Duality, chaos and more..

Have you ever day dreamed about why you took up this major? About the times when you were absolutely clueless about which major to choose, or completely confused between two majors that have their own merits? And are still clueless on why you took it? Have you ever wondered (all day long) about a specific girl/guy thinking if he/she is the one for you, but then you don't know them fully, but more importantly you don't know you, to take a decision and are too afraid to decide? Then what do you do, let the time decide, As always? Or, fall in love with someone only to eventually find out this is not what you signed up for, and still not knowing what should you do?

Have you ever had to complete a lot of equally important tasks decked up, but you cannot prioritize among them that you end up doing none of these. Have you ever felt like all your friends are getting all the opportunities, but you're still trying to work your asses off also trying to decide between which of the entrance examinations you should take? Have you ever had to just keep the vehicle moving only to keep asking every couple of months the same question of "Is this what you want to do?". Do you keep doubting the career choice, that you took after careful deliberation? Do you finally figure out an interest that you should probably be pursuing to the fullest, but then you know practically that's not the best thing to do now and then kill it slowly? Do you get inspired and motivated to finally get things moving and change your life for good, and then you know, like any adult, start watching Netflix or spend on Facebook the rest of the day?

One moment you want to be the change in the society and break all the stigma and do all that matters to you and believe in bringing change, yet you cannot bring in the change, because this is the way you've been brought up and this is where you belong and this is who you're, is that you? Are you still blaming someone else for your decisions? Or are you too busy keeping head into your iPads playing Temple Run Clash of Clans to avoid any contemplation? Do you constantly try to impress others and also keep questioning your intent to do so?

Well, I could keep going, but then you get it. Yes, some people call it Mid-Life crisis (Or quarter-life crisis, whatever). Some people call it indecisiveness. Some call it duality. Some call it the world being unfair for them. Some call it depression. But then I figured, this chaos right here is life. Of course, we watch a lot of movies and expect the same. Life, though, doesn't happen to be a movie plot to have everything figured out, as much as we wish for. (Pro tip: It helps to try to believe you've all the shit figured out and are happy with the current setting.) Well, a very few (pretty much non existent, I'm sure) of you are probably fortunate to not go through these - Lucky, you!

Okay, point of this post? Still searching for it, just like we all are, for the purpose of our lives. But then one thing that I've known for sure is the feeling that I get when I try new things, when I still want to try something in spite of having failed at it a number of times (Habit formation, new languages, working out),when I love, when I read, when I laugh everyday. And, that feeling is worth all the chaos. After all, not all of us are born to become Albert Einstein. 

All that I wanted to know about the USA before I came in here

I've always asked my friends at the States about the life abroad and how different it is from what it is in India. Well I'd heard some details before, but almost none of them actually wrote about it. So  now that I'm here at the USA, I should probably write this while I'm still trying to figure out what makes this place coveted? What makes this place different?

P.S: Some of these may seem quite obvious or silly to many of you; Well, it's just my observations and my way of seeing things, so you're free to skip the read if you feel so. 

• It was indeed a total surprise for me that the same Indians who threw trash all over the road, went on spitting, never even gave a second thought for doing that here in the states. Reason? Tickets, tickets and tickets. Surprisingly, law works here. The discipline actually comes right from the moment you step into the airport.
• There are no stray dogs or cats.. Well, then now there are people like us. :P Nah seriously! I couldn't find any other native people actually walking on the road *astray*. Blame the weather, maybe?
• Another huge surprise, seriously, was the fact people actually stop at "STOP" signs. Ridiculous.. Who stops at stop sign when there are no people or no cars around? Well, if you're in the US, you must do, as well. There's a cost you pay for being at the first world country, eh? 
• Coming to work, people actually work their asses off in their "limited work time". Yes, I've heard about this before. But wait, after coming from the culture of the "bulk IT company" from India where most people pretend to work, this is indeed a surprise to witness. Right from the managers, the sales staff, I'm not really sure what rewards points they're driven by, but they make sure customer gets what he needs, including the Government staff (trust me!!)
• IPhone: And to come in terms with reality, iPhones are not cheap, definitely not the recent ones. There are more complicated stuff like contracts and I'm still wondering how people bring "cheap iPhone" from the US. I agree, it's probably a little cheaper. 
• Courtesy: I've always wondered back then at India, if things could actually be better if we were served at banks, stores with a little more courtesy. Well, now I got it here and definitely cant complain. They're probably being paid a little more for being nice?
• Another thing I've heard about from before and was rather not too surprising is that complete strangers smile and greet at you. And this happens irrespective of the gender, race. Whoa? I've seen strangers marrying back at India but wait, do you really go to a "stranger" girl and ask her how her day is? I can hear some girls saying creepy, already. Well, some/most of the greetings happen to be fake pleasantries, I'd have to admit. If it can make a stranger's day better?
• People actually care about personal space and there's no concept of over crowding on buses to the point to no breathing space like in India. But wait, who wants to wait for the next bus, when you can manage to get in the already crowded bus ?
• Then I've heard the "roads are too damn clean that you can actually go on and eat on the roads" from the NRIs of yesteryears. Well, the roads are indeed clean but you obviously wouldn't even dare to pick the spilled food particle from the floor and have it again :P

Most of all the differences, oneof my most favorite one is the fact that Nobody here gives a damn, here.

Rant of an engineer

I've always loved conversations that lead to debates and eventually make me think. One such recent conversation was about the pros and cons of growing up in India versus abroad. Now, I've not been to the States *yet*, but I do have a fair insight about the life there, thanks to my friends and Quora. Of all the things, one quality or rather privilege that kids at the abroad are entitled to, is the possibility of doing what one likes, which nurtures individuality. On the other hand here in India, needless to say most of you know of the 'situation' here, as the famous tweet goes – “people first become engineers and then figure out what they want to become”. 

 As much as I'd like to blame the parents and society, they're not the only ones to be blamed, for, it is economics that comes foremost here before any decision after all.

Being told what to do, every single time, by the parents or uncles/ aunts or even neighbors, a kid grows up under peer pressure, being spoon-fed, to be an engineer that is, at least most of them. So if at all the passions survives in him, he rebels to become what he always wanted to be, but only after losing half of it in all the drama. And then there are a few who actually find their passion in between all the boring classes of engineering. But then they'd have come so far, so they just go along with the flow; prepare for competitive exams without knowing why. Of course, there's not much else they can do in this country. The sad state here is that, even after all the movies or whatever, when the parents understand and stop controlling him, stop wanting him to become what they couldn't be, in most of the cases he would not be able to decide for himself by then. For, after all this time of spoon-feeding, the creative kid in him is long dead.

Let’s just look at a typical kid growing up in abroad. As soon as he’s 18, he leaves the home to find his life. He starts by being independent, working petty jobs and feeding his passion. And he just goes on to develop this and eventually become successful. Only the real-passionate ones go to college and then to University for post graduate in anything technical. No wonder most of them reach the heights, but not after many failures. Now this, this exactly, gives him more confidence, more individuality in life, something that Indians unfortunately seem to lack.

In India, while one section of the population is struggling to get an education and there is now an emphasis on Right to Education and all, we should also pause and take a look at the section of kids who do not have the right to not study. Now, this might sound crazy. People with learning disability, people with no slightest interest in “studies”, are all forced into studies and eventually engineering rather than actually doing what they are passionate about. One should be allowed to nurture the talent that is rather unique to him. How many times have we seen or experienced small kids being gagged with too much homework and cut down on all the play-time, killing the foundation for the creativity for life. While there is an innate emphasis on education in our culture, there is also this thing wrong in our system. Of course change is not very much possible now with little opportunities in India. But while we try to eradicate poverty through education, we should also remember to nurture some individuality, liberty to think, and become what one wants, even if it means some failures initially. According to me, THIS is true development. 

 (Too much to ask for? If the mindsets change, trust me, there's definitely a chance.)

Image courtesy: Every damn meme page on FB. It's gone viral because almost everyone can relate to.

Being an atheist in India..

I've always been wanting to write about this, but putting it off. But a few recent small talks I had with strangers triggered this again. Well, five minutes of conversation with me, there's a fair chance you may actually guess it. For, in India, it is something people always cling to. Open up a conversation with someone random, it just appears. Being an atheist in India is no easy thing after all, being looked down, left out. Well, if you had guessed it, it's bout my apathy for this religion called Cricket. :D Yes, for those of you who dint know, it's true.

While it's no one's fault that people assume you play err.. or at least follow cricket by default, this post I think could be an eye opener to people that some people of my species do exist. Well, I havent found many like me yet. Being a "misfit", there are always these awkward moments when it comes down to this conversation. Based on my mood, sometimes I just smile and subtly avoid it or sometimes tell with all pride. Sometimes, when someone is expected to show sympathy, I keep my face grim and say the word that should not be uttered "I dont follow cricket". I got used to the regular questions of What? Really? Okay so WHAT ELSE do you do? So as it turns out I have turned out to be the most boring for a few and (Uh it's part of the sentence) most interesting person, for a few. Out of curiosity, I even ended up asking others like me, on Quora.

Well, cons first. Since, you know, it's much easier. Awkward moments. Awkward moments everywhere. Miss out on conversations, hangouts. Wondering how do I even escape the conversations? Well, I just dont. Just like in the "A Beautiful Mind" movie, they still exist, I've learnt to live with them. So have my friends with me. If incase I take part in quizzes, I'd lose on the obvious ones. Heh I dont generally go for quizzes anyways.Sometimes you hear the whole hostel (or apartments now) shout in frenzy and you have no frigging clue why. And Oh Yes, We only have one Tv at home and so I've stopped watching Tv as such, for obvious reasons.

Pro? I stand out (Stand out of conversations?). Ofcourse I'm different, with just set of interests. More time (to waste on different things?). You know I could just do anything I want. Read books, watch a movie.Or come back to social media and keep ignoring the updates on cricket.

Whenever someone who asks me to play cricket along with them (Sometimes people do, I dunno why), I just reply them with this one-liner on another old proverb and they'd be gone. "Mazhaikku Na ground pakkam odungunathu illa) I know it turns out awkward to be translated into English, but here it goes - I havent taken shelter in the ground even during rain (adversities) - Well that's the irony :P

Well, As much as I almost forget that I'm atheist in this regard, I get reminded every now and then. But then I dont care.

P.S: I dont follow football either. Okay You can ask me the What-else-I-do. I'd prefer to skip that question.
P.P.S: Incase you were wondering, When it comes to real religion, nah I'm not an atheist *yet*.

What defines you?

Okay, Everyone of us has faced the question "Tell me about yourself" in interviews or have been introduced, or had to introduce oneself.. How do you go about? Most of us look for the template.. Well, you just say about "occupation" and then where you come from.. And not go any further.. But think deeper, are you really, what you re doing? Or are you defined by where you come?

Read this recently somewhere:

"What do u do for a Living??"

" I Read.. I Travel.. I Love.. I Laugh.."

"No. How do you earn your bread??"

"Oh I Work.. But that's not LIVING.."

Most of the time, we happen to be defined by where we belong, and we just oblige and get along with the definition. In that case, too many people in India just get tagged as "Software engineers". But every one has got *unique set of* interests, a combination of which I believe defines him. Well , I just found out the true meaning of "There's more to it than it meets the eye".

Too many of us have developed various interests over time, growing up, which makes life interesting. Just go to Twitter/Quora and you can notice the exact same thing. So,you know, the next time you introduce yourself , atleast to me, I'd like to hear about your interests too! 

Why the cat is no more..

Nah this aint about my pet cat that's dead. Infact, I don't have one. It's about the curious cat in all of us, which used to be alive and kicking, but that now happens to be as good as dead.

I can still remember how much fun it used to be, just watching a plumber get deep into the well at the backyard when something was wrong with the well, a carpenter shaving off the swollen door during winter, or a Blue cross personnel catching the mad dog at the backyard strategically, or dropping a small seed and watching it sprout and eventually flower. Back then, as a child, we were always interested in the things around , looking for new things to learn. So have interesting things stopped happening? Or do we know everything already? Okay, there aren't too many plants around to watch them grow. But why are we afraid to try out new things? Why do we fail to enjoy the nature?

Naturally, people tend to become less curious and less interesting from ageing. But what of the children of the present? With an iPhone or a Samsung S series in hand right from the age of 5 and with any information at the fingertip (touch) one would hardly want to play around the trees, even if they could.

On a funny note, Another day when Whatsapp was inaccessible from BSNL servers, apparently, as many sites seemed to suggest, blocked, I myself was googling to find out what the problem was. There was this guy who had commented on the webpage complaining  how totalitarian our government is, to block whatsapp and how we should actually start a mass protest against it for this Whoa. :D

 These are just instances that remind us how dependent addicted we are on technology and social media. Leaving  the keeping in touch with people abroad part aside,what’s startling is, how much we cant keep ourselves entertained without technology, even for a day. How many of us are able to enjoy solitude(of course without technology) ?

With phones and apps with taglines of “do more,” I’m left wondering how much more we could be doing without the instant connectivity.  As a technophile myself , I can't help but think how blinded we are by technology and how technology tends to kill the creativity in us. The cat is no more..

What the solitude can teach you..

As I hopped down from my bus, in the darkness, I took out my mobile, half cursing my life and half still laughing in my mind. For, it was THE (in caps, as you can see) Friday night and here I was, back from a really-tiring-long day and the latter, over the Chandler's sarcasm and Joey's dumbness from the episodes had I watched during the travel-back. It read 11.15 PM and there began my lonely walk back home.

Being out in the mid-night, is not a foreign thing for me. So many times I have been there, returning from the night-shows. This time it was a little different. I was walking. There's only me and then Ilayaraja's music. Oh wait, and then my brain, which wouldn't stop thinking stuff.

There they were, in front of me, the hard-working people still busy ready-ing to close down their makeshift shops. Slowly peddling the cycle with hot can of tea beginning his day. Men and women, and children, sleeping on the platforms, carefree of the future that we all are afraid to confront not being able to sleep thinking of that, in our AC rooms, but there they were inside the mosquito-shield, oblivious of the world. 

And then, on the other-hand, there were these frames of silhouettes of people, from the headlights of the bikes. The ray of smoke from people smoking their lungs-out. Lonely sad dogs, probably wondering what-a-dog life it's leading, just like some of us are. Grim-vacant sodium-lamp-lit streets that can probably remind you of all the sad things in life, if u keep looking. Strange-looking strangers, who are probably thinking the same about you. Gang of friends having a hearty laugh not willing to leave the restaurant anytime soon. The rag-picker strolling around with hope. The remains in front of the TASMAC shop, which are strong remainder of the fact that it was Friday evening , a little while ago. 

Long walk, eh? Dint seem like it, though. 

When Occupation occupies you..

Not long ago, in the school diaries, applications, report cards, we were asked to fill this field, what was called ' Father's occupation'. It is indeed a good thing that the word 'occupation' is not-so-often used these days, for what a remainder it could be of how much occupied we are.. Atleast people like me, who have joined their jobs, one can safely say how much occupied we are , suddenly.

For those familiar with the American style of living ( which, I am sure many of you are lot more aware than I am, given the fact that I am still living in India. So what I know is from the movies, series and my friends,abroad ) people happened to have what they like and do, and a day-job, which pays for the living most of the time. And then there are others, who only do what they love. Coming to the Indian style of living, or rather Indian style of working, well almost all the time, unless you are lucky or prudent and bold enough to make the choice, the occupation occupies you.

Image Credits: cwaunion 

For people like me, who have to travel a lot to the workplace, and then work, for real, it becomes really difficult to keep up with things and people. Weekend is all that you got, for anything and everything. Adding to it, if you are totally lazy like me, you know the number of friends are gonna erode eventually*. 

Lucky are the ones who are bachelors. Well I can only extrapolate the graph of life of people who get married and the responsibilities and the stress that follows. Hence, it is indeed not a surprise that people end up losing their passion or their hobbies eventually become once-a-hobby. And guess who accompanies - Monotony!

Ofcourse there are always exceptions, including some people I know, who have been able to keep up with their interests, hobbies and keep up with their friends, even as full grown adults - A salute to them. 

Well, we have all read/heard the work-life balance debates, essays, when it comes to our own life, the question of survival or the Joie de vivre,  we all know which one to choose, dont we?

* That's another topic I'd love to write about, too. So if you re reading this, await for the post, coming up soon.

Are we missing the main picture?

Every single day I, like anybody else wake up to the Facebook notifications and the WhatsApp messages, and ofcourse, after all through the day's checking, sleep with anxiety, checking them again.. I cannot remember the time that I was out of social network for more than a couple of days. Social media has become a part of my lifestyle, today. But at what cost?

We go to a place, say a restaurant, for a reason, many a times for socialising with friends, but the first thing we do? Check in on foursquare, tag the place online, click a picture, most of the times for the world to see it, rather than cherish the special moment itself. Most of the times we are not actually on the moment, experiencing it, we are rather away, lost in  the virtual world. I know quite a many people, who cannot start to eat before clicking and posting for the world to see.

I cant help but remember this thing I read somewhere on the importance of Facebook, whenever this kinda discussion comes up..

A wise man posted online..
- "What do I miss if I dont use facebook?
- "The contact with friends whom you wouldnt have bothered to have contact with, at the first place"

While a smartphone has been able to bridge the gap of oceans across the world, we, unfortunately have happened to become distant from the ones that are right next to us, in the real world. Well, Nokia - Connecting people (for real)?

Atleast ever since the time I came to know about the concept of small talk, I have realized the bare minimal use of it in the world, for we are too immersed looking at our phones, listening to music, barely recognizing the (potential) human connections. Today it is the virtual friends that matter more than the real ones, apparently. Where is it leading us to?

The age-old philosophy of "Humans are constantly craving for Human connections" is slowing changing to "Humans are constantly craving for Internet connection".

And nothing could beat this epic line from the Awesome Fight Club movie!

"The things you own end up owning you" - Fight Club..  

While being indulged in the huge *awesome* virtual world through social media, Are we really missing out on the main picture?


P.S:
One day I came across this particular place, a place with no notifications calling for attention, no friend pinging me. I urge you to take a look at this. And then, ofcourse nothing much happened. I went back to social media. :P

P.P.S: I took more than a week, for me to sit down and publish this simple piece of writing. Thanks to my social media addiction . So that's the whole point, see?

The Corpor'ate' Me

Disclaimer: If you are a victim of the corporate world, too and are looking to empathize (as suggested by the title), let me tell you, this may not be satisfactory enough , for I havent had enough of the corporate world, since its only been hardly four months since I joined a company and havent got 'the ***hole boss' yet. So you may just wait a bit for the part 2 of this (which I may hopefully come up with).

Well, one of the most important reasons of writing this one is to reaffirm myself that I can still be the un-professional-me , use pompous jargons and really really long sentences and be however rude I wanna be, atleast out of the office. So, that shows the frustration , doesnt it? For what I ve observed, The IT field  is seriously overrated, but am still wondering how people suddenly turn into zombie coders (or atleast apparently) once they enter into the office.

Its not surprising that I keep imagining a day in a developer's life when Google is down and then a wise man(myself) once said on the day of Ayudha Pooja:

Apparently its the Ayudha pooja today, and lets celebrate it by bowing down to google! #SoftwareEngineer :D 

And coming to the pay in the IT companies for the money they re getting from the foreign clients, all I would like to say is (if you are able 2 understand this):

Get a job, they said. You can save money, they said :D

One more thing, I cant help but writing is, these 4 months just went off in a jiffy and whatever time I am in this field will too, pass too quickly without any substantial achievement if one doesnt take up the situation in his hands.And every monday, I am left to thinking..

 Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, he'll feed himself for the rest of his life, And give a man a job in an IT company, he will spend his whole life coding! #ItsMondayAgain

Based on the research (a.k.a common sense) , these are the most favorite lines of the corpor'ate' people:
1.Salary credited
2. Its the weekend.
3. No bugs found.

To have a more clear view on specifically the IT field, I recommend you read this book 'Life Of a Software Engineer' (read as LOSER), if you havent already.

Corporate life - Love it, Hate it, postpone it. But you cant escape it!

With all these rantings, I would like to conclude "And then.. I'd probably stop complaining soon enough, just like all these people I see."

P.S: Out of all the troubles I had to face, most embarrassing one is that I have to use IE browser. :D :P

P.P.S: I know this is just my opinion and there might be some contradictory ones where people are actually enjoying their job. Well If you have such an opinion and are reading this, do me a favour of pinging me, lets talk cos I definitely need some motivation. 

The lessons from Wilbur, Powerstar and TR

Yes, you read the title right and I finally, got the courage to write about these people who, if you admit to be a fan of, could easily be outcasted from your friends group. While lakhs and lakhs of people have a hearty laugh watching these celebrities’ videos, these "celebrities" still continue to work with immense confidence that none of us have here. How many of you dare to even give a speech/ performance on stage when you re quite good in it, let alone when you know people will make fun of you. But then when you see the confidence or the courage that TR exhibits in any of his speeches or the knowledge that Wilbur Sargunaraj shares in any of his interviews, one thing is clear they are not LOSERS. They are not ashamed of themselves. They have the “Dare”. They accept themselves as they are, yet decide to entertain people. The most difficult thing in the world to accept oneself for what we are. While you read this article and move on with your most boring lives, the 3 gentlemen have one thing in common – whether they succeed or not, They have the courage to try.

P.S: If you re from Tamilnadu, hopefully, you would have heard about them, for the not-so-privileged ones, kindly google-out about videos of "Wilbur sargunaraj" or "Powerstar Dr. Srinivasan" or "T.Rajendran"

The year that passed and the one ahead

"The most creative times are the ones while you are at an exam or at the bathroom" -Myself

Yeah i really came up with that one, although i know its not good enough to have been stolen from someone i would like to declare it. Well, you wanna know why this quote now? I should take you back to this fact that I think, sing, talk a lot during the bath. weird? Yeah that's how i am. So the idea of writing this post too came up from one of my comtemplating sessions during bath. It all started off while i was wondering how this year could have been passed off doing nothing just like the other years. And then on deeper thinking, i realised i have had fun all through and also the year has been the one for few events in my life, which ofcourse you may not be too curious to know, still i decided to go ahead with this(atleast for myself).

Well i am not really that good at memory, so it may not be from the beginning of the year or in the chronological order also. Also i dont think i can remember my bad/ low times, obviously because our minds register the happy times better than the rest, which we ourselves would like to forgot, but i'm rather happy that there have been not too many of those-kinda incidents.

1. The confusion:

This was(/still is) the period for most of the engineers(of my batch) to start thinking of the answer for the ubiquitous question "Whats next?". Yeah you guessed it right from my usage of the word "ubiquitous" that i gave my GRE and TOEFL. Though it was rather a failure, it was infact #NotSoBad compared to few of my friends. Well, now dont think i'm going to the U.S in few months. No thats not happening even though my family so wanted that to happen.After all the confusions through the year,things are a bit clear now. I am anyway not too fascinated about "going abroad" and all. Its always better to be a mediocre here than a failure there (#DamnThePessimistMe). That's the whole point.

2.My photo on First Page of The Hindu:

Yes, you heard it right. My photo was on the first page of The Hindu's regional edition (ofcourse that's great thing! no? no!!? okay) as a part of an Ad for my University. That particular photo was a bad choice but it ended up in the newspaper. The Ad also appeared in some 7th page of TOI in chennai edition,too. And ofcourse, I was not selected based on the topper's list(just in case u thought so.)

3.The Hostel Life:

The year had been more than "fun" for me. With all those friends around, i never felt like boring, which most of my Chennai friends ask me everytime i meet them. Special mention to those juniors who made it even more memorable with all the HALWA-bringing everytime, Empuzzled-playing-times, short-film-koothu, birthday-bashes and those Nova-and-paati-kadai-eatings.

4.Sleep:

Well, many-a-times we could hear people telling sleep is very important and then i took it up literally. While, the number of hours i end up sleepin per day fascinates people, i used to feel its always better to sleep rather than doing nothing. Such vetty(jobless) i had been.

5.Facebook:

Next to sleep, most time i spent at is facebook. Yeah, i got super-active in the virtual life, while sitting at the same place (before my laptop like i am now) all the time. Atleast, it is an anodyne for vetty guys like me and hence FB. I dunno if I will be able to come out of this addiction, atleast this year. But since i believe addictions are usually replaced by addictions, hopefully the next addiction shall not be worser.

6.The Job:

Well, this was the placements time in my college. You know, it was really fun attending the training, the first interview, seeing your friends getting placed, finally getting placed too. I got placed in an IT company. This takes me to the time when the computer and internet was getting popular i was in my tenth grade or something, when being a software engineer was the coolest thing to be and a great thing, too. And then i started getting interested in computers. That's not the point now, the point is after all these years the craze for the software industry has almost come down and now people are running behind the so called "core job" because almost anyone (without the worst luck) can end up with the IT job these days, as most of us know.

7.Blogging:

Oh yeah! i started to write a tech-blog. Ofcourse its only the daily technology like tips for fb, twitter and other softwares and not my engineering subjects if you thought so. But as it has happened for so many, the microblogging took over blogging. And for a person like me who can sit thoroughout the day in FB but not a few hours with a book ( i mean novel here), I couldnt help but get distracted to other things. Atleast it got me busy for a month or two.

8. The Newly found Love:

Well, before you start thinking something else, let me make this point also clear here, i was and have ended the year (2011) SINGLE (tada..). i dont really regret so much for this except ofcourse for the times when i meet my old friend and he suddenly introduces his girlfriend and think "is it only me?"... or in the road, when a damn hot girl goes with a dumb or atleast dumb-looking guy and then the feeling of i-chose-to-be-so takes over and makes things easy :P

Yeah, coming back to the love that struck me this year and that is "PHOTOGRAPHY". i had come up with this status update sometime back saying - Facebook is the mother of so many photographers and the father of many models. The encouragement u get when u post a good pic on FB or the likes when you change your photo, you know, that is the driving force for so many people. Rather inspired from many of my friends on FB, I am entering this field of photography. It is wonderful and keeps me busy too. I am just a beginner right now and just hope atleast 2012 makes me a better photographer,(atleast).

"Stay Busy, Stay Happy" - Told by my friend Karthik and i feel its so apt for life.

P.S: Oh shit, i forgot to mention( this one, probably to myself), this year was the year i started getting white hairs.Very few. But still.. An event in my life :D

P.P.S: I am not sorry if this is not interesting for you. since this is my life and its enough if it is for me atleast.*attitude eh?* :D

One Day of fame

Well I am not the one who reads newspaper very regularly, but then I was left to staring it for one whole day. Yeah. One whole day. Reason? My photo was in the very first page (for an Ad for my University). That was the starting day of college for the 1^st years and the management had decided to issue advertisement ( one full page) in the reputed newspapers.

I have not appeared much in the public medias and so this is kind of weird. But the response has been overwhelming. It lead to various reactions, emotions, messages, calls, too many LIKES in facebook, and ultimately just two words “machi treat?!!!” (asking party for it). Actually I can recollect few responses . Not to forget too many were happy for me but then few couldnt help hide their jealousy.

“Cha indha moonjiyalaam poi pottrukaangaley!!”

and another funny response being

“ Dai HINDU first page da! PM, CM ku adutha padiyaga nee than machi!”

Well, I had given a very professional pic and everyother picture over there seems so casual but mine. It was my bad, I couldnt find any other picture casual yet elegant so I choose to be professional. But whatever pic it is, it is me. And it became the talk of the day among my friends.

I cant help but enjoy the one day of celeb status. Yes it was almost like being a celebrity and just like any other news this fades out soon too and with just one day passed I can feel it. So I can call it my day of fame as I havent even give it a thought of topping my school or College and making the news. So this becomes my Ego booster. :-)

P.S: here s the link of the Advertisement

Learn Madras Tamil in 30 minutes

For Those settling in Chennai, Tamilnadu Its mandatory you learn these words.

• Word/phrase(chennai bashai tamil words)
• Meaning (in english)
  

Abase

steal secretively

eg: avanada abase panathu

Allo

Hey, there...

eg: allo epadi irukka naina

Attu

Low grade.

eg: "Attu Figaru","Attu Padam".

Bejaar

Painful, troublesome.

eg: ivanoda overey bejaar ah pochu

Beku

Imbecile,mental

eg: sariyana beku da avan

Bemani

That which makes one ashamed, that which has no shame.(shameless)

eg: poda bemani unn munjula enn pichan kaiya vaikka

Butti

Someone who wears glasses. Also see "Soda Buddi".

eg: varan da soda butti

Daavu

To Sight a figure

eg: college la daavu adikirathu oru thani kicku

Dada

don.

eg: namba ooru dada vantaru

Dhool

"well done!" .

eg: dhool mamu

Domer

Dumb.

eg: hey domer vaiya moodu da

Dubukku

It is same as loosu .

eg: poda dubukku

Dhuttu.. (thutu)

Money.

eg: evolo dhuttu vachu kinu iruka

Figaru

Attractive woman.

eg: machi anga paaru super figaru poguthu

Galata

Chaos. or Celebration

eg: anga orey galata mama

Galiju

Dirty

eg: athu oru galiju area machi

Gandhi kannakku

Fraudulent accounting.

eg: ennanda dhutu kodutha athu gandhi kanakula pota mathiri

Isscool

School

eg:innaiki iscool leave ah

Jaga

To Escape from a situation. Used as "Jaga Vaanguradu"

eg: machi va jaga vangidalm ingenthu

Jollu

To ogle attractive women.

eg: avan sariya jollu party da

Joot

To get started. Also to escape.

eg: machi joot vitadalam

KD

Petty crook.

eg: semma KD da nee

Kabodhi

Literally, a blind person. A common insult directed at careless drivers, as in "watch where you're going!". Often used in conjunction with "Kuruttu", as in "Kuruttu Kabodhi!".

eg: poran paaru kurutu kabhodi

Kadalai

Literally, nut. As in "Ver-kadalai"(Ground-nut). Term used to denote verbal flirting with members of the opposite sex.

eg: enna ma varukuran kadalai ya avan

Kaithae

Donkey.

eg: poda kaithae

Kaiyendhi Bhavan

Roadside food vendor, equivalent to a hotdog stand in the US.

eg: machi kaiyendhi bhavan dosai thunalam ah

Kalakaradhu

To impress with one's performance.

eg: machi kalakura po

Kalasaradhu

To nag someone.

eg: machi avana over ah kalasatha da

.

Kamnaati

Illegitimate offspring.

eg: poda kamnaati nayae

Kasmaalam

Synonymous with "idiot".

eg: muditu poda kasmalam

Kenai

Fool.

eg: kenai paiya da avan

Kotiguniya

finished eating ah..Did you drop anything inside your stomach. also see: "Thuntia"

eg: nala kotiguniya??

Kundhu

Sit down.

eg: inga vanthu kudhu

Lookku vudaradhu

To check someone out, especially if it's an attractive person.

eg: enna look vudura ???

Maams

Same as "machi".

eg: enna maams panra

Machi

Synonymous with "dude", used in a positive sense.

eg: vada machi! valaikai bhajji!

Mama velai

Pimping both literally and figuratively.

eg: enna mama velai panriya da?

Mary

Female version of Peter.

eg: semma mary da ava

Merusal

feared

eg: machi merusal agiten avana parthu

Nambitten

"I don't believe you"..

eg: ok ok nambiten

Neat-a-po

Head straight

eg: left la thrimbi neat a po uddu varum

OB adikaradhu

To waste time.

eg: ellarum sernthu ob adikalam after class

OC

Free, at no cost.

eg: oc la kudutha inna vennalum thunuviyae

Outte

Same as "Gaali".

eg: avan outte da

Pazham

Easy Task, gullible person

eg: itho varan parru palam.

.

Peter

Male of Tamil origin who speaks English in preference to the Tamil even with other Tamil speakers, especially if his intention is to impress opposite sex.

eg: anga paaru peter u

Pistha

Someone who is a big-shot. A lower version of "Dhaadhaa"

eg: petta pistha da avan

Pisthu

Person talented in a certain field.

eg: periya pisthu va nee

Pilimu kaatradhu

To show off.

eg: enna pilim katuriya

Poramboku

Orphaned, abandoned.

eg: poda porambokku

Saavugraaki

Verbal abuse against bad drivers.

eg: saavugraaki varuthu paaru

Sight adikaradhu

Same as "Jollu".

Sokkakira

Looking good/beautiful.

eg: sokkakira naina nee

Thunradhu

To eat.

eg:inna thunrathu nu theriyala?

Udaans

To lie.

eg: machi udaans vidatha

Voodu

House.

eg:vooduku polaya nee?

Vootle solltiya?

Used against extremely unsafe drivers.

eg: saavu kiraki vootanda sollitu vantiya

How money can even lead you to god "Faster"

Well.. Guys am back home rite now and wonder if tat matters? yeah i dont get the sense of thing to sit down to write my blog at my hostel, but once back here feeling little bored . Writing this down has few more significance i rather kinda got inspired by few bloggers whose blog i read in the last few days, the links of which i ll add sooner.
I keep wondering and discussing about many things when in my hostel room and one of the topics that came up one day was of corruption in India. Yes, one of the phenomenon that has come up growing with us and which we ourselves, most of the time dont want to realise (even after a series of Shankar movies Anniyan, Indian, Sivaji..). I always wonder does people change atleast a bit after watching these movies.. May be they change worser. Is there any way to eradicate this corruption? - i asked myself.. Hmm yes there is but the thing is its almost impossible. It can be possible only if every person changes his attitude, which is never going to happen, else never a kandasamy or anniyan is going to be born in reality. Okay so where does this start or how this grows..? Well, a child who is growing up with full values taught is being stuck up between idealism and practicality, once he faces the outer world. Every other human being advises him to be practical to live with the world lest, he cant survive.
No child is born corrupt but can never die without being corrupt with the existing indian situation..
Corruption is spread over in every little field starting from education and the one responsible for it is "us". Hence this is being carried over as a legacy to the subsequent generations. The question which arises is do we really have to pay and skip the procedures even when u have the time to do it? or cant the procedures for governmental affairs be a bit easier? We are very much confortable with the corrupt society that nobody actually needs the change or think bout it inbetween their hectic routine. India, can reach to next stage only if every person thinks about the development of the nation everytime he is cheating or living with the bribing. A person does a mistake so he can bribe and escape it and so it doesnt seem to be mistake for him unless he is really going to be punished.
Well coming back to the title, i had visited one of temples yesterday, and even at temples there were "these black ticket sellers" offer to take you past the ever standing queues if they re paid extra. I just wonder the differences in the society where a persons waits for hours together to get a seconds of glimples of god but the richer part of humans get to pay more for the same but in minutes. How even god can be at your convenience with money..!!
Signing off with a slight hope that one of our future generations can live in a non corrupt society.

My trip back to chennai..

I, born and brought up in chennai, have been accustomed to traditions of my city a lot. Last year i had joined SASTRA UNIVERSITY @ tanjore. Now i ve had worst times being in a under-developed place like tanjore after living in a METRO city CHENNAI. Enough of that complaining, cos i ve completed succcessfully a whole year and am a proud senior and so these things are not new for me. But a student's heavenly life is his college life and i believe its even more great if its a hostel life. (forget about the discomforts that are faced like my poor mess food and timely water crisis). But whatever its i love the glory of chennai and miss it very much.

Now i am back home for 1st time after 2nd year started. Its awesome to enjoy the previleges at a stretch when u return home after a long time. The moment i returned home it was morning and i had the great taste of mom's degree coffee. All chennaities know the glory of coffee. Then had two buckets full of hot water bath.(lol i dont get hot water @ hostel). Atlast i got the chance yet again to tune into my favourite radio stations. Trust me, chennai s radio stations are the best and you dont need a ipod whenever you re in chennai. The best collections from the old classics to latest chart busters. There are too many stations that ensure you dont get bored at any part of time. Well atlast i have my friends to meet and discuss here. Our studies are occupying too much of our lives that we couldnt roam about to all the places here like we used to do. More posts coming up.

(P.S I get to come home hardly two days for a month or two, so every trip is a special one for me.)