What is cooking today?

So I waited as the cooker was letting out steam slowly. Very slowly. It has just started cooking. Atleast I think it is cooking. I verified the stove and it was on. Five minutes and I am still waiting. I heard someone saying that it might take a while, so let me say whats cooking. With Chini away in India enjoying mom made breakfast, lunch and dinner and fresh juices in between, I decided to take the bold step to cook; something I rarely do from the time Big bang happened. You know when the everything came out of nothing! Nothing related though.

Anyway, after making few attempts like chutneys and Chicken curries (see in Facebook ;) ), I decided on the ultimate dish of Mushroom biryani. As always, I thought it is going to an easy day.

The morning had started long before I woke up and I met it only around 11 AM. Chini has already called twice and it was time to begin the weekend now. So without much ado, i started to make preparations for biryani. Chini dictated the recipe in exact metric units. Similar to Parthiban questioning Vadivelu the value of “a punch”, I am always ridiculed by the measurement terms like “a pinch” or “little”. How much really is a pinch? is it 2 grams or 5 grams? Or does it depend upon the density of what we are measuring? And there is always a difference in the value of pinch based on who is taking it right. And what is the size of little? There is ‘little’ Stuart in the size of a mouse and he says he eats large Gold fish biscuit which if you ask me is “little”. Chini already annoyed with my questioning decided to make it simple. All measurements will always be in cups or teaspoons. (she confirmed i need to measure to the top flat level)

After getting the recipe from Chini, it is time to get all ingredients. She already informed me that Biryani masala powder is there in home and i just need to get Onions, tomato and mushrooms. I could use Sona Masoori rice instead of Basmati. But suddenly my stomach started to say something. I am Hungry and it is 12 PM already. So I decided to have lunch outside and then get the ingredients on the way. After much searching for a quick bite, I found the only food I have appetite for is Biryani. But that is not going to be ready for another 2 hours (if I start in the next 5 minutes). So I went to Rice ‘n’ Roti and got non vegetarian meals with Chicken biryani and “Mushroom” curry. Filled with heavy lunch, I then decided to take a rest.

Relaxed on the couch after watching Jim playing pranks on Dwight, I finally decided to get back to “Mushroom” biryani at around 3 PM. Cooker on the stove and ghee hot in it. I chopped the onions and started frying in the cooker. As soon as it turned Golden brown, I added the half tomato mixing it continuously to avoid sticking to the bottom. That is when I realized I need to search for masala powder. Going through the kitchen shelf, refrigerator and the oven, I found that I cannot find the powder which means that it isn’t there in home. You know what that means? It means it is NOT going to be an easy day.

Now is a hard choice to make. I either run to the grocery store and get the masala before the onion burns or I could throw away the onions and buy mushroom biryani from the restaurant near by. I could not take the second choice as I do not like that restaurant much. So switching off the stove, I drove fast to the grocery store and found biryani masala for 2 dollars. The problem now is the Indian grocery stores do not accept credit card for below 5 dollars purchase and unfortunately I did not have any cash. So I hunted for 3 dollars worth food and I found only the raw materials for making food. Another trouble. After searching all the aisles, I found Parampara, something much closer to finished food. Returning back to home, I continued the operation. After adding 4 teaspoons of Biryani masala powder and constant stirring, it started smelling good. It really is going to be good. Next ingredient on the line was 3 cups of water. My fear that if you think everything is going good, it means there is something wrong altogether just got real. I had used the small cooker of 3 liter size which will become full if I add 3 cups of water. Now I have to transfer all the contents from the small cooker to the larger cooker. Tired of making stupid mistakes, I did what I had to do.

Everything transferred, I then started washing rice. And that is when I realized that I could have bought basmati rice when I went to the grocery store. Biryani would be very tasty with basmati rice. And that is also when I realized I could have bought basmati rice for 3 dollars instead of Parampara mix. Thinking all that I could have done, I washed the available Sona Masoori rice and just when I was about it mix it, I found mushroom lying on the side - uncut, unwashed, uncooked and obviously un-mixed. Damn. And so the large cooker was put on low heat, and I started frying the mushrooms in the small cooker. After 15 minutes and 1 hour since I started cooking, I realized I am finally closer to finishing it. After multiple checks on the recipe and thinking many times on what more mistakes could be made in making of mushroom biryani, i finally added the rest of the ingredients including washed rice, fried mushrooms and 1 teaspoon of salt for taste. Everything added, I closed the lid and put on the whistle and I waited.

PS: By the time I finished writing this, the cooker has already made 5 whistles asking me to take it off the hot stove. Mushroom biryani is finally ready and is waiting for any volunteers to taste it.

PPS: After much contemplation and some encouragement from Chini, I took the task myself and tasted it.

PPPS: I did it. Mushroom biryani smells, feels and tastes like Mushroom biryani. seriously guys, It is real good and I am going to keep it all for myself.

Birthday wishes of the year 2010

It has been a week since my birthday. And it was a good one too if we look forward for the years to come and not worry about the years gone by and apparently the number of candles I blew before cutting the cake. Chini had to keep them stand in a large bowl to avoid using fire extinguisher over the cake.
Anyway, the day went good. Few surprises, great food and treatment equal to a free man! Now I am waiting for another year even though I know I will have to blow off a bonfire next time. Coming to the point, the birthdays are always special and something you count on other than the presents are for everyone’s wishes.

Starting from your school days where you could wear casual dress while everyone comes in a uniform and walking to all class rooms and hear everyone sing “Happy Birthday” for you, birthdays are really special to celebrate. As you move up the years, you get more than wishes and include cake on your face and kick on your butt. I wonder why people do that. But everyone got it for their birthday and so you would want one too. Happy day of the year! Back to the birthday wishes now. How different we celebrate our birthday and wherever we are, there is always one thing that makes the day a real birthday. It is the simple two words “happy birthday”. With the world being so big and our dear ones spread apart so far, we are wished by so many means. Apart from the telephone that made them sound closer, e-cards and social networking sites made everyone just few clicks away. So my birthday this year too had lot of wishes sent through various forms.


With nothing better to do, I thought it would be fun (for me) to chart down the numbers and statistics.

There were a total of 70 wishes including all advance and belated wishes. And as if everyone is closer by technology than reality, most of the wishes are through internet with 26 from Facebook itself. This is really a surprise as until last year, Orkut was the most widely used networking site in India. I believe lots of us were bribed to move to Facebook by games like Farmville and Mafia wars. There were a total of 12 wishes through telephone and 8 by electronic email which includes a cute message from my one-year old niece. While these numbers are normal like every other year, the shocking numbers come from SMS messages – Just 2. The guy who was banned by Aircel for sending SMS messages over the limit during college days received just 2 messages for his birthday. Time truly changes as years pass by. This could also be because of being in US away from free messages in India. Other surprising counts are from instant messaging and e-cards with 3 and 1 respectively. There would not have been any e-card if not for my in-laws. Thanks to them. I did get 7 greeting cards made of wood pulp commonly known as paper though 6 of them came from my Chini and the other one surprisingly from the apartment office. Now to rank the various wishes, the first phone call was from my dad, sisters and mom; instant message from Tirupur; Facebook and Orkut from Chini’s friends Karthikeyan and Mathan respectively; email from Kumaran; SMS once again by dad and the person to wish directly and through greeting card and also the first one to wish on the birthday is none other than Chini. Thank you. And whats more! She is the only one who gave me gifts in this year. So you guys not to feel bad, I am still accepting presents. Gift cards and credit through online transfers accepted.

PS: I have to speak about those who forgot to wish me too. Hey loosu, where were you? You used to wish me every year. Perippa, you forgot it. I had to call you for the second year now. Balappa, you almost forgot and anyway you are the last one to wish me. I am glad for that. And for the rest, that is ok. There is always the next year.

Countdown to a new start

AND HERE WE GO!!!!

THE COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF MY BACHELOR LIFE
AS I GET READY TO GET MARRIED TO CHINI ON
11TH JUNE 2009 AT 10:30 AM

Another girl in my life

105 days before, a girl named Chini entered my life. With my life already upgraded from Single to "Commited" status, another cute little girl has now entered my life.
Before you raise your eyebrows and your dirty mind cooks up something, listen to me.
On the 302nd anniversary of the unification of England and Scotland as the Kingdom of Great Britain; the same day in which the Order of the Illuminati was born 233 years ago; also 111 years after The American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey defeated the Spanish Pacific Squadron under Admiral Patricio Montojo at the Battle of Manila Bay, the first engagement of the Spanish-American War and most importantly when the whole world is celebrating the International workers' day, my sister gave birth to a cute lovely baby girl with small beautiful black eyes. She is said to have thick hair and cries all the time seeking everyone's attention and getting it too. With my sister promoted to "Mother" status, I am naturally promoted to "Uncle". My sister and brother-in-law are proud and happy and excited for sleepless nights taking care of this adorable baby. All the best to both of them and welcoming my little niece into this wonderful world.

PS: Details of the above mentioned events that happened on May 1st are taken from Wikipedia except the last one which was told by my parents.

Nostalgia infront of the screen

Even when you sip 100 bucks cappuccino from Coffee day, you would speak those nostalgic words on the 1 rupee coffee from the college canteen shared with your friends. This post is neither about friendship nor about coffee. It is about a similar nostalgic feeling of the computer games in my life. Please note, that by computer game, I meant not only the PC but all the video gaming devices that spawned from the electronic computing parts. Sometimes I wonder how someone came with the concept of gaming in computers. A machine which was entirely used for business and military purposes created an entirely new concept unknown to human kind and took the whole world by storm bringing a new race of people who would not mind leaving the real world as they get immersed into the unimaginable world of gaming and live out their life stuck in front of a screen. I wonder what made the programmer a geeky idiot like me bring in something different outside his purpose of life to introduce recreation inside a box full of zeroes and ones. And will you believe me that the very first computer game was Spacewar developed at MIT in the year 1961. This is true if you do not consider the radar simulation game on cathode ray tube developed in 1951. Anyway in Spacewar, two players control spaceships and have to shoot at each other. A simple but interesting game. So you know the mindset of killing each other in games was introduced with the very first game itself. So let us not complain about Quake and UT being violent. You would be voicing against the computer gaming kind.

Now back to my cup of coffee. Sorry. I meant my gaming memories. I was introduced into the computer gaming world with a cloned version of Sega-1000 at the age of 8. Video gaming has probably just been introduced in India and my uncle bought one for our home. I am not able to recall the feeling of my first touch of the joypad (controller) but I clearly understood that it is something amazing and I was sure that it is going to make a huge impact on the world and my life. The console had a maximum of 16 colors and the cartridge that came with the console had 8 games and there was not even a menu to select the games. You need to press the "SELECT" button on the console to switch games. And the game I remember the most and considered the most advanced game is "Police and thief" as we called it, was about a cop who jumps like a bunny trying to catch a fast running thief before the time runs out or the thief reaches the end of the top floor. It had elevators that you could use. But like every damn elevator in office, it would either close just before you reach it or you would forget getting down in the right floor and end up moving up and down while the thief escapes easily. If you do not want elevators, you can use the escalators available at each end of the floor. Trivial point is that the escalators only go up and there is none to take you down. Wonder how people would like in such buildings. But I don’t think any people would want to live in a building infested by honeycombs on the floor which we used to call as "Jail" for no reason and vans that will hit you taking away 15 seconds of your time not to forget a flying stick that you need to dodge by jumping and sometimes lowering your head. But if you are not scared of these and still keep on catching the cops, there will be helicopters inside the building taking your life away as they hit your police cap. And the bad part is that none of the obstacles would have any effect on the thief. Anyway, how much illogical the gameplay was, "Police n Thief" is the most enjoyed game I have played in that console and have went as much as 16 levels which had helicopters trying to hit my hat every second that I ended up sitting like a duck for the whole level.
As I can keep on talking about the golden days and I have blogged on this many times before, I would do a fast forward to the recent times. After many years of console gaming, and the sudden invasion of Mario and Duck hunt, my gaming interests increased tremendously and I started playing Pacman, Digger and then the legendary Prince of Persia in our PC-XT 386 and upgraded 486 personal computers in office. And here I am moving from Sega-1000, Nintendo entertainment system, Nintendo gameboy, PC-XT, PC-AT, modern games in the Intel Pentium computers and playing with new generation of gaming consoles like XBOX and Playstation 2 which I slowly planning to change to the next-gen PS3 console though which seems to be at far reach considering Chini's liking to see the consoles only at the stores. I need to do some hard work in convincing her that gaming consoles are basic necessities of a normal healthy happy married life. In that way, she can talk all she want and I will never say a word against her and the best way to get my attention is to let me play the games and block the screen for a second and rely what she wants me to do. Of course, please do not tell her that it will be done only after the game is over.
Why this nostalgia all of a sudden you might ask. I saw this post in Engadget about the 8-bit video game console with keyboard entering the US market for just $49.99 which every kid in India has played for years bought at Rs.500 or just $10. Who said electronics cost more in India? Is this some great business opportunity and I should buy 10 consoles in India for 250 each and sell at Rs.2000 or $40 in eBay and become a millionaire overnight? What would I do with that money? What else? Savings for the next PS4 or XBOX 720.

What kept me away

I am sure many would have been wondering why I was not active with any new posts for the past 25 days. And few might have the right guesses which I would explain to others in this post anyway. But to say I was not active only for the past 25 days would be wrong as the post before that is a good 21 days behind. Altogether, this year has not been so good so far with respect to my blogging habits. But I guess I got lot new visitors because of the same reason why the blog was dormant for more than a month. Ok ok. I think I am beating around the blogs here. So let me get to the point.
After 17 months of eating burgers in US, I went to India to eat some bajji as well. But what happened was that I was served with Sojji along with Bajji which quickly followed by the story as posted in my previous post as I got engaged to a sweet innocent calm girl who I am going to call as Chini here. Now as there is no one here to believe that I did not expect this to happen during this trip, I am not going to say anything on how it happened. So I was there in India tied up with not just enjoying the changes that happened in India during my absence in the last 1.5 years but was also surprised by the change in my own life. The three weeks of the holidays went like a breeze with very less time to meet many friends and no time to meet other few. With all the buzz around, I was unable to put some time into this blog though there were lot to discuss and report on the trip that includes the outgrowing cell phone shops that are more in number than juice stalls in our locality and the differences in driving an automatic car in US and a TVS Scooty on the busy roads of T.Nagar. Polar opposites were the experience between the two that my safe driving even brought one Tata Indica to park in the gap between my bike and the bus that was standing in front of me. I was learning to get into the world of committed gentlemen and started making regular deposits to Airtel prepaid mobile service. And whats more! I even got the chance to revive my texting skills from the good old college days. And if it was not for the 60 rupees RT plan, I would have redirected my salary to Airtel's bank account.
With the holidays coming to an end and a hard good-bye to Chini at the airport, I was back in the city that is called as "Queen City" also known as Charlotte. One must understand the strong pressures faced by a software engineer in this tight recession time working for a demanding client trying to balance the time between offshore calls and calls to offshore. With Chini managing part of my life and my managers trying to take part of my life away at work, it is always tough to find the right time to put all the above pointless talks in my blog. And finally on this day, I happened to find some time and even Chini was kind enough to grant me permission to put something here which I am sure she would be reading it now. After all, I had nothing to say to her on the day we first met as she had read all the posts much before deciding to meet me. And I am so happy that my blog is useful for someone more than just to pass time.

By the way, I am active twittering all along as much as possible in the last 2 months. So you can tune to www.twitter.com/injey for short and chirpy updates very often.

நம் முதல் சந்திப்பு

அய்யோ! தொலைந்தேனே.
என் வாழ்வைத் தேடுகையில் - உன்னிடம்
நிழலில் கண்ட உன்னை
நிஜத்தில் பார்க்க ஆசை.
விரைந்து வந்த என்னை
சிறு புன்னகையிலாலே கொன்றாய்.
நான்கு அடி நடந்திருப்போம்
முதல் கேள்வியில் தடுக்கிவிட்டாய்.
"சம்மதமா?" என்றாய்.
தேன் இனிக்குமா என்பதுபோல்.
இருவரும் ஆய்வதற்கு ஒரு மணி நேரம்,
முடிவெடுத்ததோ அதன்முதல் ஒரு நிமிடம்.
எதுவும் அறியாமல் நான் நிற்க,
முழுவதும் அறிந்திருந்தாய் என்னை பற்றி.
பெற்றோர்கள் அனைவரும் தவித்திருக்க
மறந்துவிட்டோம் அவர்களையும் காலத்தையும்.
தொலைபேசியும் அழுத்துப் போனது
நம்மை பல முறை அழைத்து.
மெல்லப்பேசி மெதுவாய் நடந்து
திரும்பிச்சென்றால் - பிடித்திருக்கிறதா என்றார்கள்.
புன்னகையுடன் நீ தலையசைக்க
சம்மதம் உரைத்தோம் புதுவாழ்வுணோக்கி.
ஆஹா! கண்டெடுத்தேன்.
என் தொலைந்த உயிரினை - உன்னிடம்!

Gods play with your Samsonite number lock

I have been a computer hacker breaking into the college intranet portal when I was denied access to C++ training material. With little digging in the internet, I got what I wanted. Actually I got bit more than what I wanted. And from then on, not that I considered myself a pro hacker but out spoke myself as the Neo. I guess that was geekier than being a hacker. Anyway, today I was more than a superficial Neo for the lock I hacked helped me in the real world. There I was trying to pack my luggage for the trip to India. And if you plan something, God would have planned something else to make your time... a little more interesting. And there He did by locking the number lock to my Samsonite hard case luggage for which I do not remember the combination. Now I have two choices. 1. Carry the 50 pound luggage to a locksmith to get it opened or 2. Try all 1000 possible combinations using the next 3 hours of this already shorter Sunday evening. I did spent 20 minutes of my time with the second option with no luck. So looking at Google chrome, reminded me of the other option. Why not ask our ever helping friend Google, a simple question "How to unlock Samsonite number lock?" And so I did to get the answer in simple steps. All you need is a torch light and a sharp eye.

PS: The below text is taken from http://www.fixya.com/support/t232042-unlock_samsonite_lock and the text is mentioned to be reply from the BagLord Samsonite Himself.

Dear Sir/Madam:
The following are the lock picking instructions you requested from Samsonite Consumer Relations.
1. Position the luggage so that the numbers on the wheel are right-side-up as they face you and set all three wheels to '0'.
2. Starting with the wheel on the left, to the right of the wheel, look into the narrow space between the right side of the wheel and the body of the lock. Look down into the shaft. (If you have a safety pin, straight pin, or thin nail file, place that in the narrow space.)
3. While looking down into the shaft, rotate the wheel slowly. You are looking for an indentation (a square notch). When you find the indentation, stop and write the number down. (If you are using a tool, the tool will fall into the indentation.)
4. Follow the process for the remaining two wheels.
5. Try to open the piece of luggage.
6. If the luggage still will not open, please try the following: a) If the number on the wheel is over 5, subtract 5 from the number showing. For example, if the number showing is 8 turn the wheel to 3 because 8-5=3.
b) If the number is under 5, add 5 to the number showing. For example if the number showing is 2 turn the wheel to 7 because 2+5=7. The numbers showing on the wheels will be your combination.
If you still have a problem with the combination lock, contact the nearest authorized repair center to your zip code for repair assistance. Our warranty and repair information can be viewed at http://www.samsonite.com under the heading "Customer Service Repair Centers" for your reference.
We appreciate your loyalty and will continue to design products that are reliable business or travel companions.

Thanks to you Samsonite for telling your little secret on breaking your own code. And I really mean it. Now if you are wondering what the combination to my luggage was, looks like I was blaming the wrong guy for messing up my mind.

Its a Fresh start.... once again

Happy New Year guys and girls!. A fresh year has started. Time to bring back the resolutions you lost in the previous year and new ones that you might want to add to the list that you would be lost before the next year. Am I starting my first post of the year in a sorrowful tone? Why so negative? Yeah! Why am I being so negative? Let’s start again. Time to fresh start your resolutions that you will try hard to maintain till the start of next year. That’s better I think. Good. I think this is the first New Year eve that went away without much excitement except few calls from friends and home. The year changed while I was in my home watching TV and talking to friends. No shouts or fireworks to welcome the year. But it was good. It was good to feel the New Year eve to be just another day and what’s better than starting the year with sitting on the couch and watching your favorite movie (The Dark Knight) on the TV. It is like blessing for a relaxed and peaceful year ahead. And So I slept very early in the night around 12:30 AM which is early even for any other day for me.
Believe me when I say I woke up early at 7:30 AM. And it was not to switch off the alarm and to get back to sleep. I really did wake up 7:30 AM and made few calls. But then, I went back to sleep. Another sign of a peaceful year ahead I think. So after relaxing and comfortable sleep, the New Year started truly at around 11 AM with more phone calls, Google chats and orkut scraps. Funny but common was wishing "Happy Birthday" instead of the Happy New Year". May be it should be considered as wishing the birth of the year 2009. So all went well including having work on a holiday and few interesting mails between the DBAs, developers and support that is always fun to watch. And if all these seem so normal for any other day, the blast was the Project party at Zuma Fun center in the evening. Visit the site and you will know what fun it promised.... for the kids. Now visit this photo album and you will know how great we were ... as kids. A perfect start for the New Year indeed.

There is always a wrong time

It is always on the wrong times you try to do the right things. And it is always the insignificant and the most immaterial tasks that get in your mind when the whole world is waiting for you to press the launch button. For example, consider this. I had been idle in the blogging world for about a month when so many things happened around me that deserve lot more reasons to speak out but I went on to be silent not even showing a sign of my presence. And here I am writing a post when I have nothing to say. Is this a defect inside my brain that always restricts me from being useful? Is it a special character of me that whenever I find something important and urgent to be taken care of, my mind becomes agitated and works hard to find something irrelevant and irresponsible that can wait forever but would flip the priority plugs in my brain to take up the unimportant one. Even when I want to change myself and do something useful, my thoughts points me to find reasons why I am not doing what I wanted to do in the first place and thereby makes me lose the precious time and I end up thinking of things I could have thought but not thought because of the thought I was thinking. I think I am still thinking of the same thought.
So to make anything fruitful to get out of this post, I will list down the thoughts that never got penned down or never got completed to enter my blog.

1. “I am a Mac and a PC” – True to Apple’s ads, the practical proof that installing windows in a Macbook is a cakewalk. Equipped with my roommate’s new Macbook, I installed Microsoft XP Professional as a secondary operating system in 2 hours. “Windows in Mac?” you might ask. And guess what? I even saw the blue installation screen of windows on the cute Macbook. It was an odd experience.
   
2. Mumbai under attack – The most terrifying event that shook the country for three days and left 180 dead and several injured. Not to forget the horrifying thought of 10 terrorists armed with automatic submachine guns and a huge backpack full of ammo and grenades could enter the country through the sea so easily and no intelligence agency had a clue of the terrorist strike. While saluting the bravery of the Indian Police and Army Commandoes who fought and many of those who gave their lives to save thousands in the fight, it was shameful and questionable on the preparedness of India against terror attacks which it has seen many times in the near past. 10 hours delay for the army to reach the spot leaving the Police with Lee Enfield rifles and pistols battle the terrorists firing with AK-47 and three days for the army commandos and ATS unit to end the battle angers and question the efficiency of the Indian civil and military protection forces.
   
3. Mission XOV – Ironic it might seem, it is hundred times difficult to install XP as a secondary operating system over VISTA than installing XP over Mac OS X. When I was able to achieve the latter in simple steps, the thought of installing XP in Vista-invaded Gateway Laptop sprang in my mind and the mission XP Over Vista(XOV) went over 4 days trying to find the XP drivers for all components to keep my laptop usable. Even with the help of similar minded people who had gone through the same exercise in the past, the mission ending successfully but the objective remained unclear as the laptop gets overheated fast and was hanging very often. You can learn more from my tweets are http://www.twitter.com/injey.
   
4. Rolling the cubicle dice – The last few months at work deserves a long post owing to the varied experiences on the new development project from handling the pesky offshore to the overriding manager who doesn’t understand the root cause of the problems but believes the wrong answer to be the right solution and talking with the political peer putting you in struggle for words and always demands carefully crafted sentences to avoid getting blames on things that are not really your fault. With all the tough tasks and adding my laziness and craziness there was no surprise but shock and despair that this year’s appraisal was a disaster.
   
5. Shopping on Thanksgiving – The festival of gratitude turned out to be a shopper’s arena as usual and for the first time, I became part of it. With the economy digging deep towards the earth’s core, the stores of the whole US Nation stood up and struggled to make money with the biggest sale event of the year. Still not effective due to the slump sales on the Thanksgiving Day, the single day sale got extended for a week with attractive prices in everything that you can imagine. Though I could not stand out with the crowd in the night, I was lucky enough to steal some deals online including $400 off of a Sony laptop, a hard disk and few more computer accessories and clothes that thinned my credit cards by at least $1500. There is still Christmas coming up and the retail stores are trying their best to make some sales. Never to be feared when I am here.

Lot more to come but I have to stop it here as it is starting to make sense and my mind doesn’t like it at all.

GM diet on the air - Emergency Curfew on food!

I hereby declare a emergency curfew on all talks that involves the deliciousness of food especially cakes, ice creams and deep fried chicken for the next four days.
This is put in place to restrict the temptations of breaking my GM diet planned for this week. Not having any troubles following the diet plan in the second week of August, I decided to try it for a week this September too. But I must admit, it is getting difficult this time. Probably it was easier last time as one another person joined me in the diet and we had each other for support. But as I am trying it alone this time, any talk on creamy donuts or spicy masala curries is tempting me to write an exception to have limited quantity of junk food against the rule. But as Neo replies to Smith's question "Why not give up?", I say the same. "Because I chose to". So here I am fighting to up hold the law and control my mind. And I smell victory and not the cod fish at hand.

I actually wrote about the struggle and experiences from the first week, but somehow did not post it before. Boy! Am I proud to say that I reduced about 7 pounds in the first week!
>>Click here to read more

Not able to withstand the continuous criticism on my recent photographs and the fact that the weighing machine is spinning fast when I stand on it, I decided to take the sour pill of dieting. I have also tried few other ways of reducing my own personal punch bag through Gym and Apple Cider Vinegar but there are many obstacles in it. I am unable to go to gym regularly due to the legal necessity of a driving license to drive the car. And the intolerable Apple Cider Vinegar tastes more like Vinegar than Apple. Probably they added it in a proportion of 1:100000. It is the most awful syrup I have ever tasted. Even the tablet equivalent of the syrup did not make any difference. Fed up with these failed attempts, it was time to do the diet way. Contrary to many people's belief, dieting is not stopping to eat, but eating the right food. And searching for the best diet plan, I finally landed up on this GM diet.

GM diet was developed for employees and dependents of General Motors, Inc. I couldn't understand the connection between fitness and automobiles. But reading that the plan was designed in the year 1985 makes you amaze at the Employee relations program by GM.
Coming to the point, GM diet is a week program with food limited by type and not on quantity every day. For the details about the GM diet, please refer here.

Now let’s take a look at my day to day experience in GM diet.

Day 0: A diet plan for 7 days that has mostly vegetables and fruits kinda scares me out. It might be because I am used to having them between the actual meals. So taking them as the actual meal raised my eyebrows a lot. But with strong determination, I prepared myself for the diet. I enjoyed myself with delicious idlis, masala dosa, medhu vada and spicy noodles at Udipi for brunch and dose of Spinach sauce dipped tortillas, chicken wrap and grilled herb chicken at Applebee’s for dinner. One week of dieting was compensated the day before itself.
Physical state: Strong and burping after heavy dinner
Mental state: Thrilled to start the diet

Day 1: All fruits except bananas. Your first day will consist of all the fruits you want. It is strongly suggested that you consume lots of melons the first day. Especially watermelon and a loupe. If you limit your fruit consumption to melons, your chances of losing three lbs. on first day are very good.

Watermelon being a favorite to me, the day started happily with watermelon in a 1 liter container for breakfast and 2 liters for lunch. Towards the evening, the stomach started showing its anger of not getting bread and cheese for the day. But I somehow controlled it by drinking a lot of water whenever the hunger tried to start. Had another liter size of Watermelon and half-a-liter container of cantaloupe for dinner. The toughest part was ordering a pizza for my flat mates and unable to taste it.
Physical state: Still strong and healthy with very less fatigue but no change in weight. The scale stills spins to an alarming position.
Mental state: Facing the challenge of avoiding junk food. Not much trouble though.

Day 2: All vegetables. You are encouraged to eat until you are stuffed with all the raw or cooked vegetables of your choice. There is no limit on the amount or type. For your complex carbohydrate, you will start day two with a large baked potato for breakfast. You may top the potato with one pat of butter.

Potatoes for breakfast??? What kind of diet is this anyway? But followed it heartily. Got a baking potato and micro waved it as I had no patience and time for baking it in oven for an hour. I was able to eat one whole baked potato which tasted better after adding a pinch of salt in the second half. Took a packet of Baby carrots for lunch which is the strangest meal I ever had. Like Bugs Bunny I happened to talk to the colleagues munching my carrot all the way. I was getting a bit hungry towards the night but was saved by steamed mixed vegetables with seasoning.
Physical state: Still no sign of weight decrease.
Mental state: Interesting. Everyone is talking about the diet plan. That made me feels motivated.


Day 3: A mixture of fruits and vegetables of your choice. Any amount, any quantity. No bananas yet. No potatoes today.

Work was hectic and the day started with no breakfast. But no tiredness. Felt like my body was getting used to the diet. I had 1 liter container of Watermelon for lunch and a cucumber in the evening. Today brought the greatest test ever over my determination. We went to Cold stone creamery and got "Midnight delight", a three-layered chocolate ice-cream cake for my room mate's birthday and Srikanth who accompanied me bought a large scoop of ice-cream mixed with roasted almonds and was eating all the way back home. But the toughest challenge was to munch cucumbers while everyone were filling themselves with Ice-cream cake. But I survived the day and the Diet plan is still alive.
Physical state: Hurray! Scale shows a pound less. I know it is less for all the sacrifices. But it is a start.
Mental state: Waiting for the week to be over. Already plan set to visit Cold stone on Monday.

Day 4: Bananas and milk. Today you will eat as many as eight bananas and drink three glasses of milk. This will be combined with the special soup which may be eaten in limited quantities.

This day indeed went by easier than I thought. Consumed only 6 bananas and a glass of milk for the whole day in addition to the 10 glasses of water. Water was more for hunger than thirst quencher. Lived through the day even after discussing the possible options for Vinayak's birthday treat and best Indian restaurants close by.
Physical state: One more pound decreased! Little concerned about the slow decrease in weight.
Mental state: Appears like I can complete the diet plan successfully. Slight thoughts of repeating the plan again in the future.

Day 5: Beef and tomatoes. The beef is for iron and proteins, the tomatoes are for digestion and fiber. Lots and lots of water purify your system. You should notice colorless urine today. Your allowance calls for the equivalent of five "quarter ponders". Do not feel you have to eat all this beef. You must eat the six tomatoes.

This is the costliest diet I have ever tried. Trying to have a healthy diet, I bought organic tomatoes instead of the usual Roma tomatoes and had to pay 10 bucks for 8 tomatoes. It makes me feel worried to see the cost of naturally grown vegetables costlier than the fertilized ones. I had 2 tomatoes for breakfast followed by 2 more and a roast beef sandwich for lunch. Finished off the day with two tomatoes for dinner. Hunger had stopped completely. And even treat in an Indian restaurant did not tempt me one bit. Hoping the remaining two days will go in a breeze.
Physical state: 2 more pounds decreased. That is 4 pounds in 5 days. But I was promised at least 10 pounds in 7 days.
Mental state: Felt sleepy in the evening. No sign of hunger though the total intake was just 8 tomatoes and a sandwich.

Day 6: Beef and vegetables. Today you may eat an unlimited amount of beef and vegetables. Eat to your hearts content.

The craving for food was higher today as I was just sitting in home on the weekend. With the previous days gone while being busy with work in office, sitting without any work pressed the stomach to take spicy and nutty food. It was a very hard day. Though you can eat unlimited amount of beef (meat), the fact we should eat without cheese or oil reduced the options. I settled down to sandwiches bought in Wal-Mart and removed the thick layer of cheese before eating it. But still managed to survive and the Diet continued.
Physical state: Just 1 more pound decreased. Made me wonder if I am doing anything wrong,
Mental state: I wanted to be in office so that the time will pass faster. Newton's law of relativity was playing its role.

The Final day: Today your food intake will consist of brown rice, fruit juices and all the vegetables you care to consume.

Fruit juices at last. The day passed with lots of watermelon juice and apples and watching "Tropic Thunder" helped in passing the time. And even when Srikanth, Vinayak and Satish suggested having ice-cream from Cold Stone Creamery, I was strong enough to sit next and watch them while they were eating "I love it" size of Banana Split, Cheesecake and Chocolate fantasy ice creams. I cleared the final test of controlling the temptation with flying colors.

The Verdict: Like a school kid awaiting the exam results, I was waiting for the Monday morning but only to realize that Vinayak had tampered the zero reading of the weighing scale and it showed almost 15 pounds less than my weight at the start of the week which can not be the truth. So with final approximation of how much he changed the reading, the total count came to 6 to 8 pounds. This is a great achievement for a guy who tried to reduce weight for the last 5 months but only increased by more than 10 pounds. So the final verdict is "GM diet works!"

The Best gift of the year!

Of all my birthday presents this year, the one that tops everything else is my sister's birthday mail. Nothing to be surprised of when you see what she gave me for the last year here.

So this year's wish was more than a painting. It was the visualization of a beautiful dream. I still feel flabbergasted reading it again and again being so proud of her. Thank you Chetai.

THERE IS A GARDEN ,
THE GROUND IS COVERED WITH SMALL GRASS,
THERE IS MANY FLOWERS ,
THERE IS A SMALL PARK IN THAT GARDEN ,THERE IS A BENCH IN THE PARK
YOU , ME , MOTHER ,FATHER ,PACKIA SISTER AND RAJADURAIMACHAN
NOT ONLY US ALL OF THEM PARIPA PERIMA ......
ARE SITTING IN THAT PARK AND ENJOYING

HOW DO YOU FEEL .....................

MANY MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Daffy Diner - GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daffy Diner Foosball Championship

Players:

Team 1: INJEY & Nimesh

Team 2: "Sucks" Srikanth & Vinayak the Rookie.

Commentators: Apple and Orange
Venue: Daffy Diner

Date: June 13th 2008, Friday

Time: 6:00 PM

Apple: Hello readers! Its a lovely day as I meet you once again on the daily match between the awesome Duo INJEY and Nimesh vs "Sucks" Srikanth & Vinayak the Rookie. This is your Apple on the air with Orange who has just stepped in.
Apple: Hello Orange. How do you feel today?
Orange: Thanks Apple. I am already feeling that its going to be a great match.
Apple: I too feel the same Orange. The excitement is in the air as every other day in the foosball tournament in this magnificentDaffy Diner room.
Orange: No doubt about that. The players are already holding the bar ready for the final game of the day.
Apple: Yeah! I can see that now. INJEY and the Rookie are in the defensive positions as usual with Nimesh and Srikanth taking the aggression.
Orange: But who knows where the aggression will start. You must be aware of INJEY's zap shots. The ball just passes from the goal keeper to the goal post on the other side at lightning speeds.
Apple: Hell yeah! Orange. Thanks for reminding me. God knows how he does that. But did you notice that we have Srikanth on the offensive side. And you can expect a tough competition here. And of course, those two would be playing in their own area leaving Nimesh and Vinayak with time to finish a beer.
Orange: Well said. Ok. I think the game is about to start. Please recall that it is 2-0 games in favor of INJEY & Nimesh now. Here we go and the ball is in.
Apple: Srikanth takes the first shot as usual.
Orange: And INJEY blocks it as usual. He returns it back to the center of the table.
Apple: Nicely picked by Nimesh. Did you notice, he has a knack of controlling the midfield.
Orange: It goes to Vinayak though. He does the cross shot and the ball passes untouched straight to INJEY.
Apple: Stopped again. Tries to hit straight but stopped by "Sucks" Srikanth.
Orange: Oh no! Here they go.
Apple: Srikanth strikes hard. But blocked. Pulls the ball and sends it cross to the side of the post. *Blocked* He waits while holding the ball.
Orange: This is going to be a tricky shot. And he does that. Right forward passes the ball to the middle man and off the shot goes back to the right end of the post.
Apple: Oh S#%t! INJEY stopped that. He returns it with a straight shot.
Orange: Zap! The first goal. What a shot! I bet the speed topped 30mph.
Apple: Here they compose for the game again and the ball is in.
Orange: Damn! Second goal. Direct shot by Nimesh from the 1st midfielder. No way for Vinayak to stop. 2-0 for Nimesh.
Apple: There was no time even to think. The ball is in again.
Apple: Srikanth zaps the ball to the post. But S#%t! INJEY is there already. He does the cross shot. Stopped by Srikanth. Blocked by INJEY. Held by Srikanth. Shot back to the post. What not. Blocked again.
Srikanth: Sucks!!!
Orange: Here he goes. Now you know why he is called "Sucks" Srikanth.
Apple: INJEY does the cross shot. It reaches the midfield now. Picked up by Srikanth. And he shows his Mid-field Cross court trick. The ball goes at 60 degrees from left to the right corner of the goal post.
Orange: Oh!!!!! That was close. It hit the post and gets to the safe legs of INJEY. Here he goes again with his zap shot.
Apple: That was lucky. Vinayak just happens to be in the right place in the right time for once.
Orange: And he sends it straight to INJEY.
Apple: Did you see that? The ball went very slow. But no one was able to touch that. I wonder how he does that?
Orange: Everyone here have tricks under their palms here.
Apple: The ball is on hold with INJEY. He plans hard and here it is. Hits the Attacker on the other end, gets deflected and jumps inside the post. GOAL!!!!!
Orange: Thats 3-0 to INJEY. It sure was a lucky goal. No doubt about that.
Apple: yeah! But in games like these, you are bound to get one now and then and you can't ignore it.
Orange: The ball is in again. Srikanth takes the shot and once AGAIN, INJEY blocks that.
Apple: A smile on Nimesh's face. INJEY sends it back. Nimesh picks it with his midfielders. The ball hits the corner of the table and back to Vinayak. He hits straight. Blocked by Nimesh. Vinayak holds it.
Orange: I think he is trying for the zap shot.
Apple: But its INJEY's own. Dont think he can..... GOAL!!!!!!! Nimesh does the counterattack to Vinayak's zap shot and now the score reads 4-0.
Orange: I think you should call it 4-L0ve.
Apple: *laughing* Sure Orange. 4-"L0ve forever" ha ha.
Orange: ha ha. Back to the game. INJEY is holding the ball. He hits it but is stopped by Srikanth. Srikanth does the Squeeze-through-the-sides trick.
Apple: Didnt work though. The ball is sent back to midfield by INJEY. Nimesh takes it and fires it out of the table.
Orange: What a shot! Bad it wasnt a goal. The game continues.
Apple: Nimesh blocks Srikanth's midfielder. Sends it to the attacker now. Vinayak gets ready now as the ball is still with Nimesh.
Orange: One mistake they have been doing is slowing down the game to plan. It elimiates the surprise on the opponent.
Apple: But you must understand the pressure inside the game. They have to breathe before they can think.
Orange: Nimesh still waiting with the ball. And flips it.... slow.
Apple: And its a goal! Vinayak moved early thinking its a fast ball.
Orange: And it cost them another point. 5-0.. sorry. 5-"L0ve".
Apple: Ball is in, Srikanth picks up but we know what happened then. INJEY sends it back.
Orange: Srikanth makes the mistake. He hit the ball back to his side instead.
Apple: And Vinayak sends it safe inside his own post. Its a self-goal!!!!!! 6-0.. "L0ve" again.
Orange: You can see Srikanth very furious now.
Srikanth: "Sucks!!!!"
Apple & Orange: AND WE KNOW WHY HE IS CALLED "SUCKS" SRIKANTH.
Apple: Oh my! I love this game. The ball is in "once again".
Orange: Srikanth hits. *Blocked* He sends it again. *Blocked* Tries the slow ball now. *Blocked again* Drags from the side and smashes. *BLOCKED*
Apple: No wonder he is furious. INJEY slips the ball with an angle shot.
Orange: INJEY is at his best today. 6 matches won at a straight already.
Apple: Lets see if he can continue that.
Orange: The ball is stopped by Vinayak. Tries for the straight shot. Blocked, held and returned back by Nimesh. Another score for Nimesh. 7-0.
Apple: Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Orange: Hell yeah! Could it happen? Lets wait and see.
Apple: The ball is in.
Apple: Another shot straight to INJEY. It is as if "He knows" where the ball goes.
Orange: Zap shot again!
Apple: But it misses the post and goes outside the table.
Orange: No one have ever done that remember. 7-0 is itself a record on its own.
Apple: There is always a first time for everything you know.
Orange: 3 more points to decide if today gets to be the first.
Apple: Zap!!!!!!!! This time by Nimesh. What a shot by the midfielder. 8-Love.
Orange: Srikanth is cursing the rookie now. ha ha.
Apple: Poor guy used to be a irritating sensation when INJEY takes the aggression bars. Now he is getting bashed up.
Orange: INJEY and Nimesh seems to be immersed inside the game.
Apple: Thats true. But all they have to do is to be patient and hold their breath.
Orange: .... and shoot a goal.... like this!!!!!! What a shot. Lucky one though.
Apple: The ball was deflected by almost every player on the table. Not sure which foosman should be awarded the goal.
Orange: No one is talking here. Everyone's heart beating in unison as we fight for the final point. 9-LOVE.
Apple: The ball is in. Srikanth takes the shot. Oh!!!!!!
Orange: So Close!!!! INJEY blocks... leaves it as the ball goes again towards the post. But then saved at the last fraction of the second.
Apple: He sends it back straight. Blocked by Vinayak. He returns back. It hits the corner on the other end straight to INJEY's men.
Apple: INJEY hits hard. Blocked by Srikanth and back to INJEY. He hits again and gets blocked again.
Orange: This time it is with Srikanth. He waits.
Apple: I cant believe what will happen if he makes it.
Orange: He goes for the Squeeze-through-the-sides trick!!!!!!
Apple: BLOCKED!
Orange: Phew! That was close. INJEY does the angle shot.
Apple: Blocked by Srikanth's midfielder. Does the Mid-field Cross court trick.
Orange: BLOCKED!
Apple: Returns it back with another angle shot.
Orange: Again held by Srikanth. But this time took over by Nimesh. He sends the ball to the corner.
Apple: Vinayak is there.
Orange: Geez! That was a perfect angle shot. The slow ball went untouched and almost makes to the goal post.
Apple: Sent back by INJEY. This play is extending longer than ever.
Orange: Another heartbeat skipped as the ball bounces back from Vinayak's goal post.
Apple: Lucky for him. Nice angle shot again but blocked by Nimesh's midfielders.
Orange: Yeah! Very lucky indeed. Nimesh shoots to the corner. Taken by Vinayak.
Apple: He tries for another angle shot but blocked by the attackers. He hits it again and this time it passes the attackers.
Orange: ..... and GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Apple: Unbelievable but true! Everyone is screaming now.
Orange: Can you believe the last shot?
Apple: Believe it or not! It happened today. What an end to the greatest game ever played as Nimesh tries Srikanth's own "Mid-field Cross court trick" and almost makes it.
Orange: But thanks to Vinayak's defenders, the ball was deflected to the goal post bringing the awesome game to an end of 10-"LOVE".
Apple: INJEY and Nimesh are giving high-five to each other while Srikanth and Vinayak get booed once again.
Orange: Does this mean that this is the end of Srikanth's trash talks?
Srikanth: Its all fluke man! total flukes!
Apple: Looks like the answer is "No". ha ha. What do you think INJEY and Nimesh would do about that?
Orange: Hmmm! If I know them right, they should let the losers talk. They did not win. Atleast let them do something that they are good at. "Talk".
Apple: Well said! Well said!
Orange: Ha ha. Thanks to everyone for joining us today. We hope to bring you more in the future. But don't hope for a comeback from Srikanth and Vinayak. They are off with just... "Talks". Good bye and have a nice day!

PS: I hope all the players take this post on the lighter side and continue 'talk'ing and try to play as every other day.

Vroooooooom on Friday the 13th

This is the latest update on the Go-karting races, I talked about in my previous post. Lot of happenings on this eventful Friday the 13th.

• The record was broken again as I vrooomed at a surprising 33.173 seconds beating my previous best of 33.548s.
• And once again I maintained in the Top 10 of the day list (actually 10th).
• Placed an average of 34.3s beating Sachin, the master of karts by more than a second.
• Yet lost 10 bucks in bet against Sachin on finding who gets the faster time in each lap. Damn! I should have placed bet on average time.

Go! INJEY! Go!

Okay, here we go.
Focus.
Speed. I am speed.
One winner.
Fourty-two losers.
I eat losers for breakfast.
No, no. Stay focused.
Speed.
I'm faster than fast,
Quicker than quick.
I am Lightning!
-- Lightning McQueen from the movie "Cars"

You think that I am flaunting about myself. Don’t you? But I don’t care. I won the race! Didn’t I?
It’s been just 2 months and I already won not just one race but two. What’s more? I beat my own personal best on the track and got into the Top 10 of that day. When I play Need for Speed, people always ask the same question, "What good do you get by racing in the computer?” And my answer would be "It lets me do what I could not do in the real world". But now, I got my chance in the form of Go-karting on the Victory Lane Indoor center just 10 miles from my home to put all the efforts and tricks into reality. Now don’t judge that this is some 5 mph kids track in theme parks like MGM and Kishkintha in India that even a child in his/her stroller can overtake. We are talking about professionally maintained track with fully geared 40 mph karts driven by experienced racers.

When Sachin (not the cricketer) introduced me to the world of karting, it was like entering a new world. But the only difference was that I sometimes get the feeling that I know the world very well. When I first started learning to drive the car, I understood one important lesson. You have to feel the car's movements within you. Your mind has to get together with the car's. Once that is done, you can control and drive the car in anyway you want. And this is what I did in the karting race as it is more important to know how to control the kart here. Too many sharp turns; you need to understand when to brake, slow down, overtake and zap. Believe me when I say, it is not easy as it seems while watching from the sides. With the small and flat body of the kart, you always tend to skid when you turn while speeding fast. And it is built as a safety measure inside the kart to slow down when you skid or turn rough. Add to this that picking up the speed again is not fast enough. So you have to very careful on what you do in turns. A lot of patience and experiments can tell you how to get around. Though few tips from the pros might help you, but it is always your experience that will count inside the track.

When I started my first race on 28th March 2008, I recorded my best time with 38.831 seconds which was 6.832 seconds behind the first place. I also realized that things so different when you compete with real people instead of AI in the computer game. 1. People don’t slow down for you to keep the race interesting. 2. They don’t try to hit you to get you off the track and so you can’t hit them too. 3. To make it worse, if you are shown a blue flag, you have to MOVE OVER for the guy who is coming faster behind you and that for a beginner like me is MOVING OVER for everyone else in the race. So I started counting on how many times I MOVED OVER instead of how many cars I over took and that had been the winning factor for most of the races. I always wanted to finish at least one lap with no one overtaking me. And I think I have achieved it once or twice in the 6 races in the last month. But June was different. I have started to count the number of times I overtake and it has reached 20 or more. And here I am winning my first race and entered the Daily hall of fame.

Does this mean there is something more ahead? It sure is. Watch over racers. A new rookie on the rise!

PS: I am compelled by the pure heart to mention that the races in June were mostly against new players that include Satman who appears to be a promising driver to challenge me soon, his roommate Seetharam, Vinayak who forgot that he is in a racing track and was searching for turn indicators in the kart, Nimesh who I crashed hard on the track for not MOVING OVER and his wife Bhakti who did not kill me for crashing her husband. More drivers welcome as long as they have zero experience in races (betting on horse races excluded). Go karting Go.

Finally it happened to me too

I once read a forward. It was nice with the picture of a small kid praying with closed eyes.

God give me Courage.

God give me Health.

God give me Wealth.

But God, please

don’t give me Strength.

For I will break my manager's skull.

Funny it was and was not different from what most people in IT industry speak about. Surprising though, I have not felt that I had such nerve breaking managers yet. And there were not many difficulties with the client too to make me pray that hard. Of course, there were and are few, I would prefer be stuck inside a worm hole (Not the one in the space). But never had a chance that would push me to drop my pen to avoid it hurting the other person. And that was until last week for I had the opportunity to pray like that kid in the email forwards.

Well-known for creating issues out of no where and prone to claim superiority over others; Mr. Biscuit was one I always tried hard not to judge. Marked as shrewd, cunning and in general a huge show-off trying to get attention all the time, he was also a best person for everyone to mock for fun. Lucky enough to see things from far side all these time, but this month brought us closer for building a small tree house, he being the customer and myself the engineer designing the house. The early weeks went on as expected with him asking for 40" widescreen TV to a swimming pool inside it. I was as usual calm with myself and decided to keep a iPhone instead of TV and a mug of water for the pool. Requirements were finalized and the team worked on the tree house building on the impractical necessities. After weeks of hard work with little hocus pocus and a drop of Felix Felicis potion, we were ready for the review last week.

On first look, he was even pleased with the ladder we had put to climb the tree. But then he complained that the number of steps is even. We decided to break one spoke on the top. Slowly we climbed up. Once we reached the entrance, he was worried that the door is opening inside. It was hard to convince him that if he tries to pull it outside, he would fall from the tree house. As we went inside, more and more comments poured in ranging from need for fireplace, ping-pong table inside this small 50 sq feet cabin and concrete lining inside the house so that the construction will be strong. Though I was able to control my anger to all these comments or requirements on the "Day of sale", my anger temperature shot out of the thermometer when he suggested building the house on the ground instead of the tree. But sill he wanted it to be called a "tree house". I wished that I could really build a tree house; make him stay inside and finally lit up the tree. The hell broke loose after that as I gave him one among the five. Heated arguments and exchange of spells and curses went on and on before he walked off saying that the house looked smaller than the tree. I was just glad he got jinxed at last.

What was so significant on this was this was the very first time, I have lost control of myself in a meeting and I don’t regret anything in it. All that mattered was that being right in what I do, I deserve the right to say what I feel is right. Customer or your manager is just a person on the service you provide. You can do your best to listen and understand them. But never must you loose your self-esteem for any reason. I hope that I can maintain the same as I travel through my career and meet more challenging persons in the future.

New roommate to the extreme!

I agree, I have had worse shocking moments before and I have met people from the completely opposite side of my world. I have friends who vaguely remember Mario as a coin collecting game. And worse, Pac man is someone who packs the gifts for the post man. I used to grind my teeth hard and squeeze out the stress buster in those moments of pain and disbelief.
But come on. You can't ask me who Prince of Persia is. For a guy who carried a stick and jumped over the roof of closely built houses in our village just to imitate the great savior of the damsel in distress, asking such a question explodes the arteries pumping the blood fast out of my heart. Had I not been reading about the next installment of POP Saga: Heir Apparent from Game Informer magazine, I would have gone to the kitchen, heat the pan and keep my fingers over it to test if this is some nightmare? It makes me doubt if the dooms day have arrived when no good is known to humans. But I withheld the pain within myself and answered him explaining the legends of the great hero of the computer gaming industry very calmly.
And do you know why? After watching the movie "Forbidden Kingdom" last week, he asked me who "Jackie Lee" is. I could have beaten myself to death, but was saved as he corrected himself that he know "Jackie Chan" but not the other monkey hero( Jet Li).

I still need to understand that the world is so diverse and there exists people in such far extremes from us.

Tour de Atlanta on a Pontiac - The Perfect Start

A perfectly planned tour is not possible for me to plan. Best example was our New Year Eve's plan to go to a beach and enjoy the night while they lower the huge silver ball into the sea. But we were planning for a long time that we ended up being kicked out of the dance floor from a local pub. From that day, I decided to let things happen on its own and enjoy whats in the store. And trust me, it is always fun. Now consider the last weekend trip to Atlanta. We talked about the tour on Wednesday; cancelled it on Thursday and again decided to go on Friday afternoon. And it happened to be one of the best tours in US.
On Wednesday, when I and S who had come to Charlotte recently were just talking, S suggested a trip to near by place. A call was made to R and was told that we will be in Atlanta for the weekend. Cancelling all his important assignments like "sleep for 16 hrs", "chat for 20 hrs" and "don’t see the sunlight for 2 days", he agreed. But on the next day, R was given a transfer out of Atlanta. And we believed it. We did not think that he was trying to avoid us. But the good soul in him woke up again on Friday and there I was renting a Pontiac G6 for our 250 mile drive to Atlanta. "This is going to be fun", I said.
It was a perfect start with a thrilling ride. We started late as usual around 8:30 PM instead of the planned 6:00PM. With S insisting that she will drive first, I took the maximum risk and seated tight in the passenger seat. And though it was night, the day already looked bright as lost the way. For people who don’t know me, getting lost on the way is de-facto for every trip. And that happens even when we have a GPS speaking out the directions in a female voice. Like every other man on the planet, I always find it very difficult to listen to women and I take the wrong turn at least once in every trip. It is funny that even a computer generated female voice proves to be female that it never finds the easiest path to get back on the track. May be women hate saying U-turns. It is always their turn for everything. That is why they ask you to drive a mile and go for a circle through deserted roads and woods before finally bringing back to the road at least 5 miles behind. But I did not realize that S would also do the same. Waiting for Exit 10B, we forgot to take Exit 10 and had to go through woods before we took a U-turn as we noticed huge trucks and scary drivers blocking the way. Luckily, we did not run over any stranger and no axe yielding hitchhiker crossed our path. It is heartening that we have not got any letter saying "I know what you did last weekend". At 8:30 PM we had our dinner in Burger King, thanks to S for insisting that she will pay for the dinner out of her violet colored wallet. With food done, we continued the travel again. But this time, it was a safe journey with me behind the wheels. So by 12:14 AM, 30 mins ahead of the schedule, GPS brought us the good news "We are at the destination". The only problem was that we were stuck at the back of red-brick walled building which did not appear to be R's home. And there we go again to denote that we are in the perfect trip getting lost again with the GPS.

Apple and Orange - Words do slip sometimes

There are places where we say things without any thoughts. Deliberate or unintentional, Apple's words always ends in trouble with Orange.




Scene 1:
Apple just changed to the driver's seat which was occupied by Orange earlier and is adjusting the rear-view mirrors. Orange is sitting back in the rear seat of the car complaining about her back pain. Banana is seated in the passenger's seat in the front.
Orange: My back is paining a lot.
Banana: Were you carrying anything yesterday?
Apple finds that all the mirrors are in the wrong position.
Apple: (Completely unaware of the current conversation) MAN!!!
Orange: KABOOM! (hits Apple)
Apple: Adingada. Aana ethuku adikireenganu sollitu adeengada (Vadivelu style)

Scene 2:
Orange: Hey look! They are drawing Caricatures.
Apple: Forget it! How about taking a photo of you?
Orange: POW!

Scene 3:
Orange: (to a good looking stranger) If you dont mind, can you take a photo for me?
Stranger with a big smile takes the photo of Apple, Orange and Banana
Banana: In this huge crowd, how come girls always lend the camera only to "good-looking guys"
Orange: Why? If it were you, you would give it to some "cute-girl"
Apple: Why the hell would I do that? ( thinking "I would probably ask her to join me in the photo")
Orange: BANG! (thinking "I know what you are thinking")

Scene 4:
Apple: Did you notice that X is the only single girl in our group.
Orange: Hmmm.... (then thinks)..... you forgot about me.
Apple: *chuckles* yeah! I forgot you are a girl.
Orange: DOOM!