Kunjootty

Mozhikalum -- lyrics

2012-01-04T23:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone !!!
Its a great feeling to start off the new year with a smooth romantic number.... here goes....

mozhikalum..... mounangalum.... mizhikalum... vaachaalamaayi
thirakalum..... theeravum.... hridayavum..... vaachaalamayi
thammil thammil.... ormakal.... aarum kaanathe poovaninju ---2

ilam thennale.. manju pookkale... kulirolame.... niravaaname
ithu munpu naam pranayaadramaayi parayaan maranna kadhayo
mozhikalum..... mounangalum.... mizhikalum... vaachaalamaayi

poove.. poovennoru vandin chundu vilichu.... melle vilichu
ninnodishtamennu poovinodumozhinju.... ullam mozhinju
anuraaga divyamanuraagamaarum ariyaa kanavaayi
avarennumee malarvaadiyil sneha poove ninne thedi alayunnitha
ilam thennale.. manju pookkale..kulirolame.... niravaaname
ithil munpu naam pranayaadramaayi parayaan maranna kadhayo

Its from an upcoming movie Padmasree Bharath Dr Saroj Kumar. Maybe a sequel to Udayanaanu Thaaram. Music by Deepak Dev. It sounds like a mix between “Thumbi Kinnaram” from Naran and “Ariyathe Parayathe” from Udayananu Tharam. Sung by Haricharan (The same guy who sang Jalsa in Chennai 600028)

Fruit pie

2011-11-04T11:03:00.001-07:00

Ingredients:
Ready made biscuit crumb pie crust,
Vanilla cook and serve pudding,
2 kiwi,
1 apple

1. Peel the apple and chop it into very fine tiny pieces.
2. Peel and slice 1 kiwi thinly and line the base of the pie.
3. Cook the vanilla pudding.
4. Add the chopped apple into the pudding stirring it in well.
5. Pour the pudding into the pie crust.
6. Decorate the top of the pie with the remaining kiwi slices.
7. Keep outside for 2 hrs to cool well. Then refrigerate overnight.
Serve cold.

Time taken : 1/2 hour + overnight to set.

Potato Dosa

2011-10-20T10:59:00.001-07:00

Potatoes - 2 (medium size)
Rice flour - 1 cup
Rava - 3/4 cup
Yogurt - 1 cup
Cumin seeds - a pinch or according to taste
Curry leaves / coriander leaves chopped
Salt
Water

1) Cook the potatoes well. Peel it and mash it after it cools a bit.
2) Mix the rice flour, rava and yogurt very well in the mixer by adding a little bit of water to make it smooth.
3) Add the mashed potatoes and a little more water into the mixer and mix till the batter becomes very smooth and lumpless.
4) Pour the smooth batter out into another vessel and add the cumin seeds, salt to taste and curry leaves or chopped coriander leaves.
5) Heat the tava well and smear it with oil.
6) Pour out the batter to make potato dosas. The dosas become crispy when spread thinly and brown a bit like naans when spread a bit more thickly.

Rava Dosa

2011-09-27T20:01:00.001-07:00

Ingredients :
Rava -1 cup
Rice flour - 1 cup
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Ginger - 1 finger length piece chopped
Green chilies - 2-3 chopped
Curry leaves - 4-5
Onion - 1 big chopped
Cashew nuts - chopped small
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Salt - to taste
Ghee

Preparation -
1. Mix all the ingredients except the chopped onion with 5 glasses of water. The batter should be the consistency of buttermilk.
2. Heat the tava very well amd rub it with oil.
3. Sprinkle the chopped onion on the tava according to taste.
4. Sprinkle the batter on the tava like watering plants.
5. Rava dosa takes double the time of a normal dosa to get crisp.
6. Once one side has become cooked rub on some melted ghee and flip it over.

Tejabhai and family - Pranayanila lyrics

2011-08-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

I am addicted to Deepak Dev and I dont care if the movies flop (As I have serious doubts about this film)....I love his music!!

Here's a song from his latest movie - Tejabhai and family.. a light and breezy romantic number on the lines of "walking in the moonlight" from the Kunchacko Bobban starrer "Sathyam Shivam Sundaram".

pranayanilaaa....ba ba baaba

pavizhamithaaa...ba ba baaba

pulakamithaaaa...ba ba baaba

pranayamithethra ethra ethra sundaram...

chashakamithaa...ba ba baaba

madhuramithaaa...ba ba baaba

ithu vazhi vaa...ba ba baaba

jeevitham ethra ethra ethra mohanam...

sugandhiyaayi.. suvarna sandhyayil..

varuu priyee.. vilola chandrike..

varu varu kinavil en priye vilasa lolayaayi

vasantham ethra ethra ethra sundaram..

hey baby...I wanna love you..

hey baby...dont wanna leave you..

thirakalithaa...ba ba baaba

theeramithaaa...ba ba baaba

ithuvazhi vaaa..ba ba baaba

alakadal ethra ethra ethra sundaram..

thennal ithaa...ba ba baaba

minnal ithaaa...ba ba baaba

thudikalithaa...ba ba baaba

puthumazha ethra ethra ethra sundaram..

sitarile suratha thantrithan

swarangalaayi thalodayanu nee..

swarangale padangalai

priye parannirangu nee

kinavil ethra ethra sundaram...

hey baby...I wanna love you..

hey baby...dont wanna leave you..

nin mukham sandhyayil poovupole sundaram

mulamkuzhal pattu pol nin swaram manoharam

aadyamaayi kanda naal muthalkku njan

ninnil veenalinju poyi... alinju poyi..

ethra naal thedi njan ninne onnu kaanuvaan

nirangalil mayanguvan ethra naal kothichu njan

aadyamaayi kettu njan alinju poyi ninte ganadharayil

sundari.. sugandhiyaayi..suvarna sandhyayil

varu priye vilola chandrike...

varu varu kinavil en priye vilasa lolayaayi

vasantham ethra ethra sundaram

hey baby...I wanna love you..

hey baby...dont wanna leave you..

PS: Are the lines correct "I wanna love you.. I wanna leave you"?? doesn't make much sense!!

Edit 10/3/2011 : (i have edited the lyrics to make it 'dont wanna leave you")

PS1: Prithvirajappan does not have a natural comic timing and I hope he realizes it soon before his self-hyped super stardom comes crashing down!!

Guacamole

2011-08-04T20:36:00.001-07:00

Ingredients : soft avocado, onion, tomato, lemon juice, chilly powder, salt, tortilla chips

1. Scoop and mash avocado.
2. Add finely chopped onion, skinless tomato
3. Add pinch of salt and chilly powder.
4. Squeeze lemon juice to this.
5. Mash and mix everything finely together.
6. Eat with tacos or tortilla chips.

Time taken : 5 mins

Manolo Blahniks someday??

2011-08-01T18:23:00.001-07:00

17 months old and already 6 pairs of shoes!! Am I developing a shoe fetish for my daughters little feet? :-p

Chicken mushroom soup

2011-07-30T13:53:00.001-07:00

Ingredients: boneless chicken, mushroom, turmeric, salt, pepper, ginger garlic paste, flour, milk, cilantro

1. Cook chicken in water with turmeric and salt.
2. Keep chicken and resulting stock separately.
3. Mince cooked chicken into small pieces.
4. Chop the mushroom into small pieces.
5. Take the chicken stock in a soup pot and keep on simmer.
6. Add 1 tsp of flour and dissolve completely.
7. Add the mushroom and chicken
8. Add pepper and salt according to taste.
9. Add 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste.
10. Add 1/2 cup of milk and add little water if too thick.
11. Bring to a boil on medium flame. Stirring often.
12. Add chopped cilantro when serving.

Time taken : 1 hr

Dumela Mma

2011-07-23T00:24:00.001-07:00

Yes its time to admit the truth.... Yes the idiot box has sunk its hook and claws real deep into me and i can be called a true blue couch potato. I was getting tired of all the vampires/ gangsters/ single ladies on american television when i discovered a small gem on HBO On Demand : The No1 Ladies Detective Agency :-)

Its just one of those dainty little serials about the going ons in a small village anywhere in the world..... only this one takes place in Botswana, Africa. The best thing I liked about it was that all the characters were simple and straight forward. They made it seem as though the world only has black or white people ( i meant their behaviour not colour of skin) no grey people. No people who are really innocent but do weird things in weird circumstances and no do gooders in a totally black hearted world. Just very very simple storylines where good people do good things and same for the baddies.

Due to the over dramatized and complicated tangles that we have by now been accustomed to one keeps expecting a twist an unpredictable shocker of a climax.... Nothing.... Many critics have blasted the series for "cardboard cutout characters". But i felt we all need to see some form of "malgudi days" once in a while to just keep our senses fresh and open to everything else.

Despite all the cult following the series has now got HBO had it only for 1 season :-( I hope they renew it due to popular demand !!

Bilsila Bilsila

2011-07-11T23:29:00.001-07:00

If there is anything worse than the "Silsila" song and Santhosh Pandit it is the song "Bilsila" sung by Jayasurya in the movie Three kings :-P

Mini Quiche

2011-04-30T14:51:00.001-07:00

Ingredients :

4 eggs

1 carrot finely shredded

1/2 cup chopped spinach

1 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp baking powder or 1/4 tsp baking soda mixed with 2 tsp yogurt

1tbsp flour

salt

pepper

3tbsp butter

For baking:

spraying oil

cupcake cups

1. Break 10 eggs into a bowl and whisk them
2. Add all the ingredients and make it into a loose smooth paste.

3. Add 1/4 tsp of baking soda to 2 tbsp of yogurt and mix them well with a spoon and then add it to the mix. Otherwise, if you have baking powder then mix 1/2 tsp of it directly into the mix.
4. Mix them all together very well.
5. Preheat the oven at 400 deg for abt 10 mins.
6. Line the cup cake pan with cupcake cups and spray them with a bit of oil. If cupcake pans are not available you can also make regular Quiche by pouring into a regular baking tray.
7. Scoop out the mix enough to fill 1/2 of each cup.
8. Reduce the oven heat to 300 deg and place the pan inside. Bake for about 15 mins. You will be able to see the mix rise like a cupcake.
9. Best served immediately out of the oven.

Time taken : 10 mins for prep + 15 mins bake time

My cake creations

2011-04-29T00:13:00.000-07:00

For the past 1 year I have been hooked 24X7 on Food Network..... especially Ace of Cakes, Challenge and Cake Boss on TLC. I often caught myself staring open mouth at the amazing cakes they made..... Now finally, after seeing almost a million episodes I have started turning my small kitchen into my own little Carlos Bakery / Charm City Cakes :-)

Here are my cakes :

3 layer Vanilla and Chocolate cake with chocolate whipped cream and chopped fresh strawberries filling. Covered with chocolate whipped cream frosting and marshmallows.

A wedding anniversary cake for 4 friends sharing the special occasion.

Looking at the cake I realize that my cake writing skills are really pitiable :-) hehe

Chocolate brownie cake covered with chocolate ganache.

A birthday cake for my husband.

Chimmi Chimmi - Urumi

2011-04-19T11:06:00.002-07:00

Deepak Dev has done it again and I am hooked to the song Chimmi Chimmi from Urumi.

The song is a tribute to music director M.G. Radhakrishnan. It uses the Edakka very prominently with no electronic sounds and is sung beautifully by Manjari.

chimmi chimmi minni thilangunna varoli kannanukku

poovarashu poothakanakkane anjunna chelanukku

nada nada annanada kanda theyyam mudiyadikkum

nokku..vellikinnam thullithulumbunna chelu -- 2

kolothiri vazhunna naattilu vaaliyakar enne kandu kothikkum

illathulloru angathorangerum kandu kaliyakkum

samoothiri kolothe aanungal mullapoo vasana ettu mayangum

valittenne kannezhuthikkaan varmukil odivarum

pooram podi paarittum, poorakali aadittum

nokkiyillaa nee.. enittum nee enthe... mmmmmm

chimmi chimmi...

poovambande olachu vachoru karimbu villathe padathalava

vaaleduthu veeshalle njanathu murikkum poovakkum

allimalarkulakadavilaayi aruthi penungal kandu pidikkum

nattunadappothavar nammude kettu nadappaakkum

enthellaam padiyittum mindaathe mindiyittum

mindiyillaa nee enittum nee enthe.... mmmm...

chimmi chimmi....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGtZl2sHbCc

Vishu Kani -2011

2011-04-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

My vishu kani this year :-)

Vanilla Pound cake

2011-04-03T16:46:00.001-07:00

Wet ingredients -
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
13 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

Dry ingredients -
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1. Sift all the dry ingredients well.
2. Beat all the wet ingredients together until it looks all fluffy together.
3. Beat adding the dry ingredients 1 cup at a time.
4. Preheat the oven for 10 mins at 350 deg.
5. Butter the baking pan well with butter. I used an 8x8 pan. And dust it lightly with flour.
6. Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 350 deg for 55-60 mins.

Chorakka/ louki masala curry

2011-03-30T23:00:00.001-07:00

Ingredients:
1 medium sized chorakka/ louki. (snap attached)
1 onion (savala)
1/2 a tomato
Mustard seeds to sputter
Salt to taste
3-4 curry leaves
Masala powders: ( these 3 can also be replaced with 1 tsp of chicken masala powder)
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp chilly powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1. Heat some vegetable oil and sputter the mustard seeds in it followed by the curry leaves.
2. Add the onions and saute them till they become soft.
3. Add the tomato and saute it for a min or 2 along with the onions.
4. Add the salt and curry powders. Mix well.
5. Add the chorakka which has already been chopped into very small pieces. Mix well.
6. Cover it with a lid and let it cook for about 10-15 mins or until the chorakka becomes soft.

Prep time: 2 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
Veg, Very easy

Chorakka/ louki curry

2011-03-30T22:42:00.001-07:00

Recipie courtesy my meena aunty :-)

1 medium sized chorakka/ louki. (snap attached)
4 green chillies
1/2 an onion chopped finely
1/4 tsp of Jeera
1 tsp of pure ghee not oil
Salt to taste

1. Chop the chorakka into very small pieces.
2. Heat the ghee in a pot and sputter the jeera.
3. Add the split green chillies and saute for a couple of seconds.
4. Add salt, chopped onion mix it well and cook it with the lid down for 10-15 mins until it becomes soft.
5. At the end you may add milk. ( I have not added milk)

Prep time: 2 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
Veg, Very easy

Semiya Payasam

2011-03-15T01:16:00.001-07:00

Semiya payasam

Ingredients

Milk, cashew, raisins, semiya, cardomom, sugar, ghee

1. Boil and cool milk. stir to make sure it does not birn and stick.
2. Roast cashew and raisins separately in ghee
3. Roast the semiya in ghee.
4. Add the milk to the roasted semiya. Stir it continuosly.
5. After it thickens a bit, add sugar.
6. Add nuts and raisins.
7. Add smashed cardomom.
8. If it thickens too much after cooling, add milk and reheat before serving.

Total time: 1.5hrs

Tere Mere Sapne

2011-01-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

Janutty

2010-04-12T07:23:00.002-07:00

Name : Janaki

Dob : February 18, 2010

A new year to look forward to....

2010-01-14T01:20:00.013-08:00

After a looong gap, here's saying hello to the new year, my blog and the 3 followers I have ;-) !!

I've been inexcuseably lazy and dormant for the last 6 months and by now everyone must have guessed the reason for it from the ticker that has been running on the blog. Well, it finally seems to be reaching the end; just a couple of weeks more to go! So right now I am in the middle of a whole gamut of emotions and mood swings :-P (lesser the posts the better I would say.... makes me more bearable)

Our new year started out on a cheerful note when my family was blessed with the latest addition to the madpack; My nephew Aaryajeet (born on 6th of Jan) :-)

Now that's my moosambi-kuttan a few minutes into this world!!

Wishing all a happy and safe year ahead, thats all for Jan'10 folks !!

Office Rules

2009-07-27T23:45:00.003-07:00

Got this one as a fwd and just barely managed to control myself from fwd-ing it to my boss ;-) Just seems to ring true for everybody!!! :-D

1. Never give me work in the morning. Always wait until 4:00 and then bring it to me. The challenge of a deadline is refreshing.
2. If it's really a rush job, run in and interrupt me every 10 minutes to inquire how it's going. That helps. Or even better, hover behind me, advising me at every keystroke.
3. Always leave without telling anyone where you're going. It gives me a chance to be creative when someone asks where you are.
4. If my arms are full of papers, boxes, books, or supplies, don't open the door for me. I need to learn how to function as a paraplegic and opening doors with no arms is good training in case I should ever be injured and lose all use of my limbs.
5. If you give me more than one job to do, don't tell me which is priority. I am psychic.
6. Do your best to keep me late. I adore this office and really have nowhere to go or anything to do. I have no life beyond work.
7. If a job I do pleases you, keep it a secret. If that gets out, it could mean a promotion.
8. If you don't like my work, tell everyone. I like my name to be popular in conversations. I was born to be whipped.
9. If you have special instructions for a job, don't write them down. In fact, save them until the job is almost done. No use confusing me with useful information.
10. Never introduce me to the people you're with. I have no right to know anything. In the corporate food chain, I am plankton. When you refer to them later, my shrewd deductions will identify them.
11. Be nice to me only when the job I'm doing for you could really change your life and send you straight to managers' hell.
12. Tell me all your little problems. No one else has any and it's nice to know someone is less fortunate. I especially like the story about having to pay so much taxes on the bonus check you received for being such a good manager.
13. Wait until my yearly review and THEN tell me what my goals SHOULD have been. Give me a mediocre performance rating with a cost of living increase. I'm not here for the money anyway.

Puthiya Mukham - Deepak Dev

2009-07-14T23:43:00.007-07:00

Everytime I heard a song from Chronic Bachelor or Naran or Lion, it would just go on and on and on and just plain refuse to come out from my head. The songs really had a catchy tune and I could go on humming them for days. Then the realization struck; the one thing common about them, was that they were composed by Deepak Dev. The guy could really churn out excellent tunes and all totally fresh and different from each other. Believe it or not, I was literally addicted to the crazy Kokokokozhi from Speed. (Please dont write me off yet... :-P)

Every song hes composed has turned out to be a chart-buster and now hes back with a bang after a hiatus of 2 years. The new movie is Puthiya Mukham starring Prithviraj and Meera Nandan. All the songs are good but the definite hit in the album is a romantic track and my brain is already on an infinite loop.

Puthiya Mukham
picha vecha naal muthalkku nee

ente swantham..ente swanthamaayi

asha kondu koodu kooti naam

ishtam koodi ennum ennuum-2

picha vecha naal muthalkku nee

veedorungi.. naadorungi

kalpaathi theerorungi

pongalumaayi vannu pournami..-2

kayyil kuppivalayude melam

kaalil padasarathinte thaalam

azhagaayi nee thulumbunnu

arikil hridayam kulirunnu

picha vecha..

kolamittu.. ponpulari

kodamanjin thazhvarayil

manjalayil maanju poyi naam-2

chundil chorunnu chenthamizh chind

maril cherunnu muthamizh chantham

mrudu mounam mayangunnu

amruthum thenum kalarunnu

picha vecha..-2

Catch the video here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKL7JmJM8fQ

Superfast Mango curry

2009-05-27T03:42:00.000-07:00

Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
Mango - 1
Green chilly - 3 medium size
Coconut - 1 cup grated
Curd - 1/2 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Garnishing:
Mustard
Curry Leaves
Dry red chilly
Method:
1. Put the mango pieces, salt, green chillies and coconut in the grinder and blend till smooth.
2. Add the curd and water and again blend till smooth.
3. Pour into a pan and put on a small flame. Keep stirring so that the mixture does not stick onto the pan for about 5 mins.
4. Sputter the mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves and garnish the curry.
Note:
Using green mangoes is the best and will give a spicy sour taste. Using sweet mangoes will give a sweet touch to the curry. It looks like a mango shake with mustard seeds in it but tastes quite different!! Best with rice :-)

Parippu-Cheera Curry

2009-05-13T08:42:00.006-07:00

Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
Parippu (dal) -1.5 cups
Cheera (Spinach) - 1 bunch
Coconut - 1 cup grated
Onion - 1 big chopped
Chilly powder - 1/5 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - few
Salt to taste
Method:
1. The dal has to be soaked in wtaer for abt 1 hr before using. Will help in geting cooked easily.
2. Wash and rinse the spinach leaves thoroughly and chop them into small pieces.
3. Add the spinach and dal into a pressuer cooker. Add salt and half chilly powder and turmeric powder into. Allow it to cook for 2-3 whistles.
4. By then sputter some mustard seeds in a pan. Sautee the onions till tehy become brown add the remining salt , chilly powder and turmeric powder to this.
5. Add the shredded coconut to this. Cook for 2 mins.
6. Add the cooked parippu and cheera mix to this. Mix it well with the onions and coconut.
7. Let it cook for about 2 mins and then its done! :-)

Communist America?

2009-05-08T02:10:00.007-07:00

A forward from Shyam made my day today :-D

Bet on the stand Obama is going to take ;-)

CM's wife drives into polling booth!!

2009-05-07T01:23:00.003-07:00

Today's WTF moment-
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Badals-wife-apologises-for-driving-into-polling-station/articleshow/4494829.cms

Thank you everyone!!!

2009-05-03T23:24:00.006-07:00

Just wanted to say a big thank you for voting for me in the Indus Ladies contest. I came in 6th out of 51 entries in the second round.

Results: http://www.indusladies.com/forums/blogs/phoenixritu/congratulations-top-ten-1867/

There is one more round to decide the top 3. But the top ones are really seasoned bloggers and had a margin of more than 500 votes than me in the last round :-)
The third and final round of voting is happening at this link : ‘Kunjootty’

http://indusladies.com/partners/poll1.php

Thanks a lot and do keep reading my blog and putting in your valuable comments :-)

A Day in a Mother's Life

2009-04-22T00:43:00.008-07:00

Beep! Beep! Beep! The alarm went off. I woke up quickly and turned it off.

5:30AM-

Pee time for the little one. I carefully woke up my 4-yr old son Appu and took him to the loo. Even that didnt disturb his sleep. It had by now become an automatic action. I moved my husband hands and tucked Appu back in bed with his father. Both were back to sleep hugging each other. I think they look very much like the Daddy and Baby bear in the Goldilocks storybook! Now to start with the days activities. Moving to the kitchen I thanked God and the people who invented all the modern electrical kitchen equipments and breakfast was done in a hour!! By then both Appu and his father had woken up. I gave him his bath and got him ready for school. By the time I got dressed my husband had given Appu his breakfast also.

7:45AM-

We are both IT professionals and have a really hectic schedule ahead. But we somehow just manage. After dropping off Appu at his school, it takes me an hour to reach my office. I fit in all my newspaper reading in the bus in that slot. There was afterall only 24hrs in a day and time had to be twisted and tweaked to fit in everything in between.

8:55AM-

I am finally settled down in my seat. Took a look at my familys picture which was pinned up in my cubicle. A small sigh came out of my mouth... I just wondered how my mother managed with 3 of us and a full time career. As children the only thing we missed from her was not getting a plate of hot tea-time snacks and a glass of fresh juice when we reached home from school. We never heard our mother fussing around about our food, keeping the house clean and those millions of things normal housewives always did the whole day. She just quietly managed everything perfectly and quickly so that she had plenty of time for herself despite being at office for more than 8 hours everyday. I learned the importance of being educated and having a good job from my mother. We never had any financial troubles at home beacuse of the extra income she was earning. It helped to reduce a lot of stress on my father from being the only bread earner at home. We also grew up seeing our mother take an active part all the decision making at home. My parents would always dicuss among themselves and with us about every step we took in life as a family. Having a job also kept her upto date about the world outside and her views and outlook towards everything changed and evolved as we kids grew up. We never had a problem of Generation-Gap with our mother as did quite a few of our friends. She was always there to support us and help us take decisions and advice us about our education and the paths our lives were to take.

When my marriage got fixed the only thing that gave me a bit of a commitment phobia was imagining running the whole household by myself and how I would manage it in my daily life. My mother just gave me a hug and a small tip. "Never run your family with only hardwork and become a donkey pulling a burden with no happiness. Run it smartly with your brain and heart in place and everything will be just fine."

5:00PM-

I was let off an hour earlier and dashed back home.

6:15PM-

I entered our flat. Appu would have reached back to our apartment complex at 4:00PM. He would be playing downstairs with his freinds. Our neighbour Usha was kind enough to let Appu keep his school bags at her place when he returned back from school. This was one thing I had a gulty tinge about. Does Appu miss me in those few hours? Did he want me to be there at home to give him a hug when he gets back from school? I had wanted that from my mother because thats what all my friends mothers did. I made some snacks for him and waited till he got back from playing.

6:30PM-

I took a good look at myself. I had lost a few of those piled up pounds which was good. But it was my face which looked too tired and haggard. Did marriage do that to you? Does it matter too much? The TV was blaring in the background. "Mummyyyyy" screamed the girl in the Santoor Soap Ad. And everybody in it looked amazed that a mother of a 6 year old girl could look like a beauty queen. Use the soap for the same effect the Ad said. I have been using it since my college days and now with a 4-year old son I look like a bedraggled chicken than a beauty queen. Hmppff...

Just then Appu came running... "Ammaaaa... " he was shouting... "Amma, Jojo made fun of me that I am alone. Then his mummy took him home to do homework. I have lots of time to play till you come home. So I told Jojo that my mummy is better than his mummy." Gently I chided him and smiled... well, I had got my medal and got my fears dispelled all at once!! :-) Everything was going to be just fine...

I dedicate this story to my mother, who taught me the secrets of how to do the balancing act with my life!! Happy Mother's Day Amma!!

And to everyone reading this please leave comments and pls vote for me on the Indus-ladies blog competition!! :-) thanks in advance!!

Make-A-Difference

2009-04-16T23:02:00.002-07:00

http://makeadiff.in/

Well, thats what the group set out to do and thats just what they did for a whole bunch of kids. They just went out and made a whole world of difference in their lives!! We have a an abundance of people who think about doing things and want to do things to help others. But here is a group who actually went out and did something; and we all better join in and be mighty proud of them!

Please spread the word about this wonderful group and their initiative!!

They are going to conduct a recruitment drive on the 25th and 26th of April. Those intersted please join in.
http://makeadiff.in/blog/2009/04/09/the-make-a-difference-recruitment-drive-april-09/comment-page-1/#comment-1205

Dance of Democracy!!

2009-04-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

'Dance of Democracy' surely is a catchy punch line to describe the Genaral Elections of the world's largest democratic country!! (TOI)

And today starts the First Phase (April 16th) of the grand competition!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_general_election,_2009

Vishu

2009-04-13T23:15:00.000-07:00

The Vishukani I prepared last year! :-)

Wishing everyone a Happy Vishu

and a prosperous new year ahead!!

Follow the elections with Google

2009-04-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

Now that is one revolutionary effort on behalf of Google for the upcoming Indian Elections.
http://www.google.co.in/intl/en/landing/loksabha2009/

A small step for Google and a giant leap for India in the direction of e-Elections.

Sock and Awe 3 !!

2009-04-07T01:50:00.001-07:00

After American President George W. Bush and the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, its our Home Minster Chidambaram's turn now.
http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/1316-0.html#view_start

The trend seems to have really caught on.... Wonder which brand of shoe it was. Will there be another Sock and Awe game released with Chidambaram in it?

2 Harihar Nagar - 2 thumbs up :-D

2009-04-05T06:30:00.001-07:00

"Ee kalyanam kudumbam ennokke parayunnathu oru sambhavan thannee aanu alleda? Avaleyum kuttikaleyum kaanaathe ithrayum divsam ..........................
............................................................................hoo enthoru ashwasam"

:-D Well, that's Appukuttan's take on the few days he got away from his family. And so on goes the other gems in this well written second take on the 4 rascals of Harihar Nagar. In the season of remakes in malayalam, the latest one to hit the bandstand is '2 Harihar Nagar'. The original was a total out and out riot and even now 19 years later our stomachs continue to pain from laughing out loud watching or even remembering those scenes.

The movie starts with a small backstory of when the friends first ganged up as school kids, following with small snatches from the original as we go thru the opening credits. Then starts the roller-coaster of the new take of things at Harihar Nagar, 15 years from where they left it. The main characters are just like how we would have imagined them being middle aged. All older and settled into lives with jobs, wives and kids but still the basic dimwit-cassanova streak doesn't dissapear. They have reunited now to celebrate the betrothal and marriage of Thomaskutty and they run into another Maya and so goes the ride.

The director doesnt resort to any flashiness, superhuman or techno stuff and just keeps alive the charm of the original by being believeable with some great twists; which something many directors have failed to do with sequels. The only thing that could have improved is the music. They have just remixed the old songs.

Have to say the movie is a perfect successor and will easily run for a 100 days and be the first smash hit of 2009. Lal proves a point or two with his first directorial outing after the split from Siddique. For those who missed the trailer :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFg4OhM0moU

Jolie again....

2009-04-05T05:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a bit about the new hobby I mentioned in a previous post.
http://sify.com/movies/hollywood/fullstory.php?id=14878205&cid=2360

Too tired about 3 tiers!!

2009-04-02T23:46:00.001-07:00

One of the most touturous things to ever happen in Indian Railways recently is the introduction of extra side berths. ie, previously each coupee area had six berths and 2 side berths (total 8 people). Some smart alec devised a plan to increase the number of people travelling in each bogey thereby increasing the revenue. He decided to introduce a third berth on the side; obviously he was not one who travelled much by train I assume.

The idea was put into effect from Jnauary and the extra seats were installed in a lot of trains. But the way they reorganized the numbering of the seats in the train was done in the most slip-shoddy manner. Usually numbers are put in 3 places:

a) on the side walls of the coupee indicating the sleeping berths ie. upper, middle and lower

b) same way on walls of the side berths also indicating the sleeping berths ie, upper and lower

c) just above the lowered seats indicating the order in which the people can sit.

After the 3rd side berth had been fixed in the trains, all the above 3 seat numberings were done in 3 different ways. Example a person having seat number 44 had no.44 written in marker ink in 3 totally different places. Added to this, the seat allocation in the tickets also became a big mess as the manual system of ticket booking did not match with the electronic system (tickets booked through IRCTC websites). Many seat numbers were duplicated!!!

This created a lot of confusion and havoc among the travellers and during those couple of days and even the TTC was also missing!!! (fearing for his life maybe) which just had the travellers settling in different places wherever the fellow passengers allowed. I had reason to travel a couple of times in January and it was well after midnight when finally everyone sorted out their differences and went to sleep.

Another issue which came up due to this new system was that it brought about extreme discomfort for the passesngers getting the side berths. The person on the top had to lie almost sqashed near the roof of the coach and the side seats were very uncomfortable for people who were taller than 5'9ft. Only children could be expected to lie comfortably in the side upper berths.

All these problems resulted in the entire idea being valued as a too chaotic and futile and the Railway department decided to revert back to the old system. They just simply decided not to use the middle berths. Doing that will avoid the problem of confusion but still it wont solve the problem of the stifling side upper berth. Now every TTC who comes gives the passengers a different order to sit and to avoid any more confusion the people dont stand to fight with each other. They just shift places.

The problem persisted for a couple of more weeks and by now everyone has got used to being back to the old system. But now there is a convenience for any extra people travelling in the train like RAC. They can just snuggle in one of the extra middle berths. :-)

http://www.keralatips.org/2008/08/07/indian-railways-to-offer-more-torture-adds-extra-berth/

(Here is a person who is facing the same ongoing ruckus as myself every time he travels. I have taken the photograph of the berth from this blog.)

http://www.enidhi.net/2007/12/indian-railway-goes-crazy-adds-extra.html

(A very detailed article)

http://indianrailways.informe.com/forum/retro-fitting-of-side-middle-berths-in-sl-and-3-ac-coaches-dt181.html

(The official indian railways forum with passengers baying for the blood of railway personnel!!)

I'll have a brown one now!!

2009-04-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

Stamp and coin collecting are among the most popular of hobbies. Now Angelina Jolie seems to be a pioneer of a new kind of hobby, Kid-Collecting. Whenever she is in a good mood and bored with the PR work of her movies just hop over to a third world country and collect a kid from there!! so simple and easy!! Give them some really complicated names and then drag them along to all places where there might be papparazzi and get some colourful snaps.

A question which haunts me: Aren't there any orphans in the US and UK? Well, madamme... kids are always kids especailly orphaned ones. To give them a life its not necessary that they have to be from poor countries if your intentions are good. It would save you so much legal hassles also if you save kids from your own coutry. But then it would not have much news value right? Or is the real reason behind all these multi-racial adoptions to show off your skin tone in comparison to yellow and black?? coloured kids as arm-candy??

According to paparazzi, a houseful of kids is slowly driving cracks inbetween Brangelina and Brad was caught giving the nanny a massage!! :-D and now they are planning to adopt an Indian kid. Maybe Slumdog Millionaire was an inspiration for the latest choice?? Or maybe Angelina just noticed that she has white, black and yellow kids. 'I'll have a brown one now!!!'

Brangelina's brood
Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt - Cambodia
Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt - Ethiopia
Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt - Biological daughter
Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt - Vietnam
Knox Léon Jolie-Pitt - Biological son
Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt - Biological daughter

But anyways, I am not bitching too much because third world or not you are taking care of a few kids, so thats does definitely make a difference!!

Fooled?

2009-04-01T22:27:00.002-07:00

Did you know that - April 1 used to be counted as the first day of the year in France. When King Charles IX changed that to January 1, some people stayed with April 1. Those who did so were called "April Fools" and were taunted by their neighbors.

Google emits CO2 !!!

2009-03-30T23:49:00.001-07:00

Dont know how much of this is true, but it seemed an interesting piece of information:

According to researchers from the United States, performing two searches on number one search engine, Google, can produce the same mount of CO2 as boiling a kettle. They found that one search generates around 7 grams of CarbonDioxide, while boiling a kettle produces about 15 grams.

When a search is made, several Google servers that can be located miles apart, compete to return the search results in the quickest time. "Their primary concern is to make searches fast and that means they have a lot of extra capacity that burns energy," says Alex Wissner-Gross, a physicist from Harvard University, adding that the accuracy and the speed of Google are those that produce a large amount of CO2 due to the energy and electricity used to bring the results.
The California-based company owns around 450,000 servers worldwide, these processing the demand of over 200 million daily search inquiries. The infrastructure of Google transmits information from the server that produces the search result quicker.

Alex Wissner-Gross made a research on Google's influence on the environment. "Google operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power," he says. According to the physicist, the data centers are very efficient; however, their main goal is to perform quick searches, which leads to the use of a lot of energy. According to Google officials, the company tries to take effective steps towards lowering the emission of carbon dioxide. Nonetheless Google has never presented any information on energy it spends or CO2 the company emits. "We are among the most efficient of all internet search providers," said a spokesman for the company.

Another analysis was carried out by John Buckley, working on the website called carbonfootprint.com, a British environmental site. It states that the emissions of carbon dioxide produced by one search ranges between 1g and 10g. It is the first time that scientists show the impact of computers and Internet use on the environment. The data presented by Garnet, a US research company, the use of IT worldwide today causes around 2 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. The emissions of CO2, produced by computer use today, outrun that of aviation industry. It is worth mentioning that last year the profits of number one search engine rose to about $6 billion, making Google one of the most popular brands in the world.

Sagar Alias Jacky- NOT reloaded

2009-03-30T04:49:00.001-07:00

Note: Contains Spoilers. This is not a movie review. Just my take on it.
After seeing the movie Irupatham Noottandu again recently on cable, I was quite impressed with the effect it had on me even 22 years after its release and had me looking forward to Sagar Alias Jacky - Reloaded the much hyped sequel to it.

SAJ-reloaded, as the title goes, is quite a pity of a movie as the director has not undrestood even the one basic thing about protoganist. Sagar is a well known gold-smuggler, who is also known as Jacky in the shady circles. Therefore Sagar alias Jacky. Note: alias is not his middle name or initial, 'alias' is a word which means "other name or assumed name' :-P So the first choice of title 'Irupathonnam Noottandu' was definitely better than this mistake of a mouthful.

Bullet points to be noted:
- The movie is not a sequel. The only thing common with the first movie is that it has Jagathy in the same useless telugu speaking role, which could have been avoided even in the first movie and absolutely done without in this one. He's not even remotely funny in this one.
- The only stunt in this 'action' packed thriller is a scene in which Bhavana jumps down a storey from her home. Mohanlal doesn't have to even flex his flubby cheeks; even for a smile.
- The camerawork is pretty slick and stylish even for Indian movie standards and the whole movie is in shades of black, grey and sepia just like Big B.

- Only one decent song in it. Well picturised but Lal and Bhavana do make a pretty mismatched couple.

- Hero does an occassional diamond smuggling but main job is to give people promises like "I will save your Husband" or "I will save your Brother" and just walk over and untie those people.

- Lal never ever needs to wear a bullet proof jacket or anything he just walks straight into a shower of machine gun bullets and they all just bounce off his big tummy.

My tips to the main actors:

@Mohanlal: Walking so much in real life might just help you to shed those 8(family)packs (sorry my mistake! not 8 but just one giant bean bag size stomach) and black is definitely not a slimming colour for you!!!
@Sobhana: I dont know how u manage it so well in your dance recitals; but definitely you have lost the magic touch of acting. And I dont think more makeup will also help in covering up the hag look!! (sob! sob! this is coming from one true fan of yours!!)
@Bhavana: Keep it up girly.... you look good enough to eat!! hehe but pls pls pls stick to ppl in your age group not the grand-daddies! you surely have a long way to go :-)
@Manoj K Jayan : Dont you ever get bored of yourself? Well doing the same heros-best-friend-turned-sneak routine over and again will definitely take its toll on the audience. Better try and change course.
@Jyothimayee: Well you have almost succeeded in doing a Nayantara. But next time please make sure you get a good song to back it up with instead of just a string of sounds.

@Amal Neerad : You really are a master cameraman. But you have to understand that movie making and arranging walkathons are 2 things absolutely different! Pls do not try to mix them up!! Dont even think of re-hashing scenes from Big B for your next movie and maybe you can try out a different set of supporting cast also. Also next time please try not to make kochi based anglo-indians the villains!!

This one scene from Irupatham Noottandu is enough to show the character's slickness. Not exactly a Don type scene but still one of my fav : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSVeDVLjL6A

Bolly-Rule!!

2009-03-26T01:08:00.001-07:00

Are we being ruled or rather stalked by Bollywood?
Lets just take a moment to think about and count the number of times we encounter movie industry people in our daily lives. The answer is innumerable. We have scores of advertisements in front of our eyes wherever we look at; television, posters on walls, ad's on buses, newspapers, magazins, websites, on food packets, juice packets, or any damn item we purchase with money!!! They have even become a necessity element in politics, with half of bollywood contesting for the upcoming elections! In present day India, every single occassion or event has to have a bollywood star in it. It has just become an unavoidable factor!! Isn't there a single field where movies and movie stars are not involved in India??

After movie stars the people who hound us most are the cricket stars, the only rare examples of people not belonging to these 2 categories are maybe the likes of Sania Mirza.
Doesn't India ever get tired of seeing them everywhere? Is there anybody out there who hopes for a change??
And now I have Aamir Khan even telling me to switch off the lights at my home!!! :-P

Evolving e-Governance in India

2009-03-25T03:09:00.000-07:00

The power of the net and its hold over the youth of today has made every political party sit-up, take notice, and refresh their websites!! There are facebook groups, orkut communities, fan followings etc all over the place. Has india reached a stage where it is ready to finally acknowledge that the internet has become an integral part of our lives? The government certainly seems to have realised it. Now with the election process coming to a fever pitch my inbox is getting flooded with all sorts of emails about political parties and their candidates and about groups that have now woken up at this last moment to create awareness and fight against certain issues prevalent in politics today.

The present government seems to have taken pains in creating a number of websites. But they have hardly bothered to give them any publicity or advertisment. So they remain less known and hardly used. I hope they are not classifed Top Secret!!

Here just three very small ones:
http://pgportal.gov.in/ (Online Greivance Portal)
http://smartweb.keralamvd.gov.in/kmvdnew/services/registration/Dereg_details.php (Kerala RTO)
http://125.17.140.50/BPSFineDetails/BPSFineDetails.aspx (Bangalore RTO)

The Kerala government has a very good and comprehensive website http://www.kerala.gov.in/ they even have a section called 'Mail to Minister" :-P hmmppff... if u threaten to drop dead in front of them they wouldn't listen to your pleas against an issue; so the very thought that pains would be taken to redress an issue after reading emails seems extremely funny.

Thrissur district has 2 official websites!! One maintained by the Kerala Government and one by the Central Government!! and both seem to be equally futile :-P anyway they are not used much by anyone.. so then whats the big deal ... right??

http://www.tsr.kerala.gov.in/ & http://thrissur.nic.in/

Will there ever be a time when we will never even have to step out of our homes to get government stuff done??

My personal Favorite website is http://www.irctc.co.in/ It has really truly revolutionized our ticket booking process. Hoping other websites will have achieve almost same or even wider reach than it.

PS: Praying that Jaagore reaches their target of a billion votes!! :-)

Now thats Customer Service!!

2009-03-23T04:30:00.002-07:00

A person in Mumbai came across a pretty unique autoricshaw and I got these snaps and descriptions as a forward. So dont know who the lucky customer was!! :-)

Take a look at pic 1- which has got a first aid box on the left and a newspaper box on right (which had all hindi-english-marathi-gujrati and economic times)

Take a look at pic 2- which has got a tv on the top with cable (I was watching colors channel) and below that is the tissue box. On the left is the mandir type stuff and dont miss the "Only gandhigiri" written there, below that is the calendar and a notepad and pen along with a blue fan (which is blowing towards the customer who sits)

Take a look at pic 3- 25% discount for handicap!! Who on this earth can expect somethin like this from an rickshawala yaar!! I spoke to that person and found him so much interesting and creative. He was telling some new stuff he is gonna do more for the customers to be happy.

Well guys, I proclaim that this guy is Bapuji incarnate!! If you ever see a lady lying down in 'shastangam' pose in front of an auto-wallah, u can bet its this guy who might have moved to Bangalore and me in front of him!!! :-)

Going Potty

2009-03-22T05:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend I tried my hand at pottery...... I mean real pot-making.. Thats me below making a small clay pot from wet clay on a potter's wheel.

It seems to be coming out ok.

Oopss... it came off onto my fingers... :-P

Fingering the sticky stuff......

Somehow I managed to repair it and get back to the wheel rotating part...

Ok I admit its not an absolute masterpiece to look at. But for a first timer its not at all too bad I think :->

e-Pope

2009-03-18T02:22:00.001-07:00

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/12/holocaust.bishop.pope.benedict/index.html
Good now that The Pope has woken up and discovered that there is something called Google apart from the Vatican and Catholic Church websites!! Let's all pray that he discovers Blogger atleast in the next decade!!

And btw some one please tell The Pope that condoms were invented much after the Bible was published and so he cannot possibly quote traditional catholic teaching against its usage!!!
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/17/cameroon.pope/

Kannada - Murugan Kattakada

2009-03-17T23:08:00.002-07:00

This is a poem by Murugan Kattakada which I came across recently.
Simple yet hard hitting language used.
Very much in tune with the sad financial situation faced by many in Kerala today.

ellavarkkum thimiram.. nammalkellavarkkum thimiram
mangiya kazhchakal kandu maduthu..
kannadakal venam.. kannadakal venam..

ellavarkkum thimiram.. nammalkellavarkkum thimiram
mangiya kazhchakal kandu maduthu..
kannadakal venam.. kannadakal venam..

raktham chithariya chuvarukal kaanaam
azhinja kola koppukal kaanam
raktham chithariya chuvarukal kaanaam
azhinja kola koppukal kaanam
kathikal vellidivettum naadham
chilukal udanju chitharum naadham
panni vedi puka ponthum
theruvilpathi kalvira kolvathu kaanaam
ozhinja koorayil olinjirikkumkurunnu
bheethi kannukal kaanaam
mangiya kazhchakal kandu maduthu..
kannadakal venam.. kannadakal venam..

smarana kudeerangal perukumbol
puthran beli vazhiyee pokumbol
mathru vilapa tharattil
mizhi pootti mayangum balyam
kannil perumazhayayi peythozhivathu kaanaam
smarana kudeerangal perukumbol
puthran beli vazhiyee pokumbol
mathru vilapa tharattil
mizhi pootti mayangum balyam
kannil perumazhayayi peythozhivathu kaanaam
mangiya kazhchakal kandu maduthu..
kannadakal venam.. kannadakal venam..

pottiya thali charadukal kaanaam
potta madhya kuppikal kaanaam
pottiya thali charadukal kaanaam
potta madhya kuppikal kaanaam
palisha pattini padi kerumbol
purakile maavil kayarukal kaanaam

pottiya thali charadukal kaanaam
potta madhya kuppikal kaanaam
pottiya thali charadukal kaanaam
potta madhya kuppikal kaanaam
palisha pattini padi kerumbol
purakile maavil kayarukal kaanaam
tharayil oru ilayil oralpam chorayil
koonan urumbin thedal kaanaam
tharayil oru ilayil oralpam chorayil
koonan urumbin thedal kaanaam
mangiya kazhchakal kandu maduthu..
kannadakal venam.. kannadakal venam..

pinchu madikoothambathu per
chernniruvathu velli kashu koduthu
thozhuthu marikkum kazhchakal kaanaam
pinchu madikoothambathu per
chernniruvathu velli kashu koduthu
thozhuthu marikkum kazhchakal kaanaam
theruvil swapnam karinju mukhavum
neetiya pinchu karangal kaanaam
arikil sheema kaarin ullil
sukha sheethala mridu maarin chooril
oru shwaanan pal nunavathu kaanaam
mangiya kazhchakal kandu maduthu..
kannadakal venam.. kannadakal venam..

thinnayil ambathu kaashin pension
thendi oraayiram aale kaanaam
thinnayil ambathu kaashin pension
thendi oraayiram aale kaanaam
podi paarum cheru car-il oraal
parivaarangalumaayi paayvathu kaanaam
mangiya kazhchakal kandu maduthu..

kannadakal venam.. kannadakal venam..

kili naadham gatha kaalam
kanavil nunayum motta kunnukal kaanaam
kili naadham gatha kaalam
kanavil nunayum motta kunnukal kaanaam
kuthi paayaan mohikkum puzha
vatti varandu kidapathu kaanaam
puzha vatti varandu kidapathu kaanaam
vilayilla thavala paadilla
koottan kuzhikal kuppatharakal
mangiya kazhchakal kandu maduthu..
kannadakal venam.. kannadakal venam..

oraal orikkal kannada vachu
kalleri kurishettam
vere oraal orikkal kannada vachu
chekidadi vediyunda
oraal orikkal kannada vachu
kalleri kurishettam
vere oraal orikkal kannada vachu
chekidadi vediyunda
kothiyudakkuka thimira kazhchakal
spadika saritham pole sukrutham
kadu karichu marinju ozhukunnoru
maveli thara kaanum naam
kothiyudakkuka kazhchakal
idayan mutti vilikkum.. kaalam kaakkuka

ellavarkkum thimiram.. nammalkellavarkkum thimiram
ellavarkkum thimiram.. nammalkellavarkkum thimiram
mangiya kazhchakal kandu maduthu..
kannadakal venam.. kannadakal venam..
mangiya kazhchakal kandu maduthu..
kannadakal venam.. kannadakal venam..

The recitation of the poem can be downloaded at this link :
http://www.4shared.com/account/file/93533316/88bbed63/Kannada-MuruganKattakada.html

PS: Sorry for the poem in manglish. Haven't yet mastered typing in malayalam.

Some stripes and a triangle

2009-03-16T23:28:00.001-07:00

When I mention to people in Kerala that I work at ACS, usually I dont get much of a reaction other than maybe a weird glance. "Just some obscure company with a handful of employees" is inner lying meaning of that glance. Only this "obscure" company is one with more than 6.4 billion $ in turnover and offices in more than a 100 countries!! ....like as if anyone wanted to hear those stats... right??

Maybe once in a while I get to meet someone who has heard of a few companies 'famous' in India, so then usual the weird glance will be replaced witha few questions like;
"TCS?"
"No, no ACS"
"Ookkaaayyy... Why didnt you try in Infosys or Wipro or TCS and all? didnt have marks?"
"no... i got here so then i didnt try anywhere else....."
"see what lazy kids will have to settle for if you dont study hard or dont try hard to get into the 'good' companies...blah blah blah blah" :-P

But my colleague recently finally met someone who had atleast seen a couple of ACS cabs zipping through Kochi. He was almost ecstatic at atleast that and then followed a question:
"Isn't ACS something of Asianet??" ....(rofl) he literelly gagged at the suggession!!!
Aww... come on now...I don't even want to think he had a valid point....

Earth... get ready with EXOSQUAD!!

2009-03-16T22:27:00.002-07:00

Being aired every thursday afternoon at 2pm on CH33, EXO-SQUAD was one cartoon which I never ever missed!! It was not at all a girly cartoon and the last one that a person would associate with as girls favourite. But it certainly was mine :-)

The main context was about a major war being fought out between the Homosapiens (humans) and the Neosapiens (living beings created by humans). Humans had gone far enough to create a entire species of 'almost' human beings (only they had blue skin) and how they turned out to be better than humans in every aspect. They even had a bit of guts and a mind of their own to decide that enough was enough about being enslaved by the human race. They then took it upon themselves to exterminate the whole of the human race!! The destiny of the human world was now in the hands of their ultra spcialised human soldiers with robotic suits to fight against them.

Ok, I admit it was only a cartoon and I was only in middle school at that time but still it kept me thinking abt a whole lot things whenever I heard about some new robot which could do things in an almost human manner. And today I read a piece of news which confirmed to me that my fears were not just that and maybe the EXOSQUAD is something which we humans may end up needing pretty much!!

http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/522248/FeaturedArticles/14/54/14
Well scientists, it certainly is fun to create things. But just make sure they dont end up controlling you instead!! And I certainly hope we have a bunch of soldiers with robotic suits ready at hand!!!

PS: EXOSQUAD was a very well planned animated series. Well received by both viewers and critics.Had a very strong storylline and was not dragged beyond 2 seasons.Those of you who missed it... catch all the episodes of the EXOSQUAD on youtube!!

Liquor saves the day!! Now becomes 'Gandhi-Red'.

2009-03-06T03:11:00.001-08:00

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Well, the government didnt do anything and Mallya showed us what he was capable of doing, and now that has solved the problem of who would end up owning Gandhiji's long lost articles!!!

Now Mallya owns a part of the Mahatma; or rather thats what he wanted to do. As he doesnt have a chance to do the former, he settled to buy/ grab what he could afford to at a given moment. He has declared he wants to donate it to the Indian Government and is right now looking very smug in between all the hype and hoopla.

Maybe he wants to stick Red Kingfisher tags onto the specs.

Maybe insert special soft red colour leather wrap for it in the specs-case.

Or maybe the government offered him a special advertising space for UB group in and around the museum where the items would be kept for display in the future.

Anyway, the good news is that Gandhijis memorabilia has been bought with liquor-money, the one thing he was always opposed to second only to his abbhorance for Violence, and the government is patting itself for the 'efforts' put in.

Oh!! How far Gandhijis 'Bharat' has moved away from his ideals and dreams!!

Only Ashes at Sea

2009-03-04T22:17:00.002-08:00

The sad news reached me on wednesday afternoon and I somehow managed to reach home that night itself. There in the drawing room was a huge ice box coffin. My grandfather. My dear old Achacha, who could not bear even the slightest of cold temperatures, now waiting for hours in an ice box for all his children and grandchildern to come from different parts of the world; an irony... for him the last years of his life was just that..... a big situational irony...

I didnt feel sad when I looked at his face, I saw a small smile lingering at his lips. He seemed so much at peace; like he was ready for it and was not sad about anything he left behind.

The time had come to pay our last respects to him and we all bowed to touch his feet. All of us; children, grand-children, everyone who knew him. When my turn came I saw his toenails, I had promised to cut them for him the next I visited him but not like this. I gave him a kiss after that on his head; his full head of bright white hair not single black spec anywhere. I wanted to comb it for him. I wanted to hug my acahcha but it didnt feel like him anymore, I just gave him a small peck on his cheek. The cold stiff cheek that seemed to have now replaced the soft warm 91-yr old loose skin on his face. Only at the time when the Pujari came to do his last rites and packed his body in a white cloth did I feel a kind of suffocation, the tears which just did not want to come out. The cries that got stuck in my throat. The welling in my heart. And then finally we could not see him anymore when the flames slowly started to lick his body packed in a white cloth.

Now standing here looking at his ashes, the only worldly remains of a person who lived for so long on Earth; again I am not feeling very sad. He lived his life as a strict and orderly army man but when old age caught upto him those were just the things that he could never manage to bring about in his house. He was not a forceful character; but one that you grew to love more and more over the years and just never forgot. Inspite of his sarcastic sense of humour, fetish for cleanliness and distinct way of dismissing everything he did not like, he was an easily lovable man.

I opened his telephone book to dial a few relatives to convey the sad news. Long back, he had a beautiful even handwriting, which I had seen once in some old letters he had written to my mother. Later on he took to typewriting, only to return back to handwriting when he was unable to sit straight for too long in front of the machine. But by then his alphabets had been reduced to just a few wobbly letters confined only within the telephone book. Every time I flipped through the book I used to think about the beutiful even hand in those old letters, as compared to the scrawls I saw here.

As I woke up next morning, I lay in bed thinking about the silence that surrounded me. One of the habits which he maintained upto his dying day, was listening to the All India Radio(AIR) English news at 5am every single day of his life!! The fact that for the last 5 years he has been hard of hearing has never deterred him or made him change that habit, one that never failed to get really irritated faces from his sleepy headed grandchildren who were used to getting up "early" in the morn at around 10am :-D Maybe he just wanted to hear the crackling noises, or maybe he just wanted to start the day on a note of optimism thanking the people in heaven that his day wasnt filled with war, misery, poverty, and blackmail. Everyone was taking bath and getting ready for the "beli puja" (puja to give offerings for the dead persons soul).

Today, was the Asthi-Sanjayanam (scattering of ashes). Even the last few molecules of proof of a 91-year long life were also to be scattered in the sea. After that was the last feast, given in rememberence of the man who passed away. The people who came to share in our grief was served breakfast; just a typical kerala breakfast. A craving for Chinese food was my grandfathers one major weakness; but had to adjust to eating my granny's typical kerala cuisine. It was nothing short of being mouth-watering but he just never developed a relishing taste for it. Would he have preffered to have a plate of mixed fried rice and chicken 65 in place of the Dosa which was being served now? A puzzling thought to have passed my mind at a time like this.

Looking back at the house now, i can see the empty leanback chair (charu kasera) on the front sitout without my snoring Achachan on it. I am not mourning for him, as he will always be there alive and well in my heart always... goodbye Achacha. I will cut your toenails for you in heaven someday! Promise!

Now I'm on the way back to Bangalore. Back to my regular "BUSSYY" lifestyle. Only to end up as ashes scattered away at sea and maybe have my granchildren blog abt it someday!!!

http://www.earnparttimejobs.com/index.php?id=115299

2009-02-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

Well thats new site i came across.. just thought will give it a go. :-)
http://www.earnparttimejobs.com/index.php?id=115299
Dont know how far it works... but when u have idle time to spare anyone will be willing to try out something like this!!! Nothing to lose, only gain if it works out :-)
All the best to myself and anyone who clicks on this link!! hope it just doenst turn out to be 'another' a pyramid refferal scheme :-P

Phone-a-loo-loo

2009-02-05T04:19:00.001-08:00

In school a couple of my classmates used to take a method called Loo-ing- A variation of copying. The textbooks/notebooks were kept in the school loos instead of keeping tiny chits hidden all over the pace or risking keeping the book under the desk. Once the question paper has been distributed the student would then ask for a loo-break. Take a peek at all the important points and rush back to jot down everything before it is forgotten all over again. Consequently, an upset stomach is not a rare scene in an exam hall :-D

It seems the Election Commissioner Navin Chawla was also a good hand at Loo-ing at school and maybe college also. But hes special as he managed to perfect the art to be applied into his profession also!!!
http://www.rediff.com/news/2009/feb/02chawlas-loo-breaks-led-to-congress-phone-calls-cec.htm
This article would bring a smile to anyones face :-) Maybe the Congress leadership can build a new educative loo in their head quarters to further the art and training important people to specialize in it!!

Mammootty's blog

2009-01-13T22:01:00.001-08:00

Celebs in Kearala are yet to discover the joys of the phenomenon called blogging. But slowly coming into the spot light... heres the first major malayalee actor to have his own blog.
Mammootty - http://i-am-mammootty.blogspot.com/

Tthe blog layout is neat but both of the postings he has done has nothing to do with the glittery world of celebrity or reel life. Instead he takes this opportunity to air his views and understanding of the 'economic recession' and 'right to vote'; but then that is just what he states in the introduction.

But thinking on another note, every news website, political blog, newspaper and magazine is doing just that. One doesnt need to read even more insights into that from the big stars also. I think he would do better to give his fans a following of his life as a 'star' or maybe a few interesting incidents? Anyway we dont have much 'paparazzi' for him to complain of :-> Mammootty anyway doesnt need a blog to tell his fans that he is Left-oriented. His first post got about 800+ comments out of abt 33000 views .... hmm... not at all bad for a first post. But can do better for a star of his magnitude :->

When going through the comments i saw another celeb blogger. But a hardly known one.. maybe he can borrow a few advertising tricks from his guru.
Heres Rahmans blog : http://actor-rahman.blogspot.com/
Hes put in a few posts about his interactions with famous co-stars and directors.

Lets watch out for the next person to jump onto the blogging bandwagon... Mohanlal???? u out there???? :->

Crazy Gopalan

2009-01-12T23:30:00.002-08:00

The first malayalam movie i got to see in 2009! Crazy Gopalan.... A movie that can be neatly classified among the likes of older Dileep no-brainers like CID Moosa, Parakkum Thalika. If you are not a fan of those types then u can stop reading this review right now and give this movie a miss!!

Story is a bit difficult to put into a review as it starts on one note and ends on a totally unrelated climax. Gopalan (Dileep) is a medium-time crook in a tiny village called Oonjalaadi. Cant describe him as a small time crook as he steals much bigger articles like door frames and cycles than small items like wallets. The villagers hatch a plan to catch him but they do not succeed. This gives Gopalan a fright and he shifts base to Ernakulam town and meets up with Salim Kumar another crook. They are then caught up in a big bank robbery plan and end up becoming the accused!!! How they try to get out and how Dileep takes revenge forms rest of the story. Why the story should start in a village and then shift base to the city is something which baffled me. He could just have been made out to be the same crook in the city also. The movie was initially named as 'Run Gopala Run' which would have been more apt than the final Crazy title because he just doesnt do anything crazy all throughout. :-P

The heroine Radha Varma is an absolute waste as she cannot even smile properly forget mouthing the dialogues!!! and she just ends up looking like a way-side pick up instead of the millionairess shes made out to be. Manoj K Jayan is the same ditto stereptype villain he is as in every movie and has just sleep-walked through this role. Same with Jagathy. The saving grace of the movie is Salim Kumar who is a riot in every scene he appears. :-)

Dileep tried really hard in movies like The Don and July 4th (both which sank without a trace) to change his image from slapstick hero to larger than life hero like Mohanlal and Mamootty. But i think he has now finally figured out hes not of the same material and has gone back to his roots albeit with some small action scenes in place. The director has managed to fit in a couple of neatly choreographed stunt sequences which do not (for once) look funny but on the other hand we can clearly see he has put in some work against his flabs and it shows also. Well, good for him!!

Crazy Gopalan is not hit material but it might turn out to be an average collector and rake in the money spent. A movie you can afford to watch when your train has been delayed by 5 hrs!! (so now you also know the reason behind me sitting through the entire movie)
Rating : 2 stars.

2009- The year i will not sit idle!!

2009-01-01T22:15:00.000-08:00

Well here comes my (usually-forgotten-in-a-blink) list of to-do's for the spanking new year:

Join in a lending library and brush up the cobwebs which have settled on my reading habit.
Lose atleast 10 kgs. Well i had termed that as high priority even in last year's list. Maybe for starters this year i'll atleast swipe away the layer of cobwebs and dust that has settled on the cross trainer at home. (now that is an improvement!)
Keep track of all expenses at home. Maybe it'll help me figure out where all the money goes by the month end.
Do a bit more of complex cooking. I almost always stick to the basic 'thorans' and 'upperis'. Adding a sub point here: Have to learn how to clean a fish (i suffer from fishophobia when about to clean it but surprisingly never when eating it!!)
Control my temper better and check my tongue more. I really can be nasty when i am mad at someone.
Learn to love my job and accept the fact that hikes, bonuses and promotions are non-existent entities like Santa Claus and the Toothfairy. In times of layoffs and depromotions i am pretty happy to have a job to grumble about.

Sheewww.... thats not too bad. Lets see how things go on and i promise (really truly.... finger crossed) to never make a list of resolutions if i cant keep atleast half of them.

A New Year Prayer

2008-12-30T22:27:00.000-08:00

"So what are you upto on new years eve?"

This is the question I have been asked countless number of times in the past couple of days. 'Nothing' I reply back and the questioner seems surprised by the answer. Why, is it necessary to go party hopping on new years eve? Cant one just sit at home and be happy watching the new year special programs on the cable; maybe order a take-out and a movie to go with it?

Well, thats just what I have been quite happily doing every new years eve I remember. It was one of those things my dad stuck to over the years and even now we all follow the same routine. He is always content to watch his family together in one place and all in one piece, safe and sound and say a silent prayer that it remains so for the entire year and every year to follow. Anyways, I never felt I was missing out anything as the enitire year is filled with festivals and occassions to party and make merry about.
So thats hows I'm starting my new year :-) !! On a peaceful note, with a small request to God to keep everyone healthy and hearty all year throughout and make the world a nice place to live in.

May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,
But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,
But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,
and by making you anxious to be there to help.
God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Bye-Bye-Bush

2008-12-21T23:10:00.001-08:00

As the controversial pair of shoes continue to make it to headlines all over the world, here's another piece of news :-) a person who's happy about the incident for a totally different reason!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/22/turkey-george-bush-shoe

Sock and Awe

2008-12-18T23:33:00.002-08:00

George Bush got aimed at with a shoe only 2 days back and theres a computer game of the same doing its rounds in the web :-) Now you dont have to be Muntadar al-Zaidi to aim a shoe at Bush and the best part is the game helps you to take a better aim at him than the Iraqi Journalist. You just cant miss :-)
Her's what yahoo has to say about the game not the incident!!http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/-quot-sock-and-awe-quot-pits-players-against-president/1274922
You can download the Excel version of Sock and Awe which i got as a fwd from the below link :
http://www.4shared.com/file/76664810/f99c5f45/Shoe_Game.html

Acess the web through notepad!!v

2008-11-28T02:08:00.000-08:00

A neat little trick that i came across while google-ing: for all thsoe with IE's blocked at school or at work and cannot open up the IE window.
1) When you open the windows calculator, calc.exe, you can go to help and then click help topics.
Note: This can be done through any of the basic Windows applications, such as calculator and
notepad.
2) Right click on the title bar and go to 'Jump to URL'
3) Type your URL (starting with http:// eg: http://www.google.com/ )
There you have it. Now you can search around the internet using your own private little browser which is easily hiddeneven when soemone walks by your system.
I tested this at office and it worked like a dream!!! :-)

K-Clueless?!?!?!?!

2008-10-30T23:09:00.001-07:00

Well, thats kind of my current situation ever since i got hooked to Klueless - 4
http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris-2008/klueless/
have to say thats its aptly named !!!

Biscuits

2008-10-16T00:57:00.001-07:00

This is what i have been upto in the weekend :-)

You will need:
Maida 2 and 1/5 cups

Butter 3/4 cup (melted)

Sugar 1 cup (finely powdered)

Eggs - 2

Essence - 1 tsp (vanilla, rose flavour or any of your coice)

Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Process:

1. Beat the eggs, sugar and melted butter together to get a fine paste. It should not have any lumps. Can even be mixed using a mixer. Add the essence to this.

2. After the loose paste type mixture is very smooth, add in teh baking powder and slowly mix in the maida a bit at a time . Even this can be mixed the same way the butter and sugar was done. Pat and knead the whole mixture into a very soft and smooth dough.

3. After it is done, refrigerate it for abt 3 hours. Later When we take it out, the dough will be more stiff.

4. Preheat your microwave in convection to 175 deg cent.

5. In the meantime, roll out the dough and cut out into shapes which you would like to have your biscuts. I just did it simply with a knife to get square biscuits.

6. After the pre-heating is done, put the cut out biscut dough pieces on a baking tray which is buttered or on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 mins.

7. Let it cool. It will harden more after it cools down. The biscuits are done.

8. Chocolate biscuits can be done in the same way if about 2 heaped spoons of cocoa powder are mixed into the mixture in step 1.

Check out this funny page of biscuit proverbs!! :-)

http://www.borderbiscuits.co.uk/biscprov.html

God's own e-State

2008-10-10T05:46:00.001-07:00

That should be kerala governments next e-aim i guess, but for now its funded and run by UNESCO.
http://kannur.entegramam.gov.in/
They have managed to get onto the web every possible detail of even small consequence of a typical kerala village. like even the coconut climbers contact number!!!! how to get house help. jobs available in houses in the village etc. its all there for all to access.
For a start its a very good effort. As about 10 'gramams' of Kannur has been put on the web thru this initiative.
If turns out to be a success then we can hope to see more of such sites coming up soon... :-)

A day and half

2008-09-29T07:09:00.001-07:00

Today maybe half the planet has got a fwd chain mail abt the sun rising for 1.5 days. Just take a
moment to look at the possibility of something like that happening??? The earth definitely hasnt
stopped rotating on its axis and same goes for revolving around the sun.... then?? Who's smart idea was this email??? Maybe a pair smarty pants who just wanted to see how fast and how widespread their emails get forwarded :-P

Just a sec before forwarding it... Have you ever given a chain mail a second thought before
forwarding it??? Just try googling the topic just as i did and u will not get a single certified
site stating abt this. Just bloggers blogging abt the very stupidity of the idea.

Ever thought about the number of times you have received the chain mail about the burned child struggling in the hospital in some god forsaken land? which is probably the oldest sob story being forwarded around.http://www.hoax-slayer.com/help-burned-child.html
Or about a picture of Jesus or Lord Ganesh who will curse you. didnt know when lord ganapathy took up broadband at his abode so tht he could just check his email and curse up ppl who didnt fwd his snap :-P And heres one from a guy who had the guts to say JESUS http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2000-121417-1715-99&tabid=2
Or about how you can earn in dollars pounds and yens by simply forwarding a message which has started from AOL or MS http://www.trendmicro.com/Vinfo/hoaxes/hoaxDetails.asp?HName=Forward+Message+and+Get+Paid+Email+Hoax
&Page=6
my last thought was....are people sooo jobless?? and i found this http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxInfo.html#risk

never mind....... god help all the forwarders!! :-P

Lesson 'Click' 'Click' !!!

2008-09-26T04:33:00.000-07:00

Between me and mum.....
K (Moiself): Amma, Click on the IE icon twice!!
M (Mum): (click)
K: twice mom...
M: ok (click) now it becomes 2 right....
K: not like that... thats 2 clicks... but not twice... its like 2 seperate clicks.... like this (click click)
M: ok (click) 5 sec gap (click)
K: (clickclick)
M: (CLICK)..immediately forced (CLICK) sheeww
K: its not that hard mom... just give two simple clicks..... (click click)
M: (CLICK)hmm...(CLICK)
K: attaa girly mommyyy... (GRITTING TEETH.... FINALLY... GGRRRRR!!!)
K: and no need to hold the mouse so tightly... it wont run away :-P
M: enough..... thats enough for a day...... 'sweat' 'sweat'...

Mom calls up a couple of fellow computer learners {other mothers with kids stuck in the same predicament} to share her clicking experiences withand I'm trying to find my brother whose nowhere to be seen... i guess he ran off tearing out his hair listening to the vocal clicks)
.......and that was just step one of MISSION LAPTOP!!!
(the ultimate aim of which is to teach my mother to use a laptop. Right now she training on our desktop we are saving the lappy from the 'extra' stress.... heheh :-D)

well folks, clicketty click click click for today!!! :-)

Fed up of click-ing your life away??? check out www.dontclick.it
maybe after all we wont have to suffer THE ATTACK OF THE CLICKS for long.

Akashagopuram

2008-08-25T23:31:00.001-07:00

Castles in the air, they are so easy to take refuge in. And so easy to build as well - Henrik Ibsen

There was something about the trailers and and the few seconds in which they showed the characters of the story that makes the viewer want to watch this movie even though it is of a parallel cinema genre.

Akashagopuram can be summarised in a couple of words:
Type: A European drama spoken in malayalam.
Story : The old Perunthachan story with some small tweaks here and there.

If one goes to the theater with a mindset of watching a malayalam movie i guess you are going to be dissappointed. But viewing it as an English drama, its certainly commendable and to imagine so much has been done with an entirely malayalee cast, maybe it would be better to say the western technicians and crew have done their job excellently.

Performances are all too subdued with limited dialogues. It is supposed to give the viwer the feeling of the torrent of emotions bubbling within each character.The casting is almost perfect and fits to the T. Veterans like Mohanlal and Bharat Gopi have all done their job well and as expected. Newcomer Nitya is the real revelation in the movie. She has the second most important role in the movie after Mohanlal.

Akashagopuram gives quite a few dissappointments and some of those are :
~The house which is supposed to be the architechts "best work ever" looks more in shape like an ant-hill turned into a house than a collosal building it is supposed to be.
~The dialogues could have been modified a small bit to suit an indian audience, like maybe avoiding the usage of MR. MS. in front of everone names. Also the ettiquets followed by every character giev sa feeling of a few decades back.
~There are some mismatches here and there like the dating of the movie. While most of the movie gives the viewer the impression that it is set in the modern world with flat screen conputers and swanky cars, many things like Nityas costumes are certainly dated and not the type worn by 20+ GenNext ppl.
~In an era of skyscrapers and coutries competing to build the worlds tallest building, a young girl getting awed by a tall church building are few of the things that do not sink in easily and gives a certain confusion about which decade the story is set in.

On the whole the movie seems to be tailor made with a stifled view to bag a couple of critics awards or soem 'arty' awards. But as to how much it will score is yet to be seen.

Every cloud has a silver lining.....

2008-08-09T00:27:00.001-07:00

Well, that seems to be what the chinese have done now... keeping in mind the chances of having unfavourable weather on the day of the opening ceremony of the olympics. They just shot up a few pellets of silver iodide into the clouds so that they rain out a few days before the olympic celebrations were due to start and don't dampen up the celebrations.

This has become one of the most controversial topics of late.... has man scientifically advanced so much so as to change the weather?? should nature's natural course be tinkered with???
Man has contributed so much to nature namely, pollution, the hole in the ozone layer, made many animals extinct, natural resource depletion, land degradation etc etc etc the list just never ends....

The Indian government can surely take a few tips from the chinese and shoot up a few silver iodide pellets and make it rain whenever there is a shortage of rain. Atleast its for a better cause than not interuppting games :-)

Maybe in time we can change the old proverb to
"every cloud has a silver IODIDE lining" :-P

Free!! Free!! Free!!

2008-08-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

Catchy keyword huh?!?! I know .... expecially for indians ;-) hehehe

Heard of use and throw?? well here's a new concept that explains a system of use and give away and for the receiver its totally free...

Nope, not Recycle...its called FREECYCLE :-)
Everyones in the habit of storing up stuff you are done with and eventually throwing it away when realization dawns that its useless!!! According to the freecycle system, you give away stuff to people who need them or are searching for them. A sort of barter system and when you are in need of an item search for it using the same system.

Its already very popular in the west.. slowly and steadily picking up pace in India...see if u can help others and yourself too on the way....

Join in :

http://www.freecycle.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecycleblr/ (there are city based yahoo groups)

Happy Birthday WWW

2008-08-06T01:21:00.000-07:00

On August 6, 1991 the World Wide Web debuted as a publically available service on the internet!!!

Tim Berners-Lee its inventor, posted a short summary of the World Wide Web project on the alt.hypertext newsgroup. The very first website was a few pages describing the project itself.It was built at CERN and provided an explanation about what the World Wide Web was, how one could own a browser and how to set up a Web server. It was also the world's first Web directory, since Berners-Lee maintained a list of other Web sites apart from his own.

Well... now 18 yrs later we cant imagine a life without the internet!!! So that explains the importance of that debut.

http://www.w3.org/

Inaugral.....

2008-08-04T23:25:00.000-07:00

Bit # 1

Read an article yesterday.....

"HOW TO BLOG OUT YOUR EMOTIONS!!!" :-P

After 24 hrs of soul searching... discovered an empty emotion cache.... then whats there to blog about afterall???

thought of just putting in a few bits and bytes that flicker across my screen during a normal day..........

wishing myself .... "Happy Blogging!!!" :-)