Today, Rajyotsava day in bangalore. The day when the state was found.. Dont know much about its history. and i dont know more than this, just enjoying the day :-).
After playing good cricket in the morning we came home fully tired. I made pongal + daal for brunch. Dont ask me how it tasted like! Miles to go :-).
It started boring after noon. I asked my roomie to browse some interesting website. he suggested me, "why dont you search for "interesting website" in google. I searched, first few from the search result was junk. Google had hiccups in giving the good result which came only in the next page of the result :-). It was a page full of facts, useless facts, but still interested me.
I browsed through the website for almost an hour and found many of those so-called useless facts, interesting to me. I thought of sharing few of them here. my comments are marked in green. For complete referrence: http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/uselessfacts/
History
The Ramses brand condom is named after the great pharaoh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children. - Wow, what a man!! (padayappa dialogue) ;-)
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David; Clubs - Alexander the Great; Hearts - Charlemagne; and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
Animals
Guinea pigs and rabbits can't sweat. Rabbits never walk or trot, but always hop or leap.
Snakes who have the genetic mutation of having been born with two heads have a hard time eating, because the two heads generally fight over which gets the food.
Cows are the only mammals that pee backwards.
It takes seven years for a lobster to grow 1 pound. - and a man takes just 7 seconds to finish it!
The ostrich egg yolk is the biggest single cell in the world.
Most cows give more milk when they listen to music - ithu theriyama naama "raama rajanai" romba ottitom ;-)..
The bite of a leech is painless due to its own anesthetic. - but it committed suicide by biting my friend ;-)...
Inventors
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors. - the da vinci is more than a artist.. he is suspected to be one of the Illuminatis.
To an observer standing on Pluto, the sun would appear no brighter than Venus appears in our evening sky.
Dating back to the 1600's, thermometers were filled with Brandy instead of mercury. -- they would have faced lots of thermometer thefts ;-)..
Strange laws
In Saudi Arabia, a woman reportedly may divorce her husband if he does not keep her supplied with coffee. In Hartford Connecticut, it is illegal for a husband to kiss his wife on Sundays. enna kodumai saravanan ithu?
Surveys (from US)
Forty percent of American adults cannot fill out a bank deposit slip correctly.
The average human scalp has 100,000 hairs.
Someone within 200 miles of your town claims to have had direct contact with a monster, ghost or other unexplainable being.
A recent Gallup poll shows that 69 percent of Americans believe they will go somewhere after death. And almost 70% beleive in rebirth!!
Focus group information compiled by CalComp revealed that 50 percent of computer users do not like using a mouse.- Oh I have company!!
P.S. This is my 100th post. I know I have taken long time to this. (like Sachin taking 20 balls for scoring 5 runs to reach hundred ;-) )..
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Happy birthday Kithna maama
Context: oh yes, i have started my 27th revolution around sun.
September 5th evening: I met my sister her at her PG acco. She gave me a pleasant surprise with a flower bouquet and some sweets. and got the advance wishes from her on the eve of my birthday.
September 6th: this time my room mate got the honor of blessing me first ;-).. i packed up to office, after couple of calls from brother and friends. i didn't celebrate my birthday for the past two years (don't ask me the reason). "wearing new dress" thaan nammaloda celebratione ;-), not more than this. I said NO for treat to my friends and colleagues since I don't have a habit of treating on birthdays ;-), one nice excuse to escape from treat.
I was invited to Mr. J's place that evening. I thought it was going to be just a meet. It was much more than that. My friend and his family has brought a bday cake for me to cut. And my friend's niece started singing birthday song, "Happy bday to kithna maama". She tried saying Krishna mama couple of time and ended saying kithna maama. and it was very cute to hear her saying kithna mama. mazhalai pechu is always nice to hear :-). they made my evening a pleasant, wonderful evening of the year :-).
September 7th evening: it was Friday, as I usually, I was heading towards Madurai, in Tuticorin express. I got into a wrong compartment because of the discontinuity of the compartments. And the wrong compartment didn't seem to be wrong, it was full of girls. (and mostly good looooooking ;-)). I can get into the right compartment only in the next station, Hosur, which was still an hour to go. There was a side lower berth empty. I asked for the girls in that cabin, to sit there for sometime till the next station. Most of the girls did say No, except for one girl, who permitted me to sit. Then, all the other girls started teasing her. And they were from Mount carmel, and going on a botanical trip to kodaikanal. When the train was nearing to Hosur, that girl came to me with a camera. Can anyone guess what she told me?
"UNCLE, can you take snap for us?".. haha, enakku siruppu thaan vanthuchu (In fact, I pitied her ignorance :-P). Appuram, Hosur came and I got into the right compartment, thinking about my 27th revolution.. how interesting it is going to be :-)..
September 5th evening: I met my sister her at her PG acco. She gave me a pleasant surprise with a flower bouquet and some sweets. and got the advance wishes from her on the eve of my birthday.
September 6th: this time my room mate got the honor of blessing me first ;-).. i packed up to office, after couple of calls from brother and friends. i didn't celebrate my birthday for the past two years (don't ask me the reason). "wearing new dress" thaan nammaloda celebratione ;-), not more than this. I said NO for treat to my friends and colleagues since I don't have a habit of treating on birthdays ;-), one nice excuse to escape from treat.
I was invited to Mr. J's place that evening. I thought it was going to be just a meet. It was much more than that. My friend and his family has brought a bday cake for me to cut. And my friend's niece started singing birthday song, "Happy bday to kithna maama". She tried saying Krishna mama couple of time and ended saying kithna maama. and it was very cute to hear her saying kithna mama. mazhalai pechu is always nice to hear :-). they made my evening a pleasant, wonderful evening of the year :-).
September 7th evening: it was Friday, as I usually, I was heading towards Madurai, in Tuticorin express. I got into a wrong compartment because of the discontinuity of the compartments. And the wrong compartment didn't seem to be wrong, it was full of girls. (and mostly good looooooking ;-)). I can get into the right compartment only in the next station, Hosur, which was still an hour to go. There was a side lower berth empty. I asked for the girls in that cabin, to sit there for sometime till the next station. Most of the girls did say No, except for one girl, who permitted me to sit. Then, all the other girls started teasing her. And they were from Mount carmel, and going on a botanical trip to kodaikanal. When the train was nearing to Hosur, that girl came to me with a camera. Can anyone guess what she told me?
"UNCLE, can you take snap for us?".. haha, enakku siruppu thaan vanthuchu (In fact, I pitied her ignorance :-P). Appuram, Hosur came and I got into the right compartment, thinking about my 27th revolution.. how interesting it is going to be :-)..
Monday, August 13, 2007
Krishna - a female character?
This is all about the Lord Krishna, an Hindu Mythical figure. This post is about him, particularly as a character, not as a god.
Somehow I got a feeling that Krishna is a female character, from my recent experiences.. Or I should state that the probability of Krishna being a male character is not convincing.. here are my arguments for that:
a) There is a story in Mahabharat that, Krishna married Aaravan, Arjun's son. How could Krishna can marry a male? By dates, Mahabharat should occured before 2500 years. Definitely, before 2500 no one would have capability of sexual transformation. So there is a possibility that either of them is a female, but being portrayed as males.
b) We went to Coorg a year back, and got to see one painting of Krishna, where he was portrayed as a girl. Oh no, thats not modern art. Thats a classical painting. So there is a sect of the society who see Krishna a female.
c) And this argument is a week argument: I have met couple of girls (my school mates) who are named as Krishna. (It is simply Krishna, no additional names to it).
d) Ayyappa: He is the child of Shiva and Vishnu. Once again this questions....
e) And in many other places, Krishna is disguised as beautiful girl, and traps Asuras...
I know I sound rubbish for all the Hindu-believers, but these are just my thoughts..
Somehow I got a feeling that Krishna is a female character, from my recent experiences.. Or I should state that the probability of Krishna being a male character is not convincing.. here are my arguments for that:
a) There is a story in Mahabharat that, Krishna married Aaravan, Arjun's son. How could Krishna can marry a male? By dates, Mahabharat should occured before 2500 years. Definitely, before 2500 no one would have capability of sexual transformation. So there is a possibility that either of them is a female, but being portrayed as males.
b) We went to Coorg a year back, and got to see one painting of Krishna, where he was portrayed as a girl. Oh no, thats not modern art. Thats a classical painting. So there is a sect of the society who see Krishna a female.
c) And this argument is a week argument: I have met couple of girls (my school mates) who are named as Krishna. (It is simply Krishna, no additional names to it).
d) Ayyappa: He is the child of Shiva and Vishnu. Once again this questions....
e) And in many other places, Krishna is disguised as beautiful girl, and traps Asuras...
I know I sound rubbish for all the Hindu-believers, but these are just my thoughts..
Friday, July 20, 2007
Your last transaction is cancelled
in 2003:
I was taking money at an ICICI ATM in chennai. After I took the money out of the machine, I accidentally pressed the Cancel button, my card is still inside the machine. Surprisingly, the machine threw the message "Your last transaction is cancelled". I felt very happy to read it, to see my last transaction is not accounted after I took the money out ;-).. But later I realized that it got accounted, just the message misled... many of my other friends have also tried this and they too had the same feeling...
in 2007:
I somehow developed the habit pressing the cancel button after taking the money out. It just gives some sense of pleasure that I have not taken money out, and I still have something on my hand to spend it..... and continuing this till now.
even life has got Cancel buttons, just that it doesnt work like what we think, as in the case of the ATMs...
I was taking money at an ICICI ATM in chennai. After I took the money out of the machine, I accidentally pressed the Cancel button, my card is still inside the machine. Surprisingly, the machine threw the message "Your last transaction is cancelled". I felt very happy to read it, to see my last transaction is not accounted after I took the money out ;-).. But later I realized that it got accounted, just the message misled... many of my other friends have also tried this and they too had the same feeling...
in 2007:
I somehow developed the habit pressing the cancel button after taking the money out. It just gives some sense of pleasure that I have not taken money out, and I still have something on my hand to spend it..... and continuing this till now.
even life has got Cancel buttons, just that it doesnt work like what we think, as in the case of the ATMs...
Sunday, May 13, 2007
BhagmatiS
I, along with my roommates, went to Pongal to have lunch. While getting the token for lunch I saw three hijdas in the neighbor shop collecting money. Hijda means Aravaani in Tamizh. eunuch in English? Wiki has got good answer for this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia). It also gives the history of the rituals in Koothavandavar temple in Tamilnad.
[Hijda, is being used as derogatory terms, but I am using it just to mention the third sex).
I knew that they will also come to Pongal for collecting money. And they shocked us, by sitting in front of us, in the same table for eating. One of them went for washing hands, but water didnt come, and she told "Thanniyum varalai ***niyum varalai.." aloud and everyone in the hotel looked at her. (Note, I refer them as she, since they wear sarees/women dresses and they want to earn sympathy by doing so). While eating they started speaking aloud.. They dressed in a very obscene manner, using vulgar words, disturbing us as well as others in the hotel. They told to themselves that I and my cousin (my roomie) looks like brother. They went one step more and clarified with my cousin that we were brothers... It really spoiled the mood of eating and I took only half of what I usually take. And we came back to house.
I could understand that they were thrown out of the society, were teased literally and lots of other discriminations too.. But this kind of nuisances will make the society to grow more hostility among them, and will discourage people from helping them. I have seen many decent looking hijdas, dressed up in pants and T shirts moving freely in public places. They were not treated as how other nuisance-creating. The problem is with other two sexes too, who teased them and brought them to this state. But having formed their own organizations, socieities they should move out of this circle, and increase their status, avoid nuisances to the public...
All these incidents, reminded me of the character Bhagmati from the novel, Delhi (by Kushwant singh). When she was born, the doctors were not able to identify her sex. She was named Bhagmati and treated as she by her parents because they did not have any female child that time. But at the age of 4, she was handed over to hijdas in the city. She, later became a prostitute, married to another a man who already had two hijda wives. What if Bhagmati's parents took care of her, shown the true love and given her a life? Definitely, she would have led a better life with better status.
[Hijda, is being used as derogatory terms, but I am using it just to mention the third sex).
I knew that they will also come to Pongal for collecting money. And they shocked us, by sitting in front of us, in the same table for eating. One of them went for washing hands, but water didnt come, and she told "Thanniyum varalai ***niyum varalai.." aloud and everyone in the hotel looked at her. (Note, I refer them as she, since they wear sarees/women dresses and they want to earn sympathy by doing so). While eating they started speaking aloud.. They dressed in a very obscene manner, using vulgar words, disturbing us as well as others in the hotel. They told to themselves that I and my cousin (my roomie) looks like brother. They went one step more and clarified with my cousin that we were brothers... It really spoiled the mood of eating and I took only half of what I usually take. And we came back to house.
I could understand that they were thrown out of the society, were teased literally and lots of other discriminations too.. But this kind of nuisances will make the society to grow more hostility among them, and will discourage people from helping them. I have seen many decent looking hijdas, dressed up in pants and T shirts moving freely in public places. They were not treated as how other nuisance-creating. The problem is with other two sexes too, who teased them and brought them to this state. But having formed their own organizations, socieities they should move out of this circle, and increase their status, avoid nuisances to the public...
All these incidents, reminded me of the character Bhagmati from the novel, Delhi (by Kushwant singh). When she was born, the doctors were not able to identify her sex. She was named Bhagmati and treated as she by her parents because they did not have any female child that time. But at the age of 4, she was handed over to hijdas in the city. She, later became a prostitute, married to another a man who already had two hijda wives. What if Bhagmati's parents took care of her, shown the true love and given her a life? Definitely, she would have led a better life with better status.
Monday, May 07, 2007
6/5/2007 - Mysore express
Nowadays I travel very frequently to my native place, madurai. (The indian philadelphia :-) ). And I like travelling in trains. Particularly to Madurai, because of the scenic views in the morning and mild breeze in the evening. So I developed a habit of standing near the door for 15 to 30 minutes to enjoy the nature.
Smoking and drinking is considered as offence in Indian trains. But I could see lots of people violating this. Yesterday, when I was coming back I could see cigarette smell coming out of the toilet. I have seen this previously also. what shocked me is when 4 guys came near the door and they opened coca cola bottles and started drinking COKE. They ate peanuts as side dish. Fortunately, they did not create much noise. But who knows, they might have gone bad after they are drunk...
I wanted to hang them outside the train like Anniyan, but I stopped with my imagination.. I went back to my seat for sleeping.
Smoking and drinking is considered as offence in Indian trains. But I could see lots of people violating this. Yesterday, when I was coming back I could see cigarette smell coming out of the toilet. I have seen this previously also. what shocked me is when 4 guys came near the door and they opened coca cola bottles and started drinking COKE. They ate peanuts as side dish. Fortunately, they did not create much noise. But who knows, they might have gone bad after they are drunk...
I wanted to hang them outside the train like Anniyan, but I stopped with my imagination.. I went back to my seat for sleeping.
Monday, April 16, 2007
No more Bachelor...
I have been preparing for this for the past two years, and it all got finished last week. I am no more a bachelor degree holder, successfully completed MS from BITS, pilani. It has added significant knowledge to my brain.. hopefully, it will add some value in my career in long term. The experience was quite interesting, which i will share here.
August 2005 - First semester
I paid the semester fees at the start of August, and didnt bother to lookup their website till the end of August. When I did on the last day of August, I was shocked to see that the mid semester exams are afetr two days. Then I came to knew about make up exams, (for ppl like me who intentionally or unintentionally miss the exams ;-)), which was at the third week of ctober. And the 4th week of October is the final exams. Oops, now I had to prepare for the whole semester within one and half months. The first good thing I did was I bought the books (which I hardly did during my under grad days). Started preparing.
One week before the make up exam I thought trying sample papers. There was a shock again, I prepared for one subject which I didnt register for !!!!!!! head started spinning.. and managed to clear all the papers. (the best of my luck ;-) )...
Jan 2006 - Nov 2006
Second semester and third semester, I started preparing seriously, unlike the first. I managed to go for a US trip between the first and second sem.
Dec 2006- Till date
It is a project work (dissertation) semester. Once again, I was about to slip a dead line for title submission. Though I had an idea of the project, I didnt bother to look their website (heights of laziness). I submitted it by standing on the dead line. Now, it all went fine and finished.
Now holding on for the certificates which will take couple of months.
Happy learning!
August 2005 - First semester
I paid the semester fees at the start of August, and didnt bother to lookup their website till the end of August. When I did on the last day of August, I was shocked to see that the mid semester exams are afetr two days. Then I came to knew about make up exams, (for ppl like me who intentionally or unintentionally miss the exams ;-)), which was at the third week of ctober. And the 4th week of October is the final exams. Oops, now I had to prepare for the whole semester within one and half months. The first good thing I did was I bought the books (which I hardly did during my under grad days). Started preparing.
One week before the make up exam I thought trying sample papers. There was a shock again, I prepared for one subject which I didnt register for !!!!!!! head started spinning.. and managed to clear all the papers. (the best of my luck ;-) )...
Jan 2006 - Nov 2006
Second semester and third semester, I started preparing seriously, unlike the first. I managed to go for a US trip between the first and second sem.
Dec 2006- Till date
It is a project work (dissertation) semester. Once again, I was about to slip a dead line for title submission. Though I had an idea of the project, I didnt bother to look their website (heights of laziness). I submitted it by standing on the dead line. Now, it all went fine and finished.
Now holding on for the certificates which will take couple of months.
Happy learning!
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
TIP and Bribe
Once again I landed in US for a short trip, and about to go back to my motherland. There are lot of things that I miss in US which I get in India, and vice versa. Got a chance to meet many of my old, still good, friends, and my sister too. Went to LA. This time Disney land. It was awesome. I always liked the 4D shows and Virtual reality shows. Even last time, I wondered after watching Shrek, and "Back to the future" shows in Universal studios. Technology speaks, definitely.
One thing that I dont like in US is, the habit of tipping... Go to hotels, restaurants, cabs, house keeping.... everywhere we have to TIP. I have always skipped those if I have encountered them only for once. But still, in other cases I ended up paying huge TIP, which looks huger when I convert it to Rupees. (No, I havent coined the term Huger ;-).. ).
In many a ways I feel that TIPing is similar to the bribing habits in my motherland. There are some differences like, TIPing is after Service, and bribing is before service, one is legal while the other is not... hmm.
Signing off now.
One thing that I dont like in US is, the habit of tipping... Go to hotels, restaurants, cabs, house keeping.... everywhere we have to TIP. I have always skipped those if I have encountered them only for once. But still, in other cases I ended up paying huge TIP, which looks huger when I convert it to Rupees. (No, I havent coined the term Huger ;-).. ).
In many a ways I feel that TIPing is similar to the bribing habits in my motherland. There are some differences like, TIPing is after Service, and bribing is before service, one is legal while the other is not... hmm.
Signing off now.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Happy new year, happy new year!!!
Got a bunch of hearty wishes from my friends and sibblings on the new year 2007. And quite good number of forwards from my e-friends.
And this year is really going to be happy because it has got more holidays (52 weeekends + 11 local holidays). I got a mail saying that this year has got maximum number of weekends. I got a doubt after reading that. a non leap year consists of 52 weeks + 1 day. So, whichever day the Jan 1st is, the number of weekends will be 52. In case of a leap year + the Jan 1st is on Sat, there will be 53 weekends. Even in that case, we lose two holidays (Since Jan 1st is on saturday, Dec 25 of the previous year was also on saturday, and some local holidays like pongal may fall on Saturday (Jan 15th)).. ethu eppadiyo, the number of weekends will not add much. The good thing about this year is "pandigais thethi weekendsle illai".. (no festival on weekends). A software engineer should really feel proud of this and should forward the mails to their adjacents.
how was my 2006?
it was a good year in my career, learned lots of management tricks, and some technical things too. On the personal side, it was a very good year. I know I was not able to cope up with certain things, others expectations etc. I regret for this, and I dont know whether i deserve their forgivance.
I read lots of books. particularly indian history books. I was always reluctant to history, but got inspired by the works of my friend, and read books related to indian history.
how was new years' eve and Jan 1st?
I usually hear mokkai jokes like, "I slept last year, and woke up this year", "I am taking one year leave" etc.. but this time I escaped from these jokes on Jan 1st. On new year's eve, I went for shopping (I call it year end shopping). Happy to see that others are also shpopping, and keeping the economy healthy :-). This new year might have definitely given good revenue for telephone operators. It was anticipcated that 1 billion SMSes would have got exchanged in India. Source: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/12/30/2203035.htm
how will be my 2007?
Expect the unexpected.
What I dont understand?
Yesterday (Jan 1st), I saw a big queue in a hanuman temple for Dharshan. What I dont understand is, how January 1st became an auspiciuos day for Hindus?
Why did I do shopping on new year's eve? Why didnt I do the same on tamil new year?
And this year is really going to be happy because it has got more holidays (52 weeekends + 11 local holidays). I got a mail saying that this year has got maximum number of weekends. I got a doubt after reading that. a non leap year consists of 52 weeks + 1 day. So, whichever day the Jan 1st is, the number of weekends will be 52. In case of a leap year + the Jan 1st is on Sat, there will be 53 weekends. Even in that case, we lose two holidays (Since Jan 1st is on saturday, Dec 25 of the previous year was also on saturday, and some local holidays like pongal may fall on Saturday (Jan 15th)).. ethu eppadiyo, the number of weekends will not add much. The good thing about this year is "pandigais thethi weekendsle illai".. (no festival on weekends). A software engineer should really feel proud of this and should forward the mails to their adjacents.
how was my 2006?
it was a good year in my career, learned lots of management tricks, and some technical things too. On the personal side, it was a very good year. I know I was not able to cope up with certain things, others expectations etc. I regret for this, and I dont know whether i deserve their forgivance.
I read lots of books. particularly indian history books. I was always reluctant to history, but got inspired by the works of my friend, and read books related to indian history.
how was new years' eve and Jan 1st?
I usually hear mokkai jokes like, "I slept last year, and woke up this year", "I am taking one year leave" etc.. but this time I escaped from these jokes on Jan 1st. On new year's eve, I went for shopping (I call it year end shopping). Happy to see that others are also shpopping, and keeping the economy healthy :-). This new year might have definitely given good revenue for telephone operators. It was anticipcated that 1 billion SMSes would have got exchanged in India. Source: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/12/30/2203035.htm
how will be my 2007?
Expect the unexpected.
What I dont understand?
Yesterday (Jan 1st), I saw a big queue in a hanuman temple for Dharshan. What I dont understand is, how January 1st became an auspiciuos day for Hindus?
Why did I do shopping on new year's eve? Why didnt I do the same on tamil new year?
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