How to dress for Success??

This evening I got into this interesting article from Paul Castine on "Next time you think you are dressing" in his Castine's salesbook blog spot. His article impressed me with his first line itself which had already captured what I thought about his page initially. "Oh!! Yet another website on how to dress??"...boom!! I had the same statements to start with. With the interest picked up, I read this hilarious yet useful article on taking care of yourself before you present yourself to others. Some of the important tips were..

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Pushing India to "Darkness"??

As you might have got shocked seeing the subject line of today's topic, I have got shocked to see an article from a finance house this morning on a prime market buzz word "Green". I am NOT sure why suddenly whole lot of companies talking about "hole" in the ozone layer as greenists have been warning us atleast a decade from now though.

Coming back to Subject, This article mentioned "This can push India into darkness" and story goes like this...

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Do plants have intelligence? - Yes, See this to believe it!!

This morning I came across a amazingly funny true incident that happened in tamil nadu where the pungan tree started growing roots directly in the main water line pipe instead of growing deep to tap in the water source. I did NOT believe initially on how it could break the pipe seamlessly to get the water resource until I saw this picture and I read this interesting article sub-sequentially on the same topic as today's blog.

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Want to get more marks in classes?? Read "Agatha Christie" novels...

I found this interesting article this morning on the CBSE board pioneering a way to cultivate the reading habits among the school children. They have come up with the novel idea of reading NOVELS to boost the reading habits of the students as well as boost their grades with extra marks too. I kind of like the idea that does sound like "have the cake and eat it too!!".

Here is the whole story in English as well as Tamil..

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Fear of boats?? Take this bus to cross the water front..

While I was browsing randomly yesterday on the recent topic DUBAI Debacle (DD), I found an interesting tourist attraction listed in one of the sites called wonder bus. On further browsing, I found a recent set of photographs on dress sorry bus rehearsal of this wonder bus in Kerala backwaters with the following pictures.  As David Hockney once said "“Art has to move you and design does not, unless it's a good design for a bus.” I guess this is beautiful piece of art... 

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5 best things to learn from a pencil - Amazing pencil story!!

here is one beautiful inspirational story I read this evening from Angele Neik from motivationNation article. 

The pencil story

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box.

"There are 5 things you need to know," he told the pencil, "Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be."

Want to know what those 5 things are?? read on.

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Ranjan Das and Sleep

This forward carried a sad and interesting note. Sad because one of the energetic CEO of SAP-India who got into this pinnacle of responsibiity at his young age, attained Mr.Late status at an young age too.(i.e.,42). Interesting because this forward and the links in them clearly depicts that he is very energetic and even found to be controlling his stress and work life balance. On a mystery of what could have taken the toll of Late Mr.Ranjan Das is all about this article. Enough of my interpretation, let us go to the actual contents of this forward.

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Looking for consolidating your blogs with "after the jump" summaries??

I always wondered on how to avoid clogging of the contents of my blogs in a single page where the readers like you would NOT be able to see the all the other posts in a single page. Here is the way to enable "read more" feature which helps in "after the jump" summaries and consolidating your page contents.

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Australia monalisa

Here is an interesting forward I got and I thought I could ask you to guess on what the below drawing is made up of:

Let me give more closer look, did you guess??

What about now??

Could not do it??? here what it is :

The forward said this: "Artist assistants stand next to 3,604 cups of coffee which have been made into a giant Mona Lisa in Sydney , Australia . The 3,604 cups of coffee were each filled with different amounts of milk to create the different shades!!"

டவுட் தனபால் : "ஐய்யயோ..இந்த காபி ஐடியாவை காபி ரைட்ஸ் பண்ணலைன்னா நம்பாளுங்க காபி அடிசுடுவாங்கலே"

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All that glitters are NOT gold...coins??

As subject says today's blog is the reiteration of the old adage: "All that glitters is NOT gold " and could be extended to Gold coins too. In a two seperate but similar incidents observed in last couple of weeks in the same city, Chennai, could prove you that point.

Here you go on the news # 1 happened in Nanganallur, Chennai:

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Jeweller cheated with copper coins

CHENNAI: A jewellery shop owner at Nanganallur was cheated by a man who sold copper coins coated with gold paint to him for Rs 3 lakh. The jeweller has now approached the Suburban Commissioner office where he has been directed to the Palavanthangal police station.
Sanjay Gupta runs NeelKamal gold jewellery shop at Nanganallur. He was introduced to Rajesh through a common friend Selvajyoti Lingam of Adambakkam, who is a real estate broker. Rajesh claimed that he was a secretary at the All India Human Rights Council and urged Sanjay Gupta to join the council by paying a fee of Rs 200. Believing Rajesh, Sanjay Gupta joined and made 15 others to join the council.
Rajesh had visited Sanjay’s jewellery shop during March and had asked him, if he could buy gold coins. Rajesh even gave a sample gold coin to him. Sanjay Gupta tested the coin and found it to be original gold. “Rajesh told me that one of his friends has a lot of gold coins that was inherited from his ancestors and that he wanted to sell it to me, since I am a gold jeweller,” said Sanjay Gupta.Later, Rajesh promised Sanjay that he would sell 1400 grams of gold coins at the rate of Rs 1000 per gram. Drawn by the cheap offer, Sanjay gave Rs 3 lakh to Rajesh in March, 2009.
Sanjay was called to Puducherry to give the gold coins. He was given a bag of small coins. Sanjay immediately tested the coins with acid and found that it was just copper coins coated with gold paint. He immediately asked Rajesh to return his money back but Sanjay was threatened by a group of goondas. Fearing his life, Sanjay returned to Chennai. Rajesh, who initially promised to return the money back, threatened Sanjay last week.
Sanjay made a complaint at the suburban police commissionerate. “Many people have joined the Human Rights Council and have been cheated like me. I initially hesitated to make a complaint, as people would laugh at me for getting cheated by someone, as I am experienced in gold jewellery business. But I have lost Rs 3 lakh. I want my money back and I don’t want others to get cheated like me,” explained Sanjay.
The Palavanthangal police inspector has assured all help in nabbing the culprit.

© Copyright 2008 ExpressBuzz
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News#2: (Crux is the same as the News#1)


As scary as it sounds, I guess you may want to rush to your safety lockers to check the last set of coins that you have purchased from Sadaiyappa Stores or that one you got it at a good "deal" from Puducherry, if you have got some!!

For those who are wearing the gold coins at அரணா கயிறு.. well, they did NOT have these latest techniques that time. So no sweating, huh?? for safer side, எதுக்கும் ஒரு தடவை செக் பண்ணிக்கோங்க!!

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Kite flying - Is it that bad really??.

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"Don't ignore the small things -- the kite flies because of its tail."
Author: Hawaiian Proverb
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"Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly."
Author: Lauren Bacall
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"Don't be afraid of opposition. Remember that a kite rises against - not with - the wind."
Author: Source Unknown
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"Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, or a new country."
Author: Anais Nin
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"கொரங்குக்கு கூட தான் வாலு இருக்கு, அதுன்காட்டி கொரங்கால பறக்க முடியுமா??"
Author: Pammal K Sambandham
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During self introspection phases, I guess it is usual to look into those nostalgic feelings especially those sweet childhood memories. I am NO exception to that rule. Thinking about it, I always has this kite flying is one of the prominent along with the Kitti-pullu(Tamil) alias Lippa sport(English). And indeed I was surprised to hear that kite flying has been banned with unbailable warrant for those violators of the ban in Tamilnadu effective november month of 2009. I read as it was due to the increasing unwanted incidents in the state very recently. I also read that in 2006 itself this ban was imposed but being violated completely. here is the detailed news on the same.


There is other side of the story is(I guess from Manja dealers) that it has just been overreaction which diverted the efforts to eliminate the Kiteflying sport from the favourite list. Why?? T promote the money-minting cricket game in a bigger way. The noteworthy point is that during the kiteflying seasons, it has been found that the cricket craziness is off-peak which is not a good news for the cricket merchants.

Stories apart, after reading this, I could NOT resist myself asking this question:In the name of safety measure, are we denying one of the favourite sport to our next generation kids who are already inundated from the out-door games?? feel free to share what you think about it!!

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Free Eye Camps OR Free Eye-loss camps??

This morning I read this dreadful news on the Free Eye camp that was held in Andra. It is learnt that due to mis-creptions provided by the doctors then, almost 10 of the patients who had to taken in an emergency operation only to find .. err..feel that they have lost both of their eyes. That too after all the way travelling from Andrapradhesh to Tamilnadu (Chennai).

As scary as it sounds, I could NOT find out what were the actions taken on the doctors!! As my father always tends to be easy on Free Eye Camps, I guess I need to caution him with this news while not necessarily scare him though!!

டவுட் "தனபால்": அதுதான் அறக்கட்டளை பேரையே "போலி"நேணி-ன்னு வசுருக்கும்போதே டவுட் வரவேண்டாமா??

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No Diwali this year - இந்த வருடம் தீபாவளி இல்லை!!

This morning, I was browsing through all my unread mails that I have piled up for last 3 weeks. I found this forwarded mail to be quite amusing and hilarious. Here you go:

While this is a feast for the amusement, I tend to think that how come this craziness of the fan fare is of high quotient in Tamilnadu, especially after noting "kadavul"(god) Murali.

No wonder why that forward had this tag line: "என்ன கொடும சார் இது"!!

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Pensions - Two stories

This morning I have come across incidentally two interesting stories surprisingly related to Senior Citizen's pension funds as given below and was wondering what would be the mentality of the recipients of those senior citizen's pensions.

Story-1:

இந்திய சுதந்திரப் போராட்ட வீரர், 1952ம் ஆண்டு வரை கேரளம், தமிழகம், ஆந்திரா மற்றும் கர்நாடகம் இணைந்த பகுதிகளைக் கொண்ட சென்னை மாகாணத்தின் முதலமைச்சர், சுதந்திரத்திற்குப் பின்னர் இந்தியாவின் முதல் கவர்னர் ஜெனரல், காந்தியடிகள் உள்பட தேசத் தலைவர்கள் பலருக்கு மிக நெருக்கமானவர்...இத்தனை பெருமைகளைக் கொண்டாலும், மிக எளிமையானவராக வாழ்ந்து மக்களுக்கு சேவை செய்தவர், இராஜாஜி.

இராஜாஜியின் பொது வாழ்வில் நடந்த ஒவ்வொரு முக்கிய நிகழ்வும் சுவாரஸியம் நிரம்பியதாக இருக்கும் என்பது அனைவருக்கும் தெரியும். அவரது தனிப்பட்ட எளிய வாழ்விலும் பல சுவாரஸியமான சம்பவங்கள் நடந்துள்ளன. அவற்றுள் ஒன்று தான் நாம் இங்கெ பார்க்கப் போவது...

இராஜாஜியின் பேரன் பார்த்தசாரதி, சிவில் இன்ஜினியர் பட்டம் பெற்று, வட மாநிலமொன்றில் பெரிய பதவியில் பணிபுரிந்து வந்தார். திடீரென ஒரு நாள் வேலையைத் துறந்து சென்னை திரும்பிவிட்டார். இதைப் பார்த்து கவலைப்பட்ட இராஜாஜி "என்ன இப்படிச் செய்துட்ட..." என்றார்.

"நான் சொந்தமா ஒரு நிறுவனம் தொடங்கப்போறேன்" என்றார் பேரன். இராஜாஜிக்கு மேலும் கவலையாகிவிட்டது. ஆனால் பேரனாயிற்றே...அதனால் "நான் ஏதாவது உதவட்டுமா?" என்று கேட்டார்! "எனக்கு உதவுணும்னு நினைச்சா நீங்க ஒரு சின்ன காரியம் பண்ணலாம்" என்றார் பேரன்.

" என்ன?'' என்று கேட்டார் இராஜாஜி. "ஃபோன் இல்லாமல் நிறுவனத்தை நடத்துறது ரொம்பக் கஷ்டம். கனெக்ஷன் கிடைப்பதோ குதிரைக்கொம்பா இருக்கிறது. ஒரு வார்த்தை நீங்க சொன்னா உடனே கிடைச்சுடும்" என்றார் பார்த்தசாரதி. சிபாரிசுகள், விதிமுறைகளை மீறுதல் ஆகிய செயல்களை அறவே வெறுப்பவர் இராஜாஜி. பேரனுக்காக தனது கொள்கைகளை தளர்த்திக் கொள்ள அவர் விரும்பவில்லை. "அதோ டெலிஃபோன் டைக்டரி இருக்குபாரு; அதை எடு" என்றார் இராஜாஜி. அதைப் புரட்டி ஒரு பக்கத்தைச் சுட்டிக்காட்டினார்.

''எளிதாக தொலைபேசியை சொந்தமாக்கிக் கொள்ளுங்கள்"என்றிருந்த விளம்பரத்தை பேரனிடம் காட்டி, "இந்த திட்டத்துல விண்ணப்பிச்சா, உடனே கனெக்ஷன் கிடைச்சிடும். சிபாரிசு தேவையில்லை" என்றார். "அதை நான்
படிச்சுட்டேன். ஃபோன் இணைப்பு உடனே கிடைச்சுடும்; ஆனா அதுக்கு இரண்டாயிரம் ரூபாய் பணம் கட்டணுமே...இப்போதைக்கு என்னிடம் பணம் இல்லையே" என்றார்.

உடனே இராஜாஜி தமது செக் புத்தகத்தை எடுத்து, பார்த்தசாரதிக்கு இரண்டாயிரம் ரூபாய் செக் எழுதிக் கொடுத்தார். "முன்னாள் கவர்னர் ஜெனரலுக்கு பென்ஷன் மாதம் ஆயிரம் ரூபாய்...ஏற்கனவே போன மாச பென்ஷன் பணமும் சேர்த்து, ரெண்டாயிரம் ரூபாய் உனக்கு தர்றேன்" என்று பேரனிடம் செக்கை நீட்டினார்.

தாத்தா தனது பென்ஷன் தொகையை அப்படியே கொடுத்ததில் நெகிழ்ந்து போன பார்த்த சாரதி "ஆறுமாசத்தில் திருப்பித் தர்றேன்" என்று சொல்ல, பேரனை ஆசீர்வதித்து அனுப்பினார் இராஜாஜி. பார்த்தசாரதி தொடங்கிய நிறுவனம் நன்றாகவ நடந்ததால், சரியாக ஆறாவது மாதம் இரண்டாயிரம் ரூபாய்க்கு செக் எழுதி ராஜாஜியிடம் கொடுத்தார் பார்த்தசாரதி.

தன்னைப் போல தன் பேரனும் நேர நிர்வாகத்தைக் கடைபிடித்து, சொன்ன சொல்லைக் காப்பாற்றுவதால் மகிழ்ச்சியடைந்த இராஜாஜி, "எனக்கு இந்த சந்தோஷம் போதும். பணத்தை என்னுடைய அன்பளிப்பாக வைத்துக் கொள்" என அவரிடமே கொடுத்து ஆசிர்வதித்தார்.

Story-2:

Not to forget of course, the donors (voluntarily and involuntarily) are on the losing side anyways. I remember someone said "giving is pleasure". I am sure they have NOT referred to the story-2 here!!

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Episode - 2: Amazing concepts of Hinduism - Why 108 is so sacred?

Are you like me who always wondered on why 108 is so sacred for Hindu community?? I have always wondered about it.

I could atleast guess the other sacred numbers as 101,201 and 501 as part of Marriage gifts as we cannot round it so add + 1. The same logic BATA store in India that applies as part of consumer psycology with 99.99 INR instead 100 INR. It is called psychological barrier of human mind. Let us ignore this for this moment as 108 does NOT come into that circle anyways!!

During my search for it this morning, I have come across this interesting article : The cycle of Time which talks about Golden Ratio and the suspense behind the 108 number.

Though as my brother calls it right, it would be "Pazhamperumai" (Exact english translation please??!!), I still wonder how did they come across the distance between the planets in those days. I read another connecting article where the ancient hindu mythology almost captured the speed of light with this formulation.

Anyways, I say it is good piece of information to know why we are following what we are following!!

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Part-2: Winner of the Best managed TN state owned entity??

If you are following up with my earlier post on "Winner of the Best managed TN state owned entity??", you would be able to digest this fact too. As I mentioned in my earlier post that TASMAC is aiming a whopping 150 crore turnover in a single Deepavali day. Well!! Here is the updated information: they have done it and cross that by another hovering 70 crores extra. Yes, they seemed to have done a business of 22o crores on the day of deepavali where "ratchagan" krishna killed "Raakshasan" called Narakasura, as per hindu Mythology.

Well, our drinker's community really seemed to be relishing or be sad due to Narakaraasura's death to the tone of 220 crores in a day!!

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Series - Amazing concepts of hinduism - "First in Flight"??

I recently noticed in my rental car number plate - "First in Flight for North Carolina state. This triggered me the urge to google around whether the wright brothers are the "right" brothers to call them inventors of the "first in flight". As part of my quest, finally I ran into this article which had few of the interesting examples: http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Vimanas.htm. You will definitely rejoice the site contents!!

After going through this article and the wealth of information they gathered about different ancient vimanas and the way the operate and the vedic references, boy, I don't believe "wright" about the "first in flight" statement. Time to remember how great our ancestors were!!

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5 Reasons why nobody comments on my blogs and posts

I always wondered why I do NOT have much audience to participate, share or comment on my blogs and posts.

If you are also like me to increase your traffic on your blogs, here is an spam-less interesting link that I found to be very useful - 5 Reasons why nobody comments on my blogs and posts

Now that I know the reasons, let me work on it to improve my records. See ya tomorrow!!

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Winner of the Best managed TN state owned entity??

Probably subject might have been intrigued to you and guesses would have been flowing all through your mind. If you were thinking like me with this topic, probably the list would go from BSNL to TNEB to Tancem to forthcoming ARASU CABLE.

Hold your breath. The winner is... TASMAC. Follow this link to find out the details on the revenue that this business entity of TN generates . and I got surprised to see a whopping 3000+ crores in terms of annual turnover. I am NOT sure if any top-3 IT company can beat that. Back to the topic now?

Why it grabbed attention here.
1) Recently, TN Government announced 20% bonus for all the TASMAC employees (permenant/temporory). It has been quoted that this is approximately 3 times higher in comparison with the temporary school teachers of TN government school.

2) Given below is the snapshot i took it from leading tamil daily. TASMAC apparently targets to gross a whopping 150 crores in a single day. Any guess on what is special about this day. it is DEEPAVALI!!

Looks like they have to change the பழமொழி for Deepavali from "காசை கரியாக்காதே" to "காசை "கல்யாணி" label ஆக்காதே"!!

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Are they redundant??

This subject line is very catchy and I actually stole this from one of my college seniors effective presentation that I could still remember about. But that is NOT what I am going to jot down today.

I read this morning about Indian Government's recent noises about the "Vulgar" salaries paid to Indian corporate bigwigs. In fact, as per a leading business daily, top corporate salaries grew by an average rate of 18% during FY09. Remember this was at a time when the net profit of their companies fell on an average by 14%. Some believe that salaries moderate with a lag effect and pay hikes will slow down in FY10. There was this another leading business daily which mentioned the corporate bigwigs salary is 12,500 times better than the average indian salary. While I did NOT get the "average Indian Salary", 12500 times of X looks to be a bigger than bigger amount that I could imagine. It is true that Corporate pay remains a contentious issue around the world. It especially attracts attention when the broader economy isn’t doing well or when corporate scandals come to light.

I remember American president Mr.Obama, chided some of the bankers which got life and revived with the borrowed tax payer's money, paid 40% bonus to their top 1000 salesmen and a grand party in Hawaii-kawaii beach recently.

In my honest opinion, it is okay and necessary for the companies to pay as part of talent retaining power with this vitamin "M". However, should that NOT be directly proportional to the corporate performance overall. I agree with some of the exceptions of growing the talents even in the sinking boat.

But should the performance related compensation to be embraced as part of good corporate governance practices? Write to me if you have a opinion about it!!

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Success Formula - E + R = O

This morning, I read a book as part of my initiative - Book of the month namely "How to get from where you are to where you want to be", written by Jack Canfield. I read an interesting point from this interesting book that i would like to share here.
Everyone talks about Success Formula and he has given it like this: E + R = O where
E = Events
R = Response
O = Outcome.

In a crux, the Outcome or the Result of any Event in your life depends upon how you Respond to it. Here is the customized example to illustrate it better:
Scenario - 1
Event : You got a INR.20,000/- bonus this month with your pay package
Response: You spent ALL of them on reducible expenses like Lottery Ticket etc.,
Outcome : You are still short of that 20,000 on your essential expenses or broke.

Scenario - 2:
Event : You got a INR.20,000/- bonus this month with your pay package
Response: You invested that on an intelligent investment instrument like top-20 mutual fund.
Outcome : You have increased your net worth.

As illustrated above, the response to a particular event can easily change out of Outcome of it.

On an introspection, lot of good and bad things happened in my life depended largely on how I responded to it (emotional, pshycological, egotistical, egoistical, ....so on). Had I changed or delayed my responses, i may have gotten a better results, think about it!!

How do you perceive this formula on your introspection??? Share it with me!!

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Have you heard about Naga Naresh Karutura??

This morning, my father forwarded this truely inspiring story. Truely inspiring especially this person took everything in the positive spirit when every other can go to oceanic abyss of the inferiority complex in his situations and challenging moments!!

True to his statement: "God definitely has a plan for each one of us and for each one of our steps"!!
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"Naga Naresh Karutura has just passed out of IIT Madras in Computer Science and has joined Google in Bangalore . You may ask, what's so special about this 21-year-old when there are hundreds of students passing out from various IITs and joining big companies like Google? Naresh is special. His parents are illiterate. He has no legs and moves around in his powered wheel chair. (In fact, when I could not locate his lab, he told me over the mobile phone, 'I will come and pick you up'. And in no time, he was there to guide me) Ever smiling, optimistic and full of spirit; that is Naresh. He says, "God has always been planning things for me. That is why I feel I am lucky." Read why Naresh feels he is lucky. Childhood in a village
I spent the first seven years of my life in Teeparru, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, on the banks of the river Godavari . My father Prasad was a lorry driver and my mother Kumari, a house wife. Though they were illiterate, my parents instilled in me and my elder sister (Sirisha) the importance of studying. Looking back, one thing that surprises me now is the way my father taught me when I was in the 1st and 2nd standards. My father would ask me questions from the text book, and I would answer them. At that time, I didn't know he could not read or write but to make me happy, he helped me in my studies! Another memory that doesn't go away is the floods in the village and how I was carried on top of a buffalo by my uncle. I also remember plucking fruits from a tree that was full of thorns. I used to be very naughty, running around and playing all the time with my friends. I used to get a lot of scolding for disturbing the elders who slept in the afternoon. The moment they started scolding, I would run away to the fields! I also remember finishing my school work fast in class and sleeping on the teacher's lap! January 11, 1993, the fateful day
On the January 11, 1993 when we had the sankranti holidays, my mother took my sister and me to a nearby village for a family function. From there we were to go with our grandmother to our native place. But my grandmother did not come there. As there were no buses that day, my mother took a lift in my father's friend's lorry. As there were many people in the lorry, he made me sit next to him, close to the door. It was my fault; I fiddled with the door latch and it opened wide throwing me out. As I fell, my legs got cut by the iron rods protruding from the lorry. Nothing happened to me except scratches on my legs. The accident had happened just in front of a big private hospital but they refused to treat me saying it was an accident case. Then a police constable who was passing by took us to a government hospital. First I underwent an operation as my small intestine got twisted. The doctors also bandaged my legs. I was there for a week. When the doctors found that gangrene had developed and it had reached up to my knees, they asked my father to take me to a district hospital. There, the doctors scolded my parents a lot for neglecting the wounds and allowing the gangrene to develop. But what could my ignorant parents do? In no time, both my legs were amputated up to the hips. I remember waking up and asking my mother, where are my legs? I also remember that my mother cried when I asked the question. I was in the hospital for three months.Life without legs
I don't think my life changed dramatically after I lost both my legs. Because all at home were doting on me, I was enjoying all the attention rather than pitying myself. I was happy that I got a lot of fruits and biscuits.
'I never wallowed in self-pity' July 28, 2008
The day I reached my village, my house was flooded with curious people; all of them wanted to know how a boy without legs looked. But I was not bothered; I was happy to see so many of them coming to see me, especially my friends! All my friends saw to it that I was part of all the games they played; they carried me everywhere. God's hand
I believe in God. I believe in destiny. I feel he plans everything for you. If not for the accident, we would not have moved from the village to Tanuku, a town. There I joined a missionary school, and my father built a house next to the school. Till the tenth standard, I studied in that school. If I had continued in Teeparu, I may not have studied after the 10th. I may have started working as a farmer or someone like that after my studies. I am sure God had other plans for me. My sister, my friend
When the school was about to reopen, my parents moved from Teeparu to Tanuku, a town, and admitted both of us in a Missionary school. They decided to put my sister also in the same class though she is two years older. They thought she could take care of me if both of us were in the same class. My sister never complained. She would be there for everything. Many of my friends used to tell me, you are so lucky to have such a loving sister. There are many who do not care for their siblings. She carried me in the school for a few years and after a while, my friends took over the task. When I got the tricycle, my sister used to push me around in the school. My life, I would say, was normal, as everyone treated me like a normal kid. I never wallowed in self-pity. I was a happy boy and competed with others to be on top and the others also looked at me as a competitor.
Inspiration
I was inspired by two people when in school; my Maths teacher Pramod Lal who encouraged me to participate in various local talent tests, and a brilliant boy called Chowdhary, who was my senior. When I came to know that he had joined Gowtham Junior College to prepare for IIT-JEE, it became my dream too. I was school first in 10th scoring 542/600. Because I topped in the state exams, Gowtham Junior College waived the fee for me. Pramod Sir's recommendation also helped. The fee was around Rs 50,000 per year, which my parents could never afford. Moving to a residential school
Living in a residential school was a big change for me because till then my life centred around home and school and I had my parents and sister to take care of all my needs. It was the first time that I was interacting with society. It took one year for me to adjust to the new life. There, my inspiration was a boy called K K S Bhaskar who was in the top 10 in IIT-JEE exams. He used to come to our school to encourage us. Though my parents didn't know anything about Gowtham Junior School or IIT, they always saw to it that I was encouraged in whatever I wanted to do. If the results were good, they would praise me to the skies and if bad, they would try to see something good in that. They did not want me to feel bad. They are such wonderful supportive parents. Life at IIT- Madras
Though my overall rank in the IIT-JEE was not that great (992), I was 4th in the physically handicapped category. So, I joined IIT, Madras to study Computer Science. Here, my role model was Karthik who was also my senior in school. I looked up to him during my years at IIT- Madras. He had asked for attached bathrooms for those with special needs before I came here itself. So, when I came here, the room had attached bath. He used to help me and guide me a lot when I was here. I evolved as a person in these four years, both academically and personally. It has been a great experience studying here. The people I was interacting with were so brilliant that I felt privileged to sit along with them in the class. Just by speaking to my lab mates, I gained a lot.
'There are more good people in society than bad ones' July 28, 2008
Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to Prof Pandurangan and all my lab mates; all were simply great. I was sent to Boston along with four others for our internship by Prof Pandurangan. It was a great experience. Joining Google R&D
I did not want to pursue PhD as I wanted my parents to take rest now. Morgan Stanley selected me first but I preferred Google because I wanted to work in pure computer science, algorithms and game theory. I am lucky
Do you know why I say I am lucky? I get help from total strangers without me asking for it. Once after my second year at IIT, I with some of my friends was travelling in a train for a conference. We met a kind gentleman called Sundar in the train, and he has been taking care of my hostel fees from then on. I have to mention about Jaipur foot. I had Jaipur foot when I was in 3rd standard. After two years, I stopped using them. As I had almost no stems on my legs, it was very tough to tie them to the body. I found walking with Jaipur foot very, very slow. Sitting also was a problem. I found my tricycle faster because I am one guy who wants to do things faster. One great thing about the hospital is, they don't think their role ends by just fixing the Jaipur foot; they arrange for livelihood for all. They asked me what help I needed from them. I told them at that time, if I got into an IIT, I needed financial help from them. So, from the day I joined IIT, Madras , my fees were taken care of by them. So, my education at the IIT was never a burden on my parents and they could take care of my sister's Nursing studies.

Surprise awaited me at IIT
After my first year, when I went home, two things happened here at the Institute without my knowledge. I got a letter from my department that they had arranged a lift and ramps at the department for me. It also said that if I came a bit early and checked whether it met with my requirements, it would be good. Second surprise was, the Dean, Prof Idichandy and the Students General Secretary, Prasad had located a place that sold powered wheel chairs. The cost was Rs 55,000. What they did was, they did not buy the wheel chair; they gave me the money so that the wheel chair belonged to me and not the institute. My life changed after that. I felt free and independent. That's why I say I am lucky. God has planned things for me and takes care of me at every step. The world is full of good people
I also feel if you are motivated and show some initiative, people around you will always help you. I also feel there are more good people in society than bad ones. I want all those who read this to feel that if Naresh can achieve something in life, you can too."

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Craziest thing I have heard..

What would a policeman would do? ensure law and order (apart from getting their hands dirty if they are corrupted). What about a bus conductor?? ensure everybody gets their travel tickets and smooth journey??? Read on..

Is this what you get to see when you perform your normal duty?? Weirdo weird!!

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Obama - The Nobel Laureat

This morning I saw the flash news that American President Obama won the Nobel prize for his peace initiatives.

While I do NOT have much data on to comment he deserves it or not, I am having a feeling like only the persons who are in lime lights gets these noble nobal prizes. But the selection of chidambaram born scientist, Venkataraman Ramakrishnan proved me wrong. But I am happy that I was proved wrong.

As long as these nobel laureat's noble acts NOT getting it across to common man like me, no amount of awards are noble enough!!

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Nail biting moments, really??

As it is increasing becoming usual, I had few nail biting moments before I catch up with my flight recently!!

Here is the chronological sequence of events:
1. The Weighing Machine@ 8 PM IST: In the evening, we weighed both of my luggages they weighed around 43.2 lbs and we were feeling very comfortable in carrying them.

2. Trip to Airport@2:30 AM IST : In order to catch the 5:25 AM flight, we started only at 2:30 AM IST, as I overlooked it as 5:45 AM instead of 5:25 AM.

3. 2nd Trip to Airport@3:30 AM IST: Icing on the cake was that I missed my very important bag where I kept visiting cart to ration-card(well..exaggerating, it carried purse and passport, of course!) in the chrompet itself. My BIL did a good samaritan act by rushing back to Chrompet and get it back!! Till then I could NOT go into the Airport!!

4. Weight Checkup @3:50 AM IST: having less than 11/2 hrs to board, I entered into the airport with the first checkup and Scanning and weighing the checkin luggages. To make things more interesting, their weighing machine showed first luggage to be 29.3 Kg and other to be 26.2 Kg. (I should have suspected it when it showed my weight as 78kg. I thought I did reduce my weight due to my reduced 3 course meal!! my bad!!) It was indeed was NOT 43.2 lbs!! So I had to resort to juggling act to reduce more than 6 Kg but could reduce 4+ kg with the help of Sindhu's bulky books immediately. Unfortunately I could NOT break 10kg rice pack!! What is the time now?? oh!! 4:15 AM IST with checkin got over!! (I feel really sorry for not able to carry the books, sincerely!!)

5. Cute little satan in Emigration Check@4:20 AM IST: வாலு போயி கத்தி வந்தது!! I had a small sweat family of husb/wife/son/daughter standing in front of me. For some reason, this little boy was screaming all along grabbing complete attention of the entire airport and just before entering into the authority gate, he ran away to see if his relatives still there to go with them. With his parents chasing him wildly, I had to wait for their completion for next 15 mins. When I got out of it, it was 4:45 AM IST.

6. Lime light @5:20 AM IST: I was surprised to hear beautiful voice calling out my name on speakerphone all over the airport counters for my boarding as I was standing in the huge queue for security gate check. Guess what??!! that was boarding call with the warning as "last time" before they close the gate. Finally I had to rush by beg/borrow/encroach the adjacent places in the queue to pass on the security gate check. It was almost like "நிறுத்துங்க!!" climax of scene of any tamil movie!!

7. Missing Luggage@6:15 PM CST, Houston Airport: After a big 20 hours relaxation period, I got into surprise mode where I learnt my main luggage where I kept all my official docs, clothes, shoes etc., did NOT arrive with my flight. Apparently my luggage missed my flight which I was about to miss!! Good that it arrived next day, otherwise, the second greatest tragedy after bopal gas incident would have happened in Waller, TX!!

Now, isn't it enough for the short description "few nail biting moments"?? :)

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விகடன்.com - site attack??!!

I am a avid reader of www.vikatan.com though I kind of hate their web page verses the physical page versions. This evening when I tried reading my favourite Nanayam vikatan, both mozilla firefox and Google chrome, it threw me a "Site attack" message and when I browsed through I learnt that it has 31 pages which had 12 different trojan horses (no..no. not that horse in that marina beach!!) and other kind of malwares (no..definitely not a shopping mall!!).

While I don't think vikatan does it for the monetary benefit, but I tend to think that "காய்ந்த பழம் தானே கல்லடி படும் !!" , in raw tamil to english translation, "Only the ripened fruit gets the blow". Any good translations that you can think of??

Talking about the same, I get awed whenever I read the vikatan on how these guys are managing to get 190 page full of contents (yeah!! well., it is 130+ pages if you can remove the sleazy pictures, advertisements and pro-DMK cover stories) and 50+ pages of sensational journalism in the form Junior Vikatan in almost every 5 and half days. All the other journals of them can probably be prepared 1 month in advance, as I could think about 'em. Yes, I hear you, they are professionals!!

If they are so professionals, they would find a way to get out these "site attacks" too!!!??

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Benefit of d(ou/e)bt??

This afternoon I have come across an article which talked about the debts and how nefarious or beneficial it could be.

Beneficial ones ( from the catchy notes):
The problem with debt is that it creates huge invisible opportunity costs: True to the core. I mean how many of us actually got indebted in home loans in the hope of getting into a long term investement or asset. How many us getting into educational loans in the hope of reaping good benefits due to better education and so on.

Why Nefarious?? Do I need to tell it explicitly. Ask the folks who got their home loans in HDFC or ICICI Banks at 13.5% floating rates, just to give an example. *lol*

How to avoid them - one simple point:
The easiest way to stay out of debt is to avoid taking it on in the first place. How true?? But how much impossible it is to do away with the debts. I do get into some good debts and bad ones, as they are tough to avoid sometimes. I got into this TATA INDICOM CDMA connection with the phone using Standard Chartered credit card using monthly EMI's of 0% interest. I was happy that I striked a deal but I later came to know that the money I have paid for the connection was 35% more than the actual retailer's price.

One of the catch note I got from the article is : Indetured Servants: Wikipedia says, The laborer is under contract of an employer for usually three to seven years, in exchange for their transportation, food, drink, clothing, lodging and other necessities. Unlike a slave, an indentured servant is required to work only for a limited term specified in a signed contract. Hey!! doesn't it sound like an employee of outsourcing partner!?? No offense, I am in B1 too!! Also beware, Indentured servitude was not the same as the apprenticeship system by which skilled trades were taught, but similarities do exist between the two mechanisms, in that both require a set period of work

Having said the above points, couple of thought provoking points :
1) What are you currently doing to manage your debts?
2)What do you do to keep yourself from taking on more?

I am still thinking. But if you knew it already, Please do share your thoughts in comments. otherwise, sit next to me and join the queue of thinkers.

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chinmayi and time management - flashes of the day

This evening was kind of fruitful as the subject says, i landed my browser's sail in Tamil Singer/Translator/Psychologist/TV/Voice Over Artiste/ Presenter/RJ/Classical Dancer ( yeppa..ippovae kanna kattudhey).. "Wow!!" is the one word I could say about her blogging skills. it was so natural looking and kind of kindling your thought process. I never have come across more such intellectual cum talented artiste's blog spot lately. May be I was NOT searching specifically for one.

I also noticed her time management skills while going through her listings as I see her travel a lot to sing in different languages, running a business - blue elephant and talking about alternative source energy while posing as Inbox cover story gal. Ma'em, I am truely inspired!! You must be burning your night oil or equivalent "alternative energy" to acheive those!!

All the very best for her new dance institution start up!!

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Ask why??? “Everyone did it!!”

Why did I create this post : “Everyone did it!!” What??!!! Though I am against plagiarism, I do not mind having a “inspirations” out of the best work. Not the failure, but the emulation is the stepping stone of success. Why?? Unfortunately due to limited stocks of IQ with him, God is impartial in distributing the IQs amoungt the human-beings. Resulting which, some of us are More creative-r than the rest. (80-20 rule??).

Why did any one go to school?? Because everyone else (I know) did it!! Why did you get or look for a job immediately after school?? Because everyone(I know) else did it?? Now, why did I create this post?? Because EVERYONE else(I know) did it!!

Next question: Who are the EVERYONE in my list?? Not everyone!! EVERYONE is the every single person who are successful in their specialities that I know of. I can number with my fingers….hmm… not really!! Allow me to take the counts of my fingers in both the legs too.

Next question: ??? Hold on!! I am NOT going to stop with this first post. I am going to use this as my personal diary opened to public, i.e., I could blabber something and still have couple of people reading it!!

Any disclaimers: Why not!! All the contents published here is only for viewing and NOT for getting “inspired” and author owns the whole responsibility of the contents published to the extend that he typed of and ALL are personal opinions about how AUTHOR perceives and do NOT intend to hurt anyone ( even called by names!!).

See ya in my next post!!

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தவமாய் தவமிருந்து - சேரன் பெற்ற பிள்ளை

This evening I have watched a movie which I was longing to see for so many years. Especially it was from one of my fav. director, I-can-act-too-Cheran. The movie name is : “Thavamaai Thavamirundhu”. Wow!! what an apt title for the movie with its genre in mind. Let me start the ga-ga from the title itself.

Set in the Madhurai background, it was all about the toils that parents undergo and how the son-daughter generation did NOT not get a chance to evaluate the toils that their parents went through and almost insensitive (in some cases) to the sacrifices.

Pluses:

1. Muthaiah – oh..was that raj-kiran in disguise?? This tremendous actor lived the character. From the grease in his shirt to the aging hairstyle to the body language in each scenes, he rocks!!

2. Charanya, padma priya, cheran, alagar character ,Lalitha character and even that madras helping friend shined. Director almost extracted the fullest potential in each of the actors and characters. Subtle differences in each characters make them live on the screen. ex., vatti kadangaran’s office, Alagar samy’s hearing issues.

3. Screenplay with live inspriations : Father’s proud when Cheran says he can’t take his kid and wife to Madhurai. Cheran’s struggle in getting 3K for his wife’s pregnancy, Father struggling to get the funds on the day before Diwali, Father giving 500 bugs when not knowing that his son is actually eloping .. almost each of the frame!!

4. Camera and photography – Some of the scenes where over-lighted. i.e., likes of whole family goes for purchasing, Padmapriya gettting good-marumagal scene. However, I am still wondering how beautifully the cameraman pictured Cheran-padmapriya’s flirt at the college campus and the romance. Superb work!!

5. Dialogues and in-line chords from Music director(s): If someone loved all the 3+ hours music, next to Screenplay, these attributes helped the viewer.

6. Last but NOT least conviction: Without this, I am NOT sure if the director dared to create the 3_ hour movie without comedy/fight/actions/”Yey-Yey” villain/30+ high flying tatasumos/chennai dadha/corrupt police officer/self-boasting savadaals.

-Minuses:

1. Some body please explain me this. Why the Good movie have to ALWAYS be slow moving. I mean, can’t that be in the regular movie type.(NOTE: not referring masala). Why that you got to show almost Padmapriya’s morning activities(saving her restroom scenes) from giving coffee to washing her cloth washing techniques just to insist that she is trying to be very good at her hospitality. Interval at 1:46:39 seconds scared me. It is almost the first movie is done!!

2. Cheran trying to act!! Yeah. he is a good actor but why to always have that “I-am-a-loser” face and why not different poses, Mr.Cheran??

3. Similitudes with Autograph scenes. Esp. searching for Job/recollecting flashback initiation while travelling/Good appa(Rajesh Vs. RajKiran [ wow!! Raj in the bginning]). Editor could have used his scissors in the first half.

Verdict: One of the best movie I have ever watched and I have a feelign that this would capture the place of kamal’s Anbe Sivam’s spot sheerly due to this movie’s reality checks.

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