Barcamp2 Chennai

Today I was there to the first ever barcamp in my life. My friend ramanujam has said a many times to me about barcamp and the great enthusiasm and the knowledge foundation which will exist there. For the first time I experienced it live and I was having the best time learning about many new things. I attended many sessions and really got a good knowledge. The session on making young coders and designers together towards a social cause was the first one and it was a new form of corporate life which they were discussing about. Then I attended sessions on ruby on rails, role of IT in our dream home and then the best of all was the session on Open system mapping. I’m very eager to know about the happenings tomorrow too and I want to go to bed soon so that I don’t miss anything tomorrow. I was filled with so much energy when I was amidst the techie people and I learnt many new things and have started to google on them. Will blog in detail about the event after I come home tomorrow.

Decision for Career

I was never ever in such confusion before. This is the idlest time I’m into now. I completed my engineering in computer science and now sitting simply for the date of joining. I thought this time will just go on and I won’t have any stress or boring time as we used to enjoy the one month leave when we were in college. But we have started feeling that it would be better if we go to college or some where else outside. The toughest job in this world is to be idle and I completely experience it in my day to day life. Though I do a lot of blogging and hang out with friends, play cricket and do all those stuff, it is idleness to the core. I took into considerations many factors like doing a computer course, trying for some other job etc. But nothing seemed to work out.
Till the month of august I was very clear about my future and career. But due to the forcing and compulsion of the people around me to do some higher studies abroad started the confusion. I’m an ultimate patriot and I didn’t want to leave India for any reason. This was the major reason why I didn’t even think about higher studies. But all my fellow mates and my sister kept telling to do higher studies at least in the years to come. The present scenario added fuel to the fire ignited by them.
I’m not getting my date of joining and even after I get my date of joining, I have no chances of a guaranteed career in future. I’m not blaming the companies but the financial crisis which is going on now is making out such situations to arise. I also have a really big dream of starting an orphanage and a home for abandoned and I have put myself the deadline that I should achieve it by the age of 30 at the maximum. But seeing the situation now and the experienced candidates also being removed from the information technology firms, I have no other go than to go for the higher studies.
So I started off with the GRE preparation with my friend suggesting the number2.com and said if you follow it then it is very easy to crack GRE. He also added that it is very difficult to follow it. I already have a poor knowledge in English and my vocabulary is really poor. When I started from beginning I was totally feared about GRE and I stopped the preparation.
Now after a very good analysis and discussion with my experienced friends sriram and kavin, I have decided to take up the GRE and get into some good university for fall 2010. I should also get the money ready for the beginning preparations at least by that time which I’m confident I will. All the things I do are to get my dream satisfied and for that I’m ready to leave my mother India in two years. Sorry mom, not permanently but to establish a caring home in your land. I need all your wishes and your guidance and the constant support from my friends which is one of the greatest boosters for me till date. Just thought of sharing these things going on in my mind and so have did it too. Now I feel lighter, better!

Meet with Chinmayi

The day was the one of the most expected day in my life. I was feeling like floating in the skies as I was all set to meet the sweet voice which very often disturbs me in dream- Chinmayi. It was a great event which I never thought would happen. I just posted a thread in orkut in her community and all of a sudden everyone started replying and finally Chinmayi also accepted.

Me, Harish, Vinod started from tambaram and we were joined by Parthasarathy anna in west tambaram and we started to TVS. From there we went to spencers to get a gift for our super singer and from there we reached Amethyst where the meeting was to be held.
We thought around ten members would be there which would be a decent strength. The people who joined with us: Maha, GaneshPrasad, Ramkumar, Karthik, Vivek, Deepan,Aravind(Innocent soul),Vinayak,Karthik,Ramesh Ram. We had totally 13 members and we waited for some five minutes and then we turned back to see chinmayi coming with here mom.

When we gave the bouquet, she said "what formality is this? I said no, right." But she accepted that one. We introduced ourselves. She already knew our name thro this community. She asked us to order something. We said that we had took our lunch already. She asked us to order something. But all the items in the menu was very new to us. They are with different names. We ordered something wat we needed.

Then we started asking questions. But we have not prepared. We asked the questions whichever came into our mind at that time. I first started. My first quetion "How Rahman Sir identified you and made you to sing in that movie?" She said "Singer Srinivas introduced me to him. I participated in the Sapthaswarangal. Srinivas was the judge then. He took me to Rahman Sir. Rahman Sir made me to sing in that movie? My first song is 'oru theivam thantha poove' from Kannathil muthamittaal."

Aravind asked "What about Anbulla snegithi in which you had sung a song". She replied "Kannathil muthamittaal was my first song. But Anbulla snehithi released first. When I completed Kannathil muthamittaal, Mani Sir(Director Manirathnam) recommended for that one. Everyone was very eager to meet the person who was recommended by Mani Sir. It was none other than me."

Aravind again asked "You have been committed for the movie Robo as heroine. Is it true?". We laughed together. Chinmayi too laughed with us. She said "Rahman Sir may call me and ask me to sing a song in that movie. I am not the heroine." (While Aravind asked this question, She did not get tensed or did not get angry at all. She replied quietly for this queston. Very kind of her.) (courtesy : Parthasarathy bro)


We heard lots of things about the happenings of super singer, the marriage plans for chinmayi from her mom and we had lots of fun kidding her and all felt that we were on cloud nine. Right from the first minute she arrived till she left, she and mom maintained a lovely feel that none of us felt that we were with a celebrity guest. It was like a meeting with a friend and we started asking questions to her and then asked our favorite songs to be sung. Looking forward to meet her at regular intervals in future.

Varanasi Trip

I started to varanasi on 16^th last month and I was back to Chennai on 4^th of this month. Fifteen days there was awesome with great time roaming in almost all the streets of varanasi with my cousin brother. I have my grandfather, my uncle and his family there. I was with my mom there after ten years and so we were totally there to enjoy. As the beginning of the outing plans, first I visited the birla temple which is inside the world famous banaras Hindu university and there I had a nice milk shake with my brother. I almost had all the places visited there and nearly it was daily outing near or far, but all together gave loads of fun.

The places I visited include kasi viswanathar temple, Devi Annapurani temple, Shri kalabairavar temple, the worldwide traditional Buddha temples at Sarnatha, Ganga river(gangaji), nook and corner of the renowned Benaras Hindu University and many other small temples in and around my grandpa’s house there.

The place is not so remote as I thought it would be. It has developed a lot and the place as a entire one to say is having pilgrimage feel in such places and other places are very modern only. I can rarely find girls in chudis! “Great development”!

The times I was there in my grandpa’s house, the schedule is as follows: Wake up at 7 a.m, have a good conversation with my grandpa regarding all topics that would come under the sky and then tasting the hot coffee, going through the news papers, take bath by ten or so, eat by 10.30. Here I have to stop to say a lot about my aunt’s preparation as she made special meals not for the first or second day but for all the fifteen days. Koftha, paneer masala, aloo tikki and a sweet everyday! I had my bellies filled 24/7. Then I will go upstairs with my brother to continue the morning sleep till two or so. Then my brother will have a great game of badminton (not really great, but felt good to play it after a long time). There was a gang of youngsters to accompany in the game but they proved to be Kedis at the young age and moreover the language problem was also there. So we planned the outings in the evening so that we can go out and have great time.

I didn’t even think that there would be a bigger mall than city centre in that place. I’m not saying city center as a great one, but to see a mall bigger than that at varanasi was amazing. It also had a multiplex in it and I watched “Mere baap, pehle aap” and it was a great one as the movie starred genelia. The story was old but the screenplay was cool. After the movie my uncle got me a jeans. The race vehicle which helped me and my cousin to go all around varanasi is “Sunny”. The great vehicle which really cried to move on the roads was of good use to roam.

There were many unknown relatives who became familiar in this trip. I had the chance to write tamil poems on two occasions one for my uncle’s silver jubilee anniversary and one for the marriage of "my latest Sister Sangeetha akka".My wishes once again for her new life (Anyway i will go for the marriage and have full treat...thats different :D). We had kutchery sessions in the evenings, mimicry samples and lots of small talks.

I heard many stories from my grandpa which I missed in my childhood and also some political secrets which he knew, he shared. I also had the chance to go through the history of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya which is going to come as a book written by my grandpa. Even at this age he does all his works on his own and writes books often. He can be taken as the source of inspiration for dedication and hard work. As an overall one it was a great trip and my cousin was in tears when we were leaving and so he made all our hearts heavy when we left. I boarded the train on 2^nd and was back to Chennai on 4^th. A great place to visit and my mom is also so happy to be in her birthplace after ten years, me too!

So far...this holiday

It has been so long I posted in this web diary of mine. The main problem is the obvious one which keeps saying me, “don’t put computer for more than a hour, virus will come.” Beyond that only I’m sitting in my computer and making my posts and chatting with friends online, possible. So I would like to post the happenings in a gist with the brief description so far.

My exams ended on 8^th may and the same day I started to veerabandi(theni) with my friends to witness the thiruvizha which we have been waiting for so long. The complete shift of the place from the looks which we witnessed last time made us realize the zeal of the festival. We had loads of fun there roaming in the thiruvizha in the night time watching the bike and car show and eating all possible stuff around. The next day we went to arun’s thoppu to have nungu. We ate so much that we got our bellies filled. From there we went to bath in running water which wasn’t so good this time due to the heavy crowd. Then the next day we went with our family to the thoppu and cooked and ate there. It was a great experience sitting in a grove and eating with rain drops falling down.

The final day we decided to go to kodaikanal the queen of hill stations. So we bid adieu to our family and then we left for kodailkanal. There we had lots of fun going to all the tourist places for the entire day We came back to Chennai on 13^th morning. (FOR PHOTOS CLICK HERE)

14^th and 15^th was those two days when we found our juniors so responsible. It was because of the tata consultancy services on campus recruitment process. We went as volunteers and it was great to see most of our juniors doing well in the interview process. Though the result overall wasn’t the number expected, it was a happy occasion to see our juniors getting into the company.

21^st may I went to satyam cinemas with my school friends to watch Chronicles of narnia prince Caspian. It was a different day amidst the normal schedule of going to friends house and watching movies there.

The next one was in the successive day, the outing with our college friends to city centre and inox to watch santosh subramaniyam for the second time…boo hoo…but we had a nice time criticizing each and every part of the film. Then we came out and had lunch at the food court and till that moment we were enjoying with normal heads and the news of the results injected tension in our heads. Though we were so relaxed in the last semester, when it came to the results it was terror only. Everyone had their own reaction for the result and then we had a great time in the fun world and then we moved to marina beach. There we all played with kites symbolizing our completion of degree. It was a great day after a long gap with our college friends.

(FOR PHOTOS CLICK HERE)

The next one was the best one in this holiday. The interview process at Sutherland which made me clear as what I have to do in these holidays. The call centre culture and the over strict rules made me decide not to go to part time or so. It was a two day period on 25^th and 26^th which made me clear as what I have to do in this holiday.

It was june 1,2008 and it was sarathys brothers marriage on that day. We all moved to the hall by evening and we had great time there meeting friends from almost all the departments. The dinner was brilliant with a new sweet chipoori and buffet for ice cream were the plus points of the dinner menu. The day ended with a bribe to the traffic police for samba not having the license.

Then came june 6^th which was the day which we all waited thinking we can make the reception fun with our dance and others. We got ethnic uniform of paijama kurtha and we all assembled there by 7. Me and sid were there for the marriage also which was more fun due to the presence of the “Vathiyar-the man” who made the morning session fun filled and also descriptive and informative. But in the reception the light music group had a melody list and we had a last laugh by dancing for the last song which was special request of jackpot kushboo…i.e kavin preethi who looked the previously mentioned name on that day…(in dressing sense alone). Then as it was too late to come back home, I stayed at vijay’s house and came home the next day.

Yesterday, 9^th june we had a get together with our school friends after a really long gap. It was like a breeze over the school memories and it was a great time to see friends whom I haven’t seen for the past four years. We had a great time. For more info on yesterdays outing, click here.

Thank god that I have got lots of friends so that they are making it possible to spend the holidays happily escaping the sui ki situation and there are many other plans for the days to come. So holidays…no more boring one!

Birthday celebration!

Yesterday I had the occasion of marking twenty one years of my existence in this world adhan ennoda porandha naal. I went to all my friend’s home on their birthdays and had a nice hearty meal and good celebration there. So I was thinking to put a shamiana in my mottai maadi and invite all friends with the specialty of my mom’s preparation. But all the plan was spoiled due to the reason which you all know. So I was in search of a location to invite all my friends to celebrate. Bhaabi and sid came out with the location sponsor and I chose the latter one as bhaabi had some work in morning. So the location was fixed and all the regular members were invited. Some of them said that they would be from the morning and some said they would join in the evening.

So the day started with birthday wishes from friends through mobile and wishes from my parents. I got five hundred rupees from dad for giving treat and then I prayed to God for a good year ahead and then had the super meal by my mom and started to tambaram as vijay said he would take me in the bike. The bike travel was the ultimate comedy. To go to west mambalam we visited teynampet and we came back to gunidy and then went to mambalam. Poor city side knowledged fellows myself and vj so we had no other go. Finally we reached sid house and it was kapathu in front of sid house just entering. So we started chatting and I gave the chakkari pongal which I bought from home. We were then joined by prasi and samba, satish.

The terror for vj started there. We kalasified him to the core. Finally the panel decided not to kalasify him anymore. And then we had the cake cutting and to mention it was a decent one. And then we started to komalas which was chosen as the place to give the treat. Bhaabi,raja and sadesh joined us there. To mention about the hotel…”DON’T GO THERE”! The pulav was the ultimate comedy there. But I think I gave a sumaar treat… sorry for that people. Will make a better one within the next birthday.

Then we started to the bezant nagar beach and we were joined by juniors lux, Deepak and bala. We had a nice game of catch-n-catch( a different one adopted for Bessie beach) and then MUDUGU puncture..really I got my back punctured. Then after having a round of ice creams we departed from there. I reached home by 9 and that is the only reason I couldn’t go to thiruttani today to sd house as scheduled. Sorry sd for not coming today, will surely come another day.

The birthday was a great day of fun and enjoyment. Thanks to all those who made it and also thanks to those who wished through phone and messages. Do stay in touch for the years to come too. I was so happy to receive wishes from hod mam and prem sir too!

P.S: Really sorry for the poor treat…. It is still pricking…will make a better one within the next birthday..promise! And makkale inime vj ya kalasa koodadhu!!

THE CUP OF JOY!!

Yesterday marked the best day in the lives of each and every student of the computer sciecne department of our college. This was the dream of our team for the past four years and we achieved it this time. Yes.. CSE won the overall cup amidst internal politics. The offstage events were over before itself and the standings before the start of the onstage events were as follows:

ECE-92, EEE-90 and CSE – 88

We were so strong in dance with choreography of leo Tolstoy one of our seniors. But the variety and adzap had the last minute preparation as usual ;). The variety got third place and we won the first place in adzap. The deserved winners of dance team won the first place. The final standings were ECE completed as runners and we emerged as WINNERS.

It was the most clear win ever in the history of sairam. The junior boys and girls and also friends of our batch proved themselves both in the team and in the crowd. The way they shouted and cheered for us reflected in their voices which were deep inside by the evening. We all were in the skies and after winning the overall cup we ran together with the cup on seeing which all the other departments felt that we deserved to win.

The happiest day ever in my life where the dream of the overall cup came true! Though there was lots of politics and lots of confusions in the mark allotments was there we emerged as the winners. The moment when they announced the results of the onstage events was so enthusiasm filled and we were experiencing the happiest moment of our lives when we confirmed that we were the winners. The cultural team requires a big round of applause and on my behalf I congratulate all the members of the cultural team which includes each and every member of the department.

Then we had the light music where each and every one danced till the last calorie of their body is burnt. The last song Mustafa Mustafa made us feel the departure slightly but it was a great feel altogether.

Finally, on behalf of the cultural team I dedicate this CUP to the DEPARTMENT CRICKET TEAM who made their best efforts to make it this time but missed it slightly. A happy day to end the college life!

Theni- The lifetime experience!

I have experienced true love, affection, adventure, friendship, thrill and enjoyment for the past four days. Yes. All this was possible due to the trip to theni. We went to Arun’s house to celebrate the pongal festival. The experiences which we had are something which is so close to our hearts. Village always rocks in its way of treating the people with respect and guests as their family members. Right from day 1 till yesterday night till we boarded the bus it was ultimate affection and care which was always there from arun’s family.

Day 1- 14^th January, 2008:

We reached theni by 7.20 in the morning and from there we reached Veerabandi by 7.40. We took a auto and reached to aruns house. We kept our bags in the room allocated for us in first floor and then we did our morning jobs and then came down and got the intro procedures done. We planned that day to go to suruli falls and so we started to suruli falls by 10.30. We reached Suruli falls by 1. We thought of kulichifying in the lower falls but all guys wanted to go to the upper falls and so we trekked to the upper falls. Such a great place to be! There was so much fungus there in the rocks that we were sliding every now and then. There happened the worst incident of the tour. Some other group of people came to kulichufy there and one man slipped in the fungus and pushed me too. I totally missed my balance and fell right on his head. His eye got hit in a stone and the skin peeled off. All of us got terrified. So we came down in an hour and in the lower falls we had a great bath for an hour. Then we came down and had the tamarind rice which we took from arun’s house. First impression of aruns mom was that tamarind rice and that proved to be best! We came back home by 6 o clock in the evening. Then we experienced the delicious meals by arun’s mom assisted by his sister aarthy. A great day to begin the trip! Then we went to the maadi room and dozed off.

Day 2- 15^th January, 2008

We woke up by 8 in the morning and it was the day of pongal and we thought that there would be pongal celebrations and all. But then we came to know that in villages Maatu pongal is more special than pongal and that all will keep pongal on the day of maatu pongal only. So we all went to have a game of cricket there and we had a broken bat and so we were forced to put a match with the local team. We won the first one and lost the second. Then we came back and had the lunch. Then we planned to go to the periyaar(big river) to bath. Vijay,myself and sano weren’t in a mood to bath there. But after seeing the flowing river we also went in. Satish tried some of the fashion tv shots with vijay. We were enjoying in the water making some formations and catch-catch game for nearly three hours. Then myself and sano came out before all and we were sitting near the temple. But all of them didn’t come via that route and we both came home after being chased by dogs nearly an hour after they had reached. Then we went to the “Karupannasamy temple” who is the family deity for them and there we offered pongal to Karuppannasamy and then we all had a round of pongal there. Then we went to watch the “Kabaddi match” which was going on there. The commentary which was there was ultimate and it was perfect example of what is called “gramathu kusumbu”. Then we came back home, ate and slept. It was appu the rajapalayam dog which woke up all of us daily. We miss him too!!

Day 3- 16^th January, 2008

We planned to go to thekkadi on that day, but aruns dad told that only boating was there at thekkadi and that too not so good as it used to be in the season times. So we changed our plan and we went to the thoppu of arun. It was a tough way with marshy one way sand roads and when we reached there we could see arun’s grandfather who is 85 years of age but still firmly working in the fields. He came there and he chiseled off the tender coconuts and gave it to us. The sweetest tender coconut you could imagine of! After having stomach full of tender coconuts and a small visit around the thottam-thuravu of arun we went into the coconut grove and had a nice sleep for an hour. Then we came back home and had our lunch. By 6, it was the most awaited event- the pongal keeping ceremony. We changed our costumes and were ready to shout “Pongalo pongal”. But the full verse was a different one as follows,

“Pongalo pongal, paal paanai pongal

Patti peruga, paatha kannu vedikka

Noyum piniyum theruvodu poga”

So after the pongal here we went to have a second round of pongal in aruns uncle’s house. There too we had a good time with the pongal and sugarcane. All the four days we had sugarcanes in our hands and our mouths chewing them. By that time, we were so close to arun’s family members and we came back home by ten and had our dinner and we dozed off.

Day 4- 17^th January, 2008

All of them were saying us not to go, but we all were in a plan to start that evening. Arun’s brother said that we can go to “vaigai dam” on that day. So we started to vaigai dam and we had a nice time hanging out there and all of them revisited their childhood by going in the park fun rides. Then we came back by 3 to arun’s home. We were really out of energy and we had a great meal(veg and non veg separately). Then arun’s mom showed us the photo album which she hadn’t even shown to her relatives. Arun’s sister got all our address and birthdays written in her diary. We then witnessed the “JALLIKATTU” where the temple bull, mr.karuppu proved to be the most devastating bull of the event. We had a family photograph with all the members of arun’s family…no…our family. Then we started by 6 from his house. All of them came with us till the bus stand and arun’s father came till theni and was there waving his hands till the bus left from his eyesight.

These are just the happenings which can be expressed. Beyond these we gained a new family for us. A brother, a sister and loving parents for us in theni welcoming us always is there for us now. Friendship has beautiful things like this which no other thing in this world can bring. All should realize this as a matter of fact. Thanks ARUN for this scintillating experience and for opening us towards a loving family. We are going to go once again in the month of may as there will be thiruvizha in the temple there. So expecting the month of may and still I’m not out of the village of veerabandi.

“Kalloori enna thandhadhu, kanmoodi paarthal puriyudhu,

Verum kalvi mattumalla, kanavu mattumalla, KANGAL KALANGA VAIKKUM URAVUGAL”. Its true…its true.