Happy Birthday Swetha

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

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

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

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

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

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