VJ - Texas Style

Busy Busy

2011-03-29T13:23:00.002-05:00

Been really busy. My 10 month old is taking most of my time away. Time just flies watching all her antics. Wifey is on a traveling job now. Monday to Thursday. Just visited my blog because of an anonymous user who decided to write a spam comment on one of my posts. It was all about sex which I promptly deleted and thought.. ok let me write a post as well.. and thats it.
darn.. gotta go to a meeting now.

Swype

2011-01-01T13:14:00.001-06:00

Installed the swype keyboard on my android. It revolutionizes the way you type...rather swype. It's so awesome. You don't have to take your finger off the keys. Just trace your finger over the letters of each word and swype identifies your word. If it find multiple words it shows a pop up and you choose your word. As simple as that. I'm typing this on my swype keyboard and loving it. I find myself looking for excuses to swype..here's one more sentence so I can use swype a little more. I'm not done yet. I'm not able to stop now. Check out this link to know more.
Help!! This keyboard is very addictive!! Take it away from meeeee!!!

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Nexus S with Gingerbread

2010-12-31T11:10:00.001-06:00

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Nexus S - its awesome!

2010-12-26T12:28:00.001-06:00

Got myself a Samsung Nexus S. A pure Google phone. This is a test post from my phone.
It runs Android 2.3. The first phone with Android 2.3 code named Gingerbread. I bought it on day one. I spent the whole day on the phone with best buy to place the order. It was totally worth it. Android is totally cool. Open source rocks. I was able to build my first android app and load it on my phone with no issues. All the Apple "iThings" suck big time.

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Guardians of the Glacier and other stories

2010-06-25T12:30:00.005-05:00

I started this blog with the hope of updating regularly. did not happen. I just looked and my last post was in June 2009. Not that there has been nothing to write about, but didn't feel up to it.
I got a promotion. Not at my work place but at home. I'm a dad now. scary and exciting at the same time. We've got a little baby girl to take care of now. She is almost 2 months old. But it looks like she will take care of herself pretty much.
My In-laws are here. I'm off the hook until they leave, in a couple of months. But at the same time it would be nice to be alone as a nuclear family(?) after they leave just relax and unwind. Meanwhile I have to repeatedly think about ways to keep them occupied atleast my FIL, and take them out to see places which is pretty hard since they dont want to budge from home. This is one of those times I miss the Bay Area. Lot of things to do, especially for them.
We are out of drinking water.
So I went to the local HEB(grocery chain in Texas) to buy drinking water. There is a glacier water fountain outside the store. I parked my car and started walking towards the machine with a couple of dollar bills in one hand and my 3 gallon can in the other. As I went near the thing suddenly something white and furry shot out from underneath the machine dragging some other thing which was dark and furry and started barking at me furiously. I got the shock of my life. Turned out they were two dogs chained together and left there by their intelligent owner who was in one of the nearby shops, blissfully unaware of my predicament.
Mr. White dog was extremely protective of Ms. Brown dog and was barking at me with much gusto while Ms. Brown dog didn't give a damn but was mildly annoyed at being dragged along for the ride. She had no choice coz they were chained together. So I beat a hasty retreat and at the same time started planning out my strategy. Should I tell my wife that i was not allowed to fetch her water by the Guardian Beasts of the Glacier? She's not going to buy that. So I stepped into the store and smiled at one of the red t-shirt clad store employees. I told her of the situation. She immediately went into battle mode. She picked up the phone and called the manager explaining the situation and then through PA system announced the kind people who left their pets near the water fountain to "kindly claim them and also retrieve their common sense from wherever they've parked it"... ha.. that would have been a perfect announcement.
So the good manager, a wise man, came out, took a look at the dogs and waited along with me a little distance away from the dogs and the glacier machine. Mr. White was keeping a wary eye on both of us and was decided tha the distance we were maintaining was ok. Then a nice lady, came rushing out who turned out to be the assistant manager of the store and before we could say a word rushed towards the dogs cooing "ooh hello doggy doggy!!". All hell broke loose. She ran back inside at double the speed with her tail between her legs and I haven't seen her since. Finally I couldn't wait any longer and went inside the store and bought a couple of gallon cans. I came out and the dogs were gone. I bet the owners were not that dumb are atleast retrieved the common sense first. That is why they hid somewhere until we all walked back inside and quietly took their dogs away when nobody was looking!

Safety First?

2009-06-02T17:26:00.004-05:00

Its quite crazy at my office at this time. The new building has been constructed and ready for occupation. All employees working at four different locations within the city are moving to the new building which is going to be our permanent workplace. Our group is one of the first to be moving. So much of preparation has been going on to make the move organized. Equipments, monitors, chairs, phones etc being tagged so that they reach the right desk. even trash bins have got a label with my name on it! Our company is very particular about Safety at the workplace. That is the first and foremost thing, being an oil industry and all. It applies to us too, eventhough we are at the corporate office and not at the site. Everyday we get emails from management about being safe during the move, blah blah blah.
Our tasks are to make sure the labels are stuck on all our equipment, clean out all the cupboards, trash/recycle all the tons of useless printouts we have accumulated over a period of time... and do all this with 'safety, foremost in our minds'.
Being a new employee, I took it all very seriously and started clearing out my shelves with zeal. Most of the stuff was left by different people who used to occupy that particular cubicle before me. But still I tried to clear out everything without complaining.
You know how these guys in these crime series collect forensic evidence and try to solve the crime, by profiling the criminal?. It was as exciting as that. As I delve deeper into those shelves I was slowly developing a profile of the person who was occupying that cube before me. It was like a psychological jigsaw puzzle, pieces falling into place.

Hmmm.. Lets see. Stapler pins, pens, pencils, sticky notes, notepads, business cards of random people - regular office stuff
whats this? bunch of electronic keys from various hotels. Must've been a consultant who travels a lot.

An used toothbrush. Interesting. Maybe he came in early to work or was obsessive about brushing after every meal..
Ha, he's got a few can's of tuna. Likes his fish.
Lots of little packs of ketchup from McDondalds. Loves his burgers/fries.
Oh! There's a little car which comes free with some McD stuff.

What else.. A box of plastic forks, spoons and knives. I could use that. Open the box. It was divided into three sections.
There are the knives. The spoons in the middle. no forks! Guess he used up all the forks. He's got more little packets of ketchup stuffed in this section? No wait. What the..? yikes!! They were little packets alright. But not ketchup. 20 or 30 of them. "Ultra ribbed for your pleasure"!!

This guy had taken safety at the work place too literally!!

Got on the internal IM communicator. Ping colleague.
Hey listen, who was occupying my cube before me?
She says, It was so-and-so.
Well, I found some weird stuff in here.
What? C****ms?
Yeah!! how d'you know?!!
ha ha! Must've been the property of so-and-so.
Wait let me call this-other-guy...

Before long, there was a bunch of people at my cubicle peering at the box and making funny remarks.
One guy who was still in touch with the owner of the said packets, took out his Blackberry and sent a mail to that unfortunate guy, CC'ed the whole bunch.
"Dude, we found your box of knives and forks. Drop by and collect them. :)"

We haven't heard from him yet.

That was a lot of fun, on a slow afternoon!! I still have two more shelves to go :)

Whats that smell?

2009-05-15T16:01:00.001-05:00

Life has changed for the better. No more travelling. No more weekend flights. No more living like a hippy hopping from town to town.
Settling down which was a distant dream has become a reality. Life is bright and sunny. Every new day dawns with the chirping of birds, the fragrance of roses and.. and.. hey whats this mysterious new odor?
I park my car, walk to the office stairwell and open the door. BAM! it assaults all your senses to the max, the sun is shining no more, the roses have withered and this invisible unholy stench encompasses all around you. There in the center of it all is the source of it. Like in a western, with a glint in his eye, he looks at you, feeling the chills running up and down your spine. Knowing the terror he is causing. Everything happens in slow motion now. He slowly turns his back to you and lifts his tail and....
thats all I had to see... I ran. I ran for dear life.
Ladies and gentleman, this is my first(and hopefully the last) experience with a unique species of the animal kingdom called mephitis mephitis commonly known as the striped skunk.
He had gotten lost or something and took refuge in the stairwell of our office building. Numerous people who wanted to take the stairs had similar experiences like I had that morning. One of my colleagues took a good spray on her handbag and hair. Then things happened fast. Animal control was called and they removed him by whatever mysterious method which I dont want to know. They exploded something called deodorizing bombs in the stairwells.
After a week we can still smell the stench faintly in the stairwell and notice the yellow stains on the walls where the skunk had sprayed a liberal dose of his defense mechanism.
I've read a lot about skunks and always wondered how bad could the smell be. Now I know. I wish I never did. My mind can never forget this brutal attack on my olfactory sense.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

2009-01-27T18:05:00.007-06:00

Its been quite a while since I blogged. And the title is totally unrelated to the post.

I'm watching the perfectly white and majestic hills around Salt Lake City, UT. Its really a sight to sore eyes, all this natural beauty and blah blah blah.. but this place sucks big time, after a while.
You can visit here for a short vacation, hit the slopes, look around a little bit and go back to where you came from. To live and work here is not something you should try to do. There is absolutely nothing at all here. Technically, I'm not living here. I travel back and forth and don't get me started on that!!
Anyway, we(me and a few other colleagues) went out for lunch. We were standing in line to place our orders and there were these four pretty girls standing behind us. One look at what they were wearing and we knew they were med students. The girls started a conversation with the last guy in our team. He being the only single guy in our team was pretty excited. This is how it went.

Girl: Hi!! Where're you from?
Guy(proudly): California. Actually L.A, you know.
Girl: Hmmm.. The weather should be great over there.
Guy (warming up): Oh Yeah. Bright and sunny.
Girl: You here on vacation?
Guy(feeling pretty important, knowing we were all listening): Oh no! I'm here on business. I'm a software consultant, you know, for company.
Girl: Wow. Thats cool!!
A pause. Smiling and nodding. Girls looking at each other and smiling.
Girl: So what do you do after work?
Guy(getting bold): Well.. I'm pretty stuffed up with work for most of the day.. Are there any good bars, clubs around here? Maybe you guys give me some tips or take me around.
Girl:Well.. there are a few good places (proceeds to name a few).
If you are interested, there are some pretty good high class places but would cost a bit more, you know.
Guy(now really into it): Well, that wouldn't be a problem for me.
A pause again and more smiling and nodding.
Girl(taking a deep breath): Don't take this personally.. but, do you have your teeth cleaned regularly? Do you have dental insurance?
Guy(totally taken aback): What?!! I mean why?.. I don't. But my teeth are quite good!! I take good care of them!!
Girl: Well, we are all dental students and you can have your teeth cleaned for just $5. Its very cheap. You can bring your friends too!!! are you interested?
Rest of us: (trying very hard not to burst out laughing)
Guy(going red in the face, thinking about the miserable meal he is gonna have to sit through with the rest of us): well.. yes... no... thank you... But I'm.. I'm good... thanks. See ya.. bye.
Waitress: sir..SIR!! Can I take your order please??!!

I would say that was a very good appetizer.. atleast for the rest of us.

The Larynx...

2008-07-14T17:43:00.002-05:00

... is an interesting part of the human body. Of course, there are other parts definitely more interesting, but for the sake of this post let's examine the larynx. God, in His infinite wisdom, has varied the performance capacity of each individual larynx. While some produce just a feeble sound at their maximum capacity, others can literally shatter the unfortunate ear drum that gets too close. Of the above, the latter one is the topic of this post. The larynx in question belongs to a particular Russian gentleman, who sits across me in his own cubicle at my work place. Generally the cubes at work are so designed to give the worker a semblance of privacy. True, it blocks out the view since photons, you see, are honest particles and always take the straight path. But the sound waves are devious little things which can find the narrowest of crevices and move forth to assault the next available ear drum.
This particular gentleman, under discussion, has a great tendency to discuss his professional, financial and personal details on the phone at the top of his voice and that too in a deep Russian accent. The language he uses doesn't really matter. Whether his native Russian or the heavily accented English, his larynx delivers every word clear and sharp for all to hear, blissfully unaware that the noise it is generating is a cross between a whining motor vehicle on a wrong gear and a metal prong scrapped across a blackboard.
It is also unaware that the few unfortunate souls inside the affected radius are close to a nervous breakdown every time the phone rings at its masters desk or he picks it up himself and says 'HellloooWWW??' to initiate a conversation. The noise jars the brain cells of those around and temporarily causes all activities, thought processes to stop. One can see, in the eyes of each of these persons, the craving, the desire to shut this person up by any means possible. Some, who have endured longer, have a dangerously sadistic look in their eyes, that suggests something more violent and imaginative.
It is not long before somebody loses their cool. Someone has to put an end to this in a peaceful way before someone else reacts violently which might spark an international incident involving the CIA and whatever remains of the KGB.

All Good Things...

2008-07-06T14:37:00.008-05:00

...come to an end. An excellent week is coming to an end. I got to stay at home all week. Work from home. No travelling. Needless to say my wife was very happy and so was I. I'm getting ready yet again for my travel routine.
Moving has a lot of pros and cons. You move away from friends but get to make new friends. But there is this initial period where you don't know anyone. And its kinda uncomfortable, since my wife's staying alone for the whole week while I roam around.But thanfully for us, we got to meet another couple(G & A) who moved in recently, through a common friend K. We found we had similar interests and hit it off from day 1. We found out how we equally dislike this common friend. He is so dislikable. He loves to poke his nose into others business and totally indiscreet. He can't take a hint and gets on my nerves all the time. We have fun talking about him and trashing him. More about him later.
Me and my wife enjoy animation movies and make it a point take a trip to the Movies to watch the new ones.At home we generally like to watch the popular cartoons like Tom and Jerry and anything by disney and laugh like silly. They are like that too. It was amazing since most of our other friends make fun of us saying we watch cartoons like kids.
This week, after a long time, I got to do something I used to love. I was crazy about Video games. I still am. Since I was at home this week, and we had moved to CA, I dusted up my GTA San Andreas which is based on the West coast and played to my hearts content. I drove like mad, ran over rival gang members, looted, robbed, beat up drug dealers, knifed, shot and killed rival gang members with gay abondon. Ah.. it was bliss!! To top it all, I found out our new friends, er atleast the guy G is totally into games himself. We had so much to discuss about each of the different games, swap CDs, hints etc. And our wives got something to crib about and complain to each other.
I can say life is getting better. Things look good. I hope soon I will be able to settle down here or somewhere else with a non-travel job.

Blistering Barnacles

2008-06-25T04:48:00.001-05:00

I'm generally a very soft natured guy. I've got enormous amounts of patience and take most things positively and move on. But there are certain situations that drive me into a murderous rage.
After successfully moving to the Golden State of California, my wife looked around the empty apartment and decided on the spot that she has got some serious shopping to do. You know what that implies, but you don't say a word and play long. There's furniture to buy, utensils, bedding and stuff and of course jewelry, clothing and whatever accessories which "we" come across on the shopping spree.
We hit a nearby mall first to just look around and of course "we" made a beeline for Kohls. Now if you are guessing the reason for my murderous rage... is shopping, then you are absolutely wrong.
It was something else that happened there and a few other places and continues to happen to all those poor ignorant Indian souls.
We were going about our business, looking at various items of interest. Then suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I spy a well-dressed, smart looking Indian guy, wearing rimless glasses, pushing his shopping cart toward me. He's got a jazzy looking, heavily made-up wife tagging along. I move closer towards the rack to let him pass by. But no. He ha no intention of moving on without saying a "hi" to a fellow country man.He stops right near me and does just that. Says Hi.He's got this stupid fixed smile on his face.
He just doesn't say Hi.
He says "Hiiiiii!! I'm so-and-so. Are you living in such-and-such area? We are also from around there!!"
Wait a minute. I never said I'm from that area.
Then he proceeds to shove his business card into my face which I couldn't read since it went out of focus.
Then it hits me what this guy is all about.
This is one of those guys who got themselves enrolled in some kind of network marketing stuff and are always on the lookout for unsuspecting bakras like me. They are like the birds of prey, when they see one, they swoop down and collar the prey firmly by the neck and squeeze the life out of them.
I HATE THESE GUYS!!
With all the raging emotions running amok inside me, I keep a blank expression on my face and tell him, "I'm not from around here. I'm from India". I watched his smile falter for a second since he didn't expect it. Then he recovers and the stupid fake smile is back on, he starts saying something again.
Contrary to my nature, I cut him off mid-sentence and say, "Sorry. I gotta go. I'm in a hurry." and push off without waiting for a reply. Whew, that was close!
Occasionally, I used to run into these guys when I lived in Michigan. But thankfully, Texas was devoid of vermin like these.
But in California, these guys are dime-a-dozen. They are all over the place. Indian restaurants, walmarts,macys, kohls, all major malls. Their one sole purpose in life is to pull every one they meet into the s**t they are wallowing in already. They have several pickup lines. If they see you as a couple, the wife would come and comment on your wife's salwar or earrings etc. Then the guy would join in. And soon enough, before you know it, you are staring at a glossy business card and unconciously giving out your phone number.
They don't have a life. They don't have real friends. They look at everyone as a prospective business opportunity. Sometimes I pity these guys. Its like an addiction. The pitiful part is they don't even know they are addicted and all the good things in life they miss because of this.
I've heard friends say how they avoid such friends, avoid inviting them to parties since they just can't keep their business out of any friendly social gathering and upset other people who are there to have a good time.

Nowadays, me and my wife can identify these buggers from afar and move out of their line of sight. If at all they spring up suddenly and corner me in a lonely aisle, I politely, are not so politely if its a hard nut case, tell them to shove off and find someone else, since we are late for something else.
But You know what,I'm waiting to meet my next assailant. Coz I have several "polite" shove-off lines ready for their pick up lines, that I would like to shove down their sorry throats. Yeah!

Warm Up

2008-06-19T17:16:00.004-05:00

You have a blog. You have lot of time on your hands. But you've absolutely nothing to write about. Life goes on serenely and nothing happens at all. Day in, Day out.

Then one day everything changes. Lots of things are happening simultaneously. You are way over your head in it. Decisions to be taken on the financial, professional and personal front all at the same time. Big move from down south to out west, yet flying in and out every weekend..

I have a hundred different things to write about but not one single spare second. The worst part was I didn't have time to visit all the blogs I used to read everyday. Ferrari, Curious, Gayathri, Gawker, SK, Kodumai , tysonice and so many more.
And then Curious gave me a "wake up call". And that is the reason for this "warm up" post. I hope to post more frequently from now onwards.

The Tree

2008-03-11T08:14:00.001-05:00

I read this post by Ferrari and it reminded me of something I did long long ago.
I was in high school and we lived in a place with lotsa trees around. My favorite hang out was on a stout branch of an old tamarind tree next to our house. Of course, that was not the only tree I inhabited. At this point, I know exactly what you are thinking about me. Come on guys, someone has to uphold our legacy, right? During the study holidays for the dreaded public exam, I inform my mom that I'll be up in my quarters studying. ;) I take up a few books with me. I loved to climb up on the branch leaving the cares of the world at the foot of the tree. I enjoyed the solitude at the top, the gentle rustle of the leaves, the soft chirping of the birds (who got used to me after a few days), the tangy taste of the puliyangai (tamarind) hanging from the branches at arms reach. One such day, as I perch myself on the branch and fall into a silent reverie, a katterumbu (a big black ant that lives on trees) and its girl friend walk by.They bump into me and size me up with their tiny feelers.
Intelligent she-ant: Hmmm. What do you think this is?
Dumb He-ant: huh? Is it edible.
She-ant: Its definitely not part of our tree. Its warmer...
He-ant: Can we taste it?
She-ant: Its moving too!!
He-ant: Can I take a bite? Hell I am gonna take a bite.. (crunch)
She-ant: Noooooo!!!

ME: eeeeeoooOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!#$%^#&^#$

Wham! Splat! Die you filthy insect!... And that is the end of their sad ant-love story. Of course, I didn't know all the above background info.

Well, I've totally digressed from what I wanted to say here and whenever I digress my imagination runs wild resulting in unnecessary additional tracks about dumb ants and their intelligent girl friends.
Ok. My passion for climbing trees had made me climb many a tree, but the straight branchless coconut tree had always looked a bit more daunting for me. I used to watch the tree-climbers who use some kind of ropes and cycle tire tube combos and fashion a loop out of it and effortlessly pull themselves up the tree. After watching them for a short while, well actually for a long while, I learnt theoritically how to climb a coconut tree. I decided to apply my knowledge of tree-climbing. I selected a regular sized coconut tree. I folded an old cycle tube and put both my feet into it and stretched so that I could grip the trunk with my feet. I jumped up and hugged the tree with both hands and immediately lifted my feet, rubber tubing and all, to grip the tree. At that instant, my palms started to sweat in spite of the cool breeze. The few crows which were hanging out on a nearby tree branch took flight and started flying aroung randomly, incessantly cawing out loud. I took it in a positive sense that they were cheering me on. I lunged up and climbed a few more feet. At this point my feet started sweating. A group of squirrels, three to be exact, settled down on another tree nearby and were enjoying the show. I could almost hear them snickering and whispering among themselves "moron". So the crows aren't really cheering me on? I hugged the tree tighter, hanging on to dear life between heaven and earth. Can't go up. Can't go down. Afraid to let go of either hand or foot. More frightened that someone would come out of my house and find me in this ridiculous position. Believe me there would be no end to it. I'll be the butt of their jokes for the next 1 year atleast and it would be repeated to every relative and friend without any mercy.
Finally my feet couldn't hold on and slipped totally. The rubber tube fell to the ground. Meanwhile I was judging the right place to jump/fall (whichever happens) since the ground was pretty rough and thorny and I was barefoot. I held on to the trunk as tight as I can with my feet and tried to slide myself down. Unfortunately the blisters on the tree got me and I instinctively let go of the tree. And after a short flight I found myself sprawled on my back.
When my eyes focussed again, the crows had settled back on their branch giving me a stern look. The squireles chuckled and shook their heads, "what a loser" and went back to whatever they were doing.
I escaped with a few bruises and scratches but my pride was hurt the most. I got back on my feet, checked for major damage, and trudged back to my perch to brood about the unfortunate incident and life's unfairness in general. I realized, fortunately no one saw me and hey, I climbed half, well almost half a regular sized coconut tree.

Shucks!! :(

2008-03-03T02:44:00.001-06:00

Monday Morning. You get in your car and drive like an automaton on the regular route to your office. You take the familiar bend on the road, barely awake and right in the middle of the road is a freshly run-over animal with all its entrails spilled out. Definitely dead. Poor thing. But by the time your mind processes this information its too late and you feel the sickening bump as the wheels run over it. :(
That should definitely ruin your morning. Wait, thats not all. You go home for lunch. Take the same path back to the office. Same bend in the road, barely awake, now, because of the heavy lunch. Again its too late to react and another sickening bump, though a slightly smaller one, as a direct result of so many other wheels running over it all morning. That ruins the rest of the day.
Is there a number to which you can call in the US and get the remains cleared off the road?

shucks!! :(

MegaReels' Mega News

2008-02-25T18:46:00.007-06:00

Read this first and then proceed below.

Good Evening. You are watching MegaReel News. In todays breaking news, a girl of Indian origin, making a living in Stockholm stumbled upon an astounding invention that is causing quite a stir among the scientific community across the world. Here is a report.

Ms. Jane Doe(Name changed to protect privacy) had been experimenting with various moisturising creams to keep her skin moist during the harsh winter seasons. She tried a combination of moisturing creams which she purchased from a reputed brand name. She noticed her skin color change purplish when under direct sunlight. Filled with fear, excitement and curiosity, she tried a few more combinations and perfected the art of changing her skin color to any color she wants: green, yellow, red, pink!! You name it, she got it! This has led to her being teased as The Chameleon in her circle and later by the whole community. Scientists who are studying this phenomenon have dubbed it "The Chameleon Effect" and still analyzing the various creams used by her.

Meanwhile, an un-named official from one of the leading Production houses in Hollywood, which by the way is named after a sly animal of the previous 100 years, confirmed under conditions of anonymity that the production rights for the movie about The Chameleon have been purchased by them for a whopping 55 million dollars and 50 cents. Ms. Jane Doe has signed the contract and graciously accepted to act in the movie to be named The Chameleon Chronicles.

Word has come out, that the American CIA is quietly trying to recruit The Chameleon to use her in their quest for the elusive terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Unconfirmed sources within the CIA have said that they came out with this strategy after she successfully changed her skin to a light sandy shade exactly like the sands of the desert.

Our leading correspondent John Smith is reporting live from outside the apartment building of Ms. Jane Doe. Lets hear what he's got to say.

Anchor: Hi John. What is the situation out there?
John (Attempt at cheap humor): Its pretty chilly out here and my skin is getting dry. I'll get my moisturizing lotion.
Anchor(More cheap humor): Ha Ha. Don't show us your true colors John.
John: Well, a group of senior officials from the reputed company who produce these moisturizing creams have just arrived by chopper and rushed in to meet The Cham.. err Ms. Jane Doe. From what we are able to understand, they are here to make her sign a contract to hand over a percentage of whatever she earns out of the deals, since it was their product which have enabled this in the first place. We are still unclear about the terms of the contract. Ms. Jane Doe's attorney, Mr. Lee Zard is with her at this moment, helping her with the negotiations. This is John Smith. MegaReel News. Stockholm.
Anchor: That was John Smith with the developing story. Stay tuned for more MegaReel News after the break.

Flight into danger

2008-02-25T16:47:00.004-06:00

I read a couple of news items today. In this one, an American Airlines flight attendant refused to provide oxygen to a passenger with a breathing problem. Later they relented and tried to administrer oxygen, but found the oxygen tank empty. The passenger eventually died mid flight!! In the other one, the co-pilot died mid flight(of natural causes)!!! Considering all the flying I do, my mind started imagining various scenarios..
After all those elaborate safety instructions, which you never listen to nowadays anyway, your flight takes off. Mid flight a window blows off and there is fall in pressure at 35000 ft. Promptly the yellow oxygen masks drop down. You remember the instructions and strap it on and.. breathe in.. nothing happens.. no oxygen!! Looks like somebody forgot to fill up the oxygen tanks.. you can't do anything about it at that point, I guess. Pretty hopeless situation.

Now this actually happened on my flight back home yesterday.. The airport in my hometown is a pretty small one, meaning there's not so much traffic.. It was mid afternoon and the plane was on the final descent. It was wobbling a lot more than it ususally does and my experience (looking out the window week after week on the same flight) told me something was not right. The plane was very close to the ground but had definitely overshot the runway! So the pilot aborted the landing and immediately lifted off to circle the airport.. A very shaky voice trying to sound calm, announced over the P.A System "This is the captain speaking. We haven't been cleared for landing yet. We will get you on the ground as soon as possible." I don't believe a word of it. Man, was it scary!! We eventually did make it down, safe and sound, on the next attempt. I looked around at the other faces around me. The frequent fliers did know the difference!!

Freedom of the Press

2008-02-20T17:07:00.001-06:00

At one point of time, sometime in the past few months, I decided that I would not read certain news items even if its the most popular news item on CNN.com and getting maximum number of hits. I'm talking specifically here about poor Britney Spears. For God's sake leave her alone!! She's got enough problems already. It might be her fault for the state she is in, but I guess even a celebrity would need some privacy. She has messed up her life totally and the most humane thing we can do is to let her sort out her things in peace.
There are so many other important stuff in the society the press can report about. But its not the press's fault too! They give what the general public want the most. Its us. You and Me!! We love gossip especially if its something as juicy as the colorful life of Britney. So the finger is finally pointing towards you and me. So i decided to do my part and stop reading any trash news about Spears or Winehouse or Lindsay for that matter. I hope every individual who cares for the betterment of the society we live in, takes this decision. This will ensure a press which works for the development of the society and not bombard us with gossip-quality news.

I'd written the above and saved it in draft a few days ago. And in todays news they say the cops have arrested(later released after a few hours) a few photogrphers from sleazy tabloids who were chasing celebrities to snap some controversial pics.

Ice Ice Baby

2008-02-19T11:11:00.001-06:00

I opened the door. It was beautiful. The whole world was white. The leaf-less tree limbs covered with crystals of ice through out the sunlight in all directions. It was all shiny. I took a single step. whoooooosh!! screeech!! $%^%$*%*. I failed to notice that the ground was covered with a layer of hard shiny ice. Thankfully I regained my balance and averted a painful collision between my backside and the hard pavement. I stood there afraid to move. Slowly tried to take a step and again I lost balance. After thrashing about wildly and doing various types of snazzy dance moves, (I really dont know how many of those indian families in the nearby apartments watched my performance that day) I managed to place my feet in ankle deep snow. The cold promptly started seeping through my shoes, socks, skin, tissue and upto my bone. Anyway I managed to plod throught the snow upto my car, which was ofcourse encrusted in a box of shiny ice. I held on firmly to the nearby vehicles took out my weapons, broke the ice and brushed them away. I must've looked like a primitive cave-man.I literally skidded and skated my way to the airport, praying all the while that I shouldn't end up like the poor sods sitting pretty in the ditches with their big SUVs waiting for help to arrive. I hate those big SUV types, with all the extra fittings, who think they are invincible in any type of weather conditions. Ultimately they end up in ditches because of this, sometimes taking other poor sods, like me, with them. To cap it all, it started raining and visibility became very poor.
After all this I obviously did miss my flight and ended up paying a penalty to get the next available flight home. Texas!! home sweet home!! Well, atleast for now.

All electronic items must be switched off at this time

2008-02-18T14:40:00.003-06:00

Its quite a while since I posted something here. Life's pretty hectic. And oh yeah. I've been travelling a lot. Now last weekend I made a trip to Detroit on some work and to attend a birthday party for my friend's son. It was a 1st birthday party, so it was grand. On the day I was to fly there I remembered I had to buy a gift! Gawd, I'm bad at this. As I do for almost everything, I turned to Google for help. One link led to another and before I knew it I had decided to buy a "Laugh & Learn: Laughing Puppy" from the shop Babies'r'us. Jumped into my car and dashed to the nearest Babies'r'us and asked the attendant for the particular item. (My flight was in another 3 hours.) He somehow located one from the store room. I hurriedly packed it up, paid for it, went home took my stuff and was on the way to the airport congratulating myself on how efficient I was.

I'm at the terminal with my bags. Thought I heard my phone ringing. Took it out. No? might be somebody else's. Come on. There were a lot of people around me. And very noisy too. Somehow went through security. By this time I'd checked my phone multiple times for the mysterious call which never came through. Hmmm. Made my way to the gate and actually boarded the plane. Got into my seat. The plane is relatively less noisier you know, atleast until the flight attendant starts the blah blah blah announcements preparing you for the various Worst Case Scenarios. I was trying to squeeze my carry-on bag under the seat in front of me. At the same time the flight attendant was carrying on with "All electronic items must be switched off at this time.." There was a relative lull in the conversations and the announcements when something from inside my bag sang out "Pat a cake, Pat a cake bakers man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can".

The toy which I bought was so designed to sing various rhymes and songs when pressed at various parts of its anatomy. This over-sensitive puppy had been singing merrily whenever it got prodded and I'd failed to realize it.
I had to take it out and search for the battery which of course was discreetly and inconveniently situated. :( Thankfully I found an On/Off switch which did the trick. But the damage was done. Everyone around was smiling at my expense. Hey atleast I'm responsible for lightening people's moods in an otherwise drab life.
Glad it didn't happend while going through security.

The aliens are back!!

2007-12-27T18:11:00.001-06:00

I tell you, The aliens are here. Right in our midst. Hiding in every conceivable machine we have. In disguise. Trying to screw us in every possible way. They reside in cell phones, computers, ATM Machines.. and yes Vending Machines!! Those darned vending machines with rows of neatly arranged snacks / sodas, beckoning to you when you are off-guard. when your mind looks for a diversion, any diversion, from the monotonous monitor-staring, mouse-clicking, keyboard-tapping work.
Now wait a minute, why am I yapping about aliens and vending machines? Overdose of MIB, you might think.
Let me explain. Here I was in front of the vending machine with my carefully collected fistful of coins.I should probably tell you here that this particular machine is so designed that when you put the coins or dollar bills in and press a alpha numeric code, the snack corresponding to the code will slide out and fall to the bottom of the machine. You have to reach down, push the little door open and get your stuff.
To get back to the story, I had a lot of small change so I decided to get rid of them. I carefully counted and dropped five and ten cent coins into the slot. The display showed me I had the right amount.Then again so carefully I pressed C7.(That is the snack I needed). I was in one of those gluttonous moods. I wanted to grab the bag, tear it open and gorge its contents immediately.The aliens residing in the machine learnt this piece of information by intercepting my strong brain waves.(I arrived at this conclusion later, as a result of serious retrospection).I saw the bag starting to slide down towards the edge of its row. As it was about to fall down I opened the little door below to pick it up as soon as it fell down. Wham! The sliding stopped and the bag of snacks, MY DELICIOUS CRUNCHY BAG OF SNACKS, was forcefully detained from joining its rightful owner, who had infact purchased it for a grand sum of 45 cents. 45 hard-earned cents shedding blood and sweat.(err... Overdid that a bit)! This is not fair at all!
I knew then and there it was the darned aliens. They had stopped the snack bag from falling down!!. They were probably laughing at the look of incredulity on my face. Those ugly buggers.
To top it all, they displayed a message on the little digital screen, "Have a nice day!".
There, I have told you. Have got it off my chest. My duty is done. They are there. Be Warned.

Elevator Etiquette

2007-12-19T18:39:00.000-06:00

Got up pretty late today. The alarm tune was so soothing, it actually lulled me to sleep again. Have to change the tune. Anyway by the time I was fully awake it was so late I had to get ready in a hurry. I jumped into my car and rushed to work. Being on time is important in my work place, especially today!! Lucky VN(my wife) was still rolling around in bed blissfully. (She switched off the alarm and went to sleep!!) :(
I parked and started a fast trot to the elevator, at the same time called up VN to let her know I reached safe and sound(This is a daily ritual). I stepped into the elevator feeling lucky that I was the only person in it and I can go point-to-point to my floor in a jiffy.Thats when the trouble started.

Floor 3. Stop. Me getting a bit annoyed.Two giggling girls get in(boy! do they take their time getting in!) and one holds her hand over the door apparently holding it open for a third girl who is still a good way off. Anyway girl 3 reaches(also giggling for no apparent reason) and she's almost in, when the first girl takes one look at the panel, turns towards me and exclaims. "Oh are you going up?". giggle."We are going down!". With that all three of them tumble out giggling crazily. I'm utterly frustrated. Cha. All this time wasted for nothing!

My woes are not over there.

Floor 4. The Janitor guy gets in slowly rolling in a large trash can.
Floor 5. Janitor guy gets out rolling out the trash can even more slowly.
My brain is screaming at me. You are late. your's is the only empty cubicle at this time. What if ur boss walks by or calls you on the phone. Its gonna be embarrassing.

Wait it gets worse.

Floor 6. Stop. Why me?!! There are 5 other elevators. Why mine?
Initially I don't see anyone. Then I could hear a lady's voice. She walked backwards towared the elevator and parked herself smack astride the door, one leg in and one leg out. Meanwhile she is talking nonstop loudly to her colleague who is standing a little way off in the corridor... discussing their shopping plans for the weekend. Inga oru manushanoda vedhanaiya purunjikama kathai adichitu irukanga.

I started a slow burn, getting really pissed off. She somehow finished her dialog said a hasty goodbye and backed into the elevator. Now is the fun part(not at that time, but now it sure feels funny). Apparently this lady has a slow processor built into her head, by nature. She was absent-minded enough not to press any buttons indicating her floor. Then the elevator started moving. All the while she was standing close to the door and had absolutely no idea there is another tortured soul sharing her ride.
She seemed to realize suddenly that she needed to push a button for her floor and her mind registered that the elevator was already moving. Only then she sensed that there's another person in there. I was already standing in the farthest corner of the elevator.She turned around and was so startled, she gave a little yelp and demanded "When did you get in? I don't remember seeing you here". Loose a ma ne? Granted i'm a bit thin and also wearing clothes with shades similar to the interior shades of the elevator. But na enna palliya? sevuthoda vottitu iruka? Ivunga paakalaiyam.

Anyway I gritted my teeth, gave a tight smile and said "You backed into the elevator, ma'am. So you didn't see me".
"Oh", was the reply. She seemed to ponder this bit of information for a moment. (Slow processor, you see)

Almost reached my floor. Elevator stops. Door is opening.
She asks, "Why didn't you tell me you were in here?". Me going ballistic #%$#$^ na enna "present madam" nu attendance a kudukkanum?!!
Thankfully elevator door closed before she could catch the expression on my face.

Update:
Nothing I feared happened at work. I wasn't really that late or I should say nobody noticed I was. :)

There are some days...

2007-12-18T14:23:00.001-06:00

Its 3 PM. Me at work. Utterly famished. Its all my fault. Should've
had some more of that nice meal(with an overdose of love) my VN prepared for me. Too late to lament about that.
What are my options? Well, there is that vending machine down on the
sixth floor. So I pick my lazy self up and climb down to the sixth floor. There's the vending machine!
Hmmm.. what should I have today. I spend some time gawking at the burgers, sandwiches etc. Finally decide on a burger. Wait.. How 'bout some chips to go along with it.
Ha! Those crispy TGI Friday Potato skins will go along wonderfully well.. and why not a can of good ol' coke.. With these utterly important decisions made, me reaching for my
wallet..anticipating the moment I sink my teeth into the hot and juicy burger, add a crunchy salty potato skin on the side, take a swig from the cold can of coke.. oh bliss!!
Ahem.. This is were I'm jolted back to reality. I have my wallet. I do have a lot of cash in it. Those dollar bills mocking me. Got a few tens and twenties and even a large 100. But not a single measly dollar bill.Not a single quarter either. Kodumai da saami. what a bummer.
FLASH(an inspiration).. I remember I have some loose change in my cubicle locker. I dash upto my cube one floor up, rummage around and... no quarters. pennies? yes. five cents?
yes. but not a single quarter.

*^@$#$@

You should realize that by now I'm utterly desperate..
FLASH (Another inspiration). I look left and right. Sneak into my colleague's cubicle to "borrow" some quarters.(He's on vacation, you see ;) ). Dash back to the machine, drop the coins in and take a packet of potato skins out. thats all I could get for whatever change I had. :(

I walk back to my desk with my spoils. I hear a voice calling out to me. It was M, an american colleague. Talking loudly with his mouth full. (He always does that. Such an irritating habit. I'll tell you all about him in another post.)

M: Hey, Howzzit goin'?
me: Gud I guess.
M : Duude, didja scheck oudthde panthry?
me: huh?
M: Shomebodhy's b'dhay parthy, on this floor. Shtill a 'ole lotta cake
and chips lefth over there, man.
me(eyebrows raised, with a what-a-filthy-glutton-you-are look): Oh
yeah? Not for me. (varattu gowravam)
(to myself: !!@#$$^ why didnt I go there in the first place?)

With a curt nod, I walk to my cube with an air of nonchalance. After a furtive glance confirmed that M is out of range, I hurriedly sneak back to the pantry and get myself a large portion of
the goodies.
Almost reached the safety of my cube, when whom else should i meet? M of course! Surely on his way back to help himself to another portion of the stuff.
He took one look at me, cocked his head to one side.
"Changed your mind, eh?". A lopsided grin.
Me vazhinjufication and with a sheepish grin, "yeah. heh heh" and make a hurried exit.

You may see the target, but have to cross the gap to reach it.

2007-09-18T17:15:00.000-05:00

He trudges along, one weary step after another,following the steps of the hazy shadow leading his way. His mind is unable to comprehend anything anymore. He looks up and around, blinking in the unforgiving harsh lights. He could see a myriad of colorrs around him, in his mind's eye. Was it real or imagined? He knew somewhere deep down that the end is near. There!! he could see it! The destination is near! The red sign marks it! With renewed hope he follows the shadowy figure.
He hears a voice asking him something..the voice.. he knows the voice.. very familiar..it is coming from the shadow.. his brain barely registers a few words, "do..think..that..look..me?".
Wait! the blurred figure has started moving away from the destination. No! He can't take it anymore!! He shakes his head in frustration and groans in anguish. His hopes dashed, he resigns himself to his fate, a broken man.He knows that there is no way out now, not for another one hour atleast.
The figure stops looks at him and again and asks "Honey, do you think this dress will look good on me? umm.. How about this one?"

Life goes on :)

Now read the title again
You MACY the TARGET, but have to cross the GAP to reach it. ;)

Mourning....

2007-09-12T17:26:00.000-05:00

Its a great loss.. I realy didn't know I would feel this much for him.. Tom is gone.. I would never see him look at me with his soft black-brown eyes again with his head tilted to one side... i think of all the great times I spent with him.. Here I am, half-way 'round the world and I'd never get see him alive again...
Yes, with great sorrow i anounce that my cat Tom has passed away..Heard from my parents that he had a very painful death unable to recover from an attack by a couple of dogs.. Yeah, the dogs got him this time... I'll spare you the gory details..'

He had been my silent companion in times of trouble...
will miss you my friend..

The Mighty Left

2007-08-16T09:19:00.000-05:00

I read this humorous article on the Metro plus-Chennai about being left-handed. It brought back memories of when i was a kid. For some people their left hand is the 'right(wrtie?)' hand.
I used to write with both hands!!(not simultaneously though, like Abe Lincoln).. My teachers at school beat me up every time I used my left hand to write!! I was forced to use my right hand. But still I use my left hand predominantly for holding stuff, throwing a ball etc..but never again in my life, till now, could I write legibly..Guess what happened in the end? I ended up with two left hands that cannot write :-(.
You know how it is.. Two lefts can never make a right :-)

So here is a small verse i wrote for all those confused kids out there who are left-handed.

If your left writes right
and your left feels strong
Then your left is might
and your right is wrong

So all leftys unite
and join the fight
dont give up ur right
your left is your right

endhrichiten.. varaen..

2007-08-15T21:11:00.000-05:00

I'm gonna start blogging again.. err ippo thaan start panna poren.. full swing la.. India la irundha varaikum lot of work.. now kinda ok.. so beware bloggers!! here i come..

Happy Independence Day!!

2007-08-15T10:26:00.000-05:00

Wish you all a very Happy Independence Day!!

Skype unlimited!

2007-08-15T10:14:00.000-05:00

More on Skype!!

I've got the skype unlimited package.. It cost me around $30 with unlimited calls to any US or canada number for 1 year. I've got myself a skype-in number too!!

Call Forwarding in Skype

2007-08-15T09:29:00.000-05:00

For all you skype users!!!
Try the call-forwarding in Skype..I've set it up!! Anybody can call my skype id, if I'm not online the call is forwarded to my mobile.. It is FREE for anybody who calls me.. just like a skype-to-skype call. but it costs me!! So i'll b very choosy in picking up skype calls.. ;-)

FYI.. you need a Skype Out account to enable call forwarding...
Have fun with Skype!!

My Best Friends Wedding... @ Aruppukottai

2006-12-11T12:36:00.000-06:00

R, one of my good friends in college, got married last week... minus one from the dwindling list of bachelors in our group...

Well we, whoever is left in chennai, rather India, decided to attend the wedding...

N booked the tickets and me, N, P and Ra boarded the bus to Aruppukottai...

We reached there early morning, quickly freshened up and rushed off to the marriage hall...

The marriage and reception were over by 10:30..

and we didn't know wat to do the rest of the day...

We said our good byes to R and left the hall and started on our tour of the small town of aruppukottai.. in the hot sun (veyil). missed the first day, first show of veyil so decided to watch the matinee instead at the Ilayarani theatre... We had a lot of time to kill till 7 PM to take the bus back to chennai!!.. spent some time on a tea kadai bench, drank an impossibly oversized elani each...

Then by luck we found a browsing center.. whiling away time checking mail.. went to a restaurant and had lunch.. came back to the theatre and watched the movie..

Then back to the bus stop..

On the whole, it was fun to spend the day with college friends, sharing the same old camaraderie which never diminished after all these years!!

My Cat Tom

2006-12-10T11:15:00.000-06:00

Well... This is Tom.. A stray cat which worked its way into our home and into our hearts...
We met Tom about an year back when he used to pay us visits during lunch and dinner at our backyard.. He decided to stay there when he realised there was lots of good stuff for him to eat there.. we never let him into the house though..
He was very naughty when he was a kitten.. one fine day he coudn't resist the milk packet and had a go at it in the morning.... my dad decided it was time to send him away... we did put him in a sack and sent him away with somebody we knew.. Tom found himself in a new unfamiliar place far away.. but he managed to find his way back after 3 days.. all lean and starving... he let out a pitiful meow and we decided to let him stay..
In course of time he learnt not to steal... or else its a sharp crack on his head.. so we had no problems with him..
All was well until a couple of stray dogs strolled into our area..
It was too hard for those two to resist a plump, overfed, lazy cat lounging in the warmth of the winter sun, after a sumptuous meal..
What followed is a nightmare when we think about it even now.. the canines dragged him into the bushes, there were lots of scrapping, bruising, woofs, meows, howls etc... until we chased those dogs away..
Poor Tom was badly hurt.. bleeding all over, deep gashes in the neck, head, eyes...
we kept him safe inside the house, since the dogs were still after him..
Finally we called the blue cross people, who took him in a cage, treated him for about a week and brought him back..
Tom is no more playful nowadays.. still shaken by the incident.. He lost his eyesight in one eye we think.. since its kind of grey in color.. he still is recovering both mentally and physically..
He's slowly becoming his old self.. until then he's getting 5 star treatment at home.. We are glad to have our Tom back..

Test Blog

2006-12-10T03:28:00.001-06:00

Sending a test blog post from my email id to see if I can post it this way..
blogger.com is blocked in office.. so trying out alternatives...

Stop!! Think!!

2006-12-05T15:09:00.001-06:00

This one touched me very much... U wil never regret spendin ur time readin this..

The cell-phone beeped, just enough to grab the attention of the totally engrossed Mithun who was trying hard to fix an issue in the code that he had just written. The message of course stole a portion of his attention as it was from his better-half Diya and it just said 'Honey, I have met with a minor accident, nothing to worry I am on my way back' home. "Mithun, you got to hurry the boss is already at his seat, I hope you are done with the presentation" was the curt reminder call given by his Lead. Mithun who was about to dial Diya's number had to momentarily postpone the enquiry call!!!! Hurrying his eyes through the monitor he took a final look at his ppt.Reaching the conference room Mithun hardly knew that the session would take away his time and memory enough to even forget that he was to ask Diya how she was!!!! It was a usance for Mithun to give a daily evening call to Diya. The cell rang and by the ringtone Diya knew it was Mihtun's call. Excitedly walking towards the cell, she opened the flip of her phone and said a 'Hello' in a tone enough for even a lame man to know she needed someone to cheer her up. 'Hi, what's my baby doing, don't ask me I am going nuts trying to fix this code, I don't know if I'll be able to complete this module even today' Mithun said. There was a long drawn silence from Diya's end. "Hello, You there""You forgot""Forgot what?" Mithun had still not gathered from the hint."Never mind forget it, what time are you coming home?""No tell me, what happened? I am sorry I am really stressed out, Please…What happened" was all Mithun said. "My accident, you forgot so soon, what If I had really injured myself,Godddd how can you be so uncaring"Mithun knew he had called for yet another hen-pecking session from Diya, but he truly regretted for having totally forgotten about it. "When will you ever understand It's not always your work, don't I mean anything to you, just tell me, you always do this""Look I can't fight when I am here at office" was what Mithun whispered in return and the phone went blank on Diya's end. As she slowly closed the flap of her cell, an unknown fear sank in Diya's heart. Where was her marriage heading? This was not the same Mithun she knew during her college days even a sneeze would have called for a dozen medical counseling! That day Mithun returned at 5a.m in the morning, and saw Diya snug fast asleep in the mink blanket. She looked as cute and warm as ever. Whatever she did or said had never failed to loose even an ounce of Mithun's love. Slowly tiptoeing across the room, he reached up to her forehead and planted a feathery kiss.Mithun sank in his arm chair slowly getting lost in issues that definitely needed his thinking. He was getting more stressed at his work; he too had begun to realize that there had to be an end to all that. He was working like a maniac, No food ,no sleep, Traffic jams on the way back home,' THE MACHINE' had taken over his life. By the end his long thought process Mithun had decided something concrete. Something that would change everything from then on. Diya was always the first to return home from work, the next day trying to unlock the door a lot of times, Diya suddenly got scared who it could be inside her house at 6.30p.m!!!! Had someone found the secret place where she kept keys for Mithun when he returned late in the morning at times!!! Frantically searching for her cell in her purse, she finally reached for it and dialed Mithun's number. 'The Hutch number you have called is busy, Please try again later'Diya thought Mithun was in 'YET ANOTHER' one of his company meetings!!!Just then the door went 'Click!! Clack!!'OPEN and it was Mithun standing there."How tough was it for you to understand that if the door is not locked by the keys and hatched from inside then it has got to be me" Mithun grinned as he said this. Diya was surprised he was home by 6.30!!! The earliest he had ever returned was 8.30p.m!!!"How come you are back so soon?" "You Ok?""Of course how do I look?" Mithun snapped back…"Forget all that now and tell me how much more time you are going to take for getting ready?" "Ready, for what?" Diya queried."Got tickets for Pirates of Caribbean, 7.15 show, so…""Coolll, will be right back" Diya said chirpily.As she entered her room,She found a huge box of her favorite chocolates. She came out and "Kinna, who gave you this box of chocolates" Kinna was the name she used to call Mithun, when she was all in lovey-dovey mood. Moving across to her and giving her a cozy hug "Actually one of my admirers gave me, but I have been good enough to give it to you" he said with a wink in his eyes. "Yeah right! It's not good to give one's gift to another and by the way for this partly bald and grey haired husband of mine I assume even an admirer would give nothing more than a hair dye or a wig" Diya laughed. "Very funny, I got it and it's for you, really sorry about yesterday, I don't know how it slipped out of my mind so easily, but I am really thankful to god that you are perfectly allright"Mithun said."Thank you, you always make me feel so special, I guess I should have been more understanding" Diya replied back and gave Mithun a warm hug, with a smile on her lips. She had realized that Nature had taught her lesson to Mithun. All our lives are closely related to the story above, it's in our hands to draw a thin line between professional and personal lives and plan and organize things in such a way to know where former ends and the latter begins.

My trip to Top Slip, valparai and the Kadambarai power plant

2006-10-29T01:26:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderful time at Top Slip this Diwali weekend.. Its a beautiful place, about a couple of hours drive from Pollachi, TamilNadu.. Visited places like Valparai, Kadambarai.
Top Slip is a forest reserve.. couldn't see many wild animals except the elephant, different varieties of monkeys and a family of wild boars.. we learnt belatedly that we need to stay there the night to get a glimpse of other animals...
Valparai was a wonderful place, nice and chilly climate, a light drizzle..
We had good fun getting wet on the tiny water falls here and there..
Had to go throug 40 hairpin bends to reach there!!

I had this gr8 opportunity to visit the Hydro-electric power plant in Kadambarai.. Situated at abt 1000m above sea level, its a fabulous place.. They've blasted out tons and tons of rock to build the plant. Tunnelled 1.2 km into the mountains.. and the machinery and the danger involved for the workers there.. it was absolutely terrifying to see the force of all the water which is used by the plant to generate a whopping 11 KV of electricity!!! I was humbled by all that work..

I decided never again to complain when there is a power cut.. Now I know how much it takes to generate the electricity for our day-to-day needs..and how much risk those workers are taking to give us that power..

A Child's Point Of View - Courtesy:Christiansunite.com

2006-09-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

The story of Adam and Eve was being carefully explained in the children's Sunday School class. Following the story, the children were asked to draw some picture that would illustrate the story.

Little Bobby was most interested and drew a picture of a car with three people in it. In the front seat, behind the wheel was a man and in the back seat, a man and a woman.

The teacher was at a loss to understand how this illustrated the lesson of Adam and Eve.

But little Bobby was prompt with his explanation. "Why, this is God driving Adam and Eve out of the garden!"

This one is too gud...Poor guy

2006-09-10T12:57:00.000-05:00

This is true letter written to a HR of an MNC applying for software job... ...........

Page 1
(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Page 2
(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Guess where this guy is working???
......
Where else?? But the gr8 INFOSYS!!! :))

The Dead Church - Courtesy :christiansunite.com

2006-09-10T12:22:00.000-05:00

The Dead Church
A new Pastor in a small Oklahoma town spent the first four days making personal visits to each of the members, inviting them to come to his first services.
The following Sunday the church was all but empty. Accordingly, the Pastor placed a notice in the local newspapers, stating that, because the church was dead, it was everyone's duty to give it a decent Christian burial. The funeral would be held the following Sunday afternoon, the notice said.
Morbidly curious, a large crowd turned out for the "funeral." In front of the pulpit, they saw a closed coffin, smothered in flowers. After the Pastor delivered the eulogy, he opened the coffin and invited his congregation to come forward and pay their final respects to their dead church.
Filled with curiosity as to what would represent the corpse of a "dead church," all the people eagerly lined up to look in the coffin. Each "mourner" peeped into the coffin then quickly turned away with a guilty, sheepish look.
In the coffin, tilted at the correct angle, was a large mirror.

My first post

2006-09-04T13:28:00.000-05:00

Hey ppl,
After much deliberation ... I've decided to let myself into the crazy world of blogging...
I seriously donno why i'm doing this.. but still here I am...
Watch this space for more interesting stuff..