Enchanted

My Gold Mornings

2016-01-12T17:34:00.000+05:30

Mornings are that time of the day which can break or make your entire day. How I begin my day decides how I go through the entire day.

Waking up foregoing the comfort of my warm soft blanket is perhaps the most difficult task to perform. Having no other go, I unwillingly get up and slowly make my way out of the bed wishing I had a few more extra minutes to sleep. And then I see my cute little dog all hyper and waiting for me.

The moment I go near him, he licks and cuddles and plays like he's been waiting for it all night. And there my morning is turned into a gold morning. I spend about an hour with him talking to him about everything under the sun. My whole day is made there. Everything I do the entire day I do with the same zeal and spirit with which my morning started.

My mantra to turn my good mornings to gold mornings is definitely spending wholesome time with my puppy. It sure ensures an electric fun start to my day. I feel quite a difference going ahead with my everyday chores after I've spent time with him. I find myself on a high with a lifted spirit that keeps me going all through the day. What better way to kick start your morning than to spend time with someone who probably loves you more than himself.

A piping hot cup of coffee right after this makes sure my morning blues are long gone. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee is sure to kindle your senses and lift your spirits. And hence, all the desire to sleep more disappears right away and you're left curious to go out and explore all that a new day has in store for you.

Just like my cutie who ensures my day begins with a bang, Colgate Gold 360 takes care of the fresh start my mouth deserves. The sparkling gold toothbrush is such a delight to even just hold. It gives you this feeling of royalty. When your mornings begin with so much of richness and luxury, your day is sure to go on wonderfully. Go ahead try it out yourselves , you'll surely not be disappointed :)

A lovely golden box from Colgate sure turned a morning into an extra gold morning. Sparkling with everything gold this is something anyone would've greatly loved :)

It is indeed time to wake-up to a gold morning after all. This post was written for #Colgate360GoldMornings.

Nothing But Greatness

2015-11-16T11:19:00.001+05:30

The very instant I saw the tag #madeofgreat , I could clearly picture a person in my mind. I am the kind of person who takes forever to make decisions over the tiniest of things. For me to quickly zero in on this particular person without having any second thoughts is something quite rare.

I believe, to be #madeofgreat one needs strong determination, a farsighted vision and zeal made of steel to overcome any humungous obstacle. All these qualities and more, I find in my dad.

He hails from a small town in the Southern part of Tamilnadu and spent the first two decades of his life there. In an age when only professional courses were branded to be worth studying, he chose to be different. Much to the opposition of the whole family, he decided to pursue literature. At a time when it was impossible for someone to go out several miles from their hometowns to study, he chose to be different. He chose the best learning centre for his course of study and fought against all odds to pursue his passion.

He studied what he loved and loved what he studied. He passed out with flying colours and landed in a good job much to everyone’s surprise. To be a professor in a reputed college at a very young age and to teach students hardly a year younger is something many people cannot even think of. A couple of years later, he realized that teaching the same thing over and over again was becoming monotonous and he could not quench that thirst which kept driving him to learn more and more. Again, much to the opposition of everyone he knew, he decided to quit his high paying job and take up another one which involved more of research and exploring.

He came to the city of Chennai with high hopes of making it big in his career. He went on to pursue a PhD in a subject that is close to his heart. A few months into his new job he realized all the flaws the organization had and all the hindrances that kept his vision from becoming a reality. Clearly, he did not want to work for someone else’s dream. He again decided to quit and start his own organization to work to realize his own dream. Of course, starting from scratch is not quite easy. The struggles and trials he faced were endless. Amidst all the troubles, he did succeed in his attempt to build an enormous study centre namely ‘The Institute of Asian Studies’ which is now an International organization which collaborates with many countries for the purpose of research.

The more he grew, the more popular he became, more the tribulations started pouring in. With great power comes great responsibility indeed. I am still amazed at how he overcomes at all obstacles thrown at him and finally triumphs over it all. With every struggle, he just comes back stronger than ever. From his humble beginning, no one would’ve ever imagined he would make it this big, much to the awe of everyone who was against his decisions.

I fail to understand what keeps him going despite all the disappointments and discouragements. Perhaps, it is that blazing desire to make his dream a reality which gives him the strength to overcome anything and everything. Words cannot explain how powerful a driving force one strong dream is.

I could not have been any luckier to be his kid. To have him by my side, slowly shaping me, giving me all the freedom to do I want and guiding me in every single aspect of life. Sometimes, it is a joy to watch him work and organize everything. I have not seen such passion and determination in any one I know of. I cannot have a better inspiration to aim at great things which may now seem a distant dream. And to have him by my side all the time is something I should thank my stars for.

Needless to say, I have been greatly influenced by him. Everything I do, reflects a part of my dad. He has never forced his interests on me, but the passion and spark with which he talks about his subjects made me fall in love with it. I wish, one day I too will face the world with his steely grit and the willpower to conquer anything.

He is one perfect embodiment of a person who succeeded only because he followed his dream no matter what came his way.

And to me, my dad, Dr.John Samuel is undeniably #madeofgreat.

This post was written for the Tata Motors #madeofgreat contest.

Find more at http://madeofgreat.tatamotors.com

Here's a question for my readers,
'What do you think about Tata Motors association with Lionel Messi?'
Post your answers in the comments section below and the best entry wins an Amazon gift voucher worth Rs.750.
Good Luck :)

Growing up..

2012-09-12T22:55:00.002+05:30

Hey there!

This is going to be the shortest post I've written. Its 11'o clock in the night and usually I'm all wrapped up in bed this time.

The title is all philosophical, I agree. There is this thought on my head running in an infinite loop. I just wanted to express this feeling that you get when you think you know some one so well and you are forced to change that in one instant.

I know it breaks your heart and all. But the best way you can keep your life from falling apart despite all this is ignoring things that happened and pretending that you don't know.

Eighteen years of my life and this is what I've discovered. This view of mine might change in another 10 years. But as of now, this is what I need to keep going.

And hence the title, growing up.

P.S I'm writing this post simply because I don't want to forget this particular day. I'm sure when I'm gonna read this again it will bring back all the memories. And I do hope the person who 'm really talkking about gets the point.

One Saturday Morning...

2012-09-02T15:35:00.000+05:30

Saturdays are destined to be fun filled days. After five days of working hard in college there comes the weekend to relax and unwind. We wanted this Saturday to be different. We wanted to spend it usefully for a cause. It was with this notion we decided to go to Olcott Memorial High School as a part of the activities of the Social Causes club of our college.

After a lot of group chats on Friday evening, planning various events that we can host for the kids we finally set out on our mission yesterday morning.

Being at the school for the first time, we were greeted by this kid who asked us if we were new there. We nodded and followed him as he led us to their prayer hall. The rest of our team joined us there and we were around twenty in number.

We split ourselves into two groups and took charge of one section each. The first session was an English class. The volunteers read to the kids a snippet about octopuses and we were amazed at how the kids could comprehend the passage. We also learnt a lot of things we didn’t know before. Next, we had to help the kids out in reading the same passage again and also make them solve a pretty tricky set of ‘fill in the blanks’ and ‘Make sentences’.

The next session was in the computer lab, were the kids were taught about making powerpoint presentations. We taught them the basics and were surprised on how creatively they worked. Three best presentations were also chosen and their makers were given cool prizes.

We headed to the prayer hall next and enacted a small skit which was almost made up instantaneously in less than an hour. The theme was ‘Importance of Education’. Being a very interesting and engaging skit, the children were able to grasp the message so well that they even volunteered to come forward and narrate the gist of the story. And yes, they were also awarded prizes for that.

Time flew away so fast and before we knew , it was time for us to leave. After a lot of chit chats with the kids and a dozen pictures clicked ,we bid good bye to them and promised we would come back soon.

A fine Saturday morning, well spent.

Influence

2012-08-26T22:17:00.000+05:30

There are two sides to an influence. One, getting influenced and the other being influential. I very much fall into the former category. I'm someone who gets influenced in one tenth of a second ( That's an exaggeration okay, but just that you get the idea).

When I talk to someone in my class with a strange/different accent or slang, I find myself going home talking the same way he/she did. Well, that's my story and I'm pretty much sure there are a lot of you with a similar one.

Now, Let me talk about some one who's been extremely influential on me and that will be no one other than my dad. I say he has a very big impact on me simply because I'm interested in everything he is interested in and I like every single thing he does.Its not just me, I find each one of his students from different parts of the world having exactly his opinions on various issues. Its just that he can get anyone with absolutely no interest on a topic to be completely drawn towards it just after an hour's conversation with him.

My dad's PhD dissertation was on Comparative Literature in which he basically did a comparison of the English poet Shelly and our own Bharathi. And no wonder why I'm so much into comparative literature and madly in love with the works of both the poets.

Many things make our hearts skip a beat. For me its Bombay Jayshri singing the amazing verses of Bharathi. I' don't know I find it so fascinating. I'm not sure if it is that sweet melancholic voice of hers that we hear on high volume in the car's stereo system or if it is the powerful lyrics of the poet or if its the live commentaries from my dad with so much of emotion.

And back to the topic, I've always wondered how it feels to be influential, to inspire people and to make them aspire. I take a lot of things after my dad and I'm hoping I'll take the'influencing' part too.

I know this is a very short post. But I just felt the need to write and I have no idea why. Like most of my posts,these are just random thoughts huddled in one corner of my brain along with another thousand thoughts.

Keep watching this space! and here's to more frequent posting!

P.S- On a totally unrelated note ,with yesterday we finished one awesome year in college. Its just been a year but I feel like I've been going to college like for a very long time. We went on one amazing Industrial Visit to Infosys at Mahindra City and so much fun! And here's to hoping for more fun IV's and three more years of fantastic fun!

The long awaited post

2012-07-31T18:01:00.000+05:30

Hey there!

I feel super excited to write a post after what has been almost a year ( the filler doesn't count ) . I know I promised that I would write an epic post after my exams ended. But well, technically I had my last exam today and here I am keeping up my promise.

The last exam we wrote was on 29th of June. It is what you'd call a dreaded paper( read Electric Devices and Circuits). In your second semester at least. And back to the topic, being the last exam, none of us studied seriously and on top of it the paper was horrible. Most of them had this sad frown after the exam. Well, nothing could be done. Then there were rumors that the exact paper was posted online the night before the exam. We had all screwed up our exam and none of us really cared about that.

My college gave us a weekend long vacation and then we stepped into our second year. By second year I mean, climbing some ten flight of stairs everyday to reach our class in the third floor,studying complicated codings when we don't know the basics and so on.And the sugar coating on that was the slip tests we had to write every alternate day. And our second-year routine went on.

Now, back to the story of how I wrote my last exam today! After all our EDC papers were corrected and we were eagerly ( not!) anticipating our results and praying to every possible deity to help us clear, Anna University suddenly realized the paper was leaked and decided to conduct a re-exam. When we heard this, we were pretty skeptic. However, then came the official circular and all. So it was time to dust the old books, pick them up and romance with them all over again. We had special classes too.

We all wrote the exam today. The paper being fairly easy, we all did pretty well. Now lets hope we get good grades okay? and yes, Miracles do happen.

The last post I wrote was on the day before I had my orientation at college. Now one year into college, I'm loving it. If you remember my last post , I wanted to make an amazing bunch of friends. And I sure did !

I know I wished that I get very busy. But over the last year, I got super busy with college. I'm not bragging, but still I never did even half of what I'm doing now back then in school.

Speaking of school, the last two days I was thinking all about school and such wonderful memories it brought back .I miss school like crazy now.

Having done with the 'dreaded' exam now, doesn't mean I can relax. I have piled up so much of record work and I've to finish today and my unit tests start the day after tomorrow.

But what I will promise is that I will keep posting,

Keep watching this space!

P.S Please bear with me if this post sounded a bit rude. Its my first earnest attempt at mature writing. i.e without smileys and exclamations :D ( One smiley is allowed :P)

Filler

2012-04-28T17:58:00.001+05:30

I was just going through the contents of my blog, replying comments that came in almost a year back and reliving some wonderful memories.
Almost a year of no posts.
Thank you Engineering ! :|
I would often think of something nice to write..plan an outline and the forget it as another assignment or record work comes my way.
Anyway, I'm done with my first semester and my second semester's exams are a month away. Time flies so fast that it just like I was finished with school and now I'm done with my first year of college....
So, I hope I can revive my blog atleast after my semester exams. Or, I will for sure!
So Long then..
( And sorry for this lame post )

But Why?

2011-08-23T13:12:00.001+05:30

Come on! Looking at the title, you might expect some thing philosophical! But well, its me!! and I'm not the kind of person who talks that way! Ok, that made no sense.

So! I finally managed to type a post. The reason being the fact that , I actually promised all of you that I would post frequently during my holidays. But then, well, my holidays passed away at the speed of a Concorde that here I am, looking forward to the orientation at college, tomorrow. Now, wasn't that a surprise? Hell Yes!

So, what should I write about? Uhm..My typical holiday routine ( Yes, I do have a routine for a holiday :P) is to go to my dad's office. Yes, every single day (almost) and then to go online, talk with friends and then go to the library and get some books to read. All I find here are classic books! Of course, you can't expect to find Dan Brown and Grisham at the library of a research institute. But yes, there are a bunch of Agatha Christie one's to my rescue. And thanks Flipkart ! It's surely making my day by shipping my book the very next day after my order!
I did stay at home some days and whiled away time idly. Of course, my most favorite pastime was to watch TV. Speaking of which, I recently acquired the amazing talent to watch any sitcom, without getting bored. Well, with Star World, options are limited, but still, it sure does require a special talent. I've also been writing some reviews and stuff, but then I've been tweeting madly, but i think that also comes under writing.
I've never watched test matches earlier. I knew they were boring and all, but this time I was very very bored and literally had nothing else to do. So I decided I'll watch the Ind Vs Eng series. Mainly because, the first match was at Lord's ( Which looks really pretty and awesomely moved grass ) and also because the some of the English players are really cute :D . And so, this pulled on and on and I ended up watching the entire series and finally India was washed down, completely. Considering the fact that the very first test match I watched turned out to be so tragic, may be I should not do it the next time. Come on I'll not have time anyway ( with a very silly hope that I'll get busy :P )

And I signed up for Confirmation classes this year. So, this sorta keeps my Sundays occupied! And last class, the pastor told us to write a summary and a what-it-means-to-you of a passage. I know I'm a writer, blogger and all, but still I shouldn't have written it that lengthy and article-like. I'm sure if you'd get to read it, you would mistake it for a blog-post! But well, lets see what happens!

And then, yes, I'm really really really looking forward to college. I know I'll miss my friends, teachers ( I'm serious!) and all, but I'm pretty sure I'll make another bunch of amazing friends and hope the professors there find me adorable! ( Am I not?!) People here are doing nothing but scaring me about college. More hell-istic than school, they say. And I thought it was a place to relax after a hectic year. But then what did I do all this five odd months?! So , I know I'm weird, but I'm wishing that I get very very busy!

Lets Hope For the Best! So long!

S-C-H-O-O-L

2011-06-19T15:55:00.002+05:30

S-C-H-O-O-L This six lettered word, brings amazing and unforgettable memories which still stand afresh in our minds. Memories, which throb with life that it seems like it all happened just yesterday. I still remember myself being in Kindergarten, hating that cruel class teacher who didn’t allow , us kiddos to talk. And in a flash, I’m out of school now. Fourteen years seemed to happen so fast, that I need this time to sit back and recollect what happened.

St.John’s, where I spent the major portion of my life, is indeed more than a school. Perhaps it’s what the school’s anthem says ‘My Second Home’. I studied till my 10^th grade at St.John’s English School and then shifted to St.John’s Matriculation, Mandaveli so that I could pursue a state board syllabus. My schooling days with the former is almost a blur to me. May be, I was too small to remember everything that happened or my past two wonderful years at the latter has just overshadowed it.

We were so restricted and confined ( discipline is what they call it) at my first school, but when I stepped into the new one to do my Higher Secondary schooling, it was my first taste of freedom. Freedom that the teachers were nothing but friends to you, you can raise a question anytime, after all you were a senior!. 11^th grade was the best time of my life, seriously. The best thing that amazed me about this school was that I never ever expected a state board school to have such high standards. To me ( and to a lot others) , Stateboard just meant mugging up the limited textbook and presenting them in exams ditto. Contrary to my premonitions, this school amazing teachers who would just go out of the book and do whatever it takes to get the concept straight into your head. I never learnt to write the answers –verbatim ( as, they tell you to) till the very end .And, I did survive two years, didn’t I? They NEVER pressurized us to study, but studying happened- just like that :) ( to me, at least).

What I liked best about the school were the English Teachers. The moment I write this , there is this tear drop falling on my laptop. Such wonderful teachers I had. 11^th grade English was a bliss with Albert Sir. He was such a teacher that he could even make the most boring lessons from the stateboard textbook come out with life. He doesn’t talk loud, neither is he strict- but even the wildest child in the class would listen to him entangled in the web he spins, in rapt attention. Sometimes its only one line that he teaches in a class, but the info he gives you relating that is worth a hundred classes! 12th grade was even more amazing, I had the sweetest teacher ever. Jayanthi Paul Ma’am- How beautifully she taught us the lessons from that dull textbook. Her voice and accent are unforgettable. They still and will always keep ringing in my ears. Her sweet, encouraging smile when I get things wrong .Bliss, truly. I also happened to be the President of my school’s English Literary club. This meant I got to interact with her a lot and hence I learnt a LOT from her.

Like most students out there, I hated math, very well. And then came this teacher- Viji Ma’am, who made me enjoy maths! This surprised the hell out of me-Hey! I liked math too ! . She was our class teacher too in 12^th grade. Chuck the subject, the pieces of advice which she gave us over the past two years were simply priceless. I got to take tuitions with her-lucky all the more.

The list is never ending- Physics classes were amazing, Chemistry classes were boring yet engaging. And yes, language classes- we had a teacher who would make us kneel down when we didn’t do our assignments (this didn’t happen even for the major subjects, but for language-yes!) . It was nonetheless fun: D. and well, he was an awesome teacher!

And about my class- ours was the coolest class in school. That was because, we were extremely vulnerable and got into trouble for things which we didn’t do. Well, our class was branded bullies and any mishap happens at school, everyone’s head turns to our class- So doesn’t that explain why we were the coolest? Totally! And in spite of all the things we screwed up, well, we had fun to the core!

Lot of issues came up, best friends became sworn enemies and vice versa. People split up with a oath of not talking again at all (which was indeed broken most of the time) . Some left the school, some were put into another class and well, a lot of random things happened.

And yes, how will I miss out the food?! By the end of 12^th grade we had two canteens at the prayer hall, which could barely fit us all in for any occasion. There arose the ‘Which canteen is the best’ poll, and hence the dull daily menu of samosas and rolls were replaced by pizzas, chicken and soups! Needless to say, all recess breaks were spent in the canteen and sometimes we even took extra time to savor the delicacies, which in turn resulted in us standing out of class ( If it is a Computer Science period, precisely) for coming late. Come on, it was yummy food Vs C programming. Which one, you decide!

The list will go on, and I can picture myself four years from now, drooling about the fact that I miss college so much. Well, School-life may just be a chapter in the book of Life. But, it is the most interesting one.

Toodles!

The Boredays

2011-05-15T21:07:00.000+05:30

Ok, I'm sort of settled now. No, not completely.
Results were out, yes and I did just okay, so there is no stinging surprise there. I have to decide upon my course and college ( Well, you know its not an easy job and hence the 'not completely settled tag') . This is even tougher for me, Hmm..for all my life I'd wanted to do journalism or English Literature and finally I've now landed on the worst thing that I'd expected- Engineering. *sigh* . I've sort of got this strange , unforeseeable chill that no matter what ever you plan for your future-you get only what you are destined too..let's see and hope for the best and yes, do pray for me to pull through another fours years of hardship.

Moving on, I just found this website 'Flipkart'! I never thought internet book store will be this comfy and quick , but this is just awesome!! You order a book and the next day-g! It's at your doorstep. And yes, I crossed my limits and bought 9 books in a week. And you get bookmarks with them. Ok, they are not adorable, but I need them a lot!

I just got a copy of "The Lost Symbol". I know, I am terribly late- but as they say " Its better Late than never". I'm not allowed to read it :| . My dad shoved it away some where and promised to give it back only when I finish reading "Leaves of Grass". It's a Walt Whitman classic. I liked his poems- we had an excerpt of 'The tribute to Abraham Lincoln" in 11th grade. That Oh Captain! My Captain was so touchy and the lines literally bought tears. But well, Mr.Whitman- I don' like it when something comes in between, Dan Brown and me! :P . Well, I better get going and waste no more time and finish this book right away then!

Toodles!

Over the Week (or month)

2011-05-05T20:02:00.000+05:30

Hey all!

I’ve not had any super-amazing week, but still it something worth writing about.

So, here is some random stuff that happened over the past days.

· Endless Social Networking

I think its time that I deactivated my facebook account for a while. Its like I’ve been hooked onto my computer and have become extremely lazy ( not that I am hyper active normally) . I think I need a break now. Forget the days of deactivating facebook accounts for the sake of exams. Deactivation can also be done when you have an overdose of it. And I seem to be suffering from a very heavy overdose.

· How people amaze me.

You rightly read that. I am not talking about extraordinary people who amaze you with their skills. Just the usual people you meet talk and chat every single day. I am surprised how people change colours so quickly. I am seriously stuck in deciding who to believe and who not to. Perhaps, when I sit back and rewind to this same day- a year back, these things which are happening today never seemed to come from anywhere. None of us, even in our wildest dreams thought of such things.. This sort of made me sick that I decided not even to care about anyone or what anyone says. I decided to go my own way and do only what my heart says. I really don’t have to go behind anyone. If you need me- I am there, if you don’t – I seldom care. ( Now that rhymed :P)

· Trying to be a bookie

I remember vacations when any book was enough to keep me occupied. I could read one huge book straight away, without breaks. I could read for hours together without eating or even sleeping.

Now, I could hardly read two pages at a stretch. That’s not good, is it?

So, I just tried to regain my past momentum- I started reading Scarlet letter ( I know that’s not apt at this kind of situation) Well, I am half way through it, and its an amazing book-its classic.

· Brushing up my Japanese

I started again with my Japanese lessons- but this time, I am doing it all by myself with the text books and Cds. I must say that I am quite surprised with my own memory- I remember everything the way I left it, a couple of months ago. I’m just trying to learn some more Kanchi.

· My Dv4

I started using my laptop quite often. I love the tup-chap sound the keys make when I type fast. And I am discovering many more things I can do with it like organising the junk that I have- music into separate folders, pictures, articles and all. If a pavilion can make a person like me to be organized, then imagine what it can do to you!

· My Book

I started writing a travelogue kind of book with a lot of hesitation. I began it only after realising that it was the only way to get an IPhone ( Yes, my dad promised to get me one when I completed that) . Now, 100 pages done and I’m still not liking it-it’s not like what iI usually write. I need to get it into my own style- so, I’ll probably begin it from square one, all over again.

And now for the spooky part- My results are coming out this Monday . ( Yes, I call it spooky)

And this is perhaps, the first time that the results are gonna be out so soon. That’s giving me goose bumps, but as my friend told me- what is going to happen anyway?! ( Yes, I have such enduring friends) .

Having said that, I’m pretty tired now and can’t wait to get some sleep ( Not to mention that I’ve been sleeping all day today)

I’ll post again soon-with a lot of updates!

The Soul of Asia

2011-04-26T18:03:00.001+05:30

Hey!
Here goes my very short travelogue on my 10 day trip to Seoul!

If it wasn’t for the invitation from the National Archives of Korea to participate in the International Archival Exhibition 2010 (IACE 2010) organized by the UNESCO, I would have never thought of visiting South Korea. However, I being much fascinated by traveling and being an avid traveler, decided to go along. The first thing, I noticed was the impression of Korea, that the people here had. I’ve had enough of people asking “oh wow, where are you going?” and when I say “Korea”, I could see their faces dropping down and them asking “ oh..Uh..mm…near Japan right?” and since this was when the South –North Korean ties were severing, there were people who were like “Oh..There is a war going on there..Come back soon!” All these thoughts were ringing in my mind and came to an abrupt stop when I set foot at Incheon International Airport. It was a tiring journey, with a cancellation in the first flight we had to travel which resulted in us reaching there five hours late! The tiredness disappeared instantly, at the sight of this green airport! It was a huge, majestic, glass and steel structure. From here, it was a long drive to the country’s capital ,Seoul (which is pronounced as Soul).

The roadway itself was beautiful with amazing greenery and flashing lights and metro trains here and there. The Korean people were so down to earth! Where else would you find people who would accompany you all the way to a taxi stand and give the driver instructions when you had just asked them the direction to get back?. They are like the kindest people I’d ever seen and had that pretty smile bubbling with hospitality. At the IACE, I was surprised to see thousands of people flocking towards Coex (where the exhibition was held), to catch a glimpse of the archival material there .My dad represented India for the rich palm-leaf manuscript heritage we posses. It was indeed surprising to see people spending their weekend on viewing archival culture rather than in a movie theatre.

The Yumm Food

Korean food is just awesome! Here, you can taste the most amazing food without adding on to your calories. Every serving has loads of greens and veggies, which are surprisingly tasty! And every meal had plenty of citrus fruits and yogurt to go with it. The herbs and spices added to each preparation is just enough to make you live a hundred years! No wonder, I never saw a Korean who was obese. To top it all was the ever-famous Kimchi. The pickled cabbage was to go with every food you eat and was sure a perfect accompaniment. I was really surprised to see, Indian Style Chicken Curry on one of the menus. The product however, was nothing close to one. It had the same Korean spices and Kimchi with it!

One of a Kind

We visited the Korean Cultural Centre in a Dragon Train and saw the age old fortresses which shined in all its glory! Samsung- the country’s famous electronic appliance brand gave us a warm reception and the display of the company’s past, present and future left us in awe of the pace of its development. We also visited the National Archives of Korea which emphasized on the importance of preservation of archives, followed by a Gala dinner with traditional Korean food and performances. The energy with which the artistes performed made us gasp.

Korea is one place where you would realize, you cannot survive with English alone,for there were very few who could speak English. It was indeed fun to walk through different lanes in the evenings, having no idea where the path is taking you to, eating at restaurants which never had English menus and communicating with people who never understood a thing you were trying to say!. You would be greeted by ‘Anyonghaseyo’ (Welcome/hello) everywhere you go and these still echoes in my ears. It was remarkable that Korea was both green and technology rich at the same time!

So, next time, if you want to go to a place that is different, eco friendly and has people with a real good heart, head straight here. The experience is truly one of a kind. It’s the best country I’d visited and am sure that you’ll feel the pretty same too. Korea is just not mere Samsung, LG or Hyundai but further, a country with rich heritage, good hospitality, warm people and modern technology

Done!

2011-03-25T12:47:00.001+05:30

I am done with my boards. I am done with my school life. I am done with...kiddish-ness??

Woah, Once again, I just can't believe I am done! I know, this sounds like this , the post which I wrote the day I had finished with my class 10 boards. Well, I have become more lazy now that I found time to post just now. Two days after my exams were over.
The whole of school life has been a bliss. With memories to be cherished forever. And these last to years at St.John's are something that cannot be forgotten at all.
It also taught me not to believe anyone, cause people change so drastically in such a short span of time. *sigh* . Forget that. It was just some unstoppable thought from my mind.
Getting back, Now we have some four awesome months before colleges begin!
And this vacation is gonna be beautiful. We haven't planned for any trips and that's the way I like it! The only thing I wanted to do this holidays was to 'write'. Write a lot and also to read a lot. It's been a long time since I read any novels or books. I used to finish reading a book in a week and now I've not read anything except my boring, black and white textbooks. I want to read the whole of Twilight series once again!
And the writing part,I was just going through my blog . I just found that my blog was full of excuses. Excuses for why I had not written anything. The very first posts sounded so kiddish that I almost laughed at my own writing!. Perhaps, three years back, I was a kid ;) . It was beautiful to see for myself the way my writing has evolved.
I plan to take writing more seriously. I plan to write more serious posts unlike the funny ones and the ones about my everyday adventures. Well, it will be tough making the transition. It will also be tough to gain audience who would read serious posts instead of funny ones.
Well, what ever it is, I need to refine my writing. It's high time I did that. If you didn't know, I was actually awarded 'The Best Writer' by my school and i seriously can't afford to write lame posts.
Anyway, I will write more often. Perhaps, a post a week or even every alternative day.
So long then! Look out for some frequent posting from me :)

:(

2010-11-21T12:53:00.000+05:30

The feeling you get when people are not exactly what you thought they were.
And when you realize that Its better to be at a distance from them when you just started moving closer.
*hmph*
:'(
And no..This is not about a guy.

puff

2010-10-08T17:26:00.000+05:30

I'M ANGRY! I'M FURIOUS AND I'M IRRITATED AND ERGGHHH I'LL KNOCK DOWN ANYONE WHO COMES BEFORE ME NOW!!

I 'm just back from school, I've not even changed my uniform and I've never planned to post anything so quickly! I seriously don't care if you consider this silly. Just read on or get lost!

I had My English Unit test today. It's like the only exam for which I don't even touch my book and yet get good grades. And perhaps, the only exam I enjoy writing.
And once again, 'the beautiful- knowing-everything-feeling' when I got the question paper. I did realize that the paper was quite lengthy and started writing with hyper-speed. I didn't think of anything even once. I just wrote what came to my mind..in a flash!

Now, what happened in the end was, I finished my final essay and I had some fine 15 minutes before the final bell and started off with the 'study-skill' part and I certainly had enough time left!.
And what happened was, this guy (lets say X, ),who was a total 'freak- out' and also unfortunately, a teacher in my school stepped in for invigilation. Perhaps this guy was so poor that he didn't know how to see the time he instructed us to tie the papers 15 minutes before the bell, so I decided to give him some respect ( which I regret was the stupidest thing which I'd ever done) and stood up to get a paper and tie with along with the rest and then the action began!. He stared at me and told me that I couldn't get a paper as time was running out! ( note again that there was 14 minutes left ) and he just held out the paper and I had to walk all the way to get it from him, while I was running out of time. I literally had to snatch the paper from him, which left him staring at me. I didn't care for all I wanted was to complete my paper.

It also happened that none of us liked this guy and my class sort of didn't have a good relationship with him ( not me!) . And with 5 minutes still left for the bell he started collecting the papers. He saw all of US writing and PURPOSELY started collecting OUR papers first.
I still had my error spotting to do and there he came to snatch my paper. I was stubborn and I was not going to give my paper until the bell rang. He told me he didn't need my paper, the voices inside my head told him that I didn't have to give my paper to him! duh!
He finally succeeded in snatching away my paper. I didn't draw my margin, i didn't get to answer two easy questions and I didn't even get to write the 'number of pages'.
What annoyed me was he collected our papers before the bell and also that other sections got to write longer, by longer I mean minutes after the bell!
I guess we will have to teach him ABC and at A and B come before C.
I know that all of you out there are going to advice me that Its my fault and I'll have to manage time more efficiently.
But today, It was not my fault at all and I would have had all the time to finish if it wasn't for this GUY!
This is after a very long time that I am this angry on some one. I feel like swearing right away, but I just do not want to deprave the quality of my blog by swearing at some unworthy random guy.
And to all the teachers out here, please..please..please don't do stuff like this. It's just not fair and please do justice to your profession. Please realize it hurts us so much when you do stuff like this.

You might wonder, why I am writing about this. Its sort of my habit to start writing when I am angry on something or when something annoys me. ( try it! It works like magic. You'll find yourself de-stressed in a jiffy!) And now as I am most annoyed, I decided to post it.

I know this post is "crude". But bear in mind that this is just my random feelings.

I' write about something worthy enough next time

Filler :) :D

2010-09-21T16:23:00.000+05:30

Hey All!

This is certainly not the post I wanted to post :P

I was coming up with something nice after this long gap....something on my 'fantabulous' summer ..about class 12! (yikes!)..about new stuff at school...about the book I am writing which never seems to come to an end..and about a couple of random stuff which I don't remember!

BUT! I have some free time now and I just wish to blabber some random stuff! The other things will come up shortly ( I stress on the word shortly).

Hmm....
ok! let me begin with....
oh..where do I start?! hmmm...
Okay! Here are some random things that happened over the time I'd been away ( some are even happening now.! no offense)!

- I had a beautiful vacation. I visited South Korea and HK and had the time of my life there! How I wished for it to last longer...I want one such 'Fine' holiday after my boards!!

-I'm the President of my school's English Club :) . I've been planning for my club's first activity, an Interactive session. Every time I plan something, everything seems to fall apart :( .

- 12th grade is sick :(

- I am done with my quarterly exams.. And have my vacation now ( if 4 days makes one )

- We had to write 2 observations in 2 months of our summer holidays and now we have to write 3 records + physics diagrams for two lessons + solve our question papers + write a test on the re-opening day + prepare for unit tests which will begin shortly..ALL IN FOUR DAYS!

- The thought of it makes me dizzy.

-So..lets not talk about it :P

- I working on a project now. Its on ' Writing Practises in India'.

- I am too much addicted to facebook these days.

- I goofed up on my English paper II essay! The title i chose was ' The profession I prefer' and yea..I ruined it terribly ..ha..ha.. lets see how much I get for that!

- Again about school, I'm sort of hating it! I wish to be back- happy and careless in 11-C. We had a GREAT time last year!!

-I know this post is lame, but as the Title says, its just a filler. But, do expect pretty good posts soon!.

Bye,
Sheba

When the Choice is Yours...........

2010-03-24T22:08:00.000+05:30

Every time I had a decision to make, I never had much of a choice..or may be, I didn't want any!

When I had to buy something, my choice always rested on Mom or Dad.
When, the choice was good, the choice-maker was forgotten,
and when it went awry, I could instantly turn up ," Amma, its all your fault"
I'd always refrained from making choices..From the simplest thing to the most complicated one.

And now, I have this very confusing yet important choice to make!

What am I going to do after 12th grade??

I definitely don't want to end up wasting those 4 precious years with engineering...rather, i am totally uninterested with the idea of engineering. I still wonder whether it was a wrong choice to have selected this Science group in 11th. I have gone gone easy with commerce. But I hate Commerce too..More than Science I should say :(

I am interested with computers. but, that still doesn't mean I want to do engineering! a

It has always been my wish rather ambition, to do Journalism. I loved this "divine" profession. And this involves writing, which would be the best thing which I would ever want to do.

When I Joined YOCee and Adyar Times as a student reporter, I was as if, my wish had come true!

My interest was then, more on writing rather reporting. But I still love to report.

I'd write on all sort of things that came to my mind. And I enjoyed writing more than anything else. And I am also working on a Fiction piece now.

The reason, I liked writing rather than reporting was, I need to put in MY VIEW in MY WAY with MY STYLE which would never be possible in reporting. Or may be that I wasn't able to send in many reports to YOCee as i thought I would . Even if I did, It was book reviews! ( I'm sorry aunty!)

And when The Hindu Nxg Published two of my reviews, it just put me on high that I would continue writing all through my life!!

And getting back, I don't want to do engineering :( I can't do anything else other than to keep saying this!

My dad never compels me on this. He definitely wants me to look after his Institute, which he'd built up with the utmost care and difficulty keeping in thought me, along with the future of the Institute. And I definitely would do it! For all my dad's hard work, I just need to carry on without starting all over again! And why wouldn't I? or Why wouldn't anyone?

And my mom wants me to get into Anna University...ha ha ROFL!

But this place does fascinate me!! And that made me happy! And since, people force me into this and say like, its a big thing to get into Anna Univ, I will get into this place, though I'm not interested to! Cause, its like a challenge for me! and I LOVE challenges!

And getting back to the choice thing, yea..I can definitely over come anyone and can do a Masters in English Literature or Journalism . What scares me is, what if these let me down?

If I succeed, its fine, I'll be happy! And this world, where anything else except something stable like engieering will put me down, what am i to do?

There is never a tough situation like that of making choices.

And then....

2010-03-05T20:40:00.000+05:30

Hmmm.. Am bored..really bored ....too bored to be bored!!
Fine! Lets talk about something that's 'Not-Boring'!
I'm writing a book. And it helps me to put away with boredom. and yes, it is coming out well :) I started it as a classic fiction- and then jumped on to a bit of contemporary Everyday adventures...and then made it partly horror...fine! I'll be done with it in a year's time.! And its gonna be a mixture of all genres..what so ever!!
And then, it seems I'll have additional Responsibilities next year! :) I am happy...Very Happy in fact!!
hmmm...yea..and this post was just to brush up my "Lappy"
Give me some time, I have Exams Coming up starting from Tuesday.. And its not the ordinary ones.. 'Common Exams' which are nonetheless than the 12th Boards. So, i gotta Study!!
We're planning for a hangout on 26th. Probably to VTV.. I've been craving to see that!!
And I have Gaseous State, Chemical Equilibrium...and Oscillations to Study.!
I still Wonder what Oscillations and Covalent Bonds and Lens Formula have got to do with Journalism!! And, by the way, that's what I am hopefully planning to do after 12th grade!!
As a totally Unrelated note, Today was the last day of class 11 and yea..Time flies hyper-fast! The day ended with so much of reflections on the year! and my English Teacher made this statement ,"Of all subjects , the only subject that is written by everyone across the country is English! And this shows its superiority and Necessity" . It sounded new to me. I've never thought of this and for me English is more than a mere subject..its like my Passion and I still wonder how I'm going to survive if I'll be pushed into engineering or anything else!!

So..Keep Waiting
Till then..

Bye

Nicey!!

2010-02-22T18:15:00.000+05:30

I know I've been posting a sort of frequently.! Yea. 'Laptop-magic'!
So..now, i just inspired someone to blog!
I guess that article in the School Magazine is going a long way! :)
And here is his blog!
http://isaacmanu4ever.blogspot.com/
and guys...inspire him too! :)

:) :)

2010-02-18T18:52:00.000+05:30

Hey guyz..
Exams are over!! Just the model exams...but it gives me a great sense of accomplishment :)
A few random things that had happened over the past few days..
-I got My new Laptop..Its a Hp Pavillion dV4. Its too good i must say and while I am typing this I'm creating a recovery disk for it.
-I got Published in My School Magazine, Shrishti 2010 :)
-I wrote about this sweet little space of mine, Sugar 'n Sizzles!
-My exams were sort of good!
-I would never forget Chemistry! We had 21 lessons and just one Sunday to learn the whole thing up! I literally just skimmed through the book!
-I started texting extensively!! Too much texting-friends, I should say!
-We had conference calls late in the night before exams, only to confront each other that one had studied
-I find it hard to type on my laptop! I get mixed up with the shift and Caps lock keys!
-I wrote an essay about my adventures in Thailand for my English Paper II
-I'm wondering what else to write!
-I'm planning to write about the mystery behind the bumps in the f and J keys! . Alright, that's funny! :P
- Since Ash Wednesday, I am trying to pray as much as i can , the whole of this Lenten season.
- I got this new CD of old Christian Hymns by choristers . Its Brilliant! I Love this hymn,
"Arise my Soul Arise" I've listened to it probably 100 times!!
I Think I'll got to go now! But ill post more frequently! with my Lappy!!

Toodles!

Sheba

Am Proud!

2010-01-10T17:46:00.000+05:30

And yes I am. Its not that I did something extra-special. But I am proud. Its not anything about me, not even close to that.Its my DAD.

Its just not that every kid considers his/her dad the super-hero and is proud. But I really am.I proudly call Dr.G.John Samuel, my dad the best in the whole world! And so, why don't I dedicate this post to this Great person?! Not only this post, but anything which I can. I haven't talked much about him. So let me get this post talking.I've gathered these info on account of sneaking and picking! Who cares? Its my own

Born in Nagercoil, near Kanyakumari,the southern most tip of Indian peninsula, he spent the whole of his childhood there. ( After which I am left with a blur, and fill it ASAP).
He did his Masters in Tamil Literature and later on in English Literature.
He was a professor at the American College, Madurai and later moved to the International Institute for Tamil Studies ( IITS) in Chennai the reason being, he wanted to focus more on research.
He then did his PhD , the title being "Comparative Studies on the Harp and the Veena" ( Harp refers to P.B Shelly, the English poet and Veena refers to Bharathi, the great Tamil poet and I've been greatly fascinated toward both of them, probably owing to the fact that my dad often speaks about them).
Moving out of the nutshell, he started the Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai which now exists as the heart of research in Tamil language and its propagation World wide.The Institute started as a small mission in rented buildings at thiruvanmiyur later moved moved into the sprawling present-day campus of 10 acres. The departments include Kannada, Telugu, Japanese , Folklore etc. The Institute boasts of 200+ publications with International Recognition.The Journal of the Institute of Asian Studies (JIAS) itself is an example. It also has a huge library of 40,000+ books and journals and also rare palm leaf manuscripts.

He represented India at the UNESCO conferences. He was the one who prepared the draft for recognition of Tamil as a "classical language". His report was recently translated into Tamil by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu himself, and was flashed in almost all the papers.

I wonder, he being such a great man doesn't show anything even close to all this. In fact it took me 15 years to realize this myself. His Simplicity is what I admire.

Turning back, I realize what a wonderful personality he is. He represented our Country to The UNESCO only at the age of 30.Thinking of all these things he has achieved, I have millions of miles to travel forth. He has determination, the strong will, the grit and the ability. Building up an institute single handedly,the troubles he faced and how successful he is now, pave my way to get inspired.

And everything I am comes from him. I am very good at Languages ( both English and Tamil). And that really comes from him. I share so much interests in common with him . I remember the times he's inspired me.When I was down, he was my backup .More than everything else, he is a Fantastic and Loving dad. I LOVE YOU DADDY!

Am proud of you and I will make you proud too :)

Tadaaa…

2009-11-27T19:02:00.000+05:30

This post was published to Sugar n' Sizzles at 6:38:44 PM 11/27/2009

Hey!!

It’s been a long time. Something motivated me today!.hmm… It was this new insert-post-directly into blogger using word 2007! And in this way its real easy too! After all, I love experimenting things!

Nothing much happened this week. It was just another week with random happenings.

We had practical exams! and they were very easy! :)

And today…..yea, well, our class did make a considerate amount of howling about owing to the reason that the teacher wasn't there :P. And then this teacher from the next class popped out and said “Zoo, is it?” . May be its not humorous. But if you had been there you would have laughed all day at this on the timing this happened. And so did we! LOL!

We are having these Choir practices for Christmas. And this really peps up my Christmas Mood . It is this time of the year I feel really so high! And we even have a practice tomorrow even though it is supposed to be a holiday. *not fair!! Not fair!!*

We could at least go in our casual dresses! *hail*

Not much again! This post is probably entitled for the “Shortest and Dumbest post of the year”.

And As I said, I was just writing this to experiment this new system which I happened to notice a long time back and had no time to blog since then.

Speaking of no time, what do you think 11th grade is?? Time for enjoying after the hectic board exams?? No, its not!!! Not even close to that! These teachers here want us to be with our books 24/7. Is it like this in all schools? Or in state board? Or whatever!! May be I should have stayed there in CBSE. But I wouldn’t have met these wonderful bunch of friends , teachers ( be things should be this way.

And my blog, which was almost nearly anonymous a few days back, is gaining real popularity. I get nearly hundred visits a day ( thanks to the counter which I installed in with great difficulty :P ) . But one thing that I wonder is ,Why do people not comment when they can read my blog??................

May be my readers are anonymous too!! What’s the great deal! People are reading my blog!

This one blog of mine which resulted due to acute boredom one summer vacation has become my passion now. And Know what? I suggest you guys a new hobby out there! Blog!!

Toodles!

2009-11-27T18:40:00.001+05:30

Religion Controversies

2009-10-03T17:34:00.000+05:30

Yup.
Its quite a common scenario. quite common...until it happens in a class-room
One of my teachers happens to be a Muslim. ( no offense)
He is THE BEST teacher ever. He can make the most difficult derivations a child's play.
Again, he is THE BEST teacher.
When we are out of lessons , a little time is spared for chit-chatting now and then. These times are most awaited and looked out for. Many a time, we've had conversations on "Muslims are not terrorists" and "America is all Lying" I agree. I do agree when it comes from THE BEST teacher.
But it happened today that a religion-issue was raised.

He happens to say that there is only one God and that is GOD. ( it took a while for me to understand as well)
Also, he points that God should not have any family ( crashing against the Christian theory) and we don't need different gods for different jobs ( which I totally agree)
He says Traditions are stupid and people who put forth them are stupid as well.
He wants us to change the tradition, do something different than what our generations did.

Going in for a tradition- change would be simply great, as long as it doesn't affect our cultural integrity. A little bit of values from here- a little bit form there- mix it all together and you are with what you like and you call it yourname-anism and you are happy. Fine.
Would it be acceptable in a community?.
You would be weighed no less than a good-for-nothing-brat whiling away time by some religion-theories.
Religion is you Right. As long as it is only with you.

Back to the classroom story,

My real appreciations to this guy in my class who took up all the courage to stand up and tell that " Sir, I don't agree".

I don't either.

Whatever he told proved directly opposite to what We'd learned in our scripture classes the very morning. And my mind is joggling both sides.

And Who has time to think of this when I have My Physics and Chemistry records to write and my Math assignments to do which are due Monday?

And yes, I do put forth this question for you, Would you like a transition?
Bye till then!

I am Still Alive

2009-09-29T12:05:00.000+05:30

Hey there!!

Yea! I jumped back to my previous blogger URL.
For a couple of months I was quite unsatisfied with how Word Press works. It in fact sucks!. And this was when I tuned back into blogger and found it more better. I wanted to import all my posts back in here but found out that you can 't do that from wordpress.
I was feeling really lazy to copy the entire posts for almost a year back here. And that dilemma kept me from posting for almost 3 months, I guess!. I finally just managed to paste back everything here though it means losing all my comments.

And now the posts are pasted but I still need some time to alter the template, the widgets, links and bla bla.

And yea, I am loving my new school and enjoying every nano-second of it. I am on my vacation now and school reopens tomorrow. We've been stuffed in with loads of assignments which I am not even half way through. I feel lazy to do anything but to just while away time.

Before I finish this post, please give me some time to do the technical- part.
And yea,
I am Still Alive
:P