Monday, February 21, 2011
The baby daddy
When the world was done rejoicing Diwali the previous night, it had just begun for us.The moment this tiny little guy arrived ,spewing amniotic fluid and gasping for fresh air, overwhelmed with it a minute later and started crying, I knew that very moment that along with my son a new father was born.....
Sunday, November 18, 2007
if only
If only life had been as simple as editing a word document, I would always be a draft version!!
Coming to think of it , it would have been really good to rewind life and relive it again,sometimes living it the same way to relive those moments and sometimes to try to correct things to live it up.
I know I cant relive it,atleast let me live it up by thinking its possible....
For the dumber I have been all this while,until yesterday(today I am a replenished soul full of hope that I have made good progress in a day from being a moron to an intellect), I should have really studied well during school. I should have known UP is the largest producer of wheat in India,2nd battle of Panipat was fought in 1556 and Gobi desert is the largest cold desert in the world after Antartica(now u understand that I have made good progress from yesterday,with the advent of google and wikipedia). I know I might have still been a software engineer after all this but I could have won a few hearts of teachers,and girls of course(but for that I would have to go the extra mile to edit this part of my life further by studying in a co-ed) I dont feel too much that this has not hapenned because I am happy for what I am doing right now. But I could have definitely been better if I had started at that stage when I thought Panipat was some bloody chat item like Panipoori(thank god ,they mentioned Battle in the question,I atleast went on to write some memorable year like 1947) .. If I think of it now,its that che..justu miss feeling.
I should have been a real dude in the college( not that I wasnt one at all,just something like a bit more). With bleached hair and ear-studs,skeleton chains,french beard and long side-burns. Yeah I know I would still look like a moron but girls still go gaga over a ramp walk remo than an ambi. Again, I dont feel for not doing all this because for the college that I studied, I would have been doing office duty till now had I done all I imagined. (good that I am outta that college, had i written this during college days and someone reads this,highly unlikely,I would have still had to do office duty) And ofcourse I dont repent studying in that college for I would have missed my very close buddies who are real good friends to me till date.(senti touch)
Thats all I could think of as of now. Its not that apart from these two, I had really been living up my life. Its just that I am getting hungry and I need to cook( ah,yes now that I remember one more to edit my past-I probably should added a little more spice in yesterday's brinjal curry,it would have tasted lesser horrible)
Coming to think of it , it would have been really good to rewind life and relive it again,sometimes living it the same way to relive those moments and sometimes to try to correct things to live it up.
I know I cant relive it,atleast let me live it up by thinking its possible....
For the dumber I have been all this while,until yesterday(today I am a replenished soul full of hope that I have made good progress in a day from being a moron to an intellect), I should have really studied well during school. I should have known UP is the largest producer of wheat in India,2nd battle of Panipat was fought in 1556 and Gobi desert is the largest cold desert in the world after Antartica(now u understand that I have made good progress from yesterday,with the advent of google and wikipedia). I know I might have still been a software engineer after all this but I could have won a few hearts of teachers,and girls of course(but for that I would have to go the extra mile to edit this part of my life further by studying in a co-ed) I dont feel too much that this has not hapenned because I am happy for what I am doing right now. But I could have definitely been better if I had started at that stage when I thought Panipat was some bloody chat item like Panipoori(thank god ,they mentioned Battle in the question,I atleast went on to write some memorable year like 1947) .. If I think of it now,its that che..justu miss feeling.
I should have been a real dude in the college( not that I wasnt one at all,just something like a bit more). With bleached hair and ear-studs,skeleton chains,french beard and long side-burns. Yeah I know I would still look like a moron but girls still go gaga over a ramp walk remo than an ambi. Again, I dont feel for not doing all this because for the college that I studied, I would have been doing office duty till now had I done all I imagined. (good that I am outta that college, had i written this during college days and someone reads this,highly unlikely,I would have still had to do office duty) And ofcourse I dont repent studying in that college for I would have missed my very close buddies who are real good friends to me till date.(senti touch)
Thats all I could think of as of now. Its not that apart from these two, I had really been living up my life. Its just that I am getting hungry and I need to cook( ah,yes now that I remember one more to edit my past-I probably should added a little more spice in yesterday's brinjal curry,it would have tasted lesser horrible)
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Memories from an old mail!
I was just browsing through my yahoo mailbox when I found this old mail. Reminds me of very good memories,also reinstates my idea of blogging periodically to capture the interesting moments of life......
From: Sarath KumarG (WT01 - EAS) Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 4:44 PMTo: 'Balaganesh_S'; 'ChandraMohan'; 'Diwhagaran Palani'; Jatish V C (WT01 - Retail, CPG & Distribution); 'Mohan Kumar (Cognizant)'; Nikhil Kumar (WT01 - Retail, CPG & Distribution); 'Prabhagaran_Palani'; 'Sameer Rahamathullah (WT01 - TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES (GS))'; 'ChandraMohan'Subject: Latest from Bangalore
Hi ppl
Welcome to the Bangalore News Bulletin.. ( sameeru.. tamil kirukan lan sollamudiyaadhu. Idhu dhan en style okva. )
The reason for mailing this time is the same as that of the last time… but this time got something to write about.
As u all know, bala had come down to bangalore for his weekend.. with only his mouth and the dress he was wearing. After his grand arrival( bala idhellam too much for ur face.. nee autola vandhu erangunadha.. unna alachutu poga vandha naangale seriya paakala. ), we went home to watch a blockbuster movie. Called tygos.. thanks to dippu and bala for choosing the movie. It was a movie which even the director wouldn’t have seen the first copy. I should ve suspected that when the cd shop guy looked at us in a peculiar way when we had gone to take that movie. We were fooled by the title. Day after tomorrow 2.. so we just sat and chatted until the movie ended( we knew it was over only when the cd player suddenly stopped showing moving picture on the screen. ). In the meantime we had also planned for the next two days. The best part of our plan was that Mr Munificient Dippu was supposed to sponsor us all through the trip. So jus like that kept on talking until the movie thankfully got over. tat was all for Friday. Had a nice long chat.. and then slept..
Saturday morning, there was a slight change in the plan. we had planned for a shiva temple, but postponed that to the next day and decided to go to bannerghatta national park..bala, dippu,our roomie shakti and myself started off hoping for a nice trip.. it was a long journey and we went in veliyoor bus. This was the first time dippu got a chance to go see a video coach. So eventhough there was a telugu movie going, he was watching with his mouth wide open..we reached after some 45 mins I guess. There were lots of safari trips happenning.. the difference between a safari trip and a zoo is that in a zoo animals will be caged and we ll go around and see them. In a safari, we will be caged and made to go around the animals.. so that they get a chance to see humans in a cage. And we get a chance to see them roaming freely outside.
First it was the herbivore safari. Only deers and bisons. Nothing special. And then it was the bear safari. This was the first time I say so many bears.. all roaming here and there. All of them had so much hair in the body that even sathyaraj would envy.. lion and tiger safari was good as well.. ultimately we got out of the caged van and went into the zoo.. the place had a collection of all the rare animals. If jaggu goes there, he ll definitely find a place to stay among his relatives.. I want to see jaggu behind such a cage. We met a foreigner there in the zoo who had come in that cage van.he was taking photos all the way.. so we approached him and asked him to send us the photos to our email ids. dippu kept on saying yes yes to watever that fellow said. he dint even notice that the fellow had asked which company he was working for. Adhukum yes yes nu sollitan. And then he showed the name of the company he was working for on his t shirt. Probably by that time..he understood we wouldn’t be able to decipher what he is actually telling..
After the eventful journey, we went back to our place. And then in the evening we went to jayanagar..(that’s where my cat class is..i joined bala and dippu after the class).A Ganesh temple and some purchasing ate up some time.. and our ice creams ate up dippu’s ‘hard earned’ money. ( dippu, hard earned ellam over. Edho indha maari sonna innum konjam vangi tharuvae la. Adhan sonnaen. ) ..by then it had started raining…bala and dippu were hoping to see gals getting drenched in the rain. But most of them were either fully covered by jerkins or by their boy friends. We waited for someone to come without either of the above.. or atleast the rain to stop. Both both didn’t happen. So we rushed out in the rain, took an auto and went to forum mall hoping for some success there. Forum was not as crowded as expected. So after strolling for sometime,we came back to our pg. this time to watch another movie. Ring two. It wasn’t that scary as ring one in which mohan urinated in his pants… this one wouldn’t even bring out a drop. But it still was good to watch. Lots of logical explanations in this sequel.. and then after a tired day, we all went to sleep.
The next day we went to kempfort.. this is where the lord shiva temple is situated.it stands tall at 45 feet… never knew there was one before.. it was good. Ppl who plan to come to bangalore next time, don’t forget to visit this temple…
after that we went to M.G. Road …for obvious reasons.. I meant lunch.. we went to have lunch in our dear old Bheema’s restaurant. For those whove forgotten, that’s the place we had lunch last time in bangalore . Fortunately they havent closed that restaurant.. but unfortunately they had increased the price of a meal to Rs.70. guess they still havent recovered from the loss. Tats y they seem to have gone for a higher price…
After a heavy lunch,we sat to relax on the benches in the street.. the weather was hot.. but we found it pretty cool… we talked about everything and saw everything under the sun… (literally and figuratively.. ) and then got to leave. Bala had to go back to mysore that evening.. so left him in the bus stop and went back home..
Whew!!!. That was how this short but eventful weekend ended.. but this mail has some more lines to go..
Actually, neither dippu nor myself has ever spent a weekend like this before.. till yesterday we never knew all these places existed in bangalore . only when someone like bala comes here.. we wish to take them somewhere, make them happy and realise we also get happier . Tell u.. none of it was planned before hand. Jus happened like that. Impromptu. But it was a really good experience.. old memories as well… especially at Bheema’s.. dippu was telling me that bala might come here this weekend also. Bala, maybe we cant assure u a trip like this time. but we ll definitely assure tat we ll have nice fun if u come here. Laughing our hearts out.. As for the others, we missed all of you..whenever we were laughing like anything.. we remember raghav… when we saw someone order fresh lime soda.. we remembered.. jatish. When we saw ring two.. we remembered mohan…and pappu when when we talked about how he watched a movie with sunglasses on…. its all because most of the time we all go together.. it wouldve been great had we all gone together this time. (just like the moonar trip which is one of the memorable experiences in our lives. And will remain one.. ).. I remember we had all written something about that.. if someone can forward it to our ids. ill read it whenever I get free time like this….
Tomorrow we maybe in different parts of the world…But we always have our memories with us…. I hope we get lots of opportunities like this to meet each other…
Ok then… already too long…
Regards,
Sarath Kumar G
Wipro Technologies
Bangalore
From: Sarath KumarG (WT01 - EAS) Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 4:44 PMTo: 'Balaganesh_S'; 'ChandraMohan'; 'Diwhagaran Palani'; Jatish V C (WT01 - Retail, CPG & Distribution); 'Mohan Kumar (Cognizant)'; Nikhil Kumar (WT01 - Retail, CPG & Distribution); 'Prabhagaran_Palani'; 'Sameer Rahamathullah (WT01 - TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES (GS))'; 'ChandraMohan'Subject: Latest from Bangalore
Hi ppl
Welcome to the Bangalore News Bulletin.. ( sameeru.. tamil kirukan lan sollamudiyaadhu. Idhu dhan en style okva. )
The reason for mailing this time is the same as that of the last time… but this time got something to write about.
As u all know, bala had come down to bangalore for his weekend.. with only his mouth and the dress he was wearing. After his grand arrival( bala idhellam too much for ur face.. nee autola vandhu erangunadha.. unna alachutu poga vandha naangale seriya paakala. ), we went home to watch a blockbuster movie. Called tygos.. thanks to dippu and bala for choosing the movie. It was a movie which even the director wouldn’t have seen the first copy. I should ve suspected that when the cd shop guy looked at us in a peculiar way when we had gone to take that movie. We were fooled by the title. Day after tomorrow 2.. so we just sat and chatted until the movie ended( we knew it was over only when the cd player suddenly stopped showing moving picture on the screen. ). In the meantime we had also planned for the next two days. The best part of our plan was that Mr Munificient Dippu was supposed to sponsor us all through the trip. So jus like that kept on talking until the movie thankfully got over. tat was all for Friday. Had a nice long chat.. and then slept..
Saturday morning, there was a slight change in the plan. we had planned for a shiva temple, but postponed that to the next day and decided to go to bannerghatta national park..bala, dippu,our roomie shakti and myself started off hoping for a nice trip.. it was a long journey and we went in veliyoor bus. This was the first time dippu got a chance to go see a video coach. So eventhough there was a telugu movie going, he was watching with his mouth wide open..we reached after some 45 mins I guess. There were lots of safari trips happenning.. the difference between a safari trip and a zoo is that in a zoo animals will be caged and we ll go around and see them. In a safari, we will be caged and made to go around the animals.. so that they get a chance to see humans in a cage. And we get a chance to see them roaming freely outside.
First it was the herbivore safari. Only deers and bisons. Nothing special. And then it was the bear safari. This was the first time I say so many bears.. all roaming here and there. All of them had so much hair in the body that even sathyaraj would envy.. lion and tiger safari was good as well.. ultimately we got out of the caged van and went into the zoo.. the place had a collection of all the rare animals. If jaggu goes there, he ll definitely find a place to stay among his relatives.. I want to see jaggu behind such a cage. We met a foreigner there in the zoo who had come in that cage van.he was taking photos all the way.. so we approached him and asked him to send us the photos to our email ids. dippu kept on saying yes yes to watever that fellow said. he dint even notice that the fellow had asked which company he was working for. Adhukum yes yes nu sollitan. And then he showed the name of the company he was working for on his t shirt. Probably by that time..he understood we wouldn’t be able to decipher what he is actually telling..
After the eventful journey, we went back to our place. And then in the evening we went to jayanagar..(that’s where my cat class is..i joined bala and dippu after the class).A Ganesh temple and some purchasing ate up some time.. and our ice creams ate up dippu’s ‘hard earned’ money. ( dippu, hard earned ellam over. Edho indha maari sonna innum konjam vangi tharuvae la. Adhan sonnaen. ) ..by then it had started raining…bala and dippu were hoping to see gals getting drenched in the rain. But most of them were either fully covered by jerkins or by their boy friends. We waited for someone to come without either of the above.. or atleast the rain to stop. Both both didn’t happen. So we rushed out in the rain, took an auto and went to forum mall hoping for some success there. Forum was not as crowded as expected. So after strolling for sometime,we came back to our pg. this time to watch another movie. Ring two. It wasn’t that scary as ring one in which mohan urinated in his pants… this one wouldn’t even bring out a drop. But it still was good to watch. Lots of logical explanations in this sequel.. and then after a tired day, we all went to sleep.
The next day we went to kempfort.. this is where the lord shiva temple is situated.it stands tall at 45 feet… never knew there was one before.. it was good. Ppl who plan to come to bangalore next time, don’t forget to visit this temple…
after that we went to M.G. Road …for obvious reasons.. I meant lunch.. we went to have lunch in our dear old Bheema’s restaurant. For those whove forgotten, that’s the place we had lunch last time in bangalore . Fortunately they havent closed that restaurant.. but unfortunately they had increased the price of a meal to Rs.70. guess they still havent recovered from the loss. Tats y they seem to have gone for a higher price…
After a heavy lunch,we sat to relax on the benches in the street.. the weather was hot.. but we found it pretty cool… we talked about everything and saw everything under the sun… (literally and figuratively.. ) and then got to leave. Bala had to go back to mysore that evening.. so left him in the bus stop and went back home..
Whew!!!. That was how this short but eventful weekend ended.. but this mail has some more lines to go..
Actually, neither dippu nor myself has ever spent a weekend like this before.. till yesterday we never knew all these places existed in bangalore . only when someone like bala comes here.. we wish to take them somewhere, make them happy and realise we also get happier . Tell u.. none of it was planned before hand. Jus happened like that. Impromptu. But it was a really good experience.. old memories as well… especially at Bheema’s.. dippu was telling me that bala might come here this weekend also. Bala, maybe we cant assure u a trip like this time. but we ll definitely assure tat we ll have nice fun if u come here. Laughing our hearts out.. As for the others, we missed all of you..whenever we were laughing like anything.. we remember raghav… when we saw someone order fresh lime soda.. we remembered.. jatish. When we saw ring two.. we remembered mohan…and pappu when when we talked about how he watched a movie with sunglasses on…. its all because most of the time we all go together.. it wouldve been great had we all gone together this time. (just like the moonar trip which is one of the memorable experiences in our lives. And will remain one.. ).. I remember we had all written something about that.. if someone can forward it to our ids. ill read it whenever I get free time like this….
Tomorrow we maybe in different parts of the world…But we always have our memories with us…. I hope we get lots of opportunities like this to meet each other…
Ok then… already too long…
Regards,
Sarath Kumar G
Wipro Technologies
Bangalore
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Live life king size
Life is so wonderful that most of the time, however wonderfully we live it, we still could go back to it and feel we could have lived it better..
I remember there was this competition amongst our college bus mates as to who can eat the maximum number of pizzas in Pizza corner which had an 'eat as much as u like' offer for Rs 99(we really needed to eat the money's worth as those were the days when we could survive the whole month with that kind of pocket money). And just be seeing the sheer size of one of our friends everyone else let go of any little hope of beating this guy to it. And this guy was no minnow who would do injustice to his 'all-round' physique. He ate so fast that before people could start off with their second piece, he had done and dusted his plate after 12 small pizzas. I was backed up by two of my friends who did it just to see if that gundu could have some competetion. I had my sixth slice when this guy had completed and implicitly declared that he was through successfully. And to be frank, though I was looking small in front of this guy, I myself am nothing less fatter than Harry Potter's cousin. So six pieces of pizza made me feel like I had just started. But I never knew I would keep on going. In fact though I was pretty slow, I have always felt my stomach connected directly to the earth. How much every I eat, I always had some space for some more. And this day wasnt an exception. I had 13 slices to beat this guy much to his dismay as he couldnt even go back to continuing his act. I could have stopped,but I seemed I always had some more space which would unnecessarily be occupied by air. If I were to ask you if you want one kilo of air or one kilo of cheese,what would u opt for? Thats exactly what I opted for...CHEEEZ... and so my journey continued until i realised I was 16 pizzas heavier and 16 pairs of eyes gaping at me,waiting for me to complete so that we could leave. So I called it a day(so did pizza corner,that offer is now only available in pizza hut and I cant resist going there)
I remember Raghav telling me one of his experiences during his bus journeys from college to home. Each one was bragging about a person he knew who was a glutton. One guy seemed to have told that his friend used to eat too much that they started serving limited meals for the cost of unlimited meals. There was another friend who said that they increased the rate of the unlimited meals menu. And Raghav said, all this is ok but after my friend ate unlimited meals in a restaurant,they closed it down. And that friend was me. All his friends in his bus used to know me till date only for this as if I was working in our college mess instead of studying in the college.One guy seriously came and suggested me to go to symposiums which had eating competions.( When he first came to me with the idea of symposium, I thought he wanted me to present a paper on Nanocomputing and Nanoprocessing)
Those were the days when I used to eat like a king and sized like a baby elephant. Now I dont eat that much but still I had to spend so much of time and effort to bring myself back to the same weight as those days. Those were the days when I used to enjoy eating without feeling for it. Now every morsel of rice and every little cheese i eat seems to be sitting more in my head than in my stomach . I have become pretty diet conscious these days. Even if there is an unlimited buffet, I eat less fearing the few extra pounds that I would garner. Now when I think of it, I still think I should have made the count to 17 pizzas that day. In every star buffets we had , I should have grabbed an extra black forest cake or that mango pudding.Anyways I am never going to eat like those golden days when I used to live to eat-like a Roman Emperor!
I remember there was this competition amongst our college bus mates as to who can eat the maximum number of pizzas in Pizza corner which had an 'eat as much as u like' offer for Rs 99(we really needed to eat the money's worth as those were the days when we could survive the whole month with that kind of pocket money). And just be seeing the sheer size of one of our friends everyone else let go of any little hope of beating this guy to it. And this guy was no minnow who would do injustice to his 'all-round' physique. He ate so fast that before people could start off with their second piece, he had done and dusted his plate after 12 small pizzas. I was backed up by two of my friends who did it just to see if that gundu could have some competetion. I had my sixth slice when this guy had completed and implicitly declared that he was through successfully. And to be frank, though I was looking small in front of this guy, I myself am nothing less fatter than Harry Potter's cousin. So six pieces of pizza made me feel like I had just started. But I never knew I would keep on going. In fact though I was pretty slow, I have always felt my stomach connected directly to the earth. How much every I eat, I always had some space for some more. And this day wasnt an exception. I had 13 slices to beat this guy much to his dismay as he couldnt even go back to continuing his act. I could have stopped,but I seemed I always had some more space which would unnecessarily be occupied by air. If I were to ask you if you want one kilo of air or one kilo of cheese,what would u opt for? Thats exactly what I opted for...CHEEEZ... and so my journey continued until i realised I was 16 pizzas heavier and 16 pairs of eyes gaping at me,waiting for me to complete so that we could leave. So I called it a day(so did pizza corner,that offer is now only available in pizza hut and I cant resist going there)
I remember Raghav telling me one of his experiences during his bus journeys from college to home. Each one was bragging about a person he knew who was a glutton. One guy seemed to have told that his friend used to eat too much that they started serving limited meals for the cost of unlimited meals. There was another friend who said that they increased the rate of the unlimited meals menu. And Raghav said, all this is ok but after my friend ate unlimited meals in a restaurant,they closed it down. And that friend was me. All his friends in his bus used to know me till date only for this as if I was working in our college mess instead of studying in the college.One guy seriously came and suggested me to go to symposiums which had eating competions.( When he first came to me with the idea of symposium, I thought he wanted me to present a paper on Nanocomputing and Nanoprocessing)
Those were the days when I used to eat like a king and sized like a baby elephant. Now I dont eat that much but still I had to spend so much of time and effort to bring myself back to the same weight as those days. Those were the days when I used to enjoy eating without feeling for it. Now every morsel of rice and every little cheese i eat seems to be sitting more in my head than in my stomach . I have become pretty diet conscious these days. Even if there is an unlimited buffet, I eat less fearing the few extra pounds that I would garner. Now when I think of it, I still think I should have made the count to 17 pizzas that day. In every star buffets we had , I should have grabbed an extra black forest cake or that mango pudding.Anyways I am never going to eat like those golden days when I used to live to eat-like a Roman Emperor!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Yes, I know its been more than a year!
I just checked out the date on my last blog and realised my life has been too eventful that I couldnt even find time to blog! But the truth is that just like any other dormant blogger,its just that I failed to pull myself up to blogging consistently,the reason being the ubiquitous laziness that everyone enjoys . I dont promise anything more than me completing this blog since that is why you are reading this now....
Life of course has been eventful,no doubt. It has been a wonderful year from 18th July 2006 to 29th July 2007...I will probably visit them when I need to quote something interesting in the later blogs..I already have something to write in this.. so lets store those for future reference..
Off late,the eventful things that have happenned is the news that few of my friends are getting married very soon. One of them came as a surprise this week. I knew this was coming.. But didnt know it was coming this early...I should definitely acknowledge this for bringing some happiness into our lives that day. I still cant believe this is happenning. One of us,who has been a part of us all this time will soon be the first to tie the knot. Of course I know he will still be a part of us in most of our get to gethers but after marriage the priorities will definitely be different. And this is going to happen to each of us. I am happy that the ten of us have come this far in bonding together amidst so many hurdles like being in different companies,going onsite to different countries,being busy at office,etc. And after all this we have still managed to keep in touch with our group mail chats -laughing out loud in office at funny replies,and meeting up whenever possible by finding the most silliest of reasons to extract a treat. Every last mail of the group mail chain will stay in my inbox and every single treat will stay in my memory.
This maybe another testing time for our group to hold. Now that this friend of mine has started,it wont be long before each of us fall into the same situation soon. I hope we all get wonderful wives, who would understand that this is also one priority on top of our list and help us realise that we need to stay with the same bond. And more importantly I hope we ourselves have this feeling till the end. And then,instead of 10,we could be 20 good friends in the group.
Dei Manickam, I hope you read this and inform the same to Mrs Manickam.
Life of course has been eventful,no doubt. It has been a wonderful year from 18th July 2006 to 29th July 2007...I will probably visit them when I need to quote something interesting in the later blogs..I already have something to write in this.. so lets store those for future reference..
Off late,the eventful things that have happenned is the news that few of my friends are getting married very soon. One of them came as a surprise this week. I knew this was coming.. But didnt know it was coming this early...I should definitely acknowledge this for bringing some happiness into our lives that day. I still cant believe this is happenning. One of us,who has been a part of us all this time will soon be the first to tie the knot. Of course I know he will still be a part of us in most of our get to gethers but after marriage the priorities will definitely be different. And this is going to happen to each of us. I am happy that the ten of us have come this far in bonding together amidst so many hurdles like being in different companies,going onsite to different countries,being busy at office,etc. And after all this we have still managed to keep in touch with our group mail chats -laughing out loud in office at funny replies,and meeting up whenever possible by finding the most silliest of reasons to extract a treat. Every last mail of the group mail chain will stay in my inbox and every single treat will stay in my memory.
This maybe another testing time for our group to hold. Now that this friend of mine has started,it wont be long before each of us fall into the same situation soon. I hope we all get wonderful wives, who would understand that this is also one priority on top of our list and help us realise that we need to stay with the same bond. And more importantly I hope we ourselves have this feeling till the end. And then,instead of 10,we could be 20 good friends in the group.
Dei Manickam, I hope you read this and inform the same to Mrs Manickam.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Lok Paritran- A beginning
18th November 2005 dawned as yet another day for most of the Indians.But it never dawned to any of us that there was going to be a party in the near future with youngsters and that too educated youngsters. The ideal world scenario which we could experience in movies and leave the hall with a deep sigh might just be a decade away( or even earlier than that) !
"From the time of its inception on the 18th of Nov. 2005, Lok Paritran has stood
for good governance and the elimination of corruption. Our policies are aimed
toward far-reaching and permanent improvement in the quality of life of every
citizen of India. "
These were the lines I went across in their site Lok Paritran.
Simple,yet significant. This is all I want from a government…I heard myself saying.
Before you read further ,here is the disclaimer:
I am neither a member of the party nor a person scheming against it. I am just an every - day office - going software engineer who lives a mundane life with a tint of hope that one day we would live in an efficient India. All I say here are my own opinion.
This site perusal about LP was long time ago when I first was blindly supporting them just because I felt good to know these people are young and honest enough to make India corrupt free. Nothing more than what they did in the TN elections was expected. I was disappointed but not totally until there was a big let down when everything began falling apart after a crisis.. But now everything needs to fall in place soon…….
I joined a few orkut communities which discuss about Lok Paritran. I found that after their loss,everyone seemed to lose faith in Lok Paritran. The crisis was further making it lose credibility. And now, there are more quarrels in the communities rather than unity. Communites like Lok Paritran Sucks started coming up. What a letdown for the enthused guys! But remember guys..crisis is the only test of endurance.Stand together in crisis, you will slowly begin to glow even in darkness. I liked the way Sudhish Kamaath had blogged about the party post-elections. I might lack a similar powerful way of putting it across.But let me try….
Without beating around the bush,let me jump onto the point straight.
Where LP impresses:
Democracy :It’s a party begun by 5 people( or 6,doenst matter really) but helped by a few thousands today. Those thousands are not people who get paid,not people who are relatives of the 5, and not at all known to the 5 until they met them,they are people like me,like you and like everyone who wants to see a better India.
Youth: The younger generation which you and I belong to belives in a performance is to power relationship.If someone is successful in performance even if he is lacking in experience should have more power but the vice versa shouldn’t hold true.The youth of India looks promising with the former ideology.
Education: Simple and hard working people without education have ruled our states popularly. Arent the same traits a touch better with education? Isnt that why Abdul Kalaam is a role model to today’s youth than any other president?
Yes I do agree LP fails to impress in more than one area.The internal party problems,lack of adequate funds and fickle members who just wont accept failures. But do not forget LP is here to change the system the way you and I want it to be. Its after all our party. So it is we who need to hold it together. The good or bad,lets put forth our views together. Let the persons concerned come forward and explain.This is one such effort to bring us all together…..
Let me start to consider that Lok Paritran is our party( People who started this I hope will surely agree that its meant for we the people of India who fervently hope for a change in our system.)Invite more people to join the communities,support each other instead of arguing blindly..Brainstorm,come to a conclusion. Those whose points are left out should understand that on the whole it’s a win – win situation. I win when people listen,people win when I listen.
If you are a member of Lok Paritran Student wing,Lok Paritran,Lok Paritran Chennai chapter,etc…just pass on the message that we want more people to volunteer to whatever levels they can to help ourselves. Convene a get-together at a common place,discuss with the party members about the different ways through which you can volunteer and keep in touch using those communities about events and happenings. Slowly get to understand the contributors and people who you think are able in the party. Vote amongst the group to select candidates who will represent the party during the elections without much of any hype.During the course of the events within the party and communities,anyone found less able with majority intervention should be replaced without fanfare.By the time the next election comes,the most able,popular and deserved candidate will represent Lok Paritran.
If you are a member of communities like Lok Paritran Sucks or Lok Comedy paritran,please understand that Lok Paritran as u know is a fledgling party now but no lesser than any of the parties as of today. But where LP promises is that it is open to change,the way you want it to be. If you are not happy with the way its performing, put forth your point and suggestions to the persons concerned offline. Discouraging the party’s ideology is going to upset many people whose spirits will be dampened.Let us join hands to form a united India. Corrupt free India is our dream. Let us help Lok Paritran to realise our dream.
"From the time of its inception on the 18th of Nov. 2005, Lok Paritran has stood
for good governance and the elimination of corruption. Our policies are aimed
toward far-reaching and permanent improvement in the quality of life of every
citizen of India. "
These were the lines I went across in their site Lok Paritran.
Simple,yet significant. This is all I want from a government…I heard myself saying.
Before you read further ,here is the disclaimer:
I am neither a member of the party nor a person scheming against it. I am just an every - day office - going software engineer who lives a mundane life with a tint of hope that one day we would live in an efficient India. All I say here are my own opinion.
This site perusal about LP was long time ago when I first was blindly supporting them just because I felt good to know these people are young and honest enough to make India corrupt free. Nothing more than what they did in the TN elections was expected. I was disappointed but not totally until there was a big let down when everything began falling apart after a crisis.. But now everything needs to fall in place soon…….
I joined a few orkut communities which discuss about Lok Paritran. I found that after their loss,everyone seemed to lose faith in Lok Paritran. The crisis was further making it lose credibility. And now, there are more quarrels in the communities rather than unity. Communites like Lok Paritran Sucks started coming up. What a letdown for the enthused guys! But remember guys..crisis is the only test of endurance.Stand together in crisis, you will slowly begin to glow even in darkness. I liked the way Sudhish Kamaath had blogged about the party post-elections. I might lack a similar powerful way of putting it across.But let me try….
Without beating around the bush,let me jump onto the point straight.
Where LP impresses:
Democracy :It’s a party begun by 5 people( or 6,doenst matter really) but helped by a few thousands today. Those thousands are not people who get paid,not people who are relatives of the 5, and not at all known to the 5 until they met them,they are people like me,like you and like everyone who wants to see a better India.
Youth: The younger generation which you and I belong to belives in a performance is to power relationship.If someone is successful in performance even if he is lacking in experience should have more power but the vice versa shouldn’t hold true.The youth of India looks promising with the former ideology.
Education: Simple and hard working people without education have ruled our states popularly. Arent the same traits a touch better with education? Isnt that why Abdul Kalaam is a role model to today’s youth than any other president?
Yes I do agree LP fails to impress in more than one area.The internal party problems,lack of adequate funds and fickle members who just wont accept failures. But do not forget LP is here to change the system the way you and I want it to be. Its after all our party. So it is we who need to hold it together. The good or bad,lets put forth our views together. Let the persons concerned come forward and explain.This is one such effort to bring us all together…..
Let me start to consider that Lok Paritran is our party( People who started this I hope will surely agree that its meant for we the people of India who fervently hope for a change in our system.)Invite more people to join the communities,support each other instead of arguing blindly..Brainstorm,come to a conclusion. Those whose points are left out should understand that on the whole it’s a win – win situation. I win when people listen,people win when I listen.
If you are a member of Lok Paritran Student wing,Lok Paritran,Lok Paritran Chennai chapter,etc…just pass on the message that we want more people to volunteer to whatever levels they can to help ourselves. Convene a get-together at a common place,discuss with the party members about the different ways through which you can volunteer and keep in touch using those communities about events and happenings. Slowly get to understand the contributors and people who you think are able in the party. Vote amongst the group to select candidates who will represent the party during the elections without much of any hype.During the course of the events within the party and communities,anyone found less able with majority intervention should be replaced without fanfare.By the time the next election comes,the most able,popular and deserved candidate will represent Lok Paritran.
If you are a member of communities like Lok Paritran Sucks or Lok Comedy paritran,please understand that Lok Paritran as u know is a fledgling party now but no lesser than any of the parties as of today. But where LP promises is that it is open to change,the way you want it to be. If you are not happy with the way its performing, put forth your point and suggestions to the persons concerned offline. Discouraging the party’s ideology is going to upset many people whose spirits will be dampened.Let us join hands to form a united India. Corrupt free India is our dream. Let us help Lok Paritran to realise our dream.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Scenic Switzerland--Contd
The following Sunday morning was pretty cool which almost made it impossible for us to wake up from the bed. Miles to go after I get up.. Literally. Today we are scheduled to cover almost half the distance of our flight journey from London to Zurich. We have to first reach Interlaken and then travel to Jungfrau which is supposed to be the top most point in Europe. I do not exactly remember the height. Its some 3k odd metres.. Can check that out in one of the pics I ve uploaded if ur one of those spectacled nerds who used to sit in the first bench even during college days and raise hands for all questions from ‘What is the difference between two stroke and four stroke engines?’ to ‘Who would like to be the class monitor?’
Ok,now back in Switzerland, I managed to pull myself out of the quilt,take a quick shower and went for a quick breakfast just in time to exchange some swiss francs and board the train to Interlaken.
Interlaken, I had read on the internet, was a beautiful place where there were lot of Indians and most importantly Indian restaurants( Interlaken,here I come) and least importantly, a beautiful lake, as the very name suggests( least important now that we have already had one lake ticked against the 3-day trip ). The train journey was yet another beautiful pass through mountains and lakes. The lake at Interlaken I found was pretty significant. All the lakes I ve seen in India had been green because of the moss under water.All the lakes I had seen in Lake district were brown because of the mountain reflections and muddy base.But the lake here was blue! It was more like a sea that had flown into this city. It was supposed to be water from the glaciers of Mt.Titlis,Jungrau and a third one which I can hardly remember.I think the explanation (and the picture below)is more than enough for a city we ll just be using to connect to the next destination and which was seen from the windows of a swiss train.
The flooring was also polished ice which tempted me to skate ( like we used to do when we see a polished floor during school days) only to immediately fall with a thud (rock hard ice is painful unlike the snow) and that seemed to happen everytime I tried to get up(luckily noone was in there). After that we went to the spinx terrace trying to catch a glimpse of a good view from the top but the fog was still there. People were saying the sun had just come out for a while and the fog had disappeared for ten minutes and that was the time we were at the ice palace( now u know why everyone missed such a hard thud which kept repeating periodically with every slip of mine)
After having no luck at all for a clear view, we ultimately decided to catch the train back.It is here we broke ice ( this time figuratively) with a Punjabi couple basically settled in Malaysia who call themselves PIO( People of Indian Origin, couldn’t really make out if they were happy or sad that way).And this animated Sardharji and his wife seemed to take so much pride in having come to Switzerland and kept bloating about his high profile company Quest( ever heard of it??) and how they had sponsored their trip to Switzerland and also the world cup in germany. The company was sponsoring Brazil’s training camp and they were to have lunch with Ronaldinho. He was surprised when both of us( me and my friend) acknowledged it with a mild ‘Oh’(what else can he expect from two football duds who knew about it as much as Laloo Prasad knew databases). Not at all impressed with our reaction, he went on to explain his company and their products( the discussion on dinner with Ronaldinho was better, I hardly understood what the company actually did even after his 15 minute speech and I could see that was the same plight with my friend which was evident in his face).He rated it only next to Amazon.com in ecom business. And then both of us who were trying to put up a ‘Oh! Wow! Excellent’ expression and almost blurted out at the same time’How is the company doing now?’.Immediately the quite-witted Sardharji( Bulls eye-Its indeed an oxymoron!) said ‘We are here,aren’t we?’
‘Are kya bath hai’ was the expression this time but inside we were thinking
‘So am I, How does it mean my company is doing well????’
Thanks to the animated Sardharji and his marketing techniques( he handed over his visiting card which would only be used to note his name and then set the Junk mail filter since he took our email ids promising to send us mails about his company) which literally made us miss the remaining beauty of Switzerland on our way back.
We got down at La again for a change of train and spent the rest of the train journey discussing about the interesting sardhar we had met- all the way till Zurich
Before I go any further,the food requires special mention. All we had were burgers,burgers and burgers. If you’re a screwed up vegetarian like me, it would be worse.All Jungfrau could offer on top for vegetarians were some boiled leaf with French fries ( hows that for a combination).As a result, I ended up throwing up all the food that’s gone in all through the night and hence had to get up late the next day to visit the Rhine falls. We had to hurriedly see it,click and then immediately come back to Zurich,grab some chocolates there and then to catch our flights. We were just there at the airport at the nick of time only to see the flight was slightly delayed. And the flight journey lasted an hour for us to get back to London ending the eventful trip to Switzerland.
Switzerland is a beautiful place to be with an amazing railway connectivity with sceneries and lakes all the way wherever you go. But I still wonder how better would it be comparing with our very own paradise on earth. With half a dozen Indian movies a year having atleast a single song sequence shot in the sceneries of Interlaken or in the snow of Alps ,hardly one really captures the mind as much as a single song in Roja did. I know all I can see in Kashmir now is blood and war, but I dream to see this place before I lose the physical strength and the push within. And Why not! Not in my wildest of dreams would I have thought I would go to Switzerland for a weekend..!
Ok,now back in Switzerland, I managed to pull myself out of the quilt,take a quick shower and went for a quick breakfast just in time to exchange some swiss francs and board the train to Interlaken.
Interlaken, I had read on the internet, was a beautiful place where there were lot of Indians and most importantly Indian restaurants( Interlaken,here I come) and least importantly, a beautiful lake, as the very name suggests( least important now that we have already had one lake ticked against the 3-day trip ). The train journey was yet another beautiful pass through mountains and lakes. The lake at Interlaken I found was pretty significant. All the lakes I ve seen in India had been green because of the moss under water.All the lakes I had seen in Lake district were brown because of the mountain reflections and muddy base.But the lake here was blue! It was more like a sea that had flown into this city. It was supposed to be water from the glaciers of Mt.Titlis,Jungrau and a third one which I can hardly remember.I think the explanation (and the picture below)is more than enough for a city we ll just be using to connect to the next destination and which was seen from the windows of a swiss train.
The next stop was Lauterbrunnen(please excuse me for some of the spellings which may have gone haywire because of my sleep inducing afternoon session or because of the practical impossibility to pronounce some of the names of places.So lets call it lau from here) The same train split and one half went to lau and the other half to grinderwald. I was there in the first half and reached lau.. It was then we decided we should go for that glacier waterfalls inside a cave but had no clue how to get there.. asking some people here and there we managed to reach trummelbach falls..
The next hour was an amazing journey into caves to follow the falls right to its inception. It was adventurous all the way and all the way we were amazed at how they managed to convert this den into a tourist spot..Whatever,it was worth the decision to come here. Ah! Here is my favorite pic...
No.1
No.2
No.3
At around 12 30 afternoon we left this place and reached the lau station again to board the train to Jungfrau. We had to take a mountain train which travelled through tunnels almost all the way. Here's an exception..with an exceptional view!
We had stations on the way where we could get down and take a break and a few snaps from the mountain view windows there.
The higher we reached,the colder and foggier it was getting. But as we reached the peak,it was plain white outside. As if someone had covered the windows with a white screen. Almost nothing was visible from the mountain top and wind was also blowing pretty fiercely.
But still,having come a long distance to reach this point, we braved the wind and the snow and walked a few metres which was like walking on land defying gravity. The wind would have lifted me up had I been a few kilos less. Thanks to my 75+ kilo build, I could stay still like a rock( well almost!!) And then we came back to have lunch in one of the floors which had a few restaraunts..There was a ‘Bollywood Restaurant’ at the top. And why not.. when half of India is on Top of Europe! Blimey..No joke. Almost everyone there were Indians and we got the feeling we were in Shimla or some hillstation in India witnessing the sizeable Indian population there.
All of them belonged to the various package tours from India .I observed (not exactly..this friend of mine who accompanied me all through this trip,pointed it out to me)one small cute little girl in Mt.Titlis who fell in the snow and almost started to cry when her father came to her rescue to remove all the snow. I found this conversation pretty interesting and innocent.
Father:careful da, I told u no.
Daughter: What did u tell me?
Father: to be careful?
Daugher: when did u tell me?
Father: I told u ma.. you don’t remember
Daughter: No I remember you didn’t. When did u tell me?
Father: Ok leave it.Come ill take you to mama
Daughter: No you tell me when you told me first
Father: Ok ok. We ll go back
Daughter: Tell me first… when did u tell??
Father: ??(*omg*)
Seeing nothing at all except a white background,we decided to go and see the ice palace. And here we find all sorts of sculptures which were totally carvings out of ice and shining like glass. Here is a pick of the pics at Ice Palace:
The flooring was also polished ice which tempted me to skate ( like we used to do when we see a polished floor during school days) only to immediately fall with a thud (rock hard ice is painful unlike the snow) and that seemed to happen everytime I tried to get up(luckily noone was in there). After that we went to the spinx terrace trying to catch a glimpse of a good view from the top but the fog was still there. People were saying the sun had just come out for a while and the fog had disappeared for ten minutes and that was the time we were at the ice palace( now u know why everyone missed such a hard thud which kept repeating periodically with every slip of mine)
After having no luck at all for a clear view, we ultimately decided to catch the train back.It is here we broke ice ( this time figuratively) with a Punjabi couple basically settled in Malaysia who call themselves PIO( People of Indian Origin, couldn’t really make out if they were happy or sad that way).And this animated Sardharji and his wife seemed to take so much pride in having come to Switzerland and kept bloating about his high profile company Quest( ever heard of it??) and how they had sponsored their trip to Switzerland and also the world cup in germany. The company was sponsoring Brazil’s training camp and they were to have lunch with Ronaldinho. He was surprised when both of us( me and my friend) acknowledged it with a mild ‘Oh’(what else can he expect from two football duds who knew about it as much as Laloo Prasad knew databases). Not at all impressed with our reaction, he went on to explain his company and their products( the discussion on dinner with Ronaldinho was better, I hardly understood what the company actually did even after his 15 minute speech and I could see that was the same plight with my friend which was evident in his face).He rated it only next to Amazon.com in ecom business. And then both of us who were trying to put up a ‘Oh! Wow! Excellent’ expression and almost blurted out at the same time’How is the company doing now?’.Immediately the quite-witted Sardharji( Bulls eye-Its indeed an oxymoron!) said ‘We are here,aren’t we?’
‘Are kya bath hai’ was the expression this time but inside we were thinking
‘So am I, How does it mean my company is doing well????’
Thanks to the animated Sardharji and his marketing techniques( he handed over his visiting card which would only be used to note his name and then set the Junk mail filter since he took our email ids promising to send us mails about his company) which literally made us miss the remaining beauty of Switzerland on our way back.
We got down at La again for a change of train and spent the rest of the train journey discussing about the interesting sardhar we had met- all the way till Zurich
Before I go any further,the food requires special mention. All we had were burgers,burgers and burgers. If you’re a screwed up vegetarian like me, it would be worse.All Jungfrau could offer on top for vegetarians were some boiled leaf with French fries ( hows that for a combination).As a result, I ended up throwing up all the food that’s gone in all through the night and hence had to get up late the next day to visit the Rhine falls. We had to hurriedly see it,click and then immediately come back to Zurich,grab some chocolates there and then to catch our flights. We were just there at the airport at the nick of time only to see the flight was slightly delayed. And the flight journey lasted an hour for us to get back to London ending the eventful trip to Switzerland.
Switzerland is a beautiful place to be with an amazing railway connectivity with sceneries and lakes all the way wherever you go. But I still wonder how better would it be comparing with our very own paradise on earth. With half a dozen Indian movies a year having atleast a single song sequence shot in the sceneries of Interlaken or in the snow of Alps ,hardly one really captures the mind as much as a single song in Roja did. I know all I can see in Kashmir now is blood and war, but I dream to see this place before I lose the physical strength and the push within. And Why not! Not in my wildest of dreams would I have thought I would go to Switzerland for a weekend..!
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