Back to Sore!

I have a sore back and i dont know what i am doing awake yet...

oh..the sore back?
that came from lifting some 65kgs of french mass a couple of times followed by some 63.5kgs of indian mass..

ha..ha..the puzzled expression on your face!
those were my partners at salsa.. was pleasureable while lifting the ladies.. and sweeping them off their feet.. but now.. ouch!

stop that wicked grin..
just makes me that much more determined!! :)

Murphy's love laws!!

For sometime I have been wondering how Murphy's laws hold good in love and without. Here's an official compilation on love and love-making from http://www.murphys-laws.com/

My 2 cents' corollary:
If you are not with your childhood sweetheart, you are doomed to fail!
(Let me start my search right now.. Nithya, where are you?!)
Bhaskar

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All the good ones are taken.
If the person isn't taken, there's a reason.
The nicer someone is, the farther away (s)he is from you.
Brains x Beauty x Availability = Constant.This constant is always zero. Sent by Van Den Bossche Jochen
The amount of love someone feels for you is inversely proportional to how much you love them.
Money can't buy love, but it sure gets you a great bargaining position.
The best things in the world are free --- and worth every penny of it.
Every kind action has a not-so-kind reaction.
Nice guys (girls) finish last.
The good ones die first. Sent by Henry
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Availability is a function of time. The minute you get interested is the minute they find someone else.
The more beautiful the woman is who loves you, the easier it is to leave her with no hard feelings.
Nothing improves with age.
No matter how many times you've had it, if it's offered take it, because it'll never be quite the same again.
Sex has no calories.
Sex takes up the least amount of time and causes the most amount of trouble.
There is no remedy for sex but more sex.
Sex appeal is 50% what you've got and 50% what people think you've got.
No sex with anyone in the same office.
Sex is like snow; you never know how many inches you are going to get or how long it is going to last.
A man in the house is worth two in the street.
If you get them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
Virginity can be cured.
When a man's wife learns to understand him, she usually stops listening to him.
Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself.
The qualities that most attract a woman to a man are usually the same ones she can't stand years later.
Sex is dirty only if it's done right.
It is always the wrong time of month.
The best way to hold a man is in your arms.
When the lights are out, all women are beautiful.
Sex is hereditary. If your parents never had it, chances are you won't either.
Sow your wild oats on Saturday night -- Then on Sunday pray for crop failure.
The game of love is never called off on account of darkness.
It was not the apple on the tree but the pair on the ground that caused the trouble in the garden.
Sex discriminates against the shy and the ugly.
Before you find your handsome prince, you've got to kiss a lot of frogs.
There may be some things better than sex, and some things worse than sex. But there is nothing exactly like it.
Love your neighbor, but don't get caught.
Love is a hole in the heart.
If the effort that went in research on the female bosom had gone into our space program, we would now be running hot-dog stands on the moon.
Love is a matter of chemistry, sex is a matter of physics.

Did you know??

That you can use your ICICI Bank Credit card on an SBI ATM and you dont need a PIN for that?!?!?

Crazy!!!!

(This is a trusted content.. refer www.kiruba.com)

What do I write?

Is this writer's block or writer's degeneration or what? well.. I am slowly moving away from blogs. I am not updating this place much these days.. not even blog-hopping..
so, what is it? I dont know... I will find out in the coming days..

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Karting anybody? I just love it..
Alonso triumphs over M Shumi.. thats me fighting a stiff, roaring competition from one of my cousins :)

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This update is long due.. I joined Salsa classes for the second month now.. So, that makes me an ASD = Advanced Salsa Dancer.. (sounds like LSD.. yeah?.. it is quite like that.. heady stuff.. what do you expect.. Salsa, Hip-Hop, Merengue... dancing with french and irish babes.. [hmmm.. there has been only one of each kind till date :) But, I am not greedy! ] And I should say.. Indian girls can be cute too ;)

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Saturday night fever... went to this Fusion Bar.. as they call it.. Tuscan Verve. Recently opened.. just off Brigade Road. Absolutely wonderful ambience.. And they are not even fully functional.. It was jam-packed and almost an equal number were standing next to the bar counter. (Bangaloreites and jams... sigh! [Think of it.. there was one 'freedom jam' recently) They are planning to have ramps and fashion shows and all that over the weekends..








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Is it any wonder that I dont get to write much these days?!

Lagaan!

Had a great trip to my native place. As I said, the Kumbhabhishekham of our ancestral temple was the backdrop of some 60-70 of us, extended family getting together. Getting to meet some of them after almost 4 - 5 years, there just was not enough time to catch up with our lives. Or to pull each others' legs, play some pranks, etc etc

We cousins made the most of it - took bath in the tubewell ('pumpset'), initiated some of the younger cousins into the KuruviMalai Baywatch Team ;) (I hope we escaped from the prying eyes of the paparazzi!), played cricket against the local team and so on..

We have a river running just behind our house and most of the time, there is hardly any water flowing. So, that becomes our default cricket pitch. Usually we play amongst ourselves with all the uncles and aunts joining in, either in the team or the cheering squad. This time we decided to involve the locals too. There it was: Lagaan XI vs KuruviMalai XI (Or may be we were the goras!)

The first match was a complete rout: we just didnt have enough practise you see.. We made some 43 and they finished it in just 3 overs! @*#^#$ ! In the next one, we made some 52. And then the match saw some sterling bowling performance by you-know-who! I took three wickets in the second over of the match and the local team was grappling for runs :) That included a spectacular catch by one of my cousins that put the Indian cricket team to shame. Followed with some tight bowling by the inspired team and yet another three wicket haul by another cousin of ours and the local team was bowled out for some 38 or so. I ended with the match figures of 3Overs-0Maidens-10Runs-4wickets!!! (that doesnt include the local maidens bowled over by my performance ;) :P

The Pooja/Kumbhabhishekham went well and everyone was happy. But, more than anything else, it is the feeling of belongingness and the emotional bond that got stronger and that is preciously beautiful!

Be Right Back!

Hey Dudes and Dudettes,
I'm going outta-town for the weekend and will be back on tuesday. I am actually going to my native place, Kuruvi Malai (meaning, hill of the sparrows), a village near Thiruvannamalai. We have an ancestral temple there and thats gonna be the reason for a get-together of our kindred. Yeah! its gonna be fun.
Aloha!
Bhaskar

New-age Dhritharashtra

He was father to ten thousand sons and one daughter. But then, it cant be attributed so much to his virility as it can be to the popularity of the sperm bank.

The Night is Young Yet!!!

cont.. 2

Well.. the closer we were, the lesser was our determination! And by the time I was within a word's distance, my Logic went out of the window. I decided to just hang-in there and shake a leg or two.. For their part, the american girls were polite enough to let us :)

After a song, I tried striking a conversation with one of the girls.. but the Bose sound system coupled with her accent made it almost impossible for me to. But the attempt was enough to create an impression on my Metro pals. And then, we both were dancing a bit more in sync now. So, that was it! I had done it!! And so did Prem, my friend along with another American girl. So, thats how we won the challenge.

We went for another round of cocktails and we went for the Tequillas now(especially now that we knew we didnt have to pay for it ;)

I dont know if it was the Tequilla or the confidence from my previous dance (with an american babe ;) (may be both, rather all three!), I soon found myself dancing with a Desi. She was quite hot in a square-neck halter salwar.. the kinds that Jemima (ex) Khan launched. We could catch a few sentences in between the dances and it was fun! She was having fun too.. (how did I know that? I asked her, of course :)

Suddenly the song changed into a hindi-punjabi-english fusion number (guess it was the Bombay Rockers). And the beats were quite like our own dappaanguthu and I let myself go with the flow. She was quite amused to see me in my antics, I guess. She taught me a couple of steps too and we were soon oblivious to the surroundings.

One thing led to the other and then there was a romantic number in the air! She suddenly turned her back to me and started dancing to the smooth tune (and left me wondering..). It took me some time to figure out the best thing to do.. rest my hand on her hips! And soon the hands were entwined around her navel!!!

Those slender hips!! And the bare back!!! And the J'adore perfume..

Well.. let me stop here.. for, it is none of your business anyways.. :P ;)

The Night is Still Young!

cont..1

The metro guys started pulling our legs and challenged us to a dance. The condition was that we three had to dance with one of the babes there at Strata. (We haggled that down to two, as if that made much difference. But in the bargain, they plugged the loophole - we cant dance with the same girl! ) And the odds were very high; whoever lost had to foot the bill.

There we were! With the first round of vodka tonic in hand, we three were studying the field. There were a lot of pairs and there were atleast 3 groups of women on the floor. One group was totally lost unto itself. So, we diverted our focus to the other two.

"That group seems to be scanning the crowd too"

"yeah, but they seem to be Americans. They are probably looking for Americans."

"No da.. Its not like that."

"May be it is not. So, how do we find out?"

"I think we just need to ask. See.. if we dont ask, we would never know. And we would have lost out anyway."

That was me at my logical best! (of course, heroes are the best arent they.. and then I am the author and this story is a 'first person' account ;)

"Wow! my god, its only your first drink yet, right?!"

"well well... ahmm... who is coming with me"

"Aye" "Aye"

So there.. we were inching closer to the group of American babes.

(to be continued.. ha ha)

The Night is Young!

Statutory Warning: This is a piece of fiction. Any resemblance to the real life is just that.. a resemblance!

What a day it has been.. Slept at 5am.. Woken up by 2pm.. by the high-throated ecstatic cry of Andy.. "Hey! I got a free pass to the Strata!!"

Being in New York was itself a dream come true for me. Just the other day I was wondering whether I would get the visa to enter the USofA. I had the tickets already booked, courtesy the biscuit guys. Yeah, I had won them as a bumper lucky prize of the "Tiger Biscuit Khao, New York Jao" contest. And Now, I was going to a night club in New York and that again with zero cover charges. And I would ensure that my drinks were on Andy.. Can life get any better?!

The evening was spent in the high spirited anticipation of the 'high' spirits. The high (free) spirits are always infectious and soon we were 5 of us jumping into a car and driving down towards the 21st street.

The Strata on the outside looked pretty stolid, maybe because of the bouncers and everything. On the inside, it was pure class. Everything seemed to fit-in. Everything was perfect except that we didn't have our girl friends. Not like they were away someplace else, but we just didn't have one. Three of us, coming from quite traditional families from the interiors of South India, we were not exposed to the idea of girl friends. And the other two, though from more western oriented metro cities, didn't have any girl friend either. (Did you think we got together by chance?!)

And I should add, the influence of New York had not sunk in. But that was before tonight.

(to be continued)
PS: how many of you noticed the link right above, 'to be continued'?! Click it man!

fight!

Could anyone have guessed that what started out as a small fight would end in a couple of murders?

The brothers, during the fight for their share of the chocolate bar, ended up throwing it into the boiling water nearby. And the two small worms were burnt alive!

IndoPak!!

Whats the point, BTW?

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It is so heartening to see so many visitors' footprints (webprints) from various parts of the world. It is wonderful experience.. this 'www'.. People of the earlier generations didnt know what they missed!!

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A Visitor from Pakistan! Wow!! Thats great. And that reminds me..
Pakistani women are so beautiful.. There was this girl at a grocery store in Austin (she owned that store).. She was damn cute.. My heart went 'dhak dhak'!! Found out that she is from Pak and that she is doing her high-school there.

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If at all there is gonna be some sense prevailing in this world, WWW should be to our rescue. What nonsense.. this India-Pakistan battle...

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Americans.. whether you are from India or Pakistan.. once you are there, you become one. Thats so nice..

Bhaskar

RBM and the Birth of EveryMan'sCityBloggers

We had a Real Bloggers' Meet (as against a Virtual Bloggers' Meet that I missed yesterday :) at Koramangala and it was just great. Though I hadnt read any of those peoples' posts (barring a couple of random ones), I could easily relate to them and we hit it off right away.

One of the ideas behind the Meet was to create ourselves together on the blogspace and otherwise.

We brainstormed on our identity and thus this new entity was born..

We are the Bangalore Bloggers - "everymanscity Bloggers".. And we are getting together to have fun and make a difference in our own way!

Join the fun.. Join the mission..

Bhaskar

Kilimanjaro

To write about my US trip, I dont need a lot of time.. just 3 words are enough. 'It was awesome!' But if I have to tell you the details, I have no idea how long its going to take.. so, let me give you the gist of it.. just the vital stats ;)

Number of school friends that I met : 5
Number of college friends that I met : 4
Number of relatives that I met : 1
Number of friends/relatives I spoke to : a lot

Cities that I spent more than 24 hours in : Round Rock (Austin), Minneapolis, New York
Cities that I spent more than 3 hours in : Amsterdam, Denver, San Marcos (Austin), Mumbai

Fun stuff : Rock Climbing, Boating, Tube Surfing, Playing Cards, Walking, Eating, Drinking... :P

Thats as much as I could mention here!

For a visceral experience, check my pics (with suitable titles!)
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bhaskar10/album?.dir=fb68

PS: The theme of my trip was 'Friends'.. No.. not the series.. though that is also relevant in a way.. :)
Friends are to be mined out.. And that reminded me of the Mines of Kilimanjaro that I read about in my school days..
(wah! wah!!) ..Thank you.. Thank you!!

I am back

maine dame unt herren..

your prayers have been finally answered. your long wait has come to an end.. I am back!!
ha haaa!!!

Will post more soon..

tata,
Bhaskar

More pics on http://flickr.com/photos/40579381@N00/tags/us/

A Picture...

that is gone now!

Hmmm... it was very risky to leave that pic in here.. so, i removed it ;) Will upload more pics soon.

The fun continues..

Last friday, I had a champagne party. Saturday, I went out for dinner followed by cards (trump/bridge) session with one of my Modern school friends and his brother's family here at Austin.

Sunday, me and my colleagues here went to another US manager's house on lake Austin. we went boating and i also did tube-surfing.. thats like sitting on a big tube and being pulled by the boat. It was major fun and finally he managed to have me fall into the water :)

Soon it will be time for me to say 'bye bye' to Austin. I will be leaving for India on friday with a stopover at New York. I will be meeting quite a few of my school and college friends there.

And the fun shall continue!!

Images of Butter Chicken! ..cont

So, there I was sitting on the NorthWest Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Austin.. reading the book 'Five Point Someone' by Chetan Anand and reliving my IIT days. In fact, I was so engrossed in the novel that I didnt realize that my flight was still on the tarmac for about 3 hours before it was finally air-borne. During the take-off, I took an intermission from my reading. Only then did I saw how me and everyone around me were sweating the whole time and had been using all the inflight magazines and pamplets in fanning themselves. I was thinking..'So much for the state of technology in the high-tech country'!!

By then (the sun sets pretty late here), it was 10pm local time and I could get a fantastic view of Minneapolis - St. Paul, the twin cities. It was so spectacular a view, with the illuminated images of various regular geometrical objects and the roads and freeways that I was entralled by it. I dont know how, but then, I associated that with butter chicken.

Let me give a disclaimer here: I have not tasted butter chicken. But I have many close friends who were hardcore fans of chicken tikka butter masala at restaurants around IIT Kharagpur. And a couple of friends at Bangalore who have visited the US, were exclaiming in similar exalted tones about the butter chicken here. Thus, my knowledge is only hearsay!

As soon as the images vanished with the gaining altitude, I got back into my reading. And after about an hour or so, the seat-belts sign was turned on and captain announced that we are again in the path of high turbulence and that we should return to our seats and stay there. Soon, I started feeling a slight pain in the ear. I get this during low pressure conditions and I invariably use cotton earplugs on my flight but NWA did not have any :( I had to make-d0 with tissue paper. And I continued reading.

I knew we were in for some trouble, but then I never thought it will be this bad.. The plane was jolting quite a bit and probably I was sitting at the back of the place, hence the impact was more. Anyways, after a point, the plane went on a sudden descent!! The pressure went lower and I had a splitting pain in my ears. I had keep my book aside and hold my ears closed tight. And then, oxygen masks were deployed. Thankfully, a couple of times I had paid attention to the stewardess's demo (rather than herself!) on how to wear the oxygen mask and to pull it so as to start the oxygen flow. I did that but I was not really sure whether there was oxygen in the cylinder ;) The plane was back in control but it was a bit difficult to breathe, but then I didnt think much about anything 'cos I was afraid my eardrums were going to burst anyway. The whole place started getting HOT and there was the captain's voice in the background saying that the air would get very warm 'cos of the oxygen equipment and that it is only to be expected.

This went on for about 20 mins before things were back to normal and we were asked to remove the masks. We were then informed that there was not enough fuel now and the flight had to deviate and land in Denver instead of Austin, but then, nobody was really bothered as long as we could land safely at some place! Such was the relief that people were actually clapping when the airplane touched down!!!

PS: Somebody mentioned that one of the engines had failed.. but then, you just need one engine to take you to your destination (with of course more fuel being consumed)!

Images of Butter Chicken!

Aloha!

I'm in Texas.. finally reached here yesterday evening after a delay of about 20hrs. It was one hell of a trip!! Battered by the Hurricane (Emily?), oxygen masks on the flight, re-routed through Denver et al.. But then, guys, I have arrived! ;)

Bhaskar
PS: I'll keep adding to this post.. so, you keep checkin' this one!

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It was as good a start as I or anyone could have hoped for. In fact, I was wondering whats with my luck these days!!

On my international flight, I was sitting in between 4 girls :) On one side was a girl from Infosys, Pune and the other side from Wipro, Hyderabad and another girl, I dont know from where, by the side of the first girl ...she didnt speak much and was sleeping the whole time. Infywali was veeery sweet and she accompanied me all the way upto Minneapolis. We got talking from the start and it was fun! Wiprowali was like 'hmm.. I know you guys..' types and I thought she was putting up an airs, but after sometime she also started talking. She got down at Amsterdam.

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Went around Minneapolis and St. Paul with my cousin, his friends and one of my schooltime friends.. watching bikini babes at lake Calhoun ;) shopping at the Mall of America-the biggest mall in the US, riding on the metro/tram to the downtown, lunching at an Indian restaurant - Surabhi etc etc.. was really cool. I also did some rock climbing at the entertainment park within the Mall of America.. It was great and would like to do it again!

They guys have been in the US for close to a year now.. They were introducing me the babes of US in general...
"There are 2 categories - one that doesnt take care of their body and one that does. And in the second category, there is no one who is a direct reject!!"
"There is a lot of skin shows. After a while, one gets tired of them. Indian girls (back in India) are the best. They know how little to show so as to keep the interest going!! ;)"

Well..well.. I say.. thats only 'after a while'. And I'm going to be here only for a while!! ;)

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And then, I was waiting at the Minneapolis airport to board my flight to Austin. One flight was taxing on the runway ready to take off and it grinded to a halt on the runway itself. I was wondering what was happening.. In a few mins, I couldnt see the flight at all. visibility was hardly for some 10-20m. And rains and strong winds started lashing against the glass walls of the airport. It was terrifying.

After about half an hour, everything subsided and we got onto the flight. Our plane started moving and stopped short on the runway. I could see some 6 planes on each side of the runway lined up in front of us. And many more joined behind us. It seems there are some regulations that call for extra distance between flights in such weather conditions... It was some 3 hours wait on the runway before our flight could finally take-off..

I thought we were set finally.. little did i realize that i would end-up in Denver instead of Austin..

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to be added.. !!

History and Geography!!

I shouldnt be here.. have loads on my head and so li'l time.. but then how can I resist posting a coool forward with historical facts and stuff.. ;)
Before I go to the history part of it.. let me tell you what the geography is all about... The next time I post, I guess that will be from the American Continent. yeah! I'm flying off to the USofA this friday night. Will be a short 3 weeks' business trip, but then, it will be Fun!!

coming back to History..
Here are some facts about the 1500's: These are interesting...

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. Hence, the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married. Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence. The floor was dirty. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet , so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance way. Hence the saying a "thresh hold."(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old." Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat." Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead-poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous. Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence, the custom of holding a "wake".

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a"bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tieit to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the"graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved bythe bell" or was considered a " dead ringer."And that's the truth... Now , whoever said that History was boring !
Educate someone...Share these facts with a friend.

Book Tag

Have been stuck by the book worm tag ;)
[Jammy Rammy, unna gavanichikkaraen http://ramanuj.blogspot.com/]

Number of books owned:
unlike the typical engineering guys, I didnt get to buy any (yes.. absolute zero) of the books during my BTech days. We had a very good College library and if, by chance, we couldnt get our books there, we had our hostel libraries as well. And if I couldnt get it even then, then that book didnt deserve to be read and I wouldnt ;)

And then, I was the library secretary of my hostel in my final year and so, I had access to the choicest of books.. non-academic especially.. and anyways I wasnt too academically inclined :P That must have been the best period of my bibliophilism.

But, then management was a different ball-game.. or book-game.. they gave each one of us all the books required 'brand new' compulsorily at the start of the term . Thus, I have a stockpile of
mgmt books.

And then, I have about 20-30 other books.

Last book bought:
"The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown.
I dont think this book needs any introduction or addendum.

Last book read(ing):
"The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom
Pretty good one.. I'm taking it in slowly.. it is philosophical.

Book in hand:
"Direct From Dell" by Michael Dell
Absolutely simple and common-sensical. Very relevant in this charged-up Computing era. If you want to know how one company, started just a couple of decades ago, has been rocking the world of IBMs and HPs.

My Favorite(s):
sci-fi: "Timeline" by Michael Crichton
humor: "The Inscrutable Americans" by Anurag Mathur
philosophy: "Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand
history and politics: "The Great Indian Novel" by Shashi Tharoor
in a class of its own: "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown
marketing: "Positioning" by Al Ries & Jack Trout
finance: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter
letter-writing: "Letters to the Penthouse" dont remember which series
photography: "Playboy" any issue that you can get your hand to :P

Each of them is a treat to be savored :)

5 books that mean a lot to me:
I dont know if it means a lot or not.. but all the above influenced me in some unique way.. ;)
And apart from them, "The Alchemist", "Tuesdays With Morrie", "Only Love is Real" and last but definitely not the least "Asterix" have made an impact on me.

Books I read as a kid:
Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Chandamama, a li'l bit of Tinkle (I read the entire Asterix and Tintin series only during my engineering!)

Who's next to be eaten by the tag worm:
Every one on Jammy Rammy's frequent-visiting blogs list ;)

Have Fun Like Hell !!

"Have Fun Like Hell !!
What a phrase..
But then, what the hell..
Have fun anyways!! "

Wow! That is inspiring and thought-provoking.

At times, I just wait for the right things to happen, the right results, the right mood..
to be happy and to have fun.

And at some such moments, I realize that I dont have to. I dont even have to wait for happiness to be happy. I can have fun any which way things are.. any which way I am. And I have been doing that.

See.. what meeting new people, opening up to life, some blog-hopping, checking mails at 4am after a week's backlog, blah blah blah can do. Well, its probably not about anything in particular. But then, it is a cumulative effect..

There is something that has been bothering me at times. And I was in two minds.. whether to blog it or not.. For one, it is my personal matter and nobody has any business with it. Second, I didnt want to hear any of those smart-alecky or sympathetic comments even in your head (yeah.. I can hear that.. in my mind's ears :) And third, I wasnt sure why I wanted to blog it.

But then, what the hell.. I'll go with my first choice.. of blogging it. 'I am taking a divorce. And I am clear that is what I want for myself and the people concerned.'

Two things about it. She is definitely one of the five people who have made a difference in my life. And everything that happens, happens for the best!

Bhaskar
4th of July!

One puff and half!

Ban on smoking and depiction of smokers in movies.. this was the topic of discussion in a few of my friends’ blogs, last week. Well..I think the ban is a good move. For one, it should put an end to the glorification of smoking and smokers in Indian movies. (For instance, actor Rajinikanth and his cigarette antics..) For another, it is a logical extension to the ban on smoking in public places. (Is it actually being implemented??)

But then that is not the reason for this post. I’m here to publish ‘Joey Bhasky’s laws of smoking’!!

But before that, here is a li’l background of the case. Looking at some of the reasons why people smoke.. craving and addiction to nicotine is one the most common reasons I have come across. A variation to this is the reason that they need a smoke to clear their head, to get their creative juices flowing, to stay awake, etc. Another common reason is that they smoke to kill time. (For these guys, I say, you cant kill time with your smoking.. your smoking would only kill you and the people around you. And time.. time will die a natural death ‘with the passage of time!’)

So, with that background, let me come straight to the Joey Bhasky’s laws of smoking ;)

The First Law:

Every smoker in a state of regular smoking tends to remain in that state unless an external force (read compulsion) is applied to it. (like their lover's or spouse’s ultimatum!)

The Second Law:

The pleasure from smoking is directly proportional to the number of people who admire his/her style of smoking and the number of free smokes he/she can lay hand to.

The Third Law:

Every puff has an equal and opposite ruff (on your lungs)

Now if you are interested in funding my research on smoking and smokers, feel free to contact my campaign coordinator Jam mentioned on the links!

Taggie!!

The proverbial devil has struck! I've been tagged....
The worst part is that I didnt even know what struck me.. :(

Anyways.. Here you are...

Three Names You Go By:
Bhasky
Bhas - Bedhha Bhas
Bhaachoo

Three Screen Names You Have Had:
Bhaskar
Joey - Joey Tribbs - Joey Tribbiani
B aka JT

Three Physical Things You Like About Yourself:
(arre.. yeh bhi koi question hai?!)
Triceps
Jaw line
Dimple(!)

Three Physical Things You Don't Like About Yourself:
(yaar..&*#%*$)
The slight tummy
Nose
Eyebrows

Three Parts Of Your Heritage:
Fighting Spirit
Will power
Lack of Wills power ;)

Three Things That Scare You:
scare? whats that??!!

Three Of Your Everyday Essentials:
Stretching myself (physically and otherwise)
Checking mails and blogs and stock prices :)
Good food and sweets

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
My watch
shorts and.. .. :P
A grin

Three Things You Want In A Relationship:
Honesty
Respect
Matching values and interests
Maturity
Common sense
Charm
Chemistry
Grace
Good voice
...oh you asked for 3 ?!

Two Truths and A Lie (in no particular order):
What is a lie?!
what is truth?
what is a lie well-told ??

Three Physical Things About the Opposite Sex That Appeal To You:
Height with grace
Charm
Sensibility (....and the not so common common sense!)

Three Things You Want To Do Really Badly Right Now:
Kill the person who tagged me ;)
Watch a good movie
Meet a friend

Three Careers You Are Considering:
Being a manager!! (yeah :)..thats a life long pursuit)
Being a writer
Being an Executive Coach

Three Places You Want To Go On Vacation:
Seychelles
whichever is that place.. rock climbing !!
Swiss Alps

Three Kids Name You Like:
Babloo
Kutti
Dinku (remember the ad?!)

Three Things You Want To Do Before You Die:
Own a jet
Make loads of friends
Make a difference to life

People Who Have To Take The Quiz Now:
ha haa haaa!!

Cerebral Shangrila
Chandoo
Govar
Jam
Manoj
Neha
Ram
Ramesh
Shub
The Carp
Venguttu I
Venkat L

will add to this list soon!!

Compulsary Post! - Parineeta

Hmmm... I'm waiting for one larrrrrge file to download.. Apparently some hugely funny guy.. Russel Peters.. canadian-born Indian or something.. anyways, i'll let you know once i get to see it.

So, here I am.. trying to think of something to post.. Haannn.. 'Parineeta'.. I caught this movie last saturday night. It is a very nice movie. I say 'a must watch'. Actually, I never expected it to be so good. I was wary of Saif Ali Khan in a serious role.. I was scared to death with the thought- 'what if Saif tries to cry in the movie'.. Thank God, he doesnt. And the movie wasnt so serious afterall.

Saif plays something that comes quite naturally to him.. the carefree, irresponsible egoistic young man who cant express himself and silently revolts within. Well, thats what I think of him.. some of you might ask me to watch the movie again.. but then.. I will not!

Vidya has given a splendid performance. She looks a natural before the camera and I'm amazed at how well she has done those intimate scenes ;)

Materials of Change

How I wish time just fast forwards itself and sets me down at the end of this year! I have so many plans to complete/accomplish before the end of the year and I want to know and live the end of the year now itself..

But then, at many other times, I'm happy the way things are moving.. or may be I want it to go slow.. cos if it moves any faster, I would be losing out on that much more time to accomplish what I want. This is probably what is called the pull of contradictions.. tension of the opposites by Morrie in the book "Tuesdays with Morrie". (Yeah! I've been reading some books off-late.. and this one is a nice short book.. a good companion on a train or flight journey)

Coming back to the things I want to accomplish, I've quite a small list.. but then it is going to be tough..challenging. Things like buying a house.. not any house.. I already have my eyes set on something and it will be a dream-come-true if I can pull it off.. buying an SUV.. settling some personal stuff.. possibly a legal battle.. etc.. etc..

Which brings me to something else mentioned in the same book.. ['greed, and how we as people put our values in the wrong things'. We put our values in money, cars, clothes, and many others, but we all know that that is the wrong place to put our heart. I’m sure that we have all heard the quote, “When you die, you can’t take it with you".] I would not agree to the term 'wrong', I dont subscribe to the view that being materialistic is wrong. But then, I do understand the hazard of making material things more significant than the intangible things in life. Again, another tension of opposites, as I would prefer to view it!

Laughs...anyone?

This is too good! A great collection..
Courtesy http://dagnyspeaksat.blogspot.com/

These are Ads taken from shaadi.com. These are actual ads on the matrimony site. Grammar and spell errors have no place in a profile description as everything is straight from the heart!

Disclaimer : I am not responsible if you forget your basic grammar after reading this.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Hello To Viewvers My Name is Sowmya , I am single i dont have male, If anyone whant to marrie to me u can visite to my home. I am not a good educationbut i working all field in bangalroe.. if u like me u welcome to my heart...when ever u whant to meet pls viset my resident or send u letter.. Thanksyours Regards Sowmya ~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i want very simple boy. from brahmin educated family from orissa state sheis also know about RAMAYAN, GEETA BHAGABATA, and other homework(Homework?)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wants a man who knows me better and can adjust with me forever. he may nevercreate any difficulties in my life or his life by which the entire life canrun smoothly. thank you(The principle of running life smoothly was never so easy!)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
he should be good looking and should have a service. he Shoulsd have onebrother and one sister. he should be educated.(ain't it unique !! 1 brother 1 sister criteria !)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am a happy-go-lucky kind of person. Enjoys every moments of life. I love to make friendship. Becauese friendship is a first step of love. I am looking for my dreamboy who will love me more than i. Because i love myself a lot. If u think that is u then why to late come on ........hold my hand forever !!!(The dilwale dulhaniya effect)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i am simple girl.I have lot of problem in my life because of my luck now i am looking one boy he care me and love me lot lot lot(I don't know why but this is one of my favorites)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My husband should be as 'Shiva' as in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki and as Tanwerr asin KSBKBT......(Ok I haven't seen these soaps but I am sure she must be demanding too much, ain't he?)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i want a boy with no drinks if he wants he can wear jeans in house but while steping out of house he should give recpect to our cast(by not wearing his jeans? Wat the hell...)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HYE I AM A GOOD LOKING GIRL,WHO HAS THE CAPABILITY TO MAKE ANY BODY TOLOUGH.I BELIEVE IN GOD AND ACCORDING TO ME FRIENDS ARE THE REAL MESSENGER OFGOD. THE 3 THINGS I AM LOOKING FROM A BOY ,THEY ARE 1.THEY MUST BELIEVE INGOD.2. THEY HAVE TO LIKE MY PROFFESION AND THEY SHOULD NOT GET BORED WITHME WHEN I WILL TRY TO MAKE THEM LOUGH.(all of us are loughing{laughing})
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
whatever he may be but he should feel that he is going to be someone groomand he must think of the future life if he is toolike this he would bdecalled the man of the lamp(I am clueless, I feel so lost. Can anyone tell me what this girl wants)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i love my patner i marriage the patner ok i search my patner and i love thepatner ok thik hai the patner has a graduate ok(I am again clueless but I liked the use of "ok". The person is sufferingfrom "Ok-syndrome")
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HI IAM VERY COOL NUATHER OK MY HOBBY IS SEE T.V AND NEWS OK I HAVE 1 CAR AND1 BONWL OK MY MOTHER ALSO GOOD OK MY FARUET WORLD IS OK(the "ok syndrome" again)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
iam pranati my family histoy my two brother two sister and fater&mothersister complity marred(somebody please explain in comments section how to get married'completely'?)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
iam very simpel and hanest. i have three sister one brother and parent.iam doing postal sarvice and tailor master my original resdence at kalahandidiste naw iam staing at rayagada dist.(actually what is this girl doing? Postal service or tailor.??)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
my name is farhanbegum and i am unmarried. pleaes you marrige me pleaespleaes pleaes pleaes pleaes pleaes pleaes(height of desperation! ;) )~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Iwant one boy who love me or my mother. he love me heartly or he havea frankhe's skin colour 'normal'not a black or not a whitey. IThink the main thinkis heart if your heart is beautiful then you are beautiful.butiam not a handsome girl or not a good looking. but my Mom say that Iam agood girl. My father already expired . iam ''AEKLAUTA''. THE CHOICE IS YOUR.bye bye.(uttama purishinin)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
iam kanandevi. i do owo businas.one sistar.he was marred.(No comments)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I AM LITTLE FAIR INDIAN COLOUR. I DON'T HAVE ANY HABIT.(maybe the poor guy meant BAD habits)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
hello i am a good charactarised woman. i want to run my life happily. i divorced my first husband. his charactor is not good'. i expect the goodminded and clean habits boy who may be in the same caste or other caste accepted ...(but credit cards not accepted..???)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
my colour is black,but my heart is white.i like social service(Zebra..???)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i'm looking out for who lives in bombay, boy simple who trust me lot shouldbe roman catholic, LOVE ME ONLY.(Now that criterion is a must, isn't it?)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
to be married on jan-2005. working man perferable(this girl has fixed the marriage date too! But she is yet to find a bridegroom.I wish her best of luck on behalf of all of us. I am sure she will get onesoon.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i would like a beautyfull boy. and i do not want his any treasure.because boy is the maharaja.(Now he is going to be a lucky boy! Any takers?)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ssc failed three times and worked with privated ltd company which not paying salary at present.(Any takers again?)

Anonymous blogs vs Identified blogs

There are a lot of things that I would have wanted to post on – if only I had an anonymous blog - which I haven’t. Now that my office people and even my counterparts on the other side of the globe know about my blog (!!), I have an even greater responsibility on my shoulders :)

That actually takes me onto two things.. one, I don’t think I can ever maintain a totally anonymous blog. It just isn’t me. Even if I start something like that, I would leave it unattended for quite a long time before I again find the desire to post anonymously. (For that matter, this blog started anonymously with the blog name of Joey Tribbiani and within a few minutes I knew I would never continue with it and shifted to my original name)

Two, having an identified blog is such a responsibility which increases with the viewership category. If it is like this for me with just a small-time blog, how will it be for a big-time blogger like Kiruba (you know about Kiruba and his famous Trisha post, don’t ya?!?) and for a famous personality.. in real life?

( may be continued or may not be continued!)

Machao Delhi!

I had a tottttal machao time in Delhi, Noida & Gurgaon.. 3 states in 3 days.. And if one of us had had an suv/car, we would visited some more states too!

The capital has great infrastructure.. esp. the roads.. man... it was heavenly.. those wide roads and smooth traffic.. only a bangalorean can appreciate that ;) And of course, the malls and 'maall's in gurgaon and noida were great... the cool thing in the otherwise roasting heat...

But the best part was the riot we guys had together. On saturday, I reached Delhi just-in-time for the mini-gettogether of my batchmates at Rodeos, CP - Delhi on saturday evening.

and the party continued at one of my friends, Subbu's place, Noida with about five of us staying over. Booze brings out the best of bakar.. These guys were sooo OUT and at 3am we starting calling the guys in delhi, mumbai, hyd, b'lore and all places.. In all, we should have woken some 20 - 30 of our mates..

We posed 3 very serious and tough questions to each of them.. ( This is for the benefit of the people who missed the quiz and want to re-take it)
1. who is the CM of UP, Uttar Pradesh?
supplementary question 1.a If you think it is Mayawati, then who is Sonia Gandhi???!
2. where do we get daaru(booze) in noida at this time.. (3am)
3. This is a caselet coming your way..we want to go to chandigarh and we had booked a cab.. but the cab hasnt arrived yet. so, where can we get a helicopter at this time and what are the rates ?!?!

Some of the guys were called back in an hour's time to check if they had the answers yet... ;) ;)

This weekend..

Here is my plan... Am leaving for delhi today.. 21st.. and in the evening I'll catch up with my batchmates at a small get-together at greater kailash.. sunday i plan to be in gurgaon with my friend and on monday I'll get back to Delhi staying at a guest house in rao tula ram marg. Tuesday morning, I have some official work and then by evening I'll be back in bangalore..

Only hitch.. I dont have roaming on my mobile :(

So.. anybody has any suggestions on what to do during my time in delhi or somebody wants to catch up with me.. feel free to 'comment' or mail me...

Been a long day!

Its really been a long day..

First, it was the Bangalore International Marathon.. Yeah! I ran the 7kms 'Celebration Run'. Day begun at 6.30am (what a sunday!) and me and my two cousins reached the Sri Kanteerava stadium by around 8.10am. The Full Marathon and the Half Marathon were already in progress. And there was a huge turnout.. looked like some 10000 or so people waiting for the 7km wala.. (you will get the actual figures in the newspapers in about a couple of hours..) Lots of babes too ;)

So, there I was.. looking to run my first marathon and also trying to figure out if my exercises and joggin in the gym has had any effect. And I actually completed the run in about 39 mins. Thats a pretty decent time for my standards and even among approx 8000 of the 9999 odd brave guys and gals who had turned up there :)

After that, I came back home and got ready to go to my friend's new house Grahapravesham. For those of you who know my batch, it was Sachin Prasad aka SP's house-warming function. And his place was a hot 20kms away from mine.. So, there I was in the afty, getting together with many of my batchmates and having fun and lunch.

Then, I went with one of my friends to his house and spent another couple of hours chatting, bhatting..

And then, at 4 'o clock I was at the MG road Barista for the bangalore bloggers' meet... Only to realize after about an hour that the meet was the St. Marks road Barista. Reached them finally and spent a cool 2 and half hours getting to know these guys and gals.. And generally introducing ourselves and talking and all that. I had known Venkat of IIML and Laka Laka Laka fame, Shub, and Kiruba to some extent thro' their blogs and finally I met them in flesh today. It was nice to meet many bloggers and soon I'll start reading their blogs as well.. You can find more updates and pics on these other bloggers' sites. Also check http://www.anitabora.com/blog/

And then, by 8pm I was totally exhausted.. But then some good food, cool bangalore breeze (when on the bike) and talking to a couple of my very good friends (in that order ;) has rejuvenated me again.. So, here I am at 1am.. filing this post :)

Chow! Bye Bye!!

Love.....

Sooooooo much of joy
that wring my heart, and
leave me yearning
with the unquenchable thirst for life!

Teachers....

Amazing guys...

We have a school friends' egroup and we started reminiscing abt our school teachers. And the discussion has taken me back in time... and I just realized that its been 10 yrs since we left school!!! man... thats been a long time :)

I remember almost all the teachers who I've studied with.. Some of them are still there at the school and some arent. But, its great just to think of them. They will always hold a special place in my heart!

Not everything here would make sense to everyone of you.. still..

The english mam in 11th and 12th was Mangala Ranganathan and yes, she died a couple of yrs after our batch. And before that, our very own Padma Dorairajan who used to live kinda opposite to one of the cricket grounds that we used to play.. near Prasanna's house i guess.. And in 6th or 7th, it was Sulochana teacher who used shout like "daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaei", "ennna daaaa rubber maari irundhukittu thullara"

She used to ask us to write one question and answer every day as home work and she would spend the first ten mins or so correcting them in the class row-by-row.. And I and some people who would be sitting on the last benches would start writing that homework in the class when she starts her round. And we would pick one small Q&A.. typically one-line answer and keep writing the same everyday.. She didnt notice it for a longtime ;) And once she found out, Prem Shankar got the beatings... (as he's the person sitting on the corner of the bench!)

The last time I visited our school, Modern Senior Secondary School, Nanganallur, Chennai, I spoke to the Principal & Secretary, Ganga Prabhu teacher, Girijas (both of them), Indra teacher, Padmavathy teacher (LP - compu), Computer Lab Sir, Madhavan sir and our dear Feetisir :) Even Sundarakanchana ma'm (biology) recognized me though didnt know my name.

Kalpana teacher who pitched-in (as Savitha ma'm was leaving for Canada) for our 12th std had left the school and went to Muscat or some place after a couple of years. I still remember her in one orange saree.. Amazingly beautiful and serene! And a very nice person who was totally interested in clearing all our doubts (and typically it was Madhavan 'n Sekar going with all the IIT level doubts after the class)

And talking of beautiful ma'ms how can one forget Saira Vachali who took our biology classes in 8th and I guess was also the class teacher for sometime.

...
Bhaskar

PS: Another person I fondly recall is Prema miss, She was my class teacher in UKG or 1st std, Vivekananda Vidyalaya, Chromepet, Chennai

Taek-wan-do

One of my cousins is going to Taek-wan-do classes in the US. He has gone to the US on training for about 1.5 years and he's been having fun there for the past 1 year. Now, suddenly one day he said that he went for his first class of Taek-wan-do there. And it seems he couldnt move his hand or leg the next day. That reminded me of my own trist with Taek-wan-do.

I've been interested and more than interest.. curious in all these karate, taekwando, judo etc since my childhood.. But it so happened that I never joined any of them.. Not that I was too focussed on studies.. in fact, I have been actively involded in Scouts and the Duke of Edinburgh's Scheme and all that.. and I used to play a lot of sports till atleast my 11th std. (I did my entire schooling in Chennai). There were some judo classes happening within the school premises itself(4th - 5th std).. Still..

When I went to Kharagpur, I think it was during my second year, I decided to check-out Taek-wan-do. I went and spoke to the instructor and he inducted me in. The next day I had my first session. It was just warm-up.. Some exercises.. stretchings.. situps.. pushups.. and then I blacked-out!! That moment I decided that all this Taek-wan-do and all is good to talk about and see (others doing it).. but definitely not my cup of tea or boost ;)

Its another story how I started with the gym and how I have done it in various pockets of abt 2 mths each at various points in time.. but, that is something that I'm into, slow and steady!! And I intend to do it regularly from now on.. (I've been gymming continuously for the past one month now :) You wanna join ?!?!

Reallusion !

great poem.. donno who wrote it... or which computer wrote it..
But can you see its uniqueness???!!!
-Bhaskar

'Illusion is itself reality', Yeah!
that was what I thought, and,
reality engulfs illusion.
Happy felt I that I knew, Smiled I.

there was, of course, doubt. No clarity was there,
but, I learnt, I laughed, I cried, as
'the years' passed by life, t'seemed.
One million questions asked I, but, was I answered?

........I continue to dream, and,
dream to continue, I.......

Answered I was, but, I asked questions, million one!
T'seemed life bypassed 'the years' as cried I,
laughed I, learnt I, but, there was clarity.
No doubt, of course, was there. I smiled.

Knew I, that I felt happy.
Illusion engulfs reality.
And thought I, what was that?
yeah! reality itself is illusion.

Tirumala - Tirupati

Hmmm.. I was at Tirumala – Tirupati last week. Had taken a couple of days off from work and was there to attend some puja ‘Vasanthotsavam’ my parents and relatives had booked for us. We were some 11 people who arrived in 3 groups at Tirupati and got together there before again splitting into 3 groups on our way up the hill.

Let me explain.. I and my cousins had initially planned to walk the stairs up the hill. It’s a 3hr climb and I have done that some 4 -5 times in my life. (I must’ve visited Tirumala some 10 -15 times.. earlier, we used to visit the temple almost every year.) But this time, just a couple of days before the ascent, my left knee was paining a bit.. I’d probably hurt myself in the gym.. and hence, I decided to take the bus uphill. Thus got the 3-way split - there was one group that visiting some temples in Tirupati (downhill).. and me going up by bus and my cousins walking up.

Anyways.. now I am at the richest temple in India and probably the world too. And what do I see? Money.. commercialism.. Indians are very creative when it comes to making small-time money. There were soooooo many jeeps manning the roads and offering rides across the hill-station to the pilgrims. Tirumala has some ‘free’ buses but I’m sure these guys have some kinda deal with the bus drivers.. and I guess Murphy’s law will also aid the jeepers.

There’s a facility to transport the luggage for the pilgrims walking up the hill. Though this facility is supposed to be “free”, again the operators and enablers request you for ‘something’.

The accommodation on the hill is at very nominal rates… very good cottages for just Rs.100 per day. But the caretaker requests you for money supposedly for cleaning the room after you vacate.

And so on…

Even, Cool drinks are at a premium – Rs.7 Coke is available for Rs. 9

Somehow, the whole trip for me was a reminder of the state of India… diversities and contrasts. For example, they give anyone free food at the temple. Still there are beggers around..

Note: Tirupati ‘laddus’ are world-famous - atleast among the Indian diaspora. But they are also in short-supply. Its so difficult to buy them at the designated counters these days..

Am Back..

Just to let the world know that I'm back... in India..
well.. I never got out of India.. but then.. never mind..!!

Sweet Child O' Mine

She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face
She takes me away to that
special place
And if I stared too long
I'd probably break down and cry

Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine

She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I hate to look into those eyes
And see an ounce of pain
Her hair reminds me
of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder
And the rain
To quietly pass me by

Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine

Where do we go
Where do we go now
Where do we go
Sweet child o' mine




Amazing song... I just love it..

"Sweet Child O' Mine" Copyright Guns N' Roses 1988
From the album "Appetite For Destruction" Released November 30th 1988

Happy New Year!

Well.. It's Tamil New Year Day today.. As Also Vishu - Mallu New Year day... As also Baisakhi - Punjabi New Year Day..

Happy New Year to y'all !!

And we also have our superstar's movie being released today.. Chandramukhi!

What do I write?

What do I write? I don’t know… there are so many things around.. that I don’t know what to write! Hmm… let me talk abt accents.. that is something I get to hear often given the BPO setup that I’m in. my gawd! What accents.. at times I just cant bear to listen to all those crap.. the put-on kinds. But there are some who have actually imbibed the accent - probably given their continuous interaction with the Americans.. its interesting to hear them and notice the subtle ways in which they differ from the rest. But I think I need a lot of practice on enunciations. I hear myself a lot these days too.. all my conference calls with my US counterpart are recorded for documentation purposes. And it sounds horrible at times.. i’m someone who didn’t bother with my accent or enunciations.. the focus was on speaking and conveying.. may be that comes with the kind-of monotonous madras tamil that I speak. (all the properly enunciated tamil seems too ancient.. Sangha Thamizh) I do understand the importance now. Anyway, better late than never..

Recognition ;)

Life is full of funny incidents. Yesterday was one such day for me. Well.. let me tell you what happened.. and you decide for yourself..

Dell provides door-to-door pick-up to all its employees. Yesterday they changed the cabs along the different routes. The new cab driver called me up, took directions and with some difficulty, reached my home. We were to pick-up another gal on the way to office. The driver requested me to call her and get the directions to her place. She lived at a place called Jayamahal. I spoke to her and took the directions and earnestly lost the way. (see.. it was her fault.. she didn't know how to lead anyone to her house properly!) One wrong turn and we landed in front of the Cantonment railway station. I called her up again, told her our location and got the new route from that place (there are a lot of one-ways in Bangalore, in case you don't know) and again lost our way ;) (I told you na.. she just didn't know how to guide someone to her house.. once a bad navigator, always a bad navigator!).

Ab kya karen.. had her call me and took real-time directions (running commentary types) and finally reached her place. She looked Hep with bandana and all.. but then you know na.. most of these BPO gals are like that.. stylish, sexy, accentuated et al. So, she got into the cab and spoke just a few words and then turned the other side. Well, she had been standing on the road for quite sometime waiting for us to arrive. So, I thought she's probably cursing me under the breadth or something.. she didn't want me to know and hence, turned the other side :) After sometime, I recalled that the group that she was working with was very much similar to my own.. in that.. both weren't part of the typical call-center operations and there were only a few such groups in Dell. I was curious and asked her about her floor and she said 'ground floor'.

Hmm…I was even more surprised now 'cos I was also in the ground floor. Our floor is usually filled with call operations and the babes start pouring in only by 6pm. At 2pm, there are hardly two gals. One of them is quite good-looking, dresses pretty well (no.. not the lack-of-it kinds ;), sexy and all that and I have been 'eye'ing her at times when I pass that corner! Oh my gawd! I realized that it's the same gal in the cab right beside me!!! I didn't know I was so bad at recognizing people.. gals in particular :) She might have recognized me.. no wonder she was looking the other way! God knows what she must have been thinking.. 'sight adikkaradhum adichitti ippa theriyadha maari nadikkaraan paaru..!!'.. 'line bhi maartha hai aur ab achcha bachcha jaise act kartha hai!!' or something to that effect.. my gawd! I had a tough time controlling my laughter. Once I reached my cubicle, I just burst out laughing and all my cub-mates were wondering "what's gone wrong with him?!" :)

Bhaskar

Angel Falls

Angel Falls.. what a name.. like a paradox.. Truth fails..
But it actually the name of a waterfalls in South America.. Venezuela.. Ammmmmazing place.. I saw it on the AXN over the weekend.. some program by the name "Hollywood's best Stunt scenes". It seems the stunt guys had a free fall of about 15secs in the air before opening their parachutes.

I would love to see the place.. stand on the edge.. and look down the entire length.. Dont know if I would dare the free fall though.. THAT depends.. ;)

http://www.venezuelatuya.com/gransabana/saltoangeleng.htm
http://gosouthamerica.about.com/library/weekly/nangel.htm

In my childhood (when I was abt 3yrs old!), my parents took me to Vizag to one of my relatives' place. He was working for HPCL and they had this wonderful quarters - British style bungalow- on top of a hill facing the sea. We could see the ships docked at the harbour. There was a big tree.. dont remember which one.. just on the edge. And that had a swing on it. And I remember the swing that took one far away.. into the free air.. crossing the edge.. Man.. That was amazing!

I've had quite many dreams in my life related to that particular setting ever since.. I dont know whats the significance.. do you?

Bhaskar

"A Small Step for Man.. !

But a Giant Step for Mankind.."
Thus spoke Armstrong..
And the purists were enraged.. 'cos of the grammatical error..
But then.. what the hell!

YEAH!! I've gone 'B' :)
Got my broadband finally!!

Bhaskar

As a Guide

The past 2 days, I'd taken the role of a guide taking my manager from the US to places in 'n around Bangalore and Mysore. And discovered that I knew quite a good bit about these places :)
The Safari at the Bannerghetta National Park, shopping at Forum, Big Bazaar, Cauvery, Cottage Inds Emporium and ISKCON temple in bangalore and Srirangapatna, Mysore Palace, Balmury and KRS Brindavan gardens over 2 days... Was a bit hectic, but sure was good and thanks to his adventurous spirit, he enjoyed it too!

He has a pilot's license and has said that he'll take me flying on a Cessna when I get to spend some time in Texas ;)

Will post some pics soon. Yaar, this broadband is taking forever. Chodoonga nahi..

Bhaskar

Pappu Pass Ho Gaya!!

Yeh! Finally.. I got my diploma ;) actually.. Post graduate diploma in Management
Its so nice to see almost all of my batchmates here back on the hilltop and invariably everyone had got along someone of their near and dear (read family) to share the occasion. I had my parents with me here.

We didnt have the ceremonial cap.. just a gown and scarf on top our formal attire. And at the end of the ceremony and rituals, we through our scarfs up in the air and shouted in chorus "pappu pass ho gaya!!"



BTW: this pic was taken with my mobile Sony Ericsson K508i

Chance

Got a chance to post... and here I am!
Things going well.. Transitions everywhere :)
At work, transitioning business processes from the Americas to here.. Trainings, trainings and more trainings..
At home, working on going 'e' or rather 'b' (broadband)
At the personal level, quite some transitions..
some of them are..
-would be changing my mobile number (again).. fed up with these airtel guys.. anyway, hope an airtel corporate conn would be better.. or is it?
-started going in my office cab from y'day.. door to door cabs are cool.. but, i'll have to get used to the jolting..
-and then, i'll get my diploma soon!! going to indore on friday night.. will be back on the 24th
That's for now..
tata,
Bhaskar

Control + Alternative + DELL

YAhooo!!! I've just now been sounded out an informal offer from DELL. Just that they want me to wrap-up my holidays fast.. actually they have asked me to join next week itself.

Looks like I'll accept this offer. But then, anyway, I'll be there for the Convo...
Chow!!

Bhaskar

The Chemistry That Was!

If you are reading this chemistry series for the first time and even otherwise, since it was quite sometime since the last post, do read the previous posts “Chemistry!”, “The Chemistry”, and “The Chemistry That _________!” in that order. :)

Bhaskar
_______________________________________________________


The Chemistry That Was!

Somehow the entire weekend was going too slow for me.. even though I spent the most of my time with my dear friends in Chennai, still I was very restless. I was cursing myself for not taking her mobile number or atleast some contact number in Chennai. ‘But then, she would have given me if there was one, wouldn’t she?’ ‘I didn’t see any mobile with her’ ‘How can she give her contact number in Chennai to someone who she has just met on the train and even if he is from the same office?’ That’s how my mind was trying to console me…

Finally the appointed time arrived and I had actually reached the Chennai central railway station much earlier.. more than an hour earlier (which was very much against my values and principles of JIT (Just-In-Time), but then there were always exceptions to the rule!) I even bought two tickets on Tatkal (for the funda behind this, pls refer the previous episode ;) and had stocked myself with a 500ml bottle of Sprite and 2 bars of Nut ‘n Treat (her fav as I had found out during the small(!) talk on the fateful Friday).

So, there I am... beside the electronic weighing machine (there was only one those days) close to the main entrance of the railway station. Five mins.. ten mins.. time seemed to be ticking off like on a time bomb, but she was nowhere to be seen. Was she another late lathief*? Well, I was already standing on my toes… it was just another ten mins before the train would depart. And I was getting torn apart… it was like a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.. well, not exactly.. but then I didn’t have the time to think of a better one. I had to decide and decide fast.. what if she didn’t turn up.. what if she turned up at the last minute.. what if she turned up JIT and miss me since I would have already moved to the train and she wouldn’t know where to find me.. the money I had spent and which would go waste was the least on my mind that time.

Slowly I was moving towards my train and by the time I reached my berth I was comfortably numb. The disappointment was just too much to take. At the same time, I was worried and concerned about her. ‘what happened to her?’ ‘did she meet with an accident or what?’ those were the little voices at the back of my head…

I lost track of time as I was moving in and out of my sleep. And in that state of semi-consciousness I went about the routine of alighting at the Bangalore City, catching the pre-paid auto, reaching home, sleeping for a couple of hours more, finally getting up and reaching office on the bright Monday morning. And of course, the first thing I did on reaching office was to find out if Deepa was in. I went up to the receptionist and asked for her with the tech support team. And the answer I got had me seeing-stars-in-stark-daylight. There was no person by that name in the team!!

My first perceptible thought was that it should be some mistake but then she confirmed with one of the team members. There was no Deepa in the team and there was only one Deepa in the whole office.. Deepa Nagesh, married, project manager, semiconductors group. Definitely not her….

What kind of a cruel prank could this be?? How can she lie to me and that too get away with that???? I’ve heard of glib liars but that was the first time I met someone in reality... my gawd.. did I have to meet someone like that at all? how did she know certain details about me and my office? Was she actually from my office but with a different real name? My mind was whacking me with questions…

By the end of the day, I had resigned myself to the fate. Still unable to accept the disappointment I put on my crib-shoes and turned to my faithful companion.. the yahoo messenger…randomly cribbing with whoever I could find online.. one of them was my long-time online friend, someone whose pen name was Saki and who had refused to give her real identity. After a couple of mins into the chat, she messaged back to say “Bhaskar, I have a confession to make”, “no, actually many confessions”. I visualized some bulb switching on and glowing somewhere.. “Saki, pls give me some good news” “Ok.. let me put it this way.. Bhaskar, I’m romantically attracted to you!!”

Concluded
_________________________________________________
*late lathief – I don’t know how this term originated but then it is used to denote the chronic late comers

Rock a Doodle Doo :)

welllll... guys.. How are you doin'?

Am settling down in cozy bangalore and my material.. cargo hasnt reached yet. Those GATI guys are taking a longer time than what they promised. Let me sue them...

Heh.. Had an interview with the most profitable PC company (in fact, only two in the whole branded PC world are profitable, it seems) just on the day I landed here and now the next level guy from the US is going to call me for a telephonic interview.. hopefully tonight itself. It'll be nice if this works out... I can stay here itself :)

And then, I heard abt one of our guys being offered the post of Country Manager by Wockhardt. Hmm.. the rocking continues... !!

Chow!
Bhaskar
PS: yes.. yes.. I'll post the concluding part of the 'chemistry'.. soon.. as soon as I'm done with this tele stuff.. :)

I Rocks!!!

Wow!! It feeels really good that everyone of my mates is placed by Day Zero itself!!! Feels good is an understatement.. Man.... IIM Indore Rocks!!!!!!!!

Placement Process wrapped up on Day Zero with many good companies having to return empty-handed. With about 1.8 jobs per person and companies like Deutsche Bank coming first time on campus and fighting it out for our Topper among others definitely bodes well for I!

Kudos to the Placom, you guys are amazing. Now... You only have your own record to beat :)
200% percent placement within Day Zero for a 100% bigger batch. You dare?????!!!!!!

Bhaskar
Covansys Chennai, Here I come ;)

The Chemistry that ...!

To understand the situation and to recall to mind, read the previous posts “Chemistry!” and “The Chemistry!”, in that order.

Bhaskar
_______________________________________________________
(cont.. )

Gathering my wits and realizing that if not anything, atleast I wouldn’t be facing any chappal slaps, I decided to speak to her. Well, it is not every other day that one gets to meet such a lovely girl and that too under such a circumstance, you see! Though I had absolutely no idea what I was going to talk, her captivating eyes and the dimpled chin gave me a sense of purpose like never before :)

I went to her side and said a simple ‘hi!’. She reciprocated the monosyllable with a grin and sat up thereby making space for me to sit. Easing into position, I asked her:
“why were you staring at me?!”

“staring? may be.. but, dont tell me that you haven’t seen me earlier!!”

I wasn’t sure of that, but then..

“well... i would never say to a girl your age that I haven’t seen you..
just that i dont remember where!” ;)

“oh comon... we work in the same office.”

“Duh! ... “
Oh.. that explains it...
Our group had moved in from Unit 4 to the new campus “Millennia” only that Monday. But then, how could I have missed noticing HER in the office? May be I was a bit too distracted by the settling-down issues and the urgent customer escalation that I had to handle as soon as we got the things working in the new building.

By now the guy in the adjacent berth (who was trying his Romeo antics earlier) was looking at us but we were beyond concern and didn’t bother with such insignificant things ;)

We were talking for quite sometime and during the conversation, found out that her name was Deepa and that she was with the tech support group. She hailed from Indore and she was of the living-with-friends-in-Bangalore-due-to-job kind. She was visiting a relative in Chennai and she was also returning back to Bangalore on the Sunday night but had planned to return by bus as she couldn’t get a reservation in the trains.

I also didn’t have any reservation but then, from my frequent visits, I had cultivated the friendship of some TTEs* and got to know that typically a few Tatkal** tickets are unused and can be purchased about an hour before the train’s departure from the TTE room at the Chennai Central Railway station. Now here was another chance to impress her and how can I miss that ?!! She did seem to be happy to travel by train but tried to give some excuse. Using a bit of my charm and after some convincing, she agreed. Even if we don’t get the train tickets, later we could always board one of the numerous tourist buses starting right in front of the railway station.

By then, it was already 12.30pm. We worked out the details of our rendezvous for the Sunday night, exchanged ‘good night’s and ‘sweet dream’s and parted. What with the excitement of meeting her again on Sunday, it was not until another hour that I could actually sleep.

(To be concluded)
_____________________________________________________
TTE* - Traveling Ticket Examiner

Tatkal** - Special railway reservation available one day prior to the date of travel at some extra cost

Hey!

Hey!

Have my final placements and stuff going on now and hence, I'm taking some time in posting here. I didnt want to leave the story hanging but then I've ended up doing that. Sorry!
Lemme try and post it tomorrow..

Ba'bye,
Bhaskar

The Chemistry!

Happy V’Day Dudes and Dudettes!!

If you have just wandered to this page.. I suggest you read the previous post “chemistry!” before reading this.

Have (safe) fun! as always ;)
Bhaskar

__________________________________________

The Chemistry! cont..

I was amazed at my own luck that lovely Friday night. I had gotten this ticket out of the blue. Actually, I was traveling on someone else’s ticket. It was a sudden decision to go to Chennai and I contacted our local travel desk.. Bala.

Bala is my friend working in the same office (yes, the same building.. Millennia.. next to Ulsoor lake) who used to travel almost every weekend to Chennai. And he was also a very friendly and cheerful guy. Thus, he soon became the friendly neighborhood travel agent for our circle of friends and close acquaintances – the weekend traveling bachelors. He had even created a yahoo group for the purpose. Anyone who has a reserved ticket to / from Chennai and is thinking of canceling the ticket would contact him. He, in turn, would inform the others thro’ the yahoo group. And usually, there would be no need to cancel the ticket :) (There would invariably be one or two people traveling by bus and any day, train is preferable)

On Friday morning I decided that I had to go to Chennai that evening itself and contacted Bala. As luck would have it, just then somebody had informed Bala about an unused ticket. That is how I had landed my ticket that fateful Friday night.

And now I’m sitting in the adjacent coupe to this dream-like girl! From experience I knew that once contact has been established, one should appear a bit aloof. It should seem as if we are doing something else quite casually and at the same time we should be vigilant for the opportune time to strike a conversation. It is all about confidence and belief!!

Now that she was talking to some bloke half-heartedly (you can know that, cant you?!), I tried reading a couple of pages from the novel. Soon she ended the chatting and took out a blanket and stuff and also the latest issue of the ‘India Today’ and settled into a comfortable reclining position. As usual, in my attempt at reading, I got thinking about a conversation I had had the previous week with one of my close friends. We were talking about girls and ‘sight seeing’ and how at times they also ogle at you. One thing got to the other and he said that he would wink at any good looking girl who is ogling at him.

This went on for sometime and then, she put her magazine down and was looking directly at me. It seemed as if she was trying to make up her mind on something.. whether to make the first move or not?? I didn’t know. But, that moment I gathered some courage and gave her a *wink*!

Even to this day I don’t know why I did that. Anyway, she stopped whatever that she was thinking and was looking at me. She kinda surveyed the scene and the next moment, she winked back!! Man….I was shocked to say the least :)

I froze that moment and I had absolutely no clue what was to follow… but for that, you will have to wait too ;)

Chemistry!

It has been a overdose of senti for the past few days.. its time for some light romance.
Its V-day eve folks! What better way to welcome St.Valentine than a love story!!

I’m sure it would resemble your own love story at some point or the other. Cos this is the ultimate love story! Any resemblance is unintentional though very welcome ;)

Love stories come out so well in the first person. That why I’ve chosen to write it in the first person. Let me give the disclaimer here.. This is not my own love story… definitely not in its entirety!

Bhaskar
__________________________________________

Chemistry

It was one lovely Friday night in a strangely not-so-packed Chennai Mail. I donno how I got to think about that day now. Something reminded me of our rendezvous on the train from Bangalore to Chennai.

That’s when I saw her (rather noticed her) for the first time. I noticed this girl who I thought was inadvertently staring at me. She was sitting in the side lower berth in the adjacent coupe. I was just about settling into the lower berth facing her side. I immediately opened my bag and took out my friend, philosopher and guide at such moments - a novel. It didn’t matter which novel, it was comforting none-the-less.

Slowly, I took another look at her. She was now talking to some guy.. must be just another guy, trying his Romeo antics! Little did he know that she was MY Juliet ;)

Something about her caught my gaze. She was very attractive and looked strangely familiar. Poring into my novel I got thinking: ‘Who does she remind me of?’ It was then that I realized that she reminds me of my adolescent Crush, Drew Barrymore! That enlightenment had my heart pumping even faster.

I looked at her again to confirm her resemblance. That very moment she also glanced at me as she paused between her speeches. Our eyes met! It was a little more than a fraction of a second but it was definite. We both acknowledged each other’s gaze. That look was worth a million dollars.

But then, I shouldn’t have winked at her.. more about that soon!

Is this the end?

Is it really getting over? Am I going to move out of this hill-top abode in 10 days?
Will I no longer have these blokes for company while I watch movies on my comp? no more sponsored snacks during those intervals? no more late evening (00:30 hrs!) chai sessions?
such parties no more? no more SPAM-SPAM mails? no more waterfights? no more birthday bumps? no more 24 hrs online in yahoo?

Catching up..

igqfo9vllkoiqldflvmlwbabaabvklwvmkivsmpy8763m2710dnsdmashre...
long time.. no 'c' !!

Lots of things have been happening here at the campus (the happ hip hep! place). Well.. I can talk about some and I cant talk about some of the stuff 'cos its not the time yet to reveal them.

We had a machao farewell party a couple of days back. It was as much fun as it was nostalgic. The skit woven together with the various unique events and memories of the year attributable primarily to us, the passing-out batch and the typical MBA-ishtyle PowerPoint presentation capturing us and some of those very events in a light photographic vein were the highlights of the show.

And y'day we passed on the strategies and the technical know-how of '101 ways to DO a water-fight' to the ascending batch. No.. we actually gave a practical demo of the same. The list of dedications included chyawanprash, shampoos, shaving creams, hair gels, and what not. Though we have had many such fights earlier, this completed the knowledge transfer process.

And then, of course, our own private movie theatre has been working overnight. Saw 'good will hunting' today.. just finished watching that :) another recent show was 'the butterfly effect' well...both are very good movies.. if you havnt heard of the former, then you prob. aren't a movie material. This movie was nominated for 9 Oscars and finally managed to grab two.

The butterfly effect (2004) is a kind of techy movie but really well-taken. The concept is derived from chaos theory. It says "A butterfly flapping its wings here in your garden can cause a tornado in California." That’s how interrelated the events in real life can be. In the movie, the hero takes a couple of steps which have far-reaching effects. He then goes back in time and tries doing those steps differently so that the end result is to his liking. Engrossing movie.. recommended to be watched in a group.

Till next time,
Bhaskar a.k.a. Joey Tribbs

S.U.P.W. No. 3

Dear Fans..
This would be the final piece (for now.. atleast till our dear SKK lets loose his creative humour for us again..) of the series Selected Useless Poetic Works by SKK.
Here you are..
______________________________________________
From the poet’s desk.....

This particular poem is quite unlike my other ventures.... it is written as a song to be sung by a group of (specified) people. By singing the poem aloud, one can appreciate and depreciate the very meaning of these lines.
Well...yes...this poem doesn't talk about the socio-economic issues... One can store some water in a water bottle... but just because one can (as well) store alcohol in it doesn't make it an alcohol bottle. Very similarly just because you have done some work, you can't be called a worker...and along the same lines, just because you have cooked some food, you can't be called a cooker. Life is very similar to a pressure cooker..... (Not necessarily a person who cooks under pressure)....
In all, I would like to say this...Thillaalangadi is not just a poem or a song... it is A POEM AND A SONG.....please note the difference. It is a way of life.
______________________________________________

"THILLAALANGADI": emotional outbursts of a 3-year old

How still the bell bottoms in staples.com stand....
Still swollen in one eye...
After last night's fight...
They leap upon their webbed feet....these frogs...
Their age hence is measured in LEAP YEARS.

(Repeat “How still” three times: to be sung strictly by chorus group consisting of two males and three females (age no bar) whose 2 premolar and 2 molar teeth are missing)

Could mortals sip wine....?
The under-developed fright....
Of a delivered kite...
Q would crumble even though light.

(repeat "Could mortals" three times: to be sung by 3 years, 2 months and 11 day- old boys and girls totaling 7 in number (any combination except that there has to be at least one representative from each group) )

Who has not found heaven??? hell no...
Well....well...well...so???
Come on guys...grow...grow....
There you see.... a crow…crow....
Oh...oh....
It is MARTIN CROWE.

(Repeat "Who has not" three times: to be sung by old divorcees who have retired from service from a central government company)

Maxima and minima may come and go....
But optima are there forever to show....
I missed a tiny fly...and...
Even today, this makes me cry.

(Repeat "Maxima and”: to be sung by the tallest boy in the group who has secured 73% or above in his UKG half-yearly exams but failed in SSLC in the first attempt but was state first in the second attempt. In case of more than one eligible candidate, there should be a lottery to decide the winner)
THE WINNER THEN SINGS ALOUD THE ENTIRE POEM...BUT WITH TABLA, BUL-BUL TARA, MOHURSING AND IF POSSIBLE, SARANGI AS ACCOMPANIMENTS.

- GREAT POET SKK
_______________________________________________
Summary (Poet’s version)

Emotional fall-out…..what a word even though this has nothing to do with the present discussion!!! Supremacy over souvenirs can be achieved if and only if idiosyncrasy and inundations are dealt with. Inoculations are not a way of life…rather innovations are.

“I missed a tiny fly”….this means that the poet missed a plane sometime in his youth and to this day, he still feels bad about it. Time has flown by…it seems time has leapt in chunks of four years rather than one….hence, the term leap years has been used. The reason frog is used is that frog, being an amphibian (Bufomelano stictus) can live in water and on land… likewise, one should learn to live in sad as well as happy times.

What is the need to take to alcohol just because one has had a failed relationship? Did Einstein think that General or the Special Theory of Relativity has something to do with being related? Blood is thicker than water….but wine is thinner that the blood drawn from a goat whose medulla oblongata is oblong. Hence, one should never ever give in to fright. The letter Q stands for Quiescent…meaning still…..If one is afraid, everything will come to a stand still.

Everybody has found a way to eternal bliss....but due to the vagaries of Nature, Science, Cell and Biochemistry, he/she has lost it. So, one has to have the insatiable quest for excellence. The poet stresses that the socio-economic conditions in South Somalia can never influence the driving test results in North Pondy Bazaar. Hence, always, go for it….never give up.
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Reviews
[we had to restrict (with obvious regret) ourselves to only a few of the well-known critics/poets.. -Bhaskar]

DAILY JALSAA
Stupendous.....marvelous.....this is not a poem...this is a way of life.....in fact, it should be classified as the FIFTH VEDA after AYURVEDA, RIG VEDA, YAJUR VEDA and SAMA VEDA.
__________________________________________

DAILY REEL
We have run out of words trying to describe this work of art.....in fact, we have not started printing tomorrow's edition because we are at a loss for words....
__________________________________________

GAPSAA TIMES
we believe that the poet tried to reinvent the wheel from the point of view of a three year old.....one might think there is no reference to the invention of the wheel.....JUST BECAUSE THIS POEM DOES NOT TALK ABOUT CALCULATOR AND COMPUTER DOESN'T MEAN THAT THESE DON'T EXIST. One has to draw inferences from the obvious and not so obvious hints....
__________________________________________

Let me tell you...I’m not very emotional when it comes to poems...but I had to cry...the poem demanded it.....
- author of the famous book "SEVEN WAYS TO COUNT TILL SEVEN"
__________________________________________

I don't think I’m even qualified to talk about SKK.... from now on, I won't write poems till SKK asks me to..... this is a solemn "promise, colgate, close-up and vicco vajdradanthi".
- William Keats

Kunguma Kunguma Kunguma Kunguma Kunguma Poove

"Kunguma Poovay Konjum Puraavay
Kunguma Poovay Konju Puraavay
Thangamay Unnai Kandadhum Inbam Pongudhu Thannalay"

meaning... (kind of.. ;)
"My Kunguma flower.. My Sweetie Pigeon..
My dear Goldie, soon as i see You.. Joy overflows!!"


To get the entire lyrics of the song (tamil in english;), check this..
http://www.mohankumars.com/lyrics/index.php?m=s&lid=798

To listen to the song, click here..
http://www.dhool.com/cgi-bin/stream.pl?url=http://www.dhool.com/sotd/kungumapoove.rm



I am Happy!

Well.. today was my last class and my last case analysis and presentation.. for times to come..
It was a good finish to my two-year post-graduate pit stop... with the Business2Business marketing class. The visiting prof (Mr. Mohan Kuruvilla) was amazing.. Made us think out of the box and filled the class with a lot of practical insights and his personal experiences in B2B situations. I would not forget the way he changed the landscape of the cases..

Adios!

PS: Will be in indore only for another 15 odd days...
troubling the not-so-lucky mates while they attend their classes