Gare and Gaandu

I was feeling "gare" this morning courtesy TNEB as there were intermittent powercuts throughout the night. No proper sleep. Ivanunga indha pazhakkatha eppo niruthuvaanungalo!

Sari nu Radio Mirchi vecha ellam mokkai paattu... Suchi-kku yaaru mela gaando theriyala.. ooraye pazhi vaangitanga! Suryan FM kekkave vendam - pesiye mokkai podranunga. FM Gold-la kaalangaathala "Aalapanai" pannitrukkanunga. The only solace was FM Rainbow. Thankfully, very nice songs... Less "gare" now. Back to work!

o ya yaaa.. FM Rainbow!!

A nice evening with friends

There is one aspect in which the DMK and AIADMK are not at loggerheads. Guess what? - causing inconvenience to public. This is something at which every politician is at home and these two parties master it. Ennamo "thondru thottu vaazhndhu vandha pazhakkam maathiri".

May 13, around 11AM : Kalaignar took over as Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister

May 13, 6.30PM, Thiruvanmiyur Signal : Traffic piling up for nearly a KM on both sides. Reason - Kalaignar's convoy on its way into the city. 42 cars, yes its 42 - I counted, blitzed past us. I was held up for 15 mins at that particular signal. Even vehicles were not allowed on the other side of the road in one of the busiest intersections connecting the city and the suburbs. Next, Jayanthi signal-la another 15 mins - after affect of what happened at 6.30.

7PM: Reached the beach. Reddy, Maddy, Arun and Arvind were all there already as they managed to escape detention on the road by a whisker. It was great fun after that and once KG joined it was more fun. Reddy tried his hand at ottufying KG. He was not convinced with KG's explanations whatsoever. Maddy was as usual at his best bird watching. Arvind tried his best to stop him. All the other 5 interpreted a telephone call I got from my friend for an employee referral as.. u know what... :-). The other 4 drenched themselves while I was looking after wallets, mobile phones and bike keys. Mirchi gave me company. We missed Balaji and the twins the most.

Finally, the best part. Arvind's treat. Kaila 400/- vechundu treat-kku vandhirukkan rascal! We started at 9.15 from the beach and went in search of a nice place to dine. People were waiting to enter the restaurants everywhere. Sangeethas was one place where the crowd was manageable. We helped ourselves to the A/C hall upstairs; sumptuous meal after that. AUECE 2004's traditional behaviour at hotels during gettogethers was present as always even though the strength was only 6. Started for home at 11.

11.05, Radio Mirchi: "Pathukulle number onnu sollu...". KG came into my mind. I smiled my way on my victor. More smiles for the next hour :-)

Sledge Hammer

Guessing hard what this is about?!? Sledge Hammer - that was the first thing I remembered when I saw Chris Gayle bat for the first time. A slapped cover drive off Waqar drew a parallel to saying "poLichunu vechan" in Tamil. Very few players can be likened to a "Sledge Hammer" - Gayle, Symonds, Justin Kemp, Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen. Viv Richards doesnt fit here - he is a cut above all, he is the master. These players have brought in a new dimension to sensational strokeplay mixing talent with raw power. Dhoni is the most unorthodox among the above but he is slowly learning to be patient too!

The reason am writing about this topic among many especially with so much happening in TN - Kevin Pietersen. I chanced myself to this man's blazing innings yesterday against SL.

Pietersen burst onto the international scene with 3 blazing hundreds in his debut series away against SA. KP has the style, footwork, patience and brute power - all combined in one which makes him the nemesis of all teams in the world. Playing with such buccaneering flair and panache, he easily stands out among the big hitters in the game today. KP plays per situation and he has the ability to shun his natural instincts for a longer time in the interests of his team. His fifty in both innings on debut against Aus @ Lord's bear testimony to this! KP certainly saved the face of England from a more humiliating defeat; losing by 250 is not a great thing either :-)

More than anything, he dictates the way the match goes when he plays. That makes him doubly special. He can turn the game on its head both with his batting and fielding - his first ODI against Aus is an example. He is only 25 - this factor is certain to bug many a bowler. Way to go KP!

And finally something for the statisticians - his highest score is 158 and he has scored it three times - against Aus, zim and SL yesterday. A quick analysis on 158 showed the count doesnt match his birthdate too. Then what's so special about 158 Mr. KP?!?

TV pips Gold & PC's

May 11, Chennai : Colour TV beats Gold and PC, emerges Champion!

This is not Equestrian and these are not Horses' names. This is TN elections - the war of freebies as "Cho" Ramaswamy puts it.

It has been the closest elections in recent times and people have given a mandate to the DMK front to form the next Government. This is one election where the anti incumbency factor has played a very very small role. It has more to do with what is offered for free! I am very unhappy with what has turned out as people have come and voted blindly. There are hundreds of welfare issues that would weigh much, but the freebies led by colour TV have appealed to most people more than anything. Shame on us!

A simple second thought - as simple as "who will repair that free color TV?"- could have spurred a different line of thought among the voter, leave alone thinking of welfare schemes whatsoever. I personally feel no need for a change since the Govt was doing pretty decent. And now, the person who is going to lead the state is the most undeserving MLA - he has been to the assembly only once during the past 5 years - great job as an MLA isn't it?!? Damn it! Chepauk voters are perhaps the most anserine among all!

Perhaps in the forthcoming elections there would be promises like 'they are giving 15" TV, we are giving 17" with remote and a guarantee of free repair', "we will give TVS50 as opposed to the free cycle given by them" and many more like this. Read this to know about other potential offers that may spruce up in the coming years.

Other matter now: The star of the show is certainly our favorite - the one and only "Gabtun". A vote share of 10% for a 6 month old party is just great! Lok Paritran's 37K votes in Chennai is a herculean start for them. Kudos to them! Way to go!!

Stats now - something I like very much :-)

Tambaram has got the highest victory margin of 48K plus votes.

Singanallur in Kovai Dt. has got the lowest - 14 votes!

Overall, this election bears testimony to Goundamani's words - "freeya kodutha phenoyil-a kooda kudippan"

My Vote!

May 8, 2006 was certainly a memorable day in my life - I voted for the first time. I was glad that I could make it having spent nearly 4 hours to get my voter id card. I went to a nearby school that was the booth at around 7.30 and was pleasantly surprised to see about 150 people in the men's queue and about 50 on the distaff side. The other ward queues had about 50 in each of the queues. "Very decent", I said to myself. Barring a few probs with the voting machine, everything else was a nice experience in itself. I expected a 60% + turnout and it was heartening to see close to 70% polling.

One thing I did not like - the dye that is marked on the left index finger. Man, its supposed to be a small straight line this time. But it was a big cross on my finger! My colleagues burst into laughter seeing that and likened me to an accused :-(

Simply Laloo

Read this piece somewhere. I was ROFL after reading!

You would probably remember that there were elections in Bihar last year. And canvassing was happening just around the time when the preparations for budget would have started ideally.

Some Reporter: Sir, Railway budget is around the corner. And you are here canvassing in Bihar?!?

Laloo: Arrey, Dictason dhe chuke hoon. Kaafi log us par kaam kar rahe hain.

The seriousness of the question would have been blown away by this beauty of a reply!

Ennaatha Solvenungo!

Television advertisements were taken to a new level by companies like Fevicol, Hutch, Happy Dent, Indica etc., with some absolute beauties spawned by the heights of creativity. Especially the one in which a mother makes her son sit on a Fevicol tin to stop him from moving around in the work place - thats a classic! The sight of the little pug in the Hutch Ad brings about a smile instantly.

These apart, there are others especially in vernacular channels that are providing a new dimension. The moment these ads appear, there would ideally be two choices - you burst out laughing for no reason or you would feel like banging yourself.A Sample here...

1) Rusk Ad - saw this on Sun music. A boy would be eating rusk and a girl would snatch it.

Boy : en russkku

Girl: busskku!

2) Some health related ad - appears quite frequentlyA group of kids would try to bully a friend of theirs and he would retort back easily.

the kids: muthu, unakku eppdi da ivlo sathu

For more such "arivu poorvamaana" ads, watch all vernacular channels esp sun music. These ads do the talking almost round the clock. Probably these ads would have been inspired by famous comedians of tamil cinema viz., TR, gabtun etc., Bringing in "adukku mozhi" would interest kids atleast - appdinu nenachiruppangalo!

Enna koduma Saravanan ithu!

At Laaaaaaaast...

A very very special weekend in recent times... Quite a few things made the weekend memorable but one Mr.X made it absolutely special!

The kick off was with our company's Annual day on Friday - one of the most wonderful evenings i've spent. These occasions are indeed a great forum to meet people and have your dose of fun. Meeting people whom we haven't met for more than six months is certainly a great feel. And after that if people like Kadri Gopalnath, Srinivas, Anuradha Sriram and Shobana mesmerize you to their tunes, you just can't ask for anything better. A slightly different perspective would certainly help us imbibe a lot of positives on the career front as well. This evening would stay in my heart for a long long time.

Next was Michael magic in Bahrain. The new qualifying rules are good and it was pure Michael magic. And Ferrari does make Felipe Massa look awesome. Ferrari is back.

Now, the special one.... Guess what is it?? One Mr.X of a katchi (adimatta thondar pa) came at around 6.30PM and showed me the voter list and boy! my name was atlaaaaaaaast included in the list. Now, after being forced to miss exercising my franchise for 4 elections in a row over 5 years simply because of inefficient funtioning of the concerned officials, this news certainly made me jump over the moon and so should I be!

And to top this, my close friend has returned from abroad... A great weekend indeed :-)

Googly for Google?

At last a competitor for Google?? Here comes previewSeek, a super search engine that uses Bayesian statistical data mining, word-sense disambiguation, cognitive visualization theory, heterogeneous database querying technologies, and behavioral psychology all made possible by 20+ yrs of research into AI. Well, thats what the developers in UK have to say about this -> About Previewseek

Aha! Getting toooooo technical isn’t it?. Namma cosmic energy coupled with atomic energy thaan nyabagathukku varuthu :-).

Previewseek categorizes search results by relevance. I did a search on Mainframe and boy, I had results categorized beautifully on the left, into Computers, Systems, Technology, COBOL, Users, H/w, Downloads and many more. So if I need something about the latest info on Z/OS, I would just click Technology and look further. Sounds cool isnt it? Thats AI for you. If you would like info on Java, here we go. Java as coffee, the programming language, as the Indonesian island etc., That would perhaps make previewseek, once launched, a cut above the rest. Yes yes, its still a beta version.

And once you get the search results, there is a micro screenshot of each search result. Hmm... So looks like these guys are all set to give Google a run for its money. Lets wait and watch. After all, this healthy competition is going to make life absolutely easy for mankind. :-)

Check it out… Previewseek

Captain "Karunguly"

One word to describle the axing of a "batting alrounder" - Rubbish (read it the way Geoff Boycott pronounces it..summa thaan...just for a punch). Including a player as "batting alrounder" itself was "dubaakoor velai". The term "batting alrounder" reminds me of "Deferred Live" made famous by whoelse?? DD! Still better was "deferred live ka seedha prasaran" during 2002 football WC ;-)

Captain "Karunguly" as he is affectionately called by Lollu Brothers has just played 2 good innings and saved nearly 10 runs while fielding at mid-on. No marks to anyone saying hez been made a victim of board politics. This is not the way you treat a player, leave alone the tag-lines "most successful captain" or whatever.

Hey guys.. come on... India is a happening place. Batting alrounder being replaced by a batsman at the expense of one Mr.Zaheer Khan who has been just outstanding in Ranji Trophy, captain "Karunguly" getting a place in test team while the shorter version of the game is his stronghold, retaining winning combination for one-day games while disturbing the winning combination for the test matches..... it all happens... only in India courtesy dirty administrators, or rather, a bunch of jokers belonging to a body called BCCI.

As Calcutta went berserk burning effigies of More and slapping it with sticks and slippers while it was burning, I could only say "podra.. nalla pottu medhi da avana". I feel sorry for you Sourav. But I am happy you were removed rather than being made to carry drinks. Dada, pls comeback with a bang. My prayers for that

The selectors are real puppets, rather "Rubber Stamps" - what a wonderful term Navjot Sidhu has coined for the underachieved (they say they get only TA), degenerated losers! The reason they have given for his exclusion - height of stupidity.

I will finish with the Quote of the day.

"There are two things that are abundant in this world. Hydrogen and Stupidity. Unless somebody utters something stupid, the world is a very dull place to live in" - Navjot Sidhu

Hall of Shame

The topic name... is the term I would prefer to use to refer to our parliament. I feel really bad, rather ashamed to say this, but not many would disagree with me after the sensational expose of 11 shameless losers accepting money to ask questions in Parl. What else have these morons been elected for? And these guys have not yet been expelled or even suspended... Thats the state of India. Oopssss... we are the losers for having voted these guys to power. Ha ha... my name has never been in the voter list!

A Fearsome Ride to Office!

Oct 27th:
The bus I was in was searching for the road in the Medavakkam-Sholinganallur segment while it was pouring down cats and dogs. A mini stream was running down south across the road. Even heavy vehicles could feel the pressure of water pushing the vehicle sideways. If anyone would have driven, or rather had the guts to drive thru the road that day, the driving logic would be simple; Spot for two electric poles, yes u got the road; its inbetween the two poles! Such was the condition of the road.

I was seated right behind the driver and what else I could ask for? It was just fearsome. The bus would tilt about 30-40 degrees when it crosses a pothole. Imagine the driver's mindset with people inside the bus making noises out of fear. Its simply the skill and guts of an unsung hero that carried us thru the stretch not only on that day but for quite sometime after rains battered the road crazy.

Intha mazhaikke Chennai naari pochu. What would have happened had Chennai had a Bombay kinda rain?!?

This is certianly one of the rides of my lifetime, but nothing to match the one downhill in Tirupathi courtesy Girish and co. Man, those guys are crazy. I still feel a bit for having missed the ride uphill though walking uphill to Tirumala was a pleasure and adventure in itself... :-)

Lollu...

Looking back at the week

Monday
Jujupi Remix on Vijay TV: 9.25PM - "Aararai Kodi pergalil oruvan, adiyen tamizhan naan ungal nanban" starring Ramarajan. Song starts... Ramarajan walks out with all the Gambheeram and punches some 10 guys standing in a line (ultimate).

"adiyen tamizhan naan ungal nanban" - A cow slowly emerges out of Ramarajan's heart (classy.. pucca graphics)

"Neengal illamal naan ingu illai" - Ramarajan shown with two cows on either side

This was followed by a mix of scenes from various movies of Ramarajan very appropriate for the lyrics of the song. Some time back, "Kadhal yaanai varugira REMO" was remixed with a MGR hit. It was just fabulous.

Truly, the guys at Vijay TV fill the void left by the absence of Captain and Ramarajan movies and of late Sarath Kumar movies with some well directed jibes. Hats off to Jujupi TV and Lollu Sabha

Wednesday
AIR FM Gold: 9.45PM - Its raining crazy all over the place, no power.

Announcer: Anavasiyamaga yaarum veettai vittu veliye sellatheergal (aamam pozhuthu polanu road la kurukkaiyum nedukkaiyum poittu vandhundrukkom...)

AIR FM Gold: 10.15PM - Same Situation

Announcer: Min saadhanangalai ubayogippathai thavirkkavum (vennai... current-e illai eppdi da min saadhanatha use panna mudiyum?)

Thursday 7.45PM - India has thumped its way past SL. My friend calling...

I : sollu da...

He: Paathiya, thala pinnittaaru

I : samma patta da.. chaancey illa

He: Ganguly veetla ore sandayaam da

I : Enna da achu? endha channel la sonnan?

He: Athellam illa, summa thaan... oru imaginary conversation

       Ganguly (to his family): Naan illama ivlo nalla adaranungale paavinga

       Family (to Ganguly) : Naaye nee illathathu naala thaan da nalla adranunga...Vaaya vecha mavana avlathan

I : Ada paavigala...

Yet another Ganguly joke. People wanting more Ganguly jokes, listen to Hello Chennai during cricket season.

First "Second Show"

Saturday 22nd October, Sathyam, 10.15 PM, Ghajini - Never been to a night show before and it was raining - of course not because I have ventured out to a second show. It was a great evening with my two cousins and my brother-in-law. I thought Sathyam was one place where I did not get any bulbs but one of my cousins ensured I got one there. She made us carry Lays and Apple Juice to the theater while calling my other cousin and myself "Rules Ramanujam" when we said "Outside food not allowed inside" in chorus.

Next...

Car Parking -> Enter Sathyam (I was carrying all that we bought)

One Sathyam Employee : Sir, Cover-la enna? (She took out all that was in) Sir, ithellam eduthuttu pogapdathu (A cold stare down back... adi paavi bulb vaanga vechuttiye!)

No words uttered. We came out, emptied the juice and one packet of Lays, chided my cousin, gave the remaining packets to the counter and went inside for the movie. Audience la lots of thaatha paattis with family and people straight from their offices. I made a frantic lookout for some of my colleagues but yaarum varala. Perhaps they prefer only early morning special shows as it happened to be when I watched Chandramukhi at 8 with Pondy and Gilma - full of IT makkal.

I liked the film. Pradeep Singh Rawat - very villainy, Surya - very good show, Asin - brilliant. But the nemesis apart from Nayanthara were the numerous textile ads that came out in their full lengthy version before the start and during half-time - "Mokkai" at its best

1.45 AM on October 23rd - movie ends. The rain had stopped by then but samma water logging. Collected back the Lays packets and reached home safe at 2. Full of fun, a great evening to remember.

An IT connection to the Ganguly-Chappell Spat

A sudden thought today about the Ganguly - Chappell spat worked upon in my mind into a familiar happening in an IT company - a typical production support call! This is what happens in a support project. A well conceived product with prodigious amount of design and coding effort goes into production. Once there, if there are any issues, there would be a call and a fix is to be put in within the SLA. Depending on the enormity of the problem, a ticket would be raised with appropriate severity (usually 1 through 4, 1 being the highest). The job would be worked upon and restarted and the trail would resume. Something similar happened in this recent ignominy to Indian cricket.

Shastri, Gavaskar and Co. in their endeavor scheduled a very good Batch Trail (that’s basically the system, all jobs, critical in their own respect, were well scheduled – a very good coach in the interest of Indian cricket). The Initiators were all set and it kicked off in the Emerald Isle. Teething problems unmindful, it pulled itself along until a mainline driver program (Ganguly) caused an outage despite a successful, albeit laborious run. The root cause of the malfunction was reported to the System Administrators who in the meantime were busy themselves in finding out who the real administrator was. The admins in the melee got themselves lost and in the meanwhile helped the report programs (Media) scheduled in the trail to be triggered in Express mode (that’s the jobs running with more CPU resources - the leak'o'mania).

A severity 1 ticket was raised amidst fear of losing the project and the programmers had their task cut out (that was the emergency meeting). But the managers simply had the job marked complete and the batch trail resumed. The cause for more CPU utilization after the job failure is not being considered at the moment (:-)). The impact analysis of the problem could be done only in the long run. What could be the result? A system crash?!?