My Alpine path

Stock taking for 2011

2011-12-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

Its been a long time since I came here though I've been reading on others' posts. So, touching base here and trying to do a snapshot of what is going through my mind:

I'm going to India (yay!! And yeah, a second time this year :) so, double yay!!)
I'm also going to tick off another country off my travel list this year (despite my poor traveling this year (no new places except a national park(glacier) and a city (chicago) so far, even though I traveled every single month), I finally get to finish with a bang!)
I'm planning a surprise - keeping fingers crossed that everything goes fine :) I'll update once things are complete.
One of my friends, M is off to his wedding. I'm so happy for him and wish I can attend his wedding. Another of my friends is engaged as well, a couple more married/engaged, this seems to be a season of marriages among close friends group.
Finally saw the finesse of balancing - Respecttttttt!!! I hope I can get to that state soon.
One of my friends lost his dad :( And another lost her mom :( :( This makes me feel that our parents are not invincible :( :( :( #PainsOfGrowingUp
Another couple of friends had/are having kids. Phew! So, I finally am getting into the akka to aunty transition (seri, seri, 25ku aprom akka sollanumnu expect panrathu konjam too much thaan!) #PainsOfGrowingUp
Purged three years worth of blog posts on google reader, as much mail as I can throw out in official and personal mail folders and as many tasks I can finish before I leave to India. Feels cathartic! I wish there was a way to take a snapshot of my mailbox and other stuff now and just diff the differences a year later so I can cleanup just one year's worth of trash.
Plan to get off the grid once I go home - one month of Internetless, emailless, fbless life - I'm sure it would be a big challenge given that I'm on the net every minute of my waking time, either through the phone or my ipad or one of my three computers. Would it be bliss or hell? I frankly don't know. Its a lot more easier to be out of net in India than here. Ok... maybe, I'll restrict it to half an hour a week. Lets see!
The above challenge is one other reason why I purged most stuff - I want to let everything pile on a clean plate instead of another older pile. I'm making sense, no?
Since I'm going netless, this is also going to double up as a resolution lookout post. Here is what I set out to do. " This year would be more a capture-and-go year. So, no resolutions to keep, no to-do lists, no must-finish stuff and definitely no must-experience stuff! For my resolution minded friends, I do have two but they are a secret and do not carry the pressure of resolutions - I've worded them 'nice to do stuff' - they really are nice to do but I can comfortably live without doing them. Also, I have a few things that 'can be done' but again, I can live with not doing them. It would definitely be a big change from my planned life. I plan to leave all the planning to others and if any planning HAS to be done by me, I'm going to do it fly-by-the-pants style. Should be interesting to see how that pans out! " It has definitely been an interesting year - I made a ton of new friends, learned more about balance, learned that I can live with some people and without some others, slowed down on traveling but enjoyed all what I can do, experienced new stuff but really didn't plan out for it, watched only movies that I was interested in (no more lists of movies to watch or books to read - it took some time to slow down but boy am I glad I slowed down!), did a couple of all nighters having fun, learned a few new things, did a fly-by-the-pants style trip to LA and more and more. Most important of all, I learned to let go of some things and learned that emotional roller coasters are definitely bad, for everyone involved.
That said, the next year has a couple of resolutions from me (yeah, I love the 'do as you go' style but that is not me all the time) - the main one would be to mix my resolutions with the 'do as you go' style. And this year, there are two types of resolutions - one for the whole year and another that changes periodically. As always, they are not to be shared until done. Watch out for 2012 posts to see how the next year shapes up.
In terms of this blog, this year barely scrapped through being the bottom in terms of numbers. However, as part of no-obligations year, I think this is good enough and I'll aim for 40 posts a year and call it good enough every year from now on. So, no worries on that one.
I attempted the veggie challenge a couple of times for a period of a month every time and it was a success. Thinking if I should try it for longer periods next year.
Some minor ones: Loved some of the movies that came out this year; didn't understand how 'why this kolaveri di?' became a world sensation; none of the songs that came out this year stick out; same as none of the books.
Time is a strange one - on one hand, this has been the most interesting year of my life, on another, this is the most cathartic, on another, this is a bubble year where nothing touched/stuck. I really don't know.
Life at Neverland has changed SO MUCH, that I barely recognize it from a year back. Even though I was a participant in it, a bird's eye view is stunning.Oh well, guess that is life!

With all that dumped off my mind, I'm off for this year!

Have fun with your families and friends and see you in the new year!

Luv,

Alpine

Ad times!

2011-08-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here are two ads that caught my attention recently. Both are super good - totally capturing the spirit in their own way!

The Global Debt Clock

2011-08-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting link on the global debt clock. I've been checking this one for the past few days and the rising debt has been definitely concerning, if not downright scary!!

The story of a reed

2011-07-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

There was once a reed
A small, wispish one
That grew one summer
In the light and breeze of love and life
Fed by friendship and fun
It grew day and night without a worry.

Then came a harsh winter
That chilled the reed to the bone
Its growth stalled
And it quivered against the winds
But it still continued to grow
In the hope of the next summer

Next summer came
But it was a cool one
And the light was dimmed
Starving the reed of its life
The breezes stopped
And the reed didn't know why

The reed held on
Despite cool summers and cold winters
With minimal light and breeze
Despite the surrounding weeds
That competed for whatever light was left
For now,
It was no longer just that reed
But a couple of weeds as well

Then came a point
Where the reed's life energy is no more enough
To keep it going
Despite the lack of light and breeze
It drew from within its depths
But it still wasn't enough.

The death knell sounded
In the form of a slip and trip
Now the reed lays broken
Despite the folklore that reeds never break.
Amen!

Some say the reed was never there to start
Some say the reed was already gone
Some say the reed is still present
But I, the creator says
The reed was there and it is gone now
But I wish the reed was alive
For it was fun with the reed,
And the reed is no more.

There might come another reed
With the same soil and same seed
It might even grow to a shoot
And maybe even a giant tree
But it is still another reed
And never this particular one.

I sadly mourn this one
And pine for it at times
But realize that whatever I plan,
There is a Creator above me that plans as well.

Here lies a reed,
A fun one that added value to life.
May it rest in peace,
While we live with its remains in this world.

I shudder to look at the empty space it created
In the soil and the forest
But not sure if anyone else will miss it
For this was a teeny, tiny reed.

As Nature's laws go,
This empty space will be reclaimed
And put to use for something else
Not sure what will reclaim it
Nor what it will become in future
But somewhere in this space,
Lies a reed's life story.

Advaitam

2011-07-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

One of the best short films I've seen in Telugu. I can totally envision this friendship - I've seen an instance of it in real life. Different people, different settings but the same friendship. Hope you like it as well!

Snapshot of a week

2011-07-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

Ok... this is a snap shot of two weeks (let me pen it down before I forget them all):

Trip to Glacier was good. The scenery was amazing. And I ran into R there. Small world! :)
Saw triple fireworks for July 4th. That was a total new. Every July 4th is way different from the previous ones. This time, we were in neverland.
Attended a tamil drama in which two of my friends were acting. We got to sit at the first row (probably the first time I've ever done it) but that experience was fun. Also, the sets were amazing - they had put in a lot of effort into getting it right. Even the small details were handled right - as they say, the devil is in the details and they had nailed the devil right, for most parts.
Attended a dosa fest at a friend's place - man, first time I ate fish dosai :D
Had a horrible dream from which I woke up in cold sweat :( Even thinking of it now, I can't stop shivering. I've never had a dream where I cried so much. I wouldn't go into the details, but suffice it to say that I wish I had not dreamed it at all.
Met a school friend in a grocery shop and we spent an hour catching up :)
One of my cousins is moving to Canada soon - am both happy for them and sad that I'd missing them.
Porkodi and me did some egg shell dancing together! :D
Rest was all work, usual chaat with friends, lunch time and on and on.
These two weeks were a lot quieter but I managed to waste a LOT OF time yapping with people. As a result, my work has suffered a bit.
And I'm no closer to getting anything done :( All coz of my yapping around.
My movie watching and music has taken a nose dive as well. I managed to finish a couple of books though (which is way less than what is average). Yapping again!! :(
I missed watching Harry Potter at midnight this time :(

I'm super tired of a few things/people. K says that they are as they are but that my image of them has gotten sharper and that is causing issues. I think I understand what K says but don't think that is the only thing to be blamed. I think their images have changed as well. We are good so far but I think we'll head butt soon - I hope to God that it doesn't happen. It is a bother and I don't want to cause much churn. Longer loops might help but that is problem avoidance and not problem solving. But I'm at a point where I can't solve the problem (they should change it) and the problem avoidance is all that I can do - so I do it gladly. But that takes a lot of effort and I'm so not used to putting in this much of effort into this sort of thing. And this is causing me to stress a lot :( I'm trying to push the stress on to work but I end up yapping to clear it out. Hmmm... so far not a very happy two weeks. Lets hope atleast the next week is more fun-filled and in general, happy.

History of English in ten minutes

2011-07-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

Came across this youtube series detailing the history of English in ten minutes. I wish someone did the same for Tamil as well :)

Too much parenting?

2011-07-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

I recently read an article about parenting and its effects; sorry, too much of too good parenting and its after effects. One of the best articles I've read on this issue, it kind of pushed me to take a serious look at the differences in parenting when I was a kid (sigh! yeah, there was a 'was' in that sentence) and now (colleagues, friends, my landlady, etc who are parents). Living with a five year old every day gives you a clear view of where the parent stands vs where the kid stands. I should say that some of my cousins and my landlady actually do a good job of it (I don't think I can resist the kids' cuteness when they ask for some more chocolate milk or some more TV/internet time - I've started saying 'lets check with your mom!' when put in a sticky situation).

I don't think I had much choices when growing up - we had a rule of eating what was made that day (even though it was just idlis (we had it EVERY DAY for breakfast) or dosai) and not asking for something that my mom hadn't made. The only allowance was Maggi day, when my mom would relent to our constant badgering and make Maggi (she had this yummy way of making it with veggies and stuff - but I think my sis and I would have eaten it even if it was just Maggi - we were (and still are) that crazed about it) for dinner one night out of two weeks. Even that, my dad would frown upon saying its not healthy. My mom was serious about healthy stuff and Maggi would take a back seat for the next two weeks. We had to cajole her for hours to get it out again!

The same rule applied to Rasna (does anyone remember that ad where they showed a Rasna girl with 'I love you, Rasna'? She was every kid's dream), TV time (homework first and then TV - oliyum oliyum (a song telecast show) on friday nights + movie on sunday were big deal when I was in 4th or 5th; 6th-college - I had to finish the long list of chores/practices to do before TV and novels), story books (only if we did really well in class - a story book for every A grade. I'm sure most of us would've had mini libraries of cherished books that we exchanged with each other simply because we couldn't buy them at will - I have friends who became friends just so we can exchange books :P), play time (two hours max), movies/excursions/trips (one or two a year??), etc, etc. And pocket money was practically non-existent at home. We could get however much we needed but we had to justify our purchases (the hardest was explaining to my mom that I wanted to eat at the canteen every day just for the heck of it - my mom frowned upon it unless it was some special day, like the last day of school or something). We would get one or two rupees once or twice every few weeks and that day was treat day amongst friends. We'd share one samosa or two pepsis between five friends and yet the part samosa was all the more delicious than the ten samosas that I buy now.

But I still think my childhood was amazing simply because we knew what the rules were and knew what the limits were. Most importantly, it was because we knew our parents won't change the limits. We could cry and cry but once my mom made some dinner, there was no changing it just because I didn't want to eat it. I could either not eat it (allowed for one day) or eat it but request what I wanted 'nicely' for another day (even then, it was at the discretion of my parents to really decide if it was good enough to eat). I still remember hating wheat upma but being forced to eat simply because it was healthy. I think that made me appreciate all kinds of foods and stop being a picky eater. I still have some pet peeves of preferring noodles over rice, chicken over veggies, etc. But those were habits that I picked up in grad school and not when I was growing up. Even now, if push comes to a shove, I can eat anything (eg: bland food) and still not complain much.

Now, I see most kids just getting all they want (or are my expectations too high?). Aakash sleeps every night after watching two hours of TV and gets a new toy every two weeks. He also gets to go to McDonalds (yeah, chicken nuggets are his favorite) every few days (otherwise he won't eat his dinner properly) and has a slew of Happy meal toys which he plays with for maybe half an hour and then throws them out. For his bday, the gifts he gets are in the range of $100 to $500 and he doesn't play with most of them anyways. His latest craze is Justin Bieber (can you imagine a five year old liking a pop star?? ) and thinks Superman is for 'kids' (don't ask me what he is!!). He has an iTouch already and demands that new games be downloaded every few days. He is the one who plays most games on my mobile (I stick to bubble burst most times) and thinks most games are boring. If things are boring even now, I don't know what will happen later in life. There is only so much entertainment and fun that the world can possibly provide.

I only picked Aakash as an example because I see him day in and day out and have known him since he was three and a half years old. Almost every kid that I know is super smart and don't minding showing that they are (which is good some times but then puts us adults in a weird position where you cannot count them as adults (which they are not) but cannot treat them as kids (which they are)). So, you tend to treat them as younger friends whom you can appreciate and play with but really cannot tell them if they are doing something wrong - some days, I've itched to tell a kid that what he is doing is wrong or is not the right thing to do but have held my tongue simply because his parents let him do it. If they are fine with it, then I cannot possibly say anything against it right? But I remember when I was growing up, everyone had a free rein in telling me what was right and what was wrong. Not just my parents, but my aunts, uncles, grand parents, my parents' friends, neighborhood uncles and aunties, my mom's colleagues, sometimes even the maids and driver that worked for us would tell me something is right and something is wrong. Atleast with the maids and my driver, my parents would consider if the advice was really right but with everyone else, my parents decided that since they were adults, they knew better than the kid (ie me). And the adults around us didn't hesitate in correcting me or my siblings if we did some mischief.

Further, us older kids were expected to be 'role models' for the younger ones - whether my own sister or my younger cousins or even the young kid in the colony who played with us. If they were caught doing something wrong, then we had to take some rap as well for not 'keeping an eye' on them and making sure they didn't do anything wrong. Mischief was fine whereas other things (like petty fights, jealousies, etc) were frowned upon. We had to resolve them amongst ourselves. I don't remember much incidences where my parents stepped in in the kids' fights. I even remember resolving fights and issues amongst playmates simply because I couldn't go home and tell my mom that I didn't want to play any more with kid X whose parent Y was opposite our house. And we didn't have much choice because we couldn't do much without our playmates anyways.

Also, it is getting harder to wow kids nowadays. I had to rack my brain to gift something to Aakash for his bday that would wow him and still be useful and fun. He already had a number of toys, his other gifts were an iTouch, soccer shoes, motorbike, some high end toys, etc. Finally I had to settle for a group activity kit which he could do with his cousins and a new Wii game of his favorite Super Marios (that wowed him for exactly one week. Sigh!). Gone are the days where parents used to throw a simple bday party with cake and rasna and we were done. For Aakash's bday, my landlady booked a party room in Chucky Cheese, ordered pizza and drinks for all, had a special Super Mario cake and gave party gifts to every kid that came in. Its all well and good to do it sometime but gets harder to beat expectations every year. Aakash's fourth bday was similar with Sponge Bob cake - this year, he made it clear he didn't want anything less than a Super Marios or Bieber cake. Excuse me?? A cake is a cake, even a simple one should've given the same fun since we are all going to eat it anyways. And he forgot about that cake after a few days.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for wowing kids and giving them the best experiences parents can give. But life is not just a string of happy moments. You cannot eat just sweets for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There should be a balance in everything and failures and rejections are part of the deal. So, get your kids exposed to a wide variety of experiences, both good and bad, and let them grow up as mature adults and not some protected ones in a bubble.If not, they would become adults without a deep sense of commitment to anything, not even to having fun. Life, then, would become a meaningless set of events - that is the worst thing a parent can give his or her child.

PS: I do know that all this is theory and that since I'm not a parent, I can't really talk about the choices parents make when bringing up their kids. I'm all for the choices that parents make, since after all, its their kid. But, all I ask is, keep a balance and show your kids what real life is like. Once they know that failures are not a big deal and that success is never elusive, they'll learn to love and enjoy life more. Treat them with an iron hand in a velvet glove and your kid might thank you years later even if he screams for icecream every night now. For, you cannot protect them forever and its best that they fail in your arms than fail where you cannot hold them.

Snapshot of a week - update

2011-06-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

And, oh... forgot to add the following things:

Went to a Seattle Sounders game with M. Lot of firsts for that one - had a good time with M and other friends, my first live football game (it actually ended before I got bored - that is a plus!), 100th game for Sounders and good goals (two of them were super funny!), ride back to home in a bus late at night.
Installed a basketball hoop at office to play. Oh yeah, my company is that cool!
Organized two lunches and both went well. The company is getting more and more interesting.
Saw a bunch of movies - loved 180 though there is something missing, Ip Man series - loved it for the company I went with, some more tamil ones. Got to start serious movie watching soon. But we are in summer and I don't want to spend time watching movies... and what little indoor time I get, kindle takes my attention.
Finally, finally got my book moved to publishing (as in, real publishing - at the printers with the feel of ink on it). I can feel the printing happening on each word as I look at the script. Now I understand how writers all over feel. Though I'm one of the authors, I can't wait to see my chapter and book in print.

Looks like this week has been good, overall... lets see what the next week brings - I've already got a trip, a few movies, a lunch, a few chat sessions and a few talks lined up. But this hope, this is what makes life fun - As Anne says, 'half the fun in something is in expecting it'. And, I'm going to expect things fully!

Snapshot of a week

2011-06-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here is another snapshot of a week post:

Amazing how meeting some people changes our lives or provides such a shock that we change our views a lot. Here are three people I met this week: one - a cancer patient - I'm stuck by her resolve to enjoy every minute of life and her love for life itself, two - someone in management - it was nice to see the differences in viewpoints between hard core technical people and people in management and three - someone whose actions I'm trying to figure out - I had thought I had seen all types of people possible (either real life or movies or books) but it was an eyeopener and a lesson in humility thrown in somewhere.
Caught up with a couple of friends from my grad school after a long time - a conference call is so good when you are down!
Met a few of my undergrad friends for dinner - I don't think any of us would've predicted we'd end up where we are eight years ago (no, not even five years ago when this blog was started!)
Throw in a few chat sessions at M with friends. I'm loving every minute of them :) Definitely one of the highlights in daily life :P
Crazy Saturday night - I think I'd become a UNO expert pretty soon - I managed to do the same mistake more than once at the same point. The second time was a deja vu! Despite J's efforts to educate me in games, its pretty dismal. Then G finished my game for me.
Sidenote: I won all the games in cards that night!! So, there!
Sunday afternoon - unexpected lunch and movie party... but I'm getting back to intern days. Spontaneous is the word!
Sunday evening - met some of my friends for snacks. It was good meeting everyone (other than for bdays and anniversaries). I do miss the Kinect dinners we used to do - now everyone is busy and have more commitments to keep up. People can't 'just' relax and waste time anymore :( And I'm scared of growing older for this same reason - at one point, life would become a list of commitments to fulfill and the fun part would get lost. Even if I keep my life fun, I can't expect everyone else to do the same - and what is the point in doing things if you can't do them with friends? I'm not sure I know the solution to this one but I hope we all know it before it's too late!
K is coming to Neverland after like an infinity!! That one news made my whole week :) I'm already planning a whole slew of things to do - a trip to Canada and Portland are in the cards! Lets see!
Was totally down for a day or so (think Tuesday). I need to get a handle on my temper. It's usually fine but I flew off the handle for sometime and don't feel happy about it at all.
Had a really nice chat with KG's parents - they know me from when I was a baby (literally!) and hearing from them was super good. That is also a reminder that my parents and their friends are not growing any younger.
Got to be part of my dad's bday party! Thanks to technology and P :) I was feeling super bad that I couldn't be there (hence the bad temper) and the next day, got to do this!!
Finally used my kindle to download a couple of books - Saturday afternoons are best spent lounging on a camp chair in the sun with a juice in one hand and a kindle with your favorite books in another. Lets see how long this bliss exists.
Heard that one of my cousins was moving to Canada soon! I'll so miss them!
Realized that a lot of my friends have stopped/reduced facebooking because they are all busy with work :O. I'm still among the remaining few that likes and comments and wishes and what not. As a result, my name pops up more times in more feeds (atleast, according to J, I produce more noise on facebook :P) and that has its own set of issues. OK, this also proves I'm pretty jobless!
Did a few late nights due to work - but life is pretty interesting.

Apparently, this is all I can think of about the last seven days of my life. I'm wondering if I should reduce facebook time and instead do a snapshot of week every week (and note things down as and when they happen). Atleast it would be a fun read a few years later ( not to mention that my facebook would be a lot cleaner).

As always, all comments welcome :)

சுதந்திர கலை

2011-06-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

கருத்தென்பார்

சுதந்திரம் என்பார்

கருத்து சுதந்திரம் என்று சொல்லிடுவார்

பெண்ணியம் என்பார்

விடுதலை என்பார்

பெண் விடுதலை என்றும் பேசிடுவார்

ஆனால்

சொல்லத்துடிக்கும்

ஓராயிரம் கருத்துக்களை

சொல்லாமல் சொல்லும் கலையும் வேண்டுமென்பார்

இதில் எதை பின்பற்ற?

எதுவே சரியென ஏற்க?

சொல்லடி சிவசக்தி,

நான் மானிடத்தில் கரைந்து விடு முன்!

The other side

2011-06-08T00:33:00.000-07:00

Bharani woke up with a start.

He heard a thud and got up to investigate. It was dark in the room and he started moving, out of habit, to the light switch. But he hit himself at the corner of the dresser and almost fell. Scowling in pain, he came to bed and sat for a few minutes. He felt too sleepy and went back to sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he got up, it was all bright and sunny. He got up with a lazy yawn and remembered all that happened last night. Wow! what a party... he had tried weed for the first time in life and had been at a high all through the party. He vaguely remembered coming home and getting into bed. He got up, reminded of food by his rumbling stomach.

Wait a second! There is something different about the room today. Everything seems to be misplaced, or placed on the wrong side. His side table which was usually on his left was on his right side and his bathroom door was on the right. "Am I still on a high? Wow! the weed IS powerful. I haven't seen anything like it.", thought Bharani. He went to look at his face on the mirror and saw a strange bruise on the right side of his head. He didn't remember getting it.

He saw in the reflection his mom coming into the room with a hot cup of his favorite filter coffee. He loved closing his eyes and feeling his mom's fingers on his head, caressing his hair. So, he waited with closed eyes. However, he never felt her fingers. He waited a few more minutes and then opened his eyes...

He looked at his reflection in the mirror where his mom was caressing his hair and he was enjoying it. He turned to look back but couldn't find his mom. Gingerly, he raised his right hand and the Bharani in the mirror raised his left hand. He was on the other side.

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Strange, Bharani is eating with the spoon in his left hand. He always uses his right hand for eating. When did he change it?, thought Mrs.Uma, Bharani's mom. Also, why is the mirror in his room dinged at one end? Should change it soon. Looking at cracked mirrors is not good.

A dream fulfilled!

2011-05-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

Something dreamed,
Something dared,
Something attempted,
Something after.

Something wished,
Something wanted,
Something tried,
Something thought.

Finally,
Read through,
Done with,
Checked off the list.

Still,
Remembered,
Loved,
Cherished.

PS: I finally finished ALL the works of LM Montgomery (atleast all of her fiction). Though I love Anne, I've grown to love the Story girl, John, Matilla and thousand other characters and families (the Andrews, the Blythes and so on) as well. Now, all that needs to be done is to visit Avonlea and PE Island and see if the magic world exists. But, I might not because I love the image I have in mind and don't want it set right or wrong. Ah! the power of imagination :)

PPS: Yet another thing off my forever bucket list. Now, I really don't care how many other books I read or not read anymore. I've read the best of English (Anne) and the best of Tamil (Ponniyin Selvan). Blissed!

Group effect!

2011-05-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a very cute video about traveling with others. Enjoy!

PS: I'm still trying to finish that storyline... but writer's block attack! So, waities for some time! And wishing Porkodiyakka a very happy dappy bday :)

Story alert!

2011-05-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

Thinking of doing a சிறு தொடர்கதை or a தொடர் சிறுகதை (I think the first is more apt) from next week. It would be one a day - do let me know how it is. Here is a teaser:

இது ஒரு சாப்பாடு பற்றிய கதை
எல்லா கதைகளும் 10 நிமிடத்தில் நடப்பவை (yes, the 10 minutes effect :D )
இந்த கதையில் வரும் அனைவரும் கற்பனை.
போன கதை fulla T based names, இந்த கதையில் U based (ஏன் தான் பசங்களுக்கு U ல start ஆற பேரே வெக்க மாட்டேன்ட்றீங்க?)
எப்போ நீ பெரிய தொடர்கதை எழுத போறன்னு கேட்கற மக்களுக்கு, அதுக்கு இன்னும் திறமை வரலீங்கோவ்!

Btw, romba expect panni padichu aprom en ipdi nu thunk ellam pannikaatheenga. Ippovae warn panniten! :P

The other side of Metro

2011-05-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a link from a bus driver whose experiences are all over the page and hilarious to say the least. Having taken the bus throughout my grad school (who can forget running to catch the last 2 AM bus from the lab (if I miss it, then its either sleeping in the lab or walking at the dead of the night) or the early morning 7 am bus (for my work or classes) and relying on the kindness of bus drivers to wait an extra minute as you cross the road to the bus stop?) and the first few months of my Neverland life (I got so used to traveling on bus that at one point, I knew all the buses through my route and their timetables (down to the last minute)........ and then I bought a car), I'm definitely grateful for all the buses and the bus drivers who are among the most punctual and patient ones I've seen. Even now, going to S in a bus is fun and definitely beats the car drive at some level, though I don't get to do it anymore. Here's to the Metro!

10 Minutes

2011-05-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

How 10 minutes can change a person's life. Have a look:

ADMK to victory

2011-05-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

மக்களே! மக்களுக்கு மக்களே!

ADMK வெற்றி வாகை சூடி இப்போ தமிழ்நாட்டுல ஆட்சி செய்ய போறாங்க. இனியாவது எல்லா வகையான அராஜகமும் குறையும்னு எதிர்பார்ப்போம் (நிக்கனும்னு ஆசை படறது எல்லாம் too too much!)

இனி சிலரோட reactions:

அப்பாடா! ஆட்சிய புடிச்சாச்சு! அடுத்து சுவிஸ் பாங்க்ல புது அக்கௌன்ட் போடணும்! அந்த கருணாநிதிய... மகனே! இருடி... வக்கறேன் ஆப்பு!

அச்சோ! இப்படியே கடைசி வரைக்கும் இருக்கலாம்னு நினைச்சேனே! எல்லாம் போச்சே!! retirement பிளான் கூட இல்லையே!

அப்பா! நான் டெல்லி போக மாட்டேன்!! எல்லாரும் கனிமொழின்னு கூப்பிடாம களிமொழினு கூப்பிட்டு டார்ச்சர் பண்ணுவாங்க!

அய்யா! இந்த அய்யாவ நம்பாம அம்மாவை நம்பி இருக்கலாமோ! கொஞ்சம் ஓவரா தான் போய்டுச்சு பேச்சு! இனி நான் என்ன பண்ணுவேன் ஏது பண்ணுவேன்! கேப்டன் வேற வந்து நொங்கு எடுப்பாரே!! ஆத்தா!!

இதுல பய புள்ளைக option வேற தரானுங்க! velanguvaanungala?

வேண்டாம்! வலிக்குது அழுதுடுவேன்!

யப்பா! எவ்வளவு டார்ச்சர் தந்தாங்க! இப்பவும் நம்ம ஒரு வோட்டு போட்டா, லட்சம் வோட்டு போட்ட மாதிரி! யாருகிட்ட! நம்ம கிட்டயேவா!! கிங் மேகர்னா சும்மாவா?

அய்யா போய் அம்மா வந்தாச்சு! இவங்களாவது ஏதாவது நமக்கு நல்லது பண்ணுவாங்களான்னு பாப்போம்!

PS: all the above is sondha karpanai, but the images suttufied from all over the web. Indha images thandhavangalukku nandri hai!

Happy Mother's day

2011-05-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

Dearest Amma,
Where do I begin? What do I say? However I say it and how many ever times I say it, I know it'll be inadequate. Love you loads, amma!
Happy Mother's day! Hope you have all the fun in the world :)
Luv,
Alpine

PS: Happy mother's day to all moms around the world! You guys are doing an awesome job! Keep it up :)

கிரிக்கெட் கொண்டாட்டம்!

2011-03-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

அன்பார்ந்த பெரியோர்களே, தாய்மார்களே, பொது மக்களே (எல்லாம் தேர்தல் effectட்டு தான்!)

நடக்கவிருக்கும் இந்தியா பாகிஸ்தான் கிரிக்கெட் போட்டியை முன்னிட்டு, இந்த வாரம் வரவிருக்கும் பதிவுகள் வர மாட்டா. அடுத்த வாரம்...... அது அப்போ பார்த்துப்போம்!

இப்படிக்கு,

ஆல்பைன்

PS: எல்லாரும் double duty போட்டு, இந்தியா ஜெயிக்க அவங்க அவங்க இஷ்ட தெய்வத்தை வேண்டிக்கோங்க! வர்ர்ர்ட்ட்டா!!!!

Dravidian women - paintings

2011-03-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

Came across this amazing oil painting work online... too good! I was blown away by the life in each of the paintings and the level of detail in each one! It was like watching a photograph taken by a renowned artist with a good SLR! I'd suggest you see every painting there - though the water colors, drawing and acrylic were not that impressive. And the face of the women portrayed, I could relate to each of it - I could see a friend, a relative, a co-passenger in the bus, in the train, a college mate and so on. The effect of lights and the props to bring the scene liveliness is totally cool! Usually people stick to inanimate objects or simple life subjects when they do oil paintings. Trying to capture a person's emotion, that too women, on oil painting is not small task and the artist has excelled in it. Each painting speaks! And I have no higher praise than that! :)

Kanasu

2011-03-22T09:50:00.001-07:00

Death penalty - a yes or a no?

2011-03-17T09:50:00.001-07:00

Every time I listen to the news, I hear that some heinous crime has been committed by a repeat offender. The latest to hit Neverland was the one where a female correctional officer was sexually assaulted and killed by a convicted inmate. He was a repeat offender and the police had proof of his involvement in all the previous cases.In one of them, he burnt the girl and had his DNA on her charred body. But still.... the judge decided to give this guy 20 years of prison, in which he was a 'good' inmate and so was allowed to visit his wife (who is a professor whom he met at a church after committing those crimes - how the hell did that woman agree to marry him? What is the use of education if you can't figure who is morally right and wrong? Some professor she is, huh!) every 45 days. And yet, he decided to force himself on a correctional officer who was unarmed and killed her. And....... the judges are still thinking if he should be moved to a higher security prison or not.

I'm all for giving someone a second chance. But that is only for smaller offences and that too only for first time offenders. Crimes like murder, sexual assault, child molestation, etc. needs that these guys be given the death penalty. Atleast, repeat offenders should definitely get the death penalty. The advantages are many fold: First, others who commit such crimes would know the seriousness of this issue. As of now, people talk A LOT about all this but when they know that the punishments are not severe enough for you to die, people don't worry much about it. The American society is partly to blame; people don't really worry about what happens twenty years later. They are more worried about saving their a$$e$ right now. If I can live today, I'll gladly take it. Who cares about the next 20 years?

Second, we can reduce the HUGE overload on the prison system. Are you the person who says that people should be shown compassion and so the financial strains of the prison system should not make the poor prisoners unhappy? They are prisons, for God's sake. Not some spa or vacation property where people go and relax after the strenous job of committing crimes. Especially, repeat offenders for these crimes should not be shown any compassion whatsoever. They don't belong to the race of humans in the first place. For, a human can never treat another human in such a demeaning fashion.

Third is an indirect effect. Once people know that the punishments are serious, lesser people would do the crimes -> lesser people would be affected -> lesser police needed to capture these people -> lesser money needed to spend on upkeep of the police and judiciary system -> more money to spend on needed things like education, social development, etc -> more educated people (and lets hope saner people with some sense in their heads) -> lesser people doing crimes. And the chain continues! Ideally this would lead to a society with zero percent crime rate.

Now comes the question! Why do we still not have death penalty for these crimes and criminals? I searched through a lot of articles and websites, but couldn't find much. If anyone can explain to me, this forum is all yours!

Spent!

2011-03-15T09:50:00.001-07:00

I came across an interesting game called Spent. It captures the daily struggles that most poor people face in the world. Though it is geared towards American economy, it applies to poor people in India and most other places. Do try it out - it is a good eye opener with regards to your priorities in life. It definitely was for me!

Thulasi

2011-03-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

PS: Supposed to be a woman's day special post - but got delayed because I was enthued to put the other one first. Belated women's day wishes, everyone!
[Alert!! Story Alert!!]

"God!!! Thulasi, you are driving me crazy. I don't want to go and meet amma. I don't want you to go as well. Do you get it? Stop pestering me now. I need to get this ppt done before my meeting today.", saying so, I left for office. I'm Thyagu, a manager in a major corporation. I'm aiming for a promotion and have to give 'n' number of presentations as a result of it. Amongst all this, my wife Thulasi has been pestering me that we need to visit my in-laws that day. The day started bad; we were out of milk and my daughter needed some one to drop her at school since she can't take her dinosaur project in the auto. I didn't have time to eat anything else and ended up eating dry cereal with water. And threw half of it in the trash!!

I felt bad as the day progressed and tried pinging my wife over work (one of the advantages of working in the same company). But she was away and I assumed she was running around attending all the meetings. After all, she is a manager with a team of 8 too! Meetings are the death of corporate life! We should have a few 'no meeting' days to get back our sanity. Back to topic, Thulasi is a very level-headed person and is very patient. And I, I'm the exact opposite. Suffice it to say, I have my highs and lows. And today is turning out a low day and I'm putting in every ounce of effort to end it at a high.

My meeting was scheduled for 10 am but got postponed to 3 pm to accommodate schedule conflicts. And, my GM was attending it. To quote his words, he was planning to 'drop in'. Knowing him, I'm sure he'll stay for most of the meeting. To top it all, my manager pinged to say that the one hour meeting got reduced to a 10 minute session since the partner director had a flight to catch. Everyone is in a hurry!! God!! Let this meeting go smooth and I walk to Tirupathi. A voice in my mind started wondering if I would walk from Bangalore (my current city) or walk from the foothills of Tirupathi or walk from Chennai (my native place). Shouldn't I pray clearly so that God doesn't think otherwise? Indha analysis ippo thevaya? Devuda!!

I left her a voice message asking her to call me and that I was done with my presentation prep. But she didn't call back; which was strange because we were in the habit of wishing each other before a big presentation or meeting. And we've not broken it in the past six years. But I was way past worrying about all this and started sending in applications to all the Gods I knew to do double duty and help me present and present well. I'm sure that the pitch I was going to do was going to save the company millions; only that it required some huge initial investments. And, my team was banking on me to pitch it right to the top management. So, I needed all the help I can get to convince my superiors.

Phew!! My meeting is over. I have given it my best shot and I thought I saw a hint of a smile on my GM's face. So, it is most likely a winner. I saw a voicemail from Thulasi and was so eager to hear it. It was short: "I'm going to be with amma. I'll come home late. Pick up Tharini from school and get something for dinner too. Don't worry about me. I'll call later". I was livid, to say the least!! First, she forgot to wish me for my presentation. Second, she didn't even ask how it went. Third, and most important of all, she has gone to her parents' place even when I told her not to. All the happiness of the meeting results drained away and I felt like hitting something. But then I had to pick up my daughter, get some dinner, read stories to her and put her to sleep. I was tired and angry, a potent combination for anyone. I tried calling my wife but it went to her voicemail. That added to the ire and I was getting irritated by the minute.

Irritation turned to panic as time went by. As the clock ticked 9, I swallowed my pride and called her house. But her mom said she hadn't heard from Thulasi in the last few days. That was when I had the sinking-stomach feeling. I called my best friend Sundar. His wife Sumathi is my wife's friend. They came home immediately and Sumathi wanted to know what exactly Thulasi had said. Rewind back to morning:

I was super irritated with the dry cereal and lack of morning coffee and the fact that I had to drop my daughter off at her school since she asked with a hopeful look.

Thulasi: "Amma called. She asked if we can come home today"

Me: "Thulasi, you know we both have a busy day at office. Tell her we can't make it and that we'll come on weekend."

Thulasi: "She wouldn't call without reason right?"

Me: "God!!! Thulasi, you are driving me crazy. I don't want to go and meet amma. I don't want you to go as well. Do you get it? Stop pestering me now. I need to get this ppt done before my meeting today."

As I told Sumathi, it hit me!! How could I be this crazy? Thulasi calls my mom as amma as well. I just assumed that she spoke about her mom. God!! I called up appa in Chennai just to hear my dad say "Thulasi was great today. Without her, we'd have suffered so much. She came this afternoon and took your mom to the doctor. Your mom is a lot better now. I dropped her at the airport an hour back. She should reach home soon!". I spoke to my parents for a few more minutes, assured them things would be fine and that we'd all come again some time soon and not to worry about anything. I felt I had been an idiot for assuming things and thinking bad about her. I suddenly wanted to see Thulasi, hug her tight and apologize to her. I looked up to see Thulasi in the doorway. She looked so beautiful. My Thulasi, as pure as the herb of her name!