Christmas - In TN style!

Hi all! I am a South Indian, and proud to be one!

This weekend was a bit different for me. After a long time, I went to a temple - not to pray but for a mridangam performance by my friend who is in 11th standard. It was held in Ayyapan temple (Anna Nagar - everyone knows this place). I went with my mom.Got to say, I like Ayyapan temple and Shiva temple because they give me this விபூதி and I always eat it - it tastes good! :) The performance started at 8.00 PM

A 7th standard girl sang. A 6th standard guy (who looked so cute and funny) played the violin and my friend handled the mridangam. In the first five min, I thought 'What the hell am I doing here? I don't even know classical music!' But then I thought, alright I just came for a different experience in this monotonous vacation.

After 20 minutes (it was a 45 min performance), however, I started liking it (one big reason - I did not understand) bcz the rhythms went inside me and I was putting தாளம் for the mridangam (other instruments of course did not reach me at all). After seeing so many episodes of Airtel Super Singer in Vijay TV, I was not absolute zero in music (but relative zero!). Till the end, I enjoyed like I knew music A to Z!That's the magic classical music creates - the things which we see on TV are nothing. Live performance is a different story altogether!

Christmas day - my best friend from school (Bharathi MHSS, Coimbatore) came to my house and the 6 hours he spent were one of my happiest times in Chennai I can ever imagine! (I am not going to write about that, tat's only for us)

After he left at about 6 PM and I started for the next kutcheri by the same mridangam specialist, this time in Cine Association hall, near HCL building (and Kamala theatre) in Vadapalani. One thing I heard was that all the performers never did any rehearsal, they just came and played and sang. Also, they don't even know whom they are performing with. They said this was the work of a professional! I have NO idea how they perform with sync without even knowing what song or whom they are performing with! May be, they know the தாளம் and ராகம். But still, to musical retards like me, it sounded impossibly interesting!

When my friend went to perform, the 'ganjira' was handled by a 23 year old guy (who they said could play 23 instruments, when I counted the names of instruments I knew!), violin was played by a girl who looked about 22 (no she was not that beautiful!) and 3 female singers one after the other. The performance lasted for one and a half hours! In the previous one, my friend was the eldest, now the youngest! This time, it was funny because of the 'understanding' between my friend and the 23 specialist!

The first female was from Bangalore and never knew tamil and it was obvious from the fact that she did not sing with 'sruthi' (even I could find that, so u can imagine how bad it was!). Also before she went on stage, she fixed a digicam with a tripod just below the stage (this was too much actually!) and I guessed she lacked substance. It was not a horrible performance, but still bad by music season standards! Now came the funny part. The ganjira and mridangam got a wonderful chemistry going (the 2 guys young and old) - they could not help smiling to themselves. They split their job wonderfully that at one instant, only one was playing... the rendition never really needed both! To watch all this (they had just eye contact going) from the audience side was simply amazing (my friend's parents were telling me what was going on)... The fact that she had written the 'swaraas' in paper and looking at them and singing did not help much. There was not much breathe control!

The next singer was much better than the first... definitely! At least, there was better 'sruthi' this time and our friends responded with their instruments more prudently!

The third singer was from our national poet's family. Bharathiyaar's grand-daughter had come (she looked about 80). Her son also had come (he looked about 60). His granddaughter was the singer (she looked about 18). She had lovely tamil accent of course. But the singing was pretty ordinary. Her stress on the accent (which was more than necessary) meant that she could not control her voice for long. Also, the transition from one song to another (the in-between) times were not good. She sang about 6 songs (given the influence) and we could enjoy only one of them. All in all, it was a great performance... by the mridangam and ganjira!

This is one Christmas I cannot forget, because it was so different from watching pointless programs on TV which they call special programs! I celebrated in pure tamilian style! :)

Happy New Year to all! :)
ak

SMS post of the week

"Women fall in love by what they hear.

Men fall in love by what they see...

That's why most women put make-up and men lie!"

Have a great life!
ak

The funniest forward email I have ever received!

So many forwards we get... Not all are worth reading! But this is one mail I can remember for a long time!
Enjoy!

"

Interviewer: Tell me about yourself.
Candidate: I am Rameshwar Kulkarni. I did my Tele Communication
engineering from BabanRao Dhole-Patil Institute of Technology.

Interviewer: BabanRao Dhole-Patil Institute of Technology? I had
never heard of this college before!
Candidate: Great! Even I had not heard of it before getting an
admission into it.
What happened is - due to cricket world cup I scored badly! in
12th.I was getting a paid seat in a good college.
But my father said (I prefer to call him 'baap') - "I can not
invest so much of money". (The baap actually said - "I
will never waste so much of money on you"). So I had to join this
college. Frankly speaking this name - BabanRao Dhole-Patil, can at the most be
related to a Shetakari Mahavidyalaya.

Interviewer: ok, ok. It seems you have taken 6 years to complete
your engineering.
Candidate : Actually I tried my best to finish it in 4 years. But
you know, these cricket matches and football
world cup, and tennis tournaments. It is difficult to concentrate.
So I flunked in 2nd and 3rd year. So in all I took
4 + 2 = 7 years.

Interviewer: But 4+2 is 6.
Candidate: Oh, is it? You know I always had KT in maths. But I
will try to keep this in mind. 4+2 is 6, good,
thanks. These cricket matches really affect exams a lot. I think
they should ban it.

Interviewer : Good to know that you want cricket matches to be
banned.
Candidate : No, no... I am talking about Exams!!

Interviewer: Ok, What is your biggest achievement in life?
Candidate : Obviously, completing my Engineering. My mom never
thought I would complete it. In fact, when I
flunked in 3rd year, she was looking for a job for me in BEST (Bus
corporation in Maharashtra ) through some relative.

Interviewer : Do you have any plans of higher study?
Candidate: he he he.. Are you kidding? Completing 'lower'
education itself was so much of pain!!

Interviewer : Let's talk about technical stuff. On which platforms
have you worked?
Candidate : Well, I work at SEEPZ, so you can say Andheri is my
current platform. Earlier I was at Vashi center. So Vashi was my platform then. As you can see I have
experience of different platforms! (Vashi and Andheri are the places in Mumbai)

Interviewer : And which languages have you used?
Candidate : Marathi, Hindi, English. By the way, I can keep quiet
in German, French, Russian and many other languages.

Interviewer: Why VC is better than VB?
Candidate : It is a common sense - C comes after B. So VC is a
higher version than VB. I heard very soon they
are coming up with a new language VD!

Interviewer: Do you know anything about Assembly Language?
Candidate: Well, I have not heard of it. But I guess, this is the
language our ministers and MPs use in assembly.

Interviewer : What is your general project experience?
Candidate : My general experience about projects is - most of the
times they are in pipeline!

Interviewer: Can you tell me about your current job?
Candidate: Sure, Currently I am working for Bata InfoTech ltd.
Since joining BIL, I am on Bench. Before joining
BIL, I used to think that Bench was another software like Windows.

Interviewer : Do you have any project management experience?
Candidate: No, but I guess it shouldn't be difficult. I know
Word and Excel. I can talk a lot. I know how to
dial for International phone call and use speaker facility. And
very important - I know few words like -
'Showstoppers ' , 'hotfixes',
'SEI-CMM','quality','versioncontrol','deadlines' , 'Customer
Satisfaction' etc. Also I can blame others for my mistakes!

Interviewer: What are your expectations from our company?
Candidate : Not much.
1. I should at least get 40,000 in hand..
2. I would like to work on a live EJB project. But it should not
have deadlines. I personally feel that pressure affects natural talent.
3. I believe in flexi-timings.
4. Dress code is against basic freedom, so I would like to wear
t-shirt and jeans.
5. We must have sat-sun off. I will suggest Wednesday off also, so
as to avoid breakdown due to overwork.
6. I would like to go abroad 3 times a year on short term
preferably 1-2 months) assignments. Personally I prefer
US, Australia and Europe . But considering the fact that there is Olympics coming up in
China in the current year, I don't mind
going there in that period. As you can see I am modest and don't
have many expectations. So can I assume my selection?

Interviewer: he he he ha ha ha. Thanks for your interest in our
organization. In fact I was never entertained so much before. Welcome to INFOSYS.

The fellow was appointed in a newly created section 'Stress Management' in the HRD of Infosys

"

சில நல்ல ஈமெயில்களும் வருகின்றன!
மீண்டும் சந்திப்போம்! :)

Chatting adventures! :)

Once again, I promise an interesting read... This time, with a little difference! :)

"Hi! Hw r u :) ?"

1 "I am gud! Thanks!"

If u get this answer, probably you are talking to a person from England!

2 "ya... I am fine... Howz u?"

If this is the answer, u r probably talking to a girl!

3 "hi machan!" (definitely a tamil friend!)

4 "hi dude... am fine!" (tamil peter or hindi friend)

5 "hi macha" (if there's no 'a', it's a telugu boy!)

Have u ever thought how different people are? Talking about difference, this funny incident comes to my mind... It was the first semester in College and I had gone to my hometown for a weekend and I wanted to know if the following Monday was a working day (it was a continuous holiday for about 4 days). So I texted to about twenty numbers this question. "Monday is a working day???" and look at the replies...

"I dono!" (obvious)

"Hey I was also thinking about asking. If u knw tell me!" (can do better!)

"Yeah I think..." (padips)

"Hey man! How r u? I am in my aunt's place! I am not sure if it's working. Even f t is, I won't be coming! Are u going?" (U asshole!!! LMAO! Wat an answer!)

"No battery, will text u latr!" (aarghhhhhh!)

"Yes. Are u coming tomorrow? Mostly half the class ll be absent..." (nice motivation!)

"Some ppl r saying it's there; some are saying leave... Can we bunk?" (i like the last option, but it doesn't solve the purpose either!)

"Should we go???" (OMG!)

"I am not coming tomorrow!" (this guy is sure of his future!)

Unbelievable isn't it? It would have been better if I had not asked them at all... Previously I had only two options - to come back to Chennai or stay there! Now, I have about eight! From this day on, I really tried to avoid group messages! Did u guess u had so many options??? (relax!!!)

p.s. I switched off my mobile to avoid more confusions, I had already  had enough!

Some ppl have no idea how to start a conversation: "sup?" (what the hell this is supposed to mean? As a tamilian, I needed time to come into shape with this thing!)

How many times u felt it easy to sign out saying "Bye! Am off!"??? it drags on and on and on... like an evil war! Seriously, chatting online is a tough task!

1 -good night

2 - good night ... sd...

1 - sd :D (ya man! don't put that smiley!!!)

2 - :D

1 - wait a min... blah blah blah...

2 - yeah sure... am sleepy...

1 - ok gn...

2 - night!

1 - :) :)

"sounds familiar??? :) "

To all tamilians out there, how many ppl start a conversation by "vanakam ..."? :)

          Some times, I wonder what ppl have in their mind. They say 'brb' (wonder who invented this) and go off. How long is that 'back' valid? Should I wait for eternity???

And when they come back, they say "I am back!!! :) :) :) " I always think "SO???" (U r supposed to be here long back!!!) This is especially wonderful when u r having a conference! Some person suddenly goes out and comes screaming back "I AM BAAACCKKKK!" (come on ... there are 3 ppl waiting here!!! Don't u have any sense???)

During our exam times, we always get a forward message saying "send this to ten ppl else u fail in the exam" Alright, now if I don't send it, then THAT'S ONE MORE THING I STINK AT! RIGHT??? What am I supposed to do???

I have seen some ppl who want to discuss something in an SMS conversation... they always start with 'hi'! (I have done it too) Now... are we supposed to reply? I sometimes wonder, should we reply? Is he / she expecting us to reply? Or may be this is just because they r feeling bored? Or is it something important? Should we call him / her up??? Sometimes I would even think if they want to make fun of us:) Why can't they just send "Hey I need to talk. Do reply!!!" Simple, isn't it???

Some ppl usually send "Good night" as an SMS to so many ppl! Now if u really want to make a person feel important, send "Good night Arun" (or what ever name)! The individual will feel happy and also reply back. Also it gives a feeling that u mean something to someone and the friendship grows! Think!!!

"Chatting for chatting's sake!" This is today's world! Chat with purpose friends! After all, all are human beings!

Communication was developed to bring people closer; but now, people are moving far away from each other - the 'surprise' element which existed previously in meeting each other is missing nowadays due to the 'aggressive' invasion of the internet and SMS! People skills and manners are losing their value...

Probably it's high time to start considering writing atleast one hand-written letter to our best friend! Nothing wrong in it! (May be, I will do one pretty soon!) Welcome to Science age!

For the first time in my blog, I am leaving the readers to think something!

Keep smiling :)

ak :)

Teachers rock... forever! PART 2

Well well... I could not control part 2 for long! U all know what's it all about by this time, if u don't know, see my previous post :D
Back to the historic sayings by our gurus!
"I talk you talk why he middle middle talk" lol ...that was told by a PET master i forgot his name though...
"Y (he could never sound why!) showing teeth boy"
"2-3 min what side by side what go through"
"UNTAMED ANIMAL" (some chemistry teacher used to call at least 1 student every morning)
"U will get only koola" (God knows what this means!)
"சூடு பட்ட பூனை" :)
"Only one boy talking.. i know the boy.. i know his name"(actually he never knows the culprit)
"Star mark question maa" (it never comes!)
"I will kill u what? That what?" (This is English!)
Ultimate dialog my the most annoying maths teacher: "NOW 5 MARK IN UR POCKET" (wat the hell!)
"Catch my point!"
No one can ever forget this one -"Draw four side margin" (I understand how u feel!)
"பல்ல ஒடச்சி புடுவேன் பாத்துக்க!"
"ya...pa.......why talking! all weak buffaloes......"
"Cheating dogs.. One cheating dog talks another cheating dog talks!"
By a PT sir: "I want that girl I do know the name..." (Don't misunderstand :D )
One of the most annoying dialogues ever - "All take page number 87 example 19 "
Yet another : "ye boi take ur book and read the question" (I don't know what pleasure they get by making us read from the book; I still don't know!)
"Ye buffalo i calling u only boi" (boi???)
"Eppa I am good snacku " (அவரு நல்ல பாம்பாம்!:) )
"Asoso kadavale...enna man...chaiye...nuyi nuyi nuyi sound putting..." (Tanglish!)
"I'm standing... Y u sitting... Stand boys... Respect teachers first! No sitting front of the teacher!"  (PT sirs rock!)
"யார் வீடு எளவு மாதிறி உக்காராதீங்க டா... இது உங்க வீடு எளவு!"
"Heavy rain buffalo standing" (this was his rainy season favourite - our maths sir, of course!)

"Without this question, no question paper; without question paper no exam" (what a sense of humour for our maths sir!)
"...U must come out with flying colours" (everyday in the morning prayer he says this in school!)
"Now sitting and all stand and standing and all sit" (Who the hell knows what it means!)
Maths sir specials:

• "Mix it , Grind it, all the questions to get centum"
• "Tomaaro லீவு ... I will give bulk of homework..."
• "Keep 10 marks in your pocket..."
• "ey ravi (some random student name)!!! failing in the exam, why laughing?"
• "ey bafaalo, why sleeping in the classu?"

p.s. Thanks to the board exams, we got a lot of funny moments! :)
"சும்மா வாய பாக்காத man! புக்க பாரு! definitely யு வில் fail!" (yeah u guessed it right, it's a female teacher saying this)
"Leader sir கொஞ்சம் board ah பாருங்க!" (to the poor guy who was the class leader!)
"என்ன யா  where studied 10th??? ஹா ஹா ஹா ஹா" (It's really a pity if u land in a new school for 11th standard!)
''What is your roll number pa?'' (In college, u r not called by your name! U r a number - just like the ppl in prison!)
"U stoo..pid fellow.! Don't have manners?!" (This is college... So, some 'bad' words like stupid exist! :) )
"Refer the book and write... This is the best book!" (It simply means that u have to read ur text; u don't have a choice even though there is a library!)

------------------------------------------------
As it has become traditional now, I would like to quote yet another 'achievement' - this time, by my 12th std classmates! (I was on OD as usual when this happened!) This is dedicated to all my fellow Velammalians!
                   It was the Computer Science hour and our HM was the teacher. Being HM, he always had some work in between and frequently goes to his cabin. One fine day, this historical incident happened - I guess in the history of my school, no one has ever done it (yeah, my school is like tat!)...
                   Four boys - Dhanam, Viji, Joseph and Ravi (some random names - I would call them 'heroes' from now on; last bench guys; almost no interest in studies) decided to drink in class (yeah DRINK). We have to praise these guys for their courage! Come on guys... U can! There was one hyper-nerd in the second bench. One of these guys asked him for chips since this nerd had it in his lunch box. The nerd had no clue since it was usual for us to munch something during class hours... (well, yeah - we are exceptions in Vel) So he gave the box to them having no idea what was going to happen! Now, I guess they had some stuff already to eat; also, the 'saraku' was ready! (It was in 7up and Sprite bottles so that no one could find out!) All set for action... The HM showed no signs of returning in the near future...
               Dhanam was a regular in this, others quite new... Viji was the ex-monitor by the way and all our teachers knew this of course; he was of course thrown out of the post due to obvious reasons:) They all 'did' their jobs and by the time they finished (they had less time and clearly no time to dilute much!), the HM had arrived. Being a new happening in the class, there was obvious unfamiliar fragrance in the air (boys are not too clever - they could not avoid it of course) and our sensitive HM had found out! He was the kind of person who never punishes students directly. So he went to call the PT sirs (ya, they have no job otherwise during class hours - this was their chance to show their heroism)...
              In the intermediate time, our heroes wanted to cover up their 'fault'. Our classroom was in the first floor and we could always reach a tree which was bent towards our class in the corridor. Our heroes went and started to consume the leaves so that there would be no smell from their mouth if at all the Correspondent asked them to 'blow' (ஊத சொல்லுவாங்க; அப்போ தப்பிக்க தான்!)... What an ingenious brain! (U idiots, can u brush after tat b4 they come???) Anyway, they ate natural food for the first time in their lives...

            The villains arrive... PT sir (to catch their prey), HM, and some other jobless ppl... They ask our heroes; (the poor nerd was also enquired because he supplied the 'sidedish'; with great difficulty he escaped) heroes refuse to consuming alcohol. But their teeth are green :) LMAO!!! (அகத்தின் அழகு முகத்தில் தெரியும்; வண்டவாளம் வாயில் தெரியும்!) They are taken to the correspondent's room to have some fun there. They arrive in his room and wait...
"For perhaps the second time in their lives, our heroes realize that time is precious!"
Again, our time-conscious heroes wipe off the 'greenery' on their teeth so that the villains won't be able to prove their wrong (genius brains... but anti-climax awaits...)! Correspondent arrives...
Corres: "Boys, ஏன் டா குடிச்சீங்க?"
Viji speaks on behalf of our heroes: "நாங்க தண்ணி அடிச்சதுக்கு என்ன ஆதா....... (proof)... Saying so, he falls on the floor... :)

May be, students rocked this time around! ;)
p.s. They were dismissed, but were re-called on the eve of board exams. They wrote their final exams and scored above 1000 out of 1200 :) !

Lesson to be learnt from this story:
"Drunkards score well"
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Hope u enjoyed it! Have a funny life! :)

Teachers rock... forever! PART 1

Teachers rock??? Yeah, if u don't know what I am talking about... look at these famous dialogues by teachers! They can be done only by teachers! :) lol... I am not adding the names of teachers - I don't want to get into trouble, but I am just posting their famous words! Both my school and college and other college teachers! Enjoy! Have a laugh!
p.s. Most of them are from my school :)
"Absentees stand up!" (r u insane???)
"You get the idea???" (yes sir, never!)
"காத்து புகாத இடத்துல கூட இந்த கைலாசம் புகுவான்!" (his name is kailaasam)
"You talking board reflecting; double sound hearing!"
In a big gathering of many B.Com Students in my school, our PT sir shouted "All students BE CALM" :) (oh yeah!)
"Looking like a buffalo; doing like a buffalo"
"சோ சோ சோ சோ சோ... கடவுளே..."
One of my favourites "Finger on your lips!"
 "Boys stand in the left; girls in the right; rest in the middle" (Rest???)
One of my maths teachers was so sincere... In the first day of school (re-opening day) she shouts "All of u submit ur maths homework!" :D
My Physics teacher : "If u boys keep talking in class, get out, else I am going out" (this is like an OFFER to us madam! Both ways, we win! In school though, they were proud to say this!)
Ultimate: "U three... Both of u get out!"
1 dialog heard in all schools "Form a line; stand in 2s!" (WTF???)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is one of my most funniest incidents ever in school... My maths teacher in 12th std was changed and one hell of a man came as a replacement. On one Friday, he gave 2 chapters to write at home as assignment (yeah, hometest - the term invented in Indian schools) and also, 3 separate 10 mark questions from some other chapter. Also, he mentioned that we had to 'put' a separate note for the home test!

           Well... I was new (I had been on a long OD (tournaments) as usual and I thought... "what the hell, all right, I will write everything in this new note and go". I did it!

   I went to the class room the next Monday and was waiting for my turn to submit. I went there and gave my note. That was barely my second week in school in 12th std!

Sir: "Where is your home work note?" (to know his name, contact me!)

ak: "It's in this note sir! I have written everything! (with a big smile of course, I was so proud of myself)

Sir: "I am asking where is your homework! not the assignment! Where are the 3 sums?"

ak: (thinking: wat the fuck does he want;... I could not help laughing MAO!) "Sir, everything is in this note!"

Sir: "சோறு திங்கரியா பீ திங்கரியா?"

It took me a few seconds to come back to reality... (No teacher has ever spoken to me like tat!)

ak: "Sir, what is the problem?"

Sir: " Do u want to argue with me? Don't u know home work and assignments are 2 diff things???"

I thought... Damn! IS IT??? What's the difference???  I waited there like a jackass, not knowing wat to do next! He screamed "Get out! Go to HM room! I am marking u absent!"

This made me really laugh... HM knows me very well and also, look at his pride! He wants to mark me absent! U idiot!!! I have OD for months! Anyway, I went to HM's room...

HM room: I just had to wait for a few minutes to meet him. He came and cordially enquired how my tournaments went. I said everything went fine. Then he came to the matter "Why r u here?" I said "Maths sir sent me here! :)" He knew that I would have done everything ... He asked me to confirm "Who is ur maths sir?" I mentioned his name...

               That's it! He could not control his laughter! He said, stay here for this hour. U can go the next hour (It was clear to me that the whole higher secondary dept was scared of him) But still, I thought... U r the HM, u must have some balls... Anyway, I waited in the air-conditioned room for some half-an-hour

SCENE 2

I went back to my classroom. I found out that it was Physics class. I asked "Excuse me... Can I get in miss?" (well, it's school and this is the tradition) She said "Come in..." (we know each other pretty well) I went inside and she interrupted "Wait a min... Who sent u out?" Oh shit... alright ... I had to say again "Maths sir!" "Name?" Barely I said the name... She screamed "Get out!!! Get permission from him and come inside!!!"

Dear CSE friends!!! This is a deadlock! Can u suggest me a way to get inside???

p.s. I put another OD for 2 months and when I came back, he was not in school and so I was able to continue my 12th standard!

--------------------------- THE END-------------------------------

Part 2 will come soon (any time I am in the mood for it)
Till then, enjoy life! :)

Kolkata :)

Kolkata ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolkata )- 'The City of Joy' or 'The Football City' as people call it, is one of the cities I have visited the most number of times; and I still find it TOUGH!

We arrived at the Howrah railway station recently and found the magnificent Howrah bridge to welcome us... fine! It provides a great view alright (compared to the Cooum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooum_River smell in Chennai, this is far better!) and I love it! But again, this city I feel is much worse than Chennai - I can assure you!

          First of all, the TRAFFIC - it's just horrible over there! Full of yellow colored taxis (ya, ambassadors!) that look like someone has done 'something' all over the city. And guys, traffic is supposed to move! Here, I don't think it happens ( above all, signals should be visible:) ). I have seen people eating lunch at signals (ya, tea & coffee also available) and I think it still happens! This city has a wonderful metro railway (ya, I am jealous that Chennai does not have one!) but I don't think it has done anything significant about the 'traffic on roads'! The railway station also looks like the biggest encroachment area in INDIA - people sleeping all over the station; dogs (animals in general)... it's just too much traffic inside the station too! The whole city itself looks too congested; it's too tough to manage! It's more or less like a big... well, fine, I am controlling myself! :)

        FOOD - When we say food in Kolkata, we always think about the mouth-watering rasogullas ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasagolla )...Yeah, they are simply out-of-the-world but again, that's the only thing that this place can boast off! As an outsider if u go to Kolkata, it's tough to find a decent place to eat. Once I was in a tournament just next to Eden Gardens and I could not find a place to eat proper vegetarian food (non-veg hotel veg also ok). So I called my friend in Kolkata and he said "Go to Park Street!" What??? Take a metro to eat??? Nice! This says it all...

        RAILWAYS - This is a nightmare if you are from South India! (This applies to all places in general above Andhra Pradesh!) If at all you are in Second Class (non AC) compartments, pray God! Yeah, people just get into the reserved compartments and sit wherever they want to! And mostly, they don't know Hindi. Even if they know, they pretend they don't know (it doesn't matter even if they know Hindi ; tat's a different thing!). You are in trouble that's all! Even if u show ur reserved ticket, it's more likely that u ll have to bear with them. U ll get a 'part' of ur seat! And mind u - the so-called TTE (Ticket Examiners!) are most likely to be absent most of the time... In the south, this never happens! And u r most likely to get a fine if u get into the reserved compartments! In the north, it's PEOPLE RULE! :) and I don't understand why we even reserve! Once it happened that, the people got into the reserved compartments and did not open the doors for us to get in! Damn! Come here and see how it is (in the South)! In the south Indian states, right from food to toilets to seats, everything is mostly fine! I think trains like TAMIL NADU EXPRESS never go to Kolkata. Even if they go, I don't think they ll understand! :)

"Discipline is learnt in school!" At least, common sense!

If u are a vegetarian, please specify 'NO FISH!' :) because fish is mostly vegetarian in most of the places here!

I have always enjoyed the metro rail journeys though (Prem???)! They are fun if u understand what I mean! :) U can find many good-looking girls inside metros! ;)

But the buses... oh my God! Jeez... I hope they know how buses look like - again, come to Chennai and have a look! Buses are supposed to have windows; they look somewhat rectangular in shape; some buses have Air Conditioners; place names mostly are written in English (at least hindi for that purpose); and there is a conductor (ya they have a driver who I am not sure has a license or not!) who gives tickets! Enough about the description! And bus stops are marked for the knowledge of the public! (U must go to Kolkata to understand what I am trying to say!!!) The buses are mostly loaded full, yeah FULL, u can hardly breathe in places like Esplanade... It can be one hell of a journey - u travel at ur own risk! And if u look at the tickets, u can have a great laugh (nowadays they have improved though - they look somewhat like tickets!); previously they would have tickets that looked like exam bit papers - u can hardly see a thing! The conductors and drivers mostly have no uniforms (I don't think they even have one!) Ah... Enough said! Go and see the rest for yourself! :) I hope u r not unfortunate enough to travel in a bus in Kolkata! One more thing - the buses (so-called!) do not really STOP! They just slow down! U have to make use of the 'opportunity'! Sometimes life is cruel :) Good luck!

If u roam across the city, u will most likely find people spitting in most of the places. And most of the places look aloof most of the times- I really wonder where all the people go, I think they are on the roads stuck in traffic! Fair enough! Too much smoking too! It's not that I have never seen these things before, but Kolkata looks too special for all these... not that I am against Kolkata - the city of JOY! But I got to say, samosas in some of the platform shops are really hot and good! ;)

Kolkata has a few 'good' things too - the beautiful and peaceful Salt Lake City, the fantastic Eden Gardens cricket stadium, Howrah bridge, the trams (ya they exist), the traditional Kali temple, the books fairs, Salt lake stadium...

It's a nice place to visit and leave! I would never stay there though for these reasons:

1. I am a Vegetarian

2. I use public transport

3. I want to live in a metropolitan 'CITY'

4. I am civilized, at least to some extent :)

p.s. These are just my views - It does not mean that I hate the people and the place. I have great friends in Kolkata and I like the people over there. This is just my 'account' of the place from a public viewpoint! :)

Until next time, have a great life! :)

Inter Universities 2010

SOUTH WEST

       This time, SRM chess team was much stronger than ever before. The old people - Prem, Aravind and myself were there. Vishnu, Shanmuganathan (jammu), Adhiban, Sethu and Shyam were the new people :) So, there was, as they say in cricket, 'problem of plenty', which is good in the context of the team. Adhiban was in China, playing Asian games and Sethu went to Poland for a closed round robin. So, Vishnu, Prem, Aravind, Shyam, Tr and I were the teammates for both South west and All India (yeah, we know we will qualify).

       I was the Captain again as usual... But I can tell u, I really enjoy this tag! :) As usual, the manager and coach tell me some stuff before the matches; board order discussions, it's tough but fun at the same time. This time, the event was held at Sathyabama University ( http://www.sathyabamauniversity.ac.in/ )... home ground, it was easy to go and come; anyway, I stayed there... just for the so-called 'team spirit!'

The only teams that could put up some resistance against us were Anna University, VTU (Visweswaraiah Technological University)- that's it! Madras University was more or less without its star players this time around since everyone had already passed out - they completed their degrees! :) So, all we had to do was put up a decent performance against these two teams. We drew with Anna ... The fact that Anna University players had exams during the event helped us - they could not perform much; I really felt bad for the team... (We would have won anyway - that's a different thing!) We won the tournament with a phenomenal 31 / 36 - a South West record... We were really happy about our performance. Everyone - the players, the officials and the University people!

What makes team SRM click? More than the strength of the team (which is obvious), the secret is simply the 'team spirit'. A fact worth mentioning is that, a few months ago in Haryana, I had a chance to read 'Time to Declare' - the autobiography of Michael Vaughan.His captaincy experiences really helped me handle our team this time around. On paper, our team is quite strong; but when it comes to team, it's a new team and I had to bring the people together. I am happy that I handled quite well. The board order discussions were much better this year than all the previous years; the players enjoyed playing more than the last two years; lastly, the communication was great within the team!

        Shanmuganathan did an excellent job - above all, he came to play just after recovering from Conjunctivitis; he uploaded photos in facebook almost on the same days and influenced the team to a great extent. Vishnu gave me valuable suggestions before every game. Shyam played all games - he and I have made a sort of record - We have played in the same team for 4 different teams - Velammal school, Chennai Juniors, Chennai UT Dallas match and now... SRM. Prem and Aravind really enjoyed - they travelled together every time... This way, every one felt important in the team and played their part! It was a great experience altogether for me! Lots of lessons learnt too!
Also, I had the chance to meet some old friends - H__ Modi, Shri__ Raj, Sudhar___ and so on! It was great from a social viewpoint too!

Once again, congrats team SRM! :)

ALL INDIA

       The All India was again held at the Magadh University in Bodh Gaya and I can tell u - it's not the place u would like to visit. The campus is simply horrible - tasteless food; poor accommodation, no entertainment and almost no Internet which meant that there is not much connection with the outer world. We have visited this place in 2008 , so we knew the place very well. Anyway, we had to go there and play again.

Shyam could not make it due to unavoidable reasons. However, Vishnu offered to play - which was a great decision. He had to leave on the night of 8th to the National Premiers in New Delhi. Somehow, he made it!

        So - Vishnu, TR, Prem, Aravind and I - this was the team for All India. VTU and Anna University could not make it to All India due to reasons known to no one (or rather , not worth mentioning here!). Osmania and SRM from South West; Delhi, Amritsar, Magadh (home team) and Muzaffarpur from the North east.6 teams, 5 rounds... It was a relatively easy draw for SRM this time and we were determined to win the title convincingly. Delhi was the team to beat. Unfortunately, we only drew with them - I lost to Hemant so at the end of round 2, Delhi and SRM were on 5.5/8. But deep down, I knew this was enough for us because Delhi did not have the 'depth' to blank their opponents 4-0 in the rest of the games. And guess what, that was exactly what happened. The last 3 rounds, SRM blanked Osmania, Magadh and Muzaffarpur 4-0 and finished with 17.5/20 while Delhi could not do the same. So, we won the title with relative ease. Also, all the five players except of course Shyam, won board prizes (if Shyam had come, we would have got only on 4 boards)!

        In the closing ceremony, they invited me to talk on stage. It was a sudden call, somehow I managed! :D I did not mess up, thank God!

        This time, we had a rest day and we managed to play two games of Cricket with Delhi and Osmania people; it was a great rest day! We also had time to visit the historic place of Buddha at Gaya. It was a great trip , ok, we managed to make it memorable!

This was our first title in All India and I am extremely happy about it! Congrats guys!

As they say, "SRM rocks!" - the team which always redefined team spirit! :)