Raghuram Iyer Blog

Which state voted most? its Sikkim

2009-05-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

Do you know this?? (An excerept from Yesterdays Economic times)

Sikkim this time has registered heavy polling at 82.07%, outstripping many areas in the country. The increase is 3% more than the votes

polled in both the segments last time in Parliament and Assembly in 2004. This is because of the fact that for the first time ever eight political parties, including four national parties namely Congress, BJP, CPIM and NCP, fielded their candidates in many constituencies, creating huge interest amongst the voters to participate in the election process.

The women of Sikkim played a significant role, thronging around the polling stations to exercise their franchise. Forty per cent votes were cast by the youth amongst whom a good many voted for the first time and many for the second time. In four constituencies, women voters dominated in numbers, while in six other constituencies, the difference in ratio between men and women was very marginal.

In the last general elections, only 3 women candidates were in the fray, whereas this time that number increased to 15. It is assumed that elections this time in Sikkim saw cross-voting which was never seen earlier. It is observed that choice of the candidate by the voters led them to vote according to their preference, where the party was not of utmost importance. In many constituencies, people preferred one candidate for the Assembly and the other for the Lok Sabha. For the first time, the incumbency factor has emerged here.

According to joint chief electoral officer C.P. Dhakal, the vote tally of four districts reached late because of additional time given for polling which continued till 9 pm in certain booths, causing a 16-hour delay in getting the final tally. The CEO’s office at Gangtok received the complete tally report of four districts only on Friday afternoon. The poll was completed on April 30 and all the EVMs reached the strongroom heavily guarded.

The final tally of polling is estimated at 82.07% which is 3% more than 2004 election (79.08%). The remotest as well as high altitude areas in North district polled 85.14%, West 82.74%, South 83.27% and East 79.87%.

Only one voter!

2009-05-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from Friday's edition of The Hindu...

Election Commission on Thursday created history by deploying its men and machinery just to collect one vote, that too in the polling station set up in the Gir forest of Gujarat, sanctuary for the Asiatic lion.

The lone voter — Guru Bharatdasji Darshandasji Maharaj (58) — a priest in the local Shiva temple and resident of Banej within the forest, where the polling station was set up, cast his vote at 10.30 a.m. after duly showing his Elector Photo Identity Card. Interestingly, the polling personnel were moved to the place on Wednesday evening itself and after he exercised his franchise, they could not wind up.

As per the election rules, they had to wait till 5 p.m., the closing time, to see whether there was any “challenge vote.” Banej comes under the Una Assembly segment of the Junagadh Lok Sabha constituency.

Shoewalas - get ready for a sale

2009-04-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

Its happening in India, first it was @ PC by a journalist from Punjab, then an angry BJP worker on Advani, now college student on our prime minister. It is moment of shame when voters had opportunity to cast their vote and make the right choice for their constituencies... few went to voting booths in karnataka.

To show you the stats on what i am talking about, here is the voting percentages of all the 17 constituencies of karnataka...

Bangalore South which houses many educated bangaloreans witnessed one of the low turn around. Again, rural bangalore votes more % than the so called urban bangalore.

Guess what, jaago re and many other initiatives in print and visual media, motivational talk by NGO and govt representatives did not make them vote,

What punishment should be given to these non voters?
Lets ask shoewalas for a sale and hurl one piece at a time on these non voters. what u say, huh?

Voting Experiences

2009-04-23T04:57:00.000-07:00

Its been three times I cast my vote in an Indian election. Each time I had new experiences with the voting process.

Attempt 1:-

At the age of 19, I voted first. It was for the assembly elections for Lalgudi constituency. On the way to polling booth in thalakudi, we were distributed coupon denoting our name and file number by the local party cadres. I think it was from party A. The voting process was simple after that..On the way back, we wanted to share our happiness and thank the person who distributed us coupon.

அண்ணா வோட் போட்டுடேன்
ஃப்ர்ஸ்ட் டைமா ?
ஆமாமணா
சரி எந்த தெரு தம்பி ?
ராயர்த்தோப்பு , கோவில் பக்கதுல
இன்னொரு தபா வோட் போடரியா ? இளங்கோ ஊர்ல இல்ல

Hmm! Me and badri blinked…

they may be Microsoft certified fake vote specialists. We voted for the first time. Also we were not sure if Elango was in town or not. We silently turned down the request and walked with head high again! We cast our first vote

Attempt 2:-

it was for the parliamentary constituency. Again the duo of myself and badri went to polling booth. As usual collected the coupon and made sure the same person is not distributing. We stood in the line. One of our neighborhood friend came and stood behind us in the line. He started talking to both of us on worldly things..

Did u watch yesterday’s match?

Yes,

Its very hot these days, isn’t it?

Yes..

..

..

..

(as we approached close to the entrance of the polling booth, he started campaigning…)

You are all young, you should use your vote for better cause, you know how we are suffering becz of selecting the party B, you should always vote for party A. if they come to power, it will be good for everyone in state, for our caste…

Hmm! I & Badri decided from the beginning to vote for the MLA who laid road in our area. It is time to payback and it was against the campaign of our neighborhood friend…

Attempt 3:-

This time, it was only10 mins affair in the polling booth. No major events. every one had voter id card, it was EVM, thanks to the karnataka election commission website, we knew our file number and part number..

Looking forward for next opportunity to vote.. how will that election be?

ஆபீஸ் மழை (office rain)

2009-04-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Its raining in bangalore for the past 2 days. big relief from the summer temperature. For years, i was wondering why it rains between 7-9 AM in the morning or 4-8 PM in the evening. It either forces you to stay back home or stay back in office :-)

Recently i coined this word ஆபீஸ் மழை (office rain) to call pattern of rain...

Jaago re #3 - The end

2009-04-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Finally last saturday i got my voter id done.. hurrraaayy!! Now i can vote for South Bangalore and contribute to my choice of leader for my area :-)

The End

ஆத்தா நான் பாஸ் ஆயிட்டேன்

2009-03-30T03:05:00.000-07:00

ஆயிட்டேன்.... ஆயிட்டேன்... ஆயிட்டேன்

Finally i located my name in the voters list. i am one step away from owning new voter id card in Republic of India...

technology a(e)ffects

2009-03-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

its recession days... people have more time to fwd emails :-)
sharing one interesting email fwds... effect of cloud computing

jaago re #2

2009-03-21T00:26:00.000-07:00

Date:- Friday, 20th March 09 (2 weeks after my Form 6, submission)

I called up their information center yesterday morning,

me:- Madam, 7th march, Form 6 kodithini. osa list name bandhitha..
Govt Rep:- Gottigere la indha list bandhithu.. phone alli haelakagala sir. nera banbidi...
my smarter nervous system become active.. decided to visit the voter facilitation office yesterday evening itself to avoid crowd over the weekend. in the evening i left office early in this regard..
After i showed the govt representative my acknowledgment copy. they searched the full list twice.. believe me, two persons scanned the entire list and told me that my name is not in the list. Thanks to visiting them on a weekday.... Fully disappointed me,
Govt Rep:- List alli name illa sir, Gottigere Panchayat lindha next list barathae, 10 days amaela banni..
me:- osa list baratha madam?
Govt Rep:- Ovudhu
me:- Gottigere Panchayat contact details idhiya...
she asked her neighbor and then this request went to their boss...

Govt Rep Boss:- Enayuthu sir..
me:- Sir, march 7th, osa form 6 kottidhini... (i repeated my story once agian) GRB:- Panchayat office alli Putta patta swami irudhara, avaradha list iruthae.. EPIC number thogabanni..

the case was almost dead there. i know i am going to have more fun the next day...

i waited for my bro to submit his form... with some new thoughts, i went back inside...
me:- madam, osa Form 6 thiruga accept maduthira?
GR:- illa sir, neevu panchayat office alli mathudu bidi.. innondhu form 6 kodbeda...

may be i also thought at the back of mind, somehow it will happen...

on the way back, i noticed panchayat office in gottigere was open due to recent property tax collection. decided to try my luck...i went there directly...

me:- sir, march 7th, voter form 6... (repeatuu) Panchayat
Rep:- (after listening to the full story) sir, pakathalli revenue office idhae, alli putapattaswami iruthurae, avurae in charge, 10-1PM irutharae, mathudubidi...

i was fully convinced, there was no neighboring building apart from hanuman temple... with full of doubts i walked out of the panchayat office... in the darkness, i located it, it was a small buiding behind the temple, something like guest house for hanuman temple...

decided to visit that office today morning...

Today, Saturday, 21st march 09,
10.45 AM, i went to the panchayat office (Oops Hanuman temple guest house).. it was locked. its small building, i wasnt sure if it was occupied by any one, ie. i was wondering it it can be an office for some purpose.. i stood there for a while. temple poojari was very busy with devotees...

me:- Sir Putta patta swami idhara? Poojari: Anjanayae swami idhar.. P.P.Swami election kelsa madutharae, avaru thumba busy.

Once again i repeated my sad story with poojari.. he pointed me to one advertisement put up there regarding electoral voters list preparation. i told him, engae kannada arthagalla sir.

He then took me to the door near sanctum, i was hoping for prasad atleast thilak which he was applying to all devotees, he rather showed me photo of hanuman pasted on the door... and then told me, here is his mobile number, and asked me to contact PPS directly.

i called PPS, happy to reach him in the first dial itself. looked like he was in his home.. wanted to ask him, sir you should be at your office to help people get their voters card.. but i m an incumbent looking for voter id card in karnataka soil. explained him the story one more time (repeatuu).. to my sadness, poojari had started his audio system... it was full of sound, that the temple guest house was bombarded with some high frequency sound waves.. i now know why our PPS was away from his office... i courteaously told him, that sorrounding is full of sound, i will call him again.. i came back home.. called him back only to hear the bad news. it seems sir has rejected my application becz i gave Feb month Telephone bill, if u remember one of the criteria laid by these folks and i thought i bypassed it in my smarter way by giving my katha xerox along with it. Damn it!! he suggested me to apply again... before i came to my senses, i realized my Form 6 copy was with my bro and i need to take print out again.. it was 11.20 PM. i had 40 minutes to go there and stand in queue...

I landed in B.Sankari taluk office.. as expected it was 5 times longer queue than friday evening's queue. didnt know where the tail of the line was... stood somewhere in a 3D plane... some funny conversations...

Govt Rep:- yavu area
Applicant#1:- hmm
Govt Rep:- yavu area
Applicant #1:- i do not undersand kannada...
Govt Rep:- which area?
Applicant#1:- kanakapura road
Govt Rep:- left side or right side?
Applicant#1.. hmm!! (he probably did not hear the question properly due to noise around or he did not understand the question)
Govt Rep:- I am asking u.. which side of kanakpura road.. left side or right side? Applicant #1:- right side.
GR:- How many applications?
Applicant #1:- 3 in total

then GR said something with which the applicant became angry.. he said talk polietly to applicants.. you are not doing any service.. just doing your duties.. i know u guys are working hard.. but treat others descently... he roared and left the queue..

By this time door for the facilitation center is closed for new comers.. i was still in the queue...

GR:- Yaavu area.. Applicant #2:- Begur sir..
GR:- Bommanhalli Voter facilitation center ogu baeku..

GR:- Ondhae line alli barelli...
there was atleast 5 quueue pointed to him...

Finally i reached him.. he never asked me why i was in line for the third time.. he quickly accepted my form and gave me its acknowledgement...

as i started back, i had less hope.. but this time, i will track my application. With hanuman's wishes and his guest house office rep (aka PPSwami) support, i am hoping to conclude my ordeal of getting my voter id done...

சிங்கார சென்னை

2009-03-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend i had been to Chennai on a personal trip... ore mokkai trip... A trip filled with power cut, reality show tv programs and lots of Sleep miles (if at all such an item exists)..

TN continues to face power short shortages. On Saturday, power was off for almost 6 hours in my uncle's house. TN goes to poll coming May, i hope it is one of the deciding factors for this year elections for this state, if not, its high time people who vote in this state decide the most disturbing basic feature in their daily life. The govt provides tv, gas cylinder n all.. where is the power at home? No signs of big election already in Chennai. people still survive with serials and reality shows. at least in my uncle's home locality. I always wonder who watches those dance reality shows... i knew few door numbers now!!!

it was my first trip to city Chennai in last 2 years. The city infrastructure is growing day by day along with its growing population. After Delhi, i believe it is one of the well planned city with respect to transportation. huge straight roads, lots of new bridges, well planned bus / train services, i saw bus running between T.Nagar to Chengalpattu :-). it will be difficult quiz question to know where Chennai city border ends.. do you know??

Thanks to my bro, i had carried எங்கே பிராமணன் with me and it was good break from regular fictions. Although it is perfect recommended sleeping pill, it can dose you off easily... if not this book, i would have been crucified with TV programs...

They have opened new counter of Ratna cafe in Central. tried the usual combo of 2 idly with extra sambhar. பாவம் மௌலி, ராத்திரி 2 மணி வரை பேசிண்டு வந்தோம் ரயில்ல, நான் நிறையா, அவன் கம்மியா :-)

இப்படியாக என்னுடைய மொக்கை பதிவை நிறைவு செய்கிறேன்

jaago re!

2009-03-08T05:41:00.000-07:00

It was my third awakening after 2 failed attempts to get my voter id done in Bangalore.

Believe me, its too high-fi with all the information available in web.

http://www.jaagore.com/ - With support from Tata Tea, volunteers across have setup India setup this portal to share the Voter ID registration process, share election related news. Its so unique and helpful, after my registration, they gave send me my Form - 6 application, to be registered with Election Commission of my Bangalore constituency. They have been sending constant reminders for me to enroll.

http://ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in/indexw.asp - Official portal of Karnataka CEO. It provides each month the latest updated Voter information. Some portion of it is in Kannada, but its search will do the purpose.

Back to my story, i believe if we want to create our India, exercising right to vote is must. For that, entry ticket is voter id card :-). i wanted to solve this conundrum for sure by myself. Despite providing my application through local panchayat from our apartment in the past, my name was not their in the latest list.

They were distributing voter id cards to those who haven't collected from the Govt in the neighbouring Law college. There was feeble queue for this. Here is quick gist of my conversation with the person in charge for this.

I:- Sir, Voter ID card bandhilla
Govt Rep:- Sir, list idhae, nodi...

He gave me some printouts containing the list of names recently added/modified. It was segregated based on some regional divisions (they call id part number).

I:- Sir, Nandi Park part number yavudhu..
GR:- Gothilla.. Adhae full list..

Phew! i stood their for a second expecting better answer from him. He said, next :-( i went through all his part number list, each part number contained 10 sheets of voter data. I was clueless. back to him again,

I:- Sir, list alli name illa. Oasa application kotidhini.. List alli name bandhilla.
GR:- Gothilla sir.
I:- Oasa application elli kodu baekku
GR:- Bansankari Taluk Office
I:- Saturday work aagathaa taluk aapice.
GR:- Yes, sir, Monday rajaa

By the time i left Law college, there was sizable queue to collect their voter ids. Happy me, another puzzle to solve the crystal maze. This time in Bansankari.

On reaching, i enquired few auto fellows to know the direction to Taluk Office. One friend while i was leaving Law college, told me its near to Bansankari temple.

I:- Sir, Bansankari Taluk office elli..
Auto driver1:- Gothilla Sir... Mundhae hogi kaelbidi..

I:- Bhayya, Bansankari Taluk office elli...
Auto Driver2:- Haan! yavu area

by the time a passer by in the road asked me what i want, he showed me neighboring building as the taluk office... Go straight inside... He said and continued his walk... May be it was hot, Auto drivers were waiting for customers for a while... they have not changed in these years when you ask for direction...

Finally... reached the right place.. little queue again... Reached the desk of the person collecting form... He verified my list of applications and said..
GR:- sir, 2008 phone bill copy baekku... 6 months older bill.
I:- sir, nan manae gottigere alli idhae, ogi barubaeka ondhu arai agathae... dhaya maadi..
GR:- Illa sir, agalla... next :-(

it was almost 12 noon... i was thinking about my bad luck... did think about the freshness of the address proof i carried. Read what jaagore rule book said.. it never mentioned about 6 months old address proof... then i did another smarter think of carrying copy of my house katha certificate. with a hope of trying again, i approached same Govt representative..

Sir.. Nanthra Katha xerox idhae.. nodi..
He gave the application list to his boss...
GR:- Sir, osa address proof, katha kotidharu...

GR Boss scanned my application fully and then gave it to the girl who was listing in a register to include my application form also... She added to her list and gave me an acknowledgement and asked me to contact the office after 15 days...

Happy me!! they say Never stop trying... as i walked out the office, Govt representative was asking everyone to leave as it was closing time... Lucky me...

I need to call them in 15 days to know my application status. with these success, i know if it was bad news, i will make another attempt..... Why sleep again... i am already awakened!!

Kalabandhar inside us...

2009-02-28T22:37:00.000-08:00

Is there a kala bandhar within us? are we failing to see it? It might be apt for the director to chose monkey to represent some of those people problem, which simply requires introspection and some kind of self act to correct them, rather than looking for a systematic solution. I am happy that Rakesh used it through the maniac, and later Abhisheik mentions it to revolting Hindus and angry Muslims during that scene... For some reason, it strikes the artists around Abhishiek and even some of the audiences themselves that, is there a real bandhar within us.?? Kala Bandhar or another form of Bandhar?

Some may argues, cut the crap... its only a movie, abhisheik bachan is an artist, the character in the movie who carries the mirror through out the movie is a maniac already.. it is not practical and there are valid reasons for the situation around us and the cause and effect...

Another argument could be yes, we can make that difference by identifying the kala bandhar with in us on larger world issues like terrorism, climate change (how many accept and follow green movement) or taking a stand on palestinian/iraq/afganisthan/tibet/srilankan people cause... it is not valid for smaller topics or issues. are we failing to see with in us on other general topics...

i am only saying the bandhar is google searched and found not for grave and serious issues or issues in which we are in receiving end. it exists every time. we either ignore it or fail to see it.

If i look back in years, i remember many instances in which i reflected different emotions just as situation expected...

Some Happier moments...

Welcoming Balaji and Priya manni into our family through the twin marriages in our home.
Welcoming Vaishanavi my niece the day after diwali.. For a long time that day, i was thinking how to create a sound proof hospital for her to sleep OK?
Recently i and Vaishnavi came to our home in a BMTC bus... entire bus heard her voice from the last seat.. she made new friends... every one reflected her mood in them...

Some Not so happy moments...

missing relations.. call it death or their freedom from this careless\unfriendly world..

i am missing Karthikeyan Sir, 18 years he had been to Palani on new year day... 19th year end it half way... i should have gone along with him on that day as he wanted me to accompany him for that day's temple visit...
i am missing my Grand mother even today.... after her second heart attack, she survived more than 12 years in her life with perfect living all by herself, taking care of children, grand children, managing things within her small earnings of her husband's pension. People who know her, know what i am talking about, this reflection is certainly seen in others as a mirror.
I am missing Praveen's Father Subramanian... He breathed his last in my own hands... it is difficult\different feeling in you when someone dies beside you...

See, by now its obvious for people to say that yes, you also reflected same emotions what situation presented.... Its not about happier or sad occasions or those social / political situations that requires right response from us... all situations carries a mask of our face (aka bandhars) and it resides inside us... the day we accept this, identify the mask in us... we can bend our response to the situations in any ways we want...

Do you know what color is your current mask?

Naan Kadavul by Bala

2009-02-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

Another splendid screen play from master director Bala... A movie which was in waiting for a while... intense, comical and comes with lot of human emotions as usual from Bala.... Just wondering how Bala can repeat his mastery film after film... Arya is good...

It was first day today, still i saw sections of movie already cut (may be to avoid too much violence)... worth watching in theater (without kids)

-Raghu

Visits to Hampi n Badami

2009-01-26T14:42:00.000-08:00

I m back from Hampi.. i will be writing about this trip as well.. to give you glimpse of whats coming up... some images for your attention...

Next visit

2009-01-22T07:21:00.001-08:00

Guess what, still i havent finished writing about my vacation, i am visiting Hampi this weekend. Nagesh is here in town and wants to visit places in Karnataka.

the trips are not stopping...

-Raghu

TheChristian?

2009-01-18T20:59:00.001-08:00

Every one know about "The Hindu" and its style of writing. i am taken by surprise by today's news on Magh Mela. The news paper mentions about the feud and not mentions about the action by christian missionaries... may be for them it is right act by christian missionaries...

Small acts like this when mentioned in the front page, can lead to bigger news and create misunderstandings. Modern day media should either avoid and participate proactively and pass the right message...

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/19/stories/2009011957040100.htm

Looking at this, it makes me feel, should we even rename this daily from "The Hindu" to "The Christian"?

Father Movies in Tamil

2009-01-18T07:37:00.000-08:00

We know about those mother/sister sentiment movies in Tamil, the two recent movies has introduced new concept of story narration around father.

I am referring to Soorya Starrer Vaaranam Aayiram by Goutham Menon and Prakash Raj home production Abhiyum Naanum by Radha Mohan.

I have seen them both.

Vaaranam Aayiram is a good movie but i guess has too much content in its screen play. May be Gowtham started with something and ended with another. Personally i feel he has touch of Manirathnam in screenplays related to romance. This one also doesn't fail on this part. it is worth watching it in theater once...

Abhiyum Naanum is recent movie around father subject. It is better than Vaaranam Aayiram in its subject scope and plot, but will go down among audience as another silent Radha Mohan movie. Remember Azhagiya Theeye! I am sure every lovable father and their daughters will enjoy this movie.

these movies have opened up section of under screened subjects in tamil film industry. Pls welcome such innovation by watching these in theaters!

Exploring India #8 - Trip to Jaiselmer

2009-01-15T18:56:00.000-08:00

dhak! dhak! this was a wake up call by the cleaner boy of our bus around 6 PM. After a day full of travel, good food at Green Park, an hours play of card games, we slept, slept to the core without realizing that Barmer had arrived. It was me who got down to enquire, by the time the bus was empty!! told myself, not all wouldn't have got down for tea!! ;-) woke up Badri and Balaji, who were asking the wake up call question, " where are we?"

The night journey was comfortable despite heavy rains with 2-3 pit stops in the high way, journey was quite comfortable on the highway. Barmer is the biggest city on the high way towards Jaiselmer. we did not get direct bus from Ghandhidham. As soon as we landed in the bus station, rain picked up pace again, we ran for shelter. first inside the railway station and then took an auto to official bus stand. We bought tickets to Jaiselmer and got into one of the stoned buses (i do not know how to describe such a bus, there was water all over the place becz of leaks, holes in the windows and on the top of bus). the travel was colder. for the first time all our winter clothes are out from the back pack, still it wasn't enough!! with few stops, the bus finally reached Jaiselmer around 10.30 AM...

Thanks to www.wikitravel.org website, we had booked a room in artist hotel. People from that hotel received us in the bus stand, took an auto to the hotel, had tea and were preparing ourselves for a fun filled day in the desert city...

Exploring India #7 - Kutch & Gujarat

2009-01-14T07:10:00.001-08:00

As i left Ghandhidham, i carried pleasant thoughts on the visit to this region.

Gujarat is an industrially advanced state. It is my personal opinion, i have seen many christian institutions in the remotest areas. In Gujarat, there are temples right upto the border. They serve free food for several people every day!! So far we have heard different views on the secular situation inside Gujarat. As i spoke to our cab driver Yukob, in Ahmadabad, he was saying that things are are not secular there. he had some strong opinion on Modi as a secularist.

The road infrastructure is fantastic through out the kutch region. There are industries right up to the border with Pakistan. It was starting period for Sankrati Sales. In Ahmadabad i noticed several designs of kite, thread for flying kite prepared in the rood. Today is Sankranti, i am sure folks would have had fun this week on their annual kite festival...

The kutch region has grown massively from the last known devastating earth quake. it is thinly populated as well. Forts were damaged, some of the poorest construction were also damaged. You can see the remains of it even now.

Their people use small jeep, share autos for their local transport. They are seeing money in every sand, brick, water in that region...

In Kavda, SETU was involved in educating students, teachers and localities on computers and its related technology, there are medical sessions every month, evening sessions for teachers, villagers, they also help people to fill all government forms online. As i spoke to Sameer, he was saying SETU's difficultly in requesting people to send their children for school. It gave me rememberance of SWADES.

I will come back to Kutch to see these places once again...

We were heading to Barmer in Rajasthan.

Exploring India #6 - Kutch

2009-01-12T17:09:00.000-08:00

Our day 2 plan was to go to Narayan Sarovar which is close 200 Kms from Bhadreshwar. It was also our last day in Kutch with our bus being at 8.30. Technically we should see places and be back at around 6 to finish packing, dinner...

Well we were prepared... started around 8 AM, finished our breakfast, then started for Bhadreshwar. This time we took different route via Mandwi (small town bith picturesque beach) and travelled via barren highway. On the way we saw industrial some of the industrial advancement in Gujarat. We also saw many of those colored lorries... now i know from where they come from..

Narayana Sarovar has a temple for Lord Vishnu. Like those south Indian temples, they had an inner praharam with all avatars of Lord Krishna. Our driver Ali Suggested to finish our lunch with temple prasadam itself as there are no good restaurants on the way. Then we went to Koteswar. A shiva temple on the shores of Gujarat Arabian sea. The sea was very different compared to Bay of Bengal shores. it was silent, had a pale white boundary, i felt as if the boundary was 100 m away unlike in chennai beaches where we feel the boundary is infinite on the sea side. After flurry of photo sessions, we decided to leave to Mandwi. Mandwi beach is like our besant nagar beach. but more silent than ours. It is good place for an evening walk with kids. i had ice gola there, colorful one, it reminds me about my school days...

It was late for our night bus, we reached our lodge around 7 PM, finished packing, it was time to say good bye to Bhadreswar and our friends there... Partha suggested us to have dinner at Green Park in Ghandhi Dham... had dinner boarded the bus towards Barmer in Rajasthan. it was a sleeper class bus. we had prior arrangements for playing cards during the journey. with our back pack already full, it nicely formed pillow kind of arrangement...

I left ghandhi dham with a feeling that i saw places which i havent seen in the past, not even something similar... i started having the feeling could have stayed for more time in Gujarat. well i consoled myself with a hope that since Partha is around, i need to disturb in 2009 and hence another trip....

Kutch blog to be concluded...

Margazhi Raagam - The concert, the movie

2009-01-11T01:54:00.000-08:00

Guess what, this Sunday, we had been to carnatic movie at Fun Cinemas. It was mouli who was asking for a show as it was slated to be shown only for 3 days by using the ongoing HDFC offer on fun cinemas tickets. i guess they were kind enough to extend, but the offer is not valid for Bangalore Fun Cinemas as the ticket prices are always on the higher side on weekends. I personally had mixed opinion about the movie, finally decided to go this Sunday.

Yes, we saw Margazhi Raagam today, which is carnatic movie performed by Bombay Jayshree and TM Krishna, picturization by PC Sriram and direction by Jayendran Panchapakesan. It is an unique experience for carnatic music lovers for this music season, well thought concept and first of its kind....

In the theater it was mostly thaathas/paatis or uncle/aunty's who were enjoying raagaas... with renga around, we all had extra fun of fakely knowing the raagam/thaalam names apart from enjoying the music from the singers and he himself...

In my opinion, although theater experience is good, you can buy a DVD copy of the same as the money you spent on it is less...

If you want to know more, here is the official link http://www.margazhiraagam.com/index.html

Exploring India #5 - Kutch

2009-01-10T03:02:00.000-08:00

Since we arrived early in the morning, it was decided to take an hours break before to start site seeing... after colder night journey, everyone knew how strictly these time lines will be kept... The accommodation we got inside the temple was way beyond our expectations in bhadreshwar. It was decent accommodation for 3 people to stay and it costs just Rs 120 per day :-)

it was 9.30 AM when we finally left our accommodation.

We met people at SETU Information center, the NGO Partha is associated with. There we Bharat bhai. He is like an elder brother for the folks out there. He helped us in finalizing our 2 days plan, routes, places to see. He also invited us for dinner at SETU with them. For me thanks would be small word to say to the friends we met in SETU, particularly Bharath Bhai, Ali, Vinod, Partha. I decided in my mind to buy some goodies in Bangalore and give it to them through partha during his Pongal visit to Bangalore.

OK. Our first day plan is to see Rann of Kutch, India Bridge and other places on the way. We took break in the highway of Bhuj for breakfast. Then an another break in Bhuj for Badri's lunch. Finally it was just past noon we left Bhuj to Kavda. Khavda is a village in Kutch and is located very near to the India Pak border. From Kavda onwards you can see Rann. For some of you who dont know what is Rann, it is basically the sediments of sea from the past. Now there is no water. they all have been converted to salt kind of desert. It is pleasure to see real white salty sand. if you are a photo freak, you will enjoy this place.

In Kavda, we went to the first site seeing spot in the top of the hill. What i noticed in Kavda, is what i saw every where in Gujarat. The more interior you go, the more number of temples (Jain, Vishnu, Shiva temples). In the view point i am talking here, we saw a shiva temple. It was just before our visit, Rann festival got over. Rann festival occurs every year to introduce tourists about various places in kutch region, to introduce business men about different business prospects and to introduce art/folk/food of kutch region to various people. We also saw the artificial helipad created for CM Modi on the way to the view point.

Our next stop was India Bridge. On the way we passed the junction which leads to the last village in western India "Kuran". Crossing more deeper Rann on both sides we reached the border. It was a physical line a bridge between India and Pakistan. India bridge as it is called, is constructed between the salt sea sediments. Photography was not allowed in that area, Otherwise we would have shown everyone one of the the best viewable places in Gujarat and in India.

With a quick chat with the jawan on guard, he was telling us, that there is similar bridge on the Pak side called Pakistan Bridge. He said few trusted locals are allowed in that area who come to deliver food/milk and other items. Other than that, tourist who know locals there or people from military visit that area. He was also mentioning without local support, it wouldnt be possible to reach that area.....

We took some snaps on the other side, pit stopped at the kavda junction for a quick tea session and headed back home. On the way we bought mewa sweets. We reached Bhuj, i bought dresses for my sister and niece. Then we left to bhadreshwar for dinner with our SETU friends. Vinod in photo, prepared for us delicious phulkas and spicy subzi... power went off for a while, it was candle light dinner with rain.....

When dinner was over, it was almost midnight... i decided to stay with Partha for that night, Badri and Balaji headed to the place of our stay only to find out, even the street dogs went to sleep... it was colder, rainy day that night... after few energetic shouting, they decided to go back to SETU and stay there... i stayed with partha that night, we spoke until 2PM.... didnt realize time already reached next day and i should take rest before to start another joyful trip... this time it was for the place Koteswar...

To Continue...

Exploring India #4 - Food we ate in Gujarat

2009-01-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

Since i require more time to write in detail about Gujarat trip, i am going to write about meal we had in Gujarat.

It was/is a pleasure to visit Gujarati Hotel in Singarathope and eat (if you can call it like that) few chapatis with Aloo fry, Curd fry, papad. Being in the land of this type of food, most of our meal was with Phulka and subzi.

Day 1 - Ahmadabad. In Aksardham we had Poori-Bhaaji, Dahi poori. In the night we ate Phulka Subzi.

Day 2 - Bhuj. Our breakfast was Pafda-Gilaebi. Traditional Gujarati or rather Kutch breakfast. it is fried in oil, but u will not see a stint of oil in that. On seeing it only badri decided not to eat anything there. Viduvoma naanga!! A snap taken outside the breakfast shop.

Badri and Balaji went for traditional Gujarati Thaali. They claim that, they had their best meal of their trip in Bhuj. It was in Hotel Neelam. Thanks to our driver Ali who took us there.

On the way back, we bought Mewa Sweets for dinner. Do you remember Mewa Kulfi Ice cream in Sreeraj Lassi shop? it is the same sweet which is famous in Bhuj.

For dinner, Partha's colleague Vinod who is a good cook, cooked for us Phulka and some delicious spicy subzi.

Day 3 -

We were told that jain temple where we stayed has a prasadam stall and breakfast is good there. I asked the person issuing tokens, what are the options available for breakfast, he just looked at me, rather i should say he answered me with his look. It is a temple restaurant, where menu was fixed. Menu was Poha, some papad like dish, tea for Rs 15 /-.

Day 3 we visited Narayan Sarovar which is around 200 Kms from Bhadreshwar. On the way there is no decent place to eat. Again, another prasadam stall.. this time free food. Roti, Dhaal, Chawal.

We end our starving day (:-) survived with only prasadam) with a good restaurant in Ghandhi Dham. It is called Green Park. They served Idly, Dosa, Sambhar. Guess how much was our bill?

We saw different variants of bisleri like water during this trip. one such sample photo i added to this blog entry...

Will continue on kutch tomorrow....

Exploring India #3 - Kutch

2009-01-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our cold protection preparations, we witnesses glimpse of the northern cold climate in that night journey. it was colder, coldest pherrrrrrrr

Welcome Partha, He is wearing grey shirt in the right image.You can say this entire was originally conceived becz i wanted to meet Partha and see Kutch. The travel spots got expanded just like that:-).

He works for co-operative NGO in Bhadreshwar. Without his help, and his friends in SETU, it would have been impossible to see the kutch region so comfortably, it is treat to see those places in Gujarat.

We stayed in a accommodation inside a jain temple premises. It was Rs 120 for a days stay and u cannot imagine how neat and clean it was. You may ask what else you expect inside a jain temple :-). we took some rest and met his friends and started to explore the unseen western borders of India. We stayed in Kutch for 2 days before to leave for Rajasthan.

Mainly we visited 2 western borders of India.

Kavda - Located about 150Kms from Bhadreshwar after Bhuj, you can see the last village inside India, see India Bridge which is almost the last land you can go by road and see the Rann of Kutch.

Next day we visited Narayan Sarovar. the closest sea point with Pak border. We saw temples located till the last Indian land.

Due to the on going Indo-Pak tensions, these areas were restrictive and was tensed. In Bhuj we saw some Mig practices in the sky, may be preperation for something from the air force.

In the coming series, i will write more about our journeys to these 2 places...

Stay tuned.

Exploring India #2 - Ahmedabad

2009-01-06T18:48:00.000-08:00

Its day 1 of our trip.

We started from Chennai to Ahmadabad via the KF flight. Mouli was there to see us off. We had prior reservation done at Hotel Ambassador in Ahmadabad. After landing all we had to do was take a prepaid taxi to the hotel.

Proposed places of visit in Ahmadabad are Akshardham temple and Sabarmati Ashram. Due to late arrival of flight, we lost valuable time. We took cab to Swaminarayan temple in Ghandhi nagar. Our cab driver was Yukub, a Muslim, old driver. He explained us different landmarks on the way in Ahmadabad and in Ghandhi nagar. Well on return, he took us less money than originally planned as we covered only few kms than planned. These qualities we noticed in all the cab / auto fellows we met during the trip. people who are courteous, helpful, honest.

The Swaminarayan temple in Gujarat, is a must visit for any one visiting Ahmadabad. It is located in Gandhi Nagar which is around 35 Kms from Ahmadabad. You will get to pass Narmada canal, state assembly and sprawling highway that connects both the cities. We all have heard about the temple in the past. Specific to mention are the museum located inside the temple premises. If you want to take time and see them all, it takes close to around 21/2 to 3 hours to finish the museum visit. The museum was established as a dedication to Sri Swami Narayan whose life history, his services during this life term are explained via dolls, images, stone sculptures, video and audio recorded media. More than life history, it also talks about Indian values, philosophy, spirituality in an interactive way. It was indeed an unique experience. A must visit for kids

When we left the museum time was close to 8PM and incidentally the exit path was via the cafeteria and we were heading directly fill the gap in our stomach :-).

We were late for ashram. we had enough time to get back pack things and reach railway station to catch the train to GhandhiDham in Kutch. it was second class sleeper ticket, we did not realize how cold our journey is going to be phherrr ....

Exploring India #1

2009-01-05T18:55:00.001-08:00

As some of you may know, i recently visited Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Utranchal, Delhi on a 2 week road trip. Well it was supposedly year end vacation, i wanted it to be semi planned, and also see Partha and visit Rajasthan and Punjab by road.

I intend to write about my experiences, share some of my thoughts about places, people through this blog. it will be one blog a day, starting with this one.

To give you some stats about this trip,

No of travellers : 3

Total No of days : 14

Total No of places visited: 12

Total Modes of transport used:- 10

Total Kms travelled:- around 8000 Km

Total photographs + video taken :- around 3000.

No of Religious sites visited:- 5

Since i did not carry my laptop, i did note down my experiences and will share it through this blog.

Some of you could not join the trip, for various reasons, i hope you will enjoy this travelogue.

Stay tuned.

Raghu

Hope... the only best thing

2008-11-21T22:17:00.001-08:00

As the hero says in The Shawshank Redemption, "Hope is good, may be the best thing", yesterday our launch pad demo was successful. There was an initiative inside our company to launch new product ideas. there was huge price money for the winners.

It started with whyne and cry as this is extra work compared to your project. My team is going through some tough days at work. There is so much work and our idea required lot of learning's on new components. the event was competitive and guess what! we put out a good show.

First time inside the company many new not just my name, but all other team members name, their work in the project and our VP, Director told us these will be productized soon. No better reward on our hope on us, our innovation

I m happy now!

Raghu

Two Unattended issues

2008-11-02T05:37:00.000-08:00

In 2008, i believe we faced two main unattended issues unlike other years. Unfortunately we are not attempting to solve the root cause of these problems, it is fitting case of humans causing damage to fellow humans....

The award goes to

Terrorism - Here humans kill fellow humans in the name of religion, caste, region, cult etc

Global Warming - Here in the name of industrialization or development, we are failing to create healthier world for our future generations.

As they say nature will have its say one day on these issues

State of Indian States

2008-11-02T04:54:00.000-08:00

if you ever want to choose a new state in India for business / personal migration, you know which one to choose from the list below.

Andhra Pradesh - Naxalism, Communal Riots, Telenga issue
Arunachal Pradesh - Naxalism, Border issue with China
Assam - Naxalism, Terrorism, Illegal migrants from Bangaladesh
Bihar - Naxalism, Gundas, Regional issues with Maharastra
Chhattisgarh - Naxalism
Goa - Terrorism
Gujarat - Terrorism, Communal Riots
Haryana - TBD
Himachal Pradesh - TBD
Jammu and Kashmir - Terrorism, Kashmir issue, Communal Riots
Jharkhand - Naxalism
Karnataka - Naxalism, Terrorism, Communal Riots, Regional conflicts with neighbors
Kerala - Budding Terrorism, Regional issue with Tamilnadu
Madhya Pradesh - Naxalism, Communal Riots
Maharashtra - Terrorism, Communal Riots, Regional Conflict with Karnataka and Bihar
Manipur - Naxalism
Meghalaya - Naxalism
Mizoram - Naxalism
Nagaland - Naxalism
Orissa - Naxalism, Communal Riots
Punjab - Terrorism
Rajasthan - Terrorism, Gujjar Issue
Sikkim - Naxalism
Tamil Nadu - Regional Issue with all neighboring states, SriLankan Tamil support (?)
Tripura - Naxalism
Uttar Pradesh - Naxalism, Communal Riots, Terrorism
Uttarakhand - Naxalism
West Bengal - Budding terrorism, Illegal Immigrant issue, Singur

Lessons from Italian GP

2008-09-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

Did you see yesterday's Italian GP, if not, you missed one of the wonderful races in F1 history. It was a dull day to start with at Monza, with rain, overnight rain, track was wet. In fact for the first time i saw race starting with Safety car, just as a precautionary step towards avoiding mishaps like what happened in the past (FYI, Italian racing track is one of the deadliest tracks and is known for its accidents leading to death).

I thought there were moments that requires special mention... these are my thoughts.. obviously i may miss some, feel free to add,

1. Sebastian Vettel, youngest ever F1 champ. The following is the excerpts from www.f1.com site.

They laughed when Sebastian Vettel and Toro Rosso snatched pole position in qualifying - but that turned to cheers of admiration on Sunday when the 21 year-old German became Formula One’s youngest ever winner after a brilliant wet-weather victory at Monza.

2. It was a treat to watch Hamilton during yesterday's race. You start at 15th place, you are a title contender, your nearest driver is 6th in starting grid, what will you do? Hamilton showed pure character, aggression and technical perfection and speed of execution during yesterday's race. it only shows his self belief and driving skill... He would have bettered his position, if he need not pit for 2nd time to change intermediate tyres

until next

Raghu

the day i was born

2008-09-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

The day i was born (2nd Sept, 3.30 AM) just occurred for 2008 as well. Another year passed and certainly it denotes i am aging...
If i look back last 1 year, it was professionally successful year. i spent almost all the time for the project @ work. Thanks to very kind and co-operative team at Business Objects, i was able to set straight certain expectations at work.
It wasnt all that good year at personal life. Due to work, i failed to return many calls/emails on time, failed to call many, failed to write to many. The big push was needed at work, but the cost way too much. Hence i decided from now on be more normal in managing both personal / professional commitments henceforth...

Raghu

Weekend Movies

2008-08-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

How many movies can you see over a weekend? With your existing weekend plan for the day?
I happened to see Zodiac, My Cousin Vinny, Ugly aur Pagli, Sigh is Kingh, Bachna Ai Haseeno, Aamir, Shoot the piano player and may be 100th time Notting Hill.

I leave my preferred sound track from Notting Hill... just in case if you haven't heard it outside the movie...

Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=tIdIqbv7SPo

when you say nothing at all- Ronan Keating

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=AuJrEBtmM1Q

Until next
R

Leader (Everyone) should accept his failure

2008-06-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

If any of you seen the finals of IPL yesterday, you will now know, as a leader how to generalize failure to the team you belong to rather than accept it on you. Yes, In the presentation Dhoni mentioned that his team failed in all the 3 departments (i.e. bowling, batting and fielding). It is team's failure or his failure to provide competent team member's opportunity to fair play.

In Batting, they promoted Kapugedera instead of Badrinath in 17th 0ver which was a blunder by him. Badrinath is a known big hitter and in form. easily we could have scored 15 more runs and could have set a good target.

In bowling, again, they did not provide Badrinath an opportunity to bowl. When choice for bowler for 20th over came, again ball was given by Dhoni to balaji whose figures were 3-0-34-0. what do you expect the result of 1 over 8 runs?

In fielding it was raina and partiv patel to be blamed for dropping Y. Pathan @13 (who went to score half century) and parthiv giving away easily the bye run on a wide ball in the last over.

I guess the entire team would have felt bad on what Dhoni mentioned in the presentation. They put in their best efforts and some of Dhoni's move did not click well. Rather than attributing it against team it is better to accept failure on him. This will improve his image and make him a better person to work with.

it looks like chennai played well, but Rajasthan definitely played like champions. they deserve this victory.

-Raghu

Fun @ Mumbai

2008-01-21T10:19:00.000-08:00

In 2000 i went to Bombay to do my project in Tata Institute. Yesterday i again traveled for my french embassy visa to Mumbai. i was wondering it will be one hell of a trip after being let down by Arun aka Arai. Yes, i was supposed to see Mumbai along with him and landed there when he was traveling to Delhi at the same time (useless fellow!!). Becz of this confusion, i could not change my prior reservation of 9AM sunday flight :-( without arai around, i thought its going to be one dull and solitude visit... i never knew i had many hidden talents which brought in the fun element during this mumbai trip. some of these events listed below,

1. I wanted to visit vadala road, 5 gardens, bsnl colony, brij samosa shop, ram/krishna pani poori shop and amar restaurant (short list of items for one place vadala road). I took a BST bus to andheri and from their took a train to bandra. In Bandra station i asked for ticket to CST in harbor line. the person in counter asked me "aap mahim se change karogae". i said OK without much thinking... when i used to live in vadala road, we always take train to bandra in harbor line and change at matunga rd station. so without giving much of heed to what the ticket issuing person was saying, i landed in matunga railway station only to find out it is no longer the same station and there is no connectivity to harbor line :-( to add to it, i approached a ticket checker, showed him my ticket and asked him where i can take harbor line? Goodness me!! firstly i was in wrong station and on top of it.. i approached lion in its den!! he verified my ticket and told me it is the ticket for harbor line, but i am at wrong station.... Luckily all religion Gods were on my side, when i bought ticket from Andheri, i bought till churchgate with return.. i survived event #1

2. Landed in vadala road...... expecting a delicious lunch @ Amar hotel..... all places (listed above) existed except Amar hotel. If you havent been to vadala road, u will not realize the missing piece. it is a perfect residential locality without any restaurants !! my only hope also vanished!! with so much fire in my belly.. i approached one old man who was a localite and enquired about Hotel Amar.. he told it was closed for longer time.. he explained history behind that hotel location... my only hope also vanished!! with so much fire in my belly.. this time my savior was Lord Ram.. sorry Sri Ram bhel poori shop. there used to be days when this shop opens only in the evening say 3PM and gets closed by 6.30 PM. so much people will buy that this shop will become empty in short time each day. we used to catch early bus in tata institute just to meet Lord Ram (he he). had chat ... the taste had not changed much... again survived event #2

3. walked all the way till Dadar as i used to do.. landed in dadar. took a fast train to church gate and by mistake got down in Mumbai central only to find it was a wrong station.. by the time i realized this, there was 100 people around me......

4. Finally arrived @Hotel Ambassador Guess what.. i ordered lunch and headed towards the bed in the room as i was too tired...

it did not stop here... whole of this trip was marked by headache.. as i type this now, i continue to have headache..

5. woke up at 7.. decided to walk around marine drive from nariman point... Awesome and priceless walk!!!

6. decided to have Pizza @ dominos. was searching for an outlet in the neighborhood.. walked for more than an hour only to find a dominos service guy in his bike... ran and caught him and asked him for the address. he told me shiv sagar and he ran away... i did not know where shiv sagar was located... again was determined to have pizza that night... finally got to know about its existance in colloba which was 3 KMs away from church gate... u know what i would have done... walked all the way....... for FOOD

7. as i came out of dominos, i came to a bus stop... there came a beautiful lady asking if i wanted to go to church gate with her...... My god!!! if she was what i think about her (dont know, i must confess, but could not resist this doubt in my mind in a area like collba around 11PM). i told her i am not going to colloba (a lie). she even arranged a shared cab for me with one more guy sharing the same... i resisted... the cab driver was not leaving me!! i do not know why i boarded the car (may be it was getting late and i did not wait in the bus stand)... it all ended soon as i got down in churchgate... gave my share to her and started to walk straight towards my hotel...... it was different experience.

today in short..
i landed in andheri station... as i came out, i saw bus to sivaji airport... immediately got in.. not realizing that i was heading towards intl airport.
then took an auto to get into domestic terminal 1A gate1. Again KingFisher check in was in gate 2 and after reaching gate 2, i came to know that my flight was in different terminal (1B) .... walked again!! flight was delayed by 2 hours landed in bangalore only to know about cab strike... luckily again i got an auto driver from b.ghatta road itself... he dropped me at my home some 1 hour ago...

it all happened in Mumbai!!

until next
Raghu

Neutral (?) Umpiring

2008-01-06T02:23:00.000-08:00

People who spoiled Indian victory today in SCG test

The Great Indian Public Toilet!!!

2008-01-02T07:19:00.000-08:00

My new year Eve was fantastic. i spent Last Sunday with Partha @ his home in Annan Koil, i also visited the famous Natraja Temple in Chidambaram . For one who has read about this temple in literature, it must be an splendid experience in waiting... You can say the entire city of Chidambaram revolves around the gopurams of this temple.

As i entered on one one of the gopuram, i saw some grill path way at the entrance. Like me, the person before me was inquisitive to know why such a structure in walk way... His friend explained it is to prevent cows not to enter the temple premises... An effort to leave the temple only to well grown/educated humans with an expectation that it will be maintained well. as you walk you pass through a tiny little garden before to reach inner gopuram... and then the praharam inside is really huge. A pleasant place to walk, sit any day evening.... There are more gardens around the outer praharam wall.

But the happiness was short lived until I walked past this little garden in the path way. To protect the garden around the outer praharam, they have built fence on the other side and wrote "Siva Siva" in the fence... All these adds to the grandeur of the temple... Guess what our educated people have done to this inner garden around the wall.. They are simply using it as a toilet. At least i saw two sides and both the stretches is used as a Great Indian public toilet. to add it, some sections of the fence also is used as a dust bin.

Also we saw some 10 - 15 cows inside the temple... i exclaimed to partha "how come they are roaming inside the praharams, despite protection in the entrance"... partha replied .. "may be they entered before the structure was laid and now they cannot go out!!!" I am sure the same scene exists in many such temples in Tamil Nadu......

I read about the huge cry in news papers, magazines, TV programs about demolition of temples in Indonesia and the protests by HINDRAF organization along with other requests for the ethinic Indians... Considering the plight of a temple like Chidambaram or any temple for the matter maintained similarly , we need a greater movement from the people to educate the visitor crowd to respect the place of worship of Gods, little common sense from the visitors for the temple can make big difference. I am sure no other community is causing the place of worship with their own dirt, only the temples in Tamil nadu are more prone to such dis respect.

Do you remember my previous blog topic about the great indian bike rider in bangalore roads. This person is no different from the visitors of the temple who are using this place as toilet. Again it lies in the mindset of people. Together we can make the difference.........

Until next
Raghu

je suis retour

2007-11-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

I am back for good. Yes good for the company (SAP... I hope you are following the news, Business Objects for which i work for, is intended to be acquired by SAP for 7B USD deal on Oct 6th). So it is eventful period for the company. Everyone is looking for integration related information. Hence not much work :-) Good for the company isnt it??

For someone like me sitting idle is impossible (really!!!) this is what i have been doing these days... Some useful info for you

Have you read the tamil wiki pedia?? http://ta.wikipedia.org
If you are not a chennaite, interested in hearing suryan FM online, check out the online FM radio http://www.sfm935.in/
I am member of Seventymm online video lending library. its really cool now with seventymm http://www.seventymm.com
Did u hear about google programing contest? http://code.google.com/android/ your 10M is lying there....

I also restarted my cooking sessions, so do expect some interesting recipes on the blog...
Also contemplating about restarting flute lessons (readyaa ???)
another one!!! i am trying to see Anand and Partha for a while and discuss some initiative with them. both of them are escaping for a while....

so much more to come!!!!

je suis retour (i am back)

Happy Birthday Raghu

2007-09-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

Hello

Thanks a ton for everyone who sent and who planned to send wishes on my birthday raghu. There were calls, SMSs, scraps, emails :-) How lucky am i to have so many friends and relatives who care about you.

we had organized lunch with the students of veda pada salai in T.V. Koil. In few years my life will move in to next decade... may be my mom and dad should know that its time for them to be serious about their action.

until next
Raghu

Our respected parlimentarians

2007-08-21T10:39:00.001-07:00

If u ever wonder, what our parlimentarians do in parliment, here is sample on what they discussed in today's sen's comments,

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/aug/21ndeal9.htm

Super

Until next
Raghu

Villain in my Life

2007-08-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Ants are the current villain in my life. they make me sweat, they make me work hard, they make me do all those repetitive household work, they are small, but in numbers they come to my home every day, despite my efforts to keep my home clean.

I might have ignored my parents sometime @ home, my friend's request @ room, here am i always obedient, cleanliness centric, always working hard with lots of sweat :-(

Only villain in my life --- Ants

Cash

2007-08-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

Mazhaiukku udangara madhirinu kelvi pattu irukinga la? I happen to visit PVR yesterday afternoon just becz Badri wanted to sleep. It was 3 PM when we two stood in the que looking for tickets for afti show... After reaching the ticket counter, PVR salesman posed us an impossible question. We have tickets for Partner, Cash, which one do u want? Kizhinchadhu krishnagiri nu niniachom.. Still i asked badri, do u wana go? He said he wanted to sleep, We had cash also in our pockets :-) Damn it!! Aunty behind the line must have been wondering about us going through our discussions...

well time was 3.10 when all these were over... we headed right into our M10, M11 seat of Audi 4. The movie started with a song, i thought it is gonna be another one of those bollywoddish movie... i looked at right, badri was already preparing himself, stretching himself with half closed eyes..

Cash is a movie about robbery, thieves, cars, pathetic songs and not so bad screen play. The scenes of the duo ajay devgan and shamita shetty are good to watch (but better watch it in TV yaar). well these guys have lot of cash to take such movies cash... if u are expecting me to run through a previe, my apologies, this movie is worth writing this much.... at the end of 2 1/2 hours of sound sleep (yes, some side effects during his deep sleep), he woke up and said, good movie isnt it!! shall we leave? I said right :-) lets go, we headed straight to... u know what people do after getting up from deep sleep or someone who drank 2 Large Coke during a movie....
Its de pressurising time!!!

Until next
Raghu

so far so good

2007-08-02T18:27:00.001-07:00

Hello,

So far so good! in terms of my experience with kitchen as concerned.
In the last 15 days i have tried variety of dishes and most of them turned out to be of similar taste as that of dishes!! few times, i failed dramatically! but i learnt about the mistake and do not worry if any of u are visiting my home, u will not be experimented...

My recipes include - Oninon Rava Uppuma, Wheat Dosa, Chappati with Chow Chow Pallaya or kootu, Saada Saada Dosa, Adai, Tamarind Upma, Bajji (failed here, need to try again), some varieties of rasam - regular rasam, pepper rasam, coconut rice, coconut chutney and ofcousrse lots of time potato fry...

more to come, i am finding lots of time as my office timings have changed and it ends at 5PM!!

Guys! do u know very well a recipe, send it across to me... but only veg!! (eggless)

Come home sometime!!
Raghu

The mindset of a Bangalore driver

2007-08-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

I am one of those million drivers in the streets of Bangalore. I feel less pride and more shame in being part of this community.

A lot is said about city's worst infrastructure woes in the past. The situation is improving these days compared to 2001 when i first arrived in this city. What is not changed is the mindset of this cities elite well educated drivers in the road.

Yesterday i happen to stay late in the new office and i faced enough ordeal reaching my home. it took me an hour and 1/2 to reach my home which normally takes 30 minutes if i had started on time. So many of them took platform service road (it was not ready, still people drove in it) and created more traffic jam. they never realized their attempt to go early was making many to wait and a win-loose situation. This mindset i can see everywhere in the city!! A win-loose behavior... this one makes me feel sad and rethink my options of staying here long term plan for this city.

In the last few weeks of travel, i have been analysing the pattern. Bangalore is not like chennai where we know people violate and chennai roads are big. Here roads are narrow (as like the mindset of the drivers). Here there are people who follow rules and there are people who don't. this adds to the chaos...

We have 2 categories of drivers who cause chaos, traffic jams and sometime an accident.

1. one who violates lane rules (most of 2 wheeler riders, cars, all trucks, all BMTC buses, cyclists and auto drivers)
2. one who goes slow in the wrong lane (i see beginners, girls do this often)

well the cost of an accident is huge (both mentally and financially). i have seen myself this in the case of Subbu when he was admitted for a reckless driving by an alcholic and he dashed subbu in a scooty (driven at 30KM). Subbu was in ICU for 3 days :(

We educated people in this city have been consciously attempting all these traffic violations.. when are we going to change? it is in the mindset of these city'es elite educational people!!!

fy entertainment... this happens in most junctions of this city...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luNwDf-BXZQ

Enjoy maadi

Until Next
Raghu

Ah! Vai Raja Vai Raja Vai...

2007-07-29T23:20:00.001-07:00

Today 30th July we shifted to our new office premise in Outer Rink Road. i must tell you this is one hell :P of a office for us :) It has space for every one and for everything inside ;).

It has ultra posh reception with LCD displays and all, one huge floor to house entire 3oo staff of business Objects, Huge play area right now with 2 TT tables and some carom boards, huge banners in most of the walls and seating areas representing core values of BOBJ, dormitory and plenty of meeting and conf rooms with wall hanging projectors, and many phone booths, this is quite intuitive and this is backup arrangement in case of conf rooms are full (it cannot happen, still !!!) or if people wanted a private talk. and many more... i think i will keep on talking about this..

Since it is single floor for all of us, we need to walk a bit, it reminds me of REC days :) good for people who are body conscious.

My cabin is really big and with no neighbour around, i have so much space...

tomorrow there will be play cards at my table... wanted to start mangatha club at my place... interested people can join.... ah vai raja vai... vanda pogadhu pona varadhu... ah vai raja vai...

MM - Midnight M$#^

2007-07-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

MM is not about yester day's Midnight Masala. This one goes for all those who like to see Midnight moon more than early morning sun...

Midnight Moon

I hold you forthis perfect night
Love is born to linger in your magic light
With that girl beside me and you above
You must also be in love :)

- by Smoking popes

A perfect night my bed is calling ...

Good Night
Raghu

Onion Rava Uppuma

2007-07-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Do you know how to prepare Onion Rava Uppuma? I started experimenting the kitchen labs from today and the first discovery was preparing onion rava uppuma... The recipe goes like this.. You need 2 cups rava, 1 carrot , 4 green chillies, 1/4 cup green peas, asalt (namak) to taste and 2 onions ;) (now u know why it is called ORU - Onion Rava Uppuma)

Steps to reproduce... Oops! this is really top secret. I prefer to prepare this by myself and serve @ my home.. You cant escape :)

I am already thinking about tomorrow's dish.. Small confusion between Arabiatta Pasta or jeera rice with dal fry... hmmm!!

Until next
Raghu

the partha effect

2007-07-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

If you are wondering that i am going to write about that elusive parthasarathy, you are wrong :)

Last weekend i had been to trichy. The ususal suspects (me and Badri) had been to Sri Parthasarathy Bhavan in T.V. Kovil and had the taste of those wonderful dosas (with lots of sambar ofcourse :)). I am not sure how many of you visited this place in the past. It is in the lane right adjacent to the temple wall of T.V. Kovil.

This restaurant resembles one of those old iyer hotels of srirangam. It is an old house converted to a restaurant. As you enter, you will be blessed by whole lot of Gods and Goddess (original Goddess ;)). On the other side of the hall, you have series of tables like a typical restaurant. Most of the faces looks familiar as they were around and working in that hotel for long. We happen to meet one Mr. Subramanian and gave our spec for the dosa (saadha saadha) and had our mini b.fast with lots of sambar. if you are cleanliness conscious, beware!! it is like yet another iyer hotels in srirangam area...

Apart from that, i had lots of home food (sorry i cannot stop talking about this ;)). visited our usual places in trichy and watched once again Sivaji with Badri...

got to go

A+
Raghu

Fun @ Work

2007-06-27T02:54:00.000-07:00

Lots of companies do different things to create fun @ work. Today my company Business Objects had organized a movie show for all the employees :)

First it was the scary part. they were planning for Jhoom Barabar Jhoom movie. after having read its review, i was thinking the real fun would be, they will tie us all in our chair and make us watch this movie fully... :)

Somewhere our (crying) voices were heard. we changed movie to Pirates of the Caribbean... Although i have not watched Part 1 n 2, it was good movie technically. i am amazed by the performance of Johny Deep as Jack Sparrow... 2nd half is really worth watching... but be sure to watch 1st and 2nd part before this :).

Until next

A+
Raghu

Uncertainty is certain in life?

2007-06-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

is this true? ;)

This is my debut to blogging. From the learnings recently i have realized that uncertainty is certain in life. The way we manage things makes these uncertain things certain.

clear now :)

Cheers

R. Iyer