Trauma - Mumbai 26/11

After 60 hours of gun fighting peace had come in for Mumbai. Can we really call it “Peace”? I don’t think so. It’s just the END OF THE GAME of the few terrorists who have made millions of people glued to the television sets to witness their operation succeed. It’s indeed a victory for them. They have caught the attention of millions of people around the globe. As the media call it, it is India’s 9/11 indeed. But not the only 9/11, we have had such 9/11 a number of times already: Parliament was attached, blast in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur , Ahmadabad and many more to add to the list. Were we letting the terrorist practise terror? As one of the foreign news channel pointed out, India is an easy target. TAJ is a prestigious hotel and it accommodates many VIP’s from different places of world. An easy target plus thousands of VIPs is an icing on the cake for the terrorists. We are once again reminded that we are not in a safe place. We are in the edges of the terror and the new pattern of terror is horrifying.

It is time the politicians stop the blaming game/politics and start doing something to make India a little safer. Hyderabad is always been another target of terror. In the past 64 hours, when Mumbai is been terrorized, I have not noticed any security measure taken in Hyderabad which is pointed out as the next target by the arrested terrorist. It is time that the government and police realize that terrorist don’t give invitations or choose the same out dates to attack. Our government allocates heavy budgets for national security. Then why are we still not having advanced arms? Shouldn’t by now a task force setup to start the investigation of the escaped terrorists? When the terrorist who have plotted Parliament attack, a national shame, is given a second thought of whether to should be hanged/not, we cannot expect more. So everyone reading this get accustomed to the fact that we are not very far from terror and terror is now a part and parcel of our lives.

A moment of silence for the 2 commandos and 16 policemen killed fighting the terror. Salute to the marine force, commandos and the policemen who have fought the terror. Hats off for TAJ hotel staffs, you were the real angels. And every unsung hero who has been the part of fighting terror.

Let all the souls rest in peace!!!

And let’s wake up to the reality of terror!!!

Music, Band and Ooh lalala

Music is essence of life. As in a comedy scene, Music is everywhere. It’s in the child’s cry and in the furious thunder. I am not a singer/instrumentalist. Frankly, I can say I am a bad bathroom singer. I don’t have the understanding of raagas/pitches. My singing is cacophonous, monotonous and literally like a speech. But I have always been a sincere and great audience. I have enjoyed music and lyrics at all times.

Recently I was having a discussion with my friend about the Airtel Super Singer show that was coming in Vijay TV (A Tamil Channel). He told me about his favourite music show Ooh Lalala that was broadcasted in SUN TV in 2007 July. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to watch the program. So, he took the pain of googling and finding me the online episodes of the show.

I was dying to watch it coz it was judged by the legend AR Rehman himself. Once I watched the first episode, I was shocked, coz I never knew there were so many bands in TN and so many youngsters with such excellent talents.  And also I was able to identify many faces. Some of them were people from college and few from various other musical shows. Few faces from my college:

In Episode 3/4 – Band “Oxygen’s” Lead singer Vijay Krishnan was in our college troop

In Episode 3/4 – Band “Innovacious’s” Lead singer Pavithra was also in our college troop

In Episode 5 – Band “Tech Music” It’s our college troop

Here is the links for the episodes:  People who missed the show can enjoy. 

http://www.tamilpeek.com/search.php?find=ooh+lalala&B1=Find

Ghajini -- Talk of the town!!!

Its Ghajini fever everywhere!!! I have watched Ghajini atleast a hundred times in Tamil. Its my favourite movie. The romantic part of the movie is very cute and funny. Surya, my favourite star, acted too good with Asin stealing the lime light with her role and performance. Ghajini in Hindi is due for Dec. No doubt that Aamir must have done a brilliant performance. Looking at the promo's and expectations, movie could rock the box office. I am dying to watch the movie. There are fews reasons

1. AR Rehman and Aamir form a gr8 combo

2. Aamir's performance

3. Its after all the remake of my favourite hero's movie

Watch Ghajini Tamil Promo: http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rfd1Hv-8i4

Watch Ghajini Hindi Promo : http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=95zcLzNEUy0

Unsatisfied software industry

It was an occasion in which few friends part of software industry got together to celebrate their 1 year of service. Everyone was excited to catch up with each other the 1 year experience. Comfortably seated in restaurant, the discussion started. A very studious girl from a MNC company asked in a peculiar group discussion style, “how was the past 1 year experience as a techie?” The tall, handsome and witty guy from a bulk service based company teased her “Here we go??” After a little laughter and joking, suddenly one absolute nerd said “I am dying. It was the most boring year of my life. I expected I will be doing some good work. But it turned out that our projects in college are far better than the one I do”. Quickly agreeing to the point a QA engineer added, “I am just testing the same product day after day. There is no improvement in the product/work”. A geek girl next to him opposed saying “I like the job. I get to implement codes that I see people using just before my eyes.” Another guy working in the same company as her mocked “I know what you do!!! I test the code you implement. It’s completely filled with bugs “. Then they all fell into an argument on Developer/QA. The studious girl brought order to the situation and asked another perfect question, “How many of you are satisfied with the job you do??” There was absolute silence. The witty guy asked the geek girl, “You sounded like you are very satisfied.” She answered, “Yeah!!! I like my work. But the pay and the work environment are bad. It’s just work we do. Daily going to office writing code and coming back is boring. And in addition there is a lot of favorism” Then the discussion drifted towards the work environment, lack of interactions in the team and team outings. This time it was the nerd, “What about the transport, food and other facilities??” There were comments from all over the table. One said that the food in their cafeteria is very oily and spicy. Another said it was too much to eat. There were a long list of complains. So finally the deserts had arrived and they made the final conclusion “No one is happy with the work we do or the work environment”.
These are not just few friends from some software industry discussing their experience. This is a common discussion in every coffee room in a software company. Everyone is unsatisfied. Being unsatisfied in a software company is become a fashion/tagline. Why is it so?? Doing repetitive work is around everywhere for instance, a teacher, a clerk, a driver. Favorism, work environment, bad work, lack of facilities is not just with software industry. Then why are we so unsatisfied?? May be software induces a lot of EXPECTATIONS or I am not in any of the other profession to know its circumstances.

PS I Love You 1

Hi All,

First, please lemme know the first thought that crossed our mind seeing such a title. I had 2 reasons for choosing this title. One, I was curious to know how many people will turn to read my blog if I have such cheesy titles. My blog hit count was 184 before I posted this one. Scroll to end of the page to check out how many hits I have now. Two, I wanted to increase the blog hit count [:D] .

Ok, coming to the purpose of this blog. This is about the book I read today P.S. I Love you By Cecelia Ahern. Lemme start with how this book fell into my hands. It was a Monday and it alos happened to be my friend’s wedding. I was returning from the marriage. I was not quite well that day and unfortunately I couldn’t get a seat in the bus while returning home and I stood 3 hours holding an enormous luggage which tumbled for every single brake. Finally, I made it to the airport looking like I was in a furnace. And not to be surprised, I noticed all the well dressed people around me giving awkward looks. So, I left my enormous luggage near a chair and stepped into the rest room. I returned leisurely since I was too early for the flight, I found few police men staring at the luggage I have deserted. So you can imagine what must have happened, shunting and advice from everyone around for being so irresponsible.

I was too tired and thought its better I start reading something to divert my attention from people who are still staring at me. So, I stepped into the book store to find some good fiction/thriller which will keep me busy. Browsing around, I caught the sight of a very handsome man on the cover of a book and the title said PS I Love You. I first thought it must be just another romantic/fairy tale type book with a very handsome guy with everything perfect and a beautiful girl who is never able to decide whether she is in love with him or not. When I read the snippet, I felt it’s not just another romantic novel. After a little battle to buy it or not, I decided I will give it a shot. When I was out of the shop it was time to head towards security check. I stood in the queue with the book in hand so that I can start reading once I am done with the security check. Suddenly a foreign lady behind me said something. Since I was lost in thoughts I didn’t hear her. She repeated understanding the confused look in my face. She said “it’s an excellent book. But very sad. I cried for every chapter.” I was speechless coz how often you find a foreign lady telling you she cried and also I am not a very comfortable person talking to strangers even in my mother tongue. I gave her a broad smile and replied “Thank you”. Later I thought why the hell I thanked her. Thankfully, she was kind enough not to burst out laughing. In the flight I took a comfortable seat near the window and started reading the booking. After a little while, an old man in late fifties took the aisle seat next to me. He gave a warm friendly smile and sat fastening his seat belt. His next glance fell on the front page of the book and he gave me a look like “What kind of books this young generation read”. I had enough humiliation for the day. So, I closed the book took the magazine in front of me. The whole week passed and I just read few pages now and then. Finally on Sunday, as usual I was totally jobless and started reading the book.

It’s not just another romantic novel. It’s a very emotional novel about a girl fighting to recover from the sorrow of her husband death with the help of her friends, family and an envelope from her husband. It’s a very touchy novel. I cried every now and then. There was one more reason why I cried when I read the novel. Because I have seen one of my friend struggling to recover after her father passed away. Though I understood how difficult it was for her. I have acted like a jerk many times. I just wanted to say sorry for that. I didn’t intend to act so. I wanted to help her. And I was too stupid not to understand that I must have hurt you. Sorry!

Hey people, I know it’s difficult to digest but one day or other we will all come across a situation when our near/dear might lose someone special in their life. We all understand how difficult it for them. And we will surely want to help them out. So, people like me who don’t know how to handle such situation read the book. It will help. You might think I am over reacting. But, realizing that you have acted like a jerk instead of helping them, make you more awful and guilty.

Ok, enough of emotions. Please post your comments on the first thought of the blog title. I am planning to have an iterative blog here .So PS I Love You 2 will be the compilation of those first thoughts. So help me keep blogging.

In case, you wanna read it. I have a pdf with me and this the esnip link http://www.esnips.com/doc/98cb2c7d-6478-486d-97bd-a5cfd32b3d67/Ahern,-Cecelia.-PS-I-Love-You

Varanam aayiram review

If I am a critic I ll give the movie 3 ½ stars. Movie is worth watching. It has mirrored various stages of the life. Movie is not for mass. It is a story of a life time, beautiful like a melody. People expecting dance drama can stay away. Songs drag the movie a little and it has a lot of English dialogs. As one of my friend said it's a movie for Class A audience. Hats off to Surya for his brilliant performance and the difference he has shown in every getup. Surya has taken more Avathar than Dasavatharam. Die hard Surya fans will love it. Enjoy the movie and walk the journey.

Effect of MBA on me!!!

My first introduction to MBA was at my 2^nd grade in school. My dad was pursuing his MBA by distance learning. I was too little to understand what MBA is really. But s

ince my dad had an MBA to his qualification, I wanted in mine too. During my under graduation, I had a management paper. The lecturer for the paper was a pro in it. When he lectured about various companies/CEO, I imagined myself as the CEO/Board of directors/the person in the case study. I made decisions, discussed the problem, brought new changes etc.. That is when I really understood what a MBA graduate do?

After few months in my first job, I understood it will take years to do any real managerial task and I didn’t find any little scope for my CEO dreams. So I decided to pursue an MBA, a short cut for my dream was the intention ;). I enrolled for the CAT coaching. First few days were just lecturers on Management schools, their exams and selection procedures. I was instructed to read newspaper daily, books from various genres, vocabulary building, etc... Newspaper was never been my game. I always preferred reading the news that appears in the scroll bar. Slowly, I forced myself to read newspaper. Within a few weeks, I was loving newspaper [Not the one with gossips and pictures ;)]. Reading what is happening around the world and analysing different issues was interesting. In school I read Nancy Drew, Famous five, etc...

And in college it had been always Sydney Sheldon and harry potter. Now, I experimented with many new genres like Philosophy, biography, comedy, adventure so on and so forth. I was able to notice that there is a lot of change in me. My reading habit has changed. I have started looking at things from a broader scope. I started listening to business news, hearing stock market updates, judge laws passed. I just loved it all.

As I was struggling to cope up my verbal, quantitative and other skills, personal issues popped and I had to quit from CAT preparation and pursue MBA. I am not worried that I couldn’t appear for CAT/become an MBA in the near future. I am happy the way MBA has transformed my life. It has exposed me to a bigger world and had given me a new approach to life. If not an business manager/event manager/ marketing manager, I can always be a home manager ;). Love u MBA and thank u MBA [:D].

Power Cuts!!! Hope its not too late...

Recently when I was reading one of the local newspaper, I came across a news about Ashok Leyland cutting the number of working days. One of the reason was due to the power shortage in Tamil Nadu. And another news focused on the reduced production in Thirupur Textile mills due to power shortage. Surprisingly, I didn't see any good step been taken towards overcoming this shortage. Everyone are busy giving statements, getting arrested and released for the never ending War in Sri Lanka.
It is high time something is done about the power shortage. With the financial crisis and market tumbling ever now and then, power shortage must not add up for the layoffs and production cuts happening everywhere. Inflation has already raised the prices heavily. A pink slip at this stage is very dangerous for any person.
Hope actors/actress and others who are fighting for Tamils in Sri Lanka will look into Tamils in Tamil Nadu before its too late.

Overcoming my Cooking Nightmare

Cooking has always scared me. When I was in my 8th class, my aunts and others used to give me lectures on "How cooking is important for a girl" and all. I hated cooking in every way. When I grew a little older in my college days, I used to boost saying the one food I can prepare is instant noodles/boil water. Even though i tried few special menus now and then, or helped my mom slate onions, I never observed whats in it. Advising me to cook was screaming in deaf ears.

Days Passed on. Due to various reasons, I had to move to a house with my friends. Initially we had no problem coz we had a girl who cooked. One fine day, I was alone at home and there was no breakfast. I was really hungry and there was no instant noodles. I had to cook something. I called my mom asked her menu to prepare "kichidi". With burns and cuts, I managed to cook something that looked very much like kichidi. First I tasted a little, hmmm the salt and spice was correct. But the kichidi was like a paste. With rats crawling in my stomach, I had not other go. So I swallowed the kichidi paste. That was my terrible first cooking experience.

Then gradually I started looking into what is being done, what I have done wrong. Cooking is not a nightmare anymore. Now I make fun saying "Cooking is all about slating onions ;)".

I have started adapting cooking as my relaxation mechanism. When I am irritated, I go into the kitchen and try out dish. It helps me unjam my mind. Cooking is just slating onions and a therapy to me :D.