Britney Spears in Chennai! - Day 31

I woke up to slow and lazy Monday morning. Reached office on time and was happy to find out that we were celebrating family day event in our office. An employee engagement initiative by the management. It was fun to see small kids walking around the cubicles innocently lost in their own world and having fun. The atmosphere of the office changed, it looked like a play school. I could see every kid was dressed to kill, all in their best possible attire. All the parents wanted to showcase that their kid was the best.

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Fun, Frolic and Fear - Day 30

I don't know where to start and where to end. Its the 30th day of blogging! The weekend was on and as I mentioned in the previous post I executed the plan of visiting an amusement park. Accompanied by close pals we were 7 in total. All of us had an mutual agreement to start the journey by 9 in the morning. I knew there will be someone who will breech this agreement and come late, its part of any trip :) we planned to assemble by 8 so that even if someone comes late by 30 minutes we will still be able to make a departure by 9. We had a culprit in our gang who managed to come more than an hour late! spoiling all calculations. That's ok what fun without mistakes?
So we left to Queens Land, an amusement park located in the Chennai - Bangalore Highway. Its my first visit there. We reached by 11 in the morning and when we stepped out of the bus we realised that we had made right decision in the wrong time!

Oh baby it was that damn hot, almost 40 degree Celsius! we thought we were the only fools in the world to plan for an outdoor weekend bash in this scorching sun, but it was so pleasant to find out that we had more than ten thousand people for company! Welcome to the party! A sea of people

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Loves Me, Loves Me Not - Day 29

Hi folks! I am back here :) Sorry for not catching with you guys yesterday. It was so sweet of some of the readers who asked me why I didn't blog yesterday. Thank you Ragav, Samina and Pavithra for following my writings sincerely. I am glad that my writings have managed to occupy some space in people's life. Its a great commitment to write daily. Everyday is not merry, somedays really suck. Past two three days my work is getting hectic and also there are some other personal things happening around my life that has affected my emotional balance. My mind is not at its creative best these days, I really need to get out of this mess and open up for this weekend. Some of my friends have

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TN01 8668 - Day 28

Good Morning...passengers aboard please fasten your seat belts, bus number TN01 8668 is ready for take off. Sounding weird? Hmmm, dear friends I am talking about the Air-conditioned Volvo buses in Chennai City. Monday morning I happened to board this bus for the first time. I was on my way to office, Mr Sun was reassuring that he is the hottest dude in the world. A mere 100 yards walk from my house to the bus stop drenched me with sweat. Then came this 6 wheeled cool monster for the rescue. When boarded I thought I will have to shell out my entire purse to pay for the ticket but

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Kite Crashed, Casuality Viewers - Day 27

Saturday! what a Saturday! Very excited about the movie plan today. I had two tickets with me, managed to pick up one of my friend for company. The theater is located inside City center, a porsche  shopping mall in Chennai. It has got almost all brands of the world grounded over there and inviting people "come in come in let us loot your money" As soon as we entered the mall, there were lot of promotional stuff going on...very interesting, why not? you got beautiful girls dressed in killer attires coming straight to you and say "good evening sir, would you like to try our product? " how can I say no ? There were

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Will the Kite Fly? - Day 26

Aaah...the daybreak has been a wonder today. Never expected such a wonderful weather in the month of May which is popular for the opposite reasons. Its Friday, the last working day of the week for me and as usual I am excited about the weekend ahead. I didnt plan much for the weekend, but something has to be done to make it exciting. I left for work as usual. The work atmosphere on Friday's are completely different. There is a sense of anticipation in your mind that is waiting for this few work hours ahead to

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And the Award Goes to ? - Day 25

I thought...I wrote.....they read....and now.....I am Awarded!

I cant ask for anything more, on my 25th blog post I got awarded by Venice! No, I am not talking about the the most beautiful city built by man (As per New York Times) - Venice. I am talking about one of the most beautiful, creative and kind blogger "Vanessa Rowe aka Venice". I am also thankful to all my wonderful readers who gave shape and meanings to my scribblings :-)

Here is My Award *grin*

Ok now let me follow the set conditions...
As per the award rules I should share with you the 7 things I would like to share !

1) Attitude - I love when people say I have attitude, no its not something wrong. I am proud that my attitude made people to murmur about me! I would like to keep my attitude on the positive side...always :)

2) Happiness - I thought to share something that grows and spreads around and possibly bring a smile on the receivers face.

3) My shoulder - I love to help people who are in crisis,, gotcha problem? come lets face it.

4) My Clicks - I am fond of photography, I would love to share my random clicks.

5) My Accolades - That's exactly what I am sharing right now :)

6) My Facebook profile - http://www.facebook.com/antony.chacko

7) My Twitter account - http://twitter.com/antounplugged

Hmmm...So now its time to spread the love.

Here are the wonderful people I think who deserve this award

Coffee Bean

Jodene

Saibal Barman

Shahin

Subu.ps

SoccerMom

Kelly

Natalie

Sarah

Congratulations to all of you....Cheers!

All the recipients are requested to pass on this piece of honor to others, they know of, some one who is worthy of it.

Read the following rules and do as directed:

Rules:

- Thank the person who gave you this award.
- Share 7 things about yourself.
- Pass the award to 15 bloggers who you've recently discovered and who you think are fantastic
- Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

  Anto :)

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Why Laila ? Why ? - Day 24

 3 in the morning I was sleeping in the hall. suddenly the windows started to bang the window pane, the curtains fighting against each other..sound of thunder rocked my ears..Am I having a horror dream? jumped out of my bed, pinched myself..its not a dream, opened the main door of my house to see Laila dancing in the rain! remember the Bollywood ultimate item number? "laila - o - laila aisee hoon laila...har koi chahe mujse milna akela " the sexy Zeenath Aman showing her curves and Amjed Ali Khan doing a hell of comedy out there remember ?

My lovely readers this is what I expected to see after experiencing the background effect in the morning. I was disgusted in disappointment for not seeing sexy Zeenath Aman who plays the character "Laila" in the bollywood movie "Qurbani" instead I was surprised to see the cyclone "Laila" showering rain like hell and making Chennai wet and sexy! Its amazing to notice rain in what is said to be the most hottest month of Chennai. I wonder who is anointing the cyclones with such wonderful names. And one more interesting thing to notice, why they keep feminine names like Nisha, Nargis and now Laila to cyclones ? I don't know what they are trying to interpret with such names. Hmmm, anyways back to day 23..It was a wonderful rainy morning until I noticed a live electricity transmitting wire cut and lying on the road surrounded by water. A signal for mass electrocution for all the passers by. Since it was early morning the road was empty. The rain lost intensity I went outside, stood near the live wire and started cautioning passers by to take an alternate road. I looked like a traffic cop drawing paintings in air. An hour later a person from the electricity board arrived, guess what? he was a daredevil! he saw the cut wire he took a rope tangled it though his waist and shoulder and started climbing the electricity post. The public service departments are so ill equipped, no wonder we are still a developing nation. But at the same time I am proud that we have such macho mans in our country risking their lives for the service of the public. .Hats off to you man!

                         Left to work in the rain, my only armory my dad's 1980 model umbrella. I was nearing my office walking though a shallow water-body (I mean the road), I was walking on the center of the street road because on the sides of the road I can only swim, no walking business. Two auto-rickshaws in opposite directions were fast approaching   me. A generous amount of rainwater not in the purest form but, splashed over me, thanks to those Shumacher's of Chennai who get crazy in their three wheeled Ferrari's when they see stagnated rain water. 

                Reached office drenched, my hair automatically spiked due to chillness. The work day was cool, infact super cool. The rain outside didn't take any rest, Laila was very generous. Our office management decided to let us employees to leave home early since they got an indication that Laila is set for a real wild dance, the morning and noon shows were mere trailers. The Chennai city was totally mesmerized by Laila, when I reached the bus stop I could only see this.

In the end it was a wonderful cold day with lot of adventure. My blankets are ready and my bed is calling me so let me take leave....bye for now...and yes thanks Laila.....Cheers!

   

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Cattle, Rain and Tea - Day 23

5.00 in the morning the first alarm, my hands pounded on my mobile to press the snooze. 5.15 the second alarm........jumped from the bed (actually the power went off and its damn hot inside my room so no ways Im gonna continue sleeping). Yeah today I gotto go for jogging. Slipped into my full jogging kit - nice sweat tees, a super cool track pant and my ultra-light sports shoe. It was already 6 in the morning by the time I got out of the house.

                                     It was unusually dark outside, the weather report suggested "low pressure in the bay of bengal and this may result in moderate to heavy showers in some parts of Chennai" These weather report guys are too smart....just read the previous sentence again...aren't they super diplomatic? Never mind.. whenever they say it will rain, it actually never rains. I took the weather station guys into confidence and set out for jogging. Two minutes into jogging I reached the main road, my place is a suburb which is developing at a very fast pace. Its initial inhabitants were farmers and snake charmers but now the scenario has changed in the past 15 years the population of our town has increased manifold. No, no....don't misunderstand, the farmers were producing abundant crops not children. The increase in population was due to the real estate boom in Chennai. The land prices were cheaper here compared to the city land prices and its located at an easily commutable distance from the city. Our town saw huge immigration in the past decade. So what happened is most of the farmlands were converted into house plots and the farmers became millionaires! Similar to the kollywood movie "annamalai" where the hero who is a farmer becomes a millionaire in one song sequence, our entire town's farmers became millionaires in 15 years!

             But the tragedy is that our farmer friends couldn't give up their cattles even though some had Honda and Toyota cars parked in their backyard. When the cars got parking space in the backyard, the cows and goats had to be parked in the main road highway. It was a nightmare to jog in between the partly asleep cattles. It was very dark also, I had difficulty with the vision...a few yards later my sports shoes plunged into a heap of cowdung...WTF? An odd expression decorated my face...my favourite shoe and my jogging adventure both got drowned in the cowdung. Took a U turn and this time sprinted back to my house, no more jogging today..it simply stinks. With this my first day of jogging comes to an end. Went to office, pretty normal day not much to cheer about. The evening was waiting for a surprise...It rained in Chennai! The weather report finally clicked! As soon as I left from work hopped into a roadside tea shop and had a cup of tea. A cup of tea in the rain............awesome! Simple pleasures of life are just priceless. On the way back home witnessed two bikers doing skidding stunt in the rainy wet road. An eventful day today..Hmmm, let me take leave now..seeya..Cheers!

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Run! - Day 22

Its a Monday morning! I don't know what expression to give :-)(;..... woke up very late (Pressed the snooze button 4 times and the snooze interval is set as 15 minutes). So how can I go for a jog? Its my first day into the new resolution of jogging. Ok its a Monday morning, no disappointment I gotta gear up for work now. I have this habit of playing some peppy songs, kind off fast beat ones when I get ready to work. Its generally full volume.
               Past two days I gotto hear the football anthem in the ESPN channel in between the T20 world cup matches. Found it interesting a bit, so thought to download and listen the full version of it. Successfully downloaded and started playing. I kept the music player in repeat mode, after hearing for some 5 - 6 times I am flat....completely fat, what a song! It just made me out of control! I started dancing, kind of wild....dancing inside my room, then in the hall, then hit the shower..there also continued dancing (no no......not naked please you cant think like that ok). The shower lasted 20 minutes and the music playing full throttle in the background. Eventually late for work, skipped the breakfast and left for work. I usually catch a bus to work, and today is Monday morning I don't know why the buses unusually overflow with passengers on Monday mornings? I was waiting for the bus, 20 minutes into the waiting process. Many buses passed by but I can never think of getting aboard on any of them, that too today I was in a full formal attire...*grin* If I accidentally also managed to board any of those buses I will have to get down at my destination like a squeezed tooth paste tube.
          Naeee, its not gonna happen. Waiting waiting waiting....the clock is ticking so fast, merciless clock. First day of the week I am gonna make it messy, I am gonna be late. A small ray of hope.... I could see a partially empty bus rushing towards the bus stop, this is my last chance.....guess what? the stupid bus didn't stop at the bus stop!! but I cant miss the bus, I knew it will stop somewhere to download the passengers but it may be atleast 500 meters away from the bus stop. I gathered my breath and started running behind the bus, ran as much fast as I could...the bus showed no sign of stopping ....What does the driver think of himself, Michael Shumacher ? Somewhere inside my mind a voice alarmed "welcome to jogging! its a hybrid version..fast jogging with formal pants and shirts on, instead of tracks and tees!
                           Finally got into the bus and started listening the football anthem again....I was mildly dancing in the bus too! Hmmm, can't help it.

"Lets rejoice in the beautiful game.

And together at the end of the day.

WE ALL SAY

When I get older I will be stronger

They'll call me freedom Just like a wavin' flag"

I sang the song even in facebook and twitter too! I even shared the song with couple of my friends from my mobile. I love south Africa, such a wonderful country, the sporting spirit is too good. In the recent times I was amazed by the way they conducted IPL 2, couple of other ICC events and now its gonna be the FIFA world cup! When I mention South Africa I cant miss to mention my wonderful friend Jodene! the life achievement facilitator. Our friendship began 2 years back. Though we are far away, she is such an inspiration, she is the one who inspired me to write this diary. She is a mystery magic, full of life! I cant consolidate her achievements in one blog post, so here is her website you can have a check on her here.
           Reached home early and now typing the blog post. I need to sleep early and get ready for the jog tomorrow. No this time I wont miss ok. so seeya.....Cheers!

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Relaxed But Need Some Repair - Day 21

Sunday morning aah...... woke up late why shouldn't I ? its my weekend. Went to the balcony and had a cup of coffee. It is one of those lazy Sunday's when you think the whole world has stopped working and you want to drown into yourself. This is the first time in six months that I have a free Sunday. I wanna spend some time for myself. I think this is one of the most important thing that many of us miss out. We have time for work, we have time for friends, we have time for our loved ones, we have time for gossip but how many of us keep aside some time for ourselves? Lot of philosophy? Bear with me its part of this lazy sunday :-)
                                 Hmmm... today spent most of the time watching tv relaxing in the couch. I watched a tv program on CNN where they were discussing about the life style of majority of Indian youth. The report said that the stress level of Indian youth has increased manifold in the last decade and the lifestyle has taken a drastic change. The fast food culture, irregular eating habits, late night parties, lack of physical workout etc., has taken a toll on the youngsters. They said that the heart attacks have become common among the 20 to 30's these days. I was watching the tv lieng on the couch. I looked at myself in that positing I couldn't see my toe finger. There was a small balloon expanding and contracting blocking my vision of toe finger. Its my tummy! After seeing the tv program I suspected myself... Am I one among those Indian youths? My lifestyle has definitely changed in the past few years. From a person who spent standing15 to 18 hours in the hotel kitchen constantly moving and sweating it out to someone who spends almost 19 to 20 hours sitting before computer. I hardly manage to get 4 to 5 hours of sleep in the weekdays. Am I turning into a couch potato? My workout regime has vanished. Should I take some precautionary measures to set-right my lifestyle ? As I told you in my earlier posts that I am in the best phase of life - mid 20's, if I don't utilize this time I know there
will be no point repenting in the future. The only problem is that physical workout is lacking in my life. No I am not going to join any gym, I terribly failed in that activity three times in the last year alone. I pay the fees and never turn up.
                         How about getting up early and having a jog? Let me experiment with this. If possible I will take my doggie with me on leash. Atleast I will have a partner for workout. So let me hit the bed now and wake up early tomorrow, I will tell my first jog experience tomorrow. bye for now..Cheers!

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Review, Revamp and Reward - Day 20

Wow! One month into blogging, I couldn't believe I made it! Hurray its quite an achievement. Today I thought to look back on this wonderful of experience of blogging. The fact is that today I am more accountable than what I was before starting this blog. I am committed to answer my lovely readers and share with them my life journey. So how was my writing experiment? Initially I personally feel it started off well, infact very well. The comments were overwhelming. Again thanks to you my lovely readers. There were ups and downs. Yesterday one my friend told me on the face I am so boring! I was a bit disappointed, for a minute I couldn't react. Because all these days I was used to positive reactions from my readers and this was the first time somebody actually pointed my fault on my face. Kind of mixed feeling emerged from my mind and heart. After a while a small hint of smile decorated my face. I could recall one of my mentor's words, he always says that "when somebody questions you or pinpoints your activity then congratulations! you are growing" I am very happy today that I got my first criticism.
                  To be honest there was some lack of commitment from me in the past week, yes I accept I was a bit distracted because of some very personal reasons. I also didn't have much content to write upon. My apologies. One of my good friend and colleague told me that recently I have been deviating out of the theme of my blog, she said that this is supposed to be my diary and I need to record my daily life happenings. Yes I accept, it is my diary and I am obliged to write about my life. I have noted the point and I will continue to do so. Sorry for the deviation friend. So today's blog will be in my old style! Here you go....
                             Saturday! its Saturday! its finally Saturday! The weekend has come, I can sleep a bit more than the usual weekdays. I am very tired after a very tiresome week. I think today is the day when I need to give some time for myself to recover from last week's wear and tear. I woke up late, around 9 in the morning. While having a sip of tea, moms wonderful cup of tea! I was thinking whats gonna be today's plan?. First thing first. My doggie is back home I need to groom her today, I need to take her to the Vet for check up and if possible play with her for some time. Hmm..I was successful in my first goal for the day by noon. Its been a long time since I watched a movie. I had bought a DVD of the movie "Up In The Air" starring George Clooney a month ago. I decided to burn it today onto my random access memory. 90 minutes straight in the couch... glued to the movie. It was a wonderful one! It just made me think how important people take their jobs and the impact of jobs in our lives. The movie had an unusual story about today's very usual thing guess what? firing! ..no not the one with the gun, the one with the words. The story revolves around recession in America and companies are on a downsizing carnival, I am sorry, they call it right-sizing instead. The hero plays a role of a consultant who is deputized by various companies to fire their employees! quite an unusual job isnt it? The movie was all about the art of conveying to the employee the news that he or she is fired. I love some of the message conveying styles in the movie, the dialog delivery by Mr. Cloney is awesome! some of the lines are like "Mr xyz, you were working in this company as xyz position and that position doesn't exist anymore....change is awaiting you and you need to move on" It was very heartening to see the employees react to that sudden display of betrayal by their company, 50 - 60 year olds just broke down seeing which two to three tear drops moistened my eyelashes.

                        This makes me think really hard. Are we too dependent on our jobs? What if one day you wake up in the morning and walk into your office and somebody denies access to your cubical and says "you are fired!" ?? Its a fact and that will be a terrible feeling. I could recollect one of India's industry role model, Mr Narayanamoorthy's (founder and chairman of Infosys) words "Never love your company, love your job because you never know when the company stops loving you! "  Its true that sometimes people become so dependent of their jobs, some work like slaves losing their dignity. We all are products in the job market as they call in the capitalistic terms, the products need to be constantly improved and polished to sell, we are the brand, we are the logo and we are the business. Everyone needs to be ready any moment no one knows when someone will assassin you from your workplace! I am not telling the full story of the movie here, rest you go watch it. My recommendation, its a must watch.
                After the movie had a small nap and woke to my computer screen in the evening. I am a member of an Indian blog directory called Indiblogger, its my first month into blogging and after evaluating my blog posts, they have ranked me 74 out of 100! Yippee...my first achievement in the blogosphere! You can see my Inblogger rank on the right sidebar of this blog. A reward finally came my way but still a long way to go. The top rank holder has scored an handsome 84 out of 100. I want to be.....no no correction, I  will be there soon provided you guys don't stop loving me. If you find my posts interesting just leave me a comment, share it with your friends on facebook or twitter etc. It will do me a world of good. I am very excited today after some purposeful recognition. Heading towards my bed now for a good weekend sleep....bye for now...Cheers!

8D8XES6VN7D2

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I Am What I Am, I Have No Substitutes - Day 19

Hi dear readers! First of all I want to apologize to you all for being irregular in my blogging exercise. I was held up with some unavoidable commitments last week so I couldn't concentrate. Now let me get back to business. Today I want to share something with you which I think is one of the essentials in everyone's life .Its nothing but self respect!  I am in my mid twenties of my life. So far so good. I am thankful to God for what I am today. I think this is the best phase of everyone's life the 20 to 30 phase. Lets understand it like this. When I was a kid, I only had the option of looking forward for my future, I didn't have a past to look back. In the second scenario when I will be in my 40's, 50's or 60's then I will be in the last phase of my life where I will have a past to look back, but no future as I will be nearing the end of my life. Now comes the wonderful phase of 20 to 30. This is the only phase in my life where I have the option to look back upon my pasts and carry over my learning's to build a promising future. This is the phase when my body is in best of condition, shape, stamina etc etc. this is when I am responsible to do wonders with my life. If I happen to miss this phase's fun and happiness then there will be no point if in my 40's or above to regret that I missed out my youth. I want to live this phase in full throttle!
                                        I met a friend of mine recently. When I met him he was very stressed out. I was curious to know what was disturbing him. He explained to me his condition in a low tone, there was no energy in him, fully emotional. He told me that he has already lost his battle of life, he told he failed to make a good career (As per him a good career means to a earn a penny more than his neighborhood friends as his parents always compare him with them). He failed in his relationship with his girl as he was not able to feed her to discos and parties. Negative energy was flowing like hell through his body. Affected by so much mental trauma his anatomy pictured like one of those science lab skeletons. He said people always compare him those who were successful which indirectly demotivates him more and more. What I found in him is that he has lost his self respect, he thinks he is a loser.
                         In this life journey especially in the last five years I have come across many situations where people tried to change me according to their wish comparing me to their neighborhood hero's. But, why should I change for them? If I have to change then it should be for myself. Every one in this world has lots of opinions about others life. "you can do that, you can do this....you can never do this... no no..this is not for you" etc. These are somethings that are really discouraging. I have made many mistakes in my life. Everybody does make mistakes. But, I am proud of my mistakes because they are unique! They are unusual ones which you cant find anywhere in this world. I am proud of myself that I made such mistakes in my life which gave me lot of lessons to learn. Advice is a free goodie that's why everyone is ready to shower you with advice. If people are made to pay for giving advice then many will shut up. But if the same advice someone is showering on you results in failure nobody will be there to take responsibility except you. In the case of my friend I really felt bad for what he has made up with his life. Many people go through this phase. I went through it in my past. How I got over it? its very simple, I started believing in myself that I am the best. I don't compare myself with anyone because I believe everyone is unique, its actually stupid to compare myself with anyone. Whenever I feel left down I just say to myself that there was nobody like me in the past, no one is there in the present and no one will be in the future (Our creator doesn't believe in duplicates, for him every creation is a masterpiece!). This is how I respect myself. This gives me energy to move on. I know very well that for me, I am the brand, I am the logo and I am the business. If I stop believing in myself then nobody will believe in me! ......Please excuse me if you think that I am posting this piece of writing to praise about myself, no, never...I am just trying to send a message to all those who think they are of no value, they are mistaken. I am what I am, there is no substitute for me and the same applies to you also.
                 My free advice to all those people like my friend who I mentioned above is that, to make your career successful chase your dreams not your greed. To reach milestones you only need to compare your past with your present and not you with your neighbor. I wanna quote a wonderful line said by the cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar when he was interviewed after reaching 10000 test match runs "People will throw stones at you, its upto you convert those stones into milestones"....... And to all those romeos who think that they were dumped by their girl,.... Cheer up man! consider yourself lucky, no more you need to stick with one girl, you are presented with a life full of opportunities, now you can choose from millions of beautiful girls out there...do your best God will do the rest.....I hope I made made some sense somewhere, somehow.... bye for now...Cheers!

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Deadlines - Day 18

I am in between one the busiest of weeks in my life. This Sunday I had to attend the last class of my masters course. Suddenly the college management gave all students a bouncer when they announced that we need to submit the research project report within next three days! And guess what the reason? The university office is closing for summer vacation! So? What should we students do? Screw ourselves for next three days and get the project ready? Ok I accept the project was started long time back but we were not given a proper submission date. Our final exams are due next month so we thought the submission date may be somewhere in next month. We were left with no option.
                            I reached home by 3 in the afternoon. Thus here began the marathon typing run to complete the project. I had done the homework for the project long before but the only problem was to type more than 150 pages of text. I was banging my laptop keypad so hard in frustration, poor keypad it would not suffered this much even when I mercilessly use them for playing games. Three sleepless nights. Every
minute went by with slight fear and anxiety of whether I will be able to make it. Finally on the third day I completed the work. Its not over here. Next was the mountainous task of getting the work approved by the project guide. I think students are the only category of people who get screwed after paying a handsome amount of money as fee to get screwed! On Wednesday by 8 PM the project was finally approved! omg omg, I finally made it!
                             When I look back, all my life I am always part of this last minute tussle. The threshold situations where you are pushed to achieve the deadline with no compromise. It takes so much out of you but once the deadline is met it gives you a world of relief! What I really like about these deadlines is that it brings out the best in you. I never thought I will be able to type 150 pages but three sleepless nights, few cups of coffee and some nice country music helped to make it. We are always driven by choices in life. For every situation in life we have a easier choice and a tougher one. Almost all the time the tough ones lead to little bit of struggle and happiness in the end but the easier choices leads to laziness
and....... (you can fill it up with whatever you want). I am happy with the way the struggle went for me. After the approval of my work I had the best-est sleep in the world. I am happy that I have crossed one more obstacle in the path of my academic dreams. Still a lot more obstacles are waiting to come but I have no other option other than to face them head on. Now only thing I could do is say to myself ...."ALL IZZ WELL...ALL IZZ WELL"

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Are Soft Drinks Really Cool? Day 17

Summer is at its peak here, people are literally getting baked daily. It is a Sunday, but still I have a class to attend. The class ends by 2 in the afternoon. Oh boy, it's really tough returning back home in this super hot day. But something interesting I found out is that the summer is really shinning for some vendors out there.

                                           On the way back home I noticed a lot of new vendors turning out with new seasonal business ventures. I could see a huge line up of sugar cane juice vendors, tender coconut, lime juice, softy's etc, etc. This is really cool, in the hot sun if you could grab one of these it makes you feel so refreshing. And one more interesting thing I saw was that the political parties are finally doing some good to people! I saw lot of small huts on the roads with the banners of political parties distributing butter milk to the public free of cost!

                   On the other side, it is interesting to notice that water is no more a free commodity here. I could see a huge rush among people to drink soft drinks (Coke, Pepsi, Thumps-up etc). They are nothing but aerated water with some flavour and huge amount calories. It is also a fact that the production cost for a bottle of Pepsi or Coke is not more than Rs 2! But, they are sold at a cost 5 times higher than the production cost and then also there is huge craze among people for them.

                I read an article recently in which it was said that, almost all of these cola companies are from the west. They have set their production plants in many locations in India and even they export form these plant to other foreign countries. A study has found out that the places where these cola production companies are located are showing drastic decline in the ground water level. The cola companies pump out huge quantity of ground water and produce the so called branded cool drinks with flashy advertisements every where. Some even let out the production wastes into the near by water bodies thereby polluting the environment. End of the day, what we find is that there is scarcity of drinking water.

              When people are getting worried about the scarcity of water, there are some who are really smiling, guess who? The cola companies! It's a fact that they are cashing in into this situation. What they have done is that they have started producing bottled water (Aquafina, Bisleri etc.) from the Indian soil and depleting the ground water resources and finally selling it to us itself for a handsome price! The bottled water market is so huge today in India. And the irony is that people prefer only these branded water or soft drinks which are unjustifiably priced to the natural drinks available in the country. It's quite embarrassing to know how we are being fooled and still keep a broad smile drinking the colas. The govt. is happy with the money they receive from these companies so they don't interfere. I think it's high time we realize this truth and do something against this. It's upto us to prefer the natural products which are easily available for much cheaper cost. It's upto us to grow our local economy. It's upto us to protect our water resources. It's upto us to be wise. Its all upto us. I urge you all to think twice next time before you grab a bottle of cola. Every one of us can make a difference and the most important thing is that we have to believe in ourselves that we can really make a difference.

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Photography Madness - Day 16

Photography! my new found love. It all started last year when I went on a trip to Mysore. I didn't have a camera  but, somehow I managed to borrow a camera from one of my friend. The Mysore trip was wonderful, lot of adventurers and lot of spectacular places. I managed to click some 325 photographs. Anything that came on my way I clicked. But then I didn't know anything about photography (I am maintaining the same status even now). Some of the outputs that I got from clicks were really good. Some of my friends appreciated me for those snaps. I really enjoyed the experience of clicking. This was the beginning of the craze for photography.
                      Months passed by I found interest in reading articles about photography. Browsed a lot of photographs from Picasa, Flicker and many other websites. Then I decided that I need to buy a camera, a professional camera. It will definitely burn a big hole in my pocket. I am in no hurry now but, firmly believe that one day I will make it and yes, there is a lot to learn before I get my hands on a professional camera.
        This time when I planned a trip to Kerala, I didn't have a camera of my own but, again managed to borrow one from a good friend. The moment I landed in Kerala I was tempted to click every other second. There is so much in this land that could be captured with camera lens and cherished later. Here are some of my random clicks captured during the kerala trip, hope you will like them.

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Remembering the Dead - Day 15

Continued from day 14 . . . I reached my ancestral home by 9 in the morning. One of the reasons I was in Kerala is to attend the St. Joseph Church - Ramankary's Feast. Its celebrated on the 1st of May. The preparations begin two days before. Today is the beginning of the feast. The ceremony starts with the ritual of remembering all those who had left this world. All people gathered at the church, they visited the graveyard and decorated the graveyard's of their loved ones. A very emotional and a very interesting moment. I have not seen any such ritual in any of the churches in Chennai.

                                   It's a very special moment to think and pay homage to all those who have left us from this world. It was a small graveyard, accommodating approximately 24 graves. The church consist of roughly 300 to 400 families. I wondered if that graveyard is big enough for this parish. I enquired with my uncle and he said that every grave is vacated/emptied once in five years, which means the skeletons of the dead remain in the graveyard only for five years and after that it will be occupied by another dead human body. People from all ages (from 5's to 60's) came very enthusiastically and were decorating the graves of their family members who had passed away. I saw a kid innocently decorating the grave of his grand mother with flowers, candles and picture of his grand mother itself. It just reminded me one day my grave will also be decorated, a very emotional moment. A moment which makes you think twice of the kind of life we live, a moment to cross check if we require any reforms, a moment to forgive all those we hate, a moment to have a check on our greed... All thoughts clouded around the mind.

                                    My grandparents passed away 3 years before, which means both had a place in the church's graveyard. I also joined my fellow cousins in decorating my grandparent's grave. Few drops of tears jumped out of my eyes, wiped them off and continued decorating. Darkness engulfed the sky, the moon was shinning bright. The rituals were performed, the parish priest prayed and blessed the grave's. The candles were lit on all the graves, it was a wonderful sight, I have never seen such a wonderful graveyard till now.
                                        Slowly a current of cold air started to blow signaling end of today's rituals. The candles stopped burning one by one, notwithstanding the heavy breeze. I looked up to the heavens and thanked God for blessing me with such a wonderful moment. It felt great, a sense of fullness and happiness rushed through my heart, mind and body. May be souls up there are thanking for remembering them once
a while... I left in peace..bye for now.

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