Blog headed

People might have heard about "block" in the heart, I have something called "blog" in my head.
After I started writing blogs, everything I see , everything I read I am trying to create blog out of it.
Is this a syndrome that every blog writer faces ? Every time I travel in train , every time I am alone at home, walk alone, sitting inside the loo , I think about writing about something .
Hope it subsides as time flies by :)

Is this Independence ??

Happened to read the latest article in NewYorkTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/world/asia/23india.html?_r=1&oref=slogin .
The article talks about new found Independence in Indian Women because of Career opportunity.
Its a wonderful article to tell it to the west that Indian women are no longer conservative. In fact west already know it based on their experiences like Indra Nooyi being CEO of Pepsi. Women empowerment is way ahead in US compared to India, We are slowly catching up. At least in Urban India women are more Independent, bold and powerful compared to villages.
I find lots of managers here in client side who are women and doing a wonderful job. Its very large in number compared to number of managers in India. The new found independence as discussed in that article will at least help in bridging the gap.
Having said that, at the end of the article one girl has told the author that she is living freely in Bangalore. Here, her boyfriend can come and go without anyone asking questions. That's what is Independence projected by the west. Does it apply to our culture our tradition? Good question.
The Girl at the end confesses that she broke away from family and married her boyfriend. This is what is called Independence by the west. Proof that we are getting westernized in every sector and soon there is going to be no difference between us and US .
Where are we going ?

AnotherTerribleMovie (ATM)

Saw Vijay's AzhagiyaTamilMagan(ATM) Yesterday . The most hyped Diwali release.
The movie starts with Illaya,Iniya,Idhaya Thalapathy DR.Vijay nadikum... In this movie Vijay has become brand ambassdor of another forgotten sport. Running race :) Heard he is going to endorse goligundu, gilli thanda, pattam viduthal in his forthcoming movies .
Intro song over..Next fight. After that mokkai by Santhanam in the name of comedy (Hard to see Santhanam act with Vijay after making so much fun of him in Lollu sabha.. After all its his career making decision) . Santhanam is slowly becoming a repetitive material ..Best of luck Santhanam, try something different.
Vijay has tried a different formula in this movie rather than his usual remake stuff. Great. Kudos to him. But the director was unable to Carry forward a nice theme. Vijay has ExtraSensitivePerception(ESP). He foresees death of his neighbour little girl. Tries to save her but in vain. Then foresees the death of his father , somehow saves him. Then foresees his lady love getting stabbed by him . Confused by it he runs away from his lady love.
Lady love played by "Shivaji" fame Shreya. She has tried to act , nice attempt.
Vijay lands up in Mumbai where he sees his villain .Another vijay. After fight,dance,fight,comedy, song,fight how good vijay unites with Shreya is the story.
Though the movie is different from a usual vijay movie. It lacks the flow. You tend to look at your watch many times throughout the movie .
There is one visible flaw in the movie, when one guy invites Vijay by telling his name and ends up asking him who are you ?
Positives

1. Something different from Vijay
2. Songs

Negatives

1. Screenplay,direction
2. Hard to differentiate b/w villain and Hero (both look wise, acting wise )
3. Comedy
4. BGM (ARR in Shivaji hangover)

Overall ATM is AnotherTerribleMovie :)

Ps: This is my personal view and I am not Rajeev Masand/Raja Sen kind of reviewer.

Diwali2.0

Diwali2.0 , the next generation of Diwali celebration.

• No more firecracker bursting like crazy
• No more visits to relatives houses
• Sit through out the day at home watching "Deepavali sirappu nigazhchigal"(Diwali special programs in TV)
  
• No more home made sweet,Kaaram
• Get sweets from the shop

The old and gold way of celebrations are no more here :(

Wishing you happy and prosperous Diwali 2007

Identity Crisis

"Who am I ? ". Nope I am not talking about Jackie Chan movie or a Unix command. Its the question that many kids ask when they grow up. When we were born we are born with only one identity . An identity that defines you as a boy or as a girl. But when we grow up , the society , the family gives you an identity. You are a Tamil Iyengar,You are a Malayali christian, You are a Gujarati Muslim etc.,
People then grow up with their own identity until they reach the school/college. Their friends , their passion slowly changes their identity. But their base identity is there which is hidden inside.They mingle with people and get to know about other culture, other religion. Its very good to know all about others. But when it comes to marriage one has to be choosy.
But when it comes to marriage one has to be choosy. Marriage is not the end of bachelorhood. Its the beginning of new life for you and your partner. You are becoming more responsible. You are licensed to produce your next generation. You marry someone from your own religion you inculcate your identity to the new-born. He will grow up with a defined identity. But when you marry someone out of your own religion then your child will fall into a huge crisis when he/she grows up.
That's what we call "Identity Crisis". The child grow up and marry someone who belongs to a different religion/region/culture your child is going to inculcate "identity crisis" to your grand children. What will happen to five generations down the line. There will be no religion,region, culture .
You may tell its good , there won't be any religion,region,caste,culture based fight. Its fantastic. The world will be peaceful. Everyone is neutral.
But its pretty bad in other sense. You have destroyed one religion. you have destroyed one culture. The Generation next will have no idea about your culture, your religion. "Who am I ?" will be a FAQ.
PS: Its purely my opinion and I am not against inter-caste, inter-regional marriages.No personal experience is reflected over here.

Train to Embarcadero

The alarm rings .. Its 7 A.M P.S.T .. After performing all morning duties, my walk to the Fremont station starts. The target..Catching 8.36 A.M train.. "Train to San Francisco Daly city in 3 minute" said the station announcement system. Myself and my roommate walked fast towards the Fremont station. After pushing in and getting out our train tickets , we went ahead and caught the escalator. Huh at last caught you.. We are in the BART, the train system that is the heart of bay area.
In US traveling in train itself is a great experience. They maintain punctuality like anything. People follow queue in boarding a train. The seats, automatic gates, the cleanliness its all in place.
They announce before every station arrives. They tell when the gate gets opened. They announce where and how to reach nearest airport from the station. They announce delays if at all something is there. They announce the destination every time the gate opens and people board the train.
After getting a comfortable seat , I looked around and observed people. (he he.. I cannot put more decent than this). You get to see variety of people in the train. Old people, young people, kids. Asian,American, Afro American, Mexican. My observation goes into analyzing various men and women from various countries. Generally the analysis will be far inclined towards the opposite sex.
Be it American, Be it Mexican, Be it Chinese, Be it Indian , all young girls put the makeup in train. Initially when they board the train they look pretty normal. They open a bag and put eyeliner, lipstick. For eyelids they do 4 to 5 set of coating. Even for our house wall I think we did 2 coating only :)
After putting the coating they press the eyelids with some tool. Its like pressing our clothes. Pressing the eyelids :) After that lipstick. After that use some brush to put powder in cheek.That's it. All set to go to office.
Beyond this observation, see how people from various country behave. Even after seeing all these I get bored and doze off in the 5th station. 5 stations to Embarcadero, my destination.
Embarcadero station . I am out.

Spelling it out

Can you please spell out your first name sir ? Its "Manivannan " . I started spelling it out "M", "A" the voice from the other end said I repeat "M" , "E". I said its not "E" its "A" . "A" as in "Apple". The common issue in US is spelling out our Indian names. Especially the south Indian last name which is really huge. I have often struggled for finding out equivalent . I used to say "I" as in "India", "N" as in "Nancy". Sometimes I blabber something.
Why Americans spell it differently. Why they have different accent ? They tell words clearly. Like multinational .Indians pronounce it "Multenational", they do it as "Multinational". They give stress on each and every letter in the word. That's alright. Unless they can understand our accent and we can understand theirs its well and good.
I then did a Google for phonetic equivalent , so that next time I spell out my name . I don't struggle. Read the table in Phonetic alphabets. Its really helpful. So next time someone asks me to spell out my first name I will say "MikeAlphaNovemberIndiaVictorAlphaNovemberNovemberAlphaNovember" ... Sounds cool :)

Pray for me brother

This is a great song from A.R.Rahman. Just listen to the song and read the lyrics. Mind blowing.


Pray for me brother
Pray for me brother
Pray for me sister
Are you searchin..
Pray for me brother

Look-in’ for the answers To all the questions In my life
Will I be alone Will you be there By my side
Is it something he said Is it something he did
I wonder why He is searching For the answers
To stay alive

Could you ever listen could you ever care
To speak your mind
Only for a minute For only one moment
In time

The joy is around us But show me the love
That we must find
Are you searchin’ For a reason to be kind, to be kind…
He said… Pray for me brother
Pray for me brother Pray for me sister
Pray for me brother
Say what you wanna say now
But keep your hearts open
Be what you wanna be now
Let’s heal the confusion
Pray for me brother

Don’t let me take, When you don’t wanna give
Don’t be afraid Just let me live
Don’t let me take, When you don’t wanna give
Don’t be afraid ......

Say what you wanna say now
But keep your hearts open
Be what you wanna be now Let’s heal the confusion

Pray for me brother
Pray for me brother

I’m ashamed ah, brother be dying of poverty
when he down on his knees its only then he prays
And it’s a shame ah, brother be dying of ignorance
cos the world is a trip and everybody’s a hypocrite
Need to stop ah, taking a look at the other
I’m not ashamed of poverty
need to be making his life better
So think about it, think about it once more
cos life is a blessing and it’s not justa show, ah

Round and round the world is spinning around
We need to be singing a prayer, we need to be singing it now
Round and round the world is turning around
We need to be singing a prayer, we need to be singing it now
Need to be feeling the power, need to be feeling the faith
We need to coming together just to win this race
Need to be feeling the power, need to be feeling the faith
We need to coming together just to win this race (thrice)

oh ae oh ae oh

Are you searching for a reason to be kind ?

My Two Paise on ICL

From now on I will be writing my Point of View on certain things that's making news . To start with , my two paisa on IndianCricketLeague.
The starting of ICL is welcome sign in the sense that it has provided an alternative to BCCI. Instead of BCCI making all the money , now ICL will also make. But will the league system become hit in Cricket? that too in India ?? I don't think so. Cricket is a game which is followed based on country. If India plays Pakistan or Australia plays England then people will follow the game.
I don't think English county league is that famous. International cricketers get practise under English condition through county. Just like that International cricketers will get practise under Indian condition through ICL.
But, if you take football the leagues are famous. Its a great crowd puller. Reason ?? May be all the superstars play the league, with dedication . In cricket our cricketers will take ICL as a welcome break from International season . It will not be a crowd puller. That's for sure. What say?? May be I will be proved wrong in the years to come.

PDA

Hold on..Its not public display of Affection..Its Public Display of Arrogance. It was hectic first weekend for me at SFO. Went to Muir woods on Saturday (http://www.nps.gov/muwo/) and Pier 39 (http://www.pier39.com/) on Sunday. It was hectic travelling over the weekend. (as if I drove).
Muir woods is wonderful hilly resort. Full of Redwood trees. While returning back from Muir woods at SFO downtown , saw PDA at action. We were waiting in the signal and one more car besides us. One karuppu/Kaala kid (i m not racial :)) knocking the car of a hefty vellai/safaed guy with his hand. Then when he opened the window. This Karuppu/Kaala kid showed his middle finger and shouted the "F" letter word.
Then the kid crossed the road and from the street corner displayed his bad words vocabulary skills. The guy in the car took a sudden turn and asked the kid to stop in the corner. After that the signal turned green and we went. Gosh ! if it is India we could have stopped the car and watched the fight :(
In India auto wallahs , gundas show their arrogance in public places. But in US surprised to see a a 12/14 year old kid showing his arrogance. In US kids are like our 25 year old guy. They are grown out of proportion, physically as well as mentally.
Came to a conclusion.US is full of PDAs only , either its Public display of Affection/Public display of Arrogance.

Roamio

August 11 Srirangam
August 12 Bangalore
August 13,14 Chennai
August 15,16,17,18 Bangalore
August 18 New Delhi(Stopover)
August 19 Amsterdam(Stopover)
August 19 Minneapolis(Stopover)
August 19 Onwards San Francisco
After so many stopover , I got a hangover .
Heard about Romeo,have you ever heard about Roamio .That's me.Mr.Roamio.

SFO

Call it the "Gay" capital or the "Bay" Capital, San Francisco is blowing my mind . Few things that I liked about the city.

• Awesome scene of flight touching down at San Francisco airport. It looks like we are landing in the sea.
• Working at the 16 th floor and looking outside the window to see the "sea" and the huge bridge.
• Having coffee at "Starbucks" and sitting outside the shop and enjoying the "bay" wind.
• Great downtown with no rush.
• Wonderful weather , feels like you are in India
• Travelling to office by train , no rush in the train
• Train going under the sea?
• Organised traffic
• Lots of Chinese,Indian,Mexican population.
• Huge difference compared to NY city. Wide roads and huge buildings, less traffic.
• Surrounded by Hills

Proud to be an Indian

Happy Independence Day to one and all. 60 wonderful years and I wish the country prosper in the years to come. Let the Rich get richer and the poor get richer. Lets celebrate Independence Day with a video of our National anthem. This wonderful video is breathtaking with all the greatest musicians of our country coming together. Composed and orchestrated by the one and only A.R.Rahman.

Mahanadhi

Happened to get a sneak view of "Mahanadhi" yesterday night. Kiran TV (Malayalam Music Channel) shows Tamil movie every Saturday night at 7.30. They show pretty nice movies every week.
Since I was rushing back to Bangalore couldn't watch the whole movie. I have seen "Mahanadhi" for almost 5-6 times before. Every time I watch this movie, I get a heavy hearted feeling. "The movie rocks" is an understatement. Right from the first scene till the climax the movie is very well taken . The acting of KamalHassan is simply awesome. No wonder he got a National award for this.He potrays the character of middle-class father with so much ease.
We can simply stand up and applaud such a wonderful movie. I wonder why this great movie has not been remade in Hindi. May be the movie doesn't have an American backdrop or may be its too good to be remade.

Tape Recorder

We are in the age of CD Player,DVD Player, home theatre, iPOD, mobile phones providing awesome music. But going back to the age of tape recorder gives me a nostalgic feeling. I still remember the day we got tape recorder at our home.Its a "Phillips" brand, 2 in 1 (tape recorder and radio)
The first standing instruction from mom is to get all spiritual cassettes. 1st Cassette is "Shri Venkatesa subrabhatam". 2nd one is "Vishnu Sahasranamam". Myself and my brother used to play Sahasranamam cassette and use to recite the sloha in chorus. I remember writing "Sri Ramajayam" 1008 times and getting one Sahasranamam book. Everyday we use to recite religiously.I still recall Sir Rajaji's voice description about Sahasranamam followed by M.S.Subhalakshmi's "Bhajja Govindam".Mind blowing stuff.
Then we got 7 more Spiritual cassettes before we got the famous "Cassette No.8". I am saying famous because its famous among us (myself and my brother). After sitting for hours together we came up with a set of 12 Tamil film songs. We went to "Best" musical shop near our house to record those songs. The 1 week wait for getting the empty cassette loaded with songs were too much for us. We use to record songs based on our choice.
We got 100's of Cassettes after that , we use to number the cassette and categorize them based on the quality of songs. we use to mark it "Melodious","Foot tapping", etc., We lost few cassettes giving it to friends and relatives . But still we have huge collection at home. Be it Carnatic classical or Hindi/Tamil film songs.From Ariyakudi to A.R.Rahman . From Kishore Kumar to Kollankudi karupaiyee. Name it we have it.
Now I have so many songs in my machine and everywhere music has become rage. But still the age of cassettes and tape recorder ringers in my mind.

Rain

"Rain Rain Go away come again another day , little Johny wants to play Rain Rain Go away" the nursery poem I was singing for the past couple of days. Every day evening its raining cats&dogs here. People call Bangalore Silicon Valley and its true. Not only because of presence of lots of IT companies also because of rain. Seattle is the wettest place in US and is called Silicon valley.
In childhood days the rain fascinates me a lot. Having hot "Onion Pakoda" with a cup of tea is the best combination I can think of in a rainy day. My lunch menu would be Milagu sambhar(Pepper Sambhar), Milagu Rasam(Pepper rasam), Paruppu thovaiyal (Dal chutney). Ultimate combination. It takes me back to Tanjore where my mom used to prepare this special lunch combination whenever it rains.
Like all child , I used to get afraid of Thunder and lightning. Grandma used to tell me , tell "Arjuna , Arjuna" nothing will happen. There is a mythological reason behind it. She used to say thunder is because of fight in the heaven between Gauravas and Pandavas. No cross question. I believed it blindly :) Playing in the rain is a strict No No during childhood days. Seeing the rain sitting near the window amazes me. Listening to radio with rain songs running in the background. Amazing.
I specially prefer Illayarja's rain numbers. "Andhi Mazhai poligirathu.." is one among the best with great lyrics. "Kannukul mul vaithu yaar theythathu, thanniril nirkum podhe verkindrathu "(Who stitched thorn in my eyes, I am sweating standing in water) . Hats off .
This song is somewhat nostalgic to me and it takes me back to my childhood.
See the song and enjoy.

How to make stranger as your friend ?

How to make friends? Lots of things written about it but I have never read any one of them. But what is the algorithm I follow to make stranger as my friend.This is purely my personal experience.
Smile Nothing works in life except the smile. Whenever you are trying to make friend with a stranger start with a smile. If you get a smile from the other end then you are all set
Hello Next thing you have to do is wish them by saying Hi/Hello. Then slowly ask them How are you doing today?
Location Then slowly ask from which place of India you are from. If he/she is from your place then it will be really great. You can discuss more things. If not then you can tell about your place and he/she can tell about his/her place.
Industry If he/she is working in the same industry as yours. You can discuss about their area of expertise, their technology,domain.
Interests Then slowly you can ask his/her interests. Be it music,film,books,food. Discuss about each and everything
Networking If he/she is from IT industry then you can ask his/her mail id to stay in touch.You can slowly build the network by getting to know his/her friend. Meet them when they are going out with their friend. You get to know many people
Communicating Emailing is the best way of communication. Get his/her mail id start mailing from the next day that you meet. Add them in your address book. Send "Good Morning" mails.Send forwards.
A step ahead If you want to move a step ahead of just friendship i.e Love, start sending mails addressing the individual. Go ahead and spend the whole day mailing.After few days add the person in messenger. Talk the whole day.Get the mobile number of that person and spend your life over phone.
Stay in touch Last but not least you have to stay in touch with that person.Once in a while contact the person through chat/mail and extend your wishes. Use some social networking site and add the person so that you always be in touch with that person.

Exhibition

Happened to visit Hosur over the weekend. Small town with lots of activities. Its the best place for guys who want peace in life. Calm and quiet. Completely different from Bangalore.
Saturday Evening I went to Exhibition.Government Exhibition usually happens in small towns that gives opportunity for people to buy things at a single place. You can call it Poor Man's Mall. Its quite famous in Small towns across TamilNadu.I don't know whether its there in any other states of India.
During my childhood days we use to goto Exhibition. The Exhibition in my place happens during summer holidays.You get lots of plastic goods,fancy things there.Things that you can place in showcase in your house. The main agenda for going to exhibition is to go on a ride in giant wheel. Its one hell lot of experience that you can ever get.Vomiting immediately after coming back from a ride.
Another exhibition specialty is eatables you get over there. Be it Punju Mittai (A sweet candy made of sugar)or Delhi Appalam (Huge sized Papad) or the chat items.
Mouth watering stuff . Make sure that you eat these after going for a ride. Not before :)
The Hosur Exhibition had all these elements. With 10 Rupees as entrance fees. Cheap and best entertainment that you can get.

The Boom Boom Guy

Tennis. The first time that I started watching this wonderful game was during the mid 80's when a guy from Germany was ruling the game. His name is Boris Becker. 1985( if I recollect correctly) Wimbledon finals. This guy was playing against Kevin Curren. Serve and Volley at its best. Becker Serving aces , falling left and right and volleying the ball. He conquered the net. What a player. He became my instant Hero.
The "never say die" attitude Becker showed in that match was fabulous. The "Boom-Boom" Becker arrived in the tennis world by being the youngest player to capture the "Wimbledon" title.
Just because of Becker I started following the game.His Serve. His volley. His return of Serve. His forehand shots. His backhand shots. I used to hold my breath watching his game.
Though I don't know the technicality of the game. I follow the game. I like the long rallies. Ace,Return of serve, Forehand volley, backhand volley, lobs of Becker are still fresh in my mind.
The Edberg-Becker dual is one of the best I have ever watched in the game. Wimbledon Finals 1990. Becker vs Edberg. I cannot forget that match.Edberg dominated the game throughout. The Swedish player was at his best on that day. Though Becker lost the match, he won millions of heart.
Though he stopped playing the game during the late 90's I am following Tennis ever since Becker days. Sampras came, Agassi Came, Goran came, Federer came, Nadal Came. But one guy always stands in my Heart and he is Boris Becker.

T R A I N

The blog that I wrote longtime ago and forgot to post. Just like films suffer because of producer, this blog suffered because of writer . I am releasing it after 10 months :)

Traveling by "Train" for me is the best compared to other modes of transport. There is definitely a greater advantage while you travel by Train.
Comfort
Stretch your leg and sleep as you do in your home. Sleeper buses have come , Business class in flights provide that level of comfort. But still train is cheap and best comfort wise.
Mobility
Till a year back I used to travel with my friend , he will be in another compartment i will be in some other. We meet up somewhere and we talk for hours together. Cricket, Latest music album, latest movies , Work and all nonsense. The best part is we roam around the compartments looking for another friend of ours. Using this opportunity we get to see all the girls in the train :)
Making Friends
The best train travel I feel is during the day time. People generally don't sleep and we talk. We get to know people in person .We build relationship in shorter span of time. I got many friends during my day time travel to Chennai . Generally the talk will start like "Its damn Hot in Trichy..I don't know how it will be in Chennai" You get a reply from other person . Then you slowly introduce yourself and talk about all under the sun. This is called "Rail Sneham" (Friendship in Train). Its short , but its sweet.
Local Trains
Writing about train and thinking about 7/11 gives me a heavy hearted feeling. The blast that ripped Mumbai a year ago on this same day still lingers my heart. Electric train is the life line of Mumbai . I recollect the day when myself,my brother,my parents caught the 11 o clock train from "Mira Road" to "Church Gate".That day My Mom while boarding the train lost one of her slipper and she boarded the train with another in her hand. Such a rush even at off-peak hours. My brother lost his watch while boarding the train once.
Electric train at Chennai is completely different. Me and my friend used to go by train from West Mambalam to Nungambakkam. You hardly find that level of rush during peak hours at Chennai compared to Mumbai. Off-Peak hours train will be almost empty.
Trains in the US Amazing. No need to stand in the queue to get tickets. Drop some money and get the ticket for both up and down journey. You board the train standing in a queue. Insert the ticket to enter the station. Similarly insert while getting out of the station. No escape routes. Was telling my friend the other day that I can sleep in the train and keep on travelling from source to destination umpteen times a day.