Second Anniversary !!!!!

This is the day I landed in US two years back. Looking back I wonder how fast these two years have passed by. I should thank almighty and after that my mother without whom I would have never made it so far. Quite from my childhood god has marched with me along his side and he still continues to do so. Without his grace, I would not have not have accomplished all these in my life. Next I should thank my mother, whom I love more then anyone else in this world. I should thank her for what I’m now.

July 30th 2002 is just like yesterday. Could not imagine, that I have completed two full years in US. In all these time here I had a chance of visiting some of the best places in this country like Florida, Detroit, New York, New Jersey, Niagara Falls and Dubai on my way back to India for a vacation. So its 2 years and what did I get after coming here to this land of opportunities? Well obviously a Masters Degree, more than that I got a chance to interact with a lot of people, meet with people of varied characters. Some people happy, some greedy, some angry, some psychic, some confident, some losers and lot more. I had a chance to live with a big student community. The next best part after coming to US is that I learnt A-Z in the art of cooking (that every student coming to US will surely do).

Put together, the experience which I had in the past two years has made me a man from a boy.

Raaja - Vasool Raaaaajaaa MBBS !!!

 


Listening to Vasool Raja MBBS songs for the past two days. Good work from Bharadwaj. Special credits to the freaky lyrics. They are cool and funny especially in ‘Love pannuda magane’ ,  ‘Kalaka Poavathu yaaru’ and ‘pathukulle number onnu sollu’ songs. Though I personally feel that these songs sound nothing new, they surely will keep the FM listeners and music lovers of Chennai, happy for the next couple of months. The fact that rap and hip hop is slowly taking over the tamil music is evident in ‘Sakala Kala Doctor’ song.

Kay Kay, Shreya Goshal  has done a good job in   ‘Pathukulla number onnu sollu’ and Sadhana Sargam gets all credits for the ‘Kaadu Thiranthu’ number. Finally need not to mention KamalHassan has once again proved his supreme talent in the ‘alwarpeta aalu’ gaana song. Which is similar to the ‘kandasaamy maadasaamy song’.  Kamal’s voice modulation here demands special accolades. He is really multi talented, evident from the way he proves he can sing whatever he is asked to. 

All together a very good album. 

Monkey menace - a good one !!

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NEW DELHI, JULY 26. A secretary-level meeting, meant for upkeep of Shastri Bhavan, last week discussed, among other things, a rather curious issue — the monkey menace. The sprawling complex houses several Ministries besides the Press Information Bureau (PIB). Several Ministers also have their offices in the building.
Hiring a `langur'
It was pointed out that a dozen monkeys had ``attacked'' a senior official on a Saturday. Concern was expressed over the increasing activities of monkeys which became more ``playful and naughty'' on Saturdays, Sundays and Government holidays, and someone pointed out that the only way to drive them away was to hire a `langur' (chimpanzee).It was suggested that all Ministries should contribute to pay for a `langur' as it was the only effective way of driving the monkeys away and had been used by the South and North Blocks and even the Planning Commission.
Then arose the question of why the monkeys were increasing, particularly in the corridors of power? ``Well, if the Government pays peanuts, it gets monkeys,'' a senior bureaucrat is reported to have said. Perhaps, it is time for a new Pay Commission. 

 
source : THE HINDU

Not a good sign for tamil cinema.

I was dismayed on reading reviews and hearing from people in India that the movie ‘New’ is a big hit. This puts me in shock. Where's tamil film industry taking us and what’s happening to the tamil viewer’s taste out there. I saw the movie for the sake of watching it and felt that the movie is gross to the core. There were quite a few carnal and sensual scenes which makes one feel how cheap or mean the director was. This is a bad sign in kollywood because I’m sure this movie will instigate producers to take up worst projects like this. Its been happening for a while in tamil industry. Movies like ‘Thuluvatho Illamai’, ‘Jayam’,  ‘Thiruda Thirudi’ and some other movies(I’m not able to remember) are not ought to be super hits. I wonder how they become one. Moreover there’s nothing new in ‘NEW’, because it was just the replica of the Tom Hanks starrer ‘BIG’ mixed with some Indian masala.

The only soothing fact is the music from ARR. Songs are damn good. As usual he has shown his great talent. Special accolades to the melodious ‘Kaalaiyalk Thinnamum’ song.

Don't forget to read this news !!!

You guys have any idea whats this news is all about in yesterday's issue of THE HINDU. If you have any clue kindly let me know. Its time to rebuild the online edition of the THE HINDU daily, before people getup fed up with it. I'm personally a big fan of THE HINDU and have been reading it for the past 10 years. My day doesn't start until I read the front page, sports column and the Metro plus when I was in India. I'm so used to it that I don't get a satisfaction reading through any other news sites.

But its really a primetime that the people hosting the online edition of HINDU consider doing some changes in it. Altough the news in it are always fresh the website looks rustic. I'm gonna try sending an email to the publishers about this. Lets see how that works out to be.

I miss you !!!

From day one of landing here in US, I some how developed an aversion with this place. Except for very few things I never liked this place. Although everything is here in surplus both quality and quantity wise, I have cultivated a strange kind of feeling, about living here, which I’m not able to explain. I'm pretty sure this is neither the "not happy with what one has" feeling.
 
Missing family and friends might be one reason. More than any one else, missing my mom a lot. Missing those hot Chennai roads, Spencers Plaza and Besant Nagar beach. There are bigger malls and best roads here, but I still miss my Chennai. That’s why, may be people tell “kenathu meen kadala uyir vaaladhu”(fish from pond will not survive in sea water).  There’s a little boy in me who keeps  crying that he wants to go back to India as soon as he could. I’ld like to quote the lines of a song from my favorite ARR-Vairamuthu combo-
 
“Kanthal aanalum Thaai madi poal oru sugam Varumaa Varumaa
Sorgam endraalum sondha oor poal oru sudhandhiram Varumma Varumma”
 
Even though I have everything here,  I feel empty. I miss you Chennai. 
 

Most Unfortunate day

Happened to watch SUN news yesterday(thanks for the free service from Indiamoviezone.com). The gruesome videos of the fire accident in a private school in Kumbakoanam terrified me and I was literally shaked for a while, after watching it. Those black corpses lined up in the hospital still flash in my mind. I pity for the poor parents, for whom it will be a while until they get over with this horrifying incident.
 
The teachers who ran away from the school are blamed for this ghastly incident. What comes in my mind is that anyone who was in that situation would not have known what to do and would surely had run for the safety of ones own life. Though their act cannot be justified I think the situation would have been so worse that they cannot think or would not have got enough time to decide. They would have never had any experience of this kind and would have never gone through any fire drills or any practices of that kind. So its really hard to think and decide what is right and what can be done at that time.
 
 
The people who are solely responsible for this are the law enforcers in India. Starting from various departments, the police and the ministers, these people are the one responsible for this. Education system runs on monitorial basis rather than the purpose it actually is destined for. We all know that 90% of the schools lack the proper infrastructure and lack even the basic failities. This is not the situation only in villages or towns. In Chennai most of the schools do not have a play ground too and still run in thatched roofs.
 
But I’m happy that people are taking this incident seriously to their heart. Special appreciation goes to Rahul Gandhi and the people of Kumbakoanam who have shut their shops, schools and business for a second day yesterday and have taken up rallies and condolence meetings. I’m sure this incident will prove to big lesson and will lead to the removal of dangerous structures and thatched roofs from public places.
 
Its kind of disheartening that we learn from costly mistakes of this kind every time. Be it for the Sarika Shah’s death due to eve-teasing or the John David case for raging. I hope the government takes this seriously and takes an initiative to change the structural safety of not only the schools but also the places of all public gatherings.
 
 
One thing I always tell myself is India should change, but I don't want it this way.

Cigarettes that put themselves out

Do you know that there will be something different about cigarette brands sold in NewYork from now. New York has become the first state to phase in a law requiring tobacco companies to sell the new fire-safe cigarettes. The law is meant to put down the number of smoking related fire accidents. These cigarettes will self-extinguish if they are not puffed regularly. At first I wondered why all this hype. But was amazed by looking at the facts that about 900 Americans die each year and another 2500 are hurt by fires started by cigarettes which are left unattended.

These cigarettes will have a special kind of ultra-thin banded paper which puts off the fire when they are not used. This proves that the technology is used to its fully for the welfare of the people in this country.

Don’t call her Anna

From the title many would have guessed on whom this blog is about. Yeah its about Maria Sharapova, the youngest player to make it to Wimbledon finals after Hingis. Sharapova, a 6-foot blonde with a modeling contract already in her credit is being compared to Anna Kournikova by the media. But the fact is Anna has never won a grand slam title which Sharapova has managed to do. With the appearance of Sharapova at the center court, the tennis world witnessed a new diva. She enthralled the crowd with both her beauty and talent. Personally I liked her very much especially when she throws her arms in the air and blowing kisses to the crowd. So folks don’t call her Anna for she is more beautiful and talented than her.