A Karthik

Movie: Kai Po Che: Mediocre but songs are good

2013-04-21T22:21:00.001+05:30

The manja song is good.

Book review: 59 seconds: Think a little change a lot!

2013-04-18T23:17:00.000+05:30

I read thinking fast thinking slow, it was heavy and slow moving. This book uses a lot of the learning from the book and several others and winds it into practical wisdom that you can use

A book that could change a lot after you read it.

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Movie : Talaash : Great acting by Aamir and Kareena - worth a watch for the plot

2013-04-05T21:43:00.001+05:30

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An experience of a life time: Mylapore Arubathu Moovar: Kapaleeshwar temple:

2013-03-25T22:32:00.000+05:30

I have gone for the Arubathu Moovar Thiruvizha (Kapaleeswarar temple festival) in Mylapore almost every year and it never ceases to be interesting.

This year too I spent nearly 4 hrs roaming the streets with my wife and 2 kids. Have put in snaps and a small video. Please do have a look at the video of the flower throwing contraption below - very interesting.

I even noticed Thirvalluvar and vasuki for the first time!!

Some street music

Some other pics

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Book: Good to great: Jim Collins

2013-03-24T11:07:00.000+05:30

Good book - you always knew that leadership was not about charisma or sweet talk, yet around you its rewarded almost every day. This book probably presents to most concrete evidence of substance and humility over style as the real reason for great performance. (level 5 leaders as put in by the author)

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Book review: Viktor Frankl: Mans search for meaning - Profound

2013-03-22T18:30:00.000+05:30

This book is about the experiences of a psychiatrist who was in Nazi German concentration camps. This book is profound in its value to all in daily life. It does not so much delve into the life of the concentration camps , but uses it only to set the context for the behavior and thinking of men at the camp and its relevance to life. His discussion on freedom and responsibility ,3 motives and one irrrevocable freedom is very original.

I liked this quote best in the book
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

He propounds the concept of logotherapy towards the end that may not be directly useful, but in my view this was probably the origins of what they call positive psychology.

Just so that some of you may be tempted to read it, it also figures in the HBR list of 11 books every young leader should read

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Book review: Habit: The power of habit : Why we do...... by Charles Duhigg

2013-03-20T19:00:00.000+05:30

Great book....... Especially if you have been wondering why smokers "never" quit or how sometimes of the year you have been able to pick up a lot of good habits but never been able to sustain them. Worth reading a few times.

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Movie: Cocktail: Nice one - viewable once

2013-03-17T10:00:00.000+05:30

I am not much of a fan of Saif Ali or Deepika but this movie is quite well taken and breezy. Some of the songs are catchy too.

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Restaurant review: Best place for Onion Pakoda in Chennai City

2013-02-03T09:50:00.000+05:30

This place - Karpagambal Kapali Sweets - in Mylapore Mathala narayanan Street (near Kapaleeswara or Kapali temple) has not changed at all in the last 30 years I have known. Its always had this "dirty, dingy" look and a crowd of people standing fighting in queue to get hot onion pakodas (often referred to as Thool Pakoda) which is probably the best in the city.
Its a one way and you may have to come in through Kutchery road or walk from the Temple/RASI or from nearby Saravana Bhavan
View Larger Map
Some pics of the place:

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Movie: Vicky Donor: Good to watch once

2013-01-15T19:16:00.000+05:30

Interesting movie concept. I was initially un-enthused about movies stereotyping Punjabis and Bengalis but they developed the concept of a sperm donor nicely

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Restaurant: Kadamba: Iyengar cuisine on iyer(higher) p(a)lates

2013-01-13T18:44:00.000+05:30

On Bangalore Mysore road there are several joints and one of my friends (Siva Kumar) suggested this joint as a "safe" veggie joint.

Maddur Vada

Truly interesting concept near Maddur/Chennapatna and this place is definitely worth a visit

They serve puliyodhare - a traditional iyengar rice based dish and several others too. (Apart from Iyengar Yoga cuisine is famous too)

Just so you can spot it easily, (its on the left of the road when you go from Bangalore to Mysore)

Statutory warning: No offenses meant to Iyers or Iyengars

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Book: Read: Anything you want : Derek Sivers

2013-01-03T19:14:00.000+05:30

A book of good influence, especially if you plan to start something on your own.

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Movie: Life of Pi (3D) : Very beautifully taken

2013-01-02T20:07:00.000+05:30

Ang Lee's movie of the book Life of Pi (Yann Martel Book) is beautifully picturized.

I generally do not see movie adaptations of books and had read the book about 4 years back. When I saw tickets available at Santham and had pretty much nothing to do this weekend, booked and went for it.

The scenes are picturized very well and the scenery is amazing. The 3D impact is also significant. (Much better than Tin Tin Spielberg - see my earlier post)

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Movie: Borat - Disgusting and Hilarious

2012-12-30T18:59:00.000+05:30

A movie to be watched with spouse and kids - an all time family entertainer - .... Just kidding - Dont make the mistake - watch it alone.

This movie is GROSS and hilarious.

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Read: The Four Agreements

2012-12-30T08:07:00.002+05:30

ok book.

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Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary : Part 2 : What do you get to see?

2012-12-28T23:02:00.001+05:30

I have split this travelogue to Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary into 2 parts - Part 1 : Getting there and Part 2: What you can see there. This is Part 2

Part 2: What you can see there

The bird sanctuary is essentially a large lake (about 30 acres) with trees (mangrove type). The best season to visit is Nov - Mar . I went in Dec 26th and there were thousands of birds. (How to get to Vedanthangal bird sanctuary: Part 1)

Essentially, you get to be in a long walkway around the lake (around 2~3 kms on either side of the entrance).

The birds are around 200 ~500 m away and on a clear day you wont have trouble seeing them. It is preferable to carry your telephoto lens or binoculars if you are keen on having a closer look.

There are two watch towers too from where you get to see the birds and the view is very scenic from there.

Water spout in the form of a bird (and when I captured it - looked like it was catching the man!!!)

Link to part 1 : How to get to Vedanthangal bird sanctuary

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Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary : Part 1 : A road trip guide with tips for those travelling from Chennai to Vedanthagal

2012-12-26T19:50:00.000+05:30

I have split this travelogue to Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary into 2 parts - Part 1 : Getting there and Part 2: What you can see there

Part 1: A road trip guide with tips for those travelling from Chennai to Vedanthangal

The trip to Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary is as interesting as the sanctuary itself. In this part I will cover 2 key parts - A)How to get there B) FOOD, Scheduling your visit and Logistics

A) How to get to Vedanthangal by road?

Distance from RA Puram (Generally considered 0 milestone as it is the center of the universe) to Vedanthangal - 75 kms

Take the GST road via Thambaram - Chingleput and when you are about 12-14 kms from Maduranthagam, you will see lots of boards pointing to Vedanthagal). Take a right and the road off the highway is pretty well paved too. Just so you know you are on the right track, I have excerpted the key boards and buildings close to the right turn - so you dont miss it.

About 12 kms from Maduranthagam - For those who do not know tamil prev board has English

Take right turn here

Well paved road throughout till Vedanthangal

You have arrived! if you see this board! - Go on for 2 kms

B)Timing your visit, FOOD and logistics:

If you leave early morning on a holiday (like 8 or 9 AM) you may want to do a "heavy" breakfast at Ananda Bhavan in Pallavaram or Balajee Bhavan in Chromepet (Both before Tambaram)

You will need about an hour or hour-and-a-half at the sanctuary (if you are not a avid bird (feathered type) watcher) - excluding Bajjee eating and Panan Kazhangu (Avicha or steamed and Raw)

The vertical stacks are panam kazhangu (Palm seeds steamed)

Then on your return , you can eat at the Mahindra City food plaza that has Archana and Dhaba express around 2 PM. There are no restraunts at Vedanthangal , just a few roadside shops.

The best season to visit Nov-Mar and the place is open 6 am to 6 pm.

More pics here

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Experiment: Setting up a web shop for our farm produce

2012-12-02T21:16:00.002+05:30

I am setting up a web shop for organic produce from our farm!

There is no business model or business case for this new experiment of setting up a shop for the organic produce. I find that farming (atleast my amateur farming) has been a loss making venture (farming in general unless subsidized heavily is low margin business)

What troubles me is waste - The little we grow goes waste due to unavailability of buyers and several times even takers(for FOOD in a place where there is starvation probably in the same village!) While we have always read about middle men, information arbitrage, poor food processing and transport facilities, experiencing it first hand and feeling helpless is painful and profound at the same time.

If you are interested keep a tab on this link (book mark it) to know whats available fresh - Padmavathi Organic Foods (thats my granmothers name:-))

For those interested in Organic Farming, I have setup a blog too and will be posting my notes/pictures, relative costs, guidance etc. Please feel free to contribute if you have a farm here.

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Book review: Secret of the Nagas

2012-11-27T20:02:00.001+05:30

Contrary to what I read, this book does not get boring (which is usual of Part 2s - This is a sequel to the Immortals of Meluha). I found that he had taken it quite nicely to a closure. Overall a worthy read (especially for a person reading it a long time)

I am eager to complete the Shiva Trilogy with the third book by Amish Tripathi

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Movies: My review: English Vinglish

2012-11-25T11:12:00.001+05:30

Good movie - worth watching in the theatre, maybe even twice.

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Book review: The immortals of Meluha

2012-11-15T20:15:00.000+05:30

Immortals of Meluha is a nice historical concept book - Woven Indian history and fiction . Gripping and worth a read.
This is my second ebook. Have a strange feeling with better ink, lower backlight I will switch to digital books.

Could have built a more complex web of characters and story - rather shallow and unable to sustain the next book (like Asterix or Hobbit)

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ipad 2 glass replacement in Chennai India: cost and my experience

2012-11-03T23:08:00.001+05:30

I have had an Apple 2 iPad 64GB (Wi-Fi + 3G) for about a year. Last week I was juggling between doodle jump and a haircut and dropped the ipad on my foot and then the floor :-(

The glass cracked though thanks to the screen protector there were no fragments fallen off and the whole piece continued to work as normal.

After 1 week of staring at a bad screen, I pulled myself to call the iStore and asked them if they will repair. On the phone, they said it would cost around 12K but when I visited, they said a phone replacement was 12K and an ipad was 20K and 1 week.

In fact the service engineer suggested its better I buy a new one.

I decided to call on crescent cell city (on TTK road, Alwarpet, Chennai) and he told me it would cost be about 6K and would be ready in 3 hrs. He checked the ipad model (and it seems the glass varies as per memory or atleast thats what he told me - maybe the thickness did - he gets it from a Bangalore vendor and does the fixing himself)

Not wanting to wipe off the emails and photos, I decided to go for the 6K option. Voila, in 3 hrs the screen was as good as new!

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Bose Bluetooth Headset 2 : Review - Music into my life again

2012-11-02T21:04:00.000+05:30

For last 3 years I have been using various bluetooth and wired headphones for music and phone and almost never used them consistently. In fact, I have started music only during my exercise and mostly on shuffle and bluetooth for the phone while driving. I wanted to bring music back and also not carry an extra pair of phone accessories.

I realised that the following were my needs
1. Should be able to listen to music and voice
2. Should not be in 2 ears - looks awkward and also in an office setting you want to be able to listen to/be approachable to others
3. Should stay in the ear - even while running
4. Should not shut off noise and cause ear irritation like several in-ear phones
5. Should not be heavy
6. Should provide unobtrusive good voice clarity - the other person should not ask " Are you driving or am in on the speakerphone?"

I have tried the Nokia BH-505, Philips SB9000, Motorola, , Sony in-ear wired phones and the Bose Bluetooth Headset 2. I compared with the Stone2 (Jabra) and the Plantronics M100

I am glad that I took the Right ear version of the Bose Bluetooth headset 2 (Bose offers it in 2 different versions) and it seems to be just perfect

The music is clear and great (it is a BOSE - atleast the price tag of Rs. 8.8K confirms it! - it is expensive). No one has asked me to repeat myself or whether I am in a car. The set is just too light (i think some sub 20 g) and I had fogotten I was wearing it. The StayHear (TM) stuff is great and I have listened to atleast 6 albums in the last 1 week on this set.

It pairs easily and detects far better than the other sets I have had. Only issue is that you may have to charge it almost daily if you are a heavy user of headsets.

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Saw: Fight club: Movie

2012-10-31T20:42:00.003+05:30

Good movie - wierd theme but very well executed. Its in the top 500 in IMDB!

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Read: Angels and Demons: My review

2012-10-09T19:00:00.000+05:30

The first book (or rather 2nd) by Dan Brown book Davinci Code was great. Angels and Demons was good to start with but became cliche and somewhere down the book , he did not know how to end the story.
Also, I feel that his SEO guru must have told him to start a controversy so that people will buy the book - he brings in vatican and exploits key people to get some publicity (but ahem.... it fizzles out). Acceptable except for the last few chapters.

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