Mr. Cool!!!

Its time to move on

2010-06-30T16:51:00.002+08:00

It all started in the Summer of 2008. Since then we were unseparable even though there were some gaps as I was busy with my personal and professional life. I had a great time spending time with it. Recently I have felt that it was time to move on and try something new and different.

Yes I am moving away from blogger to wordpress. I have already exported all the content (both personal and travel blogs) into wordpress. My new address will be http://palwai.wordpress.com

I might miss this space but at the same time hoping that I will have a great time with wordpress.

Its June

2010-06-21T08:41:00.003+08:00

I know its an accurate yet pointless title. The fact is I have been real busy all these days and I wanted to write something here.

For last two months I have been working even on the weekends and the schedules and unplanned work is killing my sleep. I have so many complaints from family and friends that I am not being in touch with them. I guess I should convey these messages to my managers.

This month has been special so far as it was my parents 32nd Successful Marriage Anniversary. Even though I was not there I was hoping that they would have a great time and celebrate many more anniversaries. Its also Father's day this month and it would have been great if I was there with my dad. Last but not the least, Its French Open, NBA, FIFA & Iphone 4 release.

I also saw some real good movies this month which includes Prince of Persia, Karate Kid and Toy Story. I also saw Raavan which was badly made. For the next whole week I will be again busy with my work schedule. Thats all from me now.

Filling Timesheet is Painful

2010-05-27T17:29:00.001+08:00

The most annoying task for any resource in the month end would be filling in their time sheet. Having worked for some of the largest companies, I have seen really monstrous time tracking systems. Every employee thinks that they are frankly Painful, horrible, soul crushing, and pointless. No one likes time sheets.

I have seen those tensed faces during the month-ends as people have to clock the each and every minute they are in the office and also have to justify their work for those hours. I am not sure why managers think that any resource can actually justify his work for all the 8 hours.

I have also seen some managers resort to public humiliation to get their employees to submit their time sheets on time without any discrepancies. Even though we are at work busy doing a task given by the same manager, he still insists in submitting the timesheet on time.

Below is one such conversations which I have actually had on the floor.

Manager: Where is your time sheet Sudheendra?
Sudheendra: I’ll get it to you.

Manager: But it was due two hours ago.
Sudheendra: Yeah I know. Look, I’m really very busy, and I don’t really have time to figure out all that I did in the past week and fill it in the time sheet.

Manager: Do you want to get paid?
Sudheendra: Do you want me to work or not. Of course I need the salary. Look, I’ll get it to you, I just need some time to finish some things given by YOU.

After all this struggle, one questions that always recurrs while filling the time sheet is:

Hey buddy, Do you remember what we did last week?

In a place where we do multi tasking and work on many projects, I guess our memory about the tasks done would often become blur. I know we all are intelligent and have started writing about all these tasks in a Excel sheet to have it for reference at the end of the month.

But after doing all these exercises, justifying all those tasks each day for all 8 hours would always be a very big & tedious task for the employee.

I am now ready for the comments from the managers :-)

Rain Rain Go Away

2010-04-29T14:29:00.003+08:00

Its been raining at irregular times and intervals for the last 2 weeks in Singapore. We have planned for camping this weekend I don't want rain to spoil the whole plan. The first thing that came to my mind was the rhyme which I learned as a kid.

Rain Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day

Hope to have a great weekend.

Blogwriter

2010-04-26T00:09:00.001+08:00

Testing blog writer app from Iphone

My Best Friends Wedding

2010-04-21T15:49:00.001+08:00

As a child, I moved a lot because of dad getting transferred every now and then. I was never so comfortable making friends where ever I went. I always had one or two friends where ever I went. When I came to my high school, I came to Hyderabad and got settled there. It was in my +2 that I actually started making friends and socialising. It was day 1 at Special Coaching center where I met my best friend Kishore.

From there it is now a journey of 14 years of relationship. I still remember the day one in my college when I sat besides him and slept during the class. We quickly hit it off and our friendship grew into the odd man-love, that cant be explained, but just understood. There were many funny, sentimental, serious moments during these days.

I have planned many things for his marriage, right from when to go to Hyd to what to wear in the marriage. I was never interested in staying in the wedding for the whole time. But as this wedding is special and interesting for me, I wanted to experience each and every aspect of this marriage and be part of most of it.

The day has come and on April 3rd, Nandu got married. I will post the marriage details later. But right now I am very happy for the couple and just waiting for them to land in Singapore while they are on their honeymoon trip.

Nice Weekend

2010-04-19T16:03:00.001+08:00

All these days I have been busy because of one project and one tough user. Frankly speaking had a tough time at work last one month. I felt this weekend was great and relaxing after a long time and hence thought it was worth sharing with everyone.

Friday Nagaraj gave his birthday (which was actually on Apr-8th) party at Khalsa Club (Our favorite hangout place for long time because of its nice food and sensible rates). While coming back home we bought a carrom board and were ready for action. We played till 2AM and went home.

Saturday started off with some nice food and then went on playing carroms and watching movies. In the evening, thanks to Santosh, we all started running. We ran for around 3KM and then walked for 3KM. On the way back we went to Harry's had couple of beers and had dinner.

Sunday early morning I, Swetha & Surya left for cycling in the Pasir Ris Park. We did cycling for around 10KM and then went to friends room had nice lunch and went home to sleep. In the evening again I, Swetha, Nagaraj, Santosh & Amarnadh went for cycling. This time we went to Changi Village and the total track was 20KM. On the way back it was very nice experience to pedal the cycle in the rain. As it was raining we decided to have some nice pakodis along with couple of drinks. We went home had egg burji and pakodi along with beer.

At the end, the weekend was over with Deccan Chargers winning the match and earning a place in Semis.

Long Time No See

2010-03-16T10:14:00.003+08:00

Yes, Its been quite sometime that I wrote in this place. I cannot blame anyone this time. There was a lot happening in last 2 months both in personal and professional life. I did not get proper time to sit and write here. Hopefully in the next few days I will be back into my blog world.

What's happening at my end
- Celebrated First Anniversary
- My birthday
- Cursed manager after the appraisal
- Going to India again this month end
- Working late hours .. coming early to office .. its been quite hectic
- Playing lot of cricket these days

Happy Birthday Swetha

2010-01-20T17:42:00.002+08:00

Its been surprises all the way for Swetha since day she married me. Now before you jump for conclusions, these are all pleasant surprises. This time was about her birthday. Swetha's birthday was on 18th January which was Monday, so I thought we will celebrate on 17th so that we can have enough time in partying.

I and Surya planned things in such a way that Swetha had no clue about what was going on. We all were behaving as if we forgot about her birthday. We had sumptous biryani prepared by Rakesh at 230J. Then we went to see yet a disaster movie of NTR, Adhurs. It was already 9.30 by the time movie was completed and still Swetha was waiting for a sign from me and friends so that some one would say it out. But everything was taken care so well that everyone acted well.

Meanwhile Surya booked a table at Sapphire in Jewel box which had a greate view from the top of Mt. Faber. We took a taxi from the theater pretending that the Nagaraj was giving a party for his promotion. We went to the restaurant, had nice food, drinks and we enjoyed the cool breeze and view at the top. It was around 11.30PM when we decided to leave, its then that the steward got the cake (brought by Santosh) from behind and kept it before Swetha. The expression on Swetha's face the next moment was priceless.

She was very happy the way I have organized the whole thing. Since then everyone is asking what gift I have given to Swetha and I have been replying the same, "I have given her sweet memories to cherish".

Happy Married Life

2010-01-14T12:49:00.001+08:00

I am dedicating this space to my good friends Rinesh and Shradha on occasion of their marraige and heartfelt wishes to the couple. I think this is the only marriage among my friends where I have attended all the functions and parties. I was there right from Mehendi, Sangeet, Marriage, Reception and Bachelors Party. I had a great time and met my good friends from engineering.

Birthdays of the Month

2010-01-14T12:05:00.003+08:00

I have tried to retrieve and remember the birthdays of all those people whom I know and who are born in January. I wish all you many many happy returns of the day. Some are belated and some are in advance :-)

Madhavi - Jan 2 (MIS)
Praveen - Jan 5 (Goldstone)
Kalyan - Jan 8 (MGIT)
Venkatesh - Jan 8 (Goldstone)
Karteek - Jan 11 (SRMJC)
Ramya - Jan 11 (My Sweet sister)
Suman - Jan 14 (MGIT)
Rasika - Jan 15 (MGIT)
Nagoor Basha - Jan 15 (Goldstone)
Sreedhar - Jan 15 (MGIT)
Dhananjay - Jan 16 (Goldstone)
Sangeeta - Jan 18 (Good Old friend lost in time)
Jayanth - Jan 26 (Common friend)
Sandhya - Jan 26 (MGIT)
Satish - Jan 28 (MGIT)
Sharon - Jan 31 (MGIT)

New Year Resolutions

2010-01-14T11:37:00.002+08:00

As I do every year, this year also I took some resolutions and trying to follow them.

Regarding health:
- Drink plenty of water (I am already doing it and am continuing that this year too)
- Eat more fresh fruits and drink juices (I am doing it everyday)
- Avoid non-veg where ever possible (Avoiding on weekends is a little tough though)
- Avoid alcohol (Strictly following)
- Sleep for 7 hours (Not happening)
- Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day (Not happening)
- Smile and laugh more (I am always smiling)

Regarding Inner soul:
- Make time for prayer everyday (Yes, since yesterday)
- Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day without doing anything (Not happening)
- Call family often (Yes, everyday)
- Stay in touch with friends and family

Regarding personal growth
- Read more books than I did in 2009 (Going on)
- Dream while I am awake (Not happening)
- Learn a new thing everyday
- Read before you sign (Added yesterday)
- More blogging

The list would definitely increase as days go on and on

Lessons Learned the hard way

2010-01-14T11:17:00.002+08:00

There are many lessons in life that we learn from parents, friends, surroundings, situations etc naturally. But there are some lessons which we learn the hard way.

All my life I have never cared about cross checking anything or anyone because, I always felt that the whole world is standing on faith and belief. I have filled so many forms or signed so many bonds and contracts without reading, took so many cheques and money from people with out counting, etc. I did all this by beleiving the other person and have never failed or have been betrayed or fooled.

There are some incidents which change the way we think and the way we look at the life. One such incident happened in my life and I have learned this lesson the hard way. I have been overbilled on my two mobiles for 700 dollars just because some idiotic salesman has not ticked a small box and I signed it without properly looking into the form.

From now on I will definitely be skeptical when I am filling the forms, signing the contracts or dealing the money matters.

Makara Sankranthi Subhakankshalu

2010-01-14T09:52:00.002+08:00

First of all I wish you all Happy Makar Sankranti or Makara Sankranthi Subhakankshalu.

Today morning I reached my office desk and my desk phone started ringing. I was surprised to see the call from my colleague Vijay who is from a different team. I thought he was calling with respect to cricket practice this weekend. To my horror, here goes the conversation

Babs: Hello

Vijay: Good Morning Sudheendra !!!
Babs: Good Morning Vijay

Vijay: Today is some festival in Andhra right?
Babs: Yes, its makara sankranthi or pongal for some people

Vijay: OK, Why do you celebrate this festival?
I was bowled right on the spot. I just knew that we eat sweets and fly kites.
Babs: Hmm, I dont really know the exact reason Vijay. I just know that we fly kites. Sorry.

Vijay: Who is the right person to find out?
I thought Google or Wikipedia in my mind. I was not sure if any other telugu people knew about this and I didnt want to embarass them. So I said:
Babs: Vijay I will find out and let him know.

I immediately opened Wikipedia and Google and parallely called dad. Dad was sleeping as it was too early for them in Hyderabad.

Dad: Hello Good Morning nana
Without saying a word I started off:
Babs: Dad why do we celebrate Sankranthi?

Dad: Today is the day when Sun moves from one Southern Hemisphere to Northern Hemisphere. Also today transition of the Sun from Dhanu rashi (Sagittarius) to Makara rashi (Capricorn) takes place. Farmers do harvesting and get their harvest home on this day.
Babs: Ok dad thanks. Shall talk to you later.

After talking to dad and reading online, I got a fair idea on why Sankranthi festival is celebrated. I called Vijay and explained him the same. Below some more info on Sankranthi for people who are still not clear about it.

Sankranti is celebrated for four days in Andhra Pradesh:

* Day 1 - Bhogi Panduga (Bhogi pandga)
The first day of festival is Bhogi. At dawn people light a bonfire with logs, old mats, clothes and other such things that are no longer useful. In many families, infants and children (usually less than three years old) are showered with fruit called "Regi Pandlu", that is the Indian jujube fruit. It is believed that doing this would protect the children from evil eye, called "Dishti" (from Sanskrit Drishthi: sight) .

* Day 2 - Pedda Panduga,SANKRANTI (Surya)
The second day is Sankranti, also called "Pedda Panduga",( literally, the big festival), when everyone wears new clothes,pray, and make offerings of sweets to God.

* Day 3 - Kanuma Panduga (Kanuma)
Kanuma Panduga (Kanuma) is not as widely celebrated, but is an integral part of the Sankranti culture.

* Day 4 - Mukkanuma
Mukkanuma is famous among the non-vegetarians of the society. People do not eat any meat or fish during the first three days of the festival, and do so only on the day of Mukkanuma.

Sankranti usually means all the four days together. It is celebrated in almost every village with adventurous games in South India. Whether it is the cock fights in Andhra, Bull fighting in Tamil Nadu or Elephant Mela in Kerala, there is huge amount of illegal betting but the so called tradition continues to play a major role in the festival. Another notable feature of the festival in South India is the Haridas who moves around begging for rice wishing luck.

Happy New Year - 2010

2010-01-04T15:32:00.002+08:00

Recent Movies

2009-12-28T17:38:00.003+08:00

I saw many movies, but movies that can be mentioned were only a few.

Avatar - Awesome graphics and 10/10 for the directors imagination.

Sherlock Homles - Very good movie. Its for the new Remake generation, looking forward for the sequel.

3 Idiots - The movie has touched 10/10 for the first 2 hours, but 20 mins of the movie just before the climax has spoiled its over all chances of being a very good movie.

Paa - Went to theater thinking that it would be a slow emotional drama, but I was surprised to see the fun I had by watching the movie. Bachans were at their best.

Addicted to iPhone

2009-12-28T17:04:00.002+08:00

Within no time, iphone has become part of my life. With all those little apps, right from games to useful trackers to everyday planners, all these have become pretty addictive. The major attraction for these apps is, they are free or very cheap. These apps enable me to have my life available literally at my finger tips. I heard that there are loads and loads of new apps come every day and there are around 1,00,000 apps currently around the world.

I heard that, in Redmond, there is a Internet Addiction Center opened. This is to rehabilitate the people who are addicted to different digital equipment. So how do we know if we are addicted?

According to one of the experts quoted in a article, if we are spending two hours or more a day engaged with our digital equipment and it's not for work- or homework-related reasons, then we are addicted to that digital device. And after reading this, yes I confirm that I am addicted to iPhone.

iPhone Couple

2009-12-28T15:54:00.003+08:00

iPhone couple

I have been seeing the revolution brought by iphone in the past 2 years. I never wanted to buy one for different reasons. Recently, all my friends in Singapore bought iphone and started taunting me for not having one. I tried hard to stop myself from buying, but finally ended up contracting for me as well as for Swetha. We both are proud owners of iPhone 3GS 32GB.

Now after couple of weeks I would say that this is the best phone I have ever used in my life and we are now a happy iPhone couple.

Long Time No See

2009-12-28T14:47:00.001+08:00

Yes, its been quite sometime that I wrote in my blog. There were many reasons including my laziness for not being able to post anything here. I shall try to post the happenings during these days, in the next few days.

What's Going on?

2009-11-19T14:28:00.001+08:00

Fixing the bugs in my development.
Looking forward for India trip for my best buddies marriage.
Making arrangement for my trip for Anniversary.
Planning to stop hosting people for sometime.
Re-iterating, trying hard to cultivate good food habits.
Trying almost every day to motivate myself for gym and failing.
Missing Swetha. (And of course mom dad :P)
Hoping to see Veeksha before she turns 1.
Want to see NY and Manhattan Skyline from Ramya's balcony.
Thinking for the ways to save enough money for my NZ trip.
Read more and more novels.

Countries I visited

2009-11-16T21:55:00.001+08:00

visited 8 countries out of 255 (3.55%)
Create your own visited map of The World

That was cute

2009-11-13T15:18:00.002+08:00

Today morning I got an email from Ramya with the subject "Get Well Soon". The content just had the attached picture.

At the first look, I didn't really understand what exactly that mail is about. I called Ramya to understand what this is all about. She then explained me that she tried to be cute by sending me some fruits as I was not feeling well. I laughed for a while and then felt good for such a sweet gesture to show that she cares.

I am sick

2009-11-12T15:01:00.002+08:00

Its been 3 days that I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of being sick and tired. I have been suffering from Fever, Cold and cough (Don't jump to conclusions, its not flu or something but just because of the tiredness) for last 3 days since I came from India.

Luckily I don't really have any work at office and hence there is no need to concentrate here, but unluckily I cannot take off from office and stay at home as I do not have many leaves. Hope I will recover ASAP as weekend is round the corner and I am very much looking forward for it.

New Look

2009-11-12T14:02:00.001+08:00

Finally I have decided to change the look and feel of my blog as it was monotonous for a long time. Hope you guys like it. Let me know if you guys dont like it or have any suggestions in mind.

Badly planned trip

2009-11-09T13:20:00.000+08:00

This is one such badly planned trip where I have done too many mistakes. I went there to finish off 3 pending works out of which just one was successful. For this, I was not fully prepared and was not having the required information in hand when I need it.

The biggest blunders in my travel history are done during this trip. While going to Hyderabad, I reached the airport 2 hours before the schedule. At the check-in I was asked for the credit card, but as it was Santosh's credit card, I showed them the authorisation letter having Santosh's signature. But they wanted that signature to be done in front of their officer at one of their outlets, which was not done. So I was asked to buy a ticket again and they would refund this amount into the credit card. I ran here and there in the airport to find the sales booth. Mean while I didn't have sufficient amount in my account and hence had to borrow from one of my friends. Finally got the ticket at the same price as the previous one and flew to Hyderabad for a hectic trip.

After my trip while coming back to Singapore, I and Santosh went to the check-in counter to do it together. At the counter the representative told me that I have missed the flight. I was shocked as I was well before the schedule. He then told me that I have booked the ticket for a day before and I have come to the airport the next day. Huh .. Not again is what has strike my mind. I had to pay some no show fine and again get the ticket back to Singapore.

Lessons learned, check the tickets and dates of travel properly.

Excited

2009-11-04T08:57:00.002+08:00

Going home almost after 5 months. I am leaving tomorrow evening and will be back on Monday morning. Even though this will be a hectic trip, I am very much excited to go home.

I will be going to Hyderabad twice in this month. The next trip would be to meet up with my old friends at Rinesh and Shradha's marriage. I am very much looking forward for that trip too.

Quote of the Day

2009-11-03T17:15:00.001+08:00

"Every generation needs a journey story; every generation needs a story about what it is to be transformed by geography, what it is to be transformed by encounters with cultures and people that are alien from yourself, and you know that age group 15 to 25, that’s the perfect generation to get on a motorcycle, to hit the road, to put on your backpack and just go out."

— José Rivera, screenwriter, Motorcycle Diaries

Best Review

2009-10-30T16:38:00.000+08:00

After my first attempt at night photography, I have got so many appreciations. One common thing I have found in those appreciations was, most of them did not know about the technical details involved in that photography. So I thought it would nice if I get a review from a professional. I remembered my friend telling me that her boss is a professional photographer, so I asked her to share the link of my travel and photo blog to him and ask him professional feedback. Below is the feedback which he gave:

"He is a very good photographer and the best part is documenting skills. His compositions are very good and in some cases very creative. I suggest he should concentrate on documenting. Sell his articles in local magazines eg: Asian Geography.
Documenting refers to writing a short article and using photographs to support them. Also attached some of his work that I liked."

This was a true professional and best review that I got and in fact he has gone through all my blog posts and the pictures in them. That is something amazing from his side and have given me a great boost to go ahead and learn more and more skills from now on. Hope I can become a good photographer some day :-)

Point of Inspiration

2009-10-29T09:37:00.001+08:00

Its been around 1.5 year that I bought the my DSLR camera, but never used it to the potential. I always used the regular Automatic or No Flash or Sports or Sunset or Night modes which are already preset. I was never convinced that I was taking some nice pictures even though my friends always appreciated my pictures. I was a bit lazy in reading the manual and learning it. Nagaraj has been insisting since day 1 to read the manual and I have been overlooking that.

Picture taken by Marc and Sina

Last week when my couch surfing guests Marc and Sina, showed me the Singapore skyline picture that they took at night. I can say that, that was the moment of inspiration for me to actually know more and more insights into the photography. They taught me some tips as how to take night pictures and also waterfalls. I have tried the night photography yesterday and got quite impressive results for an amateur photographer. Hopefully I will try photographing waterfall too.

Here are the pics that I took.

Team Building Party

2009-10-25T00:03:00.005+08:00

Its been around 2 years that I have been part of this team in Credit Suisse in Singapore. The team has grown enormously and have delivered many a projects, but none of us know each other properly and doesn't really know each other personally.

Finally this Friday, management has taken a step to give a Team Building party to the team. The attendance to this was compulsory. So evening by 4PM, we were all at the Ceylon Cricket Club to start a great evening. We were told that we will be having some games and then dinner at 6.30PM. When I heard about the games and saw the people around me, I thought what these old guys will play and this whole exercise would be a flop.

To my surprise once the games were started everyone forgot where they come from and what position they are in and have actually enjoyed the games part of the evening. We were split into 4 groups and were supposed to compete in 3 different games.

That's my team Red Bulls

After then games we went for dinner and drinks. After having 2 or 3 drinks we asked for some good music and then started dancing for a long time. We had food, drinks, danced and spoke to each other and in fact knew each other well. We had a great time till 1 in the night. In fact this is the first time I have got a chance to speak to all my bosses with whom I haven't really spoken for 2 years.

That's the final group who were there till Late night

Hope I will have these kind of parties quarterly.

Do you enjoy your work?

2009-10-21T14:09:00.001+08:00

I have always encountered this question in my life, "Do you enjoy your work?". I spontaneously say "NO". I gave justification saying that I don't really like working and just for survival I am working. But even I was not convinced or satisfied with my answer.

During this Diwali weekend I was again in the same situation but this time I got the proper answer which I felt was very convincing and satisfying to hear. The girl who asked me this question gave her answer for the same question.

She said: "I love music, travelling etc and if I start loving my job and spending more time there, then I don't think I can spend time for those activities which I love more".

On the similar note I felt that I was having the same thing in mind but never came out with such a self explanatory answer. From now on I have the answer for this question :-).

Congratulations

2009-10-20T13:23:00.001+08:00

Congratulations to Dolly and Ravi for becoming parents for the first time. Last night Dolly has given birth to a beautiful little angel. I wish you both parents good luck and God bless the baby. Hope to see you guys soon.

Happy Diwali

2009-10-20T13:13:00.003+08:00

I know its been quite a while I have actually posted in the blog. This was because of many reasons both at personal and professional front. Finally today (After Ramya asked me to write something as she was missing my posts ;)) I wanted to make sure of writing something.

This weekend was Diwali weekend and this will be my third Diwali in Singapore. The first year, I went to the Diwali count down at Serangoon, which was good and the second year I was at home doing nothing. Even this time I thought I will not do anything other than sitting at home and watching some stupid movie.

The day before Diwali, I got a call from Vidya bhai and he asked me to come down to his place with my friends. As there was nothing else to do we all went to his place on the diwali day and had nice biryani and sweets. After the food we were all excited to burn those sparklers as its been a long time we all have actually done that. After enjoying the crackers and taking some pictures, I and Surya left to Poonam's place (Surya's friend).

This was my first time to meet this gang and was not sure how I would get along with them. But to my surprise everyone was good and I had a great time with them. I had gobi manchurian and coke at their place, burned some sparklers, took some pics and then left for Clarke Quay. I and Surya thought we will not go but finally ended up going there and thought we will leave early and came home at 3AM in the night.

Over all it was a fun filled Diwali that I had in the past 3 years. Even though it is late, belated Diwali wishes to one and all.

Helping Hand

2009-10-20T13:02:00.001+08:00

Not everybody can do good things and help people. I am proud of my dad as he has done it many a times till date. The recent Kurnool relief operation is one more Feather in dad's Cap.

A day after the floods in Kurnool, dad called me and asked me to see the news (which normally I don't care about). I switched logged into the Internet news and came to know about the situation in AP. After a while I called dad to discuss how it is going and how is everyone over there. Dad then told me that he is doing a relief operation for the affected people. As usual being a lazy bum, I asked my dad to give money to someone and they would take care. But he insisted on doing it by himself and if I am interested I can do some contribution.

Immediately, I sent message to all my friends in Singapore, called friends and cousins in USA to ask if they are interested in contributing to this noble cause. To my surprise, I got so many positive responses and was able to send the contributions around 100K (15K (From MGIT friends) + 17.5 (From Singapore Friends) + 40.5K (From Nandu and his friends) + 15K (Ramya and her Friends) + 5K (From Munnu bava) + 6K (From Swetha's Friends))

This overwhelming response has motivated dad further and has done the helping activities in two different phases.

Phase 1:
Around 50 volunteers were there to help in cooking and packing the rice, water and clothes.
Around 30 volunteers went into the affected areas to distribute the food and water.
Over 1300Kg of rice has been cooked and packed.
6 vans left Hyderabad in the night and distributed over several affected villages by next day afternoon.

Phase 2:
Hundreds of blankets were sent to the needful.
Some of the daily food items were also sent along.

Result of the operation:
Many appreciations and blessings to all those who have helped in this activity.

Note: You can see the video which came in the news here.

Thanks

2009-10-09T14:48:00.002+08:00

I would like to thank all those beautiful people who have been part of this initiative. I shall write more about the relief program in my next post.

3 Days 16 Movies

2009-09-22T18:43:00.002+08:00

Telugu:
Andhrudu
Mallanna
Raju Maharaju

Hindi:
Wanted
Dil bole Hadippa

English:
Touch of Evil
Unforgiven
Entrapment
Shake Hands with the Devil
Click
Borat
Inglorious Basterds
Wicker Man
Chariots of Fire
Hostage
Assault on Precinct 13

Happy Birthday Mahesh

2009-09-07T14:57:00.000+08:00

This weekend was all about movies again. We have watched 10 movies:
Rudy
The Express
16 Blocks
Homam
Oyi
Vijayendra Varma
Heat
Sword Fish
and 2 more which I am not remembering right now.

Other than that we had nice chicken curry with biryani at home. Also had some martinis and wine.
As Monday is Mahesh's birthday, Sunday night we brought a Tiramisu cake and troubled him with birthday bumps.

Overall it was a great weekend.

Gyan of the Day - Why is Loo called as "Loo"?

2009-09-03T13:49:00.003+08:00

Some say restroom, some say bathroom, some say toilet etc. Now a days I have heard more and more people calling it as loo. So why is Loo called as Loo is todays gyan.

The British word for toilet, "loo", derives from the French "garde a l'eau!" In medieval Europe people had little conception of hygiene and threw the contents of their chamber pots out the window into the street below. In France the practice was preceded by "garde a l'eau!" ("watch out for the water!"). In England, this phrase was Anglicised, first to "gardy-loo!", then just "loo", and eventually came to mean the toilet/lavatory itself. The American word for toilet, "john", is called after the John Harington who in 1596 invented an indoor water closet for Queen Elizabeth I.

PMO office confirmed YSR Dead

2009-09-03T13:43:00.002+08:00

After India's biggest search operation came a bad news, YSR is no more. Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, who is currently serving his second term as CM has been declared dead. I don't want to say much on this as the whole India is watching this news and everybody is in deep sorrow for this loss, I also wanted to show my condolences. May his soul rest in peace. May all his good work shine and people forget any mistakes he has done.

Happy Birthday Internet

2009-09-02T19:53:00.003+08:00

Gyan of the day - Spicy food and Water

2009-09-02T11:28:00.001+08:00

Yesterday Paulina and Michael cooked food for us as a token of thanks for couch surfing. Michael prepared some salsa and asked me to taste it. As an Indian who eats more spicy food I asked him add some more chili sauce to it. We sat for dinner and I loved the salsa. But others who were on table were very uncomfortable with the amount of spiciness in salsa. After sometime I was asked as what would I do if I feel spicy. We spoke about options like taking sugar or having some sweet etc. Later I got a doubt as why does water not calm the tongue after eating hot spicy food? I have searched online and got the below answer:

The spices in most of the hot foods that we eat are oily, and, like your elementary school science teacher taught you, oil and water don't mix. In this case, the water just rolls over the oily spices. Water would in fact spread oil around. What can you do to calm your aching tongue? Eat bread. The bread will absorb the oily spices. A second solution is to drink milk. Milk contains a substance called "casein" which will bind to the spices and carry them away. Milk will only help briefly as it cannot strip the oil completely. Alcohol also dissolves oily spices.

Gyan of the Day - Evolution of Credit Cards

2009-09-01T09:42:00.002+08:00

I just can't imagine today's world without credit cards. It's now part of everybodys life. Banks around the world has given credits worth billions of dollars based on these cards. So today's gyan is about when and how this credit card has actually started.

In 1950, Diners Club and American Express launched their charge cards in the USA, the first "plastic money". In 1951, Diners Club issued the first credit card to 200 customers who could use it at 27 restaurants in New York. But it was only until the establishment of standards for the magnetic strip in 1970 that the credit card became part of the information age.

The first use of magnetic stripes on cards was in the early 1960's, when the London Transit Authority installed a magnetic stripe system. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit installed a paper based ticket the same size as the credit cards in the late 1960's.

The word credit comes from Latin, meaning "trust". Do you think it still holds the meaning :-)

Experience at Siem Reap Airport

2009-08-31T16:10:00.000+08:00

Its been more than 2 weeks that we returned from Cambodia and I didnt really get time to update about the trip. This post is about our experiences at the Siem Reap airport.

We landed in Siem Reap airport at around 7.45AM. We were given around 5 forms to fill before we go to the immigration. The people standing there were all from our single plane, yet the line was moving very slowly. Once we reached the counter we realised about the reason for delay. In all the airports where ever we went, there was one immigration officer who was taking care of everything related to particular passenger. It was a bit different here.

One guy took the passport and the forms and the money. Check the money and passed on the passport and the forms to the next guy.
Next guy checked the forms and passed the Passport and the Employment pass to the next guy.
This guy checked the EP and Passport and passed them to the next guy.
Now this guy would paste the hand written visa on the passport and pass it on to the next guy.
He is the final guy and calls our name and hands over the passport to us.

This whole process took around 1 hour. This is the longest time I have ever spent at the airport because of the delay in the immigration.

The other experience that I had here was while coming back to Singapore. Our flight was scheduled at around 7.40AM. But I misread the timing and told my friends that the flight is at 7AM. Keeping in mind the time taking immigration process while arrival, we thought we should be early at the airport.

We started off at around 4.30AM from the hostel. On the way I cross checked the timing and saw that it was at 7.40. Now we all knew that we had a long wait before we boarded the flight. We arrived at the airport entrance at 4.45AM. Tuk Tuk was stopped by the airport security and below was the conversation:

Security: Tuk Tuk cannot go inside the airport premises now.
Driver: Can the passesngers go?

Security: Yes
Driver: Why can't I come in?

Security: Airport is closed

What? Airport is closed! This came to all of us as a surprise. I have never heard at any airport being closed. We gave 5 dollars for tuk tuk and went into the airport. We wanted to check-in and then take some time to sleep. Once we reached the gate, security again stopped us.

Security: You cannot go inside.
I: Why?

Security: The airport staff has not yet come.

This time my friends gave me a scary look. I couldn't help it but have to deal with it. We had to sleep at the table outside the gate. Meanwhile Airport staff started pouring in and we saw the dress rehearsal that they do every morning. At around 6AM, we were allowed to go inside and at that time the check-in counters were not yet opened.

We each selected a bench and slept for sometime till the check-in counters open.

Gyan of the Day - April Fools Day

2009-08-31T10:42:00.003+08:00

We have been fooling our friends and cousins all these years on April 1st. I was just wondering as why do we fool people on that specific day. Yet again nothing else came to my mind other than Google to check that. Below is an article which I found:

It is widely proclaimed that April Fool's day originated in France in 1562, or thereabouts, when Pope Gregory replaced the Julian calender with the Gregorian calender in the Julian calender month of April. The day of introduction of the Gregorian calender was made the first day of January. Some people hadn't heard about the change in the date, so they continued to celebrate the New Year's Day, but it being 1st April. So, others called them "April fools." The fact is that Pope Gregory XIII ordered Thursday 4 October 1582 to be the last day of the Julian calendar. The next day was Friday 15 October. April Fool's Day is an April Fool's tale.

The April Fool's Day tradition in France includes poisson d'avril ("April's fish"), attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed.

NATAS Fair 2009

2009-08-31T10:32:00.001+08:00

I heard a lot about NATAS Fair, but never got a chance to go for it. This time I made it a point to visit the Fair. It was in Expo Hall 4 and 5. To avoid weekend crowd, I left office on Friday afternoon and went to Expo. Even on the working day I saw quite a number of people going for the fair.

There is an entrance fee of 3 dollars to enter the halls. If you book it through master card then it was only 2 dollars.

There were offers from many travel agencies, insurance companies, travel goods etc etc. Once I entered the halls there were people, people everywhere but not as bad as IT Shows where you could hardly walk. While entering the hall AIG Insurance gave away free recycling bags so that you can keep all the brochures collected. I could see so many stalls like:

Air Asia
CTC
Dynasty Travel
Hong Thai Travel
and many more travel agencies.

The deals offered by different travel agencies varied so much that I actually got confused deciding which one was good. Also they were offering the deals for almost around the world. The only draw back I had was, all these offers were valid only till year end. Overall I would say that if you have plans for the year end then you can definitely go to this fair and get the best deal.

Gyan of the Day - Chocolate

2009-08-28T17:03:00.003+08:00

I was getting bored at office and was going through some blogs and websites. Mean while I came across something which I didn't knew previously. So I thought I should share this with you all.

We have been eating lot of chocolate since our childhood days in many forms of foods. Did we really think where this all started. Today some how I got that thought and tried checking out the history of Chocolate. The story of chocolate spans more than 2,000 years and now it has conquered the globe. The story began in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America where cacao (kah KOW) first grew. Chocolate is made from the seeds of the cacao tree. But the journey from seed to sweet is a long one, spanning many centuries and requiring many processes.

The first people known to have made chocolate were the ancient cultures of Mexico and Central America. These people, including the Maya and Aztec, mixed ground cacao seeds with various seasonings to make a spicy, frothy drink. Later, the Spanish conquistadors brought the seeds back home to Spain, where new recipes were created. Eventually, and the drink’s popularity spread throughout Europe.

Since then, new technologies and innovations have changed the texture and taste of chocolate, but it still remains one of the world’s favorite flavors.

Hmmm !!!!

2009-08-27T14:13:00.002+08:00

Painful Start

2009-08-27T11:10:00.002+08:00

Last week was great I hoped this week also to go well. Not everthing will go as we wish for. After 5 days I came to office. This time its not because I went on a holiday somewhere, but its because of the intense pain in the right shoulder and arm. The jumps (to take some pics) that we did on the cruise on Saturday has caused some swelling on the right shoulder. It was very painful and I don't really remember so much pain in recent past. I couldn't sit or sleep or walk. What ever I did it was very painful. It was a very uncomfortable situation. Thanks to Swetha's good care, becuase of which today I am back to office with less pain. If things go well today then I will be fine, otherwise I will have to visit a specialist to see what else has gone wrong.

Thanks to this pain, I and Swetha could spend 5 complete days at home without any outsider friends.

Fantastic Week

2009-08-24T11:05:00.002+08:00

Last week has been really nice. It was joyful and eventful all through the week.

Saturday - Marie and Olivier came. We all went to Clarke Quay. Had a nice time there knowing each other. We slept around 3 in the night.

Sunday - Had bad headache and was at home doing nothing.

Monday - At work it was fine. Back home Olivier entertained us with his guitar.

Tuesday - I and Swetha called all my friends as we were giving a parting dinner to Marie and Olivier. We all had fun singing songs while Olivier playing the guitar.

Wednesday - Nagaraj gave party at Mirchi on the occasion of his 9th successful marriage anniversary. He was thrilled to see surprise from Shobha. We arranged 9 roses and a cake for him.

Thursday - We went to friends apartment for a couple of drinks with Martini.

Friday - As the next day we were going to Cruise to no where, we had to go home early and sleep.

Saturday - Had a nice time on the Cruise to no where.

Sunday - Went to temple. Had sumptuous lunch. Watched 2 movies. Had mirchi bajji, thanks to Srinivas.

Ganapati Bappa Moriya

2009-08-23T07:06:00.001+08:00

Santosh Happy Birthday

2009-08-17T13:41:00.001+08:00

It was Santosh's birthday on Thursday (13/8). We all roomies went to Mango Tree restaurant in ECP for the party. We had a great time having lots of food and drinks and trying to bring the bill to at least 500 dollars. Place was very good as there was a sea view along the beach side.

We had 6 beers each and had many rounds of snacks. We didn't really have much food. We did not really cut the cake the night before, so we bought a small cake in the coffee bean coffee shop and made Santosh cut the cake. This time we missed or I can say we forgot to give birthday bumps to Santosh. We walked for a while in the beach and then left home.

My first Couch Surfing Experience

2009-08-17T13:32:00.003+08:00

In recent times I have been travelling many places and have met many new people and have discovered many new websites which are helpful to travellers. One among them is this couchsurfing.org. This is an online community where people host many travellers across the world by giving their couches. It not helps people get a free place to stay but also helps in connecting travelers with like-minded people.

In the same way I got registered in this website for quite sometime and have been reading experiences of the different travellers with their hosts. When I was in Cambodia, I was about to meet one of my couch surfer friend, but couldn't make it due to some unavoidable circumstances.

Recently I got a request for couch surf from a couple from Canada. They sounded genuine and they have been travelling in Southeast Asia for more than 3 months. I and Swetha discussed over this for sometime and then gave a positive reply to them. We were not sure who and how they were.

This Saturday, the couple (Marie and Olivier) came home and there started a new friendship between that Canadian couple and all my friends gang. We all went out to have some drinks and I saw that everyone was behaving as if they all knew each other for quite sometime. We have shared so many stories from our side and at the same time heard their travel stories. Came to know about some interesting places and interesting activities which we can do.

I am excited about this couch surfing website and I am looking forward to host more and more new people and know new stories about them.

Trip to Angkor Wat

2009-08-17T13:20:00.001+08:00

On Tuesday (4/8) we planned and on Sunday (9/8) we flew to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. It was a long weekend and we had a relaxed trip. We expected a lot in the temple but got disappointed for some reasons. I shall post more details on the trip in my travel blog.

Recent Movies

2009-08-17T13:16:00.002+08:00

- Up (5/5)
This is an awesome movie and yet another gem from Pixar. Any movie from the Pixar brand would definitely be a block buster as well as it is booking a place in the IMDB top 250.

- G.I.Joe (2/5)
Unrealistic. Gave those 2 ratings just for the gadgets and the technology used in the movie.

- Magadheera (2/5)
People said its technically brilliant and compared it with Arundhati. But in my opinion its no where near to Arundhati neither in story line nor technically. May the problem was with the screening but still I did not see that brilliance in most of the scenes. Most of the images were as it they were copied frmo jungle book.

- Kaminey (4.5/5)
This is a wonderful movie. That 0.5 is lost just because of the climax. The movie has always kept up in the edge of the seat thinking of what next.

Experience Counts

2009-08-17T12:56:00.000+08:00

There are many instances where we hear this statement. In recent converstaions between my friends we again came across this. In all my friends Surya is the youngest and Nagaraj is the eldest. Below is how the conversation went:

I, Swetha, Santosh, Surya and Nagaraj went out for dinner. While having the dinner, Nagaraj got a call and went to take the call. Mean while Surya started the below conversation:

Surya: Guys, my brother's first marriage anniversary is coming and I have not given any gift till date. Everytime he gives me something and this time I will have to do something for it.

We all started thinking and tried giving some ideas. Fed up with all those ideas he told us

Surya: My brother already have a TV, Playstation, Car, etc .. so dont give me those ideas.

Santosh: Ok, I got a brilliant idea.

Everybody got curious, whats it?

Santosh: Why dont you go and give a surprise.

We all were so impressed with the idea and applauded Santosh for this wonderful idea. Surya even started searching online on his iphone for the visa time and the tickets etc. Now here comes the twist in the story. Nagaraj comes to the table and asks what was the discussion about. We all were so impressed with the idea and told him that we are proud of Santosh to give such a brilliant idea. Nagaraj smiled and said

Nagaraj: Are you guys nuts. That is their first ever marriage anniversary and you guys want to spoil their privacy by sending Surya there.

That statement made us realise how bad the idea was.

Hence Experience does count.

Its been 10 days

2009-08-17T12:30:00.000+08:00

Its been quite a while I have posted anything in the blog. There were lot of things happening in life and hence couldnt really spend time on the blog. I have travelled to Siem Reap, Cambodia which I have not mentioned in the blog till now. Also I have met some new friends through couch surfing. At office its busy and tension filled weeks going on. Partied hard for friends birthday party. Saw new movies. In the coming few days I shall try to write in detail about all these.

123456789

2009-08-07T11:58:00.002+08:00

Read this somewhere. Today there is a special moment. At 12:34:56 PM, it would look like 123456789 which would never ever come in our lifetime.
12:34:56 07-08-09 = 123456789

Experience with Cebu Pacific Airlines

2009-08-04T13:28:00.002+08:00

I am writing this post as this is the first time that I had so many weird experiences with the airlines.

At changi airport:
Boarding pass was delayed because the printer was not working.

In the flight from Singapore to Manila:
The seat was not going back. Infact it was the most uncomfortable seat I ever travelled in.

At Manila Airport while coming back:
The lady at the ticket counter took ages to give each boarding pass. Everybody in that line were so pissed off with her. Infact we mocked her in many ways and still she worked in her own way. We were waiting there in that stagnant line while the other lines were moving and moving and moving. Nagaraj went to her and even asked why it was taking so much time. At the end when we got our boarding passes after more than 30 minutes of wait in the line, we all clapped sarcastically at her. But she was laughing and was thinking that we were appreciating her.

In the flight from Manila to Singapore:
The AC had some problem. The whole journey I was very uncomfortable and at the end I got sick for 2 days with the throat infection.
I have decided not to go to Philippines again and especially in Cebu Pacific Airlines.

Badly Planned but Well Executed Trip

2009-07-27T11:51:00.003+08:00

Last night I landed in Singapore after a badly planned yet very well executed trip from Manila. I couldn't stop my self from posting this even though I am not feeling well. My health is badly affected and I am hoping for a quick recovery as I have lot of things to finish at work. Anyways I shall update you with details of the trip very soon.

See you at Manila

2009-07-24T16:34:00.004+08:00

When we were flying to Kota Kinabalu, we saw an article on Taal Lake Volcano in Manila, Philippines. That moment itself we all decided to go there someday. And finally the day has come and in another 7 hours, I will be flying to Manila. Hopefully even this trip should be successful, as all other trips.

About Taal Volcano: (Info from Wikipedia)
Taal Volcano is a complex volcano on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It is situated between the towns of Talisay and San Nicolas in Batangas. It consists of an island in Lake Taal, which is situated within a caldera formed by an earlier, very powerful eruption. It is located about 50 km (31 Miles) from the capital, Manila. It is one of the active volcanoes in the Philippines, all part of the Pacific ring of fire.

The volcano has erupted violently several times, causing loss of life in the populated areas surrounding the lake, the current death toll standing at around 5,000 - 6,000. Because of its proximity to populated areas and eruptive history, the volcano has been designated a Decade Volcano worthy of close study to prevent future natural disasters. It was thought to be named as "a volcano inside a volcano" because many believed that the lake that circles the volcano was once a crater or mouth of a volcano.

A level 1 Alert is in force for Taal which is giving signs of increased activity in June/July 2009.

1. For the first time all my roommates are accompanying for a trip with me. (Nag, Surya, Srini, Mahi, Santu)
2. For the first time we have not done any bookings till the last day and there is no plan in the place.
3. This is the costliest visa fee we have ever paid ($110.50)
4. This is the first time ever we were asked for a bank statement for the visa.
5. This is the first time ever that we were not asked for our passport numbers while booking an international flight.

Public Enemies

2009-07-24T13:50:00.004+08:00

After a long wait for the much hyped movie Public Enemies, last night I was able to see it on the first day of release in Singapore. I had high expectations on the movie. Why not as Johny Depp was in the movie and it was about the most famous bank robber John Dillinger. Before watching the movie I had gone through wikipedia about John Dillinger and understood about his heroics and hence expected the same in the movie.

The Cinematography and Screenplay were awesome. The acting of all the characters were very good. But the only thing which disappointed me is the shooting and the running scenes. They were dragged a bit and lost the charm of the scenes. Overall I found that the movie did not live upto its expectations.

Other than this movie, I saw two other movies this week at my home. Both are old movies but best movies. Toy Story 1 and Wall-E. I and Swetha couldnt stop laughing at most of the scenes in these movies. Also the way emotions were animated in these movies was simply superb.

Finally below is my rating for movies this week
Toy Story - 5/5
Wall-E - 5/5
Public Enemies - 3/5

Qasab's Confession

2009-07-21T18:09:00.001+08:00

Here is the link for the confession of Qasab.

Invasion of Privacy

2009-07-21T12:50:00.001+08:00

How can someone peep into my system when I am doing something personal. I have never tried to know what others are doing at their personal front. If I feel like telling then I myself would share the things. I don't understand when people will understand that invasion of one's privacy is stupidness.

Have you ever gone through this phase?

2009-07-21T12:46:00.001+08:00

When your own thoughts clogging you. Totally exhausted by thinking about the same thing. Ive been traveling a lot in the mind. In my past physical journeys it was never that exhausting, while the latter has really drained me out of energy. I guess I am just having a real bad phase in my thoughts. This is because I am missing some key factor in balancing my professional and personal life. In order to give justice to both, I am unable to give justice to any of them. I have never felt so, but past 1 week I started thinking about work at home which is a very very bad sign for me. I hope I can come over this very soon.

Recent Changes in Life

2009-07-21T10:50:00.002+08:00

Daily Breakfast
Daily lunch box
Daily dinner at home
Less Junk in food
No Ice Milo
Less waste expenditure
Less number of movies
No contact with friends
No mails to anyone
No time for chatting
No orkutting
No blogging at home
More and more work
Very less travel and outings during weekends
More music
Gained weight
Stopped running
Started weight training at Gym

How can he ask me?

2009-07-19T04:52:00.006+08:00

Friday night at 7.45 PM when I came home and was talking to Swetha, I got a call. I could see that it was someone from my office. I hate to receive calls about work after office hours. But what can we do, its recession time and have to be in my limits. I picked up the call and below is the conversation.

I: Hello, Who is this?
Other Side: Hi Sudheendra, this is P*****.

It was my manager.

I: Yeah tell me P*****.

Next 10 minutes blah blah blah about work. You dont believe what he has asked to do. It was not my work nor it was so urgent nor it was something to do with me and still he asked me this.

Manager: Have you planned to work this weekend?

I was so angry on him. First thing how can he call me on my personal mobile at that time after office hours and ask me if I was planning to come to office on a weekend without any work from my side but to cover someone else's mistake and save their arse. I dont like anyone calling me on a weekend for any work related matters. What will they do for the whole week. Managers just want to cover the arse of their favorites.

I dont know what and why I am writing this, but I was frustrated and spoiled my whole weekend mood because of that.

Travel Plans

2009-07-17T14:08:00.003+08:00

Its been a long time I have posted my travel plans here. As of now I have many plans in my mind and I am penning down some of them which I feel are feasible with the time and money constraints I have.

July 25th and 26th - Manila to see TAAL lake and climb VOLCANO

Aug 8th to 11th - Malaysia Road Trip (Singapore - Johor Bahru - Kuala Rompin - Pekan - Kuantan - Kijal - Cherating - Marang - Kapas Island or Blue Coral Island - Tasik Kenyir - Sungai Tong - Bandar Permaisuri - Besut - Kota Bharu - Tasik Kenyir - Cherating - Kuantan - Johor Bahru - Singapore)

Sep 19th to 22nd - Columbo in Sri Lanka to climb ADAM's PEAK

Nov 20th to 29th - India for Rinesh and Shradha marriage

Dec 25th to 28th - Planning for Cambodia.

Note: These itenaries are subjected to change depending on the situation.

A Parting Note

2009-07-10T17:20:00.004+08:00

Same as last 3 days even today morning everything seemed very good and I was hoping the day to go well. I was not aware of what was in stock for me on this fateful afternoon. It was 3 hours ago when she decided to leave me. Everything happened all of a sudden. Neither me nor anybody else could see it coming. I never anticipated this to happen.

She was very very very important to me for so many reasons. She was always with me in both happy and sad occasions. She stood by me in both tough and glory times. She have always taken care and made sure that I was never alone, and left out. She was my beautiful personal secretary and would do everything for me that is there in her limits - right from waking me up, to help me organize myself, to help me reach my friends, to book my movie tickets, to check my balance sheet etc. She would sing and entertain me when ever I was bored or stressed out. I was always connected with the world when she was with me. I say that she is everything in my life but still she meant a lot in my life. She came into my life unexpectedly and left in the same way abruptly. Neither her arrival nor her departure from my life was expected by me.

Yes, you expected it correctly, I lost my mobile in my gym :(. That means - no calls, no FM on the move, no alarm clock in the morning, no organizer to remember important dates and activities, no pastime games when bored and no SMS to friends just to kill time during the meetings. I can overcome all this just by buying any other stupid phone. But here comes the worst part - I have already lost my 350+ contacts - something I always feared when I heard about this from friends.

I have been depressed since afternoon. I have been calling my number and I can hear only one voice: "The number you are calling is not available". I called customer support and blocked my Sim and the only positive point out of this is that I can retain my number, so there is no need to update my phone number to all my friends.

My friends at work were upset with me because I did not shout at the gym staff and demand for the phone. I repent for not being aggressive with the gym staff. But things have ended there. Now I have started working looking for a 'replacement' for ‘her’.

Officially Dependant

2009-07-08T14:12:00.003+08:00

Day before yesterday Swetha has got her Dependant Pass here in Singapore. Now she is officially dependant on me and has to show the pass every where and for everything. Its a bit difficult to digest that somebody is dependant on me as I myself depend on my friends for many things. I shall try to do my best and be responsible with this new role :-)

Movie Updates

2009-07-06T17:27:00.001+08:00

In contrary to my previous week, I have seen many movies this week.

When Harry met Sally - What can I say about this classic (4.5/5)
As Good as it Gets - Jack Nicholson's one more master piece (4.5/5)
Ice Age 3 - Awesome (4.5/5)
Nirnayam - Great Comedy (4/5)
Vision Quest - Average (2.5/5)
Race - Musical (3/5)
Mental Krishna - Could watch only for 15 minutes (0/5)
We are Marshall - Nice movie (3.5/5)
Surya s/o Krishnan - Musical and first half is good (3.5/5)
Kotha Bangaru Lokam - Musical and good movie (4/5)
Bonnie and Clyde - Expectations were high and movie was average (2.5/5)
Without Limits - Good film and came to know about Steve Prefontaine (3.5/5)
What about Bob - Nice film (3.5/5)
Naa Girlfriend baga rich - Could watch only for 15 minutes (0/5)

I guess I am forgetting some .. I shall update them once I reach home.

Weekend Tidbits

2009-06-29T17:40:00.003+08:00

This is how my weekend flew away ...

Friday:

I and Swetha went for New York Movie. Nothing was good about the movie. Even Katrina was not beautifully shown. We came home and ordered from McDonald s at 12.30 which came at 1.30 early in the morning. We ate burgers and then slept at around 2.30AM.

Saturday:

We woke up very late. Prepared some curry and rice and had lunch. Later Swetha started preparing Gajar Halwa at around 3PM and successfully completed by 7PM. Meanwhile Surya came home and we together had dinner watching Tholi Prema movie. After dinner, I and Swetha went out for a walk with Surya dropped him at his place and watched Vinayakudu movie and came back late in the night. Today I spoke with Kishore for 2 hours and also with Dolly who was going to France for an hour.

Sunday:

Today it was no different to Saturday. We woke up late in the morning. By the team we even thought of cooking food, Santosh called us and invited for lunch at their place. We went there had our lunch and saw X-Men Wolverine and Identity movies. Later in the evening, I, Swetha and Srini went for a walk and had some masala tea. From there we just did some window shopping in Tampines Mall, Century Square and Tampines One mall. We went to KFC had some snacks and went to 230J. Meanwhile background we were planning Srini's birthday celebration for which Surya had given a wonderful idea, right from cake till the gift.

At 12 in the midnight we woke up Srini and made him cut the cake. Happy Birthday Srini.

Lighting the Birthday Candles

It was beautiful

Wow thats my birthday cake

Happy birthday to you dude ...

We enjoyed the cake came back home at that time and slept cursing the Monday.

Just let us be as we are !!!!

2009-06-29T17:14:00.002+08:00

I am in the office and was talking to Swetha over the phone. After putting down the phone I remembered something that happened at my marriage. It was not actually with me but with my family. I don't know why people cant live their own lives and let us be.

Since my childhood, I have never been interested in others lives unless and until they come up and say by themselves. I hate it when the aim of some people's lives become interfering into what I or my family is doing. Now come on how does it matter to them, and anyways how does it even effect them even an inch. If there is something about them then they should show that interest. But no, they will always keep on interfering and poke their nose in our business and go on irritating us. Why..?? Why..?? Why..?? Why do you have to do it?

I gave a thought about this and well... to that there can be so many reasons. May be they dont have a life which interests them. So, for that dude go and get an interesting life or make your life interesting by giving some space to yourself rather than poking into others lives. I have an interesting life of my own and I am contented with it, and I don't need or look out for your inputs from time to time.

So a humble suggestion, before I lose my patience and show you my other side, which is not that sweet, Please do not interfere in my family issues.

While writing this post, I also remembered one more incident where people have drawn wrong meanings for the words I have spoke. I hate it, when people take me wrong and not as I am. I really don't like it when someone draw his own meanings to my words without knowing the reality. Please don't do that, it hurts me a lot because I really never mean such things, its just a matter of - Difference of perception.

10 Random Things I want to do

2009-06-29T16:50:00.001+08:00

There are a whole bunch of things that I want to do in my life. But for the time-being, 10 random things that I would like to do on immediate and short-term basis (not necessarily in that order)

1. I want to go home (home bole toh “Hyderabad”….spend time with parents)

2. I want to watch Inglorious Bastards, Ice Age, Public Enemies and Up (This list will never end as you all know)

3. I want to enjoy in the rains in Singapore (The enjoyment is not in playing in rain, but just to beat the heat in here)

4. I want to eat more and more variety of foods made by Swetha. (She has been doing great till date)

5. I want to change my Starhub Internet connection. (8MBps is also very slow. May be in a month I shall shift to 12MBps)

6. I want to do a cross country drive in Malaysia.

7. I want to visit California and Ore bro to meet my close friend and close cousins.

8. I want to shop (This is the first time ever I am feeling so)

9. I want to buy a new 42" LCD TV and start watching my movies from the hard disk.

10. I want to Take a break from the work life so that I can spend some quality time with my wife and parents.

Out of many of the items from the above list, there are some things that money can’t buy. For everything else (as the ad goes) …… there’s Santosh Anna's Credit cards!!! ;-)

Movies in Recent Past

2009-06-26T14:44:00.003+08:00

There were times when I have seen 10 in just a weekend. For the past 1 month because of my busy work life and personal life I couldn't see many. Below are some of them which I saw and remembered.

Angels and Demons - Good movie. Nice thriller. (3/5)
Da Vinci Code - After seeing Angels and Demons, I saw this movie and liked this too. (3/5)
Terminator Salvation - Awful (1/5)
Taking of Pelham 123 - Awesome. Full of Pace and action. Great acting. (4.5/5)
Taking of Pelham One Two Three - This is the old movie which is a true copy of the novel. Forgot to mention, I have read this novel too. Well made based on the novel. But as I saw after seeing the latest version of the movie, I couldn't appreciate the effort so much. (2/5)
Transformers Rise of the Fallen - Saw it yesterday. Did not impress me much when compared to Transformers. (2/5)

Happy Days - Have seen multiple times and every time I see it, its like a journey into my engineering days. Awesome movie. (4.5/5)
Aunu Vallidaru Ishtapaddaru - Was watching it for fourth time. Decent comedy. (3/5)

MJ - World will Miss You

2009-06-26T09:33:00.001+08:00

Today Morning when I was checking my friends updates in orkut, I came across this status message of one of my friend "MJ world will miss you". I was shocked to see that and then checked the news. After confirming the news, that immediate moment my heart was heavy. We all have grew up listening to his music. Some of the families have heard his music for at least two or three generations now. In India many of us knew English songs as MJ songs. Many kids grew trying to dance like him. All the best break dancers in the world have been compared to this legend.

There will never ever be another icon like him. His talent in both dancing and singing was unparalleled. I grew up seeing Michael and it seemed that he would always be there, not only for me but for all the generations after us. As it has always been, Legend may be gone, but he will never die. MJ's music, his memory, his spirit will always be with us.

Thank you Michael for giving so much of yourself and of your talent to the world. We will miss you, and you will never be forgotten. We all owe a lot to the Jackson family for the kind of entertainment they have given for years to the world. We will miss him. My heart goes out to the Jackson Family. May God Be with you.

Mistimed Trip

2009-06-24T17:30:00.002+08:00

In recent times I have been a very good guide to many people for their trips to different places. I have also been traveling for past 2 years and never had an issue at any point of time. My accommodations, tickets, bookings etc were all done before hand and were well planned. I boast myself of planning things so well and do not waste any long weekends or do not miss any occasions.

But my recent trip to India has gone bizarre. Nothing has gone as planned. Right from Singapore airport until I came landed back, nothing went well as it has to go.

At the Singapore airport:
Every time I buy the luggage before hand. This time I did not buy any and thought I shall take it at the airport. I went to airport on time and stood in the line for buying the extra luggage. As I reached the counter, I asked for 15KG extra luggage. The lady on the other side asked for 25 dollars. I gave her my ATM card, she said only credit card or cash and I had neither of them. Since the day I landed in Singapore, there wasn't a day when I was without a minimum of dollars in my pocket. But today I did not have any money in the pocket and thought I shall take it from the airport ATM. The ATM in the airport was not working and there was no ATM near by. I had to call my friend (Nagraj) and he came all the way to airport to give me the money.

At the immigration:
As I grew long hair yet again, the immigration officer questioned me for a while as she couldn't match my photo in passport with my current look.

At Bangalore Airport:
I tried helping one of the co passenger and hence had to stuck with the customs for a while.

At Bangalore Airport Ticket Counter:
Normally I buy this ticket from Bangalore to Hyderabad after landing in Bangalore. But today the night 3.30AM flight tickets were all over and had no other choice other than waiting all alone till morning 6.30 and take a Jet Airways flight.

Jet Airways Flight:
Normally my flight from Bangalore to Hyderabad takes 50 mins. This flight I took was a ATR flight and took 1 hr 30 mins for the journey.

Yadagiri Gutta Trip:
As soon as I reached Hyderabad we planned to go to Yadagiri Gutta. But as my flight got delayed, the whole trip got delayed and we started very late at 11AM. By the time we reached Yadagiri Gutta, it was around 1PM. As it was a weekend, there was huge crowd at Yadagiri Gutta and we did not even get the parking over there. Dad decided to stay in the car while I, Swetha and Mom will get the darshan. But when we went to see the special darshan line there were around 400 people already waiting in the line. We dropped the plan of taking darshan today and came back to Hyderabad. This was for the first time, that we came back from a temple without darshan.

Same Night:
The night of the day I reached, I and Swetha went to meet Aparna. We were roaming around her house for more than 30 mins but couldn't get a proper way to her house.

Last Day:
Morning of the day of my return we thought of again going for Yadagiri Gutta darshan. But because of some reasons mom said today we cannot go and hence my Yadagiri Gutta darshan has been postponed to some other time when we go back to Hyderabad.

I was just wondered the whole trip why things go well. Since my childhood days, mom used to say not to leave house or do something when somebody sneezes. But this time while coming to Hyderabad, I sneezed and immediately started for the trip. I know this is stupid to believe such things, but then this happened to me coincidentally.

Hope my future trips go well.

Going Home

2009-06-12T16:50:00.002+08:00

In another 3 hours I will be flying back home. Its been a long time (4 Months) I have gone home. This time I am going for my parents marriage anniversary which is on 15th June. I just wanted to be with them on that special day. I will be back on 16th morning. I have many things on my agenda and I hope everything goes as planned. Till then Good Bye and Take Care.

Lighter Moments

2009-06-08T13:14:00.002+08:00

I wanted to share some of the Lighter Moments that I have come across in my life. This is one such incident at my office.

It was time of appraisal at CA for the first time after 6 months of joining. My manager called for a one on one meeting with me. Below is the funny conversation which we had during the appraisal time.

Mgr: Hi
I: Hi

Mgr: So, its been 6 months. How are you feeling?
I: Great

Mgr: Great? Why?
I was a bit worried. Now what can I reply if he asks me why. I took a while and replied.

I: I have learned a lot after coming to CA. I have been in support and got a chance to work in Development. So overall its a great experience for me.
Mgr: Good.

Mgr: Normally at what time do you come to office?
Casually I replied.
I: At 10AM (Which was the office time)

Mgr: So when was the last time?
Now everybody in my team knows that I come late to office :-). What else could I say? I just smiled. But I was sure that he was trying to make some point there.

Mgr: How much time do you spend on breaks.
This time I wanted to be a bit careful and tell little facts.
I: Its just 1Hour 15Mins. 1 Hour for lunch and 15Mins for coffee in the evening.

Mgr: I guess you spend more than 2 and half hours on breaks everyday.
I was like no way what the hell is he talking about. I replied immediately.
I: Nooo (As Russel Peters says Nooooooooooo the Chinese way .. he he)

Mgr: OK let me tell you. You go to lunch at 12 come back at 1.15 and sleep till 1.45 and go for coffee for 30 minutes.
I was shocked. No Shit man. This guys observes everything I do. Ok now the facts, what ever he said was absolutely correct. Now I took a while about what I should tell him.

I: Yeah I understand, but I need some sleep everyday. I have migraine and I have to sleep to keep my headache away.
Mgr: So do you think sleeping in a place where others are working looks good.

Now anybody would say that, this will not be repeated or sorry about what has happened etc. But to my managers shock below is our conversation.

I: So where do you want me to sleep.
He was shocked. He never expected that from me. This time he took a while to answer.

Mgr: OK, book a meeting room and sleep for a while there.
I: OK, I shall do that.

Now you can think as what could be the rating I have got after that :-)

Days passed and after a week, I was sleeping at my desk and my manager came and woke me up.

Mgr: Why are you again sleeping at your desk?
I: Meeting rooms are full.

Ha ha .. after that my manager never ever touched me on any issue as he knew what kind of answers he is going to get from me. I know the performance appraisal had a inversely proportional affect because of this. But then there should be such lighter moments in life to tell to friends at some point of time and laugh :-)

Mixed Feelings

2009-06-08T12:51:00.003+08:00

I have been in Singapore with my friends for more than 1 and half year. Now came the time to move on as I got married. Yesterday I moved into the new house with mixed feelings. I don't think I will ever be able to enjoy that kind of bachelor life again. I have never been in a hostel or a room before coming to Singapore. I was not sure how I would be here away from home. My friends here have been of great support in every aspect right from partying to some important decisions in life. They even helped me in every aspect while shifting the house. I will miss all the fun we had during this time.

At the same time I am very much excited that I will start living with Swetha. This will be again a new experience for me as I am going to take the responsibility of Swetha. I am happy, excited and at the same time tensed with the situation as I am not sure how well I can manage things in life. I have always been dependant on family and friends for most of the things and now somebody else is a dependant on me. I am looking forward to take great care of Swetha as this new chapter in life begins.

Below are some of the pics of my new house that I have rented.

Ritual when going into a new house

Owner's display of Coke tins .. a valuable collection.

Master Bedroom. This is a corner apartment and no disturbance from other people. Outside you can see a large empty ground.

Kitchen

Hall. You can see Srini and Nagaraj in the picture.

May god bless the couple :-)

Congratulations Rahul

2009-06-04T23:18:00.001+08:00

I have always liked my friends and cousins getting visas to go to USA (Frankly speaking not only to USA but to any part of the world). I have always cheered them and wished them the good luck and finally congratulated them when they got their visas. OK now this post is to congratulate my cousin Rahul who got his visa today and will be heading to University of North Carolina. All the best buddy.

I am a Life Saver

2009-06-04T23:12:00.002+08:00

Do not get into conclusions, its just the quote on the pen given to me by Red Cross Singapore. Today evening we had a Blood donation camp organized at our office. Previously in India I donated blood twice and thought I shall do it once here also.

At 4.30 I went to second floor (ok I sit in the fourth floor) and asked for the registration form. They gave me a 4 page registration form in which I had to select all "No"s. I did that in couple of minutes and submitted the form.

Forgot to tell you the funny incident happened during this filling of the form. There was a question asking if I had taken any medication in the past 3 days. I had headache yesterday and took panadol and hence wanted to ask them if I have to select Yes or No. I went to the nurse and below was the conversation.

I: Hi, what should I fill in this field. It asks if I had taken any medication in past 3 days. I took a panadol for headache.
Nurse: When did u take it?

I: It was yesterday.
Nurse: Hmmm thinks for a while.

Nurse: OK fill it as no as you have taken yesterday and it ask past 3 days.

I was like shocked and wanted to laugh aloud, but then kept calm smiled at her and came back to my seat.

Coming back to the main topic, after submitting the form there was a blood test done which said I am fine and I went ahead to a nurse. She checked the form and then she checked the nerve on my hand and said she would take it from the right hand.

She took out a needle and started taking out the blood. I have always been scared of needles which I told her. She tried making a conversation with me asking if I have given blood previously and all that stuff.

After a while I started feeling giddiness and told the same to nurse and within seconds I fell unconscious. When I woke up, I saw that I was totally wet with sweat and was surrounded by as many as 10 people. My hand which was being used for taking the blood was having a bandage. I started feeling nausea and asked for a bag so that I can vomit. It happened twice and I was feeling bad about it as they were cleaning that whole mess.

After 30 minutes I became normal and then asked them if it was normal to happen like this to a person. They told that it was common and not to worry about it. Later I came to know that they have taken about 500ml blood while I gave about 200ml blood in India twice. So I decided one thing that I will not donate blood in Singapore again.

I came home and discussed the same with my roomies and one of my roomie had a similar experience in Singapore and then my decision not to give blood in Singapore has become stronger. Over all I am happy that I have donated the blood even though the aftermath was bad.

Surya's Happy Birth Day

2009-06-01T00:16:00.005+08:00

I am just back from the party which Surya gave on occasion of his 27th birthday. Actually his birthday is June 1st, but then as it is a working day we roomies planned to have the fun today. We had a great time at the Indo Chine Lounge at Wisma Aitra at Orchard Road. Place was very good and happening. There was a live band playing for more than 2 hours when we were there. The singers were awesome and were funny. They also encouraged the people in the lounge to come and sing.

We had 8 or 9 rounds of drink each and were still wanting more. As it was about to hit the midnight we wanted to rush home for the cake cutting. We had a burger at McDonalds and took a taxi back home. At 12 Surya did the proceedings of cutting the cake and I took the honour of giving the birthday bumps :-)

Birtday Cake

Thats Surya talking to his Bro while cutting the cake

Thats the gang

Overall it was fun filled evening and looking forward for June 29th which is Srinivas's birthday.

Congratulations

2009-05-30T13:52:00.002+08:00

I just realized that I have completed 150 posts on my personal blog. In my view this is a great achievement on my part as I have not lost the momentum and have made a point to write some or other crap in this place. I have already missed congratulating my self for 1 year of my blog, so I thought I will congratulate my self with this post for both completion of the year and 150 posts :-)

Birthdays of the week

2009-05-30T13:50:00.001+08:00

Surya - 1st June (My Engg Classmate)
Manasa - 1st June (My Cousin)
Balaji - 3rd June (My Friend's Cousin)
Jemima - 3rd June (My GTL Colleague)
Rajesh - 3rd June (My Engg Classmate)
Ravindra - 4th June (My CA Colleague)
Rohit - 6th June (My CA Colleague)

Many many happy returns of the day guys.

My view on "Life after marriage"

2009-05-28T16:21:00.002+08:00

Hmmm this is a common discussion which comes between friends when somebody is recently married. There is a saying in hindi "shaddi ka laddu khaye tho pachthavoge, na khaye tho bhi pachthavoge". In recent times I have been pestered with this question lot of times by many of my friends.

Before getting married any couple would think a lot about their partners and how they would spend the rest of the life. Everybody would think that they would not repeat the mistakes other couples are doing. They would have already seen so many couples including their own parents. Both the partners would write a huge list of do and don'ts and would think of sticking to it for rest of their lives. But do they really stick to it?

In my view after marriage many couples unknowingly will definitely repeat the same mistakes that are there in the list prepared by them. Its been ages that people have been trying hard to describe the life after marriage and each has their own perspective and there is no general way of describing it.

Popular picture we see for life after marriage

In order to avoid such mistakes or fights or issues between the couples they should be mature enough to understand their roles and responsibilities before getting married. Also they should be in a position to appreciate the likes and dislikes of each other. On a lighter note I hope there was a certification exam which a person should pass to understand if he or she is ready to get married.

Our parents are always there to guide us and make us understand the responsibility of marriage and what marriage is all about. Both the wife and husband should understand their responsibilities as a spouse and soul mate before the marriage and get prepared for it and live to the commitments and then begin new life. Otherwise life is more like a burden with petty issues and fights and finger pointing at each other.

Finally I would stop this post with this quote which I have read some where. "The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think together."

Does being apart make heart grow fonder?

2009-05-28T14:41:00.002+08:00

This post is actually in view of partners who recently got married, young and ambitious but both are miles apart. So does this physical and emotional separation signals a problem marriage? Right now I have many of my friends and cousins who are doing jobs being at different locations. Why friends and cousins, I am myself a victim of this.

In my view this could be a tough situation to handle and it would be one of the top ranked in stress factors for marriage. But still in this competitive world many couples have to endure and embrace separation positively before they can somehow set up home together. This is just not only in IT that I have seen but also in government jobs where husband and wife work in different departments and get different postings. Everybody in this situation struggle to move authorities for a common posting, which even Swetha is doing. We have been seeing that the phenomenon of the absent spouse does affect many marriages. It could be an IT job or a Govt job or a Merchant Navy or Military, everywhere we see people encountering this situation.

I am married and I had to leave my wife on the 7th day after marriage. The rituals were on until the last minute and we hardly had the time to meet up. In fact we could not enjoy our engagement together as I was in Singapore during that time. Ever since our marriage got settled for 4 months we directly met during the week of the marriage and then it was 7 days of togetherness. During this time also we were surrounded by people most of the times. There was no honeymoon nor did we go anywhere to spend sometime. I am sure Swetha would have some questions in her mind like - was there a true celebration within me? was I really happy to be married to my dream man at that point of time?

Though it was a matter of just two months when Swetha visited Singapore for 15 days, I found it so difficult. Now again its been 2 more months that we are separated. After you have lived together, any absence is really hard to bear. I can say that it would be more difficult for the girl than the boy. Spouse’s absence after marriage is different from being far from her before marriage. While love letters and phone calls can console you and keep you going when you are engaged, you really miss the person you are married to much more deeply. I felt that happening with Swetha more than me.

As Swetha is still staying with my parents I don't think the I will ever come across the following situation. A physical absence would also affect while taking the responsibility and commitment which is the next stage for marriage. Let it be paying the bills to grooming the children. It is hard for any couple to plan and conceive a child if they are meeting only once in a few months. I don't think anybody would plan for a child when wife is alone and leave the whole difficulty of pregnancy and parenting all by herself. If husband is absent for long periods then wife becomes so self-sufficient and independent that she will be having problems re-adjusting to the husband as the ‘head of the house’ and do the things in his way. At the same time the boy who has been planning many things for the family would definitely want the things to go according to him.

Finally I would say that it is true that absence can make the heart grow fonder. Once we miss the person we love
we miss the presence which makes lot of difference
know about the relation's endearing qualities
remember all the things said and did together
All these things are bound to have an impact on us. This would make us think of our partner and we start appreciating each other for all those missed moments.
But at the same time absence can also weaken the bonds of marriage or relationship, by the challenges it throws in our paths. Much maturity and a genuine love and commitment towards our partners is needed to face such challenges.

Working for the Weekend

2009-05-24T17:46:00.004+08:00

Everyday I get the work assigned by my friend and lead Nagaraj. This Wednesday while I was in the train and going home I got a call from my manager.

Phone rang Tring Tring ..

The screen showed my manager's name who never call me directly as things come through Nagaraj. I was just wondering what it could be and why he is calling me directly.

I picked up the phone and following was the conversation.

I: Hello
Mgr: Hi Sudheendra .. This is P******

I: Hi P****** .. Tell me
Mgr: This weekend we have a shut down at ORL building can you pls come and do a restart of the system and check the BO application if it is working fine on all the environments.

Now what else can I say when he asks me directly other than saying Yes. I always wanted to say no but then as its just checking the system for 30 mins so I said OK.

I: Ok P******, I shall do it thats ok ..
Mgr: Thanks, bye.

Today, I came to office at 3PM in the afternoon thinking that I will leave by 3.30PM.

But then now the time is 6PM and nothing is working till now. I guess I will have to wait for more 2 hours for doing this. There is nothing that I can do. I will just have to sit idle until the servers are up. Hope I will get a comp off for this which I can use when Swetha will be here.

Anyways atleast you guys have fun on a weekend rather than wasting time at office like this.

Reasons to Smile

2009-05-19T22:26:00.001+08:00

I love finding pleasure in simple things. It doesn't take a lot for me to experience joy and happiness. Here's just a list of a few simple things that can bring a smile to my face.

A smile from a stranger

A warm hug from loved ones

A casual e-mail from a friend saying hi

A melodious song from an old movie

A walk in the sun

When I find a new wallpaper of Katrina

Chocolates anytime

Having a cool drink along with Biryani

Sleeping after a heavy meal

Watching movies for the whole day with out any tensions

Talking to my wife

Holding a small baby

Hearing a child's sweet laugh or a watching a child's sweet act

Sleeping well after a long day at work

A warm shower on a cold morning

Opening the windows and letting the outside in

Completing a good workout

Blogging

I could go on and on, but I'll let you add your own smiling moments to the list. Don't be shy. Jump on into the conversation and give us all one more reason to smile :)

Busy Life

2009-05-19T22:10:00.001+08:00

Last three weeks it was flurry of activities as there were many things happening in my life.

The project deadline is very near and none of the requirements is clear and hence there is a huge tension in my work life.

At the same time at the home front I have to look for a new house as Swetha will be here next month. I have seen houses almost everyday for the past 2 weeks. Also have to manage my finances as I have to pay my debts and have to get ready with a huge amount of 4000 dollars for the house.

I'm definitely ready for a break. This June I am going to Hyderabad and this should act as a good break for me.

There's always so much to do and so little time. I'm struggling to find the time to even sleep and eat properly. In the past I would have just relied on fast food to carry me through. But now since I am doing work out I just want to cut down all my extra calories that come from these fast foods.

Do I really care?

2009-05-19T21:40:00.001+08:00

For the past 1 week there have been so many incidents going around the world.

Congress won the elections in state and central elections. So do I really care? I am in Singapore and I never understood politics.

Deccan Chargers have almost booked their seat in Semis in the IPL. So do I really care? Here none of the native players are performing and hence its a waste to support the team from where I am.

Prabhakaran died. But tamilnet.com says he is alive. So do I really care? No. I am not sure why LTTE is formed and I dont know what prabhakaran is upto now a days.

Stock market was up 17% in a single day. People say its just a speculation and it will go down. So do I really care? Yes. Because of this speculation the rupee strengthened and the dollar value reduced which is actually bad for all the people who send money to India.

Kick movie is a hit. So do I really care? Yes as I am very much interested in movies.

My favorite Katrina was in Singapore. So do I really care? No because I was too busy to go and see her at the shooting of the film.

Now finally you may say that I have very less general knowledge and hence I dont care about any of the current affairs happening round the world.

Yes, as a common man for me most important in a week is how my company is doing? Are they firing anybody? How is project going on? Am I getting the solutions to my issues? etc. This is not selfish, but then this is for my bread and butter and if time permits then I try to learn about the happenings around the world but dont really have time to care about any of these.

My First Experience with Automatic Car

2009-05-06T14:56:00.002+08:00

Since my childhood I have always dreamed of going abroad and settling down. Once I came to Singapore I came to know how difficult it would be to stay away from home. Anyways thats not the crux of this topic. I have always thought of US and not of any other country. This is because of the flexibility to buy and drive a car or a super bike. But in Singapore buying a car is totally out of scope and hence I have never driven an automatic car even after coming here.

At last this weekend when we went to Kota Kinabalu Malaysia, we rented an automatic Proton car which came as a blessing for our commuting in KK. We rented the car in the name of Surya as he was the only guy who got the license. Even though me and Nagaraj did not have our license, we did not miss the chance to drive there.

Thats me with Proton at KK Airport

My first ride with that car was a bit embarrassing as I did not understand what is what. Finally after couple of minutes I could figure out that there is something called Drive mode and we need not change any gears. I was a bit surprised not to see the clutch and then figured out what actually acts as a clutch. Leaving these basics apart, when we went into the petrol pump, I did not understand how to fill ourselves. Other than all these embarrassing moments I was not accustomed to the changing lanes concept also.

But now I am confident of driving any where and am looking forward to drive in my next trip.

Stress Free Long weekend

2009-05-04T21:52:00.004+08:00

I had a great time this weekend at Kota Kinabalu. It was just like I was retired for 3 days and was away from all the stress and tensions in the world. Even though I enjoyed the trek, I am right now struggling with body pains of a strainful trek. From tomorrow I have to get back to work and I am not sure how soon I can cope up with this.

Conquered Mt. Kinabalu - 4095 Mts

2009-05-04T17:54:00.003+08:00

BRB - Be Right Back

2009-04-30T14:40:00.002+08:00

Brb is what we use in our chat to say that we will be right back in few minutes. Similarly I will also be right back for blogging in 4 days as I am heading to Kota Kinabalu tonight. Wish me good luck as I am going to climb south east asia's biggest mountain :-)

Gone are those days

2009-04-29T17:51:00.001+08:00

Gone are the days when we used to talk for hours with our friends.
Now we don't have time to say a HI.

Gone are the days when we played games on the road.
Now we code on the road with laptop.

Gone are the days when we stood to watch birds.
Now we see and hear them in mpeg files.

Gone are the days when we saw stars shining at night.
Now we see stars when our code doesn't work.

Gone are the days when we sat to chat with friends on grounds.
Now we chat in chat rooms ...

Gone are the days where we studied just to pass.
Now we study to save our job

Gone are the days where we had no money in our pockets and fun filled on our hearts
Now we have the atm as well as credit card but with an empty heart

Gone are the days where we shouted on the road.
Now we dont shout even at home

Gone are the days where we got lectures from all.
Now we give lectures to all ... like the one I'm doing now ... :-)

Bye

First Day at M.G.I.T

2009-04-29T17:47:00.002+08:00

This was a mail which I mailed my college group some where in 2004, one year after my college. While checking my previous mail I came across this mail and wanted to have this in my blog.

This is how it goes:
-------------------

Hey All

I just wanted to share my first day experience in the college. You people may think that why this fellow is mailing this at this time. This is just to make the group active and I want all of them to mail their first day experience in the college. If some of the people don't like this please excuse me, I just wanted a topic so that again there will be some flood in the mails this month also.

Coming to the topic. I got 6044 rank as u people know. My counseling was on 7th of August 1999. First day in the college was on 20th December 1999. Then started the life in MGIT. I have always enjoyed each and every moment in the college with all u people and also I thank each and everyone who have been supportive to me all the 4 years.

First guy whom I met before joining the college was Muralidhar( Apna Computer Expert and Fav Moderator). I went to his place on 20th Dec and met him and had a small chat. That day I came to college alone where as many of them came to college with their parents. I came in CBIT Tarnaka bus which was a hell. From then I never came in CBIT Tarnaka bus. But first day journey was very boring and long. I couldn't understand anything as the journey took 1 and half hour.

I landed in CBIT and then one of the CBIT senior showed the way to MGIT. I saw Sharon going to MGIT from CBIT. I prayed to god and said that this girl should be from 1st year. I followed Sharon. She went into the orientation hall. I could call the new faces very enthusiastic and very eager. I remember only the faces of Sharon Manjusha Cheeku Gottam anteh. That day was real boring and it was one of the boring days in the college. I was a bit excited about joining Engineering and also a bit scared of how I could cope with so many Intellects (Mechatronites).

The second day I came at 8:45AM to the college. There was not even a single student in the college. I was a bit scared and confused where to go. Then I saw a student coming towards me who was already there in the college. I was a bit scared as I thought he was a senior. He came and asked me "First Year?" I said "Yes". To my wonder even he said "I am also from first year." He came to college at 8:30 AM."He introduced himself as Tummuluri Suryanarayana from Bhimavaram"( as u people know he is the topper of the class). Then I met Bhanu from IT (well known as DJ NASH). He was also from Andhra so vadu veedu vesukunnaru full chat. Then came the rest. That day it was nice to see all the people meeting each other. That day I met Murali, Chotu also.

I saw there were three people sitting in the first bench. They introduced themselves to the class saying their ranks and they were the best 3 ranks in the class. I thought I have to make friendship with these guys at any cost as they are very intelligent and talented. These 3 guys are Ajay, Srinivas and Balu.

This is what I remember of my first day. I came home and told this whole sodi to my parents and cousins. OK guys I am finishing the mail here. I hope at least some of them liked this idea of sharing the first day experience and hope people will respond to this mail and share their experiences. Please take some time from your busy schedule and share your ideas.

Bye
Take care
All the best
Sudheendra Reddy Palwai(Sudha Alias Babbu)

Its always nice to read older mails and remember past events.

Beautiful Surprise

2009-04-29T13:09:00.002+08:00

I always wanted to go to a beautiful location for my honeymoon like Mauritius, Seychelles or Maldives. I was not aware of other beautiful locations like Langkawi, Bali and Phuket until I came to Singapore. In October-08 once my marriage was fixed, I started thinking as where I can go for my honeymoon. First place that came to my mind was Mauritius.

Before I book some place, I wanted to know the interest of my wife for honeymoon trip. She wanted a dream location where the house would in the middle of the sea, beach to be very accessible, raining when we are in the beach, good view of sunrise and sunset, waterfalls and some of which I don't remember now. After searching for all the resorts I could only see one place made especially for my honeymoon. Thats the Berjaya Resort in Langkawi.

Once I decided to go to Langkawi, I immediately booked the Flight and Hotel bookings in the first week of November for the month of April. I wanted to give a surprise to my wife and hence did not reveal about any of these plans to her. After more than a month after marriage Swetha came to Singapore on April 2nd. She had no idea as where we were planning to go.

On April 9th I took her to Changi airport and boarded the KL flight and she was convinced that we are going to stay in KL for 4 days and come back. I am sure she was disappointed to have a honeymoon planned in a concrete jungle like KL. Once we landed in KL, I made her literally run to catch a connecting flight to Langkawi. She had no clue about this place and she was thinking that it would be yet another city. Just before the flight was about to land in Langkawi she was excited to see all the water and islands around the airport. Then she realized and felt happy that she was going to stay on an island.

We booked a taxi and went to Berjaya Resort. We sat in the lobby and waited for the receptionist to make the arrangements. Once she was done she came to us and told us that she was giving the best room in the resort. Even this statement was a bit vague for Swetha but still she was anxious to see the room.

Once we reached the room she was totally jumping with joy as she could see everything she asked for on a fun phone conversation. We stayed on a premiere chalet on water which was totally private and into the sea. We were able to see a beautiful sunrise, but were a bit disappointed as we couldn't see the sunset which would be behind the hill on which the resort was constructed. There was enough rain when we were at the beach and enjoyed the water sports. We also went to water fall near by our resort and had a great time there too.

So over all I would say that I have given a beautiful surprise to my wife and which we both would cherish for rest of our lives.

Memorable Days

2009-04-17T12:20:00.003+08:00

After 2 weeks of being away from blogging, today I thought I shall announce my come back :-). I had the most memorable days of my life with my wife. I have been away from phone, chatting, blogging, orkutting, friends, parties etc. I wish I could have been away from work too.

We went around in Singapore and also visited Langkawi. My honeymoon trip to Langkawi has been awesome and we had a grrreattt time. Everything went as planned.

I have done scuba diving for the first time and that was a great experience. The cable car ride in Langkawi was great. Havent really seen any movies these days.

Thats the latest update from my side. So guys whats going on at your ends?

Is this the worst job in the world?

2009-04-09T03:54:00.002+08:00

The next time you are tempted to complain about your job, spare a thought for this guy.

Courtesy: telegraph.co.uk

Rupee Symbol

2009-04-08T03:00:00.003+08:00

The Government of India has invited the public to suggest a symbol for the Rupee. Just as the Dollar is universally denoted by $' the government thinks the Rupee should also have its own unique symbol that captures a sense of India's history and culture. Listed below are 19 suggestions from ET's team of designers in the mentioned link. Please vote for the one you find best. ET will present all these symbols ' along with the ET viewers' preference' to the Ministry of Finance .

<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/rupeesurvey.c ms>

I personally din't like any of those, so I did something of my own..pretty simple and usable.I feel A Rupee need not necessarily start with letter R. The symbol I designed, is I as in INDIA and couple of horizontal lines which is easy to comprehend by most people as currency notation..coz dollar, euro, pound do have these lines in either horizontal or vertical fashion in those respective symbols. So keeping that tradition of major currencies of world and yet having an I which means India and also which is simple and easy to write after numerical figures made sense to me.

The above symbol is the one I personally designed and liked. I just hope it doesn't match with any existing symbols in the world.

Ciao,

- R

P.S: People reading this blog out there care to let me know if you have already seen this symbol anywhere else so that I can scrap it to start thinking bout something else.