The girl I like

When it comes to girls, I had been conservative. At school, I sincerely believed that proximiity to girls is a great risk. Touching a girl is a huge breech of personal code. At college, as one can guess, I was atypical to say the least. To say it all in one line, No dance floors. Hence no girls. Period. Not-so-good-looking girls helped the cause a big way, all the way. Not that these things really bothered me too much. Life was smooth all the way till I landed up a job in Hyderabad, made some friends (all male once again!) and visited Hyderabad Central and met this girl. God just look at her.

Beautiful, yet unassuming,
Well dressed, yet simple,
Slim, yet well nourished,
Busy, yet cheerful!

Better than all, a coffee-drinker like me, hee hee!

All of a sudden she make me realize the meanings of the word sweetheart. Too bad, she has to be a wallpaper at Hyderabad Central. Too bad the search has to continue. All I have now is a picture of her that I took. But hey, atleast I know what kind of girl I like now!

Specialists!

Novice killer? Try your skills on a specialist. Come to Hyderabad!

BE Vs. B.Sc

Say the word "India" and the first that would come to people's mind all over the world is IT. For sure, IT boom has catapulted India's image from poor beggars capable of sleeping on a bed of nails or snake charmers who can also charm ropes, to smart, intelligent, adaptive, ambitious and most importantly, English speaking technologists and businessmen. In other words, India is a big talent pool, a large overseas market and hence a very fast growing economy. Its good to see India trying to take steps to maximise the opportunity it has got.

But I guess there are certain issues that are not yet addressed. No, I am not talking about the elimination of poverty or corruption. Those are oft discussed, but stagnant topics. I am talking about the educational stream Vs. career prospect lopsidedness.

If you are scratching your head about what I am talking about. Here is the scenario. Today, if one graduates out of any college (not necessarily a reputed one) as an engineer, he/she has a bright chances of landing in a decently paid job (More often than not, that job will be IT related). But, barring a very few exceptions, a science graduate has virtually no chance of getting placed anywhere. And I see only *one* reason to it. Service-oriented IT companies limit their technical workforce only to BE graduates. The notion among the companies' hiring team that a mechanical engineer from a not-so-great college will be a better fit than a B.Sc. CS graduate for a computer programming job is nothing more than superstition.

This creates an unequal distribution of job prospects across different educational fields. Having spent a few years of my lifetime in the US, (where else!) this is one clear difference that I have noticed between the two countries. Any educational qualification (even high school) has a sizable pool of jobs that one can land in and make both ends meet. (That explains the fact that a very low percentage of high school graduates go on to graduate with a Bachelors degree in the US). The question here, is "Will I ever get a job?", the question there "Will this qualification fetch me a job that will pay me well enough?".

To reach there, we should work on redistributing the educational qualification Vs. job-prospect mismatch. For starters, I would suggest that the IT service oriented companies start hiring from relevant science graduates (with say, CS, physics or math specialisation) for atleast some of their jobs. (After all, we are still doing more service than innovation). If my guesses are not way off, this might trigger a lot of other phenomenon. More high school graduates will consider science specialisation as a viable option (rather than paying huge capitation fees to engineering colleges). With more students from science colleges getting place in reputed firms, reputation and hence competition among institution will increase. This will in turn, lead to improvements in infrastructure.

On the other hand, with more people going for science field, a number of engineering colleges whose infrastructure is no more than rooms, will disappear allowing the universities to concentrate better on improving the quality of engineering education and infrastructure. Infrastructure improvement in engineering by itself is worth another blog. I hope to dedicate one for that in the near future. For now, its for you (sitting across the table) to put your thoughts OverTea!

Just another day in Paradise!

It was just another day. A Saturday to be more specific. I was returning with my roomies after a lazy morning breakfast and found, to my amusement, found two kids having fun (rather trying to have fun) with cricket, using a home-made bat and an old ball! The rest is secret photography!





Now this is not a secret photography anymore. There is more action and more people!


Now, the playing two followed by a photo shoot with their brother!



But now the big one!

Ramesh, Me! (what's funny about my T-shirt?), Monica and Babol!

I later found out that they are the kids of the security guard at work in the apartment complex opposite to mine. Ramesh, who is upto date with cricket, (he is not satisfied with Venugopal Rao's performance in the ODI series with SL) is studying at a local school. Monica is better at batting, but she is yet to learn the difficult art of talking! She never opened her mouth the whole time. I gave up trying! Babol talks only better than Monica. Monica and Babol are yet to join school. I fear if they ever will. It was just another day, but the venue is Paradise!

Signing off!

Good Work Government!

Rains and relief in Chennai:
I had been to chennai for the Diwali vacations for a week, which eventually falls on the week that followed a week of incessent rains and flooding. I had done a fair bit of travelling around the city and followed up the news, both on TV and news paper. I found that, inspite of a record downpour, normalcy has been restored fast (in a week) to most of the city (though not so in North Chennai!). Relief camps have been setup in 10 areas for relocation of people in low-lying areas. Army was called in for relief operations in suburbs like Madippakkam (which is close to my home!) and trains were restored to operation fast. Good to see news channels like NDTV commend the way the corporation handled the whole issue. NDTV also noted that during the second round of showers following the Diwali week, the officials learned from mistakes in the previous to ensure proper drainage of water in subways. My applause to Chennai corporation for the good work and my encouragements to keep it up. Hope the also learn a little bit from the Vyasarpadi stampede to organise the distribution of food and clothes better!

Rediff: Uniform call rate across the country:
This is a welcome measure apart from numerous other efforts by Comm. and IT minister Dayanidhi Maran. I always believe that the best way to measure a country's progress is to look at how easier the life of a normal man gets. This sure is a good step forward since it makes the life of the rich and the poor alike! Great job. To be cautious, I would hope that after the uniform call rates is set, it would not be set to the current STD rates :)

Fwd: Poetic resignation

Here is a resignation letter your manager will enjoy!

The name is good, the brand is big
But the work I do is that of a pig
The work or the brand, what is my way?
I dont know if I should stay.

To work, they have set their own way
Nobody will care to hear what I say
My will be NULL, they wont change their way
I dont know if I should stay.

The project is in a critical stage
But to do good work, this is the age
This dilemma is killing me day by day
I dont know if I should stay.

The money is good ,the place is great
But the development is at a very small rate
Should I go for the work, or wait for pay
I dont know if I should stay. !

The managers dont know what they talk
The team doesnt know where they walk
That's a bad situation, what say?
I dont know if I should stay.

I can go to any other place
But what if I get the same disgrace
I cant keep switching day by day
I dont know if I should stay.

The -ves are more, the +ves are less
Then why have this unnecessary mess
No more will I walk their way,
Its all done, I won't stay.

Replay of moments

Life seems to cruise along smooth and eventless. Suddenly, I feel something heavy in my head and my mind races! I feel that, this very sequence of moments has already happened in my life. But I couldn't say when. I couldn't say what is going to be next. But when the next moment becomes current, my mind yells out "Yes, this is it! I have gone through this too!". It keeps happening again and again for sometime after which I am no longer so sure about whether I am still in the replay mode. Then those moments fade quietly and here I am, back to the present! I try to go over those moments once again, trying to locate when it has happened. But not once could I do it till date. I feel that it is unfair and live on it for a little while. But before long, I completely forget about it and get on with my life. All that is left now is that there had been moments when I felt that they have already happened in my life. I don't even remember what those moments were! My companions have confessed to have gone through such an experience themselves.

It has been a long time since such a thing has happened to me. It has been long since I have talked about it to anybody. I wonder if anybody still goes through such an experience. I instinctively feel that it would be a rarity. Rarer still would be to find people who actually know why such things happen and identify the situation when the replay was actually "live". Rarer still would be for such people to spot this weblog and respond!

Laugh!

One of the very few forawarded messages that worked my stomach muscles out. I simply can't keep from posting it!

Religion and Society

Recently, in one of my groups we had a discussion on a Times article.

In short, the article was reporting a research which concludes that

"...belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems."


It went on with comparison of US society (considered to be one of the most religious, at the same time, advanced nation in the world) with other less devout nations (in Europe mainly).

A few excerpts!

• Gregory Paul, the author of the study and a social scientist, used data from the International Social Survey Programme, Gallup and other research bodies to reach his conclusions.

• "US was the world's only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional."

• “The study shows that England, despite the social ills it has, is actually performing a good deal better than the USA in most indicators, even though it is now a much less religious nation than America.”

• "The US also suffered from uniquely high adolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates, the study suggested."

• Mr Paul said that rates of gonorrhoea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less devout democratic countries

Here is my take!

I think one key point is not discussed in the article (or not considered from the polls' conclusion).

How many of those crimes in the USA and other countries are related to religion?

To me, the conclusions are correct to a certain extent, but based on wrong data. Just because USA couldn't control crime as good as the others, how can we paint a religious picture to it? There are numerous other factors like easier access to guns and licences for guns, drugs and other things. Crimes and social ills (quoted by the article) are due to direct effect of such factors and not because of religion. Also, based on my experience at the US, the country is more religious not because they implement the moral values of the religion in day-to-day life, but more because larger portion of people attend the sunday masses regularly! That is it!

To be fair to them, they are also immune (to a large extent) to the negative side of the religion's effects like evil-superstitions, sticking to customs though they are obsolete or counter-productive (I mean to say that they are more open to new and positive ideas even if those ideas are outside the boundaries of Christianity. One good example may be Yoga!).

Now I feel the conclusions ofresearchearch are correct to a certain extent because, religion has been the reason for a lot (but not all) of crimes all over the world. And if you look close enough, no religion is an exception. I feel, the problem is applying religion in the society-level. (Doing things like some self-proclaimed guardians of Islam issuing fatwa against Sania for not wearing a veil while playing tennis.) and the govts heeding to it (I still don't get the idea behind separate set of laws for Muslims like "Talaak" and a whole bunch of other things). So, if a society has to be devout and at the same time less-criminal (because of religious factors) it has to apply religion at the personal level, and be tolerant to those who opt a non-religious or a less religious path. Otherwise, it is better off being atheistic.

What is your take?

Window 2005

My workplace is situated at the 4th floor (of 5 floors above ground level) in a fairly large complex at the center of the city of Hyderabad. One of the good things about working on a higher floor, I thought on my first day, would be the view of the city. Being an IT related company, my centre is completely air-conditioned, windows are tinted and screened. That doesn't leave much for you to view.

Ok, what about outside the office. The hallway, the stairs...does that have anything to offer? Like any shopping mall (which essentially is what the ground floor is!), all the shops and other businesses are built along the main wall, with the entrances and hence the hallways from inside the mall. So, all windows are inside one business or the other, again, carefully tinted and closed for air-conditioning!

There is a window by the stairs at each floor, but then there is always somebody standing there, pondering over a smoke, or worse, sitting right under it and talking to his/her (girl/boy)friend. So, that doesn't do any good about the view either. It almost looks like the whole mall probably convened a secret meeting before my joining date and said "Ok, guys! This is it! He is coming tomorrow. Now, I want all the windows in this building hunted down, tinted and screened! You've got one day to complete this mission! MOVE!". I almost lost all hopes of a good ariel view.

After nearly half a day's work, I wanted to ease myself (you know, the one which you spend longer time of the *two*). I walked towards my goal thinking hard over my work. I opened the door and was blinded by brightness. For a moment, I thought somebody will say "Hello! Neo!". Where did so much light come from? A Window! Positioned high enough to protect privacy and low enough to provide a good view without much effort while doing you-know-what! Perfect! With a fly-over, airport nearby there is enough to keep you from being bored. Flights taking-off and landing. Large hoardings by the fly-over and the numerous motorists on the. Being in the 4th floor, air keeps gushing in like the devotees at Tirumala. This is place offers such a big relief for a stressed mind (apart from its actual purpose, of course). I must admit, I have visited the place even when I didn't have to, just to enjoy the vista and fresh air. I wonder if I am the only one here, who feels that way.

...strangers are pop-ins

Yesterday, as I would do on any weekend, I was roaming the crowded streets of Hyderabad with my friend in his bike and we hit a red light. From our past experience we knew that its break time for our loyal motorcycle and let it sleep. Lost in thought, I merrily started whistling a favourite sound track from Kill Bill (you know, the piece that Daryl Hannah whistles when she goes as a nurse to kill Uma Thurman). When my senses came back to the real world, I found myself looking past a girl next to me. She gave hard glare at me and started raising her scooter's throttle periodically like a racer waiting for the "go" signal. I thought "Great! Now I am a loafer!" I foolishly smiled and raised my hand as a sign of apology. She hastily looked away feeling more insecure, most probably thinking "Crap! Now he is trying to talk to me! *&$@^>?*! Do they pull them aside and teach them to do this or something?". And she was off like a horse at the signal and turned right. I don't know if she was actually headed right or if that was an impulsive decision.

That made me think about all the strangers I meet every day. It struck me then, that strangers are like pop-ins. They come in different colors and tastes and melt out quickly from your mind. And the taste of these pop-ins are not only in them, but also in your tongue! And this tongue of yours is made of millions of taste buds like, your personality, state of mind, age, sex, status, what you are doing, what you are wearing, where you are going and many other things.

- To a baby, a stranger is probably a green coloured alien with transmitters in his head (recall that puzzling look in their face before they start wailing?),
- To an unemployed, he is a potential job opportunity,
- To a guy carrying heavy cash, he is a probable pick-pocket (remember the crowded bus or the guy standing behind you in the ATM?),
- To a girl's father (or a girl herself), he is a potential loafer,
- To someone who has realised that he/she is badly dressed, he is all eyes,
- To a single-and-looking, he is a potential date,- To someone like Forest Gump, a stranger is a great pass time, (remember Tom Hanks in that bus stop?),
- To a blogger, he is a faceless audience.
At some point of time, I have been all the taste buds and all the pop-ins (sadly, the single-and-looking is an exception). As the famous phrase goes, "...life is a box of chocolates.". Well, strangers are just a little bit different, aren't they?

Seven

So, thats what tagging is about. I had to visit a few others Maayaa had (and had not) tagged before I got an idea. So, its a question of seven. Why seven? Well, I guess why not? Anyway, here it is!

Seven

things I want to do.

1. Travel to Maldives. Its a wonderful place and will be off the map in about 10 years!
2. Learn human psychology and apply it.
3. Teach part-time at school and/or college.
4. Think proactively.
5. Watch all well-made movies
   
6. Learn and experience varied culture.
7. Learn Telugu and Urdu
   

things I can do.

1. Hold off anger
2. Get up early!
   
3. Respect someone's view, even if I don't buy it.
4. Make friends of diverse people.
5. Jog non-stop for 45 minutes, and work-out for an hour.
6. Listen out others (as I found out, many can't), especially in an arguement.
   
7. easily doze of while reading!
   

things I can't do.

1. Bargain
2. understand money matters (Business, profits, stock markets..)
3. Eat meat or smoke tobacco
4. flirt with girls
   
5. return a "Hi" with a "Hi" (I always say "Hello")
   
6. detect an ulterior motive
7. stop checking out girls (C'mon, don't hate me! I'm a guy! Atleast, I am honest!)
   

things I would like in the opposite sex

1. Simplicity
2. Sensibile spirituality
3. Good decent dressing sense
4. Out going personality
5. Sense of humour (atleast, a sense to appreciate a good joke!)
6. Unbiased attitude
7. Good looks (my favourite is girl-next-door's like Vidya Balan)
   

celebrities I like and why.

1. Vidya Balan (looks)
   
2. Tom Hanks(Acting)
3. Jack Nicholson (do)
   
4. Kamal Hassan (versatality)
5. Amir Khan(do)
6. Rani Mukarjee(acting)
   
7. Sania Mirza (performance)

Spam comment filters

Its not even ten minutes, since I became active and I already know what the blog needs in the future. Spam comment filters! Look at the first comment on my previous blog today. Its about some food allergy and why am I so damn sure that it was auto generated. Is there anybody in any corner of the world working on the spam comment filters?

Rising from the ashes

Whew.... a long time absence. Not that I have run out of ideas. But I had been travelling....half way around the globe. I wish that was a travel for pure fun. But I relocated to take up a new job. So, if my location still says that I am in Oregon, its a lie. Now I am in Hyderabad - in a new place, and in a new role, new experience and renewed excitement. Now I feel like the English Cricket team...I feel like I am rising from the ashes!

Special Mention: V.Murugan

V. Murugan - a soldier from an agricultural hamlet in Tirunelveli,Tamil Nadu - is remembered for his sacrifice in Kargil War. How? Read the story Remembering son of soil from The Hindu. You can do your honours for him too! Details in the article itself.

Scaffold: Mixed Bag

Culture:
An article about the city in Tamil Nadu build around a magnificiant temple.. Madurai from The Hindu

A look into numerous and unique chariots of temples of Tamil Nadu. Another special from The Hindu

A French musician inspired by Indian Cine Music.. from Times of India

Life:

The disgrace of killing precious life by carelessness..A MUST READ! . The Hindu

Disadavantaged children find a chance in BornFree Art School. Deccan Herald

Health:

Women's Health: A clarification on Dilatation and Curettage D&C and why its done The Hindu

A good news for diabetics Deccan Herald

Is Hindi Compulsary?

The most memorable journey I have ever had in my life was when I was just a eleven-year-old. A pilgrimage package trip to the holy Badrinath (it feels so great to be named after Him), which included various other places along the banks of the holy Ganga such as Hrishikesh, Haridwar and the sangam of Alaknanda and Bhagirati rivers apart from Mathura, Delhi, Agra (Taj!!!)...whew! the list is long! I have never been spell bound for days together before or after that.

The temples looked new. The idols glimmered with radiance. Every where I went, lush green Himalayas blocked the horizon from my view. When we were in the foot the mountain range, the Ganga (and once Yamuna!) formed the foreground. When we were scaling the mountains (by bus of course!), we saw her flow beside us down below! The sun god would show its bright orange smile, often beyond the mountains. Peacocks were as common as crows in Delhi. The pinacle of all? Snow! For the first time in my life! The only sad thing about the trip was that I knew I can never feel that great again! Deam childhood! Once again!

One other thing that made the journey different was that for the first time in my life, I used my bookish Hindi language skills. In Utter Pradesh and (surprisingly) in Delhi, we frequently ran into people who do not speak or understand English very well.

When I came to the US for my master's education, I came across what seams like a traditional North-South language divide. I had some painful experience with closest of my friends calling me non-patriotic as a result. In another instance another guy from up north started speaking in hindi. I was held up in my own thoughts and wasn't listening. I said, "Pardon?". He frowned and said "Oh! You are not Indian?". I left the scene, without speaking another word. Till date I don't know if he was being rude or if he honestly thought that an Indian always should know Hindi.

Hindi is our national language. I accept it whole-heartedly. Should it be spread to all the nook and corner of the country? Sure. A common suggestion and a point of contention is that it has to be made mandatory in the educational system. Do I agree? Well, if thats the only way, yes. But I feel that its a little bit of a socialistic attitude. Its like saying, every Indian must know the fundamental rules of hockey.

My take on it is, every school affiliated to the state board or central board must be encouraged to offer hindi, the mother tongue and english. But I feel that exept for the medium of instruction the rest should be optional. As the largest democracy, it only makes sense to offer people their right (to learn the language they want) and leave the choice up to them. After all, most of the Indians choose to follow cricket over hockey because they have choice.

As a person born and brought up in Chennai, and as a person with more or less as many hindi speaking friends as tamilians, I have had the previllege of looking at both the sides of the coin with a fair degree of clarity. I feel that my suggestion will go a long way in solving the core reason for a needless difference of opinion.

Scaffold: Horror!

Mine kills US soldiers in Iraq

A full list of Emergencies all over the world in Reuter

A father kills his daughther and friend in IUSA. For what? Disobedience!
India and Pakistan are building friendship, so what? People in Kashmir still die.

1. Reuters
2. Daily Times, Pakistan
   
3. Forbes

Woman loses her hand trying to stop child marriage in India Guardian

Killings in Iraq, a front-page web-exclusive editorial

I chose this simply because, I have something important coming up and knew that there will be plenty available to save me some time.

Special Mention: Victoria Hale

Few people become successful entrepreneurs. Fewer still think about helping the poor. Fewer still have it as a first priority One such person is Victoria Hale. She is the founder of world's only non-profit pharmaceutical company. OneWorld. A story in The Economist

Scaffold: India

NY Times news item on india's networking market

Can India shed the poverty monkey from its back? NY Times analysis.

A good coverage of business and politcal news about india in BusinessWeek

1. Dogfight Over India
2. From Cricket to Kashmir?
3. India: Bigger Pharma

Forbes' list of India's 40 richest! (photo from Forbe's Magazine)


Medicine in India is cheap and effective...and slowly noticed in the internationally.. here is an example from The Hindu

Disclaimer: All the news links from this or any post in this blog is simply obtained by using Google search. I don't get paid for posting any link. I don't mean to force anybody to read any article over the other. I don't mean to breach any copyright rules. If I do breach any that you know, before going to the lawyer, let me know in clear terms what I am breaching and what I should change (Not that I have millions to give away) .

Test Post!

My family....tireless.

My family is self-sufficient in all respects. I have a brother, a sister, a cousin, a loving granny and working parents. There is no dearth for fun, fight and play with my siblings around all the time. Seeing the parents' return after a prolonged absence (matter of hours is a long wait for a kid!) always brought great excitement and prospects of Bananas, mangoes, peanuts, toys, chips..and the list has just begun! My granny? None to beat her. If I didn't know what hunger felt like till I was in my 11th grade, its because she had a 100% record in having the tiffin and drink ready when I came back from school. (During high school, I travelled farther, so I felt hungry halfway home!).

We have not used a lot of machinary for household chores. We don't own a dish washer till date. We bought a washing machine fairly early, but found hand-wash was more effective. The same was the case with vacuum cleaner. We found that broom-sticks and waste clothes used with washing powders (Surf Ultra!)were better cleaners. For nearly 2 decades, our only personal transportation were bicycle. With my awesome granny and hard working parents and helpful siblings around, almost none of the toiling household chores ever seeped to me. No matter how much work was due, we always had the enough manpower to let me munch pop-corns over weekend entertainment. God! I had a dream childhood.

I was just reading an article in Reader's Digest which talked about how household chores like taking the trash, going to a nearby shop for grocery and helping to cook, not only improved family values, but also made one more responsible, smart and to an extent worldly. Is that true? I made a quick analysis. Oh yea! My sisters rock at home management. My brother needs little help when it comes to handling people and decision making (though my mom doesn't think so!). And....wait a minute! My secondary school friend (also a rank holder) helped his mom, bought groceries, maintained his bike and you bet he is smart! So were my friends from high school and college. The article hit the Bulls eye!

It occurred to me, I could have had a dream childhood with some more soft skills! I wish my dad dragged me out of the house to clean my bike! I wish my nanny and parents were not so tireless.

Scaffold: China 2

What really is China's growth? Asia Times Online (Contributed article)

About how China has used its diplomatic capabilities attract the Third World towards itself (and away from the US) to help its growth MSNBC

A comprehensive collection of stories about China's growth Rediff

An article actually (referenced in the an article in rediff) written last year to give a feel of China's economic growth. Washington Post

Disclaimer: All the news links from this or any post in this blog is simply obtained by using Google search. I don't get paid for posting any link. I don't mean to force anybody to read any article over the other. I don't mean to breach any copyright rules. If I do breach any that you know, before going to the lawyer, let me know in clear terms what I am breaching and what I should change (Not that I have millions to give away) .

Scaffold: Blog!

Do you know what is the BusinessWeek cover story is? Blog!!

A story about the BW cover story about the BW cover story!! (Can check out the cover of BW here!)

Now that BW has a cover stoy, it seems other sources can't avoid talking about it! Here is an article in MarketWatch!!

Don't get too excited! Blogging is not always great. It can make or break anyone's career! Here is an example to learn from!

Disclaimer: All the news links from this or any post in this blog is simply obtained by using Google search. I don't get paid for posting any link. I don't mean to force anybody to read any article over the other. I don't mean to breach any copyright rules. If I do breach any that you know, before going to the lawyer, let me know in clear terms what I am breaching and what I should change (Not that I have millions to give away) .

"Enna Satham intha neram... Ennai thalaatta varuvaala..."

"Enna satham intha neram..." - Punnagai mannan
"Tere mere beech mein.." - Ek duje Ke liye

Find anything common? Think about it, I find a few! Kamal Hassan, all-time hit love songs. One other common, but possibly, less apparent thing is that both the songs are set in a similar situations. They scan the last happy moments of a couple before they attempt to commit suicide because of so-called "love failure". Both the movies got what they wanted (atleast from me)- sympathy for the couple and hatred towards their parents (who invariably were to be blamed!). I am sure one can come up with more movies that talked about "love failure". After all, its a formula that sold well. I have also come across news, roumors and even saw a case of suicide first-hand. All due to "love failure". Now that I have started hearing about real-life incidents, I wanted to answer one question. "What were they trying to prove?" The answers I could think of, and what I want to tell to them.

Dead couple: See, if they had let us get married, they need not have gone through so much agony.

Me: You are sadists. Sure they are stupid not to respect you for your age. But no parent enjoys agonizing you. But you (or whatever remains after you are dead) enjoy agonizing your parents. I hope your parents adopt a kid who actually loves them.

Dead couple: They tried to get me married to another guy/girl. I can't even imagine living with somebody else, while I am in love with him/her

Me: Tell the guy/girl that you are in love with someone else.

Dead couple: I am too afraid to confront my or his/her parents. We couldn't find any other way

Me: You haven't used your brains. Had you used it, you would have thought about it when it occurred to you that you are in love. By the way, you just think you are afraid. Don't you realise? You are brave enough to kill not only yourselves, but your boy(girl)friend.

I don't hear news/rumors/facts about "love failure" suicides any longer. But I have come across cases first hand, in which people who are in love told themselves "You know what? Its not working out. Why don't we just move on? Best friends during middle schools forget in a few years simply because they don't meet anymore. Time is the ultimate healer"

I realized suddenly that the old movie formula doesn't sell anymore.

"Ennai thaalaatta varuvaalaa...." - Kaadalukku mariyathai

Scaffold: China 1

Scaffold: A platform to provide support.

Thats what the news links will be used for in this blog when I am lazing around without coming up with new, exciting discussions OverTea! Here are some .

An opinion editorial on why India is better-off rivaling, rather than, befriending China (in business terms) Time

An article throwing a lot of light in the improving cross-relationship between China, USA and India. Asia Times Online

Disclaimer: All the news links from this or any post in this blog is simply obtained by using Google search. I don't get paid for posting any link. I don't mean to force anybody to read any article over the other. I don't mean to breach any copyright rules. If I do breach any that you know, before going to the lawyer, let me know in clear terms what I am breaching and what I should change (Not that I have millions to give away) .

Mahabharat...all but Dharma.

Mahabharat! What a way to start of a Sunday entertainment in the TV. Just like when I went around with a cricket bat and ball when it is world cup, just like when I marked out a mini-tennis court on my terrace when it was Wimbledon, I remember making bows and arrows of different varieties and sizes when it was war-time in the serial. Half of us would not have known of what was the story of Ramayan and Mahabharat if it did not cross the mind of Ramanand Sagar and B.R chopra. Or simply if it was not telecast on a sunday!

We derive a lot of our moral values from such epics. But after a discussion I had with a friend of mine, the more I think about Mahabharat, the more I tend to feel that, Lord Krishna had been unfair towards his believers. What I say may sound sacrilegious, but lets think about it. Yudishtra was casually (may be not so casually) invited for a game of gambling by Kauravas and kept on playing till he lost everything including his kingdom and Draupathi. (I don't understand, how a guy as virtuous and honest as him can think about pledging his wife) and the pandavas go of to exile. When the come back, they Kauravas deny their rightful kingdom and they declare war. Fair enough. Now, in the so called Dharma Yudh, the Pandavas, masterminded by Lord Krishna use all unfair means to annihilate the Kauravas one by one.

- Bheeshma was killed in the presence of Shikandi by Arjuna, exploiting the fact that Bheeshma vowed not to fight a woman (rather a non-male)
- Dhrona was killed by a lie (if we go by the spirit of truth rather than the strict definition of lie)
- Karna was killed when he was unarmed. A cardinal sin, if we consider the rules of engagement.
- Dhuryodhan was killed by Bheem when he used his weapon under the former's hips. Again a breach of rules of engagement.

Had the Pandavas fought a fair war, it would have been a one-sided affair with the Pandavas losing the battle which, in my opinion, they deserve. Considering all that, I don't really see how Lord Krishna is any different from the old fox Shakuni. The name Dharm Yudh is such an irony with all but Dharma.

Scaffold: India News

Since this is a new venture, for now atleast, I tend to look at every thing through the lens of Blog. Since I spend half of my internet time reading news, I thought I would post some good ones here. Since it might take some time for a good issue to discuss OverTea, it will be a good filler too!

What did Vivek Oberoi do to a battered Tamil Nadu village after Tsunami?
NDTV

A Good educational development in Chennai, India
The Hindu

New Airport at Chennai?
The Hindu

Disclaimer: All the news links from this or any post in this blog is simply obtained by using Google search. I don't get paid for posting any link. I don't mean to force anybody to read any article over the other. I don't mean to breach any copyright rules. If I do breach any that you know, before going to the lawyer, let me know in clear terms what I am breaching and what I should change (Not that I have millions to give away) .

Hi

Oh well...OverTea

Oh well! I have started blogging. Let me tell you all first up. I am not trying to be the "kewl dude" always coming up with different and never-thought-of ways to make my fellow bloggers envious. I mean, now that I have started blogging, how different can I be from the pack?

But I should have a reason to take the initiative, right? Well, I don't always have a reason for things I do, but it so happens that I do have a reason for this. There is someone I know who believes that I have wonderful writing skills which he/she said (and I quote) I am "throwing into the trash can" and that someone suggested me that I should start blogging. I don't want to name that someone of course, because I like him/her and don't like him/her being laughed at in case some body thinks I am bad at writing. So anyway, I thought "Blogging, huh? What are the best and worst case outcomes?" The best case: there are going to be a few people responding to my blogs and discussing things OverTea. If I am allowed to get too optimistic, I will probably get some messages admiring how good my posts and writing skills are (Hey come on, I am allowed to dream!). It sure will encourage me to seriously think about a career involving a lot of writing. The worst case: I will discuss things all alone OverTea. Well, that sure is not too much fun, but then, not all the great writers attract large crowd. Don't you agree? (Don't you get it? I am still good at writing!!). I decided that I will give it a try.

So, what's with this title? While I don't want to be the "Kewl dude", I don't want to own a blogspot thats all words and no meaning. I propose, to express my views and discuss good and bad things that go around the world, just like most of us do OverTea (and hence the title). I welcome your opinions, for and against, as long as they don't get personal. So, come on! join me for a cup!