Lets look back at the decade...

This decade is going to come to an end in another few hours and marks the end of a unforgettable decade. It had everything from natural disasters, terrorist’s attacks, major changes in political history of the world, emergence of Asian countries as the economic super power and many more. It has changed the lives of many. For many, this decade has been a forgettable one and for many, the most unforgettable one.

Political history was re written in most parts of the world. Barack Obama became the first black president of USA. Power changed hands in Japan from Liberal Democratic Party to Democratic Party of Japan after rule of around 5 decades. In India, Manmohan Singh became the first Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to successfully assume the office after completing the first term. Prathiba Patil became the first woman President of India and the emergence of Rahul Gandhi changed the perception of politics among today’s youth. This decade also saw the end of Vajpayee-Advani era and death of many tall political leaders.

History was also re written in sports. Michael Schumacher added 5 more F1 title to his 2 title won during the previous decade to take his tally to 7. This makes him the leading F1 driver of all time. In Tennis, Pete Sampras ended his career with a record 14 grand slam titles only to be over taken by Roger Federer, who has won 15 titles and still playing. Federer became the first Men’s player after Agassi to win a career grand slam when he beat Robin Soderling in the French Open finals in 2009. If Tennis had its share of drama so as Cricket. Austraila won 2 successive world cups to stamp their authority as the invincible. However the most coveted Ashes changed hands twice when England won in 2005 and back in 2009. Flintoff did what Ian Botham did in 1983. India won the inaugural T20 world cup. However, their reign as the top T20 team was short lived. However, 2009 saw them become the world number 1 test team. South Africa created history by winning test series in Australia only to lose the return series at home. Beijing staged one of the most stunning Olympics in 2008 and showed the world that they are not only an economic superpower but also a power horse in sports. They finished the table with maximum number of Gold Medals. The Olympics also marked the greatness of Michael Phelps who won a record 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics and 14 overall making him the greatest Olympian of all time.

Arts too have its share of memories in the last decade. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won a record 11 Oscars equalling Titanic and Ben Hur. However, unlike the other two, this movie converted all its nominations in to awards. This decade also signalled the entry of A.R.Rahman at the world stage when he won the BAFTA, Golden Globe and twin Oscars for his music in Slumdog Millionaire. He is also nominated for Grammy Awards for the same. The death of Michael Jackson, “The King of Pop” was a great jolt to all the music lovers. Kamal Hassan completed 50 years in Cinema in 2009 so as the Big B who completed 40 years. Sivaji-The Boss, became the first tamil movie to be in UK top 10 and 15 year old idea of James Cameroon, “Avatar” finally hits the screen.

Last but not the least, the things that changed the shape of the world, a range of terrorist’s attacks and natural calamities around the world. It all started with earthquake in Gujarat which killed thousands of people which was followed by the famous September attacks on the world trade center. Then comes the invasion of Iraq by the USA, the earthquakes in Pakistan and China,the elimination of LTTE, the Tsumani in the Indian Ocean, Madrid, London, Bali and Mumbai train bombings and the Mumbai attacks.

I hope the coming decade brings happiness and peacefulness to each and everyone in this world. Wish you all a HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

Nov 8th is undoubtedly one of the best days of my life. It was my brother’s wedding and the atmosphere was awesome. The day before the wedding, Chennai was under water and thank god, on the wedding day it was shining bright. It has been a long time since I attended wedding and nothing can come close to such event especially being my brother’s wedding. I was able to meet all of my family members. Almost all had come for the wedding. If the wedding was grand, then the reception was even grander. Everyone enjoyed it to the core. More than anything else, this is the first marriage in our family which was like icing on the cake.

After the marriage, we started for a holy trip. We started on 10th November and were back by 13th morning.

Day 1: We boarded the Vaigai express at 12.40 PM from Chennai egmore and reached Trichy in the evening. There we took a van and went to Gunaseelam (some 25 Kms from Trichy). We stayed there that night and worshipped Lord Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal.

Day 2: We got up early and went to the temple again and worshipped the Lord. I had the plan of taking bath at Cauvery, but unfortunately the river was flowing till the brim and I was scared. Then we went to Thanthondri Malai in Karur. By the time we reached the temple, it was closed and hence we had to wait till 3 PM for the temple to open. After worshipping the God, we came back to Gunaseelam, packed our bags and left for Srirangam. We went to the temple and worshipped Lord Ranganathar. This temple has got the tallest temple tower in Asia. One can see the entire Srirangam from the topmost floor of the tower. After coming out of the temple, we went to Trichy again to board Rameshwaram Express.

Day 3: We were supposed to get down at Ramanathapuram. The scheduled arrival was 3.30 AM, but we were fast asleep. We missed the station and got down at Mandapam (next to Ramanathapuram). The next train from Mandapam to Ramnathapuram was at 6.00 AM and hence we had to wait for 2 hours in the platform. We boarded the train to Ramanathapuram and from there took a van to Thirupullani (15 Kms from Ramanathapuram). This is one best place I have visited. The place is surrounded by farms and there were plenty of peacocks running around. I would love to go to this place again. After we reached Thirupullani, we refreshed ourselves at Ahobila Math and went to the temple of Lord Adi Jaganatha Perumal. This is one of the best temples I have ever visited. It was calm, big and had a wonderful architecture. The specialty of this temple is Lord Ram will be in reclining form. Here is the only temple in the world where Lord Ram will be in reclining form. It is believed that it is in this place Lord Hanuman informed Lord Ram about Sita after seeing her in Lanka. Then, we refreshed ourselves and went to Sethukarai (Sethusamudram). The place is awesome given its mythological and political significance, but it can be maintained in a better way. After spending few minutes there we went to Chakravazhnallur, a small village near Ramanathapuram. There is a temple for Lord Adi Kesava Perumal. After worshipping the Lord, we drove to Rameshwaram. The view from the Indra Gandhi Bridge was breathtaking. We reached Rameshwaram railway station at 4.30 PM. The train was at 6.00 PM and so I, my bro and sis-in-law went to the Ramanathaswamy Temple. This temple is the abode of Lord Shiva. It is believed that Lord Rama worshipped Lord Shiva after his war against Ravana. This temple has got the longest temple corridor in the world. I have no words to describe this temple. Just awesome!!!

Day 4: Back to Chennai and end of wonderful week.

Who is Lata?

This happened few months back in my office.

A conversation between me and IT guy for installing MS Access.

Me: I want to install MS Acess in my system

IT Guy: Dont you have MS Office

Me: Yeah I have but I dont have Access

IT Guy: I am busy now.

Me: But I want it now. I have work

IT Guy: I am busy, Lata will install

Me: Ok ask her to install as soon as possible

IT Guy: No, only I can install.

If only this guy can install then why did he say Lata ll install. I am confused only to find out that its later and not lata (typical singaporean accent) :)

தீபாவளி நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்

இனியே தீபாவளி நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள். இத்திருநாளில் அனைவரின் அறியாமை ஒழியட்டும். அனியாவருக்கும் சந்தோசம் பெருகட்டும்

The great man..the great soul.... the MAHATMA

On this day, 140 years ago a great soul in the name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born. He was a man of principles, who fought the guns and daggers with non violence and succeeded in doing so. His principle of tolerance for all and non violence are still being followed everywhere. He led India to independence through his ahimsa and satyagraha. He stood by what he said. Unlike today’s politicians, he praised his opponents as well. One of the greatest traits of this man is he by no means a hypocrite, because of which he even had a bitter relationship with his sons. He spoke truth and fought for the people of India. He was born as Mohandas and left us as Mahatma. I am sure none of us can become Mahatma but atleast hope we all follow his principles.

Some examples of how he influenced the world:

“America has its roots in India through Mahatma Gandhi”- this was said by none other than the American President Mr.Barrack Obama.

For a question from a 9th grade girl Lilly on “If given a chance, with which person (dead or alive) would you like to have dinner”, he said it’s Mahatma Gandhi.

These are some of the examples of how much this man is revered all over the world. Some of the greatest followers of this man are Mandela and Martin Luther King. Mandela fought discrimination against blacks in South Africa so as Martin Luther King in America which led to the 1959 civil war.

What a way to bring my 100th post. This was sheer coincindence to write about this great soul and it being my 100th post. It gives a nice feeling..

Are we lucky enough?

Few days back one of my friend told me that he should have lived in 80’s rather than 90’s as there were not much technological improvements and there was Ilayaraja’s music. I was really astonished to hear from a person who is an embedded system professional. This is certainly true with me as well. I am not much of a technical guy and a great fan of Ilayaraja.

Technology has made life simple and easy. Today a person sitting in India can see another person sitting in USA from his/her desk. Such is the advancement of technologies. It has done wonders to human life especially in its development. Without these we would not have known that there is water in moon and so many other things which were unimaginable few years back. In fact without these technologies I would not be sitting here writing this blog. It made dumb people speak, deaf people hear. Computers, without any doubt is one of the greatest inventions in human history. With the advent of computers everything seems to be possible by humans. I read an article few days ago that in another 20 years, humans will become immortal with nanobots replacing human cells. It can also cause reverse ageing. Such is the effect of computers in today’s world.

However, Newton’s third law proves correct here too. For every action there is an equivalent and opposite reaction. The advancement of technologies made every one live in fear. Mumbai attacks, September 11 attacks, Madrid bombings, London Bombings to name a few. It is these Americans who first designed nuclear bombs and in fact one of the first to use it. But now they fear that it will land in to the hands of terrorists. Mikail Kalshnikov would have been an elated person when he invented AK-47, but very little he knew that it would kill millions of people. I feel, technology is directly proportional to human greed and jealousy. As the technology improved, the human greed also increased. It is this greed that led to the invasion of Iraq by George Bush.

I always laugh at these world leaders when they talk about green house gases, especially leaders of the developed countries. The world was greener few years back, but what about today. The pollution was very less few years back, but what about today. The world was peaceful few years back, but today it’s the opposite. Had they thought about the consequences of green house gases earlier, world would have been a greener. Had they thought about the consequences of nuclear weapons before developing, world would have been relatively safer.

I agree that each item has its own advantages and disadvantages. Technological advancement is great but I feel the consequences have been worst. The disadvantage has certainly overweighed the advantages here. The current situation is like holding the tiger’s tail. We cannot leave it and it will certainly backfire on us. I hope the future will be safe and through this I appeal to all the world leaders to look into serious issue of global warming and terrorism than thinking about how to infiltrate other country’s borders and make it unstable.

Pokisham

Yesterday I got to watch the movie Pokisham by Cheran. When I was in the theater I was really not impressed by the movie, but when I came out of it I realized that I failed to understand its beauty. It deals with the emotions of love, its pain and its happiness. The story starts with Cheran’s son reading the letters written by his father to Padmapriya during his younger days, how they got to know each other, how their love blossomed and how it ended. The story goes like this. Lenin (Cheran) works as marine engineer in Calcutta comes to his native place to look after his father, Damodaran (played by Vijaykumar) who is admitted to hospital. Nathira’s (Padmapriya) mother is also admitted to the same hospital when they meet each other. Lenin helps Nathira by paying money to the hospital when her mother was to be operated. As, the time passed both become good friends. Lenin in the meantime leaves for Calcutta. Damodaran writes a letter to Lenin asking him to write a letter to Nathira as she was not there when he left the hospital. Lenin writes a letter to Nathira and this continued and both started loving each other. As the days passed, frequency of letter increased. Lenin goes to Nagoor (Nathira’s house) to meet her. Damodaran comes to know about this and both goes to Nagoor to seek the Nathira for Lenin. Being a muslim, both feared that her father will reject their love. But for everyone’s surprise, he accepts them and asked for time for marriage. What happenes later, whether they got married or not forms the rest of the story.

The songs are good and pleasing to ears. I am really impressed with the art direction and the cinematography. The director brings out the old memories of many people through letter writing which is almost extinct today with the advancement of technologies. The movie is boring for all those who watch it as a cinema but when one realizes the beauty of hand written letters, the movie is beautiful. I wouldn’t say it as a great movie but a good movie. When compared to Cheran’s previous works, Pokisham is not a really a pokisham for all but all those lost letters of millions, this is indeed a Pokisham.

I always feel that a handwritten greeting card has got more value and than a costly gift which does not evoke any emotions. I realized myself when I got a greeting card from my sister. The feeling was completely different than how I felt when I received a gift. I don’t say that gifts doesn’t evoke any emotions but less when compared to a handwritten.Technology can make the world small, but it sheds the real feeling and emotions.


My rating is 3/5.

The Graduate

I was officially conferred the degree of Master of Science in Logistics and Supply Chain Management on 30th July, 2009. The graduation ceremony was held at Nanyang Auditorium @ 10:00 AM. It was a great feeling getting the degree from the president of the Nanyang Technological University.

Thanks for all who supported me without whom I wouldnt have come till here :)

Cooking..Its nice to learn.

Cooking is an art and according to me every person must learn how to cook. It indeed helps a lot when people move from one place to another in search of better opportunities. It helps me a lot especially for two reasons. First, being a vegetarian its pretty hard to find a vegetarian food here and second, even if I find a good restaurant its pretty costly for me and of course, its not advisable to eat outside daily. Before joining my first job, all that I knew about cooking was to make rice and hot water. It all started when I was posted outside my home town and absence of quality mess near my place forced me and my friend to start cooking. It was my friend who taught me to cook and I still remember the first time I cooked, I made Lady’s finger. It didn’t taste as bad as one would have expected. Initially, I was very slow in learning new dishes and I used to make a routine food with a vegetable and sambhar. As the days passed, I learnt a good number of recipes like palak paneer, veg pulao, kesari, more kuzhmbu, aviyal and few more. However, one thing I would like to try my hands with is a typical Rajasthani recipe.

It is always a fun when you cook along with people who are interested in it and I had such people in Mysore. We used to try our hands on various recipes especially during the weekends. However, for few months, I got fed up with cooking and eventually lost interest. Off late, I started experimenting again and started enjoying it as I used to before. I hope to try out new recipes in the future. If any of you know any do let me know so that I can try myself.

Dialouges which I enjoyed the most!!!

I would like to share some of the movie dialogues which caught my attention and which made me think. Apologies if the words do not match with that of the original. These are just few of many I loved.

First and the foremost is of course the one which I had already written as a separate post.

Anbe Sivam:

Madhavan: “ Enna mathiri design ithu. Kedaikatha blood group kedaika vechi, antha payana pozhaka vechi, ippo… (he cries). Ippo than kadavul irukara illaya nu santhegam varuthu. Illa, enaku kadavaul nambikkai iruku. Ungala mathiri illa…”

Kamal: “ Enaku kadavul nambikkai illa nu yaar sonna..”

Madhavan: ”Oh.. Yaar antha kadavul..” (Kamal points his finger towards Madhavan).

Kamal: Munna pinna theriyatha oruthanuku kanneer vidariaye athan kadavul

Madhavan: Enna thideernu..

Kamal: Ean na naanum Kadavul.

Next is also from the genius’ movie

Nayagan:

Kamal: ”Naalu paer ku nallathu nadakum na ethuvumae thappu illa...”

Baasha:

Rajinikanth: ”Aandavan nallavangala sothipan aana kai vida maataen, aana kettavangaluku neraya kudupan aana kai vituduvan..”

Thalapathi:

Rajinikanth: ” Ean..?”

Some artiste: ”Deva..”

...

Mamooty: ”Suriya..En kooda vanthu iru. Inga irunthu ean kashta padanum..”

Rajinikanth: ”Illa Deva. Ivanga ellarayum vittu vara mudiyathu. Chinna vaysulenthu enna thooki valathaga.”

Mamooty asks him again and again Rajinikanth refuses.

Mamooty now raising his voice: “Unaku ivanga ellarum irukanga da aana enaku Suriya mattum than irukan.”

Alaipayuthey:

Madhavan: “Naa unna virumbala, un mela aasai padala, nee azhaga iruka nu nenaikala aana ithellam nadanthidumo nu bayama iruku. Yosichu sollu...”

Nala Damayanthi:
It’s a conversation between two airport officials

Person 1:”You are from his country and you don’t understand his language and she is from different country but she understands him.”

Person 2: “That’s India for you. Mera Bharat Mahan..”

Parthiban Kanavu:

Srikanth: “Sorry! Theriyama paturchu..”

Sneha: “ Enna sonnenga?”

Srikanth:”Theriyama paturchu nu sonnaen..”

Sneha: “Athuku munnadi”

Srikanth:”Oh athuva, Sorry nu sonnaen”

Sneha: ”Purushan pondatti kulla sorry sollika aarambicha apram life muzhuka sorry solrathulayae poidum.”

.............

Srikanth: ” Pondatti a irukarthuku oru azhagu venum, athu en Saytya kitta nerayave iruku. Eppo ava appa kittiyae ”enakum en purushanum kum aayiram vishyam irukum athula yaarum thalayida vendam” nu sonnalo atha vida pondatti a irukarthuku vera ennanga venum. Enakga evlovo vitu kuduthurka, naa avalukaga ethayum vitu kuduthathilla. Avalukaga naa en kathala vitu kudukaren. Athunala ennanga, ava vara varaikum avalukaga naa wait pandraen..”

Autograph-3

(Continuing from Autograph-2….)

May 5th 2008: I came to Chennai for 3 months and this was my longest stay in Chennai since I left on June 24th 2006. It was a special feeling and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The three months passed very quickly and in the mean time during my stay I got my 1st semester result. I scored more than what I expected and I was indeed happy.

August 8th 2008: Back to Singapore to continue my studies. The 3 month stay rejuvenated me and I started enjoying my stay in Singapore.

Aug 9th to Oct 13th: No special events happened in my life during this period, but I enjoyed my stay as we frequently went out during the weekends. However, Sep 15th is and will always be a special day in my life.

Oct 14th: I was given an offer to join an US MNC as logistics analyst for a 6 month contract. Initially I was bit hesitant in taking up the job as I had to sign the contract the very next day. However, since economy world over started to shrink, I thought of taking the gamble and signed the contract. The pay was great so as the job profile. I was really happy as I got a job in my field of study rather than going back to Software.

Nov 25th: Completed my masters with my second semester getting over on this day.

Nov 26th: I joined the company immediately after completing my masters. The date 26th I guess is what destined to me to join organizations. Even in my previous company, my joining date was 26th. Given the fact that economy has hit rock bottom during this period and I finding a job in desired field was indeed a great feeling.

From this date, life was calm with no big events, no festivals and no outings except during the Chinese new year when we made a trip to zoo, night safari and bird park.

Around April 2009, my search for job intensified with no success, but I was hopeful of getting one.

May 14th: The Company has extended my contract to another 6 months till November 2009 with all the benefits of a full time employee.

May 22nd: Off to Chennai for a special event in my life.

June 3rd: The special event has arrived. It was my brother’s engagement. He being the eldest in our family, this is the first marriage and it was a great family meeting as well as I met my cousins after a gap of around 6 years. In mean time, I enjoyed my stay in Chennai especially with my cousin’s kids and friends.

June 7th: Back to Singapore and resumed work.

June 25th: Finally, I got the book which I wanted for a long time, rather I attempted to get it after a long time.Thanks to my friend who got it from library. "India after Gandhi" by Ramachandra Guha. It is simply amazing to know the history of this great country after 1947.

(to be continued after marriage……)

World of Sports-2009

This year has been a dramatic year for sports. So many disappointments and surprises have taken place in just 6 months starting from Australian Open.

Tennis:
• It all started with World No 1 Nadal defeating the King Federer in the Australian Open finals. Even though this is not a big surprise, it is indeed a surprise given the fact how Federer has played in hard court in the past.
• Next, the greatest upset in the world of sports. Champion Nadal was knocked out of French Open in the 4th round by Robin Soderling, who was eventually beaten by the King Federer in the finals.

Formula 1:
• Next comes the biggest of all. Formula 1 has seen the rise of minnows to the top with reigning champion Lewis Hamilton, former champion Kimi Raikonen and Fernando Alonso and other top contenders failing to make an impact in this year’s championship. However it was Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel of Brawn GP and Red Bull, which was an under performer before are ruling the roost. Button is impressive with 6 wins in 8 races and Vettel winning the other 2. It has been a complete domination by Brawn GP which is competing for the first time under the leadership of technical genius Ross Brawn. Brawn GP was formed after Honda pulled out of F1 last season. It was a complete turn around in Formula 1 this year.

Cricket:
• In Cricket, the defending champions were beaten comprehensively in all the 3 super eight games of Twenty20 world cup. Tipped to be the favorites along with South Africa, India displayed on of its worst performance in the last 1 year and was kicked out of the tournament. Once the semi finals were decided, people believed South Africa to win the cup, however they continued their tag of chokers losing to Pakistan. The finals between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was thought be a tight one as both the teams played well throughout the tournament with Sri Lanka reached finals without losing a game. However, they were beaten comprehensively by Pakistan. It was a great moment for them given the fact that they had no international tournaments over the past 1 year and also the current situation there. The man who turned the game in their favour in both semi finals and finals was none other than the dangerous Shahid Afridi.

Basket Ball:
• LA Lakers beat Orlando Magic to win the NBA 2009 title and this is the first time, LAL has won the title after Shaq moved out. This may not be a surprise, but it was indeed a great achievement for Kobe Bryant as he proved his worthiness that he can win the title without Shaq. Phil Jackson, went past Red Auerbach for winning the most number of NBA titles as manager. This win took his tally to 10 (6 with Chicago Bulls and 4 with LAL).

Badminton:
• The greatest glory, India could ever get in badminton. Saina Nehwal winning the Indonesia Super Series beating the Chinese Lin Wang who is higher ranked than her. She became the first Indian women to win the tournament.

Soccer:
• Finally the biggest upset of the tournament. United States beat Spain 2-0 in the confederation cup in South Africa. Spain, which had a dream run of 35 games unbeaten since november 2006, when they lost to Romania in a friendly. Had they won the game againt the USA, they would have made the world record of being unbeaten for most consecutive games. Now they have equalled Brazil’s record of 35.

With so many upsets happened in the last 6 months, will the trend continue with Ashes and Wimbledon coming up? Lets wait and watch……

Good times ahead for India......

The mandate is out and Dr.Manmohan Singh is all set to become the prime minister for the second consecutive term. He is the first person after Jawaharlal Nehru to successfully have become prime minister after completing the 1^st term. Apart from this, the good thing about this election is around 40% of the MP’s are below the age of 50 and it has also given a clear mandate that people of India wants a stable government. Rahul Gandhi grew by leaps and bounds as a politician and his strategy helped congress win majority of seats in Uttar Pradesh. His youth formula and understanding the ground reality of the people of India helped congress win election. India’s future lies in the hands of young people and I hope he ll lead the charge. Can we see yet another ayutha ezhuthu (Yuva) in the making?

The war has finally ended and the dreaded terrorist Velupillai Prabhakaran has been been killed in the island nation. This will give the much needed peace for the people of sri lanka. It has been a long fought war which came to end few days back. Hope both Sinhalese and Tamilians live in harmony unlike before which caused the formation of LTTE. I guess its high time that people of sri lanka can take a leaf out of Indians where there are so many differences in culture, religioin, language, caste but still living united.

Pakistan has finally realized that its main enemy is Taliban and not India. They have crackdown the Taliban terrorists in the Swat valley and hope just like what happened in Sri lanka, Pakistan too should capture these dreaded terrorists.

Lots of good things happening in and around India. These are certainly good signs for everybody and hope Kashmir issue is also solved.

My hearty congratulations to Dr. Manmohan Singh and Co and a special thanks to Rahul Gandhi for giving youth more opportunity. Also I would like to wish the UPA all the very best for a good governance. Our hope rests in these people and am sure with Left out of the alliance the government will take bold decisions to develop India.

May 16th - The D-Day

Today is the final phase of voting for the month long election which decides who will be the next prime minister of India. Personally I was really disappointed with the way the campaign was held all through the country. No political party talked about providing basic amenities for the people in the campaign even though their manifesto mentioned about it. The campaign was largely concentrated on attacking the opposition parties. No wonder why people threw shoes at these leaders. The main agenda in these campaigns was why people should not vote for the opposition party and not why they should vote for them. I was really amused at Congress leadership. They seemed to have different opinion among themselves. First it was Rahul Gandhi who praised Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu but they are sharing dais with their opposition parties. When they realized that Nitish Kumar will be part of NDA, they started to doubt his secularism. It is heights of hypocrisy. I did not understand Rahul Gandhi saying Jayalalitha a like minded leader. Congress being part of DMK, he said Jayalalitha a like minded leader, does this mean ADMK and DMK are like minded parties? It is like a=b and b=c => a =c. this is certainly not true otherwise there will be no opposition parties in TN. Moreover, these two parties’ rivalry hits the sky during the election and never subsides. Same can be said about Bihar where RJD and LJP are part of UPA but the congress is trying to woo JD(U) which is the main opposition of RJD and LJP. How the chemistry will work out between the Congress and JD(U) when they have RJD and LJP in their alliance. Similarly, TDP is their main opposition party in Andhra Pradesh but they are trying to woo them as well. I seriously doubt these people’s ideology. They can stoop to any level to form the government. What is happening in Rampur is disgusting. Jayaprada is alleging that Azam Khan is distributing nude pictures of her and Amar Singh is saying that Jayaprada will commit suicide if she loses (I don’t know whether Jayaprada knows about it or not). OMG, such a great country is ruled by such people. Above all, Mulayam Singh’s reply to a polling officer when he did not allow the black cats to accompany him.. “mujhe kanoon math sikao. Mein theen bar mukya mantri ban chukka hoon….” disgusting.

No one talked about security, food and water. All that these people talked are UPA has failed miserably in the past 5 years, NDA is not secular, Left’s ideologies are pretty old etc etc. No good speeches made. Where are the Vajpayees, Nehrus who are known for their oratorical skills. The congress prime ministerial candidate does not want to contest lok sabha. Amazing, it is the people who should elect their prime minister and not the party. I feel its time to amend the constitution and make it compulsory that the Prime Minister should contest Lok Sabha. He is one of the finest economists, a great academician, a great person and I feel he should have led from the front by contesting the lok sabha which he failed to do so. Next comes the NDA prime ministerial candidate who praised Jinnah for secularism, who led the yatra which demolished the babri masjid and who doesn’t know what is happening in the government when he was the home minister. I accept he is a great leader, better than Manmohan Singh when it comes to leadership skills and taking decisions but his past record and his extremism doesn’t support him to be the prime minister. Then the third front who doesn’t know who will be their prime ministerial candidate, no ideologies, no great leader in their front who have qualities of becoming the prime minister. The situation today is such that people are not ready to accept any of these leaders as prime ministers but the irony is no one is better than these people for the top job. Lets wait for the 16^th of May and we ll know what is India’s fate.

Hey... Nee Romba Azhaga Iruka.. :)

Yei nee romba azhaga irukke
Yei nee romba azhaga irukke
Romba romba azhga irukke
Kangal noorum marandhum rasikka
Nee romba romba azhaga irukke

Poovin azhago oru naal thaan
Iravin azhago oru maatham
Undhan azhagukku mudivillaye
Athai solla vaarthayaal mudiyalaye

Yei nee romba azhaga irukke
Romba romba azhaga irukke
Mookum muzhiyumaathaan irukke
Nee romba romba azhaga irukke

Kavithai sumakkum noolagham naan
Kannaal ennai purattaathey
Yei nee romba azhaga irukke
Romba romba azhaga irukke
KaNgal nooru marandhum rasikka
Nee romba romba azhaga irukke

This is the title song from the movie “Yei Nee Romba Azhaga Iruka..”. Wow!!!! Wonderful music composed by Sabesh-Murali and beautifully penned by Kabilan. Sneha looks awesome in this song in a blue saree and of course in the whole movie as well. Good movie with a neat screenplay. I really love this.

“Poovin azhago oru naal thaan
Iravin azhago oru maatham…”

nice way to describe her beauty. By iravin azhago oru matham he refers the time taken by moon to become new moon from full moon ( its my understanding. Correct me if am wrong)

”Kavithai sumakkum noolagham naan
Kannaal ennai purattaathey....”

beautiful lines describing her beautiful eyes..

Its Shoe's day out

This election has thrown many surprises and will be remembered for a long time for many reasons. It is a 3 way fight and all the three alliances are having a close fight. Many analysts say the result will give a hung parliament. However, one unique thing about this election is the shoe throwing incidents. We see a number of people throwing shoes at the leaders including the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition. Has it become a fashion to throw shoes at the leaders to show their protests? It all started with a Iraqi journalist throwing shoe at George Bush when he was given a farewell. This continued in India and the first victim was our Home Minister Mr. P.Chidambaram when he was asked about the acquittal of Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 Sikh riots. This was followed by Naveen Jindal. However the most daring incident of all is a man throwing shoe at the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, when he was address a rally. These shoe throwers continued their fight when they threw a slipper at the NDA Prime Ministerial candidate Mr. L.K.Advani. The latest to join the group is the Karnataka Chief Minister Mr. B.S.Yedyurappa. I don’t know whether it is a political plot or not as all these leaders have pardoned the shoe throwers. I never knew that these people are so kind hearted :)

Chak de India...

The wait is finally over. India has won a test series in New Zealand after 41 years. It last won a test series under the captaincy of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. It has been a splendid performance from team India and Dhoni’s golden run as captain continues. India has not lost a test in the last 9 matches and Dhoni maintains his 0% loss since taking over the captaincy from Anil Kumble. Everyone lived up to their tasks and performed really well. This well could be the last series in NZL for the big three and they didn’t lose the opportunity to stamp their authority. Sachin and Laxman scored centuries and Dravid didn’t fail even once. Apart from this, he broke the world record for most number of catches in test match cricket. Gautam Gambhir has been a revelation since the Sri Lanka tour, scoring 2 centuries in consecutive matches. Sehwag has been a disappointment in test series, not able to convert his quick starts into a big one, but that’s how he plays. Yuvraj has to prove his credentials if he has to be a permanent member of test team and he had an average series. Dhoni, as usual had a terrific 3^rd test, scoring 50’s in both the innings and taking 6 catches in the 1^st innings. Bowlers too had a good outing in all the 3 tests, especially Harbhajan who had his best overseas tour in his career picking 16 wickets including a match winning 6 wickets in the 2^nd innings of the 1^strd test with a 5 wicket haul in the 1^st innings and as always had given early break through all throughout the series. Ishant Sharma did support Zaheer well by taking wickets in crucial times. Munaf too didn’t disappoint as a third seamer. Overall it was a tremendous performance from team India and is very well on course in claiming the top spot. test. Zaheer Khan was brilliant in the 3

It would have been sweet had India won the third test. In fact I would say that they were really unlucky as Vettori was given not out, what seemed to be a plumb LBW and Ishanth dropping O’Brien in the square leg. Had they won the match it would have been their 100^th test win, which would have made the series triumph even sweeter.

As Dhoni wished, it is a great gift for the big 3.

Congrats team India and hope they continue this form for at least 2 more years.

Yet another very good tool from google

http://www.google.co.in/intl/en/landing/loksabha2009/

Check out this link to know everything about election 2009 including, how the government has performed in the last 5 years in each state.

This is really a very good tool to choose the candidates before voting.

Gandhigri

The one I am going to say here is the most revered principle of all time. It has changed many nations’ history. It had its birth in our very own land which was adopted by many. In fact it took me at least 3 to 4 years to fully realize the power of it. Yes, I am talking about none other than the Gandhigri.

Gandhigri is nothing but the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. I may not the best person to talk about it, but I feel it is my duty to spread the awareness about it. To be frank, few years back I never believed in Gandhigri, but few articles, books and of course movies changed my perception. Now I somehow believe that, it is the most powerful weapon to fight against injustice.

The most important aspect of Gandhigri is Ahimsa i.e. non-violence and peace. People may argue that it is not possible to follow non-violence in the current scenario when the world is facing threats from enemies and terrorists. Yes, I do accept it but it is not impossible to make them realize about it, may be not the terrorists but at least the enemies.

Ok let me explain with an example.

Let us take the case of LTTE – Sri Lanka dispute. After fighting for 24 years for a separate state what have they achieved? The only thing that was achieved was the loss of millions of innocent people and also our very own Prime Minister. Now the situation is that they have been wiped off Sri Lanka. The leader is missing and they lost almost all their territories. I am sure, had they approached in a peaceful manner, they would have got the support of the world, but now they are an abandoned group. I am sure everyone would have supported their cause had they fought it in a peaceful way. At least they would have got some breakthrough in their talks.

I am not asking you to show your other chin when you get slapped, but at least try not to hit back. If you hit back, the ultimate result is enmity between the two, but if you don’t there are possibilities of friendship between the two and who knows it could be the turning point of your life. One should give the other person a chance to realize their mistake. The Indian law says that every person who has been charged should be given a chance to defend him or her and the greatest example is the appointment of a lawyer to Ajmal Kasab. I am not trying to defend his actions, but he should be given a chance to realize his mistakes so that he doesn’t repeat it again. It may sound difficult to digest given the fact that so many people died, but by hanging him it will only increase the anger of terrorists rather than subside.

I would love to quote Barrack Obama here who in his reply to John McCain regarding Al-Qeda in Iraq:

“…..I have news for Mr.McCain as well. There was no such thing called Al-Qeda in Iraq before Mr.Bush invaded…”

By invading Iraq for no reason, they just increased Al-Qeda’s aversion towards US and as a result 100’s of innocent people being killed every now and then.

One voice changed India which inspired the voice that changed South Africa and both these voices preached non-violence.

I am sure, when one voice can change a nation, one billion voices can certainly change the world. Hope to see a peaceful world at least before my death.

Last but not the least, I would like to quote Superstar as well.

“Anger is the cause of everything, one should know how to control it otherwise life will be miserable”

My Election Manifesto

Ahh… it has started again. Both, the Congress and BJP are planning to give rice at a subsidized price. They are following the foot steps of DMK, which promised to offer rice at Rs2/Kg during the 2006 assembly election. The election fever is gripping up and everyone is trying to prepare a populist manifesto. I too thought why not try my hands in writing a manifesto. It goes as below

1. Will ensure that people get the basic amenities (food, water, shelter and clothing).

How will it be achieved?

• A team will be formed for each state and each team will have a member from the ruling party and a local NGO.

• The team will be headed by the NGO to make sure that everything is in control and quality is maintained.

• A subsidized restaurant just like a ration shop will be set up which will offer food at low price.

• All the waste cloth materials will be collected directly from the factory and dress will be stitched for the poor and will be sold at low price in ration shops.

• Single room will be built for all those who do not have shelter and make sure that there are no slums in India.

• Rain water harvesting will be made compulsory throughout India and linking of river project will be kicked off as soon as the government is formed.

• The government will make sure that flood waters are directed towards a reservoir.

All the expenses will be update in the website and citizens can check out for the details using RTI. To ensure that sufficient money is there to carry out the scheme, a 10% food cess will be applied on star hotels, 5% on food chains which has more than 10 outlets and 3% on remaining restaurants. A similar cess will be applied on clothing as well. A 10% if the total bill is above Rs 5000, 5% for above 3000 and 3% for above 1500.

2. Proper sanitation and drainage facilities. My government will see to that flood waters don’t clog the road anymore.

3. Cement roads in important parts of metropolitan cities and tar roads everywhere else where there are sufficient amount of traffic.

4. A social security number for all and common ID cards will be given. The card is bar-code enabled which has the full details of the person. This will be achieved in 1 year.

5. A central database having the full details of all the citizens and the common ID card will be connected to this. Hence, scanning the bar code will give the entire details of the particular person. It is must to produce the ID card whenever a person is availing any quota in any of the institutions.

6. Compulsory education till graduation for girls and boys. If not followed, strict action will be taken against the parents. 10% quota will be there in each and every college and school. This scheme is free for those living below poverty line and subsidized fee for lower class. (Class is based on financial position and not a caste based).

7. More funding for research in IIT’s, NIT’s, IISc’s and IIIT’s. The funding for research will be shared by the government and the industries. Government will bear 75% of the funds whereas the industries will bear the remaining 25%.

8. With nuclear deal being signed, the government will see to that all the reactors work to its maximum capacity. This will ensure uninterrupted power supply for all.

9. Money will be given to those who are selected for the sports academy for selected games and sports.

10. Usage of technology to ensure that everything is transparent to the citizens of the country. The government will work with the industries to implement it. The system will be such that people need not have to pay bribe.

11. Formation of National Investigating Agency, to fight terrorism.

12. Employment exchange will be computerized and a unique id will be given to all those who have registered. This will enable them to check status online. The system will be such that right job is given to the right person. One can also register themselves with the exchange online.

13. Basic law will be taught to the students in college.

In order to implement these, I expect full cooperation from the citizens of this great country. Without you people nothing is possible. 

Jai Hind!!!

$%&*#

I was always told by my friend that people in South India especially Tamil Nadu are more narrow minded compared to the people living in North India. He has this perception because, South Indian’s are more conservative than the North Indians. However, I never understood the exact meaning of narrow minded and broad minded people. I always felt that both the terms are relative in nature. For some people I might be a broad minded person but for others I might be a narrow minded person. Let’s discuss this based on four kinds of people (just an example). Let me name them A, B, C and D

Person A:

He/She is a kind of person who feels nothing is wrong in losing virginity before marriage as long as they are loyal to their partners. They are more practical and more concerned about their present life rather than their past. At times girls of this type do drink and smoke as happened in Mangalore.

Person B:

He/She is a bit conservative than the above person. They might not drink, smoke or lose virginity before marriage but they are very social and move freely with the opposite sex. They wear western dress which at times will be bit steamy. However, they will see to that they do not cross their limits.

Person C:

He/She, the most conservative of the four kinds I mentioned. Girls of this type wear traditional dress and at times western dress. They too will move freely with opposite sex but restrict themselves on certain things like going out to movies, beaches etc. They value their culture and tradition a lot.

Person D:

He/She is one who live the American way of life. According to them, nothing is wrong in relationships as long as they are happy. When I say relationships it includes pre marital, extra marital, living together and marriage. This is the difference between type A and D.

Now as per the definition I know, for A, B and C, D is a broad minded person. Similarly for D, A and B, C is narrow minded. But what about A and B. According to B, A is broad minded but for D, A is narrow minded. Similarly, for C, B is broad minded but narrow minded for A and D.

My question is, as far as I know I have seen people of type A, B and C living in Chennai.

So is Chennai a narrow minded or a broad minded city?

Is it ethical to generalize things on such issues?