when we(myself and Bharath) started the climb.

As I couldn't cross the 40kmph limit, I had a hard time initially trying to stop myself from accelerating through the zig zag mountain road. But soon the awesome view on the sides made me enjoy my slow ride, with the helmet removed.

On one side was the unlit green patches and dirt roads, and when the road curved the hills, the other side revealed the glittering Mysore city. I wanted to stop by all the view points, but didn't. Anyway we stopped at the usual main view point which opens up an AWESOME view to the city.

A gang of college students were seated there. One of them had a guitar and was singing songs. He sang quite a few tracks and all the people seated there applauded him after each song, in spite of the darkness which made it nearly impossible the spot who was singing( but it was no recording for sure :0 ) . We sat there for nearly 20 minutes silently enjoying the atmosphere and deep in own thoughts, which then turned into a discussion about career and life :-O

Then we went up the hills to the temple and waited for 30 mins to get the darshan and came out soon. The return journey too was frigging awesome.

I only felt bad when we reached the foothills as I still wanted to explore many parts of the hill. This was the best trip to the Chamundi hills for me so far. I got to know my bike better and my self as a biker too. And yes, my bike hit 280km in the 12 days.

so.. its vroom vroom wing riding for sometime now..

ഉപ്പു സോഡാ തേടി...

2011-04-16T20:39:00.003+05:30

ഞാന്‍ വൈകുനേരം ഒരു അഞ്ചു മനിയായപോള്‍ കിടകയില്‍നിനു എനീച്ചിട്ടു പറഞ്ഞു - " അമ്മെ, എനിക്ക് കുറച്ചു സാധനങ്ങള്‍ മേടികനുണ്ട്. മ്യ്സോരില്‍ കിട്ടാത്ത പലഹാരങ്ങളും പല സാധനങ്ങളും മേടികേണം. ഇപ്പോഴാ ഓര്മ വന്നെ. ചേട്ടനോട് സ്കോറെര്‍ കൊണ്ട് പോകേണ്ടാണ് താഴെ വരുമ്പോ പറയുമോ. ഞാന്‍ ഒരു കുളി കുളിചെച്ചു വരാട്ടോ." ഈ ചൂടില് സ്കോറെരും ഇല്ലെങ്കില്‍ എവിടെയും പോവാതെ വെറുതെ ചുരുണ്ട് കൂടി കിടക്കുനത ഭേദം ഏന് ഞാന്‍ എന്നോട് തന്നെ പറഞ്ഞോട് കുളിക്കാന്‍ കയറി.
സോപ്പ് തേച്ചു തുടങ്ങിയപോള്‍ ടെ.. ദ്ര്ര്ര്ര്‍ സ്കോറെര്‍ സ്റ്റാര്‍ട്ട്‌ ആയതിന്റെ ശബ്ദം. വേഗം കുളി കഴിഞ്ഞു ചെന്ന് നോകുമ്പോള്‍ സ്കോറെരും ഇല്ല ചേട്ടനും ഇല്ല. communication gap.
ഒരു മിനിറ്റ് ഞാന്‍ ശങ്കിച്ച് നിന്ന്. പോവണോ വേണ്ടയോ? അര മനികൂരിനുള്ളില്‍ ദൂരെ നിന്നൊരു ബന്ധുവിന്റെ ബന്ധു വരുനുന്ടെന്നു അമ്മ അറിയിച്ചു. ഹൂ.. ഒടുകാതെ കത്തി ടീംസ്. ഇവിടെ ഇരിന്നു പോയാല്‍ അവരെന്നെ കശാപ് ചെയും.
രണ്ടുമ കല്പിച്ചു ഞാന്‍ കച്ച കെട്ടി( ബെല്‍റ്റ്‌ മുറുക്കി) നടന്നു. ഒരു രണ്ടു മനികൂരില്‍ മൂന്ന്- നാല് കിലോമെട്രെ നടന്നു - ഒന്ന് രണ്ടു സാധനങ്ങളും മേടിച്ചു.
ഹോ എന്തൊരു ഉഷ്ണം..മേലാകെ വിയര്‍ത്തു. കുളിച്ചതിന്റെ എഫ്ഫെച്ടൊക്കെ പോയല്ലോ. ഒരു ഉപ്പു സോഡാ കുടിക്കാന്‍ ആഗ്രഹം.

ഞാന്‍ ചുറ്റും ഒന്ന് നോക്കി. നാരങ്ങ വെള്ളം കിട്ടുന്ന കടയെത ഉള്ളതെന്ന്.. പണ്ട് ഞാന്‍ കളിച്ചു നടന്ന സ്ഥലമ. ഇപ്പൊ ആകെ മാറി പൊയ്. ഒന്ന് രണ്ടു ചായ കടയും പച്ചകറി കടയും ഇരിന്ന സ്ഥലത്ത് എല്ലാം ഷോപ്പിംഗ്‌ കൊമ്പ്ലെക്ഷുകലുമ് തുനികടകളും ആണ് ഇപ്പൊ.

" വളവില്‍ ഷാജി ചേട്ടന്റെ കടയില്‍ നിന്ന് ഒരു ഉപ്പു സോഡാ അടിക്കാം. പണ്ടത്തെ പോലെ ടേസ്റ്റ് ഉണ്ടാവുമോ ആവോ?" വെല്യ പ്രതീക്ഷയില്‍ വളവു തിരഞ്ഞപോള്‍ അതാ അവിടെ ഒരു ഒരു രേസ്ട്രുന്റ്റ്. രേസ്ടുരന്റ്റ്‌ എന്ന് വെച്ചാല്‍ നല്ല സ്ടിലന്‍ - ചൈനീസ്, കോണ്ടിനെന്റല്‍ എന്നൊക് ബോര്‍ഡ്‌ വെച്ചത്. "ഹ്മം.. ഇന്നിയിപോള്‍ പത്തു മിനിറ്റ് നടന്നാല്‍ പഴയ സ്കൂളിന്റെ ഫ്രോന്റിലെ ജോര്‍ഗെട്ടന്റെ കടയുണ്ടല്ലോ അവിടെ പോയാല്‍ പഴയ കാര്യങ്ങളൊക്കെ അന്വേഷിച്ചു ഒരു കലക്കന്‍ ഉപ്പു സോഡാ അടിച്ചിട്ട് വീടിലേക്ക്‌ മടങ്ങാം"
കാലുകള്‍ ഇത്തിരി കഴക്കാന്‍ തുടങ്ങിയെങ്കിലും കിട്ടാന്‍ പോവുന്നു ഉപ്പു സോടയുടെ ചിന്തയില്‍ അങ്ങനെ നടന്നു. സ്കൂളിന്റെ ഫ്രോന്റില്‍ എതിയഴപോലെ തമാശ. അവിടെ ഉണ്ടായിരിന്ന കടകളുടെ മുഘചായ തന്നെ മാറിപോയി. ജൊര്ജ് ഏട്ടന്റെ കടയുണ്ടായിരുന്ന സ്ഥലത്ത് ടെ - ഒരു പെട്ട് ഷോപ്പ്. ഡോഗ് ഫുഡും കത ഫുഡ്‌ വില്കുന്ന കട. ഇത് കണ്ടപ്പോ എനിക്ക് കളിപ്പാന് വന്നത്.
അതിന്റെ അടുത്തുള്ള 'ഹരിശ്രീ ബുക്സ്' എന്നാ കടയില്‍ ചെന്ന് ചൊടിച്ചു. ചേട്ടാ ജൊര്ജ്ഏട്ടന്റെ കടക്കു ഇതു പട്ടി? ഇവിടെ പട്ടികള്‍ക് ഉള്ള കട എപ്പോ വന്നു? എ ചേട്ടന്‍ടെ മറുപടി - അതിരിഞ്ഞില്ലേ? കച്ചവടം മോശമയണ്ടോ ജോര്‍ജേട്ടന്‍ കട നിര്‍ത്തി വീട്ടില്‍ ഇരിപായി. അവരിപ്പോ ചെറിയ ടിലോരിങ്ങും ടിറേനുമായി ജീവിച്ചു പോണു. ഞാന്‍ - കച്ചവടം മോശമവുകെയോ? ഈ വേനല്‍ കാലത്ത് നാരങ്ങ വെള്ളവും, നല്ല ഉണ്ടാപൂരിയും മറ്റും കൊടുതോണ്ട് ഇരിന്ന ഗെഒര്ഗെട്ടന്ട കടക്കു ഇതെന്തു പട്ടി? ഹരിശ്രീ ചേട്ടന്‍ - എടാ അതൊക്കെ നീ ഇവിടെ പടിചിരിന്ന കാലത്ത്. ഇപ്പൊ പില്ലെരരും നാരങ്ങ വെള്ളമോനും കുടിക്കാന്‍ വരാറില്ല. എന്റെ കട ബുക്സ്ആയോണ്ട് നാടാണ്‌ പോകുന്നു. അത്രേയുള്ളൂ. ഞാന്‍ ഒരു ദീര്‍ഘ നിശ്വാസം ഇട്ടോണ്ട് അവിടെന്നു ഇറങ്ങി പോണു.

"ശെടാ ഇനി അടുത്ത് എവിടെയാട ഉപ്പു സോട കിട്ടുനെ? പണ്ട് സ്കൂളില്‍ പോവുമ്പോള്‍ രണ്ടു മൂന്ന് ദിവസത്തെ ബസ്‌ കാശ് സൂക്ഷിചു വെച്ച് കുടിചിരിന്ന ഉപ്പു സോട. ഇപ്പൊ ശമ്പല്‍ പറ്റാന്‍ തുടങ്ങിയ്പോള്‍ മാഷിയിട്ടല്മ കിട്ടുനില്ലലോ ദൈവമേ. ആ പണ്ട് ബാലരമ മേടിക്കാന്‍ പൊയയിരുന്ന സ്ഥലത്ത് ഉണ്ടല്ലോ ഒരു കട? അവിടെ ചെണ് നോകാം. അപ്പോതെകും വിയര്‍ത്തു കുളിച്ചു ഒരു പരിവമായി. 15 മിനിറ്റ് നടന്നു അവിടെ എതിയപോള്‍ - അടച്ചു കിടക്കുന്നു . desp scene.

ഉപ്പു സോടക്ക് വേണ്ടി എന്നെ 5km എക്സ്ട്രാ നടത്തിയ എന്നെ തന്നെ കളിയാക്കി കൊണ്ട് ഞാന്‍ തിരിച്ചു നടന്നു. വരുന്ന വഴിക്ക് ഒരു ബാകെര്യില്‍ കയറി ഒരു ഗടോരടെ ലെമോന്‍ ഫ്ലാവൌര്‍ മേടിച്ചു കുടിച്ചു. ആഗ്രഹിച്ച ഉപ്പ് സോഡാ പോലെയില്ലെങ്കില്മ ഉപ്പും ഉണ്ട് നാരങ്ങയുടെ ചുവയുണ്ട് ഉണ്ട്. സ്വയം സമാധാനിപിച്ചു തിരിച്ചു വീട്ലേക്ക് മടങ്ങി...

first post ഇന്‍ മലയാളം. aksharathettukal അധികം thiruthan kazhinjilla. bloggeril ulla മലയാളം ആണ് use cheythathu. based on reviews , venel manglish ആകാം.

Being at home

2011-04-16T14:52:00.004+05:30

The bliss and feeling of being back at home after a long and hectic four months; is therapeutic and just what my stressed nerves needed.

Though not the big vacation I initially planned it as due to an unfortunate death in the family, it still turned out quite well. And one and a half days are still left to go.

Catching up with lots of relatives, local political and film stories, and general status of the state fires up some extra nerves. But apart from all that was the amazement in seeing the entire house in a new getup, with lots of renovations completed. The new energy seems to float everywhere.

A good rain yesterday night also made it feel like the good old summer season, with the roaring thunder and the scene of swaying coconut palms lit by mighty lightning.

But walking in the small but quite green vegetable gardens and clambering upon the large mango tree to pluck the almost-ripe tasty mangoes; that was really refreshing. Feels better than running a 2 km track in the early morning fog of Mysore. A special mention is required for the good subjects I got for my photography lessons.

Everything about being at home seems good. The small things especially. You get to realize what a shitty life you spend at your work place. So it mixes well with the vacation effect.

Well, as I go ahead to take more 'rest', I just wanted to record these moments, though not historic or everlasting, are just enough worthy of being remembered in our small lives.

A well deserved pit-stop before having a fast lap. Ciao.

We are the Champions

2011-04-03T01:13:00.004+05:30

That was historic.

An achievement which we have only heard of and seen visuals of, that is what we got to experience now. India has lifted the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 after a long gap of 28 years.

The crowd here was electrifying. People dancing on the streets, bursting crackers, singing, screaming,doing victory laps and what not. Even we joined with our own style of celebrations, honking our bike horns in tune with the music being played out, and teaching new tunes to the locals to dance to.

The sheer euphoria out there on the streets defines what the game means to us Indians. The victory is not just about Sachin, Dhoni or the Indian team. It is much much bigger than that. It is about a long cherished dream coming true and given as a dedication to a true hero of the game.

Having said all these, today's match was one helluva final. Both the sides put up a good show.
India did well in the initial overs by restricting the Lankans. But Mahela's hard work put them at a challenging position. And Sehwag's and Sachin's premature exit made everyone lose confidence on the team. But Gambhir did a terrific job of digging in and fighting it out, helped by Kohli initially and Dhoni later on. I felt very sorry that he couldn't make it to his hundred. And also I believed it was unfair to have given the Man of the Match award to Dhoni. Gambhir deserved it more.

The game had lots of funny instances like Sehwag holding Simon Taufel's arm when he signaled a No-Ball, the funny mixups in the presentation ceremony, Munaf's monkey like posture in the dressing room gallery and subsequent appearance in half-pants to collect the medals, and Sreesanth's stupid looking face appearing everywhere. He was pathetic in performance except a couple of initial overs, and his "Sai Baba"/"Humbidi" style hairdo made it look like a complete buffoon.

There are many more things about this match, which we can see in the media in the upcoming days. So sit back and enjoy this very special moment.

Hope the extra monetary rewards find good use.

Method in Madness

2011-03-19T23:01:00.002+05:30

There is a method in every madness and a madness in every method.

They day you are able to see your own madness in your method, and a method in your madness, you see the true you.. and it is the "I see you" kind of thing from Avatar.

Blurred Vision

2011-03-18T19:51:00.003+05:30

All that is behind is a mix of pain and laughter. all that is ahead is a blur.

Don't feel like moving a limb, as the memories of the pain and ungratefulness haunts me.

The pain numbs my senses and clouds my judgement.

if only a sliver of light was available...

do i have to be one among them , to receive what is due to me?

For now, I stand there with doubts in my mind..staring at the blurred vision of life ahead.

Japanese Fantasy

2011-03-16T22:58:00.004+05:30

I love the way the Japanese people live.

They are hard workers and they never give up.

They don't usually crib or cry much over anything.

They are uber smart.

The society is very obedient and sensible.

They know to shut their mouths and do what is required when the time comes.

They always have a plan, and they execute it meticulously.

They are solemn and courteous.

They are almost perfect.

They even eat good food and live longer.

Looking forward to a life amongst these fellows.

Beat the Boss in Life

2011-03-14T00:24:00.005+05:30

Life is like a video game.

There are levels you have to play through. There are opponents, power ups, short cuts, cheats, tricks and many more. There can even be choice based endings and real-life physics.

But if you notice that for you to beat a level and go to the next, there is usually a 'Boss'. Those of you who play games regularly know what it takes bring down a boss. It might need a variety of skills and lots of hard work and patience.

The analogy of life with video games is here.

If your current life is like a level in the video game, you will inevitably encounter the 'Boss' you need to beat to get to the next level. Now, you have two options, either muster all your efforts and beat the Boss, and elevate your experience by moving to the next 'level' in life or you can give in during any part of the level and continue living the same life.

So, if you want to improve your life experience, or simply wish to have a change in track, you have to prepare to face your own 'Boss' and bring him/her down. If you love the experience of the current life, please don't take the efforts for beating any Boss. Just die and play all over again. The choice is in your hands.

Thanks to Nikil.V for leading me to this stream of thought.

PS: The Boss here has no resemblance to your superior in your office. It is purely pointing to the video game context.

Awakening of an Empire

2011-03-13T14:18:00.003+05:30

I can sense the flowers blooming in the barren desert,spreading its fragrance once again across the vast land, devoid of life.

It brings back life to the hands of men, fire to their eyes, and sharpness to their blades.

Hot blood shall flow again, and machines will start rumbling, as an ancient and once prosperous civilization awakens from a deep death-like-slumber.

All those weaklings who are ravaging the lands shall now tremble with fear and scurry back to their holes, seeking protection from the fiery men of this forgotten empire.

All that is wrong shall be set right, and people will have justice and peace of mind.

But, the awakening of the old empire brings back the question of its mysterious demise.
Lack of foresight and willpower is largely believed to be the reason why the once strong empire bowed down to relatively minor miscreants. If the new flag-bearers of the empire refrain from committing the mistakes of their ancestors, good days are certainly upon us.

For now, we stand frozen , waiting for a glimpse of the mighty army as the drum beats get closer...

Industry Experience

2011-03-10T22:25:00.000+05:30

In the IT industry
If you are good at reasoning and analysis- you can be a backend engineer
if you have an eye for colors and intuitiveness- you can be a UI designer
if you are good at finding fault with things- you can be a tester
if you are good at making others work- you can be a team lead,
if you are good at talking- you can be a manager,
and if you are good at lying- you can be an HR,
but if you are dumb and argumentative- you can be a good client.

- my experiences and my view

Refueled

2011-02-26T23:53:00.003+05:30

Refueled and rearmed am I now. That is the best way to describe my condition now.

I am not looking into others, or other things now. It is just me, in the spotlight. Hit the right note after sometime. if you see me type this, you can see the rhythm, there has hardly been a single typo for this many words and all done in 25 seconds.

And finally, Dream is not something you see while you sleep, but something that doesn't allow you to sleep.

rest are for myself...

Kochi IPL Team - The True Koothara

2011-02-17T21:22:00.007+05:30

Ha the breaking news is that the much awaited Kochi IPL Team is named as Indi Commandos Kerala.
Omg what a sick name. And to add on that, they have frigging sick logo which looks similar to some mosquito killer brand. But they can argue that the logo was meant to be symbolic about Kochi's rich mosquito tradition.

My entire twitter timeline and facebook feed is filled with statuses and links containing swear words, mockery, war cries and even suicide notes about this sickening decision by the team owners.

So, what is so special about this team or maybe Kochi, that brings someone to a point where they can do such outrageous acts? Lets examine some facts.

The news of IPL Kochi Team came out of the blue, giving some good hope for cricket fans in Kerala, for we only had the superby veruppikaling(irritating under the skin , literally ) Sreesanth to talk about as ours.

All was well for sometime when the allegation of a 'sweat equity' with sweethearts blew over and a decent politician Mr.Sashi Tharoor had to resign from the minister's post. It was followed by some really nasty exchange of comments and allegations between high profile persons in cricket and politics, exposing the ugly underbelly of the sport in the nation. Then there was the exit of Mr Lalit Modi, the father of IPL.

When it all seemed good, came the auctions. Kochi fans were eager to see a fighting team to cheer for, but most of us fainted on seeing the absurd selections made during the auction. That was the day the fans started turning against the 'franchise'. The whole setup was turning out to be a big joke on the face of Keralites, especially Kochiites.

The fuming and heart broken fans who were shifting their support to the other teams received a critical blow when the final team name was announced. This is not just a disgrace to the cricket fans in Kerala, but also a shame to all the people in the small but proud community.

What were these buggers thinking when they auctioned for a team, and now chose a name? A peek into their site will tell you rest of the story. Headquartered in Mumbai, having no relation to Kerala other than having the supremely irritating Sreesanth, and now sporting the name 'Kerala' in the team name. They also have an 'About Kerala' section in their site which contains.... Kerala toursim related links. WTBF!!!
And lo, they have already applied to the IPL Committee to shift their homeground to Ahmedabad. Now did they think it qualifies to be within Kerala?

Truely, this is very disgraceful and irritating. I see no love for the sport in this outfit, but just some marvadis and big business magnets trying to rake in the moolah from the cricket-frenzy nation. Buggers, you could have let us alone without having to insult so much. I just hope this team does not come in the news again for such nasty things, adding to our insult. May the sport be the final winner.

Related articles
Banana Corporation- Indi Commando Fail! What were they smoking?
Times of India article on fan reaction

Vacation

2011-02-04T10:25:00.000+05:30

i am sitting in the reclining chair
feeling so light headed and clear

eyes laden with sleep
but pc laden with work

mind is wandering so free
reluctant to join the spree

dreaming it is a saturday
though the clock say its friday

i just wish to be on a vacation
where no one comes for dictation

Travel Blood

2011-01-26T20:25:00.003+05:30

It sounds a bit odd. But, I have been noticing that in almost all of the pleasure trips I have made in recent past, I have received some injuries, albeit minor ones.

As far as I can recall, this has happened. For example the Thattekadu trip from Hornbill Wildlife Club, while I was college; leech wounds, scratches and bruises were found all over my body.
The Srirangapatna trip with a trek to Kali Ghati, returned with itch marks, bruises and hurt toe finger.
Kodachadri,Apsarakonda trip - Lots of bruises, sprained ankle...
Gopalswamy Betta - Bruises and cuts from long grass blades
Venugopalswamy Temple - Bruise over shin bone

And similarly for some more trips, I recall the small injuries because by that time I had started noticing their continuous occurrences. Even one of my friends used to find similar stuff on his body after the trips. Hence, we are aware of it now.
That was the explanation of the phenomenon.

Coming down to what I think of it.

It is mostly occurring due to
a) Me exerting too much on myself during trips
b) Improper and spontaneous movements over tricky terrain
c) I am usually too excited/careless to watch where I am going

But definitely, it has become a sort of practice for me to close the account of any trip by seeing a drop of blood somewhere on my body. It gives supreme satisfaction about the entire journey.

Being at ease with Self

2011-01-22T13:41:00.006+05:30

Certain things turn out the way we expect, and wish, while some turn out to be what we didn't expect,but wished. It can also turn out to be something we expected, but didn't wish.That is bad. But worse is when things turn out as unexpected, and in an undesirable fashion.

Leaving the combinations out, it is always good when good things happen when we don't expect and bad things happen when are ready for it.

I tend to curse and fume when bad things happen out of the blue. I also do it sometimes when it occurs expectedly, but I just wasn't prepared enough.

But being able to cope up to bad things, and get the positive thoughts flowing asap is absolutely paramount in clearing hurdles. I believe I have been learning that lesson from past 2-3 years now. So far so good.

Also, the ability of a person to be humble and benevolent even at good times solidifies his/her position as a level-headed person.

Too much emotional fluctuation is bad for the mind and the body as well. It takes a toll on the nerves, and infuses weakness.Having said that, I don't prefer to be stoic in nature or being insensitive. Each person has their own peculiar behavioural traits and character. Accordingly, some levels of enthusiasm, emotional fluctuation, poise etc match very well. Most part of a youth's life is spent in finding that matching set of characteristics.

If you settled for the wrong ones, you will find yourself in doubt and concern , even very late into the 30s, which can be troublesome or fun( depending on perception ). I have seen some 40+ people who are not so sure about certain basic things about themselves.

Being at ease with the world is one thing, but being at ease with oneself is a bigger matter.

Pandaaram

2011-01-18T23:40:00.002+05:30

Should have been finished today and come out in humane hours. But as our misfortune is having a better hold over us, it all boiled down to the same old wretched process.

This time everyone got frustrated and left it as it is. Lets start over fresh,decided everyone unanimously.

blah. life is amusingly frustrating at times, ain't it!

Quit Notice

2011-01-17T23:05:00.001+05:30

That's it. I need to do justice to my merit and hard working nature. I am quitting. There is no point in toiling on sub standard stuff, for peanuts and shit like treatment.

Just counting down to the perfect timing.

Bugs

2011-01-15T18:37:00.003+05:30

As a developer I am not generous to bugs and I try my best to clear or hide bugs.

But there are a few bugs which are different and have various meanings in life.

Shutterbug - "a photography enthusiast"
I am one. I love clicking the random faces, scenes, animals and stuff that have no nouns in many languages. Though I am not so good at the art of creative photography, I am on my way. My new Canon Powershot SX130IS is meant to help in that.

Travelbug - "The urge to travel"
Once in a while I get bitten by this. Then there is no stopping me. I get restless and claustrophobic. Be it a long planned journey, or a short unplanned one, I will move out. Sometimes a stroll around the locality can cure this condition. Also, the shutterbug syndrome get amplified when bitten by this bug.

Humbug - "A hoax, prank or jest"
One of my favourite usages, taken from Mr.Scrooge of 'A Christmas Carol' fame. I use it against people who pester me with silly trivia and tasks.

Bedbug - "bug of temperate regions that infests especially beds and feeds on human blood"
Hadn't seen or experienced the impact of one until I came to Mysore. The very first night, I received the payment in full. Thanks to the shanty-like room we got.

Then there are 'Bugger','Bugs Bunny' and so on, which are less significant.

Oh and by the way, the reason why errors in software or codes are called Bugs has a history. Check out this.

That's all folks.

Differences that should Unite

2011-01-15T14:25:00.002+05:30

Ever felt how different your view of things can be with
1) An alien creature
2) a foreigner
3) a person from different geographical location
4) a person who speaks a different language
5) a person of different culture
6) a person of different gender
7) or just another person

I can assure you that in any of the above cases( or in any I might have missed ), you will find lots of differences, which might make you hate or just not make it comfortable in communicating with that being.

Yes, be it the foreigner who breaks all our cultural rules or the person from another place/culture who doesn't understand your ways and tries to explain/defend/impose his/hers. I am sure this happens a lot, especially in India , which has a plethora of cultures,languages, geographical variations and religions.

Leaving the alien creature out, as I personally haven't met one and can't comment on it, we human beings, who are supposed to be of the same species have more differences than similarities to consider when two people meet.

But are we really so different from each other that, at a time of emergency, we find ourselves helping only those whom we recognize as being from our own 'neighbourhood'( range of which depends upon the individual's generosity) ? Hell, I don't think so. Deep within, we are all similar in many ways which remain unknown to around 80% of us. OK, I am not talking about the physical similarities here. Only the thoughts, fears, reactions and general attitude is considered.

Ahem..I think I am drifting from the point.Lets zoom in to India.

We have lots of cultures, languages, festivals, Gods and Goddesses , and what not. For a person from outside, we are India. But for someone within, it is just a collective name taught in school , and used to address either the central government or something in which all of India is represented( sports, world politics, war,business etc ).

Leaving all those hi-fi things out, and considering only the normal things you or me would be doing on day to day basis, how different can you be from your neighbour, or your colleague, even some of your friends? I am sure you will find differences, sometime subtle, sometimes not.
But, we also find lots of common things between us to share and enjoy. After prolonged exposure, you also will start appreciating and understanding the other person's way of life, and maybe take part in making a difference in it too. Now, that is where the feeling of unit will bloom in the hearts of people. But if these differences make you hate the Indian next to you, and you have doubts, and any kind of negative perception owing to their varied culture, the concept of India as a unified nation will cease to exist from that point of time.

Having said that, some things are too diverse to which one is not easily adjusted, like food,religious views,blahblah. But being ignorant and creating unnecessary divisions between regions is strictly against the concept of a unified India. Having done such an act, any thing one speaks of India's solidarity or unity would be nothing but hypocrisy. And, I am sure, if one does not try to wipe out this hypocrisy from within the heart, he/she is truly a traitor to the cherished concept of brotherhood in this nation, unified,yet glowing under the diversity of a hundred nations.

Sticking to the corner

2011-01-12T22:47:00.002+05:30

It is very difficult to carry on with other things, when something is sticking to your mind in a corner. It might be a pain, a pending task or a doubt. Without solving or burying it there is no peace.

I buried one such just now. Hopefully it won't return, but I enjoyed the challenge. Overall, this week had been quite boring because I had being doing lots of tasks without applying much mind to it. Now I got to sit down and hit few of the mind boggling stuff really hard. It gives lots of pleasure in being on top of the problem compared to being trodden over by it.

ciao

Someone Killed Jessica

2011-01-10T23:45:00.004+05:30

Just finished watching the movie 'No One Killed Jessica'. I didn't go to the theatre to watch it. I just downloaded a pirated copy and finished watching it in 2 days.

After seeing lots of praises and high ratings by my friends in various social networking tools, and directly been informed so by some of them, I decided that this will be the first Hindi movie I will watch this year.

And so, moving on to the verdict.

I, as a person was quite unaware about the details of the Jessica Lal murder case,until I watched this movie. So, it was informative in a way.

But what entertained me the most in the movie was Vidya Balan's role. She was not acting, but living the role of Sabrina, the sister of Jessica. My respect for this actress has gone up several rungs.

Another contributing factor to the movie's astounding effect, is of course the brutally true story behind it. I don't know how much of the real story has been shown in the movie and how much in the movie is made up.

On the negative side, some parts were dragging and uncalled for. For example, Rani's role which defines a modern successful woman as someone who uses expletives excessively and takes pride in being called a bitch, was utterly boring. I don't know if this was based on someone in real life, or just something cooked up for the entertainment.

The editing too was quite patchy and disturbing at certain points. That was the main reason why I quit watching the movie half way through it on the first day. But I came back because I had lots of trust in Vidya's character. But she didn't do much in the latter half, and it was Rani all the way, except at the last.

Overall , it is a wonderful movie worth watching for various reasons. Leave out some of the oddities and enjoy the performance of Vidya and lament with the crowd about the sad state of our establishments. If you have conscience, it will make you think and if you have a soft heart, it might even make u shed a few tears.

Becoming a bibliophobe?

2011-01-10T22:10:00.005+05:30

It has been a really long time since I read any book, or for that matter any printed material.

No. I don't read newspapers. Yes, it is the same person who up to about 2 years back, was a voracious reader of materials, printed or electronic.

I can easily blame this shift in attitude and habits to my profession which involves continuous staring at the computer monitor. But then, that would only be partially true.

So, I am a bibliophobe(no other latin word stuck me) or book hater now? I definitely feel not, but can't disagree my drift towards that direction either.

Without forcing myself to read, if I just think out the cause for my general lethargy in trying to find reading materials, I can't think of anything else other than plain old laziness.

Compared to my home, with my family or with my friends, Mysore and the people I hang out with are far less into books and associated materials. Knowledge gathering and sharing, as a hobby has taken a back seat hence.

But it is a not case where I don't get any books in spite of my efforts. There were too many books with me at one time, wherein I had to read them in a Round Robin fashion. Now, I have finished reading all and sent them back home.

For time pass, I have got my extra elongated work timings and my trusty camera + laptop with me. So, it is bye bye books for some more time.

Stupid Spam

2011-01-10T21:56:00.003+05:30

I just noticed the bullshit spam messages posted in my chatbox(to the right side)of this article. It is interesting because it has a human touch to it, though probably posted by a bot.

Most of them don't have proper grammar or meaning, and are just meant to lure someone to click on the link which will lead to ad sites probably.

Though I find it very amusing, I wonder whether someone will actually seriously click on those links to read more about the person(:P) who posted it.

The reason why rushed to my blog was a quick increase in site visit via direct link from a particular locality(name to be withheld), as seen in Google Analytics. But this new development was not expected, and I am really happy that someone stepped on my turf with malicious intent.

Building honeypots was once my hobby. I don't do it nowadays. But this unexpected catch caught my attention.

OK. ciao

Just a blog

2011-01-09T23:17:00.004+05:30

Just wanted to revisit my blog and write a few words. I, sometimes don't feel very enthusiastic about maintaining the blog here with its articles. Now, is such a moment.

But I am holding back the feeling to not touch it at all, and posting something. This blog is not first priority for me amongst my hobbies. I have many other hobbies that keep me alive and juicy.

Perhaps, the biggest and latest one in it, Photography is now at hand due to my latest procurement. So, I tend to forget all else and concentrate on that. I have even stopped putting efforts into some of my other hobbies. So it is all a natural stride. But, don't worry..I do love writing (some times) and I will be back when I feel like doing so.

Till then..bubye..sayanora kameraderie..

Fox

2010-12-28T22:42:00.005+05:30

The end of the year is approaching, and I am waiting to pack my bags and go home. My camera and some plans are awaiting me there. Also, it has been nearly two months since I went home last.

But work, unexpectedly is threatening my plans. Even though I have insulated my self from heavy responsibilities, unrealistic and unexpected decisions by people in higher echelons are slowly wiping my slate clean.

I am just hoping to pull off my plans with minimum collateral damage,and maximum impact.

"Wily foxes in your own pack can be a double edged sword. So beware."

PS: Searching for 'fox' images in google gave lots of 'fox'y images..

What are you to your nation

2010-12-20T00:12:00.004+05:30

This question is quite difficult to answer, especially in a developing nation like India. It is funny and sad at the same time to think that our nation, blessed with huge natural wealth , near perfect strategic location and abundance of talent is still in the "developing" category.

Is our entire nation really in the same category of developing, or is it just a brand chosen by the top brass?

I feel, that India has a huge section of undeveloped population, a sizable community of developing and a relatively rare developed population. The undeveloped population can be found in the slums of small and large cities, the far flung and remote villages, islands and other inhospitable locations. And the seemingly majority of developing population is found in the well-to-do villages, towns and everywhere in the cities - large and small. Referred to as the 'Common Man', by both media and politicians alike, this community is the reflection of the general condition of the nation. Or so it is purported.

Now, what about the developed class? Who are they? Where are they? How much does one get to hear and see about them in the media? Very less, or rather just enough to position themselves suitably yet keeping the shady parts away. No, I don't mean that all rich and well-to-do business tycoons and politicians are goons in reality who earn their money in illegal methods. I just want to point out that, this class of people have more matters hidden than exposed, even from the law of the land.

Coming to the point, if you, the reader,belonging to any of the classes mentioned above, have ever had the same question in your mind as raised by me in the title of this article, can connect faster. But if it is new you, then start thinking now.

For this nation of a 100 billion plus, doesn't care much about you , an individual. That statement has to be taken with a pinch of salt though. If you are not well off, don't have political connections, or don't have the will power and shrewdness to prove your point in this big crowd, no one will turn their attention on you. If the entire nation is deaf, it will take quite big a bang to make them listen to you.

As a kid, I had wished to a policeman. It was not with a sense of duty of that role, but motivated by the power of policemen to bully and beat up anyone. Later on, the armed services took its place, bringing in honour, servitude and calm sense of duty in place of plain power. Though I am not shrewd enough to handle the running of the government of this nation, and haven't thought through ways to eradicate issues like nepotism and corruption , rampant in our nation, I do feel that as an individual, if I strive to maintain my sense of duty and spread the attitude to those around me, my part would be half done.

This article is part of a HUGE thought process, and hence might seem confusing and broken to some. You can see various parts of this popping up sometime later. Till then, sayanora.

(Nowadays, I am into the practice of writing articles which don't have conclusions. The intention behind it is to instigate the same thought process as mine, into the readers's minds and engage them in an intellectually interactive manner. Hope you enjoy.)

Into the Wilderness - Part I

2010-12-09T21:45:00.007+05:30

After moving to Mysore last July, I have been travelling extensively and visiting places of importance. I am trying to record my experiences and views of these journeys. It will not be easily expressed in a couple of articles. I intend to write on chosen locations and stories separately if time permits.

Following is the list of places I have visited which are worth mentioning:-

1) Mysore Ambavilas Palace ( commonly known just as the 'Mysore Palace') - in & out. Awaiting the special visit into restricted rooms.

2) Chamundi Hills - The adobe of the guardian goddess of the City of Palaces,Mysooru. Climb the steps for maximum pleasure.

3) KRS Backwaters - Blue Lagoons : A beautiful location ideal for couples and friends. But dangerous route after dark

4) KRS Backwaters - Venugopalaswamy Temple : Another beautiful location in Mysore-Mandya border where a submerged 12th century temple is being reconstructed on the shore.

5) Melukote - A group of small hills having a vaishanava temple of Tamil origins. It is on the way to Pandavapura from Mysore. The view from the hills while the wind blows is just superb. It also has a cave temple where Lord SriRama's footprints are believed to be imprinted.

6) Golden Temple - On the way to Madikeri in Kudagu(Coorg) district. A golden temple belonging to people of Tibetan origins.This is a must visit place.

7) Dubare - A river rafting location , again in Kudagu district. Had a lot of fun here.

8) Jog Falls - If you are in Karnataka and haven't seen the Jog, you are suffering a big loss. Won my heart by its sheer magnificence and ferocity (even without much water) .

9)Kodachadri - Again one of my dearest trekking spot. Got a chance to conquer it after years of yearning. Definitely still in my wish-to-go-now places. Nature of climb can vary from moderate to difficult based on route you choose. There are tonnes of beautiful spots, falls and religious locations here itself.

10) Murudeshwara - A temple cum beach location consisting of a gigantic statue of Lord Shiva (2nd tallest in the world) and picturesque boating and beach facilities.

11) Apsarakonda - A great location unknown until visited. Has a super cool jetting waterfall, which flows through a walkable stream to a great open but deceivingly deep beach. Has a hillock to trek too. Good place for all kinds of people to spend.

12) Kali ghati - I believe this is the name. The hillock near Srirangapatna/Pandavapura. Awesome view from atop. Climb is of moderate difficulty.

13) Gopalswamy Hills - A local favourite. Great view, cool climate, lots of greenery to roam around and get lost too. Plus a wildlife sanctuary where we were lucky to sight an adult tiger out in the open.

14) Ranganathittu - The famous bird sanctuary. Visit during Jan-June to see exotic birds and otherwise you can see lots of crocs while you enjoy the boating.

There are many more places coming to my mind at this point of time. But I am ending this article here. Will add URLs to above mentioned spots , if available, and nice images too. Now i am too sleepy.

PS: I haven't mentioned the countless temples on the way or situated on most of the above mentioned locations. Temples are plenty in K'taka. If you love visiting temples, see wikipedia entry for Hindu temples in Karnataka.

Overall, Karnataka provides you a plethora of locations to visit, be it natural beauties, monuments, temples or something else. Also, if you are a wildlife enthuasiast/ photographer, you will find yourself stretched , trying to visit all the beautiful places in the beautiful state of Karnataka.

Stakes are high

2010-12-04T08:44:00.002+05:30

The time of the year is such that the stakes are quite high and rewards come in a trickle. Each drop has to be fought for and has to be well earned.

A tough time like this calls for regulation in all corners and strict measures to ensure maximum compliance.

I am going to up the ante and wait out for the results, and be a player out there in the field.

Cya all on the other side with some good news..

Middle of many things

2010-11-25T07:32:00.004+05:30

Often while reading blogs of friends and acquaintances , I feel I can do more to improve the quality and readability of my own blog contents. I feel I can push for more creativity, exploration of new ways and things to write about.

But it often happens that I either forget or am just not enthusiastic enough to put much efforts into it. It is well because I am in the middle of many things w.r.t my professional life , juggling tasks and adjusting time.

Anyway, I shall be putting out bits and pieces here and there.. and that might just be reflection of the life I live. How better can a blog meant to show experiences be?

If you feel sympathetic to my condition, please keep visiting my site and promoting it. I would be happy to see an increase in my visitor count. Please note that there is not ad systems in place for my site, so I am not asking anyone to promote for my financial benefits, just for fun! :)

Milky Matters

2010-11-21T10:57:00.006+05:30

I am a person for whom milk was quite low in the list of favoured beverages..up to a point wherein I used to oppose the use of milk in the household. My argument was logically bound to the fact that cow's milk is for its calf. If we collect it all and consume it in such large scale, it will affect the health of the calf and the cow too. Also implied was an argument that it is not purely vegetarian. The personal embargo on milk and milk products lasted for 1+ years if my memory serves me well. Anyway, my family ( as usual ) didn't buy my arguments, and considered my stand as just a minor annoyance( what else could an 8 yr old be seen as?? ).

Later on, when I had enough experience on the way the world runs, I accepted the fact that there is not much for me to do about the calf and its family. The world runs strictly on Serve Yourself First policy. With that I too became one of the normal perpetrators out there, drinking 5-6 cups of milk in the form of tea everyday( in my prime days ).

Tea became Coffee, became tea again, in came Boost-Bournvita and what not, but none stayed. Even Horlicks had a short stint in my life. But never plain milk. Always flavoured.

But there was someone waiting in the sidelines, who didn't get enough attention due to some reason. The day I saw it in the right perspective, milk went completely out of the picture. That fellow is - Green Tea. It was instant love and we had great times. I even had its variations - Flavoured, Black, Earl Grey etc. I had written another article some time back about Tea. Anyway those days of tasting various flavours were fun.

After having read all this, what do you think is the purpose of this article? Significance of green tea or the lack of it in the case of milk? NO.

One fine day, while shopping in a mart with a friend, I noticed him buying normal leaf tea and milk powder. That made me think about trying out the tea I used to prepare at home in those days after that embargo. One other reason for that change in choice of ingredients was to try out the famed Milk Powder. Until that day, I hadn't tried any kind of milk other than Cow's natural one - in liquid form.

So started another experiment. I must tell you that after using Milk Powder, I really began appreciating the values and taste of milk - albeit the liquid one! Milk powder has to be stored without letting the ants swarming in, and after all the efforts, it may not taste anything like the original one! What a waste!?

Hence I resorted to using ordinary liquid milk for my tea and ALSO started drinking plain ( or sugared) milk! Damn..it does taste good. Maybe its because all other beverages ( tea/coffee) in our canteen taste like you-know-what! Whatever might be reasons and history, finally I am drinking and eating stuff I used to abhor in the past. Just the magic of Survival Instincts!

Life is a Push-Pull Train

2010-10-19T11:12:00.002+05:30

This article is motivated by a conversation I had with a colleague.

It all started when a colleague complained that life no longer seemed interesting, and she didn't know where she was heading. She felt it was like a 'push-pull' train, going back and forth without any aim, not knowing when destiny will be reached.

This sentence triggered quite a lot of thoughts in my mind, especially the word 'push-pull'.

In my childhood when i heard this term, i thought how the hell does a train push and pull at same time and reach anywhere?
Later on it dawned to me that one engine pushes from back, another pulls from front and voila you have a moving vehicle.

In similar fashion if we design our engines at two sides, puller at front, pusher at back, there will definitely be a forward motion and at double the speed too.

With engines I intend to point to the factors that motivate us to excel. It can be skills, passion for something, someone's words, doing things we like to do etc.
Some engines pull, that is, they are pleasant and generate force in the natural direction. But some are pushers, where you will need to face hardships, take tough decisions and literally push on against the tide. A sturdy and wise combination of these two will make the train, that is life, a fast mover.

Now, the tough parts of this scheme are: -
1) Identifying the engines that can drive you
2) Classifying them as puller or pusher
3) Toughest part - Deploying engines and make them work for you

Overall for making all these things work, you need to have a vital engine - Perseverance . I feel it is an all-rounder i.e puller cum pusher.
Also, don't forget to freeze your Goal and arrange the puller at front and pusher at back , or else you would end up just opposite to where you wanted to be.

I think providing an example can help. If not, put it in the comments, I shall modify it if the reasons suffice.

Anger and need for perfection can be a pusher whereas love and passion for work can be a puller.

This article is not meant to be a manual of any sort, because I feel no one can step into your shoes in matters that regard you and yourself.
If it can guide and give you a new view on another person's ( in this case, mine) way of doing something you always wanted to, it has served its purpose.

Mysooru - A Dasara Darshan

2010-10-09T22:15:00.005+05:30

Today, from morning onwards I have not been in my room.

I had gone to friends place in the morning,which was an uphill trek,with the laptop and a 'toolkit'. The purpose was to install Linux and Windows 7 on a laptop suffering with 'viral fever' After nearly a day long procedure, I packed up and then walked to a couple of other locations with my lappy, spreading and collecting data.

I was just gonna mentally close the day at 6pm and sleep,when a friend came forward with an idea to go up the Chamundi Hills. I agreed immediately and lo.. we were soon cutting through the thickly crowded and colourfully lit streets of Mysooru. The journey too was just awesome, and we got a good darshan of the splendidly lit city from atop the hills and also of the Goddess.

These are a few important things I came to know today :-

1) However long be a queue at the Chamundi, it moves very fast(compared to Kerala temples)
2) You can get to see Cheetahs on the Chamundi hills, on the roadside - irrespective of time
3) Cost of a Canon 120IS camera
4) Mysore has a very good Chat centre, right in the centre of the city which serves awesome stuff

Each one of the learning has an experience or story behind it :)

whoa what a nice day.thanks to my friend.

Angaadi Theru - A good Tamil Movie

2010-09-18T23:01:00.005+05:30

I finished watching the Tamil move Angaadi Theru just now and felt like I should recommend and promote this movie.

The synopsis is simple. It is the story of two young lovers working in a Textile Showroom in the bustling Ranganathan Street of Chennai. The movie depicts the harsh conditions under which these people lead their lives. Not only does it serve to tell the story of those people, about whom not many of the 'normal' citizens care about, but it is also about the endearing human spirit. At many parts of the movie, we feel both sympathy and empathy towards the characters. But the part where they overcome all pain and difficulties with will power could very well be the highlight of the movie.

The plot and screenplay is very good and the debutant artistes more than excelled in bringing to life the characters they played. Also laudable is the music by Vijay Antony and G V Prakash Kumar.

This movie again strengthens my belief that it is not just the budget or the reputation of the artistes that makes a good movie. The other movie in Tamil that made me feel so was Subrahmanyapuram.

Please go and watch this movie at a theatre if possible, otherwise get a digital copy and watch it. Also, if possible recommend this to people who can't understand Tamil, but can enjoy a good movie( provide subtitles though ).

Check out this beautiful song titled 'Aval Appadi' from the movie

Gauri-Ganesh-Eid in Mysore

2010-09-11T09:22:00.005+05:30

The entire city is decorated and filled with shops selling various condiments and ingredients necessary to the festivals that are being celebrated back-to-back in this ancient heritage city of Mysore.

While the majority of the Hindus celebrate the double pack festivals of Gauri and Ganesh, it is the end of the holy month of Ramadan for the Muslims and they are celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr. Though the city always remains notoriously famous for the hostility between the two camps, during festive seasons( Karnataka has an abundance of those) the city looks and behaves like a normal one, with people being more polite and considerate about the other religion and their festivities.

But it is hard to miss all the colour and bustle on the roads and the sense of hurry and joy in the faces of people. As I reside in an outskirts area of Mysore, I am able to see the semi-urban populace bustiling through the newly sprung up road-side markets selling flowers,decorative items, colourful bangles and lots and lots of different Ganesh idols varying in size, colours, theme etc. Never before in my life have I seen a Ganesha with the body and pose of Sri Sai Baba.

The Gauri festival on the other hand seems to be celebrated only in Karnataka( as far as I know ), and is only for girls. Soon after it gets over, the family members have to 'undo' those decorations and put up those of Ganesh festival and start working on it. The Ganesh festival begins in many homes and communities with the bringing in of the great Moorthis( idols) of lord Ganesh. I am currently watching it at that stage. It is good to see people dancing and singing on the roads carrying their favourite God.

Meanwhile, I will be trying to capture some good snaps with my nokia phone camera. If something interesting or good comes up, I shall put it up here. And I am yet to see the Eid celebrations as the Muslim areas are far away from where I stay :(

Happy Gauri-Ganesh festivals to all my friends all over the world and Eid Mubarak too. May happiness and peace prevail.

Uthraada Paachil

2010-08-22T21:51:00.006+05:30

I was thinking of writing something up for non-malayalees about our special festival 'Onam'. The fervour and pomp with which malayalees look forward to it and celebrate it, makes the others wonder about it.

Though I might not be the right person to tell anything as 'facts' about Onam, I would be pleased to share some of the information which I believe to be facts (might not what they actually are).

This is about the famed 'Uthraada Paachil'. Uthradam is a star, like many others which constitute the stars of Malayalam calendar. It falls on the ninth day of the 10 day Onam celebrations beginning from the day of Atham star,which itself is quite popular for the Tripunithura Athachamayam procession. The 9th day is also the Second off the three last and important days of the Onam festival. This is the day the malayalees prepare for the mega feast and the 'kalaashakottu'(grand finale) on the last and tenth day of the festival called the Thiruvonam (star also same name).

Traditionally, that is the day the people go out and purchase groceries and vegetable to prepare for the feast as well as buy gifts and new dresses for themselves. Thousands of big and small shops and vendors throng the towns and cities, with lots of attractive offers and prizes being given away for the festive season. A massive crowd also wanders through this mad sea of traders and equips themselves with the best and most colourful dresses and accessories.

For the last one decade, with respect to the city of Kochi, which has grown exponentially in that period, this crowd has always rendered the city immobile and unfit for any kind of automobile travel. Walking used to be the best bet, for anyone with some sense in their heads. Shops and roads in the main parts of the city (MG Road, SA Road, NH, etc etc) used to swell up with people moving in and out, crowding places giving great offers and skimming through other shops. Off the 10 days, this day is one when all emergency services are kept on full alert and police deployed to maximum capacity, to handle any untoward incidents. Usually most of the police force is deployed to manage the crowd and assist the traffic.

This time the crowd and traffic was heavier on Saturday (Puradam) than Sunday (Uthradam). It was raining as well yesterday, whereas today the climate was fit for shopping and general roaming around. Kochi being a heterogenous to-be-metro city, appeals to almost all kinds of travel bug bitten (/not bitten) people of the world. I was surprised to find the roads almost vacant and crowds not larger than normal today. I guess the Uthrada paachil just became a Purada paachil. I believe it is due to the 'IT' effect or the 'Gulf' effect, with most of employed malayalees having to leave for work on Monday itself. It might have caused the Onam celebrations to end in many homes before the traditional Thiruvonam day.

I saw many families having big feasts today and aged parents and/or kids waving goodbye to their young sons/parents who have to return to work, due to lack of leaves. Compared to yesteryears, a considerably higher amount of Kochiites or Malayalees as a whole are into the IT sector.Afterall it is a known fact that, you can find a Nair's tea shop even on the moon. Due to this kind of work culture, it is quite natural to see this kind of shift in traditional practices.

The above observations and explanations are a result of my own thoughts and ideas. Anyone having supporting/opposing ideas/thoughts please add to the comments. Any kind of passing comments also accepted, as long as it is fit to be displayed on the site.

Happy Onam to all malayalees, and happy onam to non-malayalees also.

Malayaligale malayaligal aakiya non-Malayaleesee... Ningal illathe njangalku enthu aaghosham? (To the non-Malayalees who made us malayalis malayalis...Without you guys, what kind of celebration can we have?)

From home

2010-08-21T21:09:00.004+05:30

I wanted to write something here. Specific? yes specific? But no, now I don't feel like summarizing when it is still alive. The feeling of being in Kerala, being at home, being able to zap through the pot-holed and densely crowded roads of the Queen of the Arabian, Kochi.

So leaving out the details , its all about beauty, music, rhythm, affection, memories, peace and clairvoyance.

Try forming the link of events in your own lives which give you these feelings, and you might be close to what I am feeling right now.

For those friends and unknowns reading this.. may all good things come to you. But remember that you get only what you give and you get all that you give. The sheet is always balanced.

Adios. happy onam to all malayalee readers.

Imagination and Artists

2010-08-15T02:15:00.002+05:30

This is a wonderful line I came upon a few minutes back as I was reading the Author's Note of the Man Booker Prize winner 'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel.

"If we,citizens,do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams"

I am literally hanging onto to the meaning of each word of this sentence, dreaming about the implications of this statement.

Please let me know if you avid readers of many literary works have such mind blowing ideas conveyed through words.

Independence Day Resolutions

2010-08-15T01:53:00.005+05:30

Normally, we people take resolutions only for the New Year. But, I for once, feel like taking one/some for our Independence Day.(Frankly, to me the independence day matters more than a new year)

My resolution,which I would like to outline in a simple manner is as follows:

1) From today onwards, I shall take more care to ensure that the rights of my fellow human beings( of any nationality/caste/gender/region/religion/profession.. ) are known to them, and they feel more confident to exercise the same.

2) I shall spread more awareness among my peers on what are their constitutionally and legally provided rights and what are the socially and morally expected duties required of them,to rightfully claim the rights.

3) I shall press on more strongly and tactfully for my own rights and needs.

4) Last, but not the least, I shall keep aside a substantial amount of my time and thought to perform my expected duties to the society, the dear and near ones and mankind as a whole, and not to forget.. myself.

Shortly, what I am trying to achieve with these resolutions and steps is a scenario where each benefit of mine in this free country is well earned( at least to my conscience ) and compensated by the goodwill I can pump into the people and the society. This is more about moral freedom than moral correctness and strict regimen of rights and duties. "Good begets good", is the only motto I can stick to for this idea in my head.

A very noble thought, but not commendable unless I have some live results. Until those results are very tangible, all these words are worthless like a crumbling dry leaf. And likewise, until I have real results to talk about, these mean nothing more than words written on the flowing water of a waterfall.

Twitter Addiction

2010-08-14T09:05:00.005+05:30

Among many other things, the new found (from mar/apr 2010) Twitter addiction is one thing I have been trying to break.

I found this site called TweetStats which gives a lot of interesting data and patterns of tweets. I was alarmed at the increasing tweet numbers of my initial days. But as those were initial days, I didn't care much, but cared about what to tweet and what not to.

View the current graph for my account, which shows that, my activity had dropped continuously till June 2010, but picked up again in July, for reasons yet to be found.

Hopefully, due to this month's hectic schedule and unavailability of resources, my twitter addiction will break and I would return to being a normal citizen( rather than a netizen ).

Anyway I like the new zoom feature in tweetstats. Hmm...an addiction to tweetstats better not be imminent.. :)

Freedom On Independence Day

2010-08-13T14:55:00.000+05:30

In my childhood I used to be very excited for each Republic Day and Independence Day. Days to feel proud, tell big things, watch war movies, sing patriotic songs, carry flags etc etc.

Even through my high school, this feeling lingered, though in a lesser intense manner. By the end of school life, these days were a celebration of the sacrifices of the martyrs and of our basic freedom.By start of college life, freedom was not a matter of just these few days, but almost every day. Freedom from the exams, tension of jobs, rules, parents, people and countless other things. The last 2 semesters were focused on enjoying the freedom to the max and saving the memories, before jumping into professional life.

Talking of which, the professional life, which I had dreamt would open up many more gates and offer more freedom, was just what I had not wished for. Spending hours and minutes inside this 3X4 cell facing the dumbo machine and typing away, is not what the kid had dreamt about doing when he talked about 'freedom'. Even considering my geeky nature, this kind of routine strongly deserves to be branded as 'Correctional', especially considering the correctional effects it has been producing.

So, here I am , nearing yet another Independence Day of the country, where small children do slave labour without going to schools, the better off slog with books and academics without getting to enjoy their childhood, the even elderly ones sweat their asses off worrying about career prospects, and the rest of us glorified IT industry professionals suffocate ourselves inside our AC cooled cabins, some with dreams about LIFE still alive and many who forgot what it means to LIVE.

Ramblings from office

2010-07-25T15:11:00.004+05:30

Following is the one of the many write-ups i cook up during my work hours(pls don't misunderstand my situation..i USUALLY am busy)

This is about the storm that comes every.. umm..frankly no one really knows when it comes.But when it comes, we just know it is better to stay out of its way.

As with all storms and catastrophic events, this one also has a female name. And it comes out of nowhere, giving you no time to prepare in advance.

Irrespective of work related urgency and tension, our anxiety is always about our machines. Such is the fury of this female tempest, which descends upon us, in the name of cleaning.

Even the most complicated tasks are left as it is and people leave for cover, hoping their machines will survive the onslaught.From a safe distance you wait and pray that you will find your desk and machine in working condition after the storm has cleared.Amidst all the usual horrible sounds of the treatment that your dear (sob) machine receives, you can occasionally hear ripping and scraping sounds , which makes you bite your nails and pull your hair.

Once the storm moves to neighbouring cubicles, we all run back to our machines and check if they are alive.
The job of tilting those abused monitors, and pushing back the mauled CPUs is all that you can do,while additionally inspecting for damages to the poor keyboard which gets spanked loudly.

To add, this tempest doesn't leave any one alone, irrespective of rank and experience. All are equal in its presence, as it crosses the development centres and rises up a cloud of grunts and sighs...

Once the storm passes, we sit down to discuss the extent of damage inflicted and how they managed to save some of their components, like old drooped out veterans talking about their exploits.

Surely this is not even complete, and has lots of grammatical and (something) (something) mistakes.But this is the blog of ramblings of this mad guy..and you chose to read it.. i warned u!!! didn't i? sigh....

It is a blog,so i blog; blog blog...

2010-07-25T14:58:00.002+05:30

It is a lovely sunday over here in Mysore.
The sky is looking good, the climate is cool and it drizzles every now and then. Ideal day it is for a idyllic vacation.
But anyway, I am not on a vacation or due for one, so I decided to clean up the house, which I did.
Also, after yesterday's movie marathon(Zombieland,Paranormal Activity and Prince of Persia :Sands of time) and the tiresome(due to lappy) gameplay of Avatar, I decided not to stick with these things for today. And, so I watched 'How to train a dragon', while gulping down 2 bowls of Maggi's new 'Thrilling Curry' flavour, which in fact brought tears to my eyes.

Now I am a bit sleepy and all, due to the late night movies and early morning cleaning activities, and thought that before I take a decision, I should simply update this blog. Now, the blog thing has been going on for over 4 years now. Not that I have written great literary pieces, or superb witty articles that bring in large crowds, but I have a large level of commitment to the small things in life. But there are many such small things of increasing sizes w.r.t significance that some of the other smaller things get buried. Now you must have got the hang of my mood.. i am damn sleepy. But I update blog. I go sleep or I late for another Monday. I enjoy weekend, you too..

Photo credits to James Warwick, taken without permission using Google Image Search(sorry about that, not that you would mind much..but still..)

Saturday Office

2010-07-10T10:25:00.002+05:30

Yuggh!

Today is a Saturday and I am in office.
Thanks to BJP's Bharat Bandh, Monday was a holiday and to compensate we have to work today.

Though the Bharat Bandh had saved me a leave while I had gone to my native place, working on Saturday has become more cumbersome than I had expected.

Though I had known that I had to wake up as usual and come to office in the morning, I had not set the alarm, and woke up at 8.35am. FYI the last buses for office are at 9.10am.
Then somehow I got ready and reached the bus stop at 9, to find other IT employees waiting for the bus. I came to know that not even a single bus had passed by for half an hour.
It seemed that even the KSRTC had forgotten that these few souls had to report to office in time on a Saturday as well.

Anyway, a nice friend came by and gave me a ride to office. Thanks to her I was saved from the infinite wait for the royal transport of Tipu.

Entering into the office, a wave a sleep hit me hard and I was almost crawling to my seat. Colleagues even started inquiring about my health, upon which I cursed the BJP.
After dumping myself on my seat, I found out that the task I was supposed to do today, has not been approved yet. So, no work, fully sleepy, and with half the office empty, this promises to be a excruciatingly slow and painful Saturday.

Adios

Back to the books

2010-06-30T22:21:00.004+05:30

Over this month, I have been more into books.

Not sure if it was caused by a gift coupon of Rs.500/- meant only for books, which I received from my manager. Or it could simply have been caused by my detachment from the world of technology. It would be ideally a mixture of these reasons.
Ok, whatever be the reasons, I did make some progress on the books and added some to my book shelf.

Status update:-
1) Finished reading 'A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush' - Eric Newby. A whooper of a travelogue. I loved the funny way Eric has understated their pains and efforts. Must read for those who dream of wandering in the wilderness.

2) Started reading 'Rebecca' -Dauphne Maurier. An interesting but slow story.

3) Started reading 'The leader Who had no Title' - Robin Sharma but not much interested by it.

4) Even started reading 'Anansi Boys'-Neil Gaiman at office. This is one book I want to get back to reading. Expectations are high.

5) 'Life Of Pi' - Yann Martel, a Man Booker prize winner, is waiting in the sidelines for now.

Other than this, I did start reading up a few ebooks here and there for timepass. Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho is one among them that I recall. But please note that I didn't read any of those long enough to make sufficient progress to give a feedback or review.

Watch out for more updates from my adventures into the land of words.

Wish to write

2010-06-22T23:18:00.002+05:30

I had this strange wish to detach myself further from the common devices of internet. I felt I am a better person overall when I take out this 'connectivity' out of the equation. And I do know at certain times that it helps a lot to work on real world problems, talk to people, travel out, read a book, cook something, do something completely new and wacky etc etc. But other than those, I found that the internet has a confounding impact on me on some scale.

A feeling of connectedness to someone or something, which in truth is just my own imagination playing with the nerves. The unending and unfathomable depth and variety of knowledge at my finger tips,the impulse to google out each and every doubt and human thought that crosses my mind.That kind of addiction can drive a person insane or in my case, less efficient. I had 'broken' the very addiction at least half a dozen times by now. It gets back into action again, not as an addiction, but more akin to an uninvited guest. I know it is there, when my mind waits for the machine to be up and check the network logo at first. Also when the mind swirls between choosing which site to check out, or which new idea to research with google , i know i am stung.

I have home made remedies for this, which i have applied and hence am stopping my writing...

Attachments

2010-06-21T10:59:00.000+05:30

How attached do we sometimes feel to places one lives, ones hangs out with friends , or is associated with some important event(s) in life?
Some people accept the attachment, some deny it , while some others take it as part of the game.But undeniable is the fact of attachment with places.

Sometimes this attachment happens even if you initially hate the place.

Take the example of school, where on your very first day, you would surely have churned out a storm, wishing to go home.

Come college days, and initially you hated the classes and the rules, and stuck to the hostel and canteen. Later on when it was time to leave college, you would have thought of all the fun you had inside the classroom with professors and all the tricks and pranks you played on them. Every moment of those days passes as nostalgia through your mind streams.

Later on, when life gives you wings and take you places, you hate something and love something there also. Sometimes you end up loving too many things, making you inflexible and bars your movement.
Sometimes you are ill at ease with new places and prefer moving around to new places, possibly in search of that 'ideal' place.
But it is always a time of choice to decide whether to stick to your attachments or wade through the current of change.

If someone asked me which is better: stick to one job/place/whatever until you feel you can get nothing more out of it (or) try one of it until you feel you can do better elsewhere and then move on, I would suggest the second option.

Ciao

Dreams

2010-05-25T13:37:00.000+05:30

Sitting in office
doing the work,
I suddenly hooked
on to a discussion.

I got transported
to those golden days
when the mind was ignited
and I was full of dreams.

Those ideas,those sparking
days, have they gone?
Have they died?
Where those dreams or just fantasies?

I like to believe that
they were not.

The day will come
when I will see those
dreams closer to me,
and then I will merge with them, for good.

For now, I need to
hold on to my
decision, and carry on
with this endeavour.

For fruits of this,
however delayed it might be,
is bound to be sweet,
for which I shall wait.

--VVK

Four Years of Blogging

2010-05-13T09:57:00.002+05:30

Today I completed four long years of blogging in this account.

My first post was on May 13th of 2006 during my S1-S2 study holidays.

Something which started out as a mere hobby, grew into something that talked about me, my passions, my views and the world as seen through the eyes of this small kid beginning to take the first few steps of life.

If you follow the contents of this blog as well as its sister blog ( Techworld ), you can the ups and downs in my life. Many things I had been frank and candid about, while many I had shrouded in mystery and enigmatic language.

It entertained many people , and bored many more and did both to majority of people. I even took the liberty to try out different flavours and combination. Some people still like to check out my blog, some loath to, while some are indifferent.
I am thankful to all three kinds of people, for they tell me what I want to know, sometimes without their knowledge.

Instead of recalling all past things and thanksgivings, let me just think what is in store for this hobby of mine, in coming days.

Certain upgradations/degradations, and changes might be required before I freeze up a design (sorry for the Vocational Vocabulary ).

For now, I will be using it as a platform to convey messages, ideas, stories and views to a set of readers ranging from friends and family to completely unknown strangers stumbling across it in the web of millions of such blogs.

Adios Amigos

Night Rain

2010-04-19T14:22:00.001+05:30

Sleep just refused to take me away from this world,of endless loneliness.

Just lying like that on my bed, I heard the skies open up and I stepped out.

It was just beginning to drizzle and a cool breeze was flowing.Rain drops rolling
on my cheeks didn't bother me,for I was already lost in distant thoughts.

I don't remember much of what happened afterwards, so blissful was the night rain.
It sort of cleansed my soul and body.

We all unknowingly are always waiting for a cleansing rain that allows a fresh
start, because everyone eventually screws up many things in life, just that some
take it as a downslide, while others take it as a springboard.

I wish we could always take all setbacks, fears, and failures as just springboards
to greater happiness to ourself and all people around us.

Keep reading...

Culinary Experiments

2010-04-18T13:19:00.006+05:30

My room mate and I had started cooking ( besides noodles and tea ) a week ago.
From then, what I have been involved in is best termed as Culinary 'Experiments'. Experiments because, in spite of having some recipes and ingredients from my mother, I ended up choosing or mixing things in unorthodox manners, creating novel dishes.

But , the good news is that all the dishes ended up edible and majority of them even tasted good. Sometimes they just turn out to be good in spite of too much/too less of any ingredient, or use of substitute ingredients. Sometimes, I need to fix the problem by overriding measures. ;) Once or twice I even goofed up with the sequences. A few additional 'improvisations' after these goof ups allow to raise the status to 'edible'.

Today's meal was in that respect the most unorthodox. I had started with ready-to-make Sevai, which I had to cook and add seasoning. I ended up making a glass of Cooked Rice Water ( 'Kanjivellam' ), and some pasty goo with some salt in it. I was in a tight spot, wondering how to consume the stuff. Then I found the MTR Vathal Kuzhambu mix that my mother had given me, mixed it boiling water, hoping to prepare a thick curry to give taste to the goo. I ended up with something akin to rasam, and mixed half of it with the Rice Water and flooded the goo with the rest. I even added Jeera and Mustard fried in oil as seasoning. And voila, it tasted really good. The mix was a real saviour. I even topped it off with some Chammanthipodi ( prepared from home ), and had a full meal.

That is why in spite of being a rather amateur cook, I really enjoy the process of cooking. There is a lot of fun in it, a lot to learn and finally fills your tummy as well :). Sometimes it gets you quite a lot of compliments as well.

Cooking is a great skill and its an art also. We youngsters sometimes do not respect and recognize the effort our mothers put into preparing the daily stuff that we eat. Get into her shoes and check it out. You will find it a very challenging task. It requires what you call 'Kaipunyam' ( literally 'Virtue of the hand' ) to cook a delicious meal. I recommend everyone , especially males to try out cooking and you will definitely enjoy it.

A boring day

2010-04-16T23:30:00.003+05:30

My days at office are sometimes highly boring, either due to prolonged activities of limited interest(meetings) or lack of any solid thing to do.
But for the last few weeks, things have started becoming hectic. So, after coming home I fall into a period of boredom , before sleep strikes me.

A few good books, a few nice sites and a few friends online can solve it all.But, sometimes it doesn't feel that good to reach out for those. I feel like and wish for someone or something to reach out for me and take me on a wild ride.

Weekends are up ahead, and I have no plans. I suppose I will be alone here this weekend. Apart from the mundane activities of cleaning up, organizing and catching up with life, I expect a plain and colourless weekend ahead. But as usual, I will get into weaving ideas and experiments tomorrow once I come to my senses.

Till then, I will temporary fight this boredom and write this blog, which hopefully is not very much boring for the reader.

Enjoy the blog, read better ones, give me comparisons, and let me upgrade and update myself. Thank you for reading this..

Rains Kiss Mysore

2010-03-31T09:38:00.000+05:30

First rains kiss Mysore.

Mother nature kissed her charming child with a beautiful shower and smothered it with a blanket of fog.
The air is filled with a strange aroma and the striking hills of Chamundi stand out at the horizon.

The roads were overflowing, and the hearts of people were too.

Many complained of the dirt and dampness early morning,
while many welcomed the break from the moderately hot climate.

But I loved it, simply loved it.
Getting wet and dirty in the rains
its simply.. no words. :D

I will sing 'rain rain come again..'
take me with you..
wash me away
along with the dirt.

But you can't beat my dear hometown,
coz the Queen's rains are much more dear to me,
entangled in the memories of childhood.

Oh rain I love you,
Oh I love you,
but now I have
work to get back to.

Ciao

Blogging via mail

2010-03-23T10:44:00.000+05:30

I hate blogging via mail( text formatting becomes weird ).But as Blogger.com and many such sites are blocked at office( and without a good proxy ), I am left with no other options to
answer the call of the blogger.

I really wish that they unblock these sites. But then, if they did, they can be assured that the likes of me would be utilizing it fully. :D

Workaround and hacks are always present for me to try :D :D
For now, I just hope they do unblock more sites of my choice :D :P

Life is a Dance of Colours
Diverse Shades make it a Masterpiece

2 states 2 good

2010-03-21T01:42:00.000+05:30

My latest read is the '2 States' by Chetan Bhagat.
Many friends had claimed it to be an absolute must-read,but I managed to get my hands on it last week only.

Though I left it initially,after the first 3-5 pages, I picked it up again today afternoon. This time I managed to read half of it before the IPL matches distracted me till 10pm. And after that, I must confess that I was enjoying every page I read, enjoying all the drama and comedy in typical Punjabi and Tamil families( I must say I connected more to the latter).

I laughed so loud at the mickey mouse part, that I heard my roommate grumble something, obviously awaken from his sleep.

Chetan really has done a good job of bringing to life the daily drama of families so deeply sunk into their own traditions, that vary by huge degrees across the nation.

Hailing from a traditional Tamil Iyer family myself, and having witnessed a couple of mixed arranged-love marriages (that too with a wide range of communities), I was really able to connect to the incidents at the marriage. Kudos to Chetan for painting those scenes with humour. They are really perplexing and tense situations for some people, but some make it really jovial, and I mean in real life. The Kashi Yathra part too made me guffaw .

Overall a good read and made me think of how things might have been in such weddings in my family and what all the boy and girl would have gone through to get it done. Also,it threw many pointers for future ;)

Now off to start on a journey with Eric Newby to the Hindu Kush...

Do you read this?

2010-03-16T18:28:00.002+05:30

I was just going through my previous posts.
And it made me wonder. Who reads all this ****?
There is neither a narrative nor a plot for the things I have posted previously.
It talks about something very crudely and goes on adding points about it.
Absolutely unreadable.

I would to like improve the quality of contents and also the styles. Any suggestions?
I am open to design changes as well.

Ciao

Me and Hockey

2010-03-12T21:19:00.006+05:30

Many people question me or look at me questioningly when I mention my support for the game of hockey, or talk about the plight of the game in India.
Many have asked whether I am mad..and why I support the supposedly 'stupid' game. My blood boils when I hear the dumbos speak up against such a fine game..themselves being idle followers of the foolish game of cricket.

I was trained in Hockey in my school by a Mr.Shenoy. That is all I know of him, and that he used to be a top-notch player in his days. He was around 50 years old when he used to be hockey coach of our school. A man of perfection and excellently fit, he made his boys play hard and everyone loved him for that.
I was in my 8th grade when I was under his supervision, but being stockily built, I found it hard to find the forward positions and played the fullback position. But, as it happens, I couldn't manage to secure my position in the school team, but made it a point to watch as many matches and play as many practice matches as possible. I enjoyed trying out scoops and passes after school hours.
But, my tenure with hockey came to a grinding halt(as with all my sporting and extra-curricular activities) when my academics took a bad turn. Also, Mr.Shenoy left our school the very next year. Since then, I had not played a single hockey game, and sadly not met not more than a handful of 'real' hockey enthusiasts.

My brother too used to play under Mr.Shenoy, but he played much longer..into his college days and won many a tournaments as well. His hockey stick, that lies around his room always reminds me of Mr.Shenoy and makes me wonder whether I should have stuck to the game.

Anyway, my love for the game remains, and the plight of it pains me. I wish I could find some one to play a game with( might as well be a dream for some time). Having played it, I find it physically challenging and highly enjoyable, compared to the lazy game of cricket.

Thank you Mr.Shenoy(gee..I don't even know his First Name,but as he is a popular figure, I will get to know sooner or later), for introducing me to this wonderful game. The last I saw him was at Fort Kochi a couple of months back, training a batch of students. I had gone there for chilling out, and by chance caught a glimpse of him from a distance. I was surprised at his dedication and commitment to the sport.A great man, who is one of my role models.
I miss his popular chiding remarks,"Idiot International", "Attapaadi Adivasi" and "Foolback".

Requiem for a Dream

2010-03-06T08:07:00.005+05:30

Dreams are awesome things, that bring out an ocean of thought, emotions, aspirations, fears and long lost memories into one saucy mix. I am speaking about the dream that you see when you are sleeping, not the one which doesn't allow you to.

One bad thing with dreams are that, however awesome they are, we lose them from our head, when we wake up and our brain starts working on real stuff. I have had many such dreams, where in I wished I could simply get back to sleep and continue with it, rather than get up and go to college or school. I read in some article that brain loses dream memory incrementally, after we wake up and concentrate on other stuff, like coffee or other things around us. It usually vanishes within half an hour of waking up,but really subject to the intensity of mental activities we carry out.

So, what to do to maintain the memories of a great dream? Write it down!! That is the best solution I have found yet. I mean writing onto a book, as typing it usually has the same detrimental effect as other things have. I tried it out today with an awesome dream, and found that I could capture more than 90% of the plot, along with the thoughts and fears of the author( written in 1st person,as all dreams are ). I am pretty satisfied with my work, and so decided to write down whatever I remember of all good stories/plots that come up in future.

I was really amazed at the power of our brain, which I had previously worshiped without experiencing it.

So.. dream on ppl... have a nice time! I might decide to publish the draft dream sometime later, here or somewhere else,as it is quite lengthy, with its drama,inspirations,suspense plots and fears.

God's Magic

2010-02-25T20:54:00.007+05:30

Let me put it straight. What difference did yesterday double-ton make to Sachin or team India? It is just another number for the master, and just another win for the team. Lots of these have already been done, and records mean little to the master. He himself acknowledges the fact that in the end, one era's record becomes just a statistic in the next.

But really, when I asked the first question to myself, I was taken aback by my own callousness. How could I ask such a stupid question? "Doesn't the master's show impress me, captivate me, free me, enchant me, and excite me? Humph!"

That is what a single man can do to, not one, but millions of fans all over the world. Busy people in offices drop their meetings and tasks, and huddle near sources of the score. It is an unofficial break for all. I am sure it happens at all offices across India. The air of tension and excitement is evident at all homes, roads, office, public areas, buses, trains…wherever human beings exist. I don't need to tell anyone in India, what it means to have a match in which the master shows his 'Visvarupa'.

So, why all this frenzy? It’s understood that he plays a wonderful game, and fans naturally throng around him. But it is not just that. Sachin, is an icon, he is GOD (Atheists, you have an answer). To follow his game is like prayer, and the day he is in form, it is the pure bliss of watching/listening to the 'Work of God'.

One single man's actions cleansed maybe millions of souls and hearts yesterday. People forgot their enmities and celebrated his victory with joy. If Sachin prevails, why can't hope and love ? He certainly is the bearer of hope and courage for millions around the globe, and will remain so for a long time to come. He can single handedly make millions of Indians proud of their nationality and even existence. I salute you, oh master.

Fans look forward to him, the same way devotees look forward to their deities. Faith in God helps a devotee to overcome his hard times, and it is the same effect Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has on his millions of fans. To be able to witness 'God at Work' is what each fan wishes to achieve.

Will anyone of his class come along in near future? Nay, at least not in my lifetime. I believe that geniuses like him come by only once in a century. So just revel in the glory of the era of God. Watch him in action and gain salvation.

This is the result of Boredom

2010-02-21T19:29:00.005+05:30

Not so long ago, I was a free bird, one with lots of curiosity and energy. I used to sit for hours, watching videos on theories, concepts, impressive ideas, and heard each and every TED talk, irrespective of whether they even made me think or not.

I used to play around with small tasks and learn some new technologies or concepts while doing it. During that time, I conceived the idea of constant pursuit of knowledge or at least juicy information. My image of myself was that of a persistent learner, one who is not hell-bent on success, money and fame, but waited for the same to come to me, while I just pursued my own fantasies. Yes, I realized as soon as the end of college life seemed near, and my options became clearer, that those were just fantasies I had created in my mind to keep it occupied and sometimes, sane.

That realization brought a bit of pain and embarrassment at my own immature beliefs, and I remember struggling to come to terms with it. But it was nothing to lose my sleep over, as I had at least a couple of options to partially exist in my fantasy world, even after college life. I always believed that if I have certain facilities, items and maintain certain other behaviours, I could continually be in contact with my fantasy world, wherever I go.

The funny thing about revelations is that, they are difficult to trace back to any particular incident or instance of time in your life. They just occur when a lot of things happen or go through your mind, usually without your explicit triggering. Such is the current revelation, which I am writing down, which I realized recently, is something very natural to me.

I originally started writing this post to mention how nowadays I have to choose what I do, what I see, what I listen to and what I eat based on lots of new constraints, like time. I cannot afford to waste the precious few hours of time I get to pursue all my hobbies, like blogging, writing, technical news, chatting etc. I must thank the officials in Mysore for that though, for their diligent adherence to the cause of cutting emissions and reducing our electricity bills in a very easy manner; by cutting the supply altogether! (No power as I type this!!)

But whatever be the constraints, I am still the same old person with the same tastes and distastes. The only difference would be the addition of new shades to everything, caused by my exposure to life and its experiences. I now deeply love certain musical instruments, listen to new genre of music, use and work on a new technology, live in a different environment and eat a different kind of food. Most importantly, I have a new kind of respect and attitude for people. So, my concern was to find a way to get the best of everything or at least most of things, in the limited time. I do sometimes feel I am expecting too much... and at those times, I revert to my suspended state, of minimal emotional and intellectual connectivity with exterior world. The struggle to fit in 3’X’ tasks into a time slot that supports only ‘X’, is on.

Wrote too much already, and I wonder if I made a so-called point so far. Would like to hear from my readers (ideally, no Buzzing please…I hate it)

Lovingly,
Vivek

Life and Fear

2010-02-18T21:51:00.001+05:30

Life is a very fragile thing. You may lose it in thousands of manner, be it motor accidents,silly mishaps, diseases,war or even terrorist attacks. But fear of eventual loss of life or even many of the luxuries we have in our lives, stops us from fully exploring the world around and enjoying the life that is so fragile and short.

Think about it, and next time you feel that fear comes in your way, take a bold decision and step over it.You will not regret it more than when you allow it to take control of you.

Because .......

A life you don't live is still lost.

Life is a Celebration of Colours
Diverse Shades Make it a Masterpiece

Vision and a track

2010-01-22T23:56:00.005+05:30

Hi friends, today I had a vision and its somehow related to many things happening around me these days.

From the morning I was a bit disturbed and in doubt about some things. The day wore off like that without much to make a mark upon and suddenly I had this vision when I came back from office.

What I saw was a rocket flying into the outer space,loosing its boosters first and slowly its various parts,and finally the payload was remaining. Sort of as you see in Tom & Jerry...I wondered what it meant,because it just appeared out of nowhere but was so clear that I couldn't just ignore it. Then I saw a railway track come up in front of me, which seemed to extend into infinity,but on traversing somehow it crisscrossed itself many times.

Now,getting a fruitful message out of that ,which makes sense is the important and also the difficult task. And what I believe to be the message is:

Many things have contributed to my(the satellite) current position(the take off,the boosters,the secondary stuff). But these things can get you only so far. The work to be done by the payload/satellite is much different from that of the parts that fell away. And the fact that all those fell away just to make the payload reach the space, just emphasizes how important it is. Now that those parts have fallen off,the payload can take its path which is not exactly same as what it had traveled on so far . To fulfill its purpose,it needs to traverse a different route, perform different operations and completely de-allocate itself from any effect of the fallen parts.
The same way, many things in life have brought me to a position where I need to re-align my objectives, roles and most importantly, perspective. A necessary step of change, which could possibly alter the person who was working on getting the payload beyond earth's gravitation pull. He must now focus on making the payload do its work properly. I just realized that things may never be the same again. Its time to shift tracks.

Now this is where tracks in the vision come into the picture. Its unending , and its unknown. Its scary if you sit to think about it,but if you simply traverse it,you would soon intersect your own path,meaning you would meet old friends on the way, get back to old things for a while, be all that you were back in some other time. This made a good lot of sense to me as all pieces fell into their places perfectly.

I summed it up as: "Its time to leave behind some of the old things and move onto greater things. But never let go of some of the precious things of the past. You never know when you come across it in the journey of life". It feels just right.

I could have simply got to the point,but this is how it actually unfolded, and I believe that the beauty of simplicity is that sometimes it is coated with layers of complexity.

Mysore sightings

2010-01-13T01:31:00.003+05:30

Today as I returned from office,there was no power. So, I decided go for a short walk.
So I set out,with a 50 rupee note in one pocket of the pyjama and my phone in the other,listening to music via headset.
I traversed the dark lanes and roads in our locality observing what the people were doing at powercut time. Some had emergency lights on and were having family meets.Others were unaffected by the powercut and happily watching TV on invertor supply.

Many others were simply sitting outside,or at the junctions chatting away or having a cup of tea. I walked past all these people happily. I passed by many people working at Infy or L&T returning from their offices,with the ID cards showing out clearly in the dark.

Anyway I soon left the lanes and hit the road,the dusty and under construction road. Had to cover my mouth and nose while passing through. The atmosphere there looked as if someone had put smoke effects,light bending and shadows forming here and there.

I moved on and on,onto the main road( called Double High Tension Road ). It is a fairly clean and calm road. So I broke into a slow jog and broke up when I went out of breath.I did it 2-3 times,so as to avoid putting too much pressure on my body at first itself.

Soon I reached a junction which I had never visited before. So from there I started guessing routes and went ahead. I explored around 2-3 new lanes and routes (going in circles). Only once I had to confirm my path with a shopkeeper. I managed to see many new shops, offices etc in my locality which I never knew. I also passed by a family feud on the road. People on vehicles were stopping to listen to what was going on,whereas I blissfully broke into a jog right through the fighting family putting up a smile in case someone gave me a stare or cursed in Kannada( the former might have happened,but definitely not the latter ).

A light breeze was blowing by the time I stopped jogging and decided to take it easy and walk back home. Also, some great tracks were being played at that instant from my phone.Ah,pure bliss..."Yaaron ye dosti.." by K.K was the only one which made me sad and miss my friends..

On reaching home after the 40 mins stroll,I was planning to blog about it and do many other things. But what I saw there was that all houses were having power except ours(even 1st floor had). It took some good half an hour to fix it up and by that time I was starving. Got a couple of Foodles pack and prepared extensive meal :)
It was then that we were plunged in yet another powercut.But I managed to have my meal watching a Telugu movie on my lap in candle light :D

Finally now only I got the time to blog all this :D Pretty huge is it..? Thats how it is nowadays, a lot happening.Also writing being a passion to me, I don't look at the clock for it. :D

The are here

2010-01-01T19:06:00.005+05:30

Melcow to the new decade, the noughties are all gone and here come the <unnamed> decade
('Twenty-tens' is what Wikipedia suggests)

So,here I am in the new day of a new year of a new decade,doing nothing 'new'.
I would have ideally posted here at zero hour,but at that time I was in a location where it would not have been possible.

So,where WAS I for the new year eve? Well, I was inside a Karnataka State Rajahamsa bus,enroute to Ernakulam. So, I plainly sent some messages to a few friends(as phone's battery died soon after) and wished nearby passengers and a couple of friends who were travelling with me. Gee...

Though its a fact that a new year has begun, its jubilation and the feeling is experienced only when greeting someone,telling someone about the past year and what to expect from the new one or while checking the last four digits of any date. It might mean two things: Either that the year change is not a big deal or that its big deal is greeting friends/relatives/acquaintances and the memories of past v/s expectations about future.

Anyway for me, compared to all previous year shifts(which just meant some holidays) 2009 to 2010 is pretty significant. This again is caused by the significance the past year has in my life and that the new one might have. 2009 will always remain in my memories and my heart as the year I stepped out of college, my hometown and stepped into corporate life at a far place,that too pretty much isolated. It had those moments and situations in my life which I will always recall and draw inspiration/wisdom from. It brought me its own share of good and bad times,but I believe it ended in a pretty good note for me.

This period is a crux in my life as these days would be pivotal in deciding many things not excluding career. I expect 2010 to bring in its own share of good and bad things( bad things preferably less). Its a time to get decisive and bold in my outlook as well as actions. So far so good,but I guess part of my yet-to-be-uncovered new year resolution is to be more clear and bold about what I should do with things around me. I yearn to have more grip on the sails and the rudder than I have now.

Anyway, I wish all my friends,well wishers and people who don't fall into either of these category too.. A super-duper-wooper-cooper-grand-blasting-power packed new year. Let all your aspirations and dreams come true.. fly like free birds on a mission ;)

Btw did you people notice and enjoy yesterday's full moon and today's awesome sunrise. Both were superbly awesome sights to behold. The fact that they denoted the end of a decade and beginning of a new one just added to the magic of the sight.Inexplicable!

Au revoir..

Yaadein

2009-12-28T22:25:00.001+05:30

"bas ek bar wapas lautne ka man karta hai

Aaj har wo din jeene ko man karta hai.

kuch buri batein jo ab acchi lagti hain

kuch batein jo kal ki hi batein lagti hain.

abki baar class attend karne ka man karta hai

Dopahar ki class mein aakhein band karne ko man karta hai.

Doston ke room ki wo baatein yaad aati hai

exam ke time pe wo hasi mazak yaad aati hai,

college ke paas razakiya ki yaad aati hai

tab ki bekar lagne wali photos chehre pe hasi laati hai.

Ek aisi subah uthne ka mann karta hai

bas ek bar wapas lautne ka man karta hai.

bas ek bar aur

wapas lautne ka man karta hai."

-Came over office mail

Scribbling

2009-12-19T00:01:00.006+05:30

A sudden gust of wind caught me unawares,
and the flame went out.

The flame that I had kindled
and carried with much care,
gone in a fraction of a second,
leaving me in the pitch dark.

My heart sank,but I decided to move on.
But those efforts were in vain,
as I fumbled and stumbled in the dark.

For a moment, with my body numb with cold
and limbs bruised by the stumble,
I stood perplexed in the dark,
knowing not what to do.

I don't know for how long I stood still,
but soon an eerie sense engulfed me,
and I felt myself smiling.

I had begun to love the new found darkness,
and soon fell in love with it.
Now I prefer it over any of those
unfaithful flames of light.

Moral of the story:
"Velicham dukham aanu unni, Thamasallo Sukhapradam"

Some interesting sites

2009-12-17T23:13:00.005+05:30

Earth Album is an interesting mashup obtained by combining flickr and google maps. It allows you to click on any place in the map, and load photos from flickr based on that place. It doesn't allow selecting very detailed places,but allows keyword and category based photo search on a location as well. It is worth enjoying for sometime.

Breathing Earth, is an awesome flash site that shows in real time a lot of statistics about CO2 emissions and population in various parts of the world. It is an innovative idea and the site has been designed well.

Uber Super, is an awesome photography site. Its pictures are really breathtaking and creative. Never knew so much can be caught on camera in such ways..

Musicovery. This is from my StumbleUpon "Music" category. This site allows you to select a mood you want and they will play music of that category online. There are various options to play in a sequence. The only downside is that the songs are from Amazon,itunes etc that are paid and many of the features of this site are for premium members only(sensibly so as music needs to be paid for). But I really liked the idea.

Thats all for now.Please leave comments. I would love to hear from you readers

Early Morning Blog

2009-12-15T06:47:00.005+05:30

Now this for a change. Waking up at six in the morning,shivering all over, I felt that today I will do something different for a change.
So, while bringing in my dry clothes, this idea to blog early in the morning came to me. So here I am..

So, what am I upto early morning on a weekday?? :)

Well, the matter is that I finally bought a new phone for myself. A 6303 classic Nokia phone is quite refreshing and was for a long time in the pipeline. It replaces my old 6060 phone,which would have been KIA if I had not decommissioned it soon enough.

With my new phone satisfying my needs to a good extend(3MP camera and music+gr8 battery), I have been busy fiddling with it.
The point of waking up early is to simply download a few videos,convert a few, and transfer them alongwith some more songs into my phone,to make it my entertainment hub. Huh,makes sense? It should.

The funny thing is,as I keep moving more and more media into the phone, more and more songs/videos appear in my mind and persuade me to find 'em and move 'em. (I am sure this is gonna happen only till the memory gets exhausted..which is just a few mbs away).
Anyway, it feels different to up early in the morning, and shivering a bit now and then while typing this. :D
Sayanora,have a gr8 day ahead for those who read this in morning, and good night to those who r basically nocturnal :D

Bibliophilia flowing over?

2009-11-28T20:57:00.004+05:30

Hi friends, yet another post on books. For those wondering whether I have turned into a bibliophile,the answer is NO.

Its just that once I got separated from my incessant addiction to my own pc and got into work as well,I find reading books a good hobby. In the few boring hours I get for my leisure activities I just prefer to read some novels instead of browsing the net for nothing special. Earlier I would decide to sit down and watch any movie and some of my collected audio/video/docs. But now ,as my hard disk at home was accidentally formatted ,I have become a pauper with respect to digital content that I own.

Now I had been reading quite a few books these days. Last month when I went home,I managed to get hold of half a dozen books from Manu.One of them being "The Google Story",the attempted book review of which I had posted previously.
The other books I had finished reading(or simply read),in the chronological order are:
1) Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer-an awesome story of George Mallory who is believed by many to be true conqueror of Mt.Everest
2) Sherlock Holmes Collection of Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle-A dumb and boring read which I abandoned by the sixth or seventh story.Very repetitive.
3) The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason-A partially cooked book that tried to resemble one of Dan Brown,but the story just seems to emphasize the greatness of their university i.e Princeton,rather than the main plot.But found it entertaining till 3/4th of the pages.
4) Kane & Abel by Jeffrey Archer-Archer is climbing my list as my favourite author with this one. I still have a about 60 pages to go in this one,and I am excited. At many parts the story tends to resemble "Sons of Fortune",but certainly is different.

Today I also made a purchase of two books with a gift coupon I had received from office. I had made a long list of books to look out for,based on internet reviews.But I couldn't find any of those there. So finally got a book "The Prodigal Daughter" by Jeffrey Archer and another book by Alistair McLean. That means I got a lot of reading ahead :)

Trying to write a book review

2009-10-30T22:56:00.004+05:30

Now seriously, I have no idea on writing a book review. But I have been thinking of starting this new thing also. And the best place to write to is my blog,which I doubt hardly any sensible person reads nowadays(making it safe for my experiments [;)] )

So here goes..
The book is "The GOOGLE Story" (OK, majority of the people out there would have read this already) by David.A.Vise. I had taken it from Manu the last time I went home.
I had always wanted to read this book,but couldn't get my hands on it before.

I had started reading this book in the bus(just as it left EKM bus stand on 4th Oct), and finished it just half an hour ago.

The initial parts of the book talk about Larry and Sergey,their families and how they met. Those chapters lay down the firm foundation of who the people are. It was very enjoyable to read,and think about.

Then later on the author brings to light how the idea of Google came up ,who all helped in its early stages(like Late Rajeev Motwani) and the problems they faced and solved(both technical and financial).

Later on when the company faces serious financial needs and the Google guys have to make a decision to get funds from the two venture capitalist firms,the nerdy view of the duo is taken off. They come out as excellent businessmen with a great idea and a never ending passion to implement it.

From that point onwards,the books tells how Google slowly grew up into a respectable company after the dot com bust. The way they managed to maintain growth and innovation,while not losing focus on their core area, made them what they are today. I really was inspired by their technical and business acumen.

Then onwards the author narrates how Eric Schmidt came into the picture,as well as many other new employees.A lot of small narratives have been provided to show how some key developments took place in the market. Everywhere the trio(Larry,Sergey and Eric) were highly active and involved.

Quite a lot of pages have been dedicated to throw some light on the famous Google lifestyle and atmosphere of the Googleplex,including the culinary facilities.
Also,Google's foray into the ad market was covered pretty well, and the various issues they faced while getting into the hot market are given as a good narrative.

Overall its a good read for a range of people irrespective of whether they already know much about the great corporate of our times. The author has taken care to keep technical content to minimum and make it narrative and easy to perceive for all kinds of readers. I must also admit that at some places,the author seems to praise the company too much,but overall he narrates from a neutral point of view. You will definitely like it if you are an ardent Googler...or a Googlomaniac.. so if you haven't read this book yet.. go get it and enjoy maadi...

Infy gates

2009-10-23T19:33:00.004+05:30

The maisooru traffic police seem to have made the infy gate their favourite spot. This has been my observation since I started walking home from office(thats about 2 days back).

They find it profitable and easy to prey upon the hoards of young engineers of Infosys and L&T,as well as other companies in Hebbal area(who happen to pass through).
Well,I shouldn't call it 'preying',but my disposition w.r.t being fined for riding without helmets grants me the rights ;)

Though our company has a policy to stop riders who are not wearing helmets,many of them remove them once they cross our gates,only to be caught by the dozen or so traffic policemen stationed in front of the infy gate. It is usual to see a pair of policemen or maximum half a dozen to be deployed for such activities. But here I see all of the personnel busy with around 3-4 riders around each,either negotiating,begging or silently paying up.

Even some locals get caught(they are the ones who wud negotiate).They are the ones who take the liberty to assume that such an outskirts area would be safe for them. Poor fellows.

Many such funny things happen in front of the gates of the Indian IT giant. Being their neighbours,we get to see and laugh upon many. Though their presence has made life a bit costly and difficult for us as well,we take it lightly and instead amuse ourselves on the many idiosyncrasies of Infy lifestyle.There are a group of people in our place who smoke,drink or eat only Infy brand stuff,pointing to things available at the few shops opposite the Infy gate.

During our initial days of training, I was amused by the way many of my batchmates worshipped Infy or Narayan Murthy. Some used to say,oh how magnificent are their buidlings,how big is that,how this is available,blah blah.... I used to dismiss them pointing to the skill density advantage we have..and now that we are into our works,even the most desperate of those souls have no other feeling for the normal IT companies(this is not targetted at infy alone,so infoscions ..chill) other than pity, and sympathy. :D :D
As usual, its not who laughs,but who has the last laugh.

Diwali times...

2009-10-20T22:22:00.006+05:30

This Diwali we had total of 3 days holiday,which included a monday. I am always happy when a monday is a holiday :)
So, I decided to pay my relatives@Bangalore a visit. Plus I had missed the Yahoo! and Subex boys the last time I visited Bangalore.Also, I was determined not to sit idly 3 days at Mysore,when majority of the people would either go home or be busy at their own homes.

So,I added the Bengaluru plan to my list by around Tuesday last week.I got time to search for many tourist spots,hiking and trekking areas of Karnataka. I was also involved in the community googling event of our team. We covered quite a lot of ground, and I was able to produce comprehensively relevant and detailed data on majority of the topics I got to handle. It was good to scrounge the web after quite some time.

Anyway, refreshed as well as rejuvenated by the extensive googling, I was eagerly waiting for the weekend to close in. On Saturday morning,I got into a volvo bus from the Maisooru Bus Stand at 8 am,and watched some kannada movie copied from Nadodikaatu series of Malayalam and dozed off,waking up somewhere near the outskirts of Bengaluru. Rest of the area, I observed ;)

At Bengaluru, I visited by cousin's place at Madivala.Also roamed around the smoky and war-torn city at night. The smoke was so tight by around 8 pm that we couldn't see the traffic signals clearly. Also, it was suffocating and stung my eyes. At that point,I swore to myself to encourage more and more people to stop bursting crackers for festivals. The sights and sounds of the metro during Diwali simply strengthened my cause.

Anyway,on account of the festival, we found many of the shops closed by around 7 pm and the famed Forum mall was almost vacant,and so were the numerous other malls and streets. That day, the crackers for me were provided by the Royal Challengers Bangalore,in the sizzling display of fireworks which didn't involve smoke.(Though the stadium wallahs were bursting many whenever a six was hit [:(] )

The next day, I had some 4-5 hours free, before I could visit my uncle's place at Kenkeri. So I decided to visit the Yahoo guys place a.k.a "Pulimada". Met them and went to Total Mall (erstwhile Kemp Fort),and saw the Shiva temple(cannot call it temple though). It resembled an amusement park made for 5 yr olds(or foolish adults),with all mechanical models of shivalingas.I felt ashamed seeing the kind of things they put up there in the name of God. It was fit for a good laugh,but as many people might be taking it seriously,I opted not to.After all religion is such an inflammable and sensitive issue ,wherever in India you are.

Then I went to Kenkeri satellite town, enjoying the outlying areas of Bengaluru on the way. That place is beautiful and serene compared to the nearby Metro. I enjoyed strolling out watching the crackers and celebrations in the area at night,until the smoke became too stifling.I got chance to explore the area further the next morning also.
Then was my first train journey in Karnataka(with start and end points within the state). I travelled from Kenkeri to Maisooru,a journey that took the precise 2 and half hours it was supposed to take. I always consider a train journey to be more rewarding than a bus or private vehicle,if you are interested in mingling with the local culture. And that is what I experienced also. I observed the differences and similarities when compared to a journey in Kerala.

By that my journey of the weekend almost came to an end. Its last part is just some funny incidents at my place,owing to the persistent efforts of the people in our area to fill up every dark corner of every house with the sound,smoke and light from their crackers. Woah,that was quite an effort, surviving the night without going deaf or blind...
Now back to the routine life of learning and earning,till the next weekend,when yet another adventure awaits me...

Night Journey

2009-10-03T08:03:00.002+05:30

"I am sitting at Seat num 38 of the Rajahamsa express bus,travelling from Mysore to EKM. Finally getting to go home after more than a month.Though at the much feared back seats of Rajahamsa,its not been much of a trouble yet.Its cold outside and hence I am sitting with my face stuck to the window,gazing at the dark outlines of trees and mountains,up and down the curvy roads of the Ghats.
I realise that we are passing by beautiful landscapes,alas hidden by the cloak of darkness.
Still I find the forest so enchanting and calm. I wish I were out there,roaming inside the forests and exploring the terrain. I guess this is what they call,"The Call of the Wild" :D

As the tall trees pass by as gray shadows,a sort of gloom descends on me, as I feel separated from my destiny(or something) by just a thin sheet of glass.Now I recall my friend Jyothish's ideas,who is the enthusiastic torch bearer of the nature club and green movements in my college.The idea of regrouping here,at our workplaces in Karnataka and explore the forests of the Ghats...hm..now I should get some sleep!"

--Saved onto phone as text message at 1.05 am 2nd Oct 2009

Now that was something I have been keeping in my mind to post asap.
I am back home from Mysore after about 1 month. I find Cochin to have changed quite a bit here and there. New hoardings and buildings throng the place. Getting to see malayalam words after some time of Kannada/English/Hindi is also a joy in itself,however small it might be.

The climate of Mysore is quite similar to that of Kerala(minus the humidity and heat). It is raining there also now,so the difference is pretty subtle. But the colour of Kerala terrain is light green set against light or shady blue background,whereas that of Karnataka is sort of dry/brownish green against a dark or shady blue background. That is one thing I really found a contrast while staring at the surroundings from my seat.

This is not the case with all places in K'nataka though.I must admit that there are simply awesome landscapes in K'nataka(and believe me I have seen NOTHING yet). Enroute to B'lore once,near the town of Channapatna, I got to catch a glimpse of a magnificent view. I was in a local bus so couldn't stop to admire and neither did I have a camera(still don't have :)) to capture it. I can try to explain what it looked like. There were two rainbows formed across the light blue sky,both of them touching the lush green fields..resulting in an awesome display of colour and contrast.Also the sun was just out of the clouds,partially illuminating the top of green trees,leaving the lower branches to be in contrast with the lighter upper ones. I felt I was in heaven or something...there was no break in the scene for about 2 mins,after which the bus moved onwards to mortal lands. Thinking of it still gives me the Goosebumps.. :D

Now..returning to Earth..
After coming back I have been moving around a bit(when not downloading something or surfing),absorbing in maximum before I return to my workplace and settle into the lifestyle there. I am still in the planning phase of purchasing myself a good camera phone,and now the need for a laptop/pc is also added to the list,as my parents have expressed their opinion that I should buy my own system rather than transport whatever is there at home. Trust my parents to make me more responsible :)

Anyway its a learning period in terms of multiple facets of life.. :D
I will try to add some pics later on... and some from my Dasara views of Mysore. I forgot to copy them into my pen drive :)

Today is a day

2009-08-29T11:32:00.004+05:30

Hi to all..
It is a bright and sunny day here at Mysore. A pretty calm climate for me..(not so for my roomie who is used to lower temps)
So after finishing the weekend chores of cleaning and planning,we decided to hit the cafe` for sometime and then proceed with our lunch. We have some internal assessments this week ...the last one I assume. After that we would be into real work...ooh

Things seem surrealistic about the exact nature of work as of now..but would be pretty real soon. I am itching to get started..

It feels good to walk along Kalidasa Road(near to which we reside)..which is a commercial hot spot of Mysore.To the left side of our building..K.D Road becomes a bustling metro shopping area..brimming with people of various kinds going about with their business. It has many branded shops and large supermarkets and lots of things to check out. On the right side..is the calm and quiet neighbourhood of Vijayanagara..which is almost ignorant of its rich and prosperous neighbourhood. The cafe` we found to be good enough is to the right side.. The ironies don't end there. I had once noticed that when its powercut time..one side of the road is brightly lit while the other is plunged in darkness...Also,if you just received your salary ,you tend to head off to the left ..but for the rest of the month you tend to go the opposite way .. :D

Anyway what is more interesting is the immintent mix of cultural attributes, which might occur as the result of a clash of the Titans. Now the process is slow..but would take deadly acceleration in the days to come..I have started to listen to old Kannada songs and even comment on how many of their hits are copies of Mallu ones or sung by Malayali artistes.. hurray to our music gods..

I think I have penned down many things by now..enough na? So let me take leave of you for now.. signing off with

First salaried post..

2009-08-09T09:19:00.005+05:30

Hi I had been thinking of writing a post for some time now..

I couldn't find one particular topic on which to write much...but now I am simply writing :)

Just made my first spending with my first salary...that too on household items...:P

Things look pretty ripe for a drastic change...but being unaware of exact magnitude or even type...I am pretty discrete about it.

Life generally looks good and fresh for challenge over here..lots of new things to explore and try..with respect to my career and personal life as well...
I might have changed a lot with respect to my attitude towards many things in life..but I am not a judge of that...time is supposed to carry out that job..

I have found many good friends, and great seniors who carry something in their hearts that burn through even the toughest piece of steel or concrete...and that is nothing but the passion to live life the way they want,the passion to surpass obstacles,and to find success in all walks of life. Even while achieving all these, the biggest achievement is that they haven't lost their humility even a bit.

I feel that I must tell this to all those people who feel they haven't gained anything so far, or are unlucky in life etc etc... when the going gets tough,the tough get going. But even then the passionate ones always have an option to carve a path that distinctly smells of them..in the sense that it would be tailor made for such people, carved with their own sweat and sometimes even blood.
May the good God bless all believers and let lady luck guide the ones who believe in her...and maybe the stars and stones help those helpless fellows .. :P

Hi...

2009-07-31T14:01:00.004+05:30

I am writing this post from our Browsing centre at C-TEA (our training centre).

Today I plan to go home ,after 4 weeks at Mysore. Now we have a great session on OS internals which would be followed by an even more interesting one for RTOS. All in practical senses.

Hoping to learn a lot and tune into the company's frequency asap...

The weather and food at Mysore is something I really liked.. Especially the short bursts of rains and bisibele bath :)

We are getting integrated with the life here..and my Kannada learning process is in progress...

Have to start thinking about my next blog and devote some time to actually post some good articles here.. till then its good bye from me..

Life@Mysore

2009-07-24T18:45:00.003+05:30

Hi all readers...long time since i had posted something in my blog.

I am informing those who are not aware of my current whereabouts. I have joined Larsen & Toubro Embedded Systems and Software(L&T EmSyS) as a Graduate Engineer Trainee at Mysore.
This is my third weekend at Mysore,and finally got a good cafe` in our locality. Lot of things I have seen,experienced and learnt in these fruitful days of my life.Not much would I be able to put in here...but maybe some of them might appear in later posts..

I will just put up a list of things I miss here..
1) My computer and LINUX
2) Internet!!!
3) My friends
4) My songs and videos collections
5) The monsoon of cochin

This list is not in the order of preference..just the way I wanted to type it out...

Here, its M$ Windows everywhere...but no one can deny Linux its credits,so it still shows its purpose in our technical labs.That is the time when I get to share my bag'o'tricks with the rest of the batch...chatting over 'write' instead of dozing off in the C++ class.. :D

And about the internet..I realize the approx dependency I have on it...not as high as I thought it to be..but not too low either... :P
I do miss my hacking and networking stuff here...its a whole new learning experience here though...

And about friends..nothing can be said about it..as it is expected.and the missing will add sweetness to each reunion :D

I don't feel like blah blahing about the rest... :P guess I have grown lazy about typing ..

Waiting for many things to happen here... :D :D
Hope all my friends are doing well..and all readers too...thanks for taking the time to read through all these .. :D I hope to be back with good stories of my experiences and experiments with life...sayonara...

Thumba danyavada gallu...

Vinlandsaga

2009-06-08T21:32:00.003+05:30

I am pretty gaaga-googoo on my mind these days and hence this craving for norse adventures sprouted up in my mind..

Of the gallant sagas of the northmen, is my mind obsessed with these days. So colourful and vibrant are some of the songs that are sung about them, that they ignite a wish to be along with them or at least see the world as they saw it. Brave were the worshipers of Odin and the likes to travel to far away lands in extremely precarious climatic conditions, seeking fame,money and adventure.

These rustic Norsemen were the first to cross the Atlantic and land at what is now called the Newfoundland( my memory is source,didn't bother to double check by googling). And praise for them only increases further, when you think of the plain longboats used by them without any navigational equipments like the compass. They had what is called the mariner's instinct and knew the seas like the back of their hands.

These men lived a merry life on and off the boats, drinking and eating to the full before and after an adventure. Though very limited records exist depicting lives of these seafarers, most of the tales are in the form of songs or sagas. Most of the written records are from the point of view of other nationals who came in contact with the Viking raiders( at a later part of history ). They depict the northmen as barbaric, though a major part of English history has been affected by the presence of these ferocious fighters and seamen of the North Sea. One such would be the support that Harald Hardraade the Viking gave to William the Conqueror to capture the English throne( from AOE memories ).

Here is an article from Wiki about Vinland

What i am and what I do

2009-05-13T03:46:00.003+05:30

This is a post that I decided to finally put into writing after I read Neel's post on time being used efficiently.

Just see the heading. I have to admit that there is significant distance between the two now,i.e what I am and what I do. There are two other significant players in this situation, which are "what I want to do" and "what I want to be".

It seems that they are in the increasing order of difficulty in explaining and satisfying. Its pretty easy to be what I am ,and little more difficult to do something fruitful,but even more difficult to know what exactly I want to do with my time. And it is really tough and confusing to try to get an answer to what I want to be.

This irritating situation may partly be due to my own views on what I wanted to do with myself and my time on various previous occasions. It is also due to many of my impulsive decisions and frankly, many "well thought" ones which went awry.

Having done the task of thinking what I am doing with my time, and weaving plans to utilize them to suit my ambitions, once before; during the break after sixth semester,I know well now that it is a task that simply involves brooding over almost every thing that seems attractive. I tend to think over and over , whether this really is THE best solution. Its a condition that leads to insomnia and hair loss (possibly) :D . Armed with this experience, this time around I have decided to utilize my time to the maximum extent( again ), for a selected few alternatives in life.

So I decided to play more games, both on the computer and more seriously outdoors. Compared to the sixth semester, I have no real work to look ahead to ,that I can work on. But having said that , the present situation is pretty tricky. I have offers from companies , the call from whom maybe come after a minimum of three months (that too hopefully). Though I have managed to shelve quite a lot of my apprehensions and worries about whether the jobs in hand are the best and about various other options, by striking off alternatives, there remains many which need to be sorted out. Still, I feel I should simply concentrate on enjoying whatever time that is left, while not actually wasting it. Some wise guy's status message comes to my mind , which abstractly says that the beauty of life lies in the fact that you cannot get something without losing something else, and its not possible to get everything you want in life. There are better quotes out there, if only you bother to google around.

So, these days its all about keeping in contact with friends and family, playing enough games, running errands at home, learning some things new for myself and teaching younger ones or friends a few things I know and rest of the time, picking up good habits and discarding some of my bad and incompatible ones. Afterall at the age of 20 that I am now, and facing a new kind of life, it never hurts to be prepared at more fronts by fixing up those small holes,waiting for the whistle to go out and we would be charging into the open battlefield against god-know-what-all.

For now...Cheers to life!!

Addiction?

2009-05-09T14:08:00.005+05:30

The old question is back..about video games and whether one is addicted to them..
I do play many variety of games..off late even many small ones(BigFish or Popcap) to just pass hours and hours of idle time..
I don't mind clicking away doing silly tasks in those mania or frenzy type games..until it gives me a pain in the neck and back accompanied with maybe a headache :)

But now they are so mundane that I am feeling to switch to those shoot 'em gory games...and not to other genres like strategy. I credit this affection to my wish to move things fast..rather than sit along playing slowly..maybe because my mind is tending to drift away..

I wonder how much I am 'addicted'. As per comments of non gamers..I do belong to the slightly addicted class..but according to established gamers..I am sure I am just a guy passing off his spare time .. gladly ! :D

Anyway I have other tools at hand other than the computer and its games to keep me busy..so hopefully I would prove myself to be not as addicted as I think I am :P

Note: I had wondered why I blog all these things not even 2 out of 1000 people wud want to know abt..and the answer I see is the paragraph just above this one ;)

This summer

2009-05-03T21:49:00.004+05:30

I gotto admit that this is the worst Summer holidays I ever had..out of college..out of job and out of contact from my closest friends...

Almost all of my friends are either at their native place or can't find time for some fruitful meetings. A visit to my native place albeit short, was interesting. I was able to link up with an old pal from school.

The heat is excruciating, but the boredom is even more painful. I wish I could get a handful of people of my age together, so that we can play some sports or go somewhere. Sadly, none of those plans are materializing, thanks to our university for ending all exams much earlier than others.

Nowadays its just some good IPL matches, a few trips of medium range for various errands and a few books that keep the boredom in check.

What could I wish for now...what could I.. hm...just that something interesting and exciting or rather adventurous comes up..so that it keeps me occupied and on my toes.

Nothing much comes to my mind..so signing off..

Daredevilry all the way...

2009-04-23T19:47:00.006+05:30

Its already started..and I am late to post..

The second edition of the Indian Premier League(or the indian 'paisa' league) has been moved to South Africa and have so far been quite a different show from last year's.
Though facing criticisms for the moving of location, which brought in bad weather and the introduction of the Strategy Break...Modi's boys seem to have pulled it off superbly.

The games are of higher quality this time, with all teams being better informed compared to last year about the format. All teams are looking good and there is lot for the poor Indians watching it over television to celebrate...

Speaking of the teams..my favourite is .. Delhi Daredevils lead by none other than the flamboyant Daredevil 'Viru'...accompanied by a pack of power hitters and sharp bowlers. Its a well balanced side with some serious daredevilry in the players which makes them more dangerous than the other balanced power teams..like the Chennai Super Kings(my second favourite)

Just now was a clash of the titans DD v/s CSK ...a truly enjoyable T20 game ...packed with all batting action of De Villiers and Hayden accompanied by the masterful bowling and fielding by both teams ( PS: Vettori is THE master.. :D )..and with such a gripping ending that saw the DD pulling it off...hats off to both teams..

The competition is just beginning to tighten..with more action and drama to follow...whoa..what a carnival this is turning out to be.lets hope the weather doesn't spoil all the fun... and may the best team take the honours (again)...

Pehla Vote

2009-04-16T09:34:00.003+05:30

And so finally after all these years, I finally performed one of my duties to my nation and its people. I cast my vote for the Lok Sabha elections.

It is a fine(but hot) morning with all the people flocking to nearby booths, to cast their votes to choose who will lead our nation for the next five years. All those who turned out irrespective of what they do or who they are, surely give a lot of damn to the nation( atleast compared to those who don't care to vote).Hats off!

It feels good to be part of the democracy that we all praise( and criticize ) a lot. :D

And certainly I found it interesting to walk into the school where I did my KGs, after all these years..even if the visit lasted only for a few minutes.

Hope all of you citizens perform your part...

The manifestos are unappealing. The rhetoric is worse. The candidates are not to your liking. Don’t let this hold you back from going out there and voting.

Voting is a necessary step to change things. So go out and vote.

--picked from a site

I thought I would stop it here..but I want to appreciate the work of many NGOs and also governmental agencies to appeal to the people to cast their votes. This time around, a lot of push is being given. There are many sites, events and campaigns to catch the interest of the youth in the democratic process..one of them being Jaagore,with the tea ad and all. Hats off to all these efforts!

Choppy seas

2009-04-13T17:44:00.004+05:30

Choppy..that's what I would call myself and the life around me..

Choppy seas need a rough oarsman and a tough captain...thats what I am churning out now...ye old seafarer..and no landlubbers ...

Am seeing many other skiffs and sampans floating around and some being guided by lucky winds..no point in waiting for the lucky wind to guide the ketch out to safe waters...

Enter Papillon aka Henri Charrière, the inspired and motivated protagonist of the half-fiction 'Papillon', who tried umpteen times to escape from the deadly sentence awarded to him by the French authorities(by being sent to the French Guyana) and finally succeeded in pulling it off...
He didn't just wait for things to get lucky..but tried his best whenever there was a chance, such was his belief in his right to freedom. Though his foiled attempts bought him hellish punishments..he simply KEPT trying...and he was a tough navigator and captain of the boat...

I feel no fear, but only increased sense of things to come...feeling that my hands would be full and it should be so, if I am to survive in the ravaging storms that lie ahead ..in this voyage. I carry the supplies provided by my good friends and my trusty Support&Survival gear that I have polished with my various encounters with life and danger .. (muhahah..sounding sinister ..and winking ;) )
I think this would be enough for today as I post another sticky one on the wall and simply walk away...not giving a damn.. (yo yo)