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!)

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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! :)