Today's diary

Had Kambansorru (corn rice if I have to literally translate it!!) in the morning. It was heavenly. Don't understand why we lost such wonderful food in the process of urbanisation.

Kiruba felt that he had enough of blogging and called it quits. Being a person who has influenced quite a few to start blogging, its no surprise that his statement should elicit 100+ comments from bloggers around the world. His was one blog that I found had visitors other than Indians too.

Blogger needs some serious attention. It is very slow and I've not been able to post the previous two days. Even the commenting seems to have a problem.

Mood off

Mood off...Indian Cricket team sucks :(

Inba Thaen Vanthu Paayuthu Kaathinilae...

It was after a few months in Tokyo. My colleague and myself were practically starved of Tamil songs. Especially the filmy music. The only Indian music we heard was from my walkman which used to be permanently in my traveling bag. Unfortunately I had bought only one cassette. So we were resigned to the songs from "Dum Dum Dum".

As the days neared for us to leave, we were discussing on what we would do immediately after reaching India and one that was foremost in our minds was to listen to some good old filmy songs in Tamil.

On our way back to India, we had planned to visit Singapore. Loaded with a transit visa, we scanned the airport for my cousin at 2am...I don't know how he managed to smile and welcome us at that ungodly hour!!! We came out and found a taxi. It was being driven by a North Indian cabbie. Shoving our bags into the cab, we got in and settled down. The cab started moving and suddenly the song "Ninaithalae inikkum" filled the air. We were both pretty excited to hear the song and started grinning from ear to ear. Nothing that my cousin spoke fell into our ears after that. We were blissfully listening to the song. It was almost a shock at the beginning to hear the song as we were least expecting it. It turned out to be one of the most interesting journeys.

PS: Coming to think about it, that song didn't have many words in it expect for "Ninaithalae inikkum"...So much for a Tamil Song!!!

Blog - a wild fire

Blog was just something that was mentioned in the net and discussed by some tech-savvy people. This was changed overnight when I got introduced to some blogs. Now, here is a new entry from AF, who is a very close friend of mine. Welcome to the world of blogging AF!!

mirror

Came across this in a mail.

Just append ".mirror.sytes.org" to any URL and watch the fun!

For e.g. instead of www.yahoo.com try www.yahoo.com.mirror.sytes.org


this works for any site......

Imagine the kind of logic they must have used.

Intricacies of a language

I think it was during my 6th Standard. We had the usual school inspection. There was a flurry of activity a week before the inspection. The whole school was spic and span on the day of inspection. We were all instructed to be on our best behavior. We were all waiting eagerly for the inspector and were a bit apprehensive. The inspector turned out to be a very jolly person. He visited us during our Geographical classes. He asked us some general question and then suddenly asked this "How does Geography influence a language?"

We tried to outsmart each other and gave all sorts of replies. He patiently listened to all that we had to say and then gave a big explanation. What caught my attention was the example he gave.

Geographical conditions and climatic conditions have had a great impact on language. Apart from the general structure and usage, the expression is also greatly influenced by external factors. For example consider the expression -- "warm hearted". Well if you translate this to Tamil, it would be "soodana manasu". But do we have such a phrase in Tamil? We only have "koolirntha manasu" which would be "cold hearted" but actually meaning "happy heart". So in a cold country, "warm" is something nice and vice versa.

He gave many such examples and we ended up having a wonderful time. This was one inspection day which I would never forget in my life!! (Infact I remember the inspector vividly even today)

Books

Books have been my passion. I remember instances when I used to sneak to the kitchen late in the nights to read books (couldn't use the hall or the bedrooms as the light would be seen by my parents :)) At home, I used to always be with books. This habit of mine was a real pain for my mother. It was she who had introduced me to books and I'm sure she really regretted that day!! Chores would be conveniently forgotten, food untouched or left to burn, milk left to boil over and what not!!! If she had to get something done by me, she would have to hide the books first. :) Even then I would be reading the bits and pieces on the paper that was used to cover something bought in the grocery!!! I remember times when I've read bits of stories with no beginning or end. :))

On thinking back, I think books have just been books. I do seem to be capable of living without a book for months. :) The last time I read a book was about 5 months back...Now that's an achievement for me.

PS: I do manage to read the newspaper and magazines regularly...and you need to add blogs to the list now. So, it doesn't really look like an achievement right?

Is this right?

A friend of mine is in last few weeks of the third trimester and had been to visit her doctor last week. On checking her, the doctor had asked to come again in four days as the baby's head had not turned. So she wanted to manually turn the baby, since if this is not done, they would have to go for caesarean. This is her third child and since the previous two were normal births, she didn't want to go for a cesearean. Later, when she was discussing this with her friend, who is a gyn and had been practicing in India, the friend asked her to wait for a few more days to see if the baby turned by itself, since it was common for such occurrences for the second or third babies.

My friend was clearly intrigued by this and did a bit of browsing and came to the conclusion that she could wait for a few more days. She then went to her doctor and told the same. The doctor was not very happy about this and warned her of the consequences. Finally she made a note of this in the records and told her that she would not be liable for anything that happened later.

Now, I have this question...Did my friend do the right thing and did the doctor take the right action?

Chanakya

I have always been intrigued by Chanakya. I have been wanting to read more about his life and teachings. But haven't had the luck so far. Today, I got a mail with Chanakya quotes. Pretty good ones.


Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275 BC)
"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first."


"Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous." -- the best one :-)

"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."

"Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead."

"The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman."

"Once you start working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest."

"The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction."

"God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple."

"A man is great by deeds, not by birth."

"Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends." -- another one which I liked

"Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person."

"Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere.Education beats the beauty and the youth."

Sore Throat

I have been having a sore throat from last night. Was wondering why my throat was irritating resulting in dry coughs the whole night and this morning. It was only after I came to office, I came to know that it was because of the bush fires in Indonesia and that most of my colleagues were also affected. If we are able to feel the impact of bush fires so far away, imagine the plight of the Indonesians. Last year too we had the same problem and it was found that some of the fires were caused by greedy individuals who were clearing forest areas to expand their cultivable lands.

One Song

Today, on my way to office, I heard the song "Sotta Sotta nanaiyuthu TajMahal". I have heard this song quite a few times before. But today it had a special effect on me. On thinking back, I don't find that the lyrics of this song is something great...there have been better songs. I think it is the music and the voice. The song seems to keep repeating in my mind...this inspite of me listening to other songs after this one. Not sure who sang the song. But the voice was simply great. One more song to my collection of "Best Songs".

Brides for sale

Yep! That's what I mean - Brides for Sale. There are many Matchmaking Agencies in Singapore, who get brides from Asean countries like Taiwan, Vietnam and Indonesia for Singaporean men. These girls come from a poor family and are young. They are eager to marry Singaporean men in the hopes that they get liberated from poverty. The Men on the other hand prefer such girls since they find that they are already past the age of courtship and would prefer a submissive wife who takes care of all his needs. So in most cases it turns out to be a good proposal. What had me writing this article is not the idea or the marriage. It is the way it is being executed. So how does the matchmaking process go?

There are two ways.
1. The interested men are taken to the countries where they can select the brides. This is a 6 day trip, where by a fair is arranged where the prospective girls are paraded before the men. If the men like any of the girls, they have a small interview and if all goes fine, the marriage is finalized and solemnized within the 6 days. The men return to Singapore and the girls wait for the visa and tickets to join their husband.

2. In the second case, the women are bought to Singapore and they sit for days in a shop window (like a doll in a garment showroom!!) to be gaped at by all those passing by, waiting for their groom.

This extract is from Straits Times, A Singapore Daily.
Said 19-year-old Miss Tran Thi Thoa, who found a husband after sitting for five days in a shop window at Vietnam Brides: 'My friends told me that Singapore men are very good.'


If the first incident looked like a mattu santhai (animal fair) the second one reminds me of some other profession!!!

Hide and Seek

Have you ever wondered if a particular scene or sequence could really happen in life when you watch a film? Do you like James Bond and the likes? Do you like fast action movie? Then this is for you. Enjoy and have a nice time.

Aavishkaar

Came across Aavishkaar through Good News India. Here is a golden opportunity to return something to our home country as well as make a good investment.

Budget

In those days a budget had normally meant a rise in some of the items...it might mean a hike in the bus fare or a hike in gas or something similar. That is what it had meant to us most of our childhood years. It would mean that our parents would be discussing the price hikes and how it would affect us. Then, it grew to the point were we discussed issues on investment and returns. But never had the budget got us wondering and talking about the influence of it in the building of the nation, the future, etc. It is only recently that we have we started analyzing the budget on the basis of its implications on the nation at large (mainly due to P.Chidambaram, since we started watching the budget with interest only when he became the Financial Minister the first time). This years budget seems to have had a good reception at all levels. Check out the ratings at rediff in Budget 2005