Life Untold

The journey continues

2009-12-31T23:05:00.000+05:30

The year 2009 is coming to an end. Many of my batchmates would agree with me that we would have thought about 2009 for so long. I wondered, in 2005, how 2009 would be because just like 2003 and 2005, we always know that 2009 is going to be a big year, atleast for our batch. Now the year 2009 has almost come to an end. Yes it did make one of the most important changes in my life.

2009 is a tag for us. If we wish to go back to SSN or attend an alumni function, we would be calling ourselves 2009 passouts. I would be referred as Kavin of 2009 batch. Kavin CSE ‘A’ is all gone. It is going to be Kavin of 2009. Lol.

Every one of our batch mates would have known that they were travelling in the same road of education until 2009. It is in 2009 we departed, each taking our own ways. Some went on for jobs, business, and some want to travel in the same path of education. I belong to the latter.

Looking back 2009, it has been a great year for TAGS. It gained popularity which spread like wild fire. More people came to adopt and we were able to do it really fast. This day happens to be the Second Anniversary of TAGS. I wish TAGS all success throughout.

I would like to wish everyone a happy and a prosperous new year. Entering a new year is just like entering a new phase. You take all the experiences you had in the previous phases and you enter the new phase with courage, determination and happiness. I wish you all a successful New Year! Let the next decade begin!

My name is 'Kavin'

2009-12-20T05:18:00.002+05:30

It is not often that people fail to pronounce a five lettered word perfectly. I often wonder how people could find different vocal pronunciations of my name. It has occurred many times that people look at my name curiously to find out how my name is actually pronounced, stutter a bit and then pronounce it wrongly. I avoid myself from correcting them unless they ask me. Some of the pronunciations I could remember are ‘Kevin’, ‘Kaveen’, ‘Kaavin’, ‘Naveen’.

It is often funny that when people read my name, they come up with new names which could only mean one thing – they think that I wrote the name wrongly. They would ask me “Is it Kevin or Kavin?” They fail to realize that it is evident from what has been written or printed. Do I have to answer them? Lolz. If replacing vowels is a sin for a short name, then what should one call a person who replaces a consonant that clearly has complete different sounds? One of such names is Navin or Naveen. Replacing K with C is forgivable but with ‘N’?

Even these days, one of my school friends would tell the story of how he got shocked in 7^th std when my class staff in charge asked him to call a guy named ‘Kaavin’. Yeah, that is me. Since then, I am able to convince myself that people are finding it difficult to pronounce my name. Then, there used to be a tutor who pronounced my name correctly at the first time and brought in a little surprise. After the first two classes, he convinced himself that the way he was pronouncing my name was wrong and called me ‘Kevin’.

There are still some childhood friends and newly sprouted acquaintances who call me ‘Kevin’. In one of my chats with a super senior of my school, he told that he remembers me because I am full of pranks. That made me realize that he was talking about another guy named Kevin, who is again from the school I studied.

Earlier when I was in 10^th or 11th std, my name used to come as first in the Yahoo! people search results but now my name has been pushed back and it seems like a lot of Kavins were born all of a sudden. It goes the same with the Orkut community. Earlier there used to be just 5 members with the name Kavin and then after a year, the community had grown to 50 members. There was a topic in the forum about how often the name gets pronounced wrongly. That brought in a conclusion that I am not the only one. Lolz.

If I were to write down how it is pronounced, it should be ‘Kah-vy-n’ (Thanks to Wikipedia for the written form of pronunciation) and I am glad to say that this is my 150^th post and I am more than surprised to say how slow my blogging rate has become. I would like to blog at a higher rate from now on. See you people. Cheers, Kavin.

College Redemption

2009-12-07T09:54:00.004+05:30

There are many things that I missed posting when I was back in India. One among them is this post.Being in SSN, the rules and restrictions of other similar colleges seemed so weird. When one would talk about the rules and restrictions of such colleges, I have often thought that it is either a rumour or an exaggeration.

One of such rules that you may see is the formal dress code of engineering colleges. Such rules exist in most colleges. Some of certain rules are wearing absolute formal dress like pants and tucked in shirts. If that is not enough, some restrictions are also imposed. One of the worst cases would be asking the students to wear only light colored shirts and asking them not to wear black.

Few of my friends happened to go to one of the college to distribute promotional posters of our department symposiums and they had happened to go to such college by wearing a tee shirt and jeans. One of the security guards didn't let them go until they proved that they were students from other college. There is also an instance I heard that the security guard didn't let one person with a tee shirt to enter the college and that person ended to be the father of a student studying in that college.

There is one rule that exists that gives you a glance of the upper limit of stupidity of engineering colleges. That is the rule of asking boys to not speak to girls and vice versa. How stupid can they get? What are they trying to do? There is one famous college, which also came in news channels for the same reason, that appoints security squads to prevent such things from happening. The management tried to elude the accusations of the reporters by saying that the boys and girls are allowed to speak during class hours but not allowed during the rest of the time.

One day, after the classes got over, my friends and I exited the college to board a bus to go to Kelambakkam. We didn't get any bus for a long time and right then, a bus from such college stopped for us. It was empty and it seemed the driver wanted to give a lift. My friends boarded in the front staircase and I alone boarded in the rear staircase. As I tried to join my friends in the front, I was shocked to see a rope tied between two pillars and that separated the front portion of the bus and the rear portion of the bus. "The rule is true!", I thought. The rule is that girls should occupy only the front portion and the boys should occupy only the rear portion.

Not to forget, the driver was actually expecting money for the short lift to Kelambakkam and also started demanding when we got down. After negotation, we did pay a little amount. Speaking about the bus drivers of that college, my college buses would seem nice when compared to them. There are more than 100 buses in that college and a student is not allowed to board any bus he likes and the driver wouldn't even consider stopping for the poor students who missed the bus. A student wouldn't be allowed inside if he goes late and hence the student has only one option for a day, i.e to catch the bus. Another thing to be noted was that a student was not allowed to write a semester exam because he did not follow the dress code and was asked to do the necessary corrections and come. The only place where he could do the corrections is hostel where he is banned from going.

Are there any other ways to make an engineering life like hell for the students?

The path not taken

2009-11-01T06:00:00.001+05:30

After many long days, I got up early in the morning at 8 am. I tried to wake up my friends. They said, "No I am not coming". Looked like I had to go all alone. A workshop was conducted at my university.

I got ready, had quick breakfast, saw the next available bus. It was due in 10 minutes from then. I said bye to everyone, took my coat and walked out of the door. One of my roommates was standing near the door. I walked past him. 10 minutes remaining! I opened the door and...

"HEY!", a loud voice came, almost a shout.
Confused, I turned around and looked at my roommate to confirm whether he called me.
"I just sneezed nah. You shouldn't go out immediately. Wait for sometime"
For the next one second, my thoughts were like, "What? Did you sneeze?" but ended up saying "Oh!"

I respected his words and reentered. I waited for sometime. Then, taking my coat again, I walked out of the apartment and then out of the building. Sprinkles of rain welcomed me. As I was having a thought whether to go back and take my raincoat, I saw the bus status in my mobile and it said "7 minutes"

Thinking it more likely to miss the bus if I get my raincoat, I started further towards the stop. The workshop and the day did go well except for a very near miss of catching up with an office person later that day.

The question is, "Does sneezing, cat walking across and other such things reflect the things that are about to happen? What power does a cat have in changing the destiny of mankind?" Do you follow or do you not?

Nostalgic!

2009-10-23T03:58:00.001+05:30

It has been two months since I came to US. With the high speed internet of upto 15 Mbps available at home, I thought I could blog much more than I normally do but it has been never evident in my blog statistics so far. Unlike the coursework back in India, assignments, here in US, really add to the grades and you have to face a situation that you must do it. With the mid-terms almost over already, I can see that my first semester has already started moving towards the end.

The leaves have started turning yellow and red and the mellowness and the beauty of the fall is visible clearly. The lawns and the pathways remind me much about my undergraduate college SSN College of Engineering. It is only a matter of the days when the greens become whites.

The probability of me being idle is being more than me being involved in coursework and assignments. The remaining time is being spent on net and watching videos and listening to music that I heard in the past like 10 years ago. I even chose to listen to music which I used to listen when I was like 6 or 7 years old.

I have improved with cooking the traditional South Indian recipes like Sambhar and vegetables curry although I don’t get much chances during a week. One of the instant coffee roasted beans sold here smelt so good that it didn’t taste as good as it smelt but you would love it for the smell and the taste is also good. ;)

The climate is getting colder and the lowest it has reached when I was awake is 5 degrees Celsius so far. The chillness wouldn’t have been an issue if you hadn’t been whipped with a chilled wind topped up with rains. Two days of 5 to 10 degrees in the Celsius scale and 18 degrees felt so hot. I believe that I am getting adapted to the climate.

When the monsoons become torrential, when the coolness becomes so hot, when the greens change colors, when the neglected becomes a duty, you would know that you are not here. The essence, the flavor, the aroma, the colors that makes you travel farther than light are the gates to your cognitive real world and you would then know that you are still here.

The Longest Day of my Life – Part II

2009-09-29T11:12:00.002+05:30

1:30 pm

I walked along the very long terminal to enter the emigration check. A young lady greeted me at the counter. After checking my passport and my ticket, she gave me back the passport and before I bid goodbye, I asked her where I could make an international phone call. “You can find a booth in the terminal upstairs” I thanked her and headed for the escalator.

Once I reached above, I was asked to go for the security check in any of the counters. I had to stand in any of the queue that all does the same job – security check. As I was standing in the queue, a young girl from behind asked me if I am going to Fairfax. Astounded at her guess, I replied yes. She added that she is heading to Hyderabad. I was still confused at her guess (only later I realized that the destination address was shown flashing in my luggage).

After the security check was done, I looked at the terminal which didn’t look like one. It was a busy pathway. A car was on display. A video game console was on display and was being tested by young people. I took out my phone to check if there is any chance of catching a network. I switched it on and to my surprise, a network showed in the display. I dialed to my parents line. It didn’t work. So I thought I could send a message but for testing, I sent it to myself. Rs.25 gone!

I went to a money exchange counter and asked a young British lady at the counter about where I could make an international phone call. She pointed to a phone beside the escalator to the gates.

” Do I need England currency for that?”, I asked

” Yeah”

” How much would I need if I need to make a phone call to India for… a minute or two?”

”Probably a pound”, she said with an uncertainty.

" Alright. I will have the same”. I took out a ten dollar bill and gave her. She gave back the appropriate dollar change and also the pounds in coins.

I went to the phone booth and tried making a phone call. It didn’t work. I was trying different combinations of ISD code and phone number but it wouldn’t work. An Indian girl just left the adjacent phone booth.

”Hi, how do I make a phone call to India?”

” It is not working for me”

" Me too!”

We both tried again, then asked a shop for the help desk which happened to be one floor below. We both headed down. This girl, from Andhra, had already completed her Masters and has come for Ph.D in the University of Massachusetts. As we reached the lower level, to the left was the glass wall showing a full view of the runway and the planes. To the right was what looked like spencer plaza. The helpdesk wasn’t much helpful and I went to trying out different combinations of phone numbers in a similar telephone again. I put an extra zero to the front of the number and I got connected. I informed that I reached London and the pound didn’t let me speak for more than a minute. I said the same procedure to the girl, bid bye to her and went to the lounge and sat there for the gate to be announced.

I met a tamil guy there who was going to SUNY. We went around the airport for two minutes when I noted that the gate for my flight has been announced. I left to the terminal gate and waited for the omni bus. We were taken to the flight and I took my window seat. A young American guy sat beside me. He helped me find the entertainment screen which was below the seat. I opened the movie guide and I was glad that this flight entertainment is going to be superb, It contained the list of my favorite movies and series. I was waiting for the party.

3:30 pm (British Time)

The flight started and very sooner, the food was brought. “Lunch again?”, I thought. This is probably the first flight for many passengers so the lunch was provided. I just accepted it. I opened the first box, found it to be a pasta based with TOMATO. I opened another box which had chocolate mousse cake. It was based on mandarin sauce, which I have only heard of. But certainly, my instincts said that the combo would not be good. Moreover, the travel was not getting into me and I was getting sick. So I just stirred the pasta eating a piece every two minutes. The guy sitting next to me would have probably thought that I didn’t like the food. But there were several more reasons to it.

I had only coffee and slept for most of the flight journey. I saw one Friends series and little of hindi Ghajini when the flight landed in Washington airport.

7:20 pm (EST)

We exited the flight into the terminal into a room which had two exit doors. Some people got into the exit and closed the door. I wondered what was really happening behind the door when the opposite room started moving. Only then I realized that the exit door was connected to a bus which had extendable doors. One more bus came after ten minutes and we all boarded the bus. The bus had two paths that had seats on either sides to accommodate many people. The bus moved along a big ground to reach the other side of the ground which was the other side of the terminal.

I finished the formalities, took my luggage which had already been sorted and put in one place and placed them in my trolley. I took them out and came to the arrivals gate. The place was crowded with people waiting for the arrivals or eating in the restaurants there.

8:10 pm (EST)

I tried to make a call to the Indian student association as I was asked to do so. Now I didn’t have any coins. I missed a money exchange counter on the way and I can’t go back. There was a vending machine through which I could get a calling card. I could use $10, $20 and $50 bills. I tried $10 and $20 bill but it didn’t work. Another Indian guy came and tried his $10 bill and it worked. After sometime, I lost hope in trying and asked the guy for exchanging $10 but he didn’t have $10 but only $20. I finally got my calling card and I made the first phone call using that to my parents and then to the association.

”Hi. This is Kavin. I have arrived in US. Where can I find you?”

”Hi. Sorry, we were unable to come today because of the rain and I didn’t get any car. You can catch any shuttle directly to this place”

”Ok. That is no problem”

”Or you can wait for a guy named Jagadeesh. He is also coming tonight. You can probably wait for him and come along with him in the shuttle”

”Jagadeesh!” (I couldn’t help but thinking about ‘Billa’ Jagadeesh. lolz)

”He will probably be there in sometime. Must be blue shirt. Just look out for him. Don’t panic. Am sorry again”

”Ya. I am ok. Nothing to panic. No problem”

I hung up the call and saw the time. Still more than 20 minutes to wait and I waited for any sign of Jagadeesh. I thought the guy who exchanged the money would be that guy but he was not when I confirmed with him. At 8:55, another guy was enquiring the ‘money’ guy about something and I didn’t bother to ask. I had a doubt that he would be Jagadeesh. The ‘money’ guy’s relative came and picked him up. Then the other guy came to me and introduced himself as Satish and that he is looking for a guy named Jagadeesh.

”Hi. Even I am waiting for Jagadeesh. Waiting for him to go together to the place”

”I actually came to pick him up”

In not more than two minutes, he said “There he is!” and ran away. Before I could catch hold of him, I missed him. I had to go for the last resort but this guy came back again.

"That is not him. I can wait for him for 5 minutes. Else I can pick you up if you don’t mind”

”No problem. We can wait”

We waited for five minutes. There was no sign of Jagadeesh and so we left to the gate. Satish called someone and sooner, a car came. We kept the luggage in the car and Satish said that he would like to look for Jagadeesh again. We parked the car in one corner and the guy who was driving the car introduced himself as Augustine. He was working there after studying in IIT Madras and we spoke a lot.

After sometime, Satish joined back and we both travelled the path to my place. They were talking something and meanwhile talking about the awful climate and journey and also told me that it would take time to settle in. The highway in which we were travelling was superb and it was dark except for the street lights.

We reached the apartment in 30 minutes where I bid goodbye to the two and bid hello to four Student Association mates who helped me in carrying the luggage along the garage to an inner door. Before we opened the door, someone opened the door and out came Karthick.

We both took the elevator to the 12th floor and reached the apartment. I placed the luggages, introduced myself to my roommates, logged online, updated my status. It was 11:30 pm. I still had half an hour for my longest day so far to end.

The Longest Day of my Life - Part I

2009-08-29T19:07:00.002+05:30

August 22, 2009
12:00 am
I was doing random things at home. Going online, filling a slam book, checking the baggage, updating my status in online communities, speaking over phone. I was about to travel to US to pursue my higher studies in George Mason University. Relatives had come to my house to send me off in airport. Some relatives were taking a nap while some were busy chatting. Mom and dad were busy with the preparation. My sister and my cousins had prepared a precious farewell gift for me, a gift of memories put together and specially signed.

My friends Inchara, Nithya and Hari had already left for the airport to send me off. It was kind of them to come as I had told that it is unsafe to do that even if you are sending off your best friend. I was receiving constant messages from them about when I would start. I replied to those messages constantly about the time I would be coming.

3:00 am

We started from house. The flight was supposed to start at 5:25 am. We reached the airport at 3:15, met all my friends there and to my pleasant surprise, Arun had also come to send me off. He told that he would not make it. I read that mail just before I started. They presented me with wonderful gifts.

We entered the airport and I was taken to the luggage check-in. I was told that there is delay in the flight. After the check-in was done, I decided to spend my time with family and friends. Dad had got a box of sweets to distribute to everyone and I took some precious photos with them.

I tried my best to speak with everyone in the family and circle. I knew that I wouldn’t be meeting them for a very long time. I would badly miss them.

4:45 am

It was time for me to leave to flight. I bid goodbye to almost all my family members and friends. My dad, my mom and my sister were allowed to accompany me till the security check-in. I stayed with them till 5:30, bid goodbye to them and left for the security check-in. It was time for me to enter the flight.

I entered the flight and was asked by the air hostess to go to my right. I spotted my seat and sat there. I scanned my place. I was seated in a well cushioned semi-sleeper chair with plenty of legspace, a remote, a pillow, a blanket and a screen in front for entertainment. I received calls and messages from my friends and parents that they are still at the place where they can watch my flight take off. It was 6:30 when my flight took off and as it happened, I looked at the building where they might be standing. I could not see where they were, but I assumed it to be the place where I bid farewell to my cousin when he left. Bye bye Chennai!

6:45 am

A lady who was probably in her 50s was sitting beside me. She introduced herself by asking me where I am going to. I was going to Washington and she was going to Seattle. Her son is working in US for 15 years and she lives her split life in both Chennai and Seattle. She explained about how the changeover is done in London and how it is confusing.

They gave the morning breakfast even before I could decide on the entertainment channel that I wanted to see. All the movies were in halfway and I decided to skip them all after watching few scenes. I had requested for a lacto-vegetarian diet which means it should be full of milk products. I got a cream roll, bun with butter, chappathi with panneer, two cutlets and orange juice. The food tasted pretty good and orange juice was awesome.

I slept as soon as they switched off the lights in the plane to get the passengers to sleep. I woke up again at 11:30 am in my watch. I didn’t know in which country the flight was flying over. I had the box of biscuits they had given me and I took every chance to ask for orange juice when the air hostess came. I couldn’t sleep anymore. I decided to open the gift that my friends gave me. It was a book filled with memories and it is the most precious gift given by TAGS gang. I read it for almost one and half hour and time fled by. Then I decided to scan the channels and saw a scene from the X-men: Wolverine which happened to be the climax. I decided to skip to the other channel where my favorite series “Friends” was running.

After watching the episode, the lunch came at 1 pm. It was too early to eat lunch for me. I gently refused the lacto-vegetarian diet that was offered to me by the air-hostess. Then the air steward came carrying the dishes for the people who had not requested for a special diet. As he saw that my table was empty, he asked me, “Vegetarian or Non-vegetarian sir?”

“I am not hungry at the moment”

He mentioned something which I could not make out what he said.

I said, “I don’t get you” and the lady came to my aid.

He had asked me when I wish to have it.

I replied “May I have it sometime later?”

Now it was his turn, “I don’t get you”

The lady came to the aid again and after I repeated the question, he said, “Sorry sir. Now or never!”

“Ok Vegetarian please”

He repeated the word “Vegetarian” with a smile and I think I missed out when he had mentioned “Non”.

I opened a cover and I found rice with dal and CHICKEN! As I was not hungry, I didn’t bother to change it. I just had part of the rice and the dessert which they gave and again orange juice. I checked the map in the screen and we were nearing London

12:15 pm (British Time)
The flight landed in London Heathrow airport. The airport was really big. The first thing that welcomed me when I came out of the plane was a really cool and gentle breeze. I joined the other passengers into the bus which took me to the terminal. The ride was like as if I was riding in an empty road which consisted of lanes and subways.

There was a halt in the middle of the travel due to a parked towing vehicle and some of the Indian co-passengers were like, “Oh my God! I got to catch a flight to Houston in an hour. Why is this halt?” After five minutes, we started moving again and we reached the terminal.

There was a lady in the terminal waiting with the board “Houston” probably to pick up the passengers as it was getting too late. At 1 pm (British Time), I joined the other passengers up the escalator to the Flight Changeover.

Change

2009-08-28T11:18:00.003+05:30

"Be the change you want to see in the world"

- Mahatma Gandhi

Change comes in everyone’s life. You wouldn’t know when it comes. Some people feel the change. Some people don’t. Some expect. Some do not. Some predict. Some do not.

There are certain things in the world that will change. Sometimes you may want the change and sometimes you may not want the change. Change is neither good nor bad. When you got to gain something, you got to lose something.

There are certain things in life which can never be understood; something that you would have never known, something you may not know forever.

There are certain things in life that you can never get them back. They can be relished only through memories. Keep your memories safe.

I expected it, I predicted it, now I see it.

Btw this is my first blog post in US. Welcome!!!

Boom boom Aadi : Tricksters

2009-08-13T13:33:00.000+05:30

The aadi season has almost ended and one could see the massive crowd in T.Nagar. It was really massive that there could be even 5000 people in a textile showroom. I guess people would save up all their cash to buy dresses and jewellery and other goods only during the Aadi season but are they really saving money or is it only their mind that gets tricked in to believing that they are saving money?

I would like to tell an incident which I heard from a relative. There were two dresses, both are exactly alike except for the color. Let us assume the first one is yellow in colour. It was bought for Rs.100 before the aadi season. The other color, which is green, was sold at Rs.225 and reduced to Rs.150 in the name of discount. This was done by the same shop which sold the previous yellow dress. If you think this is a joke, it is not. It is a true incident. This is what they call as aadi season. Shops actually sell their goods at profit and people get fooled into believing that they are actually saving their money during the aadi season.

I have been to shops during the aadi season. One of the famous shops, also famous for giving big discounts, is also one of those shops. The reason that made me believe it was a new prize tag that was attached to every dress. Why should they attach a new prize tag to every dress? Why not use the existing tag and just put a board saying 10% discount or 15% discount? The new prize tag has the 'claimed' original prize of the dress which is striked out and below is the new discount prize. If this is a marketing strategy, they can't stoop more.

I am not blaming all the shops but only a few. I have seen shops where they retain their original prize tag and have a banner or board saying the discount rate. Discount should be made only during the billing and not before it. I hope people do realize it and put an end it to the bogus discount sale.

Paradigm Shift

2009-07-27T18:25:00.002+05:30

If you go and ask an automan why he wouldn't reduce the charges even after the petrol prices have gone down much, you shouldn't be surprised if he replies, "Recession". This word has spread around the world much that everyone is claiming to be struck badly by the recession. We cannot blame them. Starting from the prices of petrol cans to the cost of vegetable greens in the market (I wonder why!), the prices have soared up. Thanks to recession!

Everyone knows that IT sector has most deeply been affected by recession. If that could affect the jobs of the IT employees, then it has affected the future IT prospects as well. I am not talking about the recent graduates from colleges but am talking about the future college prospects. It seems that in the present counselling for the engineering seats, students are opting themselves out of the Information Technology field.

Five years back, when I, one amongst fellow batchmates, was sitting in my school auditorium for a workshop on job opportunities, the guy in the dias looked at us and asked us how many of us want to be a doctor. Almost the entire bio group students raised their hands. That would be around 110 students.

Two years back, the demand for medical seats got too less and the demand for IT seats were at the peak. Are students inclined to choose the course that is always at the top or do they choose it with complete interest? Students tend to choose the field that will keep them secure. We cannot blame them. Fruits like mangoes, water melons comes only during summer season and not during any other season. One cannot see them in the roadside vendor stalls. Just because they don't come in the other season, you wouldn't begin to hate them, would you?

Move on?

2009-07-23T09:34:00.004+05:30

Earth completes a single rotation in 24 hours. Man seems to be moving faster than that. He is so agile that he doesn't care to stop in between. Does man need to stop? Why should he stop? Should he move on to make him secure? Should he move on to stay in the race? Or should he stop to give a lending hand to those who have fallen down in the race? Should I emphasize that this race is only for the humans and that we have already pushed the animals far behind? Now should the man run in the opposite direction to save the animals too?

As far as I have known, only animals create a stampede. Now recently, humans also create a stampede and all those as wild as the animals itself. The cause of the animal stampede will be due to fear and survival but the causes of the human stampede has always been greediness or desire for more. He has to survive and move fast to get what he wants no matter what happens in the surroundings. He is sideways blindfolded and he doesn't bother to remove it.

Man also invented machines and unfortunately, for animals, they too have to get adapted to the machines. Some don't get adapted and die as a result of their misfortunes with the machines. Many months back, one such dog was there lying in the streets wanting to die and not letting a human interfere with its life. One of the automen in the city stopped to help the animal to the hospital but after seeing the bloody state of the animal, he refused and left the place.

One of the attenders of a famous animal shelter almost shouted at the automan before he left, "Can't you help a poor animal? Who will help, if not us?". He was a nice guy, not just for his kindness but also for his boldness and bravery. Such animal shelters need more of such guys. Earlier that day, that guy asked his fellow attenders, "There is a dog that needs help. Would you like to join me in helping?". One of them replied, "No way. It might have rabies. I am not going to touch that". The attender gave back a scorning look and said, "No worries. I can handle it myself". I was curious enough to ask the question, "How can you be so sure whether the dog has rabies or not?". He replied, "A rabid dog has excess drooling and will keep on biting something. Also most importantly, a rabid dog won't let a human near it". It did growl at us but I knew it was for its own security.

Was this attender taking risk by letting himself exposed to the diseases that man could not prevent? Should the other attender be blamed for his carefulness? It is not a big surprise as I have even seen vets refusing to attend to an injured stray pup. "Why do you people bring these pups? It looks like a rabid dog!". Not being a biology student in my high school, I myself knew that the dog was not infected by rabies but I trusted his words although I didn't like it. I have heard vets discouraging people to help stray animals just because they are prone to getting diseases. "Take care of yourself first!" is what they imply.

Should those animals be let to die just because they couldn't cope up with man's inventions? I heard from an helping automan that the animals are not the only victims. "Yesterday I went to a govt hospital to check on my relative. There was an old man lying down outside the hospital shouting in leg pain. No one bothered to help him and the hospital staff has been refusing to admit him because the old man had no relatives to admit him. No one is there to help humans. I was glad to help because you people were helping a pup".

Though man and rest of the animal kingdom belong to different species, the case is always the same. Not every man wants to give a lending hand. The question remains the same, "Do you want to stop? Or do you want to move on?"

Here is a famous video from MJ about the need of protecting the world. The video and lyrics are really great.

God of Pop!

2009-06-28T00:29:00.005+05:30

I woke up on last friday morning with a news that the legendary singer and dancer Michael Jackson has passed away due to a cardiac arrest. It was a shocking news to the world and to all his fans. The fact that this has happened at the time when he was about to perform his final concert is really sad and I am sure a lot of fans throughout the world, and also all the people, who loved him and also hated him, would shower their respect to this legend.

It is as if I know MJ right from my birth.I remember my dad and uncle listen to Michael Jackson songs when I was a kid. I still remember watching a young guy waking up from his bed and dancing to the tunes of 'Beat it'. It was only a few years later when I was introduced into the world of pop music from the 'Dangerous' Album of MJ. I even remember the day when they announced on music television that they are going to play the premiere of a song from his album 'Invincible'. I remember the days when I listened or watched MJ songs without break along with my cousins. But now I have to remember the day when I heard about the demise of the King of Pop - Michael Jackson.

MJ was surrounded with controversies right since he became famous. He overcame all the controversies and stood like a king as he is. He loved children. He built a theme park for children, called it as Neverland and also took children from orphanages and schools on a free trip to his theme park. Though he suffered financial crisis, he never wished to sell away the land and in the end, but in the end, he sold that land as a last resort.

I always wished that MJ and ARR should perform together in a song. To my shock, they were indeed preparing themselves for a performance to support unity in humanity. This incident had happened after ARR had won two oscars. People would always remember MJ for two things - his passion for entertaining people and his concentration on social causes.

There may be people who would try to fill his place but it is not really easy to replace a king who has ruled for more than three decades. He is the King of Pop and will always be the King. I pray for his family and well wishers Let his soul rest in peace. The world may have lost him but his music will be remembered forever. His dance will be remembered forever, not to forget the famous moonwalk. And most importantly, just like every other legend, MJ would be remembered forever. The fact that the increase in the download of the music video thriller, which has been a record breaking sensation of all time, even after his death only proves that his music journey has not ended. It will continue forever. His voice will still be heard, his moves will still be watched and like God, his presence will be felt wherever music is. He is the God of Pop!
The following video appears in the Dangerous video album. This video is a great tribute to him. Brace yourself!

The day I got my driving license

2009-06-22T00:40:00.001+05:30

"You will lose your touch if you don't come in for a month", the driving coach said to me when I said my exams were coming by. It was the second week of November and the exams were scheduled to begin on November 25,2006. Only three or four classes were pending including the two classes for reverse drive. He wanted me to finish it as soon as possible. So I agreed with finishing the remaining classes and attend the driving test which was scheduled on November 18th.

The remaining classes went smoothly and with ease. Driving the scooty was left to me as I had to practise driving the vehicle in the shape of 8. I practised two nights before the scheduled test. Irrespective of the place, whoever stood there, especially kids, stopped their work in order to watch me drive in the shape of 8 as if I am doing a stunt show. After practising every night, I was ready for the final show.

November 18, 2006.

I was asked to be at the RTO in the morning and I made it correctly on time. We were asked to go to a place where I first started driving. That was the place where the two wheeler test was supposed to be conducted. I started practising along with everyone. I was almost making the shape when I realized that the road was empty and I was the only person there. Everyone else had left. I circled the area to find any group standing there but there were none. Just then I received a call from my driving master that the test is in the RTO office itself. How did I miss that announcement?

I was back at the RTO. I was told that the senior most police was there for inspection and his policy is to keep it simple. Thats why he wanted the test to be conducted at the RTO itself. Everyone taking the test were allowed to use their own vehicles. They took turns in riding their two wheelers in the shape of 8. Almost everyone succeeded in doing so and got a nod from the police.

My turn came. It started out well. Almost made the shape and then I had to take a U-turn. That was when I kept my legs down. I thought "Gone!". But this police was not really strict and gave me one more chance. I have to do it again from the beginning. I started again but this time, it ended up in a worst scenario. Before I could make the U-Turn, I placed my legs down and even went out of the path. The police need not say anything. I knew that I had lost the battle.

I was waiting out with my scooty for the car test. Just then the driving assistant came to me and said, "What is this? Why couldn't you balance your vehicle?" Then came the turn of the coach, "What happened? If you fail in two-wheeler, there are high chances that you will fail in four wheeler as well. Let us see what happens!". That was great news for me! If that happens, that would totally be unfair. "If only I had one more chance", I thought.

The two wheeler test had ended. All of a sudden, the coach came running to me and said, "Start your scooty fast. He wants to give you another chance". I couldn't believe it was all happening. The police is giving me a third chance? But why? I immediately took my scooty in. I was almost near the starting place when the coach told me, "No, he didn't call you. I misunderstood". I got frustrated and looked at the police as I started turning back.

The police looked at me again and gestured to me to come back. I got my third chance! I started again. It seemed the entire place was too silent. I completely concentrated on what I was doing. It came out simple. I completed the 8 and also took the U-turn and brought it to a halt with a hand signal. I looked at the police to know the result. After giving a brief thought, he gave a nod. I had passed the test!

Then came the car test. Again the police wanted to keep it simple. Instead of the usual drive in the road, here we just need to start the vehicle, move it to a little distance, stop, put the reverse gear and move back the vehicle to where it started. As simple as that. It was easily finished. As I was little upset about my performance in two-wheeler test, the coach came and cheered me up. It was indeed a day to cheer up as from then, I was licensed to drive in the entire nation. "Why don't you drop this old man in his house on your way?" The coach told me pointing to an old guy standing nearby. My experimentation with driving had begun. It began on a happy note! :)

Confusions

2009-06-05T09:51:00.002+05:30

Confusions happen in everyone's life. They are bound to occur when you don't understand what is going on either with the surroundings or with the people. A thousand of confusions would've occured in anyone's life. Some of them would have been funny. I would like to tell some of those of mine.

Mathematical Confusion

I was in the VI std and a Scholastic book fair was going on. They were offering 10% discount on any book exclusively for the students of my school. After searching for a book, I landed upon a good kids horror book. The book costed Rs.60. I had Rs.50 in my pocket. I thought to myself "10% discount means 60-10 = Rs.50". Satisfied with my calculations, I went to the only counter where a young lady was handling it. I gave her the book and also the Rs.50 note.

The lady said, "I need four more bucks"
I stood there giving a shocked expression.
"How? 60 - 10 = 50, right?"
I held my stand but the lady gave a chuckle and continued to explain clearly, "The book costs Rs.60. 10% of 60 is 6. So after deducting the 10%, i.e 6, the remaining amount should be 54. You gave only 50 bucks. I need four more bucks".
I didn't have any more money. I had just brought a 50 buck note. When I stood there still confused at the calculations, the kind lady smiled again and said, "All right, You did not understand. I will pay the four bucks for you. But you must promise me that you won't tell anyone, ok?"
I nodded, still confused with the calculations she did. After giving a brief thought, I thanked the lady and left.

Pronounciation Confusion

It happened four or five years back. Arunkumar, M.S.Karthikeyan and myself went to a Pizza Hut outlet. After ordering for a pizza, the delivery boy asked us whether we want anything else to eat and after a negative reply, he placed a bill. The delivery boy did not come to collect to bill after we finished eating. So we were busy chatting after eating the pizza.

The delivery boy finally came and said, "Check"
Karthikeyan looked at the guy and answered sincerely, "No cheque! Only cash!"
The delivery boy smiled and now said the complete words, "No sir, Check the bill!"
We laughed aloud as we exitted the shop.

Language Confusions

This incident happened six years back. The train had just stopped in Howrah and we were still waiting in the station for further arrangements to be made. People were lying spread on all the spaces available and atop a pillar, there was a TV attached and the movie "Predator" was being shown in a channel. We were waiting for a long time and my uncle told me to get two bottles of pepsi from a petty shop in the platform. I got the money and went to the guy handling the petty shop. Though I knew only a few words in hindi, I decided to test my hindi with him.

"Dhou pepsi bottle" (Two pepsi bottles), I said pointing at the 500 ml pet bottle.
He took out two bottles. I knew the standard prize but I still decided to test my hindi knowledge further.
"Kitna rupee?" (How much rupee?) Only after saying those words, I realized that I wouldn't understand whatever he replies. Too late! He said some amount in hindi which I hoped he didn't lie. I handed him a hundred buck note. Like all shopkeepers, he was also honest as he handed me the remaining amount. I realized one thing, "Look before you leap"

Another incident happened in a hotel in Nepal. We have heard from people that the nights in Nepal would be chilly. Who would know much better than the room boy? So my aunt and myself and one more person were there questioning the room boy. We expected the room boy to know some hindi and the room boy expected us to know hindi. Unfortunately, all of us knew only little hindi (or we knew worst hindi than the room boy). I knew that the word "baahar" means outside and the word "thandaa" means cold. "Kya" means "what?". So I decided to experiment.

"Baahar mae thaandaa kya?"
The room boy blinked.
Then I wondered where the word "mae" came from. I replaced the word with some other word.
"Baahar thou thandaa kya?"
The room boy still blinked. My aunt also tried to explain. I decided to go on with word by word.
"Baahar?"
He nodded.
"Thandaa?" He nodded again, smiling, probably proud that he is getting to understand us.
"Baahar thandaa kya?"
He once again blinked. We decided to quit with the idea as it was turning out to be fruitless. In another fruitless conversation, my aunt ended up saying in tamil, "Poda, neenga pesuradhu engaluku puriyala. Naanga pesuradhu ungaluku puriyala" (You don't understand what we are speaking, We don't understand what you are speaking"

Tagged #2

2009-05-31T21:46:00.003+05:30

Tagged by Nithya. Alright here it goes...

AMICABLE- Friends ofcourse

BEAUTIFUL- Mountains, sea, clouds, nature, altogether Earth

CUNNING- Fox

DARING- Bear Grylls of Man vs Wild

ELEGANT- A thing that you need when are you are walking on something like a red carpet

FRESH- Fruits

GRUDGE- Horror movie... lolz

HUMBLE- Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam

IMMORTAL- Immortality - something which is believed to have been existed, and crazed by most living.

JOVIAL- Too many I know

KILLER- Sharks

LAZY- Other than me?

MAJESTIC- Kings

NINCOMPOOP- Can't think of anyone right now... but I guess it would be Suppandi ;)

OPPORTUNIST – ya I know a few

PRIDE- The way to motivate oneself

QUICK- Instant coffee

RATTLE- Stone Cold Steve Austin :D

SERPENT- Cobra

TREE- shady, selfless

UMBRELLA- oh, I kept losing that

VENOM- Spiderman character... lolz

WIT- Albert Einstein

XYLOPHONE- wish I could play that

YELLOW- pleasant

ZEST- without which things go unpleasant

Now I would like to TAG

Arun Kumar
Karthikeyan
Vijay Ganesh

Destiny

2009-05-22T14:03:00.004+05:30

I wrote this song a month back. The original song is 'The Call' from Backstreet Boys. I have modified the lyrics here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6GRKRDicTU

Hello.
Hello. Hi dude. Where is the bus? Listen, I am going to be late today. So don't wait for me, ok?
Where are you?
Could you hear me?
Hello?
Listen I must catch the bus. We will meet in college, alright? Now gotta go!

Let me tell you the story about the bus miss that changed the history
Me and myself stepped out just when the bus had left for its destiny
Was about to go to Mad Kai when there was a 19b in the Saidapet
I thought, "Wow! I got a place in the bus, Now it should go!"
I shouldn't have boarded, the bus was moving forward
But stopped a distance apart, conductor said,
"Listen people, I am sorry. Wanna tell you this bus is so crowdy.
You will be fined, so just wait and get the tickets from me"
"We would like to tell that we are being crushed like a tomato green
Oh no! Do you know? I could have got a dozen other buses on time,
Had I said no!

Now four years gone, nothing has been done.
Yes I can't take it back, what's gone is gone.
One of my friends told me that 19b wasn't the only one
I should've kept the list aside. But they don't start on time.
Its just because I missed the bus and so I said,
"Listen friends, I am sorry. Wanna tell you not to make a row over me
I am being late. So please stay there and wait for me
I am telling you again that I will be there. So be panic-free
Say it aloud. So you know? I will be there in the place in sometime.
Now gotta go".

Let me tell you the story about the bus change that decided about my destiny
Me and myself stepped out just to board another mystery
Almost reached the gate when the watchman was
standing in front of me, he said "ID Card!?"
"I got it somewhere in my bag! Let me gooooo!"
"Listen boy, I am sorry! Wanna tell you, this is my duty!"
"No I am being late, so don't make me stay and wait for silly things.
I will tell you again you are making me lose my class duties
It almost now! So you know, I must reach the class on time, Gotta go"

Listen friends, I am sorry. Wanna tell you that I am worried
that I will be missing the class again and wait for eve
But I shouldn't be missing here, cause I am dropping out my morning meals
So you know, we should wait and know, I have reached the class on time
The staff should allow me; should be fine but
"NEXT CLASS!"

... and a glass of lemon soda

2009-05-16T09:07:00.000+05:30

Last week, we went for the final year trip to Wayanad in Kerala. It was definitely an adventurous trip. The entire trip was special as it can be called as the farewell tour. Here are some of the things that happened in tour.

- Onward journey:

Playing cards upto midnight.
The whole class wishing Noodles at midnight for her birthday.

- Day 1

Visit to Soochipara falls; the falls was huge and the way down the slope was easy but the way back up required two glasses of lemon soda.
Visit to Pookot lake boating. Though I offered to pedal, ABC and Kumar took up the pedalling while I willingly took up the photography work.
Celebrating Noodles birthday with a big chocolate cake in hotel. The party plan which all went secretive until the evening broke out like a shattered glass. Thanks to them and the cake ;)

- Day 2

Visit to Chembra Peak; visit to the base in jeep; then to a view point and then to the actual peak which required almost three hours of trekking. I backed off and returned to the view point after travelling quarter distance; so did many; but had to travel the same distance again due to an unfortunate circumstance.
Visit to the Kathambara falls. This falls required a cool two km walk to the falls. This falls had a kinda steep rock but nonetheless enjoyable. The walk back was great. The interesting thing about the walk back to the bus is there were no shops to sell lemon sodas but kind hearted people who gave water on the way.

- Day 3

Visit to Kuruwa Islands. Again a two km walk to the Islands but the most enjoyable walk of the tour. The walk in the water to cross to the other island required careful planning and co-ordination and was simply amazing and then there were two glasses of lime soda.
Prank calls made to friends through intercom and almost everyone got fooled

- Day 4

Watching a famous "Bluffing" tamil movie in the bus with friends
Visit to Edakal caves and climbing up the rocks into the caves to watch the beautiful inscriptions by the people who had been there thousands of years back.
A glass of lime soda.
A glass of buttermilk

- Return journey

Being awake the entire night.
Playing cards and chatting with friends.

Nearly missed!

2009-04-27T10:05:00.003+05:30

April 8, 2009

It was the day of my model review. I had to finish my project review early and also catch a train at 4. My batchmates and I successfully completed the project and brought it to college that day. The review was scheduled at 12:45. We still had more than one and half hour left. The other batch of our project guide was preparing with their robot for the demo while we were busy testing our project. My job was to take a printout of an analysis and also teach my sister 'photoshop' through phone.

The day also marked the record-winning painting event done by my college students. The students were divided into pairs and each student had to paint on the other one's hands and vice-versa. They had to do it within an hour. I witnessed the gathering and the work as I passed the inter-dept corridor to the stores. I took the printout and managed to come back to the dept and also managed to teach my sister what is to be done. Meanwhile, a call taxi guy called me and asked me when he should pick me up at college. He was at Mahabalipuram, so he would take just a little time to come to my college. "1:30" was my reply and I hung up.

Everything was fine but the problem just then arised. The project was unexpectedly not working. We were trying to figure out the reason for the problem and we were still trying when the clock striked 12:45. We went to the lab where the review was held. The project co-ordinators were reviewing the other two batches present there and we were still configuring the system in my friend's laptop. My project guide, seeing our tensed faces, asked us to be calm and to solve the problem. My friend, who owned the laptop, lost the charger. He had to go searching for it cause the laptop was on very low charge. I was getting constant calls from someone but I didn't bother to pick it up. Things turned out well when my friend realized that the charger is still in his bag and now the project was working. The review went smoothly and when it got over, it was almost 2 pm. I told my project guide that I got to catch a train at 4 and left the place.

I went out of my department. There were no call taxis. I picked up my phone, noticed that it had only a single point charge and immediately called the call taxi guy. The guy told me that the driver wouldn't have made it and so they had cancelled it. They had tried to call me but unfortunately, I was there in the review. I had to get out of my college fast. So after informing my mom over phone, I went for the last resort - I got to join my mom and sister in train.

It took me 10 minutes to reach my college gate. Around 20 students were standing there, waiting for the bus. I was glad that there are too many 521 (from my college) and 21H (from Kelambakkam) buses which goes to broadway, a place near the railway station. No matter what, I had to take the first bus. If I am lucky, I could get 521. If I am even luckier, I could get 521 AC bus. But a van arrived. It was a good choice especially when you are in a hurry and also when there is a crowd waiting for the bus. The crowd wouldn't prefer the van. I got a seat, as I had expected. I gave the conductor five rupees and expected him to give me change. When he didn't, I asked him, "Kelambakkam costs only Rs.3.50, right?". He smiled at me and said, "Those are old days!". Old days? These vans must be suffering a lot from recession. Lolz

I got a 21H bus immediately at Kelambakkam. I paid the money for Broadway - the final stop. Thankfully, the driver was driving fast and it was a pleasant ride. At 2:50, I had reached more than half a distance when my dad called me. Knowing that the charge for my battery is too low, he had to inform me fast, "Coach B1 11,12 for mom and sister and Coach B2 6 for you". The next second, I couldn't hear anything. Just then I realized that the charge had completely drained.

The driver was very tactical in driving the bus at top speed in the traffic-less IT corridor but after we reached the town, he had to adjust with the traffic and it got delayed. Earlier that day just before I started from Kelambakkam, my dad suggested me to take a call taxi or an auto as soon as I reach the town. I had that option but didn't give a second thought about it. It was 3:10 when I reached Adyar. It will take around 30 minutes from there to reach the final stop. All this while, I had to look at the neighbour's watch to know the time since my phone had no charge. He left at that instant and I had no source to know the time.

As the bus reached the Marina beach, I spotted a huge clock in the middle of the road. It was nearing 3:35. The long road of Marina beach, the seond longest beach in the world, had low traffic at that time and it was pretty easy for the driver to move fast. The bus finally reached broadway. I had to know the time. I asked the guy in front. He need not open his mouth cause as he tilted his hand, I noticed the watch that read 3:47. He said "3:45". "Is he rounding it off or is the watch being faster?" was my first thought. I hoped the latter would be true and I immediately got down the moving bus cause the road was a busy one and there was a higher probability of getting an auto from there.

I found the first auto and told him "Central Station please!". "Thirty bucks!", he said. It is just a 5 minute ride and it was reasonable, especially because I was in a hurry. "Please hurry up!", I told him as I got into the auto. The driver understood the situation and picked up speed. He dropped me opposite the station, otherwise he had to go a long distance to take a U-turn. I got down the auto and paid the money, not before asking him "What is the time?". He told that its 4. "Rounding off should be banned!", I thought Anyways, he had just pressed the panic button. Wearing my bag cross shoulder, I ran down the subway to the other end and got up the subway. I had to slow down cause there were two buses heading into the station. With great anxiety, I entered the railway station.

I looked at the digital clock hung above. It just struck 3:58 pm. I immediately searched for the digital display that showed the list of trains on schedule for that day. Mixed emotions on seeing it. The good news was that the train was still in platform no.11. The bad news that I was not sure which direction I should head to reach platform 11. The platform numbers, as I could see above, was listed in descending order. So the Platform 11 should be to the left but to make sure, I contacted one of the police who confirmed my guess.

I ran to the left to find the platform 11. The train was still there. Now that the train is there, I had to make sure whether my mom and sister are inside the train or whether they are waiting for me somewhere else. Thankfully, there was a PCO booth at the beginning of the platform. I immediately headed to it. The lady, who operated the booth, was busy arguing with some man. She might have thought that I had come there to listen to the argument as she didn't even notice me standing for 5 precious seconds. I decided to interrupt "I need to make a phone call". That was when she noticed me and nodded and then continued with her argument. I dialed to my mom. Line was engaged! Next to my sister! She picked up and the first question she asked was "Where are you?". "I am in the station. Are you both inside the train?", I asked. "Yes" was the reply. That was enough for the day but I asked the coach number for confirmation which confused her. So I had to hung up, paid the lady with a 20 buck note. She was mumbling something about having no changes as she handed me the change.

I ran towards the train. As I neared the second compartment, I spotted a police again and asked where the AC coach is. Luckily, the AC coaches were just three coaches away. But I could hear a man whistle to mark the start of the train. I spotted the coach as well as my mom standing near the door. I got into the coach and as I opened the inner door to the coach, I looked out of the window and saw the train picking up speed. I nearly missed the train by around 2 seconds!

Tamil Fools Day

2009-04-21T14:18:00.002+05:30

The title of this post or the post itself is not meant to be offensive. This post is made just for fun and not intended to hurt anyone's feelings or sentiments. Thank you.

Phew... how long since I made a post? Almost a month! I even missed out on writing this post a week back... on Tamil New Years day (is it?)

A rumoured theory says that in the ancient days, April 1 was considered to be beginning of the calendar until the change of the calendar. The calendar adopted by the French people stated that January 1 (three months before April 1) was the beginning of the calendar. Some parts of the world were still celebrating April 1 as the New Year and people say that they were fooled into believing that April 1 was still the New Year. Thus, April 1 was called as the April Fools day. It is just a theory and may not be true.

All the Tamils in the world considered April 14 to the New Year and was still considered to be so until last year when the governemnt imposed a sudden change. They shifted the New Year exactly three months prior to April 14 thus making the Pongal, a famous South Indian cultural Festival, as the New Year.

Whether people liked the change or not, the media addressed April 14 just as beginning of Chitthirai "tamil" month whereas some people still kept forwarding Tamil New Year wishes to families and friends. If the news does not make it to the entire public atleast in a few years time, some people will still consider April 14 as the Tamil New Year. It is not unlikely that April 14 will be called as the Tamil Fools day if the news doesn't reach to the entire public.

On a lighter note, everyone will miss a government holiday in some years from now and most of the awaited films, which would be stated for a Tamil New Year release, for a grand open, now would have to release it on just a normal day. Fooled by the days, aren't they?

An Old Confusion

2009-03-28T21:22:00.002+05:30

When I boarded my first ever PTC bus to go to college from Madhya Kailash, I noticed a board on which was written (The road of our dreams is under construction). Beside the writings was a beautiful portrait of the upcoming road. On that day, I wondered whether it would be completed in a year time. But then it was being constructed on and on and it seemed like forever. The Old Mahabalipuram road was under construction and I didn't think that, for any reason, that the road will be renamed. Just few months back, the road was constructed (not completely but ya) and they are collecting toll already.

The road was fondly called as the IT Corridor as it had too many IT Companies along the road. I even saw too many shops bearing the hoarding that read "IT Corrdor'. Some still read "OMR" alis "Old Mahabalipuram Road" There came the twist from the govt who renamed the road as "Rajiv Gandhi Road", which extends up to SIPCOT, a place 5 km from Kelambakkam.

Now the people who either live in that road or have a shop in that road are confused - whether their address will read "OMR" or "Rajiv Gandhi road" or "IT Highway". Even the answer sheets in my college have both OMR and Rajiv Gandhi Road written. This is what we call it as confusion!

I read an interesting article in a newspaper contributed by a reader "Names which are comfortable with the people are most often used even after they are renamed". This might be true in this case. The road would've been changed to any name but it will always be remembered as the short and sweet OMR.

TAGS on ERGO! Hits news stands again.

2009-03-19T19:31:00.004+05:30

TAGS hit the news stands yet again! Just a month after appearing in 'Pet Passion' column of Metro Plus, TAGS made it to ERGO, the free tabloid for the IT professionals. The 19th March issue was published online on March 18th and distributed to various companies today. TAGS team is yet again happy and would like to thank Sriya Narayanan, the editor of the article and for her tremendous support to the TAGS team.

To read the article in the original newsletter format, kindly visit the following link and turn to Page 2.

http://www.goergo.in/?page_id=1242 or view it here

Ergo March 19 Ergo March 19 goergo Ergo tabloid published by The Hindu Group, Chennai

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Periodicals & Report the hindu ergo

To read the article alone visit the following link

http://www.goergo.in/?p=3865&id=6

I would also like to congratulate and thank the rest of the TAGS team members. I would also like to thank Mr.M.Karunakaran, the photographer, who was kind enough to patiently wait for us and also to suggest how the photo can be taken. Also thanks to the TAGS team who turned up on March 14th for the photo. It was a great day!

Instincts 09

2009-03-12T00:25:00.007+05:30

I may have missed writing about Instincts 08. But Instincts 09 is something special. This Instincts is the one of my final year in college. If Shane Warne, at IPL, was praised as the best captain Australia never had, then Instincts 09 is the best culturals I truly missed. Yes, credit goes to my college for organizing project review right after the college culturals.

I wouldn't be talking about much of Instincts now too cause I never witnessed most of it. I missed Arya inaugurating the Instincts. Now how did I miss that? Especially when inaugural function got over too late. Er... Project work!

JAM finals was superb as usual and obscene as usual again but this time more than ever. The 'ping' round, i.e to say ping between each word and the revenge round was the best!!!

DJ Night was great for the dancers who wanted to party that night! But for the DJ, it was "Why is this faulty tonight?"

The bike stunt show, which I missed previous Instincts, was great. Kudos to those guys who put their lives in entertaining the audience. Here is one of the videos.

Karthick's concert was the best part of Instincts 09! The band absolutely rocked. Karthick chose the best of his songs and also sung some of his favorites from other artists and kept the audience on moves! Here is one of the videos I took - The Anjala song from the movie Vaaranam Aayiram.

Not to forget about the food, some of them were horrible and overpriced. But some were really good and worth the money! Atleast the food was much better than the previous years.

Light music solo final was average. I know it is hard to go and sing out there in the main stage, especially when the audience keeps on jeering and you can see rockets being launched at you! :p

Choreo Nite was good except for the fact that I was bored of watching the hip hop dances and people standing on one hand. After watching more than half a dozen dances, we set off for the real party!

The other best part of Instincts 09 was the chat (not the food chat) we had in the lawn! Absolutely a rocking farewell Instincts!

Due to unexpected circumstances, our college buses left very late at 11! Another memorable one for Instincts! lolz

SSN EDC Cup 09

2009-02-22T23:06:00.000+05:30

The EDC team of my college conducted a mega fest known as E-Week last week from February 14 to 19. The event went well though I didn't witness any of the events. I heard that the event had very good response from my fellow college mates. Though it had many events such as Blog design, slogan writing, EPL bidding, interesting seminars and lots more, one event got my attention - that was the EDC Cup, the first ever intra college Cricket tournament conducted at SSN College of Engineering.

I thought it was a very good move. Having seen many cricket matches played by college mates in front of the hostel, I always thought it would be a good move to introduce a cricket tournament, especially a T20 tournament would've been great. But only one committee thought it to be a nice move to introduce it - the EDC student team i.e the Entrepreneurship Development Cell of my college.

The 12 teams knock-out tournament was a very good move but one flaw gathered too much of attention into my mind. The flaw is the imposition of too many rules to test the players of the tournament. Some of the rules are:

1. - 5 for every wicket lost.
2. If not all out in the entire play, +20 runs bonus.
3. Two powerplays of one over each in which every scored run doubles and -10 for every wicket lost.
4. Every dot ball in the powerplay over costs 1 run.

Clearly analysing some of the rules mentioned above, one would say that the team batting second has higher chances of winning (not unless the captain is too dumb). The team batting first would have to put up an exceedingly massive total so as to really challenge the team batting second.

For example, if the team batting first gets all out for a negative score, then according to the rules, the team batting second instantly wins without playing a ball. It is totally unfair! If the team batting second has to chase a target of 50, and if he does it in 5 overs with 5 wickets in hand, then he has won! But if fair play is considered into play, then the team batting second should play the entire innings to decide the match.

So in whatever way the match progresses, the team batting second would always win if the captain can use his brain. Anyway, its a very good effort by the EDC team. It was a successful week for them and I heard that the seminars were great. Also the movie this time was "Inconvenient Truth". Couldn't see that movie! This move by EDC could be a great encouragement for the juniors.

Dogs and me!

2009-02-17T13:26:00.000+05:30

Not only humans have varying characteristics. So do dogs. Each one is different. Here are some of the dogs I have petted and their characteristics.

Jimmy (Male): Pride, Jealous, Extremely grateful, Dominant, role model :p

Ricky (Male): The most gentle dog I have ever seen. Emotional. Extremely loving and grateful.

Milo (Female) : Beautiful, introvert, playful.

Joe (Male): Extremely silent, introvert.

Max (Male) : Cute, smart, playful, extrovert.

Tiger (Female) : Silent, sensitive, possessive.

Rosie (Female) : Smart, Extrovert, playful.

Pepper (Male) : Scared, possessive, cute, playful, sensitive.

Ginger (Male) : Dominant, Pride, Greedy (in case of food), smart, obedient.

TAGS hits the NEWS stands!

2009-02-13T22:38:00.002+05:30

TAGS hits the NEWS stands. The article on TAGS appeared last wednesday (11th February-09) in the Pet Pals column in the Metro Plus of The Hindu. The TAGS team is extremely happy and with this encouragement, it will work better. :) You can read the article here.

A special thanks to ArunBalachandran and Pramod for making this possible and special thanks to the editor who made sure that the article got published.

Congratulations to the TAGS team!!! TAGS has gone to the next level. :)

I would also like to thank the people who helped TAGS in some way or indirectly. Kudos!