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.

Earth's darkest Hour ? March 28 2009 - 8.30-9.30pm

So many advertisements, so many inspired conversations, so many associated thoughts of optimism/hopelessness... How did one idea capture so many people's imagination ? I have not read much about this event in news, but am here to report my own story.

I had marked 'Earth Hour' in my calender alarm, and planned to switch off not just the lights but the mains switch to maximise the power shutoff . Despite dangers of stuff ending up rotting in my fridge, I hoped the insulation would help for atleast an hour.

And what happened ?

Went outside to a visit to the temple at 7pm, almost forgot all about it till the alarm sounded near the altar. I felt rather glad that we had remembered to switch off all the lights before we left home, so we were actually celebrating 'Earth Hour' in absentia..

Visited a friends place, then had dinner in a restaurant, celebrated the good news of my sister's birth to a baby boy, returned home tired, slept fitfully, and woke up next morning -
-- to find that the adjacent room was unusually warm- I had forgotten to switch off the electric iron after using it the previous evening !!

A misstep of one man's stupidity,
But a giant leap for humanity !

Behold the miracle - Today

If Spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change!
But now the silent succession suggests nothing but necessity.
To most men only the cessation of the miracle would be miraculous and the perpetual exercise of God's power seems less wonderful than its withdrawal would be.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Heights of Eco-friendliness.

Caption for a plastic can to hold water in a western toilet -

"Love Nature. . . Hate Paper"

Reverse aging potion

I happened to be in a party where

      there were food and drink galore.

But it turned out to be little food,

      but alcoholic drinks - more and more.

Being a teetotaller, I could only watch

     as all that happened, to my utter dismay-

That the revellers tried to challenge each

     other's macho-ness in a nasty nasty play.

"Drink it bottoms-up if you are a man"-

     one of them did very loudly proclaim,

But the more they consumed, 

     the more juvenile they all became !

Not this time

Familiar are these waters and mild ripples on it
But this time, the lake fails to calm my heart.


Deserved attention the full moon would get,
But not now, when it just blends in the palette.


To listen to some insects in the forest at night,
No longer do I stop breathing for a minute.


The soothing joy of solitude is what I sought,
But with you in my arms, noone's going to miss it!

Fat Boy Swim

Weight gain thru fat accumulation may finally be useful..
fats/oils are lighter than water = less effort needed to swim and stay afloat..
This is based on personal experience..!

When bitten by the shutterbug..

... you will tend to close one of your perfectly functional eyes,
just to see the world like your camera would.

Happiness is ..

... being able to live in peace with one's own past, present and future.

Apple of my eye

She changes the way
I see this beautiful earth

She is here to stay
till im buried in it

She is the first one
to be touched every morning

And the last one
to kiss me good night

Caressing my temples,
Kissing my nose

Her presence by my side,
is a reassuring sight

No one can separate us,
For she is a part of me

So close, so intimate
that we see eye to eye

We see the world together
and redefines the way i look

She is the apple of my eye
Oh no! she is a part of me

--
Me and my spectacles

This Decade

The world did not come to an end with Y2K problem after all.

Computers and 'devices' talk to each other over networks more than humans do in person.

The most unreal things happen in 'reality' shows.

There is always some war or conflict in some part of the world in the newspaper.

Some crops managed to reach fuel tanks instead of hungry stomachs, in the form of biodiesel.

People go without a purse, but cannot go without a cell phone.

After laughing at the queer costumes from your dad's school photos, you find that it is fashionable again.

Camera tricks and sets are replaced by Computer graphics and animation in blockbuster movies.

Being 'Online' refers to internet instead of telephone.

Digital-divide continues where Poverty-line ends.

Your net bank savings is not a printed number in a passbook anymore, but a number stored in some server's hard disk.

Suddenly global warming is big enough to get a Nobel Peace prize, but not big enough for the most powerful nation to endorse the actions needed to reverse it.

Half of the world's ills are blamed on greedy developed countries, who in turn blame it on developing countries growing 'too fast'.

Bushfires are under control and fires caused by Bush are not.

Uranium enrichment is a considered bigger problem than a huge nuclear stockpile.

Meanwhile Rock concerts blasting music are dedicated to conserve the earth.

American Idol is seen and loved everywhere in the world.

China is actively building up its cricket team.

You can buy a ticket to experience space travel and zero gravity. No such service for heaven or middle-earth.

Bloody, repulsive images are printed in cigarette packets, yet it discourages everybody except smokers.

Corporate social responsibility is now one more stunt for 'ethical' media publicity.

It’s ok for adults to watch and enjoy cartoon animation movies too.

Microwave radiation passes through peoples' brains more often everyday, than thru their food.

Sleepy subjects in school are now primetime infotainment in NatGeo, Discovery, History and AnimalPlanet.

Terrorists replaced aliens as most preferred villains in movies.

Dinosaurs start to feature in Rocky, Die hard, Indiana Jones, Terminator, Rambo.

Australia is suddenly closer to Asia than the West and its prime minister can speak in Mandarin.

And all businesses, magazines, governments are looking 'East'. There seems to be no economic article these days that does not mention China or India.

Overpopulation is not a problem anymore, but is referred to as 'sizeable market' these days.

Immigration rate increases in some countries as birth rate decreases in others.

Countries still compete to build the world's tallest building despite some horrific disasters.

Tamil is now declared a classical language, but sadly I prefer to use English to report that.

Many common nouns get a prefix of 'e' or 'i' -e-mail, e-governance, e-passport, i-pod, i-shuffle.

Security and immigration procedures in airports can take more time than the travel time.

Countries advertise on TV to promote their tourism just like companies put up ads to sell their products. Incredible India competes with Inside Intel during ad time.

Education is spelled as 'Livelihood' for students and 'Business' for Institutions imparting it.

Simple things like food, water, land, fuel cost more and complex things like cars, electronics, and air travel cost less.

But many tech 'essentials' have remained free - incoming calls, email, voice chat, online music, video, news, data storage.

There is much more spam messages than real mails being transmitted.

Short sight of the eyes is now fully curable by Lasik, but myopic government policies are not.

The greatest Communist powers have become Capitalist, yet new communist governments are still elected.

A lot more people are discovering freedom of speech and expression in a virtual world, but Dictators who limit them have not disappeared in the real world.

More Indians work in software industries than in sugarcane plantations.

There are more Chinese products in the market than bacteria in your ear.

Spelling mistakes scorned by your English teacher are now considered kewl numonyx.

Before even saying their name, people start to share their email id or blog address with you.

You can have a phone, video-conferencer, instant messenger, alarm clock, calendar, calculator, internet browser, mp3 player, still and video camera, GPS receiver, voice recorder, pager, notepad, document reader, email client, FM radio, dictionary, gaming device, emergency torchlight (and trouser pocket warmer) -- ALL in one small handheld device --But it still cannot be used as electric shaver !

This decade, I finally came to realize that I won’t be a student forever - but will eventually complete education, find employment, fall in love yet again and get married.

Frankly(n) speaking...

The best thing to give
to your enemy is, forgiveness;
to an opponent, tolerance;
to a friend, your ear;
to your child, good example;
to your father, reverence;
to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you;
to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.

- Benjamin Franklin

----
to your mother- its fantastic to note that a famous kural by Tiruvalluvar conveys exactly the same meaning- great minds think alike.

ஈன்ற பொழுதின் பெரிதுவக்கும் தன்மகனை
சான்றோன் எனகேட்ட தாய்.
On hearing from others that her son is full of virtues and wisdom,
a mother feels happier than the moment she begot him.

Climate change

I can't remember my past demons now,

and the old sorrows don't bother me a bit.

After you walked so silently into my life,

you made this inner happiness - a habit.

Director's cut

I find Directors of anything -be it serials or movies - to be really impressive characters themselves. Just observing them at work, or listening to their interviews can be an insight into the intelligent beings that they are. They are such great observers of humanity and emotions, abstract things and the analogies they may me exploited for, and their ability to think on their feet when something in their bound scripts go wrong.

Most of all, their energy to create.

I asked one director I was working with in between the scenes, after seeing him run around getting things done at 4am in the studio - 'Sir , from where do you get all this energy from ?' 'Nuclear power ?' I suggested.

And he replied without thinking for long "Vairagyam power", and went on to direct his next scene ! (Vairagyam ~ Strong willed perseverance)

Pyar ka side effects.

I look forward to everyday.
Im less cynical about things.
The colours looks deeper.
The music sounds richer.
The daily meal is tastier.
Life doesnt suck anymore.
Singles look like aliens.
Replaced 'n' in Lonely with 'v'.
God seems most benevolent.
Nature seems kinder to me.
The world feels a bit safer.
Cellphone is THE invention.
Cloudy days dont mean sadness.
I now like the guy in the mirror.
Coincidence is believable again.
Hope doesnt seem vain anymore.
Optimism isnt bad after all.
Dark nights arent depressing.
I goto sleep with a smile.

I am in love.

Revenge of the aliens.

What an idiot I am! A lovable one at that!

ஜென்மம்

மறுபிறவியில் நம்பிக்கையில்லை
என்னோடு நீ வாழ்வதானால்

மீண்டும் பிறக்க வேண்டும்
என்னோடு நீ சேராவிட்டால் !

Rising from The Ashe

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?


To this Arthur Ashe replied:

" The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam,
50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals,

when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'.
And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,
Sorrow keeps you Human,
Failure keeps you humble and
Success keeps you glowing,
but only Faith & Attitude Keeps you going...

Light !

Been wandering for many years
In a never ending wilderness
Being so blinded by the tears
Groping through the darkness


A gentle whisper, somewhere near
I pause to turn around and hear
Just had to open my eyes to see -
Blue skies, rising sun and lovely sea !

The Great Paradox

George Carlin, comedian of the 70s and 80s wrote the following eloquent and appropriate piece on our times.
I must have received received this half a dozen times, read it and absorbed a bit of it everytime.
--------------------

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.. We have more
degrees but less sense, more knowledge , but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one
night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Same same, but different

With specimens of the same gender,
Familiarity breeds Contempt.

With specimens of the opposite gender,
Familiarity breeds !

என்னில்

இசைதரும் அமைதியில்
தமிழென்னும் அமிழ்தினில்

கவிதையின் சுவையினில்
குழந்தையின் சிரிப்பினில்

மழலையின் அர்த்தத்தில்
மெளனத்தின் சத்தத்தில்

பூக்களின் இதழ்களில்
பூமியின் இயக்கத்தில்

குழலின் இன்னிசையில்
குறளின் இல்லறத்தில்

கடல்களின் சீற்றத்தில்
இயற்க்கையின் தோற்றத்தில்

தோழமையின் மகிழ்ச்சியில்
தனிமையின் வீழ்ச்சியில்

கடந்தகால நிகழ்வுகளில்
எதிர்கால கனவுகளில்

விடியாத இரவுகளில்
தூங்காத விழிகளில்

உந்தன் நினைவுகளே
தவழுமென் மனதில்.

Law of Nature or Law of the Land?

Nature endowed fruits with great taste and nutrition, so that the animals that feed on them inadvertently help propagate the species by dropping the inedible seeds in a different place. But in a city where littering is a punishable offense, maybe with fines or community service, I often run into this quagmire - when eating fruits !

I buy my daily serving of 'fresh' cut fruit (coming straight from the refrigerator) and walk back to office passing by a long stretch of land with lots of soil and vegetation.

So is it right to launch the seed in some random direction in that area or drop it in the nearest rubbish bin ? I usually end up on nature's side. How about you ?

Quotable quotes

The quotes which appeal to you the most, happen to be the ones whose idea have always been hovering in your mindspace, but somebody beat you in saying it out with just the right words !

Example:
"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing,
wind braces us up, and snow is exhilarating;
there is really no such thing as bad weather,
only different kinds of good weather."
-John Ruskin (1819-1900)

The 5 second coma

The momentary glitch in the power coils of the brain, commonly experienced during trainings, presentations or seminars, leading to an increased perception of gravity in the head, followed by symptoms like a transcient blackout, loss of bloodsupply to the eyes, an invincible downward force on the eye-lids and a complete loss of consciousness, just when involuntary reflex action is needed to bring back the drooping head back to its default vertical position after about 5 seconds of uninterrupted bliss, despite the apparent danger of the condition which could degrade to longer timed comatose states, depending upon the relative score of the presenter on the SYS (Stretchy Yawn Scale) used to measure boredom.

---
Originally scribbled on the notepad during such a presentation to avoid getting the above symptom ! Due to some unexplained reason didnt feel the need to write shorter sentences..

Foto Flattery !

Arun:I uploaded a few images from Langkawi, Malaysia only yesterday night. Have you been there during your trip to Malaysia?

Davide: we didn't go to Langkawi, but I'll check your photos knowing that they will give me the idea of being there.

Arun : Im sorry, the pics might disappoint you in that regard. I've gradually lost interest in travel photography and the 'I was there too' kind of photos :)

Davide : I'm always pleased to see your photos, so that I don't think I'll find new ones different from the previous ones. I mean, the eyes catching these pictures are still yours...

Nightlife

The thing about insomnia is that there is almost nobody left in your own timezone, who is still awake to discuss about the problem, its causes or the symptoms you are suffering from.

And if you try to discuss, it could quickly escalate to be a communicable disease !

Me Versus We

Life on earth seems to be inherently unfair.
The sooner one realises and accepts it has higher chances of succeeding materially.
The sooner one realises and revolts it has higher chances of succeeding morally.
Does the former tends to be a Capitalist and the latter becomes a Socialist ?

The humble script-writer

...thats you and me !
Its a conclusion according to my newest half-formed analogy about man-god relationship.

Most Hindus like to believe in fate, and describe thalai-ezhuthu (script on the head, literally), as each living soul's destiny written by God himself. For a long time I wasnt sure to believe it or not.

The movie 'Bruce Almighty' was my first introduction to the concept of -free will, and I still have miles to cover in this topic. Wikipedia has this - "free will may imply that an omnipotent divinity does not assert its power over individual will and choices"

Im a believer but with a liking for the concept of free will - So Paragraph-2 and 3 above obviously contradict and right here Arun is forced to imagine his own understanding of his universe :-)

Lets put it this way - Each of our lives is a movie that lasts a lifetime. After a initial phase of babydom, each child is constantly forced to choose between options. Soon he grows to be an individual taking decisions big and small on a daily basis - He scripts the story of his life.

But just a story on paper doesnt make a movie.

Here comes the all powerful 'Super-Good' Producer-Director-Censor who buys the rights of your story, and decides to make a movie out of it.

He does the casting to choose all characters and their props (your genes, your nature, your parents, friends, colleagues, spouse(s), children and all the extras) .

He makes all of the scenes a reality, adds his own creative inputs to amplify or attenuate certain elements(success or failure of any human initiative).

He surprises and shocks his viewers(the humble script-writer included) with more twists and turns to it.

He finally cuts some of the scenes from the original script which does not suit his taste.

But despite all his efforts the success or failure of the movie still rests heavily on the strength of the original story - So lets go ahead a write a good one !!

Misnomer

How can those chosen to endure
whats always an exhausting labour,
And tolerate the greatest pain ever felt,
Be mindlessly called 'the weaker sex ' ? ? ?

The gift of senses

The chill of the very first drop of monsoon rain
The thrill of the climbing mountains despite the pain
The fragrance of the white blooms in the dark night
The variance of species in an equatorial rain-forest
The mellowness of the smooth ricotta cheese
The yellowness of the bright sunflower fields
The overwhelming spray of waves in the beach
The breathtaking sound of John Williams guitar
The beauty of the crimson sun, rising in the east
The intense burn of the spicy curry in a feast
...
All of this, that and more, I'm so yearning to share
Do you care to pause and have some time to spare ?

Freud's failures in forwards

Two kinds of men dont understand women-
Bachelors and husbands.

Marriages are made in Heaven.
And so is lightning and thunder.

If you can get it right the first time,
Skydiving is not for you.

Have you ever noticed that the guy who drives
faster than you on the road is a maniac,
and slower than you is always a moron.

Many people stop looking for work, once they get a job.

Its a complex world !

Wishing you a happy birthday is easy, simple and the obvious thing to do. But after all our regular mails, discussions about the plans for the birthday, and so on, it almost sounds like a redundant foregone conclusion that i would call or mail or sms you my "Happy birthday wishes", and say the procedural "many more happy returns of the day". Where there is a high level of predictabilty the communication content dwindles down to zero.But given the traditional nature of wishes and the relative importance of the day for you, it is almost imperative that I do it, despite the fact that it may not add much to our relationship or feelings about the day, especially after all the wishes, treats, gifts and greeting cards that you might have received from your friends, family.

Yet ,

I wish you a very happy birthday and a wonderful year ahead, and hope you achieve all the goals that you set out to.

Freedom Fries

Tonnes of workload.
Never ending activity
Shifting priorities
High quality work
Urgent deliveries
Project management tasks
Pending documentation
--No more a free man !!

--
"A free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought."

Stress at work

Many strings keep pulling at you as if you were a puppet,
yet you are expected to act independently in decision-making !

The Unofficial Guide to Audio Engineering

Some interesting ideas which have been floating around, without much hope for a patent though..
------------------
- Embedded Mp3 player with randomized playlist function

Yeah, thats placed right in between the auditory cortex and long term memory and pattern recognition regions of the brain. And no-its not any artificial device waiting to be implanted by some top neuro-surgeon.

Its already there in most of us : The ability to ignore all the the noises of the world, sit down in remote corner or walk along any path or corridor AND switch on the music player in the mind. It can belt out all the favorite songs in your personal play-list. It even works in karaoke mode when needed, and can rewind, forward, and skip tracks as you please without even flicking a switch.

But some known bugs include -
Stuck-in-the-head song effect : Invariably an advertisement jingle, or not so famous song goes on an infinite loop, it just sticks on to you like an axe wedged into your cranium and you are afraid to remove or dislodge it from its position.

Forward works, but rewind button doesnt : Especially if you trying to remember the lyrics of the song, you are required to run thru most part of the song that comes before the words you want to remember

Lunatic dancer effect : Some of those peppy numbers want to make you shake a limb or two especially in solitary places, thinking that no-one is looking at you - only to discover that people have been discreetly giggling at your inexplicably spasmodic jerks in front of any reflective surface.

------------------
- Wireless Music File-transfer Protocol by Induction Technique

A simple procedure which works with people who share more or less the same tastes in music and language. The sender of the music file has to hum or sing a line or two of the song in relatively quiet environs , within the audible range of the receiver. And stop singing the song in a abrupt way.

The system works like a siphon does- once you initiate the flow of the fluid between the end points, there is no need for the siphoner to continue sucking the tube. Successful transmission of the song file is confirmed when the receiver or listener starts humming the tune or even singing it after a latency of 5 seconds or so.

The proper acknowledgement is got when the receiver exclaims in an irritated tone "Why did you put THAT song in my head ?? I dont like that one"
Or after completing singing that song, with a puzzled look " Eh?? How did I remember this song ? hey ..was it you humming that song a while ago ?"

Known bugs :
Collision Detect Error : When two people are simultaneously trying to send different files to one receiver , the Rx flags a violation as its detects garbled data reception and screams "Will one of you shut up? you are driving me nuts !"

Gender Mismatch anamolies: If a song transfer is attempted between people from different planets (2nd and 4th of Solar system), and if the contents of the song happen to be of the romantic kind, the data signals are sometimes misunderstood to be control signals,. The Receiver protests loudly and sometimes there is violent exchanges in the physical layer. But alternatively if the interpretation is correct and agreeable to both sides, then both sender and receiver continue to playback the same music file, which is commonly referred to in layman terms as 'duet' !

Pythagoras' Philosopher

Found a brilliant definition for 'Philosopher'
------
When Pythagoras was once asked who philosophers were, he replied that life seemed to him to resemble the games in the Olympic festival: some men sought glory, others to buy and sell at the games, and some men had come neither for gain nor applause, but for the sake of the spectacle and to understand what was done and how it was done.

In the same way, in life, some are slaves of ambition or money, but others are interested in understanding life itself. These give themselves the name of philosophers (lovers of wisdom), and they value the contemplation and discovery of nature beyond all other pursuits.

Football Invite.

Hello Boys (and a few rare gentlemen !)

Its been a while since we broke a few bones and tore some ligaments, so
by now most of them would be enjoying perfect health. Now I invite you
all to resume playing the beautiful game from next week.

Its at AMK ITE starting next wednesday . There is no floodlight for the
football field, but the ambient lighting from the nearby basketball
court was found to be sufficient for our style of play :-)

So wake up your soccer boots, those stinkin socks, your favourite
jerseys and that natural instinct to kick some balls !!
(meanwhile the girlfriends, wives, televisions and laptops can wait... )

Please do reply if you can come next week, (OR submit a 20 page report
on the excuses for why you cannot make it !)
Lets have a 'ball' !!

Yours kickingly,

When someone says NO..

July 17 - late in the evening ~ 9.30pm.. I was returning back from the flute class.. on the way back, walked for 15mins from bus stop to home.. thinking about my life and where im heading..All thatexertion made me feel hunger and thirst..more thirst for something different, that just the same old can of non-carbonated drink.. The 7-11shop was on the way home..

I have been an abstainer during all the time in school, college and university and first few years of work.. last few months i was getting more curious to try out alcoholic drinks of various kinds to sample them..wine, vodka, lager beer, bourbon, rum all found their way into my system at different social events, and sometimes even when i was alone.. So this time i wanted to try the Bacardi Breezers which were fruit juices with vodka just abt 5%alc.

I was telling myself, "i neednt worry abt the world's collective advice- just me and my decision whether to do it or not." I felt very much empowered by that thought.

Reaching 7-11, i saw that i didnt have enough cash in my purse. so went to the ATM, after a few attempts it simply refused to part with any cash..walked even further to another ATM, but found it closed. walked back to 7-11 and searched for all the coins i had on me..it was still not enough.. i had a collection of cards/cashcard/nets but for the price of the drink, the shopkeeper would not accept any card since it was lower than the minimum charge. and i didnt feel like buying other things just to have a bill greater than the minimum card amount.

I just stopped there, and recollected what had just happened..10 minutes ago i had thought that i was in control of my own life and decisions.. Now it looked like i just cant buy the thing i wanted to, despite having all the resources to buy it, but all the money seemed locked out of my reach.

I wasnt sure if it was intuition or confusion,

I dont think it was hesitation or desperation,

but i felt a definitive "Son, NO!!" from He,

who was resonating in all the space around me !

letter to mom & dad..

Dear Farmer,

You had sown the seeds,
You didnt desert them for greener pastures,
You took care of the young plants and watered them,
You removed the weeds and obstacles for their growth
Now they are big trees with flowers and fruits,
Ready to give their produce and cool shade to you.

Loving regards,
The Tree who was once a Seed.

Signature Styles

Just a compilation of email-signatures which adorned my otherwise boring mails :)
-----------------------------------------
Cliches are often just hard truths tamed by familiarity

A free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought.

Efficiency is Intelligent Laziness.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and Im not sure anout the former.

"I Think;Therefore I Am"- a hyper-fuzzy-neuron of an insomniacal moron !

Never underestimate the power of stupid people.

"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it
the seed of an equal or greater benefit" --- Napoleon Hill

"When you see the teeth of a lion, dont assume the lion is smiling"
---- An Iraqi Proverb

~~-- Where words fail, music speaks --~~

-- ~~-- Where words fail, even silence speaks --~~

=========Even if you are on the right track,===========
=========you'll get run over if you just sit there...!

Experience : The nice sounding name that men give to their mistakes.

I just stumbled on a great New-Year Resolution but its exactly the same as last
year's - "I will start Jogging "

-- "USA Today has come out with a new survey:
Apparently three out of four people make up 75 percent of the population."
- David Letterman

> Do not take life seriously. You never get out of it alive.

If I knew what I was so anxious about,
I wouldn't be so anxious. - Mignon Mclaughlin

I have blood group with an attitude -B+

If you see someone without a smile, give them some of yours.

I saw nrob yadot

Today made me wonder what have I gained in these 26 years of worldly existence..
I thought and researched and calculated and found the exact answer :

73.4 kilograms

The disclaimer quote

There is NO single philosophy or quote or law or proverb which is universally applicable at all people at all times and every possible situation. So dont go searching for one.

And that comes back to my old favourite- All generalisations are false including this one !

Oh See Sea !

its a rare disease - I usually cannot go without replying to all the personal emails from friends.
Which means that unless the other party stops replying, the mails would never cease !
I have observed such odd behaviour to conversations, chats, telephone, any form of communication.
Does that make me an OCC (Obsessive Compulsive Conversationist ) ??

Broken compass

Life is like a raging tornado,
and Im just a bumblebee.
Its takin me just everywhere
and I forget where I wanna be!

Fictitious Facts

Most human minds are always curious, and interested to know about things , however useless.
And where such curiosity cannot be fed with information, its the imagination that takes over  !

 

Enjoyed each one of these from a fwd..

because they sound a lot like my email signatures.... !

Here are some nice Dilbert's one liners ..:

1. I say no to alcohol, it just doesn't listen.

2. A friend in need is a pest indeed.

3. Marriage is one of the chief causes of divorce.

4. Work is fine if it doesn't take too much of your time.

5. When everything comes in your way you're in the wrong lane.

6. The light at the end of the tunnel may be an incoming train.

7. Born free, taxed to death.

8. Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film.

9. Life is unsure; always eat your dessert first.

10. Smile, it makes people wonder what you are thinking.

11. If you keep your feet firmly on the ground, you'll have
trouble putting on your pants.

12. It's not hard to meet expenses, they are everywhere.

13. I love being a writer... what I can't stand is the paperwork.

14. A printer consists of 3 main parts: the case, the jammed
paper tray and the blinking red light.

15. The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy
who invented the other three, he was the genius.

16. The trouble with being punctual is that no one is there to
appreciate it.

17. In a country of free speech, why are there phone bills?

18. If you cannot change your mind, are you sure you have one?

19. Beat the 5 O'clock rush, leave work at noon!

20. If you can't convince them, confuse them.

21. It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the
end.

22. I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.

23. Hot glass looks same as cold glass. - Cunino's Law of Burnt
Fingers

24. The cigarette does the smoking you are just the sucker.

25. Someday is not a day of the week .

Friendly strangers

It is not humanely possible for one man to fully understand the problem faced by another, to exactly the same magnitude and seriousness. And viceversa, its impossible to accurately describe all the feelings, emotions attached to an issue to another person. So when people search for that special friend who 'understands', its always bound to be a futile, never-ending search. The maximum that one can hope for in friendships and relationships and avoid disappointment by doing so, is to find people who 'get the idea'. Nothing more, nothing less.

So its true that you are your best friend, and everybody else (other than God?) is just a friendly stranger !

Sat. Nit. Fvr.

I survive the week, to live in the weekend !

And this weekend peaked right in the middle of the weekend- Saturday night. It all unfolded in the Ministry of Sound at Clarke Quay - neon environs, slick interiors, graffiti walls, eye-catching lighting , groovy dance floors and of course great music.

An interesting experiment i tried on myself today was to try to switch between extremes in state of the mind. It sounds strange and impossible, but i could feel it happen. The ability to control my feelings nudging it to the extremes, than letting it control me was empowering..

> I pushed myself to feel super excited while dancing, and after a while suddenly switched myself to really calm state even though engulfed by pounding techno music.

>Tried to be extremely happy and enjoying the company of friends and crowd, and then to turn off completely and feel solitude in my own personal island while standing in a sea of humanity

>Cracked jokes, injected humour and laughed hard, and soon switched to the see pathos and grappled with the seemingly pointless human existence.

I didnt worry about the Action-observation-inference of the above experiment , but it was just interesting to perform !
-----

Arunmozhi

I always used to try moving away from those I thought as negative people.
But all I have to learn, is to stay away from negative thoughts and opinions.
 

Pro

Pondering one day about the kind of employees who work in my office,we came up a quad-band classification to describe them -

There are some extremely professional and workaholic people,
There are some very unprofessional and lethargic people,
There are some who are just professionals,
And there are some who are just people - like me !

Use-and-throw words

Wat hapens wen you hav comited a stoopid tipografical eror, but firmlie beleiv tat acsepting mistaks howevar trivial they are,  is an humeeliating defeet to one's eegoe ?   - Invent a word like this one :

Lickled :
Being  lickled is exactly the kind of feeling/incident, when you are trying to type any word starting with 't', an involutary muscular spasm that causes your hand-eye coordination to go awry and make one depress the 'l' key instead of 't'.   its a very specific word with limited use not worth committing to ur memory !
 

Another Friday evening

This article had a definite effect on me, from the time I read it a few months ago.

Today I was wandering quite aimlessly near the mall in Tampines, half hoping to find some library there. After some uninterested browsing in the Levi's, Fila, Fox, Bum equipment showrooms I just moved on without buying a thing. Disappointed with my own botched up shopping spree, I decided to help the Singaporean economy by spending just 1 dollar to buy the irresistible curry puff of Old Chang Kee. I walked to a side wall, leaned on it and started to nibble at the puff.

Sitting on a small stool and leaning on a pillar , some 10 feet away from me was this 50 something old Chinese man with a saxophone started to produce some sounds. We were separated by a corridor where a streaming mass of pedestrians walking to and fro. The mobility of the people and stillness of this man was a strange sight indeed, and for a while was a bit distracting for me. But the man kept playing a melody and didnt seem to be bothered by the hurrying rabbits around him, and thats when I noticed he was blind.

Now as the music picked up, and the image of the player is only what i saw amidst the blurry chaos between us, and I relaxed to some soothing music to please my ears, and the puff satisfying my palette. One does get much better music in a concert in Esplanade Concert hall,but they allow you to simultaneously enjoy a hot curry puff inside!

After a couple of songs, I was ready to leave, I walked up to him, dug out all the coins i had in my pocket into his money box - probably helped him for his next meal.

Then I went to him while he was resting between 2 songs, moved close to his ears and spoke softly "very nice music Uncle..good night ! " - probably helped him for his next song, as he thanked me with a warm smile that truly belongs only to a performer of the arts.

Arunmozhigal

Law of attraction of headphone wires :
Every wire in this universe will entangle with every other wire with a force thats directly proportional to the product of the user's urgent need and presence in public and inversely proportional to the square of the time it was left unused.

The IC Designer's analogy of Child-Birth

Ever wondered how closely phases in the birth of a child follows a typical integrated chip development cycle so closely ? If you havent yet, then start now!

The relationship between designer(mom) and internal customer(dad) within the parent company is key to success of the project. Its starts with marketing presentations, feasibility studies, and project planning(courting,proposals,marriage). The designer and internal customer work closely to create the initial requirement spec(zygote).That happens only after severe brainstorming sessions to choose between millions of competing ideas, the most potent one is chosen for implementation(fertilisation process).

The quality of the final product primarily depends on the quality the initial spec (genes) and a typical SoE (System on Embryo) project duration is 38 weeks. Except in the case of identical twins or genetic clones, Intellectual Property rights are in place and there is no violation of copyrights(unique individual)

Once the top-level entity is declared and inputs outputs systems identified, the subsystems start to be declared(differentition) and individual workstations (stem cells)are assigned to start to work on development of systems like neural-network processor core(brain) , various functional macrocells(internal organ systems), analog sensors(eyes,nose,ear) and actuators(hand/legs).There is a constant need for power resources and information to fuel the growth(umblical cord thru placenta)

Project development is monitored by accrediting agencies - Doctors with ultra-sound. The system responds to external inputs like sound, light and many of its output vectors are registered by the designer. Well before the final delivery various simulations have been run (heart, organs start functioning) and actuators begin testing phase inside the womb itself(kicking and moving inside).

Project delivery is a difficult time for the designers getting very little rest/sleep during the phase. Every team concerned with the project is really tensed and praying for a good delivery on time for fully functional first silicon with minimal bugs. Tape-out occurs after all verification has been done (head-out in the case of a baby!)

Basic Operating Systems (new-born's instincts) are put in place in the ROM memory and remaining memory will be field programmable for customisation by external customers(parents,school,society). This is one of the finest examples of hardware/software codesign, and the complexity of the software increases with the maturity of the product. After the first silicon is up and running, there is huge support phase (15-20years) needed from the designers to make sure all the bugs are cleared up and the product reaches maturity(puberty) and ready for volume production(career).

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Reference:
http://www.spuc.org.uk/ethics/abortion/human-development

Punnagai Desam

Being left to play around with trio of wonderful kids, I realised that they were all spreading an infectious strain of a long extinct species in me - innocent laughter. The smiles they sprang forth were continuous, bountiful and unstoppable. All the while their parents were arguing and debating over family issues, property hassles and inheritance uncertainties.

I could only think to myself, that if only smiles were quantifiable and counted like currency, the kids would be far far richer and generous than their parents!

The old railway line

Single, deserted and largely unused
writing many letters in rotting wood

Here is one rusty metal rail for another
giving warm company to each other

Their beautiful and parallel lives
always joins hands at the horizons

And so they run to it, wishing to meet
but never'll come closer than three feet!

The Cost of a (:-)

I was jogging alone the other day, late in the evening. It has rained before, so my run included a few leaps and hops to avoid the muddy puddles of water all along the track. So much of my attention was focussed on trying not to step into one, that I hardly noticed the few pedestrians that cold night.

I had just crossed a group of people walking in the opposite direction, and something made me come to a shuddering halt. It was the sound of a whole-hearted "Hello!!" from one of the walkers. I stopped, quite surprised(or shocked?) and turned around to see who it was - a complete stranger with a warm smile on his face.

Now this hasnt happened to me too often in Singapore. As if its a disease that prevails only in large cities, human interactions especially between complete strangers is kept to a minimum here. A variety of vending machines, automatic ticketing machines, tap-n-go cards in public transport, self-checkout modules in libraries, efficient street-maps more recently GPS in NokiaN95s, only make sure you can live your entire day without bothering anybody with a query.

Strangers in trains and buses sit glued to the mobiles tapping smses or listening to their ipods in their own world. Even inside the confines of an elevator, people prefer to admire their shoe-laces than look up and say 'hi' to other passengers. Some people avoid eye-contact at any
cost, and so even if you smile at them it is not going to be noticed. But that doesnt mean all these men and women are unfriendly - they are just reluctant to start a conversation with a stranger. Eventually the only people who talk to you are people whom you already know-friends,
colleagues, acquaintances etc.

So why did this nice stranger say 'Hello' to me ? What arms him with this disarmingly friendly attitude, which prompted me to wish back "Hi..How do you do ?" The answer came in a moment, when another walker gently took Mr.Smiler's arm and made him continue his walk. I soon realised that he was one of the trainees in MINDS-an organisation that imparts life-skills for mentally challenged people, undergoing his daily walking routine.

I leave it to you here, to muse about this incident, like I was lost in thoughts, while walking the remaining distance back to my home.

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- If you see someone without a smile, give them some of yours.

Frozen Brains on Fridays

On Friday evenings, my body shows ample symptoms to indicate that blood sugar is depleted and I need an ice-cream to save myself from certain brain-death. Today I felt the same, and marched to the cafeteria and digged the freezer and took out a Cornetto.

Before the bill counter, I noticed that they had stocked slices of cheezy pizza in the warm box- a new welcome addition, to the otherwise boring array of curry puffs and rock-solid muffins. The manager of the cafeteria, walked past and I stopped him to ask :

I: "Excuse me, Which one of these is fattier ? the icecream or the pizza?"

He: (became serious, seemed to remember his nutrition and dietitics
lessons and replied) " Obviously the ice-cream has more fat, Sir"

I: "Then let me buy the icecream !'

He: "eh..?"

Insomnabulistic Ittiac

Having been a long term insomniac, I've gone thru various stages of emotions, experiments and efforts to fall asleep. Relaxation techniques, breath control, soothing music, tiring exercises in the evening, reading books, boring conversations even some stolen red wine- I've tried them all.

Sleep would remain elusive for an hour or two sometimes more, eating away a chunk of my daily allowance of 8 hours, all that time spent on bed thinking, musing, wandering, planning, conspiring and day-dreaming during the night ! As I found that sleep wasnt a obediant servant to come at my clap of hands, I slowly gave hope and browsed or watched TV till late, making sleep deprivation a more acute problem.

One particular day, after all my room-mates had fallen asleep, I was so frustrated and wanted to talk to somebody. Called home, (2.5hrs behind me) and bored my family members for a while, and they gave another never-ending list of ideas all over again, many of which I had tried out before, but in vain. We even considered sleeping pills, but preferred to stick to natural remedies. Despite their best efforts, nothing convinced me to be a new idea, and made me grope in the dark (literally!). Slouched back to my bed, felling depressed and wondering "Why is it such a major challenge to fall asleep everyday??"

I was so agitated with this thing by now, and was reduced to changing the contents of my daily bed-time prayer, and just asked God one simple request - to give some sleep without having to try so hard.

I dont remember staying awake for more than 5 minutes from that moment on !

My point is not to ask for some divine sleepin pills everyday! It was the swiftness with which my prayer was answered that really astounded me. This may be a little trivial thing for most people reading this, but the desperateness of my prayer seemed to have generated a non-maskable interrupt in God's bus interface, and He too seemed to suddenly decide "ok, lemme give this poor fella an immediate response, as this is indeed the right time to grant the wish!"

Its 1.51am while Im typing this, and I have overshot my own 'gotobed' call, but this incident is worth remembering for a longer time, atleast for me.

Music at L'Enfant

The poet Billy Collins once laughingly observed that all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother's heart is in iambic meter. Then, Collins said, life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us. It may be true with music, too.

from a great article-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
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Meter/Metre Is the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry. Meter gives rhythm and regularity to poetry.

Iambic meter

An end stressed two syllable foot e.g. from In Memoriam by Lord Tennyson

I DREAMED | there WOULD| be SPRING | no MORE
Iambic is an example of rising meter.

Animal Instincts

I received a ppt about 7 (or 11?) great virtues to learn from the life of an eagle, and how its much better, honorable and tactful than other birds in its behaviour.

Its amazing how humans imbibe great lessons intended for our consumption, from the survival strategies of another species. Nature can inspire good habits, virtues, works of art and literature and even scientific inventions.

But there was a contradiction somewhere - How can we assert one species being superior to other in terms of human notions of civilised behaviour? Each of them have their own design of varying complexity, a natural code of conduct, mechanism of survival to thrive in its respective environment. Each of them have their set of behaviours to succeed, which only we judge positive or negative, but for them its just their nature.

If you watch carefully, the fight for survival in every possible species

-unicellular protozoa to huge ecosystems like Great Barrier coral reef

-the odd-shaped sea-cucumber to advanced dynamics of the cheetah

-the symbiotic relationships between different species, and the predatory behaviour on the other hand

-the scavenger vultures to the hunter eagles - all of them are just doing their job .... to exist !

Questionable

Prior to attending a Q&A session by Sri Sri Ravishankar, I did this little exercise -

Most deeply philosophical questions may not have a concrete and decisive answer, but a quiet mind meditating on a question might actually know the answer. But I was simply interested to know 'The Question' in the minds of people, if there is any trend, or if there are questions I
never thought about, etc..

I started asking people "What is the single biggest question in your mind now ? If there was one question u wud like to ask an all-answering machine what would you ask ?"

I got quite a few till now, and here is the compilation :

Gopal: Naan en Piranthen ? (Why was I born?)

Arun : Is there a perfectly sane person ? Or is everybody mad in his own way ?

Ashwin : Can happiness be simplified into a simple formula ?

Vel: Whats the truth about existence/non-existence of God ?

Ghana : Whats my journey ?

Jega : Why question ?

Ravi: How not to get bored with life ?

Siva: Who created God and gave him his powers ?

Thilaga: Why is there so much disparity among humans- discrimination due to race, religion etc.

Samuel: When is the END ?

Layhong: Why am I here?

Cath: Hows life really in Heaven ?

Jayanthi : When will a day change from 24 hours to 36 hours(at least) ?

Raj: "If 'everyone' knew what they are supposed to do with their lives (the so called purpose) will they work towards achieving it (leaving what they are doing currently, getting a change of lifestyle, like sanyasa perhaps) causing a change in the world (for better or for worse) or is there any force that exists to prevent them from doing that? (people don't realise their purpose even though they are moving toward it unknowingly, as it will affect the delicate balance of the world in which case there won't be any perceptible change in the world). A corollary of this would be "Is there any force that prevents us from realising our purpose?" In the above, world is not
limited to planet Earth. Please find a simple answer to my question.

Ananth: Why do people think so much and ask complicated questions?

Divya: Is it all written on our heads ? (is everything that happens predestined?)

Shi Wen : How can I find myself?

Sudha: Why should the beautiful flower die in few days..why it has to blossom and then why it should wither? why???????

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"What is the ultimate purpose of life?" was posed, and yesterday Sri Sri who gave detailed and satisfying answers to many other questions, replied to this one with a smile :"Those who know the answer wont say it, and those who say something dont know the answer yet! "

A stressbusting idea

If all humans were made of piezo-electric materials, imagine how much electricity could be derived out of converting all the accumulated stress into a potential ?? Cities would be producing the most energy due to their high populations, and we all could put all our stress to good use.

Balance of Terror

I am extra lucky to have this mean machine at my home- which makes me feel happy or sad, depending on what I want..! Before you let your imagination run wild, let me tell you that its a simple weighing scale gone wrong.

When stood upon, the scales point to some number - when body weight is shifted slightly more to the left leg, the weight decreases- And when I shift the balance to the right it increases exponentially. With such amazing linearity, it is one instrument you just dont want to believe. But on the positive side, on days when I want to feel supremely positive, I stand entirely on my left leg..! (Scale reading = (My weight) - 8 kilos, and lets not fix a value to the variable My weight)

The point is not about some malfunctioning springs. Its just that this is the only balance I have control over, and know how to get pleasing results. The other balances..?

We keep listening to this 'One should learn to strike a balance between bla-bla-blah'-- Think about it ; Is that insightful or useful or atleast interesting to hear? Without any proper definition for what exactly is the balance, most people are still left groping in the dark, figuring out the perpetually oscillating value shown in the scales of balance. Lemme describe 2 big ones -

Professional/Leisure activity : Among many things that young adults writing their resume or attracting their partners, like to portray themselves as, ia a well rounded personality. The ability to juggle a profession (to earn for the rice), and leisure activities (flavor the rice with sambar,rasam) is something everybody recommends. But as the author found out, it aint that easy.

It starts with 5 weekdays-2 sleepdays- 5 WD-2 SD.. kinda routine - leading to the jolting realisation that 28.5714% of ones life is being cruelly wasted. Then follows a scheme of enrolling into various sports, classes and other voluntary activities over a period of time designed to enrich life. The weekends get packed slowly, and the important yet insane things-to-do spills over into weekday evenings and nights(like this blog). Today I just realised I am more relaxed during regular work hours that outside or weekends..! Gotta work to achieve a balance in this.

Food and Diets : "Eat in moderation" claims every health bulletin. Good idea , but whats moderate ? I absolutely hate it when they gives figures in calories, which is quite immeasurable when I think of the variety of stuff we eat throughout the day.

Follow the food pyramid says the wise one. But wise ones havent seen through the different food pyramids thats available - for meat eaters, for lean meat eaters, for vegetarians, for vegans, for non-dairy diets, low cholestrol diet, low saturated fat diet, low carb diet, e-diets , and then ofcourse the McSpicy Double meal. All this for somebody for forgets what he is talking about, when interrupted by the very thought of lunch !
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By now you must be wondering where or when is this guy going to end this winding passage on the incompetance of regular humans to know what to do, and how much. You might even debate if you should spend time reading blogs in future, of people who do not want to think aloud but just type it down and forget all about it.

My last word here, would be to learn to strike a balance on the amount of time you spend online and the time rather spent on other equally worthless activities!

A lifelong query

The average man's life consists of :
Twenty years of having his mother ask him where he is going,
Forty years of having his wife ask the same question;
And at the end, the mourners wondering too...

(from an email fwd)

Interesting twist to my blog title !

Trudging on the treadmill

No human behaviour irritates me as much as seeing people jogging on a treadmill in a air-conditioned gym.

Agriculture, cattle-rearing, house-hold errands, probably every other manual work made sure one thing- people get their food, and people burn the calories so obtained by its consumption. Then came the flint, then the wheel, then abacus, then some electricity, then the steam engine, then Integrated chip, followed by the Internet.

All these stepping stones in the history of mankind have made sure that we shall not sweat to get our work done. Much of the hard-work, chores and errands have been reduced to a flick of a switch, turning of a knob or click on an icon - all designed to give man, his wife & kids some well-deserved 'quality time' spent together. And along came the uninvited guests called obesity, hyper-tension and arteriosclerosis.

Now people drive to the gym 2km away, beat the heat by rushing to the airconditioned building, take the lift to the 2nd floor- just to 'sweat it out' on the hi-tech treadmill which can show everything from amount of calories burnt to number of molecules of glucogen which have been converted to sugar and used up in this session. And after such hardwork comes the subtle reward of a hydrating isotonic zero-cal Diet-coke and a quarter-pounder hamburger with extra-mayonaise!

------ The author takes a severely opposing stance on all this hypocrisy, by staying at home relishing some soft cheesecake with blueberry topping, and perpetually planning to 'start' jogging outdoors from next week.

Bangkok's smiling bargains

Have you ever felt that haggling with a road-side vendor could be a pleasurable activity ? Me, never !!

I have constantly avoided shops where there is no fixed price, not because I dont like good deals, but because I suck at bargaining. Even during the rare times when I have managed to stike great deals, the joy is always short-lived - mostly somebody will pop up to say that I have been duped and my best deal was actually double the price he got the same thing for. Ignorance is bliss ,sometimes !

The streets and bylanes of Sukhumvit, Bangkok is where you could possibly find everything from Japanese samurai swords to Thai-silk ties to second-hand(read stolen) mobile phones. Here, bargaining is the only activity that provides such guilt-free pleasure, when compared to the multi-cuisine restaurants providing material for some unfettered
gluttony, or others inviting people to commit the original sin for a price.

I learnt a new language right there, and its not Thai- Calculator language, the entire process of monetary negotiations and business transactions are done between people who dont share a common language- using a simple calculator. The shopkeeper punches his price in the machine, and invites you to key in your best offer, and this process loops till a deal is struck. This also ensures that you dont struggle with your limited Thai vocabulary, and the shopkeeper doesnt murder English by saying "thlii unthleth baaaah" (300 baht) and perplexing you by showing just two fingers in a 'V' symbol !

If anybody witnessed from a distance, me and some shopkeepers bargaining, you could hardly take us to be bargaining to reach a common price. The smiles in the faces, the loving intonations in the voices, and the warm friendly gestures would look more like we are some long
separated cousins meeting after years. And in the end after much talk peppered with liberal smiles and cajoling most shopkeepers would agree to a price thats 30-40 % of their initial quote.

And the best part was, even after haggling for quite a while, you decide against buying
something that does not satisfy you tastes, you will never get a disgruntled look or a angry curse hurled from the shopkeeper. Now, doesnt that sound like a bargain paradise ??

Poetry by email forwards

Rainshine

There is nothing more beautiful than a rainbow,
But it takes both the sun and rain to create one
And for life to be well rounded and colourful,
It takes both joy and some sorrow to live one.

----

Some words

A careless word may kindle strife
A cruel word may wreck a life
A timely word may level stress
A loving word may heal and bless.

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Soul Searching

This question about existence of a thing called soul has been haunting me. Are the number of souls on earth a constant or are they increasing in number? If rebirth is to be believed then how come the population of humans has been on a rise for a long time now ? And where do the new
souls come from ?

Maybe some insects and reptiles and birds and mammals found spiritual advancement thru good karma(?) and were born as humans. But I had no theory to prove the numbers of other species is decreasing to compensate our rise, till recently.

The explosive growth of humans and all their activities in land-clearing for agriculture, large-scale fishing, CO2 exhaling vehicles and industries and a variety of polluting activities has made sure we kill every other species at an unprecedented rate. The web of life has been
cut , and the rate of extinction of all species other than flourishing homo sapiens has been on a rise. Is it time to worry yet?

But rebirth has probably made sure that the souls of the members of now extinct species are reborn as humans. Proof: I can see some people have just about enough intellectual capability as dodos do (or did). Tyrannosaurus' future generations thrive in the corporate world enjoying
the cut-throat competition. Some men do pranks that would make endangered orangutans blush, and others have the fashion-sense of a red-eyed tree-frog. Many people in country where once bisons thrived and were hunted down, now pile on enough fat to look like them, even making obesity an ailment !
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For a non-satirist yet nice introduction to effects of human activities leading to environmental problems- check out daversity.com.