Exactly an year ago I started from my own singara Chennai to the land of wishes and dreams, the US. I never knew that my next one year of my life would be a roller-coaster of a ride. Though in my mind I felt that the journey would be very short and I would return home soon, I knew that I was setting sail to a new destination like Columbus ;) and things would be different that what I had imagined. The last year’s experiences outside home in a very challenging course have really molded me as a person. In this process I have also met many of my new friends and better understood life and people.
When I came to US, I desperately missed my sis and parents and the Chennai’s lifestyle. It seemed to me as if I had to live 20 kms away from Chengalpattu, in a remote village. Soon, I was way too engrossed in my MBA course that life went ahead so quickly. I had lots of moments to cheer about like the potluck dinner that we wud have and the trips to Mt.Lemmon and Grand Canyon. I really cherished my India trip last December, where in I felt that I had regained my life and soul back again. The walk through T.Nagar uplifted my ragged soul and soon I was enjoying my life again. The next few months in US were really nice and a couple of MIS course more relating to my previous work really got me going... :)
My internship in Mexico was the best thing to happen. When I got down from the airport, I felt a familiar hot and humid air breezing through me. Wow! I thought I had landed in Chennai!! ;) This Mexican town is so green that I really feel like I am living in a paradise. I am just enjoying my internship, though I wish to return to Tucson and then to India soon.. :)
An year down the line, I wish I would get a job in a city which is more crowded and where you wud get all the things that you want in a nearby annachi store like in Chennai ;) . Strange wish though.. ;) I guess NJ or any city in California would be a gud place to live.. And also I wish that my mom and dad would soon join me in US :).. Life is all about wishes.. Ain't it?? ;)
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
GRANDest of all CANYONs..
There have been so many places in this world where I have gone and wondered the marvel of god's creations, but this place just blew me off!! I would call it the grandest of all canyons. Our trip to grand canyon was a long six hour drive from my place. The road climbing up the mountain was picturesque and dotted with mountains on both sides of the road. It was about evening time, that we reached this place. When we reached the creek overlooking the canyon, I noticed a strange starry look on my friend’s face. I too had the same look after 5 secs when I reached there :)
It was most similar to MadhuBala’s reaction from the ROJA in the opening scene of pudhu vellai mazhai song (filmy tuch ;) ). What a beauty.. What a marvelous piece from the god’s architectural closet. The evening twilight added to the beauty of the canyon. The reddish pink color on the canyon gave it some real life. I bent deep to look how far down the gorge went down, I guess it would have been about 3000-4000 feet deep. I and my friends took some pics up there. Then,we headed to the I-Max theatre for a 30 min documentary of the grand canyon. The opening sequence when the camera scooped along the colarado river was awesome.
The next morning we headed right to the Bright Angel Trail. The trail had 3 sections and we decided to walk only the first part of it. The walk down the hill was the easiest part, the tough one was yet to cum... We eventually reached the end of the first part after walking down for about 45 minutes and then after some rest started our way back. The way up was more difficult but I guess it was a good trek. Next time we gonna hike there, we plan to camp down there for a nite..
We could not catch a helicopter or rafting ride(as it needed prior reservations) in there but all in all, I had the chance to visit one of the best god made wonders of this world and it’s definitely a must-go destination.
It was most similar to MadhuBala’s reaction from the ROJA in the opening scene of pudhu vellai mazhai song (filmy tuch ;) ). What a beauty.. What a marvelous piece from the god’s architectural closet. The evening twilight added to the beauty of the canyon. The reddish pink color on the canyon gave it some real life. I bent deep to look how far down the gorge went down, I guess it would have been about 3000-4000 feet deep. I and my friends took some pics up there. Then,we headed to the I-Max theatre for a 30 min documentary of the grand canyon. The opening sequence when the camera scooped along the colarado river was awesome.
The next morning we headed right to the Bright Angel Trail. The trail had 3 sections and we decided to walk only the first part of it. The walk down the hill was the easiest part, the tough one was yet to cum... We eventually reached the end of the first part after walking down for about 45 minutes and then after some rest started our way back. The way up was more difficult but I guess it was a good trek. Next time we gonna hike there, we plan to camp down there for a nite..
We could not catch a helicopter or rafting ride(as it needed prior reservations) in there but all in all, I had the chance to visit one of the best god made wonders of this world and it’s definitely a must-go destination.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Vivah - an eternity.
I recently watched an awesome movie - VIVAH. The movie is about a very young couple who are soon to be wedded through an arranged marriage. The movie starts of beautifully capturing the very delicate scenes of the time between their engagement and their marriage. Tragedy strikes when the bride sustains 40% burn injuries in a fire accident just before the marriage. However, the groom goes ahead, showers the bride with all the love in the world and marries her. Its one of the very meaningful movies that I have seen recently, though it sometimes drags a little too much :)
When I was speaking about this movie to my friend, he mentioned that the things shown in the movie hardly take place these days. I guess that's the truth. But I guess times have changed wherein a gal getz to know the guy more than they used to in the past. Speaking about marriage and life, I remember another movie that so typically portrays the current marriage situation. The movie, Parthiban Kanavu, shows a person who wants to get married to a very beautiful modern,outgoing gal, but ends up marrying a homely gal who looks the same as the modern gal. All the drama follows and finally the movie ends up with the hero understanding that he was very much lucky to get a homely gal in his life.
I feel that marriage changes a person's life. With so many divorce cases, especially in IT industry, I guess it is very important to choose the right person in your life. I hope all my friends and people around me find their right choices in their life and be happy forever :)
When I was speaking about this movie to my friend, he mentioned that the things shown in the movie hardly take place these days. I guess that's the truth. But I guess times have changed wherein a gal getz to know the guy more than they used to in the past. Speaking about marriage and life, I remember another movie that so typically portrays the current marriage situation. The movie, Parthiban Kanavu, shows a person who wants to get married to a very beautiful modern,outgoing gal, but ends up marrying a homely gal who looks the same as the modern gal. All the drama follows and finally the movie ends up with the hero understanding that he was very much lucky to get a homely gal in his life.
I feel that marriage changes a person's life. With so many divorce cases, especially in IT industry, I guess it is very important to choose the right person in your life. I hope all my friends and people around me find their right choices in their life and be happy forever :)
Monday, March 16, 2009
A for.. Ashutosh Gowarikar
All of us know what A for means. But to me it means Ashutosh Gowarikar, the genius behind one of the toughest made movies of this century, Lagaan. I know my article is a little late on epic movie but I happened to watch "The making of Lagaan". A 2 hour documentary on the in-numerous struggles Ashutosh went across to complete his movie. He explains in the video as to how he broke the four basic rules of hindi movies that 1. Period movies could NOT be made commercially successful. 2. Movies cannot be made on sports 3. Heroes cannot be simple villagers and last and the most important point that mainstream hindi movies cannot be made in any other dialect apart from hindi. Ashutosh broke all these paradigms and created an awesome piece of history that would even be talked about, 50 years from now. I salute a person who had such a superb vision and had the capability to execute it.
His partner in this adventurous venture was the one and only aamir khan, who also went on to produce the movie(for he thought that nobody else would dare produce such a crazy movie). The documentary video goes on to show the struggles of movie making right fron the casting, to the movie making part of it. Each day in the shooting process was adventurous and very much demanding. In the middle of the movie shooting schedule, Ashutosh has a slip disc and is advised a month's rest but he goes on to direct the movie lying on a bed. Truly sensational stuff!! The movie after all its struggles, is successfully released in theater where it becomes one the biggest hits in indian movie history. Its tremendous success leads to it being nominated for Oscars, in the category for best foreign movie. Unfortunately though, it lost the Oscar award by a whisker.
Ashutosh has not turned back since then, and has directed another scintillating movie.. Jodha Akbar, a movie of sheer class and pure history. Its a story of a mughal prince and a rajput princess, whom destiny brings together and it has become one of the best love stories, Bollywood has ever seen. This story is a reminder to our divided nation of how hindus and muslims have had a deep boding of love and friendship 400 years ago.
Such awe-inspiring stories give me HOPE that one day, I too will do something, something that will be remembered for good. I hope destiny takes me to my dreams as it has with Ashutosh Gowrikar. My salutations to you sir. May you go on to direct many more epics like these in future.
His partner in this adventurous venture was the one and only aamir khan, who also went on to produce the movie(for he thought that nobody else would dare produce such a crazy movie). The documentary video goes on to show the struggles of movie making right fron the casting, to the movie making part of it. Each day in the shooting process was adventurous and very much demanding. In the middle of the movie shooting schedule, Ashutosh has a slip disc and is advised a month's rest but he goes on to direct the movie lying on a bed. Truly sensational stuff!! The movie after all its struggles, is successfully released in theater where it becomes one the biggest hits in indian movie history. Its tremendous success leads to it being nominated for Oscars, in the category for best foreign movie. Unfortunately though, it lost the Oscar award by a whisker.
Ashutosh has not turned back since then, and has directed another scintillating movie.. Jodha Akbar, a movie of sheer class and pure history. Its a story of a mughal prince and a rajput princess, whom destiny brings together and it has become one of the best love stories, Bollywood has ever seen. This story is a reminder to our divided nation of how hindus and muslims have had a deep boding of love and friendship 400 years ago.
Such awe-inspiring stories give me HOPE that one day, I too will do something, something that will be remembered for good. I hope destiny takes me to my dreams as it has with Ashutosh Gowrikar. My salutations to you sir. May you go on to direct many more epics like these in future.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
MIS Assignment.
In my long list of postings, here comes the one which is so directly related to my studies- an MIS assignment for creation of blogs. Even though I know how to post my articles in the blogs, this assignment has helped me learn various types of blogs, their uses and how it connects us to the real world. This exercise as well as this MIS course has been very helpful to me and it has made me understand the business functions behind each and every project that I had worked as a technical consultant. I take this opportunity to thank Professor Sue Brown for the 6 weeks of knowledge sharing session of MIS 585 course and hope that this course helps many more people like me.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Lord of Music!!
I guess all of us would know whom I meant. The one and only Mr. AR Rahman. Congratulations on the spectacular victory at Oscar. For many of us in the generation-next, he has been our inspiration. Personally I have grown up listening to his songs. Right from his "Ennavalae" in Kadhalan to "Behka" from Ghajni.. ARR ne ham sab ko behkadiya hai :)
When I first saw the movie ROJA, I was spellbound by the music, and the song Chinna Chinna Roja was played again and again wherever I went. Then Kadhalan, Bombay, Alaipayuthe, Jeans, Mudhalvan, Guru, Sivaji.. right to the completely awesome Delhi 6 music, the lord has truly given some amazing hits.. No comparisons ever!! I was fortunate to go to one of his concerts, where he rocked and held the audience sway for 4 hours. I was completely rolled over by the concert. I guess my friend suren wud agree with that too.
When I first heard about him, I had searched for some information on him. He was born as Dinesh in a small family and his father had been working as music director in Kerala movies. Unfortunately he father died when he was very young, say abt 14 years. After that he had come to Chennai to work in Film music. His sister was afflicted with a special disease that none of the doctors could cure. When a muslim hakim(Muslim physician) cured her, dinesh and his family converted into muslims and he changed his name to Allah Rakhah Rahman, which means a person who is unique and great in a crore of people. True to his name ARR is one of the brightest shining star in the indian sky.
Even though ARR has got the award, I would have been more happy, had he got the award for a movie directed by an Indian. I still await that day when our movies will make it to the grandstand- The Oscars. However, till then, I and 150 crore people will cherish the success of the lord of music. Long Live ARR.. May he give us more and more good music in the years to come..
When I first saw the movie ROJA, I was spellbound by the music, and the song Chinna Chinna Roja was played again and again wherever I went. Then Kadhalan, Bombay, Alaipayuthe, Jeans, Mudhalvan, Guru, Sivaji.. right to the completely awesome Delhi 6 music, the lord has truly given some amazing hits.. No comparisons ever!! I was fortunate to go to one of his concerts, where he rocked and held the audience sway for 4 hours. I was completely rolled over by the concert. I guess my friend suren wud agree with that too.
When I first heard about him, I had searched for some information on him. He was born as Dinesh in a small family and his father had been working as music director in Kerala movies. Unfortunately he father died when he was very young, say abt 14 years. After that he had come to Chennai to work in Film music. His sister was afflicted with a special disease that none of the doctors could cure. When a muslim hakim(Muslim physician) cured her, dinesh and his family converted into muslims and he changed his name to Allah Rakhah Rahman, which means a person who is unique and great in a crore of people. True to his name ARR is one of the brightest shining star in the indian sky.
Even though ARR has got the award, I would have been more happy, had he got the award for a movie directed by an Indian. I still await that day when our movies will make it to the grandstand- The Oscars. However, till then, I and 150 crore people will cherish the success of the lord of music. Long Live ARR.. May he give us more and more good music in the years to come..
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friends for Life!!
Dil chata Hai, Jaane Tu, Kalluri , Happy Days.. All these movie have one theme in common- friendship. To me friends are my life. This is my tribute to my best friends who have listened to my mokkai jokes, made me laugh all the time when they are there around, who have given me a shoulder to cry upon in times of distress and most importantly have always been there to speak to and advice me if I went wrong anywhere.
Where to start.. Hmm.. that’s a tuf one as I have blessed with so many good friends.. :) I will start with my best friend Deeptha. I have known her from my 8th standard, though we became friends only later, in our college life. I have never ever seen such a person, so very confident in whatever she does and she does it best. She my first goto person whenever I have any probs and she been my pillar of support right from my college days. Speaking of college days, I had very few friends. But one of them is Francis aka Vijay bcoz he looks so much like him. Hez a real time romeo with so many luv stories in his kitty. We both have watched so many movies at udayam and Kasi ;), but I never gotta chance to watch a Vijay movie with him.
School days were super cool where I had a group of friends – Deepak, Badri, Abishek and Kaushik. Though we never used to go to movies and stuff, we were kinda close friends. I still remember the beautiful Ooty trip that we had in 12th. That was a great trip. My next best friends came in college – Aravindhan and Arun. But the curious fact is that we became friends only during the final project of our undergrad and our friendship has been going strong from that. We always have a nice time together, though I could not meet them this time when I was in Chennai. I hope to meet them in here sometime.
After college came the best and most cherished 45 days of my life where I went to Trivandrum for my TCS training. I met so many of best friends there – Surendar, Sangeetha(my sis kinda ;) ), Manoj, Sajana, Mahesh, Anu, Vijila, Rajesh, Vijay Karthick, Meyyamai, Gayathri, Hima Bindu. Quite a gang in itself!! Surendar and I shared our room and we kinda have become bros ;). We all had a great time at the beaches in Trivandrum and were kinda in tears when we had to part off after the training.
Moving on to TCS office ka friends, I was fortunate to have 2 super cool aka rowdy friends ;). Sudha and Ranjani. I really started enjoying my workplace after my rather schoolish Satyabama college undergrad. I met sudhs and ranjani in my project where we became great friends. I still cherish the moments where we used to laugh so heartily in our canteen that passerby people used to stare at us. Really miss those times ;) The list of my other cool friends from office is huge but I hope to accommodate them as much as I can. Here it goes – Arjun, Sembian, Sai, Pratibha, Vamsee, Ranga, Senthamarai, Deepti, Kamal, Anupama, Seeni, Ravindar, Arun, Karun, Satish, Subbu, Shine, Kurunji and many many others. I have to specially mentioned about me best friend Karthick Chidambaram. Hez like my elder bro. Whenever I have to do anything important in life, hez my goto person(So cool and collected in thoughts and words). If I am doing my MBA in US, hez the big reason behind it. I cherish the times we used to go to Mayajaal and also out IMS classes. Infact we had a gala time there Speaking of IMS, I would want to mention my friend Vikram and Karthick. I and Vikram really slogged it out for GMAT and Karthick provides me expert advices on the IT industry ;)
So I have nearly reached the end of my friendship list. Speaking about good friends, I have mention my roomies (or they will kill me).. He he.. But actually we have become good friends. Oh! I have forgotten to mention their names. Kartik- padipu genious and Pandian- Finance Genie. And also in my big bandwagon of friends are 2 other gud friends – Ashwini and Nithya. Together we form the Happy days gang ;)
There so many friends of mine who I have laughed with, shared food, had great times. I hope to have included everybody in here but I may have missed somebody. Please forgive me.. I will surely incorporate u in Version 2.0 ;) now I speak like an IT guy.. Thanks to everybody who have made my life so meaningful.. Therz no life without friends.. and I cherish all the time that I had with u guyz… THANKS!!
Where to start.. Hmm.. that’s a tuf one as I have blessed with so many good friends.. :) I will start with my best friend Deeptha. I have known her from my 8th standard, though we became friends only later, in our college life. I have never ever seen such a person, so very confident in whatever she does and she does it best. She my first goto person whenever I have any probs and she been my pillar of support right from my college days. Speaking of college days, I had very few friends. But one of them is Francis aka Vijay bcoz he looks so much like him. Hez a real time romeo with so many luv stories in his kitty. We both have watched so many movies at udayam and Kasi ;), but I never gotta chance to watch a Vijay movie with him.
School days were super cool where I had a group of friends – Deepak, Badri, Abishek and Kaushik. Though we never used to go to movies and stuff, we were kinda close friends. I still remember the beautiful Ooty trip that we had in 12th. That was a great trip. My next best friends came in college – Aravindhan and Arun. But the curious fact is that we became friends only during the final project of our undergrad and our friendship has been going strong from that. We always have a nice time together, though I could not meet them this time when I was in Chennai. I hope to meet them in here sometime.
After college came the best and most cherished 45 days of my life where I went to Trivandrum for my TCS training. I met so many of best friends there – Surendar, Sangeetha(my sis kinda ;) ), Manoj, Sajana, Mahesh, Anu, Vijila, Rajesh, Vijay Karthick, Meyyamai, Gayathri, Hima Bindu. Quite a gang in itself!! Surendar and I shared our room and we kinda have become bros ;). We all had a great time at the beaches in Trivandrum and were kinda in tears when we had to part off after the training.
Moving on to TCS office ka friends, I was fortunate to have 2 super cool aka rowdy friends ;). Sudha and Ranjani. I really started enjoying my workplace after my rather schoolish Satyabama college undergrad. I met sudhs and ranjani in my project where we became great friends. I still cherish the moments where we used to laugh so heartily in our canteen that passerby people used to stare at us. Really miss those times ;) The list of my other cool friends from office is huge but I hope to accommodate them as much as I can. Here it goes – Arjun, Sembian, Sai, Pratibha, Vamsee, Ranga, Senthamarai, Deepti, Kamal, Anupama, Seeni, Ravindar, Arun, Karun, Satish, Subbu, Shine, Kurunji and many many others. I have to specially mentioned about me best friend Karthick Chidambaram. Hez like my elder bro. Whenever I have to do anything important in life, hez my goto person(So cool and collected in thoughts and words). If I am doing my MBA in US, hez the big reason behind it. I cherish the times we used to go to Mayajaal and also out IMS classes. Infact we had a gala time there Speaking of IMS, I would want to mention my friend Vikram and Karthick. I and Vikram really slogged it out for GMAT and Karthick provides me expert advices on the IT industry ;)
So I have nearly reached the end of my friendship list. Speaking about good friends, I have mention my roomies (or they will kill me).. He he.. But actually we have become good friends. Oh! I have forgotten to mention their names. Kartik- padipu genious and Pandian- Finance Genie. And also in my big bandwagon of friends are 2 other gud friends – Ashwini and Nithya. Together we form the Happy days gang ;)
There so many friends of mine who I have laughed with, shared food, had great times. I hope to have included everybody in here but I may have missed somebody. Please forgive me.. I will surely incorporate u in Version 2.0 ;) now I speak like an IT guy.. Thanks to everybody who have made my life so meaningful.. Therz no life without friends.. and I cherish all the time that I had with u guyz… THANKS!!
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