Well, Something serious and interesting :-)
I wanted to write about Indian culture after I read Arvind's blog on the same. But, I got the necessary motivation only now, after what happened in the train from Trichy to Bangalore few days back.
Here is what happened..
There were two guys and a girl in the train. From their conversation I learnt that they were colleagues(only) in an IT company and that the two guys had reserved tickets, while the girl had a wait listed ticket. Since the unreserved compartment will be crowded, they decided that the three will share the two berths, with the girl paying the reservation charges. This was fair enough. But the real shock(to me at least) came when every one settled down. Of the two guys, took an upper berth and other pair (of colleagues !!!!) went into a bed spread in the middle berth and what followed were giggles from inside!! The witness to this "BOLD"(Mallika Sherawat!!) act were myself(brought up in an orthodox family:-)), an elderly couple in their sixties and a middle aged couple with their 10 year old girl child, who was curiously looking at the middle berth with her mother constantly pressing her head down :-).
This will bring out varied reactions/responses from different people depending on their mental make up, notions on what is culture and above all the extent to which they are "bold". The old couple was stunned, the middle aged couple was speechless, I was confused (to be frank), the child was curious and the other friend of theirs was "normal". But none reacted and the train reached Bangalore on time and all of us were on our own ways.
There is nothing called as right or wrong. But, to me what they did was not ethical and an incident worth a post-mortem. I don't know whether their parents would have been "ok" with this, for that matter even if they would have been when they were in their school or college. What made them bold? Is it the fact that they are earning and are independent? Is it that they feel they are matured and grown up? Don't they bother about the society (people around)? Were they brought up that way? Will they bring up their children that way?
I have more questions and more thoughts which I would put down in the part II of this blog.
In the meantime, I'm really curious to know whether the guys happened to swap berths during the journey ;-) :-)
See you in Part II
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Hmmmmmm.... That explains!!!
Hi All
Sorry for my looooooooong absense...
Let me outline the stuffs that happened after April....
In the first week of June, there was an event called People's week conducted for my group in my company. I was the People's Champion :-) responsible for conducting competitions (quite a long time since I actually did something like this :-() and managing our FootBall team(!!). We reached Semis u know :-))))) and lost there with a score line of 0-6. You win sometime and lose sometime, that's life after all.
Well, since I want to get my MBA, I decided to take the GMAT. Booked it on June 1 to take it on July 20. With inputs from Anuj I carried on my prep and eventually took the test on the D Day. In between, I had severe stomach aches, some 3/4 times one after the other. Well, scored a 700 in my GMAT. Happy !! But wouldn't have minded some 20~50 more. Incidentally I completed 3 years in my company on July 21, 2006. Great!!!
Again, my stomach aches were recurring :-(( My cousin's wedding took place in Udumalpet (Close to Coimbatore) on Aug 21, 2006. Went on a 5 day leave to Trichy. It was great fun, travelling in bus with the family and enjoyed the wedding. We planned a vist to a water fall called Thirumurthi which was close by. As luck would have it, after we climbed some 1.5 km close to the falls, people were coming back and told us that there was a flood. In fact, we saw it for ourselves. Full of mud and what all!! Came back dejected.... I haven't taken bath in a falls till now :-( But the heartening fact is that we made two trips to Palani :-)
Back to Trichy on Aug 23, went for scan (stomach ache) and learnt that I've 3 stones in my kidney!! Was referred to a Urologist who asked me to undergo a diagnostic process called IVP (Intra Veinous Polograph) to detect the exact location of the stone. That was done on Friday and eventually I go admitted to a hospital in Trichy. The surgery was on Monday (Aug 28, 2006). Took a week's rest and joined office on Sep 7, 2006, one day before my cousin who got married
(Thank God!!).
And now I was busy with my App to ISB and hope all these explains why I was absent for so long.
Bye!!
Sorry for my looooooooong absense...
Let me outline the stuffs that happened after April....
In the first week of June, there was an event called People's week conducted for my group in my company. I was the People's Champion :-) responsible for conducting competitions (quite a long time since I actually did something like this :-() and managing our FootBall team(!!). We reached Semis u know :-))))) and lost there with a score line of 0-6. You win sometime and lose sometime, that's life after all.
Well, since I want to get my MBA, I decided to take the GMAT. Booked it on June 1 to take it on July 20. With inputs from Anuj I carried on my prep and eventually took the test on the D Day. In between, I had severe stomach aches, some 3/4 times one after the other. Well, scored a 700 in my GMAT. Happy !! But wouldn't have minded some 20~50 more. Incidentally I completed 3 years in my company on July 21, 2006. Great!!!
Again, my stomach aches were recurring :-(( My cousin's wedding took place in Udumalpet (Close to Coimbatore) on Aug 21, 2006. Went on a 5 day leave to Trichy. It was great fun, travelling in bus with the family and enjoyed the wedding. We planned a vist to a water fall called Thirumurthi which was close by. As luck would have it, after we climbed some 1.5 km close to the falls, people were coming back and told us that there was a flood. In fact, we saw it for ourselves. Full of mud and what all!! Came back dejected.... I haven't taken bath in a falls till now :-( But the heartening fact is that we made two trips to Palani :-)
Back to Trichy on Aug 23, went for scan (stomach ache) and learnt that I've 3 stones in my kidney!! Was referred to a Urologist who asked me to undergo a diagnostic process called IVP (Intra Veinous Polograph) to detect the exact location of the stone. That was done on Friday and eventually I go admitted to a hospital in Trichy. The surgery was on Monday (Aug 28, 2006). Took a week's rest and joined office on Sep 7, 2006, one day before my cousin who got married
(Thank God!!).
And now I was busy with my App to ISB and hope all these explains why I was absent for so long.
Bye!!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Mumbaiyya Manoeuver II
Here again, I came to Mumbai !! Official and absolutely nothing personal. If someone would like to consider the petty plan of having vada pav this time as a great personal motivation, he / she is free to do so.
Well, started on April 24, Monday early morning flight. "Monday morning blues", they say. But it was all red for me this Monday. Yeah, you guesed it right. Travelled by the bird (note the pun) airlines !!! ;-). EVERYTHING associated with the arlines is awesome, I really mean it !!! Hats off to the airlines. Landed straight at the office and no need to tell, the whole day I was dull and sleepy as I had to wake up at 4 AM in the morning (you never know about the traffic in Bangalore) in addition to which, I din't even wink in the flight (for obvious reasons :-) ).
The same hotel where I stayed last time. Had the vada pav on Wednesday. Nothing great about it. There is nothing to like or dislike about it. You like aloo bonda, you like Pav and here it is, you would like vada pav.
Well, checked out on Thursday morning, not before a surprise meeting with my Chennai chithappa in the hotel. I was with Qutub and Samir in the auto when something interesting happened. The police caught our auto and asked us to get out and asked questions as to where are u from, where are u going, why are u going etc etc. Fun though. Hope there is nothing serious.
Time to leave. Just wrote this before starting from the office. No need to say that I am excited about my travel with the bird again.
Also, wishing Shri. Pramod Mahajan for a speedy recovery.
Bye !!!!!
Well, started on April 24, Monday early morning flight. "Monday morning blues", they say. But it was all red for me this Monday. Yeah, you guesed it right. Travelled by the bird (note the pun) airlines !!! ;-). EVERYTHING associated with the arlines is awesome, I really mean it !!! Hats off to the airlines. Landed straight at the office and no need to tell, the whole day I was dull and sleepy as I had to wake up at 4 AM in the morning (you never know about the traffic in Bangalore) in addition to which, I din't even wink in the flight (for obvious reasons :-) ).
The same hotel where I stayed last time. Had the vada pav on Wednesday. Nothing great about it. There is nothing to like or dislike about it. You like aloo bonda, you like Pav and here it is, you would like vada pav.
Well, checked out on Thursday morning, not before a surprise meeting with my Chennai chithappa in the hotel. I was with Qutub and Samir in the auto when something interesting happened. The police caught our auto and asked us to get out and asked questions as to where are u from, where are u going, why are u going etc etc. Fun though. Hope there is nothing serious.
Time to leave. Just wrote this before starting from the office. No need to say that I am excited about my travel with the bird again.
Also, wishing Shri. Pramod Mahajan for a speedy recovery.
Bye !!!!!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Happier than ever !!
hey
Feeling really happy. People around me are also thinking in the same line of what I wrote in my previous blog. But I don't want to write more about it now. But the devil in me (!!!!:-)) is keeping me happy, when I saw Venkat's and Karthik's blogs. They are confused as I were and am. Probably we were all destined to be confused for this period of time ;-DD
Feeling really happy - again. Why ? Because for the past theree days there was little traffic in Hosur road while going back home !!!! But y'day got screwed when coming. Took 2 hrs... to reach office (Chuck it - can't ask for toooo much.)
Happy again - India won the series against England. Hope they do a white wash :-)
Last but not the least..... Finished my appraisal in the company. Normally I finish it only 2 months after the deadline (??!!) but strange things are happening - I finished 3 days in advance.
That's it.... Will append more happiness as they come. Come on, it's all destiny !!!! (Not again :-)))
Feeling really happy. People around me are also thinking in the same line of what I wrote in my previous blog. But I don't want to write more about it now. But the devil in me (!!!!:-)) is keeping me happy, when I saw Venkat's and Karthik's blogs. They are confused as I were and am. Probably we were all destined to be confused for this period of time ;-DD
Feeling really happy - again. Why ? Because for the past theree days there was little traffic in Hosur road while going back home !!!! But y'day got screwed when coming. Took 2 hrs... to reach office (Chuck it - can't ask for toooo much.)
Happy again - India won the series against England. Hope they do a white wash :-)
Last but not the least..... Finished my appraisal in the company. Normally I finish it only 2 months after the deadline (??!!) but strange things are happening - I finished 3 days in advance.
That's it.... Will append more happiness as they come. Come on, it's all destiny !!!! (Not again :-)))
Monday, March 27, 2006
"Destined to Choose ?????"
Somehow, got into a philosophical mood (mode ??) !! Well, if you remember my "who am i ?" post, this one is not far off.
Just thought, "what are we (humans) guys here for ?". I am assuming we are what we are, as in we are all called humans and we all live in earth which is part of solar system and so on and so forth. But what is it that drives all of us ? Is there a HE (HE refers to SHE also :-)) or are the atheists correct ? If there is a HE, what is HE ? Are there many HEs (I mean Siva / Vishnu / Brahma .... / Jesus / Allah ) ? Does the christian HE save the Hindus and muslims also ? Ok, it's becoming too complicated. Let's assume there is one HE perceived as many. Let's not think about the atheists now. Since I am not one, I can't write about how they feel.
Now that there is a HE, what are we in front of him ? Why on earth (!!!???) did he create us(!!), is saving us (!!) and gonna destroy us (!!). These are all assumptions, right ? Science can't prove these, but I say science is something created by HIM and he din't give it the capability to perceive / prove HIM (fair enough ??). Neither did HE give science the capability to explain the BASIC day to day things, as in, science can say how the sun comes from the east, how the earth rotates / revolves etc., but can't say why these things are happening daily (??!!) !!!! Where are all these things heading to ?
Why are there doctors when someone is gonna die if he ought to ? Why are there engineers studying strength of materials / material science / magneto rheological fluids etc. who erect structures to be destroyed by an earth quake , Tsunami or terrosrists ??? Why are there meteorological centres which can predict natural calamities but can't do much about them ? Lots and lots more.
Are we just dolls in front of HIM ? Are we actors in the stage (The World) ?? Are we part of some game that THEY play ??? Do we get to make any choices at all ? Did I choose to do my B.E in Instrumentation and Control or was I "destined to choose" (interesting !!??) to do my B.E in ICE ?? Are things that we enjoy / experience today, the fruits of yesterday's efforts .... or is it just that we are destined to enjoy the fruits of yesterday's labour today or even worse, were we destied to put in efforts yesterday since we are destined to enjoy today ??? Were we destined to miss what all we missed so far ? Were we destined to get what we got so far ? Din't we "deserve" them ?
Again, did we choose our parents ? Will we choose our better halves or will it again be a "destined to choose" stuff ? Come on, two people can't even decide who a child they are going to "make" should look like :-). Not even, the gender at the minimum. :-(
Looks like, we have got nothing to do here. We are all living dead :-))) We just go through what was laid for us before. We are destined to laugh, cry, suffer, enjoy etc. and we just "do" it.
I think, I was destined to write something like this today :-))))))))
Bye for now !!!
Just thought, "what are we (humans) guys here for ?". I am assuming we are what we are, as in we are all called humans and we all live in earth which is part of solar system and so on and so forth. But what is it that drives all of us ? Is there a HE (HE refers to SHE also :-)) or are the atheists correct ? If there is a HE, what is HE ? Are there many HEs (I mean Siva / Vishnu / Brahma .... / Jesus / Allah ) ? Does the christian HE save the Hindus and muslims also ? Ok, it's becoming too complicated. Let's assume there is one HE perceived as many. Let's not think about the atheists now. Since I am not one, I can't write about how they feel.
Now that there is a HE, what are we in front of him ? Why on earth (!!!???) did he create us(!!), is saving us (!!) and gonna destroy us (!!). These are all assumptions, right ? Science can't prove these, but I say science is something created by HIM and he din't give it the capability to perceive / prove HIM (fair enough ??). Neither did HE give science the capability to explain the BASIC day to day things, as in, science can say how the sun comes from the east, how the earth rotates / revolves etc., but can't say why these things are happening daily (??!!) !!!! Where are all these things heading to ?
Why are there doctors when someone is gonna die if he ought to ? Why are there engineers studying strength of materials / material science / magneto rheological fluids etc. who erect structures to be destroyed by an earth quake , Tsunami or terrosrists ??? Why are there meteorological centres which can predict natural calamities but can't do much about them ? Lots and lots more.
Are we just dolls in front of HIM ? Are we actors in the stage (The World) ?? Are we part of some game that THEY play ??? Do we get to make any choices at all ? Did I choose to do my B.E in Instrumentation and Control or was I "destined to choose" (interesting !!??) to do my B.E in ICE ?? Are things that we enjoy / experience today, the fruits of yesterday's efforts .... or is it just that we are destined to enjoy the fruits of yesterday's labour today or even worse, were we destied to put in efforts yesterday since we are destined to enjoy today ??? Were we destined to miss what all we missed so far ? Were we destined to get what we got so far ? Din't we "deserve" them ?
Again, did we choose our parents ? Will we choose our better halves or will it again be a "destined to choose" stuff ? Come on, two people can't even decide who a child they are going to "make" should look like :-). Not even, the gender at the minimum. :-(
Looks like, we have got nothing to do here. We are all living dead :-))) We just go through what was laid for us before. We are destined to laugh, cry, suffer, enjoy etc. and we just "do" it.
I think, I was destined to write something like this today :-))))))))
Bye for now !!!
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Mumbaiyya manoeuver
I went to Mumbai .... Official, of course, with just one personal goal..... Visiting Mahalakshmi temple (I'm still a good boy, u see :-D)
Started from Bangalore on Feb 21, 2006:
Jet Airways 21:30 flight. My seat was in row 14 and I came to know that the Boeing flights don't have a row 13 in them (superstition !!!???) and it was next to emergency exit. So I was briefed by the air hostess on duty about the safety stuffs. Normally, I dodge it saying I know, but that day I din't want to make the hostess feel bad :-) and I listened patiently with some questions (doubts !!) in between. I am impressed with my human values myself !!!
Feb 25, 2006:
I had to cancel my return ticket to Bangalore for which I went to Santacruz (domestic airport). That just took me an hour. Then had a marathon sleep for 5 hrs in the afternoon, a nice dinner and again a sleep for ...................
Feb 26, 2006:D day - Visited Mahalakshmi temple.
You really can't keep me away from adventures for too long. yeah, I had one. Well, I was staying in Andheri(E) which is in sub urban Bombay and the temple is at a place called Mahalakshmi which is in the city. In Bombay, the autos are not allowed in the city and hence I planned to go by electric train, in spite of my faher insisting on my going by a cab. Come on, I wanted to get a feel of Bombay, after all. All went well - Took an auto from my hotel to Andheri station, got a ticket and boarded a local train. I got to know that Mahalakshmi is the 3rd stop from Dadar and when I reached Dadar I asked a co passenger whether the train
stops at Mahalakshmi and I got the answer I expected - NO. So got down from the train which had just started to move. I din't know of that there are basically Fast (limitted stops) and Slow(stops at all places) trains (I actually ignored the F and S that I saw against the trains, in the boards;-)). Happens. Took a slow train and the third stop really was Mahalakshmi. Got down and just when I wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment, came the beamer in the form of a ticket collector. Hey, I had purchased the ticket but it was a second class ticket and I had happily travelled in a first class coach. Then I had to convince him that I din't intend to do anything of that sort and that it just happened since I'm new to Bombay and son on and so forth. Eventually I had to pay the difference which was 10 times the fare I had paid (One more F & S confusion - coincidence !!! ). Put this at the back of my mind and took a cab to the temple. Had a great and peaceful darshan. Took a train back to Andheri (Got a F - class ticket and boarded an S train - GOOD !!) and once I came back to the hotel, I told myself "You have done it !!".
Mar 5, 2006: Return to Bangalore.
By the way, I liked Bombay more than Bangalore for more than one reason,
1. Bombay is very close to the definition of a city as compared to Bangalore.
2. Bombay is multi faceted as in there are people working in all industries, from all walks of life etc. unlike Bangalore where every second person works in IT.
3. Infrastructure - It will be highly unfair on my part even if I write a line comparing the infrastructure of these two places.
4. Weather - Some might feel Bngalore is better, but for someone like me who had spent 20 yrs in a hot place like Trichy, I enjoyed Bombay weather and really felt AT HOME. After all, that's the kind of weather that will encourage someone to work :-)
5. Dosa - Frankly, I felt the Dosa and sambar of Bombay much closer to the one available in Tamil Nadu. :-)
6. Autos - After Kerala, where the rate is fair and auto wallahs also fair I would rate Bombay autos.
Bye for now :-))
Started from Bangalore on Feb 21, 2006:
Jet Airways 21:30 flight. My seat was in row 14 and I came to know that the Boeing flights don't have a row 13 in them (superstition !!!???) and it was next to emergency exit. So I was briefed by the air hostess on duty about the safety stuffs. Normally, I dodge it saying I know, but that day I din't want to make the hostess feel bad :-) and I listened patiently with some questions (doubts !!) in between. I am impressed with my human values myself !!!
Feb 25, 2006:
I had to cancel my return ticket to Bangalore for which I went to Santacruz (domestic airport). That just took me an hour. Then had a marathon sleep for 5 hrs in the afternoon, a nice dinner and again a sleep for ...................
Feb 26, 2006:D day - Visited Mahalakshmi temple.
You really can't keep me away from adventures for too long. yeah, I had one. Well, I was staying in Andheri(E) which is in sub urban Bombay and the temple is at a place called Mahalakshmi which is in the city. In Bombay, the autos are not allowed in the city and hence I planned to go by electric train, in spite of my faher insisting on my going by a cab. Come on, I wanted to get a feel of Bombay, after all. All went well - Took an auto from my hotel to Andheri station, got a ticket and boarded a local train. I got to know that Mahalakshmi is the 3rd stop from Dadar and when I reached Dadar I asked a co passenger whether the train
stops at Mahalakshmi and I got the answer I expected - NO. So got down from the train which had just started to move. I din't know of that there are basically Fast (limitted stops) and Slow(stops at all places) trains (I actually ignored the F and S that I saw against the trains, in the boards;-)). Happens. Took a slow train and the third stop really was Mahalakshmi. Got down and just when I wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment, came the beamer in the form of a ticket collector. Hey, I had purchased the ticket but it was a second class ticket and I had happily travelled in a first class coach. Then I had to convince him that I din't intend to do anything of that sort and that it just happened since I'm new to Bombay and son on and so forth. Eventually I had to pay the difference which was 10 times the fare I had paid (One more F & S confusion - coincidence !!! ). Put this at the back of my mind and took a cab to the temple. Had a great and peaceful darshan. Took a train back to Andheri (Got a F - class ticket and boarded an S train - GOOD !!) and once I came back to the hotel, I told myself "You have done it !!".
Mar 5, 2006: Return to Bangalore.
By the way, I liked Bombay more than Bangalore for more than one reason,
1. Bombay is very close to the definition of a city as compared to Bangalore.
2. Bombay is multi faceted as in there are people working in all industries, from all walks of life etc. unlike Bangalore where every second person works in IT.
3. Infrastructure - It will be highly unfair on my part even if I write a line comparing the infrastructure of these two places.
4. Weather - Some might feel Bngalore is better, but for someone like me who had spent 20 yrs in a hot place like Trichy, I enjoyed Bombay weather and really felt AT HOME. After all, that's the kind of weather that will encourage someone to work :-)
5. Dosa - Frankly, I felt the Dosa and sambar of Bombay much closer to the one available in Tamil Nadu. :-)
6. Autos - After Kerala, where the rate is fair and auto wallahs also fair I would rate Bombay autos.
Bye for now :-))
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
" "
Do not get confused by the title(For those who cannot see " " is the title, will tell u why later.). Well, this blog is about one of my collegues, boy, of course (at least that is what we all think), who gets at least 10 new names daily (Please refer my previous blog where i had made a mention about this character).
His name WAS (I mean it !!!) Srinivasan B. Let me list down the names that have been conferred on him till date with the short description of "why ?".
"Pasta"
The first name he got was "pasta", yes, the Italian food. This requires some explanation. It was lunch time at my office and we were all standing in the queue to get the food coupon. As we were perusing thru the menu / items for the day, Srini saw some pasta preparation listed and asked me as to whether he can take it. I said, "You can take it and I will be happy, because I feel happy when others suffer". Any homo sapien (with Sixth Sense) would have understood what I meant. But our hero opted for Pasta. It's ok till now. But, the moment he took the first spoon his face resembled acestors of homo sapiens and on top of that he blamed me the mishap citing that I din't warn him. I really couldn't take it and hence opted to call him Srinivasan Pastasundaram, just as a remembrance of this unnecessary blame that fell on me. Since Srini din't prefer modifying his second name, we made it a point to play around with his first name alone and hence named him Srinivasan "pasta" B (Observe the " " in which the name is enclosed, and hence this blog is titled so) and considering the length, modified the same as Srini"Pasta"n / "Pasta"vasan.
"What"
Do you expect us to leave someone who harrassed a teenage girl in a public gathering by "staring" at her and asking her "what ?" in such a tone that the poor lady fainted on the spot and is currently getting treatment for the ever dangerous "What phobia" ??? Definitely not. We named him "what" :-). Derivatives : Srini"what"an, pasta"what"on.
"*****"
Well, this guy's username is "Balai". Since that is too difficult to pronounce (!! ??) we shortened it to *****. Nothing more to it and he is in no way responsible for this name.
"Julius"
Considering the Italian connection that he got owing to his attachment to Pasta, we named him after Julius Ceaser (Good that Ceaser who was such a great emperor, is not alive amidst us to hear this :-) ) as, Srini "Ceaser", "Julius"vasan.
"Junk"
One other team mate found everything associated with him "junk" and named him "junk".
"Roadblock"
To be frank this is name that he got just 2 min back :-) :-)
" "" "
"" is a wild card here where in we can call him anything. Whatever he speaks / does will get him a name for sure. In short, you name it and you can name him with it :-)
He is one guy, who is keeping the spark of creativity in every member of our team ablaze. We just can't move a day without him and hence he canbe called as Srini "can't move a day without" vasan.
bye !!
His name WAS (I mean it !!!) Srinivasan B. Let me list down the names that have been conferred on him till date with the short description of "why ?".
"Pasta"
The first name he got was "pasta", yes, the Italian food. This requires some explanation. It was lunch time at my office and we were all standing in the queue to get the food coupon. As we were perusing thru the menu / items for the day, Srini saw some pasta preparation listed and asked me as to whether he can take it. I said, "You can take it and I will be happy, because I feel happy when others suffer". Any homo sapien (with Sixth Sense) would have understood what I meant. But our hero opted for Pasta. It's ok till now. But, the moment he took the first spoon his face resembled acestors of homo sapiens and on top of that he blamed me the mishap citing that I din't warn him. I really couldn't take it and hence opted to call him Srinivasan Pastasundaram, just as a remembrance of this unnecessary blame that fell on me. Since Srini din't prefer modifying his second name, we made it a point to play around with his first name alone and hence named him Srinivasan "pasta" B (Observe the " " in which the name is enclosed, and hence this blog is titled so) and considering the length, modified the same as Srini"Pasta"n / "Pasta"vasan.
"What"
Do you expect us to leave someone who harrassed a teenage girl in a public gathering by "staring" at her and asking her "what ?" in such a tone that the poor lady fainted on the spot and is currently getting treatment for the ever dangerous "What phobia" ??? Definitely not. We named him "what" :-). Derivatives : Srini"what"an, pasta"what"on.
"*****"
Well, this guy's username is "Balai". Since that is too difficult to pronounce (!! ??) we shortened it to *****. Nothing more to it and he is in no way responsible for this name.
"Julius"
Considering the Italian connection that he got owing to his attachment to Pasta, we named him after Julius Ceaser (Good that Ceaser who was such a great emperor, is not alive amidst us to hear this :-) ) as, Srini "Ceaser", "Julius"vasan.
"Junk"
One other team mate found everything associated with him "junk" and named him "junk".
"Roadblock"
To be frank this is name that he got just 2 min back :-) :-)
" "" "
"" is a wild card here where in we can call him anything. Whatever he speaks / does will get him a name for sure. In short, you name it and you can name him with it :-)
He is one guy, who is keeping the spark of creativity in every member of our team ablaze. We just can't move a day without him and hence he canbe called as Srini "can't move a day without" vasan.
bye !!
Thursday, December 29, 2005
I wanted to ..............
Hey
It's really a long time since I am making my presense felt in blogger...... Not that I did not have anything to write, just that I din't :-(. Now that we are just one day away from 2006, I just wanted to wind up 2005 with this blog.
Just thought of listing down what all I wanted to blog about since my last entry and hence the title.
Well, the most important thing I wanted to write about was the all important Saturn transit 2005. Oooooooops !! What all happened in and around that period. Starting from my IT return filing drama to a strategic change at the top level management of the company I work for. Not to mention the changes that happened in my project such as ramp downs etc. The Jupiter also transitted round about that time which made me attribute all good and bad happenings to those two planets !!!! I even remember once when I was in Trichy and my mother had added less
salt in the Pulav which she prepared and I was damn sure that it was because of either J or S :-)
The next one I wanted to write about was one hell of a strip in bangalore called "Hosur Road". S***. ****. #!%$#$#&(^(&#^$*%&(^*#$)(*)_********&#$#&#%^*( *^*&*%^*&$(#^*%!%*&_*%_(&%(*(% ^%*&$%(*-!@#$%~^&*(%)&%($&%((&%!)_(!+_$)!%$(!&+_)+)&(&%&!%$!*#_).I really don't have anything more to say. The time I take to commute to and from office, I could have completed a BE, an MBA and a Ph.D in investment banking :-). There were talks that our office will be shifted closer to the city, but, how on earth can I expect something so good to happen given that Saturn and Jupiter are at 12 and 3 respectively in my chart !!!!!!!
I can't forget the rain that lashed Tamil Nadu, especially Trichy, which resulted in the 9th wonder of the modern world (the eighth wonder is Aishwarya Rai for those who do not know.), water in "Kollidam" a river in Trichy, where I have never seen a drop of water for the past 23 years of my life. There were even plans of building apartments in that stetch of land !!!
And there were these day to day incidents (irrtiations) like, the guy who keeps on talking with his, I don't know who, in my morning bus, so loudly that I know 75 % of his teenage life myself; the poor soul in our team whom we give a different name on a daily basis("Pasta") ; I even had an incident in today's lunch where I saw the reality of "Kali" yuga... do not want to elaborate much though ;).
What else ???? Cant think of any more now.... Might be there is a part II for this blog. Meet u all next year :-)Hopefully, very soon.
Happy New Year !!!!
It's really a long time since I am making my presense felt in blogger...... Not that I did not have anything to write, just that I din't :-(. Now that we are just one day away from 2006, I just wanted to wind up 2005 with this blog.
Just thought of listing down what all I wanted to blog about since my last entry and hence the title.
Well, the most important thing I wanted to write about was the all important Saturn transit 2005. Oooooooops !! What all happened in and around that period. Starting from my IT return filing drama to a strategic change at the top level management of the company I work for. Not to mention the changes that happened in my project such as ramp downs etc. The Jupiter also transitted round about that time which made me attribute all good and bad happenings to those two planets !!!! I even remember once when I was in Trichy and my mother had added less
salt in the Pulav which she prepared and I was damn sure that it was because of either J or S :-)
The next one I wanted to write about was one hell of a strip in bangalore called "Hosur Road". S***. ****. #!%$#$#&(^(&#^$*%&(^*#$)(*)_********&#$#&#%^*( *^*&*%^*&$(#^*%!%*&_*%_(&%(*(% ^%*&$%(*-!@#$%~^&*(%)&%($&%((&%!)_(!+_$)!%$(!&+_)+)&(&%&!%$!*#_).I really don't have anything more to say. The time I take to commute to and from office, I could have completed a BE, an MBA and a Ph.D in investment banking :-). There were talks that our office will be shifted closer to the city, but, how on earth can I expect something so good to happen given that Saturn and Jupiter are at 12 and 3 respectively in my chart !!!!!!!
I can't forget the rain that lashed Tamil Nadu, especially Trichy, which resulted in the 9th wonder of the modern world (the eighth wonder is Aishwarya Rai for those who do not know.), water in "Kollidam" a river in Trichy, where I have never seen a drop of water for the past 23 years of my life. There were even plans of building apartments in that stetch of land !!!
And there were these day to day incidents (irrtiations) like, the guy who keeps on talking with his, I don't know who, in my morning bus, so loudly that I know 75 % of his teenage life myself; the poor soul in our team whom we give a different name on a daily basis("Pasta") ; I even had an incident in today's lunch where I saw the reality of "Kali" yuga... do not want to elaborate much though ;).
What else ???? Cant think of any more now.... Might be there is a part II for this blog. Meet u all next year :-)Hopefully, very soon.
Happy New Year !!!!
Monday, July 25, 2005
I did IT !!!
Quite a long time since I wrote ... Not that I din't have anything to write.
I wanted to write about that "chatter box" female whom I happened to see in my company bus, who din't stop her dialog about the organisation in her workplace as to, who is sitting where, throughout the journey.
I indeed wanted to write about that day when I was so irritated coz of spending almost two and a half hours to go home from my office and had a bus to catch (to Trichy).Also I wanted to write about the new house in Arakere to which we are going to shift in a week.
But superceding all those minor (!!!) stuffs is what happened today :-(.... JULY 25, 2005. A day which I would never forget at least as long as I would file IT returns !!!!!!!!!!!
Let me tell you what happened.... We were supposed to file our IT returns today for which we needed to get our original Form 16 (distributed already to us) and the SARAL form. Since I am a systematic (??!!) guy, I had brought my Form 16 to office desk quite few days before. No issues with that. I was able to get my SARAL form printed out from my company's intranet, fill it, sign it etc. Absolutely no issues with that too. When I thought that I am all set and just filing of the return remains, came the NEWS (shocking indeed) !!!! Looks like we need to have the photocopy of the PAN card. I thought that this is just a formality and proceeded to the queue. When we enquired inside I heard the inevitable !@#$%^&*( ... PAN CARD PHOTOCOPY IS MANDATORY FOR FILING OF RETURNS...
Wait wait.... I am getting what you are thinking now. "What's so great about getting a card xeroxed....???, a matter of Paises. ok.... Even if you do not have it with you go home, get it xeroxed, bring it back and submit.".... Great to hear.. But that was not cho chimple. My PAN card is in Trichy. I was not sure whether I had a photocopy of the same... Also, I had put all my documents in the house where I will be shifting next week. Booooooooooooom !!!
So .... started the day. Took an auto. Luckily I had someone in my club.... I got down at BG circle. Another auto to my place. Reached. Opened the suitcase. Opened my folder. Sh** !!! I donot have a PAN copy. So took an auto back and reached Silk board and waited for nearly an hour for the company bus. Came back......
In the meantime, I had called my father and told him the goof up. He had also made an auto trip around Trichy to get my PAN card from home.
Around 12:30 I was back in office. My father also. Now that he has the the card there were two options....
Option A : Take a copy of the PAN and fax it to my office. Sounds great. My father indeed did it. But receiving here had some hiccups. No film in the Fax machine... once that was fixed, "No paper ". That was also fixed. Then the machine, kind of vomitted, some 8 or 9 papers (backlogs). Mine came too..... GOSH !!! Neither my name nor my photograph was visible. The only thing that I could read was my grandpa's name printed after my father's !!! :-)SO called my father again and got it faxed again .... Believe me !! It was worse than the previos copy :-(((( Option A dropped.
Option B: Scan the card and send me a mail. Sounds cool.... But my day was so bad that this was also not coooool. The mail that my father sent first din't reach my inbox till now. Dunno where it is :-(. When I told this to my father, he sort of had a meeting with all his colleagues(pro'ly had a brainstorming session) and finally decided that he(they) will send the mail via their office ID to my office as well as Yahoo! Id. It did come at last. But only the front part of the card. That was good enough though. Option B worked !!!
The next phase was even more irritating. We joined the queue which was perhaps longer than the Hanuman's tail !!! We were in the queue for nearly 2.5 hrs and eventually I filed IT !!!
Called home.... My mother will be breaking a coconut to Ganesha. I asked her to add one for my account. :-)
The week has started like this.... Not sure what course it will take.... :-) Anyhow I won't mind blaming this on the Saturn transit ... After all I am going through the 7.5 year period of the Saturn ;-))
Ciaooooooooooooo !!
I wanted to write about that "chatter box" female whom I happened to see in my company bus, who din't stop her dialog about the organisation in her workplace as to, who is sitting where, throughout the journey.
I indeed wanted to write about that day when I was so irritated coz of spending almost two and a half hours to go home from my office and had a bus to catch (to Trichy).Also I wanted to write about the new house in Arakere to which we are going to shift in a week.
But superceding all those minor (!!!) stuffs is what happened today :-(.... JULY 25, 2005. A day which I would never forget at least as long as I would file IT returns !!!!!!!!!!!
Let me tell you what happened.... We were supposed to file our IT returns today for which we needed to get our original Form 16 (distributed already to us) and the SARAL form. Since I am a systematic (??!!) guy, I had brought my Form 16 to office desk quite few days before. No issues with that. I was able to get my SARAL form printed out from my company's intranet, fill it, sign it etc. Absolutely no issues with that too. When I thought that I am all set and just filing of the return remains, came the NEWS (shocking indeed) !!!! Looks like we need to have the photocopy of the PAN card. I thought that this is just a formality and proceeded to the queue. When we enquired inside I heard the inevitable !@#$%^&*( ... PAN CARD PHOTOCOPY IS MANDATORY FOR FILING OF RETURNS...
Wait wait.... I am getting what you are thinking now. "What's so great about getting a card xeroxed....???, a matter of Paises. ok.... Even if you do not have it with you go home, get it xeroxed, bring it back and submit.".... Great to hear.. But that was not cho chimple. My PAN card is in Trichy. I was not sure whether I had a photocopy of the same... Also, I had put all my documents in the house where I will be shifting next week. Booooooooooooom !!!
So .... started the day. Took an auto. Luckily I had someone in my club.... I got down at BG circle. Another auto to my place. Reached. Opened the suitcase. Opened my folder. Sh** !!! I donot have a PAN copy. So took an auto back and reached Silk board and waited for nearly an hour for the company bus. Came back......
In the meantime, I had called my father and told him the goof up. He had also made an auto trip around Trichy to get my PAN card from home.
Around 12:30 I was back in office. My father also. Now that he has the the card there were two options....
Option A : Take a copy of the PAN and fax it to my office. Sounds great. My father indeed did it. But receiving here had some hiccups. No film in the Fax machine... once that was fixed, "No paper ". That was also fixed. Then the machine, kind of vomitted, some 8 or 9 papers (backlogs). Mine came too..... GOSH !!! Neither my name nor my photograph was visible. The only thing that I could read was my grandpa's name printed after my father's !!! :-)SO called my father again and got it faxed again .... Believe me !! It was worse than the previos copy :-(((( Option A dropped.
Option B: Scan the card and send me a mail. Sounds cool.... But my day was so bad that this was also not coooool. The mail that my father sent first din't reach my inbox till now. Dunno where it is :-(. When I told this to my father, he sort of had a meeting with all his colleagues(pro'ly had a brainstorming session) and finally decided that he(they) will send the mail via their office ID to my office as well as Yahoo! Id. It did come at last. But only the front part of the card. That was good enough though. Option B worked !!!
The next phase was even more irritating. We joined the queue which was perhaps longer than the Hanuman's tail !!! We were in the queue for nearly 2.5 hrs and eventually I filed IT !!!
Called home.... My mother will be breaking a coconut to Ganesha. I asked her to add one for my account. :-)
The week has started like this.... Not sure what course it will take.... :-) Anyhow I won't mind blaming this on the Saturn transit ... After all I am going through the 7.5 year period of the Saturn ;-))
Ciaooooooooooooo !!
Monday, June 20, 2005
South Karnataka II
Continued ...
This was a surprise !!! Din't expect I will write this one today. By the way, my colleague pointed out that the places we visitted were not North Karnataka but South. I would change the topic as North Canara I and II.... Sorry !! Thanks to him ..
So, after the heroics that we did on the previous day, we got a good night's sleep. We were supposed to wake up at 05:45 AM. Psyche had set an alarm. The next day when I woke up it was 06:30 AM. We realized that the mobile was in silent mode and the alarm was set. Obviously no way we could have expected it to buzz. Good strategy by Psyche !!!
All said and done, we started to the temple. Udupi Krishna was looking simply superb. Small and cute. Had a nice breakfast in Udupi. The sambar was really good. SOmehow it was Tamil style. Reached back to the hotel and packed. Bye to Udupi and started for Dharmasthala.
When we reached the bus stand we had a minor shock. There is only one bus which has to come from Pune to Dharmasthala at that time. We had to take a private bus and go one some place first (Sorry forgot the name of that intermediate transit location :)) and take another bus to Dharmasthala. That was cool though.. We reached Dharmasthala by aound 2 in the afternoon. Enquired for buses to Bangalore from there and came to know that there is a KSRTC Rajahamsa bus at 10 in the night. So we were left with 8 hrs and we had to cover two more places.
Had a major shock now. A huge crowd in the temple for Darshan and we had only 2 more hrs coz the temple will be closed for 30 minutes from 4 !!! Joined the queue. Took us around 2 hrs. Very well managed. Manjunathaswamy was really cool indeed :-). Then came the best part of the day. We had the lunch at the temple. Traditional Karnataka style of Rasam first and then Sambar. No vegetable. In spite of that relished that first coz we were starving and secondly coz that was from the temple. So 80 % of what we wanted to accomplish was done at that time.
Planned to take a taxi to Subrahmanya.The driver was a nice guy. The route between Dharmasthala and Subrahmanya was totally forest and scenic. Reached there by 6. Absolutely no crowd. Had a peaceful darshan of the main deity and Adi Subramanya too. DONE !!! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !!!! We congatulated each other. Had a bajji there which was not all that great. On the way back the driver stopped in a pillayar temple. Bonus !!! Reached back Dharmasthala... Karnataka tiffin and bus at 10. That brings us to the end of a memorable trip that none of us will forget :-)) (senti !!)
I had a day off on monday(Mahavir Jayanthi), the day we reached Bangalore. Others had to go to office. Just slept the day off.
Hope we plan and execute many more trips like this in the future. :-)
This was a surprise !!! Din't expect I will write this one today. By the way, my colleague pointed out that the places we visitted were not North Karnataka but South. I would change the topic as North Canara I and II.... Sorry !! Thanks to him ..
So, after the heroics that we did on the previous day, we got a good night's sleep. We were supposed to wake up at 05:45 AM. Psyche had set an alarm. The next day when I woke up it was 06:30 AM. We realized that the mobile was in silent mode and the alarm was set. Obviously no way we could have expected it to buzz. Good strategy by Psyche !!!
All said and done, we started to the temple. Udupi Krishna was looking simply superb. Small and cute. Had a nice breakfast in Udupi. The sambar was really good. SOmehow it was Tamil style. Reached back to the hotel and packed. Bye to Udupi and started for Dharmasthala.
When we reached the bus stand we had a minor shock. There is only one bus which has to come from Pune to Dharmasthala at that time. We had to take a private bus and go one some place first (Sorry forgot the name of that intermediate transit location :)) and take another bus to Dharmasthala. That was cool though.. We reached Dharmasthala by aound 2 in the afternoon. Enquired for buses to Bangalore from there and came to know that there is a KSRTC Rajahamsa bus at 10 in the night. So we were left with 8 hrs and we had to cover two more places.
Had a major shock now. A huge crowd in the temple for Darshan and we had only 2 more hrs coz the temple will be closed for 30 minutes from 4 !!! Joined the queue. Took us around 2 hrs. Very well managed. Manjunathaswamy was really cool indeed :-). Then came the best part of the day. We had the lunch at the temple. Traditional Karnataka style of Rasam first and then Sambar. No vegetable. In spite of that relished that first coz we were starving and secondly coz that was from the temple. So 80 % of what we wanted to accomplish was done at that time.
Planned to take a taxi to Subrahmanya.The driver was a nice guy. The route between Dharmasthala and Subrahmanya was totally forest and scenic. Reached there by 6. Absolutely no crowd. Had a peaceful darshan of the main deity and Adi Subramanya too. DONE !!! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !!!! We congatulated each other. Had a bajji there which was not all that great. On the way back the driver stopped in a pillayar temple. Bonus !!! Reached back Dharmasthala... Karnataka tiffin and bus at 10. That brings us to the end of a memorable trip that none of us will forget :-)) (senti !!)
I had a day off on monday(Mahavir Jayanthi), the day we reached Bangalore. Others had to go to office. Just slept the day off.
Hope we plan and execute many more trips like this in the future. :-)
Saturday, June 04, 2005
South Karnataka - I
Hi All
This blog is about the trip to North Karnataka that we (Balaji-also called as Psyche, Mukund- also called as Delay and karthikeyan- also called as King Kong) went for. Since you all know that we are good boys(even if you don't, know now !!!), our trip comprised of only temples. We were planning for quite sometime, but it came true only on May 20, 2005. The plan was to cover the following five places in two days (May 21 and 22) - Sringeri, Kollur, Udupi, Dharmasthala and Kukke Subramanya.
Quite a bit is there to write about the entire trip. So I am splitting the same and writing as two blogs and hence the title. This one just contains the happenings(!!!) on the first day.
I would like share one small irony. Something related to work. We at our office normally plan our release to the client on fridays. As it is obvious, I will have some plans of going places (at least to Trichy, on fridays). So normally there will be a little bit of tension in catching my bus etc. due to the release. But when it comes to going to temples like this, there used to be a some sudden last minute tension(don't know from where it evolves :-)) When we planned a trip to Tirupathi and when I was to visit our family deity etc. This time was no exception. That too, there is one specific module which creates the problem always(same one this time too!!- Probably that module was started in some kind of "Rahu Kalam" :-)). Our bus to Sringeri was at 10 PM and I had planned to leave office by the 6:15 PM shuttle. I ended up taking the 7:15 PM shuttle (at least !!) and reached Majestic by around 9:15 PM. This is some kind of indication that, He (or She !) always gives some kind of hiccup in the beginning just to test his devotees, perhaps :-)
So all set now. All four of us were in time at Majestic. We succesfully started to Sringeri at 10:15 PM. To start with, the pushback on the seat in which karthi sat broke and he crash landed his head on the girl beside him. He din't mind though :-) We reached Sringeri by 7 AM on Saturday. The road to Sringeri and Sringeri by itself was beautiful, doing justice to it's name.(By the way, Singeri = Sringa + Giri => Beautiful hill). We came to know that all the cottages were full and even if some gets vacted only families will be given preferrence against bachelors (This is something that i don't like, after all every one would have been a bachelor at some point of time, people are jealous of bachelors pro'ly :-DDD). So we had to get ready in the common bathrooms etc. No complaints. We were ready in an hour.
VOWWWWWWWW!!! Wasn't she gorgeous ??? Saradhambal, I mean - the deity at Sringeri. Such a majestic look and posture. Had a great darshan. Visited the Chandramouleeswara temple also, which is inside the same campus. The architectural beauty of the temple was also great residing at the banks of Tungabadra. We just put our legs into the Tunga as there were too may BIG fish. Then we reached the mutt. The mutt is on the other side of the temple separated by the Tunga. Waited for sometime for His Holiness to arrive. Was able to meet him and since we are from the right families (!!! :-)), we were even able introduce ourselves (as So and So's such and such relation !!) and talk with him. Felt really happy :-). Got his blessings and started from there. Since we were there in some kind of an odd time couldn't have our lunch at the mutt :-(.
Our next plan was Kollur. We did not have a clear idea as to how to reach Kollur from Sringeri. Each one we asked had his own route. So we came to a consensus that we will go to Udupi and then go to Kollur from there. We took a bus that started at 2:30 PM. The bus driver was a man of his words. He siad he will take us in 90 minutes and bang we were there at Udupi at 4 PM. The route to Udupi was also through mountains and we enjoyed that ride too. Sringeri Udupi was around 70 kms. The moment we reached Udupi we saw a bus starting to Kollur which we boarded immediately.
This strip was the most memorable one - in the other sense :-(.The bus driver had the worst habbit of stopping every 15 seconds. His timer was so accurate that he never drove continuously for more than 30 seconds at any point of time :((. Mukund was in some kind of form at that time. He almost reached salvation that he used to give the signal to stop the bus even if the conductor did not !!! At last we reached Kollur at 6:40 PM. Had a nice darshan and since Mukund knew someone there we even were able to do some special puja... :-))). Mookambiga does everything for a reason :-). Came out of the temple with a sense of accomplishment. Had the dinner there. Typical Karnataka Sambar (Ayyyyye :-((). Took a bus to Udupi. Had to stand for sometime but made friends with the driver and were able to sit near on the engine and in the steps. Had a tussle with two idiots, who wanted the engine seat (!!) and because of our influence with the driver (!!) ended up making those guys relinquish the seat. But we had to stand too... Was happy in spite of that as we had the sadistic pleasure of making them stand (ha ha ha).
Reached Udupi by 11:30 PM. Now comes the topping !!. We took a room (A/C) after rejecting two/three rooms in the same hotel. Everything was well till the power went off and we came to know that the generator that the hotel had was not working. Since it was an A/C room there was no way we could even open the windows. It was like a furnace inside. Karthi rose to the occasion. He really did !! Went straight to the reception and had some kind of quarrel and we (minus Psyche) backed him up and came to the conclusion that we are vacating the room (!!!). We got the full refund too :-)). The one thing that pissed us all off is the fact that Psyche was unaware of the entire situation and he was sleeping in the room covering himself with a blanket (!!@#$$&*^&*)& - These were the words that we used on Psyche at that time, censored for profanity :-)) )
Eventually we got a room in a nearby hotel which had a working generator and started a good night(day's !!!) sleep at 1 AM.
To be continued ...
This blog is about the trip to North Karnataka that we (Balaji-also called as Psyche, Mukund- also called as Delay and karthikeyan- also called as King Kong) went for. Since you all know that we are good boys(even if you don't, know now !!!), our trip comprised of only temples. We were planning for quite sometime, but it came true only on May 20, 2005. The plan was to cover the following five places in two days (May 21 and 22) - Sringeri, Kollur, Udupi, Dharmasthala and Kukke Subramanya.
Quite a bit is there to write about the entire trip. So I am splitting the same and writing as two blogs and hence the title. This one just contains the happenings(!!!) on the first day.
I would like share one small irony. Something related to work. We at our office normally plan our release to the client on fridays. As it is obvious, I will have some plans of going places (at least to Trichy, on fridays). So normally there will be a little bit of tension in catching my bus etc. due to the release. But when it comes to going to temples like this, there used to be a some sudden last minute tension(don't know from where it evolves :-)) When we planned a trip to Tirupathi and when I was to visit our family deity etc. This time was no exception. That too, there is one specific module which creates the problem always(same one this time too!!- Probably that module was started in some kind of "Rahu Kalam" :-)). Our bus to Sringeri was at 10 PM and I had planned to leave office by the 6:15 PM shuttle. I ended up taking the 7:15 PM shuttle (at least !!) and reached Majestic by around 9:15 PM. This is some kind of indication that, He (or She !) always gives some kind of hiccup in the beginning just to test his devotees, perhaps :-)
So all set now. All four of us were in time at Majestic. We succesfully started to Sringeri at 10:15 PM. To start with, the pushback on the seat in which karthi sat broke and he crash landed his head on the girl beside him. He din't mind though :-) We reached Sringeri by 7 AM on Saturday. The road to Sringeri and Sringeri by itself was beautiful, doing justice to it's name.(By the way, Singeri = Sringa + Giri => Beautiful hill). We came to know that all the cottages were full and even if some gets vacted only families will be given preferrence against bachelors (This is something that i don't like, after all every one would have been a bachelor at some point of time, people are jealous of bachelors pro'ly :-DDD). So we had to get ready in the common bathrooms etc. No complaints. We were ready in an hour.
VOWWWWWWWW!!! Wasn't she gorgeous ??? Saradhambal, I mean - the deity at Sringeri. Such a majestic look and posture. Had a great darshan. Visited the Chandramouleeswara temple also, which is inside the same campus. The architectural beauty of the temple was also great residing at the banks of Tungabadra. We just put our legs into the Tunga as there were too may BIG fish. Then we reached the mutt. The mutt is on the other side of the temple separated by the Tunga. Waited for sometime for His Holiness to arrive. Was able to meet him and since we are from the right families (!!! :-)), we were even able introduce ourselves (as So and So's such and such relation !!) and talk with him. Felt really happy :-). Got his blessings and started from there. Since we were there in some kind of an odd time couldn't have our lunch at the mutt :-(.
Our next plan was Kollur. We did not have a clear idea as to how to reach Kollur from Sringeri. Each one we asked had his own route. So we came to a consensus that we will go to Udupi and then go to Kollur from there. We took a bus that started at 2:30 PM. The bus driver was a man of his words. He siad he will take us in 90 minutes and bang we were there at Udupi at 4 PM. The route to Udupi was also through mountains and we enjoyed that ride too. Sringeri Udupi was around 70 kms. The moment we reached Udupi we saw a bus starting to Kollur which we boarded immediately.
This strip was the most memorable one - in the other sense :-(.The bus driver had the worst habbit of stopping every 15 seconds. His timer was so accurate that he never drove continuously for more than 30 seconds at any point of time :((. Mukund was in some kind of form at that time. He almost reached salvation that he used to give the signal to stop the bus even if the conductor did not !!! At last we reached Kollur at 6:40 PM. Had a nice darshan and since Mukund knew someone there we even were able to do some special puja... :-))). Mookambiga does everything for a reason :-). Came out of the temple with a sense of accomplishment. Had the dinner there. Typical Karnataka Sambar (Ayyyyye :-((). Took a bus to Udupi. Had to stand for sometime but made friends with the driver and were able to sit near on the engine and in the steps. Had a tussle with two idiots, who wanted the engine seat (!!) and because of our influence with the driver (!!) ended up making those guys relinquish the seat. But we had to stand too... Was happy in spite of that as we had the sadistic pleasure of making them stand (ha ha ha).
Reached Udupi by 11:30 PM. Now comes the topping !!. We took a room (A/C) after rejecting two/three rooms in the same hotel. Everything was well till the power went off and we came to know that the generator that the hotel had was not working. Since it was an A/C room there was no way we could even open the windows. It was like a furnace inside. Karthi rose to the occasion. He really did !! Went straight to the reception and had some kind of quarrel and we (minus Psyche) backed him up and came to the conclusion that we are vacating the room (!!!). We got the full refund too :-)). The one thing that pissed us all off is the fact that Psyche was unaware of the entire situation and he was sleeping in the room covering himself with a blanket (!!@#$$&*^&*)& - These were the words that we used on Psyche at that time, censored for profanity :-)) )
Eventually we got a room in a nearby hotel which had a working generator and started a good night(day's !!!) sleep at 1 AM.
To be continued ...
Friday, May 13, 2005
#define
Quite a long time No see !!! So a Big Hi to all.
From the title u might think i am going to write some techie stuff. Definitely not !!
This blog is just an imagination as to how handy or wierd it will be, if #defines can be applied in real life. Here are some samples,
#define BE_IN_REC MBA_IN_WHARTON
Amazing isn't it? or other way round, if I have a deadly enemy who had completed his MBA at Wharton... Take this
#define MBA_IN_WHARTON SECOND_STANDARD_FAIL_IN_CORPORATION_SCHOOL :-).
If someone is not happy with his/her pay, here is the hike
#define LAKHS_PER_ANNUM CRORES_PER_ANNUM or #define INDIAN_RUPEE POUND_STERLING
I won't mind,
#define ELECTRONIC_CITY BTM_12TH_MAINBy the way, Electronic city is the place where my office is located and I reside at BTM Layout, 12 th main. Currently I travel more than 15 km :-(
How about this ?
#define MY_GIRL_FRIEND AISHWARYA_ROY
No No No !!! I take it back. That would make me just an element of an infinite series of Salman khan, Vivek oberoi ..... Really wierd.
I hope everyone will long to do the next one
#define WEEKDAY WEEKEND .... cho chimple :-)
As a mark of patriotism
#define EVERY_CRICKET_WORLDCUP 1983_WORLD_CUP
Think, that's the only way India can win a world cup ever ;-(
I would have really loved to do this when I was in Taiwan,
#define SUBWAY_SANDWICH MASALDOSA_SAMBAR_IDLY_.............
How many of you will say no to something like
#define Morning Evening ... cooooooooooooooooool
The list can go on.....
Enough. I am getting too ambitious.
But one thing is for sure. There is a saying, "If you can dream it, you can achieve it". I would like to rephrase it as " If you can define it, you can achieve it " :-))
I dedicate this blog to #define specialists ;-). (Hope my team mates will understand !!)
Cheers !!!
From the title u might think i am going to write some techie stuff. Definitely not !!
This blog is just an imagination as to how handy or wierd it will be, if #defines can be applied in real life. Here are some samples,
#define BE_IN_REC MBA_IN_WHARTON
Amazing isn't it? or other way round, if I have a deadly enemy who had completed his MBA at Wharton... Take this
#define MBA_IN_WHARTON SECOND_STANDARD_FAIL_IN_CORPORATION_SCHOOL :-).
If someone is not happy with his/her pay, here is the hike
#define LAKHS_PER_ANNUM CRORES_PER_ANNUM or #define INDIAN_RUPEE POUND_STERLING
I won't mind,
#define ELECTRONIC_CITY BTM_12TH_MAINBy the way, Electronic city is the place where my office is located and I reside at BTM Layout, 12 th main. Currently I travel more than 15 km :-(
How about this ?
#define MY_GIRL_FRIEND AISHWARYA_ROY
No No No !!! I take it back. That would make me just an element of an infinite series of Salman khan, Vivek oberoi ..... Really wierd.
I hope everyone will long to do the next one
#define WEEKDAY WEEKEND .... cho chimple :-)
As a mark of patriotism
#define EVERY_CRICKET_WORLDCUP 1983_WORLD_CUP
Think, that's the only way India can win a world cup ever ;-(
I would have really loved to do this when I was in Taiwan,
#define SUBWAY_SANDWICH MASALDOSA_SAMBAR_IDLY_.............
How many of you will say no to something like
#define Morning Evening ... cooooooooooooooooool
The list can go on.....
Enough. I am getting too ambitious.
But one thing is for sure. There is a saying, "If you can dream it, you can achieve it". I would like to rephrase it as " If you can define it, you can achieve it " :-))
I dedicate this blog to #define specialists ;-). (Hope my team mates will understand !!)
Cheers !!!
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Buddha or Narayana !!!
Am back to India !! Wanted to post this one 10 days back..... couldn't :(
Landed in Bangalore on saturday (April 16) night. Same route that I took, the last three times. This time also I took the transit tour from the Bangkok Air port. Visitted the Grand Palace - Emerald Buddha Temple. Well, coming to the point, this blog is just a comparison between Buddhism and Hinduism.
There is a long standing opinion that Buddha is the NINTH incarnation of Vishnu, out of his "Dasaavathaara", the tenth one namely "Kalki" (Vishnu on a white horse), yet to be taken when the "Kali Yuga" ends through the yet to come "Pralaya" or the great disaster. There is also an opinion that, this thought of Buddha being an incarnation
of Vishnu, was being spread by Aadhi Shankara, whose purpose of birth was to spread Hinduism and avoid it being taken over by the then spreading Buddhism and Jainism. But I do believe in the first statement.
Before putting my thoughts, here are the 10 avatars of Vishnu. Matsya (Fish), Koorma (turtle), Varaaha (wild boar), Narasimha (Half human-half lion), Vaamana (short person), Bhargava (also called Parasu Rama), Rama, Krishna, Bouddha (Should be Buddha) and Kalki (yet to come). Some say that, Balarama (Krishna's brother) is the ninth incarnation of Vishnu. That is not true as it is mentioned in the Bhagavatha as well as in the Mahabharatha, that Bala rama is the incarnation of Aadhi Sesha (The cobra on which Vishnu sleeps). Btw, Lakshmana was also an incarnation of Aadhi Sesha. Please note that, Rama avatar was in "Thredha Yuga" and
Krishna avatar was in "Dwaabara Yuga" and there is no point taking incarnations of Krishna and Bala Rama in the same Yuga - Four yugas as per Hinduism are - Kritha, Thredha, Dwabara and Kali (current and last).
Well, here are my points favouring my thoughts. Buddhism was born in India, the land where Hinduism evolved. I am using the word "evolved" coz, no one knows when Hinduism started and also there are no governing bodies etc. for spreading Hinduism. "Siddhartha" - The real name of lord Buddha is one of the thousand names of lord Vishnu (Sahasra nama). For that matter "Pali" the language that Buddha used to preach is very close to "sanskrit". For instance, the guide who took me around in Bangkok was called, " Suk Neethi" which he said means " Happy by law" in Pali. It means the same in Sanskrit. many places and landmarks in Thailand have Pali names and they sound and mean the same in sanskrit too. Also, all the kings of Thailand are named Rama.
The Emerald Buddha temple had the complete Ramayana depicted in a pictorial form. The hero of the Ramayana according to them is "Hanuman". He is depicted in the same way as we know him in India :-), the only difference being he is a casanova according to Buddhist belief as against the "Brahmachari" image that we have about him. The wife of Hanuman is a Mermaid as depicted by their pictures. There is one belief in Hindu mythology too about Hanuman, which is, when Hanuman was flying across the sea to Lanka, his sweat fell on one of the fish and eventually the fish gave birth to a child who was also as powerful as Hanuman was :-). This is
somewhat close to the mermaid depiction.
There were statues of Buddha with four heads (Brahma). Most of the Buddist temples also have a "Ganapathi" vigraha. Also I have seen Siva in the form of Linga in most of the temples. One very special fact is that, there is a temple called the "Sleeping Buddha" temple, where in the Buddha poses on a "Naga", resting his head on his palm. We have temples of Vishnu in the same pose in "Srirangam" near Trichy or the "AnanthaPadmanabha swamy" temple in Trivandrum (Kerala).
Lastly, there is a Stupa in the Grand Palace which is for "Kalki" incarnation that Buddha is going to take. I will surely upload some photoes in my blog soon. Well, the above blog is definitely not some kind of Hindutva spreading mission :-). Just some thoughts that I was able to corelate between Hinduism and Buddhism. I conclude saying what Suk neethi told me when he left..."
Your God and Our God are the same".
Bye !!
Landed in Bangalore on saturday (April 16) night. Same route that I took, the last three times. This time also I took the transit tour from the Bangkok Air port. Visitted the Grand Palace - Emerald Buddha Temple. Well, coming to the point, this blog is just a comparison between Buddhism and Hinduism.
There is a long standing opinion that Buddha is the NINTH incarnation of Vishnu, out of his "Dasaavathaara", the tenth one namely "Kalki" (Vishnu on a white horse), yet to be taken when the "Kali Yuga" ends through the yet to come "Pralaya" or the great disaster. There is also an opinion that, this thought of Buddha being an incarnation
of Vishnu, was being spread by Aadhi Shankara, whose purpose of birth was to spread Hinduism and avoid it being taken over by the then spreading Buddhism and Jainism. But I do believe in the first statement.
Before putting my thoughts, here are the 10 avatars of Vishnu. Matsya (Fish), Koorma (turtle), Varaaha (wild boar), Narasimha (Half human-half lion), Vaamana (short person), Bhargava (also called Parasu Rama), Rama, Krishna, Bouddha (Should be Buddha) and Kalki (yet to come). Some say that, Balarama (Krishna's brother) is the ninth incarnation of Vishnu. That is not true as it is mentioned in the Bhagavatha as well as in the Mahabharatha, that Bala rama is the incarnation of Aadhi Sesha (The cobra on which Vishnu sleeps). Btw, Lakshmana was also an incarnation of Aadhi Sesha. Please note that, Rama avatar was in "Thredha Yuga" and
Krishna avatar was in "Dwaabara Yuga" and there is no point taking incarnations of Krishna and Bala Rama in the same Yuga - Four yugas as per Hinduism are - Kritha, Thredha, Dwabara and Kali (current and last).
Well, here are my points favouring my thoughts. Buddhism was born in India, the land where Hinduism evolved. I am using the word "evolved" coz, no one knows when Hinduism started and also there are no governing bodies etc. for spreading Hinduism. "Siddhartha" - The real name of lord Buddha is one of the thousand names of lord Vishnu (Sahasra nama). For that matter "Pali" the language that Buddha used to preach is very close to "sanskrit". For instance, the guide who took me around in Bangkok was called, " Suk Neethi" which he said means " Happy by law" in Pali. It means the same in Sanskrit. many places and landmarks in Thailand have Pali names and they sound and mean the same in sanskrit too. Also, all the kings of Thailand are named Rama.
The Emerald Buddha temple had the complete Ramayana depicted in a pictorial form. The hero of the Ramayana according to them is "Hanuman". He is depicted in the same way as we know him in India :-), the only difference being he is a casanova according to Buddhist belief as against the "Brahmachari" image that we have about him. The wife of Hanuman is a Mermaid as depicted by their pictures. There is one belief in Hindu mythology too about Hanuman, which is, when Hanuman was flying across the sea to Lanka, his sweat fell on one of the fish and eventually the fish gave birth to a child who was also as powerful as Hanuman was :-). This is
somewhat close to the mermaid depiction.
There were statues of Buddha with four heads (Brahma). Most of the Buddist temples also have a "Ganapathi" vigraha. Also I have seen Siva in the form of Linga in most of the temples. One very special fact is that, there is a temple called the "Sleeping Buddha" temple, where in the Buddha poses on a "Naga", resting his head on his palm. We have temples of Vishnu in the same pose in "Srirangam" near Trichy or the "AnanthaPadmanabha swamy" temple in Trivandrum (Kerala).
Lastly, there is a Stupa in the Grand Palace which is for "Kalki" incarnation that Buddha is going to take. I will surely upload some photoes in my blog soon. Well, the above blog is definitely not some kind of Hindutva spreading mission :-). Just some thoughts that I was able to corelate between Hinduism and Buddhism. I conclude saying what Suk neethi told me when he left..."
Your God and Our God are the same".
Bye !!
Friday, April 15, 2005
Time to leave ...
Hey
Today is my 39th day at Taiwan and I am leaving by the 9 AM flight tomorrow. Taipei - Bangkok - Bangalore. Planning to take the transit tour of Bangkok as usual.
This stay at Taiwan was the longest and the most memorable, I would say. Firstly, I landed here on my birthday !!! Then a series of Monday blues and the exciting weekends at Danshui, WuLai and the Pacific, got to meet Edgar, Ashish and Jayesh - nice company. Food was also not that much of a problem since the hotel where I stay has a new chef who knew how to make Indian curry !!!!! Was normally having it for dinner and sometime for breakfast. Of course had a nice South Indian lunch at a friend's place. Weather, this time was totally crazy !! Would be very cold on some days, very hot and humid on some, drizzle or pour on some other day and so on. Was afraid I might fall ill, but luckily nothing happened. :-). Incidentally, I was here for Shivarathri (on march 8), good friday and began "Parthiba" year (The new Tamil year) in Taiwan.
By the way, this week was cool, in all sense (weather as well as work). Our client was happy with the progress, this monday was not "blue" and I managed to get a 1 GB USB disk with the amount of money I had !!! Because of my extension of stay, I ran short of money and hence had to borrow some to settle my hotel bill :-(. I had to drop my plans of buying USB sticks for colleagues and friend(Saravanan), USB MP3 player desperately wanted by a colleague and of course the short pants that Anuj asked me :-( Sorry Anuj... I am sure anuj will ask me how I was able to get a 1 GB USB hard disk but not a short pant .... a valid question. But I am equally sure that he knows the answer.
Btw, Eddie gave me a souvneir, a dabba full of Pcific sand and shells. thanks for the same !!
Ok. time to leave. Will update about my flight, Bkk trip etc. in my next blog from Bangalore.
bye Bye !!
Today is my 39th day at Taiwan and I am leaving by the 9 AM flight tomorrow. Taipei - Bangkok - Bangalore. Planning to take the transit tour of Bangkok as usual.
This stay at Taiwan was the longest and the most memorable, I would say. Firstly, I landed here on my birthday !!! Then a series of Monday blues and the exciting weekends at Danshui, WuLai and the Pacific, got to meet Edgar, Ashish and Jayesh - nice company. Food was also not that much of a problem since the hotel where I stay has a new chef who knew how to make Indian curry !!!!! Was normally having it for dinner and sometime for breakfast. Of course had a nice South Indian lunch at a friend's place. Weather, this time was totally crazy !! Would be very cold on some days, very hot and humid on some, drizzle or pour on some other day and so on. Was afraid I might fall ill, but luckily nothing happened. :-). Incidentally, I was here for Shivarathri (on march 8), good friday and began "Parthiba" year (The new Tamil year) in Taiwan.
By the way, this week was cool, in all sense (weather as well as work). Our client was happy with the progress, this monday was not "blue" and I managed to get a 1 GB USB disk with the amount of money I had !!! Because of my extension of stay, I ran short of money and hence had to borrow some to settle my hotel bill :-(. I had to drop my plans of buying USB sticks for colleagues and friend(Saravanan), USB MP3 player desperately wanted by a colleague and of course the short pants that Anuj asked me :-( Sorry Anuj... I am sure anuj will ask me how I was able to get a 1 GB USB hard disk but not a short pant .... a valid question. But I am equally sure that he knows the answer.
Btw, Eddie gave me a souvneir, a dabba full of Pcific sand and shells. thanks for the same !!
Ok. time to leave. Will update about my flight, Bkk trip etc. in my next blog from Bangalore.
bye Bye !!
Monday, April 11, 2005
The Pacific or The Hindustan ??
Hi All !!
I had put my leg into the Pacific Ocean on April 8, 2005!!! Here is the complete coverage :-)
I had to go to another office for a meeting today. So Eddie, from my client's office had come to pick me up in the morning. We first went to the American Express Bank as I had to exchange some money (in fact quite a bit, around 110,000 NT$ !!, for settling my hotel account). Then we went to the place where we were supposed to go. The office building was really massive. I am really quite impressed with the infrastructure here (if at all, it matters !!). The meeting was over just before lunch time. I was planning to have my lunch at the Indian restaurant. Before I suggested this to Eddie, he asked me whether I would be interested to go and see the Pacific. I WAS THRILLED !!!!
But great things in life come only if we make sacrifices. Here is the option given to me.Go to Indian restaurant, have a great lunch. I was even mentally prepared to have Tomato soup, naan, Malai koftha + Bindi masala, Subzi biriyani and kulfi... That's it !! that's what I normally have when I go to the Hindustan (The name of the Indian Restaurant here). Or, take some sandwich or something and go to Keelung island, where the Pacific is accessible. The Red and the Blue pill !! Doing both is not possible due to various reasons like distance, time etc.
Believe me !! It was a very very tough decision to make !! There are two ways of thinking about the given situation. One is, " (1) What is there in the Pacific Ocean ? The same blue, salty sea water. H2O + NaCl. Should I sacrifice a nice food after starving for nearly a month without good food ? After all we live and earn to eat properly :-)" or " (2) Still one more week. I am going to have Indian food once I go back to India. After a month, if I feel like eating a Biriyani, I can. But if I feel like going to the Pacific ... Can I ? For that matter no sea coast is close to Bangalore :-)." Number 2 won. No Indian food :-( !!
So we packed a Spaghetti + French fries and started to Keelung. The ride was through mountains and tunnels. Very picturesque. We even passed the port where a ship bound for Japan was about to start and then the National Taiwan University (where Eddie did his Bachelors degree) and the bridge that marked the end of Taiwan Strait and the beginning of the Pacific !!! At last we were there. It was not some kind of a beach but was a rocky sea shore where people can take some snaps, pick sea weeds, catch crabs etc. It was a great sight to see the sea surrounded by rocks and mountains. We had our Spaghetti sitting by the rocky shore. Not good :-((. Since the water had a lot of sea weeds it was really slippery. So I carefully went in and stood in a place where the waves can kiss my knee :-). Took some snaps as a proof and waved adieu to Prashanth (Hey, Pacific is called Prashant Maha Sagar in Hindi !!)
Thanked Eddie for his suggestion and time and rode back to work, with the sense of achievement, bidding farewell to the Queen of Oceans !!
I had put my leg into the Pacific Ocean on April 8, 2005!!! Here is the complete coverage :-)
I had to go to another office for a meeting today. So Eddie, from my client's office had come to pick me up in the morning. We first went to the American Express Bank as I had to exchange some money (in fact quite a bit, around 110,000 NT$ !!, for settling my hotel account). Then we went to the place where we were supposed to go. The office building was really massive. I am really quite impressed with the infrastructure here (if at all, it matters !!). The meeting was over just before lunch time. I was planning to have my lunch at the Indian restaurant. Before I suggested this to Eddie, he asked me whether I would be interested to go and see the Pacific. I WAS THRILLED !!!!
But great things in life come only if we make sacrifices. Here is the option given to me.Go to Indian restaurant, have a great lunch. I was even mentally prepared to have Tomato soup, naan, Malai koftha + Bindi masala, Subzi biriyani and kulfi... That's it !! that's what I normally have when I go to the Hindustan (The name of the Indian Restaurant here). Or, take some sandwich or something and go to Keelung island, where the Pacific is accessible. The Red and the Blue pill !! Doing both is not possible due to various reasons like distance, time etc.
Believe me !! It was a very very tough decision to make !! There are two ways of thinking about the given situation. One is, " (1) What is there in the Pacific Ocean ? The same blue, salty sea water. H2O + NaCl. Should I sacrifice a nice food after starving for nearly a month without good food ? After all we live and earn to eat properly :-)" or " (2) Still one more week. I am going to have Indian food once I go back to India. After a month, if I feel like eating a Biriyani, I can. But if I feel like going to the Pacific ... Can I ? For that matter no sea coast is close to Bangalore :-)." Number 2 won. No Indian food :-( !!
So we packed a Spaghetti + French fries and started to Keelung. The ride was through mountains and tunnels. Very picturesque. We even passed the port where a ship bound for Japan was about to start and then the National Taiwan University (where Eddie did his Bachelors degree) and the bridge that marked the end of Taiwan Strait and the beginning of the Pacific !!! At last we were there. It was not some kind of a beach but was a rocky sea shore where people can take some snaps, pick sea weeds, catch crabs etc. It was a great sight to see the sea surrounded by rocks and mountains. We had our Spaghetti sitting by the rocky shore. Not good :-((. Since the water had a lot of sea weeds it was really slippery. So I carefully went in and stood in a place where the waves can kiss my knee :-). Took some snaps as a proof and waved adieu to Prashanth (Hey, Pacific is called Prashant Maha Sagar in Hindi !!)
Thanked Eddie for his suggestion and time and rode back to work, with the sense of achievement, bidding farewell to the Queen of Oceans !!
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Weekend Vs Monday
Hi !!
If the above two candidates contest in a poll there will be no need for counting the votes !!
I am experiencing this Monday Panic like never before, in my current trip of Taiwan. I have spent 4 (weekends + monday) here so far and I was never happy on any of the mondays :(. It's mainly coz, we leave some "over the weekend" tests on friday evenings hoping to see things working great on Monday morning. Guess what ?? That was never the case, this time at least.
Anyhow, all the weekends were great so far :). I would prefer writing about the weekends than the monday that followed :-)
The first two weekends were full of eating and sleeping including a Real Good South Indian Lunch at a friend's house :-).
The third one - planned to go to Damshui - A place close to the seashore; South China Sea. I had visited that place with my client when I had come here, the first time. I remember my client telling me that this is the best place in Taipei to have a date !! As expected and as it was the case with me(and my friends) always, I went there with guys ( :(((( ). Three of them, in fact - Ashish, Edgar and Jayesh - they are also from India and they will be here for at least a month. This is one phenomena that is with us always. Be it Ooty or Kodaikanal or Tirupathi we were a group of 8 or 10 guys always. Taipei was no exception :). No complaints though :-). Had a great time at Fisherman's Wharf and the sea coast. Spent nearly 4 to 5 hours there.
In the last weeknd we went to WuLai Hot springs zone, which is some 50 km from the place where we stay. We took an MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) to Xindian and then a bus to WuLai. The place was amazing - Nature at its best !!! We first laid ourselves in the Natural Hot Springs for nearly an hour. I was surprised to see boiling hot and Ice cold water just separated by a layer of pebbles. Mother nature is amazing !!! Then we saw the water falls. Also, went to the park on the other side of the mountain via Cable car( The only mode of transport connecting the two sides). I was able to see nothing but greenery where ever I turned :-). Came back to the room after a nice 10 hours, with my mind still lingering around the springs, falls and the green vegetation.
As the other side of the picture the mondays that followed were totally _____ and ***** (upto the dirty mind of the reader to fill in the blanks :-)). That's the reason why, I din't write this blog on Monday. Moreover yesterday was a holiday as it was the "Tomb Sleeping Day" in Taipei, a day to pay homage to the ancestors. I converted it to a "Room Sleeping Day" :-).
Awaiting to see what the next Monday unfolds :-). Wish me luck !!
Bye !!
If the above two candidates contest in a poll there will be no need for counting the votes !!
I am experiencing this Monday Panic like never before, in my current trip of Taiwan. I have spent 4 (weekends + monday) here so far and I was never happy on any of the mondays :(. It's mainly coz, we leave some "over the weekend" tests on friday evenings hoping to see things working great on Monday morning. Guess what ?? That was never the case, this time at least.
Anyhow, all the weekends were great so far :). I would prefer writing about the weekends than the monday that followed :-)
The first two weekends were full of eating and sleeping including a Real Good South Indian Lunch at a friend's house :-).
The third one - planned to go to Damshui - A place close to the seashore; South China Sea. I had visited that place with my client when I had come here, the first time. I remember my client telling me that this is the best place in Taipei to have a date !! As expected and as it was the case with me(and my friends) always, I went there with guys ( :(((( ). Three of them, in fact - Ashish, Edgar and Jayesh - they are also from India and they will be here for at least a month. This is one phenomena that is with us always. Be it Ooty or Kodaikanal or Tirupathi we were a group of 8 or 10 guys always. Taipei was no exception :). No complaints though :-). Had a great time at Fisherman's Wharf and the sea coast. Spent nearly 4 to 5 hours there.
In the last weeknd we went to WuLai Hot springs zone, which is some 50 km from the place where we stay. We took an MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) to Xindian and then a bus to WuLai. The place was amazing - Nature at its best !!! We first laid ourselves in the Natural Hot Springs for nearly an hour. I was surprised to see boiling hot and Ice cold water just separated by a layer of pebbles. Mother nature is amazing !!! Then we saw the water falls. Also, went to the park on the other side of the mountain via Cable car( The only mode of transport connecting the two sides). I was able to see nothing but greenery where ever I turned :-). Came back to the room after a nice 10 hours, with my mind still lingering around the springs, falls and the green vegetation.
As the other side of the picture the mondays that followed were totally _____ and ***** (upto the dirty mind of the reader to fill in the blanks :-)). That's the reason why, I din't write this blog on Monday. Moreover yesterday was a holiday as it was the "Tomb Sleeping Day" in Taipei, a day to pay homage to the ancestors. I converted it to a "Room Sleeping Day" :-).
Awaiting to see what the next Monday unfolds :-). Wish me luck !!
Bye !!
Friday, April 01, 2005
Eating Habits
This is a bit lengthy, but interesting.
Of late I had faced many interesting incidents with this V-NV (Vegetarian - Non Vegetartian) food habits. Especially the recent surge of Eastern Journeys I underwent have given me experiences that I would prefer to share with you people.
Firstly, I will tell you about the veggie Sandwich that I get in the SubWay outlet close to my client's office, where I normally have my lunch or dinner. The sandwich is called Veggie Delite. I am really trying to find out what's so delightful about this stuff !!! It is bun filled with stuffs that only cattle will enjoy. To me that sandwich is a human rights violation !!! As a human being am i not entitled for something which is baked / boiled / fried or at least heated ? But I should admit that the soup and cookies I get there are good and that's the reason I keep going there.
I can't blame these people. For them vegetarian is something totally harmless - food to be eaten when someone is sick. But different people here have different definitions for vegetarian. When I was dining at the hotal where I stay, I asked for vegetarian fried rice. The guy asked me whether onion is allowed. I felt that was a sensible question and said "yes". Then came the stunner !!!! He asked me whether pork is allowed ??!!@&* To be frank, pork is the last thing on earth that I will categorize as Veg. I could not understand what made him put pork and onion at the same level :-). I answered him with a pathetic "No". I ended up getting a fried rice with some pink things on it resembling shrimp. Then he explained me it is made of soya bean just to give an NV feeling !!!!!
This one is really good. Happened in the flight between Bangkok and Bangalore last time. It was time to eat and the air hostess asked me whether I want pork + rice or prawns + rice. I could not answer. Just said her I am a veggie. She perused thru her passenger list, cross checked with another air host and triumphantly declared "we have no vegetarians on board". I felt ignored and less important than a piece of paper :-(. The only reason why I was not harsh on her was I din't want to earn the hatred of a beautiful creature ;). I think she also had some soft corner for me :). She searched for 15 mins and gave me a veg meal which i really enjoyed !! Three cheers to Thai airways air hotess' !!!
We have a lot of funny arguments over our lunch table in my office where we have a group which loves plants like anything, they never harm them ;-). In one such discussions I said I am a oo-lacto-vegetarian. That is - I can take egg and milk. Bang came the reply from the other group... I am a porko- muttono - chickeno oo- .... vegetarian !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really envy the NVs ;-)
ok.....it's time to have a veggie delite !!
Of late I had faced many interesting incidents with this V-NV (Vegetarian - Non Vegetartian) food habits. Especially the recent surge of Eastern Journeys I underwent have given me experiences that I would prefer to share with you people.
Firstly, I will tell you about the veggie Sandwich that I get in the SubWay outlet close to my client's office, where I normally have my lunch or dinner. The sandwich is called Veggie Delite. I am really trying to find out what's so delightful about this stuff !!! It is bun filled with stuffs that only cattle will enjoy. To me that sandwich is a human rights violation !!! As a human being am i not entitled for something which is baked / boiled / fried or at least heated ? But I should admit that the soup and cookies I get there are good and that's the reason I keep going there.
I can't blame these people. For them vegetarian is something totally harmless - food to be eaten when someone is sick. But different people here have different definitions for vegetarian. When I was dining at the hotal where I stay, I asked for vegetarian fried rice. The guy asked me whether onion is allowed. I felt that was a sensible question and said "yes". Then came the stunner !!!! He asked me whether pork is allowed ??!!@&* To be frank, pork is the last thing on earth that I will categorize as Veg. I could not understand what made him put pork and onion at the same level :-). I answered him with a pathetic "No". I ended up getting a fried rice with some pink things on it resembling shrimp. Then he explained me it is made of soya bean just to give an NV feeling !!!!!
This one is really good. Happened in the flight between Bangkok and Bangalore last time. It was time to eat and the air hostess asked me whether I want pork + rice or prawns + rice. I could not answer. Just said her I am a veggie. She perused thru her passenger list, cross checked with another air host and triumphantly declared "we have no vegetarians on board". I felt ignored and less important than a piece of paper :-(. The only reason why I was not harsh on her was I din't want to earn the hatred of a beautiful creature ;). I think she also had some soft corner for me :). She searched for 15 mins and gave me a veg meal which i really enjoyed !! Three cheers to Thai airways air hotess' !!!
We have a lot of funny arguments over our lunch table in my office where we have a group which loves plants like anything, they never harm them ;-). In one such discussions I said I am a oo-lacto-vegetarian. That is - I can take egg and milk. Bang came the reply from the other group... I am a porko- muttono - chickeno oo- .... vegetarian !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really envy the NVs ;-)
ok.....it's time to have a veggie delite !!
Thursday, March 31, 2005
WHO AM I
who am i
If you type the above, on a unix console you will get a reply immediately. But in real life this is not such simple a question to answer. Please don't think I am going to write something philosophical !!!
"who/what am i?" or rather "who/what are we?" (am assuming no non human is reading this !!)is one question that I would like to get an answer for. Since it is not easy, I would rather rephrase the question as to " what i would prefer to be?"
I really don't want a fundoo looking elderly guy, with a white overcoat, well trimmed French beard and big round spectacles, calling himself the architect of this world (a mathematical system) appear in front of me someday and let me know that I am the outcome of an unbalanced, third order equation, when he designed the mathematical model of his creation(the world). I am just imagining "The Matrix" kind of a scenario. I would not prefer to know that. (Even if it is true I would have some repreive if I come to know that the system has been designed on Linux rather than on Windows :-) )
Nor would I prefer a situation, where in I need to take part in some kind of fight for the very existense of the human race, against the machines, of course with some machines helping us (The Terminator kind of a scenario).
What next ? Do you believe I would prefer to be an alien with some extra ordinary powers ? IMPOSSIBLE. Nor would i like to know that 50 % of people around me whom i think are humans, are aliens (Men In Black, of course.) I do have some strong candidates around me whom I think are aliens !!!!!!
So what is that I would prefer to be? Din't you still get that? Plain and Simple. I want to be who I am now or rather who I think I am now.
Well, enough of this crap. This blog was really the outcome of watching a series of English movies (no other go, cant understand chinese :-( ) . That's the whole reason I insist myself and my friends in my room to watch only Indian movies which are inside a regular formula of family, romance, sentiments etc. .... i mean normal human feelings :-)
I conclude saying .... Be Human !!!
bye !!
If you type the above, on a unix console you will get a reply immediately. But in real life this is not such simple a question to answer. Please don't think I am going to write something philosophical !!!
"who/what am i?" or rather "who/what are we?" (am assuming no non human is reading this !!)is one question that I would like to get an answer for. Since it is not easy, I would rather rephrase the question as to " what i would prefer to be?"
I really don't want a fundoo looking elderly guy, with a white overcoat, well trimmed French beard and big round spectacles, calling himself the architect of this world (a mathematical system) appear in front of me someday and let me know that I am the outcome of an unbalanced, third order equation, when he designed the mathematical model of his creation(the world). I am just imagining "The Matrix" kind of a scenario. I would not prefer to know that. (Even if it is true I would have some repreive if I come to know that the system has been designed on Linux rather than on Windows :-) )
Nor would I prefer a situation, where in I need to take part in some kind of fight for the very existense of the human race, against the machines, of course with some machines helping us (The Terminator kind of a scenario).
What next ? Do you believe I would prefer to be an alien with some extra ordinary powers ? IMPOSSIBLE. Nor would i like to know that 50 % of people around me whom i think are humans, are aliens (Men In Black, of course.) I do have some strong candidates around me whom I think are aliens !!!!!!
So what is that I would prefer to be? Din't you still get that? Plain and Simple. I want to be who I am now or rather who I think I am now.
Well, enough of this crap. This blog was really the outcome of watching a series of English movies (no other go, cant understand chinese :-( ) . That's the whole reason I insist myself and my friends in my room to watch only Indian movies which are inside a regular formula of family, romance, sentiments etc. .... i mean normal human feelings :-)
I conclude saying .... Be Human !!!
bye !!
To Start With ...
Hey
For guys who know me well, this might be a surprise !!!! Considering the fact that I know myself (I don't mean i have reached self realization. Just take it literally :)) to a decent extent, even am surprised !!!
What made me do this ? Blogging, i mean, of course.
I do have the habit of writing diary. My diaries normally contain the happenings of the day. Of course my friends will know that nothing really interesting happens in our lives ;-), in spite of which i keep it confidential, just for the fun of it. Still, I do try to fill in some meaningful pages. Also, after reading my friends' blogs i thought of doing it myself. In addition to that I am currently in Taiwan at my client's site. So I am alone, bored, tired (a bit) and in grave danger of forgetting my grammar (sorry, if some taiwanese/chinese are reading this by any chance). All these factors triggered me to do something unusual... So i ended up here.
I really don't know how long I 'll continue doing this, how long this enthu in me will last etc. But till the inevitable happens, i am afraid, you people(if exist) should bear with me.
Ok... my pizza has come. got to have my dinner.
ciao !!!
For guys who know me well, this might be a surprise !!!! Considering the fact that I know myself (I don't mean i have reached self realization. Just take it literally :)) to a decent extent, even am surprised !!!
What made me do this ? Blogging, i mean, of course.
I do have the habit of writing diary. My diaries normally contain the happenings of the day. Of course my friends will know that nothing really interesting happens in our lives ;-), in spite of which i keep it confidential, just for the fun of it. Still, I do try to fill in some meaningful pages. Also, after reading my friends' blogs i thought of doing it myself. In addition to that I am currently in Taiwan at my client's site. So I am alone, bored, tired (a bit) and in grave danger of forgetting my grammar (sorry, if some taiwanese/chinese are reading this by any chance). All these factors triggered me to do something unusual... So i ended up here.
I really don't know how long I 'll continue doing this, how long this enthu in me will last etc. But till the inevitable happens, i am afraid, you people(if exist) should bear with me.
Ok... my pizza has come. got to have my dinner.
ciao !!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
