Money Taking Tricks

How do you carry cash and carry it safely? தொன்று தொட்ட காலத்திலேர்ந்து நிறைய வழிகள் கையாளபட்டிருக்கிறது. Here's one stop shop on some of the popular methods.

Some of us have almost moved totally away from carrying cash and started using plastic - Visa power, கடன்காரன் cover (monthly statement), நாம poor - others can follow some of these good old methods that are still prevalent and effective.

Disclaimer: Methods mentioned here are for reference only and you are responsible for your/your belongings safety. The author does not necessarily vouch/prefer any methods mentioned below.

Method #1. This one is applicable for guys only and in the last decade or so this is followed only by a selected few. First thing you need is to buy several கோடு போட்ட, நாடா வெச்ச underwear. If you are unclear on how this looks like, watch ராஜ்கிரண் movies. These underwear come with pockets on both sides, so it doesn't matter if you are a lefty or right hander. This is considered one of the safest method to carry cash in the 70s and 80s when men used to wear வேஷ்டி all the time. The way you take money out of the underwear pocket is as follows:

• Lift your leg (right or left depending on where money is) so your chest all the way to your stomach and your thighs are at 90 degrees and your leg is forming a shape like number 7.
  
• When you do the step above, your வேஷ்டி, if tied properly, will slide on either side of your leg.

Tip: If you are showing your தொடை to others, you have done the above 2 steps correctly.

Method #2: This one is also applicable for guys only, however there is a derivative method that is applicable to ladies only, which is not discussed here. This method requires some planning and is applicable to only those who still have not transitioned to ready made shirts and still buy shirt piece at Kumaran silks and go to local tailor for காஜா and stitching. Before the tailor starts his work, you need to let him know that you need a உள் pocket. This உள் pocket is stitched on the inner side of the shirt right behind the outer pocket. IMO, this method is effective only for carrying cash from one place to another. If you actually want to use the money in உள் pocket outside, there are a few constraints like you should be wearing a உள் பனியன் and make sure that உள் பனியன் does not have any ரவா தோசை style holes to avoid any embarrassment.

Method #3: This method is applicable mostly for ladies, however this can also be applicable for guys who still uses leather office bags and carry cash in them. As with all methods, this requires some planning too. When you buy a handbag, make sure you check for an inner chamber and most importantly the inner chamber should have a zipper for open and close. This is in addition to the zipper that takes care of the bag's main opening. If there is no inner chamber, it's a no-go. The cash carried in the inner chamber is considered extremely safe and thief proof and this popular belief is due to the following reasons:

• the thief does not always snatch the whole bag or it is difficult for thief to snatch the whole bag that has an overall dimension of ஒரு அடி நீளம், முக்கா அடி அங்குலம் .
• Even if the thief opens the bag somehow, he always looks for cash inside the main chamber and if he does not find any valubles tells himself "Oh my God, no cash, wrong bag" and simply moves on without checking the inner chamber.
  

Method #4: This one is again applicable mostly for guys who carry a rectangular bag (about the length of a toothbrush and height of medium size powder டப்பா). This bag is usually carried in கஷ்கம் which is considered a hard place to snatch a bag. This method is not so popular since it requires some arm power and armpit deodorant. This method was the most popular method employed by "cash" மாமா in the 70's and 80's கல்யாணங்கள். The easiest ways to identify these மாமாs in the கல்யாணம் are as follows:

• மேல் துண்டு, கஷ்கத்துல பை, அலைபாயும் கண்கள், ஒரு நிரந்தர tension
  
• He will be the only மாமா who will take his bag to the restroom

Method #5: This method is perhaps the mother of all methods mentioned above and is universally regarded as the safest method for carrying cash, jewels etc by both men and women. Our good old மஞ்ச பை. If you are going to bank locker, மஞ்ச பை எடுத்துண்டு போ. If you are bringing cash from the bank, மஞ்ச பை எடுத்துண்டு போ. This is really the one and only thief proof device to carry valubles that man has ever made. These bags are cheap and have built in thief repellents. The thief somehow gets mesmerized by these மஞ்ச பை and never attempt to steal the person.

So what's the purpose of this post? அட்வைஸ் and blog free-ங்கறதால எல்லோரும் குடுக்கறோம்/எழுதறோம். How about both in one package:

In this economy, we need money making tricks, since I don't have a magic pill for that, here's a piece of advice. சம்பாதிக்கரதோட, சம்பாதிச்ச பணத்த காப்பாத்தறது ரொம்ப கஷ்டம். Hence the post. வுடு ஜூட்.

சாதாரண மனிதனின் சில சாதாரண கேள்விகள்...

நானும் மெனக்கெட்டு positive and open mind-உடன் தான் பார்க்க நினைத்தேன், ஆனால் நானும் சாதாரண மனிதன்தானே, அதனால் எனக்குள் எழுந்த சில சாதாரண கேள்விகள். I am talking about Mr. உலக நாயகனின் recent interview on Vijay TV.

படத்தில் தாடி எதற்கு என்று யாரோ கேட்க - மக்களிடையே தாடி வைத்தவர்கள் எல்லாம் ஒரு மதத்தை சார்ந்தவர்கள் என்றும், தீவிரவாதிகள் என்றும் ஒரு பொதுவான கருத்து இருப்பதால், அது தவறு என்று சுட்டிக்காட்டவும், கண்டிக்கவுமே தாடி வைக்கப்பட்டது என்று உணர்ச்சி பூர்வமாக பதிலளித்தார். Brilliant and excellent reply. Here's my small problem - the same உலக நாயகன் was ok generalizing that theists are slave drivers (read Rs.910) and would go to any extent to even kill a person.

அடுத்த கேள்வி - உலக தரத்திற்கு தமிழ் சினிமா எடுக்கவேண்டும் என்றால் என்ன? - உலகத்தரம் என்றால் என்ன? அமெரிக்கர்கள் ஒரு தரம் வைத்தால் அதை அமெரிக்கா தரம் என்று சொல்லுங்கள், இந்தியர் ஒரு தரம் வைத்தால் அதை இந்திய தரம் என்று சொல்லுங்கள். உலக தரம் என்று எதையும் சொல்ல முடியாது. Ok Mr. UNK, உலக தரம் என்று ஒன்று இல்லையென்றால், உலக நாயகன் என்ற பட்டத்திற்கு என்ன அர்த்தம்?

Next question was on "Saving தமிழ்"- சில பார்ப்பன பெண்மணிகள் சாப்டாச்சா என்பதை ஷாப்டாச்சா என்று பேசுவது போல... - very nice Mr.UNK, பார்ப்பன பெண்மணிகள் உங்கள் மீது கோபிக்க மாட்டார்கள், கோபித்தாலும் கவலை இல்லை என்று தானே இப்படி ஒரு பதில்? "ல்" மற்றும் "ள்" பேச கஷ்டப்படும் உங்கள் திரை உலக சகோதரிகளை ஏன் உதாரணத்திற்கு எடுத்து கொள்ள வில்லை?

On belief in different things in life - I believe in a few institutions like family which will never go away since family means unconditional love, but marriage comes with conditions, it's not like love from father, mother, brother etc - Alright, I am confused, முட்டை இல்லாமல் கோழி எப்படி and vice-versa?

Dhoda, உனக்கேன் இவ்ளோ கேள்வி என்று என்னை கேட்பவர்களுக்கு - நானும் ஒரு Common Man, ஒரு Common Man கேட்க நினைக்கும் கேள்விகளை தான் நான் கேட்கிறேன், என்னை போல் நிறைய Common Man இருக்கிறார்கள், எனக்கு கேட்க தோணியது, நான் கேட்டேன். அவ்வளவுதான். Wait a second, this style of answering looks familiar.. Oh my God, I need a break.

Look at me...

Disclaimer: I am NOT against Facebook or it's authors, I am just sharing my experience on some of the crazy things that people do using Facebook.

Recently, I have received quite a few invites from friends and families to join Facebook. This is the only thing that I am still hesitant to take a plunge. I could be wrong, but most of the Facebook that I am reading are aimed mostly at one thing, pictures and self proclaimed message "I am cute/cool" or "I did this". For the most part, the daily Facebook updates are almost always aimed at sending the same message mentioned above over and over again.

I guess for starters, you should be an ardent fan of talking about yourself and more importantly very interested in others knowing about you. Have you seen நம்ம வீட்டு கல்யாணம் in Vijay TV, where TV stars were so thrilled and all enthusiastic to talk about their marriage in front of the camera? One should have a lots of eagerness and high optimism on viewers to show that kind of enthusiasm. Most of the Facebook entries fall in this category, "My trip to Niagara", "Lovely London" types.

My wife, though doesn't post any in Facebook, is a big fan of logging in every now and then to check out on her friends who live in other continents. One of the entry that she shared with me was from her friend who wrote "My cute little son is so sick today and I don't feel like doing anything" with a picture of sick child. I mean, how artificial that is? First of all, the person had the time to take a picture of her sick baby, spend time online to post the message etc. She probably have not heard காக்கைக்கு தன் குஞ்சு பொன் குஞ்சு.

The other entry that I read recently was how my friend was so busy with his project that he couldn't take a break for a week. Apparently he had the time to update his Facebook with a looong post. The immediate feeling you get is "Dhoda!"

To be honest, all of us like spotlight, virtual வம்பு through Facebook, vent outs through blog etc, but posting pictures everyday and Facebook தற்பெருமை will get people bored after a while.

Unnaipol Oruvan - Movie Review

I have seen A WEDNESDAY at least 3 times and I still have the movie in my DVR for easy/quick view again. When I read Kamal was going to remake Munna Bhai MBBS, I chose NOT to watch Sanjay's Dutt's movie and waited for Kamal's Vasool Raja MBBS and it was worth a wait, for me at least. Unnaipol Oruvan though was a huge expectation and I always had the fear that the original will be hard to beat.
The core part of the movie and vast majority of the scenes are direct lift from the original. There are a few changes made for the local audience and most of them fit well. Mohan Lal is possibly one of the best choice for the Marar role and how well he played the role to perfection. His dialogs are peppy and his acting brings an immediate respect for the role. The 2 dedicated policemen under Marar were absolutely brilliant. Lakshmi's character started off well, but turned into an unnecessary intervention later. The movie's biggest plus is the punchy dialogs . Shruti Hasan's music is just adequate.

Now to Kamal and his role as common man. As always, this role is cooked too much to make it look perfect and in the process the "common man" looked way too much artificial. Kamal's super fluent accent English, tech-savvy behavior and his detailed explanation on his plans does not go well with the "common man" image. Even some of his body language like the scene where he wipes his tears with the pistol is not something that you will see a common man do. I guess there are ways you can argue and define a "common man" to defend Kamal's portrayal. Naseerudin Shah brought simplicity to his role and did not depend on too much antics to keep the audience interested. His dialog delivery though purposeful had a little bit of stutter and natural hesitation. Also, the little flashback in the Hindi version helped us to connect with the true emotions of the character. IMHO, it was hard for me to connect and empathize the "common man" in Unnaipol Oruvan.

Finally on the movie itself - I think this is an honest attempt in doing something different from the usual masala that Tamil cinema is so heavily dependent on. Kuselan was a sincere attempt by Rajini to go away from the norm, but it failed miserably due to it's reluctance to stick to the original (and P Vasu too), but Unnaipol Oruvan comes across as a brand new concept for Tamil cinema and hopefully our younger stars follow Kamal and cut down on heroism and punch dialogs. Unnaipol Oruvan is a rarity for Tamil cinema and is probably one of the best movies in the recent past.

Another Lost Opportunity

One loss, one washout, another lost opportunity for India to make it to the knock out stage in a premier tournament. I think we will hear Indian team captain and management will blame it on luck for their exit, however I see some of things that were fundamentally wrong to start with. Here's a few:

1. What's Ishant Sharma doing in an ODI team. His form has been awful, he is clueless whether he should be a wicket taking bowler or should just focus on maintaining line and length and contain runs and in the process did neither. Tell this guy to take a break and have him play only tests in the next couple of years.

2. Why bring back Rahul Dravid? Two to three years back, BCCI wanted to field young guns and look in to the future. What happened to all the talk on building a team for next World Cup? Dravid had one decent knock in the lost match and his running between the wickets was pathetic and he was instrumental in Gambhir's run out. Is BCCI going to keep him that much longer so he can play next World Cup? Raina should be the one coming in at #3 regardless of the situation of the match.

3. What's the role of Yusuf Pathan? He is not bowling his full quota of 10 overs in most of the matches and his economy rate is over 5.5. When batting he is not used as pinch hitter, he floats around different batting positions and he is averaging 20. He is at best, fit only for T20.

4. Players like Harbhajan and RP Singh have played enough at the international level to be called established cricketers, yet they don't come up with inspiring performances when the team needs. Harbhajan is extremely inconsistent and get defensive the moment opposition attacks.

5. India cannot call themselves and stay as #1 team unless they improve dramatically on their ground fielding. Except for Yuvraj, Raina, Kohli & Karthik (if they play) , fielding has been dismal for the last several years.

Let's see what BCCI does for the next tournament. Hopefully Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer Khan will all be fit by then.

My Music "Autograph"

Apple had a major event today to launch some of it's new line of iPods. There was so much media attention including live blogging of the event and Apple stocks was fluctuating all the time. The range of iPod/Mp3 players that Apple had come up with till date is mind blowing. The revolution that Apple was able to bring in to this market is unimaginable and the sales numbers will be hard to surpass - 220+million units sold till date since it's initial launch and iPod holds the biggest slice of portable media player market share, currently at 73.8%

The new players are loaded with so many features, it's hard for me to imagine going back to one of the players that I owned and lived with not so long time ago. Here's my compilation of devices that I have owned/used and fond memories using those devices.

In the late 70's, when I was a kid, I have seen radios in only a few places and they almost always looked the same - BIG. In the early 80s, my father bought a new black Philips radio which was very nice and sleek. That was also the time FM started broadcasting cine songs for an hour in the night. So the radio became an instant hit at home.

We used to wait for உங்கள் விருப்பம் religiously every morning and evening and for occasional cine songs from சென்னை வானொலி நிலையம். Then in mid-80s came the big leap forward in music listening when my father brought home a National Panasonic 2-in-1 that plays a single cassette and also radio with recording capabilities. Good old Philips was immediately ignored, except when we lose power for 2-3 days due to rain, which is when we buy red colored evereaday batteries to listen to radio.

National Panasonic 2-in-1 also opened avenues for some mini projects with recording. I used to listen to விவித பாரதி in the morning when they will announce the names of the movies from which they play songs during the day. Everyone at home almost developed flash memories to remember the names of the movies and when they will be played during the day. My dad used to get good quality TDK cassettes (both 60min and 90min versions) and we keep them for recording songs from radio. You have to wait for the RJ to announce all the details on the song and press the black and red recording buttons simultaneously at the appropriate time. You also need to record a 3-4 sec blanks/silence at the end of the song so there is a gap between the songs. I still remember the days when we made our own cassette album with neatly organized paper cover sleeve that displayed all the songs in the cassette. National Panasonic remained favorite player till mid-90s.


In the late 90s I got my own cassette walkman. This is when getting music was little easy. You make a list of 18-20 songs in a piece of paper and drop it at the music store along with the blank cassette (Dad's good old TDK) and within a day or two you have your collection, ready to listen. When I moved to U.S. one of the first thing that I bought was a Sony CD/Cassette/Radio boombox. By then, buying cassettes came down tremendously since digital CD was on the up. I also ended up buying a couple of CD-Walkman. In couple of years, I managed to buy/collect around 200 CDs of varying genres.

Then came the biggest revolutionary change in 2004 when I first got my iShuffle which could hold around 300 songs. All of sudden my CD rack looked silly but I still had to keep them since my car only had a CD player. When I got my iPod 30GB in 2005 and transferred all my music content to it, the use for CDs dimished almost fully. Now I have iPod dock at home and iPod connector in car and it has become my only and preferred option for music.

I know there will be something else in the next decade or so, but I think I will keep some version of an iPod for a while.

Pictures Courtesy: Web

Congrats Prakash Raj!!

Congratulations to Prakash Raj on winning national award for his stunning performance in the movie Kanchivaram. I saw this movie recently in Star Vijay and I thought the movie was made brilliantly. Sabu Cyril's artwork and Thiru's camerawork needs a special mention and great job by the entire crew. The film truly deserves the awards and recognition it is getting. IMHO, Prakash Raj is one of the most talented and versatile artist in the last decade or so, yet he is not getting the full recognition and appreciation that he deserves. Anyways, congratulations and good luck to him.

There is also another award for Best Special Effects for the movie Sivaji - The Boss. I wrote about director Shankar and how he is able to bring something special on to his movies couple of weeks back and I had a serious follow up chat with my brother who felt I am too biased towards Shankar. I wanted to point out that Oru Koodai Sunlight probably is one of the main reason for this Best Special Effects national award. In a movie that was made for pure fun, the amount of work that went in to this 41/2 minute song goes on to show the effort and commitment that goes in to each and every frame in his movies. I am in fact planning on writing another post on silly scenes and most obvious logical errors (I know there are plenty and I can only mention a few) in Tamil movies soon and that should hopefully create some new found respect for directors like Shankar.

In a world where we have an award/ceremony for every single satellite channel or cine magazine, national awards still remains the most prestigious and meaningful award, so congratulations to every single artist who is getting this national recognition.

RIP Mr.YSR!

Madhavrao Scindia, Balayogi and now YSR. What a tragic end to one of the popular Indian politician in recent times? Mr.YSR, may your soul rest in peace.

P.S. I was watching NDTV and here's the excerpts from the news anchor person when chopper was found yesterday:

"We are showing you live picture of the crash spot where the chopper crashed and you can see the crashed chopper in the crash spot and all the debris due to the crashed chopper in the crashed spot"

I can understand their need to fill in some news for 24/7 channel, but this is way too much convoluted. Reminds me of my childhood days when somebody asks you மூக்க எப்படி தொடுவ every time you do a simple thing in a complicated way.

நூறு...100...One Hundred

I just realized that I completed 100 posts (excluding my short stories collection) since starting the blog in November 2007. Each blogger has their own reason for writing and maintaining the blog. Here's some of mine:

1. I like writing
2. A place to document my thoughts
3. Medium to share my thoughts with others
   
4. Chance to do something new - edit HTML, update layouts etc
5. Simple "Kick" that I get knowing there are others out there who is following my blog - about 3200+ hits in about 22 months, not much, but something that keeps me interested.
   

Thanks to each and everyone who visit my blog and also for your support, love, hate or whatever that you have shown directly or indirectly.

அனு அளவுக்கு பயம் இல்ல...

Here's my disclaimer upfront: I am not a MCP (popular வார்த்தை among girls) and my wife can confirm that. This program was so funny and எனக்கும் கொஞ்சம் சமூக பொறுப்பு இருக்கறதால, here's a post dedicated to all fun loving people.

Promo - The scene is set in the same old Binny mills. Dashing cars and a lady who is wearing an all leather black suit, jacket, goggles drives a mobike and make a dashing stop right in front of the camera. In comes Anu. Snakes, fire, ropes to climb wall etc flashes and we see around 6-7 girls all posing the camera and showing some sort of வீரம் and கம்பீரம். You guessed it right, wife is already impressed and wants to Tivo the show.

Episode #1 - அக்கா அனு starts the show with some energy and power packed shpeel, most of it was in English. You kinda got the sense of what the show is about. The participants show up in all kinds of costumes, something that you will not associate with physical exercise. They all made sure their make up is intact and smile to the camera. அனு tells the participants that they will go through some drills in preparation for the tough ordeal ahead of them. She also calls on a person to give them an orientation on physical fitness, energy and bravery. In comes a person who definitely needs assistance to button, at least the last 2-3 in the bottom half of his shirt, and to tie his shoe lace. Popular Vivek joke comes to my mind - உங்க தொப்பைய பாத்தவொடனே நெனச்சேன் , நீங்க I.G. யாதான் இருப்பீங்கன்னு. An inspector walks in and delivers an உணர்ச்சி பூர்வமான பேச்சு. அவ்வளவு தான் அவரால முடிஞ்சது. He calls his fit and young assistants to teach some P.E for the girls. Most of them backed out and some of them tried a few exercises.

One of the participants, Pooja, who was so happy eating குச்சி ஐஸ் in the promo is all of a sudden shivering and sweating when asked to perform a stunt. The same bubbly Pooja that everyone liked 2-3 years back suddenly has become a laughing stock.

Lack of preparation clearly showed on almost all of the participants. What a disastrous start? Again you gueesed it right, wife was little disappointed after the first episode. Not only that, she had to endure all my comments right through the show.

I was able to watch only parts of episode #2 (absolutely no வருத்தம் at all for missing the whole show). As always, Anu was cheering and giving expert commentary and even tips (?!) right after every stunt from the participants. Most of the participants performed the stunts with snakes and showed no enthusiasm at all. It was like participants saying பயம் இருக்கு ஆனா அனு அளவுக்கு பயம் இல்லை.

I am done. ததாஸ்து.

Big Budget Rage

Thank God, I resisted my temptation to watch கந்தசாமி on Day 1 or even for that matter Week 1. From what I read and hear, the movie is silly and nothing but a disaster. Susi Ganesan in my books is NOT a big budget or mass director and I was surprised to see the promos and hype that was built up for this movie when Vikram is the only one in the entire crew who deserves such a hype.

Awesome locales, stylish dresses, big hero, pretty actress, slick camerawork etc does not always translate to a hit movie. I think the film directors in Tamil cinema is caught up with this "big budget" rage recently. Producers and directors think they can build the hype through big budgets and aggressive marketing and pull off a Sivaji or Dasa. This is where I believe Shankar is in a league of his own. His attention to details and his ability to bring some sort of grandeur on to his movies is exceptional. Of course, there will be some flaws and errors in his movies, but at least you wouldn't notice it or think about it till you are out of the movie hall.

Hindi cinema was caught up with this big budget rage for a while, but at least they have moved away from hero worships and chocolate boys and they are able to produce a lot more different and interesting movies recently.

Tamil cinema is at an all time low for this year with very few decent hits. Movies like பசங்க, யாவரும் நலம், நாடோடிகள் are good hits and are required for Tamil industry but they are not enough to cater the huge Tamil movie following audience. Hopefully, we will see some good movies before the end of the year.

பட்டணம்தான் போகலாமோடி... Part II

I was still driving and பாச்சா and I exchanged information on our families. பாச்சா seemed to be a nice person and easy to get along with. But sometimes too easy too soon leads to uneasiness.

நான் - அப்பறம் எங்கேயாவது சுத்தி பாத்தீங்களா?
பாச்சா - சொல்ல மறந்துட்டேனே, இன்னிக்கு morning JCPENNEY-ல early bird sale போட்டிருந்தான், 8 to 11, I was fortunate to be there to make some purchase.
Dhoda - மயிலாபூர் ராசி சில்க்ஸ் ஆடி தள்ளுபடி போல் நெனசுண்டார் போல, அமெரிக்காவில் தேசி மக்கள் தினம் தினம் அதிகமாய் உபயோகிக்கும் வார்த்தைகள் Sale, Deal, Mall. இங்கே நித்யம் sale தான்.
நான் - ரொம்ப நல்லது. ஆத்துக்கு எல்லாம் வாங்கியாச்சு இல்லையா?
பாச்சா - இல்லாமயா? அப்பறம் இங்கே ரோடெல்லாம் நம்பர் போட்டிருக்கே, பேரு கெடயாதா?
நான் - ஆமாம் சார், இங்கே எல்லாமே நம்பர் தான். Traffic rules follow பண்ணறது ரொம்ப அவசியம், especially school zone பாருங்க இங்க, பசங்க வந்து போறச்சே நிறுத்தி வழிவிடணும்.
பாச்சா - அது சரி, road cross பண்ணற பய்யன் school-லதான் படிக்கறான்னு எப்படி தெரியும்? என்று சொல்லி பாச்சா சிரிக்க, dhoda என்று நானும் சிரித்து வைத்தேன்.

பேசிக்கொண்டிருந்ததில் வீடு வந்துவிட்டது. சாட்டிலைட்டில் Star Vijay பாத்ததும் ரொம்ப குஷியானார் பாச்சா.

பாச்சா - இந்த மாதிரி 47 inch LCD ஒன்னு இங்கேர்ந்து இந்தியா வாங்கிண்டு போகணும் சார், முடியுமா?
Dhoda - NTSC/PAL conversion, 110-220 volts வித்தியாசங்களை விவரிக்க திராணி இல்லாமல், "அங்கெல்லாம் இந்த TV வேல செய்யாது" என்று பொதுவாக சொன்னேன்.

அமெரிக்காவில் microwave, cell phone waves, cane sugar, Subway சாண்ட்விச்சில் கடைக்காரன் மாற்றாத gloves போன்ற பயங்களை பகிர்ந்து கொண்டார், லால்குடியிலிருந்து நேராக Los Angeles வந்திருக்கும் பாச்சா.

என் மனைவி சமைத்திருந்த வத்தகுழம்பும், கத்திரிக்காய் வதக்கலையும் நன்றாக ஒரு பிடி பிடித்தார் பாச்சா. கண்ணில் கண்ணீர் வராத குறையாக சொன்னார் "அப்படியே ஆத்து சாப்பாடு மாதிரியே இருக்கு, நாக்கு செத்துடுத்து".

Dhoda - ஆத்துல பண்ணது ஆத்து சாப்பாடு மாதிரி இல்லாம எப்படி இருக்கும் என்பதுபோல என் மனைவி என்னை முறைத்தாள். ஒரு வாரம் வீட்டு சாப்பாடு சாப்டாததுக்கு இது கொஞ்சம் over reaction என்று நினைத்துக்கொண்டேன். ஒரு வழியாக பாச்சாவை ஒன்பது மணிக்கு drop செய்து வீடு திரும்பினேன்.

அடுத்த முறை மயில் போன் செய்த போது நான் கேட்ட முதல் கேள்வி "எப்பிடிரா சமாளிக்கரே?"

பட்டணம்தான் போகலாமோடி - Modern Version

We have seen/read enough of பட்டிக்காட்டான் coming to Chennai and all the antics that he does in the new place or the funny things that people around him experience. I went through a slightly modern version of the same when one of my friend's friend visited US on a short trip. I have changed the names and writing this post purely for fun. ஆங்காங்கே மானே தேனே பொன்மானே போல் - dhoda போட்டுக்கணும். You are totally responsible for your own பீலிங்ஸ் (including silly பீலிங்கு) that you get after reading this.

மயில் (mayilsubban) - மச்சான், என் friend பாச்சா (parthsaarathy) 2 weeks Los Angeles வர்றான், கொஞ்சம் பாத்துக்கோ, உன் செல்லு குடுத்துருக்கேன்.
நான் - No problem. நா பாத்துக்கறேன்.
மூன்று நாள் கழித்து போன் வந்தது.
பாச்சா - Hello,
நான் - This is Chendraa.
பாச்சா - Hello Sir, my name is Paarthsaarathy, I am from சென்னை. I am friend of Mr. Mayilsubban, he gave me your mobile number.
நான் - ஒ, சொல்லுங்கோ Mr.பார்த்தசாரதி, நேத்து தான் மயில் போன் பண்ணான். எப்பிடி இருக்கீங்க?
பாச்சா - நல்லாருக்கேன்....
நான் -எங்கே இருக்கீங்க?
பாச்சா - இங்கதான் மக்டோனல்டு ஏத்தாப்ல ஹோட்டல்.
dhoda - அமெரிக்காவில் 50000 McD இருக்கிறது, இதில் எதை போய் தேடறது.
நான் - Mr.Parthasarathy, ஒங்க full address குடுங்க, நீங்க free-னா, Saturday மூணு மணிக்கு pickup பண்ணிக்கறேன்.
பாச்சா - சாட்டடே பிரீதான், அட்ரஸ்....

I went to pick him up on Saturday @ 3 PM. After customary introduction, I started driving and we started chatting.

நான் - அமெரிக்கா பிடிச்சிருக்கா?
பாச்சா - என்ன சார், surroundings எவ்ளோ சூப்பரா இருக்கு, I am enjoying very much sir.
நான் - என்ன company? என்ன project?
பாச்சா - சாரி சார், confidential agreement sign பண்ணிருக்கேன், சொல்ல கூடாது.
(dhoda) நான் - இல்லல்ல, SAP, C++ அந்த மாதிரி, என்ன platform?
பாச்சா - ஒ அதுவா, Java programming. If you don't mind, நீங்க என்ன வேல பாக்கறேள்?
Confidential agreement-படி சொல்ல முடியாது என்று சொல்ல நினைத்து - "CRM Sales Force Automation" என்றேன்.

To be continued...

What else one can do...

I just realized I could not blog for over a month because I was busy Twittering and reading Facebook and expanding social network @ Orkut, updating my LinkedIn profiles and Yammer at work and getting family updates in Geni and trying GV for call/SMS and waiting for Waves invite and wondering how I can use myspace. All of this on top of work and family. Phew.. it's like going to buffet table for every meal in a day and asked to eat 20 times a day.

It's all about connectivity and networking!!

It's over, I think.. may be not.. we have to wait and see..

It's over, I think.. may be not.. we have to wait and see.. it's official and over. Yes, I am talking about Airtel Super Singer. The program reminded me of a MSV dialog from one of my all time favorite movie "காதலா காதலா"

"நான் என் பையன்னு சொன்னேனே, அவன் என் பையன் இல்ல, நான் என் மாப்ளன்னு சொன்னேனே அவன் என் மாப்ளே இல்ல, என் பேரன்னு சொன்னேனே, அவன் என் பேரன் இல்ல.."When they eliminated someone, the person was actually not eliminated (Vijay, Raagini coming back right after getting eliminated). When they selected someone, the person actually got eliminated subsequently (Ranjani getting eliminated ahead of Prasanna). The show was stretched so much, it was a relief for everyone including the participants when it was finally over. The worst part of the show was the elimination of Ranjani after her brilliant performances in the finals (which was actually not a final) which brought rich accolades from the great MSV and Sudha Raghunathan.

The winner was always a toss up between Ajeesh and Ravi. Though personally I thought Ravi became a much more improved singer on all genres as the show progressed and even sang a rap towards the end of the show (the one I thought was the end). The noticeable issue with Ajeesh is his nasally voice (at times) and his pronunciation of some of the tamil words that has அ sound and ம sound. Srinivas was critical about this initially and gave up after some point. But overall, Ajeesh showed enough promise right through the competition and deserve to be a winner.

If you are wondering when this post will end, here it is. But, before I end, listen to this master piece and tell me if any of our Super Singer finalists would stand a chance in front of this little genius Parvathy Kutty.

And Finally...

And finally...the great Rafael Nadal is beaten at Roland Garros. What a moment for Robin Soderling! He played brilliantly firing so many aces and no double faults in the entire match. The highlight of the match was Robin's forehand which was so effective against possibly the best defensive player on this surface.

I have always felt that you need more than one of the following to beat Nadal on clay:

1. Very strong ground strokes and reasonable back hand to keep Nadal in defensive position
2. Good net play and volleys to cut short the number of shots played to win a point
3. Reasonably tall player to combat short balls, which will come in plenty - Remember Federer playing most of the balls about shoulder high or above (most of them on the back hand side too) in the last few finals?
4. Smaller court (not an option @ French Open since Nadal always plays on main court)
5. Dry and sunny weather, so the court plays a lot harder

Robin had so many things going in his favor yesterday and he played a blinder to win an epic match. Nadal will now understand the difficulties and pressure that comes with #1 ranking.

Nadal was dominating so much @ French Open that everyone almost failed to understand what a good player Roger Federer is on this surface (Losing finalist in the last 3 editions). Now, the ball is in your court Roger!

American Idol Season 8 Thoughts

When Kris Allen was declared winner of the American Idol 2009 couple of nights ago, there was more than a few who were surprised. While there will always be surprises when it comes to winner, especially the competitions of this magnitude, this one was a total surprise even for the winner who said "Adam deserves this” right after winning.

Not that Kris is a bad singer, Adam Lambert, the other finalist, was just too good not only through the rounds leading up to the final, but more importantly in the final. Two of the three performances for the final from Kris was just average. In fact, the judges underplayed a little bit by saying "America should vote for you not just based on today's performance but based on the performances you gave right through the season".

Apparently there is no real acceptable way of selecting a winner. While judges pick could lead to favoritism, voting/text over phone could lead to duplicate votes and winner getting picked for reasons outside the competition. Kris, IMHO, was picked because of his "boy next door" look and attitude, come across as family loving, soft spoken person with good talent to sing. Adam for some reason came across as over confident, try something new always, take it easy attitude person and sporting colorful attire (remember Carly from last season, who in spite of her singing talent was still not a popular choice with public) and nail polishes did not go well with TV watching public at all, I guess. Some of the news and pictures on the internet did not help him much either.

This will probably be the best thing to happen for Adam, who now is not constrained on what he has to do next. He is on his own in terms of next project and can sign up with any band.

IPL 2 - Biggest Flop of the Season

When I look back at my IPL initial thoughts written couple of days right after the start of IPL season 2, I am happy now at the team standings (more or less) and it matches pretty much what I anticipated initially.

Delhi and Chennai emerged strong after league phase, Bangalore and Deccan looking good in this edition compared to previous season, Rajasthan and Punjab just couldn't cope up with the absence of key players and alien conditions and KKR just managed to win 3 games as predicted.

The biggest flop of this season IMHO is... (no it's not someone connected to KKR - enough on Bhooka bashing and FIP) Sachin Tendulkar, the captain. He just couldn't handle the job effectively and surprisingly there is no mention on this from anyone including ex-cricketers and media. Every single move/decision that he took back fired. From dropping Jayasuriya in a crucial match and then moving him to middle order to promoting Duminy as opener and demoting himself as opener(how come he always gets (and even adamant at times) opener slot in ODI for team India and Gambhir had to play #3) and bringing himself on as bowler (and conceding crucial 19 runs in an over) against Delhi to not able to chase a smallish target against Punjab to losing wickets in heap against Rajasthan..the list goes on. Not to mention the chat that he has with his bowlers after every ball and looking visibly disappointed/dejected when his team is down. Mumbai Indians need to think about the role of on field leader carefully at least for the next season. They goofed up big time last year with captaincy and looks like their losses this year could be attributed to some poor decision making.

On a final note, I am predicting Chennai Vs Delhi finals and as last year, I will be rooting for my home team Chennai to win the trophy.

Quotes of the week

Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, in the process of hitting back at his opponent captain, Andrew Strauss, may have crossed the line. "I wouldn't be so sad," said Gayle on Test cricket's possible death". Thanks to "money is my only motive" Modi, we will soon have players getting greedy and care less about the game in general.

How would you describe a front foot drive played on a ball that was pitched up? Here's Arun Lal version "The batsman drove that ball up front".

Imran's quote on T20 "I don't watch Twenty20 cricket because it is just Toolah (chance) cricket. It is not about skills or talent. That is why I think any team can win the World Cup". What's his point? Did we not see teams in IPL showing enough skills to win a game even though they were low on talent or vice-versa?

Here's another gem (on a rainy day when covers are on before the match) from Arun Lal that will make you speechless:

“When the covers are on, there happens the unique phenomenon of ‘internal rain’ , moisture from the ground gets vapourised , gets condensed within the surface of the covers and it starts raining within the enclosed space even though the skies are clear”

IPL - Initial Thoughts

IPL Round 2 began this week and one can already feel it's not the same as last year. Here's some initial thoughts.

- Most glaring was the crowd and crowd behavior; South Africa will never be able to match Indian crowds.
- Timeout at the end of 10 overs (or 6 overs in Punjab's case) is sheer stupidity. IPL has already given enough hints that indicates their priority for money (quite openly in this edition) over game. They should realize that they are able to make money due to the game and they don't cross the line too much.
- Mumbai, Bangalore and Deccan looks more determined and looks a different side due to the addition of some key players and also due to the SA conditions.
- Chennai and Delhi will probably maintain the same intensity as last time and they both look good both on paper and reputation.
- Kolkata had so much off field activities right before the game and it reflected on their on field performance. Between Buchanan, Ganguly & Gayle they will have some serious attitude problems and I will be extremely surprised if they manage to win more than 2-3 games.
- Punjab and more importantly Rajasthan looks a totally different side due to alien conditions and absence of some key foreign players.

Catch the action if you can in between Citi moment of success and DLF maximums and timeouts and bunch of other commericials.

Yuvraj will never become Maharaj!

Last time I wrote about Yuvraj and his woeful form in tests, he managed a match winning innings (@ home) and I also got a couple of calls from my friends saying it's too soon to write off Yuvraj in tests. After the recent NZ series, We have almost come to a point where we can tell Yuvraj, you will play in all ODIs for India for the next 8 years regardless of your form, but your test career is all but over. Here's an interesting stats on Yuvraj's record in tests outside subcontinent in the last several years.

This week's classics!

Do you remember Mudhalvan's Arjun-Raghuvaran interview? There was one such show on air this past week. Jon Stewart's show with Jim Cramer was real and brilliant. Here's where you can catch all action in case you missed the live show. No wonder the show had amazing viewership.




Here's more HOT headlines. Read these stories ONE and TWO and attach these pictures to those stories.





வாழ்க ஜனநாயகம்! Jai Hind!

தமிழ் தெரியுமா?

I have told my 5 year old daughter to speak தமிழ் as much as possible , when at home. Also, I told her to always reply in தமிழ் regardless of whether a question is asked in English or தமிழ். Recently I gave her a task to rip one page at a time (from right to left) on a notepad. She ripped the first one nicely.

Me: பேப்பரை சரியா கிழிச்சியா?
Reply: கிழிச்சிட்டேன்.

I was impressed to get an answer in தமிழ். She tried to rip the second page and it was a disaster. The page did not come off nicely.

Me: Did you do it the right way?
Reply: செம்மையா சொதப்பிட்டேன்.
Me: ?!

Terrorists attacks Srilankan cricketers

Alright, it finally happened. All along every cricketing nation was hesitant on traveling to Pakistan and we now found the reason why. Srilankan team played brilliant cricket in the series and it's unfortunate that Mahela's farewell series as captain should end this way.

Here's what Rameez Raja said when asked "On whether this threatens Pakistan's chances of co-hosting the 2011 World Cup:"
I also think it will be very unfortunate if Pakistan is the only country that is targeted. I know that this is a horrific incident but let's not forget that the entire subcontinent is caught in this wave of madness and this unfortunate incident can be replicated anywhere else. In fact there have been examples in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and in India recently so no place is safe.

It's the most idiotic comment you could ever expect from anyone. While it's true that every country in the subcontinent had some incidents recently, but that does not mean that every country is almost as insecure as Pakistan is. Even after the horrendous 11/26 attacks, India did manage to host England cricket team without any incidents. India did tour Srilanka recently without any security hiccups.

Imran Khan, back in December 2008, lambasted Indians when they decided not to tour Pakistan and even went on to say "Sportsmen are in absolutely no danger from terrorist attacks, I've always maintained that, Remember terrorists rely on public opinion and winning the hearts and minds of the people. They want to be considered freedom fighters rather than terrorists. If they are perceived as terrorists by the masses, then they have lost." Where is he now? Any comments Mr.Khan?

This horrible incident proved everyone who supported touring Pakistan wrong. Kamran Abbasi summed it up perfectly in his column "This is the end".

Untouchables..

This will be a nice drama for us to follow and see what's the climax that BCCI would come up with. For BCCI, Hamish Marshall and Sachin Tendulkar are both untouchables for contrasting reasons and it will be interesting to see how this unfolds. I am certain if it is just Dinesh Karthik who played this match, BCCI bosses will be over him for blood.

On a different note, it was pathetic to watch Indian team play like millionaires other day. It was the first game of the tour, smallish ground, but still you don't back yourself to blast every single delivery. Hopefully, they apply themselves and play more sensibly today.

and the Oscar goes to...

Congragulations to A R Rahman, Resul Pookutty, Gulzar for winning awards for their performance in the film Slumdog Millionnaire. Great moment for every Indian.

P.S: For the first time in life, I got to the recorded Oprah show in DVR right after I came back from work. A R Rahman (pronounced as Reeman before the song by Oprah) performed the magical "Jai Ho" again at Kodak Theater and gave the meaning for the term after the show at which point Oprah corrected herself and pronounced the name almost correctly.

History Books in 2090

History Books in 2090: Exclusively for our unborn grand/great grand children

Sanju the super hero:

Our netha Sanju was initially arrested and convicted for holding illegal weapon, but was later released and even contested in elections.

Ajju the warrior:

Ajju bhai was banned from playing for country due to alleged match-fixing, but later joined the nation's leading party and even contested in elections.

Moral of the stories: You can do whatever you want as long as you know how to get out of jail (literally).

P.S: Sallu bhai is working hard to get in to our future history books as well.

$4000 for Lump of Shit!!!!

You go on air and call someone "lump of shit" and get out of jail with a $4000 fine, which is probably less than what Symonds spent on "X" per day that is keeping him out of game. If I am McCullum, I will give Symonds the exact same words back and then give an apology and pay him $4000. Shame on hearing committee.

Ponting has been a big supporter of Symonds and he is extending every bit of his support to bring Symonds back to the national team. With so many retirements lately, Australia has been losing even the home series and they are trying to do everything to get back to winning ways. Even with Symonds (assuming he will be in full form), Australia will find it hard to beat South Africa in SA.

Oh BTW, did you hear Healy, Slater in the commentary box? Somebody tell them they are not spokesperson for the team and more importantly they need to wake up to the fact that Aussies are NOT invincibles anymore.

டயம் இருக்கா?

டயம் இருக்கா?, டயமே இல்ல - How many times do we use these in a day/week/year?

"என்ன சார், உங்ககிட்டேர்ந்து ரொம்ப நாளா போனே இல்ல?" - ரொம்ப பிஸி, டயமே இல்ல.
நேத்திக்கு match பாத்தேள்ளா? செம்ம win இல்ல? - இருக்கற வேலைல match பாக்க டயம் எங்க இருக்கு?

I guess blaming it on time is the escape route for all of us for not doing a thing. In reality, we all have the same amount of time and we perform X number of tasks during that time. The number X may vary depending on the complexity of the tasks or due to our laziness to execute more tasks. Of course we have more than X number of tasks to perform, but we shuffle and prioritize them and make sure we stay close to the number X most often. What we do this week with great interest may not even feature in what we might do a week or month after.

Sometimes when we had a little extra leisure time we tend to think that everyone is going through the same. When I called my Mom last Saturday, she was like "என்ன ரொம்ப நாளா போனையே காணும், ரொம்ப பிசியா?". I called her only last Sunday! She probably had a relaxing 2-3 days of Pongal celebration and in the process forgot that I don't get time off for Pongal. For my part, I could have called and wished a customary "Happy Pongal", but as usual I gave டயமே இல்ல excuse.


But when we are extremely busy we tend to think that others are always free and we think we are the most busiest person on earth. Often in this situation we pass some pretty negative comments. When I called my friend last week, I wanted to talk about Hindi-Tamil GHAJINI and how great SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE was, but he probably was so busy last couple of weeks, he shot back "How do you even find time to watch crappy movies?". First of all, he has no clue on whether the movies were crappy, secondly, he thinks he is too busy doing meaningful things while others have time to do all-so-not important things in life. For my part I replied "Relax and call me back when you find time" and hang up. I got the call back immediately with an apology.

The point is we have a few things that are important in life for us and we tend to forget that others have their own set of important things to do in their life.

Now, thanks for reading this and for your time!

Fallible Satyam - Raju Ban Gaya Badman!

The name of the company is Satyam, but this is what their outgoing chairman said

B. Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd.- said in a letter of resignation that he overstated profits for the past several years, overstated the amount of debt owed to the company and understated its liabilities.

This reminds me of a scene from Muthalvan where one of the fraud's name is Neethi Manikkam.