Weekend Tidbits

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 !!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.