Acclivity leading to infinity...

Re-live - 'Inside the Train FUN' factor in Japan

2011-10-23T00:50:00.000-07:00

A trip down the memory lane.
Exactly an year back, when I was engrossed in research on "Jappus", I never knew, I would narrate such a captivating raconteur. I loved every modicum of that research :)

'Inside the train fun' factor in Japan...."

As I e-pen, I was just trying to relive those moments...
Life is beautiful. :)

"Sleeping with the enemy" - Deepa's take on Inflation

2011-05-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

Deepa's take on INFLATION - Blog on today's ET.

SLEEPING WITH ENEMY

Nice article.
Worth a second thought.

Welcome 2011 :)

2011-01-01T00:02:00.000-08:00

It's good to be back in India and spend about a month and welcome 2011 from here.
Wish all bloggers and blog lovers a great year ahead :)
Keep rocking with undying ebullience. :)

It does happen in Japan - 15....

2010-10-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

‘Inside the train fun’ factor in Japan.....

Ok. Here comes more on HUMAN-READING of Japanese people (‘Jappus’) which, of late, has become my prime hobby that catches the top spot on my priority list, not intentionally but on reflex. Though the title looks a bit awkward, I somehow like the way it has been named. The awkwardness is crisp.

In Japan, trains are the primary means of transport showing exemplary punctuality unlike Indian Railways where trains, even if there being an easy possibility for reaching on time, always reach late just for one simple reason. “It’s INDIA and that is why”.

Since trains being the primary transport here in Japan, for any trip that you set-out for, you get to spend atleast about 20% of your trip-time on trains. There have been trips where train-travel –time has constituted to about 60% of the total time too. So, for HUMAN-READERS, this can be their best time. Trains in Japan are one of the few places where one gets less bored. I am talking of people-readers here. But, if any particular compartment has got a good variety in it in terms of men, girls, cute girls (An intentional ‘stress’), lovers, drunkard (very less though), silent bystanders, mentally retarded, soul mates, book-readers, cell-phone lovers (almost all), make-up kit possessors (almost all girls), make-up kit users (90% of the girls) so on and so forth, then even the non-people-readers (a new word, this one) get allured and enticed to the minute happenings that take place, which, infact, get really interesting at times.

If you are on a 4-hour journey, for instance, and have decided to take a good nap during this train journey, kindly forget having such bad notions and assumptions. Kindly sleep well the previous night, because taking a good nap in trains is less possible for the reason that, even in the quietest of compartments having almost no variety in them, you will have frequent announcements battering your ears informing you on the approaching station, no smoking rules, cell-phone rules, vote of thanks for choosing that particular train to travel, as though you chose that intentionally, so on and so forth, all of them in Japanese language too. But there is always one good way-out to escape this. I-POD on to your ears. Though, this way-out is closed for me since from the day, when I had put my I-POD earphones in washing machine for a thorough rinse.

Coming to the ‘variety’ compartment, if it’s about 7:30 am in the morning, one can find a lot of fresh young school girls, with their natural beauty tarnished to an extent that is directly proportional to the amount of money their parents can afford, for a make-up kit. While in India, parents spend their morning time packing our lunch boxes, filling water-bottles, tying shoe laces (which in anyway, is going to un-tie automatically in a few minutes), in Japan kids do all these on their own, probably and the only thing their parents do is apply a variety of make-up on to them, in short, ‘spoil’ them. So, you’ll find a lot of young girls yelling to the peak of their voices, bursting into laughter, showing all sorts of expressions that are in a current-day dictionary. Oops!! Yes. There were boys too, sitting quiet without uttering a word. Sorry, I forgot to notice them.

Though lovers cuddling each other, mentally retarded doing some odd actions can all rarely be seen, if by chance, they are present, you must make sure that none of the group sits besides you else you are tossed. You shall reach the height of uneasiness and shall be forced to change your place. But, if you are far from them, you can have a good time noticing their mischievous acts. If it is about evening and you are in a variety compartment, four major things that you can notice are book-reading, cell-phone gaming, sleeping with head-tilted downwards, hairs completely hiding their faces & making-up using make-up kits. Though the first three acts are quite normal in any country, this ‘make-up’ act in trains is really strange.

It’s all an algorithm flow here. A typical process flow would be, a girl [girl-A] gets into the train, takes a seat, settles herself down, takes a good look at the compartment to check, if there is a better girl. No one. Takes another good look around the compartment to check, if at-least some 3 to 4 boys are looking at her, admiring her so-called ‘beauty’. YES. OK. They are. She gets satisfied for the moment, takes out a good book and starts reading. The next station, another girl [girl-B] gets in, happens to be better than this girl-A, while girl-B repeats the complete process flow explained above, girl-A does an extra process, she checks if those 4 boys have turned their heads towards girl-B. If yes, she hurriedly opens-up her make-up kit, enhances her ‘beauty’ and re-checks once again. 2 boys turn back to her again. She gets 50% satisfied. At this point girl-C enters and this ‘silent beauty fight’ continues and the intensity is directly proportional to the number of the girls present inside the train at any given time. It would all be real-fun to notice these minute things. But this is no exaggerated version. It all happens and HUMAN-READERS shall be having the best of their times, silently.

It does happen in Japan - 14....

2010-09-23T06:43:00.000-07:00

DARSHANS so far made.... - 4

25, 26, 27. Takayama, Hakuba & Tateyama - 2010/4/29 ~ 2010/5/01:
A snowy, icy trip towards the north of Japan. One of the least explored places by Indians so far. Loved the low-temperature trekking, the village, the rope-way, the McD pitstop when we needed one desperately, the cycling & lot more.... One of the great trips so far, which had a different flavour all together...

28. Kakegawa Bird Sanctuary - 2010/6/13:
Great sanctuary as far as boredom-fighting is concerned. The bird-varieties were just huge. Loved the peace, the colour and more...

29, 30, 31, 32. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kamakura & Enoshima - 2010/8/08 ~ 2010/8/11: Undoubtedly the best trip. A well-planned, well-executed fun trip. Adventure, Indian food, Skyscrappers, heritage places, night-outs, beaches & beach fun made this trip simply the best.

33. Izu Peninsula - 2010/9/18:
The best camping site, I have ever seen. Loved the locations, the blue waters, the trekking and the group fun.

35. Samba Dance @ Hamamatsu - 2010/9/19:
The title justifies the magnitude of FUN. Awesome SAMBA performance. My first time. Awesome atmosphere.

[Pics coming soon..]

It does happen in Japan - 13....

2010-08-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

The rampancy of ‘Woman/Girl driving’ in Japan....

If you are still with the notion that ‘girl/woman driving’ in Japan should be as freakish as it is in other developing countries and as you would have watched in a countless number of funny videos, then your thought is ill-conceived. ‘Woman/Girl driving’ in Japan is as flawless and cool as ‘man driving’. Infact, in a broader view, there is no bifurcation in driving as man-driving and woman-driving. If he/she is 18 or more, and you would like to ask them a driving-favour, you don’t actually need to ask this usual first question, “Do you drive?” before requesting a favour. It is by default that he/she drives for sure. Such is the condition here.

Even, given the fact that ‘woman/girl-driving’ (I mean the proper one, not the funny one) in places like India is on a drastic rise over the years, why isn’t it rampant as it is in Japan? There could be a number of reasons to it. The girls are never to be blamed. But l, somehow feel, that some 2 reasons out of that lot, would definitely deserve a mention and shall serve as the top 2 reasons for the above conundrum. They are traffic conditions and car penetration factor.

Being a small country with a sparse population (a lot of them come under car-population though) compared to India, Japan definitely has an upper hand as far as traffic conditions are concerned. Even the so-called busy roads of Japan (say Shinjuku, in Tokyo) don’t look so busy compared to the 6 pm roads of Powai (Bombay) or 7 pm roads of Adyar or Mount Road (Chennai) ; Traffic signals omnipresent (even for a 3 meter pedestrian crossing, where pedestrians hardly cross ; Traffic signal lights always anew & intense, never seem to fade at all); traffic rules adherence highly religious; no rash driving ; no cycles, dogs, donkeys crossing roads intentionally or unintentionally; no rain-water stagnation !! (Gurgaon, I “love” you for this!!) ; drunken driving almost zero ; less or almost zero horn sounds; lot of vehicles with Automatic transmission. Now, from this, is it not lucid enough to decode that this is dead-pitch where even Holland can score 400 in 35 overs? Yes, this is the prime reason. Everything is spoon-fed. Things are highly comfortable for driving in Japan. The stage is well-set. Come on! There is a good friend of mine back in India. She can race through the busy, bumpy roads of Gurgaon in her M800, with utmost ease. Never blame Indian girls/women. They are highly capable. Kindly, provide them the right platform. I can bet on one thing for sure. Minimum 80% of the expert girl car maneuverers in Japan, when asked to drive in Indian conditions, would refuse to do for they are highly precautionary and are sure to get bewildered to see the Indian roads. Leave alone the girls/women, even Japanese male citizens would be having tough times driving in India.

The next main factor is the car penetration factor or the car-penetration ratio. It is 395 cars per 1000 people compared to 7/1000 in India. Isn’t this a massive difference? This girl-driving rampancy has more to do with opportunity than capability. Females in Japan have the opportunity. They have cars, decent roads and at times ATs (Automatic Transmission) too. Now, all that is left is to drive. Capability doesn’t have a greater say. Indian girls/women, despite being capable and flexible, lack only 2 things. Cars & good roads. They aren’t asking for good roads either. All they are asking for, is a CAR.

It is, kind of, strange here in Japan. People own more cars than laptops. People here take a long-time in deciding whether to get a laptop. They go on long, relaxed drives to clear this aura of ’laptop buying confusion’. Oh! Come on! Do not joke. If you can afford a 800,000 Yen vehicle in no time. Why, on earth, are you taking hell lots of your time for this laptop decision. Strange! The affordability of a car is high too, in Japan. The usual question in India, used to be “Do you have a car in your house?” which in Japan becomes “How many cars are there in your house?” for which the reply boldly comes “4. One with me (Suzuki), one with my wife (Honda), two with my sons (Nissan and Mazda).” That’s unity, for you. What a family!! Huh !! While in India, we shall be busy deciding what to wear for tonight’s family dinner at a restaurant, families in Japan shall be having family feuds in choosing on which vehicle to go, for the night’s family dinner and ultimately deciding to go on their respective ones!! Huh! So, given this high car penetration ratio and an easy affordability of cars, ‘girl/woman-driving’ comes as a no surprise.

But, still talking, only about Japan, tout ensemble, a huge lot of women/girls above 18, are capable of giving you a good smooth relaxed cruise along Japan roads without bumps, brakes & frequent screeching haults. There is no need, whatsoever, for you to be nervous on safety of woman/girl-driving in Japan. Just get into the front-seat and get the conversation going, smooth and fine…..

It does happen in Japan - 12....

2010-07-31T09:46:00.000-07:00

Top 10+2 frequently used Japanese Words, you can't escape from...

It is like, if you are in Japan and even you don’t know even a bit of Japanese and would never like to give even a damn about it, you cannot escape from these words getting into your ears quite frequently on any given day. There could be a lot of words, but, I somehow feel, these are the worthy ones that get into the top 10+2.

1. 'Hai' – Yes. For every word you utter to a Jappu, they say “HAI” to it, even if they don’t agree to your statement. Kind of Strange though!! Since, I have gotten used to using a lot of “HAI” in my daily life, of late, I sometimes, in a reflex, use HAI, while talking to my mom & dad during my phone conversation. They would stand puzzled.

2. 'Kedo' – But. This is a sure No.2. Even, if BUT isn’t required in that particular statement, they use 'Kedo', just like that, just because that is how it has been used over generations.

3. 'Arigatō Gozaimashita' – Thank you. This might catch the No.3 spot. Very frequently used and on quite obvious occasions.

4. Wakaranai – [I] don’t understand. The Jappus are frank. They hate to lie, I presume. If they are not sure of something, they frankly confess that they don’t know rather than trying to beat around the bush. ‘Wakaranai’ is used for this.

5. Wakarimashita – [I] understood. Yes. This follows ‘Wakaranai’ in terms of frequency and can possibly catch the 5th spot. Wakarmishita’s frequency is high among Jappus. But more than that, this word is frequently used by the Indians here and they use it even if they do not understand and merely to satisfy the Jappu explaining him. Typically ‘Indian’ish.

6. Sō nan da? – Is it so? This phrase is frequent among female Jappus and obviously the expression they attach to it, all looks same among all female Jappus.

7. Onegai shimasu – [I] ask you a favour. They use this, even if they aren’t asking you any favour, ideally. But, yes this, surely, deserves a place in the Top 10.

8. ii? – Is it Ok? Is it fine? Is it good? This word is just a 2 letter word. But, it’s usage frequency is quite on the high.

9. Daijōbu – [I] am fine. No problem. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and infact, the whole of Konoha use it frequently, though. This word is one of the frequently used words among real Jappus too.

10. Sō iu koto? – Is it so? Usage is same as Sō nan da? (No. 6). But, this phrase is frequent among male Jappus and is definitely less frequent than Sō nan da. So, this, kind of, proves that Jappu girls are more talkative than Jappu males.

Other than these, 2 more phrases that I would like to add to the top 10, may be as 10.1 and 10.2, are:
• Chotto matte – Wait for a while. A frequently used phrase. May be a close competition to Sō iu koto.
• Honto ni ? – Really? This is again one of the frequently used phrases for expressing surprise or shock. I really don’t if the expressions they attach to this word are real or fake. It’s like, even for simple actions, they express a huge surprise. For example, I tell a Jappu, “I came to office in cycle today.” This isn’t anything so great news to get hugely surprised. But, still they immediately say “Honto ni? ii ne (good)”, as though I told them that I married a Jappu girl yesterday.

Kindly, try memorizing these words/phrases and you are half ready for Japan.

It does happen in Japan - 11....

2010-06-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

The Japanese Language - I am loving it.

First of all, kindly remember these key words specifically pertaining to this post alone.
Japanese – The Japanese language ; Jappus – The Japanese people.

Ok. Now, for those of you, who have the perception that Japanese is so hard a rock to take a bite, kindly chuck out that assumption off your head. Unquestionably, to me, no exception either, it looked a hard-rock at the start. But, it shall continue to look the same, unless you get into it and start realizing its so-called ‘amicability’.

Yes. Let me be frank enough. From the bottom of my heart, let me assure you, this language can be learnt in no time, at least the basics, if not the whole of it. Be it, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi or even English for that matter, you would find various accents to a single language even within the same language speaking region. Frankly , these languages, except English though, cannot be taught to foreigners so easily by making books on basics of the language. (For your information, as far as Jappus are concerned, even English cannot be taught to them easily ;)) And, in case, if these languages are taught to foreigners, they are going to stand muddled since book concepts never match the one which we speak. For example, if you consider a Jappu being taught tamil. “Eppadi irukkirai?” (How are you?). He goes, lands in Chennai , ends up meeting an auto driver who questions him “Enna mama, eppadi keera, nalla keeriya?” (Hey man, how are you? Are you fine? The Chennai way ;)), this Jappu is not going to understand even a bit of it. But Japanese, on earth, is never ever like that. Entire Japan speak the same dialect, use the same accent and more surprisingly, speak the same accent described in Japanese books. Oh. Come on. Can any language get simpler than this? But . . . . . . . No, it’s not that simple. Why? The writing part actually sucks a little. Let me come to it in a while.

Japanese, basically, has got 3 types of characters. They are Hiragana (Basic Japanese Characters), Katakana (Characters used to describe foreign words) & Kanji (Chinese characters which are rampantly used here. These characters actually suck.) When asked a Jappu as to why Kanji is used a lot in Japan compared to Hiragana, they say, Kanji characters are easy to read as they, kind of, take the shape of the action being described by the word. He may be right and I could realize it too, when I happened to learn a few kanji characters. But, in general, to a foreigner’s eye, these characters suck. Hiragana & Katakana characters are frankly, pretty simple to learn, read & write.

Ok. As far as listening, understanding & conversing are concerned, Japanese could be easy. But, when it comes to reading & writing, it’s quite a task, especially at the start. Initially, every Japanese character looked like a geometrical figure to me, though, now it is all crystal clear. Yes. But one thing is, even now some Kanji characters looks like geometric figures to me.

As I already made a mention, Jappus’ accent of speaking Japanese is same throughout Japan. It is not only the accent that is same, but also the expression that they express while uttering a word. If you are about 3 to 4 months old in Japan, you should be in a position to decipher the top 20 frequently used words by any Jappu & the expression that they attach to it. It would all look funny to see, every Jappu speaking Japanese the same way, but that is how it is.

There are complaints, which even the Jappus would have eavesdropped, arguing that Jappus do not know proper english. To an extent, that could be true, but Jappus were the species who proved that language is not a barrier for technological advancement.
The funny part is, Jappus, when asked to learn English, do exactly the opposite. They make us learn Japanese. Because, they are into the perception that, ultimately, for a proper conversation to occur, all you need is a common language. So, let him learn my language, why should I learn his?

After all this, one thing I can assure you is, Japanese is an easy & interesting language. I am already loving it.

It does happen in Japan - 10....

2010-06-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

Weather - A welcoming feature....

One major aspect from a lot of the welcoming features of Japan is Weather. Anybody would love Japan for its weather (except those men who love +55 ⁰ C & -20⁰ C). Especially, people like me, who hail from places like Gurgaon & Chennai which burn you bare for about 4 months with scorching heat, drench you wet for about 2 months with intense rains, would love every bit of Japan’s weather. In a nutshell, Japan is a country with moderate weather. This is how the Japanese term it. But, this is not exactly how it is. I would say, it is more inclined towards chill weather, may be because I am basically from a hot country. Ok. First things first.

Though Japan is a small country in terms of area, climate in Japan varies widely. Since Japan stretches approximately 20⁰ of latitude, from 25⁰N to 45⁰N, and approximately 23⁰ of longitude, from 122⁰E to 145⁰E (this is too much of geography !!), climate varies widely between regions. The climate is moderate towards the south of Japan and is chilly towards the north. To my fortune, Hamamatsu is in the south of Japan and hence things have become even more relaxed.

Basically, Japan experiences summer from June till August, autumn from September to November, winter from then till February and spring till May end. A distribution so well balanced. But this is more in case of Southern Japan. North experiences longer winters and hardly any summer. North experiences dense snow-fall during winters which makes living a bit cumbersome. Skiing gets into the schedule during these months. Skiing is possible till April end/Early May, the period during which Gurgaon shall be boiling eggs in open-air using natural heat. A mere phone-call to one of my colleagues in India last week who was informing me the current temperature in Gurgaon to be 47⁰C, made me sweat here.

Rains are from early June till July end. But this is just on paper, I presume for the reason that it rains atleast once in a week here in Hamamatsu. Rains in Japan are unusually high. Talking about rains, Yes, it does rain frequently in Japan. If you happen to be a tour-lover & love travelling, there is no reason, whatsoever, for you to get disappointed basically for 2 reasons. Weather forecast reports are pretty accurate here in Japan. Kindly keep a track of it and plan accordingly. Another big advantage is, even in-case of heavy lashing rains, it is a one-day problem and never gets carried over to the next day. The roads are so well banked & sewage system is so very efficient that you get to see completely dry, fresh roads, feel fresh air the immediate morning and you can easily afford to plan an outing for that day unlike in Gurgaon where 2 hours of rain on a Sunday evening will aid you reach office 2 hours late on every day of the following week till Saturday, leave alone an outing plan. It is totally out of scope.

Winds are an integral part of daily life in Japan. They are rampant and omnipresent across Japan. Possessing a capability of toppling an array of cycles on any normal day, winds do bother you, if you have not got used to it. Your cycle literally stops while riding, at times and you start feeling proud that you are able to sustain your balance for long at 0 kmph. Winds combined with rains sometimes make your day tough. India made umbrellas will never come in handy. They either fly-away or if you try to get hold of them tight, they open-up on the other side or their spokes break. So, in either-case, you would be fortunate enough to get wet. Talking more on rains, Japanese, I presume hate to get wet. One water-droplet from the sky on a fresh morning and you can see hundreds of umbrellas out on that day. The height of precaution could be this. The office canteen is about 5 steps from our R&D building and Japanese are never ready to cross this light-year distance without an umbrella.
One very comfortable feature in every building in Japan is, there are air-conditioners to insulate you while you are inside, irrespective of the temperature outside and hence jackets and sweaters are to be taken out only if there are plans to set out.

Tout-ensemble, anybody would love Japan’s weather.

It does happen in Japan - 9....

2010-05-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

F**KED UP !! Pissed off !!

Though “Behne De” - an expert combo Karthik & AR Rahman’s work is running in the background, as I am keying in this post with great fervor, ‘Roja’ and ‘Mundhinam’ piled-up next one after the other in my assorted Media-player list, it doesn’t cool me. What’s the next best thing that I should do?
Ok. Let me re-live some of the happy moments in my life to check its soothing capability. Should I cherish the moment when I picked up a hat-trick in a local cricket tournament in my college and ended up with a 3-1-10-3 figure? Wouldn’t budge!!
Fine. Let me re-live the moment when I ended up beating a very tough opponent in table-tennis district-level tournament in his home-ground (or home-table rather ;)) in my higher secondary.
Or is it like I should go on for that moment when I was able to see hell lots of applauds, after I finished a stage performance (It was an English song, btw). Not so effective even now !
Or should I cherish the occasion when after seeing ‘Page Cannot be displayed’ on 50 occasions, my higher secondary final exam result popped up on the screen all of a sudden on the 51st, just to hint me that I have rocked with a mammoth total in the history of my school ? Cloud Nine ?? No. Still hot!! What next?
Singing, which I love doing, is also done. I already have sung “Usure Poguthey” twice along with the song in a loud voice (which is generally not welcomed by my cold-blooded adjacent room resident, and in a broader view, it isn’t good to do in Japan either).
Blog !!! – Fine. Doing it right now to quell this. Not sure though!
I must first apologise for the sharpness of words and vagueness of the content before blurting it out aloud.
Here I go : ‘F**K OFF’.
It might start similar to how Aravind Adiga did in “The White Tiger”. But, that was not my intention.
Heading straight to the summary, “You never know, when you are getting F**KED. There can be brats within reach, within a big circle surrounding you, who might be frigging you out and yet you do not notice that you are being f**ked. It happens just sometimes and happens soft, yet the pinch it gives is not easily effaceable. The time it lasts could be very less, but it hurts. ‘Just F**K OFF. It is so cheap of you’. It is happening, it is all happening with a very strange logic. The logic is the softer it is, the more it hurts. ‘Brat, it happens. The world is spoilt. But, one thing is certain. You do not deserve even a revenge, take care. All the best’.

PS:(Frigger) 'Hey frigger, I am very sure you would have read this. I understand that a wave of chillness would have slithered through you now after reading this. Even if it is for a second, that is satisfaction’.
(Others) Kindly, refrain from this one question : “Hey, what happened?” All other comments are welcome.:)

It does happen in Japan - 8....

2010-04-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

DARSHANS so far made.... - 3

14. Welcome party in Hamamatsu with Japanese colleagues - 2010/2/12:
This was in one of the posh hotels in Hamamatsu to welcome my foray into Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan after a successful completion of the language course in AOTS O'saka.

15. Belly Dance @ Kumar's Restaurant, Hamamatsu - 2010/2/20:
First time experience. It was a performance by an expert belly-dancer - Kazumi ;)

16. Holi @ Nakatajima Beach, Hamamatsu - 2010/2/28:
Inspite of Tsunami threat at the beach, the other day, Holi was celebrated with extreme vim and vigour.

17. Shima Peninsula - 2010/3/13:
The main highlights at Shima Peninsula were the EDO WONDERLAND - A theme park of the Samurai era and an awesome 40 minute ferry-ride through the seas of Shima.

18. Nikko - 2010/3/20 ~ 2010/3/22:
Located at about 150 km away from Tokyo, this place is one of the most visited during Autumn. The TOBU World Square - A small world inside an area of a few square metres, The Kegon Falls, The rope-way ride, Ryuuzu Falls, Arima Onsen, lot more beautiful natural sights, Cold winds, Greenery, Indian food and Onsen experience made this trip memorable.

19. Tokyo Drift - 2010/3/27:
The first round of this year's Drift, at Odaiba, Tokyo was admirably pulse-raising.

20. Nagoya - 2010/3/28:
Located at about 100 km from Hamamatsu, this is one of the largest cities in Japan famous for its PORT, Dolphin Show and Toyota Museum.

21. Skiing @ Yeti - 2010/4/4:
Located at about 4 hours from Hamamatsu, Yeti is the right place for first time Skiers. Catching the train in the last minute, Boarding the Yeti bound bus in the last second, less money in pocket, first-hand experience at Skiing, slipping atleaast a 100 times etc. made this day memorable.

22. Sakura Party @ Hamamatsu Castle - 2010/4/09:
Japanese Colleagues, Strange food, Sakura, of-course, Quiet Japanese girls blurting out and a lot of photos made the evening memorable at the Hamamatsu Castle.

23. Tamil New Year Celebrations @ Tokyo - 2010/4/10:
Felt like I was in Chennai. In the midst of a tamil speaking group, Meena, Prasanna, Manaada Mayilaada Group, Lollu sabha gang, tamil food, tamil fun etc, it was a totally nostalgic feel of School day/College day new year celebrations.

24. Sanaru Lake @ Takatsuka - 2010/4/11:
Located at about 15 minutes from place of residence, this lake is a typical mind-soothing location. Loved the peace, the silence in water, Sakura, relaxed cycling over here.

It does happen in Japan - 7....

2010-03-14T08:24:00.000-07:00

McDonald's Episode.....

1. Russet Burbank, Pentland Dell & Shepody
2. McCain’s
3. Non-hydrogenated blend of sun-flower and rapeseed oil.

Life’s inquisitive geeks would have forged a relation between the three by now. And for the rest, this is something about one of your favourite mouth-watering dishes called the McDonald’s French fries.
“Russet Burbank, Pentland Dell & Shepody are the type of potatoes used for the making of French-fries, McCain’s is the outlet that makes and supplies French-fries to McD. Non-hydrogenated blend of sun-flower oil and rapeseed oil is the oil used in the making of French-fries.”
“Except for some kind of an inquisitive general knowledge, it doesn’t matter. After all, it is all potatoes fried in oil. But, see the magnitude of profit, McDonald’s is generating by this one simple dish. Tremendous. The McDonald’s share of profit earned through French-fries is way above the share earned through hamburgers. Howsoever it may be, it is delicious. Wow. I am loving it.” (pchewk pchewk pchewk), I was enjoying the taste of French-fries sitting alone on a corner table of Takatsuka McD with eyes half-closed and with some weird thoughts on French-fries’ history and lot more. Even more enticing was the fact that the French-fries (L) size is in for an offer-price of just 150¥ instead of a whopping 290¥ just for the month of March (Reason, though not sure, probably could be that McD should have earned a lump sum amount of money and now might have been experimenting the influence on the sales figures by bringing down the price by about 50%).
“Sou iu koto desu ka? Wakarimashita. Ja, mata (Is it so? Oh. Ok fine. See you later)” uttered a voice so typical of a Japanese girl. I, getting used to the words and the voice over the last 3.5 months, continued concentrating on my French-fries (L-version) with eyes still half closed.
With the quantity of the French-fries on the plate dwindling with every bite, I, making my eyes clear by expanding the retina, started to raise from my seat (with a few pieces still left on the plate) when my eyes met somebody who immediately reached my dream-book of ”Top 10 girls in life whom I have seen with my naked eyes, whose faces, I admire” and who was sitting alone in a table, just infront of me. I settled back on my seat again to consume the last few pieces of French-fries that was left (Was that the reason?) on my plate, this time with much less speed of consumption and busy eyes.
With every organ in her face being perfectly positioned and aligned in symmetry, the LHS of her face forming an un-erring mirror image of the RHS of her face, with a terrific little smile, (she, infact, was doing that to me. As I have already mentioned, one can hardly see Japanese girls being shy and reserved), a dimple on both her cheeks, brown eyes, symmetrically combed hair, a typical Japanese out-fit, with everything being good about her, I was sitting totally defeated for a while when I noted her waving her hand at me. With an impinging sense of shock, instead of waving her back, I delved into the reasons for why was she waving. Japanese girls, as I have already made a mention, never turn their heads away on seeing foreigners, instead they approach them, at times and talk to them. (these girls are probably equipped with kung-fu skills for their self-defence right from their school days, in case of any mis-happening that they might confront). This could have been one of the reasons and the major one could have been that since I was admiring her without taking my eyes away, she must have done that to deviate my attention.
She continued to smile at me and I continued to admire her face, when suddenly I was blinded off by a striking red colour T-shirt with a one-liner written on the back of it “Only idiots are greedy for more in life” sign on it. Huh! It was a guy. He sat infront of her on the same table, showing his back to me, placing down all the burgers, French-fries and coffee on it. I disposed off my plate and started to leave and noted that she was still smiling at me (Might be, she would have narrated my staring episode to the man in-front. No. She would not have. She never looked like one. And, the man too never attempted to look at me. She would not have). I opened the door, stepped outside to see who the other man was. He was no way resembling to this girl, so he must have been her boy-friend. But, he looked a typical idiot. The one-liner suited him the most.
I, unable to resist, opened the McD door again, stepped inside, went near her table. The man looked all shocked but the girl never looked shocked. “Kimi wa totemo kirei desu. Watashi wa kimi no kao ga sukii nan desu. (You look very beautiful. I like your face a lot)” – I uttered and stepped outside to see both their reactions. But, decided the note the man’s reaction first. The man stared at me like an owl staring at the prey. The girl smiled and waved her hand at me again. I was lost.

It does happen in Japan - 6....

2010-02-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

The Transition...

It is all a part of life and it is in-built in every homo-sapien to adapt to it, the adaptive capability could vary though. What is it that, I am rattling about? Yes. CHANGE. THE TRANSITION.

(Somehow, managed to give a start to this post in a way that is quite away from normal. The reason being, majority of the ‘homo-sapienic’ population, who write on CHANGE or TRANSITION, by default kicks off with “Nothing in this world is permanent except change” (different versions of it could be available, though. But, this would be their essence) because this particular adage would have been taught at a very early age, simple to remember, strikes your mind first when you think of CHANGE or TRANSITION. Huh! I guess, it took quite a few sentences to explain that I am not an ordinary person. Let’s talk sense.)

So, for people who are aware, I am glad that you are aware and for people who are unaware, here it goes. Right now, I am being put up at Takatsuka (Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka , Japan) which is where Suzuki Motor Corporation’s (SMC) head-quarters is located and which is where I have all the work to do for the next ten odd months. I have shifted to this place from an ALL WAS WELL, AOTS, Osaka on 27th Jan. 2010 (You are welcome to check that link out for ‘all was well’ justification.) It has been almost a month here in Hamamatsu and as all of you rightly guessed, I have got adapted to the new place.

The transition was quite tough though. The last day at AOTS, Osaka was really emotional (less for the reason that, I am parting off from lot of nice people, I came across and more for the reason that I am leaving a place that proved to be an ACE in terms of hospitality, facilities and the environment). En-route Hamamatsu from Osaka, in Shinkansen (Super-fast bullet train), we were engulfed with emotions (for AOTS) and excitement (that we are moving on to a totally different place). [Somehow, I managed to inform that I have travelled in Shinkansen. FYI, this trip was my fourth-time in Shinkansen].

Now, I am being put up on the fifth floor of the R&D building of SMC. Office is a 10 minute walk from my place of residence called the LEO PALACE EARU (Please do not get deceived by the name. It isn’t really palace like, infact, I do not have any clues as to why was this named a palace. But, however it is, it is called Leo palace Earu.) and hence very comfortable. I am staying single. It has got a decent amount of facilities. Although, right from self cooking, to getting groceries, fetching vegetables, to preparing a meal plan, to disposing garbage, to cleaning vessels, to washing clothes, to cleaning the room, wash-room and sink, to dry and press clothes (I might have missed out something) everything is SELF-MANAGED unlike my previous place, where it was…. Huh! Heaven. To be crisp, it is like running a family (obviously, ‘OFFICE'ing all day parallely).

But the good thing is, I have got adapted to the new place and have started liking it and have sculpted out some interest into this way of living. (That is what is required, ultimately. You know, being an Indian, actually helps. I am talking about the flexibility characteristics imbibed in them.)

It does happen in Japan - 5....

2010-02-05T06:13:00.000-08:00

Though, it did not really happen in Japan...

The title might not be worth it for the contents that are going to follow.
Though, this, ideally did not happen in Japan, I came across this wonderful article by Mr. L.R.Moorthy (Prof. IIMB) today (Very intriguing, though long). And today, I, obviously, am in no other place, but in Japan. So, the title suits to an extent.

Justified.

Go on...

"Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?

Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. Answer is none of the above. The winner is Nokia whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cell phones.

Reason being cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling stand alone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all. One can only hope the Sonys and Canons are taking note.

Try this. Who is the biggest in music business in India? You think it is HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma? Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel makes more than what music companies make by selling music albums (that run for hours).

Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscriber base in India. That sort of competitor is difficult to detect, even more difficult to beat (by the time you have identified him he has already gone past you). But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing easy you can't be farther from truth.

Nokia confessed that they all but missed the smartphone bus. They admit that Apple's Iphone and Google's Android can make life difficult in future. But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you? If these illustrations mean anything, there is a bigger game unfolding. It is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails?

The "Mahabharat" (the great Indian epic battle) is about "what is tomorrow's personal digital device"? Will it be a souped up mobile or a palmtop with a telephone? All these are little wars that add up to that big battle. Hiding behind all these wars is a gem of a question – "who is my competitor?"

Once in a while, to intrigue my students I toss a question at them. It says "What Apple did to Sony, Sony did to Kodak, explain?" The smart ones get the answer almost immediately. Sony defined its market as audio (music from the walkman). They never expected an IT company like Apple to encroach into their audio domain. Come to think of it, is it really surprising? Apple as a computer maker has both audio and video capabilities. So what made Sony think he won't compete on pure audio? "Elementary Watson". So also Kodak defined its business as film cameras, Sony defines its businesses as "digital."

In digital camera the two markets perfectly meshed. Kodak was torn between going digital and sacrificing money on camera film or staying with films and getting left behind in digital technology. Left undecided it lost in both. It had to. It did not ask the question "who is my competitor for tomorrow?" The same was true for IBM whose mainframe revenue prevented it from seeing the PC. The same was true of Bill Gates who declared "internet is a fad!" and then turned around to bundle the browser with windows to bury Netscape. The point is not who is today's competitor. Today's competitor is obvious. Tomorrow's is not.

In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways in India? Singapore airlines? Better still, Indian airlines? Maybe, but there are better answers. There are competitors that can hurt all these airlines and others not mentioned. The answer is videoconferencing and telepresence services of HP and Cisco. Travel dropped due to recession. Senior IT executives in India and abroad were compelled by their head quarters to use videoconferencing to shrink travel budget. So much so, that the mad scramble for American visas from Indian techies was nowhere in sight in 2008. (India has a quota of something like 65,000 visas to the U.S. They were going a-begging. Blame it on recession!). So far so good. But to think that the airlines will be back in business post recession is something I would not bet on. In short term yes. In long term a resounding no. Remember, if there is one place where Newton's law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware. Between 1977 and 1991 the prices of the now dead VCR (parent of Blue-Ray disc player) crashed to one-third of its original level in India. PC's price dropped from hundreds of thousands of rupees to tens of thousands. If this trend repeats then telepresence prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then. As it is not many are making money. Then it will surely be RIP!

India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly different. So were the icons. The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag. The filmi gods were the Khans (Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and the other Khans who followed suit). That was, when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50 over cricket. Then came IPL and the two markets collapsed into one. IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs. Suddenly an IPL match was reduced to the length of a 3 hour movie. Cricket became film's competitor. On the eve of IPL matches movie halls ran empty. Desperate multiplex owners requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls to hang on to the audience. If IPL were to become the mainstay of cricket, as it is likely to be, films have to sequence their releases so as not clash with IPL matches. As far as the audience is concerned both are what in India are called 3 hour "tamasha" (entertainment). Cricket season might push films out of the market.

Look at the products that vanished from India in the last 20 years. When did you last see a black and white movie? When did you last use a fountain pen? When did you last type on a typewriter? The answer for all the above is "I don't remember!" For some time there was a mild substitute for the typewriter called electronic typewriter that had limited memory. Then came the computer and mowed them all. Today most technologically challenged guys like me use the computer as an upgraded typewriter. Typewriters per se are nowhere to be seen.

One last illustration. 20 years back what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning? The answer is "alarm clock." The alarm clock was a monster made of mechanical springs. It had to be physically keyed every day to keep it running. It made so much noise by way of alarm, that it woke you up and the rest of the colony. Then came quartz clocks which were sleeker. They were much more gentle though still quaintly called "alarms." What do we use today for waking up in the morning? Cellphone! An entire industry of clocks disappeared without warning thanks to cell phones. Big watch companies like Titan were the losers. You never know in which bush your competitor is hiding!

On a lighter vein, who are the competitors for authors? Joke spewing machines? (Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, himself a Pole, tagged a Polish joke telling machine to a telephone much to the mirth of Silicon Valley). Or will the competition be story telling robots? Future is scary! The boss of an IT company once said something interesting about the animal called competition. He said "Have breakfast …or…. be breakfast"! That sums it up rather neatly".

It does happen in Japan - 4

2010-01-29T05:44:00.000-08:00

DARSHANS so far made.... - 2

10. Universal Studios Japan - 2010/1/10:
Built in a well-planned fashion, Universal Studios Japan (USJ), undoubtingly, is one of the huge-profit making theme parks across the world.

Filled with thrill and excitement with rides based on super-hit hollywood characters, keep aside the crowd that barges in everyday, this theme park attracts kids and adults alike.

11. Kyushu - 2010/1/13:
An island down-south Japan where in we were able to witness snow-fall. Bullet train called SHINKANSEN (max. speed 300 kmph) took us to this place covering 500 kms in abt 2 hrs. A beautiful place with sky-scrapers spread all-around. We were privileged to stay in a 5-star hotel for a day.

Kyushu is a large island in which we hopped at in a place called Kokura.

12. Miyajima Island - 2010/1/14:
Originally, "Itsukushima" is an island between the Southern end of Japan’s main island Honshu and Shikoku. It has a famous TORII erected deep into the grounds of the pacific sea. The speciality of this place is one can witness low-tides during the day-time and could find it possible to reach to the TORII. As and when dusk falls, high-tides start coming up and after a while, it'd become impossible to reach to that TORII. It'd be completely encircled with water.

That night, we wore a Japanese outfit and had a Japanese-style dinner.

13. Hiroshima - 2010/1/15:
Famous for THE SECOND WORLD WAR ATOMIC BOMBING, this place undoubtedly, was awesome and requires no big explanation.

It does happen in Japan - 3

2010-01-16T16:54:00.000-08:00

DARSHANS so far made.... - 1

I, for one, am not so global, a person to keep in mind festivals of all kinds happening across the world. Now, since I am in Japan and infact among a different cultured people out here, I, like every ordinary homo-sapien, had a natural tendency of forgetting festivals happening right back in India. Here is where Social Networking sites come in handy. It was until, I signed into Orkut, FB, Twitter, Gtalk etcetera, I had the least clues that one of my favourite festivals “PONGAL” (has got a different name in different states. But it is cutely summoned as ‘Pongal’ in TN.) is ON in full blast out there in India. As most of my pals thoroughly know, Pongal happens to be one of my favourite dishes and I generally reach CLOUD INFINITY while consuming it. Formalities first : Wish you all a very happy PONGAL.(belated though)
But this was not the motive of keying in this post. This post is more of a record that would serve me in future than of giving a good read for people who pass-by. Let me kick-off straight. It’s been more than a month since I stepped into Japan and have travelled and toured a lot in this 40 odd day span. Let me NOT cover all places visited till now in a single post itself. But, it is all going to be in the order of Chronology.

1.Osaka Disaster Prevention Center – 2009/12/09:
The reason why this was the first place of visit was, this place gave precautionary forewarnings that we might encounter during our stay in Japan. Here, we had a practical (simulated) feel of typhoons, fire accidents and earthquakes which are quite common here in Japan. Looked a decent, useful start, threatening though.

2.Osaka International House – 2009/12/10:
I had the least clues as to why this visit became our agenda the other day, but all I can say is this place acted as a helpdesk for foreigners who are in Japan for the first time.

3.Kaiyukan Aquarium, The Ferry Ride and The Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel – 2009/12/13:
The first place planned and toured on our own with little Japanese know-how. The travel, I would say, was more of fun than the Aquarium itself. Not so adapted to the cold winds, we referred maps, purchased tickets on our own, changed LINES (in trains) on our own and reached the destination. All this looked magnanimous at the start (it looks so simple right now and Japanese has also improved by leaps). KAIYUKAN AQUARIUM is the world’s second largest aquarium in the world built under the pacific seas where in you get to see every sea creature that is possible on seas. It looked a well-planned place giving safety a priority.

The Giant Wheel near the Aquarium was the third-largest in the world, from the top of which, once could see a beautiful view of Osaka city. It was a relaxing 15 minute ride.

The Ferry ride on the pacific seas with Cold-winds blowing on your face is worth a go atleast once in your life-time.

4.Osaka Castle – 2009/12/20:
Called as ‘Osakajo’ (おおさかじょう) in Japan, this place is not the place for Youth. A typical Castle having 8 storeys taking you through the history the Emperor of Osaka in a thoroughly non-entertaining fashion (I felt this, more so for the reason that, it was all mostly in Japanese, than for the reason that it itself was). But, one thing worth mentioning is that this castle had a very good view from outside. It looked a typical historical building.

5.Osaka Musuem of History – 2009/12/20:
This happened to be a far better place to visit. Though not as famous as Osakajo is, this was a huge 10-storey thingy gradually taking you through the History of Osaka.

6.Umeda Sky Building – 2009/12/20:
This turned out to be the best venue for that particular day. This is one of the tallest buildings in the world having about 40 floors. On top of all of it, there is a floating garden (connected two 40-storey buildings) from where the view of O'saka city is plain awesome, given another fact that, it was christmas time. Though the winds were nasty enough to freeze our palms blowing at about 10 m/s at around 4 degrees, we had full fun out there.

7.Kyoto – 2009/12/30:
A typical place of heritage. Lots of temples one looking similar to the other (analogical to Japanese people’s similarity). A very calm city acting more as a tourist city than as a place of residence. FYI, Kyoto was one of the former capital cities of Japan and was one of the targets for the second world-war bombing.

8.Nara – 2009/12/31:
So, this was the place where I spent the last day of 2009. Nara – Mostly ‘Kyoto’ical when it comes to heritage, temples and calmness, this city had a very big Buddha temple. Called the Todaiji temple, this place attracted maximum visitors. FYI, Nara, too, was one of the former capital cities of Japan and was one of the targets for the second world-war bombing.

9.Kobe – 2010/1/1:
This was my hang-out on the first day of this year. As I am keying in this, the first thing that strikes my mind is its nasty cold winds. They were dangerous enough to completely make your palms inactive. Two pairs of gloves one over the other were not enough. But, still, we, the so-called homo sapiens clicked photos and enjoyed the place. Here, we had an opportunity to travel in Rope Car and Cable car. Near here, stands the world’s longest suspension bridge called the ‘Akashi Keikyo’ bridge. To our misfortune, we were unable to enter the bridge for it was closed for the day, though we had a close view of the bridge from a distance.

Let me keep away, some more interesting places that I visited, for now. Check out in the subsequent ones.

It does happen in Japan - 2

2010-01-02T07:22:00.000-08:00

The 11th HOUR trend....

I, sometimes feel that, it is inured in my damn blood to do things at the 11th hour, 59th minute or whatever you define it as. Or, perhaps, it is something like man gets the vim, (RIN, WHEEL, ARIEL ! !), vigor, the energy, the dynamism only when he performs his actions at the 11th hour.

Oops!! HAPPY NEW YEAR, by the way. Have a rocking 2010 ahead. 

Though the 11th hour hastening up of things is prone to a lot of errors, it is said that sometimes these 11th hour doing of things turn out to be the most efficient. It is something analogical to a person who never participates in running race, assuming that he is not that fast and happens to be chased by a barking dog and this guy running his full breath (may be at 24 kmph) to evade its bite, somehow evades it, then sitting relaxed and introspecting himself, his running capabilities, then taking part in the next running competition and winning it…..!!

I have got the least clue as to why did I start keying in this post. And have got the least of ideas as to how the above justification will serve a good analogy. But, yes let me continue. So, right from school days, to college days, to work, even now here in Japan – my evergreen trend of ‘last minute thingy’ continues and survey (performed by my mind itself) says that this trend is said to continue till my last breath.
Our Japanese language and lifestyle training is in for a new-year off for a week. To keep us all engaged and to be in touch with the language, we were handed-over with a bunch of assignments to be completed over this week assuming that if they had given 7X assignments, ‘the honorable WE’ would be completing X assignments a day in a relaxed fashion reaching the target on the 7th day. But, this is a Japanese way of looking at things. (Very mathematical isn’t it. I, for one, am not a lobbyist for mathematics, but somehow feel that mathematical justifications are easier to comprehend the magnitude). I am not Japanese by blood. 5 days up. 2 more to go. 0X assignments completed.  And tomorrow our Dining is in for a weekly off (which happens on every Sunday), which means HIBERNATION. We hibernate the whole day by sleeping. That’s life.  So, it all boils down to the last-day. Yay! Yay! Trend is still ever-green.

There is a pretty relaxed rule here in AOTS, KKC, O’saka that we must return back to the center before 12 in the night max. after which the gates would be closed (STRICT. Mind you. This is JAPAN). Looked like this is far relaxed and would never happen. It was a Monday (2009/12/28) evening. New-year off’s 0th day (which means FULL VIGOR). We made a last-minute decision to go on to a place called NAMBA (about 40 minutes, from KKC) to watch AVATAR 3D. Details given by my friend: 1. TOHO Cinemas. 2. 8:30 PM show. 3. English (with Japanese sub-titles). 4. 3D. 5. Ticket fare : Not sure. 6. Duration: 1.5 hours. I had already read the review in IMDB and in lot other sources. But, I had not seen the duration of the movie. We started after dinner. Reached. Ticket fare was 1500 YEN. The 8:30 PM show started at 9 PM. (Totally a Non-Japanese way. No WHY clues!!). Movie kicked-off. We were all so engrossed into it. The movie had a great ending (James Cameron has rocked again). All our eyes went on to our respective watches on our hands to see the ‘half-past 10 sign’ on it. Oops!! Its half-past 11. “Why the hell is my watch showing the current time in New South Wales?” I enquired my friend. He confirmed that it really is 11:30 PM here in O’saka and the film was a 150 minute thingy and not a 90 minute one. We had about 28 odd minutes to reach the so-called 40 minute-long KKC or sleep in 2 deg. C outside KKC premises till 6 AM the next day. “Come on man, you are highly revered among people here. Every move of yours is being watched by the company. Reaching late would fetch you lot of embarrassing instances. Come on man…. Run.” I was pondering myself. I, for one, for the past 25 days, had followed all traffic signals so religiously. Today was an exception. Jumping most of the red-lights, shouldering a lot of by-standers and running without uttering a SUMIMASEN (Sorry, in Japanese), boarding a sub-way train whose doors almost closed, we managed to reach KKC at 11:59:30 PM. Hurray!
I was expecting some strict faces from receptionists for barging in like this. But it was like “Eiga wa Do’ deshita ka? Totemo omoshirokatta desu ne. (How was the movie? It was very interesting right? )” We nodded with fast breaths and proceeded to our rooms. Life is like that. 

It does happen in Japan - 1

2009-12-25T05:23:00.000-08:00

Kansai Kenshu' Center - AOTS O'saka....

On our way to the Kansai Kenshu’ Center [KKC, O’SAKA, which, as I previously mentioned, was slotted for our stay, dining & Japanese language & lifestyle training for the first 45 days] from Kansai International Airport, O’saka, I was more curious in reading the people and admiring the country than in concentrating on the route to the destination. We took some two electric trains to our destination (totally clueless as to what were all the places that were en-route, how much the ticket costed) blindly following our Suzuki Colleague. The name of the places were either written in Japanese or even in-case if they are in English, the train would rush past before you could actually congregate the letters and read the name of the place. So, I decided not to strain myself.

The route to the destination was so beautiful to sight-see. Every house that crossed us en-route had a car standing glossy on its gates. Big-houses & bungalows had two or more. My eyes felt so odd to see the roads so clean & straight, cars so glossy, no cows or donkeys en-route, no frequent blowing of horns, religious adherence to traffic signals, no chit-chats with each other inside the train, almost nil dark faces (except us, of-course), beautiful girls all around (of-course similar looking), similar-looking men, less cars with Suzuki badge & of course rear-wipers in all vehicles.

Religious adherence to traffic signal needs a special mention. The following instance was quite rampant here. I am in the 8th floor of my building, watching this. The road is a narrow road where not many vehicles would you be able to see at any point of time. There is a pedestrian crossing across this road. There comes a car speeding along this narrow road at around 80 miles an hour. The pedestrian crossing signal goes green (which means, it is a red-signal for the car). No one crossed the road. There are no other cars that went across or on the other side of this road. This is the only car (or traffic, on a larger scale) to have got involved into this whole incidence. But, this car, to all our surprise, stopped and waited for about a minute for the green signal to turn on, so religiously. Huh! Awesome!

On getting down from the second electric train (in a station called Sugimotocho), we had to a take a 15-minute walk to KKC. AOTS, Kansai Kenshu’ Centre (O’saka) is located in a not so busy place called Abiko (here in O’saka). It is a glossy nine-storey building (Average building height in Japan ;)) having a very beautiful entrance. The automatic sensor gates opened to welcome us all in. Beautiful receptionists in smart attire, who were expecting our arrival anytime, greeted us with their smiles. The reception area was extremely clean and organised. We were made to do some formalities and were informed about the rules of the Centre and were handed-over the room keys.

Presently, I am in the 8th floor of the building in Room No. 826. It is a beautiful private room, not so big, but is convenient enough for a single person. A TV (where you have only Japanese Channels), a table, a rotating chair, a phone, a reading lamp, a bed lamp, a mirror, few electric sockets, a neat wash-room, a fluffy bed, a water-jug, hell lot of shelves, dust-bins, Air-conditioner, LAN socket, LAN cable, a small balcony etc making it all convenient to reside.

The food is served on the first-floor of the building (Ground-floor equivalent in India). You get dishes getting catered of all varieties here. Veg, Non-veg, Egg, Fruits, Tea, Coffee, Juices & what-not. Food is served thrice a day. Like, I noticed in quite a few places, this building too, has got quite a lot of vending machines (Lay-man technology in Japan) having various options from Cold juices to hot coffee to cater your any-time needs. All facilities right from laundry to calling card buying machines to Internet-room are available. KKC has got a big gymnasium/court where you can play any game of your choice, from Basket-ball to Shuttle to Table-tennis to Volley-ball. There is an awesome dedicated party-room with rocking acoustics, karaoke and thudding speakers all-around the room, which could be used on reservation basis.

People from various countries (mostly Asian), who have come to Japan for various training reasons, have been put-up here for the Japanese language & life-style training till End-January 2010. Japanese classes & life-style training are ON is full swing and are all interesting. The way we are being taught Japanese in an organised manner is all admirable. The humorous way in which our tutor handles the class is also interesting. The funny part is, it feels like I am back to school. We have home-works and tests daily and our performance in the Japanese language is being keenly monitored. On some days, we would have lectures on Japanese life-style where in some Japanese expert would be delivering his know-how in Japanese and an English interpreter will be having tough-times in interpreting that to us.
It has all been going smooth till now. More analysis on Japan, its exploration & its people in the subsequent ones. ;)

It does happen in Japan - 0

2009-12-14T04:47:00.000-08:00

....Japan Beckons....

Though the excitement level was quite high, it did not fill to the brim of the basin. With a pinch of dissatisfaction, I started the check-in formalities at IGI Delhi(abbreviated form of Indra Gandhi International, Airport) on 2009/12/07 (Japanese style of writing dates...), reasons being, one was, I was leaving INDIA, my motherland (cough!! cough!! :P ;) and the other being, I'd carried considerably excess baggage 'n' so was a bit apprehensive about getting caught at the check-in counter... (infact a lot apprehensive !!). The weight limit per person was 50 kg. (Thanks to MARUTI SUZUKI for increasing the weight limit by 15 kg by striking a deal with Thai Airways. On producing the ID card, the cost for 15 extra kgs is waived). I had close to 60 kg and had the least clue as to which thing inside the baggage should I throw out, in case, I am ordered to do so. The excess baggage cost is a mind-boggling Rs 1360/- per kg. I was not in my senses at all and was the least excited (and the most apprehensive) among our group (given the very fact that everyone had carried within safe limit. Courtesy – my poor planning). The check-in started at 10 am IST on 2009/12/07. We were 8 of us. So, we (infact “I”) decided to go for a group check-in. (which meant that the baggage weight must not exceed 50X8 = 400 kg putting all ours together). To all our elation, it did shoot up by a few kgs. But the decent educated looks on our faces (my hair was not combed though :P) made the girl in the counter overlook the excess baggage weight (FYIP, she looked beautiful ! ! !). She handed over the boarding passes and the passports to us with a smiling face. Huh! I became 75% lighter both physically & mentally, more so because of not getting caught than because that she smiled at me. We received our boarding passes for both the flights. DELHI-BANGKOK & BANGKOK-OSAKA.
Immigration formalities were over. Visas were stamped at another counter. Final frisking was done. Did not have even a glass of water right from the morning. So, my stomach badly needed some food. CCD (Cafe Coffee Day) came of a good help serving me with a veg-pattys on my request while one of THAI AIRWAYS’ sweet voices announced its departure to Bangkok from Gate 10.

The aero-bridge took us all out of Indian-Glossy airport floors into the Air-craft once for all for the next 365 days. ;) Not so good looking air-attendants welcomed us in with their fake smiles (for which they are being paid in lacs). ;) A confused mob roamed inside the air-craft to get settled onto their seats after stuffing their so-called "7 kg" (but 15 min. kg) baggage onto the shelf on the top. I had no place to stuff in mine. So, I was allowed to keep my baggage on the business class shelf. (Bonhomie right at the start...) Finally, we were settled. The doors of the air-craft were closed. The TV in-front informed us about the 4 hour flight time and the route that it would take to reach Bangkok. (It was to fly over Varanasi, Kolkata, Yangoon & reach Bangkok) It was 12 noon IST (1:30 pm Bangkok local time). The turbines were on, the announcements were multi-lingual, to cater to all nationalities. Finally, the air-craft reached the run-way after a few metres of taxiing (The final ride on Indian Roads for the next one year ;)). The air-craft picked up speed, took off from INDIAN sands (or roads whatever) bidding a good-bye to INDIA (on 2009/12/07 12:05 PM IST). "Bubyeee INDIA"....!!

The seat-belt sign was off once the flight steadied itself into the air. Catering kicked-off and went on for the next one-hour. We were served with Juices, tea, coffee, veg-food, non-veg food etc.... I had something and settled myself to miss INDIA for an hour stretching the push-back and hearing to ear-phones. About 90-odd minutes passed when an announcement shook me up from my deep-sleep. We were just half an hour from Bangkok and our descent had started. At 3:55 pm IST (5:25 pm Bangkok Local time) we landed on the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok. Again, the aero-drome took us to the glossy-floors of Bangkok Int'l Airport. Huh! Cloud Nine ! ! Finally, I stepped into a different county for the first time in my life. :) To my awe, the air-port was so huge and very very lengthy that we had a fear of getting lost inside, despite the availability of lot of help-desks across the air-port. It was an awesome place more so for the reason that this being my first non-indo place than for the reason that it itself was. It had some 4 floors. Hell lots of shops, hundreds of flights arriving and departing, frequent announcements, this airport mainly serving as TRANSIT for passengers travelling east and west of the globe. We became excited and started clicking random photographs at the air-port. We had some 6 hours left for our next flight. So, we decided to roam around Bangkok city and enquired about it at the Help-desk. But they denied saying that it would be peak-hours in the city and the return would become tough in the night. So, we decided to roam 'n' explore Bangkok Airport. One could find people from almost all nations here. So, variegated and assorted was the crowd. We were not able to fully explore the airport. It was so damn lengthy on all sides, that the Airports Authority have installed hundreds of travelators (not escalators, please note the picture below. This is used for easing the travel on the same plane without walking) inside the airport.

We roamed and roamed the airport till our legs badly wanted rest and our stomach - food. We decided to barge in a restaurant to have some food. Noodles was the only veg-item that was available in the menu (other than breads). So, I ordered one and then had one coffee. The currency here in Thailand is Baht. We did not have any. To our fortune, they accepted Indian Rupees. So, I paid the bill in INR itself (For your GK  100 INR = 45 Baht).

At 11:30 PM, 2009/12/07 Bangkok local-time, we checked in and boarded the next flight bound for Osaka. This flight had less passengers, better facilites, ‘better’ people to serve us too (you know, what I meant) ;) The flight took off to Osaka at 11:50 pm from Bangkok. Once the plane steadied itself, we were served with Juices and breads, as usual. After having it, I flipped thro' some movies on the TV in-front and then finally decided to sleep for a while. When I made myself comfortable and started to take a doze, lights were on, music too was on and “Ohayo Gozaimasu” gestures kicked off. Breakfast was served. For your information, the time was 2 am IST (which is 5:30 am O'saka time). That was totally a strange timing to have breakfast while the whole INDIA was sleeping deep. But, still I had it. (I never say NO to foods).

Finally, at 6:45 am O'saka local time at 9 deg. C, our flight landed onto the Kansai International Airport, Osaka. "Welcome to Japan, dude. Finally, you are there" - I told to myself and proceeded unknowingly with the mob. I had a really crazy feeling that our flight would crash land onto the Pacific Ocean, for the reason that, it had almost touched the ground, but still, I was able to see only water around. I almost, started to search for my Safety-Jacket with a slight regret of not listening to the initial safety instructions. But, we landed safe. The airport was an island in itself. The view of the seas from the airport was mind-boggling. “Huh! I am in a foreign country” – I confirmed. An over-head tram took us from the arrival zone to the baggage claim zone, where we completed our immigration check and finally claimed the baggage. Was elated to see all three baggages arrive O'saka safe.

We had to wait for one of our colleagues from SUZUKI, Japan to arrive and pick us up to our destination. In the mean-time, we clicked some random photographs and started reading (infact admiring) the people of Japan & Japan itself. "5S" (The cleanliness mantra) - Japan has to be the real example. Extremely clean country. No pollution at all. Not a speck of dust could I witness. Right from the time, we got down from the air-craft, we were receiving over-dosages of “Ohayo Gozaimsu” & “Konnichiwa” (meaning ‘A very good morning’) with friendly smiles from even strangers (Girls included. Beautiful ones too. Oops! Everyone looked beautiful, infact. But, one thing I noted here was, every girl looked alike. Straightened hair, eyes open 10 deg., unusually fair, chubby, cute, very-short skirts, long stockings, high heeled shoes. Japanese husbands, probably, would be having tough times at Market places during weekends in finding out their wives in-case they get lost. Same could be the case for Japanese wives too, because Men, too did not have much differences with each other in terms of features. Everyone had a long-hair standing thorn-sharp on their heads, eyes open 5 deg., decent-looking trousers, well-polished shoes). Coming back to the gesture over-dosage, “Konnichiwa” & “Ohayo Gozaimsau”. I liked it. This bonhomie is another speciality in Japan. People here are genuinely friendly and helpful. Here, they never treat us like strangers. Of course, they stared at us for quite a while because we looked different. But, when it comes to helping, they lent us with great pleasure. One doesn’t feel the isolation here.

Alas at 10:30 am Local time, Nakamura San (Suzuki colleague, who happened to be a female, for our misconception) [“San” – Commonest of Words used in Japan. This is a respect word which generally follows the name of the person. It substitutes Sirs/Madams. So, this gives one the authority of using Names for calling even a highly revered gentleman but for a San to follow without fail] arrived and informed us that it would take about an hour to reach the destination and electric train is going to be the means. We stepped out from the airport into the winds of Japan that blew cold at 10 deg. C at 10:45 am local time on 2009/12/08 and started our way-on to the Kansai Kenshu-Center [KKC, Osaka] (which was slotted for our stay, dining & Japanese language & lifestyle training for the first 45 days.)

The analysis of Japan en-route the KKC and more on the Life-style & people of Japan & interesting happenings in the subsequent ones....:)

The Fallen Tomato Cart

2009-10-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

This item appeared in TOI some years back – Good read.

SUBROTO BAGCHI (Subroto Bagchi is the co-founder & CEO of Mind-Tree)

I pass through this very intersection every morning with so much ease. Today, the pace is skewed. There is a sense of disarray as motorists try to push past each other through the traffic light. The light here always tests their agility because if you miss the green, you have to wait for another three minutes before it lets you go past again. Those three minutes become eternity for an otherwise time-insensitive nation on the move. Today, there is a sense of chaos here. People are honking, skirting each other and rushing past. I look out of my window to seek the reason. It is not difficult to find because it is lying strewn all over the place.
A tomato seller's cart has overturned. There are tomatoes everywhere and the rushing motorists are making pulp of it. The man is trying to get his cart back on its four rickety wheels and a few passersby are picking up what they can in an attempt to save him total loss. Though symbolic in the larger scheme of things, it is not a substantive gesture. His business for the day is over.
The way this man's economics works is very simple. There is a money lender who lends him money for just one day, at an interest rate of Rs 10 per day per Rs 100 lent. With the money, he wakes up at 4 am to go to the wholesale market for vegetables. He returns, pushing his cart a good five miles, and by 7 am when the locality wakes up, he is ready to sell his day's merchandise. By the end of the morning, some of it remains unsold. This his wife sells by the afternoon and takes home the remainder, which becomes part of his meal. With the day's proceeds, he returns the interest to the money lender and goes back to the routine the next day.
If he does not sell for a day, his chain breaks. Where does he go from here? He goes back to the money lender, raises capital at an even more penal interest and gets back on his feet. This is not the only time that destiny has upset his tomato cart. This happens to him at least six times every year. Once he returned with a loaded cart of ripe tomatoes and it rained heavily for the next three days. No one came to the market and his stock rotted in front of his own eyes. Another time, instead of the weather, it was a political rally that snowballed into a confrontation between two rival groups and the locality closed down. And he is not alone in this game of extraneous factors that seize not only his business but also his life. He sees this happen to the "gol-gappa" seller, the peanut seller and the "vada pao" seller all the time. When their product does not sell, it just turns soggy. Sometimes they eat some of it. But how much of that stuff can you eat by yourself? So, they just give away some and there is always that one time when they have to simply throw it away.
Away from the street-vendor selling perishable commodity with little or no life support system, the corporate world is an altogether different place. Here we have some of the most educated people in the country. We don the best garbs. We do not have to push carts; our carts push us. We have our salary, perquisites, bonuses, stock options, gratuities, pensions and our medical insurance and the group accident benefit schemes. Yet, all the while, we worry about our risks and think about our professional insecurity. We wonder, what would happen if the company shifted offices to another city? What would happen if the department closed down? What would happen if you were to take maternity leave and the temporary substitute delivered better work than you did? What would happen if the product line you are dealing with simply failed? In any of those eventualities, the worst that could happen would still be a lot less than having to see your cartful of tomatoes getting pulped under the screeching wheels of absolute strangers who have nothing personal against you.
All too often we exaggerate our risks. We keep justifying our professional concerns till they trap us in their vicious downward spiral. Devoid of education, sophisticated reasoning and any financial safety net, the man with the cart is often able to deal with life much better than many of us. Is it time to look out of the window, into the eyes of that man to ask him, where does he get it from? In his simple stoicism, is probably, our lost resilience.

10 Most Xpensive Cars.

2009-08-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

Auto LOVERZZZ!! This might interest you.!!

(In order: Rolls-Royce Phantom, Porsche Carrera GT, Pagani Zonda, Merc SLR McLaren, Maybach 62, Lamborghini Mercielago, Koenigsegg CCX, Enzo Ferrari, Bugatti Veyron, Aston Martin Vanquish)
(Not necessarily in the order of their price)

Naraya Murthy's inspirational sermon ! !

2009-06-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

Recently, I came across an interesting speech by Mr.Narayana Murthy. It was on LEARNING FROM THE WEST.

Here, it goes...

"LEARNING FROM THE WEST
Speech by Mr. N R Narayana Murthy at Lal Bahadhur Sastry Institute of Management
Ladies & Gentlemen:
It is a pleasure to be here at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management. Lal Bahadur Shastri was a man of strong values and he epitomized simple living. He was a freedom fighter and innovative administrator who contributed to nation building in full measure. It is indeed a matter of pride for me to be chosen for the Lal Bahadur Shastri Award for Public Administration and Management Sciences. I thank the jury for this honor.
When I got the invitation to speak here, I decided to speak on an important topic on which I have pondered for years - the role of Western values in contemporary Indian society. Coming from a company that is built on strong values, the topic is close to my heart. Moreover, an organization is representative of society, and some of the lessons that I have learnt are applicable in the national context. In fact, values drive progress and define quality of life in society.
The word community joins two Latin words com ("together" or "with") and unus ("one"). A community, then, is both one and many. It is a unified multitude and not a mere group of people. As it is said in the Vedas: Man can live individually, but can survive only collectively. Hence, the challenge is to form a progressive community by balancing the interests of the individual and that of the society. To meet this, we need to develop a value system where people accept modest sacrifices for the common good.
What is a value system? It is the protocol for behavior that enhances the trust, confidence and commitment of
members of the community. It goes beyond the domain of legality - it is about decent and desirable behavior. Further, it includes putting the community interests ahead of your own. Thus, our collective survival and progress is predicated on sound values.
There are two pillars of the cultural value system - loyalty to family and loyalty to community. One should not be in isolation to the other, because, successful societies are those which combine both harmoniously. It is in this context that I will discuss the role of Western values in contemporary Indian society.
Some of you here might say that most of what I am going to discuss are actually Indian values in old ages, and not Western values. I live in the present, not in the bygone era. Therefore, I have seen these values practiced primarily in the West and not in India. Hence, the title of the topic.
I am happy as long as we practice these values - whether we call it Western or old Indian values. As an Indian, I am proud to be part of a culture, which has deep-rooted family values. We have tremendous loyalty to the family. For instance, parents make enormous sacrifices for their children. They support them until they can stand on their own feet. On the other side, children consider it their duty to take care of aged parents.
We believe: Mathru devo bhava - mother is God, and pithru devo bhava - father is God. Further, brothers and sisters sacrifice for each other. In fact, the eldest brother or sister is respected by all the other siblings. As for marriage, it is held to be a sacred union - husband and wife are bonded, most often, for life. In joint families, the entire family works towards the welfare of the family. There is so much love and affection in our family life.
This is the essence of Indian values and one of our key strengths. Our families act as a critical support
mechanism for us. In fact, the credit to the success of Infosys goes, as much to the founders as to their families, for supporting them through the tough times. Unfortunately, our attitude towards family life is not reflected in our attitude towards community behavior. From littering the streets to corruption to breaking of contractual obligations, we are apathetic to the common good. In the West - the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand - individuals understand that they have to be responsible towards their community.
The primary difference between the West and us is that, there, people have a much better societal orientation. They care more for the society than we do. Further, they generally sacrifice more for the society than us. Quality of life is enhanced because of this. This is where we need to learn from the West.
I will talk about some of the lessons that we, Indians, can learn from the West.
In the West, there is respect for the public good. For instance, parks free of litter, clean streets, public toilets free of graffiti - all these are instances of care for the public good. On the contrary, in India, we keep our houses clean and water our gardens everyday - but, when we go to a park, we do not think twice before littering the place.
Corruption, as we see in India, is another example of putting the interest of oneself, and at best that of one's family, above that of the society. Society is relatively corruption free in the West. For instance, it is very difficult to bribe a police officer into avoiding a speeding ticket.
This is because of the individual's responsible behavior towards the community as a whole On the contrary, in India, corruption, tax evasion, cheating and bribery have eaten into our vitals. For instance, contractors bribe officials, and construct low-quality roads and bridges.
The result is that society loses in the form of substandard defence equipment and infrastructure, and low-quality recruitment, just to name a few impediments. Unfortunately, this behavior is condoned by almost everyone.
Apathy in solving community matters has held us back from making progress, which is otherwise within our reach. We see serious problems around us but do not try to solve them. We behave as if the problems do not exist or is somebody else's. On the other hand, in the West, people solve societal problems proactively. There are several examples of our apathetic attitude. For instance, all of us are aware of the problem of drought in India.
More than 40 years ago, Dr. K. L. Rao - an irrigation expert, suggested creation of a water grid connecting all the rivers in North and South India, to solve this problem. Unfortunately, nothing has been done about this. The story of power shortage in Bangalore is another instance. In 1983, it was decided to build a thermal power plant to meet Bangalore's power requirements. Unfortunately, we have still not started it. Further, the Milan subway in Bombay is in a deplorable state for the last 40 years, and no action has been taken.
To quote another example, considering the constant travel required in the software industry; five years ago, I had suggested a 240-page passport. This would eliminate frequent visits to the passport office. In fact, we are ready to pay for it. However, I am yet to hear from the Ministry of External Affairs on this.
We, Indians, would do well to remember Thomas Hunter's words: Idleness travels very slowly, and poverty soon overtakes it. What could be the reason for all this? We were ruled by foreigners for over thousand years. Thus, we have always believed that public issues belonged to some foreign ruler and that we have no role in solving them.
Moreover, we have lost the will to proactively solve our own problems. Thus, we have got used to just executing someone else's orders. Borrowing Aristotle's words: We are what we repeatedly do. Thus, having done this over the years, the decision-makers in our society are not trained for solving problems. Our decision-makers look to somebody else to take decisions. Unfortunately, there is nobody to look up to, and this is the tragedy.
Our intellectual arrogance has also not helped our society. I have traveled extensively, and in my experience, have not come across another society where people are as contemptuous of better societies as we are, with as little progress as we have achieved. Remember that arrogance breeds hypocrisy. No other society gloats so much about the past as we do, with as little current accomplishment.
Friends, this is not a new phenomenon, but at least a thousand years old. For instance, Al Barouni, the famous Arabic logician and traveler of the 10th century, who spent about 30 years in India from 997 AD to around 1027 AD, referred to this trait of Indians. According to him, during his visit, most Indian pundits considered it below their dignity even to hold arguments with him. In fact, on a few occasions when a pundit was willing to listen to hm, and found his arguments to be very sound, he invariably asked Barouni: which Indian pundit taught these smart things!
The most important attribute of a progressive society is respect for others who have accomplished more than they themselves have, and learn from them. Contrary to this, our leaders make us believe that other societies do not know anything! At the same time, everyday, in the newspapers, you will find numerous claims from our leaders that ours is the greatest nation. These people would do well to remember Thomas Carlyle's words: The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none.
If we have to progress, we have to change this attitude, listen to people who have performed better than us, learn from them and perform better than them. Infosys is a good example of such an attitude. We continue to rationalize our failures. No other society has mastered this part as well as we have. Obviously, this is an excuse to justify our incompetence, corruption, and apathy. This attitude has to change. As Sir Josiah Stamp has said: It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.
Another interesting attribute, which we Indians can learn from the West, is their accountability. Irrespective of your position, in the West, you are held accountable for what you do. However, in India, the more 'important' you are, the less answerable you are. For instance, a senior politician once declared that he 'forgot' to file his tax returns for 10 consecutive years - and he got away with it. To quote another instance, there are over 100 loss making public sector units (central) in India. Nevertheless, I have not seen action taken for bad performance against top managers in these organizations.
Dignity of labor is an integral part of the Western value system. In the West, each person is proud about his or her labor that raises honest sweat. On the other hand, in India, we tend to overlook the significance of those who are not in professional jobs. We have a mind set that reveres only supposedly intellectual work.
For instance, I have seen many engineers, fresh from college, who only want to do cutting-edge work and not work that is of relevance to business and the country. However, be it an organization or society, there are different people performing different roles. For success, all these people are required to discharge their duties. This includes everyone from the CEO to the person who serves tea - every role is important. Hence, we need a mind set that reveres everyone who puts in honest work.
Indians become intimate even without being friendly. They ask favors of strangers without any hesitation. For instance, the other day, while I was traveling from Bangalore to Mantralaya, I met a fellow traveler on the train. Hardly 5 minutes into the conversation, he requested me to speak to his MD about removing him from the bottom 10% list in his company, earmarked for disciplinary action. I was reminded of what Rudyard Kipling once said: A westerner can be friendly without being intimate while an easterner tends to be intimate without being friendly.
Yet another lesson to be learnt from the West, is about their professionalism in dealings. The common good being more important than personal equations, people do not let personal relations interfere with their professional dealings. For instance, they don't hesitate to chastise a colleague, even if he is a personal friend, for incompetent work.
In India, I have seen that we tend to view even work interactions from a personal perspective. Further, we are the most 'thin-skinned' society in the world - we see insults where none is meant. This may be because we were not free for most of the last thousand years. Further, we seem to extend this lack of professionalism to our sense of punctuality. We do not seem to respect the other person's time.
The Indian Standard Time somehow seems to be always running late. Moreover, deadlines are typically not met. How many public projects are completed on time? The disheartening aspect is that we have accepted this as the norm rather than the exception. In the West, they show professionalism by embracing meritocracy. Meritocracy by definition means that we cannot let personal prejudices affect our evaluation of an individual's performance. As we increasingly start to benchmark ourselves with global standards, we have to embrace meritocracy.
In the West, right from a very young age, parents teach their children to be independent in thinking. Thus, they grow up to be strong, confident individuals. In India, we still suffer from feudal thinking. I have seen people, who are otherwise bright, refusing to show independence and preferring to be told what to do by their boss. We need to overcome this attitude if we have to succeed globally.
The Western value system teaches respect to contractual obligation. In the West, contractual obligations are seldom dishonored. This is important - enforceability of legal rights and contracts is the most important factor in the enhancement of credibility of our people and nation.
In India, we consider our marriage vows as sacred. We are willing to sacrifice in order to respect our marriage vows. However, we do not extend this to the public domain. For instance, India had an unfavorable contract with Enron. Instead of punishing the people responsible for negotiating this, we reneged on the contract - this was much before we came to know about the illegal activities at Enron.
To quote another instance, I had given recommendations to several students for the national scholarship for higher studies in US universities. Most of them did not return to India even though contractually they were obliged to spend five years after their degree in India.
In fact, according to a professor at a reputed US university, the maximum default rate for student loans is among Indians - all of these students pass out in flying colors and land lucrative jobs, yet they refuse to pay back their loans. Thus, their action has made it difficult for the students after them, from India, to obtain loans. We have to change this attitude.
Further, we Indians do not display intellectual honesty. For example, our political leaders use mobile phones to tell journalists on the other side that they do not believe in technology! If we want our youngsters to progress,
such hypocrisy must be stopped. We are all aware of our rights as citizens. Nevertheless, we often fail to acknowledge the duty that accompanies every right. To borrow Dwight Eisenhower's words: People that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. Our duty is towards the community as a whole, as much as it is towards our families.
We have to remember that fundamental social problems grow out of a lack of commitment to the common good. To quote Henry Beecher: Culture is that which helps us to work for the betterment of all. Hence, friends, I do believe that we can make our society even better by assimilating these Western values into our own culture - we will be stronger for it.
Most of our behavior comes from greed, lack of self-confidence, lack of confidence in the nation, and lack of respect for the society. To borrow Gandhi's words: There is enough in this world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed. Let us work towards a society where we would do unto others what we would have others do unto us. Let us all be responsible citizens who make our country a great place to live. In the words of Churchill: Responsibility is the price of greatness. We have to extend our family values beyond the boundaries of our home.
Finally, let us work towards maximum welfare of the maximum people - Samasta janaanaam sukhino bhavantu. Thus, let us - people of this generation, conduct ourselves as great citizens rather than just good people so that we can serve as good examples for our younger generation."

The GUY, inimitable....

2009-04-15T01:54:00.000-07:00

As I sit to type this, with JAI HO, running in the background, I could feel the goose-flesh arising on my hands.

"Chinna Chinna Aasai, Siragadikkum Aasai.
Muthu muthu Aasai, mudindhuvitta aasai"

It all started here. Yes! The film ROJA's music, stole every Indian's heart. Yes! This is guy is no nonentity. Gave a new definition for MUSIC in his first film itself. For A.R.Rahman, the fervid fan of Illaiyaraja, music has been everything in his life.

From Roja to Slumdog millionaire, his journey has never been a cakewalk. His every composition had a different savour and flavour and I, like million other Indians, loved every bit of his music.

Hats off to this genius for having won two coveted OSCARS for his music in Slumdog Millionaire. But, frankly, Rahman deserved an OSCAR in his first film itself. For this 40+ gentleman, by age, but teenager, by looks, these OSCARS are just another of the umpteen awards that he has won. His passion and LOVE (which he chose over HATE) for Music will never abate in days to come and these OSCARS would, infact, enhance his profusely over-flowing enthusiasm. With music in his heart, this guy would get younger and younger year by year.

JAI HO Rahman!! We are all proud of you. Hats off!!

Opinion that differed....

2009-02-18T09:39:00.000-08:00

"A very good movie" was my comment on SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, as I stepped out after watching it. A.R.Rahman, being my favourite, I could not resist giving the music and the background score, a 5 on 5. The background score was just too irresistably good. It's no big a surprise, this has been nominated for oscars. Good to hear that it has received 10 OSCAR nominations.

But,
Here is the other way of looking at this film.

The other side of the coin

On reading this, I had no words to comment.

An excerpt...

2009-01-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

"Trusting yourself is trusting the wisdom that created you"

- Dyer

2009 - Ready, Steady, Get Set, Go....

2009-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well,

As we finally step into the first dawn of this new-year 2009, we carry lots of desires with us, which we expect to get fulfilled as soon as possible, without even delving deep into its feasibility study. We expect a very high conversion rate.

I don’t mean to demean people having very high hopes and dreams in life. Infact, Dr. Abdul Kalam has requested the youth to DREAM, DREAM, DREAM. Basic physics says that, there’s some term called “work” which is involved in-between for an input to turn into an output, which quite a lot of people (like I) shirk, but expect quick and successful outcome.

Anyways, Like everyone, let me also complete my formal greetings first.

“Wish you all a very happy new year. May all your efforts bear fruit.”

As I started to type down this NEW YEAR POST, I had no ideas of penning the first few lines that I’ve typed right now. But as I started typing, I couldn’t resist doing it.

Well,
2008 – An year which had lots of bumps on its roads. An year which brought mixed emotions among people. There could have been lot of good times, (like Indian Space Research Organisation had quite a lot of successes in 2008), gay and gala aura in lot of places, but there was one word, that kept us all haunting right from the start of the year till its end, and will still follow its trail into the new year – TERRORISM.Frequent bomb-blasts that rocked India, developing friction between India-Pakistan, Israel-Palestine Conflict, and lots of intra-nation conflicts and problems in various countries etc will all persist, unless some proper peace plan is accomplished. One more word that rose its head out towards the fag end of this year, which added fuel to the burning terror fright fire - RECESSION.

Let’s expect something different this new-year, from last year. Let’s hope for the things to get back into the track this year.

2009 - Ready, Steady, Get Set Go!!

Looking back at the original people's car...

2008-12-25T09:47:00.000-08:00

If there is one moment when India changed, when it decisively moved from one set of aspirations and mindset to another, it is when it first saw the Maruti 800. For it was virtually the first product available in India that one lusted for. I remember being transfixed when I saw my first Maruti (it wasn’t even the car, it was the van); I had never seen anything shinier,anything more radiant with bliss.Twenty-five years on, that seems difficult to believe so completely have our eyes been jaded by all the cars that clog up our roads now. But to a generation that grew up watching other people drive their Ambassadors or Fiats (Standard Herald for the less lucky ones), the dinky little bit of plastic, all shiny and red was an invitation to a new kind of paradise.

The Ambassador was the reigning deity till then. Its lines were inspired by a matron’s commodious petticoats and its interiors had the well-worn comfortable shabbiness of the Indian drawing room. It drove one with the laconic recalcitrance of the father, while offering you the familiar comfort of a mother’s lap. You sprawled inside the car when not carrying your entire brood of third cousins and their family friends to the railway station to receive or to see someone off. The car was large, solid and rounded. Nothing about its design acknowledged that it was an object designed to move.

The Ambassador squatted on the ground, embracing its own centre of gravity. It was a car that clearly believed that it was better to waddle than to race and moved with stolid disregard for one’s surroundings or one’s intent. The Ambassador was status quo on wheels, a car that allowed one to stand still even as one moved and do so with one’s entire way of life intact. It pointed nowhere and took us nowhere, which was where we wanted to be. The Fiat was a modern car in the way that a transistor was modern. It detached itself from the collective, being designed for a nuclear family and it had a shape that actually pointed somewhere. It was a car that moved, albeit with extreme self-awareness about its limitations. Like the educated Indian, mildly successful, and keen not to underline that success too much, this was a car that took a small step forward without taking us anywhere new. If the Ambassador was a pyjama, the Fiat was a pair of creased terrycot trousers worn with a nondescript shirt. The Maruti came as a plastic shock out of the blue. It was all electric compactness, bristling with impudent desire. It looked like it was made as a seamless whole by technology instead of being painstakingly riveted together by a combination of lathes and welding machines, as appeared to be the case with the older cars. If the Ambassador and the Fiat at best deigned to confer broad agreement on our travelling intentions, the Maruti leapt to our commands, converting even transient whims that barely crossed our minds into spittle-spraying feats of fierce manoeuvrability. We squeezed into our little dream machines and rocketed off to newer destinations on the road as well as in the mind.

It freed us from our life script. For most of us, who were born in the middle class only to die there, the car was a border we could not imagine crossing. Only the haves could dream of owning a car. For the rest, a Bajaj Chetak after 8 years of waiting period was the best one could hope for. The Maruti compressed the promise of consumerism in its appearance, performance and price. It flung the doors of aspiration wide open and made us believe for the first time we could escape the middle class, tyres screeching. In a larger sense, it made us experience the power of desire and the exhilaration of being in the driving seats of one’s life. We were able to tear ourselves away from a world which measured performance in terms of the thickness of gauge or in terms of hardiness of form. Mutability, flexibility and speed came to be valued as did the overtness of external appearance. We understood packaging even as we redefined the meaning of performance. Substance was no longer opposed to style, and price no longer extracted for performance.

Seen with today’s eyes, the Maruti 800 is a somewhat basic piece of machinery that seems oddly outdated. But if we have driven as far as we have from it, let us remember it was in the Maruti.

“Copyright © 2008, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved"

- SANTOSH DESAI,
The Times of India

Certain things in life are inevitable....

2008-12-18T05:01:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, IN LIFE,

When you try, as hard as possible, to devote sometime for work over or do something you like/love, FATE wills it the other way.

The above statement could become contraversial sometimes, because, some people might argue that there's nothing called FATE. "It's you who must excise control over yourself". I neither agree, nor disagree to it.

Enough of babbling.

The crux of the whole post was to inform that I got myself disengaged from blogging, due to some physical and mental reasons ;)

Welcome back RAVI, to BLOGGER !!

Master Power..

2008-09-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

Mind is the master power that molds and makes,
And we are Mind, and evermore we take
The tool of thought, and shaping what we will,
Bring forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills.
We think in secret, and it comes to pass –
Our world is but our looking glass.

- James Allen

What if?

2008-09-02T02:20:00.000-07:00

What if your future is known to you?
What if you are aware of your means of death?
What if you know how long you'd thrive?
What if I resist my conscience?
What if I disagree my subconscience?
What if I meddle with my inner soul?
Where will I end up?

TERRORIZING INDIA.....

2008-08-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

Terrorism!!

The Topic itself is Self Explanatory!!

What's the solution for this ? ? ?

Kick off @ MARUTI SUZUKI...

2008-07-12T07:05:00.000-07:00

Yup. It all started the way, it had to. For those of you who are still blinking, I am talking about training @ MARUTI SUZUKI, Gurgaon. It kicked off well on the 1st of July. You know what, it's a bit frustrating when the formalities completion goes on for two full working days. But, yes, voracious readers continued reading their favourite novels and other stuff during office hours to keep themselves engaged and people like me, day-dreamed the whole day.
Finally, from the 3rd of July, we have had an array of lectures for about 9 days. Department heads from various sections of the company came and addressed us. Few sessions were interesting and a few, as usual, were quiet soporific (esp. those that were held after Lunch).
Coming to the quality of food.. Coming from South India, I am not used to having Roti, Dal & Rice on all 7 days in a week. It's sometimes quiet frustrating to have the same type food on all days. But, it's all part of game and am getting used to it.

One good thing about MARUTI SUZUKI is the attire. Right from MD to Technicians, everyone wears uniform on all days. It brings in a sense of Pride and Uniformity.

Yet another good/bad thing about MARUTI SUZUKI is card punching system. One has to, at any cost, punch his/her card at or before 8:45 am, or else you better go back home and relax, because your half-day salary is already deducted. ;)

Overall, it has been a smooth start... Looking forward to the weeks ahead....

Page Cannot Be Displayed...

2008-07-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

You know, its damn damn frustating and annoying, when you are not able to log on to your blog for about two months.
Yes! Don't know, what error it was. All I could see, when i type "j-ravi.blogspot.com" on the address bar was "The page cannot be displayed". Then, i deciphered that the problem was with my so-called "highly advanced" computer @ home.

Longing to meet all my blogger pals, once again.
Now, I've joined MARUTI SUZUKI, Gurgaon. So, I am at a new place now. Everything new. Getting settled slowly. The good news is BLOGGER works here! Looking forward to frequent blogging.

The IPL craze...

2008-05-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

Even on the dullest of days, you've got something in the evening to relax and enjoy for 3 hours or probably 6. It's the lucrative INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE, that has been the talk of the town for the past 35 days. With 8 very good teams (so-called) vying for the first 4 places on the points table, every single game is intriguing till the last ball is bowled.

One good thing about this IPL, apart from the whopping sum of money BCCI generates and the lump sum amount of money being offered to the players, is that the hidden skills of quiet a lot of players are being exposed in this League. Abhishek Nayar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Manpreet Goni, Yousuf Pathan, Satish Dhawan etc have become the FINDs of the SEASON. With lots of burgeoning players performing really well, the competition is getting really intense.

One sad thing about this year's IPL is/was the dismal performance of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Hyderabad's Deccan Chargers, though both being very good teams on paper. But, as we say, it's all in the game.

But there is one fear growing along with this growing intensity of this Indian Premier League. With the Indian Premier League going great guns this season, almost matching the vividness of an EPL, people, i presume, would find ODIs and Test mathces too long for them to have complete entertainment. Let's hope that the Indian crowd doesn't dwindle for those versions of the game, leave alone games/sports other than cricket.

Well Said...

2008-03-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

"No man, who manages to enjoy his life, is a failure."

- William Feather.

Bang on! 100% yes.

TECHOFES '08 - The best in so far.

2008-02-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

It was well said, "Proper planning bears friut". The annual Cultural Festival of College of Engineering Guindy, TECHOFES which sets the stage ablaze during MID-FEBRAUARY, stood out this year (2008) compared to the previous years. It was the best Techofes, this college has witnessed over the years.

This 4 day extravaganza featured variety of entertainment.
This event needed extensive planning, scheduling and careful execution, as its magnitude was quite on the higher side. The organising part was done exceedinglly well. It is a fest, primarily, for the students & by the students. They gave their everything, to ensure that, this turns out into a proper shape. Everything was well planned. Very Well executed.
But the days they sweated were really tough, i'd say. Bunking classes (This doesnt matter a lot to them, though!) to get hold of sponsors, inviting chief guests (This was a different attempt, this time! Well done guys!) to grace the occasion, arrangements for stage, acoustic settings, Keeping venues equipped with necessary requisites, informing the press, arranging for stalls, Using rhetoric in arguing with film distributors (Film must also be latest. Old films find scarce crowd – another feat to be achieved) to avoid fleecing exorbitant sum, informing caterers for snacks, invitations for all the staff (It must also be ensured that invitation reaches each and every staff or it’ll turn out to be problematic.), hospitality for all the participants and guests and many more…
The event was very well executed. The best ever managerial work with exuding confidence & commitment.

Coming to the entertainment part of Techofes ’08,

Day 1: "Well begun is half done." This stood justified at the end of 4 days. It was none other than maestro Elayaraja, who declared TECHOFES '08 open. He addressed us for a quiet a few awaited golden moments. One cannot have a better beginning than this! (Cheers guys! U made, even the IITians, gape this time.) This was followed by a "so-called" blockbuster miovie (Film Director will have to blamed, not the students. They did their part well) This was on the 13th of FEB.

Day 2: One cannot imagine a better Valentine day celebration than this. Just imagine, you've got somebody like Shankar Mahadevan, 100 m away from you, singing the best of his works. How different could you react other than having a goose flesh all over your body & getting frenzied the whole evening? This was what happened. It was Shankar Mahadevan, at his best, on a beautiful valentine day evening, who with his horripilating melodies, made us transcend our limits of entertainment. This was on the 14th of FEB.

Day 3: This day’s morning featured with lots of trivial fun. Quizzes, right from India to Harry Potter to biz to everything. Evening's agenda was a good Variety show. It was a fine performance. Lots of colleges in and around Chennai had come ‘all the way’ to our campus and enacted a good show. This was on the 15th of FEB.

Day 4: Choreo-nite set the evening stage, of the final day, ablaze. A pyrotechnic experience. Profusely gifted dancers from various colleges did their part exceedingly well. Judges were at a crossroads as to whom to be awarded the first. Choreo-nite was a fitting finale to end the unprecedented Techofes '08.

The event, tout ensemble, was a great success. United effort of my pals, patient and dedicated execution of an ingeniously planned programme, finally, bore FRUIT. This fest, Techofes '08 has left a good impression for the successors to follow and will be remembered & cherished for years to come. Cheers guys! College of Engineering, Chennai rocks!

"As you Think"

2008-02-09T19:03:00.000-08:00

Here's what JAMES ALLEN has got to say:

"As we think in our hearts, so are we. Good thoughts can fetch you good results & bad thoughts bad results. The dishonest person is not totally corrupt & the honest one is not entirely virtuous."

P.S: Lines from James Allen's 'As a man thinketh'.

I go with him. Wat abt u?

An EXCERPT.....

2008-01-31T01:54:00.000-08:00

"I do not care for liberation, I would rather go to
a hundred thousand hells, 'doing good to others
(silently) like the spring', this is my religion.

- Swami Vivekananda

Sports getting scary?

2008-01-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

What is happening all over!

Have you ever seen Federer sweat out so much in his third round in any Grand Slam? A '10-8' scary win in the fifth set is something beyond imagination. Is Fed out of spirits these days? Is the Serb, Tipsarevic, a future FED?

It isnt over here.

What happened in Perth? What? Did India win 'Oz' in 'Oz'ie soil? That too in Perth? Why surprise? The only team that keeps haunting Oz's domineering attitude, I assure, is India. That's India for you. That will remembered as one of the greatest victories in the History of Indian Test Cricket. A total team effort with Kumble leading from the front aplomb, made India a prouder country. Let's hope for a 2-2 square off in Adelaide.

It isnt over here.

What's happening with Bhajji? 'Cricket'ism or Racism? A bloodbath in Sydney. Bhajji is never a racist!!!!! We all stand for that. But Australia, certainly, lacked Sportiveness that day. Navjot Singh Sidhu's out burst on NDTV would have been like honey flowing into the ears for many. He was at his peak. I loved him criticise the Aussies ;) And, i feel, Aussies got what they deserved.

It isnt over here.

What's happening to Umpiring these days? Sydney match - No one can forget. No need to describe. All Indian cricket fans will know it. But, coming to Perth, there were still quite a few umpiring errors, though it was a far far FAIR match that the one that took place in Sydney. Umpiring needs Rennaissance.

It isnt over.

What's happening with DADA? Why not Ganguly (the man in form) for ODI tri-series against two big-shots of World Cricket, Oz and Srilanka? And Rahul Dravid - the man who led India to great victories in the past? For want of a Young Indian Team who can "field" well? So, Has BCCI found out anybody Superior to Dravid, who can sweat it out for India with his Bat and who is a legend at Slips? Or has BCCI carved out somebody superior to this ambidextrous all-rounder who has been really consistent in the recent past? Clueless!!

An event unforgettable....

2008-01-19T05:28:00.000-08:00

Our inter-college tech fest Kurukshetra featured a crowd-pulling event called The Dalal Bull event (A virtual stock market event, the highest registered event at Kurukshetra ‘07) for which I was one of the event coordinators. We used 20 interconnected (through LAN) computers for the event. Each computer was fed with registration details and all data pertaining to shares. There was one main server computer. Trading was planned for a 10 o’clock start. Trading started sharp at 10, went on smoothly for about an hour. More & More people started pouring in. It was around 11 am, to our panic all the computers displayed “Page cannot be displayed” page. LAN connection had incurred some problem. Trading stopped. We, the coordinators, stood stupefied & so were the traders who started making profit. Crowd dwindled. Criticism poured in from all ends. It was later diagnosed that LAN connection had some loose contacts. Lessons learnt from this: Stitch in time saves nine. The problem should have been diagnosed well before start and should have been rectified. It was our carelessness. Every component borrowed from outside must be checked for its effectiveness before putting them into use for big events like this. But one good thing was, we fixed that problem. And we had great days ahead, with lot of participants pouring in. At the end of the day, our event won the heaviest of applauds.

Entry into 2008...

2008-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Wishing all my blogger pals, a great 2008.

Certainty...

2007-12-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

Event of cerainty seldom occurs,
Does it frequently do?
Or does it never?
It does - but it's uncertain.
?????????????????

What is ultimate?

2007-12-09T07:42:00.000-08:00

Life seems to be dis-satisfying, though not!
Time seems to be flee, though not!
Days seem to be hectic, though not!

We live with illusions, perhaps,
Our mind, being filled, with complexities,
And our thoughts, with hatred or with love, may be.

Self-justifying our bad omans,
Relishing and Cherishing our sweet moments,
Getting greedy everyday,
With nothing being achieved in an ultimate sense!!

Xerox - The Power of Youth ! !

2007-12-04T06:08:00.000-08:00

Xerox Corporation was founded in 1906 in New York. It manufactures Photocopiers, Printing presses and related gadgets and provides related consultancies. Forming an image by the action of light on a specially coated charged plate; the latent image is developed with powders that adhere only to electrically charged areas. This is how Photocopying has been defined. This was later called as Xerography, now Xerox.

I must confess that, I never knew that there was company called Xerox which formed the basis for the origin of the word ‘Xerox’ (meaning ‘copying’) until my school days.

I feel this history will suffice. ‘Xerox’ing, these days, have become unavoidable esp. among student community. One can come across a Xerox shop every ten feet span anywhere in India. Its demand has grown with years. Xerox shops have started generating lot of profit (which probably will have a significant influence in the nation’s GDP quiet soon!!!).
Right from application forms for admissions till the receipt of degree, we owe the Xerox machine quiet a lot. It caters to the needs of all class of people, right from an efficient Entrepreneur to a school going chap, right from the President of the nation to a school teacher. Imagine a world without this machine (Nothing so magical about this! compared to many other miracles. But it still is). No more duplication might have been possible. Every single document will have to be original and safe. Again this is close to impossibility.

In my view, owning a miniscule Xerox shop at the corner of a college campus erecting two microcosm version of the machine (but in ‘good condition’ always!)employing one chap for each, can pull in quiet a healthy crowd, can generate bewildering amount of profit (possibly higher than what one earns through his/her profession!).

Here the stress has been given on syllables ‘good condition’ machines. The reason being, if the machines do not perform with full efficacy, the shop is going to land in problems.

Xerox shop is analogous to playing a sport. A good performance fetches applauds from all around. Bad performances can throw you into a huge fireball of criticism (Like the one in my college campus, where the Xerox machine remains dysfunctional for about 7 hours in a 8-hour day. The remaining one hour, it operates at 25% efficiency!) A badly maintained Xerox shop leads to Customer dissatisfaction (esp. during emergency situation. My emergency situation mostly has been final minute preparation for exams!!!), ending up with dwindling crowd and loss of profit!!!

I, personally, must thank Xerox Corporation for having brain-stormed this idea and inventing this seemingly legerdemain product, which today has gained global popularity.

Inspiration for this post: My recently ended exams!!!

7/8 up...

2007-12-01T01:20:00.000-08:00

Last-minute efforts, Sleepless nights, drooping eyes, tired brain, excruciating study-hours, frequent tea taking at nights and what not. The seventh semester exams did generate enough harrowing experiences.

Coming to my performance, I'd rate it as - "Very Average". Somehow, I managed to sail 87.5% of my engineering journey safely. No comments on my remaining 1/8th. No speculations on how it turns out to be. As fas as now, Semester holidays is going to be the prime-focus. Looking forward to "Active Blogging".

DIWALI dhamaka !

2007-11-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

It's DIWALI day. The festival of lights.

"May this DIWALI bring loads of Joy in you." - as though previous Diwali did not bring any joy!!

"May this Diwali lighten your heart with sweet thoughts blah blah" - As though last Diwali was a disastrous strife ! !

But, these are formalities. Right? Yes. Every Diwali, we wish each other Happines, Loads of Joy and Fortune. If not done, society might have a different view about us.

But, Diwali has always been a special occassion for the Indians. They never celebrate this Im-promptu. They plan for it well in advance. This is the day, (though meant for Enjoyment and relaxation) we get a bit extra tired, the reason being, a mouth gum ache - wishing everyone, A HAPPY and JOYOUS DIWALI, though, he/she is an unhappy person by birth!

This day has always got a different agenda on the board right from the morning, rather than an usual orthodox agenda. We wake up early (if not, we'll be taken to task!)even if not interested in celebrations, take bath (This has to be done, atleast today!), wear an attractive attire, visit a temple, burst crackers and stuff. But, as we keep growing by age, this dhamaka seems to attenuate. We feel slothful to rise up in the morning and celebrate.

The advancement of technology, in one way, has got a hand in spoiling the real sense of celebaration. We forward the Diwali wishes to a list of 40 people in our Cell phone memory and to a huge list in ORKUT and Yahoo, without actually knowing whom we wished. Because, this makes the job simpler (but not effective!). But, finally, DIWALI is still Diwali. The name has got something special in it. This day is always a speical day for all INDIANS, howmuch ever India has advanced.

HAPPY DIWALI TO ALL MY BLOGGER FRIENDS (Don mind, if i don wish each one of you in person!)

Man is in chains everywhere

2007-10-24T19:47:00.001-07:00

It was well said by Rousseau “Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains”. What Rousseau meant was that man leads a free and unrestricted life till the day he realises the existence of a society around him.

Once man enters the civil society all his freedom and liberty vanishes.
Yes. Man’s life in the civil society is an artificial life. It is a false and untrue life. Man in the society becomes highly formal and sophisticated. He becomes greedy and wicked. The life in the civil society is not natural. It is a pretentious life. Here man follows double standards. He becomes civilized as wells as a hypocrite. He says one thing but does something else.

In the society man is everywhere in chains. I think, everywhere there are a set of do’s and dont's. The social, martial and governmental laws bind man. Thus a man cannot be free in the society. These restrictions, restraints and limitations are the real obstacles in his path of life.

Man, if, tries to shed the artificial aspects of his life and try to live a life in harmony with nature, it will look more natural and genuine.

My Tag..

2007-10-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

I have been TAGged on quite a few occasions. I preferred to escape. Now, after Lavanya‘s tag, I decided, I’d go by it without any further ado.
Writing tags are quite a task. Somehow, these days, there are standard questions, probably, relieving the stresses from the think tank. I’ll go by standards, the one I am good at (copying!!). Here it goes…

1. Pick out a scar you have and explain how you got it?

Had I got a scar near by eyebrows, I’d have been happier to be a Harry Potter, with a Hermoine, by my side. But things didn’t go that way. Twas a hot sunny day in the year 1994, when I was self satisfied to have learnt cycling. But my maneuvering capability was nil. I’d jus learnt to drive straight. To my goodness, that JEEP had good, probably, well-oiled disc brakes attached to it. Yes. I encountered a Jeep forcing onto me with maximum acceleration possible. I, “intelligently”, jumped from my cycle, with a notion of avoiding head-on collision. But, the climax was – I was just a foot away from those MRF tyres of that Jeep, lying flat. That was my first scar. It is still on my right leg, making me cherish that fruitful event.

2. How does your phone look like?

The famous NOKIA 1100 does not look any different. But, I love it.

3. What are on the walls of your bedroom?

Bedroom?? I stay in a hostel, where that 10 feet by 10 feet allotted for me is my bedroom is study room is my play room is my everything. It’s walls are mostly white, with a few places stuck with pics (that are not too good looking).

4. What time were you born?

8:52 AM, if I remember right.

5. Last person who made you cry.

A Difficult question. When I delve deep into my mind, I found out that it was I who made me cry.

6. What’s your favorite perfume?

Perfumes – I hate them. I m fresh by nature (lol!)

7. What are you listening to?

Corrs…

8. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

I am fond of south Indian food. So, probably, HOT & SOFT IDLIS would do.

9. Do you get scared in the dark?

I used to, when I was young. Now, I avoid going in the dark. If at all, I get to go, I normally forget to scare.

10. Who was the last person who made you mad?

Thank god, this has not happened to me yet. I am quiet stable right now.

11. What do you look for, in the opposite sex?

Too personal to disclose!!! Ha ha. Here is where I do not go by standards. Ok. As of now, to swim on the safer side of the river, Lemme tell you, that I look for their “Looks”.
But……………….

I prefer to end my tag here. No more revelations.

I wanted to tag so many. OK. Let me be within limits.
No tags for Lavanya. She was the one who tagged me.
I, hereby, tag:
1. Ashu
2. Ankit
3. Keshi
4. Kaylee
5. Annie

The Blogosphere

2007-08-10T23:34:00.000-07:00

Blogosphere - This expanding sphere is shrinking.(Lol! That was a mere excuse to bring in an oxymoron). But, I really mean it. With the number of new blogs burgeoning, this sphere is exapnding. But this sphere apparently seems to shrink, by bringing people, with different flavour, closer.

Blogs, in a way, nurture creativity. They provide you with a platform, where in wannabees can lay their foundation stone. This FREE BLOGGING brings in quiet a lot of people from different strata. It furnishes one with a strong platform where in one can unleash his/her opinions right from Facts to World Affairs, Poems to Stories, Emotions to sentiments, Personal politics to pervasive stuff, Scribblings to useful stuff, so on and so forth. It gives people freedom and liberty to think and bring out the A to Z of any stuff.
Value sharing is not in paucity, in here, with co-bloggers flooding in to (not so true in my case, though!) pour in their comments on our stuff. So things get more global.
I.ve admired quiet a lot of blogs.(Dunno, how many admire mine! But i do:-)). It sometimes, make me feel that I am nowhere, when I peep into some good blogs. So, this creates in me, a sense of inferiority, which I combat to overcome, and come out with with some better stuff in my blog. This has been the best fruit, I've reaped from BLOGGER.COM. Thanks. I think, this would be the case with most bloggers.(I never meant that this creates a sense of hatred within people. That's a completely wrong notion). Blogs really create an AURA of thought sharing. Blogging is no less in uniting people, who think alike.
To be frank, I've never delved deep into my mind to bring out something before my blogger days.
Most important of all, Owning a personal blog (with attractive template platfrom designed by blogger) always brings in a sense of pride & superbia into the self, which kindles further interest into blogging. So blogs have got anything and everything into it. It has got a strong platform for one to shape his/her world.
THIS EVER EXPANDING SPHERE WILL KEEP SHRINKING.

In chains...

2007-07-20T00:04:00.000-07:00

Seems like things are fleeing fast,
Life seemingly is hectic,
But it isn't.

A new day with a lively sun comes to life,
Before i could realise the essence,
It's dusk.
Days pass unfelt.

I feel,
I am in chains...
Acclivity is getting aberrant...
Lots of pot holes mid-way,
Still managing to stay alive.

"I love him above all"

2007-06-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

Time : 3:00 AM…
She blew out of the water to see her cute Nokia 1108 creating undamped continuous vibrations, signaling a call. Before she could realize that she’s being remembered even during nights, vibrations stopped. “What a nasty dream, thank god, I was disturbed” she realized.

Trrriinnggg. Vibrations restarted. This time she was not going to miss that. Grabbed her cutie with her soft hands asap only to see the white lighted screen informing her “2 missed calls”. “Missed again” she murmured.
Preoccupied with her dreams that, for her satisfaction, got shattered in the middle, she just forgot to realize that her security unlock code was the number equivalent of her, probably, best phrase ‘LOVE U RAVI’, the one that could help her in unraveling the secrets in her mobile. But she was attempting hard to allay the fears that had cropped her up because of that nightmare. “Let me freshen up” she uttered to herself.

“Tick” – on were the lights of a posh and tidy bathroom. With a night-robe embracing the most beautiful torso of hers, she stepped into the bathroom to get her ever-fresh face even fresher. Sprinkled water onto it. Those fortunate droplets that fell on her were even more fortunate, because it was 3 at night, when most water taps remain dormant.

“5 missed calls” mobile screen reminded as she peeped into in again. Typing her most cherished words, did she manage to unlock her cutie. “Hope, this day I wasn’t born. Nope I wasn’t.” she confirmed, while trying to unearth who the caller was/callers were.

Bewildered !!
“No number? But how could that be? Missed call from no number?” This added fuel to fire. She felt queasy. She missed all five calls from that so-called “no number.” She, feeling nervy, waited for her mobile to vibrate once more. She was all set to press the ‘attend’ button. To her misfortune, her vigilance received no reward.
There was a ten-minute unbroken silence. None moved, neither she nor her sweet mobile. Blood of fear streamed all through her body. “No calls yet.” she sickened.

Reclining uneasily, in an easy chair, she fought all odds of her mind to get rid of that dream out of it. It wouldn’t budge. Dreams, generally, are volatile. This wasn’t. To heighten her nervousness, her thoughts were filled by the nightmare as she began to retrospect it.

“A great day so far. I am off for a treat tonight. He has invited me.” with an awesome smile on her face, did she utter these words to her pal over phone. “His pontiac grandprix is going to take me to his place”. Her smiles crossed all limits of beauty. Strolling in the park, she had a great time with her friend over phone. She was all smiles.

It was dusk and the chauffeur knocked at hers. “Yes Peter, I am ready.” Attired with a beautiful Indian Sari, Flamingo pink in colour, she looked bonnier than the bonniest. Her beauty needing more superlatives than those existing in an up-to-date lexicon. “What a cute car, Peter” she was amazed at the Pontiac Grandprix.
Getting into it, she called up the sweetheart, whom she loved above all, to inform that she’s on her way. There was no answer from the other end. Her anxious wait to plant a kiss on her mobile, which would transmit that to his cheeks, wasn’t rewarded. “Peter, He’s home, right?” “Yes madam.” Keeping her 1108 cutie aside, she settled in to love the air that was breezing past her, as the car raced past all beautiful trees. The climate was just right for a romantic candle-light dinner.
As the car raced into the parking lot, she became over-thrilled. Disembarking her beautiful torso out of the automobile beauty, she thanked the chauffeur and stepped into, what she used to call as, palace.

A few seconds passed unspoken….

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9…

Shocker!! “Peter!” she yelled. The chauffeur rushed in. He, too, was taken aback.
The chauffeur, in quick reaction, got near the person, who was lying unconscious, in a position that concealed his identity, on a beautiful and tidy vitrified-tiled floor. The chauffeur made all efforts to overturn. She was shell-shocked, but still looked so beautiful, as always.

TIME: 3:00 AM. She blew out of the water to see her cute Nokia 1108 creating undamped continuous vibrations, signaling a call. Before she could realize that she’s being remembered even during nights, vibrations stopped. “What a nasty dream, thank god, I was disturbed” she realized.

She revered the missed caller, who saved her most covetous person. She thanked him/her and her cute mobile phone, which she always loves, for not revealing the identity of that badly bruised body.

The WAIT - Peak of Anxiety...

2007-06-22T01:50:00.000-07:00

An inferno within,
Burning red inside,
Too hot to extinguish.

A restive state unprecedented,
Jittering teeth,
Jerky limbs,
Loosening grip,
All together,
Intensified all through.

Uncertain and indecisive mind,
Tried hard to kibosh,
Signs of self-placation nil,
Limits transcended.

Was that I?
“You”, pal yelled,
Yes. It was I,
Teeth were mine,
Limbs were mine,
Mind was mine.
Tensity was mine.

Sweat galore,
Filling my face.

World infront faded,
Anxiety approaching its zenith,
Five anxious seconds to pass....

5

4

3

2

1…

“Yes. I did it. I did it”
TATA, You did it for me.
My life’s got a LIFE,
My Insanity turned sane,
Dormancy turned Vivid,
Anxiety abated,
Satisfaction limitless,
Though ephemeral.
Life’s got a meaning,

One hundred sixty seventh afternoon,
Seven years into the 21st century,
The day unforgettable…

"Non-Comprehendable"

2007-06-08T23:04:00.000-07:00

This is so esoteric,

Too hard to decipher,

Drifting away from clarity,

Getting hazy and indistinct,

Too erratic and fickle....

Acclivity....

2007-05-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

Acclivity, at times, seem to lead me astray...
Somewhere very far, too far even to figure out...
Life's still not got an exact meaning...
Life's a dream....

KURUKSHETRA '07

2007-05-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

The inter-college inter-disciplinary mega technical symposium of College Of Engineering Guindy, KURUKSHETRA, the first of its kind, in the history of CEG, came to bare sunlight, on the 4th of January, to kick off the new-year (2007) in a style.

This 4-day symposium was filled with lots of inter-disciplinary techno-management events, robotics, papers, projects, lots of technical demos, programming contests, games taking place at various venues within CEG campus. The campus seemed like an ‘opportunities fair’ with people meandering in and around to get into some venue, and have their presence felt. The place was buzzing with value-adding exuberance.

All laurels and accolades to my colleagues. Hats off to them. The magnitude of this event was twice that of TECHOFES. It was a painstakingly planned mighty event. To add burden to the shoulders, this was the first time such a big (costliest-ever in the history of CEG) event came forth. All great minds of CEG congregated and came up with innovative ideas, ingenious plans that nurtured this KURUKSHETRA. The tag-line goes like this “The Battle of the Brains” and this stood justified at the dusk of the fourth day.

The main plus point we had in managing this mega event was that, we had split our work into groups and worked towards its final shape. It was split like, one group would be working on Hospitality (guiding and helping the guests and participants right from the start till the end), one other group on events planning (preparing a well-planned schedule. Ensuring no events clash and ensuring their smooth running etc), the other one on marketing (getting hold of sponsors, informing colleges those that are within the proximity and those that are remote) and so on and so forth. This helped us a lot.

Regarding the events,
All events kicked off in style and ended fantastically. Events like FUN WITH PHYSICS (conducted by my friend Rakesh) pulled crowd in excess. All others events also were no less, attracted a decent crowd. There were some informal events like Crosswords, Su Do Ku (that were simultaneously taking place) which added ebullience to this lively technical funda.

It would not be fair, if do not mention about the event for which I was one of the CO-ORDINATORS of. This event, called the DALAL BULL event, was a stock-market event (Rules: Rs. 10,00,000 (don't get astonished, it's virtual money!)would initially be given to all participants. By judiciously utilizing these money, he/she has to have a motive of profit-making, by buying and selling shares of various companies (along with their share values), that were displayed on large screens at the venue. The winner is obvious. The one who has achieved the maximum of all). This, being a ‘no specific-dept.’ management event drew in maximum crowd. The venue was bubbling with buzz. This event proved to be the largest of the events at K ’07 (as we call Kurukshetra ’07 for short). This 3 day event kicked off, with a chaos, unlike other events, as we had to overcome a healthy crowd. To add fuel to fire, some of the systems, that contained significant data, went down. Bystanders within the campus were found criticizing on this event. After a somber start, this event gradually accelerated. The crowd’s magnitude started bloating. We, learning from the mistakes, adroitly managed the crowd with ease. At the end of K ’07, our event got hell lots of accolades. Thanks to the initial errors that we committed.

This K ’07, the battle of the brains, on the whole, was a well-executed “program”me. The fastidious colleagues of my college, for their sweat, deserved lots of credit and earned them too and are geared up for an even LARGER magnitude K ’08 and an even bigger DALAL BULL event.

K ’08 – a mightier battle.

The making of TECHOFES '07.

2007-05-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

The annual Cultural Festival of College of Engineering Guindy, TECHOFES which sets the stage ablaze during MID-FEBRAUARY, did the same this year (2007) too, between Feb 15-18.
This 4 day extravaganza featured variety of entertainment. Blockbuster film (as they call it), Fashion Show (Don expect much from it. It was damn dry.!!), Light Music (rocked!), Variety Show (Fine one..), Choreo-nite (enticing..) to name a few. There were lots of miniature events too, that were taking place on all 4 days at various venues in our campus, loaded with heaps of fun in them. On all four days, campus was bubbling with exuberance.

Coming to the making of this magnanimous event,
This event needed a well planned scheduling and careful execution, as its magnitude was quite massive. The greatness that lies within us (my college dudes) is the unity with which they sweat out to make the occasion a success. They give their everything, to ensure that, this turns out into a proper shape. Everything was well planned. Very Well executed.
But the days they sweated were really tough. Bunking classes to get hold of sponsors, inviting chief guests (since, this being a cultural, actors, actresses would be the best fit) to grace the occasion, arrangements for stage, acoustic settings, Keeping venues equipped with necessary requisites, informing the press, arranging for stalls, Using rhetoric in arguing with film distributors (Film must also be latest. Old films find scarce crowd – another feat to be achieved) to avoid fleecing exorbitant sum, informing caterers for snacks, invitations for all the staff (It must also be ensured that invitation reaches each and every staff or it’ll turn out to be problematic.), hospitality for all the participants and guests and many more…
The event was very well executed.

Coming to the entertainment part of Techofes ’07,

Day 1: Some, not very well known personality, declared TECHOFES ‘07 open on the dusk of the 15th. It was followed by a movie, that featured a 3 hr entertainment. (The density of the crowd contributed more to the entertainment than the film’s theme!!!)

Day 2: VASUNDHRA DAS concert rocked the stages on the 16th. Venue was bubbling with ebullience. John Britto’s dance company (professional choreographers) entertained us, in between her songs.

Day 3: This day’s morning featured with a lots of trivial fun. Evening – Fashion show to kick off the dusk buzz. Guys were in full attendance (as though, they’d been craving for this for long). Disappointment!! Upset!! Dismal performance by the girls on the cat-walk. (My college, CEG, was the worst. Others were equally bad too). Variety show followed this, pulled back the squalid and torpid crowd, back to an aura filled with fun. It was a fine performance. Lots of colleges in and around Chennai had come ‘all the way’ to our campus and enacted a good variety show.

Day 4: Choreo-nite set the evening stage, of the final day, ablaze. A pyrotechnic experience. Profusely gifted dancers from various colleges did their part exceedingly well.

The event, tout ensemble, was a great success. United effort of my pals, patient and dedicated execution of an ingeniously planned programme, finally, bore FRUIT.

Redressed & Renamed..

2007-05-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

It was probably, some kind of VICIOUS CIRCLE, he (Verdant Barrens), was undergoing. So, i thought, it would be wise, if i redress and baptize him, with a new name.

He was proving obsolete, outdated, was proving futile. He has changed now, as you could see. He desperately needed this.

ACCLIVITY LEADING TO INFINITY - LIMITS TRANSCENDED.

Welcome! Here comes.... this sapling afresh, with a motive to experiment and explore life beyond INFINITY.....

Oh.. MY BLOG ! ! More as a guest than as a host..

2007-04-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Ok.Let's not talk about INDIA's 'optimistic, successful' performance and WOOLMER's death in WORLD CUP '07. The reason being, whereever you step on to, u hear ppl 'value-addingly' discussing about this topic.
All the BEST for 2011. Go INDIA go!! (lol..)

Now, let's welcome the OWNER GUEST of 'VERDANT BARRENS'.

Press: Y r u so 'regular' to ur blog (verdant barrens)?
Owner: I find hell lots of time, to come to the NET and spend lotsa time blogging!!
I am not strangulated (not like BOB WOOLMER) with assignments, tests, college functions etc..
Press: Can v expect attendance from now on?
Owner: Not for the next one month, as i'd b gripped by LOVELY SEM EXAMS.
Press: Thank u sir. Gr8 blogging!!

And my Congrats to my frend, a gr8 writer and a budding blogger, on starting a NEW THOUGHT ADDICTING blog?!!

An Overview of KURUKSHETRA & TECHOFES ' 07

2007-03-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

On their way......

THE MAKING OF TECHOFES '07 - To be scribbled on : 09th May '07.

THE MAKING OF KURUKSHETRA '07 - To be scribbled on : 14th May '07

Re-defining Life...

2007-03-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

Indistinct,
blurring out as I accelerate,
forcing me, the wrong way,
Acclivity leading to infinity,
Transcending all limits.

In retrospect,
Life in the past,
threw light to queries unanswered,
Acclivity leading to infinity,
Transcending all limits.

But, I am here now,
gently clearing off them,
through illusions and visualisations,
Acclivity leading to infinity,
Transcending all limits.

Polishing to the apex of its lusture,
Shaping it to near unity,
with best use of seconds,
though, not the very best,
Acclivity leading to infinity,
Transcending all limits.

As I progress,
I am aware,
Tint of maturity in immaturity,
transforming into,
Tint of immaturity in maturity,
Acclivity leading to infinity,
Transcending all limits.

Life redefined?
Redefined,
seemingly distinct,
but blurd,
and blurd,
and I resist,
Acclivity leading to infinity,
Transcending all limits.

Days pass....

2007-02-14T23:02:00.000-08:00

Life's a dream....

HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY...

Do they really exist???

2007-01-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

We, the people: "Ya they do" , "I don't think so, they do"........

Wat's happening all out here?

Hey, come on Poltergeists can exist. Though am not very assertive with this statement,
am still on the greener side on the belief of their existence.
Though there being some 1100 websites, on the net, giving info about their existence, we'd remain dubious and skeptical till the day we experience its existance (don't panic!!)
But it's still pretty interesting and intriguing to surf through the poltergeist sagas. But I feel, one never can asseverate that Poltergeists don't exist.

HAPPY '07

2006-12-31T10:30:00.000-08:00

Have a great YEAR.

Gun, out of the holster again...

2006-12-12T03:28:00.000-08:00

Temporal digression is a bit relieveing.
But now it's high-time, the GUN came out of the holster again for GUNSHOTS.
With the Sixth semester around the corner, things are getting heated up.

Back to College days, with busy (may b) itinerary right thro' the day.
Attending classes after a soporific breakfast, Getting howls from Prof.
Preparing last minute plagiarised seminars, and presenting a stuttering performance.... Providing a self-solace for the bad performance etc etc..

Well, Chennai, here I am. Racing down with full vim, to have an impact of
GUNFIRE.

Mind agonizing November

2006-12-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

Sleepless nights, drooping eyes, tired brain, excruciating study-hours, frequent tea taking at nights and what not. The fifth semester exams were unprecedentedly harrowing.

The usual thing that happens every semester is that, certain part of the syllabi (30 - 50% of the portions, probably) would be left untouched. So, Self study.(Though this should not be a worry, but since we've been spoon fed from the start, it's pretty elusive now, to do self study). The trend continued. But the reason is still obscure, why this semester exam was more torturous than the previous.

To add fuel to fire, performance in the exams was also dismal and dispiriting (I feel so). Our ‘efforts’(as I prefer to call), went in vain. Designating, the last minute study, as EFFORT, is pretty ludicrous. But still effort is effort. It has gone futile.

Things must change. Life needs a renovation. (Too much ah!!) The syllabi and teaching has to be more pragmatic. The first thing is I (we) must change. Last minute study is grievous (as elders say, which we don adhere to. And may be never going to). The next thing is, rules in cols got to get stringent. The syllabi has to be completed within the stipulated period. It must be ensured that, before the ingress of semester exams, one must have got an idea of the whole syllabi, which, in assurance, is going to reduce the onus on him/her on the eve of the examination.

Let’s hope for something positive and be optimistic in the following semester. (Resolutions are often taken following a battering, but are seldom followed.)

An Excerpt

2006-11-25T00:58:00.000-08:00

"What you know today will not feed you tomorrow. Your Knowledge and domain expertise must grow with time"

- S Ramadorai
CEO, TCS

A Plagiarised Excerpt!! Copyrights???

2006-10-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

Wat's all bout!!

Plagiarism:

Here are a few thoughts of some great personalities associated with the world of letters on delicate issue of plagiarism.

* "The eight commandment wasn't made for bards" - S.T.Coleridge
* "Nothing is new except arrangement" - Will Durant
* "I borrow from others shamelessly, but only from the best" - Thornton Wilder
* "Adam was the only man who, when he said a good thing, knew that nobody had said it before him" - Mark Twain
* If we steal thoughts from the moderns, it will be cried down as plagiarism; if from the ancients, it will be cried down as erudition" - Charles C.Colton

AGNI burns..

2006-10-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hm... And within a month, the situation is gonna be different when 'poignant' semester exams knock! huh!
With vivacious AGNI (Odd Sem culturals of CEG) ablazing the stages here, life rocks.
Lotsa entertainments... Less classes. More vim and vigour!!

The thing dat worries us now is, not much has been dealt wid, on the academic side, with jus one more month to go for exams.
This semester is going to become a TRAGEDY for sure!

A Quick visit...

2006-09-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

We were squeezed by exams last week!! Huh! Hectic! Alas, twas all over.
Immediately after dat, we were informed to get ourselves equipped for a "Quick Visit" to ASHOK LEYLAND (Ennore), without any prior notice. Huh!
Dat was totally against 'will'. None of us were interested, initially. We people were in a mood to hit our beds for a good rest, after a series of mind-corrupting assessments. But twas the other way.

We'd a tiresome 1.5 hr travel to ennore, and were taken in. Hm... The hot air & dust in the pathway (we walked along) between the running machines, made us sick.
But it all changed, and our minds tried to listen to a GUIDE(mind u! He was younger to us, but the way he explained the proceesses going on, really deserved credit), who explained the assembly of a LORRY pretty hastily.
Hm... Twas a gud. ASHOK LEYLAND (Ennore) sends 135 lorries out (fully assembled), a day, it seems!! Great!!
The assembling processes were pretty quick to comprehend, coz, they were all done by experienced labour, with advanced machines.
But we, atleast, got something into our head, for sure.
A good one!

An "Industrial" Visit, May be not!!

2006-09-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

Huh! T's alwayz gud to be in groups, where u can banish loneliness!!
Yup. Our "Industrial visit" to KERALA was awesomely superb. The climate just rocks. Some 75 of my colleagues and I had been there for some 4 dayz, on an "OFFICIAL INDUSTRIAL" visit. Those 4 dayz were really enthralling!! We were full of vim and vigour. The stay, the travel, the accomodation, everything was superb! We'd a very gud time there at KERALA.
But we missed out quiet a lotta places!! But the places we visited were simply gr8!

The boating at Cochin (a two-hour marine drive in a very comfortable 125 seater "palace on waters") was as gud as being at leisure in a Swiss beach. The Kochi breeze across the oceans was just too gud (too poetical huh!! anywayz!).

Athirappilly falls (which was not in our itinerary, & was a sudden plan) was cherishable. U must not miss dat, if u r planning for a trip to KERALA. The place had a very cool and non-chalant atmosphere, dat really rocked!! And we'd a fortune of seeing BOOMIKA (in close proximity), who was desperately practising a step for a dance in her next telugu film, perhaps!!

Then comes MUNNAR, a very pleasant hill station... We spent a day and a half there. Had a very gud time. Twas a initially cool.. But, u can easily get set to those conditions. There we toured Rajamalai hills (damn good place, don miss it!!), A Dam, a national park... All were gud!
We'd a camp-fire at night dat included fun, fun and only fun.

Then we'd been to VEEGA LAND (water-theme park). A superb place. It's been built at an elevated place. T's cool, well maintained. Very clean! Had hell lotsa entertainemnt there!

This visit's one of my most cherishable ones!!

My first air travel!!

2006-08-23T06:03:00.000-07:00

Twas awesome, when my boarding pass was handed to me and when i entered the INDIAN AIRLINES to take my seat to reach a place which is abt 1000 kms from Chennai in 1.5 hrs.
Yup! I'd been to BOMBAY dis weekend to send off my brother to STATES. And dis was my first air travel.
Was relly curious to explore the airport and did dat. The way, the baggages are being screened, the way we r being frisked, everything really deserved attention. The airports were really clean and organised.

Reg. the flight, Twas a massive airbus A300 capable to accomodate some 245 passengers. Except a slight ear pain durin landing, twas a very comfortable flight. The air hostess out there were well "mannered"!! Though food was insipid, twas a gud 1.5 hr entertainment.
Anywayz!! Soon looking forward to stepping into international airlines!!

Blogger Ban !

2006-07-30T05:06:00.000-07:00

Yup! I was on d net few dayz back, and dint care much, when my BLOG refused to show its identity... Left it to b a temporary serever problem, which i use to encounter quiet frequently!

But the case was different. I came to noe only from the papers dat, t's been banned in connection wid mumbai blasts!! Dunno, how banning blogger cud help them outta dis "mumbai massacare".!!

Hm. My case is different. I've becum a rare customer even to my blog! But there r people who never fail to POST a single day!!

Anywayzzz, its all over. N things r fine now! And My blog has also revealed its identity!!!

Not much vim

2006-07-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

Hm.. getting settled with things here!
Classes wid not much entertainment!
Idle evenings wid no proper schedule!

Hm.. Campus is pretty lively wid placements n counselling!

And Back In CHENNAI

2006-07-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

A week of hot n humid COLLEGE LIFE is already over!
Hm...And single room in d hostel dis time!
Lotsa burden on me over its maintainance!

Huh! And d chennai life started wid a lots of films n entertainment last week!!
Hm. and am least serious dat I am in my pre-final yr.!!

And BACK !

2006-06-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

Huh! Dat was all KEWL!

Though, twas quiet hot out there in NEYVELI, twas too good, wid many frendzz around. Training was also very well orgaNized by NLC.

There is a seperate training complex, specially to train d trainees! Twas useful too (may b :)).

Anywayzzz, have a CERTIFICIATE of a famous industry now! Huh!

"NET"ing stopped for a while !!

2006-06-04T05:18:00.000-07:00

A barriceade to "NET"ing for about a fortnight! Going to NEYVELI LIGNITE CORPORATION on an In-plant Training (may b)!!!:)

Totally, a stranger to NEYVELI, but not to NEYVELIANS. Lots of friends (my college mates) r in NEYVELI. Hoping 4 some entertainment out there (except for dat training)!!!

Signing off, for now....:)

A Difference !

2006-06-02T03:04:00.000-07:00

May b a diversion from INSANITY. :)

Had been to BANGALORE last week! Twas just too good!
A transformation: From days full sleeping & yawning
To dayzz full (not too full, perhaps) of entertainment and vim.

The climate there was cosy enough for a comfortable and enjoyable 'homo sapienic' life.:)
WHITEFIELD (half an hour drive from bangalore) was damn good. Full of white attired & wise people (dat's wat i believe). And the inner bangalore was nothing less. Museums, Parks, zoos, temples, and wat not!

There is a hang-out (may b for many)place called THE FORUM. It's similar to Chennai Spencer's. A big Shopping Mall, with a multiplex at its apex! They were all awesome!

And now back home. But, now have got a new way to kill dayzz! And Dat's ORKUTTING. Lots might have known it b4. Anywayzz, dat's keeps me engaged a bit!

Goes off...

2006-05-20T03:35:00.000-07:00

Huh! Nothing enthralling goin on here!
Yup! The first ODI btwn WI and IND, was too good to watch! Something to entertain!
GAYLE was gr8, and DRAVID splendid. His shots were just flambouyant! He is gr8!

Tomorrow, hoping to get entertained, me leaving for Bangalore. Jus for fun!
May be a climatic change, can cure dullards!

I wish football world cup, were advanced by a month!
nywyazz!!

Twas over alas!

2006-05-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

Huh!

Jus got fed up, sitting idle for some 3 hrs, in a 10x10 room.. Or jus roaming, n hearing the factory noises!!! T'all came to an end, finally!

Have a guaranteed certificate, of a pretty decent firm now!!
Hm! 1.5 more months to go!

Three boring dayzzz!

2006-05-07T00:34:00.000-07:00

Three days of In-plant training, with nothing much to learn!!!

Was jus strolling round the plants, wid dat strap watch as my best kin!
There's no proper shcedule or norms for training out here! So, it's my choice to opt for which plant to go! Huh! I sticked wid mechanical.

Was seeing some non-interested workers assembling a salt pump, for two LONG LONG days! Then I was taken to d BRINE plant, HCl plant and CELL HOUSE (I could'nt elaborate more on dat!!), and nothing more!!

Go to puush off another 4 days!!!!

Another day to BURN!!

2006-05-02T23:28:00.000-07:00

Huh!! Pretty hectic in-activity!!
Some life from tomorrow, perhaps!

In-Plant training for a week!
Some liveliness to d mind n body!!

System's back, but INTERNET remains unplugged!!
System's 'FRESH' wid lots of errors!!

Speed is not at all a concern!
A WORD document opens up in 15 min.

Huh! Dat's life!

Days seem hard!!

2006-04-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

24 hours a day, is far too much,
for somebody, whose hobby is almost a "NULL SET" Huh!!
Something similar to is happening aroud here wid me!

Sudden tranformation!! From a busy SARDAR PATEL road, to a dormant road infront of my house!!
From a schedule full of assignments n tests with nothing more to dream off, to a schedule full of "BAD" thoughts n dreamzzzzzzzzzz!!

An old, obselete computer which i owned, is also not here!! At d moment, I am at a browsing centre, trying to burn an hour in my life!!

Jus pushing off!!!

Half of it is Over!!

2006-04-23T06:50:00.000-07:00

And two years have passed,
since my first day at college!
T'all happened pretty quick, may be!!
Huh!

Now, 2.5 months of relief, after a hectic sophomore year!!

Compressed and squeezed!!

2006-03-14T06:13:00.000-08:00

With almost 40% of the portions remaining to get complete, we've stepped into the last 15 days of this 4th semeseter. Shocked?? But dat's true! Exams are starting on 4th april.

This, being a compressed sem, professors seemingly rushing through the portions. For the last two weeks, even sundays might be scheduled for classes! Its all fully tight these 15 days, with model prac. exams, semester prac. exams, another assessment etc etc, with nothing around to entertain, excepting a half-lived radio (mirchi) by the side. Huh!

Make it!

2006-03-02T05:35:00.000-08:00

Life, sometimes makes no sense,
For what is here to live?
But, seldom, we pray for life!

He forgets to realise his fortune,
But bitterly realises his bad omans!

He is never fully satisfied,
If he is, He is not He, but HE!

It's all over and begins!

2006-02-28T05:11:00.000-08:00

With the success of PINNACLE 2006, all glee came to an end!
Asusual, a hectic schedule ahead for a month and a half!
But that's life!!

Again a stranger!

2006-02-15T07:11:00.000-08:00

It's been more than a fortnight, since I logged into the net!
The prime reason was "CULTURALS".

We had "MECHKAIZERS" - our department freshers party, to start with. This time it was our turn to conduct it! Twas awesome! Followed by other depts. Then came two massive events.

TECHOFES was the first. Well planned and greatly executed cultural event. Lottsa programmes, all very interesting! Lottsa actors, actressess all very attractive! Lottsa firworks, all lighting the whole dark sky for four nights! Unforgettable four days!

KALAKRITHI to follow. Another three-day cultural bonaza, affixing everybody onto their seats.

And now PINNACLE - our dept symposium is to follow.

Its all gonna be cultural, this FEB.

Is sky so high?

2006-02-01T06:24:00.000-08:00

Days seem to be hectic, though not!
Life seems to be busy, though not!
Time seems to be fast, though not!

We live with illusions, perhaps,
Our mind, being filled, with variations,
And our thoughts, with differences.

We keep self-justifying our bad omans,
We keep relishing our good times,
With nothing being achieved in an ultimate sense!!

Injustifiable!

2006-01-23T04:21:00.000-08:00

Something is not alright,
Somewhere, not satisfactory.
I could feel,
I could'nt spell out, perhaps!

Inkling!!

2006-01-14T22:12:00.000-08:00

Why do I always feel insatiable?
Why do I seldom feel jealous?

The solution, I percieve, is we.

Another impediment!

2006-01-13T04:38:00.000-08:00

Internal Exams from next week, with nothing much being taught, rather the other way - with nothing much being listened!Huh!

And this semester has been compressed to a two and a half month course, in connection with the election. The management does not want us to be anywhere in the proximity, during the COUNTING process (to be done at our campus).
It's all gonna be very tight and congestive!

Expecting something!

2006-01-07T05:44:00.000-08:00

The expected events rarely occur,
The unexpected are more probable. This is to me.
To u?

A new dawn!

2005-12-31T11:13:00.000-08:00

2006 - Be it exuberant and satiable!
Happy New Year Amigos!!

Progressing further...

2005-12-23T21:03:00.000-08:00

It's all new! New professors!
New subjects! New books! New life, infact!
4th sem is a week old.
One of the tighter semesters in a foresight!

A matter to be thought of..

2005-12-21T06:23:00.000-08:00

Can u find out a way for this?

MSN search!

2005-12-12T22:49:00.000-08:00

As always, I was not the first, or whatever u call. I was not the first to bring this MSN search (on top right) into the blog! Perhaps not the first, but HE was the one, from whom, I traced out, this kinda search facility for my blog!
Whatever!

It works good! Though, not very useful, it gives some kinda life to my blog!
And I was forced to tranform into plain templates, to suit that 'MSN search'!
Huh!
This trifle blog seems to look matured too!

FIVE POINT SOMEONE

2005-12-11T17:40:00.000-08:00

Perhaps, I am one of the voracious readers of obsolete books!! Huh! But yes, I am a late thinker and go and grab everything overdue, sometimes, leave it of too.
Ya! This five point someone, which, I feel, the whole of India would have read, is really good to me! Could not really carve out the reason for my admiration to it! Do I find something special in it?
There's nothing special in it, but it's special!Huh!

The language of BHAGAT, his style of writing, the way of expressing romantic or thrilling or haunting moments, whatever and whatever have all been exceedingly excellent.
I do accept, it's a 'simple-vocabulary' work by bhagat, with his intension of reaching 'common men without much vocabulary exposure'(like me, perhaps), but it's a good one to me! Infact, a very profound one!

To u?

A thesis stolen from thiest!

2005-12-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

Jus have a go on this stolen thesis from BINARY THEIST and think about it!
Y don't u?

Ambiguity!

2005-12-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

Am I, I?

Twas all crap!!!

2005-12-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

Huh! Twas all worse... It's been so long, dat I almost forgot the password to sign into BLOGGER.
But I am in, not wid the same old reason for the insanity, but wid a different one!

I, all of a sudden, was unable to access the internet for about a fortnight, due this, crap, kinda, computer!!! Mine is one of the world's slowest cheap and insipid systems! My system encountered a problem it seems, which, as usual, went beyond my comprehending ability, to resolve it out!

Still, the problem persists, unresolved. Twas only today, I was alive enough to realise that the problem was with WINDOWS XP (but still not, what the problem, actually is). Net is accesible wid WINDOWS 98, but still not possible wid XP. But it's dead slow, out here, in 98. But atleast some bloody crap, could be surfed of, instead of just murdering the time wid inactivity!!