India did shine in Athens....

kudos to the brilliant perofmance by Mr. Rathore, India's only saving grace in Athens.. barring that single silver medal, india returned void.... and our sports authorities would continue to say, this is only a beginning.. we have created history.. etc... hey, some one please tell me, when will we pass through this fledgling phase? in another 30 yrs??

on the flip side, am quite happy about china's (rightly called the asian lion) performance.... second only to USA in medal tally.. ma waiting for the olympic edition where china tops the winners...

ma back at work after a week's off.. been to my native place for Onam... i was in need of a break..

only 80 days for CAT 04... gotta run:-)

so long
roy

The charm of Haiku..

haiku, for the uninitiated, is one of the most important form of traditional japanese poetry; terse, pithy and cute... it was through a friend's blog that i came to know about haiku... spent a couple hrs trying to understand what haiku is all about... boy, i was captivated by the beauty of these pieces of poetry... though, haiku by birth is japanese, you can write a haiku in any language.. english, spanish, finnish etc.... it is all about sticking to the set of guidelines, which define a typical haiku...

take a shot at these samples from the web.... amazing indeed!!!

An old pond!
A frog jumps in-
The sound of water.

The first soft snow!
Enough to bend the leaves
Of the jonquil low.

In the cicada's cry
No sign can foretell
How soon it must die.

and needless to say, ma became a hardcore haiku aficionado now.. and my piece will come here in a couple days....

me outta town for a vacation...
adieu to blogging for a while..

so long
roy

Dramtic moments from Athens!!

i missed the drama unfolded in the Olympic aquatic stadium yesterday.. 21 yr old american aron peirsol cruised to victory in the men's 200 m backstroke.. he was well ahead of the silver medallist marcus rogan from austria... it was heart breaking to see the score board showing DSQ against peirol's name.. he was disqualified!! well, you are on cloud nine when you come to know that you have won a gold for your country in an Olympics.. nothing beats the feeling.. and it is deadly when u hear that the medal is going to be stripped off from u... anyways, it was a life for peirol.. moments before the award ceremony, he was cleared of the 'foul'... a technical error from the lane referee... kudos... he is there on top of the world again...

the austrian was disappointed too, albeit for a moment.. but he was quick in shoving off that euphoria... let me quote from rogan straight away...

"For a moment, I thought about gold and the idea was just beautiful, but after all, it's fair like this. No medal is as beautiful as a friendship."

coolio.... i love that....

on a side tragic note... doping rocks the indian contigent again, with the latest entrant being sana macha chanu... three cheers there lady.. keep the spirit up:-)

and india's only hope for a Gold, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi surrendered to the german duo Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler... quite an unceremonious exit.....

so long
roy

Kudos to the Dreamers!

Dreams... as brazen as they come
Red as roses and soft as a feather
Taking you to the most intriguing fantasies!
The vicarious fulfillment of cherished wishes!

For a moment, you think
Am living that long longed life
Ephemeral... yet gratifying
On a real note, the physical world, where you face the harsh realities
Is no fantasy!

Learn to dream, if that does come easy..
And kudos to the dreamers!!
You are a bunch of awesome acheivers...

And thats the end of my reverie...
Am back at work...

so long
roy

Corporate Whitepapers??

ma writing all types of tech docs these days... starting from feasibility reports to random evaluation notes.... guess what, i end up churning out at least couple of docs every week.. the CEO goes for a prospective customers' meet, the sales manager making a presentation on extra features in an imminent product release, the content for new promotionals.. i need to come up with docs for all such trivia..

ma doing a bull **itting write up on prop-up blockers... hehe.. we need to convince a few of our tech savvy customers as to why our latest application falls victim to those little monsters called pop-up blockers... so it's docs all the way... corporate bull **itting:-)

so long
roy

The cute hurricanes???

a monster hurricane thrashed through the neighbourhoods of florida, demolishing hundreds of buildings, putting 13 people to death... the culprit is charlie.. all those hurricanes do invariably have sweet names.. the ones which rhyme with love, sophistication and politness....

see the list for a start.... the smiling, unscrupulous assassins??

Arlene, Bret, Cindy,Dennis,Emily,Franklin,Gert,Harvey,Irene,Jose,Katrina,Lee,Maria
Nate,Ophelia,Philippe,Rita,Stan,Tammy,Vince,Wilma...

the list is endless... and the best of my picks, irene...:-)

so long...
roy

Wither capital punishment.....

14 august 2004, the day when dhananjoy chatterjee gets hanged to death for raping and murdering a teenage girl.. well, this was a controversial case, started in the early nineties.. his mercy plea was rejected by the president and is waiting for death sentence... am not sure about the timing for the execution...mebe, in the wee hrs.. all i can say is that capital punishment is so barbaric and has to be abolished by legislation...

well, the antagonists to capital punishment include well known film maker aparna sen and magsaysay awardee mahasweta devi.... anyways, the president had a tough decision to make and he did indeed make a choice...

the man did commit a heinous crime and it has been proved. but it is not fair to kill a man just because he killed somebody... we really do not have the right to take away the lives of fellow beings.. that extra wisdom.... thats where man raise above the rest of the animal
kingdom... a life sentence would have been more justifiable.... am hoping the legislation would change for better:-)

so long
roy

The sole winner in Athens Olympics!!

came across this truly inspiring news while reading through the morning newspaper today.. 16 year old Dana Nasarella will represent Kuwaiti Women in Athens Olympics.. she is the first woman athlete representing her country.. kuwait is slowy yielding to the liberals, thrashing the fundamentalists' intransigence on various issues.. women enjoy more freedom in the society these days, barring the right to vote of couse... coming to Dana... she will compete in 100 M sprint.. the fact that she is nowhere near world standards', clocking a mediocre 13+ sec, is not going to be a deterrent.. and am sure she will finish last in the very first heats itself.. but thats a different story... it is the spirit of participation and the taste of freedom!! nothing else matters... way to go dana...

so long
roy

India in Olympics...

hey.. time to watch out for those breath taking moments when indian members compete in a handful of items (as ever..) in the Athens Olympics... well, here is my take on India's would be achievements..

athletics, the 4x400m relay squad with beenamol in the lead has a slim chance to barge into the semi finals.. the US team looks formidable in this exciting event..

anju boby george, if she can keep up the tempo and raise her performance level under severe pressure, she would end up with a bronze... and there is no doubt about her entry into the finals..

binu is not game enough for 400 mtrs race.. not world class to say the least.. india's shooting team led by Sunny Thomas is a cool squad!! we might end up with a couple medals from the shooting events...

leander and mahesh would bring a coveted Gold from the venerable olympic venue... reasons enough to celebrate for the indian contingency??

so long...
roy

Snapshots from Hell!!

I knew that this book is famous.. And got a chance to grab a copy during last weekend.. I was not disappointed either. A wonderful creation by Peter Robinson. A must read for all BSchool aspirants I would say... I was captivated... Didn't even close the book once I started reading... Lay your hands on this book... A must read indeed.....

so long
roy

The CAT Game...

Belling a CAT doesn't come easy, especially when it refers to the entrance exam to the venerable Indian Institutes of Management... And this is going to be my second shot at that monster of all exams.. Have joined TIME's test series... And the first of the series started yesterday, 01 August.. The test was easy by all means.. Did pretty well in English, as I always do.. But messed up maths and Di.. miles to go before i sleep... DI needs lots of practice... have decided to try atleast one set a day..

Today we had a buffet lunch at hotel Mascot, KTDC's flag hotel in the city.. the menu was fabulous... our relatives, who are NRIs based in UK, pretty much enjoyed the food.. sudesh has even decided to stay there for a couple days... and am back to office at 4:00 PM...

Sabbatical!!

I was away on a sabbatical, for almost two months.. this blogging thingie never came up in my mind. been busy with office work, plus the usual burdens of house hold chores.. of late, the work pressure has been tremendously high... guess, the Bschool rule (8:59:59) could be applied at my work place, albeit on a lighter scale.. guess what, we are a wonderful bunch of guys at work.. and no gals there:-)... maybe, that adds to the stress of my colleagues?? most of them are bachelors!!

again, on the personal front, ambili had to forgo her job to look after the kids.. the old lady, who used to take care of the kids, left all on a sudden, citing some weird personal reasons... and the kids ended up on their mother's lap... but, i know, ambili always wanted to work.. she loves to have a job, an income of her own.. financially independent... etc.. maybe, it is only a question of time before she got the job she always wanted to have....

and it slipped my mind... CAT is three months away... shorter than that... gotta be in full steam from now on.. TIME Mocks start tomorrow.. and am at office, blogging away my leisures..

so long
roy

Sankhumukham Beach... City dwellers' paradise...

Yet another weekend and a sickening monday morning.. We had been to Sankhumukham beach, one of the busiest beaches here, especially during the weekends..It is almost three kms from the city. The city residents do not have many options to roam around with family.. Come saturday evening, they pack off to either museum, veli or to sankhumukham beach.. The options are only a handful. Among these three, shankhumukham scores on a higher scale.. Broad and serene beach, cemented walkway, which stretches for almost a km, the venerable indian coffee house, a gamut of entertainments for kids in the nearby park..

Kids love to play in the sand.. Of late, Devi has become adept at sand modeling, castles being her favorite.. She loves to play in the water, holding my hands of course.. I always find the waves there kinda deceptive, so takes extra care of Devi.. Nandan is slowly getting used to it.. The roaring waters have not caught her attention till today; loves to play in the sand instead.. Wife takes care of Nandu while me and Deva enjoy at the waterfront.. It is fun to watch the kids play.. And talking to your dear one is no exception either..

We usually wind up with piping hot coffee from the ICH (Indian Coffee House)... Me prefers strong and without while deepthy goes for light (with sugar of course..).. Devi, as usual, settles for a masala dosa... Occasionally, Deepthy orders one or two cutlets and a dosa.. It is enough for Nandu to have a few helpings from this...

And adieu to the beach around 8:00 PM... In our cute little Zen... Waiting for the next week end...

So long
roy

Arya Nivas... A gourmet's delight

yup... i love to talk about anything related to the culinary art.. i like good food and would like to call myself a connoisseur in that..

we have been to Arya Nivas, a popular veggie joint in the heart of the city.. it is at aristo junction near thampanoor.. the place is always crowded, taxies, autos, ksrtc buses, long distance tourist services etc... you are lucky if you get some place in front of the restaurant to park your vehicle. luck was with us yesterday, got enough space there to squeeze in my Zen there.. we were six altogether.. me, my wife, our two kids, our kunjamma and her daughter, who came from london for a short visit to their ancestral home..

raveena, kunjamma's daughter and my wife's cousin, was all excited to be there.. she wanted something simple and kerala like in a pretty neat ambience.. kunjamma was thinking in the same line too.. i ran to the upstair's A/C restaurant to make sure that we get seats to be together.. luck being at my side, we got a comfortable eight seater to the side..and devi, our daughter got a baby chair, for which she was so grateful to the waiter, giggling all the way...nandu was enjoying himself, in his own way.. smiling at strangers sitting across, tossing the salt and pepper sets... it was all fun...

well.. me and wife ordered masala dosa.. devi went for ghee roast, she doesn’t like the masala stuffed inside.. kunjamma preferred onion oothappam and raveena decided to go for masala dosa... the food arrived in time.. the dosas were neatly done, crispy at the ends, with fresh hot masala stuffed in.. the accompaniments were finger licking good.. the coconut chutney, sambar and cumin chutney were real great.. enough to tickle our taste buds.. kunjamma decided to wash off the stuff with a glass of badam milk, raveena and devi went for plain orange juice.. coffee being my favorite beverage always, me didn’t have to make another choice.. and my wife gave me company there... except that i opted for a perfect blackie... the coffee was awesome... we said adieu at 10:00PM...

hey.. arya nivas.. here we come again....we love the place and the food too...

so long
roy

Devi got hurt in a fall...

Devapriya is my daughter.. She has been to play school last year and is all set to move to KG this year.. Come june and she will be a KG Kid, hehe.. I call her Devi, my wife prefers Deva.. differing tastes eh.. Devi loves to dance.. She watches almost all music channels, dancing to the tunes, mimmicking the steps.. Sometimes, she comes out with her own steps too... It is fun when she demonstrates a step which is mere clapping of hands and moving the left leg a bit forward... LOL.. so much for dancing.. I love Devi.. she is cute... This is not to ignore my son Ananthapadmanabhan... It is not yet time for his actions.. I am looking forward to meet another Tom (Mark Twain...) in the making.. duh!

Devi got hurt yesterday.. She was kinda mimmicking a dance step, standing beside the window on our bed.. She lost balance and fell to the ground... Her head collided onto the sharp edge of the wall projection near the ground.. The cut was not deep but was enough to throw her off balance.. Deepthy (my wife) called at my office soon.. I was kinda tensed up. We took her to the casualty wing at SUT.. Needed two stitches.. Anyways, it is all okay now.. She is recuperating fast... Maybe, the effect of couple of those ice creams I offered her for keeping a cool face while the doctors inspected her wound..:-)

She is at home, glued to the TV, watching her favorite cartoon network... I love Devi, Nandu and my beloved wife Deepthy... so much.. so much..

so long
roy

Working out is no fun...

Me, being a fitness freak, love to talk about the pleasures of working out regularly.. Been doing that for almost three years. Getting up at 5:00AM regularly is no fun.. People know this would appreciate..

Well, the Gym I work out is about two km from my home.. It is at Palayam, behind the market.. Of course, it is not affected by the buzling activities there. The Gym is aptly named Power.. My session starts at 6:00 AM and continues till 7:15AM.. Me into the fitness stream, so no weight training there. One thing I love about Gymming is the good network of friends I have made there... Students, working professionals, business men, pensioners.. the list goes on.. Being physically fit bolsters your confidence level quite a bit.. Power is a place worth a visit.. Take a look at the facilities there.. Complete with a spa.. boy, it it gotta be cool! The place is well maintained, parking lots galore.. The instructors are very much friendly and you develop kinda personal relation with them.. And what do you gain? A shapy structure indeed..

so long
roy

Elections and after....

I am not the right person to comment on India Elections 2004. But, at the end, the results have come out in favour of the common man I would say.. They have echoed their feelings in more ways than one.. The results of the Loksabha polls in Kerala is a point in case... The LDF hogged the show by bagging all the seats, barring one... And this shows how fedup the people of Kerala were with the anarchy, rampant corruption and the group fights in the Congress party.... The leaders were so shamelessly bold, in defending their stands.... The leader and his kids were defeated by huge margins, again showing the way out for legacy politics..

Well... The Manmohan Singh led givernment at the center has a plethora of tasks at hand.. Getting the allies together and moving ahead is a task under hand.. And Mr. Manmohan Singh seems to be good at that.. The first list of ministers and the portfolio allocation justifies this.. I am looking forward to see how he carries forward the dreams of millions of people living under the poverty line by giving them an opportunity to live, learn and work for their bread... All this upholding our secular tradition... We should never see another Gujarat like carnage..

Hehe.. I missed a point there.. I really hope that the new ministry will not interfere with higher educations of international satature such as IIMs and IITs...Allowing them to grow unfettered... Food for thought!!

So long..
Roy

Monday comes again...!

The Weekend passed in a jiffy..

We have been to my wife's family home at Varkala.. It is hardly an hrs drive from the city. Kids love the place.. It is an old, tiled, wooden house in a serene and tranquil atmosphere.. Far from the madding crowds! The nearest neighbour is well beyond a full throated shout, I would say.. Rice fields dot the eastern side and there is a narrow stream flowing beside the rice fields.. It was fun playing with my kids there.. They were busy throwing large round leaves into the water; and these were supposedly their huge warships..: Fighting each other to lead the way.. My daughter burst into tears when her Ship was stuck onto a bulging rock in the midst of the steam.. The row ended there and it was time for lunch.... We packed off on Sunday evening and reached here at about 7:30 PM... Quick dinner and back to bed...

Well, it's Monday again.. Yet another week of hectic schedule at office.. Same for my wife, albeit having different timings.. She starts at 7:30 AM and back at home at about 4:00 PM... Well, the kids go wild during the day... It is tough for them...

Coming back to my Monday sickness... I share the same lousy feeling as Tom Sawyer had for Mondays... The mere thought of a Monday is enough to give me a head ache... The long list of mails to sift through... Project meetings... The late stay at office... It is sickening indeed... But again, this is part of life... I hope to grow up sometime to bid farewell to this Monday syndrome....

with love
roy

My Blog unfolds...

Hi...

This is going to be my first blog... Hell.. no.. I used to host one on rediff till a few months ago.. That got abandoned, scrapped... or whatever way you could look at it.. Poor maintenance, never got a chance to look at my blog after creating it with such an enthu.. And to add to the woes, I lost the password.. Tried my veins out to recollect, it never worked. Wondering which of my usual stocks did I provide their..

Now it's time to start another blog on the wall.. And this time on blogspot. On a serious note, I dont want to see this as yet another blog on the wall. This should look different in content... It should be articulate enough to catch the attention of the readers...may be a bit sexed up in content:-).. Well... I have decided.. It gotta be candid enough, no showing offs here..

Probably, I will start off with my favourite online forum.. pagalguy.com..The most comprehensive online resources for CAT preparation.. For the uninitiated, CAT is the common admission test for admission to the prestigious management programmes of Indian Institute of Managements.. I wrote CAT last year and was a fiasco.. And trying again this time.. And I am determined to crack it.. Pagalguy.com (everybody calls it pg..) is part of my soul now.. I have already changed my default home page in my browser to pagalguy.com.. Thats the kinda attachment I've got with this online redezvous of like minded people from all over india.. Students, working people, people in the twenties to people in the early thirties (me belong to the latter group.. hehe..)

So long...

More tomorrow...
roy