Naan Kadavul - A classic

Well, the year has started for Tamil (not restricted to!!) movie buffs with a stunner. Three years it took for Bala and Arya to come up with this classic (I would call it one). A lot of research has gone into the movie - the life of Aghoris, the beggar mafias (I don't know how to call them) and spinning a story relating these.

The movie is captivating right from the opening - The holy Ganges and Bala's trademark tragedies (yet realities of life) on the banks, set the stage. The initial sequence leading upto the introduction of Arya was well thought out and the scene where Arya is identified was simple but startling! When Arya moves out of Kasi, I was actually thinking what next! If it were a cliche' film what followed would have been regular family sentiment, senseless duets with a bubbly heroine, gravity defying stunts leading to the conquer of the villain and a happy ending - Well, I wouldn't have blogged about such a film... :)

Now comes the social menace that Bala has chosen to handle in the movie - beggar mafias. What follows is really frightening (for the faint hearted). The villain has delivered a stunning performance. He along with the choice of support actors for beggars and the environment in which they live has provided the necessary "gloom" in the movie. It actually took some time for me to identify Puja and in the climax it's just impossible!! The blog would be a spoiler if I reveal anything further :)

Arya has done well - a real break for him and worth the 3 year efforts. Ilayaraja is really a maestro. The music stands out and the BGM can't be better. "Pichai paathiram" song is just beyond adjectives - music, lyrics and video - copybook stuff!!Screenplay is tight amd cogent but for an unnecesary 10 minute comedy (not really!!) in the police station (must have been avoided :().

Overall, a bold movie (deserves award(sss)), which can be an encouragement for people who want to create classics. Some might not like this - to such people I would suggest "change your outlook".

A must watch, I must say.
Cheers!!

Sabari Mala Trip III

Firstly, Happy New Year to all and wish you a Happy Pongal too!

...Contd from Sabari Mala Trip II

Well, after so much of divinity, it was time for some fun!! Yeah, we went to Kuttralam from Achan kovil. For those who do not know, Kuttralam is a water fall near Tenkasi/Senkottai (water source is through the rains in Western Ghats). There are many water falls in the town at different locations and we visited the Main Falls. Awseome!! Superb!! Any interjection / adjective will fit in when I set out to explain the feeling of even being near the fall. The water was COLD and fortunately for us the force was also GREAT!! Great experience, given that this is my first time in Kuttralam. We din't have much time there anyways, otherwise, I would have tried the oil massage and other facilities available there :) After the bath, we were really hungry and had a nice lunch there. There is a Shiva temple (Kuttrala nathar), but we couldn't have a darshan there as it was around 2 PM and the nada will be opened only at 4 PM.

Now back to divinity :)
Srivilliputhur:

For people who've not heard of Andal or Kodhai, She is a lady love (one of the many rather) of MahaVishnu (Vadabadhrasayanar). Srivilliputhur is the place where she belonged to and we visited the same. Typical Tamil style temple with huge Gopuram (The tower features in the Tamil Nadu Govt. state emblem!). Andal was looking awesome in Her shrine.

Adjacent to it is the Vadabadhrasayanar (Sleeping pose facing the North) shrine. The Vishnu here had Brahma on the lotus coming from his navel and fighting a demon!! Great temple and great darshan. I and Anand had some secret prayers!!! :)

In addtion to the temple, Srivilliputhur is famous for milk khoa (sweet made out of milk of course). Packed our bags with kgs of the same :).We decided to stay at Thiruparankunram (near Madurai). When we reached there in the night, we were (not) surprised to see heavy rush and no place to even move leave alone staying, sleeping et all. Cometh the hour, cometh the man (God??). One of our group members had a choultry in Nilackottai (around 40 km from Madurai) and was available for staying taht night. Thanks to him. Off we went there. Stayed and had a good sleep.

Next day we left by around 9 AM to Azhagar koil and Pazhamudhir cholai and then to Meenakshi amman temple. There is already a blog (titled Temples Temples and Temples) about these places and so don't want to tell it again. Needless to say these are all must visit places and we had superb darshan everywhere!! :)
One place that we din't visit during our last visit to Pazhamuthilcholai was "Nupura Gangai". This, as the name suggests, is a continuous water flow from an unknown source!! Researchers have been left confused and the reports are inconclusive. The water of course is considered holy and medicinal (legend says that the water can cure many diseases and also saves against
black magic and other evil forces). There is a Devi shrine (called Rakkayi) near the water source.
We left from Madurai to Hosur at night (8 PM - The reason for the delay is best not discussed!) after dinner.

Reached Hosur by 7 AM (you know the driver anyway) and finished the post Sabari mala formalities and off to office :)

Well, Thanks to Ayyappa once again for making us complete the trip (my second one) and hope to make many more like this.

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa

Sabari Mala Trip II

...Contd from Sabari Mala Trip I
While getting down any hill, one needs to be very careful as it's tougher and calls for great caution. But it goes without saying that it will be enjoyable. There won't be any control on one's own legs. Just that we start and go along with the momentum and take great effort to stop. Sabari mala is no different - especially with the 75 degree Appachi Medu and Neeli mala to be treaded down :). It was raining and drizzling in top of that!! Balaji, amounted for the maximum fun yet again - be it scheming against carrying the prasadam container or holding the side bars tightly and taking one step after another or tackling fast runners from behind, providing us with a running commentary through out as to how one has to approach getting down a hill :). At some point, Anand just couldn't stand the comedy anymore that he sat down and laughed and curious on lookers felt he was sick tried to offer help :). Like last year, I had kaapa kanji and kattan chai etc. on the way and signalled our reaching kanni moola ganapathi shrine with a tender coconut :)

When the entire team arrived, again Balaji expressed his anxiety over how to reach Kottayam for catching his train to Mumbai. After huge discussions, it was decided that he will be dropped at Pattanamthitta. Well, we got down after worshipping Kanni Moola Ganapathi and Pampa and praying for the next visit, we boarded a bus to Nilakkal, the place where all vehicles will be parked.

After successfully completing Erumeli and Sabarimala it was time to visit the other three adobes of Ayyappa. So, off we went to Kulathupuzha (It's very close to Pattanamthitta where Balaji got down and we had our dinner), where we were accomodated in the temple mantapa.

Kulathupuzha:

This is one of the adobes of Ayyappa, where He is a Balaka or Child. It's a small temple on the banks of a puzha or river. We had a bath in the river and the water was really good. The temple, had the main deity and shrines for Naga (snake God), Bhagavathi (in a peculiar pose as if She was dancing or saluting) and of course Ganesha. One more interesting thing is the number of varieties of fish in the river (We offered puffed rice (pori), groundnut etc. to the fish). For more on the legends of Kulathupuzha read Prasad's blog.

Ariyankavu:

This is on the Thenmala hills in the Kottayam - Senkottai route. A very picturesque drive with many hair pin bends et all. Here, Lord Ayyappa is in the form of Ayyan - the deity looks very much like the One in Sabarimala. The temple also is on the banks of a water body (I don't know which one) and has shops selling spices and fruits available in the nearby forest.

Achan Kovil:

After Ariyankavu, we were to go to Achan Kovil. We somehow had a great urge from the beginning to visit this temple. The temple is in the midst of a thick forest (20 km ride inside the forest) near Senkottai. The ride was awesome. The driver din't want to take us there but we made sure we go. We started only around 11 AM and we thought that the temple will be
closed from 12 noon till 4 PM. So we were under great tension :). But we reached the temple in roughly 70 min and came to know that the temple closes roughly at 1:30 PM. We had a lot of time and had a great Darshan. Well, in Achan Kovil, Lord Ayyappa is a King, with his consorts - Purna and Pushkala - They are not females but embodiments of completeness and wealth.
The legend says that Here Lord Ayyappa can bestow one with wealth and other earthly needs as he is a King himself while at Sabari mala he can give knowledge and contentment as He is a Yogi/Sanyasi there :) One more legend in Achan Kovil is that the sandal prasadam here can and will cure any venomous snake bite. This link has a good account on Achan kovil and it's legends.

Really happy that I was able to visit all the 5 adobes of Ayyappa.
The remaining part of the trip was in Tamil Nadu and will be covered in the next part of the blog :)
Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa
.... To Be Contd ......

Sabari Mala Trip I

I was blessed with my second Sabari mala trip (Dec 7 - Dec 11). The first part of our trip will be covered in this blog.

We were to have "Irumudi Kattu" and leave on Dec 07, 2008(Sunday) from Hosur. Like last year, my mother had come to Bangalore a day earlier. She along with my aunt and cousin started early morning and reached Hosur on time (Thanks to them!!). This time, the kattu was in a Ganesha temple. Needless to say, the atmosphere was awesome and compelling. All the kattus were over and by 11:30 we had a great lunch (prasadham) and were ready to leave.

We had left Hosur by 11:45. The vehicle was not upto the mark and the driver's attitude was pathetic and that proved to be the only hitch in the otherwise fantastic trip. After all you need something which is not good!! That's life :). On the way, we had a bath in river Bhavani (I guess), between Salem and Karur. This time we had three kanni samis (first timers - last year I was one). One was Vikram (V) and the other one Balaji (B). Both are funny people in their own rights. B was explaining his experience at the Baghu Bali temple and that became a code word for all of us at various instances. We also had a lot of arguments (political / religious / junk) through out which added spice to the travel :). V was sleeping royally, come what may...

We reached Erumeli only at 6 AM on Monday (The van driver had hit a cow / calf / bull not sure what) on the way. He was dozing through out as we were. At Erumeli, we visited the Petta Sastha temple, Vavuru Samadhi and the Dharma Sastha temple (Erumeli is one of the five adobes of Ayyappa swami - I will write in detail in the next blog). V and B were supposed to do
Petta Thullal, but they din't just as I din't in the last year :). Erumeli is the start of the peria padhai, the 50 km ascent to Sabari mala. As we din't take that path (we take the smaller path 8 km from Pampa), we got Sarams (for first timers) and knife (for second timers - me :)) there and we started to Pampa by van.

Pampa, is the holy river at the foots of the Sabari mala ascent (before Neeli mala). Mythology says, that Ayyappa was found in the banks of Pampa with a bell tied around his neck when king of Pandalam, Rajasekara Pandian found him. As is the ritual, we took bath in Pampa, carried the Irumudi and started the ascent. Irumudi is a holy package containing ghee filled coconut and rice (mainly) on the front side and two more coconuts in the back with or without other things that the traveller may require. After Pampa, one will reach the Kanni Moola Ganapathi shrine (where coconut should be broken as an offering), go up Neeli mala, Appachi medu and Sabari peetam. Our team's protocol is that no one should go beyond Subramanya padhai until the entire team reches there. During the ascent, Balaji was lured by pineapple vendors and was pressed by some external force (!!!) not allowing him to climb and he was successful in not carrying the ghee container (giving weird reasons) et all. All these added to our fun quotient.

Once the entire team reached, we were lucky enough to get a by pass and reached the Holy 18 steps and the Sannidhanam in no time and our darshan was over by 5 PM :) :) :). Everyone was emotional at the great Darshan bestowed on us by Him. We got a room to stay. Throghout the evening, we were able to have many Darshans (thanks to Him).

I and Anand had the opportunity of going for the Ghee Abhishekam the same night. The Ghee Abhishekam, starts at 4 AM everyday and goes on till 11 AM, but one has to join the Q, the previous night itself for a early completion next morning. We went to the Q at 10 PM in the night and was shocked to see some 10 layers before us, all sleeping in the Q. We were intelligent enough to define a new end (at the 4th layer) to the existing Q and soon there were people joining after us :) (trend setters). We were in the open and had very less space. Anand made himself into an 'S' and managed to sleep and even snored on top of that (gifted soul). All was well, when suddenly at 00:45 someone in the area shouted "Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa". That was enough for the sleepy members of the Q, who were disoriented in space and time, to think that the Darshan has started and there was a huge commotion. We used the commotion to move to the first layer of the Q :). From 0045 to 0400, the time flew and the next morning we were able to see the Ghee Abhishekam Darshan and back to the room at 5:30 (on Tuesday).

Then we saw many more Darshans, finished darshan of Malikapurathamma (the female deity there), ate Panchamirtham (4 rounds :)) and started getting down.

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa
.... To Be Contd ......

Unforgettable Diwali !! - My costliest Trichy trip..

Of the five years I've been out of Trichy, this Diwali was "special". In fact, not the Diwali per se, but the things that happened before Diwali.

I had planned and booked my Diwali ticket well in advance (as I normally do). To be very specific, I booked the onward journey (for Oct 24, 2008) ticket on July 26, 2008. Exactly 90 days before (Indian Railways doesn't allow any earlier!), you can count if you have a doubt :). Actually, there were no tickets available from Bangalore to Trichy (there are people worse and more paranoid than me :)), I had booked it from Maddur to Trichy (an excess of Rs.20 doesn't really matter). This was the flashback...

On Oct 24, 2008, I (along with Karthik and Ravindra) left office at 2:45 PM (on time, normally I leave at 3:30 PM). We got a Suvarna bus and got a business class ticket ( Rs.5 extra - I am serious, please check in Suvarna buses of KSRTC if you don't believe me). It was raining pretty heavily and I got down at Silk Board. God!! It was like the Bay of Bengal. Took an auto from bG circle to my place. The guy was cool and asked for just Rs. 30 (in place of Rs. 20). When I reached halfway, I was able to see a Pacific Ocean - Bermuda triangle rather... The vehicles which dared pass through the water actually started floating and disappeared!! The devil in me enjoyed the lighter side of the sufferings of those people though :). The auto driver told me that he has to take a big detour to avoid this mess and charged Rs. 60. It really doesn't matter!!

I reached home, packed and was about to leave - it started drizzling. Din't mind it really and got an auto to Majestic at 5 PM. The auto driver told me that the road was pretty bad and flooded (I knew it !!) and that he will take a different "shorter" route. I said yes. We entered the narrowest lane in Bangalore (it was raining heavily by then) and saw the biggest possible traffic jam. I asked the auto wala, whether I can make it to the 7 PM train. He said "Aaraamaagi" (coolly!!). We were there in the jam and I was able to see all the possible vehicles that man had made. trying to turn, manouvre, race ahead... It's a really competitive world you see!!

Well, at the end of a 90 minute wait in the lane, we reached wht people normally call as main road. It was 6:30 and I asked the auto wala about my prospect of catching the train. He said "Kashta sir!!" (Difficult!!). That explains. I reached the other side of the Rly Stn at 7 :05 PM and took 2 subways (drenched in the rain in between)to reach the station. Ran to the 6th platform and found a totally empty platform. The inevitable had happened. The bloody train came and left on time!! My first time of missing a train.. It doesn't really matter!!

Came out of the station. It was raining as if it is the last monsoon in Bangalore for the next 40 years!! Searched around in Majestic bus stand for tamil Nadu buses. Later came to know that the TN buses have been shifted to the Wilson Garden bus stand. Why now??? Took an auto, who luckily charged a meagre Rs. 50. Reached the other bus stand. Got a person, who was having a ticket to Madurai, which I can take till Salem (Rs. 280). When I was waiting for that bus, a direct bus to Trichy was passing me. I was greedy enough to leave the old bus guy and go in pursuit of a ticket. The conductor later said there are no tickets (as if he din't know it before!!). When I was in the midst of nowhere, not knowing how to go, call it supernatural intervention or divine grace or dame luck or whatever, someone asked me whether I need a ticket to Trichy for Rs. 320. The bus was a Karnataka Sarige bus (worse than the Suvarna town bus I had taken!!), still, that was to be my Titanic for the night. I got a special last seat (# 52 to be precise) and the roads do have a lot of bumps... The bus was scheduled at 22:22 and eventually came at 23:15 and left at 00:00.

I reached Trichy at 09:00. I'm actually going through the 7.5 year saturn period and that sure has it's effect.

Total expense for the Diwali travel: Rs. 204(train) +60(auto1) +150(auto2) +50(auto3) +280(missed bus1)+ 320(travelled bus2) = 1064 + drenching in rain + no dinner + too much of running + too much of tension + Rs. 80 (antibiotics and vitamin C for cold).... :(

The Diwali was as usual great and had a nice return journey.....
All said and done, I will never forget Diwali 2008....

iPhone Resurrected - Rising from the water!!

She was not a phoenix because phoenix rises from the ashes. She was a dolphin !!! She rose from the water :). For people who don't get the context, please read http://prakashvis.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html. (two entries below :))

After what happened on Aug 22, Saravanan was nervous but Venu was crest fallen :). So we decided that we need to look for alternatives - to repair the existing one or get a replacement. We found that the only hope for these kind of unlocked and wet (:)) iPhones, is that upon paying an additional $200, one gets a replacement. So my iPhone went back to the US (with efforts from Saravanan et all). Thanks to Venu for his diligence in getting the replacement after a lot of to and fro and going thru some more hiccups in getting the new one unlocked etc. etc. etc. The new "she" came to India on Sep 24, 2008 and this time Dinesh got it from the same office on Sep 25 evening. I got to lay my hand on her on the same night (no pun meant!! :)).

There were definitely few more hiccups. Saturday, was the day when I explored her fully (no pun meant again - after all you can't remove the case :)). Firstly, I had to move all my contacts from Sim to the iPhone. I din't know that there was an application called SIMport in iPhone itself. Like an a** (something bad meant!!), I was trying to type all the contacts.

Later when I discovered the application, I din't realize I had loaded my friend's SIM and imported all his contacts. Here I was again, deleting all his contacts one by one (not an a** this time, coz, there is no way one can delete all contacts in one go in an iPhone!!).

Next, my iPhone was not getting detected in the iTunes but was detected as a digicam device in the PC. The whole day we googled and eventually found the following procedure from this link http://www.howardforums.com/archive/topic/1363091-1.html.

The procedure which worked for me :)
If the iPhone is not detected in iTunes but gets detected as digital camera in Windiws PC (XP).
1. Search for usbaapl in the C:\WINDOWS system folder. Typically it will be in C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRVSTORE\ folder.

2. Search for the "Apple iPod" device in "Device Manager" from "My Computer->Properties". If the devices is recognized as digicam, then you can find it under "Imaging devices"

3. Right click on the device and say "update driver". This will open the New hardware window. - Check the ‘Install from a list or specific location’ then click ‘Next’ - Check ‘Search for the best driver in these locations’. Un-check - ‘Search removable media’ and check ‘Include this location in the search’.In the text box copy the path obtained in step 1.
The iPhone will now be detected in the iTunes. :) A thousand thanks to the person who posted this. 1001 thanks to rajeev, who kept the energy going the whole day and kept on googling, up/down graded iTunes software etc.Now, I have it and am enjoying my experience with her, showing her off (just take it literally again ;)).

I just realized, how connected a world this is!! Between Aug 22 and September 22, there were three trips that my iPhone made between California and Bangalore. My God!!
Cheers!!

My Thiruvannamalai Trip - Girivalam

I realized my long time dream of going for a Thiruvannamalai Girivalam (Circumambulation of the Annamalai mountain) on Sep 20, 2008. I went with Vikram (V) and Chandrakanth (CD). Off we went directly from office on Sep 19, Friday afternoon. It was a 4 hour journey and we reached Thiruvannamalai by 8 in the evening. We had booked a room in Hotel Arunachala (right in front of the Rajagopuram). We enjoyed the tiffin that night and V bought a dhoti but CD was sceptical for obvious reasons :).

On Sep 20 (Saturday), we started Girivalam from the RajaGopuram at 05:30. The total distance to cover was 14 km and there were 8 lingams (one in each direction) to worship. The first one was the Indhra Lingam (East), which is hardly 50 m from the start. Then comes Agni Lingam (SE), roughly 1.5 km from the start. This is the only Lingam that comes on the right side of the Girivalam path. One needs to go in from the main road a bit to worship this. Yama Lingam (S) is the 3rd, aptly situated in front of burial ground and crematorium, 3 km from the start :). Nruthi Lingam (SW) is the 4th followed by Varuna Lingam (W), 8 km from the Raja Gopuram. Vaayu Lingam (NW) is the 6th. Then comes the most improtant at least for professionals - Kubera Lingam (N); Kubera is the lord of wealth, in case someone doesn't know :). The last in the row is Esanya Lingam (NE) roughly 1 km from the Raja Gopuram. The Girivalam ends once we reach the starting point (from the other side of course :)).

In addition to the lingams, there are other special places/temples on the Girivalam path. Firstly, there are Ramanashram and Seshadri Swamigal Ashram after Agni Lingam. Ner Annamalai Darshan after Nruthi Lingam, is the place from where the hill can be viewed straight. After Varuna Lingam, comes the Manickavachagar (one of the Nayanmars) temple and Adi Arunachala temple - This was the temple of Swayambhu (formed by itself) Arunachala Lingam, a must visit temple. Nandhi Mukha Darshan, after Kubera Lingam is the place from where a hillock appears like Nandhi. Then comes Idukku Pillayar temple - a small crevice kind of structure, where one has to pass through and it is believed that this place is a cure for migraine, aches and black magic. Lastly we have the Pancha mukha Darshan, where the 5 faces of Annamalai is visible. Temples of Rajarajeshwari, Subramanya, Soorya Linga, Vasudeva perumal etc. are also worth seeing.

Grandma Gyan: We met an old lady in a tea shop, who literally scolded me for missing the Adi Arunachala temple and guided us to the same. She also conveyed a great philosophy in the simplest possible way - "The Annamalai (hill) will always appear to be coming along with us from anywhere in the Girivalam path (remember we are making a circle). This actually depicts Lord Arunachala coming along with us throughout!!!". Thanks to the patti :)
We also got to see lot of wanderers (Siddhas??!!) throughout. Believe me, they are not some simple beggars or poor people without home. When I offered a biscuit packet to one such person there, he said that he has eaten for the day and asked me to give the biscuit to someone else who is hungry. These people speak English too :).

Some tips and facts:

1. Thiruvannamalai is the Agni (fire) sthalam of lord Shiva - one of the Pancha bhootha sthalas. Thiruvanaikoil (water), Chidambaram (sky), Kalahasthi (air) and Kanchipuram (earth) are the other four.

2. Girivalam should be done bare footed. So better start early in the morning or late evening.

3. The place is divine - please avoid small talk during the Girivalam.

4. Have lots of change and food materials to distribiute to the people around.

5. It is a great experience. Do it when you have a chance or create a chance if you don't :)

After the Girivalam, we went to the temple and had a great darshan of Annamalai and Unnamulai amman and returned to the hotel by noon. We were back in Bangalore by 8 in the evening.
Hope I get many more chances, create many more rather :)
Cheers!!

The birth, journey and death of my iPhone

Like everyone else, I also wanted to own an iPhone. Not 3G, as I heard that quite a number of complications are associated with it. So settled for a refurbished <3G.

Birth:
As I was chatting with Venu (in USA) with Saravanan by my side, Venu said he had an iPhone for $271 (INR 11587.05 that day) and asked whether I want it. I was tempted and neways I wanted to change my W300i, so said yes immediately. There "she" (henceforth) was born.

Journey:
She set out with Venu's friend 'S' (henceforth) from US down to meet me and share a part of her life with me. She eventually reached India on Aug 18. It was decided that Saravanan would go bring her from S, her a few questions and hand her over to me the same weekend (Aug 23, 2008). Further interactions between S and Saravanan resulted in a lots of to and fro and eventually S dropped her at Saravanan's office early morning on Aug 22, 2008. Here she was just a day away from reaching me. Saravanan asked her a few questions - whether she can communicate properly, sing well (she was singing Bhavayami Gopala Balam by MS from youtube, through WiFi and subsequently Saravanan made me hear it over phone :) )and assessed her looks too (Wait a minute, he is my close friend and he is just a brother to her :)). She was a perfect blend of black (my favourite colour) and silver and she was stunning - as Saravanan narrated.

Death:
All was well, until Saravanan got a call (not on my iPhone, but from nature). He went to the appropriate place and when he bent for having a wash - SPLASH!!! - not the water on Saravanan's face but she fell into the bucket of water just below the basin :(. There she breathed her last. With a bit of googling and searching, we found that "a water dipped iPhone can't work
and even if it works, not fully :(". When Saravanan called and informed, I thought it was a prank and all that but over the next two days, realized that he was not joking. She was gone once and for all and I din't want to see her at all!!
There is nothing great about an iPhone any way and I am greatly thrilled with my W300i. (The grapes are nowadays sour anyways !!

This below piece is dedicated to HER...
She was my love, the daughter of Apple,
Vow!, I thought, I and she would make a good couple,
After all she was refurbished,
Never mind, I was anyways impoverished,
No doubt, compared to her sisters she was cheaper,
That made my love for her go up even steeper!

She travelled across continents and reached Bangalore,
And inturn to Saravanan whose office is close to Ulsoor,
There he donned the role of a tester,
He made me hear her and I felt better!

Before meeting me first time she took a dip in water,
That's when Saravanan called and shouted "disaster!""disaster!"
Neither have I touched nor have I felt her,
But my love for her will stay today, tomorrow and ever after!
Until I own one of her sisters !!!!

Everything in the world happens for Good and has a reason too. Hope this also results in something good sometime later. Let Chaos and butterfly effect take their own course :)

Cheers!!!!!!

Temples, Temples and Temples

In the last two months I went to few temples, some of which I had visited for the first time. A blog on this..

Denkanikottai:Denkanikottai is a small town close to Bangalore (around 60 km) and Hosur (30 km). I came to know from Anand that there were some temples with historical (and mythological !!) significance in and around this town. So off we went in 5 bikes from Bangalore.
"Kamba" Ganesha temple in Anekal was our first halt. This temple had a Mallikarjuna (Shiva) sannidhi which was a miniature of the one in SriSailam. It was told that the temple was resurrected by Sri Sri Abhinava Vidhya Theertha of Sringeri and Poojas were started regularly. Lord Ganesha appears in a pole or "kamba" and hence the name.
Narasimha swamy temple - This was in Denkanikottai. The significance of this temple was that the Narasimha sculpture here was carved by Arjuna (of the Pandavas) and the rock above the sculpture was moved by Bhima. The sculpture was inside a cave and there were carvings of all Gandharvas and other Devas and also that of dinosaurs!! The temple also has the outline of Lord Vishnu's feet ("Vishnu Padham") on the top of the rock. It is believed that Lord Vishnu killed a rakshasha standing on this rock. This is definitely a place to visit.
Pettaraya Swamy temple - This temple was close to the Narasimha Swamy temple. Pettaraya swamy (aka Vettaiyaadiya perumal - The lord who hunted) is believed to have killed a rakshasha using a mace ("gadha") called "Denkani" and hence the name for the town. The perumal looked really beautiful. Another speciality of this temple was that it had a separate sannidhi for Athri rishi (I belong to Athreya gothra and hence I have worshipped the root of my family tree :)).
Madurai:Two weeks back, I went to Madurai and nearby temples with my parents.

Azhagar koil - About 17 km from Madurai, Azhagagar koil can be reached with a detour from Melur when going from Trichy. Sundararaja perumal or Kallazhagar or simply Azhagar was looking true to His name. Simply beautiful and majestic. He is the brother of Goddess Meenakshi who was ruling Madurai. This was one of the Divya Desams and a must visit temple.
Pazhamudhir cholai - The 6th adobe (of the 6) of Lord Muruga is in a hill just adjacent to Azhagar koil. We were lucky to have visited the temple right at the time of the morning puja. Small but beautiful temple with a scenic backdrop. The hill was cool and there was a distinct temperature difference between the hill and the foothills. Also, a lot of monkeys en route and
people should be careful if they have things that would attract monkeys (hope you understand :)).
Thiruparankundram - Another adobe of Lord Muruga is the place where He resides in a "Kalyana kolam" - the place where His wedding with "Deivana" took place. He resides in a sitting posture flanked by Shiva (father), Durga (mother), Vishnu (uncle), Ganapathi (brother), Naradha (rishi), Surya (The Sun) and Chandra (moon) - a real marriage atmosphere :).
With this I had visited 4 out of the 6 adobes of Lord Muruga. Thiruthani and Thiruchendur are the two left. Planning to visit those soon (with His help of course :)) For those who do not know Palani and Swamimalai are the other two.
Meenakshi Amman temple - No explanation required. Meenakshi and Sundareswara swamy were as Majestic as ever. I was born in Madurai and I always have an affinity to Goddess Meenakshi :).
Viralimalai - While going back to Trichy we also got to visit Viralimalai - another Lord Muruga temple around 30 km from Trichy. Roughly 200 steps, the temple had 11 sannidhis, the main deity being Lord Shanmuganatha (Muruga with 6 faces). Lots of peacocks and monkeys

too !!

Planning to visit more temples and will be back with those blogs soon.
Cheers !!

Dasavatharam - The movie to watch !!

"Awesome!!", "What a movie!!", "Vow" - This is what the audience of Dasavatharam say after they come out. So did I and hence this blog. For people who do not know - Dasavatharam , is a Tamil movie, conceived and written by KamalHasan, in addition to donning 10 roles in the movie.
The movie is not as touching as say TZP, not as inspiring as say Chak De, not radical as Anbe Sivam/Hey Ram ... This can utmost be categorized as a HiFi - Techie masala entertainer, which shines due to the sheer brilliance of Kamal Hasan and to an extent director KS Ravikumar. The screenplay was so fast till the interval that we din't even realize that 100 minutes passed. Post interval, also was awesome but for the fag end, which could have been better. It will be grossly unfair, if one complains for those last few minutes on an otherwise good movie. So here is my ranking and thoughts on the 9 roles (Not including the main hero - Govind Ramasamy - Not that it was not good but that these are after all cake walks for Kamal Hasan !!).

1. Christian Fletcher - The American Ex CIA, also the ruthless villain in this movie. This is the best to me. He enters the movie just after the first 10 minutes and stays (rocks rather) till the end. The highlights being the scene he kills Mallika Sherawat, when he hits a biker on the road and of course the climax when he dies.
2. Balram Naidu - The RAW officer from AP. He just carries the first half on his shoulders and helps in the humour department with his Telugu - Tamil dialect. His expressions and mannerisms are just great.
3. Grandma Krishnaveni - A typical Agraharam old widow patti. The humour (s)he brings in during the movie and the mourning scene in the climax are the highlights.
4. Vincent Poovaraghan - The South TamilNadu-Kerala guy. He secures this place for his dialect of Tamil and the mannerisms again. It took me sometime to realize that he was KamalHasan.
5. Rangaraja Nambi - The 12th century Veera Vaishnavaite who lives and dies in the first 10 minutes. I couldn't really place the significance of this historical event in the entire movie's context, Kamal rocks even in this. This will remind people of HeyRam a bit. Also, the Kulothunga Chozhan episode and Nambi becoming a Vaishnavaite martyr are a bit hard to believe. However, the initial disclaimer said that the movie is a mixture of history and fiction. So no complaints and no controversies :)
6. Japanese - I don't remember the name though. This guy adds the revenge/sister sentiment aspect to the movie. He scores for his prowess in martial arts and the way he lived as a typical Japanese guy well within himself.
7. George Bush - The make up was wonderful. Really looked like Bush in some places. Surprisingly, he was used as a humour element in the movie. This needn't have been Kamal but neways a good one.
8. Khaleefullah - The 7 ft tall Tamil muslim role. I rate him at 8 because he doesn't play any major part in the script. Also, this again could have been any one else. Not to undermine the innocent humour he brought in during the middle stages of the movie.
9. Avatar Singh - Again no real role. But nice to see Jayapradha and Kamal Hasan together (in yet another blood cancer related storyline :) ).

In spite of the Hifi concepts like bio weapons, chaos theory/butterfly effect, historical events etc. there is no dearth for good (not crass at all)humour (thanks to roles 2,3,4,7,8 and of course Govind) in the script (Kamal Hasan's script reminded of Crazy Mohan's in many places - Hats off !!).
I now realize this blog is pretty long and also became a movie review- sorry about that. Just for completion sake - "So I go with 4 out of 5 and 2 thumbs up for Dasavatharam" ;)
Cheers!!

IPL - Really Premier indeed!!

A blog about something that's the buzzword now. IPL - Indian Premier League.

Adapted in the lines of the EPL (the football league), both in terms of format and the big money involved, the IPL has definitely given a break to domestic cricket in India. Though the English counties have traditionally had foreign players, the T20 format of the IPL makes it refreshing (don't forget the "cheer leaders") ;).

It is indeed great to see players from different countries playing together. I somehow liked this Afro-Asian cup. At least there, the teams were divided on the basis of continents and the players belonging to a team essentially belonged to the same continent. But in case of IPL, except for the icon players, the team selection doesn't have any rationale. It's really exciting to see Dhoni captaining Chennai, Ishant playing for Kolkata, Vaas bowling to Jayasuriya, Warne belting Symonds for 2 sixes in an over ..... This should instill a lot of team spirit in players. For instance, Deccan with a bunch of very talented individuals don't look like a good team and Rajasthan on the other hand are working wonders with a set of spirited youngsters (I know it's too early in the competition to comment!!). As Dhoni rightly pointed out, "the team that gels well will win".

Also, it is exciting to watch the Indian audience cheer for Hayden's fifty while celebrating Ganguly's dismissal, pray that Afridi performs while Sehwag flunks. Even in the wildest of my dreams, I couldn't imagine this happening, but here I was, hailing Oram, Hayden, Muarlidharan and Hussey M :). There are other interesting battles like the ones between, Hussey brothers, Pathan brothers, McGrath Vs Warne etc.

But it's embarrassing to see that the Aussies are out performing others even here. The match winners and the trump cards in all teams are Aussies, three out of the four centuriions so far are Aussies. I am actually waiting for May, when all contemporary Aussie palyers wil get back. Then, there will still be retired (from international) players like Warne, McGrath and Gilly left. I am sure they will have a say in the outcomes of their respective games.

What's best about this entire thing is the amount of exposure that the local lads are getting and the boost for the Indian domestic arena. But care should be taken that India doesn't end up being T20 masters and Test/ODI minnows. That will be really bad for Indian cricket. Well, Imran Khan once said that there are 3 Ts that make a complete batsman - Technique, Temperament and Talent - while the tests test all the 3 Ts, the T20 tests only "Talent" and hence a 33 % batsman can shine in T20s :). But it is definitely a litmus test for the bowlers and some real good bowlers may come out of this exercise.

Before signing off, let me list my favourites in that order - Super Kings, Royal Challengers, Deccan Chargers, Daredevils, Indians, Royals. The South zone bias is there to see (I think it's natural ;) ) and the two missing teams are not there because of their owners :).

As far as the team composition goes I feel DC, DD, CSK and KKR have a fair chance. Yet, cricket is a funny game!!
Wishing the IPL all the very best. I will blog more, when more interesting controversies prop up :)
Cheers!!!!

Am I an extended SI Statesman?

I repeated my SI statesman thing again and would you believe it, it's the same set of places again in South India. It happened sometime back but was able to write it only now as I was busy, if I may say so :)

Palakkad (Kerala) on Feb 23/24 for my cousin's wedding. The groom's name happened to be Prakash. I wish them a very happy married life :).

March 1-2, was Tirupathi and Sri kalahasthi (AP). 7 of us, and we climbed up and down as ususal. All my 4 venduthals are over. I think the next time I go, I need not mandatorily climb unless I have some things in between :). Luckily, we did not have any road adventures on the way to kalahasthi as we had last time. We even came back to Bangalore in a cab as we did not want to wait for the evening bus. It was fun though. Anand and Venkatesh are yet to send the expenses settlement which was done promptly last time :).

March 8, I was at Trichy (TN). It happened to be my birthday and Kannan's wedding. Wishing myself a happy birthday and Kannan a very happy married life again.

March 9, I was back in Bangalore (karnataka).

This time, the SI thing extended a bit to West India also and hence the title. I made an official trip to Pune. I kinda liked the city. Lots of open spaces and not as fast as Bangalore. On top of all this, we had a suite accomodation there and that was also great. What was most interesting was the airport. It was a cute airport maintained by the air force. The passengers need not go too far in bus etc. to reach the aircrafts. A simple 1 min walk is enough as good as a railway station. The next time I go, hope I have some time to explore the place.

The next blog will be about the temple trip with my family in the third week of March. Signing off, hoping that I can blog that soon.

Cheers.

Happy New Year!!

Am a bit late in wishing. Neways, Happy New Year to all of you and to my blog(if no one else is there reading :))

My blogs, of late, have become like Quarterly reports, capturing my three/four months of activity. Hope at least this year I come out of this.

Between August 2007 and now, the only significant happening in my life is my Sabari Malai trip in the first week of December. On December 9, 2007 2100 Hrs, my 25 year long wait came to an end when I had the Darshan of Lord Aiyappan in Sabari mala. It was all the more enjoyable as we waited (climbed, rather) in the queue for 10 hours. The entire period of fast (around 40
days) was great, as I felt, it imbibed in me a bit (more :)) of of discipline. We even got to visit around 8 temples in Kerala. That was also enjoyable as it was more than 15 years since I visited these temples last. Over all, a memorable experience.

Ever since our return, I had very hectic days at office working towards demos and shows. Not long before did I think that it was quite sometime since I slogged like an a**. I am ruing that thought now :(. The last time I worked like this was a good 2.5 years back :). Never would I think like that anymore. Take it from me :). Hope the happy days will soon be back :)

I watched TZP (Taare Zameen Par). Awesome movie. Liked it really. Have to watch it again.

I want to write a blog about the recently concluded Sydney test between India and Australia. Saravanan has also written one. I want to write mine first and read his later as I don't want to get influenced by his thoughts.

Happy New Year once again.See you soon.

Am I a South Indian "States"man??

The dictionary definition for statesman goes like this "a person who is experienced in the art of government or versed in the administration of government affairs. ". But this blog has nothing to do with that.

Just that, I had spent the last 4 weekends in 4 (all) South Indian states :), starting with July 14 when I was in Karnataka (where I reside currently).

The next weekend was in Andhra when I visited Tirupathi and Kalahasthi. The previous two blogs were about that.

I followed it up with a vist to Trichy, Tamil Nadu. Regular native visit.

The next weekend was in Palakkad, Kerala. A visit which I was planning for 4 long years, but materialized only now :).
Incidentally, Aug 5 was saturn transit. Saturn has entered the zodiac sign of Simha (mine :)). Hoping to see and waiting for changes to happen.

Cheers!!

Tirupathi and Sri Kalahasthi visit II

This is the continuation of the previous blog...

The MiDnIgHt Conversation:

Well, after we had the nice dinner on saturday and returned to the guest house,we indeed tried to sleep. But the power nap that we had made it impossible for us to even get a wink :). So when I suggested that we go out and chat for "10 minnutes", I had an overwhelming response, with Anand and Venkatesh already outside!! Soon RP also joined us and there we were chatting about everything from black magic, politics, Indian culture, temples, don't know what all... When it was 00:45 on Jul 22, 2007 (Sunday), it was time for the AngaPradhakshinam guys to start. So, those four guys started and I & Anand tried to catch some sleep and eventually succeeded at 02:00. It was raining heavily outside!!!!

The descent:

We woke up at 05:15 to get ready for the descent. Three of us (I, Anand and Venkatesh) were to get down by walk (thru steps) while the other 3 were to take a jeep with our luggages (old people :)). We started climbing down at 06:15. Initialy, we were pretty slow as we were bare footed and we also felt the strain of yesterday's walk. We ate pori, manga etc and even had our breakfast just before Gali Gopuram. We chose a particular shop because the TV there was playing the Telugu version of "Pokiri" but as luck would have it, a kid who was operating the DVD player rewinded and played the opening scene some 4 times and that was what we got to watch :(. But this stretch was total fun and we literally enjoyed every step that we climbed down :). Our legs were not in our control, shaking, moving fast and aching and we were laughing through out. We will end up taking four steps when we actually intended to take only one! I repeat, it was GREAT FUN and the most memorable part of the trip... The irony was, out of the 3550 steps, around 1200 steps covered 7 km stretch while teh remaining 2300 steps covered a meagre 2 km!! We eventually reached the footsteps at 09:30, whereas we actually thought we will be able to climb down in 1.5 hrs :)

Sri Kalahasthi:

In the meantime, the other three guys had reached down and preponed our return to Bangalore by the 15:45 bus. So we had 6 hrs to cover Kalahasthi and Tiruchanoor. We booked a taxi to cover the two places. Tirupathi and Kalahasthi were 40 km apart. We reached Kalahasthi in less than an hour. When we tried to get a Rs. 30 Darshan ticket and go inside, some ____ there said that he can help us get a special darshan at Rs. 500 for 6 people. We din't have an idea of the crowd and hence took up that option to know that it was no different from the actual ticket. We had paid him Rs. 200 and would have been better off had we chose the initial 30 Rs. ticket :(. Still, we had a good darshan at both the Sannadhis (with Abhishekam at the Ambal sannadhi
:)).

Tiruchanoor:

After Kalahsthi, we reached Tiruchanoor at around 13:30 and finished our darshan, thus completing whatever we had set out to complete :))). Not much rush in Tiruchanoor and we had a great Darshan, needless to say She was looking awesome!!

The Stunt:

If you think that our trip to Kalahasthi has nothing else to mention about, then you are surely mistaken. The taxi driver almost finished us off, when he tried to overtake a lorry without seeing a jeep coming on the other side. Luckily he avoided a head on collision by turning and braking at the right moment. Our Sumo made a creaking sound and turned almost 180 degrees on the road and stooped with it's back towards a bush. Fortunately, there were no vehicles coming from behind. Surprisingly, none of us shouted during this, perhaps everyone had thought that the inevitable is gonna happen, just as I did :). Well, we were having our conversation about black magic, some one remarked that, the skull of the first child in the family helps in getting supernatural powers. After we escaped, some witch somewhere has missed three such skulls (Mine, RP's and Srini's ;D).

The comedy:

To add to this, the driver went missing at Kalahasthi when it was time to start after darshan. We looked out for him for half an hour and eventually found him by making an announcement in the Temple's speaker system!! Surely, Kalahastheeswarar had caused this delay and retained us for good :)

Well, something happened (which I won't write here for parliamentary reasons) with Srini in the bus stand. We boarded the bus on time after a nice lunch and reached Bangalore by 21:30. Took a taxi and reached home.

This again was a memorable experience. Hope this would bring all of us all the goodies that we wanted.

Om Namo Venkatesaya

Om Nama Shivaya

:)

Tirupathi and Sri Kalahasthi visit I

Hmmm... Din't blog for quite a while, as usual. Now, I have got something to write about. Some 6 of us (I, Anand & Ram Prasad, Sriram, Srini and Venkatesh) went to Tirupathi and SriKalahasthi. Here are our experiences and adventures :)

From Bangalore:
Our bus to Tirupathi was on Jul 20, 2007 (Friday), 22:30. I left office by the 18:15 shuttle. RP's house was our meeting point. I, Venkatesh and Sriram reached there by 21:00, Srini also reached there and we went to Majestic by auto(2). On the way, Srini made an attempt to talk in Telugu over phone, with the person who was arranging things for us in Tirupathi. That is when he used Tamilo-Telugu words like "Kilambisthaanu", which catalysed the other person to talk in Tamil, fearing further damage to his beloved mother tongue. I take this opportunity to request Srini not to talk in Telugu any more, at least with people who know Telugu. :). The bus departed at 23:00 from Majestic.

Bugs in Bus:
Keeping in pace with the Indian IT, even the buses have become Tech savvy. The volvo bus we travelled in had "bugs". Whether in software or any where, bugs sure suck. Not only was I a victim but also many other people who were occupying the window seat. I lost sleep and it was very heartening to see the bus reach Tirpuathi in just 4.5 hours. But I was happy with myself, when I woke Anand (sitting next to me) from deep sleep and asked him whether he was also experiencing bug bites :)

In Tirupathi:
Our first agenda was to get a room for 2 hrs for the 6 of us to get ready (answer calls from nature, take bath etc). An agent (if you can call him so) approached us and suggested some places. Firstly, we tried to avoid him. Sriram, in fact, took us along the road, saying, there are many hotels this side, but found only thorny bushes and hence we all turned back and took a place that the agent suggested. It was not bad, given the fact that we were going to use it for not more than 2 hrs. After getting ready, we took a big auto and reached Alipiri (the foothills from where one can start the ascent to Tirumala). We started ascending at 06:10.

The Ascent:
All 6 of us climbed by steps. It was a nice experience as expected. We were celebrating after covering each 1000th step and each km. Total 3550 steps and 9 km. Again, Srini surprised me with his speed of climibing. I could realize that I am growing older :). Eventually, we reached Tirumala around 10:30.

The Darshan:
The person who arranged everything for us, suggested that we go for darshan immediately owing to the rush. So we joined the Q at around 11:00. There we got split into 3 groups (RP & Venkatesh; I, Anand & Srini; Sriram)in the magnitude of the Q. The three groups came out at different times after darshan. It was an amazing sight always to see Him. A great experience. Special thanks to Srini for this.

The birth of "Rules" Ramanujam:
In the queue, two of the groups tried to be Romans in Rome. But Sriram dared to be different. He was much behind and hence came out after more than 30 min and asked Srini "Padichavan thaane nee?". This will go down as the statement of the trip and Sriram will always be remembered for this. There were some arguments there as all of us were hungry and tired. But these are part and parcel of any get together (especially trips), nothing will be memorable without happenings like these :)

The "sleep" and dinner:
We had a not so great lunch. Luckily, we got a guest house booked for us and had a GREAT sleep. During that time Srini got his tonsure done and became the "MOTTAI" Boss and four (except I and Anand) got their tickets for AngaPradhakshinam for the next day. We came back to the guest house after a nice dinner....

The remaining trip will be covered in the part II...

Om Namo Venkatesaya...

Bye!!

Where are we heading II

Am back !!

Don't want to touch upon why I din't blog for quite sometime. I really don't know whether I have anymore audience left :(

Still, let me write this just for the sake of it.

This is the Part II of the previous blog....

India as a country, especially Indian women, has come a long way from being very traditional and conservative. This was something that many social actvists of yesteryears were striving for. But I feel the whole thing has been overdone. I am definitely not taking a male chavunistic approach, nor am I trying to say that we should return to the older society. I just
want to throw some light on where we stand.

If I compare a male teenager of say 1990 with someone now, I would say the "growth" is linear but with the fairer sex "it" is exponential. As the culture of a society at large is defined by the female part of it, our "Boldness Quotience" on the whole has increased phenomenally. Men even now are men they were while the women have broken their shackles and come out and have
done so emphatically. The current Indian cinema is a show case of this phenomena. While the costumes of men have remained the same, those of women have "come down" drastically and is tending to nothing and the women are "ok" with this.

Not long ago, a woman smoking is a rare spectacle and such an incident will be watched with different reactions by on lookers or rather you can count the number of women who dare smoke outside (if at all). Drinking women? You must be joking. Live in relationships? Are you crazy? Gone are those days I feel.

Now what do we see? Women smoke as much as men do, if not more. Pubs and Discos are brimming with women. And a lot more which I dare not write here. For someone like me, who has got a slap from my mother once for rolling a piece of paper and faking as though I am smoking, these things fall as thunderbolts. Well I don't blame women alone of course. I'm writing about the Indian youth at large.

These changes are attributed to the "Western influence". Outsourcing gave us financial independence, luxurious lives, economic boom and what not, but all at the cost of what we have boasted of, all through our history - culture and tradition. At this rate, these two words will have to be preserved in a museum. There are still some people who are conservative (because of their values or fear!!) and are still not sure which way to take and confused over how to bring up their children.

Let's wait and watch what kind of India our future genrations will be seeing :-)

Where are we heading ...? - Part I

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

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!!

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 !!!!!