We 4 ours 1

Don't run your imagination wild after reading the title of the post. This post is not about any freak population control methods for India, which I doubt may work in any case. The title is the USP for the Car Pool community formed in India's Technology Capital, Bangalore.

In a gallant attempt to ease the chaotic traffic scene in Bangalore, a couple of IT guys decided to kick start a free service, Commute Easy, the Car Pool community which already has about 3000 registered users.

According to their official website, the concept, which now is reality and infact spreading its wings to Pune, aims at;

• Decongesting traffic in Bangalore
• Lower travel costs and stress levels
• Bring about a reduction in pollution levels
• Broaden social network

What I find here missing (though implied in a different context) is the definite reduction in the consumption of fuel, spiralling prices of which has already lead to an all round increase in the price of commodities, essentials and what not?

So go ahead, breathe easy and commute faster!

Check out Commute Easy's official blog for updates and happenings.

Sivaji

I've been listening to Sivaji songs last couple of days and thought it definitely deserves a post.

The songs are fantastic! That's probably the least a Rajini fan like me can comment on the numbers. I'll have to probably start a seperate blog to detail on the songs so just the snippets here.

While Shanker - Rahman combination is proven for more than a decade, it would be extremely interesting to watch how Shanker has handled Superstar onscreen. The trio combination of Superstar, Rahman and Shankar is definite to storm the theatres.

There are 7 songs in the movie and are very "peppy", as quoted by one of my colleagues during lunch today.

Rajini's intro song, "Sooriyano Chandirano" sung by SPB simply rocks! The lyrics, beautifully written by Na.Muthukumar could not have been sung by anyone better than SPB. While it is not the usual thathuva (philosophical) song that feature's in every Rajini movie, this intro song is probably the best among recent Rajini movies.

Valee's done yet another "Mukkala Mukabula", "Telephone Manipol" with "Athiradikaaran..." in this movie. Sung by Rahman himself, the song has powerful percussion which is also believed to feature Rajini as he did in his olden days. It still amazes me as to how Valee, at his age can come up with such peppy, funky numbers.

A melody number (the only one in the movie!), "Sahaana Saaral" has two versions, one sung by Udit Narayan and the other by Vijay Yesudas. The pathos version sung by Vijay is awesome, probably because 'am not a great fan of Udit Narayan or maybe the song by itself was good. I can already visualize the song to be brilliantly picturized.

I ran out of my imagination trying to visualize the "Oru Koodai Sunlight" song. A peppy, funky, whatever you call it song, probably would potray the best of Rajini styles over the years. Alas, Style = Rajini!

The other two numbers, "Vaaji vaaji" and "Vaada Vaada" also deserve praise.

எஸ்கேப்

வெட்டு ஒன்னு துண்டு ரெண்டு என இருந்தவர், போதுமடா சாமி என எஸ்கேப் ஆக உள்ளார். தனது ராஜினாமா கடிதத்தை சாப்பல் இந்திய கிரிக்கெட் வாரியத்துக்கு அணுப்பியுள்ளர். ராஜினாமவுக்கு குடும்ப மற்றும் சொந்த காரனங்களே எனக் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளர் எனத் தெரிகிறது.

ஒரு வேளை, இனிமேலும் பயிர்ச்சியாளராக நீடித்தால் பாகிஸ்தான் பயிர்ச்சியாளரக இருந்த பாப் உல்மர் கதி தனக்கு நேர்ந்திடுமோ என்று கூட அஞ்சியிருக்கலாம்.

அவரை விட்டுத்தள்ளும், வந்த நாள் முதல் சௌரவ், கும்ப்ளே இப்போ சச்சின் என அடுக்கடுக்காக பிரச்சனைகள் மற்றும் சர்ச்சைகள்...

இவையெல்லம் பார்க்கும்போது வடிவேலுவின் "டேய் மாப்புள்ள ப்ரிய்யா இருக்கியாடா, ஒருத்தன் சிக்கியிருக்கன்..." தான் எனக்கு ஞயாபகம் வருகிறது

Exploring Vegetarianism

My wife and me strictly follow vegetarian diet, which eventually had also influenced my darling 3 year old daughter. However, I was curious to know her version of the reason for her not eating meat and asked her about it one day...

Her spontaneous reply was "coz we are all hindu's!"

While my immediate reaction was to laugh out loud, carry her in my arms and pour her with kisses in adortaion of her innocence, I then clarified her that being vegetarians, we refrain from eating meat.

However, I simply could not get out of my head if the answer I gave her was complete. Her accidental correlation between hinduism and vegetarianism indeed bothered me. I just wanted to do a bit of a google on this and bumped into the Bhagavad Gita, the holiest Hindu scripture. It read;

"He who sees that the Lord of all is ever the same in all that is -- immortal in the field of mortality -- he sees the truth. And when a man sees that the God in himself is the same God in all that is, he hurts not himself by hurting others. Then he goes, indeed, to the highest path" - Bhagavad Geeta 13.27-28

Furthermore, Thirukkural, one of the greatest tamil literature by Thiruvalluvar has an adhikaram (chapter) comprising of 10 kurals on "The renunciation of the flesh". One of it goes like this;

படைகொண்டார் நெஞ்சம்போல் நன்றூக்காது ஒன்றன்
உடல்சுவை உன்டார் மனம்

English translation: "Goodness is never one with the minds of these two: one who wields a weapon and one who feasts on a creature's flesh"

I just realised that my 3 year old daughter is indeed true on her supposition that hindu's are vegetarians!

Chandra's Checkmate?

In a move to save the desperate situation of Indian cricket (and ofcourse make money!), Subhash Chandra's Zee Telefilms has formed the Indian Cricket League, a cricket league parallel, to the BCCI. And what chandra had to tell on his new move?

"It troubles me that the country with more than a billion cricket fans and a million cricket enthusiasts fares so poorly at the international stage. A new approach must be taken for the sport to grow and prosper in the years ahead," Chandra said.

The games are believed to be of Twenty20 format, with 6 teams to start with. Each team will have 4 International players, 2 Indian players and 8 promising talents. Whether the games and prize money will be of any importance to the International and Indian players (seniors) but the visibility out of these games will be of utmost importance to the promising talents to make into the bigger leage!

Read the full story here.

இது தேவையா?

75 ஆன்டுகளுக்கு முன் எடுகக்பட்ட பழமையன கனக்கெடுப்பை உறுதியானதாகக் கருத முடியது எனக் கூரி, உயர் கல்வி நிறுவனங்களில் பிற்படுத்தபட்டோருக்கு 27 சதவீதம் இடஒதுக்கீடு சட்டதுக்கு இடைக்காலத் தடை விதித்த உச்ச நீதிமன்றத் தீர்ப்பை எதிர்த்து தமிழ் நாட்டில் ஆளுங் கூட்டனி மற்றும் எதிர்க் கட்சிகள் இனைந்து (அடடா, என்ன ஆச்சிர்யம்?) சென்ற சனிக்கிழமை (மார்ச் 31ஆம் தேதி) மாநிலம் தழுவிய பொது வேலை நிறுத்தம் மற்றும் கடை அடைப்புக்கு உத்தரவு பிறபிக்கப்பட்டு நிறைவேற்றப்படது.

இது ஒரு பக்கம் இருக்க, இன்னும் 10 வருடத்தில் இந்தியா ஒரு மாபெரும் வல்லரசு நாடாக உருவகும் என நாம் மார் தட்டி கொள்கிறோம். இது என்ன கொடுமையா இல்ல காமடியா?

தமிழ் வாழ்க!

வனக்கம்!

இது எனது முதல் தமிழ் வலைப்பதிவு...இன்றுதான் தமிழில் வலைப்பதிவு எழுதுவது எப்படி என்பதை அறிந்து கொன்டேன்...இதுதான் ஆரம்பம்!

Oh Dear...again!

My last post on this topic was about 45 days ago and again, its the same story now.

The Central Bank of India, RBI has increased the CRR and the Repo Rate by .5 & .25% respectively on Saturday. The markets, as expectedly have had a blood bath so far. The top private banks in India, ICICI and HDFC Bank have already announced the hike in lending rates and revision of the existing one's. All this for curbing the inflation rate that stands at an astounding 6.5% as on 19th March, 2007.

Floating rates for home loans are as high as 12% and fixed, a whopping 14%. Almost double in a couple of years. This is certainly going to hit a gamut of industries like automobile, real estate, cement and ofcourse banking. Money is going to be more expensive than before and consumers will have to think more, to be precise, carefully before going in for loans.