THEY MISSED THE TRAIN

2007-09-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

Who Missed The Train? And why ? Have You Ever Missed the Train?

Here Goes the story..

One of my friend, a very good friend was supposed to come from bangalore to visit me at chennai.I decided to give my friend a surprise, let me receive my friend at the station. The Problem starts. I do not Know which train my friend is coming .My Friend was not reachable at home or office .So how do I give the surprise.

I decided to take my chance, I decided to try my luck .I reached the Railway station by 8.00Pm .The Train From Bangalore was supposed to arrive by 8.30
I was filled up with hope ..I was anxious to meet my friend.

The Headlights of the Train Started beaming and the train started moving slowly into the platform .I was happy, I smiled at myself..here comes my friend . Passenger’s Started moving out of the train My Eagerness to meet my friend increased. I Scanned every face …Every face looked like my friend..But where is my friend? My Scanning became intense .The more I searched ..every one seemed to be my friend , BUT not my friend .

There was a war happening within me. Will my friend turn up or not?
Yes ….No…Yes …….No.., it went ON.The YES finally won .I said to myself my friend will come after all a friend will not bluff another . My thoughts went wild, sadness started creeping in me .I did not allow this to happen .I said to myself ..my friend might be in the last compartment ,so it takes time to reach the main entrance..

One Old man was looked at me and smiling , he was also waiting for someone
may be his wife, maybe his son, may be his daughter or MAY be a Friend. As I looked around …I saw many faces reflecting the same feeling I had in my mind. We were all waiting, waiting for our loved ones to come

All the passengers were out….My friend was not among them .

I decided to wait till the next train arrives, the last train from bangalore …it was at 9.45pm, A big gap for another 35 Minutes …

The War again started, The War within me, I said to myself again and again MY FRIEND WILL COME.

I saw the old man again, we exchanged smiles it was a relieving one ,I Am sure for both of us .I saw many familiar faces ….The Same faces who were waiting .. Smile Started spreading among us, relief was seen on every ones face …Including mine.

The Headlights again started beaming and The train started slowly moving into the platform .I smiled at myself and said MY FRIEND is here in this train .

The Passengers started moving out , I started scanning all the faces ,MY FRIEND is still not to be seen

I saw the old man happy, he was hugging his son. I saw tears in many eyes ,tears because they are meeting their loved ones and some probably because their loved ones did not come . MY FRIEND too did not come. THEY MISSED THE TRAIN.

MY FRIEND did not come ,but I was still happy ,may be because I had hope alive in me …my faith was still strong…MY FRIEND would come. I drove back home, humming and singing the old melodies.

I enter my home and a smile beams at me…MY FRIEND

MY FRIEND too had MISSED THE TRAIN.

If your friendship is pure, Your friend will reach you.
If your faith is strong, you will find your friend, may be not in the train you are waiting for and may be not in the same face you are looking for…

THINK BIG @ LESSER COST

2006-10-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

Watching Movies is one of the best pastimes I have. I have been inspired by many a movies, I get too emotional when I watch things on a Screen. In a Theater I can’t cry or laugh my heart out, you know the kind of fear of “Look at this guy Crying” or “Are you Mad” and stuffs like that. Problem 2 : I enjoy having a Beer , may be couple of Whisky over a movie – Which I am sure all of you agree is not possible in India. Problem 3 : The theater do not Screen what you want to Watch , and so I Set sail to Build one on My Own.

I did look at list of What Goes into a Good “THEATER EXPERIENCE”
1. A good Sound System, With Dolby Digital, DTS & 6 Channels of sound Hence I Needed a Good sound Amplifier. I started My Search with This , What I found was Amplifier Starting from as low as 10K to 25 Lakhs , Naturally My Choice Is Narrowed down to brands Like ONKOY , YAMAHA , TECHNICS and few unknown Brands . I narrowed down on YAMAHA – Best Value for money – For a Person Who Has no money to spend. This Cute Little Box - Delivering a 110 W/ Channel and 200 W for Woofer. In Total Delivering a SOUND of 8600 W – PMPO / 860 W RMS, That is Huge for a Room Size of 15 * 12 . I never intend to use it to 100% may be I would end up using 25% . The Quality of Sound is great for Amateur.

www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/av/index.html

2. The SPEAKERS : What to Choose , The Choice was millions , starting with BOSE , ONKOY , PRO FX … and so ON. You would be Surprised I got my self an Indian Brand. “TORVIN” http://torvin.com/ made in India, More So Made at Chennai, and for me the Owner turned out to be from “GODS OWN COUNTRY”. I fell in Love with the mans passion for music. He turned out that passion into making speakers. One of the Best, I can Vouch. He did show me his Collection of Amps and Speakers. It was Like “VINTAGE CARS”. Each one of them delivering unmatched Quality of Sound, Amplifiers as old as 100 Years, And Speakers may be “few of them the first invented one’. Most Important I fell for his MODESTY, SIMPLISITY - like the products He makes. The Specks seems to match, the Sound Definitely is great. What more he gave it to me at very affordable price. A Set of 5 Speakers ( 2 Tower Speakers , One Centre Speaker , 2 satellite Speakers and a 200 W Massive Subwoofer , The Yamaha Amplifier ) all at 45 K.

www.torvin.com

3. The DISPLAY: I did do all the Wiring in my New built home for accommodating a LCD / A projection / may be an ordinary good TV. My two and half year old son played the most important role in helping me decide what to buy. He is good at breaking most of the things. My TV in the Living room has Already been Split into many parts. The Control units Covers are broken, the remote controls have been Changed may be 5-6 times. The Power cord is his favorite; He pulls the power cord when no one is watching him. His Next Favorite is the TV Screen; he used it like a basketball ring, throws any thing on which he can lay hand on. Knowing my son, it is great risk to have an LCD TV , ( My Laptop Screen Was used as a writing Screen). The Projection TV Holds the same Risk and also it occupies lot of space and the technology is getting outdated. So DO I DROP THE IDEA? I hated that “Moment”. Giving up is what I do best . But not in this case.. I was Determined to have my own theater, I was determined have my bear, Watch a great movie, every possible day of Life.

One fine day I woke up and Told My Wife “I have decided to increase my Screen Size from a 54 inch to a Whooping 120 inches. You guessed it Right “She asked me to go back to Sleep”. No way would I sleep. I was exited about what I found “You get Projectors at half the Price of LCD TV.” So my Search Started, I discovered that LCD projectors are outdated, not fit for movie projection. The Search landed me at TEXAS Instruments Site – Where the DLP Technology was born (Way Back in 1990). Digital Light Processor – Gave Life to Images. A professor’s invention- an array of millions of mirrors in an unimaginable small chip. The DLP was taking over the LCD systems. Most of the new Breed Projectors had the DLP technology, The Intensity of light was as high as 2000, Compared to 300 or 400 of LCD (Ansi LUMENS). The Contrast ration Was As high as 2000:1 , the higher the Contrast Ratio , the Costlier the System. I rung up my friends , my friends friends and their friends and finally I got to see a DEMO of a DLP projector from NEC , ACER and inFOCUS. The Choice was very Clear “ACER” at 52K inclusive of the Installation. But The You Know The Dealer Was So Proactive he never came to pick up the Order and the money. I have Heard Elderly People Say “What Ever happens, Happens for the Good”. And the I Choose inFOCUS at 75K, Still at Half the Price of an LCD TV. With Great Quality, great Features Like Screen resizing, and What Not.

www.infocus.com

If you have noticed I spend only 125K (including The Screen to Project) as Of Now. Still at lesser price than an LCD TV. The Screen Size 2 Times more and No Worry of my Son using the LCD Screen as a Writing Pad- Like he did With My LAPTOP.

4. The FINAL Wrap UP and FINISH: “The Last mile is the LONGEST” and that is what it was. I had already done all the Wiring in my Proposed “THEATER ROOM” .If I had to break the wall, redo the Wiring , and painting and more. All this just to hide the Wires and the Cost of it 50K – To hell with It I would rather Have the Wires Running around the room. But I did not Do that, I decided to do Wooden paneling for the room run all the cables under that, have a small false ceiling. I again called My Best Pals in business. The Proposal I received was all more than 70K.My Budget was not a penny more than 25K.So What next!!! . I am going to do it my self ..Yes I am going to be the carpenter. Being a Carpenter was easy. The Tough part was getting the Wood which any day was Expensive. That is when I read an article about Packing Wood Available at Throw away prices. “Packing wood” does that name ring bells. One can buy loads of it , it’s inexpensive , Once Polished looks great to me. I got Loads of Packing wood for Just about 6 K. Got a Guy to all the dirty work ( modern World Calls it Outsourced) of giving the wood fine finish , Then I outsourced the Polishing Job at 12K. In total for the Wood Paneling it took 10 Long Days, and Another 5 days for the smell of the polish to Vanish. Finally my Little theater was Up and Running. So what did I Spend “One Lakh Fifty Thousand Only”. Nothing like Watching on a BIG SCREEN, Having a Glass of Bear and watching one among the 325 collection of old and new English Movies.

All the World " in Your Head "

THEY MISSED THE TRAIN

THINK BIG @ LESSER COST