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.