Kodumai da saami!!

Why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri dudes?

2011-12-08T07:04:00.000-08:00

Oru 2 weeks munnadidhan padichen, velai parkaravanai vida vettiya irukaravanuku dhan stress jasthi nu, which seems to be so true in my case!! Irukaravanukudhan oru velai, illadhavanuku aayiram velai is something you can't be proud of saying :(

I was a busy person just 3 weeks ago, running here and there for a project, doing something (which should be translated to utter nonsense but which nevertheless counted as work) and attaining piravi payan. Ippo project mudinju pochu, and enaku adutha project assign-um pannala, and here I am wondering what exactly to do!!

Naanum different things try pannen - books padikardhu, chat pannardhu, facebook parkardhu, google sites test panradhu, chess padikardhu, email pannardhu - don't you think these would be enough to engage a person? I finished 4 books in 7 days (!!), apparently people I chat to have work (en enaku mattum?), facebook has less posts from people I know, google sites took probably half a day, chess gets a bit too much of knowledge which en kutty brain can't handle, and how many can you email in one day?

Naane ennada pannalamnu yosichu yosichu mandai kaayarenna, inga irukangale brahaspathigal, everyone makes it a point to tell me I am not doing anything! :( Nethu poi deputy manager kitta poi solren I had been working late nights last week, so friday wfh panren nu, and that guy tells me "adhan nee day-la work panradhe illaye nu" $*&%$*(&%*($ Ivangalam nightla work panrangala? Or are they at work by night? Naan mattum en day and night rendu velaiyum office resourcea irukanum? Idhula oruthan nakkal vera, nalla velai pannunga-nu - naan book padichitrundhenama!! PM solran "needhan onnum panradhilla la, indha vetti velaya pannu"nu, giving me some complete inexplicable nonsense work!

Sathiyama solren, it is hard to be not working, than to be actually working. Why can't they just give day offs to people who don't have anything assigned, rather than make them an object of ridicule? :(

Naan adicha thanga matta...

2010-07-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

Oru oorla ivalodhan test-ne irukadha? How can someone spend a lifetime of tests? Idhu aniyaya kodumaiya iruku, when you are in your school, you do a lot of exams, go to college, face the entrance exam and then go on and have exams...appuram velaiku ponga, udane 3-5 rounds of interviews...ada idhellamdhan thangaromna client interviews!! Ada seripa, ivalo test ezhudittome, inimel nimmadhiya irukalamna, driving test varudhu...appada mudichomna udane there is a settlement test. How much can a human take??

Citizen kooda illa, after all oru Permanent Residency-ku evanavadhu exam ezhudhuvana? Believe me, I have started disliking this oor...I was preparing for the test for the last one week, and here are some sample qs I saw in the practice tests:
1. What do people eat for christmas
a. Chicken b. lamb c. Turkey d. Beef - Excuseme? Am I supposed to know this? Ovvoru veeda poi kekkanuma, are you sure you only take turkey?
2. Do people eat real eggs for easter? - che che, Matave mattangale, aniku fulla real eggs thodave mattanga, thotta oomachi kannai kuthidum...&%£^%£&^%$$$

This made me think, namma oorla oru citizenship test vaikkanum, ada yaarum ezhudalana atleast inga embassy-ku depute aagi varavangalavadhu ezhudhattume?!

1. Oru autokarar left indicator potta, endha directionla auto pogum

a. Right b. Left c. Straight d. Neither, it stops at a signal

2. Which Vijay movie is the worst

a. ATM b. Villu c. Sura d. Kuruvi

3. If you see a road dug up (until you can see fossils), it is because of

a. Telephones dept. b. MWB . PWD d. EB

4. Oru class-la paper arrow parkareenga, it is most likely

a. Thrown by students at teacher

b. Thrown by boys at girls

c. Thrown as part of science project

d. Neither, it was done to test the quality of paper

I have more ideas...aana this might most probably reduce the population to zero-nradhala, I'll stop here. Indha madhiri ideas kodukka you are most welcome, and naan ippo indha madhiri kelvi ketta eppadi ennai madhiri ivanga muzhikkaranga-nu imagine panna poren :D And please don't insult me asking if I did pass the exam :D

Pottu vaitha "ebay" thittam...

2010-06-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

I suppose most of us are part of ebay - adhavadhu ebay-la vanguvom, vippom - and adhulaye
jeevanam nadatharavanga ellam we have seen...aana, ebay-la evalo per emandhiruppom? :D This post is all about our "experience" in ebay...

Naanga Sony Bravia, Sony Bravia-nu oru 32" TV vanginom, and we had used it for almost 3
years now...TV-ya mattum vittu vaippanen-nu kodumai devadhai-ku oru chinna manavarutham. So veetla TV pathina oru discussion vandhadhu, and oru nallavar (ennoda bil) innoru nallavar (ennoda smarter half) kitta, "un TV-ya naan en £500 koduthu vanganum, adhai vida £200 mela potta enaku pudhu TV-ye kidaikkumla"-nu solli tholaichuttar. Naangadhan sura porandha oorla soru saptu, singam porandha oorla saaru kudichu, endhiran porandha oorla
educate aanavangalache...seeru kondu ezhundhu ebay-la we put the TV up for £500.

Idhula enna comedy-na, there were other listings for 1 yr old tvs for just £85 :D, aanalum naanga suraa...singam...endhiran...ellam-nradhala godha-la appadiye irangittom. Aana nambikkai mattum thuli kooda illa enaku, evanum nambi vanguvan-nu :D

The next day, I was at work, and andha rendavadhu nallavar sent me a mail saying someone
had actually purchased the TV for £525!! Idhu ennada vichitrama iruku, how can someone
buy a 3 year old TV for £525 when there are tvs selling lesser than that? apapadinu I was
getting so confused. But I should also admit that we were very excited.

Seri, indha vanginavan kadhaiku varuvom for a background - this guy had asked for same day delivery, and offered to come and collect it in person. Namma aalu solittar, that he will deliver it and asked for his address and stuff - and had also mentioned that he will deliver it as soon as he gets the payment. Mr. X had called up and assured a paypal transaction although not immediate, and had mentioned that he is waiting for his wife to come home and that he will call up with the address once everything is in place.

Naan office-lerndhu veetuku varardhukulla the TV was sitting packed - the deliveryman ;-) was enthusiastic about the whole thing.

Naangalum wait pannite irundhom for that call, and it did come - not from the bloke, but from some lady. This lady started hurriedly explaining that she didn't buy the TV from us but that she got a mail saying she did. Idhu ennada golmal-nu ivar egira arambichar that they have committed to buy and that we have packed the tv!! Appuram dhan ava solra that some guy had hacked her id and had bought 6 TVs and was collecting the TVs from the sellers' residences!!! Ofcourse, with "promised" payments! And she was calling up everyone to warn them!

Adangokkamakka! Konjam emandhirundha enga TV-yum out-a? Infact, Ravi even called him
after this call from the landline, coz he was disconnecting the mobile calls - and this guy replied saying there is a problem with the payment and that he is still working on it!

So now the TV is still there at my residence, any takers for £500? ;-)

Ennai yaarenru enni enni...

2010-06-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

Sila pala pengal irukanga indha oorla, namma oor Namitha madhiri..appadi ennadhan sappiduvanga therila, they'd be so damn huge and you'd be scared to have anything with them. Oru naal naan paatuku en sil-a kootikittu pram thallite poi bus erinen, and this lady boarded the bus as well. Pakkathula vandhanga, vandhuttu she kept staring at me - she was having a pram too.

Namakku mind reading theriyum-nu edhavadhu thappa purinjintungala-nu therila, naan romba surusuruppa started saying I can't push my pram any further and that I don't have space. Suddenly she started saying "Do you think you are smart (he he, naama dhan smart-ku extreme opposite edhuvo adhudhan-nu ooruke theriyume ;-) ), you just stood in the front and boarded before all of us!"...Idhu ennada vamba pochu, naama bus stand-ladhane erinom, adhukaga 0.5kms thalli nikkaravangalai ellam vandhu erunga erunga-nu allow panta eruvanga bus-la? :D Namma oorna kerchief pottu seat-e eduppom, iva enna idhuke scene vidara-nu think pannikite I told her "It is not my problem..".

Angadhan vidhi heehaw heehaw-nu donkey madhiriye sirchudhu...ennada sathamnu when I looked, this lady was shaking the pram violently (adhavadhu avanga pram-ku space kidaikka try panrangalama). I was literally shocked, ennada idhu ulla oru kuzhandhai iruku...adhuvum nammadhache-nu thamizh thaikulam madhiri tension aagi...illai illai sword ellam edukkala..I warned her "you better not do that, it is a baby inside", and the lady didn't want to listen.

Seri, naamadhan Shilpa Shetty-oda oorache-nu non violence practise pannalamnu I went up to the driver (idhuku nadula she almost crushed me against the seat when I tried to walk past her) and told him this lady is behaving like a nut (adhaiye konjam diplomatic-a sonnen). And andha punniyavan edho school teacher favorite student-a warn panra madhiri angerndhe kural koduthar :-/ and this lady somehow had settled her pram somewhere and found a seat too.

Enakka sema tension inga, enga melaye kai vachittiya nee-nu Prakashraj range-ku yosichitte vandhen. Finally I decided I'll take her snap and go to the police (please ennai kekkadheenga, indha makkan yosanai ellam unaku mattum eppadi varudhu-nu) and when she got off the bus, I took her snap :D Unfortunately, andha Nameetha madam ennai parthutta - and all hell broke loose.

She came rushing to me and tried snatching my mobile...dho da, yaar phone-ai yaar vangardhu-nu naan adhai maraika try panna poga, she snatched my handbag and rushed out of the bus. Idhu ennada naai pidikka poi nari kitta mattina kadhaiya pochu-nu I got off the bus, and asked her to give my bag back. By that time, she had opened my handbag, and had started searching for the mobile too :)) When I wanted the handbag back, she wanted me to delete the photo I took, which I obviously refused to. Idhuku nadula sila perku time aagi, they wanted to resume their journey, and duly got my pram off the bus for me (rommmmbbbba nallavanga ;) )

I finally decided I'd rather have my handbag back, and said I'll delete the photo. Andha manga pannu pannu-nu yell pannite irundha, but when I took my mobile out, she wanted to snatch it from me! Idhu ennada thollaiya pochu-nu I told her I am not doing anything unless she backs off a bit and gives me my handbag. Avalum vera vazhi illama oru Solomon Pappaya-vai vachikittu bag kodutha.

En nerathai parunga, I took the mobile out and checked the snaps...and the snap just wasn't there!! Aaha, indha mobile-a indha viral-aladhane azhuthinom-nu mathi mathi I was looking, and the Namitha was losing patience. I tried telling her that the snap wasn't there, and she wasn't willing to believe me. (Naan video mode-la camera-va vachittu click panna snap-a varum, voice dhan varum :( adhu enakum strike aagala, avalukum puriyala). Idhula she even challenged me to call the cops, and I asked her to call up saying she'll snatch my phone if I took it out. Mudhalla she said she doesn't have a phone, thideernu ullerndhu oru phone varudhu :)) - and yet she didn't want to call the police herself. So instead she made a mistake.

She snatched my handbag (again!) and started running....enaku sema sirippu, idhu ennada loosu manga-va iruku, chumma namma handbag-aye thookitu odara-nu :)) Appodhan my sil brought me back to senses, "hey odunga, get your handbag!!"-nu sonna udane, Ajith/Surya/Vikram/Vijay ellarayum thorkaddikkara speed-la odinen, and she was running in front of me. Podhadha public-ku :)) to gather around? I shouted "help, she is running away with my handbag" and caught up with her, and she in turn ended up almost breaking my fingers. Inga I could not even engage in a physical fight coz she was Namitha's cadre, naama oru chappai figure vera :( so I had to resort to some other means to pull her down. Indha cycle gap-la public enga rendu peraiyum suthittanga.

Now the scenario had completely changed, it looked more like she had stolen my handbag and started running-nra madhiri aagiduchu :)) and people had started consoling me saying "don't worry dear, just leave this place"-nu...and even asked me if I want to call the police. Viduvoma naama, it was my kid at the end of the day, so I flagged down the police van determined to get this lady pay for what she did, and the cops enquired us separately. Since the public was in my favor, apparently they were talking to the cops instead of her talking, and the cops made her apologize to me for what she did. I still wonder why she didn't want to call the cops....

Naan pannadhu ethically right or wrong, is something I don't want to get into - but what I could not digest is the fact that people behave a little violent when it comes to trivial stuff like space in a bus!

kaathirundha kangale...

2010-04-07T04:14:00.001-07:00

edhavadhu rule iruka-nu therila, ladies-na handbag-a kailaye vachukkanumnu...I normally don't carry a handbag, nangalam irukardhai jeans/coat pocket-la vachikanum, adhaivida jasthiya irundha shoulder bag eduthukkanum-nra category. Imagine having to carry a handbag that constantly slides off your shoulder or hangs on your wrists while you are struggling to keep your hands inside the pockets to protect them from the cold! Maha thollai pidichadhu indha handbag-nra vasthu..

Idhellam en solren-na, I had to take the handbag out to go for the loooong weekend outing (fri-sat-sun-mon -na chummava). I took both the original and the duplicate keys for the house, and decided that I'll give one of them to another person in the group just so we are safe when we get back. Aana adhai naan kadaisi varaikum pannave illa. We all went to Cornwall for a stay and visit the Eden project. Indha Eden project edho eco-friendly project, aana romba easy-ya nyabagam vachikkanumna remember the hemispherical architecture in Sivaji's Sahana song? Adhe madhiri oru architecturedhan ingayum, and adhu ulla they maintain the Mediterranean and Rainforest plantations. It was fun and enjoyable, but all that until the day we left.

Naan romba poruppa kilambara aniku, started cleaning up everything - fine edhuvum pottuda koodadhe cottageku - and was busy the entire morning. Ellam ready pannitu we packed and left. We were a group of 8, 5 adults and 3 kids, so egapata luggages were stowed in the cars. Andha cottage erkaneve oru narrow passage ulla irundhadhu, and after we got to the main road, my sis-in-law from the car in the front called up and asked if we had remembered to take the buggy. As the entire world knows, naanga adhai marandhuttom :D So we went back through that narrow road and got it and returned.

Oru 70 miles vandhiruppom, something suddenly struck my mind that I am missing a "vicious" thing - the handbag. Mudhalla handbag-ladhan onnum illaye, who cares what happens to it-nu vittuten...appuramdhan nyabagam vandhadhu that the keys are in it!! None of us had the mood to drive back, nor did we want to break the lock - £150na chummava?

Theriyamadhan kekkaren, have you taken the buggy-nu kettavangaluku have you taken the handbag-nu kekkardhuku nyabagam varadha? Illa ella luggage-um stow pannome, handbag-a nyabagama eduthu vaippom-nu stow pannavangaluku thonadha? And who on earth can remember this trivial piece of bag, called the handbag? Yaar kandupidicha indha vasthu-va?

Right now, we are temporarily at the sis-in-law's place (ofcourse, I am angry with her at not reminding me ;) ), and waiting for the keys to come in the courier...

Ponmagal vandhal...I

2009-08-03T12:33:00.001-07:00

It all started the day I decided to test if I was pregnant using a pregnancy stick and found that I was. Andha it-nradhu vera onnum illa, ennoda eternl kodumaidhan. Ofcourse, being pregnant-nradhu nalla vishayamdhan, aana andha perla nammalai padutharanga paarunga, iraivaaa!!

So yeah, mudhalla en eyes correct-adhan velai senjudha-nu verify panradhukaga blood test koduthen. Edho namma oor-na immediate-a doctor vandhu "congratulations, neenga pregnant-a irukeenga"-nu solvanga...but my UK, no way! Test result ketta, sorry, neenga pregnancy stick-aye rely pannikonga, we don't send such results-ntanga!! Ada paavigala, idhuku blood enya edutheenga?

So mukki thakki 12 weeks kazhichu monitor-la oru kutti paapa partha appuramdhan I believed I was pregnant..trust me, enaku sathiyama naan pregnant-a irundha madhiriye therila - absolutely no symptoms like we see in movies, vomit pannitu vantu "he he naan muzhugama irukken"-nu sollite vekka paduvangale - nothing like that. Namma kid koodava nammalai ippadi pannanum-nu yosichitte I was crossing each month having pregnacare, horlicks, and podhakuraiku I even got a heartbeat monitor... ennai indha timekulla almost Anjali paapa madhiri wall pidichu walk pannu-nu solladhadhu dhan kurai, avalo slow-va I was instructed to walk!

Then came the seemandham, adhula edhuku nose-kulla thanniya vidanumnu therila - that was what became the kodumai for me. The vadhiyar said "valadhu mooku" and my husband interpreted it as valadhu kadhu and let the water in my right ear, and the priest got confused and said "illa illa, idadhu" instead of saying it should be the nose, and I got the water in my left ear. Now the priest was sure to say "mooku" but forgot to mention it is the right nose, and I got the water in my left nose :( and finally everyone came to my rescue (idhuku mela enna rescue??) and the water was given rightly to my right nose.

Ippadilam pregnancy dhan pochuna, the final months were even kodumai-ful...

Moonrezhuthu moonu show-vum parthadhu needhandi...

2008-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Do any of you belong to the category of seeing logic behind all scenes in a movie? And watching a movie umpteen times? And rewinding a scene despite knowing it byheart if someone talks while the scene is playing? Appadilam irundha, I am dedicating this blog post to you.

How many of you watch a movie umpteen times? I am not a great fan of movies, appadi edhavadhu padam parthen-na I watch it just once, however good it is. And yaravadhu 2-3 times oru padathai parthale I start criticizing them, evalo thadavai dhan indha padathai parpeenga-nu. Adhuvum oru padathai masathuku rendu thadavai partha ok, illana varathuku 2 thadavai kooda ok, but daily 2 times? Gr..

Seri padathai niraya thadavai parkareenga ok, avalo thadavai parthu scenes by heart aayirukum - do you still rewind a scene if someone talks while the scene is playing? Grr...

Idhellam ok, padathula vara scene-ku can you explain the logic behind each triviality? If so, dhayavu senju enkitta ungalai identify pannikadheenga, naan theevira kolai veri-la iruken. Indha pallikoodam-nra movie pinnala irukara sila logic examples-a tharen paarunga, idhellam kettu I am looking for the address of Thangar Bachaan, andha manushanai kette aaganum, idhellam avare yosichirupara-nu :-/

Naren doesn't cry in this movie, he'd bend his head low in some sad situation. "Idhu ennada idhu, Naren doesn't seem to know how to cry, en ippadi emotion-e illama nikkaran?"-nu ketta, "Illa usha, avan enna irundhalum collector-la, a collector is supposed to be self-composed and calm (?!), adhan avan endha scene-layum overreact panna mattan" !!!

Adhai kooda vidunga, oru scene-la Naren, Thangar Bachan and Seeman reunite after a long time - 3 perum appadiye sandoshathai pizhinju juce-a koduthitrupanga namakku, and when the entire cast is looking at this, the car driver would be looking somewhere so intently. Ennada ivar mattum unnatural-la nikkarare-nu yosicha, there comes the logic - adhavadhu collector-oda driver will be part of police-am, and police are supposed to be alert oblivious to what happens around them-am!! Indha kalathula police ellam college-la nadakkara adithadi-ya kooda reaction-e illama parkaranga-nradhu unmaidhan, adhukaga edho black cat range-ku avangalai ethardhu over-a therila??

Thangar bachan overreact panradhu avar villager-nradhalayam, collector-nradhala mattumdhan Naren niraya idathula intelligent-a irukaram...ippadi scene-ku scene Thangar bachan kooda logic yosichirukka mattar. To threaten me to do anything, this dialogue seems to be sufficient: "ippo nee sapdala-na naan pallikoodam pottu parka arambichiduven" :(( Idhuku bayandhe naan ellam time-ku panniduven..

If you are any of the above, I dedicate the blog post to you, aana onnu - yarume comments-la logic solradhula enna thappu-nu ketka koodadhu, andha kodumai eppadinu enakudhan theriyum.

Parthu parthu kangal poothirundhen...

2008-11-02T13:12:00.001-08:00

Naan pattuku Jeffrey Archer-oda latest book padichitrundhen, and my weekend was going good. Until I saw the latest comment on the last post. Seri, pandhayam movie nalla movie poliruku, recommendation ellam varudhe-ntu I spent the next 20 mins ransacking the house to find the misplaced DVD, under the pretext of cleaning the house (appadidhan saaku solli irundhen, for the ransacking process) and dropped the "cleaning" process once I found the DVD.

Mudhalla oru kutti payyan varan, and first scene-laye avanoda expression ellam parthuttu "oho, indha payyan psycho-va mara poran poliruku"-nu ninaicha, kadaiseela nammalai psycho aaka attempt pannirukanga movie-la :( Ennadhan SA Chandrasekar padama irundha kooda, there is a limit to idolize Vijay - mudhal scene-lerndhu andha payyan Vijaydhan en udal porul aavi-nra range-ku veedu katti, sorry samadhi katti (namakudhan) adikaran.

Prakash Raj could have done better in selecting a movie, ennadhan villian oru third rated heartless criminal-a irundha kooda, chumma ovvoru scene-kum oru aaloda kazhuthai keeritrundha? Ivalo easy-na naan koodadhan daily oru 3 perai pottu thallitruppen ;), namakku mattum podaradhuku aal illaya enna?

The kid grows and becomes Nitin Satya, aama Nitin, neenga nalladhane irundheenga? Why this attempt at becoming an action hero with a non-existent storyline? Ivar nera Prakash kitta poi naan unga loyal fan-nu solvaram, udane prakash raj ivarai uyirai vidu-nuvaram, and once he acts as if he is ready for it, Prakash immediately adopts him into his inner circle!! Oru minister-oda inner circle-la serardhu ivalo easy-a? Either SAC must have lost his senses, or he thinks we have lost our senses!

Innoru absurdity is the love affairs that Prakash's sisters have. Prakash apparently is totally against love, but yaaravadhu thangai-ya kolai panni parthirukeengala? Ella padathulayum lover-a pottu thalluvanga, appuram sister kadhai thani track-la pogum...inga ennadana, ivar rendu sisters-ayum pottu thalla ready-a iruparam, coz they are in love. Ayya saami, heirs kooda illadha oru person ippadi close ones-a vetti thalra insanity-a naan idhuladhan parthen - ofcourse, it all adds up to the one fact that the movie was trying to tell, that Prakash Raj is a senseless idiot. But adhuku yaravadhu comedian-a villian-a potrukalamla?

The climax is even worse, nitin prakash-a miratti, prakash nitin-a miratti, mathi mathi nammalai miratti...kadaiseela when I was almost thinking this movie is going to last till the next morning, Radhika Prakash-a pottudaranga. Ammani, idhai mudhalliye pannindha naanga ivalo ratham koduthiruka mattomla? Padam mudinjappuram every part in me was bleeding and all I could do was to thank Radhika and go to bed.

Idhula naan logical problems ellam solla arambichen-na it will take more time, which this movie does not deserve really. Aana onnu decide panten, inimel yaravadhu edhavadhu movie parunga-nu recommend panneenga....prakash raj madhiri naanum oru kathiya vachittu sutha vendiyadhudhan!!

Enge theduven...

2008-09-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

Was trying hard to write a post, aana veetla net illa :( Now that it has come, I'll start visiting blogs and writing some if I can :D

En amma complain pannitrundhanga naanga velilaye kootite poga mattenrom-nu (kadhaiya keteengala, naan inga imsai paduthalam-nu kootitu vandha, velila kootitu poganumam!), so we decided to go to a safari park (amma animal lover-ama) on Saturday and then windsor castle, stonehenge and Bath on Sunday.

We rented a car for the trip, took along wih us a couple of friends (who happen to be a couple as well). First day kilambinom, and went to the safari park. Nyayama sollunga, safari park-na singam puli ellam velila suthum, naama carla window-va close pannitu parkanum, right? Pakkathula tiger nadandhu poitruku, en amma window-va open panni parkanumnu adam pidikaranga (?!) One of our companions commented "vitta neenga puliya pakkathula kooptu rasam sadham ootuveenga poliruke?" which reminded me of the way my mom brought up our dogs - endha oorlayavadhu naikutti-ku paruppu sadham, adhoda ghee kalandhu koduthu parthirukeengala?

So yeah, safari park ellam mudichuttu we drove back with a lot of wrong exits on roundabouts, driving on the buslanes etc (round about parthale nervous aara alavuku aayiten, ethanai thadavaidhan sutharadhu girivalam madhiri?).

The next day was quite similar in terms of driving, and Windsor castle-la namma Tipu Sultan crown/possessions ellam parthu vayitherichal pattutu, we went to Stonehenge. Aniyaya idam adhu, naalu kallai kotti vachuttu tourist spot aakitanunga!! So ellam mudichuttu we returned to London, dropped off the friends and veetu kitta park pantu, we retired for the night.

Kaalaila I thought I'll clean up the insides of the car before returning it, and key eduthuttu ponen. Car kitta poi remote press panren panren, the car didn't open up. Ennada idhu-nu thirumbi poi I told my better half that I can't open the car. He went next, and I got a call in a couple of mins - "enna Usha, car-a kanom??" I was shocked, idhu ennada vamba pochu, 5 mins-layeva thookitanga car-a appadinu. Then I went downstairs, and the car was standing right there. "Ennapa idhu, idho nikkudhe namma car"-nu ketta, adutha shock - "Usha, that's not our car, ours was a Ford Fiesta, and this is something else"

Ada iraiva, evanoda car-ayo open panna try pantoma, edhavadhu cc-tv la record achuna namma gadhi? appadi-nra thoughts-a ignore pantu we started looking for the car, and well, it just wasn't there! Pochu da, raavoda raava thookitanunga-nu yosichitrukache, I had a sudden thought - what if it was towed away? Seri, pakkathu veetai keppomnu ketta, the lady there confirmed that it was towed away the previous night :( Thappa park pannitomam - night-la yaruku parking boundaries ellam kannuku theriyudhu?? Err...actually naan adhai gavanichen, aana I didn't think that was a problem....until I now saw my guy staring at me :D

We spent the next half hour trying to figure out which company had towed away the car (padu paavi pasanga, oru notice koodava vittutu poga mattanga?) and ended up paying £260 - idhuku tholainje poirukalam, it would have just cost us £100!

En pirandhai magale....

2008-09-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

To all that are concerned about my absence, illa illa, kc-ku onnume aagala...just that there are a lot of personal things going on like shifting houses (naanga ellam navagragam madhiri, idam mathitte irupom ;) ) and having parents coming over etc etc...adhanala veetla samaikardhuke time pathala (well, naan samaikaradhe oru movie durationku pogum :D). Thanks for asking, just saw all the comments and oru pulambal polambidalamnu vanten ;)

Right now it is my mom's turn to stay with us (after I tortured my mil to some extent - indha sani dasai sani dasai-nu solvangale, adhai turn eduthu anubavikkaranga). The first thing my mom said when I called her here was "paavam inga rendu kuzhandaigalum - adhavadhu en anna-vum anni-yum kuzhandaigalama - enna panvanga naan anga vanta?", does this by any remote chance mean that she gave birth to only one kuzhandai, and the other one happened to be born as kottan?? Idhu ennanga aniyayama iruku, naan 6 varushama have been alone under the pretext of working away from home, appolam ennai yarum kuzhandai-ya ninaicha madhiriye nyabagam illaye?!

Veetuku oru maram valarpom madhiri, veetuku oru bekku valarpomnu enga kudumbathula oru pazhakkam iruku. It just turned out to be me in mine ;) For example, naan school padikkara timela edho oru yearla coffee prices just shot up, so my dad introduced a new rule that we should drink milk and no more coffee. Seri, appa soltare-nu naanum kaalaila evening ellam paal-ai mattum kudichitrundhen. I used to have the habit of locking myself in the bedroom and study, and one fine day I happened to come out for something else...and guess what, hall full-a coffee vasanai!! Ennada idhu, naamalam milk dhane kudikarom-nu ellar kaiyayum partha, everyone had a tumbler with coffee inside!! Till this day, I don't drink coffee :( but coffee addicts ellam partha thittama vidardhe illa ;) vayitherichala vera enga kottardham?

Idhellam kooda ok, naan Bangalore ponappuram I had to put up in a PG and anga saapadum seriya irukadhu, and since I was alone, kind of fell into the bad habit of working late at work and having food at untimely hours. Seri namma amma-va konja naal kooda vachukalam-nu call pannina, she tells me "Illama, naan varardhu kashtam, kuzhandaiku (?!) time-ku sapdalana acidity varum, romba kashta paduvan, naan enna panradhu?"...idho da, engaluku mattum udambu enna iron-laya seinju vachirukanga, sapdama irundha kooda onnum aagama irukardhuku??

Andha kuzhandai mattum porandhadhulerndhu ippo kalyanam aagi nalla post-la irukara varaikum kuzhandaiyave iruku, naan eppadi mudhallerndhe kuzhandaiyave illa? Now you know why I am a kuttichatan ;)

But all said and done, now is my turn - pazhiku pazhi rathathirku ratham - vara vaichittomla, torture arambichuda vendiyadhudhan ;)

akkam pakkam..serial illa poologam vendum!!

2008-07-15T11:49:00.001-07:00

Naan oru thappu panniten...idhuvaraikum chinna vayasulerndhu seyyadha oru mega mistake I made, and regretting it a lot. Perusa onnum illa, theriyama last few days-a rendu tamil serials parka arambichutten. Iraivaaa...why and how on earth do people get the patience to watch the serials, that too seriously and devotedly?

Mudhaldhu was Kalki..yabba saami!! Mudhalla that title song - kalki kalki needhane kalki...theriyamadhan kekkaren, does anyone go to another person and say neenga neenga neengadhane neenga? Like Usha usha, needhane usha?? Enaku theriyadha en per?

Next, adhu eppadi sema vidhyasama situations varudho therila. Not sure how many of you watch it, but for an instance, this varsha-sunil couple. Divorce panvangalam, and the lady will join her ex-husband's office, and once when the peon has to go on an urgent personal work, he'll come to this lady and ask her to serve food to the MD (her ex-spouse)!! Endha oorla the peon goes to a staff member and asks him/her to do his job?? Podha kuraiku lunch hourla utkarndhu indha lady-a ella staff-um kindal panvangalam...endha corporate world-la publica rag panvanga??

Another example is a couple who are separated coz the second wife, who is a doc, didn't save the life of the first wife during her delivery. Andha husband kalki kitta solvanam, my wife/ur sister was murdered by this lady-nu, udane avanga parvallanu mannichuduvangalam. For god's sake, we are not avatars, we are humans, atleast a little anger?? Just an iota?? It's her sister!! mmhmmm...naanga porumaisaali, ellathukum appadiye silent-a poiduvom :)) Can't talk abt all the characters, but indha porumai is testing my porumai!!

Adutha serial was Simran chinna thirai. En podhadha kaalam, I started watching this series where she is the amman (mummmyyyyyy!!) Simran thappum illa, namma thappum illa...aana munnadi vandha amman padathai ellam eduthavanga thappu - KR Vijaya madhiri oru nalla smile, or meena madhiri periya kan that can show anger, or ramya krishnan who can show expressions and dance baratanatyam well - ippadilam parthuttu idhula edhuvume illadha Simran-a amman-a partha?? Andha amman-oda framed pic-la irukara face-a vida chinnadha iruku Simran face :(, doesn't morph well.

Idhoda kadhai pathilam perusa onnum solla mudiyadhu, namma nagathamman, kaliamman madiri inna pira films-oda adhe kadhaidhan - minus the divine appearance. Aana onnu, oru villian kaila gun kodutha, evalo azhaga sudanum? Namma OAK Sundar, edho 5 vayasu kutti paapa kitta diwali gun kodutha madhiri kannai maraichikittu sudarar :)) This is worse than what I did in my 10th, stalling the entire street's traffic under the pretext of trying to burst crackers.

Ok ok, kalki time...me going to have some fun time..

Satti suttadhada...

2008-07-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

Naane edho nimmadhiya namma blog-ayum edho sila per padikaranga-nra alpa sandoshathula ithanai naal was leading my humble life, adhuku ore oru statement-la oru periya idiya pottu udaichuttanga sila nallavanga....

Recent-a naan rendu nalla padam (ada nijammadhan, they were a lot better than most of the recent films that come out in tamil) parthen - kaalaipani and Silandhi. To quickly pass a comment, given the fact that these were done by newcomers, they are worth watching once. Ok, I am not talking about these films now, although I'd have liked to if I had watched them earlier. But indha padam parthadhaladhan andha periya idiye vandhudhu.

Padathai parthoma, velaiya parthoma-nu irundhirukalam...I, as usual, en thiruvayai thirandhu told my friend that I had watched these films and said they were good. Now this friend suggested I write reviews of these films. Ada, ingayavadhu naan ok-ntu soltu decent-a ignore pannirukalam, but again naama...vayai koduthu mattikama...romba kashtam, so I said "illa, these films are quite old, ippo ezhudina nalla irukadhu"-nu.

Ingadhan arambichudhu ennoda eye-opener session...

Friend: parvalla, nee enna ezhudinalum padippanga, so nee ezhudu

Me: Adhellam kidayadhu, kanda crap ellam padippomnu yaarum agreement sign panradhilla (being actually stupid enough to think it was a compliment)

Friend: its ur perception that they are interested, people don't care what the topic is.

Me; ??!!!! (falls after experiencing an acute heart attack - indha vayasula heart attack thevaya enaku?)

Idhu thevaiya enaku? Ippadi kettu vangikkanuma naan? Inimel ninaippiya nee nalla ezhudara-nu?? Ninaippiya nee makkal virumbi padikaranga-nu?? So blog varardhuku romba naal aagudhe-nu epovavadhu yaravadhu by any remote chance yosicheenga-na, indha eye-openernala naan nallava aayiten-nu ninaichukonga!!

Enge theduven nalla doctor-ai enge...

2008-06-18T04:07:00.000-07:00

Yaaravadhu inga UK GP's kitta treatment eduthirukeengala? Iraivaa...ippodhan I came back from a doctor's appointment, and boy, did it test my patience!!

Most of us would have been to a doctor in India, and from what my experience tells me, they have the facts at their finger tips..even a blood test report takes a max of 1/2 a day. Ada, kurainja patsham oru senior doc-a udane consult panni solduvanga, illaya?

Naan 5th of June aniku poi blood test koduthen getting a referral from my GP, normal testsdhan, for sugar, rubella, adhu idhu-nu. And being an Indian, I expected the results to come in my hands the same day...and imagine my surprise when they told me that the results will be sent in 7 working days!! Theriyamadhan kekkaren, edhavadhu adhula serious-a irundhu, immediate-a treatment tharanumna enna panvom? Just wait to know after 7 days and hit the panic button late?!

Seri ok, procedural hazards-nu adhai categorize pannitu vittuten. The results came in 7 days, and I got an appointment for today to go over the results. I got inside the doc's room, and he is just staring at me blankly (ada iraiva, andha receptionist solla kooda maatala edhuku oru appointment-nu?) and I had to tell him it is for my blood tests. Then came the stumper - "who prescribed these tests? I have never seen you here"!! Aaha, namakku ippo identity crisis veraya? Appuram andha monitor-la utkarndhu ovvoru test-a parthu, he started telling me the results.

At one point, he suddenly got a doubt (doubt?!) as to whether something was right or not. Now, there is no senior doc concept here, it is a clinic, and we are at the mercy of this GP to know what is what, and even if I want to go to the hospital, he has to refer me! Avlodhan, then started my wait to know what it actually means.

Mudhalla thalaivar computer-la search pannar, pannar...pannar...pannar...and he didn't get what he want. Infact he told me what he was searching for, and we had searched for the same thing in Google right after we got the results and found the answer at home a few days ago! Adhai solli kooda parthen, aana andha manushan thannoda NHS search-ladhan parpen-nu kept on searching for it.

After about 15 mins, he decided to resort to his books and went upstairs to get them. Once he got a couple of them, he searched the appendix of the first book for 10 mins, and finally having found it in the index, realized that it is in Part 2 of the book, which he didn't bring downstairs (grrrrrrrrrr). And now, he didn't want to go upstairs again, so he started his computer search again :((

By now, I had read all the posters inside the room and could recite blindfolded where each poster was and what it contains. Finally, he gave up his search, and decided to go by his knowledge (ayya, idhai mudhallaye panna koodadha? vettiya ithanai neram inga irundhene?) he said, "don't worry, it's all normal"!! Ada paavi manusha, idhuka ennai 1 hr wait panna vachu ennoda memory capabilities ellam exercise panna vacheenga??

I have decided to become a GP myself, enakum book appendix parka theriyum, and above all, I know how to effectively do a Google search!! What other qualification do I need?

Ennaatha tharuvenungo...

2008-06-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

I don't understand who introduced the culture of expressing affection by giving a gift :-/ Ada...birthday-na poi wish panna pathadha? Oru surprise gift thandhe aaganuma? Idhai endha kaalathula introduce pannanga therila, these days it doesn't feel whole if we can't gift someone with something.

Mathavangana kooda ok, romba close makkaluku choose panradhukulla oru mandai kudaichal iruke....it goes to the extent of giving you a high BP when you can't find something that would justify the surprise.

I think guys are more lucky, nammaluku vangi tharanumna they can choose from a wide variety of things like dresses to jewellery. But naama enna panradhu? I mean, what can you get a guy? I got into this fix with my husband this time. They got only 3 kinds of dresses - t-shirts/shirts/jeans. Adhula kooda variety kidayadhu, so ethanai thadavai can you get shirts/t-shirts? Seri adhu vendamnu perfume, bracelet ellam mudicha appuram I just could not guess a new thing!! They don't use cosmetics, you can't get them more jewellery, erkaneve nalla mobile irukkara manushanuku what else can you get? Edho girls-na teddy bear/jeans/skirt/t-shirt/shirt/saree/salwar/sleeveless/short sleeves/long sleeves (nammalukudhan idhulaye niraya designer wear/models ellam kidaikudhe!)/jewellery/cosmetics/more jewellery/more more jewellery....evalo iruku?? Why on earth are guys are so cursed that they don't have variety?

Seri ok-nu I purchased a blue tooth headset...adhula best brand thedardhukkulla naan patta paadu!! I finally got one hoping to all Gods that he likes it. That nice salesperson didn't want to offer me a refund just in case, so all I got is this or some other in lieu of this. Iraiva iraiva-nu vendikitte when I presented my husband with the gift on his b'day, he liked it (Wooohooo!!))

Aana, ellame seriya nadandhutta how will the kodumai site grow? The next day he tried to charge it, and it never got charged even after 12 hrs!! Idhu ennada vamba pochunu poi salesperson kitta ketta, he tried with another kit and even that didn't work!. And he started marketing another brand to me..dei, dei...adangu da, edho irundhu irundhu idhai pidichiruku-nu solrar, adhaiyum enda kedukareenga?? So I insisted on getting the same brand, and finally got one after a week, and it worked superb and my husband was so happy!!

Vetri vetri-nu oru naal perumai-la kokkarichirupen, the next day he just does not want to use the kit...it gives him the earpain :( Now no refund, only a bluetooth headset that my husband does not want to use, and me...

Eh kuruvi...Chittu kuruvi...

2008-05-23T04:39:00.000-07:00

Oru punyaatma had asked for a blog on Kuruvi, and it so happened that the next day I did go to the cinemas to watch it!! I know this is a very very late blog, to the point of coming after the movie has been trashed in the theaters. Aanalum, naan parthadhe late-nradhala I suppose this can be forgiven.

Yaarupa adhu kuruvi mattamana padamnu sonnadhu?? Ippadi oru entertaining and knowledgeable padam naan mudal muraiyaga tamil cinema-la parkaren! Idhanala naan evalo vishayam kathunden theriyuma?

First introduction scene, just amazing!! Evalo perku namma oorla, accelerator/throttle udainju pochuna wire-a izhuthu vandi otta mudiyumnu theriyum? If you had watched the scene with the sole objective of seeing vijay win in the race, I pity you ;) Next time you don't have to panic if your accelerator messes up! All you need to do is to remove the obstacle, take the wire and use your teeth and keep handling it while driving. Now, another thing is, you got to keep your teeth strong to be able to do this. Palvali irundha work out aagadhu. Ore scene-la rendu lessons, vera yaralayavadhu mudiyuma??? :))

Secondly Manivannan's situation: Indiala adimaithanathai ivalo large scale-la mass-ku puriyara alavuku yaralayavadhu eduka mudiyuma? Sila pala oorla slavery iruku-nradhai namaku puriyanumnra ore nalla nokkathoda Tamil and Telugu characters vachi kaati irukanga...idhai yaarum endha oorla ippadilam 500 perai 3 per control panni vaikka mudiyumnu kekka koodadhu. It is to improve your awareness on worldly matters, another general knowledge fact gained!

Aduthu vijay's Mask of Zorro type adventures: Vijay pora athanai buildinglayum terrace-la kayiru thongudhu note paneengala? Naalaiku unga veetuku rowdy-nga vanta, how on earth are you going to escape? So ye ignorant masses, learn to have a rope hanging from some beam on your terrace, so you can escape under stressing situations (with the added advantage of impressing a girl from the opposite terrace!). Ella veetlerndhum kayiru thongina, you can even do a tarzan style escape!! How adventurous will everyday life be if this were to happen! ;)

I can't help writing about the mirror stunt, villian vandhu parkarache edhira vijay and trisha therivanga, but the moment he shoots, it will be a mirror just reflecting vijay and trisha standing in front of it. How realistic!! St.Gobain's glass kelvi patrukeengala? Adhula ippadidhan nizhal edhu nijam edhunu theriyama crystal clear-a irukum, isn't that a good advertisement for a world-class glass? (Whoa Whoa! please dont ask me why the villian didn't appear on the mirror, if it were really a mirror; it's all physics known only to the director, I suppose. But I am sure if we learn it, it will be another valuable lesson :)) ).

Seri podhum, romba pugazhndhutten ninaikaren, my appreciation will go for pages if this continues...so niruthikaren. Aana, the next time someone tells me kuruvi is a bad movie....

En pennenru pirandhayo...

2008-05-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

Namma oorla mattumdhan chumma pora ponnai pidichu vambuku izhuppanga pasanga-nra oru wrong notion-oda I have spent all these years-nu recent-adhan realize pannen. Ofcourse, we have all read in stories that this kind of eve-teasing/pranks happen in all countries, aana naan adhellam merely avanga community-kulladhan irukum, nammalai madhiri vera countries-lerndhu vara makkalkitta katta mattanganudhan ninaichitrundhen.

Recent-a oru naal naan pattuku work mudinju road-la poitrundhen. There was some traffic jam on the road, or people were waiting for the green signal. Naan super-a paraaku parthutte nadakkara case - en appa ellathaiyum observe pannanumnu sollirukarakkum ;) - so that day was no exception, nallave paraaku parthuttu nadandhutrundhen.

On one such radar scan, I noticed 3 guys in a white van on the road. Window pakkathula irundha aal/payyan (indha oorla yaar enna age-ne puriya mattengudhu, erumaikada madhiri irukaravan ippodhan 15 vayasu aagudhu-nran, sema sleek-a dress pannitruka lady says she is 45) was watching me, and I could sense that he was telling something to his companions about me.

The next second I averted my eyes and started walking ahead, not wanting to draw trouble if any. Oru 4 steps dhan nadandhirupen, I heard a voice to my left "Excuse me!!" from the van. Aaha Usha, edhuku koopidaranunga ivanga-nu I looked at them, and the guy was showing a map and asking me if I can help them find directions. Seri, naatuku naalu nalladhu pannanumnu yaaro periyavanga sollirukanga-nu I went near the van.

When I went near the van, edho oru patchi told me not to get too close - evalo cinema-la parthirukom, van-la ponnai izhuthu pottu thookitu poradhai ;) and though it does sound adventurous, reality-la thappikardhu is not an easy joke - so oru 4 feet thalliye ninnunten, edhavadhu kokku makka nadandha kooda appadiye escapeit.com pannidalamnu. Since I stood a little away, this guy had to stretch his left arm to show me the book, and his right hand to show me some place to which I was supposed to help him with the directions. All I could see was that he was showing some dot on the map and asking me, and when I was about to look at it closely, his hand shot outwards to touch me saying "this dot is you!!"

Thankfully (to my brains, that is) thalli ninutrundhadhala I was able to scurry off from that place, with them laughing inside the van like lunatics....ada paavigala, enaku munnadi oru aal poitrundhan, enaku pinnadi kooda sila per vandha madhiridhan therinjudhu, ellaraiyum vittu ennai enda vambukku izhukareenga?? Oru mudivoda dhan ellarume sutharanga pola iruku naatla..ennai partha avalo makki madhiriya theriyudhu?

Ok, ippo thodardhula what big deal, it wasn't something severe-nu kooda one can argue, but I suppose it is part of Indian mentality that we don't like some stranger touching us. Also, enaku innum kooda puriyala if this prank was coz I am of a different color or if it was for my gender or just because they wanted some bakra to play a prank on. Either ways, inimel yaarukum help panradhilla-nra oru top-class policy-a follow panradha decide panten :)

Un panam panam...en panam panam

2008-05-07T09:29:00.000-07:00

Me back from Spain!! And just so you know, Spain sema super, it is a sunny and exciting country to be in - reminded me of my Aussie days :D Spain now comes into my list of favo countries, that had just one element - Australia.

Ok, back to my kodumai this week...I can't say it was a week's kodumai actually. Naan ippo ethanavadhu company-la iruken-nu enake theriyadhu, andha range-ku vanara jandhu madhiri thavitruken :D Aana long long ago bangalore-la oru company-la serndhu first time thanni, sorry, concentrated fruit juice adichene (and also a wicked April fool joke by kuttisathan), andha company vittu 2.5 years achu..and I had been praising about that company's release procedure to everyone I meet.

The current company I work for does some background check on the earlier companies (paavam, evalo company-nu check panvanga pavam), and following the check on the "thanni" company, I got a mail from the finance team saying my PF is still with them. Ennadhu, en PF panam enkitta illaya?? Padupavi pasangala, indha background check nadakkalana en panam ambo-va??

Seri ok, ippovavadhu sonnangale-nu I started my muyarchi of getting this money in December.

December - Mudhalla form anuppu-nanga, but evanuku inga PF number-lam theriyudhu? That too 2.5 yrs ago? Idhellam mail-laye anupa koodadha, I had to ask for it before I could send the form. Indha form post pantu I was asking my mom everyday if any cheque had come..and avanga pavam, postman-a daily kettu verupethitrundhanga.

January - Wait panniye Jan end varaikum vandhutten. Idhu ennada vamba pochu-nu I mailed them before I left for India for my vacation. Oru chinna nambikkai, naama London varardhukulla kidaichidumnu, but naama enikavadhu easy-a edhavadhu vangi irukoma?

Feb - India, and didn't have the brains to contact them :D

March - I got back to London, and I still didn't see any trace of the money. Seri-nu call pannen, and the finance admin said my form was still being checked. Naan enna patent vangardhuku invention details-a submit panniruken, indha range-ku check panranga? And the next day he wasn't even picking up the calls! Mail anupinalum badil anuppa mattenranga, call pannalum edukka mattenranga, enna ulagamada idhu-nu when I was thinking, oru pazhaya colleague advise pannan, "paaruma, ippo financial year end, so niraya velai irukum avanuku, nee april beginning-la contact pannu"-nu. Seri ok, ivalo naal wait pantom, we'll wait more appadinu vittuten.

April - I called up this guy again. Naanum oru 10 times call panni irupen, and everytime either the consultants haven't checked or they were on holidays! Adhu eppadidhan en panamna 1008 check panranga, illa leave podaranga-nu therila enaku :)) And then came the bomb - I called up 2 weeks ago and he says, "Usha, I haven't got your form at all"!! Dei, konja naal munnadidhane form check panranga-nu sonna, ippo form-e illa-nra??? Thalaiezhuthe-nu I sent a soft copy of the document. Doc anupparacheve sollalamla, PAN number venumu? Anuppina appuram he sends another mail asking my PAN details. Serinu adhaiyum anuppinen...and no answer at all for the next 2 days!

MAy - Naan Spain poittu thirumbiyum vandhu kooda no mails...and I called up today, and he picks up the call and says "yeah tell me Usha" - grr...naan enna oor kadhai pesardhukka call pannen? - and before I could answer, he uttered the magical words - "your cheque is ready"...Woohoooo!!! Adhu seri, cheque ready achu-na won't a person even call or mail that it is ready? Seri ok, I've got the money anyways, and I also got my reimbursement today for an exam I took...ellarum enaku panam tharanga!!! :D (and I got a £1 as part of a deal I had with a colleague, eppolam avan swear word use panrano, appolam kuttisathan-ku £1 hee hee)

Saami varudhu saami varudhu...

2008-04-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

Naan movie review ezhudara type ellam kidayadhu, aana nethu naan partha unnadhamana padathai parthuttu I just could not resist writing about it, avalo kodumai!!

Santosh Subramaniam parkalamnra idea-vodadhan nethu theater pakkam ponom, but counter kitta ponappuram, my kuttisathan made a sudden entry and decided it wanted to watch Arai en 305-il kadavul. Oru pandara review padichuttu adhai nambi indha padam sema comedy, imsai arasan troop-nu nambi ulla poi utkarndhom.

Mudhalla oru opening line varudhu Milky Way pathi, that is the only funny line in the whole movie. Idhukaduthu madras mansions pathi oru documentary 10 mins-ku kattitu appurama characters varanga. Theriyamadhan kekkaren, main characters-ku flashback madhiri avanga chinna vayasu photo kattina ok, mansion manager-kum tea kadai nair-kum flashback photos thevaiya? Podha kuraiku santhanam-oda flashback snaps-la nethi-la super naamathoda kattitu, his name in the film in Rasu!! Photos-laye film kadathiduvangalo-nu bayam definite-a I could not resist.

Aduthu "kadavul" vara scene - indha rendu heroes-um kudichuttu "oru appanuku porandhirundha vaa"-nuvangalam, udane kadavul daaing-nu vandhuduvaram (btw, kadavuluku enga oru appan, krishnar, ramar-nu ovvoru avatar-ku oru dad, appuram Buddhar, Jesus and all other incarnations had dads, so obviously God as a whole has a lot of dads, and a lot of moms!) Idhai vida enna kodumaina, to prove that he is God, God shows himself in different forms. Kadavule!! PrakashRaj as MahaVishnu??!! Iraivaa!! PrakashRaj as Buddha??!! Saami!!! Seriously, Mahabarath, Ramayana-nu kadavul veshathula nalla kalaiyana dheiveegamana mugama parthuttu, idhu nijammave kodumaidhan!! It looks more like some therukoothu where the guy, who'd be a bad drunk and has his eyes swollen and all that, dresses up as some God.

Oru matter theriyuma ungalukku, kadavul-kitta oru device irukumam, andha device irundhadhan avaruku power-am, and appodhan avar kadavulam. Even more amazing is the fact that it can be charged using our electric outlets! Cool, eh? Adhai pocket-laye pottutu suthuvaram kadavul, obviously with no problem in this world in which he knows that there are cheats and troublemakers (in his own words).

Indha mukkalamum unarndha gnanigal ellam padichirukkom, so we'd expect God to be knowing the future too, right? Coz, he is the one who decides our fate/future or whatever it is. Idhellam therinja kadavul, thankitterndhu andha device-a indha manida pasanga thiruduvanga-nu theriyamaye iruparam :)) And indha device pona udane none of his magic works!! And the film breaks for the interval with these two guys standing on a satellite (?!) calling up Kanja Karuppu's dad with a surprisingly clear signal!!

Mudiyalainga, idhuku mela engalala mudiyala, so intermission-oda kadavul angerndhu kuttisathan-a thorathi vittutar, ennai nambadha makkal ellam inga iruka vendamnu!

dhratshai thinbavan budhisaaliya..pazharasam kudippavan kutravaaliya??

2008-04-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Sila per therinje thappu panvanga, romba sila per unknowingly niraya thappu panvanga.., naan definitely first category kidayadhunu ooruke theriyum ;) Aana I am not sure if I had encountered a sillier experience than this.

Naan Bangalore-la parthundha first job vittutu, I went to Chennai to work for 4 mths, and then got back to Bangalore again (angadhan periya thappu panten). A few days after I joined this company, my colleagues brought this huge white bottle and gave it to me. Naan erkaneve curiosity kills the cat case, so idhu enna kevalama phenyl bottle ellam kodukareenga-nu ketten. Adhuku they replied that it was concentrated fruit juice, and showed me the contents..inga paaru fruit ellam iruku-nu.

Naan seri ok-nu ennoda hotel room-ku eduthuttu ponen. I took a glass and poured out the juice, and kudichu parthen. I could not even take one gulp, it was so damn bitter. Engernedhu kandu pidichanga ippadi oru kasakkara juice-nu I was cursing the colleagues that night and slept.

Next day, office poi oru kaduppoda andha colleagues-a parthuttu (nera thitta mudiyadhe, dhanam kodutha dog-ai pal pidichu partha kadichidadhu?) I started working. Evening vandhadhu, and I went back to the hotel, and anikku-nu parthu enaku thookame varala..

So I sat up on the bed and started watching tv..when my attention went towards the bottle (tv-la program nalla illana naana poruppu?). I thought "what the heck, idhai theerthaganume, so eppadiyo kudichu mudichudalam-nu I started drinking it watching the TV. Athaadi, enna bitter!! Glass glass-a kudichu I was like, man! eppadi idhellam fruit juice-nu kudikkaranga-nu polambittu I sorted out things, made sure I got everything ready for next day and went to sleep (the time was almost 1 AM)coz my dad was coming the next day to bring my scooty and other stuff.

Next day morning, my dad came to Bangalore, kaalaila avarai pick pannitu I brought him to my hotel. My dad came in, was very impressed with the hotel facilities. "Nalla iruke room, ur company must be very good..." and his voice trailed off. Ennada achu appa-ku thirumbi partha, he was holding this white bottle in his hands and looking at me. "Ennapa, that is a fruit juice, but naan theerthutten nethu night-e"...I was just thinking en appa ippadi parkarar-nu when he said "ada kazhudai, Bangalore vandha udane white wine ellam adikka arambichuttiya??!!"

I definitely didn't like the way my face went then...

Rukmini vandi varudhu...

2008-04-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

Iniku at work, people were discussing about clearing the driving test in London...and about how certain areas have higher pass rates. As usual, I started twirling my tortoise to the time when I tried for my license..

Appo naan college 2nd year, and I had gotten the license for my scooty some 6-8 mths ago. Naangadhan irukardhai vittutu parakkardhuku aasai padara jenmanga illaya, so I was aspiring for a license for my bro's bike as well as my dad's car - edhuku adhellam mattum azhaga damage aagama irukanum? - and my dad was giving me driving lessons.

I kind of learnt riding the bike easily, aana indha car iruke car, ennai padadha paadu paduthi eduthudhu. Street end compound wall-lerndhu ennoda veetu gate varaikum ellathaiyum car-ai taste parka vachittu, I learnt well enough (pinna appa school headmaster range-ku violence-la irangina?) to drive myself to the Marina and have advanced(?!) technical training. I had a problem though, the car jerked to a stop at times when I tried changing the gears - the car wasn't good enough for my speed ;)

En appa taught me driving, yes, but he did not teach me the hand signals people use while driving. The D-day arrived, and I was promptly present at the Ashok Nagar test center.

First was the bike test, naama girl ache, 8 ellam poda sollamattanga-nu dil-a poi nindhen. Munnadi irukara aalai 8 poda vachanga, and when my turn came, he looked at me and just when I was waiting for him to spell some easy test, he asked me do an 8 around two small circles! :( I wasn't really confident, but I did manage to do it and pass the test (vazhga bike, valarga chennai driving mode - for training me for all this!).

Next came the real test - I was waiting in the car ready to drive when the officer said go - clutch release panni accelerator press panradhula enna periya matter?-nra dhairiyam enaku...andha manushan pakkathula vandhar, seri vandiya start pannitu stop it after 2 feet-nar. I did, and 2 ft-la niruthitten (1st gear mela podave illa :D)

Then this guy came to the window, and asked me "right-la thirumbanumna enna panveenga?"..I happily switched on the indicators and told him "front-layum back-layum eriyudhu parunga"..oru kevalamana jandhuva parkara madhiri he looked at me and asked, "if the indicator isn't working?"

Naamadhan sonna udane takku-nu purinjikkara bulb ache, I insisted that the indicators are working. 'Idhoda ellam maradikka vendiyiruke'-nra thought blatant-a theriyara expression-da, "I meant WHAT IF?"-nar. Naan udane cycle ottara nyabagathula put my hands out of the right side window and looked at him with a triumphant expression.

Then came the stumper, "left-la thirumbanumna eppadi signal panveenga?" I thought real hard and stretched my hand to the passenger side window and said "Ippadidhan!" :D Appo enaku puriyala en avar face marudhunu...he was like "Hello, ippadi kai kattina eppadi ottuveenga?"-nu sema kaduppayittar. Ulla en appa, "illa Usha, ippadidhan signal kattanum"-nu solli koduka arambichar - ada appave, idhellam killi killi car otta solli koduthiye, appo solla koodadha??

"Seri, nera poi left-la cut panni reverse eduthu thirumbi vaanga" appadinar. I started the car, took a left and when I changed the gear to take a reverse, the car jerked to a stop. Andha mahaan-uku BP eridum-nu therinja udane, I started the car real quick, took a reverse and when I tried going forward, edhira innoru jandhu vandhu I got tensed - and ofcourse, the car jerked to a stop again :(

I didn't even want to look at that guy - he was almost looking like Durvasar, showing anger as if I was his disciple who he had placed a lot of hopes on and I had totally shattered his dreams - namma manam poradhai edhuku naamale kannala parkanum? Now, don't ask me if I did get the license :D

Italy II - nadhiya ada venice nadhiye!!

2008-04-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

The next day, we had to leave for Venice, so mudhal naal night we all decided to get ready by 4:00 and leave for the airport coz we had our bus by 4:30. Since I and my pathi were the "somberi" ones, adutha naal avamana pada koodadhunu seekirama ezhundhuttom (but we still got ready only by 4:10 :D). Seri ivangalai kootitu pogalamnu roomku poi kadhavai thattina...kadhavai thirandhu "enna usha, whats the matter"-nranga!! "Hey time 4:15!!"-nu sonnapuram they realized that they had not adjusted their watch to Italian timezone :))

Oruvazhiya ellarum kilambi we took a cab to go to the busstop, and luckily 4:50 bus-la engalai ethittar andha driver. So then we set off to and reached Venice..nallavelai, there was no trumpet for an early arrival. We found the hotel and checked in by 10:00, and had the train by 11:00 to Central Venice. 1 hr-la kilambanumnu avasara avasarama kulichu saptu we were getting ready. The time was 10:45, when our friend knocked the door and said her husband had just gone in to take the shower. Kuttisathan suggested that we leave without them coz the next train was only by 1:00, and that they can join us later...ok, vera onnum panna mudiyadhunu we left.

Kittathatta odi poi train pidichappuram kuttisathana thideernu attack pantu edho oru vellai uruvam mind-la nuzhainjudhu..and started saying "It was really bad of you to leave them like that"-nu. Ennada idhu vidhyasama kural kekkudhe-nu I got demotivated, and Santa Lucia reach pannapuram, we decided to wait for them (which meant naanga 2 hrs railway station-laye irukanumnu). Serinu random-a station pakkathulaye suthitu, we went to the station by 1:15, verified the platform with the assistance counter, and stood outside that platform. Train vandhudhu, aana enga aalunga varala!! Idhu ennada vamba pochu, train pidika cash illama thavikarangalanu we panicked. Ok, call pannalamna I didn't bring my mobile..so oru Internet centre thedi pidichu, I searched for her mails to me, but unfortunately none of them had the mobile number!! Ok, hotel number kandupidichu call pannalam-nu we found the hotel number, got off the net and called the hotel up. Roomku connect pannappuram we realized they had left the room.

Andha vellai uruvathai curse pannite we decided we'll start going around because they are most probably at Central Venice by now. Oru ferry eduthu, we went to a few attractions and finally reached St. Mark's square. Venicela irukara padhi attractions indha square-ladhan iruku. Anga irangi enquiry counterla attractions pathi ellam visarichuttu main area ulla nuzhayarom.."hey usha!"-nu oru kural. Yarudanu partha, tholainju pona enga friends!! Apparently, they had arrived 30 mins after we arrived by taking connecting trains and had started going around. By now the kuttisathan had started a fight with the vellai uruvam...ofcourse, with all my support.

After this we visited the attractions from the outside - our friends had already gone into a couple of attractions by the time we came to the square - and then took a gondola ride. Seri galatta, my hubby was capsizing the boat whenever he moved, and the others were too damn scared. At one point, ATM-la poi cash withdraw pannanumnu when he tried getting off the boat, naanga almost venice thanniyoda bottom-aye parthuttom :)) Adhu enna venice-la ore bridge bridge-a iruku ella therulayum? The gondola ride took us through some streets, and all streets had atleast a couple of bridges. Ofcourse, vera eppadi avanga neighbors visit panvanga, illa kadaikellam povanga :D The pic shows George Island which is in Venice.

So that ended our venice trip, and we retired to our hotel for the night. This time we don't have to sleep less coz the train was only by 9:00 to Pisa.

Italy I - Rome!! payanam seiDhom!!

2008-03-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

Finally the day arrived when we had to leave for Italy..enaku aana ulla sema udharal, coz I had got the Schengen visa for France, but am entering Italy. To add to it, engakitta vera soltanga, that Italy-la Indians-na "appadi orama nillu"-nduvanganu. Seri ok, most probably appadiye returns of London-nu decide pantu I tagged along with others. We were 4 of us, engaloda innoru couple-um vandhanga.

So we left for the airport..naan decent-a ennoda jumper and jacket mattika ponen, to be prepared for the cold, aduku enga thanga thalaivar said, "che che, idhellam edhuku, its going to be a sunny trip!"-nu sema kushiya sonna udane, we all took thin jackets and left. Airport poi flight eri, oru 2 hrs kazhichu Italy land panrom...thideernu pappara pappara paaaan-nu oru trumpet satham, tension aagi nimirndhu partha, a voice boomed on the speaker "we have again arrived ahead of schedule"-nu solludhu! Ada paavigala, flight timings-a extrava pottu usual time-ku vandhuttu ivalo scene-a??

We disembarked the flight, and luckily for us, immigration-la kelviye kekkala, appadiye anuppitanga. We headed outside, and based on the information I gathered, we waited in a queue to buy a daily pass in Rome (adhula appadidhan ezhudirundhanga). Counter kitta ponappuram, the lady behind the counter said in broken english that they don't accept cards. Ada karmame-nu we searched for an ATM, and after a looong time found one. Avasara avasarama panam eduthuttu thirumba counter vandhu rome-ku ponum, ticket kodu, atha vaiyum-nu ketta...andha lady cool-a solranga - "no daily pass here, only weekly pass"! Grr..I don't want to say what I thought then.

Airport vittu velila vandhu, we stood in the queue to board the bus, it was quite sunny. We were all happy, and the other girl in our group even complained "acho, naan karuthuda poren-nu bayama iruku", we all laughed and boarded the bus. Konja neram kazhichu, bus-lerndhu irangarom...sema kulir!! Chumma pirichu meinju eduthadha partha udane, we all stared at thanga thalaivar, but immediately started laughing, coz he had happily left behind his jacket in London :)) So adutha 1 hr we spent time searching for a suitable jacket that he could wear.

Next we went to the hotel, had food, and left for the Vatican city. Oh, enga plan sollalaye, the plan was to explore Rome the first day, the second day to Venice and the 3rd day to Pisa. It was a universally criticized plan, coz rome needs more than a day. But hols engaluku avalodhan irundhadhu, so we were cramming up the attractions. Vatican city-ku poi Michaelangelo painting parthuttu, appadiye St. Peter's basilica poganumnu kilambinom.

We entered the museum after a 15 min wait, and ulla partha ellam udainja statues! Aniyayathuku udainju pona statues ellam vachu panam panrangale-nu light enga stomach-la oru theeyara vasanai vandhudhu, we went to the paintings section. Ulla porom...porom...porom, andha Michaelangelo painting-e kanom! We kind of got caught into a never ending passage of left and right turns to get there, kadaiseela veruthu poi Michael-um vendam, avar painting-um vendam-nu thittite (naandhan) we tried going to the exit, but unfortunately the exit has to go via the Sistine chapel where the angelo painting is. Nondhu poi we reached the chapel finally..partha mela dhammathoondu-ku andha painting iruku, along with other paintings. Podha kuraiku, no camera, no noise-nu school headmaster range-ku adakittanga anga irundha security menmakkal :( Seri vitta podhumnu, we hurried to the exit.

By now, we had spent 2 hrs, and it was already 4:30, seri Colosseum poi mudichidalam, that is more important than the Basilica-ntu we took the train and went to Colosseum. We had run out of cash, so the other 2 had gone to a distant place, found an ATM and came back. Ok, all is well-nu when we went to the Colosseum spot, anga oruthar Italian-la engakitta solrar, "Colosseum is closed because papa is giving a speech here for Easter Friday"! Major sodhappal!! Yes Popeku 'Papa'nutu innoru name italian languagela irruku. Ayya Pope Andavare, neenga speech tharardhukudhan avalooo periya vatican city vachirukeenga-la, anga thara vendiyadhudhane?? Kodumai Kodumai-nu church-ku pona anga kodumai jingle bells jingle bells-nu adina kadhaidhan enga Rome kadhai!!

Thedinen vandhadhu....

2008-03-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, when I had started this blog, naan pulambitrundhen, adhu eppadi ennoda blog-ku endha search-ume land aaga mattengudhu-nu, and then Rajesh advised me to use the keywords that spiders can crawl on, and still no use. Then I left it to it's fate (spiders-ku 8 legs irundhum crawl panna therila-na naama enna panradhu ;) )

This month, I came upon the google tools that kind of tells you what searches land on your page (ofcourse, page rank-la naama adhala padhalathula irukom, so adhai ignore pantu micham ellam parthen)...and I was surprised. Definite-a ennada, poren appadinra search ellam en pageku varudhu-nra avamana matter-a naan solla matten, so kekkadheenga.

The highest search is on Urmila, illa illa, not Matonkar, namma Ramayana Urmila. Adhu ennanga adhu, ivalo perku Urmila mela oru pasam? It ranges from the simple "urmila ramayana" to the longest search I have ever seen on the face of google, "what is the name of urmila in new ramayana and photo of urmilla in new ramayana" (eppadinga ivalo porumaiya adikareenga??) Photo of Urmila thedardhellam konjam over-a therila? Urmila pathi therinjavanga romba kammi, but en indha sudden flurry of interest? Aana paavam, edho genuine Ramayana theda poi, ennoda mokkai post-la vandhu mattikaranga :D

The next is on Sun Music Mahalakshmi...I was seriously amazed at how many people are interested in this lady!! Enaku therinju she doesn't even appear on the television these days, appuram en en en avangalai thedaranga?? Avanga illaye-nra varuthama, illa enna kanome-nra curiosity-a, illa rumors unmaiya-nra sandhegama? Ada Sun Music-la evalo per irukanga...hema sinha, prajin, kaana soona, oona vaana-nu, avangalai ellam thedungalen, adhu enna Mahalakshmi, Sandhya-nu history ellam thedaranga?

En vayitherichala kottikanumne, gobi manchurian, gopi manchurian-nellam thedaranga, and that comes to my blog!! And people who know me know that adhu enaku evalo kaduppana experience-nu. There were some funny phrases too - "enaku bore adikuthu", "naan ileengo", "adi vanga pora" :)) Idhellam enna basis-la theduvanga, room pottu yosipangalo??

Idhellam kooda ok, edho reasonable search, I chanced on the worst possible term that led to my page...and the credit goes to......"palana padam"! Aniyayama therila, palana padathukum en site-kum enna sambandham? Naan U certificate vangi oru site nadathitrundha, A pada range-ku kondu vandhu vidaranga?! The next worst was "vettis blog"...grr...grrr...grrrrr...en blog partha vetti blog madhiri theriyudha? naamalam enna vettiyava irukom? Idhai vida kodumai "sneha and saravana stores manager"...idhellam romba over, solten!!

Munnadi ellam suthama crawl-e pannama vayitherichalai kottiyachu, ippo indha madhiri terms (minus Urmila and Mahalakshmi) ellam kondu vandhu temperature-a 100 degrees-ku kondu vandachu...vazhga google spiders!!!

Kathirundhu kathirundhu...

2008-03-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

Seri naamalum konjam oor suthi parkalam (ahem!) appadi-nu decide panni Europe-la enga pogalam-nu thedi Italy-a kandupidichen. March easter hols-la poradhuku Dec-lerndhe trip plan panni, ella bookings-um mudichu I had the complete itinerary ready by Jan end.

Ofcourse, poradhuku visa venumla, adhanala Italian embassy-la I booked an appointment for the 29th of Feb. Nammadhan oorai parka poga sonna cheri-ya parkara sect ache, 29th feb appointment miss panniten successful-a :D coz I was in India then. Seri, agents-ku call pannalamna avan avan £46 worth visa-ku £150+la rate solran! Naamale try panna vendiyadhudhan-tu I checked the Italian and French websites, ellam totally booked. But vidiya vidiya Ghajini padam parthuttu muyarchi pannama vidalama-nu I tried on the French website, and luckily every Thursday additional appointments release panra nalla pazhakkam embassy-ku appadinradhala I managed to get an appointment for the very next day.

Appa, ippadi oru experience kidaichadhe illa enaku...I had asked for a 1 hr permission to go to the embassy thinking it won't take long. Ada, Belgium embassy-la kaalaila application form submit pannina adutha naal madhiyam visa kidaikum, and I expected the same thing here. Nalla thedu thedunu thedi consulate-a kandupidichu poi serndha...there was this looooooong queue outside. Poi oruthanai ketten, "enga enaku 11:30 appointment, ulla pogalama" nu, adhuku andha paavapatta jeevan said that he has the same hr appointment and was in the queue for that.

Ennada nagaruku vandha sodhanai, 1 hrdhane kettutu vandhomnu I stood in the queue, and eventually we were let inside after a 15 min wait. Ulla pona...mudhalla security check-nu oru queue, adhu mudinju oru token vangittu thirumba cashierkaga oru queue. Seri cashier kitta pay pannita udane forms vangippanganu ninaicha, we were made to wait in another queue for checking applications!! Seri applications check panra idathula documents vangippanga-nu ninaichu kitta pona, they gave me yet another token for the interview! Ada pavigalanu hall-la partha sema kootam, and the token that was being called was 840. Namakku enna-nu ninaikareenga, it was 905!

Indha embassyla enna clause-na, you are supposed to wait and collect your visa instead of coming back after some time. Clear-a doorla otti vachirukan, "No re-admission"-nu. There were 2 counters open when I walked in, and after 840 one counter closed. Ivalo kootathai vachitu just 1 counter?-nu yosichitrukumpodhu one more counter opened. Appada-nu oru relief-oda partha, it processed one form, and closed. Ippadiye konja neram counter magic kattindhanga...there was no consistency in the number of counters or the opening/closing of counters. This minute oru 3 counters irundha next minute adhu 2-avum maralam, 4-avum maralam. And the time they take for an interview totally depends on your luck, either it is 5 mins or a whole 1 hr, which means you can't get an estimate of when you'd be called. Hannibal Lecter madhiri namma moolaiya self-service kodainju eduthu saptukaranga ;)

Enakku mandai kanju crack vittu brainquake vandhutta nilamai, erkanave vacation 1.5 weeks extend pannen, ippo indha 1 hr permission-ayum extend pannina nammalai velaiya vitte thookiduvangale-nra bayam vera...so I messaged my boss that it is getting delayed promising to make up for the delay. Finally oru 3:15ku (I had walked in by 11:45), en token-ai kooptanga.

I went and submitted my docs, and theriyathanama multiple entry visa kidaikkuma-nu kettuten. Avalodhan, I got a long lecture on people expecting multiple entry from French embassy and visiting other countries, and how german embassy does not give visa or something like that...thevaiya enaku? Ponoma passport-ayum docs-ayum koduthomanu irukalamla?

Interview-va mudichuttomnu partha she gave me another token (?!) to collect my passport. Adhukum konja neram wait pantu vaanginen. By now the time was 4:00 PM. Iraiva!! oru visa vangardhuku 5-6 hrs embassy-la irundha velai enna aradhu? Even my US visa didn't take this long!! Andha idathula vending machine kooda wait panna vaikudhuna parunga. I tried getting a Mars bar from the vending machine, and it took the money from me but Mars tharala! Ore oru thadavai peruku rotate pantu, cliffhanger madhiri orama nikkudhu. Seri help pannunga-na, external vendor machine idhu, we don't have the keys-nranunga!

Inimel life-la French embassy pakkam naan pora madhiriye illa, neenga yaravadhu poneengana office-ku leave pottutu inniku day nammaldhillanu oru manapakkuvathoda ponga :))

Paris-a suthi parka poren...

2008-03-08T09:06:00.001-08:00

Ithanai naal Londonla irukome, namma neighbors ellam parkama irukardhu romba thappu-nu we decided to go to Paris. Since Paris is a Schengen country, I had to get a visa (UK visa pathadha, imsai paduthardhukkune ippadi ellam treaty podaranga), and I decided to go via Belgian embassy for 2 things: quick processing and Belgium was our entry point. Naamadhan enga ponalum kodumai devadai koodaye irundhu arul purivangale, adhe madhiridhan ingayum achu..

Normally Schengen visa vanga poravanga oru 6 monthsku multiple entry vangittu varuvanga, adhai use panni matha Schengen countries-ku povanga, so in effect it is an one-time investment. Naanum adhe aasaiyoda Belgian embassy-ku apply panninen with an itinerary that showed a 3 day trip. Infact, since the Belgian embassy is outsourced, £46 visaku £70 vanginanga, idhukagavavadhu vendiyadhai koduthirukalam. I went the next day to the embassy and got the passport. Passport open panni partha...1 month Schengen visa with a permit to stay for 3 days at one time and a Single entry!! Ada pavigala, £70 ippadi waste-a pochenu I was grrrrrr......

Seri parvalla, naama Paris-avadhu enjoy panvomnu we packed our camera and camcorder along with the other stuff and went to Belgium, stayed overnight, and left for Paris the next day. Eurostar, Thalys trains ellam irukara station kitta vandhappuramdhan uraichudhu kaila camera-vum illa camcorder-um illanu!! Evalo aasaiya Eiffel tower picture edukanum, river cruise-a videola record pannanumnu vandhen :( I was totally off for sometime, but konja nerathula Paris parka porom-nra sandoshathula I recovered.

When we reached the hotel in Paris (adhavadhu naan last minute-la thedi kandupidicha unnadhamana hotel), adutha kodumai nadandhadhu. We were asked to go to a room in 6th floor. Che, ivalo floors vachirukane indha hotel-la, periya hoteldhan pola-nu yosichitte we asked where the elevator was...appodhan adichudhu minnal - there was no lift in the hotel!! Ada pavigala(2), lift illamaye enda ivalo floors kattineenganu thittite we climbed all the 6 floors to reach a dingy room.

Ok, idhellam oru matter-anu night thoongittu kaalaila kilambi Eiffel tower ponom. We purchased an automatic camera which cannot focus more than 3 ft, so angaye ennoda Eiffel towerai full length edukanumra aasai panal! We cimbed up Eiffel tower, spent some time seeing the distant places from the top and when we returned, the Eiffel tower lights went up - sema kankolla katchi!

Pesama idhoda vitrukalam naanga, evano oru Asian caricature varayaran-nu avankitta poi engalai varaya sonnom. This guy made us sit on a bench and sat across us and started drawing. Mudhallerndhu sonnan, we are just bringing out a cartoon, so enjoy it-nu. Appuram oru 30 minutes enga rendu peraiyum appadi parunga, ippadi parunga, siringanu sollitu varainjitrundhan. Podha kuraiku, I'll draw you as a macho man appadi ippadinu hype vera koduthitrundhan. I was so eager to see the outcome, and this guy kept talking to us about India and Pakistan. Nadula oruthan vera vandhu avan varayardhai parthu sirichuttu ponan...appovavadhu engaluku strike aagi irukalam, but naamadhan anubavikanumne porandhirukume :)) Anyways, kadaiseela varainjachunu roll panni koduthutu panathai vangittu poitan. Aasaiya pirichu partha, it was totally someone else, konjam kooda en jadayo ivar jadayo illa!! Ada paavigala (3), caricature-nra perla engalai nijammave komali aakiteengale!!!

We did the river cruise and the Louvre museum, and came back to Belgium, collected the camera and camcorder :(, and left to London. Ippadilam kodumai pattu oru trip thevaya??

Naan auto karan auto karan...

2007-10-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

Whenever you tell someone that you are from Chennai, udane oru flurry of comments varum. Adhula mudhalla varardhu, about the humidity and the people talk about it with such contempt that you'd think that Chennai is a naughty kid whose only objective is to trouble people. Seri humidity apart, what is the next thing? Yep, neenga guess pannadhu correct (ofcourse, title-a parthu guess pannirundha kooda ok), namma auto karanga pathidhan. Adhavadhu yaravadhu vera city-lerndhu vandhuttangana, the only objective of Chennai autowalas is to cheat them by extorting exorbitant fares.

Che che, ippo naan namma oor auto karangalai pathi defend ellam panna poradhilla, nammalaye ematharavanga, mathavangalai panna mattangala? Adhellam avanga rights, and we absolutely should not question it. This is about the honest autowalas that you find in other states.

It was when I set my foot in Bangalore to join a company, rather when I was going to set my foot in that company. Bangalore totally pudhusu, and enkitta vazhi solli anuppinavanga bus number ellam koduthu, stop-la irangikko, it is easy from there-nu solli anuppitanga.

Now this office was inside the airport complex of Bangalore, and all I knew was that I should go to the airport. Bus-lerndhu irangi, suthi suthi parthen edhavadhu airport madhiri theriyudha-nu, and I could not guess anything (naamadhan Meenambakkam airport-a oru highway-la parthu pazhagittomla)...and so I did the first thing that struck me. I was already tensing up since it was time that reported at the place, and I didnt want to create a wrong first impression.

Oru auto poitrundhadhu, and I called it. The auto guy pulled up, and I told him "airport". Avanum "seri erikkonga" appadinu ennai ethikittan. I got ready for a long drive, and I told the auto driver to drive a little fast - Bangalore-ku ponavangaluku theriyum how crowded airport road is.

The auto started, went about a 10 metres, took a U turn, and came back 10 metres on the other side of the road, and turned left, and the guy asks me "do you want me to drop you inside the airport or outside it?"! Appodhan purinjikitten that we were already in te airport complex, and that it had been right opposite the bus stop!!!

I made the guy stop the auto, and thalaivar 10 bucks charge pannar ennai. I started arguing with him, "enga aniyayama iruku, edhir-laye airport iruku-nu sollirukalamla, I would have just crossed the road instead of taking the auto?!" appadinu ketten. Adhuku andha aal cool-a solrar, "neenga airport poganumnu soneenga, naan kootitu vandhu vitten, adhudhane en velai?" Ada paavigala, ennamo "kadamaiyai sei palanai edhirparadhe"-nu Krishna paramatma sonnadhai appadiye follow panra madhiri scene vidara?? - appadinu ninaichutte I gave him that 10 bucks and went to the company.

So, idhanala namakku enna theriya varudhuna, Chennai autokaranga thevai illama suthi suthi oorai kattitu niraya panam keppanga; aana matha state auto karanga, passengers kekkaradha correct-a niraivethanum-nra ore nokkathula kadamai kanniyam kattupadu-nu work panvanga. So, non-Tamilians, I bow to thee and admit that Chennai autowalas are dishonest, and your guys are the synonyms of integrity and ethical spirit!

Naalam naalam thirunaalam....

2007-10-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Afterall oru birthday, adhai ozhunga spend panna mudiyudha ennala? Edho varushathuku oru thadavai varudhe, sandoshama oru naal kodumai illama anubavippom-nu ninaicha....I think my stars are aligned so strongly that there is no possibility of changing my fate.

I was looking forward to this birthday so eagerly, and infact so happy that it was on a Sunday (aamama, nethikedhan)...so sema eager-a pona varusham madhiri midnight-la suspense cake varum, vettalam-nu Rajini-oda latest film edhirparkara kadainilai rasigan madhiri wait pannindhen. First disappointment happened when we decided that we'd leave from our relatives' house (where we had been staying on Friday and Saturday) in the evening, and ended up leaving by 9:15 PM. So obviously there would have been no way for any secret cakes to be purchased, so cake aasai 6th night-e gali. Seri ok, midnight varaikum atleast muzhichittavadhu irupomnu ninaichen, but both of us were so tired that we slept immediately. But then the sincere person called my guy woke me up by 12 AM and wished me for the b'day, and zzzzz....there we dozed off again (infact this was the only good thing that happened on my b'day).

Next day morning - namma thamizhar panpaatu padi, nalla ennai theichu kulichutu puthadai uduthippom-nu ninaichen. Nalla thalaila ennai vachittu I tried calling up my Mom, but no one picked up the call. Partha sms varudhu, call by 3:30 PM-nu - en offshore makkal ellam en b'day kondada Malaikottai padam porangalam! Inga oruthi Tamil padam parka mudiyama DVD vangi parkara, idhula en b'day kondada ivanga movie poranga...ellam...Idhudhan kodumaina, I opened orkut to see a number of people wishing me on my b'day, and a message from Shuba saying she tried to call me and I didnt pick the call. Ennada solra-nu phone-ai eduthu partha, madam had called me by 5:15 AM! Theriyamadhan kekkaren, Sunday, adhuvum b'day aniku yaravadhu 5AM-ku muzhichitrupangala???? Ketta, she wanted to be the first person to wish me-nu reason vera!

Seri ok, coffee podalam-nu poi kitchen tap thirandha..water was literally dripping from the tap. Ennada idhu kaalaila nalladhane vandhadhu, seri ok, edhavadhu intermittent problem-a irukum-nu freeya vittuten. I made coffee, called up offshore folks, and by now it was 11:30 AM. Now we slowly began realizing that the water was still dripping, and called up the water supplier. The bored lady on the other side said that there is a problem with the water supply in the area and that they have started the repair work. Seri ma kanna, ethanai neram aagum-nu kettom, expecting 1-2 hrs...and then she dropped the bomb, "It will be 6 hours from now"! I could see my b'day breaking into a trillion little pieces and floating towards the trash can :(

"Seri parvalla vaa, we will go to your favorite restaurant" appadinu my guy tried enthusing me, but kulikkamaya??-nu hesitate pannite I started getting ready with all that oil on my head (luckily it was only coconut oil, and not gingelly oil, but still a heavy dose). I tried wearing the sleek dress that I had so lovingly purchased to wear to find that it was too small for me, that I ended up spraining my back trying to wear it. Ok, oru pazhaya dress mattitu we left. By the time we reached the place and took a bus, there was a heavy traffic, andha bus azhaga adipradakshanam pannitrundhadhu. Pasi kodumai vera, seri adutha stop-la irangidalam-nu we got off two stops ahead of the destination and started walking to the restaurant. Until now, we had wasted around 2 hrs since we started from home. Anyways, nalla saptutu we thought we'll go for a movie (pls kekkadheenga, eppadi b'day aniku kulikkama ivalo suthinen-nu)

Ok, 6:30 movie, time ippo 5:20, lets try making it-nu we opted for faster services but by the time we reached the destination station it was 6:24 and too late to go for the movie. Finally veetuke pogalamnu decide pantu, we proceeded home for a dull evening. In effect, I spent a b'day without shower, new dress, water or a cake or even a movie:( Ippadi oru day-va spend pantome-nu kavalaila irundha, Siva mail anupparar, ungaluku wishes potruken-nu...enna kodumai sir idhu?

Madras-a suthi parka poren -II

2007-08-19T07:32:00.000-07:00

Pona post-la sonnadhoda andha car ennai vidalai, adhukappuramum I had more things coming my way..

Andha mama episode-ku appuram, no one in my family was willing to trust me with the car. Naamadhan thanmanamulla thamizhachi ache...I had resolved not to touch the car despite my desire to have a go at it. Adhellam en thappa, oru mama thookathula ularardhu? I just did not know where the wiper button was, avalodhane? Adhuku poi enaku car access denied-na, kobam varadhu enaku?

Seri, irukara time-a chennai-la nimmadhiya spend pannalam-nu I was happily relaxing, when the day came when my brother had to go for his honeymoon. And he was asking me if I can drive the car back from the airport once they get off at the airport. Naamadhan samayasanjeevi ache ;), "yeah yeah, no worries anna" appadinu solten. En amma niraya try pannanga, taxi arrange pannikalam, night-la, I shouldn't be driving back alone-nu. Well, nadakardhudhane nadakum, so my mom also joined when we headed to the airport.

Vazhi full-a my bro was advising on the traffic and the time, and I was thinking...ennada idhu, can't I even handle this traffic, why are they so apprehensive? Anyways, finally my brother and sis-in-law got off, and we started back. Amma was talking about how there are some ruffians who create trouble out of nowhere, and how some of them also happen to be autodrivers, who'd find some reason to extort money, and she started talking about incidents that happened with family members.

The drive back was pretty good, despite the traffic and all that, and en ammavai parthu I smirked - "paaru amma, ain't I driving good?" Amma paaam, onnum solla mudiyala, eppadiyo poi seruma-nu thanni thelichu vittutanga.

I had neared my locality, and there was just one traffic signal remaining with green signal. kalakkara Usha-nu I was applauding myself..seri, green signal poradhukulla cross pannidalamnu ninaikarache, correcta a group of 10 people walked right in front of the car, and I had to halt, and the signal went to red. Seri ok, green signal-ku wait pannanume-nu I was cursing the group...thideernu a guy came and knocked my window. I rolled down the windows, and he asked me, "license iruka?" I was wondering, what on earth this gas delivery guy has got to do with my license. I was asking him about it, and he told me, "Unga car en bike-a idichuduchu"! Munnadi parkaren, there was no vehicle, except for a car. I looked at him puzzled, and he showed a bike that was laid sideways right behind my car!

"Enga, theriyamadhan kekkaren, how can I hit a bike that's behind me?", and he retorted saying I took a reverse and hit his bike. Idhu ennada vamba pochu, naama reverse-e edukkalaye-nu I was arguing with him, and he insisted that my car had hit his bike!! Idhula oru van-wala ennai support panni, avankitta vangi kattitu kilambittar :( And soon a crowd started gathering around the car, and everyone was talking at the same time. Oruthar kekkarar, "eppadinga munnadi irukara car pinnadi bike-a idika mudiyum?", and another guy says, "en reverse vandhu idikka koodadha?", and tension was slowly swelling up inside the car.

A few were advising him to let us go, coz we were ladies (vazhga India), and this guy fired back "So what?!" Enaku ulla already drums, guitar, nadaswaram ellam oru mega concert-e nadandhutrundhadhu, and I was hoping I'd get off this thing safely. Amma kitta, I had asked to remove her jewellery and keep it in the dashboard, so they dont think we are so well settled (irrational dhan, aana andha situation-la I could not think a lot). So the fight went on and on, and surprisingly no policeman yet (adhu lucky-a unlucky-a therila)...and finally someone told me to just leave and I think a few more joined hands with him, and they let me go.

Although I sped past the guy, I was praying all possible avatars that he does not contact the police and send us a notice. Amma, "kavalai padadha, anna parthuppan"-nu solli kooda I could not suppress my fear. When we finally slept, it was 1:00 AM, and I think I was yelling in my sleep "ayyo illa, naan illa, naan idikkala...."

Madras-a suthi parka poren...

2007-08-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

(I had drafted this exactly a month ago, right after I came back from my brother's wedding - but post panradhukulla something else happened in my family. So, though it appears out of context now, I have decided to release this from the draft cell.)

Naangalum India poitomla!! Ennoda arumai anna-oda marriage-a sakka vachittu sandoshama India kilambittom, hayya super-a sappadu kidaikkumnu :))

Ofcourse, kalyanam ellam nalladhan nadandhadhu, adhula endha kodumaiyume enaku nadakkala (illa illa, naanum yarayum kodumai paduthala :D) but kadaisi naal aniku first night-kaga arrange pannanumnu I picked up my Mom and my sis-in-law's uncle in my brother's car, appodhan adichudhu light-a kodumai kathu..

Well, start panna udane solliten, "Mr. Mams, enaku indha Indian traffic-la otti romba naal achu, indha car make kooda theriyadhu, so ur life in my hands" appadinu. Avar paavam, nambi erittar. Konja dhooram dhan poiruppom, sema mazhai!! Car ulla mist form aagi (A/c potta mazhaila?), velila glass-la water vazhiya arambichu...yeah yeah, puriyudhu, wiper en podala-nudhane kekkareenga? He he, I didn't know where the wiper button was :D So Kodambakkam bridge mela car erudhu...munnadi car-a tempo-vanu kooda therila. To top it, the headlights of cars going in the opposite direction were literally blinding me...en amma-va, she was close to offering God all the property that she owned if she returned home alive.

Kashtapattu mukki thakki bridge irangina udane dhan aapit.com - the car was just jerking in all directions as I drove, and I was wondering what on earth was on the road. Konja neram kazhichudhan I realized that I was driving on the median!! Pinnala irundha jeevankitterndhu suthama sathame kanom, most probably he was also offering his earthly belongings to God (che, kadavuluku ennala evalo labam!). I managed to steer the car to the road and took a right turn to reach my area, and decided to stop and wipe the mist inside the car. Meanwhile, Amma and Mr. Mama were both seriously contemplating on walking to home :)), but avalo seekirama vitruvoma naanga? Appuram enga nickname-oda perumai enna aradhu? Illa illa, ippadiye irunga, veetlaye irakki vidaren-nu solli I managed to find the wiper button and took them home - safe and intact.

We came home, decorated the room, enga velai ellam correct-a mudichuttu we all turned to bed. Mr. Mama was staying with us, and he was sleeping in the hall. I thought it was all over, until the next day morning - nalla thoongi ezhundhu velila vandhu parkarom, Mr. Mams thookathula pesitrukar, "ayyo, car-ai niruthunga, naan irangidaren, ayyo....!!" Everyone looked at me...and I silently returned to my room and decided to sleep until Mr. Mams left.

Daddy Daddy...oh my daddy...:(

2007-07-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

My father has expired..just got the news, and I feel so numb..faced the news bravely, sat still for sometime and got back to normalcy in a few mins and started searching for my company provided flight tickets. Amma kitta pesinen, and gave rational suggestions to my guy for the flight schedule, made decisions on when and how to travel to India...and he was telling his parents that I am taking the news bravely...and then he went in to get me the food. That moment was when my mind shed the facade of normalcy, and I have been sobbing ever since....thinking about my dad, what he missed, what I could have done for him...would I have been the reason behind his sickness? That I was away from him ever since I started working outside Chennai? That I never got to speak to him real personally in all these years, having the physical distance as a reason? I can't seem to stop my tears...I can't see my dad again..where is the rational female who was sitting on this sofa a few minutes ago?

Urmila...Urmila...

2007-05-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well, indha thadavai I am in a thoughtful (correct correct, naana, think-anu neenga yosikareenga, but well, poonaikum pul thadukkum illaya) moodla iruken, adhanala light-a oru serious topic - but the real intention is to get answers.

Two weeks ago, I was watching this tamil programme "chinna thirai fashion show" or something, adhula the actresses were asked to exhibit their talents (TV-la azha vaikaradhu thani talent, adhai thavira..) and one of them enacted Lakshmana's wife Urmila's emotions, in an angle most of us might not have thought about. Adhavadhu chinna vayasula eppadi Sita-ke ella chellamum kidaichadhu, and eppadi Sita Rama-vai pannitadhanala her sisters got to (or had to) marry his brothers, and how Lakshmana had left her behind when he accompanied Rama to the forest for 14 years et al.

What she said makes sense - kalyanamana pudhusula 1 month pirinjale, inga avan aval mandai kayaranga, and it is quite common with these IT onsite projects. Kalyanamana 1st day-ve, oruthi kitta poi, naan en annathai-oda kattuku poren, nee ingaye irundhu enga atha-va 14 varushathuku parthuko-na how irritating would that be? Moreover, Sita got to stay with her husband justifying her role as his wife and the norm that a wife has to stay with the husband serving him, but Urmila wasnt allowed the same privilege. Enda rasa, naan unnai kalyanam pannita paavathuku 14 varushathuku thandanai anubavikanuma-nu dhane thonum? This is what started this thread, Urmila-va en yaarume kandukkala? The other wives got to stay with their husbands, Urmila was the only one who did not, rather could not.

So konjam ramayana-va browse pannen, what exactly did Urmila do when this happened? Lakshmana sedhi solla ponaram Urmila kitta, and she was painting the coronation picture of Rama (ada, madam-ku painting theriyuma?!). Ivar thideernu "Urmila!"-nu konjam kathi koopta udane tension aagi the painting was spoilt (sentiment!). After Lakshmana tells her the bad news and about his decision, Urmila simply said that she is happy about his decision, and that was his duty to serve the Lord. Konjam yosichu partha, this must have taken an inordinate amount of self-control to handle this situation. Their divine natures apart, it is quite natural for any female to grieve in this kind of situation, which she seems to have effectively handled.

Podhakuraiku, Lakshmana also told her to eat and sleep for him while he gaurds his brother and sis-in-law, coz he wont have time to sleep or eat in his duty. Ivangalum saptu thoongiye 14 years kazhichangalam (oru velai andha kalathula diet consciousness irundhirukadho?), much to the consternation of others in the palace. So purushan illadhadhu pathadhunu, she earned a bad name too.

Nadula, namma thalaivar pannina warla Lakshmana was injured badly, right? Hanuman, while carrying the Sanjeevi hill, was injured by Bharata while crossing Ayodhya (air surveillance-ama). Keezha vizhundha Hanuman told Bharata and others about Lakshmana's plight. Ellarume sogamayittanga, except Urmila. Illa illa, "venumda unaku"-nra ennam ellam kidayadhu, she just expressed her faith in the fact that nothing would happen to Lakshmana when he is with Rama, the Paramatma (akramam!! Sanjeevi malai thooki adi pattu vizhundhirukardhu Hanumar, partha Ramar kapathuvar-ntanga!) Again, evalo kashtama irundhirukum, husband is injured, yet she cant be beside him and attend to him inspite of knowing the situation - pathetic situation indeed.

Idhellam kooda ok, 14 years kazhichu thirumba vandhanga motha perum. Lakshmana had one handful of rice, and regained his energy, but surprisingly had to sleep for the next 14 years to make up for all the lost sleep. Oru pondatti 28 varusham "kathirundhu kathirundhu kalangal ponadhada"-nu paditta iruka mudiyum? But Urmila had to, thanks to the political situation in her in-law's place.

Ramayana talks only about Rama, but there are folks who have sacrificed a lot for Rama's sake, yet have not been given the right credit they deserve. From a lady's perspective, what Urmila did was a remarkable sacrifice - letting her husband go with his brother, to serve him for 14 long years - which is unparalleled by any other female, even Sita, in Ramayana. Even Lakshmana is given some credit for what he did, but Urmila? But understandable dhan, Rajini padathula Shriya-ke limelight kammi, Nayantara-ku mattum attention koduthuduvoma? ;)

BTW, indha post pic was the cynical comment from my kuttisathan, kandukadheenga!

Sarukki sarukki vandha seena thana doi!! - II

2007-04-15T09:02:00.001-07:00

Naan sarukki vizhundha kadhaiya kekardhuku ungaluku iruka arvathai naan parattaren. Ippadi oru nilamai political leaders-ku kooda vara koodadhu sami!!

Anyways, fourth day - surusuruppa poi kit, instructor ellam hire pannitu, andha ski boot-a eduthu mattina...kaal-a thookave mudiyala!! If I go for skiing, am I not supposed to be wearing something that I can carry? Aduthu ski-board, adhai thookarache dhan therinjudhu how Jesus would have suffered carrying a crucifix wearing a lot of barbed wire. Kodumai!! Seri skiing point polam-nu ithanaiyum thookitu pona, the instructor made us walk towards the ski-zone. I was feeling so insecure with the boots on, but ennoda arumai kanavar (porkodi, sandegam theerndhadha?) made me go in the front saying he got to help the others (thanaku minjidhan dharmam-nu yaarum solli tharala pola). And there I was walking in the front and managed to reach a door which led to the zone. Angadhan fate played a wicked game on me. The ground there was filled with snow, water and sand, and the moment I stepped on the place, I slipped and fell hard on my back. Seri ododi vandhu ennai thooki viduvar thalaivar-nu partha, "Are you alright?"-nu oru foreign voice! Ennada idhu, eppo ivaroda voice marichu-nu thalaiya thooki partha, oru periya line en pinnadi, adhula endha idathulayum thalaivara kanom! "Yeah, am fine, just broke my back"-nu thattu thadumari (shoe weight-e thangala) ezhundu athanai perayum munnala vittapuram, porumaiya vandhu "ennama achu"-nu oru kelvi vera! Pinkazhuthulerndhu arambichu my spinal chord was paining like hell :))

Idhukappuram we proceeded onto the ski-zone. Naamadhan mudhallaye vizhundhuttome, so inimel evalo vizhundhalum kavalai illa - thalaiku mela ponappuram John pona enna Joseph pona enna, right? - appadinu I proceeded with skiing. Ellarum oru kutti mound-lerndhu ski panna try pannitrukom, an enthusiast in us suggested skiing from a hill. Naamadhan arvakolaru party ache, front-la eri poi mela ready-a nikkalam-nu travellator-lerndhu keezhadhan iranginen....the next thing I knew was that appadiye sarukki munnala irundhavangala idichu keezha vizhundu kidandhen! Seri ok, ezhundhuka help panren-nu pinnala vandha Ms. Enthusiast thanum sarukki en mela vandhu vizhundhanga. Ennada Swiss-ku vandha sodhanai-nu I managed to get up, and before I could help her get up, my guy had skidded and fell next to her :))

Seri ok, ivalo dhooram vantom, ski panniye keezha poidalam-nu andha skiboard-a kal-la matradhukulla sarukki sarukki, finally i managed to wear them. First attempt, I skiied till quarter the hill and fell down. Serinu thirumba mela poi, I managed to again wear the skiboard, and with all the cheering from the rest, ski panitte ponena, padhi hill-la I fell down again. Niraya per sirichanga, but namaku dhan manam, rosham ellam swiss bank-la deposited (kk, sln & cm-chap...idhan ennala deposit panna mudinjadhu *sigh!*) ache, so I just waved at everyone and got up.

Ippo enalla melayum po mudiyala, keezhayum poga mudiyala, so I decided to again ski from there. So oru samatharai create panvom-nu I was trying to use my shoes and dig in the snow. Appo travellator-la pona namma oor kanmani onnu, "Ennanga kinaru vettareengala?" nakkal vittutu ponar. Ileenga, platform kattaren-nu (en vayitherichal enaku) badhil soltu, I tried wearing my board again, but that didnt work out due to the slippery surface, so naama pudhumaiya nadappom-nu I started walking down the slope. Mudhalla oruthar travellator-la cross pannar - "Please walk on the side of the slope", 'yov, adhu engaluku theriyadha, boots vachindu nadakka mudiyama oruthi kashta padaren, idhula enna unaku advice vera?'-nu karuvitte, I told him that I am trying to walk towards the sides. Aduthu oruthar vandhar, "it is easier to ski down"..grrrrr, ennamo naan aasai pattu nadakkara madhiri!! Adhan ski panna mudiyala-nu theriyudhula, appuram enna lollu enkitta?! Finally I made it to the ground, and decent-a oru kutti mound-a parthu I resumed my skiing.

Idhoda vidala indha skiing kodumai, next we all decided to go to a restaurant. Adhuku chaircar-la poganum, and to our horror, they said that we will have to wear the skiboard and travel on it! Edhuku ivalo kodumai padutharanga-nu yosichutte naan chair car track-ku ponen. But while I was calling to my better-half to join me, oru chaircar en pinnadi vandhu modhi appadiye utkara vachu, whisked me away!! Indha koothula I even dropped one of my sticks! Ennada idhu oru protection kooda illa, eppadi ivalo uyarathula travel panradhunu, I just traveled hoping I wouldn't fall off the chair. As I was reaching the destination, I slowly realized that I need to jump off the chair car and ski towards the next stop!! Ada paavigala, idhukudhan ski board-a?? As the chair car reached the stop, I yelled "I am a beginner, help!!" and jumped out and fell down on the snow. Oruthan vandhu ezhuppi vittan..and aduthaduthu vandha nammaal and the other couple varisaya vizhundhu vaarinaanga (he he)Ippovavadhu naan chumma irundhirukalam, I stood up and automatically sarukka arambichu adutha stop poitten!! Idhukappuram thangadhuda sami-nu ski board-a kazhatti kailaye thookinten, why bother to ski and fall, right?

Anyways, panatha koduthu valiya vanginome-nu nondhutte we all returned to the shop and happily returned the kit. Andha skiboots-a kazhattitu, when I wore my boots, they were so damn light!! had never felt so relieved! :)) So skiing parthu naamalum pannalam-nu aasai padaravangale, adhu oruvelai veteransku super game-a irukalam, aana beginners-ku oru marana imsai-nradhai thazhmaiyoda therivichukaren.

Idhan oru kodumainu ninaichutte train pidichu thirumba vandha, TC vandhar ticket check panna. He took a look at the Swiss pass we had, and said "Why are you sitting here, you must be in 1st class!" And that was the last day of the trip..ivalo TCs parthanga, evanume sollala, kadaisi naal aniku sollanuma? naanga kettoma? Mudhal naal aniku engalai thevai illama 2nd class kootindu pona thanga thalaivar mugathula expression-e illa.

So back in London, with a lot of sprain and pain all over the body, infact innum kooda anganga vali thangala :))

Sarukki sarukki vandha seena thana doi!!

2007-04-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so back to the blogspace! Iniya puthandu nalvazhthukkal, atleast indha new year-layavadhu ennala ungalai correct-a kodumai panna mudiyudha-nu parpom. Now to the Swiss trip:

Oh, before that, I aint promoting Switzerland tourism, so idhu out and out naan pattadhu mattumdhan, nothing on Swiss. Appadi venumna kelunga, thaniya post podaren.

Oru long weekend varudhe, naamalum 1 day leave pottutu oru 5 day trip pogalam-nu 5th aniku Swiss kilambinom, 4 of us, me and my aal and his friend and his wife. Naanga cyberspace-la mattum illama personal-avum makkalai kodumai paduthalam-nu puliyodharai ellam panni eduthu kilambittomla ;-) So the first day, we took a flight to Geneva, correct-a jannalora seat eduthunten, with the intention of seeing Alps when the flight reaches Swiss. Apdiye light-a kan moodinen, adada enna oru jolly-nu, kan vizhichu partha, the flight had landed in Switzerland! Ada paavigala, naan thoongaracheve flight-a ottiye mudichiteengala?!

Irangi terminal-lerndhu velila vandha, there was absolutely no English anywhere! Namakudhan Englipiece and Tamil thavira edhuvum theriyadhe! Ada padamavadhu podanumla? Adhu eppadi indha oorla tourism ippadi flourish aagudhu?! Fortunately, there were 3 paradevadais in the information center who knew English and directed us to the train station. Train eri partha.. wow! such luxurious seats! and while I was happily settling myself, enga aal this is first class, naama ellarum second class poganum-nu poruppa thookitu poitar :(

We went to Montreaux first and visited a castle - niraya kaimarina castle-ama idhu. Inga video edukaren pervazhinu melayum keezhayum suthi, podha kuraiku terrace varaikum 5 levels of winding steps-la eri castle vittu velila varumpodhu sema kalvali! Andha castleku mela oru kodi theriyudha ungaluku? Adhai naandhan poi nattutu vandhen naan top-a reach panniten-nu katradhuku ;)

After this, we took the panoramic view (2nd class kooda supera dhan iruku) train and went to Interlaken Ost. Scintillating views vazhi fulla, we were playing cards and enjoying the view. Ofcourse cards-la yaar thothiruppa-nu naan solla vendam, naan Pandavas-oda category, enaku soodhattame varadhu :D

Adutha naal, Jungfrau pass-nra idathuku ponom. Idhan top of Europe-ama, that means the railway station here is the highest located railway station in Europe. Cool, ski pannalam-nu thirumbi varumpodhu oru station-la irangi skiing kit rent panna pona vilai ketta they were quoting the price for a dinosaur! Since we only had 1.5 hrs left against a day's price, enga aal rented a ski sledge - adhavadhu you gotta sit on the sledge and propel yourself down the slope. Peravamanam Usha-ku! But ok, paavam vangi koduthuttare-nu I sledged twice and dropped the idea and started hitting others with snowballs - infact that was a lot better than sledging :)) Pinna enna, edho kuttipaapa madhiri malai mela izhuthuttu poi, adhula utkarndhu sarukkitu vandha avamanamla oru thamizachiku?

And the next day was yet another hill with snow, and the fourth day was "the" day - skiing panna porom-nu sema excitement-la we started the day. Inga niruthippom, the post is getting too long, unga time-um waste..(yeah I know, ippo mattum ennanu kekkareenga) ..next post on my skiing stunt.

Paraak Paraak!!

2007-04-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry sorry sorry, updates-e illanu niraya per ketutteenga (adhukaga Ram, neenga Uma-nu en perai mathi iruka koodadhu), but I was swamped with a lot of work from all ends. My next post would be on my Swiss trip (nethu dhan thirumbi vandhen), so adhai indha weekend post panniduven, adhuvaraikum poruthukkonga pls!!

Enna satham indha neram...

2007-02-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I was working as an intern in a company for my final year project. Appo dhan naan first time Bangalore-la kaal eduthu vachu, parents vittu thaniya stay panni, mobile vangi..so it was a lot of first time things.

Nanga erkaneve academics-kaga oru threat-laye constant-a irupoma, thanks to my Mom threatening me every semester that if I don't score 80 and above, she wont pay the next sem fee, so vizhundu vizhundu project-kaga velai senjindhen. Podha kuraiku, indha company-la Dallas HQ-lerndhu thaane thedi vandha project vera, and I was dreaming of joining the company too. So irukara arva kolarellam serndhu night out ellam panni work pannindhen.

On one such night, I was so seriously working on my project, and a few other colleagues were with me. Avanga ellam regulars, unlike me, so avanga avanga office velaiya parthutrundhanga. Appo thideernu *scratch scratch*-nu oru satham. Normally engaloda office-la windows kitta sila pura koodu irukum, adhudhan-nu vittuten. But then it sounded so different from the normal sound of the doves, and then I realized that it was the sound of a mouse or rat scratching on something. Adhuvum en desk-lerndhe andha sound!! Ada kadavule, en desk-la naan irukardhu pathadhu-nu oru desk partner veraya-nu ore tension enaku. What if it comes and bites my foot, or damages something when I am not around? Seri ok, naan irukumpodhu mattum enna, adhai partha odi dhan poga poren-nradhu vera vishayam.

This sound continued, and soon en colleagues-kum andha sound kettu they came over to my desk. Enna idhu repeated-a satham kekkudhu, evalo eli iruku-nu yosanai engaluku. And since we all leave our official papers at the desk, we were all the more worried. The other colleagues were freshers from college, so not forgetting our talents honed at college, desk mela ellam eri we started searching for the rat(s). Cube-kum wall-kum nadula iruka gap-la, desk adi-la...kittathatta veerappana TN and KA police thedina range-ku thedu thedu-nu theda arambichom.

Enga cube-la nadakkara excitement parthu, pakkathu cube-lerndhu ellam makkal vara arambichuttanga. We told them that there are rats in the office, eniku edhu gaali aaga pogudho-nellam pulambittu, we were continuing our search operations. Suthama onnum kidaikkala, but by now the sounds had stopped. Seri ok, night eli ellam thoonga poirukum poliruku, disturb panna vendam appadinu we suspended the operations, and decided that we'll report it to the facilities the following morning."Ennangada idhu, MNC-nranga, facilities ellam super-nranga, oru office-a ozhunga vachikka mattenranga?!"-nu oru nyayamana kobathoda kaalaila puratchi pannanum idhuku-nu decision eduthuttu we resumed work.

Idhu mudinjappuram the following morning, I took out my mobile and called up my friend whose call I had apparently missed in this thedal koothu. 'Sorry yaar, inga oru eliya thedindhom, and in that excitement, I hadn't taken out my mobile from my bag, so un call-a miss panten last night adikaradhu theriyama'-nu vazhinjappuram, my friend said she'd call me back a couple of minutes later as she was busy with something.

Oru rendu nimisham kazhichu...a familiar sound emerged from my mobile which was set to vibration mode in an experimentation spree - *scratch scratch*..

(..and my colleagues ennai anniyan range-ku parkka...the rest is history..)

kadhai kelu kadhai kelu..

2007-02-04T05:19:00.000-08:00

Have you seen people who can rewrite history? (Rajini/Vijay/Ajith/Sivaji fans, naan avanga range-kellam pesala ;)) Neenga ippo padikara blog-oda owner appadi patta oru uyarndha mahaan(i) dhan, chinna vayasulerndhe arivai jasthiya use panni panni, kodumai ellam appolerndhe start panten.

It all started with my sadhikara parents. Naanga car-la native place-ku every year povom for some festival, and we take the NH47 route. Andha route-la oru bridge varum, and the bridge starts with two huge pillars on either side. Indha idathuku varumpodhellam oru standard kadhai solvanga ennoda parents..they will start off saying "ingadhan ramanujam-ku accident achu", and will continue saying "Ramanujam was driving a car with his dad and mom sitting in the rear, appo indha idathuku vararche, the car lost control and he just drove right into the right pillar. Appo avaroda appa was thrown out of the car, and Ramanujam had several injuries, and all the 3 died". Idhellam naan kettundruppena, appo ellam the only Ramanujam I knew was the mathematician Ramanujam, coz that is what keeps coming in my lessons. So 1+1=2-nu naan decide panninten.

Next scene - Std VI, I am sitting in the classroom. Naanga class-la chumma ellam iruka mattom, edhavadhu teacher kelvi ketta, nanga mattumdhan badhil sollanum-nra arvakolaru egathuku irukum. Adhuvum vera, teachers kitta nalla per vera vangittoma, adanga mattom. Appo Math master ulla vandhar in his usual pink suit (yeah, romba vidhyasamana taste avaruku, ramarajan madhiri). He started off with some lesson, and as fate would have it, it was something that Ramanujam had come up with. So the topic turned towards Ramanujam. Math master kettar, "so does anyone know how Ramanujam died?". Ungaluke ippo therinjirukanum, endha arivali student-oda kai mela poirukum-nu - yep, naanedhan andha thappa senjen. My hand shot up, and he looked at me.

"Ramanujam died in a car accident!" - I said, my face glowing with pride. Ennai parthar master, avaruku thittavum mudiyala, coz edho sumara padikara student, so face-a kashtapattu normal-a vachittu he said, "Ramanujam died out of an ailment". Viduvena naan, naanga oru badhil sonna adhu eppadi thappaga mudiyumnu, I insisted, "no sir, Ramanujam died in a car accident, you know what, it is near my native town, and I have seen the accident spot too!!". Now he was really not sure if I have to be sent out, or I should be smacked up, but he patiently repeated, "no, he died from an illness". Naan, "no sir, my parents told me the story while we were going to our native town"-nu romba confident-a sonnen. Avar romba paavam, anegama adiche pazhakamilla ninaikaren, he gave me a pathetic look, and silently looked at the book he had in his hand. Inimel indha ponnai onnum panna mudiyadhu-nu, he simply said, "ok students, lets work on this problem" and continued with the problem. Oru vetri siripu appo en mugathula.

Idhu nadandhu konja naal aanappuram, I and my family traveled the same route for some other reason. Appodhan enaku nyabagam vandhadhu, indha madhiri oru discussion nadandhadhu class-la, and I had the last say(?!)-nu. So romba perumaiya ennoda appa amma kitta, "Amma appa, you know what, konja naal munnadi we had this class on Ramanujam, and my Math master did not know how Ramanujam died!! Appuram naandhan avaruku accident-nu sonnen"-nu sonna udane, thideernu car-la oru silence. En amma thirumbi ennai parthanga, "Usha, nee appadi nijamave sonniya?".."aamamma, avaruku adhu therila, thappu thappa padam edukarar" appadinu naan accusing-a sonnappuram, my Mom said slowly, "Usha, naanga sonna Ramanujam was our relative, and definitely not the mathematician". Avalodhan, en mugathula litre litre-a ennamo vazhiya arambichudhu (adhu enna-nu idhu varaikum enaku therila, any pointers?)

Paarunga, idhu ennoda thappu edhuvume kidayadhu!! Edho chinna kozhandhaiyache, solradhellam moolaila azhama padhiyume, parthu pesanum-nu theriya vendam? Ada atleast per solrache oru intro koduthuttu pesa vendam? Idhanala oru edhirkala VIP-ku evalo avamanam? Ennala appuram andha Math master-a nimirndhu kooda parka mudiyala, but great man, aniku class-la kelvi kekkardha niruthinavar dhan, appuram kekkave illa en class-la :))

Official kadidham theetave...

2007-01-27T05:22:00.000-08:00

Marketing capabilities ellam enaku romba jasthi aayiduchu, so I am kinda very proud of myself. Effort koduthu marketing ideas ellam vandha it is very normal, but inadvertent-a daily vishayangal-laye marketing ellam instinctively vandha, I should say I am amazing!! Ippadilam enaku sollikanumnu romba aasai dhan, aana naane ennoda kuzhiya indha varam full-a thonditruken, adhuvum to the extent of digging a hole that is more than 10 ft deep! Adhula veliyida koodiye ore (and the last for the week) incident solren kelunga.

Nethu I had to send a mail to the entire team with a link to a network share. Naan sandoshama, ellarum unga unga vacation plan ellam fill pannidunga kannungala indha location-la-nu mail anuppiten. Oru 20 secs kazhichu oruthan ping pannan, "Usha, where do you want us to update the plan?". Naan romba alatshiyama, "adhan link koduthirukomla, adhula panradhu"-nu vadivelu madhiri sound vittena, he sent me the link to my blog and asked, "here?"!!! I was shocked, ennada idhu, ivanuku eppadi indha link-nu thiru thiru-nu muzhika arambikka...a mail pops out of my Inbox saying "Usha, we will surely read your blog sometime, but can you please give us the path to the file? Also, you can tell us directly that you want us to read the blog, we'd be happy to give our views"!

Aaha!! Idhu ennada nagaruku vandha sodhanai-nu sent items poi partha, en blog link-a naan romba poruppa paste panni vachiruken mail-la!!! And I look around, ella monitor-layum ennoda beach snap theriyudhu!! Evanum tamil vera kidayadha, avan avan thannoda sondha pulamaiya vachittu translate panna teams form pannitrukan!! Ada paavigala, vera edhulayum teamwork kattadheenga, idhula ellam correct-a kattunga appadinu pulambitte thirumbina..en client lead, whats happening usha-nu kettan. I told him what happened, and he wanted my link too. Idhellam edhuku-nu ninaikareenga? Not coz he can translate anything, but naan edhavadhu avanai pathi thitti ezhudi irukena-nu therinjikardhuku! It took some time for the pandemonium to settle down, and it took a lot of my vazhiyal too - ellarukum explain panna vendi irundhadhu :(

So makkale, idhulerndhu ungaluku enna theriyudhu? Ofcourse, ennoda astounding marketing skills therinjirukum, adhellam neenga pugazhndhu ennai embarass panna vendam..aana inimel mails ellam anupumpodhu, correct-a recepient, subject, body, link, signature ellam check pannitu anuppunga, illana indha madhiri instant popularity vandhu neenga avasthai pada vendi irukum :))

Annathai adurar othikko othikko..

2007-01-20T06:26:00.000-08:00

You might all have heard about this, and since I am in the land where it emerged, naane ungalukellam adhai pathi sollalam-nu vanten. I am talking about our dear Ms Shilpa Poppadum, sorry Shetty, who is supposedly facing racist bullying here in Big Brother. International controversy aanappuram naama adhai ignore panradhu nalla irukuma?

To begin with, Big Brother is a reality show - oru 10 per-a outside world-lerndu complete-a detach panni oru veetla potruvanga. Indha 10 perum eppadi adichukkaranga, illa romance panranga-nradhai 10 million makkal parpanga (kolangal, chitti-la ellam adichukardha vida inga innum bayangarama irukum)

This time, every inmate is a celebrity of some sort, but engerndhu avangaluku Shilpa-va include pannanum-nu thonicho therila, she also got in. Madam ulla varumpodhu she was so excited, "naan Indian culture-na enna-nu foreigners-ku katradhuku idhu oru opportunity" adhu idhunellam declare pannanga, not knowing what the house held for her. The rest were Danielle, ex Miss Britain, Donnie, a singer, Ken, a director, Jamain, MJ's brother , Jo, a pop singer and a few others.

After the show started, Shilpa was the only one who wasn't really doing anything, just orama utkarndhu pei muzhi muzhichitrundhanga enna panradhu-nu theriyama. Ennada ivanunga, ishtathuku dance adaranga, katti pidikaranga..naama enna panradhu indha kootathula-nra kavalai avanga mugathula.

Then started the fun - Jade-nra madam ulla vandhanga, this lady had taken part in BB in 2001 when she was a nurse, and endeared herself to the public by her naivety and started her own business after the show and is now worth 8 million pounds (thorayamma 64 koadi roobba)!! Ammani chumma round katti ellarayum imsai panna effect - oruthan suvareri gudhichi odiye poittan :)) Konja naal-la Jade-oda guru parvai Shilpa mela turn achu. Shilpa konjam nalla vera irukangala, so Jo & Danielle-ku erkaneve light-a jealousy. You should have seen the look in D's face when she saw Shilpa in one of the outfits - her jaw literally dropped :)) So when Jade started attacking Shilpa, she had the full support of D and Jo.

Shilpa edhu pannalum, J chumma Jackie Chan madhiri parandhu parandhu fight panvanga. For example, Shilpa poi D kitta "naan edhavadhu thappa pannitena, enna achu"-nu kekka ponanga following an incident, adhuku J and D confronted her asking why she is trying to spoil their friendship! And when Shilpa made some chicken dish, Jade "manushan thinbana indha araivekkatu sappada?" appadinu oru sound vittanga. Ingadhan racism topic emerged - Shilpa took a piece from one of the guys' plate and had it, adhai partha D asked if they eat with hands in India or china, and remarked S's hands might have been anywhere (Aama, naan partha varaikum ivangalum french fries ellam kaiyaladhan sapdaranga, appo eppadi sapdaranga? By first cleaning their hands with dettol in McDonalds?) Avalodhan! ella papers-layum this topic came up, and viewers started complaining to the channel about racism.

Ippadiye poitrundhadhu, J called S fake, dog and everything, and D was her henchman, supporting her. They basically had a problem with S being adored and worshipped in Bollywood, and having servants back in India - so adhellam vera izhuthanga. Enna irundhalum S Gandhi porandha naatlerndhu vandhirukanga illaya, so romba porumaiya "oru kannathil adithal, maru kannathai kattuven"-nu azhudhuttu irundhanga. But finally singathoda thalaiya seepala vara try pantanga J, she called S a liar: Shilpa was provoked but retorted diplomatically saying this may be J's claim to fame, but that she doesn't want to argue. Heated words were exchanged, Shilpa's were indeed diplomatic, whereas J was being outrageous. Later she spoke to D about Shilpa saying Shilpa Poppadum, Shilpa F***awalla etc. The justification she gave to BB for this was that she could only think of Indian dishes when trying to think of Shilpa's surname (appo f***awalla-nu dish ellam kelvipatrukanga pola, am surprised, naan kelvipattadhe illa). By now 33000 complaints were lodged against the show, J's perfume was taken off the shops' rack (3rd bestselling perfume), D's modelling contract was dropped by one of the companies, and the company sponsoring BB withdrew it's sponsorship. All channels were talking about this alleged racism, and Indian Tourist Dept made an open invitation to Jade in all papers inviting her to India to know more about it. (jade ippadiye niraya deal vangardhula killadi, in 2001 show, she displayed her poor geography knowledge that Airline chiefs offered her free air tickets to travel places ;) )

Meanwhile BB hinted to J and D that their comments were considered racist, so D thideernu katchi maari S kitta manippellam kettanga. J, just before the eviction day, made up with Shilpa, said sorry and declared she is not racist. But public chumma viduma, Gordon Brown-e sonnapuram J-va evict pannalana dharmama-nu they evicted her last night.

Now Jade faces police enquiry, 24 hour protection, loss of business unless she justifies her behavior in the house. Idhula comedy enna-na, Jade had a successful career before she came into BB, and that is going into smithereens now; and Shilpa, whose career was lukewarm before this, has potential market in Hollywood just because of this issue :)) Naatla edhu edhellamo prachanai irukumpodhu, indha oru controversy has had the capability of rousing international attention and make/break careers!

Pokkiriku pokkiri raja...

2007-01-13T12:23:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Happy New Year, and happy Pongal too!! The site has been dormant for quite sometime, but adhukaga kodumai ellam nadakkala-nu thappa ninaichudadheenga. The kodumais are still happening - right from burning my fingers to being a standing attendee in a meeting for an hour and realizing later that it was the not the meeting I was supposed to attend! And en kalyanam pathi concerned-a kettadhuku nanri, I will post that soon.

Ok, I just got back from the movie called Pokkiri, London-la 12th anike release aayachu (India vazha rasiga perumakkale, idhellam yaarum kekka matteengala?) and I had to write about it...avalo interesting movie.

First of all, enna story-nu neenga yosikave koodadhu, Vijay rasigara, just get in and watch Vijay, that should be your source of entertainment. It is just a series of murders executed with a high degree of violence, that I was admiring the imaginative skills of whoever made this movie. Vijay is introduced as a rowdy, but hey, do we see any trace of roughness in him? Adhuvum the supposedly punch dialogue "naan oru mudivu eduthutten-na appuram naan solradhaye naan kekka matten" - coffee vadiyara mugathoda he delivers the dialogue that I doubt if the thugs would really be scared. The cute actress called Asin (sandoshama Asin-oda fans?) comes with a lot of flour on her face, that even Vijay peels a little off her face in a scene and asks her what it is! and the inspector who has a lust towards Asin, dude, do you have to literally show your "jollu"?

Thideernu second scene-la, Anandraj oru super pose tharuvar parunga oru boat-la...whoa! thats the death sign for all ad models or cine stars! My humble request to actors (yaravadhu edhavadhu actors-oda touch ellam vachirundeengana message pass pannunga), if you have put on weight, and if you also resemble a bear, please do NOT give such striking poses, the young hearts might possibly face a heart attack!

Idhoda telugu version naan parthiruken, adhula Mahesh sema elegant-a panni irupar, he has a kid's face, but the ruggedness he exhibits in the movie is apt! And a few romantic scenes such as the hero and the heroine co-incidentally landing on the same two-seater the first day, and subsequently making sure that the other seat is left vacant for the partner in the forthcoming days were so good in the telugu version, aana idhula edho sadaranama eduthuttu vittutar Prabhu Deva. I mean, you dont get the romantic essence out of it.

padathula onnu mattum nalla theriyudhu, the producer was really short of either money or calsheet! Varisaiya ella main characters-ayum pottu thallidarar, I was beginning to doubt if only Vijay would remain in the end. Scene-ku scene oru kolai, adhuvum enna techniques, enna techniques...am impressed!

Songs - except for songs featuring both Asin and Vijay, the others are either bad in choreography or is a lot of flesh. But, enaku oru doubt, kadaisiya naan partha podhu old movies-ladhan 5 mins-ku oru song sambandhame illama varum...is that trend back in place again? I know Prabhudeva was a dance master, but adhukaga scene-ku scene song vacha naanga ellam evalo thadavaidhan popcorn vanga poradhu?

Now, I know you are thinking that either I am one spoilsport of a movie-goer or someone who cant appreciate good things in life. Appadilam ninaikadheenga, there are a few good things too here - vadivel's comedy. Sila idathula gross-a irundhalum, niraya scenes nallave irundhadhu..for example, where he imagines himself to be Surya in Suttum vizhi sudare song...sema comedy adhu..I actually hit my forehead on the frontseat (vizhundu vizhundhu sirichenama). Appuram PrakashRaj's comedy, oh yes, avardhan idhula villain, aana parunga, avardhan comedy panrar! Endha oorla oru don ivalo comedy panvar-nu therila, he must be one heck of a take-it-easy guy! Oh well, I should also thank the movie for teaching me how to whistle (but naan theatre-la try panrache varala, maybe asin madhiri mathavanga finger dhan use pannanumo ennamo)

I see all signs of a box-office hit - no storyline, lots of violence, glittering star-cast, and above all, no sense. Vijay and Asin fans would surely like it, as evident from the fact that the folks who came along with me appreciated the movie. Theatre-la there were..let me count..we were 7 in all, then there was a 7 diagonally behind us, and then a 3 behind us..oh yes, thats about it - only 17 of us were present for the movie, but hey, this is London, not Chennai!

Ooru vittu ooru vandhu...

2006-11-26T04:12:00.000-08:00

Indha oorla irukardhu is getting a lot scary these days. Edho onsite vandhoma, 4 idam suthinoma, sandoshama irundoma-nradhe kanom. I am not sure about other places, but London is becoming an unsafe place. So indha blog enikkavadu gets dormant-na, maybe its something wrong up here in London :)) Ok ok, Indianangel, I am not insinuating at anything negative here, but konjam terrified-a dhan iruken naan and am trying to make it sound light. Or it is maybe that as usual enakudhan ellam thappu thappa nadakudho ennamo..

Recently there was this news: underground station-la, there was this guy who just glanced at another guy who was talking to his gf. They were apparently fighting, but indha payyan adhai kettana-nu therila. Anyways, so it was just a glance. Train vandadhu, and rendu guys-ume boarded the same compartment, and after a few minutes of the departure of the train, the second guy came up to the first guy and killed him! And this first guy was a student and wanted to sign up for the army. Super-a illa? Oruthan parthadhuke kolai panranga indha naatla..yarayum parkave koodadhu poliruku, even by the way of looking around casually. Naan erkaneve nalla paraku parkara case (I mean, in the good sense), so inimel velila pona I am planning to wear 4 layers of padded clothing, followed by 1 layer of red ink, and then my dress..kuthinappuram ratham vandha velai mudinjadu-nu ninaichuppanga la..he he..nethu Dhoom2 partha effect idhellam.

Ok, so I was thinking idhellam engayavadhudhan nadakum, just that wrong people wrong time and wrong place. Kadaiseela partha, namake aapu vaikaranga! I am not saying I faced a very severe situation, but whatever trivial thing that happened has quite scared me. On Wednesday, I had been to a night show of Casino Royale in my locality. Thirumba varumpodhu, it was slightly raining and dark, and I was wearing my coat's hood too. Appo roadla sila teenagers irundhanga, you would think they are just teenagers, that is what I thought too. Thideernu two of them came to me asking "is that a man or a woman", and we just kept walking. One of them touched me from behind, and naan rombave kaduppaiten - I mean, who the heck is touching me-nu - and I said "Get lost!" and walked away. Konja neram they were laughing saying "ok, thats a woman" appadinu, but thideernu I dont know what hit their brains, one of them, a girl came running behind me and started yelling at me. Thirumba partha, she started asking me "Do u want me to smack you up?", I was for a moment shocked. This kid, who probably is in her teens, is threatening me, considerably elder to her. I asked her, "what is it to you whether I am a man or a woman?" and she continued yelling "do you want me to smack you up?", and my anger started rising.

Not that I am the kind who hits people, aana normal-a namakellame kobam varumillaya if being unfairly threatened, adhan enakum vandhadhu. I was thinking, why cant we just hit this impertinent kid, when her friends surrounded us, and oru chinna payyan - nijamave kutti paayan, may be he is 11 or 12 - started yelling at me using all possible expletives. En kooda vandha nallavar (he he) started asking them, "why do you want to hit her", and this girl justifies herself saying I told her to get lost! Aniyayama therila? Ivanga vandhu chumma poravala thoduvangalam, naan aana thitta koodadham! He pacified me saying 'Usha, dont get tensed' and apologized to them, and naanum 'sorry'-nu kaduppoda avangala parthu sonnen. Appovum kooda they didn't want to let us go and were threatening us. So mudive panten, seri nammala pottu thakka poranga, suthi yaarume illa, gaali di Usha nee-nu. Appodhan yet another kiddo from that gang came and said "hey, c'mon leave them" and started pushing them away. Then konjam light-a we got relieved, and we started walking the other way.

But I was so tensed the way back, and seething with anger. Enna kodumai parunga, these "thugs" are just teenagers, younger than us, and still they had the upper hand. And they might have attacked us with knives or anything, and still escape coz as far as I learnt, there are not laws that arrest teenagers, and they can get away with this. Maybe I am wrong, but that is what my colleague told me. Aana romba aniyayam, I am scared these days to walk after hours anywhere, konjam gumbala yaraiyavadhu parthutta I shiver inside and try taking longer steps towards home :))

Kadhai kadhaiyam karanamam

2006-11-03T14:14:00.000-08:00

Namma kadhaiye inga perumkadhaiya iruku, idhula tag kadhai vera. Idhellam romba kodumai, oruthi tag vendam vendam-num podhudhan ovvoruthara vandhu tag pannuvanga, and my sincere apologies to hastobeme, avanga kitta naan oruthadavai matten-nu sonnadhuku ippo nalla padaren. Pons, since you hadn't given me a definitive reply, naan pannala un tag.

And please please please, let this be the last"est" tag that I ever write in my bloglife. Vendam...azhudhuduven! Padmashree-ku pappa porandhiruku, so avalai thittama vidaren, she was the one who started this to me. And porkodi, unnai pazhi vangama vida matten naan..grrr!! And let me say who has to continue this - would be Viji, Shuba, Veda and BS Karthik (and that is because the originator NY? enkitta kadhaiya vazha vai-nu kettutadhanala) Indha listla yaravadhu idhai seyya matten-nu soneenga...Padmashree-ku vizha vendiya athanai sabam/thittu/kuthu ellam parcel panni anupuven :)

AYYA SAMINGALA, this is a story tag, and the person is just supposed to continue the story from where it has been left. NY started this, and I continued, thats all. Idhula puriyama poradhuku enna iruku????

The Unusual Endings

“It was rather strange”, he muttered to himself as he pondered on what had been happening for the past three days, while walking out of the arrogant Italian, Vencelli Darpkink’s 19th century office, which was home not only to its proprietor but also to pugent odours and queer looking sapiens from time to time.

Meera Dias, was the name. They had first met when things were quite off note. “Lagos wasn’t a place for summer spots”, he had warned her. What he heard now was troubling him even more. Congo was not something he had suggested either.

My addition:

"Ennadhan panra ava anga?" he wondered aloud, as he got out of the cab outside the building that flaunted a board that read "Amanushya vishayangaluku anugavum: Dr. JevitsJayaraj". Aniku kalaila, he had got a call, and pesinadhu Meeradhan. Aana he could notice the difference between the voice he had listened to 2 days ago and the one he heard in the morning. '2 days munnadi sema super-a veenai madhiri ketta kural iniku kaalaila eppadi husky-a vichitrama?', he shuddered for a moment recollecting the conversation he had..

"Hello, iss it Vassisht, naan Meera" - there was an eerieness around the voice he heard...

_____________

Indha kadhaiya ezhudardhuku oru 10 condition vera, idhula edhai venumnalum neenga meeralam, aana ellathaiyum meera koodadhu, ok? (NY?, eniku Indians ellathaiyum rules padi senjirukom? So indha leniency) Appadi ellathaiyume follow pannina Mahatma-ku oru kilo halwa ambi anupiduvar (enaku promise pannirukar, nija halwave tharen un tag ezhudaravangaluku-nu). An alternate condition to this is to continue it the way as I think it should be.

This is a Story Tree and is best nurtured as follows:
1. A blogger can add only 90-100 words (not more or less) at a time (keenjidhu, count vera pannanumakkum)
2. All previous snippets of 90-100 words need to be copied before the new set of 90-100 words are appended. (aama, appadiye valarthu valarthu kalpaga vrutsham aakidalam)
3. Each entire snippet should be linked to the respective author (and not just the first sentence or so) (aamama, illana padikaravanga paavam thedi alaivanga paarunga!)
4. Characters, scenes, etc. can be introduced by an author (aana yarum London-a izhuka koodadhu solten)
5. Bizarre twists, sci-fi, fantasy sequences are best avoided. (he he, naan meeriten)
6. After appending 90-100, the Story Tree can be passed on to at most 5 bloggers. (correct, 5-ku mela kodumai paduthina paavam chumma vidadhu)
7. If more than 1 branch leads to a blogger, s/he is free to choose any one of them but cannot mix the snippets of the individual branches. (illana engaluku kozhambidum)
8. The Story Tree is best left to grow than concluded (adhavadhu Kolangal madhiri)
9. Please attach the image of the Story Tree above with each accepted tag (the link address can be copied and used). (romba mukkiyam!!)
10. Please comment back your story’s link to post from where you were initially tagged so that people can follow. (idhudhane 3rd pointum?)

Tag enru kelvi, inru ketkamal vazhkai illai!

2006-10-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

This is for Porkodi, who has decided to torture me after Padmashri with a tagging excercise. Porkodi, en unaku indha vendadha velaiyellam? Anavasiyama chennai vandhu adika vaikadha ennai! Inimel yaravadhu tag panneenga ennai...vendam, anavasiyama enaku flight charge ellam vaikadheenga!

1.The best thing to do - torture others!

2.The best gift -

that i gave is- nothing that i have ever given to my close ones, be it a gold bracelet or a car or a card or anything has satisfied me as the best gift. I am still searching for THE BEST gift.

that i received- he he

3.The best thing I've ever heard - Oruvelai worst thing-nu ketrundha niraya sollirupen. yarange, tag mathunga!

4.The best thing I've said - naanum niraya try panniruken, emotional-a edhavadhu azhaga sollanum-nu, enaku varardhellam nakkaldhan, illana I make the stmt as messy as possible otherwise.

5.The best thing that happened to me - vidiya vidiya The Departed parthutu Matt-um Leonardo-vum appa payyana-nu ketta enna solradhu?

6.The best person I've met - read 5

7.The best friend- Priya, and two more yet to meet in India.

8.The best moment - every moment is the best moment.

9.The best book - aama, adhu onnudhan kuraichal, oru book "Performance Analysis of Java Websites" thedi thedi azhudutruken :(

10.The best blog - ellame nalla blogdhan, I dont want to mention any single blog and disappoint others - edhavadhu blog-la en site mention pannirupangala-nu parthu parthu nondhutten, che nammaldhellam blog-e illa poliruku-nu.

11.The best place - Milford Sound in NewZealand

12.The best food - Gobi machurian thavira micham ellam :(.

13.The best song - Partha mudhal naale - ippodhaiku

14.The best hangout - hangout-a? me already hanging onsite.

15.The best eatout - BArista Blast is my favo - adhai kodukara Barista!

16.The best hobby - blogging

17.The best TV show ever - TV-na enna?

18.The best manager - amma

19.The best musician - Ilayaraja

20.The best gang - me, vino and sumi

21.The best drink - water?

22.The best quote - Whatever happens happens

23.The best woman - My amma

24.The best kid - naan kid-na adipeenga, ella kid-um ore madhiridhan irukanga, oh, there was one kid who when she lost in a game, said "The game is not abt losing, it is about learning". Imagine, she was just 5 yrs old!

25.The best poem - Veda, Vaishnav, Vishy - ivanga ellam kalakala dhan ezhudaranga, enna sila samayam puriyadhu, but they are very good!

26.The best dancer - Krishna ;)

27.The best movie - Therila

28.The best actor - ippo irukara actors/actresses-ku naane better-a nadippen.

29.The best vehicle - My scooty! Eppadi iruko adhu ippo :(

30.The best scene in a movie - Murder scene

Ok, do I want to tag anyone? Unfortunately I do, I am tagging Ravi this time for all the comments he left in my site. Ravi neengalum edhavadhu unga site-la ezhudanumla, so guruvoda assignment idhu ;)

Mudhal mudhalil parthen..-III

2006-10-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

En b'day-ku wish panna ellarukum danke danke danke!! And Shuba, adhai publicize panni periyavangaloda vazhthukkal ellam enaku anuppinadhuku romba nanri!!

Che, enna idhu, Maniratnam style-la oru blog ezhudina purinjika matenreenga, enna azhaga artistic touch-oda (*ahem*) mudichen pona part, appuramum vandhu Part III ketta enna seyyardhu naan? Ok, here goes:

Manamudithavar pol aruginile or
vadiivu kanden thozhii
mangaiyin kaiyil kungumam thandhu
malaiyittar thozhi
kanavinil vandhavar yaarena ketten
kanavar enrar thozhiiii
kanavar enral avar
kanavu mudindhadhum
pirindhadhu en thozhiii???

Hope you have all got ur mukthis, sandoshama ending partha trupthi-oda irupeenga.

Ok, before you decide on the ending, that was climax 1 of the story. En Kuttisathan in its wicked usual self typed that. Ippo matter-ku varuvom, which is climax 2, and the one screened:

Next day en amma compel panni ennai saree katta vachu (andha vegadha veyil-la) utkara vachitanga. And the normal me was complaining, "Amma, 5 minutes-la yarum varalana, I am changing to a salwar, vegardhuma!". Correct-a 5 minutesla (en neram!) vandhanga oru 4 periyavanga - 2 ladies, cousin anna and one more person. One of the ladies was the guy's mother. Naama usual ramp walk 5 minutes-la start aagi, naan adhe chair-la utkarndhu adaka odukama avangala parthen (enna panradhu, mudhallaye amma solliachu adakkam amararul uykum-nu).

Payyanoda amma ennaiye parthutrundhanga oru karunai look-oda, and I was wondering "en indha madhiri parkaranga, oruvelai matika poriye ma en payankitta-na, illa matnanda namma payyan oruthikitta-na?" But anyways, practically partha avanga ennai parthudhan aaganum, appodhane decide panna mudiyum? Mudhal naal madhiriye ellarum pesikittanga, konja neram pochu..appodhan vachanga oru mega aapu.

"Enma, unaku pada theriyuma?"

Edho ad varume "Payyan ennai pada sonna naan avanai aada solven"-nu, that flashed in my mind. Aana my bad luck, payyan wasnt there (kedi!) and obviously I can't ask his Mom if her son can dance, so "he he, enaku padalam theriyadhu"-nu vazhinjen. "Illa parvalla, naanga MS range-kellam edhirparkala, chummadhan ketkarom". MS range? *ahem* naan carnatic spectrum-la the extreme end ache, en ippadi ellam avamana padutharanga? "En anna nalla paduvan"-nu sonnen, but avanga ennai madhiri ella, so she didnt ask me "un annavaya parka vandhom naanga?", but said "parvallama, oru chinna paatu padu, en mappillai (pointing to the second person) kooda nalla paduvar".

Adada, super usha-nu ninaichute avarai parthu "Oh, neenga paduveengala, neenga padungalen"-nu sonnen. Udane avar, "illama, infact payyanoda amma super-a paduvanga, adhan she wants to know if you sing well"-nar. *cough cough*, "ohh...(avanga kitta thirumbi) please neenga padungalen, ivar neenga nanna paduveenga solrar"-nu sonnen, and then the topic went round the room with various stories and flashbacks on music. Usha was slightly relaxing that she had averted a major disaster when the cousin (mudhallerndhe sadhi panrar ivar) said "seri seri, romba digress pannita nee, ozhunga padu ippo!".

Ada iraiva, kandu pidichitangala ennoda plan-a?! Kodumai da iraivaaa-nu polambitte "seri ok, neengale oru ranakalathuku aasaipadareenga, naan padaren"-nu sonnen. Avalodhan, *pop* *pop* *pop*-nu satham - my mom, brother and dad had disappeared from their places! Only the other ignorant folks were waiting for my thani avardhanam.

"Bamtu reethi koluu viya vaiya"-nu arambichadhudhan, then I closed my eyes. Kannai thirakarache the room would be empty-nra oru complete confidence-oda andha pattai paadi kannai thiranda...everyone was there. Enna idhu, sema tolerance limit poliruke-nu avangalai sema achariyathoda parthen, and they said "parvallama kathukkamaye ivalo padara, yaravadhu kathu koduthirundha it might have been too good"-nu diplomatic-a soltanga (romba kodumai paduthitten ninaikaren he he)

Then came the notch, "ponnu romba siricha mugathoda nalla iruka, engaluku pidichu pochu, nichayathartham seekiram vachidalam. Enna payyan will be traveling soon, kalyanamum udane mudichidalam"-nu solranga! Ennoda azhagiya nilakalam was slowly coming to an end in front of my eyes *Sigh*, kadalai pottuka kooda time thara mattanga poliruku, what is a marriage without a good duration of mutual kadalai?

My mother had been appreciating the guy for his decency and sophisticated behavior - adhavadhu ennai parthutu pogumpodhu en number kekkalayam, appadiye poitaram. "Adadada, idhe mathavangalam ponnai partha udane pidichirthuna would have asked for her number, romba nalla payyan, I like him" - adhu idhunu hype koduthitrundhanga. When the guy's mother left, she asked my brother - "He had asked for Usha's number, konjam thara mudiyuma?" I dont want to elaborate on my Kuttichathan's reaction to my Mom ;)

Inimel yaravadu Part IV adhu idhu-nu keteenga..thedi vandhu adippen, therinjukonga, purinjikonga, pesadheenga! En b'day-ku night 12 manikellam cake and candle-lam vandhadhu, road-la celebrate pannen with a lot of onlookers :D B'day filled with surprises - Shuba and Viji, you too have a share in that :), thanks for calling me up!

Mudhal mudhalil parthen..-II

2006-09-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, as promised, here is the part 2 of the story:

Innoru room-ku ponoma, he sat, and naan konja neram nikkaradha utkararadha-nu yochitrundhen (no one had taught me, and all movies had the girl standing), appo payyane utkarunga utkarunga-nu solli varpuruthinadhala (mattumdhan) naan utkarndhen.

Utkarndha udane he started talking about himself, naan inga work panren, enaku ivalo salary, indha madhiri family nanga adhu idhu-nu. Seri right, naamalum same type of information bytes transfer panvom-nu naanum sonnen.

He: Neenga velaiku ponum-nellam kidayadhu, house wife-a irundha kooda enaku ok
Me: Illa, I am career oriented (carrier eduthukittu office poye theeruvenama)
He: Compulsion ellam kidayadhu, neenga poganum na pogalam, illana its fine. I can support the family.
Me: Illa, I would prefer working, but if I decide one day that I want to stay at home, I should be able to do that. (adhavadhu naan velaiku pogalanalum vachu thanda soru potte aganum, adhan enga condition)
He: Ok cool, enna plans vachirukeenga?
Me: MBA pannalam-nu idea, IIM target panren (seri seri, enaku light-a arivu illamaya poidum?)
He: Oh fantastic, en friends kitta material vangi tharen
Me: (ennadhu? friends kittaya? naama innum mutually ok kooda sollikala, adhukulla promise ellam panraru? Oruvelai othukalanalum friends policy?) oh ok, sounds good
He: Enaku indha indha idathula ellam lands iruku, so wherever you are interested in these places, we can get a house built. Illana kooda andha lands-ku nalla value
Me: (*More bewildered* naan solra edathula veeda? ayyo kuzhaparare, adhu eppadi ennai pidikudha illayanu kooda decide pannama arasiyal vakkurudhi ellam?) mm..

Inga ennoda appa entry kodutharu. He was already tensed that the guy had asked to talk to me alone, ennada panranga ivanga-ntu he came with the pretext of asking the payyan if he wants coffee or water. Enaku sema siripu, 'appa, enpa unaku indha tension'-nu. Payyan vendam-nu soltar, and my dad was standing there not knowing what to do, then he reluctantly left the place. Then we continued..

He: Enna interests ungaluku? naan movies buff, ella moviesum parpen
Me: Enaku suthama movies pidikadhu, I go only if I am compelled. I am interested in reading books. I just try my hand in drawing and painting. And I love traveling.
He: Reading books? Enaku suttu pottalum varadha pazhakkam adhu!
Me: (aaha, enna porutham!) :) oho seri..naan ippokooda was reading John Grisham's The Client while waiting inside.
He: (laughs) Endha place-ellam poganum neenga? I have travelled to all places, if you want to settle abroad, we can do that.
Me: (Whoa! enna nadakudhu naatla? If I want-a? nambadha Usha, arasiyalvadhi type poliruku, votes ellam collect panrar payyan!) he he
He: so unga job profile enna? Evlo experience ungaluku?

Ingerndhu ellam interview range-ku ponadhanala, censored. Kadaiseela nanga velila varumpodhu, ellarum sema tension-la irundhanga. Everyone had the same question on their faces "30 minutes ennadhan pesineenga appadi?"..

Konja neram pesitu they left, and ellarum were tensed. Naan mattum decide panniten, eppadiyum payyan wants a housewife and wants to settle in India (background soltanga-la!), and naama opposite, work out aagadhu-nu. But I was telling my Mom, "Ivaroda height-ku ennai thavira yaarum vazhkai thara mudiyadhuma chennai-la"-nu kindal pannitrundhen (he he)

Next day was fun, suthama call varala. Ivanga ellam enna appadi pesina, they arent even responding-nu ore imsai ennai. I was saying "cool ma, first person to meet me, udane mudinjidanuma enna?" and all that. (enna panradhu, disappointment kattika mudiyuma enna? enna irundhalum handsome person *sigh*). "Payyan veetlerndhudhane call varum, naama epadi kekkardhu?" - amma's anguish.

Scene shifts to payyan house: Payyan angayum ingayum suthararu, and he looks at himself in the mirror 'ponnuku ennai pidikalaya?, en call-e varala?' - "Enna ponnu veetlerndhu no call? Amma, can you call up?", "Illada, ponnu veetlerndhu dhan call varum, that is procedure". 'Enna procedure-o!'-nu kaduppagi, payyan kilambi cousin veetuku porar. Anga poi restless-a suthittu, cousin brother kitta, "anna, neenga panreengala?" "illapa, ponnu veetladhan call panvanga.." "Romba sandosham!". He again goes around the entire house restlessly, and it is 5 PM. Still no calls?! What the heck-nu, "anna, ippo neenga call panreengala, or shall I call up directly and ask?". Cousin anna arandu poi, "ayyayo illapa, naane pannaren, casual-a visarikaren"-ntu he made a call.

Enga veedu: *Tring tring* "Phone vandachu!! Amma, phone eduma!" - my anna (aama oorla phone namma veetlayum payyan veetla mattumdhan iruku!). Amma eduthu listens to something, and says "Yeah yeah, ponnuku ok, payyanuku?" (dhoda! ennai kekkave illa? naandhane adhai sollanum?). After a few thavippana seconds, a bright expression came over her face, and she told me, "Usha, nalaiku unnai payyanoda amma, periamma elam parka varanga, definitely saree!!"

PS: Porkodi, Viji and Ravi, part 2 pottuten, inimel you cannot scold me, I have kept my word. Erkaneve there are speculations that naan mokkaiya mudipen-nu ;), hope I have met that expectation. Jagan, ippadilam unmai pesina appuram en photo munpakkam thirumbum, ellarum bulb vanguveenga..grr!

Mudhal mudhalil parthen..

2006-09-23T09:23:00.000-07:00

Ellarukum mattikara velai varanum illaya? Marriage-a? No way, yaaravadhu emandha sonagiri kitta poi indha bajanai ellam vachikonga-nellam super-a dialogue ellam vittu periappa chittapa kitta ellam vangi kattindirundhen. Appuram vachanga ellarum super-a oru aapu.

I had been to Chennai for a short stay, and veetla amma kaila nalla kottintu I was off to a friend's place wearing my usual costume of jeans and shirt. Friend veetlayum adhe dialogue dhan vittutrundhen, marriage-a che che, adhellam 2 yrs kazhichu parka soliruken parents kitta-ntu. Idhai naan sollitiruken, en mobile-la oru call - en arumai anna cool-a solran "Usha, kilambi veetuku vaa, unnai pon parka varanga"-nu. WWaaaaaaaat?!! "Enna anna solra, ponna?" "Aama Usha, now get going, vaa veetuku, next 30 mins he is going to be here! " Enaku kadupana kadupu, oruthi ooruku vandhirukale, nimadhiya viduvom-nu edhavadhu iruka ivangalukellam? grrr....So thittite I started towards home consoling myself "Ok Usha, idhellam arasiyal-la sagajam, ippodhane arambichiruku, innum time aagum yaravadhu oru bakra finalize aaradhuku, this is just the first time"-nu. Naamdhan ever-optimistic ache!

Oru background inga, en appa and his acquaintance had met on a good amavasai and had chatted up which ended in mutually exchanging the info of that person's nephew and mine (vera onnume illaya indha naatla pesaradhuku?) And rendu pakkamum follow-up pannitu, this process had gone into a hibernation mode as the guy was planning to go to Germany as onsite, and I had said I need 2 more years. Ippadi ellame perfect-a poitrukache, his cousin who had casually glanced at my profile spotted my brother's name and has said "Ivan-a? En colleague ache ivan, nalla smart-ana payyan, ivan thangaiya parkalam vaa"-ntu had immediately called up home and had announced their arrival. Paavam, anna madhiriye thangaiyum nalla irupa-ntu emandhuttanga, but that is a different issue.

Inga ippadi appa, anna-nu kudumbame sadhi pannadhai ninaichu I was getting heated up. Anga payyan-kum interest illa, he thought I was too lean - namma oorladhan Jo, oh sorry, Kushboo madhiri gunda irundhadhane ellarukum pidikum - so he had told his parents that they dont have to come, and that he and this cousin brother would go by themselves and meet the girl and get back. Edhuku ellar time-um waste pannanum, vendam-nu solradha naane pantu vandhudaren-tu he started from his residence.

Indha side naan veetuku vandhutu "Paaruma, saree ellam kattika matten, payyan mattumdhane varar, so jeans-e ok illaya"-nellam dialogue vittutu nalla vangi kattinen. Enna aniyayama iruku, ponnu parkaradhuku pasanga mattum padu casual-a varanga, ponnu mattum saree katti, poo vachu, anna nadai ellam nadandhu scene poda vaikaranga? Adhuvum enaku vekkam, this anna nadai ellam set-e aagadhu. So we mutually agreed on a salwar and I got ready pretty quickly, face wash, salwar, oru pottu - all set.

After a little waiting in my bedroom (adutha aniyayam, edhuku ponnai ellam suspense-a konja neram kazhichu kataranga? Ponnu enna Rajini-ya enna, bg music-oda varardhuku?) I was called out for the ramp show. Velila vandha udane, the first person I saw was looking a little elderly, hayya Usha, reject pannidalam jolly jolly-nu naan ullukulla kokkarichite second person-a paa..rr..th..aa, young-a tall-a hefty-a irukaru!! Oh, idhan thalaivar-antu I said a hi and sat on a chair (sofa ellam already occupied).

Ellarum mathi mathi pesaranga, ennai kekkara kelvi-kellam my dad, mom and bro were answering (adhuku enai edhuku koopidanum, neengale mudichikongalen), aana sweet kondu varardhuku mattum ennai anupi vachanga. I went in and brought some sweets on a plate and came out. Idhellam pazhakame illaya, so plate ellam table-la vaika theriyama dom-nu vachu en manathai naane vangikiten. Cycle gap-la payyan-a appappo partha (pinna eppodhan muzhusa parkaradhu), thalaivarum super-a sight adichitrukar, so I had to avert my eyes. This is another kodumai, pasangalukellam ponnai head to toe parka nalla chance, but what will girls do? Eppadidhan decide panvom naanga ok-va illaya-nu?

Ellarum nalla mudinja varaikum pesi theerthuttu, what next-nu yosikarache, thalaivar kettar, "naanum Usha-vum konja neram thaniya pesalama?" Avalodhan! Everyone was a little taken aback. "Umm..ok.."-nu sollitu appadiye utkarndhitrundhanga ellarum. Enaku sema siripu, coz payyan was wondering, ennada ivanga pesalam-nu soltu ingaye irukanga-nu. Naan, after enjoying a few moments, suggested that we go to another room in my house for that (crisis management-ama idhu)

Ok, the post has gotten too long, will continue in the next post on what happened next.

Ennai solli kuthamilla..

2006-09-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

Iniku enaku nijammave sema kadupa iruku, I aint going anywhere, and am just stuck at home. I was trying to clean up the mess at home, but well, ennoda super anti-maintenance skills ithanai naal pannina mess-a avalo seekirathula ennala sari panna mudiyala.

Seri ok thoongalam-nu pona, my KC, as it did a few months ago, is triggering some kobam on a few folks. Naan indha IT field-la irukardhuku karanamana makkala dhan solren. Sila months munnadi ippadi oru post potrundhen, but that was on a note that I wasnt able to do anything worthwhile, but today I am thinking in a different angle.

Naan chinna kuzhandai-va irukumpodhu (adhavadhu oru 6-7 vayasu), en amma edhirtha veetu aunty kitta ennaiyum anna-vayum anupinanga, "Ivangaluku music kathu kodunga"-nu. Anna went and came back saying he was in, and whne I went, she asked me to sing Sa Pa Sa. Naan ennoda mazhalai (*ahem*) kural-la Saa Paaaa Saaa-nu padinena..avalodhan adhai kettutu avanga en ammakitta, "Sorry, unga ponnuku suttu enna, surgery panna kooda nalla paada varadhu"-nu solli anupitanga. Aniyayama therila? Oru moonu, moone moonu syllable-a vachu enaku paate varadhu-nu sonna enna nyayam? Adhuvum avalo chinna vayasula oru kuralai modify panna mudiyadha? naan enna 60 vayasulaya pattu kathuka ponen?

Seri ok, dance kathu-ko en amma optimistic-a dance kathuka anupinanga. En anna-vum naanum oru institute-ku music and dance kathuka ponom (adhavadhu he music, me dance). I dont remember how long I learnt, may be 2-2.5 yrs, but thideernu en appa veedu matharom-nu solli complete-a different area-ku mathittar! Indha area oru kaadu, so no classes at all! :( Appuram oru 6-7 yrs kazhichu keezha oru Kuchupudi artist tenant-a vandhanga. Dance-ku enna ina-pedham-nu naan adhai kathukardhuku join panten. I had hardly spent 3-4 mths when she vacated! Akkkkkramam! Oru kalai ippadi avangavanga veedu matharadhunala ellam enkitta serama odudhu! Adhukappuram academics-laye poyachu en line.

Ada saridhan, idhan workout aagala, namma appa nalla varaivare, naama adhai try panvom-nu I tried drawing too. Mela iruka natarajar naan varainjadhudhan computer-la, but en neram paarunga, workplace-la velai sei-nranga! Pavam indha natarajar, naan color panven, color panven-nu 1.5 yrs-a wait panrar, naanum work mudiyatum work mudiyatum-nu sollite iruken. Kalai mukkiyama velai mukkiyama?? Yarkavadhu vilangudha idhu?

Che, enna ulagamada idhu? Oru future Sudha Raghunathan-o, Padma Subramaniam-o, Maruthi-o valara vidama, just, just oru Usha-va develop panni vitruku! So, naan iniku oru periya aal-a illana, adhuku karanam naan illa, indha ulagamdhan - having declared this, I am off to bed with a peaceful heart!

(BTW, yaravadhu en thappudhan adhu idhu-nu comment vidaradha parthen...jaganmatha-ku kaavudhan appuram)

Ninaipadhellam nadandhuvittal...

2006-08-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

TV-la thannoda mugam varanum-nu ninaikara jadhi jaasthi, adhaivida jaasthi TV-la thanoda mugam marundhuku kooda vara koodadhu-nu ninaikara jadhi. Idhula naan second type. Kalyana veetuku pona kooda video aal pakkathula light pidicha kooda "ayyo camera"-nu odiduven. Ofcourse, edhuku oru nalla samacharathai pei padam madhiri aakanum-nra nallennam dhan.

Naanga PG classes-la 3 per, romba romba amaidhiyana adakkamana ponnunga, endha faculties-kume engalai theriyadhu, endha students-kume naanga irukara idam theriyadhu, avalo amaidhi. Usha-va, adhu yaaru (ayyo avala?!) appadinra alavuku adakkam naanga (seri seri, appadiye oppositedhan). Adhula oru nallava enkitta sonna, "Usha usha, en thambi-oda friend edho channel-la edho program-ku host-a irukan. It is basically a chat show, edhavadhu cinema star-a vachikittu niraya college pasanga pesara madhiri oru show. Indha episode-ku edho aal shortage-am, en thambi ennai koopidaran, neeyum variya"-nu ketta.

Naan refuse pannen, ayyo TV-a, chance-e illa, naan matten adhu idhu-nu solli edhuvum work out aagala. So sari ok, gumbaloda govinda dhane, naama appadiye pinnala olinjikkalam-ntu ok solten. I and my friend, her brother and 3 of his friends ellaruma serndhu Annanagar-la iruka some Y restaurant (enna per, marandhu poche)-ku ponom, angadhan shooting-ntu. Vazhi fulla pulambitrundhen, vendam di, en family-la yaravadhu partha college time-la enna panra-nu keppanga-nu. Appuram naane samadhana paduthinten - eppadiyum idhu 6 PM show, namma veetla yo relatives veetlayo illa therinjavanga yaarum andha time-la poyum poyum college show ellam parka mattanga, vera edhavadhu nalladha parpanga-ntu decide pannintu I braced myself for the programme.

Kodumai 1: Indha programme-la pona week-lerndhu cine star varardha niruthitangalam! Ada paavingala, veruma 6 per pesardha enna program-nuya poduveenga? Kodumai! Seri ok, the ever-optimistic Usha decided that this would be an attractive reason for people not watching the show.

Poi andha restaurant-la utkarndhom, they gave some actress name, and avangalai pathidhan pesanum-nu soltanga. Munnadi niraya item vera vachitanga. I wasnt interested in eating, but andha camera manushan kept asking us to eat. Enpa, naanga enna bagasuran-oda children-a enna, lunch-um saptutu ingayum vandhu kottikaradhuku? But again, pesama irukardhuku idhu vazhi-ntu naan paatuku eduthu saptiturundhen, enna pesama irundha there would be no chance of me appearing on TV! Clever, eh? Appapo ennoda muthana mozhigalai udhirthuttu, naan pattuku vedikkai parthutirundhen. Finally the shooting got over, and we went back to our college.

kodumai 2 - This programme was scheduled for 6PM some tuesday, naan aniku college mudichuttu konjam late-a veetuku varen..my Mom confronted me, "enma edho programme-la vandha poliruke?" Naan udane, "he he, adhu edho indha vino sonnama, adhan..., unaku eppadi therinjadhu?" appadinu ketten. Then I got the shock of my life! Apparently, ennoda mama amma-ku call panni, "Ippodhan TV-la Usha-va parthen, super-a pesarale"-nu pottu koduthirukar. And in the next 5 minutes, my periappa had called her up saying that he is watching Usha in a restaurant talking well about something!! Aaha! idhu ennada idhu, ivanga rendu perume veetuku thalai madhiri, ivangale parthuttangala? The reason they gave was, edho channel matthite vandhangalam, correct-a indha channel had come up with my face! :(

kodumai 3 - Seri ok, relatives kitta dhan manam pochu-nu ninaichen. When I went to college, anga adutha adhirchi..ovvoruthara kooptu visarikaranga. "Enna Usha, TV-la parthen naan unnai? Adhu eppadi andha mokku mokkara saapatai?" Ennalum menmakkal (adhavadhu naan pesinadhai mattum sonnavanga) menmakkale!! Idhunga naan saptadhai mattum kuthi kuthi kattaranga! idhula oru jandhu, "usha enaku sema siripu, andha camera man unnai mattumdhan main-a focus pannan, and avan focus panra mukka vasi neram nee saptute iruka!! Ha ha ha, eppadi Usha ippadi sapta nee?" Grr grr..ada paavi cameraman, naandhan kidaichena unaku? That was the worst kodumai, naan face vara koodadhu-nu sapta, andha jenmam naan sapdaradhai shoot panni iruku!!

kodumaiyin sigaram - Seri ok friends and relatives-kitta ella manam-um karaiyeriachu-nu ninaichuttu oru naal college kitta poitrundhen, a guy who went by me came closer to me and then commented to his companion "Enda, indha ponnudhane naama pona varam TV-la parthom?"

Kettadhum koduppavane Krishna Krishna..

2006-08-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

This is a post intended only to express my feelings on my visit to ISKCON, and absolutely NO offense meant to the society (en solren-na I havent yet formed what I want to write yet, edhavadhu ekku thappa oru stmt vittutu mattida koodadhilaya :D adhan, but loooong post, beware! )

Nethu Jenmashtami, so I had been to the ISKCON temple here in Soho street. Naan ISKCON devotee kidayadhu, but I was curious to know about it and to see how the celebration is. So seekirama velai ellam mudichuttu veetuku 6-ke vandhu, ready aagi romba seekirama 9:00-ke veetai vittu kilambitten. The festival was supposedly till 1:00 AM, and had begun in the morning.

1 national rail, 2 underground tubes pidichu andha idathuku pogumpodhu it was around 10:30. Ulla nuzhainja udane a lady said hare krishna and edho sandana namam vachanga, and I didnt know I was supposed to say Hare krishna, and I said hello. Appuram as I went in, I saw that a foreign sanyasi was lecturing in the main hall, but I couldn't get in coz there was no space. Seri-nu andha chinna area-va suthitrundhen, it is actually a residence with the main hall in the first floor, and a room upstairs and an affiliated restaurant downstairs. So keezha mela ellam parthutrundhen.

Then I sat down on the stairs, and was watching people..2 ladies nalla vambu pesitrundhanga, 4 young girls were selling kitchen towels, fany necklaces saying the devotees can gift to Krishna (seriously, kitchen towel vachittu avar enna pannuvaru? So I decided maybe they give the money to some non-profit org or they give away the towels to some non-profit org) but most of them were chanting hare rama hare krishna with the rudraksha mala hidden inside a bag, indha bag avanga kaila mattikaranga..en? adhuku neat-a andha malaiya kailaye vachikalame?

Then keezha vandhen, and I got into a discussion on "why Krishna consciousness, appadi enna krishnar qualify aarar"-nu. Now, I am not saying Krishna shouldnt be, but like I said I was curious to know about the society, and I needed a good answer to convince myself. So why not Vishnu consciousness (afterall Vishnu-oda avataram dhane krishnar) or Brahma or Shiva or even Lakshmi? Oru foreigner was chanting nearby, so avarai kooptu kettom. Naan indha question ketta udane romba neram yosichar (idhellam therinjudhane accept pannirupar Krishnarai God-a? En yosichar therila), and he said "Krishna is the superior God, and the others are demi gods according to mythology; you know, he is the king, and the other gods are ministers in his kingdom".

"But, I have read a few mythologies, nowhere does it say Krishnar is king and others are ministers..." (innangada idhu, ippadi naama padichadhe illaye?!)

"Oh well, umm...there is this story where Brahma hides Krishna's friend in a cave, and Krishna manifests himself as his friend, and when Brahma returns after sometime, he finds the friend alive"

(Idhu enna kadhai, naan padichadhe illaye) "oh yeah?"

"And in some other story, they say that Krishna is the king"

"which story?"

"have you read Krishna book? it is said in that.. "

"But Krishna is an incarnate of Vishnu, right?"

"yeah, vishnu and krishna are two forms of energies"

"so why did you choose Krishna energy, what makes it better than the other?"

"umm..maybe another person will be able to tell you better, my english isnt good"

**Bulb** ada enakudhan! No offense meant, aana oruthar Krishnar-ayo illa Vishnuvayo Hindu religion-la eduthukarar-na he will have his own reasons - enaku kuladeivam, vinayagar azhaga irukar, krishnar ennoda friend madhiri adhu idhu-nu. But adhe complete faith to the extent of having a kudumi and wearing saffron cloth and chanting the mantra, and not even from the religion, you need to know why you are laying your faith on, or atleast why you have accepted the fact that this God is superior. But ippadi matter-e theriyama Krishnar-na?

Naan, being an agnostic, am trying to find the truth behind divinity (or the lack of it), so ennoda idea behind having this discussion was to get somewhere near the truth behind divinity (Krishnar-o shiva-vo, yara irundhalum avar divine-a, is he the entity I am searching for) and place my trust, avalodhan. Che che, naan desperate soul ellam kidayadhu, but I believe every human needs an entity to place trust and belief on, so that he can shift his burden on that entity. Ethanai naaldhan en kodumai endhu endhu-ne sollikaradhu, I need a scapegoat to say needhan idhuku karanam :)) j/k, but I think I have made my point.

So oru mutru peradha question-oda, I went into the mainhall for the chanting before the harathi, and everyone was so passionately singing hare rama hare krishna mantra. Oru foreigner music ellam pottu padrar, and the crowd was repeating it, and i also joined coz i liked it. Close to 12 AM, thideernu oru ponnunga kootam barged in and stood before the screen near me..enaku sema kadupu, naanga inga nikkarom thideernu vandhu muttitu nindha enna artham-nu. I realized that the screen was hiding Lord Krishna, and that they had come for a front-seat vision of him. Anyways, by that time, the beat of the chant went to a high decibal, and these ladies started jumping up and down. (Adhennamo enaku artificial-a irundhadhu, en-na they stop when they are tired and smile to each other, and thideernu kaiya thookitu jump panranga..total bakti paravasam-na tiredness theriyuma?)

The clock struck 12, and the screen opened to show a *so beautiful* Radha Krishna...I was stupefied by the beauty of Lord Krishna and his consort, that for a few seconds I couldn't think of anything else. Wow, amazing!!! Appurama konjam vizhippu thatti, I prayed him, and decided others need a go to stand close to the idol, and left the place.

Thirumba vandhadhu oru kodumai, kadaisi train miss panni, mazhaila nanainju bus pidichu, national rail pidichu veetuku vandhu iniku joram vandachu :)) But, I still have that question in my mind, why Krishna? Is it because we need some identity as God and Krishna being popular was chosen, or is it that Krishna indeed is the best? Aana onnu, I appreciate the people who dwell in the belief that there is Krishna for them and attain peace by thinking of him, blessed are the souls who have found their companion and guide :) Enna bhakti one should have to be able to make this society grow?

Vandhen vandhen meendum naane vandhen..

2006-08-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

Ore adiya periya periya aapellam vizhudu enaku..and I decided I'd rather use my blogsite to vent instead of talking to myself at office :D

Motham 3 issues ore samayathula missile attack madhiri - one is an exam, the other two came out of some session I attended at work. Enga office-la appapo exam ezhuda solliduvanga, romba naalache college padichu, brains-a overhaul pannunga oruthadava-ntu. Podhakuraiku promotion-ku necessary-nu vera soltangala..naanum nominate panninten. Aana naamadhan edhayume sariya panna maatome, I messed up with the intranet site and ended up scheduling the Advanced exam first and the foundation course second! :(

Indha manga organizers ezhudara engakittaye invigilator arrange pannikonga sollitanga :)), so as usual ellarum en pakkame thirumba, namaku romba vendiyavara parthu invigilator-a pottuten :D Sema match fixing, oru pint offer for every question-tu. Naan enna irundhalum nermaiyin vakurudhi, nambikkaiyin marupeyar etc etc etc illaya, so copy ellam adikka maaten, neenga ellam pozhaichikonga-nu udhar vittuten.

Vizhundu, vizhundu vizhundu (niraya per satchi idhuku) padichen Sat and Sun(enna irundhalum veeravesama pesitenla, so ennaiye sabichitte padichen :( )..ofcourse onnum vilangala - naama enna school-laya padikarom purinju padikaradhuku? Enna subject-nellam solla matten, idhuka ivalo scene vidara-nu yaaravadhu thuppita avamanam :D, so ipodhaiku adhu mahakashtama paper-nu vachipom. Oru weekend-a ivalo pazh pannitome-nu oru chinna varutham, but still "karka kasadara" appadinu gandhi thatha soltare, so padichitte irundhen.

Monday vandhadhu, naan seri Usha therinja invigilatordhane, unnoda kolgai ellam mootai katti vai-nu exam center pona...naan member-a iruka committee thalai anga nikkaran!! ada paavi, ivan edhuku invigilator-a inga vandhan-nu naan padari adichu hall-kulla ponen, partha en pinnadi utkarndhu exam ezhuda arambichuttan!! Adhu kooda paravalla, en kooda exam ezhudina micha punniyavanunga Foundation course, and I was the only one writing a different paper!

Paper-la padhi question-ku answer therila, ellam out of syllabus (naan padikadhadhellam out of syllabus dhane), so Inky pinky ponkey pottu 30 mins-la test mudichutten. 1 hr duration, so micha nerathuku enna panna mudiyum? Invigilator sema smart-a vera irundhar, so sumar 22 mins andhaalai sight adichuttu (unfortunately, that samiyar was looking outside), idhuku mela unnai yaralayum kapatha mudiyadhu Usha-nu Submit button p..r...e...s...sitten..

Woooow, I just couldnt believe my eyes when I saw that I had scored well!! Sema sandosham, and moreover romba naala aasai pattundhen exam-ku padichu exam ellam ezhudanum college madhiri-nu, and I was even thinking of joining some MBA course. How many of us miss exams and the tensed moments before the exams? I do!

Naane varuven...

2006-07-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Romba naal achu post pottu..true, not because en paatu cassette theerndhu pochu-nu, but because oru chinna break eduthu fresh-a thirumba entry vidalam-nu iruken. That may be right next week, or even next month or well..6 months later.

I know my visits to your sites have been sporadic, but mannichu vidunga ennai, blog-hopping kashtama iruku, especially when my monitor is visible almost to the entire world...so yaaru eppo eppadi en monitor parpanga-ne puriya mattengudhu. And London vandhu suthi edhuvum sariya parkalaya, adhanala weekends ellam adhula konjam poidudhu..but soon vedhalam madhiri ella blog-kum sutha arambichiduven, enna Europe-la ella edamum ore madhiridhan iruku..so I would soon get bored. Konjam wait pannunga, and sorry about the infrequent visits.

Kodumai paduthardhuku thirumbavum varuven, dont conclude that I have gone for good yet :D avalo seekirathula yaarayum vidaradhilla naan ;) Till then, it is bye from Singari and Kuttisathan :)

Gobi vandhadha mudhalil....

2006-07-02T06:14:00.000-07:00

Man!! Absolutely no kodumais!! Professionally, lots..aana not worth mentioning, but absolutely none on the personal front! Train ellam correct time-ku odudhu, meeting ellam correct-a attend panren, memory-um achariyama nalla velai seyyudhu...something terribly wrong in the Usha.exe program. All perfect and no kodumai makes Usha inactive :(

So tortoise coil categorydhan innaikum. This happened when I was in my first job. Naanga oru periya team, and appapo team lunch-nu poiduvom. Our team consisted of 3 herbivores(naan utpada) and the rest were carnivores, and the carnivores team would have nothing but non-veg...oru pechuku kooda veg sapidarom-nu othuka mattanga.

We had a chinese restaurant next to our workplace, and angadhan mukkavasi poi nippom. On one fateful day, we decided to place a takeaway order and have it in our cafeteria. Aniku-nu parthu, one herbivore wasnt there and one of the carnivores had some viradham. Naanga surusurupa fried rice, Gobi manchurian, and pala oorvana parappana neendhuvana nadappana-nu order pannittom.

Ellam vandhadhu, and table full-a ellam parappi vachuttu, the herbivore minority (3 - 2 all time herbivores and 1 temporary) sat together and the others happily settled themselves around. Oru aniyayam ennana, carnivores can have both kinds of food, whereas poor us can have only one option - enna aniyayam parunga! Anyways, we took our meagre food, and when it came to having Gobi Manchurian, we told the carnivores not to put their spoon in the dish and to use a common spoon to serve for everyone. (Naanga avalo suthamama!!)..andha pasangalum chamatha appadiye pannanga.

Super-a irundhadhu food, especially the GM. Naan almost padhi dabba gaali panten, and the others shared the remaining half..that was the first time I had Gobi Manchurian, so I was falling in love with it. Saptute irundhoma...appo thideernu carnivores side-lerndhu oru kural varudhu - "hey!! This doesnt taste like Gobi manchurian, I think this is chicken!!"

Appodhan naan oru piece eduthu vai-la pottu mokkitirundhen..appadiye vai-kulla pause aayiduchu ella activity-um. Ennada pesara-nu andha payyana naan adhirchi-oda parka, andha payyan nalla andha piece piratti parthu mathavangaluku zoology lab-la specimen autopsy panra range-ku kattitirukan, "See how fleshy it is, it is so soft" adhu idhu-nu!! Ada paavigala, ithanai neram mokkineengale, oruthanavadhu vayai thirandhu sollirukalame..oruthi ippadi half the dabba gali panrale, munnadiye solvom-nu thonudha ungaluku? At the end of it, everyone started laughing at us mocking at our "spoon" rule :(...and when we enquired, the dish turned out to be Garlic chicken! padika theriyadha chef ellam vachitu enya engalai kodumai paduthareenga?!

Idhaivida enna kodumaina, when I went home and told my Mom (ellathaiyum poi amma kitta solra nalla kuzhandai naan), she told me not to touch her for the next 3 days :(

Ennai theriyumaa??? - II

2006-06-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

Enna panradhu, ennamo last 1 week oru kodumai kooda nadakkala..oruvelai ennoda horoscope change aayiducha, illa planets have decided to give it some rest and launch a major fatal show-vanu therila. But whatever it is, blogspace-la post podama vidaradhu thappudhan. So I have decided to continue the previous episode as a filler, although this wouldnt be as hilarious (grr, pona post-ku yarellam LOL poteengalo avanga ellam adutha piravila andha college-ku poga kadavadhu) as the previous one.

So, indha payyan kadupethinana..naanum kadupagi andha area vittu en friend-a izhuthukittu kilambitten. Then I again went in search of that department, so oru end-lerndhu innoru end varaikum suthinen asking the inmates (yeah, inmates dhan..) where the department was. Ellarume theriyadhu-nu ore badhildhan - 'enpa, oruthanuku koodava theriyadhu indha dept pathi? Naan enna underworld don-oda residence-a ketten, after all oru department dhane?' ippadi yosichutte poitrundhoma..thideernu pinnalerndhu "hello, ennanga"-nu pala kural..

Thirumbi partha, andha dracula innum sila pala draculas-oda nindhu koopitrundhudhu. Naan muraichittu thirumbitten, appadiyum vidama avanga pinnala vandhuttu, "ennanga venum ungaluku" -nan andha lead dracula. Naan, seri ok, yaaravadhu sonnadhane theriyum vazhi-nu, indha department poganum, eppadi poradhu-nu keten. "Seri seri, vanga enga kooda"-nu kootitu poi mudhalla enga ennai kalaichano adhe idathuku kootitu ponan (adhan avanga execution point poliruku).

'Engada adhe idathuku kootitu varan'-nu naan yosichitrukum podhu indha dracula enkitta innoruthanai katti "ivanuku 4 joke sollunga, appodhan department kattuvom"-nran! Andha innonu kurangu kutti madhiri oru idathula utkarndhuttu sirichitruku...indha nilamai-la joke sollava thonum? Pathittu vandhudhu enaku...naan kadupula muraikka, thirumbavum "ada ennanga, seri ore oru joke sollunga podhum"-nu insist pannan. "See, all I want to know is the direction to the department"-nu naan light-a voice raise panna(enaku tension eriduchuna english-ladhan pesa varum, adhu en-nu innum therila), adhuku andha perundracula solran - "enga, avanuku tamil-la joke sonnadhanga theriyum, english joke-lam puriyadhunga"!!!!

Ada paavingala!!! Inga oruthi kadupula pesaren, joke madhiriya theriyudhu unaku-nu I started leaving from that place..appo andha dracula "enga, sorry-nga, unga kannu enaku romba pidichiruku, adhan ippadi panren" appadinan, "sorry-nga, naan sethappuram venumna ungaluku en kannai dhanam panren"-nu kadupula sollitu I left. And after I came out, some brahaspati (ithanai neram engappa irundha nee) showed me the department and I went and invited that HOD.

Shuba utpada yarellam andha doubt ketteengalo, ippo clarify acha? Andha HOD vandhara-nu enaku nyabagam illa fest-ku, but en friend indha incident-a kadaisi varaikum marakave illa...idhula sandosham vera avaluku, nalla velai avalai kalaikalayam avanga..grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

Ennai theriyumaa???

2006-06-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

Iniku yaaro ennai kettanga innoru aalai kaati, do you recognize that person-tu..that statement took me some years backwards..

Appo I was in college, and was in charge of some fest going on in my department. En college-la yarkume naan amaidhiyana adakkamana bayandha ponnu-nu theriyadhu, and moreover naan pattuku en anna-oda bike eduthuttu college poitirundhen - so ponnu romba dhairiya case-nu mudive pantanga. When the HOD wanted two of us to go to a men's college near Marina beach for inviting some department head, ellaroda viralum en directionlayedhan point pannitirundhadhu :( and the girl who came with me said "Usha, needhan ulla pesara, naan chumma koodadhan varuven"-ntu. Ennangada idhu, pasanga enna crocodiles-a illa draculas-a ippadi ellam bayappadradhuku-ntu naanum avalai dhairiya paduthu(?!) kootitu ponen.

College ulla entry vittom - there were no indications as to where we can find any department..so naturally naan poravar varavar kitta ellam kettitirundhen eppadi poganum-nu. Achariyam paarunga, no one knew where that department is!! I was kinda lost, when my friend nudged me - "usha, anga yaaro unnai koopidaranga paaru". Someone had asked her to call me, and romba poruppa ivalum kooptuta.

Oru payyan nindhitirundhan anga, and I went up to him with a questioning look. Avan romba friendly-a ennai parthu "enga, ennai theriyudha"-nu kettan. Naan nalla parthen, but I couldnt recognize him at all. "Illainga therila" appadinu sonnen, and again he asked "enga, nijamave ennai theriyalaya?"-nu kettan. Appo en moolai-la, 'ivan light-a namma anna-oda classmate madhiri irukane...aana avan indha college eppadi'-ntu oru thread pochu. But still I insisted "illeenga therila" (naan by default friendly-a, so serious-ave face vachika matten strangers partha kooda) with a smile. Marupadi marupadi adhaye kettundhan avan, naanum uthu uthu parthutu therila therila-ne sollitirundhen..

Finally, I got a little impatient and said "seringa, enaku nijamma therila-nga ungalai"-nu, appo he stood up erect, pointed at himself and sirichutte kekkaran: "enga, unga kannu munnadi ivalo uyarama nikkaren, unga kannuku naan theriyave illaya?"!!!!

Appodhan en moolai-la faint-a oru bulb eriya arambichudu..'Ada paavi!! Ithanai nerama nammala eichitturundhana ivan?!!'-ntu. Vayitherichala kilaparadhuku-nu avan kooda irundha dracula gumbal sirika, en kooda vandha ennoda friend vera he he -nu innum kadupethi vida sema tension aayiten naan. But naamadhan amaidhiyana adakkamana ponnache, I didnt know any word to retort other than "chi po" to scold anyone..adhaiye sollitu andha idathai vittu kilambitten.

Appuramum andha dracula ennai vidala, but that is a different stuff. Aana adhu eppadi enaku mattum thedi thedi vandhu kodumai dance aadudhu?

En kelvi-kenna badhil?!

2006-05-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

Endha site-ku ponalum, indha questionnaire dhan iruku! Ada kodumaiye, idhukellam eppadidhan porumai iruko-nu yosichindha ennai kodumai paduthitta Shree-nra drogi. Idhula senti vera, pls time spend pannu-ntu..grrr!! Shree sollitale-nradhukaga naanum indha kodumai anubavikaren (edho daily en life-la kodumai-ye nadakkadha madhiri)

1.Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4.
Ada iraiva, pakathula en notepad..adhula page no. potrupana enna? Seri start counting..yeah, page 18! Oops, ore oru vari dhan iruku! :( Adhuvum left hand-la naan kirukina "1+1+9"

2.Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.& catch air?
Ans. no, hit the pillar right behind me :((

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Ans. Sat aniku crazy madhu-oda meesai aanalum manaivi

4. Without looking, guess what time it is?
Ans. Idhellam over-a therila? Erkaneve enda 6 aagala-nu iruku! 4:30 PM?

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
Ans. 4:11 PM

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
Ans. keyboard tapping by my colleague..enya office-la vera enna ketkum? Idhukaga ears strain panni vera ketten! Adhuvum computer-na, well, at present I dont hear anything else :(

7.When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
Ans. Lunch.

8.Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
Ans. The same survey in all blogs, last in Veda's! Appodhan nyabagam vandhadhe Shree tag pannita-nu.

9.What are you wearing?
Ans. Formals pant and shirt.

10.When did you last laugh?
Ans. aama, idhai vera track panvanga vaa! probably 15 mins earlier? Yaaro dev team-la vittutu poran-tu oru cover circulate pannanga, and there was a paper along with it. Enkitta koduthavan sign your name and strike it off-nu sonnan, seri-nu naanum andha paper-la sign pannitu edhukuda strike panrom-nu yosichutte strike-um panten. I didnt know that developer, and I didnt know what was inside the cover (ulla coins sathama kettudhu), so namakum idhukum enna sambandham-nu yosichutte boss kitta adhai kodutha...card-a velila eduthu sign panniya-nu ketkaranga!! Aaha, ulla oru card iruka vishayame theriyadhe enaku!! He he...he he-nu vazhinjutte card-la sign pannen. So everyone laughed, not only me..

11.What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Ans. Fire action instructions, fire alarm, ippadi sila pala matters.

12.Seen anything weird lately?
Ans. Yeah, all blogs having the same questionnaire!

13.What do you think of this quiz?
Ans. Grrrr...grrrrrrrrrrr...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

14.What is the last film you saw?
Ans. Darna Zaroori hain...edho pei padamam, parthutu vandhen

15. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
Ans. a million dollar business and a 30,000dollar worth business strategist to run it and make more profit

16.Tell me something about you that I dunno
Ans. Shree, ennai pathi unaku enna theriyadhu?

17.If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
Ans. Everyone should have a balanced life with no extremes of sorrow or happiness...veruthudum life.

18.Do u like to Dance
Ans. I like to, but would others like me to dance? ;)

19. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
Ans. Abitha kuchalambal

20 Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
Ans. Abitha kuchalamban?

21.Would you ever consider living abroad?
Ans. Ippo enna pannitirukenam?

22.What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
Ans. enma earth-a kodumai paduthinadhu pathalaya unaku? Un fellow bloggers ellam ulladhan irukanga..po po ;)

I tag..I tag...is there anyone who hasnt done this yet? Logic, ezhudareengala? Vishy, how about you? And ammu? Ajay, you gotta do this, ezhudhidu idhai. And then vsr, bala.g, krk and bindhu. And I will pick up from the comments too and add the list later. Yaam petra kodumai peruga ivvaiyagam he he..yaravadhu mudiyadhu soneenga..I will start spamming your blogs ;) with the same request.

Chiku buku chiku bukku railuu...

2006-05-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

Indha nalla London managar-la trains odudhu-nu ellarkume theriyum, aana enna azhagula odum theriyuma? Everyday in some networks, there would be some delay, some engineering work...so eventually late-a varardhu normal-ana vishayam. And if you arrive on time, well, that's a bonus!

Naan ennoda 2.5 months tenure-la oru thadavai kooda on time vandhadhe kidayadhu en office-ku. Podha kuraiku ennoda nalla lead en time sheet naan parkareno illayo, avar correct-a vandhu naan eniku late-a vandhen, enniku off eduthen ellam track panni vandhu sollitu povar. Yet another aspect in my life here is that, I keep shifting residences..idhoda 4 idathula stay panniachu, just like my career, my residence also keeps changing. Ippodhan Sunday aniku I moved to the 4th place (oh yeah, and the next day my brother left for India).

Monday aniku I started for office - idhu pudhu idam illaya, so I didnt know the exact station and stuff and only knew the overall picture (en mobile eduthukka marandhutten, to ask others from same area). I had a meeting by 9:15, so I was kind of rushing. So station-lerndhu I took a train to London Bridge which was good, just 20 mins travel. Ippo London Bridge pathi yaravadhu periya expectations vachirundheenga-na marandhudunga, it is just like our normal bridge over Coovam.

London Bridge-la irangi I took the Northern Line to Moorgate, en office-la niraya per andha station-ladhan iranguvanga, so I thought I could go there. Train erittena, adutha stop vandhadhu..Bank. Normal-a naan previous edathulerndhu Central line eduthu varumpodhu my train passes through Bank, and it is the stop just before my stop. Aaha, Bank vandhuduche, namaku Central line edutha easy and familiar-achenu I got down.

Erangi suthi parkaren, platform-la central line indication-e kanom!! Seri padi eri parpom-nu eri ponen, partha Monument station-nu potruku!! Aaha, eppoda Bank station Monument station-a marichu-ntu kozhambitte suthi partha District and Circle lines dhan anga nikkumam! Hayoo, ennada idhu-nu frantic-a edhir platform partha, there was a board saying Central line. Seri-nu platform cross pannen...panna udane, the arrow indicated the stairs going dpwn. Seri ok-ntu padi iranginen, irangina vandhudum-nu. Irangina udane, left indication irundhudhu..ok fair enough, left-la thirumbina platform poliruku-nu thirumbina...the indication said go straight.

Ok, kona dhooram dhan-nu nera pona..there were stairs going up, so I climbed the stairs. Appovum platform kanom..innoru board said go straight..and there was yet another set of stairs, and the board said climb the stairs!! idhe madhiri 7 thadavai I had to go straight and take stairs up and down :( For every staircase reached, I was losing my energy and kadaiseela I was almost staggering! By now I had missed the Northern line which would have reached Moorgate in one minute, a circle line that would have reached in 5 minutes, and when I saw the arrival board, it said the next train is due in 6 minutes!! Ada kodumaiye, idhuka naama ivalo kashta pattom-nu time partha...it was already 9:30! Breakfast missed, meeting missed, train also missed!!!

Office reach pannumpodhu mani was 9:50 AM, and the kodumai didnt stop there, I opened my calendar only to see that the meeting was only next week!!

(Seri seri ok Bala.G, enna enna line inga pogudhu-na - Central, Piccadilly, Hammersmith & City, Northern, Jubilee, District, Circle, Bakerloo...idhuku mela edho 2-3 iruku. But dont ask me where these lines go, these lines cover the whole of London. Circle line mattum, as its name depicts, goes round and round covering specific areas..so thoongina kooda you can still go to the place you want sitting in the same train. I dont want to cover the stations, that would be too much, but what I was mentioning was that "Bank" is just before my usual stop Liverpool St via Central line, and unfortunately it is just before my new stop Moorgate too via Northern line. Adhanala kuzhambi poi naan irangitten. Avalodhan...ippovavadhu edhavadhu vilangudha?)

Ethamayya etham unaku romba..

2006-05-13T10:14:00.000-07:00

Sila pala varam munnadi I had posted that I had an interview with the client illaya..adhoda results enaku oruvazhiya indha varam dhan therinjudhu, 2 days ago. Idhu romba over dhan, irundhalum they were interviewing other canditates too and finally arrived at a conclusion that I and another person can get into the role (mathavanga evalo kevalama pannirupanga-nu yosichu parkaren ;))

Idhula enna kodumai-na, I never knew I was selected. No one told me that I had been taken in, matha means (adhavadhu en peers/discussions) vazhiyadhan enake theriyudhu naan selected-nu! Oru canditate vandharu, avarai kootikittu en desk-ku vandhu "She is Usha, she is moving into so and so role" appadi-nu solranga...and enake appodhan theriyudhu 'oho naama ippadi vera oru group-ku porom'-ne!! Idhellam over-a therila? Move panna pora enake therilayam, evano oruthan interview-ku varan, avankitta ennai pathi solranga!!

But there is one good thing, enaku en current boss kitterndhu vidudhalai vidudhalai vidudhalai!!! This guy oru kind of maniac-nu vachikongalen, avar panradhudhan correct, mathavanga enna pannalum adhu thappu and doesnt come up to his standards appadi-nra unnadhamana kolgai-oda vazharar indha manushan! For example, this guy was blaming the documentation given by another team, seridhan ivar super-a ezhuduvar poliruku (he said no one comes up to his standards!) appadinu ninaicha...ivar document-la conclusion second heading-a iruku! Idhu varaikum I havent seen a single doc with conclusion right ahead of other sections, have you?

Innoru instance-la he wanted me to give a doc on some plan, naanum poruppa complete doc koduthen..idhe ennoda keezha irukavanga enkitta indha madhiri kodutha I'd appreciate it or tell them softly that they need not have taken pains to give a complete doc. Indha aal ennada-na "may I know why you gave a complete doc?"-nran! Seri ok, namakudhan thalaivar pathi theriyume, so I said that is the template I normally use, (venam-na vitren, next time full-a tharamatten) appadinten. Ippo ungakitta indha madhiri yaravadhu full doc koduthutanga but you dont want it, eppadi react panveenga? To say the least, what anyone would say is "You need not have taken the trouble, ivalo ellam naan kekkala", that's it and that too once, right? Indha aalu, inspite of me telling him the reason once, kept on telling me about 3-4 times he did not need the entire doc in such a reproachful way, that I wasnt sure if I had committed some major mistake!!

Indha madhiri niraya instances-la romba kaduppagi, I had almost gone to a completely discouraged mode of mentality, when this news came! So jolly!! Inimel indha aal kidayadhu! Moreover, I dont have to work under a single person anymore, multiple bosses disorder-nalum, atleast I dont have to put up with a single person for a long time!! Hurrah!

Annan varuvan kadhai solluvan...

2006-05-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

En anna has come to london to visit me for a week...so one week jooot!!! Adhuku nadula kodumai nadandha will be here, illana next week!

Meanwhile, he is writing his experiences on the trip to London on his blogspot (adiyen idea). Andha blog visit panni ennai encourage pannina madhiri make him feel welcome to the blogspace too :)

Memoirs of Badri

Azhagiya Asura....

2006-04-28T06:12:00.000-07:00

Dedicated to IT couples...

Disclaimer: The above is categorically a kodumai intended for others except the creator who has been facing kodumais all through her life. People who read this would do so at their own risk. (he he)

முன்னறிவிப்பின்றி பெண்பார்க்க வந்தபோது
அழகாகத்தான் பேசினாய்

முழுசம்மதம் என்றுபெற்றோரை அனுப்பி
அழகாகத்தான் தெரிவித்தாய்

மூன்றுமாதம் திரிந்தோமே அப்போதும்
அழகாகத்தான் நடந்துகொண்டாய்

முகூர்த்தம் குறித்த நன்னாளில்கூட
அழகாகத்தானே சடங்குகள் புரிந்தாய்?

ஆனால்...

முடிந்துபோன ஓராண்டில்
முழுதாய் மூன்றுமாதம்கூட உடனில்லாமல்
Onsites என்ற பெயரில்
அசுரனாய் ஏன் வதைக்கிறாய்?

Manichu vitrunga ellarum ennai...niraya sites-la kavidhai padichuttadhanala en kuttisathan-ku arvakolaru high aagi vandha sodhanai idhellam (ofcourse, for all of you :D)

Senthil-kaga oru translation..

Munnarivippnri penparka vandhapodhu
azhagagadhan pesinai..

muzhusammadham enrupetrorai anuppi
azhagadhan therivithai

Moonrumadham thirindhome appodhum
azhagagadhan nadandhukondai

Muhurtham nadandha nannalilkooda
azhagagadhane sadangugal purindhai?

aanal..

mudindhupona orandil
muzhudai moonrumadhamkooda udanillamal
Onsites enra peyaril
Asuranai en vadhaikirai?

Columbus Columbus vittachu leavuuu!!! - III

2006-04-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, last part vandachu, and since there is not much information to share about the mountains and lakes in Scotland, I am just going to post the snaps with bits of miscellaneous information about Scotland.

Disclaimer: Idhellam moving bus-lerndhu eduthadhu, so ithanai naal neenga naan picture-perfect scintillating ultimate scenic beauty post panna poren-nu ninaichindha I am sorry if you are disappointed, I am but an amateur, and kidaicha 1 second gap-la photos eduthen moving bus-lerndhu.

Inga partheenga, indha madhiri niraya sheep menjitrukum pasteurs-la, ellam sema kozhuk mozhuk parties, ennatha thinnudhunga therila grass thavira! But no, Scotland isnt famous for its sheep, New Zealand beats Scotland in that aspect. Niraya stray aadum irukunga, malai mela menjuttu, and I saw rams fighting too...edho girlfriend prachanai pola!

This Mr. Maadu is called Heimish, ada ivar per illeenga, indha breed per-e Heimish dhan. But this gentleman is different, he is the Public relations Officer...surprised? Me too, but edho ivar zoo-la promote aagi ovvoru post hold panni ippo External relations officer aayitaram. Infact, yaaravadhu camera-oda nindha, udane ivar face camera parthu kattuvar, photo-vama! Ella sweets, cakes and chocolates sapduvaram...naan sapduvara therila, I wasnt sure if I could give him something without breaching some rule.

Idhula iruka panimalai ungaluku theriyudha therila, but well, there are mountains that have snow capped on them, but since this was beginning of spring, ellam melt aayiduchu :( But this is Scotland, a mixture of mountains and lakes, an awesome mixture at that!

Scotland edhuku famous theriyuma? Yups, you got it right (did you?), it is for Whiskey! Kelvi patrupeengale Scotch Whiskey? Adhu ingadhan panranga...and most of the people who drink Whiskey drink it with coke and icecubes. This is a wrong way of drinking it..eppadi kudikanum? A glass whiskey with 4-5 drops of water mixed with it is the right way, coz too much water or icecubes would saturate it. Eppadi 4-5 drops-nu vida mudiyum? Well, the ideal way is to fill a glass with water, drain it (not till the last drop) and fill it with whiskey..simple, isnt it?

Scotland Yard..hmm, if you think that is in Scotland, well, you are wrong. Scotland Yard-nradhu namma local London-la create aana police force. It's idea was to catch thieves, ofcourse, but it was replaced by London's metro police. So ippo Scotland Yard-nu onnume kidayadhu.

Ok folks, that is the end of the Scotland trip..ennoda blog will get back to kodumai mode again...sorry Ashok, en blog thirumba saga pogudhu ;), and sorry mahesh, kodumais are gonna get worse again ;)..hope you enjoyed this short deviation from a regular text blog :)

Columbus Columbus vittachu leavuuu!!! - II

2006-04-18T02:39:00.000-07:00

This time, it is the Rosslyn Chapel that became famous after Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code". This is considered a mysterious church with too many secrets in it, and church full-a carvings avalo azhaga irukum. I have taken only pics that dont appear in any other site, coz Apperentice & Mason pillars ellam net-laye kidaikum. Dan Brown-oda kadhai & its link to this chapel pathi end-la solren.

This is how the chapel looks now, actual chapel neenga net-la parkalam. This has been done to protect the chapel from further damage..so mudhal-la parkumpodhu naama nijamave chapel-ku vandhirukoma-nu thonudhu. Indha chapel was earlier damaged due to Protestant mobs when catholic churches/altars were demolished.

This is the burial stone of Sir William St Clair, an ancestor of the founder of Rosslyn Church, it says Willaim St Clair of Knights Templar. Knights Templar was founded for the protection of pilgrims, aana the actual intention was to find treasures in the Solomon temple and to protect a secret. This church was founded in 1446, and it apparently took 40 years for completion. History says indha building kattinadhe Knights templar dissolve aanapuram-dhan-tu. William III, the founder of Rosslyn, was the first head of the Scots' secret society similar to Knights Templar. Kudumbame marma kudumbam poliruku!!

This is the roof of the chapel - it is divided into 5 sections: daisies, lilies, roses, forget me nots and stars... Inga concept enna-na not even a single cm has been left without carving. Indha building was a tribute to Christianity by William, and he made sure that all carvings came as per his specifications and took extreme care of the construction phase. The carvings in the chapel are based on his vision.

Indha carving shows the 7 different sins that could be committed by humankind. I have marked the individual carvings with a white dot and explained each image..idhe madhiri on the other side, there is a carving that depicts the 7 virtues that humankind can do. Naama sins dhane jaasthi panrom, adhanala idhai eduthutten ;) One interesting thing is that charity is a virtue, aana sin-la thooki pottutanga..and avarice is a sin that was put into virtues! Confucius concept?
1. Pride - Puffing out his chest
2. Gluttony - drinking from the pitcher
3. Charity - Transposed with greed
4. Anger - holding an axe and a club
5. Envy - crossing his arms, surrounded by a bunch of grapes
6. Sloth - dragging a bag along the ground
7. Lust - lovers embracing

Indha angel oru heart madhiri onnu hold pannudhillaya, that is the heart of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland. Ivar namma Shakespeare-oda Macbeth's descendant, and indha heart-a William St Clair 1330-la eduthuttu varumpodhudhan sethu ponaram, and this is the William whose tombstone figures above. Indha angel supposedly depicts the intimacy between St Clair and Robert the Bruce and pays a tribute to Robert. Kutti vayasula Robert and the spider kadhai ketrupeengale, the one that has the moral "Try and try till you succeed", adhu indha king kadhaidhan.

This is the one of the carvings found in the outer wall of the chapel. Super-a illa? Idhoda carvingkaga indha snap eduthen, and I ain't sure if those figures are anyone in history :)

Now, over to Dan Brown. He has said that there is a 6 pointed star(chalice-spade combo) on the ground that is right above a secret vault. Indha chapel-la six pointed star-e kidayadhu. Either you have 5 pointed stars or a 8 pointed star. And the vaults only hold the remains of the St Clair family. Aana onnu, this chapel is believed to contain some secret, and prospects are mummified head of Jesus, Templars' treasures, scrolls from the Temple of Solomon...appadi ippadintu solranga. Moreover, Dan has also said that Roslin (rosslyn) indicates the bloodline of Jesus, adhellam onnum kidayadhu. Roslin => Ross: hill and Lynn: waterfall.

Things you could search for to get a good view into Rosslyn chapel - Green man (103 carvings inside the chapel), Apperentice Pillar (exquisitely carved and has a history), Knights Templar and Star of David.

The next post would be scotland's lakes and mountains...

Columbus Columbus vittachu leavuuu!!! - I

2006-04-17T02:31:00.000-07:00

Easter holidays engaluku naalu naal koduthanga, chumma iruppoma? So off we go and visit Scotland!! Namma England-ku niraya edhiris, adhula onnu Scotland..but no visa required. Ippodhane UK vandhirukom, so mudhalla visa illadha idama polam-ntudhan indha Scotland payana decision.

And this post (and the next couple of posts) are going to be pic-logs, so pics+info-odaye post panren, so that I dont give an over-dosage of pics or information.

Scotland - 1st point: It is a country of castles!! Idhu historic country, so you can find a lot of castles converted into shops/banks/hotels/houses etc.

Enna bandha paarunga, cliff-mela oru veedu! Eppadidhan anga poi servanga therila..chopper?! And Edinburgh suthi veedellam indha color-ladhan irukum, and you can see that they are old. But sema ornate-a irukum! Indha veedu (castle) extends in the behind too, but since I dont want to get into details, I am stopping here.

This is Glasgow Square. Glasgow-ladhan Industrial Revolution sema high-range-a introduce aagi and then became a kathu pona balloon. As a result, people got jobless and soon the city had more drunkards than people who work. Glasgow has a history of Catholics-Protestant rift which also had its share in the reduction of jobs (HP episode) in the city.

This is Scott's Monument in Edinburgh. Sir Walter Scott-nu oru famous writer irundhar, and this monument was raised in his memory. The statue in the middle of the monument is Scott, thalaivar had a carriage with horses, and regularly frequented a place called Melrose. Apparently, ivar sethapodhu, andha carriage-la vachu bodu eduthutu ponangalam..appo oru idathula the horses stopped for some time - and that place is called Scott's View and has a breathtaking view - this was where he used to go frequently in Melrose.

RBS-nu oru bank iruku, Royal Bank of Scotland. Scotland-laye periya and wealthy bank idhudhan. If you see the offices of RBS, ellame edhavadhu periya ornate building-adhan vachirupanga. Like the one here, somehow all offices seem to be based on an old historical building. Probably we should appreciate the way they select the offices!

Last of all, look at this lonely castle on the shores of some lake amidst mountains..clarity nalla irukadhu coz I had taken it from a moving bus like the RBS pic above, aana I liked the fort. Anegama naama pazhaya books-la ellam padikara madhiri ferries-la dhan povanga, "mayakkum malai pozhude nee vaa vaa"-ntellam romantic-a boat-la paduvangalo ennamo, but it is scintillating to have a fort alogside mountains and waters.

That's about it for now. If you had liked these snaps, I plan to continue with Scotland's famous Rosslyn chapel that figures in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and the lakes and mountains of Scotland. Oru change-ku en kodumai ezhudama padam podaren ;) Aana ippadi ellam permanent-a padam poduven-tellam nappasai vendam, en kodumai ellam thirumbavum varum :))

Nitham nitham nellu soru...

2006-04-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

Naan decide pannirundhen, probably I shouldn't be spending too much time on blog-writing and blog-surfing, as Ambi had pointed out..aana vedhalathoda destination eppovume murungai maramdhane - so back to my very comfy spot of Murungaimaram. But it is still under consideration, lets see. And since I am in a contemplative mood, a topic not with the usual flavor..

The other day sapdumpodhu yosichindhen, idhe India-la irundhirundha daily sooda saapadu kidaichirukum amma kaiyala + appalam or something like that, ishta patta padi amma-kitta idhai konda adhai konda-nu adhattirukalam..aana inga edhuvum mudiyala :( Naane samaichu, andha kodumai-ya naane saapida vendiya kodumai. Eppo food poisoning ellam vara pogudho therila..

But comedy enna-na, inga iruka so-called onsite medhavigal ellam (NRIs included) oorla irukumpodhu amma "sadham waste aagudhuda kanna, konjam thayir pazhaya saadhathula pottu sapiden"-nu sonna kettriupanga-nreenga? "Evan sapduvan pazhaya sadham, enma ippadilam torture panra"-ntu appadiye Buckingham palace-lerndhu direct-a vandha royal-heir madhiri statement-ellam viduvanga (naan perumai pattupen, en amma pazhaya sadham ellam en thalai-la kattuvanga). But once they come onsite, sambar-lerndhu rasam-lerndhu rice varaikum oreyadiya previous day/night samaichadha dhan irukum. Podha kuraiku yaravadhu thayir sadham kanla kattita podhum, my favorite-nu edho Arun Icecream ad range-ku gudhippanga :))

Me too same blood, enaku kai ellam pidikadhu but inga vandhuttu pasi-ku edhu kidaichalum adi-nra range-ku aayachu - Human scavenger, but only on decent food :)

Kelviyin Nayagiye....

2006-03-31T08:47:00.000-08:00

Yaaravadhu client site pona piragu interview attend panvangala? Adhuvum adhe client-kaga? Indha ulaga maha kodumai ellam enaku mattumdhan nadakum!

As I had mentioned earlier, inga enaku theriyadha oru domain-kulla vittutanga...and I had attended the interview, eppadiyo ulla vanten. Seri-nu konja naal andha domain therinja madhiri scene pottundha...there is this mail from the account manager to the customer saying Usha idhu (another role) kooda panva, avalai eduthukonga-ntu!! ada paavingala! Naan nimmadhiya irukardu pidikave pidikadha ungaluku?

And these folks have been searching a person for that role for long, and en podhadha neram correct-a indha varam regional manager vantan, that too right next to me! So no blog visits and that apart, ennai kettan "I heard that you are from this group, or is it a rumor?" Adhu rumor illada rasa, ulnaatu sadhi-nu ninaichitte "yeah yeah, correct"-ntu solliten. Then came the shock - I had to attend interview for this-nu! Ippodhane 1 mth munnadi padichen, adhukulla thirumbi padikanuma-nu ore sogam enaku.

Ok, lets get it over with-ntu I started collecting info on what they needed, and as expected, enaku theriyadha athanaiyum list-la irundhudhu..kadane-ntu when I was preparing, there was this party where that regional manager, having got drunk, told me there are 3 interviews! I was shell-shocked, ennai enna recruit-a panna poreenga? Ada paavis, enya ennai ippadilam paduthareenga?

The 1st got over y'day morning, edho university student madhiri presentation koduka sonnanga, aduthadhu oruthan US-lerndhu nadu rathri-la call pannan, and iniku innoruthan pannan - indha last dhan sema kaduppu, it had absolutely no relevance to the profile they are looking at me for, and adhe interview attend pannidhan indha idathuke naan vandhen! And adhai vida kodumai enna-na, given my excellent memory capabilities and capacities and cavities, naan padicha ellathaiyum 1 mth-la marandhutten! So eventually I wasnt prepared for what that guy was asking. So ennamo badhil solliruken, and it is already eod Friday..so result theriya vaippilla. Aana this thing means a lot to my company's revenue :( so sodhappinen-na manam pogum..

Kodumai-la? Adhu en enaku theriyadha vishayathulaye interview edukaranga ennai? And why is it that I attend interviews half the days in a year?

Adhanda Idhanda Indian doctor naandhanda!!!

2006-03-23T09:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, indha post-oda main reason pona post-ku vandha comments dhan. Some of the comments sounded like we dont have a proper system in place in India, adhu unmaidhan but namma oorlayum sila pala nalla doctors irukanga. And that is one of the reasons, I dont agree that India-la mothame corrupted unsystematic approach-ntu.

A few years ago, when I was in college and also doing my NIIT, ennoda Amma-va en scooty-la ethikittu NIIT ponen. My college was in AnnaNagar and NIIT was in Parrys (aama, naan 3 different parts of Chennai college days-la connect pannindhen :))). Thirumba varumpodhu we were conversing and at some junction she said "Parthu Usha, oruthan vengama side-lerndhu varan". I avoided that person and oru 20 metres poirupen, ennada pinnadi weight-um therila, kuralum kanume-nu thirumbi partha...en Amma-va kanom!!

Padhari adichutu, I stopped my scooty and turned back to find my Mom lying on the road near the platform. She had fallen down, and being hit by the platform, had become unconscious. Eppadi vizhundanga-nu therila, but anyways, I gathered my senses and arranged for an auto to take her to the nearest hospital, which happened to be Kilpauk medical hospital. Enaku slight-a hesitation irundhadhu, ennada inga vandhirukome-nu, but well, I didnt have a choice and I admitted her there.

Scan pannanga, X-Ray eduthanga to check her head injury and she was taken on a mobile stretcher to another room where she was treated by a doc. And a few minutes later, she regained consciousness much to my relief and asked me "En inga vandhen?"...I could barely suppress my apprehension that she'd ask who I am, but ok, avanga kekkala. Appuram doc kitta pesinen, and he asked me to admit her in a private hospital and that the preliminary treatment has been taken care of.

Kilambumpodhu naan usual procedure dhane-ntu, avarkitta unga fees enna-nu ketten...avlodhan!! Pottu midhi midhi-nu midhichuttaru, "enma neenga educated dhane (aamama, college padikarenla), oru govt hospital vandhu panam tharenreengale, arivilla ungaluku?"-ntaru! "Illa sir, normal-a doctor fees...", "Naan kettena? velila enna ezhudhiruku? Free medication-ntudhane? (and suddenly growing suspicious) vera yaravadhu inga kettangala?" I had to hastily hide the fact that the maid and the stretcher-guy had asked for money, "Illa illa, theriyama panten, sorry"-ntu escape aayiten. And then I took my mother to Apollo hospital and admitted her, and then called up my dad..adhellam vera kadhai.

But the point here is that, India isnt 100% corrupted that we are completely hopeless in India when it comes to hospitals. And since then, I have never been able to accept if someone says negatively, enna college padikumpodhu manasula padhinju pochu parunga.

Hello Doctor, heart weak-ache...

2006-03-21T06:59:00.000-08:00

Ennala mudiyala indha oorla, seriya manga oor-a iruku!

Visualize yourself in India - home sweet home - oru chinna kaichal varudhu, udane next street doctor kitta poi oru 4 mathrai illa 1 injection...what an easy life!

Indha oor ennada-na, if you want to go to a General Practitioner, fix an appointment..now, that looks fine, doesn't it? Inga oru chinna caveat - you will have to register with the doctor first, and then only can you get appointments with him.

Register panradhellam avalo easy-ntu ninaika vendam, for that you will have to first search in the NHS website for all the clinics that are in your locality, and then call up each clinic and ask them if they are willing to take you. Yes - patients eduthukaroma-nradhu avangaloda prerogative. They can say no, if they are already loaded with patients, or if your area does not come under their coverage! Dada concept madhiri therila? Ivanga ellam area pirichipangalam, naama area thandi kettutom-na "mudiyadhu, adhu namma area illa"-nduvangalam!!

Naan iniku eppadiyavadhu clinic registration mudichudanum-nu NHS site ponen, and searched for clinics in my area. Found only 2 clinics, of which one was a diabetic/mother-baby/ante-netal clinic, and the other looked fine for my reqts..seridhan-nu call pannen:

Operator: Hello
Me: Hi, I am Usha and I stay in Ipswich, and I wanted to know if you are taking in new patients (kodumai-la, edho yarayavadhu recruit panreengala-nu kekara madhiri illa?)
Operator: Which street do you stay in?
Me: XYZ Street (kashtapattu puriya vachen avangaluku)
Operator: Give me a moment - ding ding ding - sorry, your street is not covered by us
Me: ?!! (irukardhe onnu, mudiyadhu-nta naan ena panradhu?) Well..ok, thankyou.

Next, I placed a call to PCT (Primary Care trust) in my locality to ask for a clinic, and a lady there gave me a clinic's number on getting my postcode.

Operator: Hello
Me: (Fastly repeating what I said earlier)
Operator: We dont cover that area, I'll give you number, call them up, bye (dok!)

Seri-nu andha number call panninen, looks like that was some organization helping the residents to locate clinics (but adhane PCT? therila!), and avanga innum 2 clinic numbers koduthanga.

Angayum call pannen, and repeated the same stuff, and fortunately the lady said they do take in patients from my area. Appada-nu moochu vidaren...and she says, "but we cant give you an appointment until 6th April"..I was thinking this was some medical appointment, and I asked her if I shouldnt be registering first for which she replied, "Adhukudhan kannu appointment"!!

Ada paavingala, registration-ke oru appointment, adhuvum adutha masam!!

Ennada, polladha license...

2006-03-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

Yaaravadhu engayavadhu TV license pathi kelvipatrukeengala? US/Afghan/Singapore/inna pira naatu makkale, TV license unga oorla iruka? India-la kidayadhu-nu enake theriyum...

Indha maaperum UK maaganathula, you need to pay TV license fee annually if you own a TV! TV vilaye 60 pound, aana license 150 pound-am! Edho pazhamozhi solvangale...well I dont remember it, it eludes my memory, but ungaluku therinjadhu-na comment section-la vidunga.

But enaku indha concept puriyala - four-wheeler otta theriyum-nradhuku adayalam four-wheeler license, two-wheeler otta theriyum-ku adayalam two-wheeler license...but TV license? TV parka theriyum-na? Ada shop-keeper license protocol consider panna kooda reason puriya mattengudhe!!

And yeah, naama selavu panni oru veedu kattina appuram kooda namma veetukulla oru wall ezhupanum-na permit apply panni, inspection nadandhu, approval vanginadhan wall ezhupa mudiyumam! Idhu enna aniyayama iruku? Namma oorla vitruvoma indha madhiri rule potta? Mudhalla oru 4-5 kutti murpoku/pirpokku/purambokku ani ellam onna serndhu kathuvanga, koodave edhir katchi porattam panvanga...ada idhayum meeri rule pottuta irukave irukanga govt. officers...koduthura mattom gifts ellam?!

Ennavo ponga, kali kaalam..

Edhukku pondatti ennai suthi vappati....

2006-03-15T02:49:00.000-08:00

Nethu I was reading a book that revolves around Napoleon's second wife Marie Louise..hey, no! this is not a review at all! Oru normal reader-ku (adhavadhu ennai madhiri pamara human-ku) enna impression varudhu andha kadhai padicha udane-nradhudhan theme.

Mudhalla indha Marie & her royal family (Austrian Emperor kudumbam) chinna vayasula Napoleon-a bayangarama hate panranga, coz he invaded almost all kingdoms being a non royal-descendant. But when she is around 19, she is forced to marry Napoleon due to political reasons by her family. Inga oru super news, Napoleon mudhal wife-a thalli vachudarar coz she hasn't given him a kid in 19 years of their relationship and he knows that he isn't impotent coz his mistress has given him a kid! Namma Marie-um kalyanam pannikaranga. Appuram avanai meet panni first night mudinjavudane love panna arambichuduvanga, and this happens in 1 day! Apparently, andha kalathula ellam people can marry each other in register offices being in different locations (enna vasadhi parunga).

Avar nalla parthukarar Marie-a, she is happy and eventually bears a kid for him. Seri idhellam normal matter. Konja naal-la, Napoleon has to go for war with Russia..European Alliance form aagudhu, and despite Marie's pleas with her dad, avarum edhiri-a join pannidarar. Napoleon loses in the war and is banished to Elba. Marie kannapinna-nu feel pannuvanga, 'ayyo purushan enna panvar andha rocky island-la naan illama' appadintellam azhuvanga, but she is forced to come back to her father's palace with her kid inspite of her insistence on going to Napoleon.

Now, the European parties contemplate on making her the Duchess of Parma. Ivangalum adhu nadandhutta Napoleon-a frequent-a meet panlam coz of the location-nu sandosha padaranga. Meanwhile, she is suffering from Rheumatism and is asked by the physician to go to Aix for bathing in the medicinal waters there. Her dad sends her there with a one-eyed Count, Neipperg. Ivanga daily Napoleon pathi pesuvanga, aana avan kandukka mattan coz he has been instucted by the king to make her forget Napoleon. But he entertains her well and is considerate to her, so ammani-um impress ayiduvanga. At this point, she receives a letter from Napoleon asking her to come to him, she replies saying she isnt allowed and it might not be safe and he sends another letter hotly that he would abduct her and the kid if she does not meet him. Ingadhan madam manasu maridaranga, ennada ippadilam pesarane ivan-tu avanga love sethu poidumam! Theriyama dhan kekkaren, husband-wife kulla sandaiye varadha? Avan emotions purinjikalam illaya ivanga? Anyways, next few days she hears that he has brought back his mistress and her kid to live with him. Avlodhan, love ellam evaporated (this reason is atleast better than the earlier one).

At this juncture, ivangadhan already impress ayidaranga illaya Neipperg mela, rendu perum oru mazhai naal-la maja panidaranga, and become ardent lovers. There is a beautiful statement here - naan abstracted-a tharen - "She knew that Neipperg can never be her husband, but only her lover. Her strong Catholic beliefs denied the prospect of a divorce" - Aama, Catholic beliefs lover mattum vachikalam solludho? Ennanga idhu aniyayama iruku? Ishtathuku religion-a tweak panni use pannikaranga? Napoleon ennada-na anga maja panraru, ivanga inga maja panranga...what is family concept here? And this is the same conventional European community, or so I had been believing!

She gets the duchy of Parma eventually, and goes there with Neipperg. Thirumba pregnant aaranga, but she isnt shy to show the world that she and Neipperg have an affair! They marry after Napoleon dies, but that marriage is not something that would be accepted by law. Rendu pasanga avanuku koduthutu, avan sethappuram she marries yet another person with the protocol called "Secret marriage of convenience". She dies around 1859 at the age of 52-54 doing some social service during the waning years of her life. Ippadi mudiyudhu kadhai. Years ellam thappa kooda irukalam, enaku memory romba weak :D

Now, I am not criticizing anyone marrying twice or thrice, that depends on situation and emotions. But let them divorce the current spouse and love/marry someone else..but what is the point in the co-existence of lover and husband and the conflicting religious beliefs? Nalla kodumaingov idhu!!

Naadu, adhai naadu..

2006-03-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

Naama ennadhan ooru vittu ooru vandhalum, there are instances where you'd need to turn to your country in its different representations. Last week, enakum adhe madhiri oru situation..I had to send a legal document back to Chennai, and adhuku embassy seal venum as an alternative to 100Rs stamp paper-ntanga..

Naanum surusuruppa net-la thedi, anga inga kettu, Indian embassy-ku madhiyam poi ninna CLOSED-nu oru sign..apparently consular service is only till 12:00! (Adhuku edhuku net-la 1745 hrs-nu lord madhiri podanum? Hmpff!!) And inga irukara velai vaasi-la - train faredhan solren - thirumba thirumba varardhu enna easy-a? kaduppagi next day kaalailaye poiten.

Eppovavadhu TV-la oru disaster-struck village/town/city famine relief-kaga helicopters or NGO aided relief operations varumpodhu adichu pidichu nikkardha pathirukeengala? If you had, you can visualize it, if not, pls visit the Indian Embassy. Inga token system dhan, aana for god-knows-what-reason, ellarum alai modhittu counter-la queue-la nikkaranga! Adhan token vachu koopidarangale, adhuku edhuku Queue? And andha counter-la iruka jeevan, even before someone can reach the counter, calls the next number! En number-a call pannar, and inspite of seeing me stumbling through the crowd, romba eager-a adutha number-a koopidarar andha dheiva piravi!!

Viduvena naan (en lead mugam kanla theriyudhe!) I went up to him only to know that I required a photocopy of doc and passport (idhai net-la pottu tholaicha ennavam?! and I learnt that lot of people had gone for the same reason! Vega vegama poi photocopy eduthutu vandha, melum crowd..and yet another queue for the photocopy-folks had formed :)) Anyways, adichu pidichu counter reach panni pay panna...evening vaa-ntar andha mahanubavar! (Varumpodhu I had denied a day pass which would have costed only 20 pence extra as against £6 it was going to cost me for another trip :( Pennywise and Pound foolish?) So then I returned to work much to the awaiting of the rest for a team lunch..

Adhu oru kodumai, Japanese restaurant kootitu poi everyone had a good lunch except me, ennala sapda kooda mudeela and everyone was teasing me saying their lunch was good..I could only say "very interesting lunch" when the client-manager asked me - Pinna onnume puriyadha oru lunch interesting dhane?!

And like all is well that ends well, I went to the embassy in the evening and got my document - adhu onnudhan last week urupadiya nadandadhu!

Kannai kasakum sooriyano RED Red red...

2006-03-09T08:34:00.000-08:00

England veedellam RED Red red...
England makkal skinellam RED Red red...

ok, am not going to continue on this...aana something that strikes me unique here is that almost 98% veedu red color-ladhan iruku. Nethu naan vandha cab-la oru thatha-dhan driver, so I asked him..

Me: How come all the houses here are red?
Thatha: Well...it is made of red brick (hayyyo (Vaali Ajith's tone)!! appadiya!! adhu eppadi enaku theriyama pochu?? Grrrr)
Thatha: (apparently understanding my expression) that is the way it has been..the other color bricks are expensive
Me: ("Paint" appadinra vasthu kelvi patrukeengala eppovavadhu?) Well, we paint our houses, and we use the house color as an identification when we give directions. But all houses here look the same, so how do you manage?
Thatha: (laughing) We are used to it.

Ippadiye conversation pochu, but I am still surprised at how these people maintain the same standards (good or bad-nradhu enaku theriyadhu). Almost ella veedume red with its brick pattern showing out. And ovvoru veetukum suthama difference-e puriya mattengudhu enaku :( Enna veedu katranga..and I have not seen a single architected house here!

But you should see the people, ellarum kozhuk mozhuk dhan. Australia-la kooda many ladies were slim, inga ella ladies-ume khushboo/Jyotika madhiridhan irukanga.

I'll get back with more, aana for now ennai aniyayathuku velai vangaranga :(( adhuvum ennai poi..

Suthi suthi vandheega...

2006-03-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

Idhu enna oor-ne puriya mattengudhu...all I see are tall buildings crammed up in every little space you can get, and theru ellam edho oru periya maze madhiri set panni vachirukanga..No wonder the lady Rowling who wrote Harry Potter could think of all those mazes and magical portkeys for transportation! Inga irukara kuzhappamana roads-ku portkey irundhadhan destination poi sera mudiyum! Probably she had desired for such magical stuff, pavam, aasaiya ezhuthula kottitanga!

The first day to work, one of my colleagues had picked me up from the railway station..oh yeah, neenga edho UK trains ellam sophisticated-a on time-ku varum-nellam dont imagine, first day-ve aniyayathuku 30 minutes track repair, congestion adhu idhu-nu delay pantanunga :( Seri anyways, first day office-ku colleague help-oda poi serndhutten.

The second day station-lerndhu velila vandhen, and nethu avan sonnadhu kadhula replay aayitirundhadhu, 'It is very confusing, Usha, you'd get lost in this place..but dont worry, you'll soon get used to it' (Edhuku, tholainju poradhuka?), but that 'naan' factor convinced me saying I can find the correct route. Dinosaur-ku theriyuma Dosai perumai-nu sirichukitte velila vandhena...heart attack!! Ayyo! Indha idam naan nethu parkave illaye! Seri ok, memory-la slip aayirukum-ntu I proceeded only to find myself in a strange street..sema kulir vera. Eppadiyum tall building dhane, engayavadhu horizon-la theriyum-nu suthi partha ellame tall buildings!

After I had walked for some 20 mins, I realized I am going nowhere and started retracing my steps to the station and luckily adhu easy-a irundhadhu, it only needed a short memory retrace...appuram thirumba angerndhu started another search for my workplace..seri andha kadhaiyellam venda, but all I wanted was to reach my workplace fast coz of the kulir..when I eventually did, ennoda main 3 sensory organs were frozen that I was so scared that they might break!

Enna ooruda idhu!! Weather sariya illa, road kuzhappama iruku...and here I start rambling...

Sorgame endralum...

2006-03-01T06:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here I am in London..avasaragadhi-la Saturday full-a lolo lolo-nu alainju shopping mudichu Forex mudichu ippadi evalavo mudichu Sunday kaalaila Chennai Aiport ponen. Ennoda mugathai parthutu Chennai to Dubai Business class-a upgrade panni koduthar anga irundha punniyavan, en-nu therila (oruvelai, indha moonji ellam endha kaalathula business class-la poga pogudhu-nra paridhabama irukalam) and so had an awesome journey in Emirates to Dubai (ennama kattirukanga airport..kalakkal airport adhu) and an awful journey from Dubai to London (crammed up in economy class)..Yeah Yeah puriyudhu, ennamo vazhkaila economy class-e parkadha range-ku pesaren-nu ninaikareenga-ntu. But you see, after having experienced Business class comfort, it was hard to experience economy class, so I ended up with a lot of pain at the end of the journey :(

London ennama kulirudhu...erkaneve sema cold, idhula it is so damn cold that even my thick jacket isnt able to protect me! Idhula naan irukara B&B lodge-la iruka patti vera nethum day-b4-y'dayvum pesi pesiye kodumai padutharanga...one time she talks about her husband going the wrong way, and the next time she talks about her relatives and the next to next time she talks about different cultures. Correct, ideally I should be happy about having a good conversationalist, adhukaga ovvoru thadavaiyum 1 hr nikka vachu kulir-la punishment kodutha Usha enna ava pavam?!

Inikudhan work-ku vandhen, aniyayam paarunga, I cant even check Yahoo mail!! Ella web-based email servers-um access denied!! What if I want to mail someone on non-offical and not to be official stuff? Akramama therila?? UK-ve ippadithanam!! Ennadhan irundhalum climate or official stuff, namma naadudhan best, what say?!

Atha, naan pass ayitten!!

2006-02-25T02:37:00.000-08:00

Yippeeee!!!! I got the project!! Friday evening dhan sonnanga (aanalum ivalo delay ayiruka venda, I had trouble finding resources in each department for the different things I needed for the trip) and I am traveling tomorrow!!

Thanks to all the anbunenjangal who wished, advised, encouraged, consoled etc etc me!! Ungalai ellam en blog friends-a perardhuku...seri seri...romba senti adichu kadupetha virumbala, but I mean my thanks :) Oh, I didnt tell you where I am traveling to, its London!

PS: Title courtesy, Ramesh ;)

Ada ennatha solvenungo?!!

2006-02-23T22:53:00.000-08:00

Here I am, precisely in the same state as I was on Tuesday when I wrote that post, wondering whatever happened to my interview...Purinjikka mattenrangale!!!

The TLM had been telling me that he will know on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday...but surprises!! he doesn't get to know! Adhu eppadi-nu dhan enakum therila..customer-oda meeting-nraru, mail anuparanga customer-nraru..aana information mattum illa-nrar!

Nethu I called him in the evening to ask him what happened, and he said they want to put me in another project coz they found me more suitable for something advanced (eppadi-nu enaku sathiyama pureela) but that would take time..and if I want to get into this immediately, I can opt for the one they had interviewed me for..I told him I will think about it.

Konjam makkaloda brainstorm (yeah yeah, brain ellam controversial topic dhan, I know) pannitu, I decided to get into this (onnume theriyadhu, idhuku enna advanced vendi kidaku) and tried reaching him..

4:00 PM
Me: Hello TLM, is this a right time to talk to you?
TLM: can you call by 6? I am in a meeting

I missed the first bus out of campus..
6:00 PM
Me: Hello TLM
TLM: Can you call by 7? I am in another meeting (grrrrr...)
Me: I will call by 7:30, thats when I'd reach home (not wanting to miss the next bus out, yaar indha idathula velai illama utkararadhu?)
TLM: Ok!

7:30 PM
A very familiar voice: You have reached the voice mail
8:00 PM
You have reached the voice mail (grr)
8:10 PM
You have reached...
8:15 PM
You have..
8:30 PM
You..(Slam!!!)

Sema kaduppagi mail anupiten whatever I wanted to convey! Yarukavadhu nambikkai iruka, idhu engayavadhu poi mudiyum-nu?? Please tell me!

Vidukadhaiya indha vazhkai...

2006-02-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

Am really tensed up today..enna aagumo therila, here I am waiting for a client interview feedback for a project biting my already diminishing nails..

En vazhkaila ethanai varushamdhan padichitte irupeno therila, and as I have mentioned in one of my earlier posts, pudhusu pudhusa sambandhame illama kathukka vaikaranga! This time it was worse..naan oru domain-la irukken, and on Thursday I got a mail from a top-level manager asking me to send my profile. Naanum en experience pottu anuppinen and he reverted back saying experience on a different domain wasnt there! I was surprised, experience irundhadhane poda mudiyum??! I called him up and he asked me if I knew the tools on that domain and I said yes (kelvi patrukene naandhan) and he said, "allright then, put it in"..naanum seridhan, client impress panradhuku poliruku-ntu illadha polladha tool ellam potten, ofcourse the tools that he had wanted me to.

Sometime later I called him up and asked him what the interview questions would be, and he tells me that it would be on these tools!!! Enna position ketta, appodhan andha mahanubavan solrar it is in a different domain. I was shocked and I hung up, only to call him up a little later..

Me: Hello TLM, I..
TLM: I am on another call, can you take it up t'row?
Me: that's what I wanted to talk...
TLM: I will give you a call later, but you are prepared for the interview tomorrow, right?

and he hung up!! I was flabbergasted, ennangada idhu aniyayama iruku..theriyadhadha assign panradhayum pantu, naalaiku interview-na enna artham?! I made a series of calls, and finally made this guy understand that I am totally new and I can have the interview on Monday. But 3 tools + concepts + methodologies in 3 days?!! Yarkavadhu idhu jaasthi time-nu thonichuna, let me know, definite-a kovil katren; but for my little brain, it looked like some huuuuuge mountain I am trying to cross..

3 naal sema kadupulayum (ofcourse, evalo varushamdhan padichutte irupen-tudhan) and tension-layum padichuttu nethu andha interview attend pannen..and now I cant even sit on my seat, am so tensed..will I get through? I dont think I have done excellently, maybe not...but I have not left anything unanswered, so may be I will...but it might not have satisfied the customer, so nadakkadhu..aana idhuku mela enna answer panradhu-nu therila, so maybe they'd think otherwise...hayyo!!! Please let me know the results!!!!!!!

Nalla nalla Security nambi...

2006-02-14T00:08:00.000-08:00

Ada ada ada, enna madhiri security ellam naatla irukanga, I am "impressed"! There are stuff you do as security, and there are procedures you follow to do those stuff. Aana procedure-a eppadi ellam intellectual-a seyyarangappaa...

Nethu I had been to the pantry along with 2 of my colleagues, and naamadhan Nyabagathin Nayagi aache, perfect-a mobile-a marandhu vachutu vanten. And I realized that only after I came back to my desk. Saridhan, oru efficient organization ache, mobile tholainju pogadhu-nra hope-oda I called up my mobile and someone, apparently the security, picked it up and asked me to come to the main building. Cool, kidaichachu mobile-nu I went there.

I went up to the security once I reached the building and told him that I had lost the mobile:

Me: Mobile...tholaichutten...

CID Shankar: Enna mobile?

Me: Its a Motorola

CID: Enna color?

Me: Blue

CID: Eppadi irukum?

Me: (??!!! Ella mobile-um number pad, LCD-oda dhane irukum? Illa vera edhavadhu pudhu concept vachitangala?) Err...kutti-a irukum (that was the best I could manage, and I am sure no one uses a mobile the size of a telephone receiver!)

He showed me the phone and I immediately acknowledged that it was mine.

CID: Seri, mobile # call pannunga andha phone-lerndhu (and pointed to a phone some 10 feet away)

Me: 'Karmam da! Naan poi pannumpodhu vera yaravadhu call panna naan-nu ninaipeengala?' (I called up from my colleague's mobile and the call went through and he was satisfied apparently. But again, how can he ascertain that it was from the mobile I had in hand, and not some co-incidence?)

CID: Please write down your details on this book

I wrote everything down including my mobile # and took the phone from him. As he was handing over the phone, he asked me, "Indha mobile ungaladhudhane?"! Phone-a pidungittu "endhu illa, ippo enna panveenga, ippo enna panveenga..."-nu azhagu kattitu oda arambikkalama-ntu yosikara level-ku poiten! That's how childish the procedure was!

He could have asked me where I had lost it in the first place. Secondly, he should have asked me to call up from the phone next to him, so that he can verify the number. Thirdly he also should have asked for my ID card when he wanted me to write down all the details. Onnu complete-a nambanum, illana suthama namba koodadhu..why do a half-baked enquiry? This way I could have sent any of my friends down there to get my mobile! Oru nalla system in place iruka vendama security procedures-ku? Kadaiseela kelvi vera, idhu ungaldhudhane-ntu!!!! Kodumai da sami!

En pirandhai magale...

2006-02-11T05:20:00.000-08:00

Ennai yarume purinjikka mattenranga...famous personalities solradhai appreciate panra indha thamizhagam adhai seyal-la naan kattina muraikudhu.

To give an example, oru naal ennoda amma samaichitrundhanga...enaku moolai-la oru chinna lightning, namakkaga ivalo seyyarangale namma Amma, evalo nalla aathma avanga-ntu. Kanna pinna-nu pasam pongi vazhiya arambichiduchu. So I went into the kitchen and started singing: "thayenra oru dheivam veetoda iruku, nee thani thani-ya kovil kulam alaivadhuvum edhuku"-nu pada arambichen. And while I was singing konjam kalpooram eduthu avanga kaal mela vachen. And sema bakthi-oda ketten, "Amma, indha kalpoorathai koluthattuma"-ntu. En Amma padhari poi edhuku-nu kettanga (I still dont understand en padharinanga-nu), then I continued my song "Amma-vin padhathil kalpooram koluthu, ananda kaneeril abishekam nadathu"..

Having explained what I intended through the song, i told her I am going to light the camphor on her feet and show my gratitude to her, ofcourse I also told her "kavalai padadhama, ananda kaneer-ala adhai anaichudalam". But surprisingly, she started scolding me, "unnai pethadhuku ammi pethurukalam! adhukooda chamatha irukum" (enaku puriyala, ammi ellam pesuma enna, or will it help in daily chores?) Idhu aniyayam dhane, Superstar padina mattum kai thattaranga, naan practical-a pannina thittaranga? Idhai avangalai kettadhuku thalaila vera adichukaranga...I just dont understand!

Nethu kooda solli katranga, en kal-la kalpooram kolutha try panra ponnai pethuruken naan-nu..en ennai yarume purinjikka mattenranga?!

Konji konji pesi madhi mayakkum...

2006-02-07T23:41:00.000-08:00

One thing that surprises me to the core is Sun Music channel. Paatu podaranga which is ok, aana some of the anchors in that crew...enna solradhu-nu therila.

Mudhalla Mahalakshmi-nu oru madam varanga..ivangadhan current top star in the channel. Call panra athanai jeevangalum either Ammas or sons whose Moms are GodMothers of Ammani, 'Ennada eppadi iruka? Romba azhaga iruka da' - idhu Amma, and this Thamizhagathin thathupillai would respond with 'Naan romba nalla irukenma, neenga eppadi irukeenga? XYZ nalla irukangalaaaa?' Adhu eppadinga, oorla iruka athanai Ammas-um ivanga mela pasa mazhai pozhiyaranga?

Aduthadhu Hema-nra dheivam. Ivangaluku Thamizh third language pola, avalo azhaga pesaranga namma thamizh-a. Edhavadhu line konjam lengthy-a irundhutta gaali, ammani adhai ularu ularu-nu ulari kottaranga...ivangalai eppadi anchor-a aakinanga? Must be the looks.

Ellathai vidavum top is Anandakannan-Sandhya duo. Oh my kadavule, kodumai thangala!! Mudhalla ellam Anandakannan dhan weirdo-nu ninaichindhen, Sandhya overtakes him by the mile. Thummina kooda sirippanga poliruku! Sirichitte irukanga programme full-a. And the senseless stuff she talks..ayyoda! Oru example, (fyi, the duo presents a programme for married folks) oru lady call panranga and the duo asks her how she addresses her husband. The lady says 'Naan neenga vaanga-nudhan pesuven avarkitta' and this duo asks her in disbelief if that is true. Avanga aama-navudane, Sandhya remarks, 'Appadilam koopda koodadhunga, ippo Anandakannan-a naan eppadi koopduven theriyuma? Vada poda-nudhan!'. Theriyamadhan kekkaren, avanga husband pathi pesaranga, adhukum ivanga eppadi kooptukaranga-nradhukum enna sambandham? Another time, a ninth std boy calls up and says that he isn't married (obviously) and this lady remarks 'Indha programme-ku thirumanam aanavanga mattumdhan call pannanum, aana idhai host panravanga thirumaname senjukka mattanga!' Enunga ammani, edhavadhu thathu pithu-nu pesardhu-nu sankalpam eduthurkeengala? Or are you insinuating at something else that's between you and Anandakannan? Adhellam paavapatta jeevans engalukedhuku? Idhula enna highlight-na ivanga Kripanandha variyar-oda grand daughter! Karmam da iraiva!

Enna veyil ethanai veyil..kodi heater kottiya veyil..

2006-02-06T04:02:00.000-08:00

Yaaro sonnanga, Chennai Ooty madhiri iruku after those surprising rains here..appo I was grumbling that naama irukara idam ellam koluthum pola-ntu, coz Sydney was so damn hot with around 45 degrees on New Year day. Ippo vandhu partha 'Kodhikudhe kodhi kodhikudhe, chennai romba kodhikudhe'-nu Sneha-Saravana stores style-la padalam pola iruku, andha alavuku pottu thakkudhu veyyil! Either I should be in the bad books of Mr. Sun or it should be the eternal game-plan of destiny that I should be in the wrong place at the wrong time!

And traffic!! Kadavule! Naan Chennai vittu oru 2.5 years munnadi kilambumpodhu it was ok, not so bad and I was one of the few crazy people who rode a bike as if it were some jet. And since I took my two-wheeler along with me when I got employed in another city, I didnt have a chance to ride whenever I came to Chennai for a weekend. Aana ippo parkanume!! Jeez, kanna pinna-nu ottaranga, and the roads are just fested with two-wheelers and four-wheelers that there is hardly a cm gap left between two vehicles. And konjam Sydney roads-ku accustom aayitu, inga sudden-a yaravadhu cut panni ottina heart adhoda idathai vittutu oesophagus vazhiya oru second velila vandhu thalai kattitu pora feeling! Moreover everyone drives madly, Chennai is full of people who have the aspiration to become bike-racers-ntu ninaikaren. Unfortunately ennoda two-wheeler ithanai naal naan uttutu pona kobathula pesa madandhai-ya vera poiducha, honk-um panna mudiyama I had to drive behind every cyclist on the road!

And don't ignore the land prices here..kanna pinna-nu shoot ayiruku ground rates and building rates. Saligramam-la oru 1600 sqft apartment is around 40L and R.A.Puram-la oru sq-ft-e 6000 bucks! So Annanagar, Mylapore ellam kekkave vendam, you can guess that. You go onsite once, and when you return, whatever you earn gets lost in the appreciation value of the land/building/apartment. Idhuku Sydney-laye veedu vangirukalam pola!

Election approach aagudhu inga, so ellaroda posters-um colorful-a ottirukanga, and an interesting new entrant is Vijayakanth..ivar enna scene poda poraro therila. Aama, adhu enna tricolor flag oru compulsion madhiri aayiduchu? Any rule that Dravida kazhagam-nu end aara katchi ellam tricolor flag vachikanum-nu? Beats me!

Vazhga vazhga manager samudayam vazhgave!!!

2006-02-03T21:58:00.000-08:00

Gee, othuntangoo!!!! I spoke to my manager regarding my next project and she said she is pushing for it..and the highlight was that she agreed to me staying in Chennai working out from the office here until I hear from them!!

Nalla kadhai alandhundhen nethu, I am working on the case study of the previous project, appuram oru tool panren (andha tool use panravan ellam kenai-nu later certificate koduthudalam-nu idea..), adhellam chamatha I am doing from Chennai, so ingaye irundhukarene-nu sonna udane No Probs-ntanga andha Devadai!!

Enge theduven..project enge theduven...

2006-01-31T04:21:00.000-08:00

Adutha project-ku udane pogavum vida mattenranga, ingaye appa amma-oda iruken-nalum vida mattenranga, enna vazhkaida idhu! Edho actual base location vittutu, oru varam Chennai varuvom-nu inga vandhu work pannitiruken, adutha project idhudhan-num soltanga, vidalam-la? Adhukulla evalo issues, evalo confusion..

Mudhalla oru project oru thalaivar assign pannar, adhuku nadula this manager from Australia mailed saying they want me back..and this thalaivar mailed back saying I cannot be released. While this is going on, my manager intervened saying she wants me to be in another project, and indha pechellam nadakum podhu our manager from Aus mailed her saying she is the one who is supposed to release me, and not that thalaivar! Sema politics inga, man, little did I know there will be so many complications!

Naan seridhan, edhu seekirama set agudho try pannikalam-nu en manager-ku call pottu pesinen, but unfortunately in my arvakolaru to get into the earliest possible project, I told her straight-away that my objective is to get into one asap. Ninaichirupanga, 'Ammani periya VIP, ivangaloda objective sonna udane naanga ellam salam pottu project thandhruvomakkum'-nu :)) Somehow I can never be obsequious to anyone, so I normally get straight to the point..enna even if I say Salam, neenga dhan dheivam and all that, eventually it comes down to 'I need something, can you help me out'. Ofcourse I do know that this is incorrect, especially in an organization where you want to grow but well, I think it will take some time, hopefully less.

Ippo thirumba base location vaa, adutha project (do we even know what project I am finally in?) induction-ku nu solliachu, so back to base location on Monday :( Here I am, counting my days to the next project, but not wanting to leave Chennai so soon..

Unnai vida matten...

2006-01-30T02:13:00.000-08:00

Oops!! Ayyoo!!! Indha akramathai keppare kidayadha?! Ippodhan andha project-lerndhu utta podhum-nu odi vandhiruken, adhukulla there is a mail sent from Australia 'Client insists that Usha come here for another thing'!! Andha another thing-oda meaning, opposite edhuvume enaku theriyadhu, and I am a strong believer of 'Pala naal thirudan..'

Ethanai thadavaidhan oorai ematha mudiyum? Edho first time en nalla kalam, client podadha kaalam, emandhu poi impress ayitanga..but how many times would someone get deceived like that? Sema tension, tension-nradha vida paridhaba unarchidhan, enlighten aaga mattenrangale makkal-nu.

But thankfully, yaaro oru melidathu mahatma mudiyadhu-nu anuppitar, naan pozhaichen, illana Australia-laye samadhi aayirupen!

Thuyiladha pennonru...

2006-01-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

At work in India...phew, and still not out of Australian blues. Last 2 weeks sema fast track-la Roller Coaster vida mosama pochu..oru 4 week schedule-a, 2 days-laye mudicha veeranganai anegama naan oruthi-adhan irupen, but ofcourse with its own costs.

There was absolutely no proper infrastructure until the last two days, and when things were 75% right, we just had to proceed with the phase as though things were ok. Namma life-la execution phase indha project-ku varave varadhu-nu naan yosichitirukum podhu, ennoda manager asked me, 'Is the report coming allright?' Ennadhu report-a?? Appadina? ada iraiva!! Erkaneve nondhu noodles ayiruken, idhula ennamo report ellam kekkarane! First of all, I dont even know how to create a report for this kinda phase! Seridhan, idhoda namma episode mudinjadhu-ntu, I started referring to earlier docs of the same kind. During one such reference padalam, he came over to my desk and spoke to me. Naamadhan F1 seek panrome, so udane minimize pannen, but he got a quick view of it, and came back later to ask me if that was the report I was making. Naanum yeah-nu solla poi sema kushi thalaivar-ku, it looks good-nu! Ada paavi, ippo indha standard-ku ennoda debut doc varanuma-nu thalila adichite vazhinjen avankitta...

The last two days were messy, dev manager vandhu thittaran "Usha, that was bad planning, you cant do this with minimal infrastructure" 'Vaada rasa, naandhan indha madhiri plan pannen, vera yaarum illa'-nu sabichitte I told him we cant help it blah blah..and my report also grew alongside. Last day-ku mudhal naal, I sent the draft version of the report to everyone, 10 mani varaikum kashta pattu office-la muzhichukittu adhai anuppina, vantan adutha naal dev manager..Usha, you shouldnt have done like this, do this another time-nu!! Ada pavi, naalaiku naan ooruku poganumya!!But who cares, he still made me do the stuff until the report came out saying his product was doing good..

Last day, I happily came to work thinking all I have to do is to add some powder to my doc and send it across when the same villian dev mgr came to me and told me to re-do something. Sema kaduppayiten, I still hadnt done my shopping, all I was doing was to stay at work till late night to finish stuff, and now he wants me to re-do something! I hid my irritation and started doing something when my manager called us to the BoardRoom for something. Evanda ivan seekiram velai mudika uda mattenran-tu I went grudgingly to the boardroom just to see a chocolate cake waiting for me and Cashew for our farewell..and also to know that the customer liked my report. Sema sandosham enaku, ippadi ellam kenainga irukangale, namma report kooda nalla report-nu solradhuku-nu oru 2 mins sandosha pattutu, I got back to work.

Andha dev manager-ku oru chinna guilty feeling, he said I can go out and do my shopping and come back, and my manager offered the same thing. Konja neram resist pantu I went for shopping and came back to see the final task getting done. Phew!! Last task, and another 30 mins on touching up the doc, I was finally free from the vicious cycle of a project execution! Later I learnt that my manager had arranged for the farewell himself, which no other manager had done for his folks...well, paavam, marappom manippom policy pola avaruku, naan ivalo koothadichum farewell tharar :)

Next day I said a GoodBye to Australia after paying up 150$ for losing one of my apartment keys..idhu kooda panla-na naan Usha-va iruka mudiyadhe..

Porale Ponnuthayi...

2006-01-25T02:28:00.000-08:00

Finally out of Australia and now at Singapore terminal blogging this..phew!!! Anegama adutha varamdhan I can relax and pen down the previous week's experiences and this week's, ofcourse...

Ok timing out Internet connection (evan vachan indha 15 min limit..ippo variakum I have logged out like 100 times for various sites and this is the last!! Manga pasanga!)

Sollal aditha....

2006-01-14T22:34:00.000-08:00

I just dont get this thing...the way people conclude about things by seeing only one side of the whole picture. Nobody seems to be knowing the amount of work I put in, forget the amount of work I put in, nobody even seem to think I am working!!

Agreed, naan edho ulnaatu sadhiyaala main area-la ella managers koodayum utkarndhutiruken (the program manager and engagement mgr right behind me sharing the cube, the dev managers right in the adjacent cube and showering queries on me) , and the workers team has a room for itself where everyone sit together and maja madi/work.... Managers kooda utkararadhe edhiri naatukulla pugundha soldier kanakka feeling tharudhu, idhu nadula I keep running around for stuff I have to work on and keep dodging missiles, MIGs et al from different managers. It's a dog's day-nradhu almost everyday-nra madhiri ayachu.

But when I visit that room, I get frequent questions like "What are you doing Usha, she seems to be doing everything"..aamangada, vanga, naan anga onnum kizhikardhilla, I just keep delegating work and jolly-a sarukumaram vilayadaren velila!!! I dont know what is going wrong, is it that because they keep seeing my team working on things in their room that they are oblivious to what is happening outside, or is it that my team keeps projecting that it is working too hard and that I dont do anything..

Well, whatever, I have decided to move into the same room to see if my team is really overloaded, or if the team isnt working smartly enough to work fast, and if they are really overloaded, I will take up some of it apart from my own load.

Thaniye thannanthaniye...

2006-01-13T20:06:00.000-08:00

Karmam!! Ellam thalaiezhuthu!! Enaku mattum eppadidhan indha madhiri ellam vandhu serudho therila! Porakaracheve ippadi ellam face pannanum-nu ezhudi vachutanga poliruku, the so-called divine beings or the focal point of supernatural power in the Universe..or whoever we believe in God.

Nethu ennoda manager enkitta 'Lets come tomorrow to work by 10:00, I'll be in by then'-nu soltu ponar. Ennoda Ms.Cashew-vum 'What time do we come Usha?'-nu kettutu, when I said 10-10:30, happily agreed and went. Innum oru 4-5 makkal, who were supposed to assist me in work also did the same. Naanum Pongal-ache nalaiku, seekirama ezhundu korainja patsham edhavadhu nalladha sapda pannanume, can I manage 10:00 schedule-nellam yosichitirundhen..

When I woke up today, it was 7:20, and I thought I will make Pongal and Morkuzhambu. Chamatha kulichutu pongal ellam vachitu (ofcourse, pongal panai vaikka mudiyalaye-nu sema kurai dhan, appuramadhan enlighten aanen 'Naatla niraya per unna unavu udutha udai iruka idam illama irukanga, unakenna pongal panai' appadi-nu :)) chutney-nu oru vidhyasamana attempt-um panni pongal saptu office vandha...oru micro organism kooda kanom!! Naan vandhadhe late, appo kooda yarume varala-na enna nadakudhu indha naatla? I called up Ms.Cashew, and apparently my call was her Suprabatham! I call up DEO guy, and he is cooking and wants another 30 mins with a predetermined plan of leaving office by 1:00 to go to Rose Bay. And manager? Suthama kanave kanum!

Oru 30 mins enna panradhune theriyama, I thought I can as well work on resurrecting my drawing abilities and attempted on something when Ms. Cashew arrived followed by my manager and everyone else one after the other..vandhome velai parpom-nu illa, "Usha, today is Pongal, you have to invite us home and treat us with Pongal", 'Dhoda, vanga, veetuku invite panni pongal mattumenna, sarkarai pongal, complete meals, icecream ellam tharen'-nu ullukulla karuvitte I said "How many of you want Pongal? I will bring you pongal on Monday, for now, lets concentrate on work". Sonna udane parkanume, almost everyone's hands shot up for Pongal! 'Ada pavingala, after all Pongal, idhuku ivalo alayareenga?' ninaichitte I came back to my desk. And absolutely nothing is working here! Edho konjam work pannanga, udane pasi! 30 mins-kellam pasicha nadu ennapa aradhu?

Ippo again no one is there, everyone has gone out for lunch, and here I am, waiting for everyone to come back like I was waiting in the morning for everyone to arrive..I am supposed to leave next week for India, idhe range-la pona eniku naan India poi....

Avaravar vazhkaiyil ayiram ayiram matrangal...

2006-01-12T21:01:00.000-08:00

Enake vara vara en career endha route-la pogudhu-ne puriyala..oru samayam bus eri T.Nagar pogudhu, seri T.nagar dhan pogudhu-nu partha, thideernu train eri Kolkata pogudhu...serdhan, it's Kolkata-nu light-a settle arache flight eri Antartica pogudhu!!!

Sila per settled-a ore career-la grow aaradhai parkumpodhu, I feel a bit jealous, che namaku andha kodupinai illaye-nu..first, developer-a irundhen, naama ippadiye grow aagi dev stream-la engayo poganum-nu ninaichitirundhen..and niraya per, nee talented ma, engayo popora-nellam solli nalla ethivittanga (ellarum ozhiga!!), and so I was there, dreaming about my future in development.

But well, as is the nature of my vicissitudes infested life, I found myself in an MNC as a consultant who has got nothing to do with development! Ofcourse, join pannadhu developer-adhan, but that path took unexpected twists and ended up in this role..aaha super, 'vellai pura onru ponadhu kaiyil varamale'-nu padikitte I adapted myself to the new role. Nalla company, and having adapted faster into the new role, I started nurturing dreams of growing up the ladder..with the practical realization that ennai vida menmakkal indha company-la undu and it will take some time. Ippadiye oru 2 varusham kuppai kottitirundhen when suddenly life took another unexpected twist and I landed in a role that I never dreamt I would be in!

Yes, I have grown up the ladder, aana enake ippo puriya mattengudhu naan endha path-la poren-nu! Indha jack of all trades, master of none appadinra phrase-ku oru perfect example-a aagara level-ku vandhachu! When I look back, my path seems to be having different regions and climates with a lot of plains and hills and deserts, but agreeably interesting throughout.

Seridhan, idhula settle aagitom, inimelavadhu life-la thirundhuvom-nu ninaikaren, aana indha management-nra sadhikara gumbal "we will take over that job"-nu arambichutanga.."enga sandhai-ku vanta la, inimel unaku definite per ellam kidayadhu, oru naal kurangu, innoru naal kazhudhai, vera oru naal kudhirai-nu vippom unnai"-nu Veerapan kanakka sirikaranga!!!

Valarndha kalai marandhuvittal....

2006-01-10T00:36:00.000-08:00

Sutta pazham comment triggered my memories and disappointments in myself...enake konjam ennai partha kevalama theriyudhu vara vara..

Ennoda parents cultivated a few artistic capabilities in me. Chinna vayasula ennoda amma took me to Bharathanatyam classes for me to learn Bharatanatyam. Naanum sema interested-a kathukitten adhai, but unfortunately, naan adaradhu andha Natarajar-ku pidikala ninaikaren, we moved to a different location in Chennai and there ended my classes. I was so much interested in Bharathanatyam, but didnt find any center in the new location and later on didnt find time as I was concentrating on my academics...but appuram luckily oru Kuchupudi teacher vandhanga flat-ke, and I very happily started those classes but again (idhu endha kadavulo therila) she also left for another city..Ippo yaravadhu classical dance aada sonna thiruttu muzhi muzhichittu nippen :)

Seri music kathupom-nu ninaichen..udane oru chinna flashback - when we were kids, my Mom sent me and my brother to a lady in the opposite house for learning music, and she sent me back saying I dont have a good voice and retained my Anna, ofcourse adhukappuram I joined dance classes - so thevaiya namaku-nu ninaichitte I joined music classes when in college and tortured that poor teacher, adhuvum bombed after joining NIIT. Usha, unakum kalai-kum suthama nalla relationship kidayadhu-nu mudive panten.

Oh yeah, en appakitterndhu I got some drawing skills, ofcourse, nalla ellam varaiya matten, chumma sila kiruku kirukitu idhu nalla iruka-nu appa kittayo amma kittayo keppen, avangalum paavam kuzhandai-nu aaha super-nduvanga..ippadiye I had filled a big drawing note (which ippo partha kirukal-nu enake theriyudhu) and then I started drawing on computer..idhuvavadhu panvom-nu, oru rendu moonu pannirupen, udane work hectic-a arambichuduchu!! And eventually I lost the completed pic of my first attempt on the computer, after moving companies, and now I have only the half-completed drawing :( And it has been almost 1.5 years since I kirukkified something!

Enakum so-called art-kum ettam porutham-nudhan ninaikaren, and the only thing that has stayed with me since my childhood is my dear kuttisathan!!

Thedi thedi theendhene...

2006-01-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

Iniku I have got a hell lot of work with a lot of dependency tags, but well, ennoda kutti sathan ennoda workaholism parthu kadupagi vera thani thread start pannalama-nu yosika arambichudhu..oru padu innovative and interesting idea vandhudhu adhuku - search in Google if my blog comes in search results. Naan warn panni parthen, venda kuttisathan, unaku disappointment othukadhu-nu, kekkala adhu. So here goes the searching saga:

Mudhalla "Usha"-nu pottudhu, udane oorpatta results, starting from Usha sewing machine to Usha Uthup! Ada manga, Usha-nradhu oru common perda kanna, adhu eppadi results tharum-nu kettutu naan idho paaru vera example-nu "Rajesh Raghupathi"-nu try pannen..udane Rajesh-oda blog entries onnu onna list agudhu!! Kuttisathan-ku sema kadupu..grrrr..idhu enna partiality-nu adhu RaajK-nu pottudhu and got some satisfaction, it got some results varying from posted by RaajK to some matrimonial site listing some RaajK looking for a partner, yet another example of Anusha Parthasarathi which didnt yield any blog site either. Seridhan, naama mattum exception illa-nu decide pantu it launched into another search.

"Kodumai posted by Usha"-nu try pannichu, partha nera kodumai-nu oru link description-la arambichu Rajesh site-la naan add panna post varaikum list achu...grrr, marupadiyum Rajesh!! Ok, "kodumai da sami!!"-nu potta, kodumai da sami-nu vera yaaro jana/masthan-nellam per varudhu...and a few posts saying kodumai da sami, but nothing from my blog! Infact, using the different titles of my blog posts didnt yield anything either! "Padmashri's"-nu try pannen, but nopes, absolutely nothing related to her blog.

Kuttisathan-ku bayangara erichal, seri ozhinju po Usha, un peraiye straight-a tharen-tu "Blogger: User Profile: Usha"-nu kodutha...Usha Vaidyanathan-nu yaar yaaro varanga list-la except poor little Usha :(

Theriyamadhan kekkaren, what exactly qualifies a blog to be listed in Google? For example, Rajesh's is listed, whereas a few others aren't listed. Ithanaikum blogger.com is a part of Google!

Ange siripavar sirikattum...

2006-01-06T18:26:00.000-08:00

There are a few phrases in tamil like "Aada theriyadhaval koodam pathadhunalam" which exactly represents our dev team here...munnadi ellam nalla peela vittutu enga application appadi, enga application ippadi-nu, ippo pottu udaikalam-nu plan pannumpodhu "Unga plan thappu, enga application eppadi ellam respond pannadhu"-nranga!!

This is happening for the past few days now, I see tension in the air and the eagerness to know what we are upto. Ippadidhan unga application work pannudhu-na, udane they pounce on us (me infact, naandhane bali ka bakra) saying adhu Webserver issue, appserver issue, load balancer issue adhu idhu-nu...my dear makkas, adhu webserver issues-nalo illa appserver issues-nalo that is your problem, and has got absolutely nothing to do with our plans!

Idhai sonna udane vera madhiri vandhudaranunga, idhellam neenga mudhallaye parthurukanum, en ivalo delay panneenga-nu..dhoda, I think unga phase-ladhan plan-e illama kanna pinna-nu delay panni enga release dates ellam thalli pochu, idhula enna mathavangala pathi ungaluku pechu?!

Seri naanga weekend vandhu test panna porom-na, udane enga team-aye kindal panna vendiadhu (just for the reason that those guys wont be here during weekend for looking at the results), "you guys timepass during weekdays and come during weekends"-nu, "in that case, how about your folks coming during weekends?", "Well, they come for timepass, not for work" Ippadi oru manager! For that matter, I know that some of them come for work and not only for timepass. Point is, we can deliver the results the next working day, and we are already crossing the deadline coz of these folks, enga velaiyum panna udala-na eppadi?

Am really irritated this time, normal-a eduthukara madhiri I couldnt even take this easy coz of this kinda attitude that demeans others in a worst possible attempt to defend their application!

(NZ-il) Car Ottiya Thamizhachi!!

2006-01-03T21:52:00.000-08:00

Last day at NewZealand, so we were all set to drive back to Christchurch and take the flight to Sydney. NewZealand madhiri oru kalakkal place vidaradhuku manasilladhan, aana velai velai-nu onnu iruke, so we started around 11:00 AM.

NewZealand-la driving rules are different from Australia, avangale specific-a sollirupanga, "If you are from Australia or UK be careful, we are different"-nu..naama Australia road-ke ozhunga otta mattom, idhula NZ-la ellam indha Chennai puyal disciplined-a ottuma enna? I took over the car from Fairfield to Christchurch, and naan romba try pannendhan, aanalum my kuttisathan didnt let me drive properly.

Drive panna arambichu konja dhooram ponappuram thideernu curves vara arambichudhu..seridhan ivanga malaigal nadula road potrukkanga, adhan ippadi iruku-nu partha hairpin bend varudhu!!! Ayyo! naama tirupathi malai-la appa ottumpodhe kannai moodipome, ippo namma kailaye steering iruke!-nu aaditen, but seems namma ayusu getti pola, I drove through the hairpin bends - god knows how- aana adhukaga oru munarivippe illama hill start aanadhu thappudhane? Hairpins ellam cross panna udane sema maja vandhu vegama otta arambichena..appodhan arambichudhu tension..enakilla, mathavangaluku.

Well, naan pattuku ottitirundhen, ennai poi overtake panranga?! Appadiye adrenalin konja konjama eri pinkazhuthu vazhiya brain-ku eri mela poi Vijayakanth madhiri ellaraiyum adi adi-nu overtake panna arambichena..unfortunately NZ makkal namma Chennai veerargal madhiri illa, they can't even take a cut from the vehicle ahead - naan enna azhaga overtake panni super-a cut utten, adhu poi honk panran oruthan! Idhukellam applause thara vendama? Ivangaluku overtake panradhuku oru thani lane vera! Naamalam enikavadhu vera lane edhirparthirukoma? Ore lane-la oru periya horn uttu munnala poravanai pavement pakam oramkattitu munnala poi cut udaradhudhane namma Thamizhar style? Waste pa ivangellam! che che, am very much disappointed!

Appreciate pannadha foreigners ellam indha poovulagathula irundha enna illata enna? Namma oorna drivers amaidhiya oru youngster overtake panradhu kooda kandukama super fast-a poradha oru appreciative glance but depreciative comments-oda parpangale andha attitude poovulagula yarkavadhu varuma?? Vazhga Baratha matha!

Anyways, all beautiful things have to come to an end, so did my drive, and we came to the airport, dropped the car (but padupavi pasanga en credit card-la 52$ charge pantanga oru half tank petrol-ku :(() and came back to Sydney..andha sudden transition from beauty to beast thanga mudila aana, kashtamadhan irundhadhu.hmm but enna panradhu, all beautiful things have to come to an end.

Enna azhagu ethanai azhagu...

2006-01-01T04:30:00.000-08:00

Night Sofitel Hotel-la adichu potta madhiri thoongitu next day we left for Mt. Cook and Lake Tekapo. Again, the drive was awesome with good scenery outside..NZ-la oru line-la drive describe pannanum-na carkulla jill, carku velila hill..ivalodhan. Aana the magic that those mountains create in your senses is what makes the difference, coz ofcourse, Chengalpat-ku a/c car-la pona koodadhan hill-um jill-um irukum-nu yaravadhu sollalam (he he, enkitta andha stmt sonna en kuttisathan ippadidhan retort pannum!)

We were approaching Mt. Cook which is a snow filled mountain..kalaas mountain adhu. Oru distance-lerndhu parkardhuke avalo azhaga coconut topped chocolate bar madhiri iruku..and the lake that it throws its reflection on is a lovely blue..parthen parthen parthen suda suda rasithen rasithen rasithen dhan padindhen anga :)

We decided not to go to Mt.Cook coz we had already drunk the beauty of Mt. Cook from a distance (erkaneve kulir, idhila paniya pakathula vera poi parkanuma? - idhu en kuttisathan) and proceeded towards Lake Tekapo. We reached Lake Tekapo sooner than we had expected and the resort we stayed in is an ulti-resort..super view balcony-lerndhu..no wonder it is called Scenic Resort!

Velila parkanume..hills with pristine aqua blue water..ivalo blue-va water parthadhe illa naan..ofcourse swimming pools-la parthiruken avlodhan, ippodhan nature's kaivannathai live-a parkaren! Then we went to the Mt. John Observatory to get a 360 degree view, but the climb up in the car was so scary that I couldnt really enjoy the view..keezha porache enna agumo-nra bayamdhan irundhadhu :(

Dinner-ku French fries..2 dollars-ku oru kg french fries thara NZ menmakkal vazhga vazhga!!!

Akkarai Seemai Azhaginile.....

2005-12-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

Saturday Kaalaila ChristChurch-lerndhu Queenstown-ku flight..and anikum seems our Lord of Sodhanais didnt want to forsake us. When we landed in Queenstown, we checked for our agent's mails for vouchers. Andha Mahaan correct-a hotel reservation-lam pannar right, but car-a deal-la vittutar :( SO when we went to the car hire counter, the guy flatly said he cant give us the car because there was no communication from the agent. We had the cruise at Milford Sound at 3:00, and it was 10:15 AM, parvalla, konjam negotiate panni car eduthuttom-na we can still make it to that place-nu nianaichu we were talking and he finally agreed on a smaller car. But car ellam fix aanapuram, andha vedhaalam thirumba murungai marathula erittan, he kept calling his manager to tell her the same thing - "These folks dont have the voucher". 'Dei AKM, adhai ethanai thadava solluva, tape recorder muzhungittaya enna???'

Finally by 11:00, we got the car from him and started our drive towards Milford Sound. Oru chinna background - the movie Lord of the Rings was taken at ChristChurch, Te Anau and Milford Sound - so I was all hyped about about the place. Innum 4 mani neram iruke, poi serndhudalam-nu jolly-a padam eduthutte poitrundhom..hayooo enna azhagu New Zealand, it was a scenic drive and everything on the way was so damn awesome!!! We crossed Te-Anau, inga nanga stay panni iruka vendiyadhu if not for Emirates (grrrr), and when it was around 1:30, we had 119 kms. Idhellam dhoosu-ntu we proceeded and kept driving. Nijamma solren, if someone needs a quiet retired life, they have to come to NewZealand..avalo azhagu indha idam! God's own country-na it translates to NewZealand..those mountains and lakes and the trees that dot the outline of the mountains..the sheep that graze and the cows that walk on those farms...Just WOW! Ippadi partha Aaha, appadi partha Adadada - andha range-ku irundhadhu the drive.

Ippadiye poitrundhoma, oru 2:30 achu, and we still had 32 kms to go..hang on, Chennai vaazh puligalukellam idhu matter-e kidayadhu-nu thonum, aana oru 3.5 hrs drive pantu kadaisi nimishathula oru tunnel dug through a mountain-um, adhoda end-la hairpin bends-oda downhill-um vandha enna aagum? Nera oru curve-la car-a straight-a uttu direct-a foothill reach pantu appadiye kailasa malai top-ku short-cutla poga thonum, which is what we did too :)) But fortunately we escaped, and I decided that even if we dont make it to Milford Sound cruise it is fine, after all we still could manage the scenic drive. It was 2:40 now, and we were getting tensed with anticipation if we could make it to the cruise or not...

2:50, and we still hadnt seen a board saying Milford Sound...
2:55-Wow, here is a board saying Milford Sound!! But where the heck is the cruise point??
2:56 - We found a parking lot opposite a cafe, we decided to park the car and find the place since it should be somewhere nearby
2:57 - We park the car and get out and go to the cafe opposite to check the directions
2:58 - Oops, passport not in hand, without the voucher we need something to prove our identity! SO I ran back to the car to get the stuff needed, got the stuff, gave it to Ravi and asked him to go ahead, findthe place and see if the cruise can wait for a couple more minutes. He ran ahead of me while I tried to run behind him just to lose track of him soon.
2:59 - Where is Ravi? I ran along a pathway shouting his name and I dont find any place that says Cruise or whatever, but I just keep running
3:00 - I reached the end to find a huge visitor's center, with Ravi waving at me from the building.

I approached him and he said "We lost it, its gone"..I was totally disappointed that although we came on time, we lost it..but parvalla, namma neramdhan nethulerndhe super-a iruke-nu when I was consoling myself, he said "C'mon, we got it, let's go!!" I was completely taken aback with joy and then I found the cruise standing on the waters...and we boarded the cruise.

The cruise started - Ithanai neram parthadhellam onnume kidayadhu to what I saw ahead of me. It was beautiful, splendid, awesome and what not...munnadi rendu pakkamum malai flanking the waters on which we are cruising, just imagine!! I was transported to Lord of the Rings movie..where there was this water and the mountains..avalo attagasama irundhudhu indha place!! Waterfalls and seals and pani moodiya uchimalai..YABBA!!!..sema scintillating scene!! It was a 1 hr cruise, but the cruise of the life! I dont think I'd ever get this again anywhere else! The cruise got over, but I still couldnt get the scene out of my mind.

We reluctantly drove back to Queenstown, thought we could manage it before the New Year cracks open, but we had to wish each other a Happy New Year only in the car by 12:00 :))

NewZealand suthi parka porom!!!

2005-12-30T04:33:00.000-08:00

Friday we were all set to travel to NewZealand, aaha oru pudhu country parka porom-nu sema enthu-oda kilambina..varisaya sodhanais..

Mudhalla we went to the Airport to board the Emirates flight, the flight was supposed to be by 8:30, and we were supposed to board a flight in ChristChurch in conjunction with this flight. Ulla porom..flight delayed-ntanga! Ada pavigala, anga iruka flight kilambi poidume-nu sema tension..I had to call up my Manager and Ms. Cashew to inform that I am not coming in. Mudhal coin potten Ms. Cashew-ku, and since I didnt want to say that I am going on a trip to NZ when our phase was nearing, I started:

"Hey am visiting the dentist to extract my tooth..so I won't be coming in"

"Oh ok"

(Voice overhead: The Flight No xxxxx will be departing shortly blah blah)

'Kashtam!!' "Hey, I will call our manager and tell him, meanwhile just take care of the pending tasks"

"Sure"

(Another voice overhead: Passengers are requested to blah blah)

'Gaalidi Usha nee' "Ok Bye"

"Bye"

Then I called up my manager praying no announcements should come, and fortunately none came until I was done. Then I called up Ms. Cashew to ask for some information and some announcement boomed again from above, kashtam da iraiva!

I hung up, and sometime later, came back and called her to tell her the truth coz I felt bad about the whole thing. Anyways, appuram flight kilambi ChristChurch reach aagumpodhu the Quantas flight had only 5 mins to take-off. Appo-nu parthu oru manga kitta mattintom immigration-la..she had a hell lot of questions on the passport, the occupation and stuff that we eventually missed the flight. Enga dhan pidikarangalo indha madhiri jeevans-a!

Seridhan, vera options parkalam-nu Emirates kitta help ketta, "adhu enga poruppu illa, we had just committed to drop you at ChristChurch"-nranga, seridhan-nu Quantas-a ketta, "you had opted our competitor's flight, so why would we help you?"-nranga..ada paavingala, passengers nilamai ellam ippadidhan poliruku!!

Well, we had booked hotels, car etc based on this plan, and now that it has bombed, enna panradhu-nu yosichintrundhom. Finally, we made a call to the travel agent, got things postponed but we still needed a hotel to stay for the night. We did manage to get one to stay at last.

Evening Gondola ride-nu onuthuku ponom, it offers a 360 degree view of Christchurch...semaya irundhadhu! I had always wanted to travel in a gondola from my childhood having watched old Hindi movies :)), a dream come true :)

Sodhanai mel sodhanai...

2005-12-28T17:06:00.000-08:00

Oru 4 days leave inga, and this week our phase was supposed to start. Naan appove sonnen ennoda manga manager kitta that it is better off starting next week coz there are various bottlenecks, aana andha manushan kekkala. When I called him up on Tuesday, he said we can start on Wednesday, seri vidhi yaarai vittudhu-nu I agreed to it.

Wednesday ellarum leave mudinji cooli velai-ku vandhoma, mudhalla data census edhuthom..first heart-attack - Weekend-la yaro oru paramathma data copyover panren pervazhi-nu oru empty database-a thooki innoru database-la copy pantan, all the data that we had created got lost! Erkaneve pending data count was in lakhs, and lost data was in half-a-lakh. Sooper da machi-nu I was looking for backups when a team offered that they had a backup for their application, but that it will take a day to configure their application for the restored backup.

Parvalla, naama pending data required for another application load panvom-nu plan panninen. My script is fine for a couple of thousand records, but indha madhiri 50000 ellam load panradhuku d(h)e(i)v(ams) dhan approach pannanum-nu I sat with them for options. Namma DEO dheivam oru code koduthudhu, koduthadhoda he offered to run one set of transaction worth 10000 records for me, and naan sandoshama avanai vazhthitte en desk-ku vandhu I modified that code to suit my records and ran it. It was parsing 30 records at a time, and idhai naan sonnadhuku, andha dheivam "you must have done something"-ntu poitan..'Ada paavi, un code, unga database, idhula naan ennada panven?' Oru couple of hours andha script was running to load 50000 records, and it was well into the evening. when the DEO guy came and asked me,

"Usha, what are you running?"
I said, "The code you gave me.."
"But, there are absolutely no records being created in the database, you better stop it"
Ada paavi makka, ippo vandhu solriye, drogi! "What?!!!"
"Yeah! and the transaction I ran also has inserted only 1280 records"
Ayyo, light-a nenju valikudhe.."god! So what on earth am I supposed to do for the records?"
"Don't worry, I'll sit with for all that data creation" Aaha, kalukkul eeram idhana?
It was almost 6 when we started that operation..it went until 8 to complete 75% of what we were attempting with snide remarks at each other. I went home with satisfaction that I am almost done.

Iniku kalaila vandhu partha oru mail from the first team, these are the records found-nu. Adhula suthama naan create pannirundha records-e kanom! Ketta, that was the backup taken on the 16th-nranga! Evanavadhu backup madhiyam edupana, kena kirukkas..I managed to find another backup that has, or so I assume, all the records I inserted and told that team to have that imported. Erkaneve ivalo mess-up, idhula rendu PMs enakedhira pesikaranga "She is finding innovative ways of keeping everyone occupied"-nu..ellam en neram! Now that is going to take till the end of today..

And now I am creating the remaining 25% of data, ennada idhu nalla problem-e illama pogudhu-nu sandosha p..a..t..t..e..n, perfect-a nadandhudhu andha mistake..I was trying to type a 5 to a query, and I instead pressed F5 and that executed all the queries in the window including a delete query! Govinda!!! Ellam pochu, now restart..anegame by eod, azha poren ninaikaren...but indha week is almost coming to an end, idhula enga execution arambikardhu-nu enaku sathiyama therila :(

Oru 9 hrs kazhichu am continuing this now...am still at work and still doing the same work! Guess what, evening almost ellam mudinju oru 50000 records vera application-ku podanumnra podhu, pudhu missile vittanga, this particular field should be only 8 characters long..and I had inserted 9 character long values!! Sema kadupu..after a bit of thinking I decided we'd rather trim a character in the existing fields-nu..and after that cropped up a new problem, the application just wasnt taking in data..after 2 hrs of discussion among those folks, I figured out the problem and told them, and that worked!! Aana innum ingayedhan iruken :( and it is 9:30 PM now, trying to complete the job...

Govinda Govinda!!

2005-12-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

Oh, andha Team building plans kadaiseela eppadi mudinjadhu-nu naan sollave illaye...

The Saturday that we had planned for the outing and cancelled ended up as a beautiful day (kali kaalam, forecast kooda ozhunga poda mattenranunga). The following Monday, oru Maduraikara colleague came and excalaimed "Ennanga, ippadi ayiduchu, oru nalla day waste pantome-nu sema varutham-nga" (Thank you sonna adhe nakkal party dhan, I could see the smirk in his eyes) "Enna nakkal-a, ennamo neenga ellam appadiye sema enthu-va plan panna madhiri pesareenga?" "Chi chi, naama vena next week Sydney-la iruka murugan koviluku gumbala poi puliyodarai saptu thirumbi varalamanga?"..Grrrr, nakkal da unaku!

Naanum yosichen, indha resource manager-nra oru jeevan-ku, andha Friday mattum perusa "let's do it next week"-nu Lord madhiri mail pannome, next week follow panvom-nu edhavadhu thonicha? Correct-a oru masam kazhichu oru mail anuparar, adhuvum eppadi "team building"-nu subject-oda. Subject-la ippadi poturuke, edhavadhu plan panirukar-nu partha, body-la nakkal "we had an ambitious plan of team building, which turned out to be a damp squib (appadiye follow-up panni keechiteenga, kindal vera!) let's meet at Govinda's restaurant"-nu. Nalla poruthamana idamdhan, anga poi Team Building-ku Govinda potralam-nu naanum invitation accept panninten.

The date was last Wednesday, ellarum Wynyard Station-la meet pantu King's cross ponom, and went to this ISKCON's subsidiary hotel..saapadu was ok, and we were all talking when one of the girls started talking about one of the guys' Secret Santa name, how he contorted his face on seeing it, and what he bought as a present. I remarked and also prayed that I shouldnt be the person he got in his slip of paper, but vidhi yarai vittudhu, adhu kadaiseela naanedhan! (Avanuku enna pavam panen therila) Anyways, so andha saapadu saptutu, oorla iruka athanai PJ-vum kettutu the so-called Team Building ended with Banana splits and Chocolate Mousses and non-alcoholic wine. Ippadi oru team + ippadi oru manager indha naatuku thevaiya?

Aadi paaru Mangatha!!

2005-12-22T23:30:00.000-08:00

Iniku client place-la luncheon + Secret Santa gift deliveries..in which I wasnt really interested. The reason being that I had learnt on Wednesday that the person who had got my name had sort of grunted when he saw my name in his slip of paper, and I also knew what he had purchased. So perusa enaku onnum expectations ellam illa. But ofcourse, naan yaaruku Secret Santa-vo avanukum anegama naandhan-nu therinjirukum ninaikaren; konja naal munnadi he had taken the envelope containing the names around, and when he came to me avankitta sonnen:

"I dont want to take your name" (Naan illa, en kutti sathan..enakudhan ippadilam pesa theriyadhe)

"But why, I am a very good guy, why wouldn't you want to take my name?"

"Just like that!"

And, by the so-called Murphy's Law, I took the slip and it, well, contained his name. And when he moved from my cube, I told this to my cube-mates and everyone laughed..appo avan parthan naanga ellam sirikardha, so I presume that he must have guessed it. (murpagal seyyin pirpagal vilayum-nradhuku indha Secret Santa nalla padam enaku) Moreover, after I had placed the gift under the Christmas tree, avan en cube pakkam vandhu mathavanga kitta sollitirundhan that his Secret Santa has given him some nicely wrapped gift-nu..chamathu payyan pavam.

Friday erkaneve yarukum mood varadhu velai panradhuku, Christmas season-na kekkanuma? I was restless with no mood to work (choo, matha naalellam work panniya-nu kekka koodadhu!), so suthindhen office-laye..then I discovered that one of my colleagues had got playing cards as gift. "Cool," I told the others "let's play a game of Rummy by 4" and came back to my desk. 4 mani achu, and we all gathered to play..kadavule, 1008 rules, disagreements adhu idhu-nu we hardly played a complete game. We had played just 2 games when a girl suddenly came and messed the deck up. Avlodhan, ennoda Secret Santa recepient-ku tension vandhu kathittan "Nee enna 5 vayasu kuzhandhaya"-nu, I could see that the girl was getting tensed up and she retorted a bit and left the room. Konja neram vilayadirupom when this guy remembered her and asked where she is. Enga ellarukume therinju pochu, ponnu azha dhan poyirupa-nu, so I went in search of her and found her in the pantry with two other girls crying over this. Seri, samadhana paduthalam-nu kitta ponen:

"Hey, ennama idhukellam azhara?"

"Illa Usha, en appa kooda ennai thittinadhilla, ivan ennai thittitan.." (Aaha, idhu nalla iruke, inimel ellarum oru board-oda work-ku vanga, ennoda Appa thittinadhilla, so vera yarum ennai thitta koodadhu-nu, mathavangalukellam useful-a irukum)

"Avan thitinan-na nee angaye sollanum that you didnt like him talking like that, inga vandhu azhudha enna punniyam?"

"Illa Usha, I dont want to tell him too" (Enna nalla manasu, vandharai vazha vaippom-nra madhiri vaidharai vittu vaipom policy poliruku)

Kadaiseela I managed to make her smile by talking more, ofcourse at the cost of many colleagues' manams, but who cares, ippo ivalaidhane manage pannanum, infact avaloda teamlead-aye shameless-nu sonnen ava sirikanum-nu. Appuram avane vandhan, vandhu sorry kettan and all is well that ends well kadhaidhan.

Then we resumed our game, everyone at the height of their tempers (en-nu therila) that again we had a lot of arguments about the rule of Rummy (kashtam, idhukellam discussion engalukulla) and we managed another couple of games, well, it was time for Cinderella to leave, so naan kilambitten. Aama, Rummy-la drop panna 25 points and middle drop panna 50 points dhane?

Aduvom Paduvom Kondaduvom...

2005-12-22T16:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the client's Christmas party day at Park Hyatt Hotel, so naanga ellam gear up pannitirundhom for the party..gear-up na work ellam on time mudikardhu etc etc. The party was starting by 7:00, so some of us girls had come home to change into casual wears. Naan perfect on the dot 7:00 ready ayitten (evalo punctual naan) but when I went to the other girls' place (enna enaku vazhi suthama theriyadhu to the hotel) yarume ready-a illa!! adi pavigala, party 7:00 manikache-na, enna panradhu..innum rendu per varanume office-lerndhu-nranga!! Kizhinjudhu Krishnagiri-nu nondhutte I settled myself..7:15..7:30..7:40..7:50 oru madam entry koduthanga

"Girls, it is too late, we cant go there 1.5 hrs late!!" (Aama, appadiye time-ku correct-a vandhu keechita, idhellam mattum correct-a sollidu!)

Innoru madam vandhanga, and started analyzing slippers.."Well, if we go 1.5 hrs late..." -idhu naan, immediately "Oh yeah, I got the point, am going!!" and she went in to change (appada, oru conscientious ponnu da!)

So finally we left by 8:00, and when we came out, the two latecomers realized that one hadn't brought something for the other, and off they went to the former's apartment!

Anyways, naanga station poi ticket vangitu wait pannindhom indha rendu mahatmas-kaga and they came around 5 minutes later and we boarded the train to Circular Quay.

Anga iranginappurama none of us knew the route to the hotel (naandhan absent minded-na ellaruma??) So we called up a colleague and asked for directions and finally landed there..the time was 8:30.

I was bored as soon as I landed there, infact I havent liked parties since my first experience in a party, so suthi suthi thiru thiru-nu parthundhen. Appo oruthar vandhar - "What would you girls like?" Each of us gave our choices, but we didnt expect him to bring them to us! He brought them and stood to talk..naandhane eppovume mattipen, so ingayum adhan nadandhadhu, he was talking to me while I watched helplessly as the other girls moved to some other place. He went on talking and talking ('Enya ennai paduthara, niraya per irukangala, povendiyadhudhane :(') He excused himself for another glass - 'Appada, tholainjan' - and I was standing there wondering what next to do when some of my colleagues called me. And I went and spoke to them for 2 minutes, when another client guy came near me and introduced himself..

"Hi, I am Ra_(sathiyama enaku andha per puriyala)"
"Hey, Am Usha"
"What is it again?"
"Usha"
"Can you spell it for me?"
"U-S-H-A" (dei, idhu romba simple per da, idhu kooda unaku vaila nuzhayadha?)
"Your name starts with a 'U'?") (en, U-la start panna adhellam per kidayadha?)
"Yeah"
"Your name starts with the letter U?" (oru thadavai sonna puriyadha unaku?)
"Yeah...(grrrr)"
Meanwhile another guy, the one who admired Rangoli during Diwali preps, came and told this one, "Usha was the one who made Diwali here" (Aama, Diwali oru sweet, naan adhai pannen)
R% : "When was that?"
Rangoli Guy(RG): "I think that was 2 months ago, wasnt it?"
Me : "Yeah.."
R% : "I missed it by 1 month, damn! (parvalla, Diwali-ku valichirukadhu) Will you be here for the next Diwali"
Me : "No"
R% : "You might be here..you never know"
Me : "(Nee irundha naan inike odi poiduven) he he, probably"
R% : "So you are called Usha and it starts with a U??? (Ayyyooooo, arambichuttane!!! idhu enna ulaga adhisayama enna? Ahaa, oruvelai kudichirukana ivan? Usha..appeet!)"
Me : "Why, doesnt Uruguay start with a U? (and so does Uganda!)"

Then came the dancers and started dancing, and the Rangoli guy got so happy and started commenting hot babes and chicks etc..and I tried moving out of the corner under the pretext that I want to see the dance. Eppadiyo mattikaren ovvoruthar kanlayum, that this time I decided that I will go to a safe zone - 'Aaha! adho irukanga the missing girls, po Usha po' - and I went near the girls. These dancers, once they were done, called out two pairs from the group and taught them some gross steps which they had to dance in front of others..konjam kevalama irundhadhu, but again, I didnt know if it is a cross-cultural problem that i am feeling bad.

After the dances, there was nothing much and my ennui was overwhelming me, when they played some music. Naan konjam light-a thalai ellam asaikaradha parthutu, one of the girls called me to dance in the floor..so chumma poi edho thathu pithu-nu pannindhen. Thideernu partha that R% guy had come!!! Avanum edhira adaran!! Ayyayo appadi-nu I turned to some other side and danced and then he realized he wasn't welcome and moved aside..aana sema bore dancing..oru group sema enthu-va circle katti ninnu aaditirundhanga, and our Indian guys, half drunk, were showing their talents :) Anyways, time up, I stopped, decided to leave and left.

Illapa illa..50 50!!

2005-12-20T16:29:00.000-08:00

Nethu oru mixed-mode day..padhi naan kadupanen - meedhi mathavanga kadupananga. We were given holiday for the two days following Christmas coz it falls on a weekend by our manager but on a condition that the compensatory workday would be a Saturday. Naanum sandoshama othunten mentioning that it should not be the New year weekend coz I had plans for it. Ennoda aruyir manager, nakkal andha aalku: "Oh! you dont want to work on New Year Eve?! I was thinking of that"-nu anuparan! My kuttisathan took over and sent a mail "We would love to work if you are going to work with us during New year eve"..appuram badhile illa he he he..

Thideernu oru gnanodayam, ayyayo, naama appo work pannalana New Year kitta schedule move aayidume, appuram namma plans enna agardhu-ntu. I called Ms Cashew and asked her if she is fine with working during Christmas hols, ammanidhan hyperactive soul ache, yeah-ntanga..pakkathulaye dev manager nindhu muraichundhar. I told him I didnt want to delay the project completion, so I am planning for the Christmas hols - he immediately flared up and said "C'mon yaar, the system needs to be set up for you folks, how will you do anything?", and I the optimist said, "Why, wont your folks get it done by Friday, anyways our phase was supposed to start on Monday!" "No, UAT is going on, and we wont come during the hols, we will do our preps for you only by Wednesday which would probably end Thursday!" ('Ada paavi, idhukudhan nethu karisanama "neengalam hols-la work panna venda, naan Program Manager kitta pesaran adhai pathi"-nu sonnaya...emandhuttaye Usha, polladha ulagamda samiii)

Che, vidhi da-nu work pannitirundhen, having lost some of my enthu, appo oruthan vandhan coffee cup-oda. 'Ivan ennada ivan, daily vandhu madhiyam uyirai vangaran, daily-a pesitte iruka mudiyum, enakenna velaiye illaya?' "Hey, so what's up?"

"I am going to be here until this coffee cup is empty" ('Ada kokka makka, vara vara coffee cup ellam schedule decider-a mariduchu, kali kaalam da saami!')

"Oh!" ('Enna pannalam, pesavum enkitta topic illa, kadupu vera etharane ivan..') "Ok, shall I ask you a puzzle which might occupy your time for coffee?" ('Say yes, say yes")

"Ok, tell me"

('Maatnan da') So I told him a puzzle about Newton and Einstein which incidentally interested the person sitting next to me, and they took more than 5 minutes to give up..('Appada, coffee quarter cup vandhachu') "So you want to give up?"

"yeah"

I told them the answer - ofcourse ennai adika koodadhu-nu soltudhan - rendu per mugathaiyum parkanume..ada ada ada, kutti sathan-ku sema satisfaction!

So quarter cup dhan achu, 2nd puzzle solli theerthudalam-nu oru conductor puzzle sonnen...but kandu pidichuttan, but who cares, the coffee was emptied and he left the place..tra la la...

Evening vandhadhu, sivane-nu veetuku kilambitrundha ennai COO-vum Program Manager-um kooptanga..ennada matter, edhavadhu problem-anu partha...this COO had offered the other girls here to take them to Blue Mountains, adhai pathi pesardhukam..Grrrr..

COO : "I was talking to PM about the trip to Blue Maauntains" (endhan own, oun indha syllables ellam indha izhu izhukarangalo therila)

PM : "Usha, we need to arrange a rental car, will you be coming?"

Me: "actually no, what do you want me to do?"

PM : "Tell the girls that one of them has to take the lead" (Idhuku ennai koopidanuma? Rental cars ellam periyavanga neenga arrange pannanum..adhunga paavam license kooda illa, evan tharuvan car?)

Me: "They dont have the licenses, I'll talk to them"

COO: I'll talk to the Facilities manager here to enquire about all that (Excellent idea, thappicha Usha)

PM: It's very nice, my parents liked it..it's awesome..blah,..blah (repeat the same statements 5 times, adhan pannar)

Me: Yeah ok, will try to come..he he..I'll leave now, bye

Vitta podhum-nu odi vanten, partha veetuku pogumpodhum PM kitta mattinten, (indha manushan eppo keezha vandar?) andha caves pathiye pesi kazhutharuthu..yov, nee pesama Australian Tourism Department-la serndhuko, en ennoda uyirai vangara?!!!!

Un kannai unnai ematrinal...

2005-12-15T17:55:00.000-08:00

Ennoda tortoise coil took this long to take my flashback to April 1st..appo I was in another company. The company was showing losses in the financial results (ennai ellam vachikitta vera enna agum) and the HQ at Dallas decided to bring in a new CEO. Indha CEO vandhadhu vandhar, Texas-lerndhu varisaiya lay-off letters-a Hiroshima mela atom bomb kanakka avalo per mela veesi thallinar..(ofcourse, megalomaniac-nu ninaikaravangalukellam he showed justifications like cost-cutting, overhead etc). This is one end of the cord.

Innoru end-la we in India were thinking who next is going to be fired. Although my division was sure that no one would be fired, enga team-la irundha oru pudhu payyan aranduttan. Enkitta daily kettitirupan "Usha, we wont be affected, right?"-nu..Oru chinna background on this payyan, ivanoda work abilities mela enga team-ku nalla opinion kidayadhu coz this guy used to make up reasons for his faults at work and was passing remarks that most of us thought were out-of-bounds. Enkitta sambandhame illama Monday aniku "Man, I missed you a lot"-nuvan, adhavadhu ivar ennai Sat-Sun gap-la avalo miss panvaram..idhellam aniyayama therila?

Appodhan ennoda kuttisathan (yeah, the same kuttisathan) yosichudhu, ivanai en naama otta koodadhu-nu..

Date: April 1st
Venue: Office

I created a new mail-id using Yahoo having the display name as CEO's name (we had a convention of name/region/compname) and I sent a real nice mail saying that he had been fired and that he has to go talk to his manager and hoping that he understands the difficult phase the company is undergoing blah blah...and adhai avanuku anuppiten. Once I sent it, I went over to the area where he sits and sat next to him under the pretext of talking to another person. Meanwhile, the word had spread in that area and everyone was standing behind anxiously (indha manga adhai kooda gavanikkala)..I saw him opening his mailbox, there were four mails and mine was the 3rd. He slowly opened each mail and went through..1st..2nd and now the 3rd..We kept watching him and he was slowly going pale.

Ennaidhan ellathukum approach panvan, so he called me "Usha, look at this!!", naan romba porumaiya adhai parthuttu, "hey, its ok, go talk to the manager"-nu sonnen. He was like "Man! I am dead, I lost my job" adhu idhu-nu pethitu, he got up to go and talk to the manager. Me, anxious not to let him go, told him "Wait baba, the manager is not in yet, so relax yourself, we'll talk about this"..and he sat back with a blank expression..

I was standing next to him, people standing behind us, and everyone watching what was going on..this guy kept going paler and paler when I said "So, now you are completely tensed up?", he didnt realize the tone I said that and was just looking at me blankly when I said "I sent it" and smiled. He didnt believe his ears and said "What? Repeat it!" "I sent it" and bang, all his smiles re-appeared on his face and he held my hands in that moment of relief and tension blended in his whole mind "Usha, you saved me, man!!!"

'Ada paavi, logicallu nee enkitta kochikanum da, ivan enna thank panran???'

He hugged everyone around with a big relief written all over his face. The good thing here was that he didnt make a big issue out of this whereas this is really a sensitive issue. En luck-nudhan sollanum, but anyways, everyone had a good laugh..a few did say that I did a wrong thing, but i knew they enjoyed it too :)

So that was my kutti-sathan in action...tortoise back to its original time and date, ippo kutti sathan yosikudhu enna panlam indha DEO payyanai-nu..

kadavul padhi mirugam padhi..

2005-12-14T18:41:00.000-08:00

Rework again!! Oru manushi ethanai thadavai rework panva? Threshold limit enkitterndhu dhan edukanum ninaikaren..this particular work has been done several times that ennoda kanavula kooda indha work dhan panren! Indha dev team keeps on making more and more changes, which in turn is delaying the schedule..adhu kooda parvalla (infact niraya per-ku oorku pogave ishtam illayam ippo), rework panradhudhan is more taxing.

Andha depressing day-ku next day kathuppom-nu resolution eduthome, adhai kappathuvom-nu daily kaalaila varen, but it tragically ends in doing a completely insane task instead! Adding fuel to this fire is this DEO guy (belonging to the same dev team) who keeps coming to me every morning to start making his day by addressing me "GoodMorning DEO", which he did today too.

'Vaada raasa vaa, unnai parkalanudhan wait pannindhen'

"Good Morning" (Grrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Ore kushi avanuku, naan pal kadikardhu kettuducham, he irritates me more by smirking at me. Appuram avan avanoda manager kitta pesindhan, while I got back to my "rework" and my music. Naan pattu kekkumpodhu hum panven, illa edhavadhu kaiya vachittu pannitrupen like tapping or snapping, en thalai ezhuthu, ivan irukumpodha pannanum? He resumed his "Everybody teases Usha" show and commented, "She has all kinds of actions that heroes do in movies", adhai kettu suthi irundhavanga sirichanga (enda ennai mattum target panra?) and he said "It's fun watching someone getting angry" (Aama, it is more fun getting thrashed up, wanna try?) and it went on..am not going to relate more than this, innum kadupaiduven!

Enakulla irundha kutti sathan mella muzhichudhu, erkaneve sema irate-a irundhena on the dev team, I decided I should do something. This reminded me of a prank (rather a sensitive prank) I played in my previous company..periya effect ellam illa, but many wouldn't like it...