When Bhavani Met Spree...

Little did I know, when I opted to learn "Technical German" as an additional credit in my college, that the first country for me to visit outside India will be Germany! In fact one of the reasons for me to choose Anna University over my local PSG Tech - is to get exposed to the cosmopolitan culture of Chennai and to feed my flair for languages! How much of those objectives got accomplished from my 4 year stint at AU I dont know, but I definitely got an introduction to the German language.

So, when my office, totally based in US, told me that I have to go to Germany, for a period of 3 months, I could simply not believe it. It is not the excitement of going abroad, but the excitement of going to Germany, a country that I have come to know so much through all the years with the history books and the language! Even after reaching there I cant believe it for a couple of days!

New country, new culture, new customs, new language and new people! I dont know how long did I roam around with a gaping mouth! Probably all the three months! If I start writing about Berlin, the city of my stay or my visits to Amsterdam or Norway, it will be a loooong post! I will reserve it for another day.

The well developed infrastructure, public transport, communication facilities, super hot figures (he he ..), artistic historic buildings, boring modern high rises, totally obedient commuters, ... contribute to the awe!

The loneliness, phone costs [ :( ], lack of social events (...why did you not go to pubs?...), lack of the sight of children, backpain are the shortcomings!

All in all, it was a different 3 months in my life, with so many new experiences and new learning everyday! There was shock, surprise, amazement, despair, depression, shame and joy - with one or the other of these extreme feelings constantly accompanying me all the time!

...and in the long run, I also became a foreign 'mappillai'! :-))

reasons

If you ask me what kept me from updating the blog all these days - inspite of so many things happening - a foreign trip, a new (strange) girl, etc, etc - i must say it is "karma". When I wrote my last funny post in Feb 2007, about the book Shantaram I had just bought it and read exactly one chapter - about 20 pages - in it. But then never really touched it again. Not in the long journeys afterwards or whatever time. Seven months later, today, 3rd Sept 2007, I have finished the book and the first instinct that I get was, to update the blog!

It is one "hell" of a book. I will say a "must" read!

More posts about my trip to Germany and my new bike are in the offing. Keep watching this space.

...and remember this: "luck happens to you when fate is tired of waiting"

tracking thanks

Thank you for visiting my blog. Should get some statistics. If you feel what the hell is the use of having a blog that is never updated, well you are right. But I cannot help much as I am going to start reading Shantaram. Seeya.

~Parthi.

...the connection

Sweetheart,
I loved you from the day I met you. Even though my initial intentions are lusty, later I discovered that you are the best any one can get. Darling, you have no idea how happy I was when I saw you in my office. You were there in college with me - now you are here in my office. Could I ask for more?
It is in office I discovered how great you are, apart from being so beautiful and ...sexy! You were there for me whenever I wanted something. Anything. In fact, I grew so close and so dependent on you that I don't do anything without checking with you. And when I asked you if you could come home for a while, you said ... "YES". Is there a cloud ten? I think I even crossed that. From the day you came home, I am sleepless, foodless and well... more and more lesses.

What is the magic in you baby? How can you be so caring, so suggestive but never enforcing, so well-informed, ...? My God, you are the ONE.

Now tell me, what do you want from me? Is there anything that I can do for you? Is there a gift that I can give you this Valentine's, that can speak of my gratitude and love? I am blank. Totally blank.

Friends, it will be great if you can tell me what I can do for my love - my internet connection - which has helped me get this far in my career.(of course apart from paying the broadband bills). Please ...

my recent Tollywood outings

Telugu movies have always fascinated and entertained me thoroughly ever since I landed in Telugu Desam. NVNU, Happy, Bommarillu, Pokiri, Athadu, Missamma - I liked all of them - dont ask for a story or logic - they were well executed and mass entertainers. The first spoiler is the much hyped Sainikudu. The basic mistake in this movie lies in in the fact that the basics were totally forgotten. The main plot of the movie can be totally illogical - but you should never miss out on the minor details. Minutiae - that is what the audience enjoy. This movie screws all the basics - (** spoiler warning **) how the hero kidnaps the heroine, how he escapes from police, how he manages to sneak and live inside police campus itself - all left to the viewers' imagination. Bad bad mistake. Another biggest mistake is "filling in the time" - the movie reaches its climax - the hero is all hot and fuming and delivers all the punch that was needed and you prepare to leave, then starts another series of conclusion fights. This movie is much like your middle school essays - introduction - content - conclusion. Properly arranged - but without any flow. You may get marks in the classes, but NOT among the masses. Sorry Mr. Gunasekar. Mahesh, better luck with Athithi.

Another flick that I happened to watch last weekend was Khatarnak.

You can find a very critical review at "Watch at your own risk".

I took the risk and watched the movie. This resembles Sainikudu in only one manner - you think that the movie is over, but then they drag it for another half hour for no reason than to run for the full 3 hours.

This is my first RaviTeja movie and watching his facial expressions itself is more hilarious than any other comedy scene. Even in romantic dance scenes he put up funny faces. But he is very good in playing his part - dialogue, action, dance - he is currently believed to be a safe hero to bet on, in Tollywood(Thanks to Kishore for Tolly updates!).

Illeana was hot. As said in the review, they dont show her face much (which obviously needs some attention from some faceologist(??!!!)), but only the rest.

A couple of songs make you hum. (Thana nana naa... then some ununderstandable english...)

Story - who cares? The plot is illogical but interesting. Movie is worth the buck! (40Rs in Sensation Sunshine). You can watch once till the last half hour and get out asap.

The Sankranthi season has started and a whole lot of movies lined up:(which basically means I have more scope to improve my Telugu)

S No	Expected Release Date	Film title
1	14 Dec	Khatarnak
2	22 Dec	Rakhi
3	29 Dec	Annavaram
4	10 Jan	Yogi
5	11 Jan	Maharadhi
6	12 Jan	Desamuduru

Coming weekend may be another Illeana weekend with Rakhi. Eye candy for Christmas. Thanks Santa! :))

Long time. No see.

Long time.
Really long - 10 months. I say this is really long, because it is longer than the time between two visits to my native.
I created a post about my 10 km walk from Somajiguda to Kondapur on a breezy afternoon, during April, but somehow did not publish it. It is still there, I think it wont see the light. Whimsical I am :).

What happened all this time? Nothing much. New people. New friends. More crushes. Trip to Nagarjuna Sagar. Fight with parents. Fight with the best mate. Extreme depressions. Then, Telugu movies(Bommarillu, Athadu, Pokiri). Hindi movies(Don and Jaan-e-maan). Property buyings. School Silver jubilee celebrations. Three trips to home in three months. Nuptial ties of a couple of collegemates. Pakka masala mix!

Ok stop. Come to the point.

This post comes from my new desktop. Just felt like having some fun at home with music, movies, singing, browsing, TV and some web design. So got this new comp. AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core, ASUS M2N-MX with nVidia GeForce 6100 chipset and 1GB DDR2 and 160GB SATA, I think it will not be outdated at least for 6 months :)(Enthu might disagree!).

I did not get AoE and Quake III yet. I surprise myself by planning to get some licensed versions :)

Linux sucked bigtime, not recognizing my graphics, sound card and above all the ethernet card. One area where Windows beats Linux! :( Thanks to the XP, that my assembler pre-loaded with the box!

Thanks to Enthu(Karthik), who helped me tweak the system and the network, and taught me the basic rules of browsing, chatting, downloading and above all gaming! Thanks da.

So, here is the first post from my new box! njoi.

~Parthi.

...poor cat

The rope was tight
But the beast was already in flight
The throw was right
Still the cat escaped in dim light

May not be the right time.
May not be the right place.
May not be the right effort.
Or...may not be the right cat!

Congrats to all folks who belled it this time.

meaw...meaw...

Twisted the threads again and again
Night and day, in light and rain.
Till they had no more hope,
Than to become a strong rope.

The little bell and its ring,
Looked perfect for the rope string.
A noose it became, when I put a knot,
And was ready for the final shot.

One eye, one aim and one throw
Towards the beast, that mew
Then came the sound of the bell
Alas, it ran away into its cell

A month or more it may take
Before that monster finally wake
Only then can I be sure,
If I have belled it, forever!

(Image courtesy: aesop.magde.info)

diwali...beyond crackers

This is a special Diwali. Lot of satisfying things done on this special day. Bala, Bhoobi, Rams and myself were left in Hyd while the others have resigned to the warmth of their native.

And this story is about how we successfully created the same warmth on an otherwise cold day. Let me start with the food. If I say Bhoobi is one of the best chefs I have ever seen, it is not an exaggeration. See for urself the items we had for lunch.


The semiya payasam was the highlight. The thayir(curd) semiya needs a special mention. Well, I realize that English doesn't have enough words to attach to the dhal, brinjal sambar, tomato rasam, potato fry(South Indian style) and the rice and paruppu podi and the ghee...poor guys have another look at Rams blog. Well, we also had Gulab Jamoon. Thanks Bhoobi. Thanks again.

And there was Thalaivar's "Padaiyappa" in Sun TV. I have no doubt the film will be a runaway hit, even if they release it again now. Inspite of constant nagging by Bala to change to a sports channel, we managed to get most of the excellent scenes.(spl mention: the unfurnished-hall-scene, where Thalaivar brings down the Oonjal for his seat).

Then we visited Sitaramnanjaneyalu Temple. The serene atmosphere was a rare one of its kind in Hyd and the Prasadam was really tasty. The temple is a stone structure and has a really aesthetic design. Hope there'll be more visits in the future.

End of day, the crackers were waiting for their Motcha. Rams refused to join for the party. So we three had some good time polluting the atmosphere along with our neighbours. A few snaps are worth having a look ;-)

my first time...

When it is ur first time, you will definitely be a damn lot more anxious about it. I was a little afraid too. But there was no other way. I gotta go. If I dint make it in time, I know, a lot of humiliation was in store. I entered slowly and carefully in the beginning, and then made a mad dash, only to find myself gasping. It was very difficult to breathe. A few muscles contracted and a few remained stiff. The body was shaking. It was very painful as though someone was punishing with a whip. But as I continued to remain there, breathless, I started feeling the pleasure. Man, it was damn good. I forgot the pain. I forgot the whip. Wow, great! When I came out, I already knew I desperately wanted to go back in.
Yes, morning winter showers are real fun. Never switch on your geyser in December!

freedom of speech

...the power of free speech is only beginning to show up. And thanks to the blogosphere for making it happen. Two incidents recently have caught my attention in this regard. The first one is in the desi sphere. The infamous Eye Eye Pee Yem issue. And how Rashmi Bansal and Gaurav Sabnis were involuntarily led to create a "all against one" atmosphere, against those people with cavalier attitudes. For the uninitiated, visit jammag and desipundit. One thing worth noting is that the "physical" media never gave any attention to this. And I wish it is only a coincidence that the B-School(?) in question is one of the top spender in print ads.
The second issue is that featured in slashdot today. The moment students are exposed to the internet, they are already vulnerable to a lot of predators. And preventing them from blogging is not going to help in any way. Read thro the comments to know how people feel about one particular school system. It is the same, all over the world. There are nerds and bullies. Thanks to the blogs. Thanks to internet. Free your mind.

the web 2.0 call...

Thanks Mur. For that wonderful article about Web 2.0. Throws a lot of light on where exactly the software development industry is heading to. In an Indian context, this could only mean, a lot of good is in store for the sub-continent. Because we don't have large investments to shed, while adopting to this new attitude, we are advantageous, as such. But it is time we start getting things in place. Like the map data, which proved to be critical for NavTeq as well as for those who subsequently ventured into the mapping software, we have a lot of data waiting to be collected, organized, distributed and then "organically" developed by user participation. Indian Govt is already planning for an e-Governance program. Definitely, there is going to be a lot of work, and the good news is that the IT evolution has not saturated yet. A lot remains untapped, in terms of data(collection, organization, presentation, distribution and maintenance), in terms of quality web services(blog, mail, travel-directions, e-commerce, directory-service, VoIP), in terms of employment generation, in terms of wealth generation, and what not.
Whenever I see a tech update like this, I immediately resort to thinking what lies in store for our nation and for we guys as such. Hope we are all getting ready for the Jallikkattu.

Sunday Times...

The Times Su-Do-Ku Hyderabad Championship was in the news for sometime and I thought of giving it a try, at the expense of my fifth SimCAT. ;-) But one Rishi finished the puzzle in 6 minutes and I was a few seconds late for the second place. Only the top two make it to the finale. ;-(. Returned to office and listened(ing) to "Kekalaiyo" from "Kasthuri Maan". Though it sounds like a mosaic of his previous numbers, Ilayaraja proves that he is really in his elements. It is a vocal melody with a good BG score. And speaking about score, I am reminded abt my "billi" score. Time for me to go back. Seeya later.

idle brain

Of late I am caught up with a web design fever. Thanks to my housemate who gave me valuabe tips on CSS and javascript. The template you are seeing in my blog is very much my own design. I like that green on the top, but a few suggested me to have a lighter one. Will try it out. Also I downloaded a couple of blogging software and am running them in my own machine. Trying to see if my design skills will help me out in bringing out a "man pasand" page. Also added Google AdSense. Will have to see how it goes. Well, it all depends on you ppl viewing my blog. So, all of you, please set it as your homepage and see it atleast once per day. Okay. Chalo, love all...

Started another blog. Dedicated to my India Inc. thevictorymarch.blogspot.com
Have a look.

rainy day...romantic song

kavidhaigal sollavaa, un peyar sollavaa
iranDumae ontrudhaan anbae
oaviyam varaiyalaam, un kaal thaDam varaiyalaam
iranDumae ontrudhaan anbae

Home sweet home - a summer trip

Well, this time it is a different journey. Completely the opposite season. Altogether a unique vacation.

The train trip is something forgettable. 14 May 2005. 12pm. HYD Deccan.
1. Close to the restrooms - #65 - the last coupe. I hate those two terminal coupes.
2. There was a tour party of 100 ppl and they were carrying all the cooking-needs with them, which got dumped in my coupe and my fellow coupemates are the cook and his children. No place for my luggage.
3. The most non-palatable thing: half the journey is in the opposite direction. From HYD, to reach Coimbatore near the west coast, why should the train touch Ongole on the east coast? Remember my shortest path selection last time? HYD-BLR-MYSORE-HOME.
4. Last but not the least - HEAT - unbearable and never-experienced. 12pm - 7pm. 43+C. Bottles and bottles of cold water, maaza, ... none could help. I maintained minimum contact with any object on the train. Please dont try to picturize.
Reached home by 12pm next day. End to end it took 25 hours - longest travel time in my life between two termini.

The return journey was not that bad. But I simply wonder how it used to be in my innumerous train trips between Chennai and Coimbatore. The greatest disappointment would be the lack of some good colors - that too not oft. Otherwise I have felt at home in the Cheran and Blue Mountain and Kovai and Inter-City. Here in these journeys, the basic survival itself became a question mark - let aside luxuries. Next time I should be prepared - either get an AC coach or dont think abt train. Garuda is the best.

What at home?
The main purpose of my vacation is the Maha Kumbabishekam of the Ganesh temple at my native village - where my paternal ancestors were born and lived(ruled?) . It was my Dad's long cherished dream to rebuild the temple and it has become a reality now, under his own supervision assisted by my uncles and cousins. I was fortunate enough to join them days before the function and contribute to my fullest. It was a mix of both manual labour and mental labour. The physical work saw me having a hunger after a long time - Of late, I have never been hungry for food - I just ate because it was time for a meal.

It is a social/community project and I can draw a lot of analogy with my software projects. It involves a lot of planning, design, resource allocation, men management, finance management, and the like. What may be there additionally are the egotistic clashes and sentiments and indifference. And women talking unnecessary things and having narrow minds. Not understanding the importance of the project and trying to refrain from contributing. Contributions here does NOT mean money. Any kind of failure of the project will leave an indelible black mark on not only the assumed management but the entire population and all their relatives and offsprings, and it will be remembered for a long long time and reiterated at every possible occasion. Hence concentration should be total and execution perfect.

Alls well that ends well.
Against all odds, a village of about 10 families residing onsite and about twice the number residing off shore, was able to successfully re-construct its century old asset temple and invite all of its relatives and hold a grand pooja to let the folks get the "Punniya Theertham" - the holy water - sprinkled over them. There was also a "Annadhaanam" - a grand meal for all - and we served about 5000 people aross 3 meals.
A collective effort. Mass goodwill. Success and peace in the end.

As all my relatives were invited, the effort to visit each one of them got saved. Met all of them at one place and it was a pride feeling showing them that we have done something. I dont know if I will have the same feeling in my own house-warming ceremony.

Of the 7 days in Coimbatore, I was home only for 2 days and the rest I was in the temple premises, in the other village. Change of work is rest and that is the kind of rest that I enjoyed in this vacation. Lot of experience regarding dealing with people and their sentis. Some divine blessings. Meeting some old friends and relatives. Meeting some of my teachers. Nice times.

Would have been even better if I had a little more time with my family.

the new "me"

Of late, I am discovering a new "me" in myself; the new me has thoughts, that are different from the old me; the new me differentiates among people; it assigns priorities for people and it has what is called EGO - "if you will, only then I will"!

I think, the new me is a beginning for the future me; a beginning for the realisation of the dreams of the old me. Whatever it is, this transition is painful; really painful; too much of pain to bear...still I am bearing it!

Ich bin Engineer at last! 

rebel 

why does Parthiban blog

>>[Gokul: iamiris.blogspot.com] why do you blog?

I blog because, it gives me a feel of our late night discussions in the hostel - where, we all friends discuss about some topic, utterly useless at that moment, but gives so much pleasure - the pleasure of killing time - the time, which would otherwise go waste for a DBMS assignment or OOPS assessment.

Now it is not the killing of the time that gives the pleasure, but the feel of being with friends and the usefulness of the discussions.

My latest signature:
You can’t change the past, but you can ruin a perfectly good present, by thinking about the future.