Peg after Peg...

From a mail forward... Nicely illustrated effects of drinking. Mabbu maharajas could relate more to this one... ;-)

I never take risk while drinking

When I come from office in the evening, wife is cooking
I can hear the noise of utensils in the kitchen
I stealthily enter the house
Take out the bottle from my black cupboard
Shivaji Maharaj is looking at me from the photo frame
But still no one is aware of it
Becoz I never take a risk

I take out the glass from the rack above the old sink
Quickly enjoy one peg
Wash the glass and again keep it on the rack
Of course I also keep the bottle inside my cupboard
Shivaji Maharaj is giving a smile

I peep into the kitchen
Wife is cutting potatoes
No one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: Any news on chopra's daughter's marriage
Wife: Nope, she doesn't seem to be that lucky. Still they are looking out for her

I again come out; there is a small noise of the black cupboard
But I don't make any sound while taking out the bottle
I take out the glass from the old rack above sink
Quickly enjoy one peg

Wash the bottle and keep it in the sink
Also keep the Black Glass in the cupboard
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: But still I think chopra's daughter's age is not that much
Wife: What are you saying? She is 28 yrs old... like an aged horse
I: (I forgot her age is 28 ) Oh Oh...

I again take out potatoes out from my black cupboard
But the cupboard's place has automatically changed
I take out the bottle from the rack and quickly enjoy one peg in the sink

Shivaji Maharaj laughs loudly
I keep the rack in the potatoes & wash Shivaji Maharaj's photo & keep it in the black cupboard

Wife is keeping the sink on the stove
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: (getting angry) you call Mr. chopra a horse? If you say that again, I will cut your tongue...! Wife: Don't just blabber something, go out and sit quietly...

I take out the bottle from the potatoes
Go in the black cupboard and enjoy a peg
Wash the sink and keep it over the rack
Wife is giving a smile

Shivaji Maharaj is still cooking
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: (laughing) So chopra is marrying a horse!!
Wife: Hey go and sprinkle some water on your face...

I again go to the kitchen, and quietly sit on the rack
Stove is also on the rack
There is a small noise of bottles from the room outside

I peep and see that wife is enjoying a peg in the sink
But none of the horses are aware of what I did
Becoz Shivaji Maharaj never takes a risk

Chopra is still cooking
And I am looking at my wife from the photo and laughing
Becoz I never take what???

Saturday Blues

Thanks to the compulsory holiday given by Rajkumar to techies last week (13th April), we had to come to office today, on a Saturday for compensation. I have earlier worked on Saturdays couple of times to meet deadlines but still it was for a few hours. Coming to office on a normal Saturday that too for full day definitely feels bad.

It had become as a habit to stay awake late night on Fridays and getting up late on Saturdays. Ever since I shifted school in 9th Std, all Saturdays had been either holidays or even if I had school it would be a fun day. The same thing continued in college and I had most Saturdays holiday and even if it was a working day it would be for some University exams or my favorite networking class.

Now it is a different experience to sit in the office like a weekday on a Saturday… But that’s okay, I am taking it as a forerunner to worst weekends that might come in future where I will have to slog for meeting deadlines. For now, its fun!!! :-)

The Violin Effect

Violin – One instrument that has been a wonder for me all through my life. Right from its appearance to the wonders it does when played; I love everything about a violin.

It is one of the few instruments that can speak on its own. Yes, a good musician can make a Violin speak for itself. And it can adapt itself to any form of music, a rare kind of flexibility which not many instruments have. Also it makes the orchestration rich with its presence. I have wondered many times, how a concert with very few instruments gets a rich feel with the inclusion of Violin in it.

I have listened to all forms of music from Violin right from Carnatic classical(Lalgudi Jayaraman, Kanyakumari) to fusion(Ganesh-Kumaresh, Lalitha-Nandhini, L Subramaniam) to light music(Kunnakudi Vaidhyanadhan, compositions of Ilayaraja) to Western(Vanessa Mae)… It gives me a great pleasure, happiness and feelings that cannot be expressed in words when I listen to a Violin.. It makes me forget all worries.

I missed a golden chance of learning a Violin once in my life. Now, I wish that I could learn to play it one day in my life.

April 14th : Dawn of a New Year

INIYA THAMIZH PUTHAANDU NALVAAZHTHUKKAL!!!!
(HAPPY TAMIL NEW YEAR GREETINGS)

Article from Chennaibest.com

The month of Chitthirai has arrived and with it the Tamil NewYear’s Day; April 14th – an occasion for celebration for Tamilians all over the world. Greetings of “Puthandu Vazthukal”, (Happy New Year), are exchangedwith fervour on this day, which is supposedly the day when Lord Brahma (The Creator of the world, according to Hindu mythology) started creation.

The day starts with viewing the 'kani' (the auspicious sight) at dawn, in the expectation that beginning the New Year by looking at auspicious or favourable things will bring good fortune throughout the year. The auspicious things include, gold and silver jewellery, betel leaves, nuts, fruits and vegetables, flowers, raw rice and coconuts. This isfollowed by the ritual bath and a visit to the temple to pray for a prosperous and happy New Year. After which, the Panchangam (almanac) is read.


The ladies adorn the entrances of their houses with ‘Kolam’(design made with rice flour) and deck the door way with mango leaves. A grand Car Festival is held at Tiruvadamarudur near Kumbakonam every year on April14th. Also during the month of Chitthirai the marriage of Goddess Meenakshi to Lord Sundareswarar is celebrated as ‘Chitthirai festival’.

The highlight of the festival is the 'Maanga Pachadi'(a dish made of raw mangoes, jaggery and neem flowers), which is at the same time sweet, sour and bitter. This signifies all the different aspects of our life.April 14th also happens to be the Bengali New YearDay, Naba Barsha, which begins with the ‘Prabhat Pheries’ (an early morning procession) with songs and dances welcoming the New Year.

In Kerala ‘Vishu’ is celebrated by Malayalees commemorating the beginning of the astronomical New Year in the Malayalam Calendar.The Tamil Calendar, which has 12 months from Chitthirai (April - May) to Panguni (March - April), has a 60-year cycle.

Death of a legend, rebirth of a legacy

Yesterday, the Kannada matinee idol, the great legend Dr.Rajkumar breathed his last after many days hospitalization, owing to poor health. The news had spread like anything that people had left office earlier fearing riots, causing traffic jams all over the city. My company buses wisely stuck his picture in the front and thus escaping from stone pelting. As I got down at my stop in BTM, I wondered for a minute if I was in the right place. I have never ever seen the BTM main road in such an empty state. I was sure that the next day was gonna be a nightmare for many in Bangalore.

It happened as such. Not even his fans.. His ‘abhimaanigalu’ were always a decent lot. Some useless morons used the opportunity and created chaos all over the city. One of my collegeue said “Don’t talk in Tamil today…. U won’t reach home safely”. The small talkies in my area removed all Tamil horadings and stuck a poster of an old Dr.Raj movie. God only knows what Tamilians’ hand is, in the natural death of the actor.

From Wednesday night 10 PM all channels were blacked out one by one and on Thursday morning there were no channels except for Kannada channels telecasting his funeral. All big heads like Rajinikanth, Saroja Devi, Jayanthi, Vishnu Vardhan, Ravichandran were present at the mourning spot. The body was placed in Kanteerva stadium for people to pay final respects. But things went out of control when the mad crowd mobbed like anything and made a mess of all arrangements. Upon that there was not sufficient police force to keep the situation in control… Tyres, vehicles, petrol bunks, buses etc were burnt and shops and complexes were stone pelted. Why should they remain in good condition when Dr. Raj is dead?

All the shops including hotels were closed in my area. Worst affected were the bachelors staying in rooms and with friends. Everyone was forced to starve for the whole day until in the evening bakeries opened with mad rush. Of course everyone deserves such punishment, because Dr.Raj is dead…

Rajkumar’s three sons were present at funeral. They were pleading to the public and crying in the mike to stay in control. But, no one was ready to listen. The funeral was the worst one that could happen to a big actor like him. It was totally messed up with crowd rioting outside burial ground and once his body was brought, it was difficult even to take it till the burial place.

Final rights were completed amongst the crowds pull and push and all his family members ran away dropping him in the ditch. After that people present were throwing flowers, colors and soil all over the place making it look like a battle field. Yes, we love him so much that we will not even allow his corpse to rest in peace.

And one worst thing is, people here clap in a funeral. I have never seen in my life such a thing happening in any mourning. When his body was laid down in the stadium everyone raised their hands and clapped. And when it was put in burial ditch, again everyone raised their hands and clapped!!

All IT majors were on compulsory shut down except few BPOs which had utmost care for customers. A total loss of 100 crores is reported and more than that Bangalore’s reputation is totally gone in the eyes of world with media covering all these incidents. So what, Dr.Raj is dead!!!!

It was like a sequel to the riots and infernos that happened when Dr.Raj was held as captive by Verappan. Thank God, had he expired at that time, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka would have become like India and Pakistan. Now the legend is dead and the legacy of riots is reborn….

Its Lingo - I.T.'s Lingo...

Being in the IT world, you get to learn lot of new phrases and extended use of words. Many of them may be even conventional, but for a pucca local guy accustomed to only local slangs and lingos, even the conventional ones sounds new.

I still remember an incident that happened when I was a new joinee. One of my seniors wanted to check with me if I am lightly loaded, so that some pending work can be assigned to me. When he came to my desk, I was struggling with a website as the net connection was very slow. He came over and asked me “Srinivas, how is your Bandwidth?” I seriously replied, “Yeah, it is slow!!!” He was like “?!?!?!?” and then managed with a laugh explaining to me what he actually wanted to ask. :-)

Well, that was when I learnt that I should not derive literal meaning out of anything and that Bandwidth has also got something to do with work load apart from frequencies and speed. :P Few more of them, I have learnt all these days are: to take a call, per se, taking things offline, giving a buzz, pinging people, FYI, FYA, deliverables etc etc., Added to this, the great questions mentioned in my earlier post. ;-)

It’s a strange world!!!!

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Courtesy: Venkat

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Judas was no Traitor: Says New Gospel

Can History be changed? A history that is as old as 2000+ years and is firmly rooted in the mind and hearts of people? Not only as History, but as a religious belief? Well, expect the unexpected.

The dictionary describes 'Judas' as a betrayer. For 2000 years and more, Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus Christ's 12 apostles who sold his master for 30 pieces of silver, has been condemned to infamy for this terrible act of betrayal. New evidence says, there was a Gospel of Judas, and according to it, he was not the villain he has been made out to be.

Proofs for Gospel of Judas, the fifth and the new addition to those of Matthew, Luke, Mark and John has been unearthed and authenticated by a group of experts.

According to these documents, the betrayal of Jesus Christ is a secret mystery between him and Judas. A National Geographic statement says the key passage in the text comes when Jesus tells Judas '... you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me,' indicating that Judas, by helping Jesus get rid of his physical flesh, will help liberate the true spiritual self or divine being within.

To read the full article visit this link from Rediff.com: http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/apr/07judas.htm

And it is for sure controversial subject to be discussed. You can read what people say at this link: http://mboard.rediff.com/board/board.php?boardid=news2006apr07judas

Mega Headaches...

Wanna kill time in the most useless way? Wanna forget your family? Wanna test if your tear glands are functioning properly? Then its time for u to watch mega headaches, oops, mega serials on your favourite channel.

How to drive your sister-in-law out of the house? How to plan for looting property from your father-in-law? How to take revenge on those who spoiled your family? How to deal with the illegal affairs of your wife/husband?? One point solution for all your queries, watch Mega Serials on TV.

As far as my knowledge, Junoon was the first mega serial on Indian Television. And at that time Doordarshan was the only entertainment for a considerable amount of population. So, "Paathanga TV-la ellarum andha serial-a thaan appo" :-D And it was much better than many of the soaps today.

When Doordarshan Chennai launched Vizhudhugal years back, the mega serial culture entered Tamil Nadu. Sun TV had adopted this concept(just like Star TV did in the north) and the rest is history. History that I wish had never happened!!! :P

Sun TV soaps have the knack of running a 15 min dialogue(5 mins of words with 10 mins of pauses in between) as a 30 min episode(with 5 mins of recap and 10 mins of ads). You get to see lot of yesteryear paapas turned into peepaas and the camera focussing their exploded faces in close-up shots... Good enough to be shown for scaring small kids as "poochaandis".. ;-) And men hardly get a chance to show their faces here. They are either villains or timid husbands.

Star Network is another extreme. Most times Star TV is Ekta TV with her mega serials occupying all prime slots. And she has not spared Sony and Zee networks either. Kkhyaaa, Kyoon, Kucch and so on, all Hindi words are given new English forms in titles, thanks to numerology. And there are two things that you should not expect from these soaps- Story and Logic. If u could bear without these you can really enjoy them.

And there are loads of women, in the size of truck loads and dressed like sofa sets who occupy the screen, literally in these soaps. If it is athai, marumagal, chithi, anni, amma etc in Tamil it is Baa, Bahu, Saasu maa, Baabhi etc in Hindi. And thanks to the service rendered by Star Vijay, very soon we may even get to see a national integration with all Hindi sofa sets speaking dubbed Tamil.

The worst part of the show is that, people forget the real names of actors. They are known only by their screen names. I have been reported of an bang-head incident in a village of South TamilNadu. A mega serial actress had visted the village for a shoot. She was allegedly torturing "Ahalya"- the Role Model of thousands of Kudumba Kuthuvlakkus in TN in some non-sense serial. For this, she was given a warning(??!!) by a group of village women, asking her not to indulge in such activities against her!!!

Long live the useless timepass of Tamilnadu housewives, long live their lost brains, long live Mega Serials and TV soaps!!! :-D