The Wait is over.

Finally, I managed to watch Sivaji at Satyam Theatres after a long wait. Like usual Rajini movie's, Sivaji is a total time pass with weak story line but unlike others movies, Rajini is made to display his acting skills, though in parts.

First half was supposed to be a comedy with Vivek calling the shots more than Rajini but felt it was quite dragging and Vivek does not seem to have trick rolled over his sleeves. Second half is a refresher and made completely for Rajini fans. It was on the shades of Badsha (famous Rajini movie in early 1990's). Few frames that i feel notable about the movie

1) Introduction of Rajini. He looks really young though appears jaded for rest of the movie

2) Rajini's looks as an European in style song. Definitely interesting

3) Rajini imitation of Sivaji, MGR and Kamalhassan.

4) Style song in second half.

5) Rajini as "Mottai Boss" for last few mins. Rajini rocks here. Fantastic look. Reminiscence of Alex Pandian role from one of his old movies

Definitely worth watching another time.

Blame the job market.

I happen to meet an young college guy during one of the runs. Was trying to break ice and getting to know more about him. He introduced himself, graduating from a decent college in Chennai, Bacheloring in Electrical and Electronics. Got myself introduced, He knowing me working in software for about 7 yrs now, immediately asked "Every one these days work in software, What is this software all about ?". I was awestruck by his question as +2 students these days have fair idea about software. Anyway, was trying to explain though not convincing. He immediately announced " got an offer from TCS with 3.2 lakhs per annum". I was dumbstruck.

Whom to blame ?. The org that offered him or this employee guy. No but the job market in India

Incredible Catch

Light moments

-------------

More than 1 mouse is mice
More than 1 spouse is spice

Network Worms Idea Registered on to U.S Patent Office

One of our ideas (Myself and Balaji Venkat) on "Identification of Networks Worms" has been registered on to U.S Patent office. This idea was conceived some time late 2004 and finally filed in to US patent office only couple of weeks back. Checkout this URL

http://www.freshpatents.com/Mechanism-to-correlate-the-presence-of-worms-in-a-network-dt20070426ptan20070094730.php

We still have couple more to be registered either at US patent office or India patent office. Need to wait and watch as the recent patent laws are not clear yet.

Off late have been unlucky in patent front. Lot of ideas which we feel is novel, has strong business value and well researched solution are getting dis-approved. Need to break this jinx sooner.

100+

This is neither about 100+ energy drink nor about Tendulkar scoring century against South Africa in the recent one day series but about 100+ hits on my blog barely 20 days after i started blogging. Feels nice to score a century at least here. Must admit, I would have been one of the larger contributors to these 100 hits. I believe, it's typical of any blogger, as one often checks for correction, improvements and importantly comments.

Though the idea of blogging has been lingering for sometime, it kicked off only after fellow runner’s blogging consistently. It definitely has lot of advantages. Junta get to know what i do or think these days though only few leave a comment. I have observed that friends far away from India, who chat or talk once in a fortnight/monthly now have better topics to discuss than usual monotonous stuffs like "how are you ", "what did you do " blah blah. Definitely i would encourage you to blog, if you already don't blog.

At least visit my blog often say 4-5 times a day even if you don't read them. This would increase hit count on my blog. Here is the deal, would do the same for your blog :-)

Singapore Marathon: A definite NO this year

Running a marathon away from India feels great when flight rates are cheaper, the scenic beauty during the run and the aura built around the marathon itself (like Boston or New York marathon). This is what Singapore Marathon is all about, probably the best in this sub-continent. For Chennai runners, there is an added package. Most bachelors are planning to do a Thailand. Given all these particularly Thailand and recent high after 30 * 30 ECR run, Yes it is tempting to do a Singapore Marathon.

This is scheduled on December 2nd and the registration is already open. Early registration works out cheaper and few of fellow runners have already registered. Chennai Runners targets to field atleast 10 for the run. Though would be great to participate, i am not prepared yet to party at 42.9 KMs. Possibly need to do couple of half before a full. Running a full is all about endurance, stamina, hard-work, planning and mental toughness. It requires good amount of preparation, looks like a far away dream at this point. Would possibly think about it next year (2007) but a definite NO this year. All is not lost, Bangalore is scheduled sometime in October and Chennai in December. Planning to do an half in these events.

30 * 30: ECR Run

Though, lot have been shared and written about the 30 * 30 ECR run, these snaps are flicked from Rams and KKs blog for my archive.

I swear, i am running and NOT posing for a snap

Team listening to instructions from Ram before the run

Photo time before the run

Big thanks to Satish, Abhinav and Satish for their help.

Fabulous team that completed

Chennai and Rain.

Can you believe, I am talking about rains in Chennai during Dr. Karunanidhi's regime? Yes, Chennai has been receiving consistent showers for sometime now. These rains would have definitely made Jayalalitha to loose sleep over. The normal feeling "It does not rain in Karunanidhi's regime" is no more a favourable factor for Jayalalitha anymore.

Chennai and Rains are no longer exclusive as it sounds to be, infact they go hand in hand like Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. The day usually starts with sun beating down heavily quite early in the morning and reaching its peak in the afternoon but the scenario is completely different in the evening and night. It rains like cats and dogs leaving the roads inundated with water. The traffic is almost standstill and looks like the junta is not to prepared to these rains. Should we get prepared for such rains year on year?

Normally, Chennai gets its share from low pressure built across Bay of Bengal belt. These recent ones are more of a monsoon rains. This unusual change is something for meteorological department to answer. I have been observing these changes in weather conditions for past few years especially after Tsunami that hit Indian sub continent in December 2004. Things are different after Tsunami. There is no consistent trend but Chennai gets its share of required rain for its ever growing population somehow. It's become normal to attribute every change to "Global Warming", Can this change attributed to "Global Warming" as well?

If you start getting up early than usual time from tomorrow, would be attributed to "Global Warming" but not your effort!!

Nice add for promotion of Eye donation

Jokes

Long run wrapped with long chat with Dr. Kannan Pugazhendi

It was good statisfying run this Sunday, covered 17Kms in 2hrs and 30 mins. I did not plan anything in advance as planning never works in my case, wanted to work it out at every instant on the run. Made sure to keep applying myself on the tough stretchs like one starting from IIT to Adyar gate, another from lattic bridge to Velankanni chruch and concentrate hard on last few KMs.

Got up at 4:15 A.M. drank half cup coffee, immediately off to YMCA to join the group. My mom got up along with me for this half cup coffee. Normally, I don't allow her to wakeup at such crazy timings but did not stop her from doing this time. Half cup coffee refreshed me much quicker than expected.

We started this run around 5:10 AM starting from YMCA along Chamiers road, Greenways road, Lattic bridge, Besant Avenue, Besant nagar beach, Velannkani Church, Straight to Tidal park road, Madhyakailash, IIT, Annauniversity, Coturpurram and back to YMCA. In all it is bit more than 17KMs. After the run we had long chat with Dr.Kannan Pugazhendi. He was the Indian team physio & sports medicine doctor during tour of West Indies in 1976 and the Indian Hockey team to Atlanta, he gave insight on Preparation for a marathon, while running and recovery. He stressed on nitty-gritty details that we generally miss could make a difference to long distance running. Dr. Kannan is planning to write forth-nightly articles on general fitness and long distance running on "The Hindu" starting next month. The whole stuff got over at 10 AM.

The best part was reserved after i came back home. My breakfast was ready. Ate Sambar Rice, Rasam Rice and Curd Rice. Ending up with an ice-cream. Hit the bed around 12:00 and got up around 4:00 PM. Fantastic day indeed!!

Keshav's Corner

Courtesy "The Hindu": Dated 9th July 2007

Is Keshav next R.K. Laxman ?.

Curtain coming down for Airtel Super Singer Junior.

All good things should come down to an end. So too Airtel Super Singer Junior, one of the best concept visualized by Vijay TV. The super singer is a contest for young singers possibly from the age of 8 to 15. This contest started abt 6 months back, the organizers made sure to reach most of the young singers from all over Tamil Nadu and attempt to select the best singer.

I am dumbstruck by the pool of young talents available, who sing songs effortlessly from the era of our great grand fathers. Specially, I enjoyed the gamut of songs sung like Classical, Semi-Classical, Fast beat, Western, Melody, Village tunes etc. I was overjoyed when one of the contestants sung "Oru naal poduma..." originally sung by Bala Murali Krishna from film Navarathri starring "Sivaji Ganesan" with panache.

In the process, Final four were selected. Saicharan, Krishnamurthy, Aparna and Vignesh. Each one has unique strength. Krishnamurthy's strength is his rendition of words and concentration, Vignesh has strong carnatic background, Saicharan and Aparna have great voices to back them. These kids, I believe should have learnt abt 100 songs in 6 months from past era apart from Illayraja and A.R. Rahman times, a monumental effort indeed!!. If they concentrate and work hard, i am sure these kids have great future and go places.

I did not like the media attention and hype these kids got, Probably they are too young to handle this attention and adulation. It also creates un-necessary pressure on other participants and kids. It is just another competition, The parents need to understand this.

Paintings of young artist

These are few paintings of my friend's wife. I believe, it takes as long as 20 days get one painting ready. Though, the market prices for these are around Rs 1500 to Rs 2000. Unlike other professions, It takes long time for these budding artists to make a mark and earn a decent living.

Sivaji: THE BOSS of Indian Movies

Sivaji is rocking. It has opened in 650 theatres across India and doing well in North India as well. The collection are

India - Rs: 95 crores
Malaysia - Rs: 7.8 crores
US - Rs: 4.5 crores
UK - Rs: 2.78 crores

These figures are just after 3 weeks of it's opening and does not include collections from Australia, Singapore, Srilanka, Japan etc.

"Peraa sunna chumma atheruthu illa"

I feel sorry for those who did not like Sivaji, they have not developed a taste to watch Rajinikanth's movie. Most of his movies are purely magic and NO logic.!!

The sad part is, i am yet to watch this movie :-(

Source: http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/downsouth/tamil/20070704-0.html

Keshav's Cartoon on "The Hindu"

Keshav's cartoon on "The Hindu" dated July 5th 2007.

Run on the cards.

It's a busy fortnight for Chennai Runners. Couple of BIG runs are lined-up starting Tuesday July 3rd.

July 03 (Tuesday): 5KMs interval run
July 04 (Wednesday): 5KMs easy run
July 05 (Thursday): 11KMs run
July 06 (Friday): Possibly a 5KMs run easy run
July 07 (Saturday): Off
July 08 (Sunday): 25KMs

Aha, if someone does all the runs, would have covered 51KMs. A cracker of an experience. Would be happy if i can cover 35KMs.

A repeat of same scheduled is followed next week, finally wrapped with 30KMs run on ECR July 15th (Sunday). I am looking for this ECR run. Junta has already tried it. The route is from Toll booth to Mahabs making it around 30KMs. It's scenic route with beach on long side, trees around, less traffic. The plan is to start the run at 4:30 AM, a good opportunity for runners like me to stretch beyond the limits, say to 15-20KMs. Finally take a bus/auto to Mahabs.

MOMs Soup: It's different

I plan to write about small eat-outs in Chennai that i think is good, tasty and worth trying. For people who know me well, yes these eat-outs are inexpensive. First in the list is MOMs Soup.

MOMs Soup is a little soup shop in West Mambalam on the side lines of Station Road. The road that leads to Railway Station "Mambalam". Soups served here is hot, tasty, healthy and different to all soup one would have tasted. There is a bit of variety here. On all days, this soup would serve Tomato, Vegetable, American Corn and one of
"Manathakali"/"Kivanalli"/"Thuthuvalli" etc. The cost varies from Rs 5 to Rs 7 with a splash of corn. Imagine having a serving when it rains in Chennai. Believe me it rains often these days.

If you are around Ayodhaya mandapam ask for station road. Would find this shop opposite to Arun Ice-creams. There is couple of soups shop. One is MOMs and other is Mummys. The latter I believe is bad.

Jokes

Though these jokes are on Sardars, no offence on particular community is intended. Jokes are Jokes.

1 - Interviewer: what is your birth date?
Sardar: 13th October
Which year?
Sardar : Oye ullu ke pathe _ _ _ EVERY YEAR

2 - Teacher to Sardar: Write your best friend's name in English.
Sardar wrote: ' Beautiful Red Underwear'
Teacher: What?
Sardar: His name is Sundar Lal Sheddy

3 - Manager asked to sardar at an interview
Can you spell a word that has more than 100 letters in it?
Sardar replyed: -P-O-S-T-B-O-X.

4 - After returning back from a foreign trip, sardar asked his wife,
Do I look like a foreigner?
Wife: No! Why?
Sardar: In London a lady asked me Are you a foreigner?

5 - One tourist from U.S.A . asked to Sardar: Any great man born in this village???
Sardar: no sir, only small Babies!!!

6 - Lecturer: write a note on Gandhi Jayanthi
So Sardar writes, "Gandi was a great man, but I don't know who is jayanthi.

7 - Sardar was doing experiment with cockroach, first he cut it's one leg and told
WALK. WALK. Cockroach walked. Then he cut it's second leg and told the same. Cockroach walked. Then cut the third leg and did the same. At last he cut it's fourth leg and ordered it walk! But cockroach didn't walked. Suddenly sardar said loudly, " I found it. If we cut cockroach's four legs, it becomes deaf.

8 - When sardar was traveling with his wife in an auto, the driver adjusted mirror. Sardar shouted, " You are trying to see my wife? Sit back. I will drive.

Parthasarathy Temple's Chariot

I was travelling thro' Triplicane towards Ratna Cafe. Enroute, observed Parthasarathy Temple's chariot decorated for Bramha Maha Utsav. The giant chariot looked quite attractive. Here are few pictures