All About Myself

I have been tagged by Priya on my interests.. ! So Here Goes

To give it a fancy name,lets call it

KOFFEE WITH KARTIK KANNAN




I'm thinking about:
When am I going to become the next Sabeer Bhatia?
When am I going to write my next Blog?
When will I not have selfish folks move away from me?
Why do people suck up to their higher authorities?
When will Goverment owned institutions compete with the Private players?
When will I stop listening to "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna"?
When will I go for my next holiday?

I said: ( I say:)
In Life, bad memories/incidents are the scars which would stay on life, to remind you that you had passed that litmus test almost admirably and you need to set the sky as the limit and not let the scar dampen your mood.There will always be the odd moron who will be out to make your life hell,you need to stand stoically through the wave and not let emotions affect your work of art.

I want to:
1.Read a lot
2. Be the next Narayanamurthy in India.
3. I want to tour the world.

I wish:
The world had a magic wand to put the sychophants and subservient at bay, just like an apple a day keeps the Doc at bay and life was really simple and enjoyable,as in the times of R.K.Narayan

I hear:
Instrumental music – Gulzar and A.R.Rehman
Other than that love Shankar,Ehsan and Loy, Bryan Adams, Shaan,Euphoria, KK and of course the magical Bollywood voice of Kishore da,Sonu Nigam and Asha BhonsleI wonder:
Why success and difference in status changes people’s attitude.

I regret:
The fact that these family interactions happen only when some one gets married or passes away.

I am:A Lovely Piscean, for whom day dreaming is the soul for creativity.

I dance(d):
When I got my first B school interview call from Symbiosis in 2004(at home, swaying away to music playing in my desktop).

Another incident I remember was not exactly dancing, but considering other forms of motion...I did a 90km/hr from Kodambakkam to Guindy, when I learnt I had got through Infosys,which turned out to be my first Job.

I sing:
even though every one comlpains of cacophony,I generally hum some music almost every minute when I am not talking,sleeping or studying.I have also won a First prize in intercollegiate competition,when I sung " Kabhi Kabhie mere dil me" and "surmayee Ankhiyon mein" (Hindi Version of the Moondram Pirai "Kanney kalaimane")

I cry:Last did that when the Lankans beat us at Eden gardens on March 13th,96. There have been times when movies evoke an emotion or two.

I'm not always: Careful

I make with my hands:
Noodles with a layer of Cheese and some ghee.
A lot of test Signatures of mine.

I write : Twice a week, and ya do write a lot of stuff that cant be put on the Blog as its official :-)

I confuse:
Sometimes a Girls voice, calling A's name when B talks.
between Remuneration and Renumeration
between Rollicking and Rockilling


I need:
Some one to listen to my thoughts.
Food at regular intervals
Ideas at regular intervals
My Regular Holiday outside Chennai

My Day at Stella Maris

The day started off at 4 in the morning,when I finally decided to wake up from my half baked slumber which was so,beacuse of a dripping low voltage power cut that cut through my slumber as a knife through butter. Since there was no power,and I had to neccesarily charge the laptop,I decided to leave for office a little early and I reached office at 6 30 in the morning after a breezy ride in the morning. The Presentation went beautifully according to Murphy's Laws, and I had quite a problem in discarding a lot of elements in terms of audio/video, which was throwing up errors from the previous evening. A quick review of the presentation from 6 30 to 7 30 to iron out the foibles was my one single task,before breakfast distracted me. The presentation was all trimmed and decked and I proceeded to Stella in my bike, though the original plan was to travel by auto,but given my natural dislike for travelling in Chennai via an auto(Read more about my opinions on the Chennai Auto here), I decied to travel in my bike till Stella.

As I reached the gates of Stella, there was apolite young lady,who looked at me and said "Are you attending the lecture"?, to which I glanced and said" Err... yes.... but I also will be speaking ", to which she quickly connected to my name and welcomed me inside. Stella Maris has a beautiful campus that's pretty large and I was taken into a waiting room,where I met the Head of the Sociology department,Sujatha Ramanathan, who welcomed me and escorted me to the AV hall where the lecture was to be delivered.

The Lecture started at about 9 15 after the Prayer,Welcome speech and the Intro. I noticed that roughly 10% of the audience had blogged,around 60% had heard, but not made an effort to understand it further, for the rest "Blogging" sure was news to them. There were other invited students from other constituent colleges like MOP Vaishnav College and New College.The presentation did gather some heat in the initial stages,where I managed to elicit a few reactions in terms of laughter and more importantly their attention in the first few minutes of the presentation.

The Presentation focussed mainly on the various forms of Social Media and the power it exudes by focussing attention on user contributed media.The audience was more watchful with people starting to ask questions more so towards the end.I did manage to get a couple of useful insights from the audience who responded to the small debate on whether "Blog news analysis vs Canned TV Reports" where a person pointed out that it was due to Blogs that he unearthed facts about Babri Masjid, that the traditional media could not report on.

On the whole I felt satisfied in having addressed a knowledgeable crowd who were eager in knowing more about the world of Blogs and Social Media.

No Photos to share, but the video of the whole presentation was taken, in a 176*144 mode through my Mobile Camera.Bandwith permitting, I shall try and link it in this article later tonight.

Session at Stella Maris Tommorow





I am speaking at Stella Maris College tommorow addressing the Sociology students on "The Power of Social Media". This invitation came about when, one of their senior professors Neeraja Rao called me a couple of weeks back,after we had met in the Chennai -Bangalore, evening Shatabdi Express sometime in April.That meeting in the train, was more so spent discussing on the vulnerabillity that the tamil folks were subjected to in Bangalore,after the Rajkumar death riots.It was a good discussion and after nearly 3 months,though she lost my card,she remembered my name and that I work for Sulekha,and promptly called up. I guess this is the first instance of me meeting a person from a train journey,after the rather innumerable promises and goodwill one exudes while parting away in the train.

As for me,though I remembered the face,I had forgotten her name,as the next two days after meeting her, I was absolutely bowled over by the western coast during my second trip to Gokarna Road . But when she called me up, it didnt take me too long to recognize her,as generally I pretty rarely forget folks met during train journeys.

So the talk is scheduled at 9:05 am at CC Block, 2nd floor as I am informed.Any body wanting to attend can please feel free to come.I hear that the college gate has some posters/direction markers to the place where the talk is happening.

A Rainy evening on the Suburban Trains


From the time I have first played innocently on my corridor sensing that divine smell of the wet earth,running about in the rains and getting wet has always remained a ritual that I immerse myself completely.Now the habit has waned to limiting myself only to doing this act only once or twice a year,which by Chennai standards is pretty decent as the rains don’t seem be blessing us that often(sans last year) as the rains seem under the aegis of the rather mercurial pressure belts in the Bay of Bengal.As I came out of the men’s loo in the evening,I noticed the furywith which the tree adjacent to my window sill was tapering about, and the whole city seemed to be braced for an onslaught of the lovely impending monsoon,while here I was unaware of the beautiful dark evening outside.




This was the view I got from my window sill and the chill breeze and the pale sky above confirmed that it was all set to pour and I decided to end my affair with the device on which my fingers practiced all dance forms through the day.The QWERTY was a morbid piece when compared to the lovely weather outside,and the impulse of getting wet in the rains far exceeds the joy that my fingers get being labeled a terpsichorean between the crevices of this rather ubiquitous device.




So after sensing, the lovely prospects of getting drenched in the rains, I quickly examine the players on my desk, that stare at me in morbid disbelief of me abandoning them midway.The Marker was laid to rest and so were the innumerous ideas for a new business plan, I called home and told them that I would be a little early today and after euphorically putting down the receiver and ofcourse, doing the “CTRL-ALT-DEL” exercise to my machine, I left the monitor to the company of the numerous screen savers that lay on my machine.However inhuman , a monitor looks all the more attractive when a Bollywood or Hollywood siren ensconces her inviting self on the monitor.So with monitor basking in the feel good factor of Preity Zinta from KANK, I bid them a quick farewell,as I swipe out with full gusto to quickly fit in nibbly into the closing doors of the lift.

Yesterday evening, as the first drops of rain seemed to fall on me, with the lovely smell of the earth and the mud, and with music to boot via my mobile phone, it seemed the perfect evening to have a pleasant walk down to the nearby railway station. As the forces in the drops increased and it slowly started pelting down,every sinew in my body was invigorated , just like Darjeeling tea does on a cold winter 5 degree morning,and the unmistaken antaen feel that comes along, hardly reflects on my unctuous self, that the corporate world has made me into in the last couple of years. As the rains were getting heavier,and people were running helter-skelter to take refuge under the huge platform,that swelled by the second and given the cornucopia of people that Suburban trains attract from 5 30 pm, the station was packed, with hundreds of people fighting for the coveted space under the shed of the platform. Some innocent folks were hectored by the rather brusque sections of the crowd in giving premium space near place where a particluar coach of the impending train was expected.It is some of these actions that robs the innate sensitivities of a lovely evening reducing it to a rather stygian level,aptly reflecting the cumulo nimbus clouds above that threaten to darken an otherwise bright Chennai day.


But whatever lassitude, people experience in waiting for the train at the Railway station,seems to totally vanish, as the train hoots in. Hordes of people clamor around to make sure that their respected self’s find at least a couple of inches of leg space inside the train. When you see, so much of competition for just standing on the footboard, you either compete or cringe and needless to say, my genuflections to the almighty to get a seat on the train, had me feeling the latter…over a period of time, as I signed up for a first class pass on the train, that hardly made me compete with the mass over frivolous issues like the 2 inch space occupation, after a flurry of sparring with the junta over why “x was pushing Y and blah blah blah “



Anyways my First class pass, more or less assured me a seat even in the most trying circumstances of maximum evening commuters and hardely left me fuming over a seat lost J . I settled comfoprtably on the rather refurbished and cushioned Blue polka dot seats,next to 2 ladies who were rather oblivious to the wonderful weather outside,busy drowning their middle class troubles, relating themselves to the sobfests soaps shown on Sun TV.


After placing my bag on the seat, I went to the door of the train on the footboard (safely inside and loosely hanging) to get a whiff of the chill breeze that accompanied the stentorian rains that was gaining momentum, even as my shirt and hair became more profused in the fresh water doused by the skies to prevent Chennai from burning at 40 degrees.

Once it starts raining, the grass that grows uninhibitedly on the side of the planks and the railway line comes to life with a verdant green all along the track.The Wetness of the planks between the tracks gives a fair idea of how much it has rained,and I notice that rains have showered their presence at select stations,with some sections of the city being gloomy but not having rains. It’s like going through these time zones,where each station tells a different story. Some stations are packed like a beehive, while some are so lonely craving for attention,as the train hooting inside the station suggests that the train is the only moving thing that seems to show signs of being alive. Another observation I notice, investing my 18 minutes of my journey in staring outside the window, is that POTHYS and SARAVANA stores rank the top in brand recall, given the number of walls they have been painted on.Next in the list is the underwear and vests brand,which I don’t care to remember,as I was more focused on the model, showcasing the cloth than the brand that coyly stood next to the model.



As the train meandered through the various stations, I find people rather robotically engaged in a conversation with their neighbour or yacking on the mobile, ignoring the lovely weather outside.Youngsters are busy utilizing the service of various mobile service providers exhausting the cap of daily messages or are exploring the various functions of the cellphone while the ladies are lost in their discussions on the latest serials and discussing saas bahu warfare strategies. I see that I am no different from them on a normal day, as I would be immersed in reading the newspaper, but what is lamentable is the fact that life has become pretty mechanical for most of us to even indulge in the simple pleasures of staring at the country side.




The rains have stopped and so has my train,as I discover in a quick jiffy, that the destination has arrived, and I quickly move out of the train, to see a swathe of people waiting to get inside the trains in the adjacent compartments.The clamor since boarding the train has hardly reduced as the din and commotion of the market place interferes in my thoughts.The “sobfests specialist” who sat next to me, have begun their next round of discussion’s with the vegetable woman on the adjacent side of the station, who tries to ascribe various discount techniques to sell of her wares before the sky decides to cry again. I am in awe of a world outside the train and the one inside the train, that complement each other, in a rather unique travel experience that made me sit up and observe the vagaries of the weather and the people around me,as I find it pretty rare to keep gazing outside and observe people in a train fulltime.I, for sure got my fair share of looks and glances from passerby’s who may have been thinking, Whats the guy upto…why is he clicking so many pictures? Is he planning something sinister? I rather go about my photo capturing in a rather stoic way, to avoid entertaining any such queries as to why I am doing it.



I get out quickly out of the mess that the rains have created with flooded roads and overflowing gutters only to find my bike clustered among the hundred’s parked at the railway station. I struggled to get the bike out of the shed,and struggled even more to convert its inherent potential energy into Kinetic energy,but that experience requires another 1000 words to capture the effect and an hour of my time to gather my thoughts.

Featured in the New Indian Express

Some of my view s on the Blog ban had been carried by the New Indian Express, thanx to Ash referrring my name to the journalist who was on the lookout for reactions from Bloggers.Its actually been more than a week,since I wrote something,partially due to other pre occupations at home and some pretty tight work in office.

All the time in the World

Thats probably what the IIM's are saying to the students taking up CAT this year,as they have extended the time from 2 hrs to 2.5 hours.Now obviously the IIM's arent so generous enough,there must be a caveat to this.Either the difficulty level of the paper would be higher or there would be more sections, thereby testing your mental resolve to withstand 150 minutes of pressure.I happened to take the Free mock yesterday with TIME and discovered that the insti had applied the 2.5 hr rule rather instantaneously in its mocks,when the news of the IIM's releasing the new format was barely 48 hours before yesterday's mock.

With every new change there are new winners,more losers and I guess the folks who adapt faster to the change of pattern, would start to peak right before the exam.I guess the mantra from now on would be to see,who can maintain their mental balance and gusto for those priceless extra half an hour,as doing it for 2 hours coupled with the pressure,by itself is quite a draining excercise.

For the uninitiated, you can check the CAT bulletin for the year 2006 here.

Fanaa over Chand Sifarish...

This is another song apart from "where's the Party Tonight" thats recently caught my attention for it to warrant an infinite loop play on my walkman. Its a Friday and what better way to start the weekend.. I just saw that there are no takesr for Faanaa at Sathyam Cinemas and "The Da Vinci Code" when viewed for ticket positions on Sathyam Cinema's site showed only 4 tickets booked, 2 at each end...a secluded corner for 2 couples for them to play to the gallery..apart from the movie that is running at the background.On careful examination of choices at the 6 45 show , I have decided I will invest the next couple of hours at Sathyam watching Fanaa,after eliminating The Da Vinci Code,Thiruttu Payale,Krrrrrrrrrish (sheeeeeeeesh)..and someother nondescript movie. So Fanaa..it may be a trifle too late,a 1000 reviews late,but still I shall finally see you and rate you on my terms.

Mumbai Blasts

I just happened to see images of the blast on NDTV and CNN-IBN and I must say, it feels really bad to see innocent people being targeted for no apparent reason.Not that a reason is required for a blast,but what is distressing and disturbing is the morbid fact that 7 blasts have ripped (8 I belive as I write this) the Local trains and has paralysed normal life in Mumbai. This is the third such incident happening within 6 months after the ones at Delhi and Bangalore. Slowly but steadily life in the Metro's is becoming dangerous and no more is this piece of news a small blurb that goes on daily at 9 pm.This Bomb Culture could easily spread to other Metros and could very well mean a lot to every one of you.

A few years back, a Bomb Blast was something you would assosiate in J and K, as frequent as rain in Cherrapunji and though you may feel sad at the bombings there,life definetely took the pain out of such news by regular bombing and shelling which made us immune to the loss of lives.Now its no more an isolated happening, and not happening only on Borders..it can happen in your street, your City ..any moment with such fiendish Relegious fanatics causing mayhem with lives.

Coming to the more recent news that I recieved, I see that all the blasts happened in the first Class compartments across the 7 blasts.When you look deeper into the photos and the mms being sent on air, the stomach churns to a catting state, where any further thoughts on the visual images of the blast conjures up ghastly images.

My Friend and Collegemate M.S.Arvind, an employee of Ramco Mumbai, just called up to say he was safe.I was heaving a sigh of releif but still, the images and the wails of numbed and tragedy stricken people presents a helpless image, as I wonder what succour would greet them in such tough times. Arvind apparently was to board the ill fated 18 24 Local train,but didnt board it as he had forgotten his pass and purse..and was left with just enough double digit cash to chug along in a bus.Arvind has been a forgetful guy from College days and its that which had probabaly miracously prevented him from boarding one of the ill fated trains from Borivalli.To come to think of it...If he had boarded, this very moment I cant shudder to think that he would be no more now. He tells me that the police have cordoned off all railway stations on the Western line and had started strict frisking and checking on the bus services,and thats how he was informed of the incident.Infact he tells me that, at a certain point while travelling in the bus,around 7 pm, his mobile phone connection went kaput,and so did it for many Mumbaikars in his bus and thats when they knew that something major had happened, and the mortifying news was broken over to them via people on the road,when the traffic came to a standstill.

The blasts seemingly occured between 6 pm and 6.30 pm at Matunga, Mahim (central Mumbai), Bandra, Khar (in north-west Mumbai), Borivili, Jogeshwari and Mira Road railway stations (in north Mumbai). I, having travelled in the Mumbai trains,know how bad the rush is to get an inch space into the trains.First Class or Second class,both are packed to capacity and the toughest proposition is to get into the train and get off it at the respective stations you would want to,simply because of the deluge of traffic.I guess its double the traffic that enters the T Nagar Railway station at 8 30, in a single compartment...and that can be extremely sticky in there and imagine the chaos when all these people are trying to break loose out of a crowded train.

The next question would be Who could have undertaken this savagery? Without thinking twice,any commoner would point fingers a little northwest from Mumbai towards the evil designs of a certain Musharraf and his ISI. The Pak government as usual , through its PR department would issue a statement saying they "condemn this barbaric act" when openly inside cities they collect money for waging a jehad in Kashmir. Agreed terrorism is the bane of our times,but there must be more robust ways to handle security loopholes in cities, than sitting on the chair and blaming Pakistan for any bombing that happens in India(though the Pakis are definetely a bunch of crazy fanatical zealots who would immolate their families to get kashmir).

Nobody knows the exact cause and would never will.This person here believes the bombings in Mumbai have a more Islamic Reason to it,which I would not fully subscribe my views to,but a more mature response from a fellow blogger(Pradeep) from the south sees a positive tone of resurgence in his article that says Mumbai is made of the indefatigable spirit of bouncing back like the phoenix and will do so united as a city, pretty much unlike Readers digest rates Mumbai like.

Pradeep Nair a Blogger in Bangalore quotes Terrorism is a virus for which no one has found a cure. Not even America's awesome military power has been able to stamp it out for ever. We don't need intelligence inputs to know that terrorist attacks could be coming. As Margaret Thatcher said after the Hilton hotel attack, "We need to be lucky always, a terrorist needs be lucky only once."Home minister Shivraj Patil says there were intelligence tipoffs. May be someone up there took those hints lightly and just slept over vital clues. If that was the case, the blame should be fixed. There is a limit to which we can blame Pakistan. We need to protect ourselves. Our intelligence gathering and security apparatus are most often found wanting, to say the least.At an individual level, we can only get philosophical and spiritual on such occasions. All one can do is to try and get back on our feet as quickly as possible and get on with our daily lives. There is nothing to gain by fretting and fuming over things over which we have little control. What we can actually do is to find a way forward, because we have to move forward.

I totally agree with him, we need to moveforward and quicly put behind the macabre of this incident and learn the lessons as the US did in terms of tackling technological loopholes to prevent terrorism.The media will label it 7/11 another set of numbers assigned rather stoically by the press tommorow and it would become another date assosiated with Mumbai...but soon it would be like a scratch on the skin like a 100 similar ones when wading through the bushes.But eventually Mumbai will walk straight,chin up as I really admire the city for the way it has responded as a united to recent acts of nature and man over the past 6 years.

The Mumbai MetBlogs team has also blogged about it here. Gaurav Sabnis, a rather well known Mumbai Blogger is updating his Blog on all the developments that is happening in Mumbai over the blasts with the exact time lines.Check it here . Gaurav notes a rather strange and stoic brand pushing done by Rajdeep Sardesai when CNN IBN aired the live reports. Check this for pushing brand patriotism over National mourning.

7:42 - Rajdeep Sardesai on CNN-IBN - "These pictures are now being beamed on all CNN networks all over the world. Indians all over the world watching CNN are now watching CNN-IBN. This is the power of CNN-IBN".

Gaurav Comments :: Yes Rajdeep, we are very proud of you. Your timing for patting yourself on the back is admirable

Incase your folks are in Mumbai and you are not able to reach to them I suggest you message to 6388, where NDTV is running a live message update service to hope that your near and dear ones see the messages to know all are safe.

Photos of the Blast (Picture Courtesy-www.Rediff.com)



Photograph of the Blast at Mahim Station


Image from Pradeep's Blog

Dozer's Club



Every dozer worth his salt,siesta would agree that dozing is all about the magical feeling of the mind drifting away into a world that sucks you harder than a quick sand would,and even when you realise that you are drifting away into a tired slumber,you dont act on it and let the eyes droop,it is then that you respect the lovely emotion of falling asleep,over other mundane things in the world, that may seem to warrant your attention.

Dozing is all about drifting into a lovely world,dreaming actually quite a bit more than a documentary film,say for about that 2-5 minute interval and then feeling totally energised after sanity prevails and one wakes up.This 2-5 minute nap is actually more rejuvenating than the 1 hour of sleep or the general time we allocate to rest for a while. Sometimes Corporate speak also allowes us to call this Power Nap,though the HR Policies dont seem to be encouraging that sans my previous employer where a AC room with 8 beds and a lovely bathroom was provided for tired folks to revitalise their brains after many a long battle with black and green monitors.Its another matter that even if you are not tired, you still want to bask in the cool confines of a closed room,meant for catching 40 winks, after a rather heavy lunch.

Today being a holiday,I was dozing at about 2 in the afternoon,when I recieved 3 calls in the intermittent period.I frankly dont remember who it was,but I have this really bad habit of not recognizing who the caller is for the first 20-30 seconds and try to extend the converstaion in as general a mode as possible till my brain warms up,but I do manage to put up a voice that is as good as I am active.I never give people the impression that I am sleeping and speaking in a drowsy manner,as when I hjear such voices on the other end, I am least interested in continuing the conversation.But in most cases the 30 second limit is what saves me from embarrassment,and rarely has my brain let me down.

I vividly remember once incident in 2001 when my bosom friend Arvind called up from Mumbai and spoke to me for about 20 minutes, and the first 5 minutes were a total washout.He apparently went about delivering gnyaan and all i did was nodded my head, till I realised that whatever he told me seemed larger than life and all carp,and tehn my mind mapped the rather ignominous fact that Arvind usually farts a lot,as if there is no tommorow, and instantly when I rebuked him on the phone for his story, he seemed to be plesantly suprised that the invectives actually took longer than expected, as the minimum toleration threshold way back in college was only a minute after which most of us,would either look sceptically at Arvind and rubbish off his theories. (PS: Arry, I must say has still stayed the same,though maturing a lot in other habits.It was good fun when he had comedown to Chennai a few weeks back,and we spent close to three hours at Cofee day in Nungambakkam).

There are times when the irritation levels are at its peak,when calls on the mobile disturb the sweet, sensual feeling of pre- post food siesta.After each call, My strength of volition, that I would vow not to pick up the next call grows stronger,but the shrill tone of the mobile anyway cuts through the ear and when the focus and the concentration of slumber is gone,I might as well pick up the call waiting to put the phone down with a string of "OK's".

So If you feel, you have more interesting dozing anecdotes to share,please feel free to include your experiences in the comments box below....oops the next call has just come,even as I type this.

Hooked on to KANK

Talk about acronyms..and KANK means... Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna, the 4th magnum Opus of Karan Johar's rich family Opera type movies.The music released a month back and after I purchased the Audio CD, I have spent more time listening to it,than any other track.The obsessiveness to hear the tracks are similar to the experience I had when SWADES released. It comes from the trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, who previously helmed the popular score for Johar's Kal Ho Naa Ho.



The music is delightful showing shades of Karan Johar's previous movies and Shankar Ehsan and Loy's music .The tender and judicious play of flute and piano lends a majestic and gentle touch to tracks that are poignant in nature. The album opens with the title track -- soulful,melodramatic, melancholic, and truly reflective of a KJ film. Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna is touching as it keeps getting back at you just as the title track of KHNH did.If there was one track you would want to form a mental picture of the movie,I guess the title track leads the pack.

Next up , the dazzling vibes of Mitwa seems amazingly similar to the fusion of the loud genre of Euphoria's Mairi and the Pakistani group Junoon's Sayonee. The Fuzon vocalist Shafqat Amanat Ali, Shankar Mahadevan and Caralisa's voices with Javed Akhtar's beatiful lyrics results in wonderful, rousing music. The Remix version of the song seems zippy,but gets lost and pales in the shadow of the original MITWA. If you were looking at some adrenalin pumping numbers ,swaying tio the same beat of a "Koi Kahe " (DCH) and "Its the time to Disco"(KHNH)"Where's The Party Tonight" simply rocks. Its funky and infectious beats have made me play this song in an infinite loop throughout the day. .

The other songs..umm....I havent yet analysed it, as I hardly seem to go past track 3... (Where's the party Tonight")

Great AD Copy

I happened to see this when I had gone to Barista (T Nagar), earlier this week.The Advert copy is pretty attractive given theniche crowd that comes there.Definetely makes you go all out for the specials listed below the Copy.

RAIN

The word "RAIN" was one 4 letter word I was allowed to say with gay abandon , untill a similar 4 letter word with a sexual connotation caught my fancy."RAIN" to me meant so many things,one of which was the smell of wet earth that made me dart across and get wet in the rains, or stay behind moist windows and watch the angle at which rain drops fell,while people made their way through the waters that covered the potholes in the government made roads it also meant a passport to the 1 day of freedom that one gets during school as we triumphantly march back home,after knowing that the school has closed due to rains(before the age of the quintessential BSNL Landline)."RAIN" meant getting a full day to read the newspapers and watch "PRIME SPORTS" (Known in modern day parlance as STAR SPORTS).

When it rained,it was a day we pitted our toweringly made boats on the puddles of water,fighting out whose boat would win the puddle race,and who would be the first to reach the apartment mezzanine floor when the rains started to get heavier was a day when we had crazy run rate calculations to our 6 over matches played between B BLOCK and C BLOCK, in rain shortened circumstances,much before Duckworth and Lewis adopted the rain rule.

It occasionaly meant sitting at home without the power and listening to stories that grandma and grandpa would tell of their youthful days and ofcourse the candle lit dinner amidst the breeze that blew over from the nearby Besant Nagar beach.Life hasnt changed much since moving to madipakkam, except for the fact that,the powercuts are longer now,waterlogging stays on for months and ofcourse life is paralysed in all its forms.

October 2005 was a defining month in my career,as it ate into the precious time that CAT 2005 needed, and over and above literally ruined my house.It initially started with breaking my wall,that allowed water to seep into my bathroom and find its way into our living rooms.I must ahve spent around 3 nights at different parts of the month of October , in the fear that water would enter the house.Incrementally the water did enter and it reached a crescendo the third time,when it came upto knee level inside my house,which is built 3 foot above road level.

Here are a few pictures of last years horrible rains.The write up on the nights and the nightmares will soon follow as and when I get some time to update.I thought I shall post this when I saw some images of the Mumbai rains,which seems to threaten the 7/26 phenomenen.

View from my Terrace the night after the 3rd set of rains


Thats my groundfloor hall.Below lies some of my best books and I had to swim in that gutter to get some of my items that fell inside that :-(


Thats my brand new Santro..crying to be born as a boat

July Starts..and my heart beat grows faster

One of my short stories is being published by a Mumbai Newspaper called DNA on its Sunday magazine titled ME. I was informed by its editor that it is releasing sometime in the month of July.The reason for joy is obviously the fact that the story would be having a huge reach,apart from the monetary gains of a 35000 worth Pen from Cartier.

Well,sometimes, its worth being embarrassed by mallu girls...(to know more read my prize winning story here)

So waiting for DNA's editions of July...Thanx a million DNA...