Currently Reading....

I am currently reading this book called "THE WORLD IS FLAT",by Thomas.L.Friedman.It is a book which talks about GLOBALISATION.

There was this aspect,that struck me.The author has a suggestion for all the Developing countries in this world.He says-Like how we have something called Alcoholic Anonymous(A.C),we should be having something called -Developing Countries Anonymous(D.A.C).He says,each country should be BRUTALLY HONEST while introspecting.(Very beautiful!!)

The book is presented really well, but all I could think about was,the parts about INDIA.He analyses the state of many of the Developing countries,in which he talks about India. He says -

"On the Chinese streest,there's no rule of law,but the roads are well paved;there are no potholes,and the streetlights all work.On the Indian streets,by contrast,no one ever reapirs the streetlights,the roads are full of ruts,but the police are sticklers for the rules.You need license to open a lemonade stand on the Indian streets.Luckily the local cops can be bribed."

It's extremely saddening to know,this BITTER truth.

Einstein!!

Einstein!!!! Well....I have been calling myself an EINSTEINOPHILE and have never posted even a single post about him :(. And now..I have made the start!

Very Einstein!

Lux!

Lux recently celebrated 75 years of their brand.They wanted to make it special so they roped in Sharukh Khan to do a commercial for them.Well,he is the second male model for Lux.Paul Newman being the first one!

SRK with Hema Malini(1970's),Sridevi(1980's),Juhi Chawla(1990's),Kareena! ............Through the ages!!!

The recent most commercial with SRK,done by J Walter Thompson,in which Khan talks about "beauty secrets" sitting in a bath-tub with petals.I can understand that HLL wanted to do something really different.But why a male model?? Is it some kind of a MS thing???....!!!! The best part is,he doesn't use the soap in the ad.Which makes the ad very different???!!!!???

About the history,the word Lux was derived from 'LUXURY'.There had been a number of stars who have modeled for Lux.The first Indian model was Leela Chitnis.And then comes the host of stars like Hema Malini,Sridevi,Juhi Chawla,Kareena and....... so on.

The interesting fact is, a star from South-India too has modeled for Lux! It's none other than Jayalalithaa!!!

Interesting....

Recently a Marauder's Map was released.Oh well..it has nothing to do with the Hogwarts!

Maps

I've been doing this.....

I've been watching lotsa movies!!Oh.....multi-lingual too!!
Amelie A French movie!
Run Lola Run A German movie!(Oh yeah...I understand a bit of German!)
Before Sunrise A very beautiful movie!
Seven Samurai A Japanese Movie!
GodFather-I Woow!!Brando and Pacino,they rock!
Notting Hill Started watching it,but din't like it.
KungFu Hustle It's in Mandarin!
DDLJ Hindi!! :)
Read Damsel in Distress-PGW !Currently reading Athabasca.

Guess........

Founded in 1864,"this" started as a paper industry near "this" river in Finland. A Finnish engineer,Fredrik Idestam.In his initial years, he wasn't well-versed in this,so he acquired the technology from Germans.He learnt it all by convincing the workers of the manufacturing plant to show him the details.

When he came back to Finland, he created his own paper manufacturing plant.In 1867, he was awarded the Bronze Medal for his wood pulp invention in the Paris Wood Exposition.After this everyone knew "this", so he started putting "this" brand on all products. And when the company started offering some new products after a few years, he was still putting "this" brand on all of them.

Later on, "this" joined hands with two other companies called Finnish Rubber Works (FRW) and Finnish Cable Works.So paper, rubber and cables were sold under "this" brand.

But currently,"this" is famous for "Connecting People"?????????????!!!!!

Nokia's Old Logo

Enterprise Java Beans

Yeah...this post is the result of the training that I am currently undergoing.A little bit of curiosity to learn more about Enterprise Java Beans (EJB).As usual,googled a bit.Got loads of information regarding EJB.

Was also trying the Image search,when I landed up with this picture for EJB!

      EJB????!!!!!

My game of Pool

Hooooraaay!!Atlaast played a game of Pool today.Found the game really interesting,and it involved lots of concentration.And to top it all,it was FUN.

Pool Table

Basically games like Pool,Snooker, all these belong to the Billiards Family.And the game of Pool,was initially played as as off-track game,in the race courses.This is because lots of money was "pooled" in.Hence the name Pool.

The stick with which the game is played is called the cue stick.About the balls,there is one white ball called the cue ball,and the rest are the object balls.In the object balls,there are two sets,solid colored and striped ones.The angle at which the cue stick is held and the player's posture counts a lot.Believe me! This is what I learnt.Thanks to Buffy-buffy,Dipsy and Spidey!

How To Steal A Million

I watched this movie,How to steal a million yesterday! Celebrating my weekend.And I am sure I chose the best way to celebrate.Lovely movie.

This movie is directed by William Wyler,the guy who directed Roman Holiday.This movie was supposed to be a 'sequel-types' to Roman Holiday.And Gregory Peck was to play the lead.

Peter'O Toole & Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn and Peter'O Toole have done a fantastic job.This movie's highlight is,it has very simple dialogues but believe me,beautiful ones.The chemistry between them is really really cute.Both of them STEAL the show.

Narada...

This article is not about the musical band but a Hindu Sage called Narada.More popularly known as Kalahapriya, Kalaham meaning fight.He loves starting fights between people.Hence the phrase "naradar velai"!

Did you know that,Narada is a very great musician???

As the legend goes,Saint Thyagaraja was blessed by Narada.And he even composed a krithi called "Narada Muni" in praise of Narada. For those who have attended atleast one Carnatic Kutcheri, you would have noticed the musicians singing raagam.Not so ardent listeners would term it as-"Tha ra na".Its nothing but a dedication to the Greatest Musician "Narada".indicating the syllables in his name.

That's why instead of singing a raagam in terms of "aa" (which of course they do) but its mostly "tha-ra-na"!

Table Tennis

Table Tennis!!! My latest craze.

Well,my first guru from whom I learnt the game was, my Physics teacher (in school).Its really an interesting game.And requires swift reflexes.This game was originally called "Whiff-whaff", which later became "Ping-Pong" and now -Table Tennis.

This game has an interesting history.This game ,mimicks Tennis!.The game of Table Tennis,used to be played as a past-time during the dinner parties in England.There weren't any nets,instead simple objects,like the cork of a bottle were used!

But later,developed into a popular sport and even gained an entry into Olympics. Wondering why this srticle creeped into my blog all of a sudden??? Well...its a part of "my" Corporate World!

A Suitable Boy

Wanted to post my next entry after reading this book "A Suitable Boy"!

A very beautiful book,set in the post-independence era.This 1349 page saga,this number is suggestive enough to indicate that,it's one of the longest novels in English! And I'm proud that -I HAVE READ IT! :)

      The Cover

The author of this novel,Vikram Seth,has given vivid images of all the places that has appeared in this novel.This novel clearly displays Seth's knowledge about India. All the characters in this novel are soooo lively.The portrayal is really good.Though this novel runs to around 1300 pages,there's not much of a deviation.The story just runs through all the pages of the book,unlike other books,where it'll be in chunks.

The best thing about this novel is,it was supposed to be a short story!

I'm back!

I guess that was too long a hiatus from the world of blogging.Guess who's back, back again!! is the song that strikes me at this juncture.

I recently read a book called Man and Superman ,subtitled A comedy and Philosophy,by G.B.Shaw.Was a wonderful book,I thoroughly enjoyed it.Well,the word Superman of the title,is derived from the writings of Freidrich Neitzsche.

The other book I read,rather re-read was, Surely You're Joking Mr.Feynman!!!An awesome book and I would classify it under the must-read category.The whole book was in simple terms,but the underlying thoughts were...really Fantastic! Wat a physicist- Feynman is! Especially the chapters about cracking the safes,called "Safecracker meets Safecracker" was too good. My favourite verse is, about the problem on introspection:

I wonder why.I wonder why. I wonder why I wonder. I wonder why I wonder why. I wonder why I wonder!

I was right!!!

I was right about the fact that they are showing Roja today too!!! Where else, but on Doordarshan!!

Independence Day!

Well....tomorrow we are celebrating the 58th year of Independence!!!

Happy Independence Day!!

During my school days,we used to have this Independence Day celebrations.Actually,I learnt a lot about the Freedom Struggle,our Leaders and about Patriotism from the plays that were being staged.All these instilled in me a sense of belonging to this country.

One of my activities on Independence Day was to watch the movie Roja that was aired on Doordarshan.They made it a practise to air that movie on 15th of August,every year.I don't know why,but it made sense!!Especially,the song Thamizha Thamizha,wow!! it gives me goosepimples,every time I listen to it.

Was watching a Tamil movie the other day called Kapalottiya Thamizhan,it was such an inspiring movie.Shivaji had donned the role of Va.U.Chidambaranar(Kapalottiya Thamizhan) and portrayed the "struggle" for Independence!!

But the sad part is,nowadays they don't broadcast such "patriotic" movies and instead play some new flick....that din't even do well in the box office.Its that,why don't they play some of the movies or some archived material on freedom struggle??Else I feel the cliched saying will come true-

Did a man like Gandhi,ever live???

Oh no.....

Potter Fans out there.....please check this out....

There is porn in Potter VI

Thanks to Prashanth!!!Else...would'nt have known it.

Ah-Aah!!!

I am recently hooked to this!!Well......its the latest tamil flick,music by-ARR!!!! :) This movie called Anbe Aaruyire, has 6 tracks.

Vaali,the lyricist has done a very good job.Most importantly,one needs to strain their ears to find out whether the fact I've mentioned about the lyrics is true or not.The music overshadows the lyrics.
Still....ARR is ARR!!!

All the songs are good.One unique aspect of this movie is,all the songs are written in TAMIL !!! Definitely unique!!! Is'nt it??Of course an exception exists,in "Maramkothiye" (woodpecker!!),where Blaize comes into picture and is very much on a techno note.

The other songs are - "Mayilirage" sung by Madhushree (Sujatha Bhattacharya) and Naresh Iyer,has a hitch,regarding the pronunciation."Thigu thigu" by Sadhana Sargam and Naresh Iyer gives a rustic feeling."Thazhuvudhu" is sung by Shreya Ghosal and SPB.Wonder how SPB manages to maintain his voice!!!

ARR fans are definitely bestowed with the opportunity of enjoying the rawness of his voice in "Anbe Aaruyire"............

"Aaru Kodi pergalil oruvan adiyen thamizhan naan ungal nanban"

symbolically expressing "ARR" !!!!

Dis"BAND" ??????

Yesterday was Friendship's Day!!Well...Happy Friendship's Day to everyone who's reading this!!!I was reminded of my school days(sounds like....romba varusham munnadi......soo many years back..well its 4 years back to be precise).We used to have this ritual of tying bands called the friendship band to all our friends.

The best part will happen only the day before...All of us...with our "saved up" pocket money will go to a shop....and will spend hours together on trying to choose the proper one.

In this....it'll be like,this friend of mine likes black,so this one is for her,and this yellow one is for her and so on.And we'll be interested in certain bands so we'll ask the other person to get it ......and announcements will be made..."This is for me!! I've reserved it!! :)

I know...all this.....now sounds really funny!!But...I've cherished all those moments!!And its just the natural phenomenon of what is termed as- Growing Up!!!!

And this year...it was sooo different.No friendship bands nothing.We just met up and we were "reliving" those moments....and in the end it turned out to be another typical my (former) type of Friendship's Day....cos' my neighbour, she came upto me...and held my hand,tied a friendship band and said...Happy Friendship's Day!!!

Don't tell me its true

I read an article recently....and I was AGHAST.It was regarding the use of human hair in commercial food especially the ones from the bakery.It does'nt stop with the use of human hair....but also the use of feathers from duck and chicken.

It seems the dough that is prepare to make pizzas,toasts,cakes,etc., when they are baked,the corners roll.This is where the human hair comes into picture.

The human hair,is dipped in Hydrochloric Acid,which recovers L-Cysteine.And the presence of this L-Cysteine prevent the rolling and also facilatates the movement of the dough through various bakery equipments.Does'nt the whole thing sound disgusting???

I lost the appetite for such stuffs the moment I read this.

Good Old Days!!!

My friends left to the U.S yesterday.I mean..........till then it was like....ok fine,they are leaving.But those last few minutes that I spent with them was really memorable.

It's like..........I've never felt this way before.It was very different.We've been togther for the past ten years.The amount of fun we had....can't be imagined.The conversations we've had,ranging from pin to porns!!!I know.........I can still keep in touch,thanks to technology, but its not going to be the same anymore.

Especially,the last few moments we guys spent together......we were just blank.We din't know what to talk.But one thing was for sure....... we'll miss each other like crazy.

Sad and happy for 'em!!

Today morning I get up with the "hard" fact in my mind,that they are gone.But I jus kept saying to myself..........."Everything happens for good"!!!