Sunday, December 24, 2006

Mysore Musings 2


This kind of sign boards were seen all over Mysore where films used in cameras were given a role. It's usually the other way round. People play some role and get captured in the film. Now the film itself is getting roles. It stopped amusing me when I saw it like that almost in all places and came back home thinking if it is really "film role" and not "film roll".

Mysore Musings 1

We saw this sign in Kesava Temple campus, Som nathpur. The first thing that came to my mind was why would I post my letters here if they'll get cancelled. Only then did it dawn upon me that they use a stamp made in that format to use on the stamp and that is called cancellation. Well I did not have any postcards ready as I had not seen this coming. So no pictorial cancellation for me.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Dharmapuri - borrowed review

This review was forwarded to me by my brother. He received it from one of his friends. I liked it. Hence this post. I haven't changed a thing in the review. Just not revealing his name. Enjoy...

Pals if u r out of Diwali mood , read this review i received ..


After the major downfall of Ajith's tirupathi by its director..per ..per ..perarasu....he was thinking who could he terminate next and ..yes....he got our captain and that's the evolution of a legendary universal(tamil) film "DHARMAPURI"...

Precautionary steps to watch this film:
1.Four pieces of cotton...(2 to keep in ears...and the rest 2 will be kept in our noses after we watch the film fully)
2. zandu balm,tiger balm..if possible original time bomb.
3. itch guard (b'cos paadhi padam paarthu namaku udambellam pull'arikum').

Actors:
Captain Vijaykanth(3/4 screen...),Heroine-achacho paavam(not even 4 scenes including songs),comedy..all scenes where captain comes becomes comedy to the core.
All other vetti actors(donno what they do ½ time).

Moments of the film:
1.Captain's intro:----- NO ever Indian..oops..hollywood film could ever try such imagination to project his hero to this level as perarasu does.(u deserve an applause..).while all his partymen,first bench fans,wait for his entry in screen..there comes captain to save a minister's girl from a rowdy in rameswaram..rowdy threatens everyone including policemen nearby with his gun and no one goes near him(obvious..)Captain looks at him,goes nearhim barehanded. The rowdy warns him 3 times(Indian cinema rule..not more than 3) and then shoots at him..the bullet hits vijaykanth's chest...and reflects back and hits the rowdy's chest and kills him...Please wait...don't get astonished.then he takes out the "archani plate"he hids in his shirt(what a archanai thattu..if u can get for 10 rs.it acts as bullet proof and cd save ur life).
Advice to all military forces:please dismantle all ur bullet proof shields and get archanai thattu's for them. cost cutting one.

2.most of the film people are doing silly things and no body including captain doesn't understands why they r doing such thing.if time permits captain gets his costume change and start performing exercises..iam sorry..dances.. and 30 to 40 dancers surround him and shout"neenga thaan nallavar, neenga thaan vallavar, neenga naaliku CM, morningna AM,eveningna PM"...happa horrible torture and where on earth his costumes are picked up...fluorescent coloured shirt specially and he makes to a point that in all scenes including his duet or romantic scene his party's "flaming torch"symbol is projected well.And a grand make up like rajkiran with a big crown on his head and sandal on his body(weak hearted people pls omit the scene)

3. Half the film is like assembly meetings and virudhachalam campaign speeches.and everybody including the villain praises him .
"naan adangi poravan illai adakitu poravan"
"ivaru kootani vaika maatar,thani aala thaan irupaar"
"ennai nambuna nambikai..mathavangalukku etcharikai"
ivar naadodi illai....naadodi mannan"..

When u atleast have the peace that the director Perarasu didn't act in this film as he did in tirupathi....after interval even that dream goes crashed..oops.here we have his entry as "Speed"lawyer perarasu.he comes and says"naan porandha edam sivakasi, valarandha idam tirupachi, pona idam tirupathi,ipo nikaradhu dharmapuri"innum neraya idam poven....(oh god we are done for...mokkanayakanur,paanaampati,paradesipalayam..lots to come ). Soon he will become best competitor of T rajendhar.

Note:- don't miss the scene where captain hits 50 men in a row with a single kick which even matrix Keanu reaves couldn't get it right. And also the scene where captain blasts 1000 figure bombs(kanni vedi.he..he) with his small remote control which we use for MP3 players in car's.(technology drives...)

Last but not least "Dharma puri"---poisonous pani puri.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

4/7

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday...

தினமும் ஒரு பதிவு செய்ய முடிவு செய்து இன்றோடு ஒரு வாரம் முடிகிறது.

It has not happenned. Tuesday was too hot to handle. Friday shoppingla போச்சு. Saturday went back to office after 3 days leave and when I returned I had totally forgotten about the daily posting. In addition to it we had to go to a hotel to check out a party hall for the birthday of my daughter. So looks like I can only blog whenever time and circumstances allow. Cannot find time for the blog daily. No problem anyway. I still don't have regular visitors looking for a post daily. So i wouldnot be disappointing anybody.

Friday, November 24, 2006

A movie that is not a "must watch". There are rave reviews for this movie all over, but fails miserably in living up to the expectations. The director's previous offering "Iyarkai" was a good one but was a box office bomb. He seems to have come out with a vengeance in this movie. Though he has been appreciated for taking up a theme like "Bio-war" I feel he need not be. The undercurrent of the movie may be bio-war, but the movie would have been the same even if anything else was taken to be it. Even same old rowdyism in politics. Because bio-war is too much of an undercurrent that one cannot even feel it at most parts of the movie. The only silver lining in the movie is the boldness of Jeeva to take up such a character that is negative for almost the whole movie. He brings out a self centered person from a lower strata, and is disgusting in the way he conducts himself in the movie. Exactly what was expected of him. But the movie fails to enlighten us on bio-war except that it is discussed in a couple of scenes. There is not much to be said about the movie. Graphics in the climax scene could have been avoided as it does no good and is more comical in such a serious point.

Bottom line: The movie would be only as good as this review.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Down with fever

Yesterday I couldn't post anything as I was down with fever. Here I would like to clarify two things to myself and the whole wide world.
1) I am not a compulsive blogger who has to blog every day. The reason for the above kind of introduction can be seen in a couple of posts before this. (Wth.. I'll say it here. I wanted to post to everyday for the next 7 days and it stopped on the very second day.)
2) This blog is not a record of my daily life.
The temperature was running up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. I felt very weak to be doing anything. So took a leave and stayed at home. I was also shivering, so wore a sweater and bundled myself into blankets in the bed. And today I got to know something. All that I did yesterday were wrong. I found it out here. And it seems "Starve a fever, feast a cold" is not very wrong either. Now that I feel a little better I found something about the fever and tricks to handle it the next time around.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Cool tools

Cool Tools seem to be everywhere. There is a site, reference in another and if you google it 14,00,000 results show up. But this is not about that. It is about a small shop in Chennai, where you can find things you can blog about in cool tools category. It is Sundar Metals. Situated next to a huge textile showroom it does look small. The name suggests that it is a vessel shop. But if you take a look inside you would notice that it isn't. Walk inside the store you will find many household items like brooms, mops, brushes of various kinds. The surprise packed in it is when you came to see the sizes in which anything is available. I found a finger sized duster to a palm sized clip there. As the owner of the shop would put it, You have to look for yourself to know what is in there. It cannot be said. The price is also quite less over there. The items found there cost at least 50% more in other places if you can find them there. Try it.

தினம் ஒரு பதிவு

தினமும் ஏதேனும் ஒரு பதிவு செய்ய வேண்டுமென இன்று முடிவு செய்திருக்கின்றேன். ஒரு வாரம் எனது குறிக்கோள். பார்ப்போம்.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Speed test @ home

Here are the results when I tested the connection @ home. Any comments....

you think your broadband is very fast. Really? Check it out....

I've been using a broadband connection that claims to be 256 kbps. After using dial-up for about 10years anything could look faster but I decided to test it. Here comes Speedtest. I took the test and saw the download seems to be pretty close. The upload is way off the mark. Can anybody explain the results to me.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Varalaru (Godfather)

This Ajith starrer is a surprise winner from the deepavali releases. A movie that can teach a lesson or two to other actors who have taken acting too seriously than it actully is. The film has been in making for about two years and Ajith is the living example for that. He comes in various sizes and shapes. And in those shots where two Ajiths are to feature at the same time the whole screen looks like it is morphed. Even the dupe / artists who play as Ajith in scenes were poorly selected. He sports long hair for most part and those persons look so different.


The makeup is not very good too. In most scenes the old Ajith looks as if he is acting in a school stage drama. But whenever we see him we see him as the father. But we have seen Kamalhasan slog it out to look real. This movie can be an eyeopener of sorts for that kind.


Could not believe that A.R.Rahman composed the music. Innisai Alabadaiyae... is good, both as audio and video. The director could have done away with all the other songs. They are only that good. Ajith's performance is better than any of his previous movies. There is hope after all for Ajith (more so for his fans) in movies.


But all those glitches in the movie didnot hinder with the viewing pleasure of it. The suspense about how Ajith turns so unpredictable is reasonably maintained in the first half, though the number of incidents could have been less.


The twist towards the end is interesting.



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Spoiler Alert

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Its about the immobile Ajith getting on his feet, that came as a real surprise. But for him to fight so well, especially opposite a young person is, huh, cliche. Similarly trying to justify the old title “Godfather” was also unnecessary and artificial. The heroines play the usual role, glamour dolls. It's even less in this movie. A couple of dream sequences for Asin. Kanika has dialogue for one fourth of a page. Police have been reduced to a laughing stock once again in this movie.

The winner in this movie is Ajith, in the role of dancer. The grace, the mannerism, the way he walks, talks so feminine no body else could have done so well.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

பகைஉணர்ச்சி

மனிதன் பலவிதமான உணர்ச்சிகளுக்கு ஆளானாலும் சில மாறாது, மறவாது இருக்கும். நாம் பல முறை இந்த விஷயத்தை மறந்தேனா பார் என்று நினைத்து இருப்போம். ஆனால் மாறாதிருப்பது பகையுணர்ச்சி மட்டுமே. பரீட்சையில் முதன்மை பெற்றது, வேலை கிடைத்தது, பதவியுயர்வு இவையாவும் சிறியவயே. நண்பர்களுடன் களித்திருப்பதும் தற்காலிகமானதே. ஆனால் ஒரு மாற்றுகருத்தினால், புரிதல் இல்லாததினால் வரும் மோதல் சிறுக சிறுக பெரியதாக மாறி பகையாகும். ஒருவரை ஒருவர் பார்க்கும் போதெல்லாம் முகத்தை திருப்பிகொண்டு போய் முடிவில் ப்கையாளிகளாய் மாறுவர். இரு தனி மனித பகையே இப்படி இருக்கையில் இரு நாடுகளுக்குள் இருக்கும் பகை எங்கனம் தீரும்.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Barbarism in the name of caste. Two thoughts

Yesterday I got an opportunity to see the way politics in Tamilnadu works. It is based on sects, caste, religion and all things that make no sense when it comes to well being of the people. It was a birth anniversary of a leader , a freedom fighter and parliamentarian, though remembered so strongly only because he belongs to a particular community, dominant in Southern Tamilnadu. It seems like they want to prove that they are getting stronger. The traffic jam due to garlanding of his statue in Anna Salai lasted longer than last year. Probably in the years to come the government might have to declare a holiday. I wonder if the youth who participated in the procession would even remember their parents birthdays. They not only wasted their time but of so many others going to work.
The government could bring a ban on celebrating anniversaries of leader in areas where it cause disturbance to public. But I doubt it. They also need the votes. This brings me to two very confusing conclusions.
First, the situation is created by the people themselves. People want their community / caste leaders to be respected. The way of showing respect is explained above. And they complain about mismanagement of every thing. So I guess people are really strong opinion builders and they control the psyche of politicians.
Second, there are simply too many people and the loud and dominant get heard and things happen their way. Others who are complaining are soft and docile. Probably like me.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, when the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high, and you want to smile but you can only sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest, if you want, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns, as every one of us sometimes learns.
And many a failure turns about, when he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -- You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out -- The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -- It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Friday, October 20, 2006

I like this blog thru' e-mail facility. Why should I say this?

The last three posts were made through e-mail. And I most certainly like this utility. The reason why I say this is in my archives list. The last activity was during May. It took me as long as 5 months to re-enter the blog world of mine. In this intervening period I did send out a lot of e-mails to people I know. I can do the same for my blog also. However signing in and creating a blog was simply too much for me. This mail your thoughts to your blog works for me in another way too. I'm more of a spontaneous blogger who finds it difficult to prepare a post to blog. Now its just my thoughts, plain & pure. So I like it.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Tambaram - Tindivanam Expressway

Today I had to go to our village for a function when i experienced the goodness of a well laid road. The 93 km stretch they call Tambaram - Tindivanam expressway is excellent. It is a part of NH 45 constructed in about 2.5 years on BOT basis. The toll collected is Rs.40/- for a single trip and will be continued to be collected for another 15 years. Though it was originally built to reduce congestion in traffic between Chennai and southern districts we are using it regularly to visit our native village in northern TN itself. While traveling in night, the road is a sight. Now they have come up with reflectors, white for straight road and yellow for curves. I wonder if that is an international standard or just something tried here.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Check list - For visting a drive in theatre.

We are becoming regulars for the Drive-in Theatre in Chennai. We are 3 movies old now and would like to offer a few tips & tricks.

There are certain essentials you need to take.
  1. A large mat. The floor has lot of smaller stones and this really improves the movie watching experience.
  2. Bedspreads, we usually use a razai.
  3. Pillows, for a group of three we usually take 4.
  4. Snacks, the problem there is the options are quite less but can't say the same about price.
  5. Water.
  6. Take a foldable chair, if anybody in the group is not comfortable sitting down.
  7. A hand fan. We are planning to take the rechargeable fan next time.
It really helps to book the tickets in advance. It's quite large and can accommodate about 300 cars. But still it is better that way. We even have an experience of going all the way only to return without watching the movie. It's quite far away for and takes about an hour to reach. The shows are only at 1900 hrs and 2000 hrs, which eliminates the option of doing something else too.

We have seen 3 movies there. Imsai arasan 13th Pulikesi was the first and we all enjoyed it. The next was Vettaiyadu Vilayadu, not a movie for drive-in theatres. The recent one is Lage Rago Munna Bhai. These are the kind of movies that suit best because a drive-in theatre is not just about the movie. It's a family outing and we don't want t get all that serious by the movie.

There is a restaurant nearby. I might write about it later.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Running away…

I don’t know how people manage to run away from their home. They certainly don’t know the pain associated with it. One has to be in that situation to know how it really feels. I had an experience, something close to that. One of my batch mates went missing for a day, the anxiety to family and friends was not really proportionate. When he was not reachable through phone for most part of the day and that he had left his mobile at home added to the voes of the family. They got suspicious and started making calls. Having exhausted the ringing list we were forced to explore the tougher areas like police & hospitals. Before we could go any further there he was. Seems like he had some issues with the family and office. Tried to have a go at both of them. Did pull it off at office as he got a transfer to a place he wanted. I can't really comment on the home front. I think I’m straying off. The point is the few hours till he was back was really difficult for every one of us. Thinking of the possibilities was unnerving. I could not talk to his wife fearing I would say something that could make them emotional. So anybody who contemplates running away should think about the anxiety they would be causing, even to those they never even thought could get involved.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

What do you think?

You are in office, not knowing what to do next. It’s not that you don’t have anything to do. You do have a long “to-do list”. It’s just that you don’t want to do anything. You would be anywhere else than in your office. How do you tackle this situation?

I would rather raise a different question. Why does such a situation arise? The basic reason why you have a long “to-do list” is because you do maintain a “to-do list”. Jokes apart, a “to-do” list does get longer if you keep doing things outside the list. Try to add another column “What has been done”. Most people would be filling that column with tasks outside their “To be done” list.

A model “to-do list”

Date

To be done

What has been done

Remarks

02-05-2006

Check liability statements with liability bills

????

Capitalisation of WIP

Half done. There are more items identified during capitalization.

We never get satisfied right.

Broad band modem statement completion

I did start that. On a second thought did I?

A discussion on FBT.

Went on so long “enriching” me with experiences of a superior that is not relevant

A discussion with internal auditor.

There is a difference of opinion b/w my superior and the auditor. They don’t discuss directly for that might solve the problem.


If this is what that is going to happen what do you think is the use of a ‘to-do list”?

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Faceless Enemies

You might have heard this many a time when elders in our families say “Someone would say something”. Is there a more vague reason not to do what you wanted to do? These “someone” would never have a name and the “something” they might be saying is never verbalised. However they wield such a strong influence over our decisions. Its not just the untold but also the unseen is also to be feared.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Soda Bottle Enthusiasm

I don’t know if you have heard this term. It is like the initial fizz while opening a bottle of soda. We would start doing a new project with lot of enthusiasm. We would be in a bubbly mood. However after some time we tend to slow down and before we even know we would have stopped.
It so happened to me when I joined a school to learn music. My cousin Anbu and I went and enrolled ourselves. In the initial spirits I went on to pay the fees for 3 months in the first installment itself. We were not asked to but I did. But we did not attend the classes beyond 2 weeks. Of the many such occurrences in my life another incident worth saying would be the joining the gym by two best pals. It’s Shankar and me. This time it was even better (or worse). In three days we were back to square one.
So at some definite point of time in the past I decided to get better of this phenomenon. How? I decided to take things slowly and steadily from the very beginning. But it totally backfired. I’m not even getting to begin anything new. I wait and wait for the right time to start so that I would have enough time to go on with it. Earlier it used to be the idea of powering through. Lets start and things will fall in place. However with out the SBE the initial momentum is missing making be idle. So I think SBE is good, provided you can get it going after the initial thrust.

Monday, March 20, 2006

What do I see?

A corporation is like a tree full of monkeys.
All on different limbs at
different levels.
Some climbing up, some fooling around, some simply just
idling.

The monkeys on top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces.
The monkeys on the bottom look up and see nothing but assholes.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Praptham

This was a conversation between my friend (with a tonsured head) and me. He is just back from Thirupathi.

Me: Nice mottai.

Friend: From Thirupathi. It’s a great experience. If the crowd was less I would go there every week. But the place is so crowded. This is my only visit in five years.

Me: I’m helping you by not adding to the crowd.

Friend: It is not so. He (Venkatachalapathy) sees those he wants to. “Namakku praptham irukkanum boss, Thirupathi poga” (We should be gifted (I don’t think that’s the word) to be there.) It’s not we who decide but him.

Me: Then I guess you should think again about your every week visit.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Mosquito Menace in Madras

Yesterday was a day, no, a night I would remember for many days to come. It was like any another day at office and I was returning home. When I was nearer I could feel insects hitting my face. It was like riding in the rain. There was a distinct drop in the presence of mosquitoes a couple of days back. It seems like it was just a silence before the storm. There was so many that I wanted to bathe after the ride back home. I thank the person who invented the “Mosquito Net”. Without that it would have been very difficult yesterday. In the night it seemed as though the mosquitoes were trying to attach us. We could see them lined up in all sides, so densely. The picture is only a part of the mosquitoes that were out there. They were the deadones found on top of the net. I forgot to take my camera with me to bed. Or else I could have given a battalion of mosquitoes lined up for attacking.
Posted by Picasa

Saturday, February 25, 2006

On the work front

I have always been a “believer” of sorts of the Murphy’s Laws. But there aren’t many that one can experience when studying. We tend to lie low during those days with not much happening except to be studying more and more books. It is only when beginning to work that we see it all coming back and wonder what great genius he is. I have a screen utility that dishes out maxims from Murphy’s Laws on Work and the one that triggered me to write this is
“There is never enough time to do it right the first time,
but there is always enough time to do it over.”
There are so many examples that I can site from my experience in this position. Any report that is asked is urgent and in most cases I get the communiqué only after the fixed deadline. People are so living in the past and we do yesterday’s job most of the time. We tend to get the figures wrong in the hurry but not to worry, there is always a reply stating that whatever we did was wrong and do it again. This time we would get a couple of days to get it right. Why can’t they give us that time in the first place? I guess I’ll find out when I reach the top.

PS.
(I don’t know if my organisation has a blogging policy. But have I gone overboard with anything?)

This bird never flu. err... flew.

The recent bird flu caused by "H5N1 bird-flu virus" has been in news for quite some time. A google search on bird flu India returns results about dead chicken and how farmers and governments are clearing them. But do you know what I think about it. There is no harm eating chicken. After all this bird never flu. err... flew.

Monday, February 13, 2006

If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway

It is just the way it is. Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary. Yes, tomorrow and we willl discuss that later. But now what am I doing in the office? I'’m stuck here because we have a lot of unfinished job now. You might say that I'’m grudging for wrong reasons or even worse no reason at all. But it is no’t so. I have been free on so many days. You should know my work nature for that. I work in the section where cash is handled. We collect money from customers 6 days a week. Of these there days when due dates arrive for different kind of customers and those days are spread over the month. There are seven such due dates. I'’ll be busy in the first week, what ever happens. Same is true for the last week too. But look at today. It is neither a due date or any where near it no first / last week. So I was thinking '“anything just cannot go wrong'”, and '“it did anyway'”. There was a spurt of customers making payments and they having been counting money for more than two hours now. That brings me to another conclusion.
No matter how perfect things are made to appear,
Murphy's law will take effect and screw it up.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

GM Diet - Day 7 [BROWN RICE, FRUIT JUICES & VEGETABLES] [10-02-2006 FRIDAY]

What is brown rice? I have seen the Kerala variety of rice but it is more towards red than brown. Anyway that was what I had for the day. But how do you eat rice? So add to it some rasam. This is the difficulty in following the diet formulated elsewhere than the homeland. India for its variety in culture and practices cannot do with one diet plan for the whole nation. That being the case to follow a western formula is difficult. (I have seen the vegetarian substitute for this diet somewhere in the net for Indians, but however I chose to follow the original as far as possible. Grape juice during breakfast and orange juice for supper were the juicy supplements. I took just vegetables for supper, not rice. So there it ended, seven days of a different experience. Tomorrow holds the promise of Tandoori chicken. Shouldn’t there be a celebration?

GM Diet – Day 6 [BEEF & VEGETABLES] [09-02-2006 THURSDAY]

Today was pretty much the same as yesterday. The beef was prepared in the same fashion as yesterday, except that we added a little onion to it. And after two meals I quit, not from the diet but from eating beef. Supper included cabbage leaves, carrots, cucumber and guava.

GM Diet - Day 5 [BEEF & TOMATOES] [08-02-2006 WEDNESDAY]

YUCK. That’s what I felt when I saw this. What kind of combination is this? Beats the milk-banana-soup combination fair and square. Add to this my lack of knowledge how beef is prepared in west. We use so much of masala in our food that without the knowledge of western recipes all I could think of is to cook beef and tomatoes together, add a little pepper to it. YUCK again. I know, but paathi kinaru thandiaachchu ( completed half of it) so let me carry on with it. Once again office makes things easier. Especially mine has an uncanny way of keeping me busy in things I’ve already done or things I would never do if given an option. But three meals with the same dishes (like this) is definitely hell. But I have passed this test also. Tomorrow is a new day and I can eat beef and vegetables in unlimited quantities, to my hearts content. Enakku periya manasu thaan, aanaalum beef in unlimited quantities. Paakalaam…

GM Diet - Day 4 [MILK, BANANAS & SOUP] [07-02-2006 TUESDAY]

This might sound like a weird combination, but claimed by those who formulated the diet to be scientific, another claim being us not to complete the allowed 8 bananas. Clear this for me. What is a banana? It comes in various sizes and how am I to find out what is the banana he is talking about. I would not be able to eat even one red banana but can go on for a while with mountain bananas. Anyway I got some bananas usually sold by street side vendors and tried hard to stay within the limit. Soup was fine but not as good as Jose did when he went on this diet. But the day was comfortably completed. Tomorrow I can have beef.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

GM Diet – Day 3 [FRUITS & VEGETABLES] [06-02-2006 MONDAY]

I am happy that I came this far, as the last time I went on a diet it was a disaster ending on second night. Back to office and things became easier. A mixture of fruits & vegetables gives a variety to the bored taste buds. The lit included watermelon (again a huge part), grapes, carrot, radish and cucumber. There was some headache but was manageable. Tomorrow seems to be a difficult day. You will know when you see the title.

GM Diet – Day 2 [VEGETABLES] [05-02-2006 SUNDAY]

Stuff yourself with vegetables was the slogan for the day. I was at home and had a lot of free time to think about what I was doing and that was the problem. Soon I developed a splitting headache. I had cucumber (once again a watery vegetable), carrot and radish (long, red ones). I wanted to add cabbage to the list but could not find time to include it, as there was no definite liking to eat anything at all. But all that matters is that I survived that day.

GM Diet – Day 1 [FRUITS] [04-02-2006 SATURDAY]

All said, now lets see what I did. I bought some watermelons (some!). As said in the diet chart the chances of losing up to 3 lbs are good if I went on an all melon diet. So I did and certainly felt lighter. But I like watermelon a lot but I think I have developed some dislike towards it now. This day was not much of a problem and I had done this before. I had to go to office and there was not much time to think about it. This was the best time since the first week of the month is the busiest. The only problem being how to eat watermelon for lunch. Usually I take my lunch at office. But for this I went home in afternoon to have this. Tomorrow could be worse lets see.

GM Diet – Day 0 [03-02-2006 FRIDAY]

I wanted to go on a GM Diet ever since I knew about it. Why? Because no matter how I looked I’ve always been described as the fat boy/man in my class. It goes like this as in the “Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” song.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth;
oh never mind;
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you
and how fabulous you really looked….

You’re not as fat as you imagine.

In my case I was not as fat as they imagined. But still I was always a little overweight, crossing the limit by a couple of kilograms. So (see line 1), and I almost did it once.

We were then in Thanjavur. I had a good start enjoying ripe mangoes (it was the summer of 2003) for the first day and carrots and cucumbers for day two. But my plan crash-landed when relatives visited us. We were serving them with delicious food that my mother makes. Virunthombal Thamizhar panpadallava! There was crispy chicken fry and spicy gravy. It broke me down and I surrendered to my taste buds.

Now here I am wiser by the success stories of my friends (Arun and “Thanjavur” Prem) and my brother-in-law Jose. They managed to complete it and Arun does it any time he wants to do it. And I’m going on it now.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Andrew's Gunj

What was the shortest time you ever stayed in a new house? I think nobody can beat our record. Read on.

We were then staying in Delhi. My Dad was working with the central ministry on deputation. One of my father’s friends told that he has blocked a 5 bedroom apartment for us there. But it did not turn out to be so. In total we did get 5 bedrooms. First a 2 bedroom apartment. And later a 3 bedroom apartment. It’s the 3 bedroom apartment that I’m talking about.

I was then preparing for my civil services examinations in New Delhi. My father is an IAS officer and something rubbed of I guess, I wanted to be one too. So on completion of my post graduation in commerce I went to New Delhi (most of the aspirants are way into the preparation by that time. They say that they start preparing by 12th standard or so.). Anyway things worked out this way for me and when I went there my Dad also got a transfer there so I got to stay at home still prepare in Delhi (the place to be if one wants to make it into civil services).

We were staying in Sarojini Nagar, a calm place near Sanjay Gandhi Park and the Sarojini Nagar Market was only a couple of minutes from there. It did not take long to get to my institute also from there. But it was a small apartment. So when we got the house at Andrews Gunj allotted we readily accepted it. The reasons being....

1) Three bedroom Flat.

2) Three bedroom Flat.

3) Three bedroom Flat

I cannot think of any other reason why we would go for it. It was not near my institute. It had no parks nearby. Not a good market that I remember. We have been used to large spaces earlier and felt cramped in that other house I guess. Anyway we went ahead to shift our residence. We were yet to furnish our house then fully. But before taking the limited personal effects we decided to get the house ready for us. On visiting the house we saw that it needed to be cleaned. My cousin who had come there joined me in that effort and with the help of two persons arranged by my father we went on to clean it thoroughly. Then we called a person from a air-condition showroom and went on decide on the A/c that we would require. Decisions were made regarding curtains and we also went shopping for furniture.

One fine day (something that’s always used in a negative note), we started to Andrews Gunj. We handed over the keys of the old house to one of my father’s colleagues with instructions to submit them to the authorities. On went our vehicle to Andrew’s Gunj. We unloaded our things however little they were and got them arranged reasonably. We made friends with the people in the ground floor (we were in first floor). Then most important event happened. The day ended and the night began. Since it was the first day we bought dinner from outside and ate. We were happy to be there. Mom and Dad took a room. I shared one with my cousin since the furniture and A/c were yet to be delivered.

After some time we felt as if we are lying in the middle of the road. Did I mention that the house was in the inner ring road? At night it was swarmed by lorry traffic. We could feel the floor shaking when every lorry went by. My room was nearer to the road than other. I ran into the hall / living room to lie down. I could not catch any sleep that night ( I had spent the whole day loading, unloading and arranging things).

The first thing my Dad did next morning was to call his colleague (remember the Key Guy) and stop him from proceeding to submit the keys. We raced back to our old, humble abode and lived happily ever after (for about a year before my Dad got transferred to Tamilnadu).

Now in a move to improve traffic conditions, those houses were razed down to extend the road. This would not happen to any one else any more. Later on I wondered how it was possible for others to live there. The main reason could be that we planned to get all the furniture but all would only be delivered there. So it was practically empty as it was much larger than where we used to live.

About the record. We stayed a little over 19 hours.

Ashrita's First Flight

January 19,2006. We had to travel to Coimbatore for a family function. After consulting with our doctor we decided to fly to Coimbatore with our daughter. The tickets were, so we decided II A/c and the travel time is so less, so we decided that it would be best for Ashrita (we hope), to travel for lesser time than to spend the night (when she is most active) in train.

Opening up of airways has seen a spurt in the number of flight operators. There are so many of them that I didn’t even know most of them. There were so many counters, each having a small walkup (what else do you call the area of about 4 ft where they lay out a carpet to make you feel “so special and welcome”). The people manning those counters do their part with their so artificially accented English (an apparent effort to make you believe that no body belongs here, neither you nor them.

The flight was officially delayed by 30 minutes and unofficially by another 25 minutes. We were asked to wait in Taj Lounge and offered a complimentary buffet (Cheese puff, paneer cutlet, medhu vadai and chicken “something”, something we never got. The fresh juices offered were not so fresh either.)

Security check was another episode of the journey. First tour hand baggage was scanned and we were frisked. (Two security women commented on "How dangerous it is to carry infants in flight as we have a chance to carry weopons / explosives in the cloth used for wrapping the child" This comment was made by them in Hindi, apparently thinking most people in Tamilnadu wouldnot know Hindi.) Then after another episode of waiting we went through the gate to finally get into the bus. But it was not over yet. There was another round of frisking and checking of baggage physically by airport staff.

From one bus to another. Then we got into the bus. Did I say bus? Yes, it was a bus. They were just a little more than the “airbuses” that were plying on Chennai – Trichy roads. They were “more” in length than those “airbuses” by a couple of rows and were a little bumpier during landing. We took the steps to enter into flight and saw it having seats just like a bus and we took ours. The food that was offered had two chicken patti rolls, two aloo bondas, one paneer cutlet and one black forest (which was really good).

We had taken a number of precautions for a safe and comfortable journey for Ashrita. We had her ears plugged with cotton, had her to wear a diaper, sweater with head gear to protect her from cold and finally wrapped in a bag meant for carrying babies. The journey was uneventful expect for a little crying during landing. Otherwise she slept through the whole journey.

Night Shift

The night shifts have begun. Our daughter has found out that I get to stay home only in the nights and so tries to make the most of it. She has not been the crying kind so far. She just starts to get disturbed and wants someone to hold her in their arms. She does not even want to be rocked. She just stares at us and stays awake. Once it is time for me to get ready to office she goes to sleep.

29th Chennai Book Fair

This book fair is as old as I am and growing stronger by the year. It has become a huge one lately and the crowd that gathers is only becoming larger. The only larger book fair that I’ve been to was in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. I don’t remember police force being deputed here to oversee the proceedings and last two years a school nearby has been converted into parking space for the visiting bookworms. The BAPASI, organizers of this book fair have taken a very important decision so as to reduce pollution to the Quad-e-millet college campus. The pamphlets usually given away by the stalls have been banned in an effort to reduce the garbage that gets accumulated. Refreshments are arranged through restaurants and ice creams of different varieties were made available. The book fair offers 10% discount on all the books irrespective of the publisher. Even e-books, CDs that were sold were given the same discount.

I was there on 8th of January with my cousin Anbuselvam. We have been a regular for so many years now, and been buying books on a regular basis. We used to buy more books when we were preparing for civil services examinations. Now that we are out of that field we are exploring other arenas. I’ve always liked Sujatha’s writings on science and his sci-fi books. I even had an argument with my teacher that his writings are better than another contemporary writer. Uyirmai Publications have come out with a series of books by Sujatha and I’ve been a regular to their stalls every year. I bought Kadavulgalin Pallathakku, Therntheduthha Sirukadhaigal and Marma Kadhaigal all by Sujatha.

I also did buy a lot of books for my niece Abirami, who likes to read story books. Unlike her elder siblings she has developed a liking for books, which I am trying to encourage. I also bought books that say what to expect in the first few years of child birth. We also saw a “Child’s Album” in which we’ll be able to document the important events of her life. I’m looking for a better published album. I need to check out Landmark, Odyssey and Higginbotham’s.