Begging

Begging has become a common scene in all cities. Most of the times you see a woman/ kid carrying another kid in some of the main signals of the city and posing sad pitiful face. The moment you see them either you tend to give away some 1 or 2 rupee or you ignore them by not looking in that direction.

There are only two things that run in your mind either there is a pity or a resistance.

This just a less than 1 or 2 minute incident in everyone's life however some of us actually start judging those beggars and some pass verdict about encourage/ discourage this habit.

I am not saying begging is right or wrong... but wanted to hear your thoughts .....

How would you react if you see some kid begging on the street?

Is there a way to respond better to these souls?

How different is this habit from a waiter sternly expecting you to leave a tip/ a security asking for tip by saluting when you take the car out from parking lot/ a conductor who refuses to give back the one rupee or 50 paise change?

Sacred Chants

Sacred Chants is a music collection created by Kosmic Studios. An attempt to revive all the ashtakams and stotras in fusion style music. I have been a great fan of these series right from 2003.



I first purchased Sacred Chants Vol 2 and was hearing them almost in repeat for quite some time and over the years I have been gifting out few volumes of these CD's who might appreciate the efforts made in this CD.


Recently I made an investment to procure all the volumes and convert them to MP3 format so that even if there is a scratch in the CD, I can re-create them.


I have been playing them all along for the last 2 months in my car ..... and finally I am compiling my favourites ones here "Nandoo's favourites - Sacred Chants"



Sacred Chants Volume 2 - Gurupaduka Stotram


Sacred Chants Volume 2 - Lingastakam


Sacred Chants Volume 3 - Mangalacharan


Sacred Chants Volume 4 - Durga devi Stuti



Sacred Chants Volume 4 - Ganapathy Sthava


Sacred Chants Volume 4 - Mangalam


Sacred Chants Volume 4 - Rudrashtakam


Sacred Chants Volume 4 - Aaryadurga Ashtakam


Sacred Chants Volume 5 - Madhura Ashtakam


Sacred Chants Volume 6 - Kurai ondrum illai


Sacred Chants Volume 7 - Saastha Ashtakam



I am just moving one step further now to get familiar with the lyrics (The ashtakams and thier meaning to better enjoy them)



If you like classical music with a fusion touch, then you might like these songs....
Its an great attempt and they are available as downloadable tracks but I highly recommend you buy the original CD's probably start with Volume 4 and later buy ones you may like....

Forgive

Here is a nice excerpt from article that I read about Forgiveness

The reasons why I forgive:
I forgive because I am committed to living and loving with an open and healed heart.
I forgive because no one is perfect. In our humanness, we all have been hurt, and we have all hurt others.
I forgive because it empowers me to live in the present moment. I cannot change the past or the people who have imposed their pain on me. However, I can simply choose to let it go.
I forgive because I want to live in peace and love instead of conflict and blame. I accept that every experience, challenge and relationship is here to teach me a lesson about life and love.
I forgive because I trust in the power of love and its ability to heal and transform.
I forgive because it offers me with the peace of mind and personal freedom I deserve.
I forgive because I realize I am the only one responsible for my happiness.
I forgive as an act of self-love and respect.
I forgive because in spiritual truth, there are no unforgivable actions.

probably if everyone of us start following these lines .. then there would be absolute peace

true or false?

5 years

Today I complete my five years at ICON.... probably worthy day to remember...I have grown to great heights since my first day here... I have learnt a lot of things and honed my skills ...I have had my own ups and downs throughout these 5 years but overall when I think about it, its always been a happier tenure throughout....
I am not sure if I have achieved all this if I were with some other organization or my previous company..may be or may not be ...but as reality stands...this is the moment and whatever I have right now is something I never imagined 5 years before or when I made the decision to quit my ex-job.
I am definitely thankful to all the people who have made my journey comfortable from day One. I have build teams, interacted with so many people, and now it almost feels like a family probably a small group of people compared to what is prevalent in big IT players.
Some of the things that I enjoy while working here are ( I am not going to quote any negatives here..coz that is not the point behind this posting)
Freedom - I have all the freedom to do whatever I want (provided that's acceptable within the professional code of conduct :P) I can experiment new strategies and propose solutions....
Goto Guy- Being recognized as the goto guy from the begining that has got anything to do with the system, or a client audit or specific to India office for my department
Learning - From day one, I have learnt a lot of things.... be it domain, business, management, leadership and there has been always a new thing coming up my way. The most important learning from this company would be Work-Life Balance. Probably that is the most important thing that any software professional should be practicing consciously and consistently.

I wish I continue here as new challenges awaits me for next year... and I hope I will be successful in all the future assignments as I climb up the corporate ladder (I always anticipate a fall afterall its a ladder that I am climbing in)

After a long time

Its been quite sometime since I blogged here ....lot of things are happening... and i do wish to make a periodic note of them here.... but I guess I am just lazy to sit and spend some time to note down them here....
Probably I will start with the most happening thing in my life

Junior Nandoo (or) Sat - Yes we are expecting our first one early next year... and nandoo is busy getting prepared for the new arraival in our family. Doctor visits, scan appointments, Dietary advices, Pregnancy Gyaan... Sat & I are going through all the part and parcel of this exciting nine months journey...Its quite interesting... may be I will write a seperate post about Expecting Daddy's part.... I dont find much on the internet for the Daddy

A sweet something - I met my niece on a weekend after a long time.... It was quite a surprise when I heard from my niece that she has got 5/5 in a essay writing.. the topic was "The person I admire" ... Guess what that little kid has written about me in her essay :-) I still wonder what made her to write about me..... But that was very sweet of her to let me know .....

Talk at IIT Madras - This time for a change, I was invited by the management department students at IIT Madras to share my experiences with SMILE. It was a again a surprise...who wouldnt want to go to that campus.... I did talk there for almost 75 minutes and I hope the students realised what I was saying and probably few may get in touch with SMILE for thier winter intership.
25 Lakhs Scholarship - This is another quite an achievement when I got a mail from SMILE communication team that so far, we have spent 25 Lakhs for sadhana scholarship. When we started smile we never imagined that we could make such great strides.... but as the saying goes "Small drops make an ocean" this has become true for us. we were able to support 161 students so far mainly because people had thier faith in what SMILE was doing and they were committed to bring that positive change.... it has taken 6 years...some may argue its too late to reach this figure..but I see this as a sustained committed effort....
Adaptive Simulation - This may sound greek and latin to you...but this something that has been running on my head since July and finally last week, my team was able to run the code and come up with a desired output... this is one great step towards what I wanted to achieve and my team was able to meet the milestone... I was so happy to see the results on the screen. I am proud of my team members. There is still a long way to go but the proof of concept is achieved and validated.

Enthiran - Thala as usual kalakittar.... I saw this movie in coimbatore Central.... padam sooper...naduvula konjam ilutha mathiri irunthuchu... but overall it was very good attempt... the most interesting thing was having Nishu (Sat's niece) 4 year old with us. She was screaming and making sound and the whole theatre was watching her... I dont know what Rajini has got but he is the only person who will have fans in all age groups, all economic classess and all over the world... I liked the Kilimanjaro song.... That's my favourite...

Gym Attendance

4 months have gone so fast... I started going to gym this year and has been on and off... the first three months have been disaster... i have hardly had an attendance of 2o+ which means i go to gym only 7 - 8 days a month .... I made a resolution that I will utilize apr month but sadly I have just doubled my previous month attendance....
Gym is often the place where you get motivated a lot one day and you lose all of them suddenly on the other day. I have been able to slowly increase my average burnout from 300 calories to 550 calories in Apr that's definitely a good start for this quarter. May is already born and I am yet to visit the gym which has already taken out 4 days from my attendance... I hope to increase this bar gradually and reach a steady level. Lets see....

F1 Cricket match

Had a nice weekend match with some of my F1 folks... the good thing i liked about the match was that each team comprised of clients, center manager, staff and helping staff. It was good that all of us played together without any hierarchy end of the day all of them were one team striving to win the match.

The sun was scorching hot... i think i got two layers of tan added to my skin... sonna poyinu solluvinga... so i better keep quite...

Notably I survived on the second match NOT out till the end and scored 11 Runs for my team. The last ball of our innings was a four hit by me. Yeah its me!!!!

Thanks to the Fitness one folks for providing such a nice oppurtunity to get together and play

Fabric Spa - What the !!!!

Saw this ad in one of the bangalore supermarket... now there is a provider who will wash all your clothes on monthly package basis. I dont know with the water scarcity, increase wages for house maids, cost of buying washing powder, washing machine etc... this might actually work out cheaper...

There is already diet india which provides food on monthly packages basis, now there is a vendor who will wash your clothes... intha ratela pona namma oooru ennathuku aagum...

Dedicated to Pillayar

One of the things that I have seen every year twice is that our nagar pillayar visiting all of our streets.... I wanted to record this moment on my blog.... Sometimes we often pray for all those famous deities around the country but ignore the one that exists in our neighbourhood. The local nagar temple is where you usually go for all the auspicious day and that god holds greater importance than the famous deities all over the world.

As a kid I have walked all over my nagar along with the ratham, first time I was holding the theevati "apo naan theevati pidika thaan layaaku" :-) , i think the very next year I was bursting crackers on the road before the ther enters the street kind of an announcement to the members in that area that the ther is going to enter your street and a year after I have been holding mic for the uncle who makes announcement " Sri Gnana Sithi vinayar thiruvarutsangathin oru mukkiya arivuppu, innum sattru nearthil minvillakukalaal alangarika patta theril sri gnana sithi vinayagar ungal veedhiyil ula vara irukirraar... baktha kodigal thayaraaka irukkumaaru kettu kolaa padukiraargal" .. i think after that i have not participated in the occassion... may be i should start doing it from next time...

Musings

Kicking the stone while walking and trying to keep pushing the stone as you walk along with you... How many of you have done this in your childhood days.... I hope almost everyone who had the oppurtunity to walk to the school nearby.

I was doing this today morning while returning from a shop walking on a lonely road.... It makes me think nowadays there is a school bus that picksup children right in front of the house/ apartment or they have a car/bike with driver/parent dropping them right in front of school so kids never get a chance to walk the way alone in a silent lane.... I am not sure if it is considered safe these days...

Things have changed... there are still few places that I would like to take a picture in my neighbourhood..before they change... some interesting memories that directly link to my childhood.... paati kadai, cycle shop, my old primary school, tuition centre... come to think of it... so many places have been demolished and built as apartments... the 100ft road that was once a lonely road has now become a busy traffic packed and under construction four way lane...

Future generation may not even realize how many trees were there on that road few decades back... 5G was the only bus route that used to pass that road... and those days if you happen to get into that bus then you are considered to be lucky for not walking till the bus stand...now i can see atleast 2 to 3 bus for every 5 minutes on that road. Things have changed... so have I....

I was a school kid back then... I didnt needed a blackberry or a laptop to work... a unruled notebook and ball point pen was sufficient... But its always human tendency to go back to those old days and cherish those memories... and Ian blogging it down here instead of writing it in a diary :-)

PAZHAMOZHI (Sweet Verses)

When my aatha (grandma) used to be at my house, she will crack lot of silent wicked humor one liners on the go... I used to ask her to repeat the phrase and understand what is the meaning behind those phrases.... i guess there is a huge collection of such phrases in every village/ town ...

I am trying to recollect some of those and give it with my interpretation or meaning of it.

You do something fishy and try to escape from that place....
"Athu thaane paarthen eli ennada ammanama oduthenu... "


You tell you are not hungry but eat atleast three serves of food... :)
"Salipoda sambanthi ettu aatu kari thinnanaaam"


You act as if you are innocent at times but caught red handed
"payithiyakara paapa pottukittaalam thaaapaa"


When you are happy sometimes you feel restless and do not know what to do
"Moonjuruku moonukaasu aaptuchuna moolaikum mudukukum eduthutu thiriyumaam"

Why boss vetti scene?
"Aasai iruku arasaala athirstam iruku kaludhai meika"

Why do you need new things when you can still use the old ones
"Marumaga valra vazhuvuku maasam mupathu(30) velakkamaaraam"

I know a lot more but I am not able to recollect all of them.... I will soon post a PART 2

Vendaikkai Meen Kozhambu

Oru naal odambu seriyillanu leave pottu veetula nalla thoongitu sayngaalam elunthirichi T.V pottaa... oru channella urupudiya onnume podala... but oru T.V. la namma kundu chef vanthu vendaikaai meen kozhambu pathi sonnar.... slurrrrp! viduvenaa.. apdiye gabaalnu pudichikitten...


ok.. inta vaaram menula paathatha apidye eluthren... samachi paarungooo


Mothala kaduku, aprom venthaiyam, aprom patta melaga, aprom....hmmmm ok avalo thaan ... ithella eduthukanum...

Aprom oru karandi enna oothi... ithella potukanum... nalla oru kalaku kalaku.... innum nalla oruk kalaku kalaku... ok ippo karuveppalaium pottu .. nalla oru kalakui kalaku (Janakaraj style) inum nalla oru kalaku kalaku...


Okyee ippo chopped onion potukanum... nalla oru kalaku kalaku... till the onions become red brown...


okyee ippo enna podaanum... aiyaiyoo maranthu poche.... okyee.. ippo thala vaalu narukanua vendaikaa.. i mean.. dont cut the the vendaikaa into many piecess.. mela oru cut.. keela oru cut.. avalo thaan .. mulu vendakaa.. apdiye vechi oru 10 - 12 vendakaa .. sattila pottu... nalla oru vadhaki vadhaku...

ippo add two more pacha melaga... for extra spice... vendaika nalla vanthigi vanthuku aprom, add one or two tomatoes, 1 spoon malli thool, 1/2 spoon melagai thool and keep kalaking with a spoon of oil.... nalla ellam vanthangi vanthathuku aprom .. 1 or 2 cup thanni oothi.... athula kaluvi vechi, marinate panni vecha meen thondai potu.... 10 minutes kothika vidanum... add salt according to taste...

Secret: Fish pieces should be marinated with salt and turmeric powder for atleast 15 minutes before putting in the kozambu"

A Moon A Star A Sun - Girivalam

Went for girivalam for last full moon day.... The last time I went for girivalam was almost five years back, and this time when I reached koyambedu... I couldnt imagine that there will be this much of crowd. People were standing in a long line... that already came almost two folds inside the bus terminus and then also grown outside till the auto stand. I somehow parked my bike in the paid parking and try to get hold of a seat as the bus entered into the CMBT Bus terminus. I know I was not following the line but I didnt have any other option because if I were to stand in the line, then I would get my bus only after 2- 3 hours. Finally I reached to Thiruvannamalai around 3 AM. When I went to front gopuram, I could see the full moon glowing just adjacent to the gopuram.. I was so delighted to see the moon. This moon is always special to me.... With that happy moment I started my girivalam....

At the begining, I was fully charged up and started to walk briskly and were trying to overtake all those who were walking in the street, two things were clear in my mind.. not to think of any other nonsense while walking this holy path and not to stop at any point to sit down or relax.... no matter how tired you are just keep walking... never sit down... these two points were pretty clear.... I didnt want to enter into the ashtalinga temples as I passed the girivalam paathai, because it was all crowded and I wanted to complete the girivalam before the sun comes up hot in the morning...so I kept walking as much as I could when I felt no pain. It was sad to see the entire girivalam has turned out to become so much commercialised, there were full of shops on both sides of the road. There were eateries stall, music cd's stall, tea stalls, corn, peanuts, juices, herbal tea, pain reliever... you name it... the road was also crowded with people that you cannot imagine for. And most of the people were talking all nonsense about real estate, relative stories... etc ... etc...Now I have already not followed the first point of not to think any nonsense but I couldnt restrict myself to feel bad about all this happening around me.

At this moment I had almost walked around some 7-8kms.... and could be around 4:30 or close to 5 AM, I saw just one star on the sky...just one alone..sparkling in middle of nowhere...and as I was watching it, I saw one more star that was moving very quickly and disappeared into the clouds...I was sure I watched it and it was not a meteor but kind of a star that was glowing equally but crossed all of a sudden and disappeared.... thats another wonder of the nature.... and I kept walking ...by this time, I was starting to feel the tiredness and little bit of pain, It was difficult but I know I still have half of my journey to complete....Even though I feel I can walk there was also a unwillingness internally and tempting me to halt for a moment. No I didnt want to stop, so I kept walking.... Some people were tired and gave up in middle and started to sit down, some slept down... some kids still running around... and I was continuing to walk but slowly and steadily. This time I didnt mind if some one walks past me. I just went with my pace.

By the time it was close to 6, there was a smooth beam of light coming from the east, yes the sun is getting ready for his day. I saw this tiny little orange spot after some time, slowly glowing and radiating. Its been a long time since I actually saw this early morning sun. See how lazy my life has gone. but then not to regret at this wonderful moment, I kept walking noticing this wonderful moment of sunrise.... slowly he(sun) was glowing up and changing the colours... I could see the crimson red, steaming orange and pale yellow a mixture of all of this predominantly turning to bright yellow..... It all happened in a matter of less than 10-15 minutes, the sun started glowing up nicely. It was then I realised that I need to walk down 2 more Kilometers to complete the girivalam.

So this one night not even 1 night, just 4 hours, I witnessed this holy moon, and crossing star and this beaming sun.... I felt some internal satisfaction and figured out why the crowd has increased off late.... With this I some how managed to complete my last few kilometers of the girivalam. The last few km were kind of difficult, my feet has already began to ache, but I know I need to finish this up somehow or the other. I could see every one at the stage struggling hard to walk. Some people still gave up at those stage and sat down for rest, but I didnt want to give up. Some poeple who were regulars, were trying to ace it up as normal as anyone could.

This might sound like a philosophical note, but this 14km of walk very much relates to our entire life.... early stages you are all geared up enthusiastic, you walk as quickly, briskly as possible... and in the middle stage.. you find some difficulties, you feel like giving up but you know you still have half more journey to be completed and at the last stage you find it very difficult to keep it going but you know the end is not so far and you still try to go at your own pace and finally you reach your destiny.

P.S: I look forward to go to Thiruvannamalai for the next full moon. I just love this mini spirutual journey.

Value of Education

When you do your schooling, a college degree may sound like a dream, a vision.... and later when you reach the high school... its sounds like a big threat.... a unreachable hard to fetch target..... and the moment you get your admission..... you feel that you achieved something.....but as semesters (8 PIA for every six months) passby... you end feeling why you made a mistake..... and at the end of 8th semester.... it becomes your identity to fetch a job and as you move up the corporate ladder..... you wonder why you studied it..... and after some years... you again start dreaming about a Post graduation :-) ..it may sound like a dream, a vision.... and later :D (Read the first line of this post again if you still didnt get it)
P.S: Me and My dear wife studied all 4 years about Electronics and Communication and I ended up my career with Clinical Research and She ended up hers in Investment Banking & Mortgages..... How fair is it?

Irony!!!

Read the newspaper today with two ironical news. The first page talks about the top 10 richest persons in world and there is another small article at the bottom about U.N Charities fail and no proper reach of food and basic needs to people in Yemen.
The first news has photos of the worlds richest people (with Carlos Slim the new one on the list and Bill Gates listed as Second) and the other news shows photos of children starving for food and water.

Clearly there is a some channelizing missing. I do not know whether the basic needs will reach them immediately but something can be done with so much money and luxury on one end and total devastation on the other end. I am not talking communism here, maybe I am just rambling like so many others who might have done this in past, but I cant help this situation.

One another interesting observation from the news. Even though Bill Gates has got $53 Billion he is still rated as the second richest just because Carlos has .5 Billion extra than him. So no matter how much you earn, there is always be this peer pressure and sheer comparison going on in your life :-)

One final interesting note, there were 8 indians listed in the top richest people in the world and there is a huge difference between Mukesh (@ $28B) and Anil (@ $13B) .... this shows you need to hold yourself strong in the core business and diversify appropriately to grow in the business.

New Generation Hatchbacks & My view

VW Polo #1

Ford Figo #2

Fiat Punto # 3

Chevy Beat #4

Lots of new hatchbacks are released into the market recently. I am sure they are going to be a tough competition to Maruti Swift. The earlier release of Skoda Fabia and Honda Jazz did not make much of an impact to maruti's market but now there is a whole new serires from 4 major Auto players namely GM, Fiat, Ford and VW.

Overall I am impressed with Ford Figo for the value for money, but I crave the new VW Polo. I guess VW Polo will still join hands with the luxury Hatchbacks like Fabia and Jazz, however Figo will make a hand in hand competition with Swift in the coming days.

Main reason being, it has fiesta engine and releases with a diesel variant for 6 lakhs on road price and the low price with basic amneities in the petrol version being released some where near 3.5 Lakhs. Now thats a equally competition for the entire Maruti series of Wagon R, Ritz and Swift.

Figo has definitely better interiors compared to Maruti, and lot of boot space compared to Swift and very good 1.4 variant with a fiesta class engine and mileage. I am sure the roads are going to be painted green with figo as it was once painted in red with the swift.

Automobile Tip

My friend who works on the automotive industry suggests not to buy a new brand immediately at its release since most of the low priority bugs may not have been fixed to meet the release deadline. There will be a second release after 6 months of the product launch where all these minor issues will be addressed and the vehicle comes even more refined.

Compare Cars

http://www.carsalesindia.com/researchcars/comparecars.jsp?car1=1264&car2=1164&car3=1278&car4=1255

Beat Grande Punto Figo Polo
1.2 LT Opt 1.4 Emotion Petrol 1.4 Zxi Diesel 1.2L Highline (Diesel)
Ex-Showroom Price (Delhi):
Rs 4,34,990/- Rs 5,06,573/- Rs 5,15,000/- Rs 6,70,000/-
Engine CC:

1199 1368 1399 1199

P.S: Did any one hear about the Toyota being sued big time for the accelarator lock in Prius Hybrid model???

Independence Day - 2009

This is something which wanted to write for a long time.... but often keep forgetting.... August 15th 2009 was one of the memorable day in my life. I am not sure if I was the right person but I got a call from near by school HM (Headmistress) the day before Independence day asking I could come to thier school for Independence day function.
I was so happy to recieve this call and sure wanted to participate. When I went to the school the next day morning, the teachers were busy assembling the children on the ground and I was offered a seat in the stage along with HM and another person named Richard. I was talking with the HM about the preparations the students have made and there was a sudden surprise waiting for me. When it was the time for the flag hoist, the HM called me to hoist the flag!!!. I was hesitant for a minute and later went forward to hoist our national flag. I felt happy and proud that I was offered this oppurtunity. After flag salute there were couple of cultural performances by the kids and sweets distribution. I came home with a sense of contentment and delight.... That one unforgettable moment of my life....

Cheenu's Trouble & First Aid for Dog Bite

My pet Cheenu bit my neighbour yesterday. I was first upset on what happened, later I didnt want to waste time, so immediately I called the person inside my house and asked him to wash his hands with running water. The bite has been deep so it took some time for blood oozing to stop. I did apologize for the trouble that my pet has caused and asked him if I could help him in taking him to hospital.
My dog has been vaccinated completely and has proper immunization schedule, so at first my thought was if we get him a T.T injection that would probably be first step towards stopping infection. Later he came with me to the hospital and we met the doctor and as the wound was little deep, the doctor suggested for Rabipur injection.
The dosing will be for 3 days. 0th Day, 3rd Day and 7th Day.
For example if the dog bite is on 16th then you need to have 3 injections on
16th, 18th & 22nd of that month.
I also paid for the injection and doctor fees. My neighbour didnt want me to pay for it, but still I may not be able to share the pain that he is going through but atleast spare the cost for the trouble caused.
Een though you are comfortable with a dog, end of the day dog is a dog. You will never know how its mood unless you are his owner.
Beware of Dog!!!! always.

Pre Closure of Loans & Home Loan Gyan

One of my goals for 2010 is to become debt free.

Finally I was able achieve 70% of my goal for 2010. I preclosed one of my major loans (house loan) with all the outstanding prinicipal. This removes one loan from my debt list the remaining loans account only 30% more so they are all very short ones which I will close in the coming days.
The concept of taking a home loan to save your income tax is totally misleading one.
For example if you pay 7oK as interest towards your home loan then you may probably end up saving 30K from your tax. You can rather pay that 30K tax and still be able to save 40K of money.

On the contrary if you suddenly need some huge money but does have a periodic repayment capacity, then this is a good option.
Few things you need to be very sure
Learn about Amortization Schedule before you purchase your loan.
Make your budget tighter once you take a loan, dont spend the way you used to do it before you took the loan. Think you owe someone so much of money and live frugal.
Always set aside some money apart from your EMI to preclose the prinicipal.
Make atleast 5 principal prepayments in the first 4 years. This will reduce the interest portion greatly.
The moment you close your home loan, start using the EMI money for savings like RD, SIP, Pension Scheme, ELSS or for other investment options.

Live Life Debt Free!!! I can say this more loudly when close that other 30%