Pongal Celebrations "2010"

Hi Folks "Happy New Year" !!!!!

Been a long time since I had posted some stuff in my blog. Got married recently, been busy with family as well as work for the past few months. Needed a mindset to get on to the blogging track again and here I am posting my first news for the year 2010.

Jan 13th 2010 - Pongal Celebrations

Been quite a lazy day for me. Started as usual to office and found the office boys getting themselves busy for the day by cleaning and decorating the reception area in our office were the decorations for Pongal made usually. The pots filled up with cotton was the first thing I could see when entering office. Got an idea, Ok the celebrations for Pongal was on.

The day at office started as usual by checking up few mails and then responding to those which normally eats up half of my day. This year I was greeted in a special way as it is my first Pongal after marriage which is formally called in Tamil as "Thala Pongal". The day went on smooth and I could see the ladies in our office lining up and gearing up themselves to start the decorations at the reception area. The ladies this year decided to use the normal color powders to prepare the Kolam and decorate the border with flowers. To tell you guys the truth, even though it looked simple it was fantastic. The sugarcane's were placed at the corners to add more beauty to the decorations. The day ended by distributing some sweets and wishing the colleagues "Happy Pongal".

Schumi is back to F1 ...

2009 F1 season can never expect anything better than this. One of the most successful and favourites "Michael Schumacher", Seven times world champion who retired from Formula One at the end of 2006 is all set to replace injured driver Felipe Massa at Ferrari.

The news was buzzing on as to who would be replacing Massa who unfortunately fractured his skull in the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend. I had the mildest idea where Ferrari would decide in getting schumi back on to the track. Suprised and excited to hear the news today which came confirming that the pro is taking the drivers seat along with Kimi in the next upcoming races until Massa is fit to drive.

So I guess Hamilton and Vettel would be for sure praticing hard to push their engines ahead of the Ferrari in order to find their names ticking on the Drivers Points table.

All the best guys, F1 is getting hotter and hotter. The Game has just Begun !!!!!

King of Pop - Michael Jackson

Birth name Michael Joseph Jackson

Born August 29, 1958 Gary, Indiana, United States

Died June 25, 2009 (aged 50) Los Angeles, California United States

Genre(s) Pop, R&B, Rock, Soul

Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, dancer, choreographer, actor, author, businessman, financier

Micheal Jackson, one of the world's greatest entertainer and my all time favourite singer expired at the age of 50. It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home which has caused his sudden death.

He had started his professional music career at the age of 11 as a member fo Jackson 5. he is referred as the King of Pop and his albums was one the world's best-selling records of all time Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and History (1995), while his 1982 Thriller. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced many hip hop, pop and contemporary R&B artists.

Jackson popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk including one for "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time". Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994, and they divorced in 1996. Later that year, Jackson married Deborah Rowe, a former nurse for his dermatologist. They had two children together: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, now 12; and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11. Rowe filed for divorce in 1999.

Jackson also had a third child, Prince Michael II. Now 7, Jackson said the boy nicknamed Blanket as a baby was his biological child born from a surrogate mother.

Suprised !!

Hey Guys,

I was suprised on 14th April 2009 when I saw a Google alert in my mailbox which read as "Arvind Krishnamurthy Launches Comodo Encryption Journal on Ulitzer". The first mail I received after seeing this is from my head Mr.Paul who appreciated me in saying that I am the only guy after the CEO to be recognised by another company for publishing journals over the internet.

It was a great feeling and waiting to give more contributions from my end (the marketing team) for the company.

I'm Engaged !!!

It was the 7th of march 2009 when I was told by Mom that, cuckoo... I have seen a girl for you and I would like you to talk to her over the phone and find out whether you are comfortable. My Mom continued the conversation talking about their family and how she is impressed about it and blah blah.. For a second I dint know what to reply and with no other go I said "Ok Mom... let me see".

The day just went pass that and on 8th of March my Mom starts again saying the girl will call you anytime and you be prepared and talk nicely. Says "All the best" and rushes to office. As usual I switched on the computer and started browsing and listening to music which I usually do on a Saturday morning. There was no call and with curiosity I called up Mom and asked her whether it was sure they said they will call me or should I, and she says coolly.. Ok so they haven't called you.. so you call them whats the problem. Great, so here it starts .

I call up, the ring goes.. goes.. goes and no one picks up. After a few minutes I receive a call from the same number and here it goes. She introduces herself as "Bhargavi", and says she has come for a company outing and having fun and continues talking about her mom who said she would get a call fro me and blah blah blah. Time went pass and to my surprise I am still in conversation with her for the past 1 hr. After a lot of talking, I said I need to meet you and she said ok and then we decided the time and place.

Bright Sunday morning (8th March), got a few words of advice from Mom as if I am going to attend my public exam and I was just nodding my head and listening to her as to how to talk and all the stuffs. The time we both decided to meet was 11 am and as usual I was late and made it up at 11.30 am. Walked in with a smile and a bit of tension in mind.

To tell you guys the truth I was actually impressed by the way she was talking over the phone and it was just that small instinct within me that I wanted to meet her and ask.... man how did you ever think I was the right partner for you??.. So we happened to meet and talk a lot of about each other which made us decide finally we can make a good pair. This is how it started and time just flew by making us both getting prepared for the engagement which was scheduled on 22nd March.

With such a short span of time, I managed to get the invites ready and call most of my close pals and yes missing few which I thought I could invite them for the wedding. It was quite hectic to get the engagements stuffs ready within a weeks time but the amount of effort delivered turned my engagement ceremony to be a grand one.

For more pics: click here

Thanks for all your wishes and blessings.

Deviance.. Family Fun!!!!

"Mom, I've decided to get married."

The Seshadhris were only too ecstatic to here these words pop out of their elder son's mouth, yet afraid at the the same time. After all, their son did study in the United States for 3 years. And from what they heard from their neighbours, the States "do things" to perfectly normal sons. What if he wanted to marry a white girl? The blasphemy! How would they ever explain to their relatives?

"Indian no?", Mrs.Seshadhri asked, nervously.

"Iyengar...."

"Oh thank god! Chamathu da nee. We'll see the girl tomorrow!And I'll have to call all our relatives to inform them. Ha! First I'll call your aththai. Her son went to the states and ended up with one of those...punjabi a? Ya, punjabi-o ennavo. But my son? Chamatha Iyengar ponnu paathutaan.""Amma..."

"What? I know I'm getting excited but its not everyday your son gets married! First ponnu paakanum. Give me her address."

"I can't give the girl's address."

"Why not? " interrupted Mr.Seshadhri. "Is it because they don't know? Its okay, we'll convince them""No, its because there is no girl""Ennada solra?" chorused the parents.
"I am in love with an Iyengar, yes. But its not a girl. Its a boy"
Silence.

"Is this some kind of TV show? Is some shanniyan going to come with a camera and say all this is some joke? I know! Vijay TV-la Simbhu is doing something like this. He's going to come now, isn't he?""No mom, nobody's behind your almirah. This is real. I want to get married to him and him only""This is not normal, you know that?""Appa, who're you to say that it's not normal? How do you know that it isn't normal? I want to get married to him and that's the end of it" and he stormed out of the room.

The Seshadhris were appalled, and did what any other parents would do when presented with such a private confession. They called the entire family over to discuss it.Mamas, Mamis, Thathas, Paatis, Chithappas, Chiththis, Aththais, Athimbers, Perippas, Perimmas and a motley crew of cousins promptly assembled to exchange their views over filter coffee and masala vadais.

"Enna kodumai Seshadri idhu""This is not the time to joke, its a very serious issue pa. Namma community-la this is just not done""Are you sure about this? I mean was he joking?""Will anybody joke about things like this? Avan serious-a dhaan irukaan. He's gay.""Amma Amma, what's a gay?" interrupted 6 year old Achu, loudly. Silence."Sshhh, Achu. Go play outside with Kichu." said his visibly embarassed mother.Achu promptly ran outside hollering KICHU! GAY-NA BAD WORD DA!"Kids""Yea. I'm hoping he gets a girlfriend soon.""Shree, he's 6""The earlier the better. And I'm so not sending him to the US""Not everyone turns out like that. My son married a perfectly nice girl. Enna, she's punjabi. But very nice girl.""You know she has a beard, right?""Oh please! At least she's a girl.""Enough enough. This is not about her daughter-in-law's beard. Idhu konjam serious-aana matter.""Yes yes. There are so many fundamental complications""Like if this marriage does go on, who gets to be the Maapla veedu?""Chechu make it clear to them that we will be the groom's house. We will demand our rights""Hey, who gets to tie the thaali?""Will there even be a thaali?""Maybe they'll tie a golden poonal around him""One more doubt. The girl usually sits on her father lap when they tie the thaali. Does this mean that the son sits on his mothers lap? How does that work exactly?""Yea! And then usually the girl wears that special koora-podavai before she ties the knot. Do we have to get this guy a koora-veshti?""Atleast you'll save on all those silk sarees.""And that Mehndi thing. Unless your son wants it, ofcourse""Hahahaha! Thats so g...nothing" '

An uncomfortable silence followed, but was swiftly interrupted by the Periappa.

"Come to think of it, that golden poonal will weigh a lot""Does your future...err son-in-law cook?""Aiyo! Don't call him son-in-law! I don't even want this to happen!""Maybe you should do that. Vidaatha. Then he'll come around""No way, then he'd elope. Odi poyiduvaan!""Thats not good for the family name.""Thu! As if marrying a boy is very honourable.""And besides, eloping-na, usually the girl runs away, gets a baby and then only gets accepted back in the household. This is how it is in all tamil padams""Ok, but how the heck are these guys going to get a baby?""My point exactly, so they won't elope""Which is worse. What if they get together like those villains in Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu?""Aiyo! That's a movie about homosexual psychopaths! You're son is too sensitive for that. He cried in the climax of Kabhi Khushi Kahi Gham, for heaven's sake!."Appove we should have noticed...""You think there's some kind of homeopathy treatment for this? Or Ayurveda? Some kashayam or something?""No no, its a state of mind. No kashayam can cure it""Or should we send him to a psychiatrist?""Illa. Those psyciatrists are Peter parties. They'll end up brainwashing us about how we are educated and must accept him the way he is""Adhaan pannanum" said Mr.Seshadhri, finally.The entire household went mute."You mean...we have to get him married? To that...that boy?""Yes""Only then, he'll be happy.""Aiyo sentiment thaangamudila""My decision is final. I'll go call him and find that other boy's number. I have plenty to talk to his parents."

The household watched him go with a rather stern resolve in absolute silence. The only sound was the jowku-jowku of Paati eating Vadai.
"Enna paati? What do you think?" said one of the cousins, finally breaking yet another uncomfortable silence.
"Ennadhaan payyana love pannaalum, atleast Iyengar payyana paathu love pannane, adhuve porum"
[Note: Taken from a fwd mail....]

Trip to Rasipuram and Kollimalai

Was eagerly waiting for the long weekend i.e 24th, 25th & the 26th Jan to do a trip to bangalore to see few of my buddies whom I haven't met for a long time. The plan was on until 23rd afternoon when all of a sudden I had 2 of my close pals calling me and saying they are rushing to their native to spend the long weekend. Unfortunately I had to drop out the plan for bangalore. On 24th morning I was cleaning my bike just thinking as to what shall I do for the next 2 days. Tringg.. Tringg... my phone rings and it was Karthik alias Maadu. As usual started as .. Sollu da (meaning tell me dude)..he was asking me the plan for the long weekend and had to tell him I had no plan. For the first time karthik suggests a plan asking whether we can make a trip to Kolli Malai. Blink.. Gosh.. I asked Karthik.. How come dude??.. How did you crop up with this idea and confirmed the plan immediately and called up 3 other colleagues of mine of which one had come from bangalore to spend the weekend. Plan set, all geared up and one of my colleague (Sriram) picks me up from home and we land up at Tambaram where he had to pick up his bag. Karthik, Suresh(pal who had come from bangalore), Me and Sriram met up at Tambaram and started our Journey to Kolli Malai. This was my 2nd trip to the same place.

The plan was to drive down in Karthik's car (Maruti Swift) to Rasipuram which is near Salem where one of our colleague named Gokul resides. So we thought we shall stay up at his house and pick him up to and visit Kolli malai. So we had called up Gokul and he said you guys are always welcomed and we were much excited about the sudden trip. Normally trips like this which is planned all of a sudden works out well. So we as usual started making fun of each other and started taking snaps in different styles. The route which we took was NH45 from Chennai tamabaram - Tindivanam - Villupuram - Salem - Aatur - Rasipuram which was close to 300 kms.

So as we were driving down something stuck me and I had asked the guys whether we can call up Sudharshan (another colleague who has gone to his native Villipuram to spend the weekend) and the answer was why not. After a few hesitations he accepted to come with us. So we picked him up after some confusions in the route told by him. Now we were 5 people in the car happily making fun of each other, hearing good music, having beers except Karthik who was driving. After some halts for nature calls and water we land up at Rasipuram at 8.30 pm. Gokul had a big smile on his face when he saw us and greeted us. Picked up food and drinks for the night and made a small visit to his house to wish his parents and then we rushed up to his Grandfathers house which is nearby to celebrate the ride and the weekend plan. Cheers.. gulp.. gulp.. gulp..and we had to say enough guys and went to sleep at 3.00 am.

Next day Gokul's grandmom waked us all up by switching on the lights. Woke up and saw the time , it was 6.30 am. Machan yennada da ithu... was the first word which came out of my mouth. We managed to get up and the comedy for the day begins. We dint have toothpaste for brushing our teeth. The suggestion given by Gokul was to brush our teeth with Neem sticks. I waited until I found everybody had started brushing their teeth with neem sticks and I had no option than following them. With neem sticks in our mouths we started brushing and started walking to have a view at the groundnut field which was maintained by gokuls grandpa. Awesome climate and a fantastic location to spend a weekend. After few chit chats we hear a loud sound from Gokul saying. .. Dude.. I found the Toothpaste.. grrr.grrr..exchange of words happened and then we all had the second round of brushing with toothbrushes and toothpaste. His grandma offered us fantastic ginger tea which refreshed us. We had to leave at around 9 am to kolli malai, so had to do a dash and splash in gokuls house to visit his mom and have breakfast. Done with the breakfast and we start to kolli malai.

We had to adjust in the car as we dint have space for 6 people. But adjusted and started the ride. Good roads and we had stopped at few places to pick up food and beverages and have some good snaps. Sriram was busy with the camera in taking some good snaps. Me, gokul, sudharshan, Suresh and Karthik as usual blah.. blah.. blah. Reached the top of the hill, which had close to 85 bends. Changed our costumes and straight walked down to the waterfalls. We had to walk down about 1200 steps to reach the waterfalls which was mind blowing. The last visit when I made, I was able to go and stand below the falls, but this time the falls was too heavy and I was even unable to swim and make it close to it. So we had just dipped ourselves for abt 1/2 hr in the water enjoyed the beauty of the falls. Had food and started walking up. This was the toughest part I would say. The steps were big and we had to take bigger steps to reach the next one. This drained down our energy levels fully and by the time we could reach the top of the hill we were damn tired. After a small halt reached up to the nearby shop to have lemon soda to refresh ourselves.

Took a good amount of rest and then started driving downhill. On the way we again started taking snaps. As suresh had to deliver some stuffs to his friend who lives next to rasipuram we had to travel to their house. Made suresh deliver things fast and rushed up to Gokuls house to have good food and take rest. On 26th Morning we had to leave by 7 am as Suresh had to take the bus back to bangalore in the evening the same day. Woke up, brushed our teeth, had some good refreshing tea, took snaps with his parents and drove back. One the way we halted at sudharshan place which is in Villupuram to meet his parents and have some snaps with them and finally reached chennai at 4 pm. On the whole we had enjoyment to the max and made sure we kept ourselves loaded with fun throughout the weekend.