Who said "Silence is Golden"?

Mine definitely isn't, its just that I am being tossed around at work, well, a lot so! Hang on...things should be okay in sometime and I should start blogging soon. There I go...

என்ன கொடுமை சரவனன் இது?

iPhone

I just happened to check out my colleague's iPhone today, yet to be officially launched here in Singapore, but this one was all the way from the United States needing a little tweaking using one of the thousands of software available in the internet to unlock it, and voila!

First impression, an iPod that can be used to talk! With stunning navigation, design, style, display and features, the iPhone is set to rock! Built in applications include Google Maps, the new Safari Browser, gMail like text message display, the list goes on... the gadget is extremely user friendly, thanks to the easy touch screen user interface, a typical from Apple. With no stylus, and fatty fingers, I did not have much trouble in using the keypad while making a call or typing in a message. I was taken aback especially when my friend demonstrated on using the fingers to actually zoom out and zoom into images. It is hard to believe how such things have been conceptualized on the first place and then transformed into reality.

Cons: At 135 grams, the iPhone is indeed heavy and as big as the new iPod and the integral 8 GB memory is injustice for a gadget that can contain Songs, Videos, Photos and host of other software. The gadget, surprisingly, has only a 2.0 MP camera when we are finding mobile phones with 3.2 and even 5.0 MP cameras in common. No 3G! Yes, you read it right no 3G which causes a back to Stone Age feeling.

At S$600, the iPhone is indeed a steal. True that it may not have met everyone's expectation, including mine on a couple, alas, its just a phone, not a rocket to fly to the moon. I'm sure it will be a while before such hyped gadgets hit the market again so go grab it!

gk5jG2Jjh*M7Vg%6e#1t

just wramning up myslef for antoehr post...its been a wihle since i put 1 here...so stay a1ive!

Chak De India!!!

It's been just a few days since my last post, critical on the T20 format of the gentleman's game and today, India has won the inaugural T20 world cup beating Pakistan at the Wanderers in a thrilling encounter. While it is indeed true that I still have my dislikes for the concept of the game, the spirit of India beating Pakistan to win a World Cup is something fantastic and is here to stay!

Chak De India!

T20

I have never liked the concept of Twenty20 Cricket, not because I have never watched one but because it definitely takes the essence out of the game and degrades the quality of the classic One Dayer's. The zipped version of the game cannot be compared to the classic shorter version of the game. It lacks quality, common sense and what not?

I accidentally happened to bump into Sanjay Jha's blog on CricketNext and would wholly agree with him that ICC's bizarre ideas are sending the gentleman's game to the backseat. Cricket seems more like the American games, Baseball and Ice Hokey. *SIGH*

Grandeur of Chettinad Wedding

Hailing from the same community, I am quite excited to read an article in the Friday Review (The Hindu) about a "Pirivom Sandhipom", a movie currently in production that surrounds and showcases the Chettinad Heritage and customs. The highlight of the movie is expected to be a song that showcases an extravagent chettinad wedding. While extravagent weddings in this community are common, it would be staggering to watch on big screen and importantly reach out the masses.

Directed by Karu Palaniappan, also a Chettiar, the movie casts Actor, Director and Producer Cheran with Sneha in the lead with a band of other reputed stars. Important to note would be that the movie would not have any dream songs, fights, stunts or women in revealing costumes, Whoa! It would be very interesting to see how the movie would fare at the box office. Given that his first directorial venture, " Parthiban Kanavu" venture was a runaway hit, I am keen to look forward for this one.

Check out the entire article here

Sivaji - A Review

At a whopping 100 crore rupees budget, produced by AVM Productions, one of the leading production houses in India, directed by the most high profile director, Shankar, AR Rahman composing the tunes and studded by the super star Rajinikanth himself, a movie cannot get bigger. Undoubtedly, Sivaji is and probably will be the biggest tamil film to hit the kollywood screens.

I was very excited to watch the file after almost 2 months of its release while I was back in Chennai for a brief period. Having booked the tickets at Satyam, the best place to watch a movie in the city, I had been to the movie with my mum and dad, again something 've done long long before. With kid and wife away to her home town, it was ready set game for 'no thangamani enjoy!'

Storyline: Our hero, a US return wanting to spend all his earnings for a noble cause in setting up educational institutions for the poor and needy bumps into a political kingpin, having educational institutions raking up tens of millions from all sects of the public as capitation, etc loses all his wealth and makes a comeback in overcoming not only the kingpin, Suman but many other industrialists and high profile individuals who had evaded taxes thereby creating black money.

If I were to sum up the entire review in one line, The movie was a big let down. The fight scenes were clearly the biggest let down with each of the for about 8-10 minutes, the matrix styled action did not really gel-well with the typical kollywood one's. The movie itself ran for more than 3 hours. Rajini and Suman filled the screns right from the start till the end. Shreya does a neat role with opportunity for acting besides the revealing in the songs. The 2nd half dragged quite a bit with unbelievable ways in which our super star uncovers the black money from others.

Vivek was good in the first half while seasoned stars like Raghuvaran, Livingston and VMC Haniffa not being utilized to their best. Vadivukkarasi, Manivannan and Nayantara are also in the cast.

The picturization of the songs, as always, was exceptional. Another typical from Shankar. A special mention for the cinematography where KV Anand scores a perfect 10.

Coming out of the movie, I am unable to conclude if Sivaji is a Rajini movie or a Shankar movie 'coz it lacked a decent storyline, punch dialogues, mannerism, creativity. Probably the face saving factor was Rajini's Style which was all over the movie.

Driving through chennai traffic

It's been just a couple of days since 've returned from Chennai and I have still not recovered from the chaotic traffic scene. While it's been close to a year since 've been in Singapore, I would say that the traffic in Chennai must have doubled during this time, given that there are so many completed and upcoming projects, especially IT companies that house tens of thousands of people all over the country and some even from abroad.

Best examples would be GN Chetty Road, Venkat Narayana Road both in T.Nagar, having 6-7 new buildings that have come up in less than 2 years and probably holding up ten to fifteen thousand employees. This apart from the floating crowd around T.Nagar who are busy shopping in Pothy's, Chennai Silks, RMKV, Saravana Stores, Nalli, Kumaran and Sri Krishna Collections.

The 100 feet road on Ekkaduthangal which was once not so popular with old and sick industries, now boasts buildings with more than one lakh square feet. While Olympia Tech Park and Virtusa are completed and occupied, the other two projects are close to the heels of completion which would only add to the chaos. No special mention for Adyar and Thiruvanmiyur which are neighbours to the OMR.

Adding to the already chatotic traffic is the coming up of 5-6 flyovers across critical junctions in chennai. Koyambedu, T.Nagar, Kodambakkam and Kathipara Junction to name a few.

However, mature areas like Nungambakkam and most importantly Mount Road, once considered to be the life lines of Chennai city were scantily crowded. These were clear indications in the shift or transformation of the profession to Information Technology and IT Enabled Sector for the new breed.

While setting the traffic scene right in Chennai looks next to impossible, it is important that law and order is at its best. Something that I doubt would happen in Chennai in the next 200 years ;-) The above collage, which I managed to grab from flickr and google are clear indicators of what I mean. While it is true that the traffic scene in Chennai cannot be set right overnight, there are'nt any indications that it would be any better in a decade or two. The only way I guess is to stiffen up the law and order scene by imposing heavy fines of say 1000 or even 5000 buck for traffic violation which probably would frighten the crazy Chennai motorists, especially the auto and two wheelers, not to forget the buses and heavy vehicles and the cars...and everyone infact!

Wait, I have another idea to set the traffioc scene right in chennai. It would be to have all the political flags and sirens removed from the politicians vehicles and let then drive through the above areas with no escorts in the front or rear of their vehicles, what say???

The best get's better

Cho Ramaswamy, a vetran actor, playwright, columnist, editor and above all a political commentator in Tamil Nadu, known for his satirical dig's at Indian and Tamilnadu politics just (ok, a couple of weeks ago!) got better!

In a meeting organized by the Indian Liberal Group, Chennai on 13th July, Arun Shourie (BJP) and Cho Ramaswamy participated and talked about the Congress Presidential Nominee (now President!) Mrs. Pratibha Patil, bluntly opposing her candidature for the top job. One of the best ever from Cho!

Indian politics has had tainted Ward members, Councillors, MLA's, Ministers, MP's and Chief Ministers, but Congress & Left have just gone beyond it to find a tainted President for India. Looks like they are making up for all their blunder in having picked Hamid Ansari for the Vice President's post, but God save India!

Alas, how can one forget Cho's famous dig at the Left "If the Left has a future, India will have no future left."

Cho Ramaswamy (20.55 min, English and Tamil)


Arun Shourie (English, 32.16 min)

If you can't say it, just SMS

Check out the video, one of my most favorites. The creative guys in Optimus indeed deserve a pat :-)

Moving on...sigh

While some might read the title with a big relief, I would like to clarify that I am not going to stop blogging. Read on...

Just 10 months have passed by, since 've migrated from 'filter coffee' chennai to 'fine' singapore to join one of the top private bank's in the world but I 'am already changing jobs! The move is definitely a blend of excitement and disappointment. While the excitement awaits me in the form of what I had always enjoyed doing at where I probably belong to, disappointment in terms of my inability to adapt to a new workplace, new team especially a new domain might probably haunt me for sometime now. I guess I need to do a lot of homework if I were to continue to be what I am in the years to come...Anyways, wish me good luck with my new assignment!

English Grammar

So near, yet so far

I just got through my Basic Theory Test to obtain a driving license in Singapore. Phew, I am indeed relieved now!

I had enrolled for the test in April and managed to get the earliest test date for private candidates only for July 2nd. The preparations for the test did not happen till last week of June until I heard the passing score was 45 on 50 and a few I know flunked the test on their first (some even second) attempts. I had no choice but o carry the BTT booklet on the MRT like many others and read through it during my travel to office and back home. I could do that only for 2 days 'coz they weren't rocket science!

Come July 2nd, I did everything wrong, right from taking the wrong bus, missing the shuttle, struggling to find a cab, finally sitting in the wrong room until the instructor directed me to the right one. For the test at 9:15 AM, I took incharge around 9:20 AM and was out in 10-12 minutes passing my test. The questions, like I've been telling my friends were so dumb and its quite funny when you have get through 50 such one's to clear the test.

While I had a sense of accomplishment (despite the dumb questions), the major blow came in when I realised that despite having a foreign license and having cleared my BTT, I was required to have the International Driving Permit (IDP), usually issued by the domicile country of the candidate. Yikes!!! All my excitement crash landed like the Colombia Space Shuttle. Given that there aren't any easy options available to get through, I have decided to wait for a couple of months after which I would go to my hometown for my vacation and have this thing done as the first activity :-(

Bless me!

Smile, for a day...wish it is forever ;-)

The autorickshaw's in Chennai had been demanding for a revision (okay, an increase!) in the fare and after months and years of deliberation the fares were increased in January, early this year and the auto drivers were not too disappointed though they had some concerns. However, it is no secret or surprise that the auto drivers now use the revised fares to demand more and continue with their contract rates. Given that the demand for revision of minimum fare had been settled with the GoTN, the Tamil Nadu Auto Driver's Association has now called for a state wide strike on the 8th August citing various reasons as below;

a. Discontinue the act of cancelling the driving license of auto drivers causing road accidents

b. Provide allowance of Rs.5000 for auto's running on LPG

c. Implement ESI scheme for auto drivers

d. Increase the pension from Rs.400 to Rs.1000

e. Prevent ill treatment of auto drivers by the policemen

f. Curb the brokers domination in RTO's during the processing of FC's, Registration, etc

I've never liked the attitude of auto drivers in chennai city, for that matter in the whole of Tamil Nadu. Lessons from our neighbour, Karnataka, must be learnt in this aspect, who have every reason to boast of their reliable autorickshaw drivers.

The auto driver's and their "association", predominantly controlled by the politicians & policemen in Tamil Nadu is one bunch of unsettled, ever dissatisfied crowd and their knack to pick causes for going off the road and creating the stir should be observed.

I wish they go on strike starting 8th August till their demands are met 'coz I feel the state will be a lot cleaner and nicer, especially the traffic scene, with the auto's off the road, forever!

PS: Too bad I would not be in town to enjoy my drive through the chennai roads without the auto's...sigh...sob!

Virtual Barber Shop - Scintillating

More than ten days since I posted something to my blog and I think this is the right one to go in.

Tried to get this plugged into my blog the whole of last noon as soon as I listened to this from one of a forward. Close your eyes and put on your headphone in full volume, sheer brilliance!

Unnalae Unnalae

I happened to pick up the CD of this Tamil movie after a few unsuccessful attempts in a video rental shop nearby my house. I should say it really wasn't worth the attempts I had made earlier to watch this.

The movie starts off with Sada as Jhansi and new face, model turned actor, Vinay as Karthik ending their love affair due to Vinay's fun loving, playful and flirtatious character. Vinay is deputed by his construction company to Melbourne (Oz) and bumps into another model turned actor Deepika as Tanisha in the plane. Surprise awaits Vinay when he sees Sada escorting Tanisha away from the airport. Sada happens to be working in the company that had contracted Tanisha for an assignment.

The movie then runs into flashback with a few songs in it and ends with the split that happened to be first scene of the movie. Jeeva seems to be adopting his "12B" style of movie making and I should say has fumbled in this one as well.

The rest of the movie surrounds Vinay trying to patch up with Sada with Tanisha and Srinath helping them despite Tanisha having a soft corner for Vinay. Eventually, the movie ends with Sada leaving scene, setting up for Vinay and Tanisha's union.

The music by Harris Jayaraj was the biggest plus and the movie towards the climax was pretty okay. Otherwise, the movie was a very big let down, especially with Sada's role, more or less similar to her previous one in Priyasaki with Madhavan. Model turned actor's Vinay and Tanisha did justice in their debut. Vinay's dancing skills deserve a special mention as much as Jeeva's skills with the camera. He is awsome with the camera more than his direction skills. Choreography, handled by Raju Sundaram who also happens to play a role in the movie as Vinay's friend is neat!

PS: I am just waiting to get hold of my wife's cousin who said the movie is awesome and much better than Mozhi. He better stay away till I compose myself $&^$&#*%&*%*

கதையல்ல, நிஜம்!

- நன்றி இட்லிவடை / தினமணி

Chicken or Egg?

The incredible has happened!

The spat between the DMK's first family and Maran's family has opened up lot of If's and But's. To me, from what I have observed since Murasoli Maran days, it's basically a Chicken or Egg story. Both sides were complimenting each other well enough to create an impression that the SUN Group was the unofficial bandwagon of the DMK. On the other hand, It is indeed difficult to say that the SUN Group could have emerged as such a large media house in India without MK's political backing.

Following Murasoli Maran's death in late 2003, Dayanidhi Maran, with absolutely no prior political experience was fielded by the DMK from Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai in the following central elections in 2004 May and eventually made the Central Minister of the plum portfolio, IT & Telecommunications. What SUN TV managed out of the ministry is a different ball game. Just a blog post cannot detail the nitty-gritty's of it and I ain't Dr.J.Jayalalitha to dig to the history and geography of the subject and have it on top of my head ;-)

In-turn to thank grandpa, the Maran brothers let use of their SUN Group as extensive as possible for him to return to power during the 2006 state elections. DMK led alliance crushed the AIADMK alliance and made it to the power. With DMK in power in the State and virtually controlling the Centre, DMK's point man was identified as Dayanidhi Maran and he was seen shoulder to shoulder, sometimes like a walking stick for MK. I could hardly remember of any ocassion with MK involved not having Dayanidhi besides him. There have been instances when MK.Stalin was missing at time ;-) This definitely irked Stalin and Big Brother, MK. Azhagiri and definitely many others within DMK who were waiting for the right opportunity. The burning of Dinakaran office in Madurai was what probably everyone against the Maran's were waiting for. I shoudl say that all of them have used the opportunity very well to outst Maran's and create a sense of uncertainity for the SUN Group which is planning to venture into Aviation, publish English tabloid with Media baron Rupert Murdoch and what not?

With all the history behind us, it would only be interesting if the family feud will settle (I wish not!) or will create more surpises.

Copy Cat

I should really say that Sun TV is becoming a copy cat or probably running out of ideas as once blogged by Kaps. First it was the poaching of the Kalakka Povadhu Yaaru from Vijay TV and it was also rumoured that the comedy show Lollu Sabha was also targetted. While Lollu Sabha team did not succumb, it later ran into troubled waters, thanks to the Sun TV's creativity in finding ways to tone down the show's originality, etc.

Latest in the list is the copy of the Airtel Super Singer show on Vijay TV (again!). As always, they have gone a step ahead and roped in Rahman to judge the finals of their show, Ooh La La La. While the Vijay TV's show is the hunt for an individual event, Sun TV's one is for a band. Big deal? Huh!

I am sure there would be plans, probably already drafted, to copy out the other interesting shows like Neeya Naana, Koffee with Anu and Jillunu Oru Jodi which feature on Vijay TV.

Who can forget the curtailing of the Vijay News (no prizes for guess which channel instrumentalized it), which probably was the only unbiased news channel with superior quality amongst the others sometime back?

Posted on 6th May >> I just realized that the Koffee with Anu is also copied, hosted by my all time favorite actress Gowthami as "Anbudan" on Sun TV and BTW, my wife disagreed that the Ooh La La La is not a copy of the Super Singer...I hate my wife ;-)

Bon Appétit

Having had the thai sizzler a day before our wedding anniversary, we decided to go in for the mexican sizzler the next day. This one again is from the Tarla Dala website.

It's the usual story, my wife made it, me di a bit of helping, infact my 3 years old darling daughter chipped in her bit by watching TV throughout the preparation of the sizzler, not disturbing us ;-)

The food was awesome, a fitting brunch for our 6 year old relationship.

Burp!

My wife and me have always enjoyed eating various cuisines of vegetarian food and equally enjoy it when it comes to cooking. While I have not contributed much to the cooking bit, 'coz she does it best herself, we decided to do Thai Sizzler, a recipe for which she pulled out from Tarla Dalal's website. While usually the recipe on the website and the actual outcome do not match closely, the Thai Sizzler was awesome. I have a feeling that the Thai Sizzler my wife made would have been better than the one Tarla Dalal would have really made ;-)

The sizzler had much of Thai ingredients and also some Chinese flavor. Coconut curry, Red Curry Paste, Soya Sauce, Corn, Herb Rice, Baby Corn, Broccoli, Carrots and much more. While we decided to have it as a 'brunch', when we made it at 10:30 in the morning, being very hungry, we finished it much ahead of the plans ;-)

Oh BTW, we (okay, my wife) decided to make the Thai Sizzler for our 6th wedding anniversary (April 29th), could not wait till the next day, so made it and had it a day ahead of our anniversary and...slurp....burp!


I love my wife!

Kids Kampong - Pasir Ris

Saturday was okay, infact did nothing much and was home doing the usual household chores (hope my wife does'nt read this post), some shopping with my wife and kid in the evening.

Sunday started as early as 8 AM for us as we had planned to take our kid to the Kids Kampong at Pasir Ris with a few other freinds and their kids. We started around 10:30 am and reached the Kampong around 11 am. The kampong had various activities like fishing, fish feeding (both for kids), an aquarium, koi farm and a pet department store (was as big as a decently sized NTUC, whoa!)

The fishing bit was fun. We were provided with a fishing net, bucket with water, some fish feed, coupons for ice cream and water for the kids. At $11 per kid, it was indeed worth the price. However, all this did not impress my my three year old daughter who was terrified after having caught a fish. It was them my wife and me doing the fishing bit. I must say that the fishing bit was very exhaustive. Infact i was passing a comment to my wife that I seem to exert myself more at the fishing than a complete week at work! LOL. We managed to catch some fishes and gave it off to our friends for them coz we were not too sure of a place to grow them.

After the fishing it was the feeding bit. The fishes were big with mouth as big as they'd probably eat a kebab or a spring roll ;-) The fish feed however never seemed to turn them away. While my kid and me stayed away from the feeding bit, worried if it would bite us, my wife was bold enough (as usual) to try her hand in feeding the fishes and even touching them (horrified aftert she touched the fishes is a different story). We later has some food and moved onto the aquarium, the koi farm and the pet department store in quick succession to escape from the scorching sun.

Back home at 1:30 pm. Phew...

for a good cause...

British Broadcasting Corporation, widely known as BBC, is planning to put up One Million Hours of the its past online, free of charge. It is understood that Radio and TV material of shows that have never been repeated will also be up in the air and will be available to be watched, listened and downloaded.The process of transferring the content to web has already begun.

 

Read the full article here 

Indians are the fastest

In a freak (?) sex survey conducted by Durex, the Condom makers, it was revealed that the Indians are the fastest in the act at 13 minutes, quicker than the global average of 18 minutes! The study also reveals that Indian on an average have sex 130 times a year, again a lot more than the global average of 103 times a year.

I only wish and request all the Indians out there to have protected sex to contain the growth rate than overtake China and make it to the headlines :-(

Read the full article here

தமிழ்ப் புத்தாண்டு நல் வாழ்த்துக்கள்

இவ் வலைப்பதிவு வாசகர்களுக்கு எனது இனிய தமிழ்ப் புத்தாண்டு நல் வாழ்த்துக்கள்!

Customer Service - Couldn't be any better

My Canon A95 digital camera ran into some funny problem early this year and I was contemplating if I need to go in for a new one. To shell out 400-500 SGD for a basic digital camera was something I was not too convinced about. The DSLR models were 1100 upwards!


2 years since I bought the camera, and being out of warranty, I first settled to send the camera for service, get a quote and then decide on going in for a new one. Before sending it for service, not to be fooled, I did a bit of google (I've no clue where my life would head without Google) based on the symptoms and came across Canon's website which admitted defect in the CCD's supplied by Sony for several models. I was overjoyed to find mine in the list and the symptoms matching theirs and the best part, no warranty or proof of purchase required!


Immediately I set off to their Service Centre at Keppel Bay and gave the camera for service. While I was told that it would take 2 weeks for them to respond, if it is indeed the CCD problem, the same being fixed and delivered home, free of cost but if it is due to something else, then they'd revert with a quote. This actually sent butterflies again in my stomach. I came back to office with a confused mind and 3 days after I had sent in my camera for service, the same has been fixed and delivered home this morning!


I should say their customer service has exceeded my expectations though I was a bit disappointed after knowing that if the CCD problem could not be have been fixed, my camera would have been replaced with an equivalent current model! Joke's apart, hope this post of mine can help the needy one's who face similar problems.


Curse the lord!!!

பாடலாசிரியருக்கு ஜெ!

சிவாஜி படத்தில் சூப்பர்ஸ்டார் ரஜினியின் அறிமுக பாடலை எழுதிய நா.முத்துக்குமாருக்கு ஒரு ஜெ! குறிப்பாக, கீழ் உள்ள வரிகளுக்கு;

காவிரி ஆறும் கை குத்தல் அரிசியும்
மறந்து போகுமா..?

ஓ..தாவணிப் பெண்களும் தூதுவிடும் கண்களும்
தொலைந்து போகுமா..?

உன்மையிலேயே இப்பாடல் வரிகள் சுவையானதா அல்ல அவை தமிழிலில் இருப்பதால் சுவையானதா என்பதை சாலமன் பாப்பையாவை வைத்துதான் பட்டி மன்றம் நடத்த வேண்டும் போல...

வாழ்க தமிழ்!

How China could trigger a Dollar decline?

Well, 'am neither an subject expert in forex matters nor an economist but bumped into an article in MoneyWeek while I was getting to understand Carry Trade (?)

An excerpt from the article;

"China does not have to sell any of its existing dollar reserves to precipitate a decline in the dollar - all it has to do is stop accumulating dollars. The current US trade deficit with that country alone is running over $20 billion per month, and that is not an insignificant amount. If China stopped accumulating foreign reserves, those dollars would be sold into the foreign exchange markets and I expect that when that happens, the dollar will fall."

Read the entire article here.

Broadband Speed Test

When I took up my broadband connection, I always wanted to ensure I got the speed that was advertised by the ISP and did quite a bit of google and came across a lot of sites. However, none of them were user friendly or interactive or comprehensive until I bumped into Speedtest.net

A very user friendly website, with exhaustive details like past results, country average, continental averages, etc. FYI, the site was revamped a few weeks ago. I personally felt the old one was good (is there anyone who likes a change???) but the revamped site has a lot of details, so I could probably live with the change ;-)


Oh, BTW, snapshot my connection below

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.

PKMC

I love acronyms and this one is the latest, though not commonly used, this one is for "Pachai Kili Muthu Charam", Gautham Menon's new Tamil flick after his last blockbuster, Vettaiyadu Vilayadu!

Gautham's taken a break from his usual Cops & Robbers storyline and ventured into a family (?) subject. The movie has Sarathkumar, Jyothika, Milind Soman and Andrea (debut) in the cast। Inspired by the book, Derailed, which was later done as movie in 2005 with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston leading the pack. IMHO, Pachai Kili Muthu Charam is definitely not for the conservative Tamil audiences, maybe would have remained a good fiction to read!

Sarath too does a different role, a soft one, something different from his usual Nattamai and larger than life characters. He seems to have done a decent job. Jyothika's plays Jennifer Aniston's role and I must say that it is a pretty strong performance and most importantly, effortless! Milind Soman plays the villain and is not too impressive. New comer Andrea, playing Sarath's dispirited wife does not add any pace to the movie. Both Milind & Andrea looked out of sorts throughout the movie. Gautham, once again, has lended his voice to his villain, last time being for Jeevan in Kakka Kakka.

The movie is really slow! I just could not resist the last 15 minutes, it was a big drag and Jyothika over doing (as always!) her character. The songs were also a let down, with just the Unakkul Nanae by Bombay Jayashree and Karu Karu by Karthik and others being just okay. All this for the successful Gautham Menon - Harris Jeyaraj combination in Minnalae, Kakka Kakka and Vettaiyadu Vilayadu. The entire movie seems to have been shot in the dark, especially the first half of it. More of Manirathnam's inspiration I guess (Joke!). Comedy goes on a vacation this time, never seen anywhere near the movie or the dialogues. I only wish Gautham spends more time for his next venture to make up for what he has messed up with PKMC.

PS: Grapevine says that Gautham Menon's next venture Varanam Ayiram (I just love this title) is also an inspiration from Hollywood, this time its Forrest Gump!

CWC2K7

A billion hopes shattered!

Change is certain!

I read from the online edition of the "Daily Thanthi" today that all vegetable and fruits vendors, across Tamilnadu will be on strike today protesting the entry of " Reliance Fresh" across the state. The worst part is that the eviction of Reliance Fresh in TN is supported by the ruling coalition partner PMK. The reason, small players will be wiped away in the course of time!

Isn't it so obvious that the buyers are then cheated / charged high by such vendors? If there is a competition, one has to stand up and face it or just quit rather than protest against something that is certain. Reliance's venture into retail is definite to benefit the masses. Do we all not know what the Ambani's, Tata's and Birla's are capable of? Do we not appreciate Reliance and Tata's achievement in the Telecom sector? How different is the retail?

Can one forget the sea of change India has experienced since the liberalization reforms started in 1991? Its high time people, especially politicians realize that change is certain!

Family Problems - LOL!

Two men, one American and an Indian were sitting in a bar drinking shot after shot.

The Indian man said to the American," You know my parents are forcing me to get married to this so called homely girl from a village whom I haven't even met once. We call this arranged marriage. I don't want to marry a woman whom I don't love...I told them that openly and now have a hell lot of family problems."

The American said, "Talking about love marriages... I'll tell you my story.

I married a widow whom I deeply loved and dated for 3 years. "After a couple of years, my father fell in love with my step-daughter and so my father became my son-in-law and I became my father's father-in-law.

My daughter is my mother and my wife my grandmother.

More problems occurred when I had a son. My son is my father's brother and so he my uncle.

Situations turned worse when my father had a son. Now my father's son (i.e.) my brother is my grandson. Ultimately, I have become my own grand father and I am my own grandson.

And you say you have family problems.... Give me a break!

Guru!

I watched this movie (the tamil version!) a couple of days back and really enjoyed it. The movie is inspired by the Business Tycoon, Dhirubhai Ambani's life and has been well scripted by Maniratnam. IMHO, Abhishek dazzled as Gurukant while Rai (as Sujata) seems to have lost her charm (???). Madhavan and Vidya Balan are also in the starcast and have done neatly. Mithun Chakraborty has made a definite comeback for the meaty role he's done in the movie as Nanaji. The songs were awesome (Rahman & Hindi, the chemistry works a lot) but the belly dance number by Mallika Sherawat was not warranted from some like Maniratnam despite that adding the flavour of Turkey / Middle East.

A serious and an inspiring movie!

CSE = Cricket Stock Exchange

It wouldn't be Infosys and Wipro here at the CSE but Tendulkar's and Lara's. Formed by whizkids from IIT and IIM, the virtual cricket stock exchange will be on till the end of the Cricket World Cup 2007. Having started with the IPO's, it is all set to launch the secondary market operations from 11th March when the real battle in West Indies begins :-)

According to the developers, virtual cash will be allocated for every participant and each of them are expected to invest it rightly to make more money. It could be IPO, Cash or F&O. The same rules as in a real stock exchange but the essence is learning the basics (or even the advanced) of stock markets without losing money :o)

Saddening...

It was yet another Tuesday morning at the office till there were mild tremors felt during 11:50 AM, just before lunch. Almost everyone on the floor felt it, and sitting on 20th floor is no joke. The tremors lasted for about 30 seconds or so but were really frightful. We had been out for lunch and the roads were much crowded than it usually used to be and we found people talking on their mobiles about the tremors. Soon after, we were back at our office and a fire alarm went off causing a bit of a panic after we were asked to evacuate. It was then played down as a false alarm. Shortly after, we again felt mild tremors, atleast not as serios as earlier. It was then on news we found out that there were a two quakes in Indonesia and quite a few lives lost. Pretty sad day after a lot of partying last evening for a farewell.

Year of the Golden Pig!

the chinese new year holidays are just over here in singapore but the MRT's and roads do not indicate so. the crowd is still thin and slowly catching up after a long weekend though few I know are getting back to work only on monday. however, most of the businesses are reopening today, the 5th day of chinese new year, as it is believed to bring luck!

while pig year comes every 12 years, a golden pig year comes in only every 600 years, that adds all the more excitement and of course babies to one of the countries that has the lowest birth rate in the world!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

burp!

not having packed lunch from home, i tagged along with a few other colleagues of mine who started for lunch. I thought we were going to Lau Pa Sat, the food court until one of my colleagues had other planes. we decided to go to The Soup Spoon. being a vegetarian, i was kinda reluctant till another colleague of mine assured there was plenty of choices for vegetarian. i assured myself and walked towards the outlet which was just past Lau Pa Sat opposite to our office.

I should say, the choice of vegetarian food was more than usual levels for a singapore restaurant. for the soup, i had to decide among Tangy Tomato with Basil, Velvety Mushroom Stroganoff, Meatless Minestrone Soup and Roasted Pumpkin with Caramelized Apple. Minestrone being my favorite, i apparently settled for with Falafel with Hummus wrap and an Iced Lemon Tea though there were choices of sandwich and salads.

I should say the food was awesome! Nothing more, Nothing less! Looking forward for another lunch / dinner to the soup spoon.

Bon Appétit!

Oh Dear!

With RBI hiking the CRR from 5.5% by a whole 50bps to 6%, the commercial banks in India are already scratching for options. The CRR is the cash reserve that all commercial banks will have to maintain with the RBI for their operations like lending and mobilizing deposits. The CRR, sadly does not attract any interest as a result the commercial banks will have to mobilise deposits to that tune, pay an interest to the depositors, and then obviously increase their lending rates.

The impact on the CRR hike definitely is not only on the stock markets as we have witnessed in the past few days with the banks uffering the most, but also in real life like performance of the banks, real estate, cement industry, steel, automobile sector and what not? A hike in lending rates, for home loans, which is already close to 12% by private sector banks is imminent and so are personal loans, auto loans, etc. This will definitely be a tool to curb the runaway inflation which stands at 6.5% currently but this will also put a check to the improving lifestyle of the commons.

The big question here is, was CRR hike the only way to curb inflation? Are we out of options? The answer, to my mind is NO! The government must have definitely put in its heads together to control exports of consumer goods and open up imports to ease the situation rather than hike CRR which now seems to have a bigger impact!

Strategy or Stupidity?

've been an ardent reader of the epaper editon of "The Hindu" since its launch a few months ago and became addicted to it after my move to Singapore. To compliment the idea, I should say its a wonderful service, especially for those who are away from Chennai (and India).

However, It came as a complete surprise to me (and a thousand others?) when I opened up the website as usual this morning and to my horror found that the epaper website was converted into a subscription based one. With heavy heart ;-) I had to digest the fact and then opened up the subscription charges page and was dumb struck at the pricing. A one year subscription is priced at INR 4000/- which is close to 3 times the print edition price!!!

I (maybe a thousand others as well!) simply could not understand whether there was any strategy involved or sheer stupidity in the pricing. With the booming internet usage and the lesser cost to reach out masses, the pricing should ideally have been the other way. I really wish someone can enlighten me on the reality behind such moves (!#$%^&*$%!%^)

A Real Performer!

Sunday morning, 4th Feb 2007, and as always I was hooked to the TV, flipping between the only two Tamil channels (Sun & Vijay) aired here in Singapore before my wife interrupted and wanted to watch 'Koffee with Anu' on Vijay TV which had Malayalam (and Tamil) film actor Jayaram and his wife Parvati as the guests for the show. For a chat / talk show that never had me or my wife glued to it ever before, this one was the most fantastic chat show's 've ever seen.

Jayaram is a real performer. His mimicry capabilities were incredible! His expressions like Sivaji Ganesan and Kamalahassan were too good. The most funniest part of the show was the hilarious narration of his honeymoon trip to Lakshwadeep. I just could not avoid my laughter whenever I think of it!

Again, narration of his friend, Thangappan during their stage performance days, Mammooty's description of their house, pulling his wife parvati during their visit to a cinema theatre in dubai were some of the awesome moments of the show. Definitely Jayaram and Parvati make a wonderful couple!

Definitely this episode has kept me on the watch for the future KWA shows. I heard (?) there is a Sathyaraj & Manivannan episode coming up. That should be an interesting contest, to see if it can topple Jayaram's performance in this one.

Tamizh Thanthuvangal

Some of my favorite Tamizh Thathuvangal from across the internet and mobile world;

1. Meenpidikaravangalai meenavanu sollalam....naye pidikearavangalai nayavanau solla mudiyuma?
2. Enathan oruthan gunda irundhalaum avanai thupakikula poda mudiyadu!
3. School testla bit adikalam,college testla bit adikalam...aana....blood testla bit adika mudiyuma?
4. Pongaluku govrnmentla leave kodupanaga...aana idli dosaiku kodupangala?
5. Kolamavula kolam poda mudiyum kadala mavula kadala poda mudiyuma?
6. Lifela onnumey ilana bore adikum.. thalayil onnumet ilana glare adikum!
7. Vazhai maram thar podum ...aana adhai vachu roadu poda mudiyuma?
8. Pant pottu muttipoda mudiyum aanaaa muttipottu pant poda mudiyumaa?
9. Irukkurappa enna dhaan complan, bournvita nu kudichalum sethadukkapram ellarukkum pal dhaan!
10. South India-la narthangai kidaikkum. Aaana, north India-la southangai kidaikuma?
11. Nee evlo periya paruppa irunthalum, unga veettu samayalukku paruppa kadaila than vanganum!
12. Yevalavu dhaan neechal therinjalum tumbler thannila neentha mudiyuma?
13. Ennathan naiku nalu Kaal irundhalum adhala kaal mela kaal pottu utkkara mudiyuma?
14. Ennathan karatela black belt vanginalum, naai thorathina odi dhaan aganum!
15. Ticket vangitu ulla poradu cinema theatre, Ulae poitu ticket vangaradu operation theatre
16. Mukkalila ukkaralam......... Naakalila ukkaralam......... Ana Thakkali la ukkara mudiyuma?
17. Train yenna thaan fasta ponnalum , Train oda kadaisee potti kadaiseeya thaan varum!
18. Bus la collector yae erinalum...mudhal seetu driveruku dhaan!
19. Aayeram irrunthalum...aayerathu onnu perusuthana?
20. Thookam vantha kanna moodalam, mmmm vanthi vantha vaaya mooda mudiyuma?
21. Files na utkaarndhu paakanum, piles na paarthu utkaranum!
22. Adayar anandha bhavan kilai annanagar la irukkalam, aana adayar aala marathoda kilai angay dhan irukkanum!
23. Yezhu parambaraikku ukkandhu saapida kaasu irundhalum, fast food kadaila ninnukittudhaan saapidanum!
24. Yennathan ahimsavathiya irundhalum chappathiya suttu dhaan sappidanum!

Jumbo Circus in Town?

Is Jumbo Circus in Town? naaah! Looking at this pic from The Hindu, one would tend to ask this but its School Time and this is the most common scene on Chennai Roads, though this one is a bit too much. 've seem 3 or 4 people commonly on motorbikes, but this one is a class apart. I wonder when the police and other transport officials look into such cases and clamp them down the way the auto fares are beng done at the moment...hmmm the wish list never seems to stop ;-)

brrrrr

its close to two weeks since we moved to the new office place, one of singapore's landmark buildings, in raffles and it certainly feels like sitting in a ice box / fridge. i guess the temperature set must be in negative! LOL its just that we've not had snow but definitely as cold as the snowcity in jurong east. one of my colleagues already calls this place a snow city!

it looks like we are working in colder regions of europe / canada, but i only wish i was really there ;-) outside the office, the place is a big oven!

Big Brother? nah...Big Business!

The "Big Brother" show in the UK had recently sparked off a racist row against Indians / Asians. The reality show had almost doubled its viewership in a couple of days after the controversy sparked off. Some of the sponsorships' pulled out soon but eventually, the show came under spotlight. I'd say its cheap publicity more than ignorance or racism. While it is true that sentiments of a lot of people have been hurt at this juncture, something serious will have to be done in setting up strict censorship boards or other boards to control tv shows rather than try to be reactive, diplomatic, point fingers, blah!

Latest Info as on 29th Jan> Shilpa is the Queen! Won big brother with an overwhelming votes of 63%.

Orkut yet?

I registered myself for orkut, a google service that has been existent for quite sometime now. I did that after my cousin, yegu, had sent me repeated invitations to view / join. I was'nt much impressed or to tell the truth could not understand what it was all about before I said to myself, what the heck, let me give it a try.

First looks, the concept is very interesting and nice. It looks like i was the last to sign up for this given the number of communities and users in it ;-) there's a community for almost everything one could think of be it date of birth, year of birth, schools, colleges, work place, etc etc.

I heard it is addictive, from another source, (thanks senthil) and would endorse that. Maybe orkut needs to advertise so(!!!)...lol coz with just 2 days into it, i am already missing it without any access to it from office, eeeeks!

net net, it is yet another site with a different concept compared to that of the groups that can hook on lot people...via friends network, blah blah!

as expected...

finally, MK had give way to the revision of the earlier announced pricing of tickets for multiplexes in chennai. as per the new GO, the maximum price range for the tickets would be between Rs.95 - Rs120 depending on the theatre, canteen facilities, seating capacity, etc

this move is indeed welcoming as it favours both the exhibitors and the audience. now will MK look into setting a cap for the pricing in the canteens in these multiplexes as the fear of hike in the prices of the food items sold here to make up for what the theatres may lose out on the tickets pricing has already set in ;-)