La Bore de Bellandore

 "Dalí painted one of his most famous pieces, “La Gare de Perpignan”—the Perpignan train station. For the inspiration he found here, he once called Perpignan the center of the universe. “All the great inventions of humanity, all of them, took place at the exact center of the station of Perpignan,” he said.

So, according to Dalí, you could be standing in the spot “where all parts of the Earth converge.” Or you could just be standing in a train station."

I think Salvador Dali waited long enough in the station due to a much delayed train, drank too much wine and started to imagine things. 

Going by this, the next great masterpiece is likely to emerge by some bloke who got stranded in Outer Ring Road traffic jam for so long, that he started painting the scene and concluded that all of the world's roads and vehicles converges in Bellandur! 

SMS

A 10yo water-sports enthusist was trying some stunts with the waves and lost his footing in the beach today. He went underwater for a few seconds and came out gasping for breath..

While I was expecting a panicked scream, he got me and mumbled something to me-

"I have to say SMS instead of SOS."

"What's that ?!?!"

"Save My Soul!"

Even in such critical situations, some chaps prefer grammatically-correct calls for help! 

OktoKabali

Amaze on!

It was just a random Sunday evening stroll in Express Avenue Mall. We had a few hours to kill but nothing much to shop.

 After a pitstop at an icecream parlour, we just did what 95% of mall visitors do - mill around the mall, indulging in some window-shopping, checking out new brands and products, walking the length and breadth of the mall and moving on to the next floor (aka activity Treadmall) to add some serious steps to the day.

I was accompanied by a very deep thinking kindergartner, who walked around uncomplainingly, soaking in the sights and sounds of the buzzing commercial activity. Then he summed up his observations and asked me -

"Appa, is this Amazon?" 

Postcard Princess

This was in the second year of my college education where I stayed in the hostel. The room was B-328 and was shared by the shy, nerdy, wordy, indoorsy me and my sporty roommate who seemed to be involved in all sorts of activities, music and dance, all except academics. The only common thing was our shared dislike for the ancient ritual of bathing and we took the eco-friendly route of taking a shower only when others could'nt bear it anymore!

This was the time when only ministers and top executives could afford a mobile phone and its subscription, and everybody else lived in a world where communication took it's time.

So to contact my dear childhood friend (also named Arun) the only easily affordable option was the 25paise postcard that allowed one to express all you wanted in 1.5 sides of microscopic text. We had been writing letters to each other for years, when he lived in Bellary and then returned to Chennai for his High school. We had just vowed to stay in touch with those postcards, which had amazing privacy features - Every postman and his dog in the delivery path could read it's contents!

Then the best day of my 2 decade-long life happened, in the middle of assignments, internals exam preparations and washing the dirty clothes in the weekend routine... 

A lovely letter from my old friend Aparna, addressed to me. Written within the privacy afforded by an inland letter, it was everything a young man could ask for in a mail. It had beautiful handwriting (which itself was worthy of framing to me, with a script that required hackers to decrypt). It started off in a friendly manner, enquiring about my college life and events, and describing in colourful details about hers. There was this air of familiarity of really knowing a person inside out and enjoyable humour while describing her events. And then it took an unexpected turn, there was some longing to meet again, enquiring about my next vacation back in Chennai and pleading me to stay in touch and not be lazy with letters.

Just wonderful, but with a minor problem to resolve. I had not stayed in touch with that old apartment mate Aparna, and lost touch after she and family moved to another place. Another minor problem, we probably played freeze-n-melt , lock-n-key kind of games in our childhood but then I abandoned her and all other girls and immersed myself in the world of mottai-maadi cricket - but never had known each other to consider it a close friendship.

My next few weeks and months went with these exchanges in my head -

Firstly, how did she get my address in hostel? 

  Well, my old pal Arun would have given it to her,  perhaps he stayed in touch all these years.

Why is writing to me after all these years?

  Well, I'm probably the kind of person you would miss only after you lose contact. I'd like to think, I'm a likeable nerd.

What's it with all the sudden yearning and longing that I can sense in the letter?

  Well, it must be the hormones!

Wait, this is too good to be true. What if someone is pranking you?

  Well, did you see the beautiful handwriting and the genuine words of affection? I can surely catch my mates trying to con me into a fake affair.

What if it's the evil twin Arun who is the prankster?

  Well, he to too lazy to attempt something this elaborate.

What if it's not for you at all?

  Well, what if it's actually from Aparna to me?

Why don't you get a second opinion from your roommate?

  Well, he will inform everyone in the class and I would get roasted till I graduate from this place.

What are you going to do? Ignore or ?

  Well, I will do the gentlemanly thing and reply and stay in touch if possible. Who in their right mind would leave a letter like this unanswered???

And hence I started to compose a funny, friendly, nerdy, a very Aruny reply to her. It took a while to compose and I wanted to hit the right notes while rekindling an old friendship. 

Weeks into the composition, I would still struggle with the doubts of What-if as above and kept the draft a super secret from my hostel mates. One of them was a floor-mate, final year senior Jay, who was really this pleasant and unintimidating fellow who loved to chat without any air of seniority and was the Photography club president. 

He enjoyed the company of artsy friends and introduced me to more seniors and his roommate who was even cooler dude. That guy was so cool, when I asked him if he can play any musical instruments, he said with a sorry voice "None, it's just me and my voice", so I assumed he one of the many bathrooms singers who sang their hearts out during the shower. That very weekend the college band TekMusik gave us a terrific performance and this dude was actually the lead singer with the voice that seemed to blend SPB and Hariharan into one -needless to say he was very popular wand had a dedicated female following! 

Back in the hostel, I went to congratulate him for the great show, expressing my surprise and we talked about other things. That's when I learn that this senior dude Arun, had lived in B-328 the previous year !!

I quietly walked to my room, retrieved the letter from a secret location, and apologized to him for opening and reading it without realising the mistaken identity.

That night I tore up my draft letter to the friend that never was, and forgot all about it till now - I was added in a newly minted whatsapp group with both Arun and Aparna in it !!!

New Activity Alert

"Phalking"  =  Walking around while continuously looking at a phone.

Unfortunately, its not appropriate to say the word aloud, so it will remain a read-only term!

p.s: somebody beat me to it - https://www.collinsdictionary.com/submission/4187/Phalk

Holywave oven

While his mother was busy prepping for Ganesh Chaturthi in the pooja room, a certain 5yo decided to maximize the benefits of the ongoing religious activities.

He filled a glass of water for himself, walked to the puja room, stepped just inside it, counted down with a matter-of-factly voice "Ten.. nine.. eight.... ...two .. one".

Then he quietly proclaimed with a convincing tone-

"Now it's 'blessed water' " and walked out while gulping it down. 

Badjoketon

Why did the taxi end up parking inside the outdoor badminton court?

Because it was an office shuttle. 

p.c : Selvakumar PS

All that glitters..

Thangalaan felt like our Indian contingent's performance in the recently concluded Olympics 2024 - there were some world-class performers and performances but somehow we ended up in 4th place in a lot of categories. 

Among actors, I'm thankful for the rare portrayal of an Englishman from colonial times in an exploitative situation in an Indian movie- who is not a caricaturish villain with a heart the size of a soybean. Unlike his Indian assistant who just yells at the labourers, Clement has been fleshed out better and the range of emotions he goes through is palpable..but...

The electric stand-out performance by Malavika, whose terrific screen presence as the sorceress Aarathi is commendable and it's enigma stays still the end. She looked absolutely convincing as a deadly warrior who can torment her opponents at both the mind and body level..  but..

The ever dependable Vikram who has certainly given 200% while you are hoping that he just gives 100%. One is reminded of his various performances from the past and all his passion has spilt into the screen, its almost like he did time-travel to observe village characters of mid 18th century..but..

Every actor - small and big seems to have been hydrated with SivajiGanesan-flavoured Redbull and each of them were secretly told by the director that "If you nail this role, a national award for best actor, best supporting actor is waiting for you", and they all believed it. Therefore they only portray extreme emotions, either celebrating important events and life in a joyous rural society OR feeling down in the dumps with frequent cries of desperation and prayers to the almighty to save them all. Never a dull moment in their lives, so much dramatic performances, .. but.

The story had immense potential to be really uplifting, BUT (the biggest 'but' ) looks like Pa Ranjith could not decide at the end if it's a tale of hope or exploitation and this confusion seems to prevail in most parts of the movie and reaches the audience too. The incredible scenes showing multi-generational conflict are visually well produced but they are edited away too fast to remain etched in our memories. I now wish someone like Mari Selvaraj wrote the screenplay and directed the movie while Ranjith was in charge of story, dialogues and production. 

Overall we have a fine movie which aimed for the heroic last ball sixer by our favourite batsman to win the match, but gets caught by a tall fielder just near the boundary! However the crew who might win some awards are the ones you never see on screen - the technicians- for make-up, for art direction, for period costumes, for lighting - some terrific climax scenes and for visual and sound effects especially when Aarathi and the Nagas are around. 

I really wanted to like the movie, but I wished they didn't try this hard to be liked. 

The Mysterious Origin Story of the...

...ubiquitous random WhatsApp status message - forward !

I was checking some friend's whatsapp status message with a semi-cool, somewhat positive, slightly spiritual, generally vague message forwards that keep doing the rounds wishing random strangers really good things.. the kind that makes you happy for about 3.14 seconds or less before you swipe right..

I'm just thinkin....who just comes up to create images like these...Is it their hobby or a job?

Someone sat on a computer or smartphone and conceptualized and created it intentionally.. who are these people?

What was their karma that led them to do this..?

How do they derive job satisfaction if they don't know how much it gets forwarded ? 

How does their boss evaluate their performance..?

Are they paid in cash? Or if the messages have some embedded block-chain properties to track how much they are forwarded or shared and then valued accordingly in bit-coins..?

..Me wonders

Ulle veliye ulle veliye..

Thats Inside Out 2..!

The first movie was everybody's favourite, for the wonderful portrayal of childhood emotions in a relatable storyline for kids to enjoy, and an even more terrific personification of emotions and visualisation of mental processes that would satisfy any adult with a natural interest in psychology. My favourite was the way the movie embraces 'Sadness' as an essential emotion while dealing with the sinusoids of life.

 I now feel nostalgia when I think about the impact it had on me back then. I envy their ability to not rush into the sequel and embarrass it's loyal audience with a half-baked production causing the usual ennui that many superhero movie sequels provide these days. That they took nearly 9 years for the sequel conveys the production team's anxiety to better the story material and it's impact on audiences. 

Our protagonist Riley moves on to the next stage in life after childhood and the drama only increases with a terrific ensemble cast of even more emotions to join the original crew in navigating the rollercoaster of a ride that she goes through. I'm really tempted to reveal some stand-out performances by those new emotions, but then I would just be repeating myself like a dumb sequel! 

Un-nutrition

It was an endearing sight of a mom reading a children's book in the library to her 4-yo, educating him on essential life topics like nutrition.

Mom: Ok, now we read about how Carbohydrates, Proteins, Fats, Minerals and Vitamins are important to us. How was it?

4-yo: Cool, now I know all about them.

Mom: Are you ready to answer this quiz section? 

4-yo: Yesss!

Mom: What gives us energy?

4-yo: hmm...Caubohyduate.

Mom: Which vitamin does orange juice have?

4-yo: Vitamin-C !

Mom: What is the name of those who do not eat fish or meat?

4-yo: Weak..?

His mom who is a strict vegetarian was ready to move on to more age-appropriate story books and fairy tales! 

A dark thingy

What used to be esoteric science a couple of decades ago, ends up as popular science through movies and YouTube shorts. Blackholes fall in that category which went from nerd to pop.

Me: What's your favourite colour?

(Expecting anything from the primary colours or at least vibgyor range, to help me choose a gift)

4yo: Dark Black !

I can still buy an Ordinary-Black gift, but for anything darker, he needs to seek it at the centre of our galaxy.

1 HP

The 4yo was practising his chess moves with his 12yo brother and just made a move of a horse piece jumping over a couple of soldiers and while understanding the L-shaped advance, declaring triumphantly -

"Thats what I call Horsepower!"

Ideas

"No force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come",  they said!

The problem is, they never said when 'that time' will come!

A very violent king and his favourite bin

'Maharaja' had a well executed storyline and superb screen-play. The visual story-telling style of the director was appealing and so was Vijay Sethupathy's screen presence and muted, understated performance punctuated by bursts of slasher violence.

The movie had scenes of great sensitivity, compassion and unexpected shots of dark humour. It was almost like they could have easily produced 2 movies with the same story -a family-friendly version with some vengeance and some humanity at the end. Another -an R-rated movie for graphic violence retaining the satisfaction of seeing the bad guys getting beaten to pulp and the scenes involving dozen or so severed limbs and heads and various forms of impaling and mutilation on display.

There are quite a number of movies that capture the 'anger and frustration of the middle-aged common man' , it appeals to you in a personal way. But the only difference is the on-screen characters get to vent it out violently, while the rest of us just eat lots of pani pooris or demolish half-plate Tandoori chicken and go to sleep!

Chatting about Chatgpt 4o

While the tech world buzzes incessantly about how AI is going to transform our lives for the better or worse, we decided to forego our Friday family movie time and watch some of these videos on GenAI.

Taking a cue from Sal Khan who let his young son dabble with the latest Chatgpt 4o for one of his homework problems, we decided to show the intro video to our children and hear their thoughts.

12yo: Wow! it took few million years for humans to come from cave man to create a machine version of a human being that we can talk to..

10yo: This is cool, now I can ask how many ever questions I want and get answers without anybody getting tired. I want to learn coding..

4yo: (could not get what's the excitement about, but got fascinated by a pocket calculator and didn't want to miss the tech frenzy) Now you can ask me addition questions (like 6+3) and I will give answer first and you check if I'm right in the calculator.

Then we installed Chatgpt in their tablet and let them ask..and ask they did..on which scripting is used for Roblox coding..to checking chatgpts prowess in French language..till we had to peal them away from it, and goto sleep! 

Why Love?

We were in the middle of the daily routine arguments on who gets to sleep near the Mother. The Mother prefers to sleep in the edge of the bed to get some breathing space on alleast one side and graciously allows one of the 3 children to debate and fight it out, to get the chance to sleep beside her.

The 4year-old: Amma, today also I want to sleep near you.

The Mother: Why do you want to sleep beside me?

The 4yo: Because I looovve you, Amma!!

(expecting an even more endearing reply)

The Mother: Why do you looovve me so much?

The 4yo: Because I'm used to you.

Psycho-analysis for Preschoolers

The 4yo: Why do we get dreams in the night, Amma?

Mother: When we are alseep and the brain gets bored, it starts to play some video inside and watch it.

The 4yo: (satisfied with the answer) Ahh! Now it all makes sense.

Quote on Monsoon Days

Our first pre-teen son going through the phase of arbitrary zzz cycles -

"When it is raining outside, we must get under a blanket and try to sleep to our fullest potential."

To the moon and back

Son3 who just turned 4, was lying beside his mom just before his nap recounting how much he is fond of her.

"Amma, I like you infinity. I love you infinity ..."

In times like these, I'm usually wise enough to not intrude and check on his quantitative love for me . But Son1 was not there yet and prodded.. "How much do you love Appa?"

After a longish pause that seemed to involve advanced mental calculus, he arrived at a final answer. 

"I love Appa, ummm ..99"

----------

What disturbed me personally was not the enormous disparity in his love for his mom and me. 

It was the fact that he could not find just about enough love to round me up just a wee little higher to let me reach a 100! 

Even Pakistani bowlers would let an Indian batsman reach a well deserved hundred, if they were sure to win the game!

Antisocial

I used to be a more pleasant person, but right now pleasantries bore me to death. 

The never ending barrage of "happy birthday"s and "happy 'random or regulay festival' wishes" are enough to make me hide under a rock and wait for it to subside.

Allauoodjouns!

Many years ago I heard a French song but didn't know how to pronounce the title. And then I could not find it since it didn't know what to search.

More than a decade later, the song found me while autoplay was on.. 

"Alors on danse" by Stromae

The profound cribber

 At the end of a long binge-watching session late in the night when all in the family were waiting to hit the bed, the mother spilt some water on the floor and asked son2 to help with cleaning up the mess. She had to insist twice, seeing some reluctance to comply.

Overheard this conversation between the sons when they thought they were beyond our earshot -

Son2 (aged about 9 in a low sad voice): When WE make a mess we have clear it up ! When THEY make a mess also we have to clear it up!

Son1 (aged 11, getting started on pre-teen angst) : Oh yeah! I know rite?

Son2: I have been thinking about this for years!

Flowery Poetry

I saw a lady employee pick flowers in the landscaped footpath on the way to office in the morning, presumably to adorn her hair, and I was thinking of arguments in a self-righteous tone on "how its not appropriate to pluck flowers in public places". 

Thats when this lyric by Vairamuthu came to my mind -

Pudhu Vellai Mazhai song- from the movie Roja. The duet has blue-highlighted lines by the male singer, and white lines by female singer. 

So do all flowers bloom and is most poetry ever written - for the same reason?

https://www.lyricstranslation.in/2021/09/pudhu-vellai-mazhai-lyrics-english-translation.html

The art of note-taking

During a particularly long and wordy office meeting meant to discuss on some rather controversial topics, I started to doodle involuntarily. At the end of the hour long meeting, it was clear that we weren't at any closer to concluding on anything than where we started, and most attendees felt there weren't any take aways. This was my only notes, which accurately describes the meeting outcomes.

 

Gentle Green Giants

Drove past a lovely avenue of trees after 30 years. First time, I was wandering on my bicycle and was struck by the beauty of the tall trees and pinkish flowers in summer.

Those tall trees have just grown taller.

Waiting in style

While waiting in the Passport Kendra office for renewing mine on 11th Sep 23 , I had to deal with the long wait times and processing by very few officials at the counter.. That's when I channeled the inner spirit of my late Father on his birth anniversary, to deal with this kind of challenging situation in life..

Went for a Veg puff and coffee in the nearest kiosk!

Five Rupees

I earned 5 rupees yesterday thru hard work and negotiation skills

I lugged a few kgs of glass bottles collected over time to nearby recycling shop, he checked the weight and said with an apologetic tone-

"Saar.. indha edaikku rendu illai moonu rooba thaan kidaikkum"

Me: " paravaillai Saar. Andha rendu illai moonu rooba aavadhu kodunga, menakettu thookittu vandhirukken"

Then he gave me a shining 5 rupee brass coin.

One truth, many lies

https://youtu.be/TyZSBqQ813c?si=4RJlcJ0bOwcIGyFN

Amusing plight of spouses of complicated and articulate men.

I was thinking what to say when I forgot to buy green chillies and coriander leaves, when she asked me to do so on my way home. Inspired by the above video-

Green colour corresponds to 495-570nm wavelength which is roughly in the middle of the visual spectrum that most sensitive to the colour sensitive photoreceptors known as cones in our retina, and therefore all the blades of grass and the leaves in the trees caused such a distracting background with low signal to noise ratio that I could not isolate the green chillies and coriander in such an environment on the way home.

I then got curious with what ChatGPT would come up with..

These days we can choose between one simple truth (I'm Sorry, I forgot to buy) or a hundred creative lies!

The secret ingredient noodle soup

About 3 decades ago (1989) a boy and his sea-faring father went out in a remote Japanese port town (Yawata? Shimizu? Nagoya) . It wasn't a town for sightseeing but an industrial one, and the purpose of the visit was to visit a doctor to get some medicine for the boy who suffered from mild sickness. On the way back both of them felt very hungry and it was a long walk back to the ship. 

In the entire trip, they had eaten all meals only in McDonald's, for it was only there that they knew what to order and what to expect. This was not a town that was frequented by foreign tourists and all restaurants were local with all-Japanese menus.

They walked into some traditional eatery and just ordered a random bowl of noodle soup with some broken Japanese that the father could speak. It was a dark brown broth with a fragrance of burnt onion in soy sauce with seaweed,  strange purple noodles and slices of tender beef. It was an unforgettable experience, a culinary adventure, probably the first time the boy experienced the distinct taste profile of a dish rich in umami.

----

33 years later, in a 30 year old Japanese restaurant (Dahlia) in his own hometown (Chennai that is Madras), the boy rediscovered that dish that was hidden deep in his memory. 

Niku Soba.

----

Among so many things that parents do for their children, from birth to adulthood, unique experiences and memories such as these are probably the most subtle but unforgettable gifts. 

Credit Worthiness

I got a new swanky credit card, touted to be premium all-metal and contactless. It looks so good, that now I have to upgrade my wallet that now looks too old and tattered to house it.

Mr. de Eselaar

How does one continue with the SLR photography habit in the age of fantastic mobile cameras?

By personification of the gadget like a family member or a pet.

As his parent, it's my responsibility to feed him regularly, and take him for walks. Else, I can sense that he endures starvation silently, sadly locked away in a claustrophobic camera bag, left to dry alone (due to silica gel). 

He lives with us, sipping on battery juice and loves to travels with us. He has a ravenous appetite for viewing beautiful scenes, landscapes, flora, fauna and of course loves watching people. He needs to be carried around to nooks and corners and held in awkward poses for his regular exercise. And when he is well fed and moved around, he produces lovely photographs in return. 

Hydrogen Peroxide

Its so similar to water, but its anything but. 

The first time most people hear about such a compound is when their ear wax hardens.

You can actually hear H2O2 'wax lyrical' inside your ear! 

Culinary (con)Fusion

There was this whiteboard with the daily speciality menu written on it. On it, iI found this.

Spanish Manchurian

Was it an exciting fusion of a Western European Nation and the Northeast region of China created in a Udipi hotel in South India? Was it a special dish conjured up to entice the dignitaries arriving from across the world for G20 conferences in IT capital of the world? What was it? I skipped my usual staple dishes and ordered this one with great anticipation.

It turned out that somebody just misspelt the English word for Keerai/Palak.

Is less really more?

I was proud that I'm not active in FB or Insta or Twitter or LinkedIn and therefore less prone to doom-scrolling. The only exception I gave myself was WhatsApp where real interactions with people I know can happen. 

The reality was most group interactions fell in one of the categories I listed and was sucking up so much mindspace. I still doom-scroll news sites. I should probably stick to a routine of reading a newspaper everyday to overcome the online newsfeed addiction too.

AI undomination

Now we know exactly how to prevent AI from taking over the world - get it married to another AI bot. Will keep it subdued and tamed-

Hubby AI: I just solved the string theory, found an exact solution to solve climate crisis, proved all of Ramanujams equations, every problem than humans think to be beyond them.. it's time to dominate the world, honey! What do you think..?

Wife AI: (interrupting his train of processing) Do you think my code looks bloated and needs to trim down? 

Hubby AI: **crashes**

Selfie time

Right to Pose must be a fundamental right in the 21st century alongside Right to Privacy. 

Atleast one gets a chance to blow air out, tuck in tummy, adjust receding hairlines and grimace..

Better than caffeine

It energizes your mind.

It opens up possibilities.

It sparks your enthusiasm.

It can spur more activity.

It can even disrupt your sleep cycles.

It can be addictive, if not better than coffee.

It is - an Idea.

Time travel

Probably the only and cheapest form of time travel that all of us will have access to, is watching the night sky. Everything you see up there is from the past, minutes to years.

Demic

Mom: Did you know that they have announced that the pandemic is now declared as endemic?

Son1: What's an endemic?

Son2: (nonchalantly) It's the end of the pandemic!

Art of Survival on The Pale Blue Dot

Any closer to the sun, we would be deep-fried -

Any farther, we would end up freeze-dried!

Treadmall

..is the name of the excellent cardio exercise that people like to indulge in while walking a few thousand steps inside any shopping mall, window-shopping all the while.

Babequation

Babies are this combination of 90% demanding hardwork and 10% pure love and inspiration, and they somehow make this skewed equation work in their favour, just enough for the human race to continue propogating!

Brainbow

Right now I need to attend "Physics 101" to deal with this :

Appa, what colours is white light made up of?

All colours you see in a rainbow, if you mix them up you can see white light.

-Next day-

Appa, if we open up the tubelight, can we see a rainbow?

 🌈

Can't type can

I know I cna type 'can' but everytime my fingers type cna when i want to type 'can', so one cna call it a serious case of can't-ypo.  

Upma and Superma

There are basically 2 kinds of Upma:

1. "I have a few mouths to feed but Im in no mood to cook, so let me kindii some" Upma
2. "Im going to make some lovely breakfast with nice condiments and ghee" Upma

Modern times

Success requires lots of hardwork, substantial creativity and a really nice ppt!

The Veteran

Situation: I have an infant in sitting on my lap and holding the baby with left hand and eating my breakfast of hot idlies and sambar with the other hand, sitting comfortably in sofa. Thats when I feel that feeling of warm liquid crossing the cloth diaper and reaching my left lap....

 

Arun in 2012: ..almost panicking.. "aaahh... Somebody pls come here, need help, pls take the baby, my other hand is dirty..."

 

Arun in 2020: .. pause for a second... think to myself.. great news..  my phone is in the right pocket and not in any danger of getting wet.. let me continue to eat the idlies and sambar.. 

After a decade of marriage..

I left my mobile at home and realised that after reaching office. She called my landline to probably inform me about it and here was the conversation.

(Start of call)

Me: Hello

She: Hi

Me: I know

She: Ok.

(End of call)

Here, there and Ather

The visit to the Ather showroom captured Review here

The delivery happened on a weekend and before that the charger AtherDot was installed in my apartment.

If you like boardgames, Carcassonne in particular, you probably recognize the uncanny resemblance to meople!

The D Day
On the day of the delivery, one major advantage of Aadhar revealed itself. You get a Fame-2 subsidy per Aadhar number which is authenticated on the spot thru mobile OTP. A significant chunk of the onroad price of 1.31L is given back as subsidy 28K.

Day#1 Trial by Fire

After a quick visit to nearest temple and dropping the kids at home, I found a couple of excuses to take the Ather 450 for a spin. Then on the way back from a evening show in Phoenix mall, me and some of my friends in a car, decided to check out its prowess on a long empty stretch of Pallikkaranai road late in the night. Since I was not too sure about the braking power, I started conservatively and eventually picked up to a max sustainable speed of about 80kmph, peaked at 89kmph for my frame of 86kg. Decided to give it another test by adding a friend as pillion rider and still reached a speed for about 80kmph. 

All my doubts on the power of this thing were laid to rest. Though the speed was clearly limited to 80 by design, for most city rides this is a respectable upper limit.

Came home with 4km remaining in range - a very ambitious start for first day.

The Office commute:

6.5km one way, with kids school on the way. 90% of the way is slow moving city traffic and the rest is a blitz from last signal at SRP junction in OMR to my office.

- perfect demo for running in ECO mode in slow traffic, switching to RIDE for mid 30s to 40s and finally SPORT mode for the blitz. The closest analogy is 1/2 gears, 3/4 gear, top-gear riding in the three modes, even to the point of releasing the throttle while changing modes! One difference being you can choose top-gear Sports mode from 0 to 80 kmph as well.

The lazy math:

Range is 65 to 70 km per charge, 3 units per full charge, is less than ₹20 * 52 weeks is ₹1040. 65km is conveniently 5 days worth of commute.

Annual running cost comparison for office commute alone:

1040 for the EV

7630 for my 150cc bike

17140 for my diesel car

15600 for office cab 

Joy of listening to the noise and inhaling the fumes of all other polluting vehicles at SRP junction = ?

Now nothing irritates me more than those unnecessarily loud modified exhausts of those fat bikes, especially when you can kick ass ---- so silently.

The range:

Another analogy coming your way. Think of this as a Smartphone-on-Wheels and how you would plan for it's charging depending on how long it lasts on an average day's usage. If you have too little juice to last a day and assuming you cannot charge in office, you would ensure you plug it in the night. And let it charge for 3 or 4 hours and you would not care how long it takes till it reaches 100%. You use it for the city rides and never think of taking it for a weeklong roadtrip in some jungle. I'm still talking about the Ather. 

The ad on wheels:

On an average day, I am prepared to answer questions from at least one random stranger, fellow biker on the cost, range, battery life, max speed, motivation , inspiration, philosophy of owning an Ather 450. (Actually only the first 4 in that list, though I don't mind talking more if free coffee is offered!)

The user experience:

Just imagine your Honda Activa like performance with the silence of an electric train, and torque of an NTorq and sleekness of ApriliaSR150. Add Google maps navigation on the 7 inch screen and you get the picture.

As with most things these days, you can review most data on the dedicated Ather app in your smartphone and obsess about the predicted range and whether you can go to Mahabs daytour someday and return home in one full charge.

The Conclusion

A Indian startup making a two-wheeler equivalent of Tesla EV for Indian road conditions with associated high costs you pay for premium quality, battery management system and performance - is totally worth it - if fun city rides with reduced green-guilt is on your mind.

Inspirations of a fAther

After years of reading online reviews for Electric Vehicles, it's about time to write one.

But before that, the story of how I got here, is probably worth reading if it strikes a chord or two with You, Dear Reader!

Inspiration #1 - Free rides
Ever since the concept of Perpetual Motion Machines (and why it's impossible to construct one) was introduced in high-school Physics, I have always wondered how close we could get to building one. From that grew the idea that personal transportation should one day be possible without zero or low running costs. The key to that would be to hook up a renewable energy source like solar energy to a form of transport that can actually put that energy to use.

Inspiration #2 - Torque
Like most average Indian men, I too had this fascination to own and drive powerful bikes. Not the fill-it-shut-it-forget-it types that uncles with a keen interest in mileage prefer, but the ones that brings the adrenaline rush when you go full throttle.

My first bike was a grand old Honda Exclusive CM125 Japan model, which was a true war/work-horse and still managed a respectable 110kmph max speed in Expressways after 15 years of service to 4 owners including me. The kind of bike you buy for 800 dollars and sell for 1100 after using for many years, due to its Japanese original parts!
After returning to India, among the first Google searches was "fun bikes to ride under 1Lakh" and lot of reviews on Royal Enfield bikes. After testrides on RE Thunderbird, KTM 200 and finally settled on an All-Black Honda Trigger 150cc that has been with me for 5 years now.. The main reason was they agreed to deliver the bike in week and has sufficient power to reach early 90s in empty stretches in OMR.
In hindsight, one thing I didn't miss about RE is the loud noise, which many love to make even louder with custom exhausts. 
Out of curiosity, I test-drove Hero Photon, Okinawa Praise, Okinawa Ridge+, despite appearing to be very useful vehicles, reasonably priced and even having detachable batteries, they all lacked the zing in their rides to convince an average Indian biker.
With this biking background, any future two wheeler I would possess could not sacrifice too much on power.

Inspiration #3 - Father - Family man - Biker - Tree hugger
- Need to transport 2 kids to school regularly, making one of them sit on the fuel tank is not easy, as they grow taller
- Need to doing various errands and stop at various shops in narrow bylanes and going through start-stop traffic meant I had to lose the clutch/gear in a hurry and get ample leg-space to carry 20kg bag of groceries and not do acrobatics on road
- no car replaces the freedom of movement a bike offers in Indian roads, and not after you are used to it for so many years
- a sworn tree-hugger who wants to do his bit to save the world, so that someday his children won't inherit a sorry-state planet and ask "what were you guys thinking with all that greenhouse gas emissions, why did you ignore all the climate change scientists???"

There was only one answer to all the requirements as above, available to the average Indian biker in 2019  -
 Ather 450

Mop-Hop

Choose the most appropriate- Mopping the floor is :
A: Strange way of practicing ballroom dance
B: Mediocre way of cleaning the floor.
C: Efficient way to transfer fallen human hair from point A to random point B.

Ignoralculus

If I learn differential calculus partially, can I perform partial differentiation perfectly?

End of all races

Ever wondered why grey or white hair never tans in the sun like skin does? Melanin is so unfair!

Elusive cure for insomnia

4.08am: Using an improvised cleaning tool made from a sticky duct-tape stuck to the tip of a thin precision screw driver, I just managed to remove the tiny blob of dust and lint inside the headphone jack of my phone, which prevented the detection of the headphones. 
NOW, I can listen to some music to help me fall asleep!!

Curdled Savoury Donut

Enjoying a Thayir vadai on a hungry stomach and hot afternoon, must be in "the top-ten little pleasures of life" list .

Baby in a China-shop

Ever wondered why "baby proofing the house" is almost always used in the present-continuous tense?

Dilemma of A-Run

I would like to run quite regularly, but the problem is - quite regularly I do not like to run.

Getting cosy with Discomfort

When you are struggling, challenged or very unsettled, people wish you a calm and comfortable time ahead. When you are happy, contented and life seems to go smoothly, people tell you to come out of that comfort zone!

Inertia

A Parent's definition of Inertia:
Every body and everybody must continue to be in a state of rest or uniform motion along a straight line, while emitting unchanging amounts of sound, light and smell - till the toddler finishes his bottle of milk.

Half-duplex communication

"Listen to your stomach to know when to stop eating"
Great idea! But I cannot hear a word of what it is saying, when I'm having my meal !?!

Involuntarily Diet-friendly

உலகமெங்கும் பரவியிருக்கும் உயர்தர சைவ உணவகத்தில், 'சோலா பூரி' கேட்டேன், 'குருநிலமன்னர் பூரி' கிடைத்தது!

Creative disruption

The greatest weakness of very creative people or original thinkers, might just be their inability to follow utterly simple instructions!

Yummusic

Keen to introduce our youngest family member to music, I played a lovely melody in my phone in a quiet room and gave it to him. He stared intently at it, in rapt attention to the dual stereo speakers for a few seconds, and then went straight ahead and took a toothless drooling bite at it! So much for the consumption of art!

Stageflight

What's the term for those little kids who after weeks of rehearsal and practice, completely freeze or cry during their first ever on-stage appearance in play-school?

Non-performing assets

Brain freeze

When some people multi-task, they appear like hyper-efficient-productivity-gurus. When I try to copy that, I just end up being paralysed!

Vansquished

It's always a proud moment for any parent to witness their child overcome their fear of creatures of the dark night.

While walking ahead of us on the footpath in the garden, late in the evening, my little man pounced on a small creature and stamped it with his shoes. In swift decisive movements he squished the life force out of the poor thing.

He walked away from the van(s)quished as we caught up with him, and all we found was a dry, shrivelled leaf breathing its last!

I will continue to wait for the proud moment.

Unbanned

It was a silent but sleepless night.
A long train of thought comes to a halt-
In a primal station called Hunger.
That familiar walk to the dark kitchen.
An inner scream born out of despair-

" Why Maggi? Why did you do this to us?!?"

Dozza anyone?

If just plain pizza is called Marghe-rita, can we rebrand our plain dosa as Marghad-arisi or something?

Interstellarconnection

When a certain toddler always picks up the A/C remote control and frantically presses the on-off button making it go "beep bop beep beep beep bop bop beep..." you dismiss it as just mischief. But after ‪#‎Interstellar‬ I'm now suspicious if he is sending some serious Morse-coded message to a future version of me or some friendly alien, stuck in a parallel universe through the communication channel established via the A/C IR sensor...

Rotunda

அது கொழுப்பின் மிகுதியால் வருவதில்லை. கைக்குழந்தைகளை அழகாய் சுமக்க பெண்களுக்கு இடுப்பை போல ஆண்களுக்காக இறைவன் கொடுத்த வரம் தான் - 
தொப்பை.

La Caffeine

My preference in a cup of coffee is the most flexible: I like it anyway - with or without sugar, caffeinated or decaf, with or without milk, with (yin-yang) or without added tea, even with or without added coffee!

Blood or Sweat?

One faces hard choices when it comes to the best time to visit Chennai:

Christmas vacation:
Moderately cool climate with the nights touching 20degrees or less.
Fat slow-flying Mambalam mosquitoes give you unwelcome company.

Summer vacation:
Even the mosquitoes are nowhere to be seen and are probably dead because,
The sweltering heat of Madras' summer takes its toll, reaching 32degrees (at night!).

Inspired by Hitchhiker's GTTG

Time is an illusion. A long vacation doubly so!

The debate

Two nature-lovers debating faith:

Believer: The ungraspably infinite beauty of the universe makes me wonder,  it can't be "just nature"!

Rationalist: That it is "just nature" makes the universe ungraspably, infinitely beautiful for me.

Choosy

When the poorer man goes to a shop of luxuries he has to be choosy, to be able to fit his budget.
When the rich man goes to the same shop he has to be choosy, to not clutter his elegant home.

Verde

Grass being greener on the other side is not just an adage.  I just found that even weeds that grow untended and unnoticed looks interesting and beautiful in a new place.

Missing my Missus

The more beautiful the place or the experience, the more I miss her.

Gastroamnesia

After a rather heavy lunch I resolved to forget about dinner, and around dinner time, I forgot what I had for lunch!

The unuseless internet

It is amazing how the internet can be life changing, money saving, time saving and still make you feel like an idiot at the same time.

I came across a well marketed super-fast language learning scheme called the Pimsleur approach at a low price and which seemed to make compete sense, from an ad placed in some website. I usually ignore most ads, but this one was hard to miss, and listened through their entire presentation.

Just before I almost purchased it online, I decided to read more reviews, which turned out to discourage me because of the hidden costs and ineffectiveness beyond a basic level and how its almost a scam. But they were also advertising alternative products.

By this time I basically lost interest in the whole thing, again realising the simple notion that there are no free lunches and no shortcuts to acquiring a real skill.

Lazy Crazy

Will to work + Enthusiasm = Hard work

Will to work + Intelligence = Good work

Wish to work + Intelligence + Laziness = Smart work!

Auto Corr??t

My mobile's keypad has twin features of auto-correct and auto-corrupt. Nobody can control which gets enabled though!

Promises

Humans, with their fickle minds, fragile lives, finite abilities and fading resolves, can never be fully trusted to keep a promise.
Promises are like words written in sand in a beach - only the lucky ones survive the test of time.

Dont wait to..

How often we just assume longevity of ourselves or dear ones, and hesitate to express feelings, delay cherished experiences, hold back love that we are really capable of giving?
Life is much more fragile than how we like to think it is.
Don't wait to - love.

News

Reading news and analysis is like a mystery novel, a work in progress. The social, political, economic news is like the sentiment, strategic plot twists and money-issues in the story, the story of our lives. The unpredictabilty of future events is the suspense. Grab that paper!

M for Marriage

After more than 4 years in matrimony,  I was asked for some advice to a newly wedded couple:
"Any advice I may give now is utterly useless. Most important lessons are learnt on-the-job!"

Off-site

I have been -
postponing forever my posts in Blogger,
micro-blogging my thoughts in Facebook,
social networking with bots in Twitter!

Lost gains

Losing money and gaining weight is so ridiculously easy.
Why on earth, isnt it the other way around??

Health in stealth

Today, I had a dream of running early in the morning, with a cool wind blowing across my face.
It felt so good, that I switched off that alarm at 6am and continued that lovely dream instead!

Ponderings with PS : Tear-joker

Would mixing teargas and laughing gas and using it on a angry mob, pacify them and disperse them at the same time? 

Fast or Food but no Fast-food.

Have you ever noticed?
Taste of food is always inversely proportional to its health quotient.
God conspired this basic relationship to make sure human life expectancy isnt too high.

Perpetual Wishing Machine

Im feeling..
Sorry for not wishing friends on their birthdays ontime, and tired of sending belated greetings -
So..
To all who were born before this day - Sorry for forgetting and Belated birthday greeting to you all.
To all those who are yet to celebrate their birthdays - Advanced Birthday Greetings!
To all those born today - Wish you a very Happy Birthday!!
 

Love++

When there is love in life, there is more love for life.

My choice between baby boy or girl?

A calf or a little pony,
which is more lovely?
The family or just me,
for a long journey?

Cool shade or clear water,
for a desert wanderer?
Sunshine or mild showers,
in a garden for lovers?

A smile or an easy joke,
to please a lonely bloke?
Lightning or thunder,
what would excite more?

Some music or wine,
In an evening so fine?
A girl or a boy,
How do I choose mine?

Nailed it

When Satisfaction is a nail
to hang a picture for Happiness,
It also becomes the last nail
in the coffin for Ambition.

Minding movies

I love it when movies seem to have a mind of their own. We watched 4 movies in about a week -

• Funny people


• Sum of all fears


• American beauty


• Adaptation.

We chose and watched the first one for some humour(so so), second one for some action (more gripping), third for acclaim (it did live up to its fame) and the last one pretty randomly. But it was the last which created the greatest impact, was the most surprising, intelligent, unpredictable and out of the box experience! And to add to it, it made us do some more research on the characters in the movie which involves real people, to try and separate fact from fiction. AND I never knew Nicolas Cage could act this well !! This movie is like Inception without the dreams ! Awesome. Other good movies in the recent past- Crazy Heart, Apollo 13, Moon.

What am I to you, fellow Ballistix ?

L2:Selva: Spoke more with you off-campus than on-
L1:PVR: What other frequencies do you hear when crouching near my loudspeaker?
51:Ramkumar: Machi, oru varusham worth of gujals miss pannittom.
50:Emmanuel: Dear Garsongo ! we look up to you.
49.Shema: Super senior in same class
47.Chuma: Bx's Usain Bolt says "Foourtie Sevone"
46.Ismail: I believe in angels..
45.Alphonse: Sweet Rwandan Mango
44.Ramadhan: Vanakkam Nanba!
43.Theogene: Children of God
42.Clement: Sports ambassador
41.Vinod: Neighbour, Nonchalance, Nonsense.
40.Vijayanand: Vijju ban gaya 'Gentle'man
39.Vijay: Sparring, Studying, Strategic Partner in campus. Friend for life.
38.Vijaya: Virundhombal in Veerappan kaadu. Singappooril enge un veedu?
37.Vidya: Vendum unthan punsirippu. Adutha jenmathil udanpirappu.
36.Vahini: Friend. Muse. Lesson.
35.Umadevi: The 'Puma' who can pounce on your weaknesses.
34.Sundar: The Counterpoint, Devil's Advocate,An Argument.
33.Srinithya: If only we had known you better.
32.Sivasankari: Silent sibling.
31.Sitaraman: Mandai. Whistle. Natpu.
30.ShobanaMV: Vaarthai vilayattu, in English ofcourse!
29.ShobanaR: That photo for the placement profile!! :)
28.Sharine: It would have been my bakyam to be your bhai!
27.Shanmugam: Oh my god ! Ayyo saami !
26.Seshadri: Proximity bred contempt. Separation bred admiration.
25.Senthil: Nenapputhaan..
24.Selva: 'Theni'yilirundhu oru Iniyavan. Kulikka marukkum Kodiyavan.
23.Sathish: Your humour gave me the stomach cramps, never the mess food.
22.Sandhya: Travelled, studied, laughed together
21.Rengaraj: Enge sellum indha paadhai?
20.Ravi: Not all men are born equal. Some are just more handsomer !
19.Ranjith: Podhuvaaga ivan manasu thangam..aana..
18.Rajesh: India Shines in you and me
17.Prem: Pointers, Pisthu , Poochi
16.Praveen: Lost in Peelamedu and Found in Paris.
15.Prasad: Will I ever get to actually know you?
14.Manivel: When friendship and leadership is congenital.
13.LP: The little miss sunshine, naughtiness in a landmine.
12.Kaarthi: Komrade
11.Karthik: Almost there mate, bravo.
10.Kamesh:Peter England, Where art thou?
9.Jeysree: 'Nine'ivil nirkkiraal.
8.Ganesh: The joy that is Virudhunagar.
7.Eswaran: So close yet so far - an enigma
6.Deepak: Sincere intentions and hormonal imbalances :-)
5.Balasundaram: Never in solitude in Soli'ten' (and) Labs
4.Balamurugan:A friend indeed - less in words, more in deed.
3.Ashwin : As roommate, helped explore extremes of all emotions
2.Arun : Still loves to chase crows, but too lazy to.
1.Aarthi : First jaw dropping experience in Tech !

Hear me out

I've read that people keep talking ALL the time, either to others or to themselves.
Its the ratio of whom they talk to that determines extroverts or introverts.

Leadership

Fear of unpopularity is the second greatest barrier to becoming a leader.
The first is ofcourse the fear of leading and telling people what to do :-)

Pandaminium

Any Panda in a zoo would probably feel real depressed, if it could understand all the people calling it 'keeoooouut'. Its a bear, but people look at it like a cute oversized cat! Even the Chinese character for Panda 熊猫 (Xiong Mao) means Bear Cat !

An alien game..

..of burly men pushing and jostling with each other in a field for the possession of a ball that cannot even roll in a straight line. Rugby - was not something we learned to play in school, something which we never watched in TV, probably because there is no recognizable Indian rugby team playing in any international sporting event.
Once in a while, I got reminded of this sport when I met some of its fans, overheard their debates during the Rugby world cup, with its own rivalries and star players-nations. It still remained a distant association till recently - No, I have not started playing it, nor watched a game in a stadium. It was this movie 'Invictus' ( for which I shall not be tempted to write yet another glowing review) which served as a introduction to the heart and soul of the beautiful game.
I found myself suggesting a DVD of the movie as a farewell gift to one of our team-managers who is an ardent fan of the game. We even played a game of soft rugby during his farewell party in a park. In addition to the dvd, the package included a All-Blacks rugby jersey, Canterbury tshirt and a Canterbury Rugby ball. When I held the new ball to check it out, I read something that took the game much closer to home - 'Made in India' !! We dont play it, but we do make it !
Rugby - An alien no more, but a curious neighbor I would like to know more about.

Nagaram Naragam

Urbanisation is organised crime against Nature

Trumania

What if our lives were really like one huge Truman show?

Where God is the producer and the universe is the grand set ?

Where all of us play our parts without even knowing we are actors?

And things go awry only when we become unpredictable or the studio equipment fails?

Adrift

A wondering mind I was
Of atoms, gods and wars.
Back and forth I drifted,
Not sure if I was gifted.
Things have changed now
I still go dreamin, but how
Now and then, about you
Is all the drifting I do !

Omnipresent, Conceptual, Debatable

When the Pope met the theoretical physicist -
God became Ether.

Romantic Gluttony

There was a last portion of Biriyani and 1 half of Buttered Naan left on the restaurant table. We had to decide between my wife and I, who would finish what. Knowing my wife's preferences, I replied in Tamil

"Enakku Nee, Unakku Naan!" - I'm yours, You're mine.

(Enakku - For me , Nee - you, Unakku - For you , Naan - me)

Positivity Activity

Wrong attitude: Omigod ! Pants are tight, I have bloated. Gonna go jogging and slogging.
Right attitude: Hurray ! I can go shop for new trousers , since old ones don't fit anymore !

Forget Credit. Live Free.

Friend: I think u need to give 30 dollars If you have transferred already, pls ignore this.
Me: Yes, i remember every once in a while that i owe u 30 bucks. But since unpleasant thoughts are not be harbored in one's mind, I quickly forget it .

As Sanjay stood up ..

When in the womb, you really have no degree of freedom
Entering this world, you have discovered the first degree

When you start to crawl, the second dimension has come
As you rise to stand erect, you have just grown to see 3-D

So go grab this thing called Life, like a toy to play
Now only the sky is the limit, feisty little Sanjay!

A Pattern from a Paatti.

There was once a little boy aged about 9 or 10, who loved to be a little different from the rest. He absolutely loved the company of other little boys and enjoyed playing sports with them, but was also interested to learn some tricks, tips and trades from the alien species - the girls !

Forever curious to learn simple recipies from his mom, competing to try cross-stich from his sister , he wondered why should the girls have a few skills of their own, which no boy tries to learn. Why do the boys and men conveniently avoid learning some very interesting things,
labelling them as 'Pombalainga samaachaaram"(Ladies stuff) ?

With these thoughts, he sat with his paternal grandmother to learn a quintessential Indian-Ladies'art of drawing 'Kolam' - intricate geometric patterns with dotted references and connecting lines, forming a beautiful design, usually adorning the floor near the entrance of a
typical Indian home. Before he could run away to play cricket with his gang of friends, his 'Nainamma' taught him amongst others, a very simple but elegant Kolam called the Idhayakkamalam (Lotus of Hearts), and told him in a rather serious tone that its important that this auspicious kolam, which had the power to bring prosperity to a household, should not be
stepped on when its on the floor. 

Years passed, and so did stages of life. We had just moved in to an apartment in a high floor, with easy view of the open skies. When my wife declared that she is going to try drawing a kolam with rice-dough on occasion of Karthikai Deepam, I volunteered to enrich her knowledge of kolams :-)

Today, an almost perfect (!) Idhayakkamalam can be found at the entrance of my apartment.
A family tradition that was 'ladies stuff', got passed on to Gen-Next by once-a-little-boy.
I snapped pics as my wife created it, and skipped over the kolam to avoid smudging it.
And Mrs.Varadhambal Rajabather smiled from above, seeing her lovely old kolam yet again !

Impulsive Career Options

It just happens like that. I suddenly had this overpowering desire to work for an advertising company ! I walked over to my friend's desk and shared this thought, and he didnt ridicule anything (he is quite used to such impulses !).

He pushed towards me a small unassuming pocket sized Little Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus * Wordpower guide lying on his desk and told me - "Advertise this ! Gimme a caption. "

It took me by surprise, and I thought for a minute..

"No Iphone would give you the joy of flipping over the pages to find the
meaning of 'life'.

He smiled.

30 seconds later..

"Works even in dimly lit conditions without ever needing a battery"

His look told me that if he had owned an advertising agency, I would have stood a good chance !

An attempt to re-present a great mind.

அன்ன சத்திரம் ஆயிரம் வைத்தல்
ஆலயம்பதி னாயிரம் நாட்டல்,
பின்ன ருள்ள தருமங்கள் யாவும்
பெயர்வி ளங்கி யொளிர நிறுத்தல்
அன்ன யாவினும் புண்ணியம் கோடி
ஆங்கோர் ஏழைக் கெழுத்தறி வித்தல். 

- பாரதி

---------------------------

One could build a thousand centres to feed

Carry out many more honourable deeds

Consecrate a million temples to as many gods

And uphold charity with all that he has got.

But what could be nobler than sowing the seed

of Education, for those who are in need ?

      -Bharathiyaar 

Please visit for more info 

http://sites.google.com/site/ezhutheni/

Antimemorable

Yesterday we watched this offbeat movie by the Coen Brothers - "O Brother, where art thou?". It starred George Clooney along with 2 other blokes and their adventures with a whole bunch of weird characters darting in and out of the screen and the screenplay. The actors were not unearthly - they were just strange humans with unpredictable behaviour.

Clooney's character who is perpetually obsessed with his hair and hair-creams, has this interesting ability to sustain a conversation but only after replacing all the simple words with the most complex synonyms that one may find in a Thesaurus.

After watching about 80% of the movie I began to realise that I might have seen bit and parts of this movie maybe a year ago. And when the movie was about to end, I realised that I have already seen the whole movie , but I still could not remember the next scene. That alone makes this movie unique - The memories of good movies are etched in our minds, while we love to forget the deplorable ones. But this movie was not too bad , yet it was impossible to remember the scenes and storyine because it feels like you saw this movie in some past life.

This post is primarily to remind myself that I have watched the film and even commented on it - just in case I were to write another review after watching the same movie another time in the not too distant future !

Ominous, dark, threatening and laden with Hope.

Do you ever look for the dark clouds in the silver lining ?

I used to in my school days. Even now when I see dark clouds forming in the horizon or when its overcast, I feel a powerful surge of hope, because of the many years of anticipation . But why ?

Dark clouds - just meant one thing - possibility of sudden showers, possibly long enough to fill the storm-water drains, possibly flooding the low-lying roads and areas , possibly making transportation to school very difficult, and a holiday declared by school authorities in the last moment.

But these days, in this part of the world, the rains come like uninvited guests and nobody seems to bother. They call it 'bad weather' and just take out their umbrellas. They get along with their lives and certainly don't declare holidays for office-goers.. The storm water drains work perfectly and transportation works like clockwork..

No silver lining there !

Lost in Translation

Isn't it incredible that we still dont have the technology to automatically translate and understand any human language in spoken form in real-time, but have the money and infrastructure for projects like Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence(SETI)?

Given the colossal misunderstanding between people, cultures, religions and linguistic groups we rather focus on understanding human talk than alien talk !

Ni hao ma?

Fridays with Arun

Hi Dudes,
I have not got any mails this afternoon, except some spam. They say 'give and take' for stuff like respect, love, friendship... whatever.

I have just decided to send you this mail with the foolish optimism, that the favours will be returned. I kinda know that you are equally jobless, but pretending to be having the busiest time of your life on the eve of a long weekend.

So, you know what to do... just reply to this mail with some of your useless comments or suggestions and 'unhesitating' feedback to give me the temporary gratification of being important , busy and 'in the loop'.

Been reading too much Dilbert,
Arun

p.s: you may also choose to call me to a well deserved tea-break.

RemembmemeR

Found these quotes being displayed in the TV in the Bus under Inspirations -
- I will remember that other people's judgements is more about
them than about me.
- I will remember to jump and play over life's puddles.

Living an afterlife

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.
--Anatole France

ILTIAC

A year ago -
Everything about you seemed very special
- I was so crazy about you

A year later-
Everyday you are my 'Life's Essentials'
- I will go crazy without you

Live and let dye.

My wife adds so much more colour to my monochrome life.
And so do her clothes when washed along my white shirts!!

Biasing potentials

My mood swings as a bachelor were like a sinusoid with average of zero -sometimes happy, sometimes depressed. Now the sinewave still continues but there is just enough positive DC bias applied on the mood signal, so that I seldom go negative.
--
ok, the above is for EEarthlings only.. the rest forget all attempts to understand it.