Hi Folks.

This works, though the post took some time to appear on the blog. So what do I write about?

Saw Chota Mumbai to complete the Vishu releases, now Hello is on show and I am not very enthusiastic after reading the reviews.

I have returned to Tiruvallur, spent about Rs 550, to book a cab and bring all my dtuff to home.

Not on a live project yet, doing sample documents every day. Happy, but the food is lousy. I am spending close to seventy rupees on food.

Amma is scheduled to return from a Temple Tour tonight.

Next post is on the Ooty trip.

So finally on track, there is this tech guy in office called Prabhu who has shown me a way to blog, hope this works, let us see....

On the job..

Exams are over, training is over and I have finally "hit the floor," no I am not drunk and on the floor, this is a term that they use here at my new office to describe the process where the trainee is actually on the job.

So I am happy here. Am really worried as I am yet to receive my settlement from my previous company. Hope everything works out fine.

Will be moving into a mansion by the monthend, am praying to God to get a decent place.

Cheers folks take care.

Exam Fever...
So tomorrow is my last exam, have written the previous four papers pretty decently. MA English Literature. Pray to God that I get good marks in all the papers and get a First Class Pass.

Monday onwards back to training. Hope to move to mansion by June 1. Waiting for my pay-check. Really in dire straits now.

Cheers guys, back to blogging when I have money to pay to the browsing centre.

Bye....

Training, Training and more Training.....

I have joined the new organization that I mentioned about, its a nice place, the first week is over with sessions on MS-Office. The people are good, facilities are nice, hope th at I will settle into this place.

I am hunting for a mansion to stay, next week exams start, am afraid as preparations are not fully done. Hope for the best.

See you next week, henceforth posts will appear every Sunday only....

Bye folks .

Another Beginning.....

I have resigned today, I am joining another organization on Monday. A new beginning..., another new beginning..

Let me see what the future has in store.....

Hoping for the best.

Sunday Market Gandhi Statue Sunrise at Pondy

Pages From Pondy-Sunday

We planned to cover the Sunday Market, in the morning, return to our room, get our bags and visit Auroville, by boarding the local bus. We had our breakfast in the restaurant at Sabthaghiri, and took a bus to the Sunday Market.

The Sunday Market

The Sunday Market, is a unique attraction, in Pondy, every Sunday traders, occupy an entire street, almost a kilometre in length, and peedlle their wares. Items on sale range from, books, toys, cosmetics, dvds, electronis items like cameras and watches to cosmetics and clothes.

The street is packed with people trying to make a good deal. Both of us bought a pair of jeans and bermudas, Harish bought a bottle of English perfume, a belt and a couple of vests. I got three T-shirts, can you guess the price? Each shirt cost me just ten rupees, I bought the shirts and checked them, there were no defects, in them, good for wearing the house, or while playing cricket.

The AuroBoutique

This is a quaint little shop next to Adyar Ananda Bhavan, that sells incense sticks, diaries, calendars, gift items and souvenirs. We bought some packs of fragrant incense sticks and proceeded to Juice Wagon to have lunch.

The Juice Wagon

It will be unfair of me to overlook this restaurant, where we had two unforgettable meals. This is a great restaurant that primarily caters Continental food. The prices are decent, ambience good and the food is excellent, we were surprised to find the place empty on both of our visits. We had tomato soup, sandwiches, pasta and milk shakes. Do have a meal here if you go to Pondy.

We had our lunch and took a bus which dropped us 8 km from Auroville, autos charge Rs 100 to take you to Auroville. We learned that the Globe of Universal Peace, was closed on Sunday. We cursed the guy manning the Auro Travel infomation centre, wondering why he did not inform us that on Sundays Auroville, would be closed.

Disappointed we returned to the bus terminus and reserved tickets for the 4:25 PM bus. The return journey was uneventful, and the bus was packed with people.

We reached Kasi Theatre at around 8:30 PM. Harish was in a sorry state, as he was nauseated and was ready to puke all over the place at any time. We enterd Saravana Bhavan, and Harish rushed to the restroom.

He returned after fifteen minutes, as a much relieved man. We had dinner and returned to our room, at 9:20 PM. A nice trip, which would have to be made again, as we could not visit Auroville.

Probably the last weekend of May, will find us again in Pondy.

Pages From Pondy-Saturday

We had been planning for a trip to Pondicherry, for about a month, and finally all things fell into place, and on April 27, Saturday, Harish and myself, decided to make the trip.

On Saturday morning we reached CMBT-Koyambedu, at 8 AM, we had our breakfast at Nathan's Cafe, a restaurant adjacent to the bus-terminus.

We boarded an express-bus to Pondy, the bus started at 8:35 AM, soon, we were on the scenic ECR and the bus was moving pretty fast away from the traffic snarls of the city.

There were various villages on the way, the bus passed through Mahabalipuram, Kalpakkam, Marakkanam, and we finally reached the Pondy bus-terminus at around 12:20 PM.

We began hunting for rooms, our first stop was Hotel Mass, an imposing white building, on entering it, we realized that it was a Star-Hotel, the room tariff was Rs 1900, for a day, we left the hotel, and crossed the road to another hotel Sabthagiri, the receptionist said that no rooms were there.

Then an auto-driver suggested a guest-house, called Raj GuestHouse, on Palivasal Street, we were a bit apprehensive, but we went there, a double room with a TV for Rs 300 per day, sounded great and I paid the advance, Harish was a bit worried and said that the place was a bit shady, and suggested that I should have looked at some other hotel.

We were informed that we would get a room with the TV in a couple of hours, we left our bags at the reception, and visited the Aurobindo Ashram, then we had our lunch at Adyar Ananda Bhavan.

Then we visited the Auro travel centre to book tickets to Auroville, to our dismay we found that the bus had just left. We were disappointed, and left to our guesthouse. The room was big and clean. We switched on the TV, a local channel was playing the movie"Manamathan," and we saw it.

We left the room at about 5 PM, and walked from our guesthouse to the Manakkulam Vinayakar temple, we completed our darshan and walked to the beach and lazed around the beach till 7:30 PM, then we had our dinner at a restaurant called Juice Wagon and returned to our room.

We were just in time to view the delayed start of the World Cup final. I fell asleep immediately, while Harish saw the full Australian innings.

Now Where to From Here.......


Once again on the crossroads of life, I can't help myself from thinking about Robert Frost's poem-"The Road Not Taken." I am reproducing the poem here for the benefit of people who have not read it.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am quitting my current job, and taking up another job, in a totally different realm, from the one in my current organization.

So perhaps years ahead, I shall be saying that-"I too took the road, less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.

Life is a quest, everyone has a goal, and works to achieve his/her goal. As long as the quest does not end in a fruitful goal, the restlessness, and the need to keep changing paths, keeps happening.

Some people find their goal early in life, some people achieve it a bit late in life, and there are many others, for whom the quest goes on till the last breath of their lives.

Hopefully I should complete my quest soon.

Let us see what happens......

And Time Flies By.......

One more month is coming to an end. Come May 1, 2007, it will be nine years to the day when we moved in to Tiruvallur. It is been a long time, studying in school, finishing tenth and twelfth standard.

Coming to Chennai everyday to attend college. First job, now on the second one, and moving on to the third one, next month, life is going on as time flies by.

This weekend there are plans for a trip, Harish is accompanying me for a trip to Pondy. We are trying to borrow a digicam from someone or the other to take lots of snaps.

Really want to post my snaps on this blog, hopefully it will be another achievment for me.

Let us see, more tomorrow, Bye Folks.

Time is flying by.., and I need to have dinner.

A True Experience

Yesterday, I was travelling by the bus 52 B, from Chennai Central to Guindy. It was evening around 7:30 P.M., many people were returning back to their houses after a hard day's work. The bus was jam-packed, and I was able to find a place to stand. When the bus reached the L.I.C. bus stop, I felt a hand going into my trouser pockets. I realized that someone had flicked my mobile phone. I turned around quickly and shouted-"Enn phone kaanam"(My phone is missing."

I spotted a seventeen-twenty year old youth who was behaving supiciously, I stared at him, he turned around and shouted-"Ivar phone kaanam"(His phone's missing)

I looked down and saw my phone the floor, I bent down and picked it up.

When I searched for the youth, he was missing, he had alighted at the Spencer's traffic signal.

Truly an unforgettable experience.

I thank God, and am happy to have got my phone back.

Much Ado About Nothing

The "Nothing," stands for the marriage of Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. Right from the shooting of Mani Rathnam's "Guru," rumours were afloat that the two had been married in a secret ceremony at the Madurai Meenakshi temple. Then Aish was spotted along with the Bachchans for some ceremony at a temple.

Finally Big-B announced that Aish, would be the ideal bahu for his family, God alone knows, what happened to Miss Congeniality Rani Mukherjee.

I do not know, why the media is making such a big issue out of this marriage. they are just people, famous actors, but they are just ordinary mortals like you and me, not gods, or great freedom fighters, who have sacrificed the ir youth for the country.

Every TV channel and news website, right from rediff, sify, ibnlive, Timesnow, every channel, has some article or the other related to the marriage. One article informed its readers that 20 kg of henna/mehendi had been ordered specifically for the mehendi ceremony of Aish, another discussed the wedding costume, another about the new house of the soon to be man and wife.

It becomes disgusting and irritation, when you keep getting their pictures flashed on screen, and yet another scoop, about the marriage of the scion of the first family of Bollywood.

God please give these news channels some sense.

I wish that Ash-Abhi have a happy life, but going by Ash's reputation of breaking hearts, God knows how long it will take before the cracks appear.

Let us see what happens.

The summer heat is sweltering, am really dreading May and the "kathri veyil," have to take lots of care to prevent dehydration. Drinking lots of buttermilk and eating a slice of watermelon to keep cool.

Have to try the kambu kuzhu one day.

Let us see, the summer is actually sapping the brain cells, don't you notice the length of my posts has gone down.

The Tamil New Year

The new year, Tamil, Vishu(Malayalam), is just around the corner. It will be a flurry of activity, getting up early in the morning to have a look at the Vishu Kani, wearing new clothes, feasting on special delicacies, watching the special programmes and movies on Asianet and Surya TV.

Another year has ended and another one is about to start. What does the new year hold in store?

Hope there is peace and happiness and love and joy in this world.

Signboard English

English as a global language, owes a lot to the East India Company, and other such settlers and explorers, for discovering new lands, and imposing their language on the people of those lands.
English has become the language of choice and profession, in most parts of the world. A sound knowledge of the language and good communication skills, have become a passport for a good job to many people in Asian countries, where the outsourcing business has mushroomed to unforseen proportions. Today if you can speak good English, are above eighteen years of age, and have atleast completed high school, you can get a job in a B.P.O., that will fetch you atleast Rs 6000/- a month as salary.

Now coming back to the main subject, about which this post is all about-Funny Signboards.
All of us would have seen some funny signboards, and had a really good laugh, I am sharing some signboards that I have seen, read and laughed like crazy.

1-Ramu Snakes Bar-Do the snakes have a court of law, are they lawyers, or is it a bar where snakes sip gin and brandy.

2-Flat Toilet-How can a toilet be totally flat, people will have a hard time using it.

3-Wet Paint, Don't Shit-As if someone would want to shit on paint.

4-Child Bear Available-It should have been chilled beer.

5-Hare cutting done here-Is he a barber or a butcher.

All these are actual signboards, I do not intend to hurt anybody's feelings, but these are the small things that make India such a great place to live in, even though we might have a hundred problems within the country, such things make us laugh and forget our tensions.

The OBC Reservation Row and its problems.......

Will there ever be a solution to the caste quota reservation, I had written a post on this blog about six or seven months back, that detailed the problems faced by people in the General Category to get admission in good colleges and find government jobs. The problem persists, the Supreme Court took a bold decision by putting a stay order on the reservation quota for OBC candidates, and look what happened...

The DMK so called saviours of the down trodden, disrupted life in Tamil Nadu by declaring a state wide bandh from 6 AM to 6 PM on Saturday March 31. Life was crippled, no shops, no theatres, no buses, autos or trains, and for the confirmed alcoholic, no wineshops. On Friday night itself the frequency of buses and autos decreased drastically.

March 31, the day when accounts were closed for stock taking, a day when auditors and busineesmen had a hundred tasks, well everything went awry, because of the idiotic and irresponsible behaviour of the Rising Sun.

Trains scheduled to enter Tamil Nadu on March 31, were stopped outside the state, trains and flights were rescheduled, lots of people who had planned weekend trips and picnics, faced a rude shock and had to stay back at home because of this strike.

What did Kalaignar achieve by calling this strike? Was any practical solution derived from this strike? No, a big no, school students writing their public exams, busy professionals, heck everyone right from the beggar to the multi-millionaire had to suffer at the hands of the DMK.

Thankfully no incidents of violence were reported, the only saving grace of this bandh, much unlike bandhs that happen in Kolkatta, Delhi and Bombay.

Hope the DMK, gives atleast a week's notice before calling anymore bandhs and strikes.

A Tale of Two Businesses.....

Each street has its small shop, where one gets to buy grocery, provisions, newspapers, soft drinks and other articles of daily use. The shopkeeper is trustworthy and he personally caters to the needs of his customers. He loves children the most and always has special chocolates and ice creams for them. I grew up in such an atmosphere and loved Kumar Annachi, who ran a small provision shop at the end of our street.

All cities in India are dotted by countless such shops which are managed by Agarwals, Singhs, Nairs, Raos and Sens and Guptas. India entered into the era of globalisation and modernisation in the late eighties and early nineties, the concept of malls, where all items were made available under one roof began to gain acceptance among the common public. Shopping Arcades like-Spencer's Plaza, Singapore Shopping Centre, Forum, Shriram Arcade, Alsa Mall, began to do brisk business.

This led to the boom in the retail chain management. Brands like Lifestyle, Westside, Pantaloons, Subhiksha, Vitan made an entry into the Indian market. The convenience of a complete shopping experience appealed to the common man, and the early days of the IT boom saw the pay-packets becoming fatter. Suddenly there was a lot of money to spend and a lot of products to buy. The commercial boom had started.

Now Reliance has moved into the retail segment and started its chain of Fresh stores, which sells vegetables, fruits and provisions. Reliance has appointed people to source the vegetables and fruits directly from the farmers to avoid any brokerage to be paid to middlemen. The traders in Koyambedu one of the largest vegetable markets in India, have started a protest demanding Reliance to close down, as they say they are losing their customers.

Wal-Mart is all set to start operations in India through a tie-up with the Bharti(Airtel) group. If Bharti enters India, then it will be a catalyst in the death of small business groups. Already Walmart has led to the death of many shops across America.

On the flip side these entrants in the retail market promise to provide employment to around 75, 000 people by the end of the year 2007. Young men and women are gettting jobs as salespersons with a decent salary of Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000. So in a way it is good for the economy.

So how will the system work, will both sides co-exist or will the multinational giants take over the small traders, only time will tell.

So one more day is coming to an end, one more day on this planet, in this life, in this city. Got some bad news today. I was not selected in the Bank Entrance Exam that I had written in January, I had pinned some hopes on it. Well whats done is done, the past cannot be changed and no point in spoiling the present by worrying about the past and the future.

I might perhaps shift to another house, bring my mother and father and stay together, as mother keeps worrying unnecessarily. Let me see by God's grace I should get a decent house, finalise a deal and move in to the new house by May 10.

Hope everything goes smooth.

Madras Nalla Madras
If you have not done this in Chennai...

Chennai, no I will rather stick to good old Madras, it is a melting pot of different cultures with people from many diverse traditions living in this city. The I.T. boom has brought in more and more tech-people from all the stes of India and many people from foreign countries also.

The following is a list of things that one should experience in good old Madras.

1-Wake up to the melodious voice of M.S. Subhalakshmi singing Venkatesa Suprabatham.
2-Have a tumbler of hot filter coffee, follow it up with a plate of steaming hot idlies with sambhar and fresh cocnut chutney.
3-Visit the Kapaleeshwarar Temple at Mylapore and the St. Thomas Church.
4-Go to the Marina Beach, walk bare foot on the soft sand, and have molagha bajji(chilly bajji) and sundal with green mango.
5-Visit Valluvar Kottam near Nungambakkam and the Theosophical Society in Besant Nagar.
6-Go to T.Nagar, a place where you can buy anything, and make a visit to Saravana Stores to look at the crowd that comes to buy all things under one roof.
7-Travel by the Mass Rapid Transit System(M.R.T.S.) flying train.
8-Go to Spencer's Plaza and blow up your hard earned money on things you can buy at half the price in Pondy Bazaar.
9-Visit the Vandaloor Zoo, and the Children's Park at Guindy. Have a look at Gandhi Mandapam and drink a glass of lemon juice from the guy who stands just outside Gandhi Mandapam(It is the best lemon juice that you can get in Chennai).
10-Travel by an auto and haggle with the auto-driver before paying your fare.
11-Go to Burma Bazaar near the Beach Station buy dvds of the latest movies.
12-Go to Devi theatre and watch a movie. I guess its Sathyam theatre for the younger generation.
13-Look at the chaos and order with which the people perform their daily tasks at the Central Railway Station.
14-Have food at a Kaiyendhi Bhavan(Mobile eatery)
15-Buy second hand books from Moore Market and Triplicane.
16-Make a trip to Mahabalipuram, V.G.P. and MGM Dizee World.(The last option blows a big hole in your pocket)
17-Attend a music concert during the Marghazi Music Festival in December-January.
18-Watch the frenzy and adoration of cinema crazy fans during the first day first show of a Rajinikanth, Kamalhassan, Ajit or Vijay movie.
19-Watch a cricket match at Chepauk praying fervrently that it does not rain and stop the match.
20-Travel by the M.T.C. bus service.

If you have not done these things then you have not experienced the true spirit of Madras.

Anger-When I lost my cool?

I am calm by nature and even if I get angry with someone or something I do not show it out and I bottle up my emotions. But everything has an exception, and a small incident occurred on March 24, 2007 when I really got angry and lost my cool.

We had cricket practice, following the dismal performance of our corporate cricket team, in the league and our captain decided that we would train well and sweat it out in the nets to regain our form. I reached the venue, and our captain divided the team into three groups. One group that included me was sent for fielding practice. The other two groups were involved in batting and bowling.

I thought that maybe after 40 -45 minutes I would get an opportunity to bat, but I found out that all I and four other members of the team would only have fielding practice. All our hands were getting numb after almost 80 minutes of catching the ball, and no sign of an opportunity to bat, I lost my cool and threw the ball with all my strength at the person who was conducting the fielding practice.

The other guy also lost his cool and we had a war of words, and we would have almost come to blows, if the others had not stopped him. The incident was reported and the captain gave a lecture, stating that-"Cricket is not only about batting and bowling, fielding is equally important....."

I was really sorry and apologized to the other guy who was still a bit angry, but by the time we left the ground we shook hands and he said-"No issues."

I guess anger is nothing but temporary madnees that causes a lot of problems.

I hope I get to bat at the next practice session.