Copyrights, Piracy et al

At office we all (team members) had to do a presentation. When it was my turn, I presented this ... just thought could share it here



When you find time, please check (just few slides) and let me know your comments

Smiles,
Vinayak

The concept of my dream

Friends, this is an official announcement, think of a press-release alike :)

I have always dreamt to be an entreprenuer. When (and if) I become one, I would be having a corporate with social responsibility (CSR). I thought, instead why not create a corporate for social responsibility. What was just a thought has become a little more serious at this stage:

www.responsibleindiandrivers.com/

You might find nothing there and it is still in a conceptual stage, but almost there to become an existing entity. To just start off with things, I have invested a tiny Rs.500 by registering the domain.

What it aims to do?

• Make people sensible road users

Thats it. Yes, thats it to start with.

While, there are n number of non-profit organizations creating awareness, doing charitable activities, etc., most of them lose steam because of various reasons:

• Requires volunteers (there are not many around, and those around not always around)
• Funds: Most of them work on donations. Shortage of funds becomes inevitable after some stage
• Clarity in objective: Many charitable start-ups do not specialize. While the effort to contribute in everyway is commendable, they become victims of their own over-enthusiasm and doing-everythings

I am keen to set up something that works by itself. Creates money for itself, without donations. Creates new opportunities to explore. 

Why Driving?

1. There are many organizations for other social activities - charity, the keep city clean greens, children educations etc. While I would love to do these too, I wanted to do something that is a just a tad different
2. I see it creating the new opportunities later, even for activities as above

Why this blog post?

I should not be doing only thinking and only talking. I am committing myself here to get to action. I am not alone in this. Doing this along with my friends who have been a part of, well ME. Might require all your help as well, to spread the word. Not now, but when it takes a reasonable shape. Also, requesting here your comments and any new ideas I can pick up to implement as a part of 'responsible Indian drivers'.

More updates to follow, pretty soon ...

Smiles,

Vinayak

Chennai Marathon - Unorganized crap

The race was about to begin at 6:30 at island grounds. I have run two half-marathons in my life but none in our own country. So was excited, really excited, to see a marathon happening and happening at such a large scale in Chennai. But this pleasant rainbow early Sunday morning was my only gain out of Chennai Marathon. Had to get to the place first, before participating. Beach road was blocked at Napier's bridge at around 5:45. Take diversion ->

We got around to the island grounds assuming the race would be from there (as it was mentioned everywhere including its website). We parked our bike there and when we came out, heard an announcement that the race started at the Secretariat! Oops, we had only some 5 minutes before the race.

We inquired if we can take the bike there and if a parking is available. We had to ask this only to a policeman as there were no volunteers around, in the parking area, and even on the stages set-up just outside the parking area. We took the policeman's word and started on our journey to the Secretariat! Take diversion ->
Not to see the finish line would be an awful feeling alright, but not to see the Start line is an awful feeling altogether on a different league
When we got the road directed by the policeman, there was another policeman blocking us. He just said, you cannot enter. I asked him, then how do I get to the Secretariat. He said, "That, I do not know!". More diversions and we ended up near Central. Another policeman said that all roads to Secretariat were blocked and no vehicles can enter! Now, I decided that I would place the bike in the same place (Island grounds) and walk. By the time I made up my mind, even the road to Island grounds was blocked! Take diversion ->

I quit and reached home. But, where were the volunteers??! I know I cannot believe policemen who might not have the correct information. But couldn't spot anyone who might direct me correctly. I agree that perfectly organizing such a grand event is a tall ask. But there should be some organizing at least, when they know the crowd will be massive.

Wycombe half marathon was my first and Silverstone was my better half (marathon) in terms of timing :) But both were in UK. I wanted Chennai to be my best. It did not happen. Not to see the finish line would be an awful feeling alright, but not to see the Start line is an awful feeling altogether on a different league. Hope those who made it to the Start line had good fun

(Some updates after I read/heard all the news: http://www.mouthshut.com/diary/djgdonou/Give-life-Chennai-Marathon-takes-away-a-life)

Mahi way

Been a long time since I have posted on Cricket ... but couldn't resist posting this one.

It has been such a joy to see India beat Srilanka. It has been funny and frustrating to watch Indian batsman crumble against 'Mendis the menace' in Asia cup and the test series, but Dhoni has shown the way to win even during the most difficult days.

Days have not been difficult only because of Mendis. India's batting form has, in general, dipped; Ishant Sharma, the one with thin frame but with abilty to produce those thick edges from batsmen, is sitting off with an injury; Sehwag, in ominous form, has been away with injury as well (OK, lemme include Sachin in the list as well, for the sake of his fans). To add to all this, India is playing away from home, and we all know even best of the sides can look silly on foreign lands.

Srilanka has its own share of woes as well. People may argue its Srilanka's bad form, plus the likes of Malinga, Maharoof missing has been advantageous to India. But compare these to India troubles I have mentioned above. Clearly, India were lesser favorties to win the series.

Though, the series win is a collective team effort, a major chunk of the credit goes to Dhoni. He has done the right thing by winning the toss and electing to bat first all 4 times :) . Kidding apart, he has led from the front - played a big role with the bat in each of India's wins. He is cool and practical and has an admirable ability to inspire. Indian team is still winning and losing and havent become indomitable yet. But there is a sharp change in attitude and the way they approach the game. This is so heartening to see. If I attribute this change to Dhoni, there would be no FAE (Fundamental attribution error) on my part.

From a just wild slogging batsman, Dhoni has clearly worked his way up and going strong. Way to go Mahi ...

India, Iphone, Tata Nano, deadlock et al !!

My RSS feed has been flooded with Iphone news and has not yet ceased even after month of its launch. First thing that comes to my mind is the number of Indians who might have been the 'workforce' and 'brains' behind a Safari browser or a chip that lies inside Iphone. What if we used all these people to build a product from India?

India has been known for its 'services' ,but more the services grows in India, there will be some other economy that will grow exponentially. For instance, let us say a software company wins a project from a Insurance company. The Insurance company will not invest in the software if it does not expect a huge return out of its investment. So, at least theoretically, we do a 'service' for other economies to grow.

When does India become the India we dream of? From the little economics I know, I can see it happening only when India develops more 'products'. Tata Nano has been the only such product I am aware to have made the world look up. But that too for its cost-effectiveness or to put blatantly for being 'cheap'. Nevertheless, it could create news.

India is definitely capable of producing more products. There is no dearth for talent, we all know. But, a huge investment is often needed to conceptualize-and-develop a product. And if the product doesnt sell after all that? This is the risk Indian manufacturers or potential manufacturers cannot take. This is the reason why, I guess, most of the guys with money dont invest in Products. Not even software companies with such expertise doesnt venture into products.

So, we need money (i.e our economy to grow) to develop products. And we need to develop products for our economy to grow to that extent. A deadlock here, I guess. How do we get over this?!

If you want it, you gotto pay for it

If you would feel what I am going to say is silly, thats exactly the pathetic state I am about to discuss.

Piracy is one common thing in the world these days. It is so common that not many realize it is actually illegal. I am pretty sure you would not be shoplifting or picking pockets. Piracy is just as bad as these. So, you have now guessed what would follow ... some gyan like do not watch movies online, buy original music CDs and do not download songs illegally, do not crack software; only use originals, etc?? Not quite, but close ...

I just want to jot down what I do to help myself away from piracy:

1. I listen to songs online or on radio or from somewhere. If I like the songs, I buy original CDs and then copy to my Ipod or whatever. But I BUY.
2. I buy original software. I paid 5000 bucks for my OS on my laptop. I use only FREEWAREs like google products and affiliates - Firefox, Star Office, Thunderbird, etc. I do not even have the MS-Office, invariably pirated on most people's laptop/PCs.
3. I do not watch movies online/download. I go only to theater or buy original DVDs of the classics I like very much. If I am outside India and happen to miss a movie because of that, I can take it. I am not going to die just for not watching a movie

I might still breach the law somewhere without my knowledge. But I am trying to get there - a honest life.

Even my good friends do not bother about piracy and stuff. Some give it a damn, most of them do not realize the seriousness. I see links to movie sites, passwords for software hacks etc on my friends' blogs. For some reasons, I get really flustered when I see these. And again, I am not asking anyone to change or anything. I already feel stupid for have posted this, and might feel stupider if I ask people to stop piracy. I just had to vent my disappointments out ... and no other place is better than my blog which people rarely vist (including me)

Tragic end to the rolling mouse ...

Of all the gadgets I use, my favorite is the mouse; or at least used to be. I used to share my feelings to the mouse! The force of my mouse clicks, the force of my drag, my silly fidgeting of the little device all used to reveal my emotions!

The best feature of the mouse used to be the 'mouse ball'. You can dismantle it and play with the ball when you have had enough clicking to do on your PC. Half the time, the mouse would get struck and if you remove the ball, clean the wheels it used to run better. It was good time pass. Then this innocuous middle-click. Not many applications recognizes this button and you can keep clicking it - 1. To frustrate people 2. To make people believe you are working

Now, its all replaced with LED trackings and laser trackings. Then there is wireless mouse; size has shrunk; There is a wheel instead of middle click. And when it doesnt have a wire (and not resemble a mouse), how can we still call it a mouse. Gone are those days of mouse, makes me nostalgic!

Smiles,
Vinayak

Why people dont read my blog?

Not really tough to see why people dont read my blog ...

1) I dont update it quite often
2) All that I write is almost always unintelligible scribblings
3) I myself cant get my url right on first attempt: http://unintelligiblescribblings.blogspot.com (hope this is right!)

If you happen to read this, I am pretty sure you have landed here by mistake; misled by a horrible search engine or you are my dearest friend. Whatever category you fall, please click the ads link anywhere here. That would fetch me some money to buy you a gift ;) yes, you can trust me :)

Smiles,
Vinayak

I am a software professional ...

One way to ensure that a guy is in software is to check his addiction to email. This is what my 'today's fortune' on Orkut said:

Today's fortune: Your happiness is intertwined with your outlook on life

I never read this section, but when I did, I read it as:

Today's fortune: Your happiness is intertwined with your outlook file

Someone get me out of this software sh*t please!

Beauty ... love .. and me

There are many people who tirelessly say that beauty is not THE thing. It might not be, but it is hard to rule out the role of beauty in anybody's life. Eiffel tower is one such majestic beauties I have got lucky to watch. But , I am not here to write about that. When I visited Paris in December 2006, I saw another beauty in front of the Eiffel.

I have always been or tried to be a 'good guy'. But as soon as I saw this girl, I forgot all about the world wonder in front of me. I took candid means to capture a good snap of this beauty. It was like she went straight into my heart. I could hardly manage a decent picture. I cursed myself to have bought a cam with only 3X zoom. To my rescue came my senior colleague (along with whom I visited Paris). We captured a few with his camcorder. What happened to all the 'gentleman'ism inside me? Probably that is what beauty can do.

She was posing in front of another beauty, the Eiffel and what a sight! She was sitting on a wall and I blurted out, "Careful!" without my own conscience. If she wasn't there with a group of friend I might have tried, "Excuse me. You speak English? What are the chances that you are single and a stranger gets lucky?". Something I can never imagine myself doing. Is this what beauty can do?!

I mentioned about this girl to one of my best friends when I was back. She said laughingly, "she might be one of those smoking types .. ha ha". I couldn't accept that. I felt she should be a nice girl ... this hope and faith for a stranger! Is this what beauty can do?


And what do I do after a year since I saw this beautiful girl; write a blog post. Just a glimpse for you of her (deliberately blurred to follow netiquette). I know it is not good to have taken photos of her without her consent. But, did someone say All is fair in love(?) and war?! Can I be excused on that grounds? And finally, what are the chances that she sees this blog post and identifies "Hey thats me.." and sues me!

Wide angle

(Normal 35mm)

(Wide angle conversion)

Got a very very cheap deal on conversion lenses for my Panasonic dmc fz50. I got a 2X telephoto + .5X wide angle with 3 filters and little accessories.

Could not resist testing the wide angle immediately. It has its obvious advantages. You can see the difference in the snaps. Wide angle covers more ... But, I was utterly disappointed at the dark rings on the edges. These are the lens rim itself. When you are capturing a beautiful landscape you wouldnt want this. And cutting out these would only mean around .7X wide angle and .5x is no use. Also, I can zoom in a little while capturing and even that would not be .5x.

Not sure if I need to do anything special to avoid the blacked out edges. Or would it be like the camera can afford only up to .7x (the original provided by panasonic is only .7x). Or is the conversion lens defective? Some expert advise comments would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

-Vinayak

High-wycombe/Marlow the funny side

It is natural that we think, in a foreign land everything would be perfect. One instance that made me think, "Ellaam namma ooru mari dhaan". See the pic below ... the sign for library is straight pointing into railway station!














This pic is not clear. Saw a waterway nearby my office. When we got near, this is what it read (apart from those you can clearly read) "We are not responsible for loss of life or limbs"!! Aiyo, adhaan Danger nu solleeteengaley da ... idhu veraya.













First sign, I read before entering new office at marlow!!

Get the colors out, hail Picasa!

Naah ... it gets too tough handling a camera to get the true colours out. Look what Picasa has done it for me after I had taken the snap. Just amazing! Just had to know the technique ... which is nothing but click the button on Picasa!

When I tried to take a photo ...

After getting this new FZ50, I got hooked on to it. I saw a photo of a friend of mine with that moving effect of a bus on one of the London bridges. Reminded me of the photo I took during my parents visit and I had created the same effect, by chance, when I didn't know the shutter speed and all that. Now that I know and I have a cam, wanted to try creating that shot.

(From Joe's album ... See Joe's blog from the links)

Took my cam out on to the street and was experimenting. Couple of cars passed ... then I saw a car stopping by my side and the voice from inside asked "Why are you taking the picture of my vehicle?!". I was taken aback! I thought it was police and I had this apprehension already whether I can take snaps on roads and common traffic. Luckily it wasn't police. The guy who crossed turned all the way back to check what I was doing. "Dude I am just experimenting with my new cam!". He said, "It is illegal to take photo of a moving vehicle".

It just ended there. But, what nonsense! It is illegal to take picture of a moving vehicle ... ?? Is it OK to take a picture of non moving vehicle?? Anyways, I was just happy I did not get into any trouble.

The damager of my manager ...

Long time since I posted one on my blog ...

We went to a restaurant, 10 of us including 2 from the clients and my manager. My manager seemed to know how to get himself ridiculed! Just to draw a conversation, he said "How does this keep the food hot?" showing at the metal mesh hotels use so that hot vessels doesn spoil the table. Our client replied, "When the serve they server it really hot!!" lol ...

Foolers and the fools

Write-up posted on www.mouthshut.com ... but deleted because Mouthshut hates transparency ...

Hmmm Mouthshut is not just about writing reviews. But also about reading. Well its not just about reading, but knowing the writer when reading ...

You can have your Mouthshut, but dont have your EYES SHUT

I was once recommended a review by radhikas and when I went to the review I could see it was just so brilliant with so much specific details. The writer (?) was kalyan_baital. As I kept reading the review (on a tourist attractions), I could see details like 1315ft, etc etc. If you write a review will you give details to such a precision? And if you give such a detail would you not mention the source from where you derived that data??? I knew it was copied from somewhere else ... I googled and could see the exact wordings somewhere else on the net ... sorry, the entire review was picked up from somewhere on the net .. I mentioned the link in the comments and marked it NU. But everyone else had given it an VU!

So think from the writers perspective ... you can spot plagiarism ... mostly

Now, when you dont spot plagiarism what happens?

The answer is very obvious ... (atleast because I have mentioned it in the title) we becomes fools and foolers become contest winners! Yes, kalyan_baital gets to win the ’Go goa’ contest!!!

Is mouthshut not professional enough and efficient enough to spot this or there is some other tale behind this? It is understood that there are review flooding, and it might not be possible to spot every copied review by Mouthshut, but we can. Mark the plagiarized reviews as NU (Not Useful).

Where mouthshut went wrong ..

They can atleast do some work on the reviews written of the ’to be’ contest winners. Ok if they miss one or two; if all the reviews from the contest winner are copied and if Mouthshut doesnt spot it ...I am sorry I am not able to comment further.

I stop here to show you how kalyan_baital has copied ... (I am not sure why I stick to just this person .. but it is not my job to check reviews, itz Mouthshut’s job). All his reviews are ’Tourist attraction’ reviews ... and after the contest he hasnt written one rev ... probably he is busy in Goa ..

Here it goes ...

-------

1)

Excerpts:
Permits to visit other parts of Sunderbans can be obtained from the Divisional Forest Officer, 24 Parganas, 35 Gopalnagar Road, Kolkata.

For foreigners, permits are available at the Forest Department in the Writer’s Building, Kolkata. Note that the core area- the National Park- is off-limits for tourists; you’ll only be able to visit the wildlife sanctuary.

Review: http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Sunderbans_Wildlife_Sanctuary-103006-1.html
Other place on the net: http://www.journeymart.com/Dexplorer/AsiaIS/India/india_addon/wildlife/sunderbans.asp

2)

Excerpts:
Within Srinagar, on its highest hill is the Shankaracharya temple, nearly one thousand feet above the city. It is devoted to Lord Shiva. The site dates back to 2,500 BC. The philosopher Shankaracharya stayed at this site when he visited Kashmir ten centuries ago to revive "Sanatan Dharma".

Review: http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Srinagar-102677-1.html
Other place on the net: http://www.travel-himalayas.com/himalaya-travel-attractions/srinagar-travel-tours.html

3)

Excerpts:

Somnath at Somnath Patan, near Veraval in Gujarat is a pilgrimage center held in great reverence throughout India. Somnath is considered to be the first of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva. Somnath is situated on the south coast of Saurashtra

Review: http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Somnath-102676-1.html
Other place on the net: http://www.templenet.com/Western/somnath.html

There should definitely be more ... I bet ... But I dont have time and itz not my work either ...
-----

So have your eyes wide open, there are foolers around ...

Signing off,
-Vinayak
(I know I havent given much details about reading review here ... but this review has a purpose ... I am not bothered about how you might rate this review of mine... but will be happy if you have just read it and understood what is happening around. Thanks for reading. As always available for your comments ... )

Google Video!

Google keeps adding depth to its searches and it somehow proves itself as the top search engine. Not just search, but with images search, books search, desktop utilities and the latest sensation Google earth, Google is undoubtedly unbeatable. Now, I am stunned to know that Google has come up with Video search!

There is more to it. It gives a facility where you can include any video in your web page!

As always cricket has been my first interest (This video i seached on google and i am embedding here):

The one-dayer at Madurai – 4th Jan 2006

It was such a memorable day; I did not want to forget the events/visuals. So I thought putting them down here could be of help, not only for me to remember forever but also for you people to refresh madurai memories and get updated on how madurai looks today.

It was a one-day trip, well planned in advance. Though I had second thoughts about attending the marriage (should I say whose marriage?), I knew I was just fooling myself away from the inevitability of me attending the marriage. Pandian express on 3rd evening would take me to Madurai on 4th morning at 6:00. I had a return ticket on Ananthapuri express scheduled to leave madurai at 11:10p.m meaning I had a whole day to spend at madurai.

Events started right from 9:00 at Egmore station. As soon as I reached, I wasted no time to reach S11 and dumped my bags. Then I went to the AC coaches, AS1..AS2 … looking for the name ‘Aravind/Arvind’ on the charts. AS3 … and I found a bunch of names with Last name ‘Lee’. This could be it, Arvind’s family? I scanned the chart but found only Anand Lee. Ah ah. This is not the coach. The A2 .. .A1 … then oops … Unreserved compartment. No luck. No ‘Arvind’ on the charts. I went back to my coach and waited for mai to arrive.

By the time she came, I saw 3 people, and one of them had a familiar look. I tried hard to compare Arvind’s photo and yes there was resemblance. I scanned the AC coaches again. Yes I found a name ‘Arvind Lee’. Lee? Yes I had missed the name in my first attempt. I scanned the Lee list once again. I found ‘Anand Lee’ as well. Confirmed, I had missed Arvind on the first attempt. Seat number 40. Ok. I went back to S11. It was 9:12 and mai hadn’t arrived yet. How could I alone go and speak to Arvind. ‘Mai come fast’, I said to myself. The phone rang.

At 9:15 we were inside S11. I said, ‘Mai lets go and meet Arvind. I have seen him and his coach number’. We did not even plan what to speak. We went straight to AS3, confirmed the Seat number to be 40 and went straight in. Mai was speaking on her mobile to her room mate while she got into the coach … ‘We are now going to meet Shirley’s would-be now …’, she hadn’t finished. I was nervous. Seat number 64 … 56 … Mai was not finished yet. Made me more nervous. Seat number 40 and yes I saw Arvind; Mai was just in time to cut the call.

I went past 40 a little, turned back and called out … ‘Arvind?’.

‘Yes…Arvind’, he announced.
‘Arvind, CMCH?’, one more confirmation just in case and he nodded.
‘Hi, this is Vinayak and this is ..’
‘Niranjana’, Mai joined, ‘We are Shirley’s friends’.
‘Oh, you both work at Satyam?’, Arvind did not understand who we were; Of course we hadn’t told him yet.
‘No! We both work at cognizant’, I said. That was a stupid and irrelevant answer.
‘We are her college mates’ Mai saved me.
I could see smiles and laughs from his family members. There were around 10 of them. We didn’t know what to speak. And even he didn’t know what to speak. That’s very natural. And as usual I started blabbering …

‘We knew you would be in this train, so we thought we could search you and introduce ourselves. Tomorrow you might be very busy that we cannot think of personal introduction. Just thought we could say a hi … ‘ when I could not proceed Mr.Arvind took over. ‘This is my cousin Anand …. and this is his wife and that is my parents … ‘ but why introduce us to all? There is nothing more we could speak at that time. I knew I was putting myself into an embarrassing situation. So more blabberings …

‘Ok … its almost time. We have to go till S13’ It had to be S11 but I don’t understand till this point why I said S13.
‘Oh you are traveling in the same train?’ Arvind asked and others around appeared as though they had the same question in mind.
‘Yes’ we said together.
‘Ok, so meet you tomorrow…’ Arvind concluded. Thanks. Everyone was giggling. We got down.

I was sweating. But somehow it was not a flop. Though words did not come out as well as I liked, I was a bit happy that I will not be lost in crowd the next day at marriage. Then after a small conversation that lasted about 30-45 minutes, mai and me went to our respective berths. I tried to sleep immediately. But it did not work. Just as I was thinking the lights were off, and there was no chance for me to read ‘The other side of me’ I remembered that the lights will be on near the door. I went there and a policeman occupied the seat near the door. From then on till 12:00 I was in company of Sidney Sheldon. His life-story was as boring as mine!

I woke up at 3:00. Tried hard to sleep more. But again, nothing works out, as I want. I couldn’t sleep. It was 4:00 and I gave up. Resorted back to Sidney Sheldon. We got down at 6:30.

Now, I give you a chance to escape my story, but hey I will take you around Madurai here (with snaps): The familiar places of madurai and the marriage.

Sony Ericsson took revenge on me again. Battery was again low. It could get switched off any moment. My energy battery was also very low that I could hardly walk. My legs were paining as never before. I dragged myself to enquiry, and yes! Status of my reservation improved from RAC/1 and got confirmed. The coach was S10 seat number 64. I thought I could finish off Sidney Sheldon. I tried but I was too tired to concentrate on pages. The train came; I was the first to get into S10. 64 was side upper. I was disappointed. But that’s ok if I get some sleep. I slept immediately. I don’t remember whether I got up myself or the TTR woke me up. I showed him the ticket. He handed it back. And immediately I was doing my duty with all respect – Got up only at 8’o clock at chengalpet. Life will be back as usual in one more hour.

The familiar places of madurai and the marriage

Mai’s cousin had come to pick her up from station. I handed the gift to her and asked her to bring it to the marriage. My mobile battery was very low and it got switched off. I told mai that I will call her myself in the evening around 4’o clock. I was then thinking of ‘Prem Nivas’, the hotel in which my uncle had stayed once. I rang home from an STD booth, but nobody picked up. I went straight to ‘Prem Nivas’, but to my dismay the no rooms were available. I tried ‘College house’, but no luck again. I was stranded.

Just then I remembered Vairavan, who is still put up at madurai. I switched on my mobile, to exhaust the very little charge that would come back when we switch on. I got a piece of paper from the ‘College house’ receptionist and wrote down vairavan’s mobile number. Then I called him, from my mobile. I took almost 6-7 rings before he picked up.
Thank god that he did. The time was 6:40 and he had to leave to office at 7:30. I knew I could make it to Aparna towers before that. He promised to leave the keys with his house owner incase I missed him.

I went to periyar bus stand. The bridge that led to Arasaradi (the one in which satya did a stunt when we were studying) was in all ruins. It was being repaired.

Got into the bus ‘C2’ and reached Aparna towers. My instincts took me to vairavan’s room, which I had visited a year back. He left at 7:30 and I got myself dressed up at 8:30.

• First straight to periyar, buy a charger (the one which can be operated with battery instead of power), have breakfast at ‘Ganesh mess’. This I wanted to finish off before 9:15
• Visit college and say a ‘vanakkam’ to all IT dept staffs and visit Thirunagar (This could get over by 11:00)
• Go to ‘mappillai vinayagar’ (for those of you who don’t know or have forgotten, it is not a temple but a theatre) and watch any English movie. This will be over only be 2:00 or 2:30.
• Go to any browsing center and sit there till 4 and then leave to church for the marriage.
  
  This was my original plan.
  
  Periyar hasn’t changed much actually … Pazhamudhir sozhai still in business, British bakery was decorated for new year and Thanga regal maintains its reputation to show decent movies! But the sachin-baba poster near the bus stand is missing. I reached Ganesh Bhavan and had my breakfast. The dosa was not as tasty as I expected, but still far better than what we get here in Vasantha bhavan or Hot chips. The time was already 9:15 and I realized my plan was too tight that I had to skip something. I decided to skip browsing.
  
  I walked the entire town hall road looking for the charger, which I did not get. Then I tried Nethaji road, the road parallel to townhall road (the bus stand road). No luck there either. Few said I could get it in the Bazaar. I forgot the name, when I enquired they said – ‘Meenakshi bazaar’. How could I ever forget the names. It is just 1 and half years since I have left madurai. It was far to walk and I took an auto. I got down there only to find people who does not even know that you have a charger that runs on battery. Instead of wasting my visit to the bazaar, I bought few DVD’s – 5 in 1 Arnold movies, The terminator series and 3 in 1 Jim carry movies.
  
  I could not imagine my day without mobile. I kept walking, now beside the bridge and reached the road near the Archie’s. There were few mobile shops there. In one shop (Madurai mobiles) he understood what I wanted and that gave me hope. He then said he actually has the charger I was looking. I was feeling ecstatic. He asked me the model. He searched and came up with Panasonic, Nokia, Motorola … but no Sony ericsson. Aiyo, seriyana kaduppu. I then got a regular charger that runs on power. But was wondering where to charge my mobile. I was thinking of a browsing center. But going there so soon would spoil my other plans. Took a bus from there to periyar.
  
  Got on to a bus to Tirupparangundram police station. The route was all-familiar (Pazhanganatham, pasumalai … ). After around 20 minutes, when I was looking at Aarthy (the drive-in) I felt the double-jerk (the speed breakers at the railway crossing) and I was at the college. I took ‘lift’ to reach the inside of the college. Went straight to IT department. The HOD had changed. I met the new HOD, got permission from him to visit the staff room. Met Emil sir first. He recognized me immediately. Then had a chat with him for about 5 minutes and went to staff room along with him. Found a plug there to charge my useless mobile phone. I put it in silent profile and left to see other staffs. I wished Muthuramalingam sir in advance for his marriage. Met venkatalakshmi mam and all others in the department. Everybody seemed to be happy to speak with an old student, especially venkatalakshmi mam with whom I spent chatting for about 20 minutes. I was there in the college for about 1 and half hours from about 11:00 to 12:30 and then started from there. But the best outcome of my visit was that my mobile was now up and running!
  
  I got a lift while coming. There was nobody while returning. I had to walk. But I got a chance to help myself with paneer soda at ‘Akka kadai’. It is still run by akka. I walked till bus stand and was waiting for Thirunagar bus. None came my way till 1:00. Then a fellow came by bike from inside the college and was about to turn left. ‘He should definitely be going to Thirungar’ My conscious told me. The usual hitch and I got a lift. I was right. Ganesh, 3rd year Computer science was infact going to Thirunagar(I actually don’t know him, that’s how he introduced to me while dropping me). He asked ‘Which year?’ I told him ‘6th year’. He was puzzled and before he would ask again I said ‘Alumni’. The reply was, ‘Oh!’.
  
  Thirungar is also still the same. Devi kalaivani is still in business, even though it lies out of the city. Impala hotel has not removed one single advertisement posters. But third stop looked a bit different. Looks like there will be road now. (But wont they think of putting those electric posts on the side of the road)
  
  

I bought a battery pair for the camera that I had borrowed from my uncle. I loaded it and went straight to take a snap of that demolished house, in which we took shelter for 2 years. I was getting prepared for a ‘before-after’ photo of our house to put right below this paragraph here. But I was shocked to see the house intact. In fact, looked better after a whitewash and new paint. How could that be possible? I was expecting debris. But heard from ‘Iyer Mama’ who provided us food that nobody has occupied since we left. Also heard that the house owner was reluctant to give the house for students. Consolation at last. We ‘Barbarians’ have saved our reputation.

By now, I had prepared my mind to skip browsing. I called mai. No she called me. No I don’t remember. I told her my plans to watch a movie and we decided to meet at the church by 4:30. Akila was also coming and we knew only we three were attending the marriage. It was 1:30 and 3 more hours to go. I took a bus from Thirunagar to pazhanganatham. From there I took a share auto to Kalavasal (I forgot the name of this place. I asked the name of this place to one fellow in the bus. 3 people replied and 5 advised me how to get there. That is madurai!).

It was 1:45 and the tickets were distributed only at 2:00. I survived the next 6 hours on Bourbon biscuits which I had from a bakery there. It was ‘Myth’ the mallika sherawat-Jackie chan movie in Manikka vinayagar and ‘6’ in Mappillai vinayagar. I took ticket for ‘6’ and the movie started at 2:25 sharp. The movie got reduced to ‘3’ instead of ‘6’, that I left the theater immediately after the interval.

People misunderstood ‘Karimedu’ for ‘Narimedu’ and misguided me from one bus stop to another. I got fed up, went near Solamalai theater and got a bus to periyar. Caught a straight bus to the OCPM stop at Narimedu.

The marriage:

Mai and akila arrived and they were late to read my message that said: “Innum 5 mins dhaan, illana 2 kola”. Fortunately they arrived just in time to stay alive. You do lose temper if you roam all over a city without knowing how to pass the time.

The marriage ceremony was gorgeous. The church was very neat and immediately on arrival I understood why my ever-special friend was reluctant in calling everybody for the function – The gathering was rather small than I expected.

The marriage ceremony began and I had more than one failure attempts at taking a good snap of the couple. Seemed like everything was over in a jiffy, but for the fathers who will never stop speaking. Why would one speak of ‘divorce’ in a marriage ceremony? I felt that odd, but the ‘congregation’ showed no reaction. Except for that, the couple looked great together. A wonderful event.

We left the church and arrived at P.T.Rajan mandram, by walk. Akila left early to catch the train at 8:45. I admired Arvind for the way he spoke on stage – very matured and composed without any signs of stage fear or any inclination to be over-smart. Mai and myself went on stage to congratulate the couple. Shirley tried introducing, but we had already got introduced to arvind ourselves! The couple had a small moment to laugh in an otherwise busy reception. The cameraman did not know to operate the digital camera that I gave him and he screwed up the snap. I am sorry; he did not take a snap. The crowd looked healthier at the hall than the church. Probably the church was bigger or many attended only the reception, which I am not sure. We had dinner; there were separate sections for vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

Caught a bus to the railway station from there. The only thing that I had missed was pazhamudhir solai. So went there. Got the bill for a lemon juice. Cant explain in words how good it was – a full mug of lemon juice when the legs are tired and mouth was dry. I could hear the muscles in my leg crying, but somehow managed to walk till the railway station.

TDS ... Tedious

TDS (Tax deducted at source) rhymes with TEDIOUS; Coincidental? May be, but truly it is tedious.

Salary is supposed to be Salary rite? But it actually is not. Basic salary, Gross salary, Net salary ... ooops, i forgot the allowances HRA, Medical allowance, travel allowance, "other special allowance" and other terms that you might have never heard of could come and suck out your salary and WYSINWYG (What you see is not what you get). You never know how money comes in and goes out. Which allowances you are eligible to avail completely or partly or not at all; you never know. Your joining letter would show you a salary which will make you feel proud. But what you get ... ok let me not describe it. Want to hear a few other terms? Here it goes ... PF (Provident fund), Professional tax (One more tax!), Investments (declarations and actuals!).... all sorts of complex terms and finally .... I dont get my full salary.

And Tax ... out of my income a part goes to the government. I hope i understand it is my duty to pay tax. But hey you are taking out my money( I am speaking about TDS)... let me atleast understand how and how much of it is gone. Things are rather too complex with this system ...

I WANT MY FULL SALARYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!