Aaha... Life is fun..!!!

:: On a positive note... ::

2009-09-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

There comes a time when you must stand alone....

You must feel confident enough within yourself to follow your own dreams....

You must be willing to make sacrifices....

You must be capable of changing and rearranging your priorities so that your final goal can be achieved....

Sometimes, familiarity and comfort need to be challenged....

There are times when you must take a few extra chances and create your own realities....

Be strong enough to at least try to make your life better.Be confident enough that you won't settle for a compromise just to get by....

Appreciate yourself by allowing yourself the opportunities to grow, develop, and find your true sense of purpose in this life....

Don't stand in someone else's shadow when it's your sunlight that should lead the way!!

:: Why i started hating my Iphone::

2008-07-12T06:25:00.000-07:00

I guess Iphone is one among the most over rated phones on earth...!!!

I was actually tempted to buy this crap when i was in California...
With a price margin of $399+tax n beautiful black box cover i was very much thrilled when i first bought this phone...

when i came back to India, i had hell out of a time to unlock this phone... where ppl demanded 3000 bucks for just unlocking (thank God and Sujeet.. i din pay even a single penny for that)

Finally after 4 months of my purchase i successfully unlocked iphone on April 3rd... i have been using it for 3 plus months till now...

IM EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED BY THIS PHONE.....!!!!!

lemme list out da reasons which made me hate this phone like mad...

First n foremost... i cannot forward a SMS message (wat a crap it is...!!!) n there is no MMS too...!!!

Secondly no blue tooth... with the sickening 2MP camera.. u can transfer your photos only through your PC or through email... even while sending your snaps thru email you can send only one at a time...

everytime you need to add new songs or videos you need to take a backup of the original list (thats another heck of a work) and then sync your phone with iTunes (remember only iTunes.. this will not work with ay other softwares)... so by the time you add a song to your phone you wud have wasted half of your day...!!!!

Now the next big thing... you cannot choose ur fav song as ringtone... either you need to buy (at a cost of 99 cents) them thru itunes (i wonder do we get any tamil or other Indian regional songs in itunes)

There’s no way to cut, copy, or paste text!

No video recording, not even a low quality one. You can only take pictures with the 2 megapixel camera, but not video recording.... its quite a bummer...!!!

Poor external sound quality... esp the inbuilt ringtones sucks to the core....

Contact groups can't be emailed as contact lists.....

No removable battery.... n the battery life sucks a life time...

The glass touch screen... u drop it down accidentally.. ur gone... u will have spend rest of ur life with a cracked screen....!!!

It lacks proper support for Flash websites....

You can not save documents on it.. documents can only be viewed as attachments when they’re sent to your e-mail address....

No Inbuilt GAMES.... u need to install third party games (highly risky)

Its “quick list” dialing sucks compared to traditional speed dialing, which it lacks....

Heat issues... the iPhone can get very hot when it is in use.... n believe me it hurts my ears badly.... n its bulky too...

For WiFi.. i had to spend nearly 3000 bucks for my airtel router connection....

n last but not the least.. my phone s hanging down for the past 2 weeks.. n it behaves in a unusual way at times like there is no life no display n nothing... quite a back fall...

Whatever be the case i loved this phone initially when i started using it... but now after three months im quite unhappy with its performance n rather goin back to my old phone SE W810i...

I have used SE, Nokia, Samsung, LG n Motorola... this is the first time im changing my phone in jest a short time span of 3 months...

IM EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED BY THIS PHONE.....!!!!!

:: Today's resolution..!!! ::

2008-01-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

Say 'NO' for shopping...!!!

i have been doing a lottt of shopping these days.. buying anything and everything.
Is it really worth.. for some 'Yes' and for many 'No'..

Many things i buy, i hardly use it or in fact don't even use it. i wish there is something like a 'shopometer' similar to thermometer (with an alarm option!!) which can warn me when i start shopping those fit for nothing stuff or even give me a punch if i ignore that warning and continue my nonsense.. hmmm... sounds funny isn't it..

It is getting worse these days.. am i da only person.. lemme google a bit...

ahhhh... look at this...

http://me.essortment.com/shopaholic_rxfm.htm

he he :) im not that bad...!!!

but anyway its alarming... stop it now or u can never come of it alive...!!!!

"shopaholic"..... btw this title is not meant for me...!!!

:: Don't take life too serious. You'll never get out alive..!! ::

2007-06-15T05:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.. have you ever given a thought about this... Sometimes we take decisions without knowing the consequences.. We regret for that at a later point of time... by then things would have gone out of our hands... So think twice or thrice or even more if necessary before taking any decision... because who knows.. even the smallest decisions may change our lives forever...

:: Worth reading: In the wonderland of Indian managers by Sharu Rangnekar ::

2007-06-15T05:55:00.000-07:00

In the wonderland of indian managers, Rangnekar spots the inbuilt idiocies and idiosyncracies of our managerial systems and traditions, and blasts them sardonically.

A brilliant analysis of the Indian managerial scene, this book is for managers at all levels -- from trainees to directors.

Common problems and their solutions have been described in his characteristic style -- which is delightfully complemented by R.K. Laxman's inimitable cartoons.

Its worth reading this book...!!!

:: NIHONGO..!!!! ::

2007-07-15T05:28:00.001-07:00

I think what I fell in love with the language is by the way it sounds - it is a very musical language. Like most Asian languages (and unlike most Western languages), Japanese does not use emphasis (stress) to mark accent. This gives the language its distinctive, rather "flat" sound-- even long words do not have a stressed syllable. However, Japanese does use pitch-- high and low-- to distinguish words.

Japanese is literally a unique language. Linguistics scholars have classified all modern languages into huge "families" that are related through their grammars and vocabularies. For instance, English and other familiar European languages such as French and Spanish are in the Indo-European family (English is in the Germanic branch, while French and Spanish are in the
Italic branch). However, despite the breadth of modern linguistics categories, there are several holdout languages that simply do not have cognates in any other currently spoken language. These include Basque, Ainu, and Japanese.

I always had a passion to learn about other cultures and help those cultures interact with and understand each other better. Learning a foreign language can reconceptualize your view of your own native language. This is a specific example of the general principle that true understanding of anything requires viewing it from an outside perspective. You don't understand India until you have traveled in other parts of the world. You don't understand science until you have studied art, religion, and literature (and vice versa). Once you begin studying Japanese, you will see quirks of your native language that were hidden from you before. That in itself is an end, whether you end up mastering Japanese or not.

For people learning Japanese for the first time, I'd say that whether you plan to learn the language just for a couple of years or whether you're prepared to make the committment to learn it over the many, many years that are required to attain fluency, you have to be ready to realize early on that learning Japanese takes daily discipline and an extraordinary amount of time and a lot more commitment. But I have to also say that it is an incredibly rewarding experience.

Come on... let's learn a few basic words in japanese..

Ohayou gozaimasu --> Good Morning.

Konnichiwa ---> Good Afternoon.

Konbanwa ---> Good Evening.

Sayounara ---> Farewell.
(Don't over use sayounara. It is normally only used when you will not be seeing the person you're departing from for a long period of time. It is even used when seeing someone for the last time. But it should not be used when you will be right back.)

Jaa mata atode ---> See you again.

Doumo arigatou ---> Thank you. These are very standard ways to say "thank you". Arigatou is similar to saying "thanks".

Arigatou gozaimasu ---> Thank you.
This version of "thank you" is much more polite than just plain arigatou.

Doumo arigatou gozaimasu ---> Thank you very much.
This is the most polite version of "thank you".

Dou itashimashite ---> You are welcome.

Shibaraku desu ne ---> Long time no see.

Ohisashiburi desu ---> It's been a long time.

Tanjoubi omedetou ---> Happy Birthday.

Akemashite omedetou ---> Happy New Years.

Ogenki desu ka ---> How are you?

Hajimemashite ---> Nice to meet you.
literally means meeting you for the first time.

Onamae wa nan desu ka ---> What is your name?

huuhhh... Quite Easy isn't it..??

Well if you find the above stuff interesting, check out the following link for more information...

http://www.freejapaneselessons.com/

Happy Learning..!!!!

:: Blackle - The Energy Saver...??? ::

2007-08-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

The So called Energy saver Blackle has come up with a energy saving plan (???) while surfing through the internet....

Here goes... let's here what they say about their new concept...
From the blackle pages....

"How is Blackle saving energy?

Blackle was created by Heap Media to remind us all of the need to take small steps in our everyday lives to save energy. Blackle searches are powered by Google Custom Search.

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002

In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages."

They say that...."We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy"...

Courtesy: http://www.blackle.com/about/

"Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time".

:: Kalam's visit to satyam...!!! ::

2008-01-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

Dream is not what you see in sleep... Dream is the thing which does not let you sleep...!!!

quote from 'Wings of fire' by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam...

Kalam...the most distinguished scientists of India, author of "Wings of Fire", "India 2020 - A Vision for the New Millennium", "My journey" and "Ignited Minds - Unleashing the power within India", a strong man with the unique honour of receiving honorary doctorates from 30 universities and institutions, who has been awarded the coveted civilian awards - Padma Bhushan (1981) and Padma Vibhushan (1990) and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (1997) and of course he has the honour of being the 11th president of India, This great man of great respect and dignity is visiting my company on 21st (monday)..

Eagerly waiting for the wonderful moment to see him...

:: vOdAfOnE cReAtIvItY:) ::

2008-05-25T05:59:00.000-07:00

This is supposed to be a Vodafone SIM card holder.. which i got it from Bharathi after a long time kenjals.. chumma tried something different with that.. i was actually impressed by that gal/guy (??) rounding dat globe.. so here we go...

VODAFONE ON TOP OF THE DOG :)

:: $Mn thought:) ::

2008-06-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason. Know a good thing when you see it, and don't let it slip away. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy, they just said it would be worth it.

''Life may not be the party we expected but we might as well dance while we are here''

:: The 3 mistakes of my life.... ::

2008-07-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

One more excellent work by CB... a very gud book... worth reading...

for a gist of it click here....

:: BigFlix... No popcorn pleasure...!!!! ::

2008-07-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

I was extremely happy when Reliance started BigFlix in india coz im a great movie freak...

i subscribed to Bigflix.com 2 months ago.. with Plan 1 DVD at a time , The service has been good for the entire first month, just until last week...

when i put a request to pickup DVD i was expecting the delivery guy to come on the same day (thats how it was working for the past one month) but there was no response...

i waited for more than a week.. called them over phone n finally decided to send a complaint mail stating that if the issue is not addressed within 24 hrs i would cancel my subscription... to my surprise the bigflix guys came within 2 hrs for picking up my DVD not once but twice :)

but again i thot i would get some DVD... But what happened was the delivery guy told me that “ we don’t have any delivery for you coz there are no titles available in your queue so its just pick up today”

so again i had to send a mail.. to which the guys appeared in the same usual manner.. in 2 hrs.. bringing a DVD which was the last title in my queue of 28 DVD's (according to BigFlix they claim that the first 5 titles in your queue will be delivered first based on your plan) its highly unlikely that out of 28 movies in my Queue all would be unavailable at the same Time...!!!!

This is very bad and highly unprofessional, if i have 28 movies in my queue i expect prompt delivery of any one of those DVD's... its something BigFlix have to look into as they have just started their business.... they shud understand that customer satisfaction is very important....

The following was an appeared in Indian Express on Sunday, June 29, 2008 under the name

No Popcorn Pleasure

Renting movies from Big Flix has its good and bad moments THERE was a time when DVD players were expensive and not all of us had them in our homes. But the mass production factories in South Korea have brought down the prices. My first DVD Player in 2000 cost me Rs 23,000, and now I can buy a branded player for under Rs 3,000. So the problem isn’t the player now, the DVDs are. The movies you want to watch are still cost Rs 299+ and this makes the movie rental business interesting. Seventymm took the lead, then came in guys like Moviemart, and now big brother Reliance has entered the business with Big Flix.

Big Flix is spending millions on advertising, and it appeared a bargain to be able to rent movies unlimited for unlimited time at just Rs 299 a month. A month ago, I took the bait. It took me less than two minutes to sign up on http://www.bigflix.com/. I was surprised to see that contrary to their ads, they had a limited number of regional language films, but for those whose basic choices will be English and Hindi films, they have enough. They offer the option of renting out 1, 2 or 3 discs at a time.

In the FAQ section, I learnt I needed a wishlist of at least 25 titles to ensure timely delivery. I opted for some 30-odd titles and waited for my movies to arrive. I had registered on a Saturday and presumed I wouldn’t hear from anybody till Monday. But Sunday brought a surprise visitor who came armed with two titles from my selection. However, he demanded that I hand over two movies I had borrowed. I informed him I was a new member and that I did not have any Big Flix items in my possesion, but he would have none of it. A ring to their call center on Monday (no responses on Sunday) ironed things out, and I was told this would not recur.

But things went wrong after that with confusion over titles delivered, about the number of discs I was entitled to borrow at a time and other hassles that left me aghast at the ineptness of the whole operation. Even after sending an email to customer care (an automatic ticket number was allocated and I was assured my complaint would be looked into), two weeks down the line, the discs don’t arrive on time, no one from customer care answers and movies automatically go into a pick up request.

I kept a movie for more than five days to see if I could hang on to it for as long as I wanted. I got a courteous SMS reminder reminding me of my misdemeanour and asking me to arrange a pick up.

Here is the score sheet

Customer Service: Worst possible

Movie listing: Good. Claims 15,000 titles.

Staff: Courteous generally, but most of them are ex-courier boys so some can be off-putting.

Presentation: The movies come packed in their original boxes. Some discs never played on my players due to a lot of scratches.

Delivery: No guarantees, erratic.

Pros: Big Flix has stores across the country, so you can always go there and pick up movies or return them easily. Online site could have been better, but it is improving.

Cons: If you want to watch a specific movie on a specific day, you are good either buying it or watching it on Video on Demand on DTH or renting it from the local DVD fellow. Cost: Attractive

:: Thot 4 da we(e/a)k ::

2008-07-20T02:05:00.000-07:00

If you want something you never had, you have to do something you have never done…!!!

:: Navarathri Celebrations and My Golu 2008 ::

2008-10-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

Navarathri - the nine sacred nights is one of the most celebrated festivals of India.

And its one of my favourite too :)

This begins from the first day (Pradhamai) after Amavasya in the month of Purattasi as it is known in Tamil. This nine days festival is essentially celebrated to worship Devi and to commemorate the victory of good over evil, i.e bringing to an end the atrocities of Asuras like Mahishasuran, Shumban, Nishumban, Madhukaidapan, Thumralochanan and Rakthabheejan.

During Navrathri Devi is worshipped in the form of Sri Durga for the first three days, as Sri Lakshmi for the second three days and as Sri Saraswati for the next three days.

The best part of navarathri is Kolu/Golu.

Golu is basically adorned with dolls - predominantly with that of the Gods and Goddesses depicting mythology.

This year the Navarathri beginned at Mahalaya (sept 30th) and ended at Vijayadasmi (Oct 08th)

So here is the kolu at our home :)

:: Belated Bday Wishes ::

2008-10-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

My Blog has completed a year successfully - Its one year old now :)

In this one year it has got many new friends and has grown quite intelligent smart and cute.

Thanks to each one of them for all da love and support..!!!

:: Expect less n Smile more... ::

2008-06-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

A good point to be noted... Expect less n smile more...
here we go...

Ground rule 1:
Never think that others are born to help you... Actually its the other way...
Exceptions: of course a few (with little demands :))

Ground rule 2:
Never waste time trying to understand others... believe me... u can do so many better things at that time...

Ground rule 3:
If ur dissapointed by something/one... don worry... jes keep going... watch a movie.... eat popcorn.... n of course thank God dat u din lose much :)

More to come....

:: The Day...!!! Mind blowing :) ::

2008-01-21T05:49:00.000-08:00

For my 2 plus years in the company, i felt the best part of it 2day...!!

Kalam's speech..!!! how thoughtful it was... i have heard n read about him in papers, but u know seeing is always different.. such a simplicity, humbleness, energy, determination, confidence..
Hats off... he was there for an hour visiting our ACE centre, then came the interesting part, his speech..

The best part was... when he read out this short para for us...

Inventors – inventions and discoverers – discoveries

Let us study important inventors and their inventions.
* The Wright brothers and the plane.
* George Eastman and film
* Thomas Edison and the light bulb
* Alexandra Graham bell and the telephone.

Let us study a few Discoverers and their discoveries.
* Albert Einstein and the energy equation E=MC2
* Srinivas Ramanujan and number theory
* Chandrasekhar Subramaniyam and Chandrasekhar Limit
* Sir CV Raman and Raman Effect

"Inventions and discoveries have emanated from creative minds that have been constantly working and imaging the outcome in the mind. With imaging and constant effort, all the forces of the universe work for that inspired mind, thereby leading to inventions or discoveries. Higher the number of creative minds in an organization, the best results of innovation will emerge"

His words were so powerful... thought provoking.. and simple...!!!

Just refer his site...

http://abdulkalam.com/kalam/index.jsp

Ask him anything and everything.. u will get a reply 24/7...

These are not my words... this was his promise to us before he left...!!!

Amazing man...!!!

:: Windows Live Folders Available...!!! ::

2007-08-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

Windows Live Folders which was launched recently was available only in selected regions previously. Microsoft is expanding the beta for Windows Live Folders. I was able to access Live folders today morning. This is available only for a limited time as they are not ready to expand to additional markets.

The folders are available in three categories- Personal Folders, Shared Folders and Public Folders. The size of folders is 500MB at present. This may be small when compared to other services, but hopefully Microsoft will increase it as soon as it comes out of beta.

If you are Windows Live products fan like me, then you should be definitely trying out the live folders. Click here to sign up for Live Folders.

More details on the Windows Live Folders Blog.

:: Lingering on..!! ::

2007-08-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

So I was just listening to an excellent song...

It was Annie's Song by John Denver... One of the best singers ever.

Listen to him here... You can't find anyone like that these days. Such a pure voice.

Here goes the song....

You fill up me senses like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses come fill me again.

Come let me love you, let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you
Come let me love you, come love me again.

Let me give my life to you
Come let me love you, come love me again.

You fill up my senses like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses, come fill me again.

:: What the hell is happening... IE7..??? ::

2007-08-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

ARGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! It crashes whenever i try to multi task or click on the close icon.

* Can't have the menu bar on top (after restoring it)
* Can't Restore the original tool bar buttons
* Can't remove search bar
* Can't access Mail/Newsgroups in one click
* Empty tab is a funny idea
* Tabs Row filled with buttons at the end

Finally What Rocks...

* Multiple tabs
* Better Security (Phishing, ActiveX, Protected Mode)

Complaints Galore!

Just check the Microsoft Internet Explorer newsgroup. Google gives it a High Activity rating.

IE7 is a joke, I am not sure what MS is thinking these days.. This is probably just another case like Vista....!!!!

:: Everything happens for a reason... ::

2008-01-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes people come in to ur life & u know right away that they were meant 2 b there 2 serve some part of purpose, teach u a lesson or help u to figure out who u r or whom u want 2 b.. U never know who these ppl may b but when U look at them U know tht very moment tht they'll affect ur life in some profound way & sometimes things happen 2 u at da time tht may seem horrible, painful & unfair, but in reflection u realize tht without overcoming those obstacles u w'd never realize ur potential strength, will power or heart. Everything happens 4 a reason, nothing happens by chance or by means of luck. Illness, love lost moments of true greatness & sheer stupidity all occur to test limits of ur soul, Without these small tests life w'd b like a smooth paved, straight, flat road nowhere safe & uncomfortable but dull & utterly pointless. da ppl u meet affect ur life. da successes & downfalls tht u experience can create whom u r & da bad experiences can b learned from. believe in yrself, Create ur own life & then go out & live it...

:: ஹி ஹி...!!! ::

2008-04-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

சும்மா ஒரு ட்ரை தான்... பரவாயில்ல நல்லாதான் இருக்கு..!!

குட் ஜாப் ப்லோக்ச்போட்..!!!

:: Google Video on your Video iPod..!! ::

2007-07-11T11:29:00.000-07:00

Look no further! Google Video has an iPod option for most of their videos.

Select”Video iPod/Sony PSP” and click Download. It will send you to a MP4 file that you can easily add to your iPod.

Also, if you haven’t checked out Apple’s Multi Touch screen movie, I’d highly recommend it...!!!

Check out this link...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/16/AR2006031600192.html?nav=hcmodule

Quite interesting...!!!!!

:: Speed thrills...!!! but Kills...!!!!! ::

2007-07-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

I feel compelled to comment on the tragic incident that happened today morning. i was on my way to office, the driver of my cab was driving at a very high speed (in spite of our repeated warnings..!!)... It all happened in a fraction of second... An accident.... A poor dog was killed under the wheels... I saw the dog fraction of a second before it hit the car; I didn't see the hit but I heard it and I felt it.. All of us were completely helpless.. Dogs are part of homes; legally there's probably no "hit and run" penalty for hitting a pet... despite the diligent work of shelters and canine adoption agencies, three to five million dogs are put to death across the world every year...

I felt very sorry for it.. Up to the minute the dog had died, it would have had a good life, with people surrounded, who cared for it; never abused or hurt. It would have known happiness; love. This was a dog whose life would have been good until the moment it died. For a dog, you can't ask for much more. You can't ask for much more if you're a human, either..

Don’t Kill the Dogs. Respect its nature. Shape its character. Love it for life....

:: Why Am I in Such a Bad Mood? ::

2007-07-07T23:30:00.000-07:00

Nowadays I find myself getting really irritable for almost no reason? Or suddenly feeling down without knowing why? Going from sadness to anger to joy in a matter of minutes..?? Dealing with constant change and pressure may be one reason. It might feel as though there just isn't enough time to do everything.
I feel that I want to be on my own and make my own decisions, but it can also seem overwhelming and even a bit lonely at times. I think I'm under depression...!!!!

Many people think of depression as feeling sad, but depression can also bring feelings of moodiness, impatience, anger, or even just not caring. When depression gets in the way of enjoying life or dealing with others, that's a sign when one needs to do something about it, like talking to a counselor or therapist who can help us deal with it.
Here are some things I do (which I've learnt !!) that might make those bad moods a bit easier to handle:

Recognize that I'm not alone.
Catch my breath. Or count to 10. Or do something that lets me settle down for a few moments, especially if I'm feeling angry or irritable.
Talk to people I trust Keeping feelings inside can make me feel much worse..!!
Exercise. I try to get enough sleep Being tired can lead to more sadness and irritability.
Create. Put my feelings into my artwork.
Cry. There's nothing wrong with crying; in fact, it often makes a person feel better..!!
Wait. Just as you can get into a bad mood for what seems like no reason at times, that mood can also pass.

Above all Understanding that almost everyone goes through mood swings during their life time makes my life easier to handle these situations... in a better way...!!!!