A day with least significant?

Today is Children's Day but what is signifies to the children of this country. Only the kids at schools, who already got the due respect for their childhood, celebrate.

Until kids at traffic signals begging for their life's, at factories killing their childhood, under roof being exploited are freed, the children's day will not make a significant impact on the society.

Leadership!!!

An extract of an interesting article about 'Situation Leadership' I read today.

Leadership is in the ability to win in unexpected situations, to be creative when no solution seems apparent and to feel in control of situation.

Situation Leadership is to customize one's approach to the situation to get the best of what is available.

Leadership is a cruel game. You have to complete the puzzle, but not all the pieces are with you. So, your success is no more depends only on you and yet anyone's failure is your failure.

மாறாதக்கோட்டை!!!

கதை:
ஹீரோ ஒரு தாதாவின் அடியாட்களை அடித்து விட தாதா அவனை பழி வாங்க தொரத்துகிறான். (சண்டைக்கோழி 2?). நீதிமன்ற ஆனையின் படி காவல் நிலையத்தில் கையெழுத்திட மலைக்கோட்டை வந்த ஹிரோ காதல், இன்னொரு வில்லன் என பல சவால்களை தாண்டி சுபம்.

புதுமை:
சுபத்திற்கு பின் வந்த காட்சிகள். கதாபாத்திரங்கள் ஒவ்வொன்றும் எப்படி மாறினார்கள் என்று காட்டியது புதுமையாகவும், நன்றாகவும் இருந்தது. 'Climax'ல் வில்லனை சுட்டதிற்கு போலீஸ் சித்தப்பா கூறிய காரணத்திற்கு audience மத்தியில் கை தடடல் உறுதி.

சொதப்பல்:
விசால் புதிதாக 'Comedy' செய்ய முயற்சி செய்திருந்தாலும் அவர் 'body languages'கு இந்த வகை 'comedy' ஒந்து வரவில்லை.

மாறாத பழமை:
1) 'இவனை அடக்க ஒரு ஆம்பிள்ளை வருவான்' என்று பாதிக்கப்பட்ட ஒரு பெண் கூறியவுடன் ஹீரோவின் அறிமுகப் பாடல்.
2) சின்ன பொடியன் ஒருவனை அழைத்துக்கொண்டு ஹீரோ ஹீரோயினை தேடுவது.
3) காதலில் தோற்றவன் தன் குழந்தைக்கு காதலியின் பெயரை வைப்பது. (வேற வழியே இல்லையா?)

ஆக மொத்ததில் 'மலைக்கோட்டை' புதிய கல்லில் புளித்துப்போன பழைய மாவு. ஆனாலும் ரூசிக்கத்தான் செய்கிறது.

கொண்டாடம்!!!

என் நினைவில் உள்ள வரை இந்தியா முழுவதும் தீபாவளி ஒரே நாளில் தான் கொண்டாடப்படும். ஆனால் வழக்கத்திற்கு மாறாக இந்த முறை தென்னிந்தியாவில் நேற்றும் பிற பகுதிகளில் இன்றும் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது.

எது எப்படியோ, நாங்கள் நேற்று நல்ல படியாக பண்டிகையை கொண்டாடினோம்.

கிரித்திக், வெடி சத்தம் கேட்கும் ஒவ்வொரு முறையும் பயத்துடன் எங்கள் கால்களை கட்டிக்கொண்டான்.
மாலையில் அவன் கையிலிருந்த மத்தாப்பை விட முகத்தில் பிரகாசம் அதிகம்.
அவன் பேரைச் சொல்லி ஹேமா பட்டாசுக்கள் விட்டு ஒரு கலக்கு கலக்கீட்டாள்.

தீபாவளி நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்!

சத்தம் முழங்க, தீபம்கள் ஒளிர, கண்களுக்கு விருந்தாய் மத்தாப்பூகள் சிலுர்க்க

அனைவரும் தீபாவளியை பாதுகாப்புடனும் மகிழ்ச்சியுடனும் கொண்டாட எங்கள் நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்.

Oppurtunities!

There is an old story about the perceptions & opportunities. A barber saw no opportunity in a city where all the residents grew long hair and mustache. Whereas, the second barber saw the same city as a big business prospect.

If you have the hunger for success, you will see opportunities everywhere and everyday to grab them. Using the given opportunity to the best of your potential will show you the way to success. It is all up to you.

Otherwise, you will always be busy waiting for the opportunity to knock your doors. Don't blame others for lack of opportunity.

தி.நகர் - 2!!!

'தி.நகர்' என்றவுடன் சென்னை வாசிகளுக்கு உடனே ஞாபகத்துக்கு வருவது எது? என்று பட்டியல் போட்டால் 'மக்கள் நெரிசல்'லுக்குத் - குறிப்பாக பண்டிகை காலங்களில் - தான் முதலிடம். அதன் பிறகு தான் இரங்கநாதன் தெரு, சரவணா ஸ்டோர்ஸ் எல்லாம்.

மக்கள் நெரிசலுக்கு பயந்து திபாவளி 'shopping'யை வேளச்சேரியிலே முடித்துவிடலாம் என்று சென்றால் இங்கும் மக்கள் கூட்டம் அலைமோதியது. பிரபலமான கடைகள் அதன் கிளைகளை இங்கு துவங்கி உள்ளது. உதாரணமாக 'Naidu Hall' மற்றும் 'Basics'. இந்த கூட்டத்தால் தி-நகருக்கு செல்லும் கூட்டம் குறைந்திருக்கிறதா என்றால் அறவே இல்லை.

புற்றீசல் போல் எங்கிருந்துதான் வருகிறார்களோ?

4 வருடத்துக்கு முன்னால் நான் சென்னை வந்தபோது அடையாளம் தெரியாமலிருந்த 'By-Pass Raod' இன்று இன்னொரு 'இரங்கநாதன் தெரு'வாக உருமாறி வருகிறது.

யார் குற்றம்?

நான் சமீபத்தில் திரைக்கு வந்த 'கற்றது தமிழ்'யை இன்னமும் பார்க்கவில்லை என்றாலும் அதைப்பற்றிய விமர்சனம், இயக்குனர் பேட்டி பார்த்திருக்கிறேன். மென்போருள் துறையின் மீது மற்றவர்களுக்குள்ள கோபம் மற்றும் பொறாமையின் வெளிப்பாடாக அமைந்தது தான் இந்த திரைப்படம்.

விலைவாசி உயர்வுக்கு எங்கள் துறையினர் தான் முக்கிய காரணம் என்ற உணர்வு மக்களிடையே உள்ளதை யாராலும் மறுக்கயியலாது.

மென்போருள் ஊழியன் என்று தெரிந்தவுடன் வீட்டு வாடகையை உயர்த்தும் உரிமையாளர்கள் உண்டா, இல்லயா?

சொகுசு பேருந்தில் பயணம் செய்ய வரும் எங்கள் நண்பர்களிடம் அதிக விலைக்கு பயணச்சீட்டை விற்று லாபம் பார்க்கும் முதலாளிகள் உண்டா, இல்லயா?

'ரியல் எஸ்டேட்' என்ற பெயரில் பணம் பறிக்கும் கும்பல் உண்டா, இல்லயா?

எங்கள் அலுவலகம் தேடி வந்து எங்களை கடனாளிகளாக்கும் வங்கிகள் உண்டா, இல்லயா?

இதையெல்லாம் சொல்லி விலை உயர்வுக்கு நாங்கள் காரணமில்லை என்று வாதாடவில்லை. நாங்கள் மட்டும் காரணமில்லை என்றே கூறுகிறேன்.

எங்களின் ஒரு பக்கத்தை மட்டும் பார்த்து விட்டு இந்த சமுகம் எங்களை விமர்சிக்கிறது.

படித்து முடித்து வேலை கிடைக்காமல் தவிக்கும் நண்பர்களை பற்றி அவர்களுக்கு தெரியாது.

இயலாதவர்களுக்கு (தெரிந்தவர்களோ, தெரியாதவர்களோ) உதவும் எங்கள் நண்பர்களை பற்றி அவர்களுக்கு தெரியாது.

இரவு பகல் என்று பார்க்காமல் உழைக்கும் நண்பர்களை பற்றி அவர்களுக்கு தெரியாது.

பாசத்துக்கும் அரவனைப்புக்கும் ஏங்கும் நண்பர்களை பற்றி அவர்களுக்கு தெரியாது.

எங்களை அரவனைக்காவிட்டால் பரவாயில்லை சமூகமே! பழி கூறாதே!

மோகம்!!!

இளைஞர்கள் தங்கள் வீட்டு விசேசங்களுக்கு, குறிப்பாக தங்கள் மணநாளுக்கு, அழைப்பிதழ் அச்சடிக்கும் போது 'ஆங்கில'த்தில் அடிப்பது என்பது ஒரு பழக்கமாக மாறி விட்டது. பழக்கம் என்று சொல்வதை விட கௌரவம் என்றை சொல்ல வேண்டும். நான் மட்டும் இதற்கு விதிவிளக்கு இல்லை.

இதற்கு விதிவிலக்காக எனது இளநிலை வகுப்பு நண்பன் ('ந. வெங்கடாசலம்') தகவல் தொழில்நுட்பத் துறையில் பணியில் இருந்த போதிலும் அவன் மண அழைப்பிதழை தூயத்தமிழில் அச்சடித்திருந்தான்.

அந்த அழைப்பிதழ் ஆங்கில மோகம் கொண்ட இளைஞர்களுக்கிட்ட சவுக்கடி!

Richest Man!

Indian share market is doing wonders for the last few months. The journey to 20K Sensex points had crossed few milestones and made the investers rich. Apart from reaching 20K yesterday, it also made 'Mukesh Ambani' the richest man in the world. A proud moment to be an India.

On the otherside, people, especially farmers, are commiting suicides as they were not able to repay the loans. What is the government doing to strike a balance?

Can Vikram's upcoming 'Kandasamy' has an answer? :)

Bomb Hoax

While driving, I saw a big crowd around my office complex (Olympia Tech Park) on Saturday. I thought it as a cinema shooting but felt something fishy when I saw NDTV Broadcasting vehicle.

After I returned home, I learnt that it was due to a bomb threat and the entire building was scanned to confirm it as a hoax. The authorities didn't take it light even though, it was the 3rd call of this type in a week.

May be just to keep the authorities busy, or just to make his/her office to declare a day off. ;)

Rain! Rain! Rain!...

In one of my previous blogs, I have scribbled about the forecast of rains this year and the prediction was over written this week. The rain god did overtime for more than 24 hours.

My experiences with flood last year, and the year before were tiresome. In fact, both in 2005 & 2006, my experience was of same kind, the flood water entered into our house.

The rain didn't show me any mercy this time. I & my collegues went to Avadi to attend a marriage reception. While returning, the road got blocked and were forced to take the longest route. With no cabs available at office to drop me at home and Hema & Kirthik waiting for me at home, I had no options other than catching a bus.

After a heavy shower for the last two days, the Sun is back to its brightness. Time to Relax at least for a while.

HOT NEWS!!!

I'm trying hard to stay away from cricket but failed this time. Please bare with me.

A small example for how cricket fans and media are crazy about this sports and its players.

The Hindu
Sify
India Times
NDTV
Hindustan Times

The 'Dhoni's haircut' has got enough space in almost all the news channels and prints.

What counts most?

I've been watching the recently concluded Australia's tour of India. I see a surprise performer of the series.

After a weeks, no one is talking about the performance of Symonds & Hayden, neither the stunning comeback by Murali Kartik, nor the swing of Mitchell Johnson but about the aggression of Sreesanth.

May be this fame is attractive but has a shorter life time. The world still remember the titans like Kapils, Dennis, Holdings etc even after decades of their retirement not just for their aggression but for their performance on the field.

Theory is simple, 'You can't achieve success by not excelling in your assignments' and is a lesson not just to Sreesanth, but for all.

சுற்றுலா - அனுபவம் 3.

கல்லூரி வாழ்க்கையில் தான் தென்னிந்திய எல்லைக்குள் வட்டமடித்துக் கொண்டிருந்த என் சுற்றுலா மோகம் முதல் முறையாக எல்லை கடக்க ஆரம்பித்தது.

'MCA' இரண்டாமாண்டில் டெல்லி, சிம்லா மற்றும் குலுமணாலி சென்று 10 நாட்கள் சுற்றித் திரிந்தோம். புது இடம்கள், புது மொழிகள், புது தட்பவெப்பம் நிலை, புது உணவு பழக்கங்கள் என அனுபவங்கள் பல நிறைந்த பயணமாக ஆமைந்தது. இந்த பயணம் என் கல்லூரி வாழ்க்கையின் மறக்க முடியாத நிகழ்வுகளில் ஒன்று.

உறையும் குளிரிலும் வீம்பு சவால்கள், பனியின் உறம் பார்த்த எங்கள் வீரம், பேருந்தில் 'அரசு'வின் லீலை, இரயில் பயணத்தில் நண்பர்களுடன் செய்த குறும்புகள், 'Kashmir' மக்களின் பாரம்பரிய உடை அணிந்து போட்ட ஆட்டம், பனிச்சறுக்கல்கள், இரவு உணவாக 12 மணிக்கு சாப்பிட்ட 'குல்வி' என பசுமையான நினைவுகள் பல உண்டு.

Appreciate - When Deserved!

Motivation drives me to live tomorrow. The Zest to do more will keep me busy learning. How to keep my motivation alive?

The factor of self-motivation could reach a low when the results of our hard work are not recognized. As part of management responsibility, it is important to recognize and appreciate the hard working employees.

The appreciation can be anything - a monitory benefit, a promotion, a certificate, or even a word of thanks. A small appreciation would do a lot to the individuals.

When to appreciate is also matter a lot. It won't do anything good to recognize an extraordinary effort after the results are forgotten.

The purpose of appreciate is to motivate individual and teams. In order to keep this in focus, we should also learn what to appreciate. There is no point in appreciating every results. It is important to identify few that are due to great thinking / dedication / high spirit / hard work / lot of sacrifices and recognize them. Apart from motivating people who got it, appreciation also motivates others to achieve next time.

Criticize in Private and Appreciate in Public.

CC - Do your part!

The word 'CC' is very familiar term to me for a while. It meant 'Computer Center' and 'Command Center' till date but the new meaning for this acronym is more serious and complex. Climate Change, which is otherwise called Global Warming.

What is more annoying is that the changes in modern climate are, according to the IPCC, 90-95% likely to have been in part caused by human action.

Public shouldn't leave this matter to the governments to resolve. As an individual, if we don't act now, existence of our generation, human race for that matter, would seriously be under threat.

More detailed article is in Wiki media to know more about it!!!

தமிழ் : பெயர் பலகைகள்!!!

When I was roaming around the street of 'Adyar' in Chennai recently, I saw a name board of a medical clinic written in English as 'Ortho Pan Dental Xray Lab' and in Tamil as 'ஆர்த்தோ பான் டென்டல் எக்ஸ்ரே லேப்'.

The purpose of having a name board in native language is for localites, who doesn't know the foreign language, to read and understand.

Does the above board solve these problem?

Though it assists them in reading, it doesn't help them to understand the meaning. Why should we do something just to adhere to the rules, if it doesn't solve the problem?

We should be aware of it !!!

We would be happy when the Municipal Corporation lay roads and feel dejected when the Telephone/Water/Sewage Department dig the newly laid roads within weeks. We blame the government for no proper planning, we blame the government officials for malfunctioning, we blame the government for corruption...

We always blame somebody for something, but what difference does it make until it is heard by the right pair of ears? How far have we went to make things happen?

Many believe most of these can't be changed in this country. There are things in place in this country to take care of these issues.

Right To Information (RTI)
Indian Government's Grievances Collection Center
You can find lot of useful info here.
Indian Government Website.

RTI is one of the powerful tool that can used to have a transparent government but the lack of knowledge/information about these Acts make public stay away from it. We can't simply ignore them.

Let us all know about them and shouldn't afraid of using them whenever required.

சுற்றுலா - அனுபவம் 2.

விசு 'SBI'யில் வேலை செய்து வந்ததால் அவருக்கு கிடைத்த சலுகையை பயண்படுத்தும் விதமாக இரண்டாண்டுக்கு ஒரு முறை நாங்கள் அனைவரும் குடும்பத்துடன் சுற்றுலா செல்வதை வழக்கமாக கொண்டிருந்தோம்.

குடும்பத்தினருடன் ஊர் சுற்றும் அனுபவம் நண்பர்களுடன் செல்வதை விட முற்றிலும் வேறுபட்டது. நம் வயதில் துணையில்லாத நேரங்களில் பெரியவர்களின் துணை நாடினோம். பயணம் செய்யும் போது ஆட்டம் பாட்டம் இருக்காது. வண்டியில் அமைதியாக அமர்ந்து கொண்டு வர வேண்டும். அப்பாவுக்கு பயந்து கொண்டே 'Audio Volume'ஐ அதிக்கப்படுத்துவோம். 407 வேனில் முன்னிருக்கைக்கு நானும் ரகுவும் சண்டை போடுவோம்.

ஒரு முறை மைசூர் சென்று சுற்றிப் பார்த்துவிட்டு இரவு பயணித்துக்கோண்டிருந்தோம். தூங்கிக்கொண்டிருந்த அனைவரும் அப்பாவின் அலரல் கேட்டு எழுந்துவிட்டோம். பின்னர் தான் தெரிய வந்தது எங்களுடன் சேர்ந்து 'driver'ரும் தூங்கி விட்டார் என்பது. :) அன்று மட்டும் அப்பா சரியான நேரத்தில் சுதாரித்திருக்காவிட்டால் இன்று நான் இதை பதித்துக் கொண்டிருக்க மாட்டேன்!

ஐயோ! ஹேமாவா!!!

ஹேமா என்னுடன் பேச தொலைப்பேசியில் அழைத்தால் சந்தோசத்தில் துடித்த காலம் மாறி இப்போதெல்லாம் பயத்தில் கத்த ஆரம்பித்து விடுகிறது இதயம். :)

இந்த மாற்றத்துக்கு காரணம் வேறுயாறுமில்லை எங்கள் கிர்த்திக் தான். 'இன்று என்ன குறும்பு/இரகலை பண்ணினானோ?' என்ற பயம். ரசிக்கும்படியாக குறும்புகள் பல இருந்தாலும் நம்மை பயமுறுத்தும் குறும்புகளும் உண்டு.

சமிபத்தில் இரசித்தவை:
குடிக்கும் தண்ணீர் இருக்கும் 'bottle'ஐ தண்ணீருடன் கீழே சாய்த்தது.
காய்கறிகளை கீழே தள்ளி அதன் மேல் 'சொய்ய்ய்..' போனது.
ஹேமாவை செய்தித்தாள் படிக்க விடாமல் விளையாடச் சொன்னது.

சமிபத்தில் பயந்தவை:
'Live - Switch Board'ஐ உடைத்தது.

பெற்றோராய் எங்களுக்கு திரும்பக்கிடைக்காத இந்த நிகழ்வுகளை கவனமுடன் இரசித்துக்கொண்டிருக்கிறாம்!!!

IRCTC - A Nightmare!

Train journey is the most comfortable when you want to travel overnight. Even a Volvo Executive buses couldn't provide a comfortable sleep better than a birth in train. The freedom of movement is another advantage that you have in train over buses.

The comfort was not with out a cost. ie. The ticket counters would always be crowded, needless to say the length of the queue during festival times. All the tickets would be booked within weeks. The lazy planners had to spend more to get hold of their births.

These days were history now due to the arrival of IRCTC. Planning the travel sitting at the computer would definitely give a great relief to the frequent travellers. But in reality, is it a comfortable zone as it looks to be?

I never booked a ticket on IRCTC without failing at least once. I believe many would agree with me. The worst case is when you have been credited for the ticket and ticket never booked. The pressure of losing money would spoil the day. The process/system in place for refunding of money for such unsuccessful attempt needs to be appreciated, you will get it back with no hassle.

The authorities should realize that online booking thru' irctc has become the most commonly used application and should enhance its performance to the benefit of the public. Will they hear this?

சுற்றுலா - அனுபவம் 1.

சுற்றுலா என்ற வார்த்தை கேட்டவுடன் உள்ளம் இப்பொழுதும் மகிழ்ச்சியில் துள்ளிக்குதிக்கிறது. புதிய மனிதர்கள், புதிய இடங்கள், புதிய விசயங்கள் என பல அனுபவங்கள் கிடைக்கும் என்றால் கசக்குமா என்ன! :)

பள்ளியில், கல்லூரியில், குடும்பத்துடன், நண்பர்களுடன் என ஒவ்வொரு காலகட்டத்திலும் எனக்கு கிடைத்த அனுபவங்கள் சுவையானவை. அப்படி அனுபவித்தவற்றில் காலம் கடந்து இன்றும் என் நினைவில் பசுமையாயிருக்கும் பல சில நினைவுகளைப்பற்றிய ஒரு அலசல் தொடர்...

நான் 6வது படிக்கும் போது மூன்று நாள் சுற்றுப்பயணமாக சென்னை சென்றதுதான் பள்ளியல் எனக்கு கிடைத்த முதல் அனுபவம். ஆசிரியர்களின் மேல் பார்வையில் சென்று வந்ததே வித்தியசமான ஒரு அனுபவம்.

நான் படித்தது ஒரு கிருத்துவப்பள்ளி என்பதால் அதன் முலம் ஏற்பாடு செய்யபட்ட ஒரு கிருத்துவ ஆலயத்தில் இரவு தங்கினோம்.

பள்ளிச்சுற்றுலா என்பதால் 'VGP Golder Beach'க்கு பள்ளிச்சீறுடையில் சென்றோம். அப்பொழுது எல்லாம் ஒவ்வொரு நுலைவுச்சீட்டுக்கு காலை உணவு இலவசம். கூட்டம் அதிகமானதால் தோசைக்கும் பூரிக்கும் போட்டி போட்டோம்.

அவருக்காக நான் வாங்கி வந்த சிமிக்கி கம்மலை இன்னமும் பத்திரமாக வைத்திருக்கிறார் என் அம்மா. அம்மா எனக்கு செலவுக்காக கொடுத்த ரூ. 100க்கு கணக்கு எழுதச் சொன்னது இன்னமும் என் நினைவில் பசுமையாய்.

வீட்டுக்கு திரும்பியவுடன் களைப்பில் தூங்கி விட்டேன். அம்மா என்னை எழுப்பி சாப்பிட சொல்லீட்டு அலுவலகம் சென்றார்கள். மாலை அவர் திரும்பி வந்து எழுப்பும் வரை தூங்கிக் கொண்டிருந்தேன்.

வாரிய தாமதம்! :(

இரண்டு மாதங்களுக்கு ஒரு முறை மாதம் பிறந்தவுடன் முதல் வாரத்துக்குள் மின்சாரக்கட்டணத்தை கட்டிவிடுவது என் பழக்கம், அதுக்கு பிறகு கூட்டம் அதிகம் ஆகிவிடும் என்பதால். ஆனால் இம்முறை என்னால் கட்டயியலவில்லை.

காரணம்: மின்சார ஊழியர்கள் 4ம் தேதி ஆகியும் இன்னமும் 'Computer'ரில் போன மாத 'Reading'ஐ Enter பண்ணாததுதான். கேட்டால் 'AE'விடம் 'complaint' செய்யுங்கள் என்று பொருப்பில்லாத பதில்கள் வேறு. அதேப்போல, கணிப்பொறி மயமக்கப்பட்டாலும் பணம் செலுத்தும் நேரம் குறையவில்லை என்ற குறையுமுண்டு.

மின்சார வாரியம் மட்டுமல்ல மற்ற அரசு அலுவலகங்களின் நிலையும் இதுதான். எப்பொழுது திருந்துமோ இந்த அரசு துறைகள்!!!

புது முயற்சி.

அவன்
கொஞ்சல் சிரிப்பில் காவியம் கண்டேன்!
புரியா மொழியில் கவிதைகள் வரைந்தான்!
குறும்புப் பார்வையில் குற்றம் மறந்தேன்!
இருமலோசையில் இதயம் கணத்தேன்!
இல்லா நிமிடங்கள் இரண்டென கழித்தேன்!
'அப்பா' என்றழைக்க சொர்க்கம் உணர்ந்தேன்!
மழலை மொழி மறவா வேண்டுகிறேன்!

என்ன தவம் செய்தேனோ...

My God, One More!!!

I'm desperately wanted to by-pass this day of every year as it reminds be of my age :(. No escape this year! Any good suggestion for future? :)

There were days when I was staring at the calender expecting my B'day and wondering why days were moving so slow. Eagerly waiting for the day mostly to wear the new cloth to school without even knowing I would be losing an age. Those joy of B'day were gone and my silver-lines are worrying me :)

I did some good investment in the past year. Have to wait to see whether I will be owning a laptop and a car at least this year. Also, grown to next level in the office. Kirthik made all the difference last year.

Play fair Game...

The Victorious Team India returns home and the entire nation is celebrating the Glorious World Cup Triumphant. The brand value of each player of the team is shooting high with lot of price money pouring in from the board, state & central governments, industries...

Couple of weeks back the Indian Hockey team won the Asia Cup beating all the hards, in fact, without loosing a match. Did they get the same kind of reception that this T20 Team India getting now? Did their acheivement is any lesser?

For winning the Asian cup each player got Rs 50,000 and an incentive of Rs 1,000 for every goal scored and Rs 2,000 fine for every goal conceded. Whereas, the dealing is on lakhs and crores for the Cricket players.

The Governments and the Boards should learn to play a fair game. Hockey is after-all our national game. Letz celebrate and appreciate any winning moment not just on the Cricket grounds...

Have a good start!

Life is of no challenge if you don't have a long term goals and hunger to achieve them. You will be remembered for the success you leave behind.

As the name suggests, you can't reach them overnight. It would be a slow progress and long process. You have to approach your goals day-by-day, step-by-step. Today's success Will take you a step closure but the failure will pull you down by couple of steps. So, the number of good days in your life decides your success.

To have a great day you should begin the day with positive energy/mind set. A good start means lots of challenges during the day. Otherwise, lots of problems. Please remember that your commited attempt to overcome a challenge itself define a success. If you are able to overcome the challenge its a bonus.

Two things to be remembered

1) Practice to start the day with positive energy/mind set.
2) Forget the failures, but not the lessons learnt.

மாறாத ஆவி!!!

தமிழில் மிக பிரபலமான வாரயிதழ்களில் ஆனந்த விகடனுக்கு (செல்லமாக : ஆவி) என்று ஒரு இடமுண்டு. மாலை நேர ஓய்வின் போது, விடுமுறை நாட்களில் ஆண்களும், பெண்களும், சிறுவர்களும், பெரியவர்களும் என அனைவரையும் கவரும் ஒரு இதழ்.

ஒவ்வொரு வாரமும் சன் ஞாயிறுகளில் ஆவலுடன் எதிர்பார்த்து காத்திருந்த காலங்களும் உண்டு. என் பள்ளிக்காலங்களில் இருந்து நான் 'ஆவி' படித்து வருகிறேன். நீண்ட இடைவெளிக்கு பிறகு கடந்த வாரம் மீண்டும் படிக்க ஒரு வாய்ப்பு கிடைத்தது.

இதழில் பிரசுரம் ஆகியிருந்த பல தொகுப்புகளில் பல மாறுதல்களிருந்த போதும் 'ஜொக்'களில் மற்றும் அவ்வளவு மாற்றமில்லை. இன்னமும் 'புறமுதுகிட்டு ஓடும் அரசர்', 'அலுவலகத்தில் தூங்கும் அரசு ஊழியர்', 'அறுவை சிகிச்சைக்கு பயந்த நோயாளி', 'மாமியார் மருமகள்',... என பல முறை அறைத்த மாவுகள் நிறையா உண்டு.

புதுமைகள் பல துறைகளில் புரட்சி செய்து கொண்டிருக்கும் நிலையில் 'சிரிப்பு' துணுக்குகளுக்கு மட்டும் ஏனிந்த பஞ்சமோ !!!

They done it!!!

We are the T20 World Champions - Cricket's new Avatar! India will be proud of this achievement for years. Indo Vs Pak would always be a match to watch in any form of the game, needless to say if it is a World Cup final.

The path to this success was not smooth after their miraculous exit from ODI World Cup early this year.

1) Having played only one T20 match before this tournament, no one excepted us to be the team to beat.
2) Dhoni, their new caption, who never lead a side at national or international level seeded the belief in each individuals.
3) The young & fresh bloods in the team refused to die without a fight.
4) Everyone in the team had their moment to cherish - A complete team effort.
5) A huge luck.

Dhoni's Devil started the proceeding here in the new version, I wishes them to continue dominate... Congratulations - Team India, you all done well what our coaches can't do to us.

Be the Champions!!! Feel like champions!!!

நட்பு - கல்லூரி.

ஒவ்வொரு பள்ளி மாணவனைப்போல எனக்கும் கல்லூரி என்பது வேற்று உலகமாகத்தான் இருந்தது. செலவில்லாமல் கிடைத்த பல அறிவுறைகள், சில பயமுறுத்தல்கள், நிறையா எதிரிப்பார்ப்புக்களுடன் ஆரம்பமானது எனது கல்லூரிப் பயணம். முதல் முறையாக விடுதியில் தங்கி படிக்கப்போகிறோம் என்ற எதிரிபார்ப்பு வேறு.

கையில் பணம், தூரத்தில் பெற்றோர், கண்டிப்பில்லாத ஆசிரியர்கள், நெருங்கிப் பழக பெண்கள் என கல்லூரியில் வாழ்க்கை திசை மாற வழிகளுக்கு பஞ்சமில்லை. மணம் அலைபாயும் வயதில் நல்வழி செல்ல நல்ல நண்பர்கள் வேண்டும். ஆரம்பத்தில் இருந்தே எனக்கு ஒரு நல்ல நண்பர்கள் கூட்டம் கிடைத்தது என் யோகம்.

கோபி மற்றும் கோவை என இரண்டுமே எனக்கு நிறையா புதிய அனுபவங்களைத் தந்தது. புதுப்புது மனிதர்கள், புதுப்புது சிந்தனைகள், புதுப்புது திறமைகள் என வாழ்க்கைக் கல்வி கற்ற காலமிது.

கல்லூரி வாழ்விலுள்ள எந்த சுகதுக்கங்களையும் நாங்கள் தவறவிட்வில்லை. கேலி கிணடல் கும்மாலம் என அனைத்தையும் அனுபவித்தோம். நண்பன் வீட்டு எவ்வளவு தூரமானாலும் அவன் வீட்டு விசேசத்துக்கு நாங்கள் ஆசராகிவிடுவோம். நண்பனோடு மட்டுமில்லாமல் அவனுடைய குடும்பத்துடனும் நெருங்கிப் பழக ஆரம்பித்தேன். இப்படி ஆரம்பித்த பல நட்பு என்னைக் கடந்து என் குடும்ப நட்பாகவே பிற்காலத்தில் மாறியது.

என் எதிர்காலத்தை எனக்கு காட்டியது, நிகழ்காலத்தை மகிழ்ச்சியாய் மாற்றியது, கல்லூரியைத் தாண்டி நிலைத்து நிற்க்கிறது இந்த நட்பு..

Our Image!

I thought the rest of the world would remember 'India' as one of the fast growing economy, powerful IT hub, highly respected for its cultural value, to be Super Power in future, etc.

The Survey by BBC prove it all wrong. Gandhiji & Taj are still keeping us smile :). Poverty is still the annoying factor :(.

நட்பு - அக்கம்பக்கம்.

பள்ளக்கூடத்தில் நண்பர்கள் இருந்தாலும் விடுமுறைகளில் நேரத்தை வீண்ணடிக்க வீட்டுக்குப் பக்கத்தில் வெட்டி பசங்க யாரும் இல்லாட்டி எப்படி!

திருப்பூர் - கொங்கு நகரில் என் நண்பர்களுடன் நான் போட்ட ஆட்டம் எக்கச்சக்கம். கோழி குண்டு, கிள்ளிந்தாண்டு, திருடன் போலீஸ், மசபந்துனு,... அனைத்தும் ஒலிம்பிக்கில் இடம் பிடிக்க வேண்டிய முத்தான விளையாட்டுக்கள். சாப்பாட்டை மறந்து! வீட்டை மறந்து! முக்கியமா படிப்பை மறந்து! ;)

நண்பர்கள் ஒன்னு சேர்ந்துட்ட கண்டிப்பா குறும்புகளுக்கு பஞ்சமேயிருக்காது. 'சின்னமாயி அரசு மேல் நிலைப்பள்ளி' இரும்புக்கதவுகளை ஏறி குதித்து கிரிக்கெட் விளையாடியது, சதுரங்கத்தில் தோற்றதுக்காக காய்களை எரித்தது, சுடுகாட்டிலிருந்து எழும்புகளை எடுத்து வந்து மற்றவர்களை பயமுறுத்துவது, அண்ணனுடைய நண்பருடன் சேர்ந்து Motor Boadவிட்டு விளையாடியதில் வீட்டை மறந்தது, ... என இதுவும் ஒரு நெடுந் தொட்ர்.

திருப்பூர் - காந்தி நகரில் அருகிலிருந்தவர்கள் அனைவரும் என் அம்மாவுடன் பணிபுரிந்தவர்கள். ஆதனாலொ என்னவோ வயதாக ஆக போட்டி, பொறாமையும் அதிகரித்தது. நண்பர்களாயிருந்தவர்கள் காலப்போக்கில் அந்நியனானார்கள். பகல் என்று ஒன்று இருந்தால் இரவு என்று ஒன்று இருக்கவேண்டுயாதுதான்!

Volvo AC Buses!

The hot news for frequent commuter in chennai today is 'Two Volvo AC buses is likely to be introduced on September 17th and more to be announced in future.'

What is so special in this, when there are 100s of Volvo buses entering and leaving chennai daily connecting almost all the major cities?

The fact is they are going to transport people within Chennai. State-of-Art buses have electronic controls, fitted with two cameras - one at the rear and the other at the main entrance, an LCD display for the driver to montior the traffic on the doors, disabled-friendly. In the recent past, the chennaities has seen a lot of improvements in the public transportation.

The only question remained unanswered is how much the tickets cost!!

With the current condition of the roads and hectic traffics in the city, will we be able to enjoy it? Hope these will also improve in future that is not too far.

நட்பு - பள்ளிக்கூடம்.

'உன் நண்பன் யார் என்று சொல் உன்னை பற்றி சொல்கிறேன்!'

ஒருவன் வாழ்வில் நட்பு என்பது தவிர்க்கயியலாத ஒரு உறவு. சில நட்பு அவன் வாழ்வை வழிநடத்தும், சில நட்பு அவனை தீய வழி இழுத்துச் செல்லும். அவ்வாறு என் வாழ்வில் எனக்கு ஏற்ப்பட்ட நட்பைப் பற்றி ஒரு பதிப்புத் தொட்ர். இந்தப்பகுதியில் என் பள்ளிக்கூட நாட்பைப்பற்றி ஒரு மலரும் நினைவுகள்.

இந்த காலகட்டத்தில் எனக்கு ஏற்ப்பட்ட நட்பை நான் மழலைப்பருவ நட்பு மற்றும் மாணவப்பருவ நட்பு என்று இரு பிரிவுகளாக நான் பார்க்கிறேன். Kinder Garden முதல் ஐந்தாவது முடிய எனக்கு ஏற்ப்பட்ட நட்பு மழலை பருவம். அதன் பிறகு ஏற்ப்பட்டது மாணவப்பருவம்

மழலை நட்பு.
அன்னை மடி மறக்க ஆரம்பித்த பருவம் அது. தாய் தந்தை உறவுக்கு நடுவில் நட்பு நுலைந்த தருணம் அது. தினமும் காலையில் மலர்ந்து இறுதி மணி அடித்தவுடன் உதிர்ந்த நட்பு அது.

ரொம்ப கவிதை மாதிரி இருக்கு. என்னாலயே தாங்கமுடியவில்லை. :)

அப்போ எனக்கு நட்புனா என்னனுகூட தெரியாது. 'நிர்மலா Primary School'ல இருந்து நான் 'Bishop'க்கு மாறியபோது என் மழலை நட்பும் மாறிவிட்டது. நான் எந்த Schoolலில் சேரப்போகிறேன் என்று கூட சொல்லாமல் வந்துட்டேன். இந்த கட்டத்தில் பிரிந்தவர்களில் அனேகமானோர் என் நினைவில்/தொடர்பில் இப்பொழுதில்லை.

மாணவ நட்பு.
'Teen age' நட்பு தான் இது. சுதந்திரமாக வெளியில் சுற்ற அரம்பித்தபோது துணையாயிருந்தவர்கள் நண்பர்களானார்கள். எட்டாவது மற்றும் ஒன்பதாது வகுப்புகளில் விளையாட்டாயிருந்த நட்பு பத்தாவதுகளிலும், +2விலும் கூட்டுப்படிப்பு, சிறப்பு வகுப்புகள், தனி வகுப்புகள் என படிப்பில் கவனமாகயிருந்தோம்.

இந்த காலகட்டத்தில் தான் நட்பின் இலக்கணம் புரிய ஆரம்பித்தது. படிக்கும்போது ஒருவருக்கு ஒருவர் உதவுவது, பொதுத் தேர்வில் சரியாக எழுதாதவனுக்கு மற்றவர்கள் ஆறுதல் கூறுவது, உடம்புக்கு சரியில்லாமல் மருத்துவமனையில் இருந்தவனைப் பார்க்க தினமும் 10 கிலோமீட்டர் சென்று வந்தது என பல உண்டு.

அவ்வப்போது சில தவறுகளையும் செய்தோம்; ஒரே மாதத்தில் 14 சினிமா, கூட்டுப்படிப்புன்னு சொல்லீட்டு விளையாட்டு, ஒரு சில 'தம்'. ஆனால் இப்பொழுது யாருடைய வாழ்க்கையும் வழிமாறவில்லை என்று நினைக்கும்போது மகிழ்ச்சி.

என்னடா ஒரு பெண்ணைப் பத்திக்கூட இவன் பேசலையே 'இவன் ரொம்ப நல்லவனோ!'னு முடிவு பண்ணீடாதீங்க. நான் படிச்சது பசங்க பள்ளிக்கூடங்க!

What a weekend!!!

Those who love sports, it would have been a busy weekends.

1) India Vs England - Last ODI match of Natwest Series on Saturday. India's learned again that they need to be more consistent to be on top after dominating the last two matches.

2) US Open Finals on both Saturday & Sunday. No surprises in the championship as the top seeded and the tournament favourites, Henin & Federer, won the finals. Federer is closing his gap with Pete Samprass on the Grand Slam tally.

3) Asia Cup Hockey Finals on Sunday. Indian Team won the trophy and the million hearts. I never saw an Indian Team that dominated a tournament like this before. They never lost a match and the margin of win was always more than comfortable even in the finals.

4) Italian Grand Prix - 2007 F1 on Sunday. Alonso, defending his two time championship, is getting close to the leader and teammate, Hamilton.

5) FIFA U-17 World Cup Finals on Sunday. Nigeria emerged as a surprise winner by beating Spain in the finals. They have eliminated the biggies in Argentina and Germany before beating Spain in final shootouts.

முதல் வாகனம்!

நான் இப்பொழுது இந்த வண்டியை ஓட்டக்கத்துக் கொண்டிருக்கிறேன். நான் ரொம்ப Busy!. Vijay Mallya என்க்காக காத்துக்கொண்டிருக்கிறார்... :)



Thanks Ravi Uncle & Priya Aunty.

Good? or Bad?

Takasky was not that successful in South as they failed to find a compromise with Sun Network, the most viewed and popular channel network here. Also, the price of the subscription is also high when compared to their rivals, Dish TV.

Only people like me, who are happier with Sports channels and lucky to have wife who don't prefer crying watching serials, subscribed to it. With Sun Network planning to start its own DTH service, they were able to find a business deal with Tatasky.

The idea of subscribing to Sun Channels crossed Hema's mind, but only for a fraction of second. நான் செய்த புண்ணியம் என்னை காப்பாற்றியது :).

Don't call me!!!

Your may be in middle of an important meeting or at cinema with family or having a good nap after a hectic schedule or a weekend private trip. You got disturbed when your mobile phone ringed. As you can't recognize the calling party, you answered the call with curiosity to know who is calling and what is the message.

It will be really irritating to know the call was actually a telemarketing call for a personal loan or a free credit card etc.. It is very common now-a-days, especially in big cities.

You would have wondered many time how to get rid of these calls. Now, our TRAI has tried to answer this. Details. To escape from the marketting calls, you have to register your number with your subscriber. Where to Registry?. They will update the NDNC registry within 45 days.

Being an optimistic person, I have registered my number and hoping the best!!!

நன்றி...

இன்று ஆசிரியர் தினம். என் வாழ்வில் நான் சந்தித்த பல ஆசிரியர்களுக்கு என் நினைவில் நீங்கா இடம் உண்டு.

Primary School headmistress இராணி மிஸ் முதல் எங்கள் அபிமான சுப்பினி வரை. சிலர் வழிகாட்டினார்கள், சிலர் உதாரணமாக வாழ்ந்தார்கள், சிலர் 'ஆசிரியர்' என்ற வார்த்தைக்கு புது இலக்கணமானார்கள். அவர்களை எல்லாம் போற்றி வணங்கி நன்றி கூறும் நாள் இன்று.

மாணவன் வாழ்வில் முன்னேற ஏணியாய் இருக்கும் இவர்கள் அவன் வெற்றியை கண்டு பெருமிதமடைகிறார்கள். அவர்களில் சில நுன்னுறுவிகளும் உண்டு. அவர்களைப்பற்றி கோபப்படும் நேரம் இல்லை இது.

என்னை வழிநடத்திய அனைத்து நல்லாசிரியர்களுக்கும் நன்றி! நன்றி! நன்றி!...

Power of Argument!

Not all have the same ideas. Opinion differs with every individuals. In a collaborative work place, not all the ideas can be considered. One has to be smart enough to choose one without hurting anyone psychologically.

Everyone thinks that their's is the best among all available options to choose. You have to win the argument to make your idea count. By winning an argument, I mean convincing others to think the way you do, 'Yours is the best available option.'

If you are not smart enough, you would end up being rude. So, how to win the argument?

1) First & Foremost, you should know the what you are arguing for. With all obvious reasons, you can't lead the way without knowing the destination.

Example : 'This is a debate to choose a recruiting strategy.'

2) You should know what you are trying to achieve by arguing.

Example : 'I'm trying to convince the forum that the talent reference is the best strategy for recruiting.'

3) Learn to control your emotions. In an argument, everybody will raise their hands to prove your are wrong and they are right. Unfortunately, they will hurt to emotionally. You should keep your head cools to win. Otherwise, even the best ideas loose.

4) Let others speak. By doing so, you are making others feel that they have put their point forward and their point are considered during discussion.

5) Last but never the least, be ready to loose sometimes. Prepare yourself to loose when others have a good ideas. You have to approach the argument with open mind. Losing is also a way to win.

வளர்ச்சி!

After I found a way to write blogs in Tamil, I almost translated every possible items to Tamil; titles, captions, profiles, etc. Now, the blog looks like more of a Tamil blog. My blog is undergoing a 'பரிணாம வளர்ச்சி'. :)

Typing in Tamil was a tough job for the first time. But now, I'm fluent enough to type in Tamil without referring the Keyboard mappings.

ஒரு பயம் மணதில் இருக்கு. பள்ளிக் காலங்களில் நான் தமிழில் ஒரு மேதை என்பது நிறையா பேருக்கு தெரியாது! கீழ் காணும் விணாகளுக்கு இப்பொழுதாவது என்னால் விடை காண முடியுமா?

1) Whether to put 'ழ', 'ள' or 'ல'?
2) Which one should come? 'ண' or 'ன' or 'ந'?

To those viewer who can't read Tamil, I would continue to blog in English as well. :)

எது குற்றம்?

நேற்று மதிய உணவு இடைவேலையின் போது அந்த கொடுமையை செய்திகள் தொலைகாட்சி ஒன்றில் பார்க்கநேர்ந்தது.

ஒரு கூட்டம் ஒருவனை சரமாரியாக அடித்துக்கொண்டிருந்தது. அடிகள் ஒவ்வொன்றும் பலமாக அவன் முகத்திலும், உடம்பிலும் விழுந்தன. சினிமாவில் கூட நாயகன் ஒருவனை அப்படி அடித்திருக்கமாட்டான். அதைவிட கொடுமை, ஒரு காவல் அதிகாரி அவனை தன் இருசக்கர வாகனத்தில் கட்டி நடு ரோட்டில் இழுத்து சென்றதுதான். இதை பார்த்த நாங்கள் ஒரு நிமிடம் உரைந்து போனோம்.

இக் கொடுமைகளுக்கு ஆளான அவன் கொலை செய்யவில்லை, கொள்ளையடிக்கவில்லை, ஊரை ஏமாற்றவில்லை, நாட்டை சுரண்டவில்லை...

அவன் செய்த தவறு தன் பசிக்காக பண்ணிய திருட்டு. அது தவறே அனாலும் இவ்வளவு பெரிய தண்டனையா?! இதைவிட கொடுமைகள் செய்த எத்தனையோ குற்றவாளிகள் சுதந்திரமாக இருக்கும்போது அவன் மட்டும் என்ன பாவம் செய்தான்?

தேடல்!

My search to find a tool to assist me in writing blogs in tamil has reached an end today when google linked me to English to Tamil convertor.

Initially, I was under the impression that this tool would convert my english word to its phonical equivalent tamil word and tried typing 'Illam' to get 'இளம்' but what I got was 'டைடயஅ'. Few search on the site helped me to find the Keyboard to assist me.

Now, I can express my feelings better. I will not be feeling guilty for not blogging in தமிழ்.

It is hard & time consuming to type until I get used to the style.

இளம் கண்று பயம் அறியாது

Sunday Morning, the day started little late as like any other weekend. I was deep into reading news paper. Hema was busy with reading 'Aval Viketan' and Kirthik was busy playing.

Suddenly, Hema screamed being scared of 'Aranai' (a warm like creature with hundreds of legs) found near her. In a split second, even before I turn my head, Kirthik with No Fear took the insect in hand and squeezed it to dead.

'இளம் கண்று பயம் அறியாது'

This incident remembered me the advertisement for HSBC Bank.

We turn 3!

It looked like yesterday, but it is been 3 years now that we got-together in life. Time is running fast. :) Many might have guessed correctly that I'm lying. ;)

Yes, it was our 3rd Wedding Anniversary on August 27th. A day to be remembered {or forget}, a day when I lost my {bachelor's} life, a day when everybody else were smiling, a day when I tied the knot and got tied.

I took a day off to grace the occasion. As usual our plan to go to beach was spoiled by Kirthik. :)

We both wish and pray for long life together with lots of love & happiness.

Maintain your Inbox.

eMail is very common across industries. It is one of the preferred mode of communication. If not properly used, it can also work against you.

Climbing up in the corporate ladder means tons of emails daily, but how many are of any use to you? To make email's working for you, it is a worth to read "Inbox Zero" by Merlin Mann.

Being the most used tool at office, no one trained me when I was a fresher. This article gave me an insight of eMailing.

1) How frequent should I refresh my inbox?
2) When and how to respond to an mail?
3) How to the features of an email client more effectively?
and many more...

Children's or Adult's Park?

After planning for a month, we took Kirthik to Guindy Children's Park yesterday. Though, the level of excitement was not as high as he had at Dhaba Express, he still had his time watching birds and playing 'thoori'.

It is not big 'Zoo' but has enough for kids. Birds, especially Parent & Love Birds, are the attraction here. Hyena, the animal that I have seen only on Discovery, has its cage here.

The most annoying thing in the park was the so called lovers hiding behind the shadows. If nothing is changed in future, I may not accompany my son to this place again.

Sweet 60!

Independent India turns 60 today. A day to

1) Respect the Sacrifice,
2) Remember the Leaders,
3) Celebrate the Independence,
4) Cherish the Moment, and the last but never the least
5) Be proud to be an Indian.

We all are suppose to do it everyday, doing it on Aug 15th is special.

An Astonishing Win

All the bad memories of the depleted World Cup campaign early this year might already been erased from the memory of the Cricket fans, after as astonishing test series victory over England in England. This is only the third time in last 75 years, India was able to do so.

What makes this series more special?

Team Work : Everyone in the team contributed for the success. The fact that only one Indian, that too Kumble, was managed to get to the 3 figure mark will tell the story.

Balance of Youth & Experience. Karthik, Jaffer, Sreesanth, RP Singh and Dhoni are touring England for the first time.

Bit of luck too : If the rain didn't save us the match at The Lord's, the result of this series would be different. No taking away the credit from the team, the have came together very well after that escape.

The gap between two such wins are too long (first in 1971, then in 1986 and now). Our team needs to be more consistence to be on top.

Attack on India's Reputation.

When we are celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Indian Independence, which we won thru' the Noble concept of non violence, 'a Bangladeshi woman novelist has been attacked by the public representative during a press meet in AP.'

Read the sentence again word by word, you should feel shy.

1) A woman is attacked. What to say, Shame!

2) A Bangladeshi woman is attacked. Is this the way we treat your guest?

3) A Bangladeshi woman is attacked during a press meet. Press meet are considered to be a platform for freedom of expression. BTW, where is the freedom?

4) A Bangladeshi woman is attacked during a press meet by the public representatives. Their personal sentiments stands tall than their national sentiments. Do they deserved to be public representatives?

Year 2020 is not too far. To make our dream reality - Wake up, India, Wake up.

Kirthik's - B'Day Today

A year has passed, it still looks like yesterday. My memory is still fresh to remember the rare expression on Hema's fact when she was walking to the Operation Theatre - fear, expectation, relief, doubts at same time. Today, I could see only happiness.

We have decided to cut the cake at home by 10:48 PM to match the time of delivery. Considerly the delay it might cause for officer goers, we preponed it. With friends around, the party went well than expected.

Our wishes and prayer will all be with you forever, Bobbily.

The moment captured on Darling's Camera.



Kirthik's B'Day Party

Anger Management

With more stressed life style, anger becomes part and parcel of our life. One should learn how to manage this uninvited guest better to have a good personal and professional relationship with others.

Have you ever thought about how you get angry?

Angry is a process which is not just a feeling but also a complex experience. Anger is a progression of the following steps.

1) Event - Triggers anger.
2) Emotion - Your physical and mental expression to the anger.
3) Behaviour - Your reaction to your emotions.
4) Reaction - The reaction for your behaviour which will initiate another anger process.

You can be victim of anger, may be your own or other's. Let us see how to handle both.

Reducing Anger
Manage Your Stress :-
Stress is the root cause for all disease including anger. If you can manager your stress, you will healthier for life. There are four ways to reduce our stress.

1) Exercise 5 days a week at least 30 mins per day.
2) Proper rest. Minimum of 6 hours sleep at night.
3) Positive Thinking.
4) Healthy Diet.

Control Your Anger :-
I know it is a difficult task but by achieving this by meditation and by using anger for positive results one can live a peaceful life.

Changing Angry behaviour to Assertive Behaviour :-
To do this, you should learnt to identify when you are angry. Once you reach that level, you should learn to convert your anger to assertive. Example, when you are angry, take a break, go for a walk, listen to your favourite song, read books. This break will help you to analyse why you were angry, what could make you happy etc which in tern provide you solutions.

Handling Angry People
Help Angry People
In general, angry people make you angry but this is not a productive approach. You can help them by identifing the reason for their anger, to bring them out of anger and to provide solutions to their anger.

Responding to Angry People
1) Get away if you suspect anger.
2) Understand why you might become angry at an angry man.
3) Assert yourself when verbally attacked.
4) Listen & Clarify the cause of anger.

Argueing without Anger

1) Have the discussion in a appropriate place.
2) Act like professional.
3) Let the other person talk.
4) Remain positive.
5) Keep the persent issue.

Kireedom

Story :-
Ajit is working hard to make his Father's dream of becoming a police office a reality. When it was at his reach, his patience was tested by the rowdies. The rest of the story was in search of answer for 'Was he able to fulfill his dad's dream?'

I usually rate a movie good, at the end the movie should make me feel satisfied. It can have anything like an action thriller (Ramana), a good laughter (Winner), well scripted family drama (Alagi) to get it done.

Unfortunately, Kireedom fails to impress me for couple of reasons.

1) Comedy (Santhanam's track looks better when compared to Vivek's)
2) Climax

The debutant director has to work on his scripting. The track (The Rowdyism of Vivek) that looked to be a comedy turned was used as serious episode. The composition of couple of songs looks good, it is all expected when G. V. Prasad is from the house of A. R. Rehman.

The most noticeable positive attributes of the movie are the natural performances by Ajith and RajKiran. Ajith is refreshingly cool and he has a great screen charisma. He has it all, smart looks, great acting skills, excellent dialogue delivery.

When new comers like Karthi can give a good box office, 'Thala' why can't you?

Even I can !!!

Few of my best shots captured on my Canon S2 IS

SEC 2007

I and four of my colleagues were to B'lore this Friday for presenting our white paper on Software Estimation Technique.

Couple of months back Sundeep, our Quality Lead, came to us with the invitation from QAI inviting papers on SE. We agreed to sent a paper. Last time I presented a paper was during my college. Presenting to students and experts will never be the same.

We have build round the Formulae that we have derived and sent the paper just on time. We were not serious, we were taken by surprise when our paper was selected as one of the 11 papers for the final presentation at B'lore. As an org. we do very little on estimation for our projects. We have managed to jump over the hurdles from Public Affair, Travel Desk and Finance.

Representations from companies like Polaris, Infosys etc dominated the show. Few of the speakers were actually tried to address some of the problems in estimation in the industry. Few presentations were incomplete as the speakers were cautious about sharing the company's confidential information.

A great learning experience. We have done well to the best of our ability but still have a long way to go.

Not A Good Start!

We were coming back to Chennai after the hectic weekend trip to Avanashi. We have travelled a lot in the last three days which made us feel tired and were in desperate need of rest. Dreaming for good sleep and rest, we boarded the 'Blue Mountain' on Monday night.

Our dream reminded as dream as the train dropped at 'Thiruvallur' station due to some technical problem on the track at around 4 AM. People, knowingly or unknowingly, started spreading rumours. I heard two different reasons for this 'Tamilnadu Express was derailed' and 'The rail track has been dropped down the ground level'.

'If you are in trouble everything will go against you.'

At least in my case, it is true. The Incomplete travel/sleep was followed by long wait for suburban station, crowded train with no seat. In all these delay, missed the milk man in the morning for Kirthik.

Hope to have a better start tomorrow!

Made Mandatory.

By definition, Tips is something that you give to appreciate the service provided to you by someone. Most commonly, we give tips at hotel, parking etc... Keep in mind that it is not compulsory that you have give them.

We all earn fat salary and never bothered about giving few as tips every time we go out. This habit has been reached a level that they all have made their minds that tips are made compulsory.

I always tried to avoid giving tips as I believe it is the starting point for all corruption and they are paid for their job. Couple of embarrassing moment of my life due to this,

1) Once I pick my bike from the parking lot in T-Nagar, the security made an ugly comment about me.

2) The waiter gave an unpleasant look at Saravana Bhavan, Central Station when I choose to pay myself.

What An Athlete!

He is the champion runner and owner of world record for 100, 200 and 400 meters race. Still, his participation in the upcoming 2008 Olympics, Beijing, is under question. Why?

Many who know or read about Oscar Pistorius believe it as a tale of the collision of technology and sport. He is a double amputee, who runs on carbon fibre feet, and wants to run in Beijing Olympics.

Against his wish, not everyone is convinced he should run in the Olympics, against able-bodied athletes, because they feel he is 'not' any other man, but an athlete whose prosthetics give him a technological advantage.

The final decision is still pending. Lets all wish the brave and, of course, fast man to reach his dream.

Weekend Plan.

Life is becoming mechanical now-a-days. The bonding between family members and relatives are loosening. They hardly meet in an year. Generation after generation, the gap is widening.

My dad moved away from Avanashi to Sathyamangalam (Sathy) when he started his career. Now, I have relocated to Chennai. How to stay in touch with relatives?

The solution adopted by my family is a get-together every year at our 'Kulatheiva Kovil'(Keeranoor near Kangayam) during an 'Aadi' weekend. 15 families will be part of the gathering. It is been running successfully for more than 10 years now.

To be with 15 closely related families at one place for a day is good and help us know each other and keep in touch. Hema & Kirthik are joining us for the first time this year and hope they will enjoy the day.

This Sunday is going to be a long day to us but a good way to spend.

Responsibility

Everyone in a team will expect something during every 'Promotion' cycle. Not all will get one. We have to do some basic ground work to make our self a favourite.

1) The obvious factor is our expertise in technical and business knowledge.

2) The roles and responsibilities of every level in an organisation should have been already defined. We should be aware of what is ours.

3) To prepare our self for the next level, we should also learn what is in store there and develop those skills.

4) To make our new skills visible to the management, we should take more responsibilities and shine.

5) With new responsibilities, we are bound to fail few times. Our success depends on how we overcome those failures.

6) Last but not the least. We may or may not get what we have worked for, the way how we express our displeasure to the management will also score marks.

All the above will put you in the good books of the decision makers. All the best.

State of Sorry! :(

The world remembers 'India' for its tradition and culture especially in family bindings which is hard to find in many places around the world. The husband and wife relationship is respected thru' out the world.

In reality, we our self are breaking the goodwill. The News is disturbing.

The main reason for taking such a decision could be the lack to adjust-ability. I've read another news somewhere that the students are not comfortable at staying in hostel because they fell they will lose their privacy and don't want to share their rooms, bathroom etc.. What is more worrying is that the parent are proud about this.

If they can't learn how to adjust with someone for few years, how are they going to living with someone for life long? Not all humans are of same kind. One has to understand and adjust to live peacefully.

It is hard now-a-days to see kids playing together on the roads at least in cities which was very common when I was young। I will attribute this to the changing life style. The kids are glued to computers, TV and are not willing to explore the world.

As a responsible parents, it is our responsibility to each them the lesson of life.

Game over!

The game of politics around the candidates for the country's 13th President would see an end today. It looked ugly due to the blame games going around. The parties were struggled to find a deserved candidate for the highly respected position.

It is certain at this stage that India would name its first women President soon. Many feel that she is going to be a 'Rubber Stamp' President. Whatever be the background, she is on her way to create history.

Ragging - Good or Bad?

This is the time of the year, a boy feels like a man when he takes his first step into a college. He might have dreamed about this for months. He might have already said good-bye to his uniforms and school bags. Though he has got lot of expectation, he also has the unknown fear towards Ragging.

Definition : "The systematic ritual physical and psychological abuse of freshmen or other juniors by their seniors in an educational setup."

Many seniors have justified ragging saying it develops interaction with their juniors and vice versa. After going thru' this couple of time in my life-time, I completely agree with this as I have been very close with my senior who ragged my most. May be I'm lucky but there were cases reported in the past where we lost few life.

College is not just a place to have fun with but also it is where one learn to develop their professional skills. It will help to have a great professional career. Properly executed 'Ragging' can assist here.

Ragging is a double edged knife that should be handled carefully. We shouldn't completely ban Ragging. Instead, we should drawn a line to define the limits and closely monitor the trespassers.

Strict 'No' to physical or mental harassment and monetary exploitations on juniors.

Excitement!!!

Mummy's visit to Chennai made the last weekend a busy one, especially on Saturday. Kirthik has accompanied us almost everywhere. His presence at ECR Dhaba after lunch was a special.

He was tired of long travel and was sleeping when we reached the dhaba. Though, he didn't enjoy the food, he still had a great time. He has got an opportunity to see many new things. The level of excitement that he showed on watching the birds, rabbits, fishes etc made us very happy. We were thrilled to see him feeding rabbit's.

We have decided to take him to places like children's park every weekend. He will get excited on seeing new things and we will get excited on seeing him happy.

What does it done to me?

I just wanted to review and share what an year of blogging does it to me/my life.

1) It has opened up my views. I've started observing the happening in my own perception.

2) Improved my expression thru' writings. I knew it is not an easy job to express your feeling using words. Blogging has definitely help me to improve.

3) Being an Hobby, it has helped me to control/divert from my stress.

I used to spend a maximum of an hour daily to blog. As I personally don't like long stories, I kept my writings short. If anything touched my heart or brain in a given day, I improvise on that to make it a complete blog.

Thanks for all the viewers. Hopefully, my writings didn't disappoint and hurt you all. Let me know your feedback.

Keep visiting and enjoy reading.

Being A Boss

Being a boss might get you fat salary, but doesn't always keep you happy. Every boss is responsible for his/her employees performance. Also, he needs to impress his/her own boss. These two are very complicated jobs. You should possess great skills to achieve both.

Impressing our boss is very easy on papers. 'Do more than what your boss expects from you.' To do this, you should have a talented and effective workforce. You should impress your workforce to do more than what you expect. This is the tough part of being a boss.

As a boss, you have to win the respect of your employees before showing any authority. Employees will not work with their heart and brain if they don't respect their boss. They will be less productive.

After winning the respect, giving it back takes the importance. Treating them with respect will help you to retain the respect. They will be waiting for your command to execute. This make you a great leader.

If you want to successed as boss, you should forget the phrase 'I'm a boss.' If you are, it goes without saying. Bossy behaviour will do nothing good to you.

Ruler of Grass

Yesterday, Roger Federer has rewritten a chapter in the book of Wimbledon history by defeating Nadal in 5 Sets to become only the second player in the modern era to win Wimbledon for 5 consecutive times.

Though, Roger started the match with an Ace, he didn't look comfortable having Nadal at the other end. The won the 1st and 3rd set in tie-breaker. Nadal won the 2nd and 4th set comfortably. Many believed that if the match extends to the 5th set, Nadal will be the obvious winner believing in his fitness. Roger proved them all wrong.

Roger took control of the decider set thru' his class. Knowing his limitations, he played brilliantly. The gets on the top gear on the right time. After winning the first break on the 5th set, it is all just formalities.

Nadal is getting better on grass courts. He was in control of the match until the decider. He don't like others calling him "King of Clay".

Roger knows he has to work & fight harder to create history next time.

Sivaji - The Movie

After reading both positive and negative review about the movie, it is my turn to write my own view.

Story:
An NRI (Sivaji) was betrayed by his competitor (Adi) when he tried to do good to the society with the money he earned. Rest of the story is all about how Sivaji completes his project and takes revenge on Adi.

Goods.
1) The Stylize & younger by decades Rajini (Esp - 'Mottai' is special).
2) The tempo on the second half.
3) The Rajini - Shankar combination didn't compromise on their style. This movie has both Rajini's & Shankar's touch.
4) This movie again proves that A. R. R. is at his best when he is works for director's like Shankar/Mani.

Bads
1) Solaman Poppiaya's character.
2) I'm bored with the scenes like the Chilli Scene, the Sucide Attempt scene, etc.
3) The talent of Raguvaran was wasted.
4) Except few, the comedy sequences are not impressive.
5) Can an NRI earn 200 C at that small age?

Leaving the logic behind, if I watch it as a Rajini's movie, this movie has all the spices to make a good masala. Each and every frame of the movie was occupied by Rajini and he delivered the goods.

07/07/07 - Whatz Special.

Tomorrow, when the calender reads '07/07/07', I would be stepping into my 5th year in my office.

When people in IT industry frequently jump between jobs, I remained in the same company for the last four years. The fact that I didn't even change projects have induced many to asked me how & why. Let me try to answer all.

1) It would be a lie if I say I never think of a change. It crossed my mind couple of times in this four years. The prospect of career growth has forced me to stay here.

2) I've joined this team when it was established. I've grown from begin a Team Member to Lead (SPOC). From 'Pig' to 'Lion' in Sivaji's term. :) The sense of ownership has forced me to stay here.

I can't guarantee that I will be staying here for another year. This project has taught me a lot of lessons and showed me a great growth.

Thanks to Mummy, Ravi & Sidd to showed me this opportunity.

A good news to the Nation.

Those who had a chance to read the news, would really appreciate.

This is a survey result - 'The number of people living with HIV/Aids in India is around half of previous official estimates'. Don't think it as a survey done by 'Dinakaran' to gain political advantage or by 'Sun TV - Pothys' to gain advertisements. This survey was done by National Aids Control Organisation and backed by UN. So, you can expect it to be close to reality.

I have written a blog discussing how to remove India our the top 5 countries with most HIV/AIDS patients. If we can make this progress every year, we are moving in a right direction.

Religious - A Private Offer

I know it is a sensitive topic to debate on, but definitely worth it.

Each individual has every right to choose and follow any religion of his/her choice. Though there are guidelines available for the way of worship, it is up the individual to choose/create one. Their choice should not hurt others believe or feelings. They should keep in mind that religion is a private offer.

Recently I have read a slogan reading "No {god's name}, No Peace". I appreciate the writer's belief and love towards peace, but it definitely hurts the follower of other gods. Peace lover might become a peace killer.

We all have every right to be expressive. Slogan's like this can be written inside four walls of our house. If someone get a chance to read, one can proudly say, 'Boss, you are in my territory.' It hurts only when it is for public reading.

Be good to humans as well, not just to god and religion.

Quitter - Winner

It is obvious that a quitter will never make to the podium. Lack of self-belief and the killer instinct are the reasons for quitting.

If you can't believe in yourself, who else can.

The followers of Wimbledon '07 can relate this to the match between Serena William & Daniela Hantuchova. Serena virtually played with one leg after injuring her left calf (spasm-induced strain). Her instinct to stay on the game and the rain god have help her to win the match.

Whatever be the barriers, it you have the guts to jump over, you will definitely reach the destination of your choice.

Beginning of a long Journey!

He balances himself and takes his steps using his tender legs. It looks like he has drunken. :). The hurry in reaching the target fast forces him to take quicker steps. Eventually, he loses the balance and fall on ground.

Though, it is just 4 - 5 steps together, he shows a great smile of achievements. The pride of learning and the joy of growing are visible on his face. He has to learn the art of balancing.

The life long journey has began!!!

Lets Educate All

A day after I wrote the blog "Lets Educate Schools", heard another heart-breaking news about doctors denied delivery to a HIV+ Women.

When people like doctors & teachers behave this way, it is not fair to blame the people for neglecting the patients.

The humanity is sinking in this country.

Tomorrow will be better!

I have been part of many interviews and none of them were closed without hearing "I am very optimistic person." This show the importance of being 'Optimistic'. You might have had a bad day. Optimism is, going to bed believing 'Tomorrow will be better than Today'.

What is the importance of being optimistic at work?

1) If you think you can't, you will never make it. So, being optimistic will help you to achieve goals/objectives.

2) If you think you can, people around you think they also can. Not just you, your team also will be with you to achieve their goals/objectives.

3) If you are not optimistic, a small mistake will make you fall.

You can't be optimistic for an hour or a day. Your mind and soul has to thing same way. Focussed approach, Clear Vision, Defined Goals will help you being optimistic.

Lets Educate Schools

The government and private organization have done a lot to bring awareness amoung public about the HIV. When it comes to our own family, most of us refuse to accept the truth.

The recent news about "HIV+ Student" being refused to gain entrance into the school is really annoying. The school administration couldn't do anything as it was getting lot of pressure from the parents of other students.

If you are afraid, change your kids school. You have no rights to stop other from education. Schools also shouldn't encourage these kind of demands, they should set standards.

Changing Approach.

Be it a big occasion like Marriage or a small event like get-together, it was very common to saw a huge quantity of food items were wasted in the past. Most of the cases were not intentional but were due to precautionary measure of the host to overcome embarrassment.

With the raise of NGOs, there are lot of new initiatives taken to avoid wastage's. Wastage will happen only when there is Surplus. The main objective of these NGOs are to bring the world where everything is in demand under lights.

An appreciable move and must-be-part-of initiative.

Accountability

Lot have been talked about the mistakes/mischiefs in government, politics and people behind them. I didn't see anything progressive but always regressive.

If a government representative or employee found guilty of bribing for doing his duty, what would happen in current scenario?

Though many would prefer answering nothing, he will get a minimal punishment like suspension, fine etc. and can get back to his/her old life soon. Since many are not afraid of these punishment, they continue doing the mistakes.

1) What would happen if they lose their job? Also, what would happen if no other organization offer them a job?

Individual will afraid of losing his/her job and and don't want to ruin their future. He/she will never take the risk of misusing their position. Let us make them accountable for their actions.

By eliminating all these ill-worms from our country, will definitely put our self in front for becoming super power in the nearest future. For that, we should come out of tradition and have to reform our ideas.

Welcoming Monsoon!

There were several things happened around me in the last few days to make my life more exciting like Hema & Kirthik was back to Chennai after a month long trip, Monsoon is back and bye bye to summer. Ironically, we weren't excited.

Due to changing climate, Kirthik fall sick. He vomited everything he consumed almost immediately. Even after visiting a Pediatrician, things didn't get any better. We were worried and definitely missed elders for their wise advise.

The mystery continued for couple of days and he is getting better now.

Silver Screen's Golden Move

Though, I'm not a great fan of Lawrence's dance, I'm here to appreciate his effort for giving some physically challenged but highly talented dancers a chance to perform on silver screen.

I have got a chance to watch that song from "Muni" (I guess it is 'Thalai Suthuthae Maama...'), where these talented dancers showed their skills. He exposed their skills to a real perfection without affecting the rhythm of the song.

I appreciate all those who were at the back of this.

A step closer.

I knew it was long time since I shared the update on our search for new shelter in Chennai. We have taken a big step closer today, the registration.

Though, we are just a half-way through, reaching here was definitely not a smooth sailing. The Proverb 'Kalyanam Pannippar, Veettai Kattippar' seems to be true. It has taught me many lesson of life. It helped me to get mature on handling strangers.

Few lesson that I have learnt

1) Aggression will not solve the problem, always.
2) You should be capable of switching on and off your emotions to get the work done.
3) Learn from experts and their experience.
4) Handle the money effectively. More importantly, handle the 'advise' carefully.

We are eagerly waiting for the day to relocate to the new home. Until the time comes, we have lot to dream about it.

I'm a Professional.

Working with different group/team is a very common in any industry. Every group will have its own objectives that are derived from organisation objectives. A group alone can't achieve the goal, it has to be a team effort.

There might be a group exists in the organisation whose objective is to find fault in your groups activities (like testing and quality). Eventually, they might find fault on your work. There are two ways of handling this, professional and personal.

The Professional Approach
You have to be matured enough to accept that you might have done a mistake and work towards correcting them. Humans are bound to make mistake. Few mistakes at work will not brand you. In fact, the way you handle this will help you grow-up in corporate ladder. Also, this will add fun to work place and will definitely help you win hearts.

The Personal Approach
Things are taken personally though it is the work of the other group. The reactions would not just spoil your groups growth but also the organisation's. To avoid this approach you have to come of your ego at work place. You will be isolated.

I want to be a true professional at work. So, I'm choosing the first choice. You decide on what you want to be.

Its all over.

After three months of thorough investigation, it was finally declared that nothing is suspicious in the death of Bob Woolmer and was a natural death. The family and friends can be relaxed now, especially the Pakistan team after going through a living hell all these days.

Too much of media attention and the rumours might have forced few decisions. Woolmer death overshadowed the excitement of World Cup in the initial stage and lost focus later as nothing for progressive and/or too many of speculations.

Not yet there!!!

Its been close to two months that BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is searching for a national coach. How close are we to appoint one?. The reality is, haven't taken a step closer.

Many names were discussed as favorites - Tom Moody, Dav Watmore etc. Rahul Dravid recommended Graham Ford, John Emburey was recommended by Gavaskar. After a selection process, the board offered Ford but he denied and so is Emburey. It was learnt that the way the selection procedure was handled forced Ford and Emburey to reverse their decision.

Today, the board is back to what they were at two months ago. In fact, fallen back couple of steps. Now, they don't have any favorites. BCCI can be a financial power house but it doesn't guarantee them a professional coach.

The professionalism has to be injected on its functioning and that will benefit not just off-the-field activities but also on-the-field, to become a super power in Cricket.

Not just BCCI, even other sporting body in the country should also improve on the way they are functioning to show results in the international field. The fact, with more than a billion people we still not able to dominate any sports, is annoying.

Sivaji - Sold Out

As expected, the movie tickets for the upcoming Rajini starer 'Sivaji' was sold out for few weeks within a day after the booking started.

Many might be wondering what is the fun in watching the movie on the first day? It is okay to miss other movies, but definitely not Rajini's as it take you to another level. For those who haven't tasted it, I would like to share the only experience of mine. I have seen 'Muthu' on day one.

I have got a ticket from my friend by luck. I went alone to watch the mid-night show. I was trilled by the the noice and the energy in the theatre even before the movie started. Though I didn't knew anyone there, I joined the party. The response from the audience for the politically influenced dialogues were loud and clear that they wanted him to join/start a party.

It was a different feeling to be there. Fans were there not to see the movie but to enjoy being part of the fun. Even after a decade, the grace for Rajini didn't had a dip. That is why he is called the 'Super-star'.

FedEx failed to Deliver!

The King is still searching for the missing jewel on his Crown. He has to wait for another year to see to find it.

The French Open Final between The King of Tennis (Roger Federer) and The King of Clay (Rafiq Nadal) was played yesterday. Roger was my favourite and I wanted him to win it - to have all four 'Slams' at a time. I didn't watch any of the match at Rolland Garros this year, but lucky to saw the match that I don't want to miss.

Unfortunately, things didn't go Roger's way. He was struggling with his first serves and was not able to convert the breakpoints. In fact, Roger won his first break point on the 11 opportunity. Nadal also was in a fighting mood to win the title for the 3rd time in a row. He didn't give anything easy to Roger. Nadal saved 5 break points before winning the Game 6 of first set.

After losing the first set, Roger came back well in the second to conquer the set but after that it was all Nadal's script. The fact that Roger has reached the final here for the second consecutive time reveal that he is not bad at clay but Nadal's power and technique on clay is better than his.

Though Roger has won all other grand slams more than trice but none in French Open. Hope he will close this expectation in coming year.

Apacalypto

I'm against comparing a movie with history/reality otherwise you can't enjoy it. With this in mind, I'm sharing my thought on the movie 'Apacalypto', directed by Mel Gibson.

I see it as another movie of 'The Survival of Fittest' scripted to be happening during the civilization. Mel Gibson has proved to the world that he can make the people watch and understand a movie with knowing the language.

Until the last 30 mins, the movie was moving comparatively slow. Once the chase between the Zero Wolf & Co and Jaguar Paw started, the script moves to the top gear and then it is all about the fittest survives.

The movie takes us to the stone age. The technical aspect of the movie including music, cinematography, costumes, sets etc scores good. Definitely an over dose on vulgarity; the cut head, show the human heart...

A must watch movie for Adults.

Motivation

Human race might not have been survived without being motivated. It actually started from when Eve motivated Adam to eat the 'Apple' and made us to get civilized and grow from age to age.

One of the characteristics of a great leader is to be a good motivator. To motivate others, one has to gain their respect. Being a boss, one can't be relaxed as their actions are directly linked to results. To be a good motivator, one has to

1) be good at Self-motivation.

2) forget that they are a Boss.

3) treat employees with respect.

4) control over the emotions & speak.

5) find a right approach while on crisis.

Still support Reservation System?

I was disturbed by the recent week long violence in Rajasthan. All that was just to include their community in a different caste group just to gain from the current reservation policies on education institutions.

The government tried to be hard initially and has left with no option later as the violence grows big.

The worst part of it was that, after being at the back of all these, the group apologised in public for the violence after reaching a consensus with the government.

Will it erase all the scars it created?

Monopoly in the Metro.

After spending more than 22 years in and around Coimbatore, I have moved to Chennai just for better career opportunities. It is been four years now. Due to the impact of my childhood, my mind used to compare thing in Chennai with that of in Coimbatore. Except entertainment Coimbatore has an edge almost everything like food, climate, neighbourhood, etc.,

Those who have experienced the quality of public transport in Coimbatore (CBE) district will appreciate that as it is far better than the one in Chennai (CHN).

Private players play a major role in providing a better and highly competitive services to win the market and also the hearts of the public. The good thing is that these services are at no extra cost. So, it is Win-Win for all (Government, Public and Service Providers).

Ironically in Chennai, all the public transport (Bus) services are done by the Government. Not just the new comers, even those who are here for a long time feel it different to understand the meaning of Board Colors, M series, etc. Highly quality buses are also available but at a higher cost.

So, it is good to have a private player in the competition but still under government's umbrella.

In Search of Synergy!

Today morning, I saw an youngster carrying a crashed water bottle in search of a dust bin. Though, he didn't find one nearby, he carried along without any frustration. Few of my friends do follow this habit and we encourage others to do so.

Even before the law for compulsory helmet for two wheeler was implemented, most of the youngsters in the city made it a habit to wear it. They knew the value of their life and the importance of producting it.

They don't believe in bank balances. They invest on shares & mutual funds to grow not just their wealth but also the countries infrastructure.

Today's youngsters posses a great vision and wider knowledge on what is the need-of-the-hour for the country. Might act as individual groups. We should bring them all together to have a synergy.

The Boss!!!

Huge budget, Musics, Picturization of Songs & Fights, Use of Latest Technology etc are the trademark of Shankar's direction. Along with all these, he and his crew used to have control over all the milestones like audio & video releases.

All these were true until 'Sivaji'. Unfortunately, the Internet holds the key this time. They were forced to release the audio earlier than expected as few of the songs were already doing a round on net. Same is the case with the movie trailers. Hopefully, he will release the movie first. :) May be all these were because of combination of Rajini - Shankar - A. R. Rehman.

The trailer was as impressive as its expected. It didn't gave any glue on the storyline and kept the audience guessing.

My Favourite pick from it...

1) "Yen amma yenna karuppa peththa?"

"Vellaya iruntha alukku aaedumnu than..."

Basic Work Ethics

Couple of days ago, one of my team member brought a complaint to me. The complain was she can't sit in her current WKS as the male colleague siting next to her used to smoke a lot and the odour was irritating her. I asked her to present a mouth refresher. Obvious, this will embarrass anybody but have no choice.

As a grown-up adult and a responsible corporate citizen, one should possess at least the basic work ethics. Thinks like bad breath, ugly outfit, irresponsible languages & behaviours should be avoided in work places. No one will teach these. Also, not learning these is not good for them also people around them.

Why do one want to embarrass themselves by doing these silly things?

Brain Teaser - 2

1) It is lighter than a feather.
2) Even the strongest man in this world can't hold it for more than 2 minutes.

What is this?


Answer : His Breath.

A demise in the family.

Hema's grandpa who was suffering from throat cancer breath his last yesterday. My deepest condolence to his family.

During our marriage, I was surprised to see an extremely active old man roaming around even at the age of late 70s. I saw great energy in his walk. I heard from Hema that he used to catch a running bus even at that age.

He maintained his energy even after being affected by cancer. He lost his physical strength due to lack of solid food and the influence of medicines. Eventually, he died on Tuesday.

Let me pray for his soul to rest in peace.

Saving Private Ryan

I have got a chance to watch the movie 'Saving Private Ryan' couple of years back. My desire towards owning the DVD version of the movie find its end last week.

Out of many war movies I saw, this one impressed me as a whole. Starting with the picturization of the Omaha Beach Scenes, the narrations of the story, the message each character carries were impressive. Seeing this movie nearly 10 years after its release doesn't reduce the excitement of watching.

1) John Miller : Commit to your objective, no matter how silly the objective is. Don't give up until your objectives are met.

2) James Ryan : Don't deviate from your objective for personal reasons. Accepting unfair favor will not make you good human.

3) James Ryan : Respect others sacrifice. Otherwise, the sacrifice made will become meaningless.

4) Irwin Wade : If the situation depends you to take a sword, you have to.

5) Adrian Caparzo : You may have to pay a heavy price for not obeying your orders.

Wrong? or Right?

When I was at Avanashi during my vacation, I have got a chance to read an interesting tamil article written by 'Sathguru. Vasudev'. An extract from that...

What is Wrong? -> Any activity that is against the law is considered to be Wrong.

An activity that is wrong to one might be right to another. For ex. before independence, the freedom fight was right to the public and wrong to then ruling British government.

If the law is the scale to decide on right/wrong, the law itself is framed by an individual or a group of such individuals. The law is framed on the basis of things that they thing that are right.

If someone felt that what he did is correct, no one (even the punishment imposed by law) can force him to change in mind. The punishments should be towards making him realize that he has made a mistake and definitely not to make him struggle.

The First in many !!!

I'm back to blogging after a week long vacation. We travelled back home after about five months. More than me, Hema was more excited as she has planned to stay there for a month.

With lot of things happening everyday on my small world, I have like to recollected as much as I could.

First Bite : It was me who got the privilege of feeling the pain of Kirthik's first bite with his newly grown teeth.

First Travel : For the first time, Kirthik is in somebody's custody and we were travelling for a whole day. He felt uncomfortable for couple of hours but then back to normal.

First Visit : Hema visited our under house at Avanashi for the first time. Kirthik was just born when we book that house. So, didn't visit the place at that time.

First Sleep : We were able to manage to make him forget his 'Thottle Thukkam'.

First 'Mottai' : It was not just for Kirthik, even to me it was the first 'Mottai' that I could remember. Rest were out of my memory.

As Hema stayed back at home and I'm back to lonely days. Will be missing them for all the fun and joy in life.

Move Along

Hema & Kirthik came back to Chennai when he was just 4 months old. Since then we were staying alone here. We didn't expect any of our parents to help us in growing him up as we understood their stand and commitments.

We are visiting our hometown after 5 months. He was grown up seeing only our faces. When he was exposed to new people when my relatives and friends visited our home in Chennai, he moved along with them with no difficulty. He still feels comfortable with strange faces around.

Kirthik is still not tested with new locations. We have a fear on how well he can adjust to a new surrondings. We are going to expose him to entire different environment that noisy and crowded, breezy and hot. We wanted him to win this challenge with ease.

'Desi'-kan's problem

Two Senator, the law makers in US, have raised concerns over the misuse of H1B visas by Indian IT giants. Many here believes that these are all 'political stunts' made by US representatives when their presidential election is round the corner. May be true. But before pointing fingers, lets try to find out what went wrong from our side.

1: For the available 65000 Visa for the year, approximately 150,000 petitions were received in just two days.

2: In 2006, 66.5% of H-1B Visas were granted to citizens of India. The trend is always on the raising.

3: Additional 20000 visas, reserved for students with advanced degree, were also closed and students who are finishing their study this year have to wait until 01 April 2008.

Many companies here use visas as a motivating tonic to show their employees. May be because of the limits on the # of visas, they are trying to grab the opportunity. Not to blame any side, the industry or the government.

When CEOs of Industries front-runners like Bill Gates and Larry Ellison appears before US Congress for a raise in the numbers, we should make sure that we are not misusing it.

Watz up, dude?

Being good at Writing and Speaking doesn't make you a good communicator. You have to be equally good at Listening. Information is an intangible substance that must be sent by the speaker and received by an active listener.

Listening is an active process with three basic steps. Hear, Understand and Analyze.

The workforce is going global and with colleagues from different culture, it is important to understand what they speak, their accent. Since physical presence is not required to be part of a conversation, you have to listen well to be active. Obviously, you don't want to embarrass yourself in middle of a conversation.

The first skill that you might need to practice is to act like a good listener. Then use other bodily receptors like eye contact with the speaker. This might help you to catch the non-verbal signals that he/she might sent out. Then you should start reacting to the speaker like by showing emotions on face.

Your body position defines whether you are a good listener or a deflector. Lead with your face. If you feel you are drifting away, try changing your body posture.

Right choice?

Most of the News Papers and Channels covered the story of "Mr. A. Raja appointed as IT and Communication Minister."

Before this, he was responsible for Forest and Environmental Ministry. It was during his tenure, the entire tiger population in 'Sariska' was wiped out and the Gir lions suffered depletion. Also, most of the key position in the ministry are still vacant. It was disappointing 3 years in office for Raja as he couldn't or didn't do anything.

Compared to Forest, IT is one of the most happening Ministry. It is the Ministry that earns lot of foreign investments, encourage industrial growth, invite more employment for graduates, etc.

Many might not even bothered to see what is happening in the Forest, but he can't stay relaxed now. For rest of 2 years, he owns his share of developing the country's image in the global market. Can he do it? Is he making the right choice for the post?

Anyways, All the best, Mr. Raja.

@ Largest Green Building

I have been working at Olympia Tech Park for more than a year now, but truly unaware of the fact that it has been identified as the world's largest green building.

Though I'm glad, I don't see any difference from other IT Parks that I visited. So, what is it different here? The recognition is on the performance in five significant aspects of human and environmental health :

1) Sustainable site development
2) Energy efficiency
3) Water conservation
4) Selection of materials
5) Indoor environmental quality

The quality of implementation of these aspects will not be visibly available to all. So, no surprise that I was unaware of this great milestone. The good thing to be noted here is that the promoters/constructors are not just eyeing money, also care for environment.

Dirty Politics

I was indeed resisting myself from writing a blog on this when it actually began, now it has developed into a national problem. So, can't resist anymore.

What should have been a family fight, has developed into a party issue and looks to be a national problem.

Family Fight
The fight between Maran's and M. K's began when Maran run 'Dinakaran' published the polling results projecting M. K. Stalin as a hire to M. Karunanidhi against his elder son M. K. Alaghiri.

Party Issue
Politically infamous cabinet minister Mr. Maran was targeted. The party is planning to expel him from ministry.

National Problem
If the party goes to a level of sacking Maran from the MP post, a re-election has to be conducted on his constituency. Conducting election would be an extra financial overhead for the central government.

When the party is celebrating their leader's 50 years in legislation, the leader should have handled the scenario much better than this.

Largest Democracy.

Being an Indian, the question "Which is the largest democracy in the world?" will look silly.

Democracy means 'rule by the people'. When the people are not powered to choose their Chief Minister, Prime Minister and/or President directly, do we have a right political system to justify this claim?.

It is not too long to forget the wonders done by T. N. Seshan as Chief Election Commissioner. Electoral reforms and voter's ID are the brain children of Mr. Seshan. When he showed interested to become the President of India, the public representatives denied him.

Dr. Abdul Kalam was the master mind behind India's missile and nuclear weapons programs. He has a dream of making India a super power. He is considered to be a great human with great vision. The political parties are hesitating to re-nominate him for the post of president.

I believe both of them are the people's choice for that post, but denied by their own representatives.

The fight against 'Kathiri'

The Kathiri is already set for this year and the mercury is raising high and has crossed 42 degree Celsius.

Kirthik is now fighting hard to beat the heat of his first ever summer. Without even knowing that he is in middle of a big fight, he still enjoys his babyhood. Hema didn't wait for the Pediatrician's advice to feed him with cooling catalysts.

I'll be feeling relaxed when he leaves to Avinashi/Gopi when the kathiri shows its vigorous face. We expect the climate there to be relative good.

The First Step

We are part of a yearlong celebration to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the First War of Indian Independence, the 1857 uprising.

For those, who don't know the history behind this, I would like to share the result of my search.

The British introduced new rifle cartridges rumored to be greased with oil made from the fat of animals. The Hindus considered Cows as holy animal and Muslim feel the same for Pigs.

The violence started on May 10, 1857 in Meerut, when Mangal Pandey, a soldier in the Army shot his commander for forcing the Indian troops to use the controversial rifles. Indians constituted 96% of the 300,000 British Army and the violence against British quickly spread. Not just this religious belief, but also the agony of Indian's against the British rule due to 'Torture Commission', 'Mahalwari system of taxation' and many forced them to respond violently. The Sepoy's were guided by the aging Bahadur Shah.

The arrival of more British reinforcements finally led to the defeat of the repels. The repels were forced to surrender due to lack of good leaders.

Though it might have been a failed attempt but definitely encouraged the freedom movement.

Unexpected!!!

Did you ever dreamed about watching a live international cricket match on a Tamil channel with Tamil commentary?

I didn't. But, Raj TV surprised all today but telecasting the first ODI between India and Bangladesh play at Mirpur.

It was a risk taken by the channel, as the audience are comfortable with English commentaries and the reduced viewer circle because of regional flavour. The commentators tried their level best to use equivalent Tamil words instead of familiar English words. Though, they have failed at few occasions, it was a noted effort.

A long way to go but definitely a good step forward.

Child Psychology - as I understand

It is good to be possessive sometimes, but many times it is a problem creator. Not just me, many would have been victim of possessiveness at least once in their life.

I love when Hema is possessive about me. It shows her love on me. The problems that it might create are always solvable. In fact, we enjoy solving those problems.

Kughan, my nephew, is now 5 yrs old and very possessive on my dad, mom and me. Whenever we play with Kirthik or Kathir, my 2nd nephew, he always try to distract us and becomes sad/angry when we ignore him. This will also lead him to develop 'enemity' about his brothers. He is also too young to understand our advise. Even myself and raghu had the same problem during our childhood. Thing got settled when we grew-up.

You can't avoid these problems, when you love your kids. You have to handle this wisely without breaking the hearts. Advise the kids and make them understand the meaning of life. It might take a longer time, but definitely an effective solution. Becoming angry will never make a better solution.

eMail ethics.

On the books that I read on email ethics, I found only very abstract level of recommendations on how to address email ethics and suggest some rules which might encourage a socially responsible e-mail culture. Few recommendations will be like

1. Remember the Human
2. Respect other people's time and bandwidth
3. Know where you are in cyberspace
4. ...

I have started using emails without knowing what is ethical, but never got into any trouble. The corporate world taught me few lessons that text books forgot.

1. Know your People - Be aware of whom the email should be addressed. (ie To & CC).

2. Know your Language - The Subject & Body of the email should be brief, clear and more importantly, convey the same message.

3. Know your Action - Should I 'Reply' or 'Reply to All'?

4. Know your Priority - Should never raise a false alarm.

5. Know your Grammar - I think I don't need to explain.

6. Know your Limits - Learn when to respond and understand the hierarchy of escalation.

Email ethics with the above points will make one a more effectively communicator.

Family Shopping

Come weekend, come shopping!!!

On Sunday, I went to 'Reliance Fresh' for buying some groceries and vegetables. I was surprised to saw the crowd there. Not just restaurants, shopping malls will be crowded on weekend, but also markets, provisioning stores (thatz how I see Reliance Fresh)!!!

We expect a relatively more crowd on weekends, but didn't expect that difference. I felt tough to move around. It took few mins of struggle to understand the reason for the huge turnaround. Few of them were doing "Family Shopping".

It is good to go out with family on a weekend. That gives you a mental relief and keeps the family together. Is place like 'Reliance Fresh' makes a right choice?

I prefer place like beaches, amusement parks and restaurants for a family outing, where you tend to spend more time talking to your family members. Even theatres are not in my list as you send most of the time watching movies.