A Journey with Amar

Workaholic !!!

2006-11-29T09:46:00.000-05:00

Guys - Last 4-5 months, I have been doing nothing but WORK.

Just taking a sabbatical. Will be back soon !!!

Childhood Memories - 1

2006-08-27T00:07:00.000-04:00

One of my friends sent me MP3's of some rare songs and videos. One of them was this Ek aur Anek song. It was so nice to listen to this song after a long time. It grew some sweet longings or things and situations of the past. Anyone who was in a childhood stage during late 80's would remember this song. Those were the days of DD (Doordarshan) when videos like this were aired in between programs. This particular song was so catchy and became very popular. The plot of the song is that a Girl explains her younger brother about the power of being united, using the story of the pigeon. The animated version was so simple that even non-Hindi speaking kids could easily understand what the video was all about.

Also here's the list of the videos that I still remeber from my childhood DD days.

1. Mile Sur Mera Tumara
2. The Olympic Torch Light run with Yanni's(I'm not sure) music in the back ground.
3. Mohli Song - Jungle Book
4. Duck Tales
5. He-Man (and the masters of the Universe)
6. Street Hawk ( I still remember the schedule. It was sunday's around noon)
7. Obvioously Ramayana and Mahabaratha...Every kid during that time can repeat the title song.
8. Aaana Penna poranthu enna - Srividya's video about femaile infanticide.

The advent of private channels nowadays have made these type of videos a thing of past.

If something like this rings a bell in your mind, please comment.

looose paiyan un mela thaan loosa suthuraan

2006-06-13T21:28:00.000-04:00

Girl, you got my heart breaking
Girl, the break no faking
Girl, its you that I need
Girl, oh yes indeed
Girl, as time flies by
Girl, this ain’t no right
Girl, if you aren't feeling my pain
Then Let me EXPLAIN

loosee penna loose loooose pennae - loose paiyan loosa suthuraan
loose loose loose pennae loose looose losose penna loose paiyan un mella thaan loosa loosa suthuraan

Good Work SIMBU

Photography !!

2006-05-08T22:21:00.000-04:00

recently, picked up an interest in photography. Please view these pics and let me know your comments.

Tulip Festival

Here and There

I made it....I ran the town

2006-05-08T22:11:00.000-04:00

Oh....have heard of "On top of the world" feeling. For the first time feeling it for the past 3 days. I ran the 20 KM(13.1 M) Indy 500 mini Marathon. Will update about the experience soon.

15 K of Smiles

2006-04-17T21:39:00.000-04:00

A weekend that can be cherished for the rest of the life. A price for all the determination. Very Very happy that I fnished the 15 KM Marathon. Go to this page and search ny my name, you can see the results for yourself. Sorry if I sound pompous !!

Just wanted to share this acheivement. Waiting to try the 23 KM on May 06. Will keep you all posted about it.

I can be a Painter too !!!

2006-03-07T11:50:00.000-05:00

For a long time, I have been thinking about painting my apartment. Finally, fulfilled one of my dreams. With some quick tips online, I started painting my kitchen and then went on to paint my living room. Still have some paint left to finish up my bedroom. I should honestly admit that it’s not an easy job to do. More than the painting it’s moving the stuffs around the house that takes a toll out of you. But as anything else, I wanted to finish what I started. All this physical pain did not matter a lot; the toughest part was choosing the color. There are thousands of colors on small blocks of sheets and its very hard to find one that you have in your mind. I was successful in choosing 2 out of the 3 colors correctly. The best one was the red. It was so vibrant and every time I see it I feel fresh. Interested in seeing the colors that I used, See this.

Weekend Websites

2006-02-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

Goooooooood Morning America and Goooood Evening India.....

Its Another awesome friday and weekend is just around the corner. For those who are going to work this weekend - 'Dont work too hard', for others - just get out of your seat and jump around. Its been a while since I have been actively blogging. I guess I'm back in form.
Couple of nifty things that you guys might be interested in

- Microsoft has given its answer for Google earth. There view of 'Earth' just rocks!!. Guys at Microsoft have replaced google's picturistic view with a BIRD"S EYE view, which shows the exact picture of the place you are looking for. You must see it to beleive it. I saw the truck that's always parked in front of my apartment. Another great thing to do is to lookup Empire State Building. Look at it yourself and let me know your reactions.
http://local.live.com/

- If you aare person who cares a lot about your self improvement, there is a very good website that i found during my web hopping. His blogs are really good and motivating.
http://www.stevepavlina.com/

- If you or anyone that you know of, are planning to know more about India( the mystic land of warmth, hospitality, tradition and spritualism) there is a very good site that filbert forwarded me. Gaze through it and enjoy.
http://www.indiatravelinfo.com/

Columbus Columbus Vittachu Leave.......

2005-11-24T10:49:00.000-05:00

Finally the day every Desi dreams about, is here.

Will be leaving to the airport in a couple of hours. A long travel to go. Just cant wait to set the foot on Indian Soil.

i'll keep updating the blog with whats happening in my trip. Keep reading

California, A country by itself...

2005-11-17T19:54:00.000-05:00

After almost 3.5 years of my time in US and for the first time ever, I got a chance to visit the mighty California. I'm currently in San Diego. I feel like I have come to a different country on the whole. The scene is very different. The roads, the variety of nationals that you see here, the number of Mexican restaurants, the beaches and the type of houses; everything is so different from the east. I have been jogging in one of the beaches in the early mornings. With moon slowly coming down towards the ocean and the surfers patiently waiting for bigger waves, birds all over the place, with seals taking an early morning nap it was a wonderful feeling. One more noticeable change is the number of palm trees. Whichever side you turn, you can see a palm tree. May be I'll drive down to San Diego downtown this evening and then LA on Sunday. I'm LA will be more surprising then San Diego is.

What a girl wants ??

2005-11-04T13:21:00.000-05:00

Well this is a zillion dollar question that runs in the mind of each and every guy especially who falls under the age group of 18-25. If you split their skull open and take a peek, you will not be surprised to see this question dappled all over their brain. "WHAT DOES A GIRL WANT FROM ME". Car, bike, money, height, weight, intelligence, job, assets, sense of humor, love, affection, hey what the heck they really want??

She wants you to listen to what she talks and when our man finally listens to her, she stops talking and wants you to talk, If you adore her and tell her that she is the most beautiful thing on earth, she thinks you are flirting and lying, if you don't do that you are fit for nothing. If you try to hug or kiss her with love, you are not a perfect man, but if you don't do, chances are that she might think that you are not a man. If you don't keep an eye on her when you are among a group, you don't care about her, but if you do, she thinks you are possessive. When you always agree with her, you're an indecisive wimp. If you don't, you do not understand. If you smoke or drink, then you are no a gentleman, but if you don't you are a geek or a nerd and not so cool. You can't be sarcastic, you can't ogle other girls. Come-on what the heck these girls want???

This is nothing new. Ever since the human race evolved, we men, the most poor creatures in the earth, have been incompetent in coming up with an answer for this question. There is always this guy's talk that if you have car and money you can easily find a girl. That's all crap. You cannot get one until you know what she really wants and you can never know the answer because most of the time they don't know what they want too!!!

What say guys and gals ???

Hitchcock, Angry men and Bollywood - A quick review

2005-10-27T21:43:00.000-04:00

Watched few movies this week.

‘12 Angry Men’ was the best among them. If you ever get a chance, please don’t miss to watch this movie. For a movie which was taken in 1957, this one was a brave effort from the director. This movie would give you an experience of a group discussion. It revolves around 12 men who are in a jury which is on the verge of deciding the judgment on a murder case. 11 out of the 12 find the accused guilty. The one guy who thinks that the accused is not guilty talks them out of it and makes them accept his idea on reasonable doubt. Finally the jury unanimously accepts that the accused is not guilty. Prejudice always obscures the truth. That’s the core of the movie. An awesome work of direction, screenplay and acting.

Right after watching this movie and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, I committed a crime by watching 3 other Hindi movies. That was a sin. You want to what movies they were.

Baagbhan - Oh well what can I say about this movie. Except for ravishing Hemamalini and a good performance by Big B, every single scene of the movie was precariously sentimental. The whole movie was so predictable and gave me an effect of watching a Vikraman's(a tamil director) movie. The movie's attempts to connect this out-of the world characters with the ethos of sentiments towards parents which were so forced that the transcendent and feel-good leaps of that parental sentiment seemed mawkish and unearned. Salman's activities as a philanthropist were the peak of atrocities. Especially in the scenes where he talks to his foster parents with some unusual respect and best was the scene where he and Mahima take aarathi for Amitabh’s and Hemamalini’s photos. I guess the director had thought that the viewers would not even have an iota of sense. I’m perfectly alright with a little bit of sentiments in a movie, but this was a sentimental killer.

Then I put myself into an unwanted struggle by watching these made-to-be-calssic movies (Ek Aur Ek Gyara & Garv). Though I took only 30 minutes for each movie, both of them did not sieze to put me in a sensation of dizziness. These two movies unquestionably take a spot in the list of worst movies I have ever seen.

God Bless Bollywood...Actually I should say God bless us from Bollywood !!!!

Thanni Illatha Kaatukku

2005-10-18T21:48:00.000-04:00

If you are from India and if you have watched a good amount of Indian movies, be it Hindi, Tamil or Telugu, It is almost inevitable that you would have missed a scene were a corrupt politician transferring an honest police officer to a no man’s land (Thanni Illatha Kaatuku) for interfering in his business which always pertains to corruption, women and rowdism. This not only happens in movies. It’s the reality too. Many times the politicians use this as a weapon for their self-aggrandizement. This hampers the development of a particular district when the district officer becomes the target, the case on a which a CBI officer works when he is a target and so on. Some of you might have known that the only posts which enjoys a minimum tenure of two years are the Cabinet Secretary and Directors, CBI and Enforcement Directorate. Recently the central government has added Home Secretary, Defence Secretary and Directors, IB and RAW.

The next in the list of posts on which the politicians had been using their power with impunity for a long time are the district officers and the police officers.

“A study of postings of Indian Police Service officers in the districts of Uttar Pradesh during 2004 shows that as many as 153 officers headed the police forces in 70 districts during the year at an average of about 2.2 per district. Four Superintendents of Police headed each district police force in Kushinagar, Jalaun, Mainpuri, Ferozabad and Baghpat and 17 districts saw at least three officers heading each of their police forces during the year. In other words, an officer joins the district and remains there on an average for 3 or 4 months before a new man comes to take over from him.

Corruption is not the only motive. It is done not only to reward but also to punish. This is one way to bend the entire district administration to one's will. In August 1979, the National Police Commission (NPC) stated that transfer and suspension are two weapons frequently used by the politician to bend the police officers to his will. The absence of a sound transfer policy is playing havoc with the morale of officers. But besides harming the morale, it is damaging the whole ethos and efficiency of the administrative system. One, frequent changes in the administrative heads of the districts result in poor and delayed implementation of government policies. It takes a fairly long time for the district chiefs to get acquainted with the problems of their districts, establish rapport with the community leaders and plan the implementation of policies to solve people's difficulties. "

Source:The Hindu

This is the same reason we can see the governors, commissioners and senior police officers, getting transferred when there is a change of power in the state, which is highly unacceptable. Rules like this will surely act as a check on all these, hopefully !!!

Thank God its Friday

2005-10-14T07:31:00.000-04:00

Another awesome friday morning. Its when you are awake after sleeping over a thursday night syndrome. You feel as if you are so powerful that you can even lift 200 pounds on either shoulders. For those who dont now what is Thursday night syndrome, It is an universal mental disorder, mostly prevailent among college students and working class. The cause of this - You have worked 4 days continously and you now that you have 1 more to go and you want that to get over and you cant wait for it. Usually the symptoms are restlessnes and a strange feeling in the abdomen due to that, reduced sleep, increased appetite. Once you sleep over this syndrome, friday mornings are so fresh, you become so active, as if you are out of a flu or something. You want to get the day over with, so you become more active. This is common in most of the people white, black, asian, caucasian, mongolian with exceptions of some geeks and happens no matter how much ever you like your job.

Once again Thank God Its Friday !!!

Pack it up, pack it in
Let me begin
I came to win
Battle me that's a sin
I won't tear the sack up
Punk you'd better back up
Get up, stand up, come on!Come on,
throw your hands up
If you've got the feeling
jump across the ceiling
Jump around, Jump aroud, Jump around, Jump around Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,
Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,

I came to get down
So get out your seats and jump around
Jump around Jump up Jump up and get down.Jump

Jump around, Jump aroud, Jump around, Jump around Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,
Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,Jump,

- This is House of Pain (cypress remix version). A song that tells you how exactly one (atleast me) feels on a friday !!

So Jump ! Jump ! Jump ! Jump ! Jump ! Jump ! Jump ! Jump ! Jump ! Jump !

Have a nice weekend guys !!!

Ayutha Pooja & Dasara

2005-10-12T21:25:00.000-04:00

Just realized that it was Vijaydasami(Dasara) yesterday, when I popped open Hindu's webpage. Usually when I was in school someone or the other used to remind about all these, because it will surely come up during the conversation with the parents. Even if your parents missed to remind you, there would be at least one parent who reminds their ward about this and that guy would have cribbed about that with you.

I'm not quite sure about the other states. In TN Vijayadasami is the day after Ayudha Pooja(Festival for the Worksman), also called as Saraswathi Pooja. As a kid, it was one of those days that I was eagerly waiting for, Diwali being the topper of the list. Until I was in 8th grade, we(me and my brother) used to attend the early pooja at home and then head out with dad to his office. As he works in the Engineering Department of Southern railways, this day was considered to be an important one at his work. Almost 300 gang men and labours assemble in the office. They used to clean the tools, the trolleys and doors to a sparkling bright, with turmeric leaves tied on either side of them. Wherever you turn you can see kunkum, mangal, sandal applied in a particular fashion. Then there is a grand aarthi, generally by the senior office of dad's. After the aarathi everyone will be distributed with a bag of apples, oranges, rice pori, jaggery. Being the smallest kid, it was almost palpable that my brother was everyone's favorite there. We used to come back home, generally with 2 other men who used to carry bulk load of bags with sweets and other stuffs. For the next two three weeks mom used to try out different kinds of pori like masala pori, sweetpori, koathamali pori.

This day has one more significance, which is the main reason I like this day. We don't have to read on this day. Books were neatly wrapped and offered in front of goddess saraswathi. Mom used to apply kumkum on them, before placing them in front of god. I always used to give the text books of the toughest subject. Chemistry and Tamil text book of mine will always find a place. Then we take the books out from the pooja room, the next day and we have to read at least for sometime on the dasara day. There by it was believed that they were invoked with the blessings from the goddess of learning, Saraswathi.

As I grew up, things were different. Mom wanted me and my brother to learn all these customs. Generally my duty was to clean all pictures, clean the pooja room, then get all those vessels ready to be washed by mom. Then I used to clean my Motorcyle and bike. Dad used to do his. Then do a small pooja for those. Then we all assemble at the pooja room were mom used do the aarthi. We uses to chant some slokas along with her. Generally on these days there will not be any breakfast, on top it all those special prepared items like vada, paayasam, sweet pongal, etcetra will be lined up in front of your eyes, but you cannot touch them until the pooja is over and prasad is offered to the crow. Mom was very strict on that. You cannot even taste them until the rituals were complete. I was always ready to take the prasad to the terrace and come back very quick and lie to mom that the crow actually ate it, even though they never turned up many times. Come-on you cant expect a crow to turn up very fast, when it is 80 degrees outside and added to that, that’s the day when they are every bodies guest. So they would have already had 2 or 3 full meals and napping at some tree top. I would take the first step and initiate the thinking of eating. Dad follows me. He knows I can’t wait for it, but he really cannot wait too.

Once I joined college, this festival always used to come during the study holidays, that is when I would have just started to read something. You can't really spare a day. So I always ended up studying on those days. Mom never worried about it, since she always knew that she has to pay for the arrear fee if I had to fail in the exam.

Suddenly I feel I miss all this fun. You never care for all these when you are actually there. Its only when you are very far away from something you really miss it. A desi crib !! isn't it.

Best Tamil songs of 2005

2005-10-10T21:02:00.000-04:00

The year 2005 has been a bad year for Tamil Film Music. I might be oblivious, correct me if I’m wrong. From my perspective there are several reasons. The first reason, which some might think, to be a biased one is that, this year was probably the worst year for the madras Mozart ARR. He did not come out, even with a decent album. Even taking his international assignments into account, its been long since he had performed the way he used to during his prime days in Tamil. I, like many other ARR fanatics, am eagerly waiting for an alaipayuthe, KK or albums like that. The second reason which I feel is that, the taste of Tamil fans have changed a lot. Fast numbers have become a fashion. With songs Manmada Raasa, Seena thaana becoming a big hit last year, almost all the directors and Music directors came up with more fast numbers, which ia a big loss for TFM. Even other music directors like YSR, HJ, Illairaja and Vidyadsagar did not come up with a full rock-solid-album this year. Among the songs which came out this year, here’s the list of my favorite songs. Obviously YSR tops the list with most number of songs.

1. Andha Naal Nyabagam - IR (Athu Oru Kana Kaalam)
2. Pani Thuli Pani Thuli - YSR (Kanda Naal Mudhal)
3. Sutrum Vizhi Chudare - HJ (Ghajini)
4. Oru Maalai Illa veiyil – HJ (Ghajini)
5. Merke Merke Sooriyangal - YSR (Kanda Naal Mudhal)
6. Kaatril Varum – IR (Oru Naal Oru Kanavu)
7. Khagraaho Kanavilae - IR (Oru Naal Oru Kanavu)
8. Athindhom Thindiyum Nanthana - VS (Chandramukhi)
9. Ella Ella Ellla maateitaan payyan thaan - YSR (Arindum Ariyamalum)
10. Iyengaaru Veetu Alagey - HJ (Anniyan)

The other songs that I liked are konjum thira konjma thira, Kaathal enbathu kaduval allava, Uyire en Uyire ennova nadukuthadi, Saka Poadu poataale, Yaaridamum thoandravilai Ithu poal, Noothana nee Noothana.

Shooting Experience

2005-10-10T12:25:00.000-04:00

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Yesterday I was fortunate to try out some shooting in a private shooting range which is 30 miles from where I live. It was one of its kind experience that you will have to feel for yourself. You get a chance to try out some real handguns, pistols and rifles. The way it works is, you should be 21 years and above and have a valid drivers license. You can select the type of guns you want to try and check it out for 30 mins. Then you can buy the ammo depending on the guns you have selected. I was trying a Gloak a basic model which all the cops use here and 9mm bullets. All I have to do was to fill the cartridge, load the gun and bang bang aim the target. It was a mind blowing experience. The force, that you feel for that fraction of a second when you shoot is just great. Neeless to day I hit Bulls eye. !!!

If you are in US, you must be having a shooting range near your place. I would suggest you to try that. Its lots of fun.

A Welcome Back !! For myself

2005-07-19T23:23:00.000-04:00

Hi all, I dont want to resume my blogging with a cliché - 'Its been a long time'. Nope..I wont. But I'm sorry guys. I never thought so many people log into my page everyday. Thanks to Statcounter, without which I would never have come to know about you all. Thanks for reading my blog. I'll try to update it regularly.

Quick Reviews,

I have been watching quite a lot of movies for the last one week. So I thought of writing quick reviews on them

Anniyan - 27 crores in trash. The movie did not impress me a lot. Shankar has just filled his template with different theme and cast. Nothing new. Multiple Personality is an unwanted concept for this theme. Remo was a big torture. First half of the movie sucked big time. Second half is ok. Vikram has done a good Job. Vivek Rocks. Graphics- Just irritating. Time for Shankar to think of something else. A neat theme wasted badly.

Paheli - Expected to be bad. I thought I would be coming out cribbing about the movie. FOr my surprise, the movie was not so bad. Ravi K Chandran has done a wonderful job. A 3hour retreat for your eyes with all the ethnic Rajastani dresses and Interiors. Graphics - well done goes with the film. Sharukh Khan in his usual Angelic style - gives out expressions as if he is some kind of angel who has come to save the people in this earth. Music was also promising.

Nuvosthaavante Nenu Odhantaana - A decent telugu flick. Directed by prabhu Deva, the movie has provided more scope of acting for Trisha, which has been wasted again. Good performance by Karhtik, Prakash Raj. A decent movie which would be a delight if watched with family, sitting in your living room.

4 the People - Watched the telugu version. Amateur direction and performance from everyone. Music, inspired hugely from ARR. Again a good concept with some stupid screenplay.

Paheli - Chandran - Theater

2005-06-25T04:17:00.000-04:00

One of the most awaited movies of the year Paheli is out. Reviews are pouring in praising the movie. The worst thing about not belonging to a big city in US is that you will have to wait long for watching the Indian movies. For example Paheli releases here on July 9th, so is Anniyan on the 10th of July. One gets to read everything about the movie before actaully watching it and many times you are so prejudiced, that you know what’s gonna come up next or what’s the flaws beforehand. I generally avoid reading about the movie, If I decided that I'm going to watch it.

Paheli is one such movie. The reason behind it is that this film is shot by Ravi K Chandran. For me, he is the best Cinematographer the Indian film industry has ever seen. Remeber the Tanhayee, Dil Chata Hai song and the visuals in the movie DCH, remember the visuals in Virasat, Kabhie Na Kabhie, Koi Mil Gaya, Kadukondein, Boys, Minsara Kanavu, Kanathil Muthamital, Yuva. They were just mind blowing. Any given day, without any doubt I will say that there is no other Indian movie that can match the visuals that he has used in all the above movies. DCH, being my favorite. When I read the review about this movie in Rediff, I was very happy to see that Chandran took the most part of it. It seems that Rani wants all her movies to be shot by Chandran, because he makes her look so beautiful on the silver screen like nobody else has ever done.

Ok what’s my point here is that i want you guys to watch this movie in a theater unless and until you have no other means. Its a justice that we can do for all the painstaking work by people like Chandran. I hate watching movie online or in pirate VCD's. I opt not watching the movie which on any day is better that watching it in VCD or Online. Only then you can appreciate their work and moreover this movie is about the people of Rajastan. He should have got a good scope to experiment new things for their costumes are so colorful and the locations are just mind blowing.

Please watch the movie and let me know how you liked it. I don’t guarantee the script, but for the visuals, I can bet a thousand bucks.

Antha Naal Nyabam

2005-05-20T04:49:00.000-04:00

Guys listen to this song. No wacky beats, no special instruments, no English words, no high tech sounds, but full of feel good music. That's Maestro for you. This song is a perfect example of IR style of music. The song opens with a good bass and a flute music just like the Illangaathu from Pithamagan and then continues with a mellifluous music. When I listen to the song I felt like I have heard it some where else but couldn't quite figure it out. Thats one more aspect of IR's songs. Nothing new, but something different, which still keeps you listening the song n number of times. One more great thing about the song is the voice rendered by both V.Yesudas and Shreya. Vijay rocks!. God should have told to himself that people in earth will miss Yesudas's voice after some time, so he bestowed in Vijay, the voice of his father, which I'm happy that he has used in the right way without going for all those fast and item number songs. His voice gives a a overwhelming feeling, when you listen to this song. Shreya has managed to come out with good pronunciations.

This is the pick of the album Adhu Oru Kanaa Kaalam.

Early Morning ramblings,

2005-05-17T11:04:00.000-04:00

It was not my morning today. I got up at 05.30 and was getting ready for the pool and accidentally stepped on my goggles and broke it. There you go, my swimming plans was ruined. The ok I old myself, let’s go for cycling and I got my cycle down and started cycling. The weather was so cold that after biking for 2 minutes by hands were literally freezing. So after another screw up I thought of going to Wal-Mart and buying a goggle so that I can go for a swim tomorrow without any hassle. It did not stop there. I got all the stuffs to the counter when I finally realized that I forgot my wallet. I was like Dude! this is not your day. But finally managed to drive back home and get the wallet and bought the stuff. Let me see how the rest of the day goes.

Today I Learnt Something

2005-05-14T07:11:00.000-04:00

Inspired by one of my gurus(Meenaks), I''m starting this series, where I'll be posting something which I learnt and would like to share with you all. Today I learnt something on Photography and the art of taking better pictures with the wonder device - 'camera'.

Like most of you, I have seen lot of pictures with red eye. Have you ever wondered what's red eye really means or why does it happen? Did you just ask yourself 'yeah why does it happen – we never thought about it' (that's what I thought when a speaker in a seminar put forward this question). The redeye occurs when the camera flash reflects the blood vessels of the retina into the lens. During lower lights our retina gets dilated. The pupils diltaes to adjust the lowlight conditions. So when the high intensity light from the flash falls on the blood cells of the retina and gets reflected, thus giving a red eye effect.

Now what can be done to reduce redeye, first you can buy a camera with reduced or completely eliminated red eye effect. If you already have a camera without these features, the easiest way to reduce the red eye, though not fully eliminating is to shoot the picture from a good distance or use a detachable flash.

Quick snippets about handling your camera and taking better pictures,

- Never compromise on the pixels. Always go for the maximum pixels you're your camera supports. By going for lesser pixels you are wasting the extra money you spent for the camera with a higher MP.
\n\n \n-\n It\'s always advisable to have a belt for your camera. It\'s the cheapest insurance you can buy for your camera.\n \n-\n Always save the file in RAW. If your camera does not support RAW go for JPEG.\n \n-\n Use a card cover for your memory card that reduces dust entering into your camera chip from the holes in your card.\n \n \nI have no doubt calling Camera a wonder device. It helps us capture some of the happiest moments in our life. Un-doubtfully it\'s always the best moments, have you ever seen a picture taken when someone is sad or in trouble.\n\n \n \nContinue snap-shooting your happiest moments….\n \nAmar\n \n \n \n \n",1]
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- It's always advisable to have a belt for your camera. It's the cheapest insurance you can buy for your camera.

- Always save the file in RAW. If your camera does not support RAW go for JPEG.

- Use a card cover for your memory card that reduces dust entering into your camera chip from the holes in your card.

I have no doubt calling Camera a wonder device. It helps us capture some of the happiest moments in our life. Un-doubtfully it's always the best moments, have you ever seen a picture taken when someone is sad or in trouble.

Continue snap-shooting your happiest moments….

Amar

Anniyan Songs - A quick review

2005-05-01T12:08:00.000-04:00

Anniyan Sogs are out. Personally this album is a most awaited one of the year, for the reason that Shankar replaced my favourite ARR with Harris. So I was expecting that Harris Jeyaraj will at any cost come up with an album to fill the void created by the absence of ARR for Shankar. Did he succeed in that...read below

1. The first song in the Album is 'Kaadhal Yaanai' and personally my best song in the Album. A perfect song for a DJ or a party night. The songs makes you feel like you want to get up and dance. I would expect a very picturaisation with special dance performance for this song. Lets wait and watch, what Shankars contribution for the same. The things which I dont like about this song is the usual Harris falvor of a solo voice....

2. My next favourite is the 'Iyengar Veetu Alaghe'. Obviously the reason behind it is the majestic voice of Hariharan and Harini. For the guys, who are behind iyengar girls, there's a song for you from Harris. But the girl should be like Sadha, for this song to be sung at her. The pallavi where the lyrics read 'Un poal azhagi pirakavum illai, innemeal pirunthal athu nam pillai', I could not stop laughing. This a bit too much for Sahdha, if that is how the song is picturised.

3. Next comes the 'Kannum Kannum Nokia'. Another fast beat song. Sounds monotonous. Nothing new except for Leslies Lewis voice. This is his forst time in Tamil. He has done a great job, as expected. I almost felt Vasundhra should try some different songs.

4. I saw some reviews appreciating 'Andan Kaakha' song. Its again a fast song, which did not impress me a lot. Especiallu the voice of Jazie Gift just irritates me. Shrey ahas done a good job as usual.

5. 'Kumari En Kadhal' comes next. Again Harini has done a very good job. Nothing great abou the music. Shankar Mahadevan has modulated is voice to sound like a bhagavathar singing with 'vethalai-paaku' in his mouth.

Now, the question is Did Harris accomplish the job vested upon him? I would say he has tried his best. I personally think, Shankar will miss ARR a lot. Remember all the albums of his previous movies with ARR, they are just uncomparable. I dont want to make a mistake of comparing this album with ARRs. Its a neat one from Harris. Thats all I have to say. The one song 'Kaahdal Yaanai' will compel me to buy the CD.

Churning in Politics - A good Sign

2005-04-29T21:13:00.000-04:00

This is about our prime ministers suggestion to bring up new guidelines and set new standards about who are tainted ministers and who are not. This is a welcome move, which should have happened decades ago. I would be happy if they come up with some minimum qualification and criteria's to take up office, leave alone the minister, why not even the MLAs. As rightly said by him we, today have groups of people, they are in important positions, who do not draw this distinction between the public interest and private interest, who do not recognise that the state exists to promote social good. This distinction between the public good and private good does not come easily. Our political system has to pass through this phase which I regard is probably an essential component of our polity growing to maturity.

Indian Shininig...:)

Pacer's Night!

2005-04-07T21:03:00.000-04:00

Last night I was at the conseco fieldhouse, Indianapolis to watch Pacers and Cavaliers in action. Its a dream come true, watching the NBA players live. Guess who all I saw in person - It was King Lebron James, Reggie Miller, Stephen Jackson. Never thought I would watch a NBA game. But the worst part is whenever I gofor a game, that particular game works out to be a drag actually. I mean the pacers dominated the game from the start and Cleveland sucked big time. They did not even fight after the second quarter. It was the same case with the Colts football game with Texas-Houstons. But I enjoyed the environment there. It was fun! I have posted some pictures in my photo blog.

2005-03-21T22:42:00.000-05:00

Sid's visit to my place

Black - The Best

2005-03-20T09:01:00.000-05:00

After a long wait I watched 'Black' yesterday. Instead of review, I would say that these are my thoughts on this phenomenal film in the history of Indian Cinema. 'Black' is one of its kinds and is a movie which we all can be proud of, when showcased to audience elsewhere in the world that movies like this are taken in India. Starting from the cast, the music, the direction, the screenplay, the cinematography, every single aspect of the movie was flawless.

Kudos to the director Bhansali, who has given this cathartic tale of a deaf, mute and a blind girl and her teacher who brings her light. He has got the best out of everyone. This film is a masterpiece, carved frame by frame. Firstly, the credit goes to the cast. Rani Mukherjee has done an awe inspiring performance as blind and deaf Michelle Mc Nally, who is in a world of unending darkness. The story begins with this girl praying to god, to get her teacher back. A teacher-magcian who made her, what she is. From the first scene of the film till the end of the movie, she has done a great job. Some of the scenes in which she really moved me were, the graduation speech where she talks about her achievements, the interview in the university, the one in which she goes mad after knowing that his teacher as been chained, the scene where she craves for a kiss, the way she walks almost in every single frame of the movie, she has proved her talents. Her voice suited very well for the narration.

Now talking Amitabh, the character Debraj, will always be in the minds of the people for years to come. I was never a big fan of Big B, because of the crappy roles he used to do lately, like the one in Boom , Kyon Ho gaya na and many other films which came out recently. But he has proved that he is a superstar with an action that’s out of the Bollywood world. As a tough teacher for a obstinate girl, as a old man suffering from Alzheimer's disease Bachan jsut rocks!. The back ground score was nicely done. It suited the movie very well.

All put together it’s a film of international standards that’s going to change the way, people see Indian cinema. A must watch film.

Baba Count Down Starts !!!

2005-03-14T11:00:00.000-05:00

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The count down starts. The heat is picking up. Exactly one more month left for the release of one of the most awaited pictures of this year. I'm waiting with my fingers crossed like a million of other in TN and all over the world for the release and the results henceforth. Having disappointed personally with the music album, I'm hoping that the movie will not let me down like the last one from thalaivar. Yes I'm talking about Baba. Though the movie was so bad, I can never forget the environment surrounding the Detroit Livonia theater on August 15th 2002. I was surprised with the kind of support that thalaivar was having thousands and thousands of miles away. A guy had his name plate in the car registered to BABA. Some guys took aarathi when rajini came on the silver screen. I mean all these are usual in TN, but getting a chance to see that in US, was simpy amazing. But this time I dont know whether I can make it for the first show, because they don't release tamil films here in Indianapolis. Hopefully the first show should be on a weekend, so I could be there in Detroit for the first show. 31 more days.....Lets see

Modern Marvel -1

2005-03-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

Just watching the history of Sears Tower on the Modern Marvels in History Channel. The facts behind one of the worlds tallest building which is located at chicago are mind blowing. When it was completed in 1973, it was the tallest building in the world. It was primarily built in response to the interior space requirements of Sears & Reobuck - the number one retailer in US. The building plan consists of nine 75 x 75 foot column-free squares at the base. Floor sizes are then reduced by eliminating 75 x 75 foot increments at varying levels as the tower rises. A system of double-deck express elevators provides effective vertical transportation, carrying passengers to either of two skylobbies where transfer to single local elevators serving individual floors occurs.
Some of the facts about Sears tower --

The Sears Tower covers two city blocks and has 101 acres (4.4 million square feet) of office and commerical space.

The roof rises a quarter of a mile -- 1, 454 feet (442 meters).

Its highest occupied floor is 1,431 feet above the ground.

The foundation and the floor slabs have some 2 million cubic feet of concrete -- enough to build an eight-lane highway five miles long.

The Tower has more than 16,000 bronze-tinted windows and 28 acres of black duranodic aluminum skin.

The 222,500-ton building is supported by 114 rock caissons. Each is securely socketed into the bedrock.

A 106-cab elevator system (including 16 double decker elevators) divides the Tower into three separate zones, with skylobbies in between.

whats in the bag...!!

2005-03-09T20:13:00.000-05:00

Surya's Mayavi is all set to release this week, after a long delay. All these days I was thinking that Bala-the producer of the movie was caught up with some bad finance, but doesn't seem to be one after the record number of prints and the biggest ever Vinyl poster at koyembedu bus stop. Hopefully he should get back all this. The songs of the movie were out long before. Most of them fast numbers, repeated from telugu. Lets wait and watch !!!

Music - a Life saver

2005-03-08T22:04:00.000-05:00

Bought a new Ipod mini yesterday. I was little hesitant before buying it. But now I'm happy that I finally took up a very good decision, it surely exceeded all my expectations without any doubt. The quality of the sound is different from the ordinary cd players. This is a personlised one from the Apple Store with a laser carving saying "music - life saver" along with my name. See the picures below.

I loaded some 50 songs yesterday, all Rehman songs (what do you expect from an ARR fanatic). Guess what was the first song that I listened in my Ipod - Its Vellaipookal from Kanathil Muthamittal, sung by the whizkid himself. My interest in music like many others of my age in Madras, started during early 90's when Rehman was at his peak. I still remember how I used to wait for evey sunday to watch the Superhit Muqabla and can never forget how much the Rehman songs dominated the countdown in those days. Oorvasi OOrvasi was in the number 1 spot for almost 4 months. From that day its never turning back, I became a big fan of him, listened to all his songs, watched all his interviews, even attended his concert in Detroit, which was the best, watching him perform live. Will need a seperate post to write about that, will do it some other time.

My Ipod - 1

2005-03-08T22:03:00.000-05:00

My Ipod - 2

2005-03-08T22:02:00.000-05:00

My Ipod

Chandramukhi - Song review

2005-03-07T21:53:00.000-05:00

One of the most awaited movie of the year from kollywood is Chandramukhi. You know why its the most awaited, for one obvious reason, its superstar Rajinikanth's movie. A movie from him after a long hibernation. The movie is slated to be released on the tamil new year's and this is not a news to most of you. The songs of the movie released this weekend and I just want to write my views on the songs.

Music is by Vidyasagar and the album has 6 tracks. Its a good album, for a rajini movie, although I expected more from Vidyasagar. He had been giving out some real commercial numbers for the past two years taking out some recent films. One thing which is sure is that he has met rajini fans expectations, even if he had not, don't worry rajini's songs are always a hit.

My favorite song in the Album is the Athinthoam thinthari nanthoam. SPB makes the song so special that not only rajini fans but many other music lovers will surely love this song. SPB rocks! in this song, he has not gone even a little bit with his age. With the number of years and number of songs just accumulating in his bag, he is just getting great song by song. This song is one real example for it. He sounds so casual and I'm sure this song will go good with Rajini on screen. The thara thampata sequence here and there sounded so usual but that did not affect the song. The kids voice at the later part of the song has added a flavor to the song.

The next good song according to me is the konja neram konja neram song by madhu balakrishnan and Asha Bhonsle. Both of them had done a great job and justify that they are the right choice for the song with their melodious voice.

Next in the list is the Kokku Para para and Devuda Devuda. The Kokku para para song was started very nicely but slightly went out of the flow in the middle. I wouldn’t say it affected the song too much, but could had been better. The Devuda Devuda song is the intro song for the star. The starting music somewhat sounded like muthu intro song and the most part of the song were a repeat from his older songs. Most of the part sounded like Dhool and some older rajini songs.

Then comes the Anann-oda paattu. Two things I like about this song is Karthik's voice and the lyrics. Karthick has done a very good job. That guy is really a wonder. He has come a long way in a very short while and his voice proves how exactly he could make it. The last is the classical song in telugu. It had some good music but again in the name of commercial value it loses the track at some part.

All together a very good album for rajini fans, but surely not the best. For music lovers, it’s a decent album with the first three songs they can really watch out for..!!

A day in History that we all can cherish...

2005-03-06T19:32:00.000-05:00

This is one special feeling for Indians all over the world. This is going be the seen all over this Formula 1 series. I can't wait till the Formula One comes to Indianapolis. I'm sure that a big crowd of support will catch the media's attention when he is in Indy.

"MELBOURNE, MARCH 6. Rival pit crews gawked. A television cameraman came running. An incredulous policeman muttered "unbelievable". Maybe even Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella, after a shower in champagne, briefly peeked out of a window and wondered, "Hey I thought I won this race". Long after the official celebrations at the Australian Grand Prix, bedlam had come visiting pit lane and its cause was Jordan's Narain Karthikeyan.

Clinging to the mesh that separated the track from the pits, joyous faces mashed against the bars, a 200-hundred-odd raucous mob of Indian fans had come to claim their hero. They bellowed, chanted, offered him a beer can and a written proposal on a poster that shouted "Marry me". His wife Pavarna just smiled.

Karthikeyan was drained, his left foot was in agony for in every racing category the right foot uses the brake except here, but he signed, everything, ticket stubs, shirts, dollar notes, caps. He limped away into the paddock to rest as his wife, like some courier of celebration, ferried more flags, shirts, caps for him to autograph. An hour had passed since the race's completion, but the crowd would not disperse and then, like some messiah in yellow overalls, he returned to them again to a roar. "

never, so good before!!

2005-03-01T21:20:00.000-05:00

When I had been to India last year, I was able to see a huge difference on the spending capacity of the people. With all the star hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, Cinama halls filled with people who did not care about how much they are paying. This really is good sign of the economy. With lot of IT companies and BPO coming up in the past 2 years, the pay scale of the whit collar guys have sky rocketed to never before numbers. For quite some time this sound economy has been hogging the news headlines about india, in the press all over the world. Here are some snippets from an article in India Today which will tell you how good the economy is.

1. Job seekers have never had it so good. The number of jobs on offer is likely to surge by almost 22 per cent this year as against 18 per cent in 2004.

2. According to the latest survey of salaries by Hewitt Associates, 2005 will see the best hikes in the past five years

3. India Inc is on a hiring spree. The IT and BPO sectors alone are estimated to hire 2,75,000 people in 2005, 30-35 per cent more than it did in 2004. Textile, the biggest turnaround story in Indian industry, will hire more than 2,00,000 workers this year.

4. BSE's Sensex crosses 6700 mark-its highest ever

5. consumption by Indians rises at the highest rate in 23 years

6. India's gross domestic product (value of all goods and services produced in the country in a year) grew by 7 per cent in the first half of 2004-5, on the back of a record 8.5 per cent growth in 2003-4

7. foreign investment in India in the year 2004 was highest in any single year

to read more goto India Today

The tidings continues, Good to hear all this.

Prevention is better than cure...

2005-01-07T09:59:00.000-05:00

The place where I live is on a flood alert. Though I think the chances are certainly low, I'm just amazed by the precautions these people take here. All schools and community centers are closed. Flood warnings everywhere. Due to heavy rain, the county water company has asked everyone to boil the water for 3 mins before they consume them. This had been the flash news in all radio and television channels for the past two days. Not only that, every office complex has got a email, which got forwarded to all, asking everyone to boil the water before consumption. Its 'BOIL THE WATER" - everywhere. Placards and stick-ons near every water fountain in my office building makes me feel ashamed of the life we live in India. We take everything for granted. Don't we..?

Contemplating and Confessing on 2004!

2005-01-06T10:01:00.000-05:00

I foud these questions in a meenaks blog and thought I would answer them too..

1. Your ‘high’ moment of the year.
-The moment I received my job offer call.

2. Your ‘low’ moment of the year.
-Everytime I used to talk to a consultant when searching for a job.

3. Faux pas/greatest regret.
-Lost my University Badminton game.

4. Something that got you 'almost famous' and nearly catapulted you into the Hall of Fame.
- Getting my college group together...-:) still haven't succeeded to the fullest

5. The 3 things you wanted to do the most this year, and did!
-Find a good job
-rejuvante the - almost dead group
-Start Blogging

6. The 3 things you wanted to do the most this year, and couldn’t/didn’t!couldn't say
- there's a lot

7. Number of resolutions you made for 2004. And how many you actually stuck to.
-None - None.

8. The list of cities/ places/ countries you visited in 2004.
-Dubai, New York, Princeton, Jersey, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, South Carolina

9. Your movie of the year award goes to...
-Terminal, 50 First Dates (English), Aaiyutha Eluthu, Autograph (Tamil), Lakshya, Swades (Hindi)

10. A friend lost? A friend found? A friend made?
-made lots of friends this year. Many interesting personlaities.

11. You will remember 2004 as the year of …
-my first job and the year of best and worst experiences

12. The 3 things you really want to do in 2005.
-Learn Guitar
-Publish atleast one article in any one of the supplementeries of Hindu
-bring my parents to US

13. A set of 13 words that will be your keywords for 2005!
-Loneliness, work ethics, programming, testing,documentation, travelling, girl friend(i think i'll never get one -:))....

GMail - Want one ?

2004-12-28T11:33:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, I have some Gmail invites left. If you would like to try it out, please let me know. I can forward the invites to you. GMail is really cool, just give it a try.

Best Movies of 2004

2004-12-24T10:18:00.000-05:00

2004 had not been a big year for tamil film industry, like what 2003 proved to be. Among the movies that got released this is my countdown.

1.. Aayutha Eluthu - For taking up a new issue which is in urgent need to the society - educated youngsters in politics, Extravagant Music, technical aspects, screenplay and almost everything.

2. Virumaandi - For Kamals action, screenplay, music and technical aspects

3. Autograph - A really different movie, actuallywould had been in my first spot except it had been with some good actors who can really act.

4. Alagiya Theeye - A decent movie very well taken, in a good pace without any over dialogues or over acting.

5. 7G - I did not get a chance to see the full movie.From what I did and from what I heard from ppl I wld say it is in 5th spot.

6. Chellamey - A good entertainer

7. Gilli - personally did not like very much. can be described as a movie - kind. Unfortunately big hit in boxoffice.

Bye Bye 2004

2004-12-24T09:48:00.000-05:00

I just cant believe that 2004 is coming to an end. It had been one of the best years in my life. I got to see some of the best moments as well as some lousy times of my life. I started the year in India, where I was in for a vacation. I was enjoying all January there. I didn't want to come back to US but had no other choice other than comin back here. After cominghere, I completed my masters and moved to NewJersey for Job search. Thats the worst time of my life. I didn't know that somehthing best was waiting for me. I stayed in some friends place unable to even pay for my expenses. I shld thank god and my friends without whomI wld have never made through those days. Then as you all know I got a job in September. Wow! that was a big relief...infact a big one especially after having experienced all these turmoils.

As it goes I was in India, then Toledo, NewJersey,NewYork then moved to Indianapolis, then trips to South Carolina, Atlanta. I travelled a lot this year.This is the year I bought my first car too. I made alot of friends only this year. I mean it ...this year had been a big learning curve.I dont want this year to end in a usual note . The memories of this year will never die and i expect next year to be the same.

Bye Bye 2004 !!!

Congratulations Aishwarya...:)

2004-11-23T21:02:00.000-05:00

For the last couple of weeks Chennai had been an happening place. With the arrest of Sankarachaarya and the secrets behind the killing of a temple employee, sudden blessing or blushing from the rain god and above all RajiniKanth's daughter Aishwarya's marraige and reception. Thanks to Indiaglitz and Dinakaran, without which the anxiety of the fans, worldwide, who would have gone mad. I say this because, I heard that the top search in goolge on the 19th was for this marraige.

Dhanush is really lucky. Lets hope this fame doesn't find a place in his head and the couple lead a happy married life for ever.

PS: The two most important outcomes of this marraige

1. Amma's visit and the developments in the relation between her and Rajini

2. The Q for rajini's second duaghter is growing alarmingly long, the fact that Dhanush(who is not very far from being smart) had married the first one and also, she is more beautiful then her elder sibling, have added many more to the line.

Its game day ....last Sunday..!!!

2004-11-16T19:40:00.000-05:00

Its football season in US and one can feel the football fever especially during weekends. On Monday when you go back to school or work in US, the people here do not start there work unless they discuss about the game the previous day. Fantasy football team, synonymous with our super selectors, is very famous among the working community here. Especially being in a city which has a famous football team and the highest paid quarter back in the NFL history, this is a usual story. I happened to watch a game live last Sunday. The stadium which hosted the game is a famous one in US. I wanted to watch at least one game and I was happy that I made it. When I entered inside the stadium, that moment was really surprising in the way the stadium was built. Its an indoor football stadium, where the roof sans pillars stands with air pressure. Though the game was fully dominated by the home team it was a good game to watch for, with all the excitement, music, 60000 people, cheerleaders and noise. The number of sponsorers for the game would have easily crossed 100. Airlines to pickle makers, everyone were there with there own competitions and lucky draws. For a while I thought the number of commercials in SUN TV were very less. I captured some of the moments there and wanted to share it with you. Here are a couple of them. Enjoy..!!! ...Sorry, the pictures were eating up a lot of space, so had to remove them.

Sorry..sorry...hmm sorry..---- Kushi Style...!!!

2004-11-15T11:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry again for not updating my blogs. I can give a number of excuses, but I know bad time management and laziness are the two big things which had kept me from doing it. I feel I'm kind of maladjusted with the new schedule especially when coming to write blogs. I hate myself for this. The US presidential elections, Death of Yasser Arafat, US attack of Fallujah, Kollywoods Thanksgiving to JJ, Dhanush-Aish marraige, Diwali, India -Aus series were some of the topics I wanted to write a blog on, but did not. I'll have to make it a point I write atleast 3 blogs everyweek. I'll make it happen from now.

Flaw.....

2004-11-07T19:30:00.000-05:00

The Standard of The Hindu is slowly detiorating. I never used to believe that. But I was surprised after reading this awful review of the album SWADES in its Metro Plus supplementary. In this write up the author has described SWADES as a period film, which is not the case. An author who writes review about movies should and would have watched the trailer of the movie which are already on air in most of the satellite channels. One more important fact which put me in stall was that the author did not describe a word about Yeh Joh Desh Hey Tera song!! I cannot accept this fact. I doubt whether the author listened to the album completely before writing this review. Because this song is not a one that can be easily forgot when trying to review an album like Swades.

It will be really bad if this continues.

Routh - The next Super Man

2004-10-23T22:36:00.000-04:00

The next superman movie is slated to be released in 2006 and the producers of the movie have found a little-known actor Brandon Routh for this role. So Routh will soon take the place of the famous Reeve who passed away just a couple of weeks ago. Reeve captured a place in the heart of millions of fans all over the world through his Superman movies. Routh, who for me slightly resembles Reeve, is a perfect pick.

Welcome to the world of Berries !!

2004-10-19T21:41:00.000-04:00

BlackBerry the most popular among the business people in US has been introduced in India. So you can see this wonder gadget everywhere very soon. The cost of the instrument did not surprise many, for it is labeled at Rs.19000. But what really surprises is the monthly plan which is at Rs. 2800. This Blackberry is my dream phone, which I was planning to buy in June’05. It has all the features of a modern cell phone and a PDA. It has Bluetooth, WAP, so one can email, browse and organize their data in them. It has a 65000 color vibrant display and has an in-built memory for data storage. It operates on all bands and also GSM/GPRS systems. BlueBerry are the next version of this, which will soon hit the markets. The total customers targeted are around 1 million. Can’t wait, to be one among them. !!!

Maayavi..!!!

2004-10-11T22:41:00.000-04:00

Bala gets ready for his next film, but this time not as a director, but as a producer. This is nothing new in the Tamil Industry. Many successful directors like Maniratnam, Shankar and many others have produced their assistant director’s movies. But this movie seems to be an in and out comedy film. The promo stills for the movie in which Surya has a comical moustache like the late comedy actor Chandra Babu, says it all. Surya must be appreciated in this regards, for he takes risks more than any other heroes in the industry. Jothika plays the female interest. This will be directed by Singapuli and music by Devi Prasad. Let’s wait and watch!

Yeh Jo Desh hai tera !!!!

2004-10-04T22:12:00.000-04:00

After a long wait ARR has come with SWADES. As usual another master piece from the maestro. He really is a Mozart form Madras. For those who do not know anything about the movie it is by Lagaan fame Asuthosh Gowrikar. Gowrikar-Javed –“ARR” combo as worked fine this time as well.

I have been listening the album from yesterday. Obviously, the best track in the album is none other than “Yeh Jo Des he tera” sung by ARR himself. I presume it to be a patriotic song with the little bit of hindi I understand and I’m sure this is going be heard all over India for the next 2 or 3 months. The chorus running behind the song and the ‘shenai’ portion in between the song is awe inspiring. He has used the same ‘shenai’ bit in another theme music track. The whizkid has used lot of Tabla this time and flute also has taken a good portion of the songs and the theme music.

My next favourite song is the ‘Yeh taara oh Taara ar taara’. As usual you can witness a bliss in Udit’s voice. The childish voice in this song is really a flash in the pan. Udit has done a great job in the other two songs also.

‘Dekho na’ is the same as ‘Baba kichu kichu thaa’ from the tamil album ‘BABA’. Unusually a song sounded good even when translated.

With king SRK in the lead role these songs surely will be a super hit. Those who haven’t listened to these songs please do it asap !..

Remembering Mahatma....

2004-10-02T14:28:00.000-04:00

Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.

—Albert Einstein about Gandhi

Einstien's words are the most appropriate way to describe about Gandhi. I'm a big fan of Gandhi right from my childhood and these phrases here inspired me a lot.

Something should be done...

2004-09-28T23:16:00.000-04:00

A small peek into the video piracy world. The number of films coming out every Friday has come down drastically in Kollywood. Eventually it is because of the pirate VCDs. Thanks to the cheap VCD players from Richie street and Burma bazaar and electronics shops elsewhere in the city. But where are all these piracy factor taking us. Slowly we all have fell in this menace without realizing the fact that we are doing something wrong. When I was in India last December I could see people opting for VCDs even though they can hardly get the technical aspects of the film by watching it in VCD. VCDs of new films are out the second day of the movie’s release. There are several factors attributing to this problem. First and foremost are the law enforcers, who play a big role here. Many of the cities video shops and shops in Burma bazaar shed out a lot of money to the police. A pirated store near my house used to sell the pirated CDs without any fear even though there used to be a raid once in every 2 or 3 weeks. The police department has really failed in this regard. Kudos to the Andhra police who have kept the piracy in check.

The next reason is the sky high prices in theaters. A family will be spending aroung Rs. 200 for a show, while they can do the same sitting in there living room for just Rs. 30. This has lead many middle class people opt for VCDs.

Decrease in the number for quality movies is also a reason behind this. Movies like sullan, madurai are not worth to be watched even in VCDs. So people are hesitant to spend on films like this. Improving the quality of the films will help reduce the piracy.

Mentality among the crowd should change. Unless people change nothing can be done about it. Nobody seems to care the actor’s, producer’s and distributor’s voice over piracy.
Something should be done about this otherwise Kollywood will become an obsolete thing in future!! Already many would have witnessed an increase in the number of theaters being turned to Malls.

Are u blogging yet ?

2004-09-28T23:04:00.000-04:00

Proud to be a blogger. Suddenly everybody are in it. The Hindu in recent times has featured quite a lot of articles about blogging. Four of my friends have started blogging after regularly going through my blogs. Felling happy about it.

Ithu thevaya....ada poangaya....

2004-09-23T21:54:00.000-04:00

Please call it a day captain. Can't bear with your attrocities anymore. Its prime time heroes like these should take up character roles. I wonder Why the heck indian heroes never accept the fact that they are getting old. When Amitabh can be succesful in character roles why can't our captain. Leave alone the charater roles, atleast he can take roles like ramana which suits his age and physical structure. See the photo above, isn't it too much, When guys in my age are finding tough to get a girl our capton(Newton's favourite student) is enjoying one on either side.

Heard that those two are new entries.

Flora and Laya....
ithellan ungalukku thea-vaya..

Forbes top ten richest people of 2003.

2004-09-23T20:54:00.000-04:00

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No big change in the list. But interesting fact is that Google's Larry E. Page and Sergey Brin have entered the top 400 list. They are the youngest to be in the list at an age of 31. Interesting isn't.

Thank you kadavulle !!

2004-09-22T21:58:00.000-04:00

Could not imagine how things are changing in my life. After having some of the worst days in my life, now everything is working the way I wanted it to be. Though I’m alone now, I feel as if I surrounded by lots and lots of well wishers. I must thank god for all these, for without him I’m nothing. There were days went I used to think I’m never gonna make it with a job in US. The almighty blessed me

This blog is a special one, for two reasons. I was on a window seat of an aircraft, flying from Washington, Dulles to Indianapolis, while penning this. The other reason is that it is dedicated to my friend, mentor and guardian, Filbert Pradeep Devasahayam. I started to believe the philosophy “God made friends so that he can always be by our side”, only after I met him. I have gained a lot with his friendship and surely owe him a million. He was always encouraging me during the worst days of my life. Can’t imagine how I used to disturb him everyday lamenting about myself. I feel very lucky, for through out my life, I have got what I wanted and he is more than what I wanted. This is not an attempt to offend anyone else, please understand me. I wanted to thank him, though it comes late, it comes from the deepest of my heart. Thank you so much Filby. – (always ur’s) Amar

Got Milk(Windows SP 2) ???

2004-08-24T11:31:00.000-04:00

Just now upgraded my laptop with the new Windows XP Service Pack 2. My laptop as surely got a new feel. No more pop-ups. The upgraded IE has a special tool to work with pop-ups. I'm happy that I don't have worry about pop-ups anymore. The new symbols and icons also give a refreshing look for the windows explorer.

Facts every Indian should know

2004-08-21T19:14:00.000-04:00

Some of the facts that I came to know after reading that article

India has 45,000 historically significant buildings and sites that do not figure on any list. Only 5,000 are protected by the ASI, another 3,000 by state governments.

Even if every couple decided to stop at two children, our population would overtake China's in 10 years.

When the sun goes down, more than 84 million homes begin their long day's journey into night. 90% of the 17 million homes in Bihar have no electricity.

Five million Indians travel abroad every year. Only 2.3 million foreigners return the favour, a million less than in diminutive Sri Lanka.

Of every Re 1 meant for development, only 12 paise reach the intended recipient in India. Eighty-eight paise are lost in transmission

630 million litres of untreated sewage flows into the Yamuna every day.

Delhi alone has one lakh beggars.

Ten million children work and sleep on the streets every day.

The Tirupati temple's annual income from offerings is Rs 300 crore. The Ramakrishna Mission makes Rs 150 crore.

60% of criminal cases in India do not end in a verdict because witnesses turn hostile.
there are just 10.5 judges for every million people.

Traffic snarls. Over 8,000 policemen in Delhi on the VIP beat. Rs 100 crore spent each year to shadow the prime minister and former prime ministers.

An MP gets Rs 2 crore a year for developing his constituency. Till 2002, Rs 9,780 crore was released under the MP Local Area Development Scheme. Only 64 per cent was used.

In India a woman is raped every hour. Even if a rape is proved, the sentence ranges from one to 10 years.

In India, road accidents are the No. 1 killer of those under 40. One person dies on the road every 12 minutes. And most deaths occur within the first 60 minutes.

Build a better India

2004-08-21T18:04:00.000-04:00

India Today had always been next to my heart. I enjoy reading this and continue to do so. I still remember spending time in my university library every Wednesday with the latest edition of India Today, International edition. Their cover stories had always fascinated me a lot. Now luckily I have access to their online edition. The cover story, “57 ways to make India a better Place” in the last week edition of India Today by Mr. S. Prasannarajan was simply the best I have ever read.

He has clearly portrayed what areas we lag in and what areas we are not what we could be and what we had lost in these 57 years of freedom. I would recommend you to read the article if you get a chance.

“Still, in the 57th year of its political freedom, India is yet to discover the Model Man of democracy, or the New Man that Nehruvian socialism aspired to create. And most glaringly, Asia's only fully developed civil society is one of its most unequal societies as well, with its divisions starker and its fault lines wider. The paradoxical nation has come a long way from the Oriental stereotype of photogenic poverty and atavistic mannerisms.

The state is kinetic for all the wrong reasons, and it still doesn't reach out to where its intervention is badly needed, where freedom is an abstraction. Add to this scenario of dispossession the ungainly instincts-civic, religious and cultural-of freedom and you get a nation let down by its own traits, a nation shortchanged by its own safe-keepers.”

This article will truly instigate a fire, in everyone, to do something for building a better India.

No mingling !!

2004-08-18T22:27:00.000-04:00

The modern educators are more concentrating in isolating the genders in college. In fact they use this as a powerful tool as a decoy. Parents especially those staying abroad are easily lured by this criteria, when selecting the colleges where their wards have to start their next phase of life.

Is this a good practice? The management of a few colleges mostly in Chennai assumes that by separating the opposite sexes they can get rid of rarely encountered problems like eve teasing and harassments. So they stop students interacting with their opposite sexes even though they all study in the same class. In some worst cases the management conducts separate classes for men and women. On the contrary they actually land in a lot of problems by doing this. Lest we miss between the lines that the students are loosing their communication skills and tend to become more introverts and this instigates them to develop amoral thoughts in their mind. The management does not understand that all their rules and regulations are mere damp squibs, once the students are out of college for the day and is also not aware of the fact that they are producing the largest number of classmate couple when compared to other colleges where such practices do not take place.

Some colleges have come to an extent of tying ropes in the buses separating men and women sections, separate class rooms, different timings and what not? All these are measures to separate them. Educators should stop this practice and let the students be their own. For a student abroad or in cities like Bombay and Delhi this will be the most idiotic rule a college can impose. This in no means will help develop a better society and will only result in cultivating evil thoughts in their sterling characters. When such things are practiced students have an obvious chance of developing either a greater interest or an aversion and hatred with the opposite sex. This should change.

Vande Maataram......

2004-08-15T13:31:00.001-04:00

Thaaiye un peyair sollum poathae.....

Ethaiyathil minnalai paayuthae.....
Thaai aval poal oru jeevan illai.....
Aval kaal mannai poal sondham veru illai...
Thaai mannai poal oru boomi illai....
Bharatham engalin svaasamae...

Thaai mannae vanakkam...

Vande Maataram...Vande Maataram....

Saluting all the freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the sake of independence.

Starting problem....Big problem !!!

2004-08-13T17:08:00.000-04:00

With only hours left for the grand gala, the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics 2004, speculations have gone wild that two most famous athletes of Greece Olympic team will be out of the tournament due to their failure in attending the final drug test yesterday. This comes as a big disappointment for the greeks, because those two athletes are considered to be the best of the lot. Keeping this aside, the athletes all over the world already have a demoralizing news that nearly 1 million tickets have not been sold yet. Also adding fuel to the fire, Greece is witnessing a 15% decrease in the number of tourist comparing to the figures during the same time last year. This is really a bad sign. I do not know the reason behind this. Whether it is due to the hasty preparations Greece had to do to get ready for the event or whether its because people are slowly losing interest on this big event. This might not be reason I think. But please do not miss to watch the opening ceremony today live. It’s the best part of Olympics.

Tips for a better vision.

2004-08-10T20:57:00.000-04:00

Have you guys ever wondered how many hours we spend in front of the computer? When I think about it, 13 or 14 hours a day is what I count on. But for all my friends out there slogging in the IT industry for long hours everyday, here are few tips which will help you in better vision.

- Take a 5-minute break every hour or two to reduce eyestrain.
- Blink more often. When staring at a computer, people blink about five times less
frequently than normal according to some studies. Blinking lubricates the eyes. If you don't
blink, tears that normally coat the eye evaporate causing dry eyes. Dry air in the computer
room can aggravate this condition.
- Every fifteen minutes, focus on distant objects to relax your muscles.
- Use special computer lenses.
- If your eyes are dry, use eye drops to moisten them.
- Try vitamin supplements to enrich your vision.

Sullan - Movie review

2004-08-05T15:45:00.000-04:00

WORST and UNBEARABLE - Don't ever try to watch it...

I think these words don't exactly describe my anguish over the film. Not worth for a review !!!!

What do I do now ??

2004-08-02T19:35:00.000-04:00

Hot opening, references, position, job description, specialization, beginner, experienced, developer, designer, expertise, rating yourself, address, phone number, resume, cover letter, consultant, recruiter – are the most frequently used words, I keep using for the past 2 months. So guess what I am doing now

“ JOB SEARCH”

This is my job now. Like many other graduates in US, I’m doing this as a full time job.

Second Anniversary !!!!!

2004-07-31T00:56:00.000-04:00

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 !!!

2004-07-27T17:53:00.000-04:00

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 !!

2004-07-27T12:02:00.000-04:00

.
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.

2004-07-27T11:44:00.000-04:00

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 !!!

2004-07-23T22:43:00.000-04:00

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 !!!

2004-07-20T17:48:00.000-04:00

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

2004-07-18T09:46:00.000-04:00

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

2004-07-12T16:57:00.000-04:00

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

2004-07-06T18:21:00.000-04:00

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.

Sovereignty Surprise

2004-06-28T22:23:00.000-04:00

Today we all woke up for a surprise from the US government handing over the power to Iraq well before the actually planned June 30 change over.

Does this act look like a surprise? This is not a surprise, this is cowardice!!

I wonder the way god creates men. Always there’s one, more powerful than the other. Americans think they are the most powerful in the world, but see he created Al-qeada militants who are even more powerful. See the way they are frightening these Americans. Even though what they are doing is wrong, I just adore their guts. One more fact which fascinates me a lot is that after giving these people everything they want why did he let them depend on the Muslims for oil. This is surprising more than anything else

Fahrenheit 9/11, hot enough!!!

2004-06-28T21:22:00.000-04:00

It’s a great weekend for Michael Moore whose documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11 had a record collection of $23.9 million. Most of the people knew that this film has already won the best movie award in the Canne’s Film Festival 2004, but many of you would not be aware of the fact that Moore has surpassed his own record for his last film “Bowling of Columbine” for which the collection was about $22.8 million.

It’s really a bad news for George Bush because it’s expected that this movie will have the undecided voters shift to the democrats. Bush is attacked deliberately in this movie. He has clearly described that Bush does not deserve to be a president, because he actually did not win the election and Moore has strongly opposed him for his war against Iraq instead of Al-qeada. I’m intrigued and eagerly waiting to watch the movie at least by this weekend.

NYC trip

2004-06-26T21:41:00.000-04:00

You guys remember the NYC trip I was telling you all, two weeks ago. I got the photos ready and I got them posted online. Check out those snapshots at my online photo album.

My greatest companion !!!!

2004-06-26T21:10:00.000-04:00

It’s been a long time since I came up with something here. More than the fact that I really had very little time, I was not in mood to write about anything for the last two weeks until Preethi(my classmate in Toledo) hinted me that its really a long time and I should write about something.

So I thought I’m going to write about my greatest companion, My Notebook. Dell Inspiron 600M is his name. His heart is a centrino 1.4Ghz, tummy as big as 40Gb, brain a bit low but obviously more than me, 256MB, weighs around 4 LB. This is the way he gets described physically. He is my greatest companion and the reasons are a lot. I scribble something in the name of blog every time, he never humiliates me, I waste a lot of time in the name of reading, mostly rubbish, he never advices me, I don’t feed or clean him, whenever I feel I should, I tell myself ‘lets do it tomorrow’, he helps in downloading a lot of music and software for me, he never gets tired. He never says a word even when he helps me in killing time, whenever I find that hard. It’s because of him I started writing blogs, it’s for him I started designing websites and did a lot more. He is a cute little fellow who sits of my lap for hours together. I have learnt a lot in his company. So he really deserves a word in my blog.

I’m proud that I have him with me. Last week I fulfilled my childish dream of using him in a Bus, Train and a Garden. It was fun, though seemed to be a bit of ‘bandha’. I liked it, people staring at me when I did that. It was fun. I share all my thoughts in the name of blogs only because of him. So he is really my best companion.

A good one....

2004-06-19T11:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I saw these lines in a car in front of ours and liked it very much. This is what it read

" God gives and forgives,
Man gets and forgets"

My NYC trip

2004-06-05T10:19:00.000-04:00

I was on a trip to Niagara and New York City last weekend. I drove with my roommate Arun from Toledo to Sriram’ house in Buffalo. It’s a 6 hours drive from my place to Sriram’s. Driving on the freeways in US has always fascinated me so much. One will be inside a cool car generally one year or two years old, running at speed of 75-90m/hr(120-140km/hr). I always love to drive on the freeways. Roads smooth like a runway and woods on either side, no wonder one will fall asleep while driving. But luckily I didn’t. From Buffalo two other friends accompanied us and we all went to the mighty Niagara falls. I must thank god for I’m so lucky to see the beauty of Niagara falls for the second time. Sriram must be more blessed for he is visiting the falls for the 9th or 10th time. Then we started driving to NewYork City. The two days which I spent in NewYork City were the best and unforgettable for me. The most fascinating thing were all five of us had never been to NYC, so exploring everything with use of maps were real fun.

The best part of the trip was the statue of Liberty. I was stunned by the magnanimity of the statue and it beauty. Another best place was the Times Square. The lights flashing in the night time , plasma screens and people all over makes the place simply extravagant. Next was the Empire State Building, regarded to be a wonder of the world. I was surprised to see the speed in which the elevator soared up to 86th floor in a few seconds. I also got to see Ground Zero, NYSE, Wall Street, Ellis Island. Even Madras will not be so crowded lik NYC. It was a wonderful trip altogether. I got to meet my friend Sriram and spend time with him. I’m blessed to see all these places. I must thank god for all these.

Geust Blog -1 , Lazygeek's Aayitha Eluthu - Movie Review

2004-05-25T12:41:00.000-04:00

This was a mirage of my thoughts about the film.

As you stroll down the dark cinema hall to watch Aayitha Ezhuthu and if you are a few minutes late, you might assume that the climax is around. So begins the latest Mani Ratnam flick Aayitha Ezhuthu. And hey, you needn't worry for there is lot more to come and even if you miss this first scene, the scene repeats more number of times than the cost of your popcorn. Aayitha Ezhuthu is about serious cinema and not just for the popcorn eating cinema commoner.

Aayitha Ezhuthu's premise is all about the rare species of progressive youths who are not opportunists and escapists from stamp paper scams and water-scarce society of the modern day India. It is Mani Ratnam's expression of the angst against the middle class escapist mentality of the country and his endeavor to handover the country to such modern, intellectually progressive youth.

While conveying this Mani Ratnam chooses to adopt a style of film-making which is still in its experimental state, at least in India. The basic rule for the screenplay is that there no rules. There are only directives. Playing with this fact, Mani Ratnam has taken liberties to play with the style of film making. While he has adopted the classic structure that demands to introduce the characters, create the conflict and give an ending, he has just meddled with the timing of each the above mentioned components. Though I haven't seen any of the movies they say has inspired Aayitha Ezhuthu like Ameros Perros, City of God or Kurasowa's Rashomon, I personally think they might have had little to do with this film. As reported Aayitha Ezhuthu doesn't sport overlapping events or even points of view. The movie, if observed meticulously, is told from a third person's point-of-view.

In Mani Ratnam's earlier super hit Alai Payuthey, the movie oscillates from the past to present and in one point the flashback merges with the present event. This same thing if you deploy as three flashbacks which gets merged with the present through a common incident, you get Aayitha Ezhuthu.

Pity the media as it reports the highlight lies in this connection of three stories to one point. It merely takes a pulp-fiction writer to manufacture such stories. The 'Maathiyosi'(think different) lies in shaping these characters and using them to unfold the story in the later half. But in Aayitha Ezhuthu, the character build-up occupies for more than two thirds of the movie. The reason being all the three characters form the core of the movie and the movie details up their lives and their view of life. So every character's story is detailed until which the other characters wait for their chance.

The risk involved in having such a story-telling style is that, relating to a character becomes tougher as there is no one central character that gets focused. It is only finally when the repercussion of that common incident gets focus, we clearly see the main theme and the protagonist of the movie. Despite these risks and shortcomings, it's Mani Ratnam's sheer ability to keep up the interest of the viewer with his character sketching. But after the two flashbacks and one common incident, one will tend to feel what the director wants to convey. Well, there is a long dense second half to come. But patience waits for none and you tend to loose it by the first half.

Madhavan as Inba Sekhar fails poorly to portray 'the guy from streets'. Just because of Writer Sujatha's Chennai slang the character of Inba Sekhar escapes without a curse. His Chocolate boy image and his intonations bring out the urban actor in him. With the kind of character that Mani Ratnam and Sujatha has etched out, one would expect a splendid and powerful performance from Madhavan. Though by his characterization Madhavan would tend to get noticed it is one of Mani Ratnam's biggest mistake is to cast Madhavan for this role.

Surya as Michael Vasant, a child prodigy who comes from a middle class Christian family. Mike is rigidly violent and a genius of his own kind. Be it the way he rigs the politician or the way he proves that the universe is made of dense matter with a single equation, the character of Michael Vasant is here to stay with us. Surya has played his role very subtly like Kakkha Kakkha and gets full points for his perfect body language. Surya enters the flashback with the same walk into a mall just like Karthik in Mouna Ragam. The strength of his character doesn't lie in all the powerful stunts he does with Madhavan but by the intelligent dialogue delivering skills of Surya.

Sidharth, the rascally flirtatious young man comes as a relief to the rather serious movie and his flashback just after the second half of the movie reminds us the romantic yester-year Mani Ratnam. For Sidharth is very natural and he portrays the present day $ dreaming yuppie youth. Actually it is Sidharth's life that get entirely changed by the Napier Bridge incident and not the other two.

Bharathi Raja as Selvanayakam is convincing and does his role better than expected. A great find. Meera Jasmine who pairs Madhavan has done an appreciable job and it is her character that earns all the sympathy. Easha Deol's character could be easily avoided because she does nothing more than just appearing on-screen. Trisha is also convincing as Meera.

Writer Sujatha again steals the show with his appropriate dialogues for the three characters. The difference he has shown in the dialogues of each character shows the genius he is.

Ravi K Chandran excels with his camera techniques, as expected. The kind of hand-in-hand exercise Ravi K Chandran, Editor Sreekar Prasad and Stuntman Vikram Dharma has done makes the stunts very remarkable.

Art Director Sabu Cyril is certainly a let down. His sets for Madhavan's house, near the Chennai port is very artificial. The streets and roads leading to Madhavan's house is clearly noticed as sets. We all know that each character gets a color. If only it was subtle, it would have won the praise. But these contrasting colors is so evident even in the sets and costumes. Madhavan's neighborhood is fully painted red which makes it very artificial. For Surya, even the prison walls also are in Green. And the worst thing is for Sidharth, from the discotheque, his basketball walls and his bike, all feature blue. Even Trisha is forced to wear blue costumes to pair Sidharth. Not the kind of color thrust that we expect from a Mani Ratnam film.

Not all songs are picturised like typical Indian film songs. That's however a relief. But Fanah and Hey Goodbye Nanba songs fill up that gap. A R Rahman also scores very subtly for Aayitha Ezhuthu. The extra bit song for Surya-Easha Deol in pallavan bus is a surprise. Mani Ratnam - A R Rahman deliver this surprise every time. Each character gets a theme of music and the music flows throughout the flash back for all the three characters. This background score is however very subdued and the difference can be heard only in a theatre. Having said that, this is certainly not the best of Mani Ratnam - ARR combo.

It is a fact that time pass films de-humanize the viewers and give a superman image to the heroes. Mani Ratnam has always tried to portray his heroes as practical humans. So he does that with class in Aayitha Ezhuthu too. Mani Ratnam spontaneously evolves towards the leftist line of thinking as his protagonist believes the change should not only be made in urbanized cities but also from villages like Neikaaranpatti.

Just like how Shakespeare's Macbeth starts very sensationally with the introduction of the three witches, Aayitha Ezhuthu story starts right from the first second of the movie. It is just that Mani Ratnam takes time to set the dramatic need to the characters; the movie looses the chance to find a place in the viewer's heart. If the movie fails it is because of this experiment that he has chosen to make. Though this effort may prove costly for him, Indian Cinema would go a long way because of such pioneering efforts. Mani Ratnam proves again that good film-making is an exercise in style.

Oh Yuva Yuva !!!!

2004-05-20T10:42:00.000-04:00

The most awaited movie of the year is going to be released tomorrow. I think I'll be going to Detroit to watch the movie. I'm intrigued. I'm sure Mani will as usual prove his expertise yet again. This time he has taken up completely a youth subject. For a nation which is ideologically doddering but still youthful, with more than 50% of the population from 25-30, this movie will prove something great. From the rumors and after hearing the Jana Gana Mana, I suppose that he has taken up a social subject. A right time, since Bollywood is coming out with all adultery subjects, this movie will really be a benchmark. The second version of the trailers show that Madhavan is playing an important role. He surely is a lucky chap, acting in 3 continuous films from Mani. I'm waiting to see the picturization of ARR's songs and I hope he surely would have done justice to the background like alaipayuthe and Ka Mu. Ravi K Chandran's camera and Sujatha's dialogues will also be the things to be noted.

I was very happy to read the interview of Mani in THE HINDU.
the question was "You initially did not want songs in the film? "

Yes, when we started out, we didn't want songs in the film. But we just wanted songs for the album. When I told Rahman that, he just smiled. And once he records a song, it is very difficult not to use it in the film. Once he gave us a track, we had no choice but to do reasonable justice.

See ARR is the best. I'm all excited about the film. Wish I was in Madras now!!!!

Biggest "loser" of poll '04

2004-05-17T22:52:00.000-04:00

Guess who is the biggest looser in this election ? He is the man who is considered as an icon and a supreme power by the youth in Tamilnadu. Many of them are ready to do anything for him. He was both a best bet and also a nightmare to politicians in TN. Yeah you guessed right! It is none other than nallavanukku nallavan Superstar Rajinikanth.

According to me he is the biggest loser of Indian poll ’04. Number 13 proved to be a bad omen for him. Although many thought that this election would be the entry of Rajini and it cannot get any better, with fans compelling him as never before and also PMK kept on giving problems for him, the verdict by the people of India and Tamilnadu proved it wrong. First of all I would say he got real unfortunate, with confused alliance in TN. The reason is that PMK joined with DMK for whom he was supporting or seemed to be supporting all these days and the BJP, which was very powerful to begin with, joined AIADMK. So he was really caught in a trap. So he opted for the best choice i.e., to oppose the PMK especially for the sake of his fans who were mishandled by PMK cadres and PMK chief himself. This worked out to be the worst decision of his life on the 13th of May when PMK won with very high margin of votes in all its 6 constituencies, in spite of having a stronghold only in two or three of them.

Let me tell you what went wrong for him. The foremost reason was the anger of the people over Jayalalitha and her dictating government. On top of it they were fed up without knowing whether Rajini really is coming to politics or not. The worst thing was Rajini himself telling that his vote is for BJP and his fans and the people can vote for any party they want. This is totally idiotic. People and his fans were totally believing him and when he said that, he has surely taken his interest primarily rather than the interests of the people and his fans. All his words and deeds showed a sign of selfishness and were mostly concentrating on him rather than the people. According to me, Rajini announcing that he voted for AIADMK after coming out of the polling booth was a mere stupidity.

He should have kept quite, knowing that he is going to enter into a Chakravyuga of politics. He entered into it without knowing how to come out of it and that proved to be really a major setback for his name and power. I think in future no politician will give a damn about him. I never wanted this to happen. I strongly oppose Rajini coming into politics. I’m a big fan of him. I always want him to be our superstar.

Amma gone summa!!!

2004-05-13T15:10:00.000-04:00

When I woke up this morning I was really surprised to see the election results. One can never tell anything about the people and their mind. The true color of democracy was evident. They have made all the exit polls go wrong. In January soon after the assembly polls in three states, everyone including me was confident that NDA will form government without any hassle. Though, there were signs of slides after the first phase and then more after the second phase, and the exit polls almost went for a hung parliament afetr the third phase , I was very much confident on NDA retaining the power. But the results came out to be surprise to everyone in India. Even congress would have never thought about it. I’m not going to debate on what went wrong, the main reason i think was the state factor. . The revitalization of INC by Rahul and Priyanka was a flash on the pan, according to me. Another main reason is most of the youth and the educated class never votes. For the rest, its just water, food and clothing. If one party doesn’t provide them, they go for the other thinking that they will be able to do it. Prolonged drought has also played a major rule here.

Personally I did not want this to happen. I don’t think congress will be good government at this stage. They are operated by too many biggies that internal factions arise very often. Lets wait and see what Sonia and gang are going to offer. After all that’s what we can do. My biggest worry right now is about the peace talks with Pakistan and the golden quadrilateral project. These were handled very well by vajpayee government.

Coming to Amma, she has had the worst ever humiliation in her life. Losing in all 40 seats is a big set back to her, people have taught her a good lesson. I’m sure that she would have spent millions in getting things together, but in vain. Let’s hope the same continues in assembly elections two years from now. . I still could not comprehend why people went against NDA. Though BJP was projected to have a convincing victory in Karnataka assembly elections, poll verdict have made them wrong and the party has come with just 15-20 seats more than INC.

No use talking about this anymore. Now all we can do is sit and watch what Sonia has got to do for us. She carries a Herculean task of keeping the allies firmly together on her shoulders. I wish her all the very best.

I have got 'Google' mail

2004-05-04T18:31:00.000-04:00

I'm now one of the previliged few to get a gmail ID. Luckily no one by name Amarnath have subscribed for one, so I got a gmail account in my name. So from now if you want to send me an email send it to amarnath@gmail.com. Gmail is really cool, offering 1GB space, you do not need to delete any messages, text advertisements, grouping the mails as conversations are some interesting features of GMail. For those who were wondering whats the use of writing a blog, I got one reason. Yeah it was because of blogger, I got a Gmail account. So wait till Google releases the full version, if you need a Gmail account.

Jaggubhai ------------Ahhhhhhhhh!!!

2004-05-03T15:02:00.000-04:00

Today tamil people have woke up for a big surprise from Thalaivar, yes you are right, he has announced his next movie. The name is quite strange, JAGGUBHAI. I am not able to understand what this is, but was confused after seeing the poster of the movie. Rajini with a strange dress and makeup. His costume symbolises unity between Hindu and Muslim.

But the most happiest news for me is that he finally announced to do a movie. I hope it should be like Baasha or Thalapthi. The crew includes K S Ravikumar, A R Rehman for music, Vairamthu and Jeeva.

Look at the poster. You will be really surprised.

ARUL - movie review

2004-05-02T20:12:00.000-04:00

Another action flick from director Hari. Though ARUL can be said as a replica of Sami and Kovil, the movie was neatly taken in a very good pace. Kudos to the screenplay by Hari. The story is a usual mass hero subject, nothing special about it. Arul (vikram) is the son of a goldsmith in coimbatore. Angry father, caring mother, silent brothers and loving girl next door(Jothika), arrogant villan brothers as usual.The first half of the movie mainly concentrates on introducing all these characters. So it is not that fast or worth describing. But the way Hari has handled thse many characters must really be appreciated. This reminds me of Rajini movies, only where a lot of characters involve. Unlike the latter the characters have been handled properly in ARUL. The movie actually starts its pace in the second half and keeps the viewers on top of the seat.

First we will see about the actors. Vikram, the hero of the movie carries the character very well. His hairstyle and clouts where not very good. After rajinikanth, only vikram can be a success in a mass movie like this. Especially the liners like “ Anyayam panna aandavanukku pudikaadhu , asingama pesana Arulukku pudikadhu” suited well for him. Compared to those by simbu and other people. But vikram should have stopped with that “enna paathu sollu en kanna paathu sollu” was konjum over. He gets full mark for his performance especially in the last hour of the film. . The sequences with Ponnambalam and Pasupathy was really good.This movie will surely win him a lot of mass. But he should better stop this before getting monotonous. Next to Vikram, K S Ravikumar has done a good role in this movie. Though he was over acting at some places, on the whole his performance was worth talking about. I was surprised to see Jhotika. She has lost more weight and has become really thin. There is a good improvement in her acting too. The rest have done the best they can for the given roles. Vinu chakravarthi’s role was irritating especially when he keeps on shouting Vikram. Vijayakumar would have suited this role more than Vinu. Vadivelu’s comedy, hopeless.

Next we will see about the technical aspects. First the screenplay. Hari gets maximum marks for this. The new trend of hero taking revenge on the bad guys by using both his muscle and brain was nicely carried by Hari. Then cinematography, by Priyan. He has done a good job, especially in the song sequences and the scenes in which Vikram makes the Thali. I don’t know how they find the locations for the songs, they were really good except the sets for the song 'odiyanam senji thaarean'. Coming to music, Harris Jayaraj’s work is not worthy enough. He is going bad as he starts scoring for lot of movies now. The tracks sounded pretty much like Saami. Especially the song 'punaaku' was a replica of vepamaram puliyamaram from Saami.

If you expect a class movie, then better not watch it. But if you are looking for an entertainer surely do.

Plus – Vikram’s performance, Hari’s screenplay, Action.

Minus – Harris jayaraj’s music, boring first half, comedy.

I made it to the news !!!!

2004-04-29T13:17:00.000-04:00

" A man was injured riding his bicycle near the Glass Bowl April 16. When police arrived, the man was bleeding from his mouth, knee and elbow. A tooth, which was knocked out because of the accident, was lying next to him in a glass of milk, which was placed there by bystanders. The man was taken to Toledo Hospital. "

- this was a report of an accident on a local newspaper ICollegian. The man talked about here is no other than Amarnath the great. I'm happy that I made it to the news.

I surely cannot be a teacher !!!

2004-04-28T21:04:00.000-04:00

This is my last week of tutoring. For those who don’t know much about me, I work as a Math tutor. This is my job on campus. I sit in a Math lab (that’s how they call it) with other tutors, and students who have trouble come to us and we have to help them with there questions. Ah!! Almost tired of it. Eventhough I have a lot patience(I think I have), I decided I cannot be a teacher. I’m tutoring for the last one and half year. Would have tutored more than 500 students mostly Americans, some Brazilians, Middle east, Peurto Ricans, Jamaicans, et cetra. Though I had a nice time tutoring to start with, things became monotonous and I started hating this job. I’m not generalizing, but Americans have a big problem with math. They just cant do it. On top of it they hate doing math. “Math is my worst subject”, “Math Sucks”, “I want to pass this course very badly”, “I’m taking this math course because I flunked the first time, I want to get over with it”…these are the most common statements I hear from students coming to the math lab. At times I take at least twenty minutes to explain if x-3 = 0, then x=3. This is the common basic math that many of them find difficult to understand. I can’t tell why their standard is so low. The college algebra here for non engineering students is the same algebra we study in our sixth or seventh grade. In spite of all these I had no other go, because I know this is the best job on campus, compared to the job in cafeterias and dorms which my friends do.
But I’m happy that I’m done with this and I know I surely cannot be a teacher especially a one on one teacher. It requires lot of patience to be one. Its summer now and I’m going to start with my patrolling job, which is my favorite. For those who don’t know what that job is about, there will be a blog on it, sometime in summer.

The Greatest debacle !!!!!

2004-04-21T16:37:00.000-04:00

The reason I ran scant on the number of blogs last week was an accident. I fell off from a bicycle. Shame!!!!!!!!!!! Isn’t. No not at all. Sometimes things workout really bad, this incident especially still remains a nightmare for me. That’s ok I'll take this as a lesson. I wanted to describe this incident to as many people I can, which I did. Now I'm running out of people, so thought I could post it in my blog. It all happened last Friday when I and Sathish went on for a bicycle ride. We almost completed 26km before we reached a small hill road. I came down the hill very fast and continued cycling, so was a bit fast than usual, suddenly ran over a bump on the pathway, due to which my bike started whirling and I had to apply the brake. Riding a new bike so fast without trying a hand on it before was the mistake I did.

Now comes the interesting part for all of you. I had to apply brakes. Due to the sudden brake I fell from the bike as if a professional diver was diving on to a swimming pool. Fell right on my mouth. The only thing I could see was a tooth flying off my mouth. That was synonymous to a missile form a launcher and the worst part was another tooth from the front was coming out like a cassette out of a VCR after u click the eject button. Luckily the latter was not completely knocked off and blood was coming out of my mouth like a volcanic eruption (looks like over exaggeration, kindly bare with me). Then Sathish used the emergency booth near the ramp and called the cops. I was surrounded with people all over, two cop vehicles, fire engine and an ambulance. All these made me feel I had a major accident for a minute. But I was confident nothing will happen.

The luckiest part was one unknown girl rushed with some milk from her dorm and put my tooth into it. I came to know that’s the first aid for teeth, to avoid that from decaying. I must be really grateful to her. That’s a time really I felt god is within each of us. They rushed me to a hospital nearby. I had two stitches in my lips. Although I'm all right now, my tooth is not tight enough in its place. So, I’m having only liquid diet for the past one week. No chewing at all. I wish I reduce some weight due to this. I would be happy if that happens. I’m confident that I’ll be alright in a week or two.

Pray for my teeeeeeeeeeetthhhhhh !!!!!!!!!!!

Vajpayee, Premji and Ash make it in Time's list!!

2004-04-18T23:53:00.000-04:00

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, IT bellwether Wipro chairman Azim Premji and film star Aishwarya Rai made it to the Time magazine list of the world's 100 most powerful and influential people.

Vajpayee shares the ranks with US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in the list to be released on Monday.

The list, which is categorised - leaders and revolutionaries, builders and titans and scientists and thinkers, heroes and icons and artists and entertainers - also includes the names of Al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden under the first category.

Each category has 20 names, said The Independent on Sunday, to which the list was available exclusively.

Yoga instructor B.K.S Iyengar, former South African president Nelson Mandela, Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi and Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama figure in the heroes and icons category.

Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling and Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman find mention along with Aishwarya Rai in the artistes and entertainers category.

The builders and titans category lists Premji, along with media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

Khel jeetha , Dill Jeethliya!!

2004-04-18T12:01:00.000-04:00

This was the word from our prime minister soon after India’s historic series win over Pakistan at Rawalpindi. I’m sure that Atal –ji would have been praying all the time that this series should go hassle free, because more than a game it’s a series which will keep him more on the positive edge in this election. If something would have happened for the players or the team, then I’m sure the opposition would have made a big fuss on this issue. But this series has got him more accolades. This series is surely a successful one, mentally for the Indian team and financially for the organizers. The Pakistan cricket board can be happy that it made nearly $14mill through this series. I wish our team perform the same way in the forthcoming tours too.

The ‘O’ word !!!

2004-04-14T10:42:00.000-04:00

We all use a lot of ‘O’ words. Well what does ‘O’ stand for? It means different things for different people. And sometimes, just the opposite. It's the same sphere that makes for a zero in your answer paper and the same sphere that means you are a hero when it appears in your grade column in the report card: O for Outstanding.

It's the same O that comes out when there's a cheer - as the song goes, "O Podu." The same O that comes out of frustration - Oh! The same O that comes out of oomph - Ooooh! And the same O that stands for pain - Ooh! Aah! And Ouch!

But everybody's favourite O on campus is for anything that you get free or when you get somebody else to pay for you - O.C.! Here's a little etymological background that we managed to get our hands on.
Legend has it that British officials in pre-independent India used to send official documents in envelopes that were marked On Company Service, which meant no stamps had to be affixed. Slowly, this was abbreviated to OCS and the initials were corrupted over the years and `O.C.' slowly joined the language.

The most common O word on campus is for anything and everything you understand or want to pretend to understand.The word that most listeners use for their bit of conversation and to describe anything that is average or decent. Or when something is approved. O for O.K.

Since, we are on our gyaan mode, here's more etymological background. The most accepted origin is its derivation from Orl Korrekt, a corruption of All Correct. However, other theories indicate it could be a corruption of the French word au quai or d'accord, which means `Agreed' (Accord... Acco... Occo... Ok, get it now?). The Americans used the word `okeh.' And the Scottish believe its derives its genesis from `Och Aye.' Ever since, it has also been spelt `Okay' and been further corrupted to Okie or Okie-dokie! Not all etymologists agree on all these theories. But who cares, right? It's Orl Kool, these days! Most students in the city, however, use the local pronunciation: Wokay!

The third most-used O word on campus is very similar to the first two - its called O.B. Origins unknown. But the word O.B. refers to someone who idles away his time and gets away with it. Most students fall under this category. Some students, however, insist that the word O.B. has to do with unmentionable foul words. So foul that it could get them expelled from college, they say. A conservatively, approximate translation would mean `messing around,' we hear.

There is also a mysterious O word that most college students use while starting off a string of abuses - it interestingly sounds very same as `What the hell' or `What the heck' but it does not mean the same. It's another foul word, they say.
O Oh!

Courtesy: The Hindu

Well, looking after my dad’s business!!

2004-04-12T12:27:00.000-04:00

This would be the answer, if you ask a politician’s son, what does he do? Especially this election which will feature a record maximum of young contestants in the poll fray will see most of them from the family of the senior leaders and Late ministers and party loyalists. Though this is not anything new to Indian politics (I would rather call democratic set-up, evident in most of the countries), the most fascinating thing about this election is that it will showcase a lot of them from 20-30 years of age. The age group of nearly a half of India’s total population. If it is Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti from the north, it is M.K. Stalin, G.K.Vaasan and Dayanidhi Maaran in the south. Politics has almost become a family business now in India.

First we shall look at the congress party which is very well known for its dynastic regime. Rahul Gandhi, 33 filing his nomination in Amethi was a flash in the pan, because he is the best example for the fact that pedigree counts in India. With him, his sister Priyanka Vadra, 32 will also be in the fray supporting congress. On digging out more facts and statistics I found that these two are not the only prominent successors but there are a lot more. The soothing fact is that many of them are (really) well educated, which I think is a definite need for Indian politics.

Sandeep Dikshit, 39 son of Sheila Dikshit will be contesting in UP. Sachin Pilot 26 , son of Late. Rajesh Pilot and a MBA graduate will be contesting from Dausa in Rajastan. Rajeev Gowda, 40 a professor in IIM , son of M.V Venkatappa, will be contesting for Bangalore South constituency. Randeep Surjewala 37, a practicing lawyer and son of S.S.Surjewala will contest in Haryana. Sudhir Sharma 31, son of Late Sant Sharma will be contesting in Himachal. Jitendar Singh 31, an automobile engineer and son of Late. Mahendra Kumari, will be contesting from Alwar. Jiten Prasad 30 , an MBA graduate and son of Late. Jitendra Prasad, will be contesting from Shajahanpur, UP. R.P.N Singh 39, son of Late. C.P.N Singh, will be contesting from Padrauna, UP. Milind Deora 27, a BBA graduate and son of Murto Deora, will be contesting from Mumbai South. Amit Deshmukh 27, Chemical engineer and son of Vilasrao Deshmuk, will be contesting in Maharastra. This is not it, there’s a lot more. It would be annoying to read such a long list, so I better stop here.

The dynastic pack of BJP has also opted for politics though there are a lot of other activities which they can be part off, if they like to either earn for them or serve for the country (that’s eventually the reason they give for jumping into politics). The irony is that Feroze Varun Gandhi, 23 would be supporting her mother Maneka Gandhi, minister in the ruling NDA alliance. The other important names to mention would be Raj Thanckeray 36 and Uddhav Thackeray 44, son of Shiv Sena supreme, Bal Thackeray. Akilesh Yadav 30, an MBA graduate from American University and son of Mulayam Singh Yadav, will be contesting from Kannauj,UP. Manvendra Singh 39, son of Jaswant Singh, will be contesting from Barmer, Rajastan.

Lot more, each one of them taking a pedigree advantage using their second name will really be a watch out for in this election. Whatever or whoever may that be, lets expect them to do something useful for the country. After all that’s the usual thing we look out for in vain every single time.

Courtesy: India Today

India's Top Ten richest Women

2004-04-08T17:47:00.000-04:00

Here's the top ten lucrative women in India. I was wondering how Amma's and her friends name did not grab a place and I found out that this list takes the declared wealth and the value of shares each of them own, into consideratrion.

1. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson of Biocon with a personal net worth Rs 1,920(19.2billion).

2. Sudha Gopalkrishan, wife of Infosys CEO Mr.Gopalakrishnan, with net worth currently stands at Rs 1,023 crore.

3. Sudha Murthy, wife of Infosys Technologies founder, Narayana Murthy, with a personal net worth of Rs 775 crore.

4. Rohini Nilenkani (wife of Nandan Nilekani) ,Akshata Murthy (daughter of Narayana Murthy), both are individually worth Rs 675 crore.

6. Anu Aga, chairperson of the Pune-based Thermax, is worth Rs 599 crore.

7. Asha Dinesh (Infosys Technologies) is worth Rs 587 crore.

8. Jamuna Raghvan (wife of former Infosys Technologies Joint Managing Director N S Raghavan) is worth Rs 554 crore.

9. Priyamvada Birla, chairperson of the MP Birla group, has a personal net worth of Rs 310 crore

10. Mrs. Venu Srinivasan of TVS Motors.

PS : You would like to be one among them, the easiest way will be to marry a millionaire.

Summer Delight for Tamil Viewers

2004-04-08T12:23:00.000-04:00

This summer Kollywood is all set to rock. With a number of films lined up for release, I think people, especially college goers will have a handful of movies to watch out for. Though this is quite a usual scene during most of the summer, this summer promises to be a lot different. Movies of all bigwigs of the Tamil filmdom are ready for a big fight. The most promising one would be none other than (you all would have guessed by now)

Aayitha Eluthu. As all of you know, this movie is creating waves allready, with the music and trailer released I think this movie will prove to be the best bilingual movie ever made in the Indian film industry, with Madhavan, Surya, Sidhharth, Esha Deol, Trisha, Meera Jasmine in Tamil and Ajay devgan, Abhishek Bachan, Vivek oberoi, Kareena Kaoor, Rani Mukherjee in Hindi titled Yuva. I have a big hope on Maniratnam. Mani has gone all tech savvy as usual. Its said that his cameraman Ravi K Chandran has used three different kinds of lenses and colors for each of the heroes in the film. A R Rahman is back with a bang. The Baadsah of Indian music rocks when combined with Mani. Vairamuthu has penned good lyrics and the dialogues are by Sujatha. The whole tamil industry is desperately waiting to watch this movie. I'm intrigued!!!

If u have not watched the latest update of the website, I request u to do that first. I was simply enthralled on seeing the website. The phrases on the first page are awesome. Hats off to Mani.

The Statements !!!! - 2

2004-04-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

"I do not understand this alliance, they should have at least avoided holding it on April Fool's day."

-- Atal Bihari Vajpayee referring the joint rally by Ms Gandhi and Sharad Pawar.

"The people of Tamil Nadu cannot tolerate this lawless rule for two more years and Article 356 will be used for the last time to dissolve the anti-people AIADMK Government as the Congress will have majority in both Houses of Parliament.''

-- Ramdoss the kingmaker (he thinks himself as one)

Did the little master take a long time ?

2004-03-31T22:57:00.000-05:00

Soon after the second days play, one of my friends, who is an anti-sachin fan told me that Sachin asking for 2 or 3 more overs to complete his double ton was idiotic. I thought I could bring up some facts about that, from an article in MSN. Although Sachin was not playing the way he could have, these facts will show you he has not taken any extra time.

"But was Sachin too slow for the team’s liking? Statistics often hide more than they reveal, but at least in this case, it reveals enough. While Sachin’s innings was not the fastest he has played, his 194 in 348 balls compares favourably with all of Dravid’s four double hundreds. Dravid’s first double ton (200 against Zimbabwe) came in 350 balls while against England in 2002, he used up 468 balls for his 217.Against the Kiwis at Ahmedabad, Dravid made 222 in 387 balls while against the Aussies Down Under, his 233 came in 446 balls.

Sachin Tendulkar may have paid a price for his genius, for not playing the way he is capable of playing. Or maybe, it was just an honest mistake from Dravid, a man who prides himself on the way he plays the game.

The little master from Mumbai and the Wall would already have moved on by the time this is written and it is time for us to think of happier things as well. If Sachin scores anything more than 5 runs in his next innings, he would have hit 500 runs in Tests since the time he was last dismissed. The big daddy has now put a really big price on his wicket, and for bowlers around the world, there can be no thought more worrying.

Some time ago, a cricket lover from Australia was moved enough by the sight of Sachin batting to put up a banner that read ‘I have seen God, he bats for India’. "

again I request people like my friend to please celebrate his genius.

Bush got the wrong Arithmetic

2004-03-31T22:28:00.000-05:00

It’s almost a year since US led coalition troops started the strike against Iraq. Let’s condole this moment of infamy with some real facts and see how Bush went wrong in his arithmetic. It all started with Bush claiming the presence of weapons of mass destruction. Since then there is a big loss of wealth and men both the sides. The fact is more than 20,000 civilians have died (most of them children and women) and Iraq is totally damaged even without proper electricity and basic needs. No actual purpose was solved by this war.

Even considering the point that Bush thought of conquering the oil fields in Iraq and establishing a global market, by which he can bring up a good improvement in US economy, his calculations did not work as intended. One is through a burgeoning official defense budget, which stood at $375.3 billion in 2003 and is estimated to be $401.7 billion in 2004. The failure to restore damaged oil facilities and the attacks on oil installations by the resistance to the war have meant that production has limped back to just 2.2 million barrels a day, which was the average level it had reached in 2002. Yet, the President's Office of Management and Budget, recently reported to the U.S. Congress that oil revenues, which touched $3.9 billion in 2003, would rise to $13 billion this year. The point to note is that even this optimistic estimate, which is more than unlikely to be realized, will not cover the operating costs of the Iraqi government, estimated at $15.6 billion for 2004.

The Bush administration claims proudly that it has set the Iraqi people free from the clutches of Sadam, the Iraqi people don't show even a small sign of it. Many would have watched people from Fallujah shouting anti-American slogans and dragging the bodies of four American civilians. The most terrifying fact is that out of the 597 American soldiers killed till now; nearly 480 of them were killed after Bush announced that the major combat is over.

THERE is a larger story behind these developments. One of the puzzles of U.S. economic growth in recent times is a combination of a robust recovery with no jobs. While gross domestic product (GDP) growth has been in excess of 4 per cent, unemployment still stands at an uncomfortable 5.6 per cent. On an annualized basis, the 21,000 jobs created in February 2004 amounted to less than 10 per cent of the 2.6 million jobs the Bush administration has promised to generate in this year. The cause for the recovery is quite clear: a massive rise in government spending fuelled by the occupation of Iraq.

Courtesy - The Frontline

The Statements - 1 !!!!!

2004-03-28T23:31:00.000-05:00

From today I will have some funny statements released by our nethas(great leaders !!!!)

"I shall rule Bihar as long as I live and the BJP or any other adversary do not have the guts to uproot the RJD in Bihar. I am the de facto chief minister while my wife Rabri is the de jure."

- no other than Padmashri !!! Lalloo Prasad Yadav ji

Honour your Body

2004-03-28T23:28:00.000-05:00

This is the most important thing, many of us fail to do. Studies shows increased number of deaths due to heart related diseases amongst the Indians. A recent survey by India Today magazine showed that majority of Indians who live in US die early due to heart disorders. Why is all these happening ? We fail to honour our body. Is That because we don't have time, or we don't have the facilities, or we don't have money to do it...No we don't feel the importance in it. I don't mean to generalise.

The best way to honour ones body is by spending some time for it. exercises will take a larger portion of that time. Exercising for 30 minutes everyday will lead you to an healthy living. I keep it a point to spend atleast an hour in gym.I'm not asking you to go to gym immediately. No matter what your adversity on this be. Start slowly, by changng your life style. Changing the way you live in day to day life will make much difference. Take steps instead of elevator, walk instead of catching a shuttle, take lot of fruits in your meal, these small things will fetch you a lot.

Check your Look - When you take care of how you look, you automatically take steps to change your lifestyle.

Improve your wisdom - It takes time to be wise(especially for a dumbo like me!!). Some people are smart when they are young, but many need to age to have wisdom.Nurturing your wisdom and spirit is a good step to become wise. A spiritual life will help you in this and to lead a life with context.

Keep in touch - Some studies have indicated that keeping in touch with family, friends and the community is really important and a key to longevity.

Rest - Sleeping enough is an extremely important aspect of feeling good. A normal adult needs 7 hours of sleep everyday.Pampering is one of the most important things you can do for yourself.
So give it a start, begin exercising and change your life style for a healthy living.

I hope today's blog will not be just a regular advice but an uplifting to most of you.