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Continuing with the saga…heres what happened (according to me). Before you read on, I would like to remind readers that there are three versions to each story… My Version, The OTHER version and finally the Truth… Heres what happened…. In those days (the early 80’s),  RVCE was considered way way way out of the city and our primary goal as soon as we reached college was to find ways and m
label : Bangalore Blues


ipl is coming back to india in its third season and the fan in me wants to see sound and safe ipl...its very crucial season for ipl... not only from the commercial point of view but also to show to the world that cricket in india is as safe as anywhere around in the world...while security men will be doing their bit but i appeal to all fans and country men that we should treat ourselves as the inv
label : ipl


Please go here to know more about a book that we love.Happy weekend!
label : ST


__And so, I agreed to meet this one boy my parents had zeroed in on. He had a PhD AND an MBA (stupid confused geek) AND had come back from the US (yenda ippo vandhu yen kazhutha arukara) AND had just settled down in Pune (can't you obtain a Pune phigure for yourself instead of blading my life?) as a scientist (yaaaaaaaaaawn). I was utterly disgruntled by their choice. I had a job in singara Chenna

A cool thing about Google Spreadsheets is that you can scrape websites using external data functions like importHtml. It’s really easy to use. The formula: =importHtml("http://www.imdb.com/chart/top", "table", 1) imports the Internet Movie Database top 250 table on to Google Spreadsheets. Since you can publish these as RSS feeds, it ought to, in theory, be a great way of generating RSS feeds out
label : Coding


Starting today, all IPL T20 cricket matches will be streamed live on YouTube (youtube.com/ipl)  and since there aren’t any geographic restrictions, cricket fans around the world can watch matches of their favorite teams on any computer (or an Internet connected TV) for free without having to pay for premium cable channels. YouTube will live telecast every single IPL cricket match for the next
label : India


Net Thathuvam:"என்னதான் நீங்க செண்டிமெண்ட் பார்த்தாலும், கப்பல் கெளம்பறதுக்கு முன்னாடி எலுமிச்சம் பழம் எல்லாம் வைக்க முடியாது... சங்கு ஊதிவிட்டுதான் கெளம்ப�
label : Atheism


Guys, I have been in Dubai for the past few days. Much has changed since my last visit a few months ago.But much remains the same. The Emirates Lit Fest is wonderfully structured, and it is a pleasure to be be a part of something this well organised and glitch free. My own session last evening was delightful because of the moderator, Rosie Goldsmith, a BBC Lit Fest veteran.

Microsoft has replaced the original blue favicon on Bing.com with a yellow design. The Bing homepage looks so beautiful everyday but can’t say the same about their new favicon image. Please take this quick poll to share your own opinion on Bing’s new favicon: Do you like the new Bing favicon? [Poll] [Poll] Do You Like Bing’s New Favicon?Originally published at Digital Inspiration by
label : Internet


Oops! This link appears to be broken in Google Chrome You are trying to open a web page in Chrome and all it gives you is this error message – “DNS Error – cannot find server.” You hit F5 to refresh a page but the error persists. You then open an alternate browser, like Firefox or IE, and the website loads up without any problem. So its a Chrome specific issue and has nothing to do with 
label : Software


Driving in from Netaji Subhash airport to South Calcutta, in between posters of Konkona advertising real-estate, my eyes were assailed by gigantic cut-outs of the great King Khan, wearing KKR’s new purple jersey (tough luck to all the suckers who spent moolah buying their black jerseys), cut out of the same lingerie cloth as their old uniform but with a kinkier color, having the suitably pithy s
label : Cricket


A one-act play Characters: Teenaged boy, his mother, his father, his mobile Time: 1 minute [Paiyyan and his Nokia 5130 are like Karnan and his kavacha-kundalam. Inseparable. Akin to body parts. One day, by sleight of hand, fate, or maybe an urgent loo visit, the mobile lies on the table and The Man chances to pick it up. And what does he see there but a message alert from one of Paiyyan’s class
label : Parenting


(; MB)
label : People & Portrait Photos


This evening, the screening at main theater was of a 1989 movie from Hungary, with English title as - Jesus Christ's Horoscope. About 7-8 of my friends went to watch it, 7-8 people were at the swimming pool, 3-4 were hanging around the camera department. I was at the pool for about 45 minutes and then came to the camera dept vicinity. We were discussing some movies, watched a short-film of one of
label : fun


Between two yellows and a green But still within the month of March, pushing ever so gently past the 11th day in the ever glorious year of twenty ten … aka … 2010 , at 8 past the 25th minute of a Thu I dreamt of my Mother last night. She was in her elements and happy and smiling and poking fun on situations which was her wont. She was cheerful and full of fun. In similar circumstance there was
label : Others


How to Create Consumer Centric InnovationsOriginally Published here at Adclubbombay.comWhat can you do with a boring product like a dishwash bar? Can you bring excitement into it? Is it possible to make innovations to a product like dishwash bar? A look at Vim, the market leader in the dishwash bar category, will give valuable insights on making innovations which are meaningful for a consumer. Vi
label : Marketing Strategy


10 Most Dangerous countries to Visit Interesting list from Howstuffworks. Of these - Kenya, Brazil and Russia are in my must-visit list.
label : 10 dangerous countries to Visit


- by Deepa KrishnanI'm quite certain there are two women for every man you see on Hill Road. It's all the shopping, you see? Makes for a skewed gender ratio!Hundreds of big and small stores, selling clothing, bags, footwear, purses, hair accessories... it's absolute paradise for female shopaholics..But for me, what makes this chaotic experience extra-special is this: the restaurant at at Elco Arca
label : Food


Meera Syal poked fun at this very Indian habit in her book Anita and Me, but for the life of me I couldn’t understand why, when I read her book a few years ago. I’m talking about the way Indians do their washing up, under running water. I say Indian, but of course there’s every chance that folks from the rest of the Indian sub-continent have this habit as well.It’s a very British thing (or

There was a man called Chacha Chaudhary whose ‘brain is sharper than a needle and faster than a super-computer’ and his creator’s name is Pran Kumar Sharma one of India’s most successful Cartoonist. That was a time where comics were sold in books. A NID student while reading the comics in the bylanes of Delhi experienced the Eureka Moment and started to create something called Indian Web
label : Interviews


In October 2008, I have started an ambitious series of posts on this blog called – Spreadcheats. These are little tricks, nuggets, tutorials on using Excel that would make anyone a spreadsheet guru. The spreadcheats series has been wildly successful. I am compiling all this useful information and articles in to one big post so that anyone can follow the links and become an excel guru in 31 days.
label : Charts and Graphs


__Yesterday, I went for a lecture on Camus at Pune University. The prof was someone who'd known Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Camus in real life :O They all used to drink kaapi and discuss philosophy in the hey-days. It was awesome to sit in a classroom after all these years and listen to a proper academic lecture. I took notes also, just to play the part. I loved sniggering at the snarky profes

Being in India out of home-base posting has been infrequent. But that does not mean I dont have things to write about. So here in a post, I jot down everything I have been wanting to say for the last few weeks in more or less an unstructured way. Maha Hope Rahul M, as a person and as a personality, is in no ways as entertaining as Rakhi Sawant. This explains why I didnt follow the program in the
label : India


Was taken aback, when I saw random people who were sitting in Mettupaalayam railyway station, suddenly jumping and forming a queue to board a train that had just arrived. I don't remember the last time I saw, queue formation anywhere in India. There were two policemen also.. they regulated the entry of people. Then came to know that the queue was for boarding the unreserved compartment. Things lik
label : India


Microsoft has created a series of 8 second video demos to promote the new features of Internet Explorer 8. The only problem is that the site mentioned in these demos – internetexplorer8.co.uk -- doesn’t exist so they may want to grab that quickly. Private Browsing in IE 8 “IE8’s Private Browsing feature keeps your browsing private and your secrets safe.” Domain Highlighting in IE 8 �
label : Software


It all started with Pantaloon folks sending me a mailer with a call to send in applications for Femina Miss India 2010.. The fucked up mood or the "shaniyan" in me made me update the Gtalk status as "is it a joke or what??? i get a call from Femina Miss India 2010.. yeah rite!!" What ensued was too beautiful not to post as a blogpost.. so here we go "Tada"Gmail Ping from Prem Piyush aka P-Square:P
label : converzations


In my early days in Chennai, I was amused by people saying - Shall we go for chat? -pronouncing it as 'chat' !! Now the word is not as mispronounced and there are many eateries which offer you good chaat. But true authentic bhel lovers will find the murmura ( puffed rice ) here too thick- it is more the jaalmurri kind.Here are some of the outlets that we like:Madras Bhel puri- in T nagar- a small
label : OTBT


(; MB)
label : Landscape & Rural Photos


Yadukula kAmbOji This is an ancient raga in Indian music and was known as Sevvazhi paN in the Tamil music system of yore. Today it is classified as a janya or derivative of the 28th mELa harikAmbOji. It is an auDava sampUrNa raga as it has five notes in the ascent and all seven in the descent. The notes being: ArOhaNa: sa-ri-ma-pa-dha-sa avarOhaNa : sa-ni-dha-pa-ma-ga-ri-sa The notes are shadja,
label : Carnatic Music


Imagine yourself lounging in a spa pool at night with a clear sky above and the stars shining bright. You are supposed to relax, right? But all you can think of is a hidden sniper somewhere. That maybe the outcome of watching too many CSI episodes too, but my point is - we are turning bankrupt when it comes to the capacity of experiencing pure bliss. We have let others and ourselves let us down to

So, you were waiting for the title of this post, weren’t you? Breathe bated, mouth agape, heart palpitating, and fingers wrenched, you sat for this moment when the world as you knew would forever change and I shall reveal to the massed humanity my true purpose and mission: that of making you all wake up at ungodly hours on a Sunday morning and walk around town. This, my friends, is the moment. I
label : Photos


OBLIVIOUS TO THE WORLD, OBLIVIOUS TO LIFE, OBLIVIOUS TO THE SELF - AN UNCERTAIN NON EXISTENT UNIVERSE It is March in the 10th day, of a year that bears the digits of 2010     in a time of uncertainty between 8 of the PM and 9:25 of the PM too.. Silence and its ubiquitous influence, often envelops beings with nothingness, solitude and the fear of being singled out for an often misjudged and un
label : Others


The people behind Common Craft are masters at explaining complex new media topics like Wikis, RSS, Social Media, etc. in plain English. One of their videos explaining Twitter has so far been viewed over 1.7 million times on YouTube while the one on Google Docs has been viewed over 2.7 million times. Common Craft had an interesting business model. They would upload all their videos to YouTube and a
label : Internet


I recently spent an evening with twenty hearty souls in steady British rain to sleep out in a park to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless Sikhs of Southall. Actually, there was not much sleeping — it was more of a Hang Out than a Sleep Out and we had pizza and burgers — but the issue wasn’t lost. Finding warm and dry shelter is a challenge for an increasing number of South Asia
label : Events


Google Calendar now supports pop-up reminders just like your favorite desktop email client. If you keep Google Calendar open all day long, you probably end up seeing quite a few reminders every day. Browser alerts are okay, but I tried to find a way for Calendar notifications to integrate smoothly with everything else. Turn on "Gentle Reminders," and when you get a notification, the t
label : Internet


The Women's Reservation Bill has, justly, invited much interest and celebration. The passionate supporters and opponents are legion, but I've struggled hard to find a nuanced perspective on the entire matter, until I read Pratap B Mehta's op-ed in the Express (here).I think the op-ed is spot on, and captures what may distress people - who strongly support women's rights and empowerment - about the

It is always inspiring to read stories of people who may never have had an Internet connection but are still using the power of Internet to find clients from across the globe. Meet Samson – he drives an auto-rickshaw in the Souther Indian city of Chennai and has a proper website where his prospective clients can read more about his services and where they find him. Samson checks his email every
label : India


If you are looking forward to read yet another review that is going to rave about this movie, then go ahead and skip reading this post. Stunning locations & the vibrant colours of Trisha’s lovely costumes captured beautifully on camera and, of course, the songs and the background music are all I liked in Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. I just loved the BGM parts that had Aaromale and Hosanna. I h
label : A.R.Rahman


On a day when the country's lawmakers of the Rajya Sabha passed a bill reserving a third of Lok Sabha seats for women, here's something to ponder.In 2004, Sushma Tiwari married a man named Prabhu Nochil. Seven months later, her brother Dilip Tiwari and a few colleagues murdered Prabhu, Prabhu's father and two children of Prabhu's family. Sushma, pregnant at the time, escaped the massacre only beca

by deciding to amputate the arm the tumor of which was infecting the pakistan cricket and their team... how better it would have been had they raised their hands and own some responsibility in failing to cure it...the wound that could have been cured by timely intervention, medication and care... they waited for that wound (indiscipline) to develop into a tumor (player power) and in doing so they
label : umar akmal


SAMAR Magazine just dropped their latest issue and highlighted a campaign I knew little about - the FreeFahad Campaign. On February 10, 2010, SAMAR in collaboration with THAW (Theaters Against War) put out a call for letters to be sent to Fahad Hashmi at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC). Fahad has been held in pre-trial detention at the MCC for over 850 days in severe solitary confine
label : Issues


I can forget my dream of going to Alaska during a winter. Having arrived from London with a sore throat and cold, I thought Macau at 10c might be a respite from the 3c at London. Do u know that Macau at 10c can be colder than London at 3c? It puzzles me but weathermen can explain it with two terms -" cold gusty winds" & " feels like zero". Macau's weather can be as unpredic

Just like you buy “applications” from the iTunes store and add them to your iPhone, everyone can now buy readymade “cloud applications” from the Google Apps Marketplace and install them to their Google Apps’ accounts. Google Apps Marketplace, like the iTunes store, includes a mix of free and paid web applications but there’s one difference – you only pay once for installing an iPhone
label : Software


Will Facebook help drive more traffic to your website or Twitter? Are incoming links from Digg more valuable for improving your site’s organic rankings than than from YouTube or Flickr? Which is the best social site for engaging with people who are already in love with your brand? For answers and ideas, check this handy chart (PDF) from cmo.com that compares the benefits of sharing content on
label : Internet


There were a few (at first glance, about 3 busloads, but when I counted later there were only a half dozen) decorous Scandinavians at the front desk (in front of the front desk? Did that put them in the forefront?) when I came in. Some of them were quite tall. Say, about 17 feet each. It looked like Muir Woods had gone the Birnam way, only with a heavy dose of Janpath linen. I spent some time bein
label : hotel rooms


The Dork Trilogy - Sidin VadukutI have been a regular reader of his blog since the Travails post. So I knew what to expect, still he managed to surprise me. Dork tracks the 1st year of Robin "Einstein" Varghese as Management Consultant in a shady consultancy firm, Dufresne Partners. It is a laugh a minute book, with Einstein getting into impossible situations and getting out of them with implausib
label : Books


The following is the speech made by Sharad Joshi of Swatantra Bharat Paksha in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) before voting against the Women's Reservation bill, which seeks to make the 108th amendment to the Constitution. Thanks to RealityCheck blog for posting it.SHRI SHARAD ANANTRAO JOSHI (MAHARASHTRA): Sir, I rise to speak on behalf of Swatantra Bharat Paksh Party. The position of my part
label : Politics


The Parliament should be a microcosm of society. The mix of elected representatives must be reflective of the regional, linguistic and religious demographics and – thanks to the Women’s Reservation Bill- even the gender demographics of the nation. I am all for this. A demographic dimension that doesn’t seem to draw much attention, however, is the age profile. According to a report published

An in depth piece in the New York Times magazine looks at an effort to improve teacher quality through training. While this particular initiative may be better than the hundreds of other such initiatives, I find myself wondering if teacher training is indeed that big systemic change that the school education needs. Is it just tinkering with the edges when what we need is seismic shifts? There are
label : Government


(; MB)
label : People & Portrait Photos


Just a quick update as I’m still in the hospital recovering: Basil & Baraka became the blessed and proud parents of a son on Sunday, March 7th at 2:51 pm mash’Allah! Thank you for all your prayers – you were all in mine during labor too. (; MB)
label : On Parenthood


By Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai “A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person”~ Mignin McLaughlin, June 6, 1913 – December 20, 1983, American Journalist and Authour Heritance Kandalama Hotel is a five star luxury hotel, which is covered by lush foliage and rocky mountains. Heritance Kandalama Hotel attracts more foreign tourists for its natura

Empowering women is not quite the same as creating powerful women (From this blog’s archives, a post first published on August 23rd, 2005.) No nation can stand proud if it discriminates against any of its citizens. Certainly no society can claim to be part of the modern civilized world unless it treats its women on par with men. The time for genuine and full empowerment of women is here and now.
label : Economy




OUT OF LONDON, IN THE WILDS OF OPULENCE AND UNCERTAINTY, THE UNIVERSE        Tue/ Wed  9, 2010    1 : 35 AM in the wilds I have not read a book as consistently as I have ‘The Proudest Day’, India’s long road to Independence by Anthony Read and David Fisher, in recent years. There was of course “Gone with the Wind” and Ali’s biography which were equally involving as was Nixon’s
label : Others


France goes Halal! Surprise, surprise! The Sixth Republic is well on course to be a Caliphate. Tyranny of a minority, yes. But a majority that does not have political will to confront a dangerous minority deserves tyranny. Unfortunately, that holds good for all liberal democracies.
label : Caliphate


Got a jacket with a hood? Then watch this video as it explains how you can quickly turn your hooded jacket into a laptop carrying bag. The video is part of the Just Undo It series by Antonio Scarponi that shows how you can transform a simple hoodie into useful stuff like a pillow, a backpack or even a baby carrier. More videos follow: Thanks Swiss Miss for the tip. Make Your Own Laptop Bag wi
label : Inspiration


Microsoft is slowly rolling out a new design for their MSN.com homepage. The design is clean and doesn’t appear busy anymore. Like Yahoo, you can check your friend’s tweets and their Facebook status updates right on the MSN page. You can even update your status without leaving the homepage. Visit msn.com to see if the new design is live for you and if it’s not, just head over to msn.com/pre
label : Internet


Thank you all for participating in the Intel Contest. The winners are: Week 1: Eeshan Chatterjee from Manipal, Karnataka Week 2: Viren Mehta from Mumbai, Maharashtra Week 3: Namita Guj from Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra Week 4: Sidharth Bhan from Bangalore, Karnataka Grand Prize: Namita Guj from Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra The weekly winners will receive a Sony digital music player each while the grand w
label : Inspiration


In the past weeks, I’ve been critical of Toyota, Apple and Google. Not only are these companies who I’ve traditionally respected, but I have used many of their products and I have done so for a great many years. I expect I will continue to do so. These are also companies who have a lot of loyal users, some of them passionately so. I admit, that my recent blog post in which I called the Apple i
label : Social Media


On the occasion of Women’s Day (ok, I am a day late), here is an extract from the chapter titled ‘the state of female society in India” in the book “Essays relative to the habits, character and moral improvement of the Hindoos” published in the year 1823. It discusses the practice of getting girls married at the age of six or seven. The natives contemplate the birth of a daughter with fa
label : Britindia


This time-lapse video captures how the Google Docs team turned an online spreadsheet into sort of a painting canvas by filling individual cells of the sheet with different colors simultaneously. It might have take them several days to plan and draw the whole thing but luckily, you get to enjoy the process in under 60 seconds. How to Paint in an Excel Spreadsheet? If you want to create your own sp
label : Software


If you spend most of your day inside Microsoft Outlook and also use Google Docs for storing documents and other files online, here’s a free Outlook plug-in that will let you manage your Google Docs account right from your favorite email client. The plug-in, called Harmony for Google Docs, adds a sidebar to your Outlook so you can access your online documents from virtually any Outlook screen. W
label : Software


It’s not that it’s a bad thing that there are South Asians on prime time television. It’s just that it seems that they are always playing the sidekick character. Fine, maybe not “sidekick” as much as “part of ensemble cast but definitely not lead actor” role. NBC Thursday night is a perfect example. You have Danny Pudi playing Abed on Community, Aziz Ansari as Tom on Parks and Recrea
label : TV


It has been hectic past week with a business trip to London and Macau in china. Plenty of work but some quality time for sight seeing too. I am not complaigning ! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

With our 25th Re-Union in August, suddenly the group address has gotten active. People are reminded of incidents, run ins with the profs etc… The mention of a certain Prof’s name suddenly caused my buddy SAR to break out in a bout of swears while blaming me and certain other “innocent” people for his trauma…heres a mail from him… Viji, et-al You &$%&$%$&$))* & , $%**…
label : Bangalore Blues


So about an year and a half back i had written a short "love" story. (Read it HERE) Yeah, I know the probability of me writing a love story is same as the probability of RJD and SP coming out in support of Women's bill but I wanted to write the story from Narayan's perspective (many people also suggested I do) and I had written it but not published it. Found the document lying deep in the recesses
label : romance


Search the Facebook Apps directory for something like “export contacts” and you’ll come across quite a few applications that sound as if they can transfer your friends contact information out of Facebook. There’s an app called “Export Friends” that will save you friends names, city, birthday and their current location in a CSV (text) file that you then import into Excel, Gmail or any o
label : Internet


If you use the same password on multiple websites, your may be in for some trouble. Say your password for website badwebsite.com is the same as the password for goodwebsite.com. Now if the website badwebsite.com gets compromised (or the owner is malign to start with), they’ll know your password. Chances are that your username is the same (email address) for both websites so the badwebsite.com
label : Software


Elo makkaas n makkis..oru vazhia chennaila crash land aaiyaachu :) romba naala blogpakkam varalaya..chain smokerku thideernu dhammu kedaikatha epectla iruku :D athuvum inga no blog.. no gmail..no google..no laptop..no net..ada computeray ilapa. Etho color pottiku current connetion kuduthu vachirukanga. pora kuraiku fone kuda not allowedaam :( enna koduma ithu. Epppppiiidiii iruntha gils..ipdi aait
label : poor gils


A flight at 6 am meant that the day had to start at 4 am. An adamant to arrive deep slumber finally decided to accompany melody king Snore only around 1 am. It sure promised to be an ultra high liquid diet day, full of several cups of tea and lots of water. Cold water [...](; MB)
label : random thoughts


A few of the magical ingredients of what makes Silicon Valley unique is the easy access to mentors and investors. I turned to Yogen Dalal an engineer-turned entrepreneur-turned venture capitalist to... Life, People and Ideas: Connecting Indian diaspora across the world. (; MB)
label : Business & Tech


Here is our 'work' for the Artsy craftsy Challenge for March at Shruti's. Anush had a lot of fun doing them as you can see.1. Our happy family. Never mind the artistic liberty that we took while giving me pink cheeks. 2. Aaj mere R ki shaadi hai Venue-Chennai. ( our friend R is getting married this week)Characters-The bride, the groom and their parentsAnush and her parents andAs many guests as the
label : anushka


(; MB)
label : People & Portrait Photos


What is the magic of Silicon Valley?  What is the magic that pulls people from all around the world to come and work here and make their dreams come true? I turned to Yogen Dalal an engineer-turned... Life, People and Ideas: Connecting Indian diaspora across the world. (; MB)
label : Diaspora


Udipi Kshetra Udipi is a holy town that always conjures up the image of Lord Krishna with one hand resting on his hip and the other holding a butter churn. Mythological Origins Legend has it that Devaki, Krishna’s mother regretted that she had been unable to see him sporting as a child, brought up as he was by his foster parents Nanda and Yasoda. Lord Krishna therefore showed her through divine
label : Carnatic Music


Male ego has never felt better and has never felt so bad. That is “Roger Dodger”, a tutor, a jerk, a master, a Zen and a pathetic human being. Campbell Scott is Roger, an ad man with an expertise to word fence anyone, anytime, anywhere. He would take the pleasure in killing with his highly attuned verbal and social skills that he will make you appreciate while doing it. Men are scared of him,
label : Reviews


In the space of Noire movies, this movie is like a wannabe. Like a shy new entrant trying to be more Noire than what is necessary. This is certainly a tense, taught thriller from Scorsese and I was glad I saw this movie. But there were several scenes that needlessly hinted as to what the ending might be. Story tellers, who try to blind-side the audience at the end, try to drive the audience in one
label : movie review


London, UK                        March  8,  2010                     Mon  6 : 35 PM GMT So I learnt new word . JOBSWORTH !! A jobsworth is a person who uses his or her job description in a deliberately un-cooperative way, or who seemingly delights in acting in an obstructive or unhelpful manner. “Jobsworth” is an almost exclusively British term. Jonathan Green defines
label : Others


is here. Was already in a "not bad" shape. Took five days and 3 books to get into the current form. Only flipside is i don't know my limits and only discover them when i have almost collapsed from overwork.
label : wikipedia


Here is a montage ( for a change!), of a friends garden.February and March is spring time her in the North and the entire station is blossoming.   I confess my garden too has some Dahlias, some meagre Pansies and Zinnias.  But after seeing this garden I don't want to spoil the visual treat for you all by showing a comparatively arid garden (mine), as against this veritable Mughal Gardens!
label : picture thoughts


As I watched last night’s Academy Award presentation, I couldn’t help but think back to the 2009 awards nostalgically, a time where Slumdog mania was in full force, Bollywood stars were taking the stage, and saris were seen on the red carpet. At last night’s ceremony, though the one shoulder dress was the trend, not a sari was to be seen. Nor a desi person in the crowd. Who woulda thought -
label : Film


It’s an enticing day dream. I am swinging gently in a hammock, a hat shading my face, with a book and an icy sangria, as the sun beats down on me. “Knock,knock, remember me?” It’s him, the Owl. “It’s been a while,” I nod, irritated my reverie has been disturbed. And, also, that reality sucks. I look up at the mound of spring cleaning around the house that needs to be done and the ham
label : the Owl



label : Woman


I was invited to be the Chief Guest at the International Women’s Day celebrations at the Hyundai plant in Sriperumbudur today, and was asked to deliver a talk to their women employees. The text of the speech is below. Good afternoon. It’s an honour and a pleasure to be invited to speak to you today. International Women’s [...](; MB)
label : Uncategorized


Ravages posted a photo: I love cities, and traffic and crowds and activity and the constant buzzing white noise that is the city's (and my) soundtrack. My utopia is the city I live in. And the city I left behind.(image/jpeg; 0 MB)
label : street


Ravages posted a photo: Love this shot.(image/jpeg; 0 MB)
label : lighting


For anyone still following this page, check out the clicks here...

I have a fun and exciting project work for you. Introducing Flag Project The flag project is very simple. Just take your country flag and make it  using only Excel Charts. See the example Indian Flag I have constructed: As you can guess, Indian Flag is a bar chart with 3 bars and a 24 sliced pie chart in the middle. (There is a minor error in the chart, the spokes of the Ashoka Chakra – the wh
label : Charts and Graphs


I really wanted to give it a number but seriously there are way too many to count them... I understand that first dates can be pretty awkward and blind dates even more corny... but few of mine take the cake and have made me go meh!! and few, they just linger in my mind and bring on a smile every time I am reminded of it..Doctor Boy..Or so what he was introduced as... his cousin was a good friend o
label : fun


Chennai is steeped in culture and history. Here are some wonderful ways, the two legged kind, to discover the city and its natural bounty.Storytrails, with whom my father had been a story teller tops my list. It also has interesting trails for children and has expanded to Mumbai.The rest of the walks that have caught my fancy are listed in no particular order.Madras Heritage walks - a very interes
label : culture




Windows 7 doesnot allow you to install off the same Hard Disk. But if you didn't want to burn the .iso image of Windows 7 that you downloaded to a new DVD - you can still install it off the .iso file by using the method below.You will need a portable hard disk / pen drive though.Incase, you have a portable hard disk or a pen drive - do the following :1. Get WinRar (www.rarlabs.com) and install the
label : technology


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label : Abstract & Conceptual Photos


Finally glad that this movie got its due recognition. In the one week that it ran hardly anybody ever saw it. It was only after the nominations were announced that people started scrambling for DVDs of The Hurt Locker to put some review of the movie out there in the press. So it was ridiculous that Hollywood promoted it so poorly at the time of release. Hopefully the Oscar thing would make more pe
label : The hurt locker


Blogdosts.... this is supposed to be our day..... yaaney ki, a day reserved for us gals. In india, the much delayed Women's Reservations Bill is likely to be passed today, which will make this particular Women's Day, almost miraculous! Jai ho!! *****This is one of the columns I wrote to mark the day.Oh..... and I was pleased to see my name featured on DNA newspaper's list of ' 50 Most Powerful Wom

I thank Pratap Bhanu Mehta for the following response to my previous post. I am also giving my brief reply to him -VV.Dear Venkatesan,I admire your thoughtful response on your blog. But I also think it shows what has gone wrong with our discourse on free speech. I just want to clarify a few points.1. In a strict definitional sense, no one defends an “absolute” freedom. For example some version
label : Free Speech


சர்வதேச மகளிர் தினத்தினை முன்னிட்டு இன்டர் நியூசில் ஒலிபரப்பான~ மார்ச் 8ஆம் திகதிய “மீண்டும் வாழ்வோம்” நிகழ்ச்சி ~மேலும் செவி மடுக்க இங்கே அழுத்தவ�

Defence expenditure is the premium paid to insure against the failure of foreign policy A good defence strategy is one that manages the risks of foreign policy going wrong for one reason or the other. It might turn out that foreign policy was based on the wrong presumptions, or unexpected events might upset the geopolitical balance and so on. In these circumstances, a state should have the militar
label : Foreign Affairs


The first few times a pointed spear or a laughing animation appears to be inches from your eyes, it is cool. Then a normal adult should be bored of 3D repetitions. But no. The correlation between age and aging has been dis-established. Young is in the mind and the size of the dick or something like that. Therefore adults as old as seven buffaloes continue to be amused by videogames and books/movie
label : 3D