Obituary of the late Mr.Common Sense
Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that
London Times Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense - Sunday, 31st March 2008 (This was “forwarded” by someone through email. I am not the author of the text)
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: “knowing when to come in out of the rain”; “why the early bird gets the worm”; “life isn’t always fair”; and “maybe it was my fault”.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or a band-aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers: I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
Popularity: 5%
June 11, 2008 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off
Thought provoking speech on Graduation Day
Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that
This is a speech given by J.K.Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series at the Harvard University’s Graduation Day..
President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.
The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world’s best-educated Harry Potter convention.
Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.
You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.
Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and this.
I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ‘real life’, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.
These might seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.
Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.
I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.
They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.
I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.
I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.
What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.
I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.
However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person’s idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.
Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.
Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.
Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.
You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.
One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working in the research department at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London.
There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.
Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government. Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave behind.
I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.
And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country’s regime, his mother had been seized and executed.
Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.
Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard and read.
And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.
Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.
Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s minds, imagine themselves into other people’s places.
Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.
And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.
I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.
What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.
One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.
That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing.
But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people’s lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden.
If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I’ve used their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.
So today, I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
I wish you all very good lives.
Thank you very much.
I wish you all very good lives.
Thank you very much.
Popularity: 6%
June 9, 2008 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off
Bug in Orkut
Posted by Pradeep M as Computers and Internet
Though there are several bugs in Orkut, I found this one hilarious. The number of videos is shown as -1 (which is never possible). It comes up right in your face and its a glaring mistake (must be a bug in one of their mutual exclusion algorithms used for keeping the count when something is added/deleted). Found this in a profile of someone whom I dont know.. So I dont have the repro steps with me :) So if some google guy is reading this, you know what to do.. :)
Popularity: 8%
April 27, 2008 | Filed Under Computers and Internet | Comments Off
Enakku piditha paadal
No one would deny the fact that songs composed by Maestro Illayaraaja are evergreen melodies..
When his music is so much enticing, how would it be when it is coupled with the voice of a nightingale ??
Should I say more..
The following song “Enakku piditha paadal unakkum pidikume” from the movie Julee Ganapathy(directed by BaluMahendra) is sung by Shreya Goshal. It is one of those songs that is so soulful, so peaceful and one where you would get lost in it.. When I asked some of my friends if they liked this song, I did not get such a good response.. They said, its good but not that good.. But somehow I just love this song.. I have been putting it on loop and listening to it over and over again since yesterday. :)
I dunno what I like in this song.. Is it the music, Is it the lyrics, Is it the voice.. I dunno.. May be a mix of everything in the right proportion.. But this song has become one of my favorites..
You can see a part of the song in youtube.. and the full song is available for download from www.cooltoad.com
Here are the lyrics and translation of the song :
enakku piditha pAdal adhu
unakkum pidikkumae (The song that I like, you would also like..)
un manadhu Pogum vazhiyai
endhan manadhu aRiyumae (The path that your heart want to go, would be known to my heart)
ennai piditha nilavu adhu
unnai pidikkumae (The moon that captivated me would also captivate you)
kAdhal nOikku marundhu thandhu
nOyai kootumae (It would give medicine for the disease called love and would only increase it)
udhirvadhu pookkaLA ? (Is it the flowers that is withering down ?)
manadhu vaLartha sOlaiyil
kAdhal pookkaL udhirumA ? (In the garden grown by your heart, will the flowers wither ?)
(enakku)
mella nerungidumbOdhu nee dhoora pOgiRai ( when come closer, you go far)
vittu vilagidumbOdhu nee nerungi varugiRai (when i want to leave , you come close to me)
kAdhalin thiruvizha kaNgaLil nadakkudhae ( the drama of love is happening in our eyes)
kuzhanthaiyai pOlavae idhayamum tholayudhae ( like a small child, the heart is getting lost)
vAnathil paRakkiREn mOhathil midhakkiREn ( Im flying in the sky, and floating with love)
kAdhalAl nAnum Or kAthAdi AgiREn (because of love, Im becoming a kite in the sky)
(enakku)
veLLI kambigaLai pOlae oru thooRal pOduthO (the rain is falling like silver strings)
viNNum maNNil vandhu sERa adhu pAlam pOduthO (its trying to put a bridge for the sky to reach the soil)
neerthuLi theeNdinAl nee thodum njAbagam (the sense of touch by the rain reminds me of your touch)
neer thotta idamellAm veeNaiyin thEn swaram (the touch of rain is like honey dipped music from the veena)
ayiram aruviyAi anbilae nanaikiRai (you drench me in your affection as that of thousand waterfalls)
megam pOla enakkuLLae mOham vaLarthu kaLaigiRai (like a cloud, you kindle the spirit in me and disappear)
(enakku)
unakkum pidikkumae (The song that I like, you would also like..)
un manadhu Pogum vazhiyai
endhan manadhu aRiyumae (The path that your heart want to go, would be known to my heart)
ennai piditha nilavu adhu
unnai pidikkumae (The moon that captivated me would also captivate you)
kAdhal nOikku marundhu thandhu
nOyai kootumae (It would give medicine for the disease called love and would only increase it)
udhirvadhu pookkaLA ? (Is it the flowers that is withering down ?)
manadhu vaLartha sOlaiyil
kAdhal pookkaL udhirumA ? (In the garden grown by your heart, will the flowers wither ?)
(enakku)
mella nerungidumbOdhu nee dhoora pOgiRai ( when come closer, you go far)
vittu vilagidumbOdhu nee nerungi varugiRai (when i want to leave , you come close to me)
kAdhalin thiruvizha kaNgaLil nadakkudhae ( the drama of love is happening in our eyes)
kuzhanthaiyai pOlavae idhayamum tholayudhae ( like a small child, the heart is getting lost)
vAnathil paRakkiREn mOhathil midhakkiREn ( Im flying in the sky, and floating with love)
kAdhalAl nAnum Or kAthAdi AgiREn (because of love, Im becoming a kite in the sky)
(enakku)
veLLI kambigaLai pOlae oru thooRal pOduthO (the rain is falling like silver strings)
viNNum maNNil vandhu sERa adhu pAlam pOduthO (its trying to put a bridge for the sky to reach the soil)
neerthuLi theeNdinAl nee thodum njAbagam (the sense of touch by the rain reminds me of your touch)
neer thotta idamellAm veeNaiyin thEn swaram (the touch of rain is like honey dipped music from the veena)
ayiram aruviyAi anbilae nanaikiRai (you drench me in your affection as that of thousand waterfalls)
megam pOla enakkuLLae mOham vaLarthu kaLaigiRai (like a cloud, you kindle the spirit in me and disappear)
(enakku)
Popularity: 7%
March 14, 2008 | Filed Under music | Comments Off
Valentine’s Day special
Posted by Pradeep M as entertainment
A valentine’s day cant be better for someone who is not in “love” with anyone, than watching a romantic movie that talks about the feeling that is universal across boundaries, across religions, across hearts, across everything in this world - LOVE.
The movie I saw was “P.S: I Love You”. It was a very good movie showcasing the true love and affection between a couple. They both make an ideal couple on screen. Here is an outline of the movie (from wikipedia):
Irishman Gerry Kennedy (Gerard Butler) and Holly (Hilary Swank), are a happily married couple living in Manhattan. Except Holly wants a larger apartment for when they decide to have a baby. Gerry wants a baby now, and after they fight one night about this, they make up and Gerry makes her laugh. Gerry dies of a brain tumor, and Holly is devastated. The grieving young widow and her friends begin to periodically receive letters written by Gerry while he was alive, each containing a task for Holly to complete, intended to ease her out of her grief and transition her into a new life.One “task” is for Holly and her two friends to go on holiday in Ireland, where the couple first met. On this trip, she hooks up with a singer from a local pub who ends up being one of Gerry’s old friends.While she is in Ireland she visits Gerry’s parents and visits the spot where the couple first met, and in the process, finds out that she can move on and live life.At the end of the film it is revealed to Holly and the viewer that when Gerry knew he was going to die he wrote the letters and gave them to Holly’s mother, and that he made her promise to send them one by one to Holly.
I was really able to feel what the director wanted the audience to feel. I should say he was successful in that. The last letter from Gerry was something that really showcased how good a husband he was. Truly every woman who saw this movie would have wanted to get a life partner like him. When initially Holly used to abuse Gerry for leading an unplanned life, he paid her in full with meticulously planning each and every move to bring Holly out of the utter devastation she has been in post his death. The director could have made the climax of the movie a still more emoting to have put a lasting impression in everyone who saw the movie but has failed to do so. But all in all, this is a really good movie. I would give it a 8 out of 10.
Popularity: 6%
February 14, 2008 | Filed Under entertainment | Comments Off
Respect your parents!!
Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that
Popularity: 7%
February 1, 2008 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off
Trip to Dandeli wild life sanctuary
It was yet another wonderful ocassion - something very different from the normal routine life. Our team outing to Dandeli (near Hubli, Karnataka) was all together a very good experience. Myself and our team had great fun in store for the 3 days we spent at Dandeli.
The trip started from Lingampalli Railway Station at Hyderabad. We boarded the train to Hubli. We were all booked on the same bogey and hence was able to get together and spend quality time playing “Mafia”. It was the first time I am playing this game and found it very interesting. The defence part of the game was the best wherein each player who has been nominated by the other players as “Mafia” should defend himself as to why he is not a mafia. In the third game that we played, myself and MG were the mafias. Right from the first round I was nominated as a Mafia in every round, and I had to defend myself and finally myself and MG won the game without getting voted out in any round. It was the only game that Mafia’s won :) and more than winning, the defense part was the best in the game. It was so good to distract people from voting me out.
When we reached the resort, we refreshed and had lunch. Then myself, SM and RS went for a small trekking in the rocks near the rapids of the Kali River. It was quite good and thrilling to trek at those places. We took some snaps there and then went for a coracle ride. The coracles that I have seen so far was made of bamboo or some wood and it could accommodate 5-6 people. But this coracle was bigger and made of iron and it was able to accommodate 12-14 people. The coracle ride was so good and the best part of it was abandoning RS and SM at an island in the kali river. The coracle returned to the shore without them and then went on to pick them up later :).
Then we played volleyball at the resort and then had DJ night, during which a few of our folks sang songs and entertained the rest. Then we had barbeques and had dinner. There were people who danced through the night but I was feeling a bit sleepy since I dint sleep well during the train journey and hence I retired for the day.
The next day we had to start for the “Jungle Safari” at 430am. So we got up at 4 and got ourselves ready. We had Tea/Coffee and started. My God, it was shivering despite the jacket that I wore. So cold it was. We went in a Jeep that had open sides and hence no means to prevent the cold air from hitting my face. Though we couldnt spot any animals other than a “Barking Deer”, a jackal and some wild squirrels, what followed was the interesting part. We went to Covala caves. The caves were so dark, so narrow that we had to sit and move through the caves. I got scared at a point not because it was dark but because of claustrophobia. The walk to the caves was the worst part of all. Most of us were half dead when we returned to the Jeep after the caves. Our legs were aching, heart beating as fast as it could, lungs gasping for more and more air, it was too much to take at the same time. But I should say, the walk to and from the caves was worth it.
Everyone was so tired that they retired for 2 hours with a nice sleep. Then we had lunch and went for “White water rafting”. I never knew such sports existed in India. It was a level 3 stretch that we were to do rafting in. We were first given instructions by the guide and we started the rafting. STOP, HOLD THE ROPE, GET IN, LEFT FORWARD, RIGHT FORWARD, BACKWARD, JORE SE :) were some of the commands that the guide gave us which we obediently followed. It was the best part of the entire trip. “The entire trip is worth it, just for the White water rafting itself” said SD. I have nothing different to say. After the rafting myself and SM did some swimming at the river since it took time for the jeep to come and pick us up.
Then we went to the resort, had tea and went to our rooms to freshen up. We then had a tribal dance organised at the resort. It was a different experience too. At the end, we folks also learnt some tribal dance and danced along with them and took snaps with them. Then had barbeque dinner and this time, I too danced through the night. This was the first time Im letting off my inhibitions and dancing with the folks. I was hesitant at first and slowly got the feel of it and never wanted to stop dancing thereafter. :) Thanks to the team for bringing me out of myself.
The next day we started at 730am for a Nature Walk. We went up a mountain and then downhill to the backwaters viewpoint. The viewpoint was good and so was the trekking (Who would not want to feel the fresh unpolluted breeze from the nature’s greens). It was a 5 km trek that we did and hence I felt a bit tired. Came back to the resort, had breakfast, packed our bags and checked out at 12. We then went to a Tibetian Temple on our way to Hubli. It was a big temple with a meditation hall and huge statues of Buddha. It was the first time Im seeing such a huge Tibetian population. I never knew so many Tibetians lived in India. The ambience at the temple was great. They even permitted clicking photos. After that, we came to the Hubli Railway station and boarded our train to Hyderabad.
We had great time in the train playing “Mafia”. There ends our trip to Dandeli. It was really a nice experience. The kids who joined us for the trip, SN, SD, AC and the twins VC,VC amused the folks with their cute expressions and playfulness. It was really really nice spending time with the kids. I would not forget SN’s talks in our cab - “Thummara naam pr pr pra pradeep bh pradeep bhaiya” and following it with “Thummara naam bhool gaya” right after it. She was just too cute.
Some pics are uploaded here:
Popularity: 7%
January 14, 2008 | Filed Under travel | Comments Off
Another beautiful song
This is my second post in the Music Category. Actually its my third post. The first post on this category was about a song “Moongil Kaadugale” which I couldnt publish because, after 1 hour of typing the stuff, I clicked on some link and it took me somewhere and I lost all what I typed. :( (Dunno why Live Spaces guys dint think of having an Auto Save feature)
Ok.. Coming to the song, its a song called Kadavul Thandha Azhagiya Vaazhvu (translated as “The beautiful life that god gave…”) from the movie “Mayavi”. I doubt if many tamil folks would know this song since the movie did not do well in the box office and this song is not the one of that kind that makes rounds and rounds in all television channels. I’m a kind of person, so passionate about music and importantly the lyrics that come with it. Coz to me, though music is what I love the most, good lyrics makes one emotionally bond well with the song.
In the movie, this song is sung by a physically challenged girl. She praises God for everything he has done to her and thanks him for the good. She feels that she does not have any difficulty or misfortune inspite of being physically challenged. And she wishes the heroine (Jyothika who has the role of an actress in the movie) for her birthday. Its very emotional song. May be thats why this song is very close to my heart. The lyrics of the song is also too good.
Lyrics:
kadavul thandha azhagiya vaazhvu (The beautiful life that God gave us..)
ulagam muzhudhum avanadhu veedu (The entire world is his home..)
kangal moodiye vaazhthu paadu (Close your eyes and sing his praise)
karunai pongum ullangal undu (There are hearts overflowing with generosity)
kaneer thudaikum kaigalum undu (There are hands to wipe your tears)
innum vaazhanum nooru aandu.. (You should live for a 100 years more)
edhai naam ingu kondu vandhom (What did we bring here)
edai naam angu kondu selvom (What would we take from here)
azhage bhoomiyin vaazhkaiyai anbil vaazhndhu vidai peruvom (Beauty, Live the life on this earth with love and leave)
kadavul thandha azhagiya vaazhvu (The beautiful life that God gave us..)
ulagam muzhudhum avanadhu veedu (The entire world is his home..)
kangal moodiye vaazhthu paadu (Close your eyes and sing his praise)
Oh.. oh.. oh..
bhoomiyil bhoomiyil inbangal endrum kuraiyadhu (In this world, the amount of happiness would never reduce)
vaazhkaiyil vaazhkaiyil enakkondrum kuraigal kidaiyadhu (In my life, I dont have any worries/sorrow)
edhuvarai vaazhkai azhaikiradho adhuvarai naamum sendriduvom (As long as life takes us, lets go with it till then)
vidaiperum neram varumbodhum siripinil nandri solliduvom (When its time to leave, lets depart saying thanks with our smile)
Oh.. oh.. oh..
Popularity: 6%
January 9, 2008 | Filed Under music | Comments Off
The “Indian Punctuality”
Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that
This is one topic I wanted to write about for a very long time.. I had been fretting and frowning about this issue within myself and now I thought its time to share with the world.
I dunno whats gone wrong with the people that they never give the things the right priority it needs. For instance, let me start from my college. When a class is scheduled at 8:30am, why do people find it difficult to be on time ? I wont accept that, 8:30 is early and students sleep late and hence they find it difficult to be in class at 8:30. Because, even if the class is kept at 1:30pm, thats the same case. Nearly 70% of the students come late. The only reason I would give for this is - Wrong Prioritization. The priority they give to computer games they play on the LAN, the priority they give to their sleep, the priority they give to chatting with friends at the canteen or the Juicy (its a fruit juice shop at our college) and importantly the priority they give to having food on time (even if they get up at 8:30 , they want to have their breakfast no matter what and then only come to class that was scheduled at 8:30) is not given to attending classes on time. Yeah, I agree.. Health is important. But if you are really concerned about it so much, you should plan your activities accordingly. Get up early and gulp in as many idlies or dosas you want. Who cares ?
I see this “Indian Punctuality” everywhere.. Once I was attending a training session by a person from U.S. The training was scheduled to start at 10am. Of the 80 odd people who had registered for the training, not even half had turned up at 10am. The U.S. guy asked us - “I dont think the seats are going to get filled. Shall we start ? ” for which one guy replied - “Thats India for you. It would get filled in another 30 mins”. Should’nt one be ashamed to say such a statement ? But really we cant blame that guy for replying like that, coz what he said was absolutely true. People never think that they should keep up the time.
But this doesnt happen in all circumstances. People do keep up their time when going for a movie, when they have to board a train or a flight, when he/she is going to meet his/her beloved lover etc. In these situations, they are very well ahead of time, because they would be the loser if they fail to be on time. So they give these things the utmost priority they could give. My question is, why cant you give the other things the priority that it requires ? When a thing should start on time, why cant you play your part to ensure that it does start on time ? Do people need hard and fast rules to be tied to everything ? If they fail to be on time, they would be penalised this much.. or they would be stoned to death.. he he.. If only then, people are going to change their mentality, Im sorry to say there is something seriously wrong in the way you perceive things.
In my dad’s office, they had to swipe their card when they enter teh company and the time they enter would be recorded. There is no flexible timing for his office. And his office starts at 8 o clock. I have never seen my dad at home after 730. He ensures that he is in office well ahead of time. Not just because he wants to swipe his card before 8, but because he is punctual in everything he does. I should say I got this quality from him. Coming to the work environment I work, I could see people utilizing the flexible time allowed by our company. Or rather I would say, they are exploiting the benefit offered. My very own roomate, comes to office after 11 regularly. The simple reason he says is - I work late and it does not matter if I come late. Agreed. Thats your point of view. But in my opinion, the flexi timing thing can be utilized once in a while when you cant make it on time to office due to some reason. But making it a habbit to be late to office everyday is something thats not appreciable.
Once I was taking a company shuttle to airport. According to the timing mentioned, it should take me one hour from my campus to the airport. I had a flight at 9pm and according to the timing mentioned by the transport facility, the cab would reach the airport by 730. But to my dismay, I was told by one of the co-passenger that the shuttle would reach the airport only by 8 or 815.. and the shuttle reached at 820. I had to literally run into the airport. It has been a routine for the shuttle to reach late due to heavy traffic. When thats the case, why cant the transport facility change the timing mentioned ? They dont just care if a 730 shuttle reaches at 8 or 815 or 830.. Coz they have this “Indian Punctuality” mentality. They have grown up with this. They could always escape saying that - “It was heavy traffic sir. We are not responsible”. The same traffic is there everyday.. and there is only one shuttle to airport. When thats the case, what prevents them from updating the time schedule to mention that it would reach the airport only at 815 ? Another thing I want to change with the transport facility is that - a 630 cab never leaves at 630. It waits for 5-10 mins for people to come and board. Why should it wait for defaulters ? If a 630 cab leaves at 630, automatically the defaulters would become losers and they would start coming on time from the next day. Why do you want to bend the rules ?
I dunno what makes me think this way, but to be on time to office, there are innumerable days when I have missed my breakfast (Almost 99% of the days). Its not a sacrifice that Im doing but the price Im paying for not planning properly and not getting up on time.. Its just a price that I pay for my laziness. Nothing else. Not only people, even the public transport is like that.. Trains for example - never on time. Really I have never travelled by a train that starts on time and arrives on time. Now-a-days even flights have adopted this trend. They have a huge list of reasons - “due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft”, “as the runway is blocked by another flight”, “we cant land as there are dead birds on the runway” and the list goes on. I agree, some reasons are legitimate, but who is responsible and who is affected because of this ? Just saying “We are extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused to you” is not going to solve any problem.
To conclude, In all my humbleness I request you to keep up the timing in whatever you do. Please try to be punctual. Imbibe this quality in you. To me, the world starts from where I stand. So I should be perfect and the people around me should be perfect. Only then, we could create a positive wave from us, to spread the quality and change the meaning the term “Indian Punctuality” from what it is now currently to what it should be (On Time performance as KingFisher Deccan puts it).
Thanks for readind my blog..
A related article from “The Hindu” :
Time and tide
A. DEVA RAJU
To be successful, one has to be regular and punctual at all times. Without these principles, success may seem difficult. If a student is regular and punctual in his studies from the beginning of the school year he would pass his examinations with ease.
Ensure that you are in the classroom well before class begins, complete your home work, read all the lessons taught in class that day - this will make the study load lighter.
Regularity, punctuality and discipline go hand in hand.
Most Indians are famous for their “Indian punctuality”. As is commonly notice if there is a function at 10 a.m., most people start gathering at the venue only at 11 a.m. Even educated people do not think these virtues are necessary for success. They take life casually. It is needless to mention that an a person who is not punctual misses the train.
Apart from being punctual, one should be patient and persevere to achieve success. One cannot become a millionaire in a day. One has to work to taste success. A sapling cannot bear fruits, it needs to grow into a tree. A student cannot get a first class by studying for a day. It is the result of working hard over a period of time.
Popularity: 7%
January 8, 2008 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off
A wonderful song..
Today morning was no different than the routine I have in office.. Small differences include - me having breakfast (yeah! that happens very rarely) as I came to office a bit early than usual, me missing 2 of my office cabs due to the unfathomable Indian Traffic, the autowala taking the route thru the road than the so called shortcut.
Then, when I was just browsing through the mailing lists, I saw a mail giving a youtube link to a wonderful song.
I clicked on the link and was taken aback by surprises after surprises.
1. Its not a song from any movie
2. Its sung by someone who is not so very popular but has sung so melodiously and so blissfully.
3. Its from an album made in Malaysia. (Thats the height of all surprises!!) I just couldnt believe it..
From then on, I am listening to this song over and over again.. So just thought - why shouldn’t I fill some empty space on my online space. Thats y I’m here today.. :)
Here are the lyrics of the song I got from some youtube link. I have added the English translation to it. Since I dint have much time, I have used words that fit the context. Please feel free to correct me if I have gone wrong somewhere in choosing the right word.
Uyirai tholaithen athe unnil thaano.. (I lost my life, is it in you?)
Ithe naan kaanum kanavo nijamo.. (Is it the dream Im seeing or is it real?)
Miindum unnai kaananum maname.. (I will see you again my heart)
Vendum eneke maname maname… (I want you my heart, I want you my heart)
Viliyil vilunthaal… aaa… (If you fall on my sight)
Ennil enathal naane illai… (I would no longer be myself)
Ennam muluthum nithane en kanne… (you are in all my thoughts, my love)
Uyirai tholaithen athe unnil thaano… (I lost my life, is it in you?)
ithe naan kaanum kanavo nijamo.. (Is it the dream Im seeing or is it real?)
- Music -
Anbe uyirai thoduven unnai… (Dear, I would touch you with all my love)
Thalathuthe parvaikal x2… (your looks are singing lullaby)
Unai serum naalai thinam enginene… (I looked for the day I would join you)
Naan ingu thaniyaga aluthen…. (I cried here all alone)
Vidiyum varai kanavin nilai unathai (Till the dawn, the state of my dreams, on your behalf)
Ingge thinam enguthe.. (is awaiting everyday)
Manam urugidum nilai ethe yenthan (Its the state when the heart would melt, its my )
Muthal muthal varum uyir kathalil.. (first first love, my dear love)
Uyirai tholaithen adhu unnil naano.. (I lost my life, is it in you?)
Ithe naan kaanum kanavo nijamo.. (Is it the dream Im seeing or is it real?)
Miindum unnai kaananum maname.. (I will see you again my heart)
Vendum eneke maname maname… (I want you my heart, I want you my heart)
Viliyil vilunthaal..aaa… (If you fall on my sight)
Ennil enathal naane illai… (I would no longer be myself)
Ennam muluthum nithane en kanne.. (you are in all my thoughts, my love)
- Music -
Ninaithal inikum ilamai nathiye.. (you are a river that is sweet when even thought of)
Unnodu naan mulkinen x2 (I drowned with you in you)
Thedathe nilayil nogathe valiyil.. (In a situation im not searching, In a pain that is not paining)
Kanparkum idengum niithan.. (You are everywhere my eyes could see)
Vidiyum varai kanavin nilai unatha (Till the dawn, the state of my dreams, on your behalf)
Ingge thinam enguthe.. (is awaiting everyday)
Manam urugidum nilai ethe yenthan (Its the state when the heart would melt, its my )
Muthal muthal varum uyir kathalil.. (first first love, my dear love)
Ithe naan kaanum kanavo nijamo.. (Is it the dream Im seeing or is it real?)
Miindum unnai kaananum maname.. (I will see you again my heart)
Vendum eneke maname maname… (I want you my heart, I want you my heart)
Viliyil vilunthaal… aaa… (If you fall on my sight)
Ennil enathal naane illai… (I would no longer be myself)
Ennam muluthum nithane en kanne… (you are in all my thoughts, my love)
Uyirai tholaithen athe unnil thaano… (I lost my life, is it in you?)
ithe naan kaanum kanavo nijamo.. (Is it the dream Im seeing or is it real?)
- Music -
Anbe uyirai thoduven unnai… (Dear, I would touch you with all my love)
Thalathuthe parvaikal x2… (your looks are singing lullaby)
Unai serum naalai thinam enginene… (I looked for the day I would join you)
Naan ingu thaniyaga aluthen…. (I cried here all alone)
Vidiyum varai kanavin nilai unathai (Till the dawn, the state of my dreams, on your behalf)
Ingge thinam enguthe.. (is awaiting everyday)
Manam urugidum nilai ethe yenthan (Its the state when the heart would melt, its my )
Muthal muthal varum uyir kathalil.. (first first love, my dear love)
Uyirai tholaithen adhu unnil naano.. (I lost my life, is it in you?)
Ithe naan kaanum kanavo nijamo.. (Is it the dream Im seeing or is it real?)
Miindum unnai kaananum maname.. (I will see you again my heart)
Vendum eneke maname maname… (I want you my heart, I want you my heart)
Viliyil vilunthaal..aaa… (If you fall on my sight)
Ennil enathal naane illai… (I would no longer be myself)
Ennam muluthum nithane en kanne.. (you are in all my thoughts, my love)
- Music -
Ninaithal inikum ilamai nathiye.. (you are a river that is sweet when even thought of)
Unnodu naan mulkinen x2 (I drowned with you in you)
Thedathe nilayil nogathe valiyil.. (In a situation im not searching, In a pain that is not paining)
Kanparkum idengum niithan.. (You are everywhere my eyes could see)
Vidiyum varai kanavin nilai unatha (Till the dawn, the state of my dreams, on your behalf)
Ingge thinam enguthe.. (is awaiting everyday)
Manam urugidum nilai ethe yenthan (Its the state when the heart would melt, its my )
Muthal muthal varum uyir kathalil.. (first first love, my dear love)
Uyirai tholaithen unnil thaano.. (I lost my life, is it in you?)
Ithe naan kaanum kanavo nijamo.. (Is it the dream Im seeing or is it real?)
Miindum unnai kaananum maname.. (I will see you again my heart)
Vendum eneke maname maname… (I want you my heart, I want you my heart)
Oohhhhhh..
Ithe naan kaanum kanavo nijamo.. (Is it the dream Im seeing or is it real?)
Miindum unnai kaananum maname.. (I will see you again my heart)
Vendum eneke maname maname… (I want you my heart, I want you my heart)
Oohhhhhh..
This is one of the songs I have heard in recent times, that is so meaningful with wonderful lyrics and an alluring music.
Popularity: 6%
January 3, 2008 | Filed Under music | Comments Off
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