~~Jumping the queue~~

As I used to say before one thing I hate to do is to stand in queue and wait for things happen. Last Thursday I had an appointment in US embassy for my visa interview, friends as well as the relatives with whom I talked with were threatening me about the long wait I have to spend in the queue.Given that we should be carrying a mobile or any other stuffs apart from the necessary documents, the only way to kill time is strike conversation with people who are already tensed standing in the queue.

So I thought of avoiding these things to the final moment as possible. My appointment was at 8:15 and I was asked to be there 15 early. So I thought why should go there before time when I m actually needed there only by 8. So I started from my home around 7:50 and reached the place sharp at 7:59:59(1 sec before time).There were more than 100 people standing in the queue,before joining the line I spoke with a security there and told my appointment was at 8:15, he took me past the crowd and placed me in a position where in which i was the 3rd person in the queue. Within five minutes I was inside.

Once inside the whole process took not more than 30 minutes, the interview was mere formality and I came back home well before 9. My usual mantra of going on time always helps!

~~Modem down~~

Since the time I left Chennai for the weekend our net connection in home was giving some problem. So the last thing I wanted to do was blogging from office!

Good for me when I came back home they found modem has malfunctioned and replaced with a new one. So the net connection is up and running and I should get back to blogging mode in a day or two!

~~Chennai the real kings~~

Wow it was awesome final yesterday and you would have loved the final$ moments of it if you a Chennai fan. Being in semifinals two times and finalist once chances were quite good but you can't be sure of anything in this format of the game until you have the cup in hand.It was real team work and wonderful fielding by the Chennai team which made the difference in the end.

Kudos to Chennai!!!

~~Busy day~~

As usual I'm more busy at weekends than during weekdays , day started early when Raj woke me up saying he got lost in Chennai while trying to find way to my house.Then I picked him up from the landmark he said. He came to Chennai for a dentist appointment.

After having breakfast he asked me to drop at the dentist place. But once finding a beautiful dentist at that place, I decided to support my friend throughout the time he spends there. After two hours of inspection they suggested him for a treatment and asked him come whenever he is free.I supported him saying I will take him anytime he wants to come there. I dropped him in bus stand and came back home drenched in sweat!

I planned to goto Trichy later tonight,even though it was a very short notice it was just enough for my mum to make her demands.By afternoon I found myself shopping in MadharSha with my grandma getting her two Saree's which I will never know when she will find time to wear.

Evening I promised my colleague to attend her reception at Annanagar,one funny attending receptions in Chennai is there will multi storey Kalyana mandapams and in each one there will be marriage function or something else going on and one should take care we are entering into the correct hall. I ensured that I m in exact hall after seeing the my colleague in the TV screen streaming live video.Dinner was excellent that once I finished it I sent a message to her saying that if I had known about the dinner earlier I would have starved the whole day.

Since my cousin's place was near by I thought of giving a flying visit,once there memories of our last visit there with KG and co was lingering in my mind. Eventhough it was not as great as the previous visit it was fun. Had a chat for more than an hour or so and came back home.

Now its time to pack my bags and the only thing which is present in the bag are the two sarees for my mum!

~~Our CO2 emission~~

I am reading a book about what and all craps we are doing to the environment. I haven't completed it yet but there were few interesting link in the book from which you can how much CO2 you are contributing to the environment.

Try this link and answer few simple questions and once you are done it will tell you how much is your contribution. Since its based in UK some of the questions will be from UK prespective. This is their home page which is filled with information on how to protect the environment.

We can still do lot more to our environment!

EDIT: Got this from Krishna funny video by Axe on how to save water!

~~Its my hike time~~

It is financial year end ,for employees like us its salary hike time and we will be eager to get our peanuts for the job we are doing for the past one year. As usual expectations were high we were getting rumours like we will be getting more than 20% hike and some even dreamt more. The truth is whatever hike announced by the organization our mind will never be satisfied and will always be asking for more.

What should ones thought process be ,I always used to say to my friends it not how much you earn matters , what you do with what you earn matters a lot.So I m thinking what I can do with the little bit of extra money , no way I can build houses or buy cars but there are other things which can do with it. I have started planning how to spend my extra money. So this weekend plans are
-->put an extra liter of petrol in my bike and roam few extra miles
-->Buy pani puri at road side stall
-->buy vikatan,kumudam for the week.
-->buy new pair of socks
-->pay back the 10rs pending fine at the library

There are many more things which I can do but I m sure given my laziness it would be a great deal if I am able to finish 2 of the 5 tasks listed above!

~~Data for the world~~

Worldbank is an organization which has the most reliable data about all the countries and issues which bother the world. Today its opening up one of the world’s most reliable and comprehensive databases on developing economies for the benefit of the public.

The new website consists for lots of topics,statistics and indicators which would help the policy makers across the world.This site will have the most accurate information for the same people and help them to take important decisions which will have impact on common people.


PS: Do have a look at the site when you have time!

~~Saturday outing~~

Last Saturday Krishna was in town, he was transiting on the way to Bangalore from Andaman's. Had a virtual tour of Andaman from the scenic pictures he had taken. It was better to contented to see pictures than go there get your skin burnt in the hot climate.

Before that I went to British council to change two of my bad books which had took last weekend,hope this week reads are better. Then I came to Spencer's caught up with Krishna and we roamed around Landmark. Krishna's new year resolution is to read 100 books this year and he's on track to keep up with that one.Got World is Flat by Thomas Friedman from him.

There was an offer going on at spencers if we show a 100rs bill we would get big packet of Complan muesli worth Rs 140 free.We ended up getting 5 packets of it when we left the place eventually. We had dinner at Senthur and from there I sent him off.

It was almost 10 at that time,from there I left to Marina beach beach where my uncle and his family were relaxing, enjoyed the sea breeze for more than an hour and then came back home.

~~Small things which I forget~~

I used to swear that next time I shouldn't miss on those silly things but as usual I end up facing similar situation again. Here are the few things I keep in mind not to do again.

1)In the bank:
Thanks to online banking and ATM's the need to go to bank are quite rare. But whenever I go there I used forget to take a pen. Eventually I end up begging people around to give a pen.

2)In the bus:
Like going to banks travelling in local buses are also a rarity these days. I used to look search for change in my wallet which would be full of coins on normal days but on the day I travel it will be empty and usually I used to face the wrath of the conductor.

3)In the train:
Normally I used to think I should carry a bottle of water when I travel in the train but as the luck goes by I used to get a bottle of water only after I get in the compartment.

4)In the car:
I usually take the car for a long drive when I am at home.Only when I m in road I will remember that I forgot to take good music CD's along which we could have listened through the journey.

(Last but not the least)
5)Grandma's food:
Everytime when I sit for dinner I used to think I should eat less but always end up eating more.

~~Bad reading week~~

Many times only after I read some 50 pages of the book I will come to know whether its worth reading further. This week turned otherwise,I had borrowed two books from British council and flipped one from a sale on the road, to my bad luck all three didn't meet my expectations. One of was the politics of United Kingdom which I couldn't correlate,another was about the life of person in Sau Paulo which was dragging meaningless and another one was about afterlife which was killing my present moment of life.

Reading a bad book has its own side effects. If the book is not good then only I realise that I am in the middle if big traffic jam.I get frustrated and finally show it by writing a blog about Chennai's traffic, which will never get any better. So I m planning to get something better to read this weekend.

Any suggestions?

~~Got this from my friend~~

Got this forward today :)

This Is An Entry To A Washington Post Competition Asking For A Two-Line Rhyme With The Most Romantic First Line, But The Least Romantic Second Line:

My darling, my lover, my beautiful wife:
Marrying you screwed up my life.

I see your face when I am dreaming.
That's why I always wake up screaming.

Kind, intelligent, loving and hot;
This describes everything you are not.

Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you.
But the roses are wilting, the violets are dead,
the sugar bowl's empty and so is your head.

I want to feel your sweet embrace;
But don't take that paper bag off your face.

I love your smile, your face, and your eyes .......
Damn, I'm good at telling lies!

My love, you take my breath away.
What have you stepped in to smell this way?

My feelings for you no words can tell,
Except for maybe 'Go to hell.'

தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள் !!!

Its Tamil new year and I really enjoyed the feast prepared by my sweet grandma.

Today's menu



It includes

sambhar
rasam
mango pachadi
parupu usili
potato fry
vadai
payasam
appalam
curd rice

Its good to have festivals like this then and there :)

~~A busy day out~~

I had to attend my friend's dad 60th birthday function. So I thought I can bunk office and attend the social gathering. Being a truthful person I asked my PL that I need leave for attending such and such function. She said "If you take leave for other people's marriage then you wont get leave for your marriage". Then she added that since the function is only on morning you can come to office by afternoon or even by evening but I should come.

With that morning permission I got up in a relaxed manner the usual tensions to catch the bus was not there.I reached on time for the function,it was my college mates dad and since he had moved to US after studies I was meeting him after almost 4 years. After getting blessings from his parents and eating a wonderful morning meals we started talking. Recollected lots funny things happened during our college days,felt I should have started blogging that time itself.Talked about whose where and what they are doing and time passed away.

After half past 12 I started my way to office in my bike and given the sun was showing its full force I was almost roasted when I reached office.Imagine how would it been after having a heavy meal then a tiresome journey and into a AC room with a comfortable seating arrangement - setup was made to have a wonderful sleep. But with my colleagues to gossip around there was never a time to relax. I showed my presence by sending few mails and browsing few pages.

Then I started my long journey back in my bike,it was easy to sneek in between the car and buses. Journey which was supposed to take two hour by bus was reduced by an hour in the bike, not that I drove fast but at an average speed.It saves time but drains your energy.

~~Cenotaph road flyover: Update~~

Its just been 4 month that the Cenotaph road flyover have been opened and should say that the flyover is not serving its purpose during the peak hours. There were lots of traffic jam in the bottle necks such that the full bridge will be filled with very slowing vehicles.So finally from this month begining what the authorities have decided was no heavy vechicles will be going via turn bulls road to cenotaph during the peak hours. So our buses take long route going via Saidapet to reach our destination.

End result--> it takes more than 2 hours to come back home :(

(When the bridge was not there it was taking much less than that )

pic for the day!!!

There are times when your face will glow like this!



PS: No no this is not the passport photo which I took yesterday :)

~~Taking a passport photo~~

Taking a passport picture of yours can be troublesome affair. I have never been able to take a better picture from my past experience. Whatever ways I try to look good,end result will be mockery of my handsome looking face.

Since I have used up all my passport pictures and needed to update with new ones I went to the nearby studio. I spent sometime in the mirror, which I hardly do on a normal day, made sure everything is perfect. The climate here is as cruel as it can be, a small walk to the studio found me sweating a lot but i was prepared took my hanky wiped away the drops of sweat.

Once inside I asked the person in charge to take a good picture of mine.He asked me to get into the studio room and then made me sit in a small stool. When I was ready to pose he told ,don't show your teeth close and reduce the smile. Ok fine I did that. Then said look up and open your eyes wide ,I tried widening it as far as possible and stared into the lens. After few seconds of observation he finally clicked the picture. While after I got the photo ready,I saw myself giving an angry stare to me. It was more or less looking like picture used to be posted in the wanted list in bus stands and railway stations. I think these photographers are sadistic people seeing a handsome young man, they try to picture them in a worse way as possible.

~~Book I read~~

I m writing this post after reading a great book based on a true story,a book which inspires you,a book which ascertains there are still wonderful people who make the world a better place .A book which thrashes all prejudice which Westerners had about Pakistan and Afghanistan. A book chosen as required reading by US military and Pentagon.



"Three cups of tea" is based on the life of Greg Mortenson who is on a mission to climb Mount K2 but it ends up in a failure,little he would have known he would be dedicating his life in climbing an even higher mountain- to keep bringing education hope and changes of better life to the children of Pakistan and then Afghanistan. While climbing down he loses his way and wanders into a poor remote village weak and tired.The village people take care of him and he rejuvenates there. Now he wants to do something back to the village.He finds that the village doesn't have any schools and he plans to build one. He goes back to America raises fund with great difficulty and comes back to village but finds that village people need a bridge first to connect to the world before a school.Now begins his journey between US and Pakistan,he builds 60 more schools in the region there by giving education to more than 10000 people in that part of the world. Once Taliban was overthrown in Afghanistan he moves there to continue his mission.

I got goosebumps at many places while reading this book,the time when the first educated woman from the village he built school comes out with flying colors and wishes to become a doctor,with a single goal to go back to her village and build a hospital in her area.Haji Ali,the desperate old man and Greg's mentor helping Greg despite all odds and getting things done for the sake of his village.Touching speech by Syed after New york attacks. The list goes on. A wonderful read altogether.

PS: When I ordered this book via flipkart, little did I realise I selected young readers edition of the same,anyways I enjoyed it a lot more with more pictures :)

~~Standing in queue~~

One thing I hate a lot is wasting the time , standing in the queue. I would do whatever I best I can to avoid the slow and painful process of moving in the queue. During my holy trip we avoided standing at the queue at most of the places, but in one place I was caught alone in the queue and its like Abimanyu got struck in chakravuge getting in will be easy but difficult or impossible to come out of it.

It all happened in Dharmastala, since I had to have lunch earlier ,the gang with which I went left me alone and went on to have dharshan. Once I was done with lunch I went ahead stood in the long queue. Queue was like a jilebi going round and round people standing in it never know where the destination was.And as usual it was moving in snails pace and I was struck in between two gossiping groups.The more time it take the more frustrating it was.I began to wonder how days an average Indian loses in his life time by standing in the queue. It should be more than a month.

Then there was the place where in which exit queue and entry met for slight instance ,sensing my oppotunity I jumped into the exit queue and ran far away from the crowd.
What about dhashan then ? A day will come when there the crowd is properly managed and each one hardly spends time in the queue. Longing for it!

~~Catching train at Managalore Junction~~

I had to cut my holy trip and return to Chennai, I had to catch train at Mangalore junction at 4 o clock. Since I went my parents who insists on being at the station an hour before the train starts, I took leave from Dharmastala around 1:30. One thing I hate is waiting at the station for the train when the its still in the shed.

So instead of going to the bus stand I went for shopping in that area, got some knick knacks and finally caught a bus at 2 o clock to Mangalore. Had a good sleep in the bus,when the bus was about to reach the destination I checked with people in bus where is the railway station. They came up with different answers with little Kannada knowledge it was more confusing.Finally Around 3:30 I down at one point which people said was nearer to the station.

Now I had an option of taking an auto and reach the station within five mintues and relax there like my dad or experience the city taking a long walk to the place which I dont know where it is and find the way asking people the way in a language which I m barely familiar. first I asked a old man he said its just walkable and stretched his forearm towards a faraway building then I realised there was a signal underneath it. When I reached the signal I came to know there was no signs of railway station nearby,since I still had 20 mintues to kill time I asked few other people for directions(mind it everything in kannada)and went on to the directions told by them.After 10 mintues of walking I heard a distant sound train horn making sure that station was somewhere around.And beleive me there was a terrible traffic jam in front of the station,I would have got caught in that had I come by auto. I walked passed all those vechicle and reached station around 5 mintues to four.

After entering the inside the station I found that the train was actually in platform2 then had to climb up and down,then I realised the compartment was at the other end of the platform and I walked the whole stretch, I finally got in the train by 4:05 I always trust Indian railways They will always wait for me ;)

EDIT: Adding Sripriya's experience (c Indian railways has been lucky with me alone )

Sriram, u r luckY,Indian Railways always wait for you, but not for all. About 13 yrs back, me and my sister (Jayashree) with our friends were supposed to go to Delhi by Tamil Nadu Train from Chennai I was in Chennai,so I was in the station well before scheduled time. But, my sister, came from Trichy by KPN bus.She reached the station exactly at 10.00 pm,the train already left the platform (not station),she was not able to get into the train. It was like Cinema scene, where we all were just watching and unable to do anything. Me & my friends,thought of coming back to chennai, by getting down in the next station. The next stop came at 5 am, (dont remember the name of the station but it was some where in Varangal....AP) I called my aunty's residence from that station (no cellphones that time otherwise I would've slept peacefully after calling my sister immediately), my aunty told "Jayashree is coming to Delhi by GT" (GT Express Train used to start after 30 or 40 minutes after TN train) I was relaxed after hearing that. There was a WARM WELCOME for Jayashree in Delhi.

~~My friend's Japan video part 2~~

~~Three day weekend~~

After a long time relaxed at home for all the three days. Sun shining brightly left with no other options than stay indoors. Now I started monday morning blues on Sunday night itself ;) Anyways after 3 days OB I should get back on form once again!

~~Raining sixes in today's IPL match~~

Today evening's match reminded me of a cricket game by EA sports once you master it ,you can hit sixes of every ball. In total 40 overs more than 450 runs have been scored which is higher that of the individual score by a team in a 50 over match.

In fact this was the first IPL match(CSK vs RR) I followed completely in front of television,reminds me how jobless I'm. I need to do something to keep myself occupied!

~~Breaking News we see~~

Its been a long time I saw news from television. Check what was the breaking news today!



I can also do some stunt like this and get into headlines

EDIT:
This came in front page of hindu too,so I m should only expect these kinds of news in front pages!

~~Morning mess~~

I learnt what can a 5 minute delay can do to my day to day schedule. Last night being tired from the trip I slept early but the sleep I had was too little for me. When I eventually got up I found that I was lagging behind my schedule and hurried to do all the morning chores.I Gulped down my morning cornflakes and ran to catch the bus only to see it has gone past me. Then I caught hold of auto and asked him chase the bus. After jumping a signal the auto driver finally made it on par with the bus and I managed to signal my driver and got it.

When I was about to reach office I found that I forgot to take my ID card,since my company has a strict policy turning away people back home who forgot to bring ID's I regretting whether the morning chase was worth enough.Going back home by local transport is also a pain in the neck.Then I remembered a friend was mine who lives near my area and comes late to office, I tried reaching him but he wasn't picking the call. In the mean time I reached my office and was asked to wait in the lobby if I could manage to get the card or leave home and fetch it. Since the 2nd option was out of question I kept trying to reach my friend who was still in his morning sleep.After 12 unsuccessful attempts he finally picked the call. I requested him to goto my home collect the card and come back to office. Only after he accepted I breathed a sense of relief. It took another two hours for him to reach office,till then I was sitting in the lobby which was like a cold storage.After getting the card I reached my workplace where I was given a royal welcome.

PS: Funny thing in this incident was when I called my friend to get my ID card from my home ,he was thinking whether I playing April fool prank on him.