Royal Magnum Icecream Launch

Product - Royal Magnum Icecream

Venue - The Hyatt Regency - Chennai

PR company - Edelman

The Royal Magnum ice cream launch at Chennai's Grand Hyatt was a brilliant success; the programme started a bit late, but then the great spread of snacks was enough to keep me occupied! Met lots of CFG friends for the first time - Fazil, Danny, Lalitha, Kamali, Sara.

The chef spoke patiently and Cary the host took over, there were a couple of kids who were the spotlight of the show answering honestly to the questions asked by the chef!

We were made to choose from chocolate nuggets and identify the origin of the same - Swiss, Belgian or French chocolate.

Then we were given the actual Royal Magnum classic flavoured icecream bar to eat - made in Thailand and priced at Rs 75. I am not someone who is that much into icecreams, I am more of a fresh fruit and flavoured wafer chap :)!

The icecream was rich and the Belgian chocolate made the experience divine!


Then we were asked to create sundaes of our own using 5 ingredients, a chocolate sauce and the Royal Magnum icecream bars!

We chose orange cake, pepper, mint instead of rosemary, kiwi fruits and chocolate sauce to make a delightful sundae, which we named Harry's Citrus Blast / Delight - dedicated to the original angry cop Dirty Harry - Clint Eastwood :)


An enjoyable experience - thank you CFG, Edelman and Royal Magnum :)

The Liebster Blog Award

I have been awarded the Liebster Blog Award by blogger Gayathree Ganeshan. She has a way with words and I admire some of her poems! She has also written guest posts on some websites and is a singer as well!

http://gayathreeganesan.blogspot.in/2013/03/the-liebster-blog-award-is-mine.html



Essentially one states 11 facts about oneself, answers 11 questions presented by the person who gives us the award; we then proceed to set up 11 eleven questions and pass it on to 11 other bloggers.

I have tagged people for quite some time, in the recent past at least three tag-posts to friends and bloggers and I have realized that not everyone has the time and patience to sit and answer questions posted by others. Plus a few bloggers by principle do not publish tag-posts. A few I have noticed readily publish and answer tag-posts initiated by others but choose to discard my questions without batting an eye-lid.

Hence this time around I am not selecting anyone - it is an open post; every blogger is special and every blogger deserves an award!

If you wish to accept the award feel free to answer my questions!

11 Things About Me:

Crazy about books, movies, Ilayaraja, The Beatles and dogs.

Aim to make a movie some day.

Believe that TASMAC should be banned and state-sponsored alcoholism should end.

I have played Brutus, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony in a play at school! From class 10 to class 12, every year I played a character! Brutus is my personal favourite :)

I find myself more comfortable in the company of four-legged friends and young children than adults!

I love cooking but for the life of me cannot roll out a perfect chappathi.

Curd Rice Rocks :)!

I analyse movies frame by frame scene by scene and usually pin-point which scene in a Tamil or Hindi movie has been lifted from which foreign movie - this drives my friends crazy!

I believe that rapists, child-molesters and men who physically and emotionally harass women deserve to be deported to an uninhabited island and left there to rot - cut away from all civilization.

I usually remain very calm and composed even during the craziest situations; but woe betide if you anger or rub me the wrong way - I promise I will hunt you down and make you pay!

I dream of a better tomorrow where merit gets precedence over what community I was born in or what religion I practise!

Q-n-A - Gayathree's questions and my answers:

1. If you were born a saint, what would your message to the society be?
2. How did you start blogging?
3. Why do you think modern poetry is not well-recognized in the world of literature?
4. If you are to become young again and shape your career afresh, what would you choose to be?
5. What is the first thing that you would do if you wake up to find yourself (alone) stranded in a uninhabited desert?
6. What is your take on water conservation?
7. If you are in a powerful position in the government or the UN, what would your reforms be on poverty alleviation?
8. If you are born to a terrorist father, can you keep the same composure and non-violence that exists in you now?
9. If you are secret agent who is appointed with a mission to find the root cause of terrorism, what will be the first thing you will accomplish?
10. What is your opinion on the sky being blue? (NON-SCIENTIFIC)
11. State one compliment and one criticism about me deserving this liebster blog award.


Believe that God exists in every living creature animal or human; respect every living creature!

Free time at work and the necessity to write!

Poetry does not deliver the thrill of a crime-novel; publishers need to create incentives for aspiring poets and promote them! Can a poetry book see the same fanfare as the release of a JK Rowling novel????

A monk in a Buddhist monastery!

Go back to sleep!

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink! Re-use waste-water, ensure that your offices and residences have rain-water harvesting resources!

Freeze all black-money accounts in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, London, Monaco, etc. and use all that money to ensure that no one starves to death. Make it mandatory for every company having an annual turnover of Rs 1 crore or more to invest 1 % per crore of their turnover towards social awareness and food-sustainability and drinking water projects!

Terrorism does not only mean that you need to carry a gun and blow up people and places; any man who does not know how to treat his wife and children with respect is a terrorist! I have suffered and seen my mother and sister suffer and my only promise to myself every single day of my life has been - if and if I ever get married I will treat the lady whom I get married to with the same respect, love and admiration that I shower on my mother and sister. If I have children they shall be showered with affection and care and never be hurt physically or emotionally! Read Roald Dahl's - 'Danny the Champion of the World' and I wish to be like Danny's dad for my kids!

Freeze all suspected money-laundering accounts! Ensure that all state and central intelligence services and the police-forces come under one unified command. Initiate a Zero Dark Thirty like operation to flush out Dawood Ibrahim. Zero-tolerance to veiled attacks on us by Pakistan and Bangladesh. Focus with the central and state governments to make the Northeastern states of India secure, as China is slowly brain-washing the people by supporting insurgents there!

Because the Lord decided that whenever you have the 'blues' just look up at the sky, the sun, the moon and the stars and thank God that these are free; smile and face every problem as it comes.

The poems are a big plus :) Nothing negative to say :) You can only improve and be a better blogger and writer :) Keep smiling, keep blogging :)!

11 questions for those who choose to answer:

Can a man and a woman just remain friends?

What ails Indian television?

If you could dedicate two hours every month to a social cause of your choice - what would that social cause be?

If someone offered to kill someone for you - no questions asked - who would you choose to be 'bumped-off' and why?

Did you cast your electoral vote?

Will you be ready to contest the elections as an independent candidate?

If God exists, why would so much of unrest and chaos still exist? Your thoughts on this!

Who are the most under-rated actors / actresses in Indian cinema!

Does another dimension of time exist? Are there parallel worlds existing on this planet that we call earth?

If you were just allowed to keep one book with you; which book would you choose?

Sometimes one tight slap works wonders instead of an hour of talking! Your thoughts on this statement!

The Writer's Dilemma

In this tag, the first participant would write the first scene of a love story. The second participant would continue the story. Likewise, 21 participants would write one scene each. It’s basically a love story with 21 chapters, each scene written by different participants. Here is the link for previous scene in this CBC Valentine’s Day



The Writer's Dilemma

It all started with a wonderful post by Bragadeesh! There was a mention of a tablog and my curiosity was piqued! I never learnt of my involvement in the whole scheme of things till Bragadeesh confirmed that I was supposed to write a chapter in the CBC Valentine's Day Tablog as well.

Since then it has been a wonderful experience reading the posts of people from various walks of life in different countries! Interesting conversations with some writers - forging the first foundations of some friendships, which I hope will last a lifetime!

My confusion started with Sowmya's post and the chandeliers falling and the bomb explosion ripping the cafe! Then VJ Eshwar created a brilliant diversion inspired by Viswaroopam! As plot after plot, twist after twist happened - Sivaranjini crafted a swift transition of the plot to Chennai and things were favourable for a super carry-forward of the narrative!

To once again complicate this tale of love Vishnu Vardhan set up a hospital scene with Ahalya battling for her life. I have read the chapter at least five times but I am still not able to get it how Ahalya landed up in the hospital - accident / suicide / life-threatening pre-existing illness? Too many questions!

Now lies in my hands the tough of task of deciding who lives and who dies! There is a strange sense of dread on what to do as one is sure to receive brick-bats and the rare bouquet for what one decides to do with a tale that is being viewed with such interest! So what shall I do, how do I continue this tale... As I travelled all over Chennai yesterday with a few members of the CBC gang - my mind was in constant turmoil - what to do, who dies, who lives...!

At Beasant Nagar Beach, I saw two newly married couples and that gave my answer to this complicated conundrum!

Mangalyam tantunanena mama jeevana hetuna: kanthe badhnami subhage twam jeeva sarada satam !
“This is a sacred thread. This is essential for my long life. I tie this around your neck O maiden having many auspicious attributes. May you live happily for a hundred years (with me).”


Getimellam!Getimellam - "Thaaliya kettungo" "Periyava yellam akshadaiya podungo"
Tie the sacred thread; elders bless the couples by showering the akshadai on the couple!

As I tied the thread around Ahalya's neck; she smiled at me; the smile that had melted my heart a few months back! It seems like an eternity after all we went through! The bomb explosion in Sweden, the mad-rush of hacking into complicated network protocols, preventing more deaths, meeting Ahalya's dad who had a mysterious past, chance encounter with Geetha on the flight, childish jealousy of Ahalya, ego-tantrums, the wait at EA mall; the phone-call that forced me to rush to the hospital, where I found Ahalya battling for her life. The doctors operating on her and she was declared to be out of danger. These scenes rushed past me like a Christopher Nolan movie in fast-forward!

At the adjoining mandapam Varun and Geetha were all smiles!

I looked at Ahalya, and Ahalya said to me "Guru, nanbavey mudiyalai le?" - "Unbelievable isn't it Guru". I nodded at her and said “Never ever leave me again.”

That's how I choose to complete my chapter!

Because I believe in a simple truth - "True love is hard to come by in real life, everyone has their fair share of heart-breaks; but never ever think that your love failed, perhaps the person whom we choose to shower our affections on - might have been a wrong choice by us! But the purity of one's love is never lost!

For someone somewhere is waiting for you! As perhaps, I believe that someone somewhere is waiting for me as well!

The next chapter in the tablog will be written by Karpagam Pugalendi. She blogs here - She writes fiction and poems and is an ardent dog-lover with a lovely Lhasa Apso; pups and an affectionate Indian mongrel!

Maa, Didi, Behna aur Khushi

This post is part of the Chennai Bloggers Club series of posts by men in the group to celebrate a week long "marathon" in the honour of womanhood.

Four women who have played a major role in my life; and perhaps I shall play a major role in one person's life!

Maa:
Married at 15,
Pushed away to a distant land,
Mad-cap dysfunctional family,
That only gave you tears,
A man who did not deserve you,
A man who stifled up your dream,
But you chose to shoulder all responsibilities,
Bore two children - Didi and Me

Years of abuse,
Emotional torture,
Made you strong,
You just studied till Class Seven,
But with your basic knowledge,
A simple girl from a nondescript village in Kerala,
You travelled all over India,
And let your children grow with love and knowledge.

Sacrifices that you have made,
Are too many to be listed here,
You are special,
For the Lord chose your womb,
And made me see the light of day,
And grow in your loving care!

As old age takes its toll on you;
As various illnesses torment you,
And the both of us battle them every day.
I hope I can live up to your expectations!
And always see you happy.
Whatever I do -
I hope never ever hurts you!


Didi:
A second mum to me,
A special person,
Who got me pens and comics,
When I was young,
Who would shield me from the wrath of elders,
When I perennially flunked the Maths tests.

Of visiting pooja pandals,
In the streets and by-lanes of Calcutta,
Of helping you pick dresses and hand-bags,
During the shopping-sprees!

Of watching you get married,
To a gentleman from a distant land,
Of me getting into an emotional tangle,
On seeing you go away,
To your new home.

I am proud of you,
Of being a lovely wife,
A loving mom to a smart son,
And being my dearest Didi,
Love you always!


Behna:
Dear little sister,
You bring so much joy,
To all of us,
From travelling abroad,
For higher-studies,
Winning scholarships,
Visiting countries and cities,
That I can only see in movies.

A splendid dancer, singer, artiste,
You are everything,
That I always aspired to be.
I am happy for you,
As you inspire the younger generation,
In the extended family,
Who now look up to you,
As their idol.

Wishing you joy and success - always!


Khushi:
I have told you -
What you mean to me!
I stand by what I said,
Every smile that you smile,
Every good luck wish,
That I always get from you.

You have a special place,
In the little heart of mine.
Whatever you say,
Whatever you do,
Wherever you go,
Wherever life takes us,
Far or Near,

I want you to know,
That you shall always,
Be that one true love;
I know this is foolish,
I know I am being an idiot,

I can never,
Ever see you feeling hurt,
Sad or in tears,
I will never ever hurt you,
By word or deed,

I can't bear,
To see that
Precious smile of yours,
Change into anger or sorrow!
So I shall wait,
With hope for you to say - 'Yes'

Khushi for you....forever!


My promise - Wherever I go - I shall not watch women being abused physically or verbally - consider every lady and child as my own family-member and fight for them!

My Prayer to the Lord - never let me succumb to temptation or be misguided into hurting any lady or child by word, deed or thought!

A Secret in a Smile

She smiles a smile,
An enigmatic smile,
How does she always,
Manage to smile?
I have travelled many a mile,
But have never seen anyone,
Smile a smile,
Like her beautiful smile.

Dressed regally in blue,
With matching ornaments too,
She smiles that smile,
That special smile,
Ah-How I wish this moment,
Moment would last forever!
Frozen in time,
Like your beautiful smile!
Your enigmatic smile!

What does she think?
What does she wish?
What secrets lie hidden!
In that smile?
Does anyone know?
Well I don't know!
If you do know,
Please let me know-
The secret behind her beautiful smile!