FEDEX is the best in DOUBLES too

FEDEX becomes a proud papa of twin girls.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/SPORTS/Tennis/Top-Stories/Federer-becomes-father-of-twin-girls/articleshow/4814609.cms

Big congratulations for his(wife's too) recent feat :P

This guy defintely has a style when it comes to performance. He never believes in just one trophy. Does he ?

Sorry "STATE" of affairs.

This one is a totally offline post from me. This is on the recent announcement of pay hikes to the Tamilnadu legislators and that's not it they have been promised a land allotment within the city for them to build house, 2,5ground for each of the 273odd MLA. Now in the whole of India, TN legislators are drawing the largest salary.

When i read this news, i couldn't come to terms with it for just one reason. On one side government cries that they're pretty low in fiscal balance for the welfare measures of public, but then they have money for this. 50K per month for these so called legislators "FOR WHAT ?????", just because they won election they becomes the voice of people (can anyone of you tell me that your local MLA or MP talks what you want from them ??). We the tax payers are the money vending machines for any government and we don't have a say in this? Is there a glitch in our system???

More irritating to hear is about the land allotment. 2.5 grounds near sholinganalur(look @ the area for choice) for building home as if these people do not have any house(barring few exceptions).

One reason i hate politics is the simple facts that, it's no more public service,it's profession and all the talks of running the country in corporate style have made it more of a profession. I don't mind it but then when you wanna run it in corporate style set norms for selection of people to run as well.

Take most of the money spinning sectors, you'd invariably see these so called legislators on the background in some way or other. Is that not enough, they want more ? what's the limit for their greed?? i don't get any answer. already lots of money is wasted on providing security to these people(i don't understand if they're so scared why do they even come to public life). Do common man asks for protection?? what protection he has got ? People were shot dead in Mumbai just like sitting ducks, did the man who survived asked for Z-category?

I have no issues in the tax payer money going to poor and needy or the deserving. I hate to get into politics but then i couldn't bear the mere sight of this news in the paper. I know things would never change, but it's just the frustration i am trying to let out through this post.

Mahakavi Bharathiyar said "Thani oru manidhanukku unavillayenil jagathinai erithiduvom" (let's burn the world if one single man doesn't have food for him). Just pondering, how many time should we burn this jagam? or how many jagam should we burn?

Day time robbery

I am really angry. Went for lunch to a nearby eating joint with "T" and ended up paying Rs100 as fine for traffic policeman for parking my bike in no parking area?!?!?.

Angry, for 2 reasons

One, to see our so called tamilnadu police(once boasted as next only to Scotland yard) has become like day time robbers (in some cases beggars).

Two, i should have paid only 50bucks but ended paying 100. I was not prudent enough to even identify that iam being cheated.

Everything seems to be going on fine, until we finished our lunch and came back towards the parking lot(what else you call a place where over 250 bikes are parked in order) to take my bike. That's when i was called by this group of traffic cops(one in the white bike and 3 other chamchas for him). I though they're calling for something else, asked what. He said come pay the fine you have parked in no parking zone. I was surprised, these folks doesn't even know where i have parked my bike and just because they see a helmet in my hands they're calling, funny buggers(this was what my initial thought was). Then they showed one no parking for 200 mts board on the other side of the road. I was like "Are you guys crazy??". I asked him why there is no board on the other side and what do you expect if there are 200bikes parked in order and a person coming from the other side is definitely justified to assume its a parking area. By now this cop was getting angry just because iam asking question. For God's sake iam a bloody tax payer in this country and that fellow is bound to answer me. He says i can't put signs in all the sides. I was asking "how can you expect the people coming from other end to read the board on this end and then decide not to park, with the fact that 200 odd bikes parked". "No sir, you can't talk like that. "Adhaan arrow potruku illa (see arrow marks on the board). No one can escape from me. You stand and watch. We're here without having lunch also".
T was whispering, so with this only you're goin to have your lunch?

I really wanted to shout, "That arrow doesn't go tilll the end of the road to warn the drivers there. you're supposed to nab robbers and you yourself can't do it like this" but instead ended up paying 100Rs. It's not about the 100 bucks, but to me i was not on the other side of the law definitely.


Then we both drove back to the office, on reaching the office i took out that receipt and saw both sides, that's when i realised the fine amount for no parking is just 50 bucks and not 100. I thought of goin and asking him but then was shocked to see that it was written as "no parking and assault". Damn me, can any one reading this tell me what was the assault i did here???? so 50 bucks additional fine for assault. What else can you call these people other than day time robbers. I was very angry that i did not see this there itself and gave him a peace of mind.

Poor T was apologising "Sorry Chan, it was my mistake", "i would pay" etc etc.

Whatever said and done here iam sitting here fuming on the plight of common man and sorry state of affairs the police dept is in. Seriously, people like me do not know how to handle this, do i have the right of saying i won't pay or i can handle this in court or since there was no board i won't pay etc..

Any thoughts folks ???

Exam Hall - Tagged by Satish

My experiences with exams....Well, quite a few. Let me bring few of those from my memory.

When i was in school, it was always about finishing the exam in the shortest time. If i finish the paper in one hour it's a great achievement for me. The more time it takes to complete, the less macho it is for me. One such exam, not sure which class i was in, probably 7th or 8th, it was Tamil paper. I had completed the exam in around 1 hour. Frankly i wrote everything i knew :P. I folded the answer paper and was sitting so casually. At that time our tamil teacher was doing the rounds to clear some doubts in the question paper for some folks. She was so agitated to see me sitting in 1 hour with folded answer sheet. She came straight to me and asked "What do you think you're doin?" I replied with nonchalance "Completed the paper, the invigilating teacher is not taking the answer sheet, askin me to sit for another hour" This probably irritated her much more. She asked "did u recheck your answers?". "yes, i did twice already" that was me, equally upto her. That's it she could not take anymore, she looked into my answer sheet end to end and threw it telling "this is not enough" and gave me a slap. I was shaken a bit but became so furious, how can she slap me in front of the class, that too for completing the exam paper. I shouted back like mad at her "Ezudinadhukku mark podunga..adhu podhum..adikara velaiyellam venaaam" (you evaluate for what i've written don't hit me ever again). From that day she used to maintain a distance with me.

Then when i was in class XI, we used to have exams in our auditorium. Each of us would get a desk and chair. We used to pass our question paper and even sheets of answer paper for others to copy. It was more of a thrill than actually copying. During the exam, our way of passing answer sheet would be like this. If my friend wants answer to some question, he would whisper the qtn number to me as he crosses me to get extra sheets. By the time he comes i wud keep it on the right side of the desk. When he crosses, i wud wantedly drop it and he wud drop his sheet and tadaaaa...we would swap the sheets while taking back. Once the same thing happened, just when we swapped the sheets..i was so happy on the achievement and with beaming looks turned around just to see our economics teacher staring at me from the window. God knows how scared i was..she came straight to me and asked "what sir, need any help to pass answer sheet to anyone??" I was like "oops that was a mistake teacher" before i could complete my ears were in her fingers and "Whooaaaaaaa what a pain" ...it pains even now.

We used to use log books for copying. Yes, for physics, maths papers important formula used to be on the last pages. But, in our school they used to give log sheets. Just to get the log book to see the formula, we used to write with ink pen over n over on the numbers of the log sheet. then we used to complain that numbers are not visible and hence we need log books. During the exam they cannot take new xerox copies so they used to bring log books and give. We used to happily copy the formula :)

One final episode when i was doin my PG. Everyday when we start the exam the guy who sits next to me used to open 3 bubble gums and start chewing. I thought, this fellow has this habit to concentrate on the exam.This was happening for 3 days. Fourth day i saw when he spat the bubble gum it was a huge ball. I was so confused how come this big bubble gum, probably he took 4 or 5 today. Next day i was so curious to find out and was planning to ask him. Exam started and was going on. Casually i turned towards him, shocked to see him putting the bit papers in his mouth and started chewing with the bubble gum. Daily he used to do this.I was so stunned by his creativity ?!?!?! hehehehe

Satish, nothing like your experiences, but that was a different tag. Thanks mate!

SORRY!

Today is a very bad day for me. First was not in greatest of moods for obvious reasons and then @ work place too things were not moving as i expected even after giving the best shot. Then saw a fatal accident where a young fellow was lying dead on his mobike. To add to this whole agony, i hurt someone very close very much and feel so bad. I knew already that person was not in great spirits and i said something in anger that hurt the poor thing so much. I couldn't help taking liberty, but i could have handled in a much better way.

I JUST WANTED TO SAY

"SORRY !!! AFTER ALL I AM HUMAN TOO...PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR HURTING YOU"

Famous five..

Of some of the greatest movies that i enjoyed watching, 5 movies that was simply awesome. Though not in any particular order, i would wanna list them here...














































Well! That counts for six(out of so many others)...still couldn't take it out after adding :P

One horrible experience

"Chandar...This suture is a bit painful and uncomfortable da, should ask appa to take me to the dentist" - I heard my mom saying couple of days back. She had a small surgery to remove a piece of left over tooth below her dentures. My mom being a sexagenarian had her shares of trouble with her dental health. Few years back only she had her full dentures. whenever my mom says something about her teeth, i get little worried. And, my mom knows it more than anyone else and never asks me to take her to dentist.

And now to the flashback......(yeah you can imagine the coiling circles in front of you).

It had been few months after i joined an IT organization as a fresher. One evening my mom had mentioned to me that she had to go to a dentist and since the dentist's place was few KMs away from our home she wanted me to take her in the bike. I obliged like a nice caring son
and went to that doctor's place. When my mom's turn came, we went in. The dentist was a young fellow probably in his early thirties and his dispensary was a small room with the dentist's chair in the middle and all tools that he'd use kept in an orderly fashion in the nearby table. He checked my mom's problematic tooth and gave a local anesthetic injection both sides of the tooth and asked her to wait for the area to become numb.

After 10 minutes we went back inside for him to extract the trouble maker tooth. Me being a self proclaimed bold person decided to stay inside and watch the whole procedure for the heck of it. The procedure started and the doctor was trying to extract the tooth with his forceps. At first it looked a normal simple thing as my mom never showed any reactions and was sitting without much ado. My mom is a very bold lady. That's when i noticed something, the doctor was calling for her assistant, a young lady in her early twenties to bring some cotton. His face was getting tensed. The cotton went inside her mouth pure white and came back in complete red color. Then he was trying to calm himself and pulled the tooth, my mom gave a cry of pain. Now the blood started coming from her mouth in one side. The assistant was busy wiping it and the doc was busy pulling the tooth. My mom was cryin in pain. Generally my mom is very bold and she handles such situation so calmly and easily. I told them to stop and shouted what are you trying to do. I could see they were all visibly shaken and the doc said the tooth broke and half of the tooth is inside. My mom was really in trouble and she said enough leave it we'd go home. I was already angry with the doc for the way he was pulling the tooth(probably he must have been a great tug of war player, rascal#@#!@$@$$). Told my mom to adjust for a moment till he takes out the full tooth in a irritated voice. Poor lady she agreed and opened her mouth. This fellow happily started all over again and this time the assistant joined. I wasn't sure what to do, i have to trust the doctor. Then at one stage couldn't manage my mom's suffering i shouted to the doctor "Stop it pls".

My mom too had decided enough is enough let the piece remain inside. she immediately got up from the chair, rinsed her mouth and spat blood. I couldn't see my mom like that. We paid that doc (for almost killing my mom) and came back. While coming back i was trying to talk to her just to make sure she is not fainting. But, she well managed to reach home. upon reaching home she was really restless, trying to lie down in the bed, then she would get up and walk, drink water, goto bed again. I was irritated (actually scared) and shouted at her "why don't you take some rest in one place?" She responded, i am not able to breathe. I was such an idiot told her "Ok ok you're imagining things now, go sleep it'd be ok". But, my mom was even more restless by now and my dad said take her to the doctor nearby(one of our distant relative is a doctor and she has a clinic very close to home). I took my mom walking thinking it would make her feel better and the doctor checked my mom's heart beat, pulse, BP and silently she told me "Chandar, better take her to hospital and admit there" I was stunned a bit, then she told calmly (probably in an effort not to make me panic) i would give a letter and you give there in the hospital they would admit her immediately. I dunno what i thought at that moment, went to nearby shop made a call to my sis and asked her to take my ATM card and get some cash to the hospital, while i am taking mom. Then caught an auto and reached the hospital. They took her in a stretcher and the duty doc checked her and then they took her into ICU. That was my first hospital visit with a patient, and i wasn't sure what were the procedures. I thought its normal to take people there for check up. Then a nurse came with set of documents and asked me to sign there. I asked what's this all about. She replied we're admitting her to ICU and putting her in oxygen mask and the cardiologist has been asked to come urgently. For a moment it felt like my head was spinning like the ball from Shane Warne's hand.

I was becoming pale in fear but manged to compose myself and sign the documents. After that i didn't have courage to even ask someone how was my mom. I was standing there like a mute spectator and was looking at my mom inside the ICU with mask in her face. Then my sis came and started crying almost instantly seeing her in ICU. I had to console her and dad being a emotional person went out of the hospital after seeing my mom. Looking at my sis crying, i tried my best not to shed tears. Boy, it was some effort to keep it out from coming at that moment. Then the cardiologist came and the next two hours went in waiting. The doc never uttered anything and after two-three hours by around 3AM he came out and said its a heart attack, probably the second one and he continued the first one itself is not completely healed. We were looking at each other, never my mom had complained about pain or any discomfort in chest. We asked the doc how can it be, he showed the angiogram, ECG and few other reports and explained, none of which made sense to me. I walked slowly outside the hospital and was standing on the corridor in a pitch dark corner, couldn't stop the drops coming out of my eyes(but i wasn't crying in fact), not because my mom was in ICU, but for the fact that she had never complained any of her discomfort with us over the years.

The whole night and that week went in hospital and then my mom came back safe and sound. Thanks God for that. From that day till today whenever she complains about dental issues, immediately i would ask her to have a check up with cardio and then go to dentist and that too a proper one(by now we have a good dental surgeon). I would never agree to take her to dentist, just for the fear that the first time i took her and the result was awful.

After that she had extracted almost all her remaining tooth and had a complete dentures, bold lady she is. Even now when i ask her to take precaution she used to calmly says don't worry that was one time thing, wont happen again. That's something for mental strength...

And back from flashback to NOW....

I told my mom that she had to bear this sutures for another couple of days and things would become normal. And, here she was back to her normal chores.

P.S: Dunno y suddenly thought i would write this as a post.

A Trip, few deliveries and a wedding...

First of all a note for the readers, don't get carried away by the title. Last week was a hectic week for me..first was the trip to 3 of the 9 navagraha sthalas that i had planned in a jiffy, followed by the delivery of couple of apps in my project to be completed and then finally to end the week my cousin Sai's wedding.

For the past 2 weeks i was contemplating a trip to vaideeswaran koil near sirkali (Chidambaram) around 250Kms from Chennai. But, thanks to the TN heat and thought of going in bus kept me away from the plan to be executed. Why suddenly? because my mom was keeping on saying that as per my planetary positions i should appease Suriyan (SUN), Sevvai (Mangal), Kethu & Raahu (Snake Gods) for things to be much better than what it is currently. Trust me i could do anything to make things better than it is now. So i was getting geared up for this and just to avoid going by bus i asked my dad if he can accompany me so that i can go on a long drive. My dad obliged and more so he offered to take my aunt and her family as well since it was her family deity. Being a loving brother he never bothered to check with me and passed on the info that they would be joining too.

On Sunday early morning we set out for what i thought would be a tedious one day journey. Sharp 3:45AM left my home and headed straight to my Aunt's place and took them and hit the road by 4am.With all my calculations on the speed and time i thought it'd be great if we could make it to vaideeswaran koil by 10-10:30am. The route i took was Chennai-Thindivanam-Pondicherry-Cuddalore-Chidambaram-Sirkali-Vaideeswaran Koil. Being early in the morning, the road were having pretty less traffic so i can easily touch 100kmph most of the time and at an average 80kmph. Reached Pondy by 6AM itself, went to a petrol bunk and filled my car tank. Had a cup of hot coffee that we'd taken in a thermos and got ready to burn some more gas. After Pondy the roads were not 4 lane like the one till Pondy, hence i was expecting my speed to go down a bit. But, to my surprise i could still maintain 80KMPH at an average, thanks to newly laid roads and less traffic. Reached Cuddalore by 6:45 and headed towards Chidambaram. En route Chidambaram, we were diverted through a bypass road that avoids taking us into the town Chidambaram but took straight to sirkali. This arrangement was due to the fact that Chidambaram temple had car festival that day and the roads to the town were blocked to avoid chaos in the town road through which 4-5 giant tepmle cars come with the presiding deity. Finally managed to reach Sirkali and vaideeswaran koil (6-7kms further down) by around 8:45am. I was so astonished by the speed i drove and thought better to drive slowly while returning back.

My aunt had made some arrangement for an archaka (pujari) who'd take us to the major deities in the temple and do the pooja for us. We waited for him for close to 30 min and that was a welcome break for me. Went around the temple and temple tank which i always liked so much and was reading the sthala puranas. Vaideeswaran koil, where the presiding deity is Lord Shiva called as Vaidyanatha swamy or vaideeswaran here (Vaidyam - Medication; Eeswar - Shiva) who is capable of curing 4400 odd diseases and hence the name. The temple is more famous for other deities like Lord Selva Muthukumaran (Lord karthikeya or Muruga) and most importantly Sevvai (Mangal or Angaraka) graha for whim this temple is the main sthala.

Once the archaka came went ahead with the archanas for Lords Ganesh, Vaideeswara, Thaiyalnayaki, Selva muthukumara swamy and Angaraka or Sevvai. Felt relived that could make it after couple of weeks planning. Then took prasadas from temple and converted that to our breakfast. By around 10:45am we left the temple and headed to Keezaperumpallam(Kethu sthala) & Thiruvenkadu(Budhan Sthala) which i had planned to cover. For this we had to drive 4 km back towards sirkali and take a turn towards Nagapattinam and take the poompuhar road. Drove for another 40 minutes before we reached the Keezaperumpallam temple. This is again a Shiva temple which is more famous for Lord Kethu for this being his main sthala. The presiding deity in this temple is called Sri Naganaadhaswamy(Snakelord). The legend goes like this during the churning of divine ocean by devas and asuras for the celestial nector amrith , the snake "Vasuki" which was used as rope spitted venom and Lord shiva drank this to save devas and asuras. then finally when the amruth came, the devas to avoid sharing it with the Asuras snatched it and gave it to Visnu's mohini avataar. While this was shared to all devas by mohini, One of the asuras managed to sneak in and taste the celestial nector. This enraged the God and he punished by severing the asuras head. by the virtue of him having drank the amrith, he still managed to get life in two forms - by having a snake's head with the torso and body of the snake to the severed head. One with snake's head was called Kethu and one with snake's body was called Rahu. And both of them was incarnated as planets and hence became one of navagrahas. There is an interesting side story that it was infact Sun and moon who complained about the asura having tricked and drank the nector, was punished by rahu and Kethu by swallowing them during Solar and Lunar Eclipses.

Finished the darshan and pujas for Kethu we left the temple and headed to Thiruvenkadu- the budha(mercury) sthala. This temple is on the middle between vaideeswaran koil and Kethu sthala. The presiding deity here is Sri Swetharanyenswar (sweth(ven) - White, aranya(kaadu) - Forest, eeshwar-shiva). This is a huge temple just like Vaideeswaran koil with awesome architecture. The Budha sthala is behind the main deity as a separate temple behind in a coconut grove. This temple has 3 theertha (temple pond) called Surya theerth, Agni Theerth and chandra Theerth. Lord budha is supposed to be a eunuch and is lord for intellect and studies. The goddess here is also called "Brahmavidya" who gives knowledge and intellect. This temple is must see temple.

Finally completed the dharshan and started the return journey by 12:30pm. reached Chidambaram by 1:15pm and finished lunch and reached pondy by 4pm. Had a nice cup of coffee in Adayar Arya Bavan hotel and headed towards chennai. I was driving like mad to reach Chennai as i was really feeling tired already after driving close to 550kms. Managed to reach home by 6:30pm and my car odometer showed 558kms. This was the longest stretch i have driven so far at a time and no wonder i was dead tired.

For more pics check this out http://picasaweb.google.com/mailchandar/NavagrahaI?feat=directlink

This followed by 2 days of hectic work in office to complete my deliveries for couple of apps. Managed to deliver them and get it signed off by clients.

And, then came my cousin's wedding. Sai finally managed to find his match in Devi and tied the nuptial knot with her. May God bless the newly wed with all the best things in life. This meant another 2 days of activities for me in the marriage hall with family and friends. finally here i am sitting on a Sunday afternoon penning the events.

Aaahhh...Monday to come...not sure what to expect...but i am sure my project and deliverable would not disappoint me with more hectic activities keeping me tied to it.