Words from Down Under

New blog

2005-11-14T15:58:00.000-08:00

Folks, I am moving...

Moving to Wordpress.com, @ wordsdownunder.wordpress.com, something with a name akin to the blog's name, rather than vdeepakis. Anyway, please update your bookmarks and continue to visit ...

Mental block & Officeworks

2005-11-09T16:34:00.000-08:00

I have been through certain things in my life which have taken my focus away from blogging for sometime now, am facing a blogger block, thankful to know that I am not alone - Chakra feels the same too.

This incident yesterday at the Officeworks store at Elsternwick was so interesting that I cannot help not posting about it. I had bought the laptop at this store on Sep 11 (!!!), 2005 and have the invoice for the purchase and everything, with a small hitch. Now, I have a method of salary sacrifice at ANZ which helps me get back the GST of 10% and some more money on top of it, basically, the money that I spent on the laptop ($1399) is non taxable. The invoice has to have my name on it to prove to the payroll dept that I bought it, which is fair enough. The hitch was that the original invoice did not have my name, because as of the day of purchase I was not aware of this particular tax claim. I went back to the store and asked for the name to be amended, which I thought was a small thing that they do on their billing records, but not so. The counter person was not helpful at all, and then I had to ask for the Manager who came along and said the same thing ... We cannot do it, we dont have a procedure to do it, we cannot back date anything.

Everything changed when I told the Manager that I have already spoken by phone to their colleague the day before and mentioned her name as well, she was not there. I also pointed that she promised that this was an every day affair that they go through, and it is very easy to be amended, only that I visit them during the office hours, which I did. Those magic words did the trick and within the next two mins in front of my eyes, they reissued the invoice with my name and address on it.

They knew how to do it, where do it, the works but somehow decline everything when asked for the first time. Moral of the story, jot down the names of the store people you speak with on the phone or if you meet them at the store. It was a mini triumph for me ...

A Sad post

2005-10-25T02:26:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my neighbour at Coimbatore Mr Lakshmanan who passed away on Sunday afternoon after a sudden illness.

I cannot help but remember with tears the cheerful man who saw me as more than his son during the course of ten years since 1994 till last Sunday. Every weekend he will check the zodiac of my sign before checking everyone's else, including his own sons. He was the man who when I was leaving for Australia, hugged me in front of my our home, without any shame, "I will miss you, I dont know what I will do without you !". He knows everyone of my friends - Prabukarthik, Mahadevan and so many else. Everytime he and auntie went to some temple, they have never returned without making a puja for me, he knew my details by heart. A man who did not have any bad habits, was quite fit for his age, he was around 64 +, if I am not sure. Whenever he was cutting down tender coconuts from the trees in his house, he always made sure, I got my share as well. Life after this will never be the same in that street.

I have never been affected by a person's passing away until now, before Mr Lakshmanan. We will not get in contact with human beings like him every now and then.

I am only disheartened that I was not there when this happened. No more Engineer uncle for me and everyone else. I will miss you...

Learners Permit

2005-10-23T05:02:00.000-07:00

I have got the Learners Permit for driving car from Vicroads, the transport and roads authority for Victoria. I had to take a computer test, TOEFL alike, for the permit. The questions are based from a question bank of 320 questions. Similar to the one in India, where the driving school instructor provides the list of all questions that might be asked by the license inspector. The only thing here, is that you have to practise the questions and take the test. I had to work with it for nearly two weeks before I can take the test. The score to pass is 78% and I managed to score 86%, not bad for a two week effort. Couple of guys who took the test with me yesterday, actually failed the test.

The problem with failing the test, is that you have to pay $28.30 for everytime you want to take the test. If you want to get the Learner's permit as an identification card it would cost a further $17.80. Now, that I have got this card, I dont have to carry my passport everytime I want to show some ID. Thats a relief.

Broadband up and running

2005-10-22T01:33:00.000-07:00

At last, the Dodo broadband service is ready from today morning and it is going well. This is after three weeks after the first application, nearly ten calls to them between then and today and this the result. My argument was that if, they were not able to provide the service, they should be able to refund the money that I spent for purchasing the modem, which they were not ready to...

Anyway, it is up and running, and the first thing that I did, was to update my Norton Antivirus virus definition files. And it was a good speed too.. And, downloaded a couple of Crazy Mohan dramas, without that, nothing is complete.

2005-10-22T01:31:00.000-07:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Mastercard fraud

2005-10-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

Your two famous minutes on TV are up along with your Mastercard number if you were careless enough to show it on TV. Like what happened to Latesha Vinette, showing her Mastercard debit card in this news link.

Tagged !!!

2005-10-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

My list of Seven Things after being tagged by Mona ...

Seven Things I want to do before I die :

1. Live life fully.
2. Be capable of changing the life of atleast one person.
3. Travel as much as I can.
4. Become a better photographer.
5. Hope that in the future if someone says my name, it brings laughter and joy.
6. Reserved for future use.
7. Reserved for future use.

Seven Things that I can do :

1. Cook, something that is palatable atleast to me.
2. Keep trying for a goal until I get that.
3. Read current affairs endlessly.
4. Keep watching Mani Rathnam movies for countless times.
5. Keep thinking about my school days and college days.
6. Listen to S V Sheker and 'Crazy' Mohan dramas continuously.
7. Reserved for future use.

Seven Things I say the most :

1. Damn
2. Thats alright.
3. Hows it going ?
4. Hello (that is part of my work script)
5. How are you doing ?
6. Maapillai.
7. Reserved for future use.

Seven Things I can't do :

1. Stay awake after a heavy meal.
2. Persist to a exercise regimen.
3. Watch animation movies.
4. Listen to songs of newer bands.
5. Keep my concentration on one thing at a time, I find it very hard.
6. Read non fiction books with the same conviction as I read fiction books.
7. Reserved for future use.

Seven Things that attracts to the opposite sex :

1. Intelligence.
2. Individuality.
3. Broad mindedness.
4. Respect to tradition and elders.
5. Reserved for future use.
6. Reserved for future use.
7. Reserved for future use.

Seven celebrities that I like:

1. Shobana.
2. Jennifer Aniston.
3. Pierce Brosnan (I know he is a guy, but the man oozes charisma)
4. Rani Mukherjee.
5. Tabu.
6. Kajol.
7. Priety Zinta.

Another episode from memory

2005-10-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is a funny prank, sometime around the second year of B.Sc at Coimbatore Institute of Technology. I and some of my friends were in a for a night session of combined studying for the semester exam, when we were watching the late night music on Sun TV, one of my friends, Vivek, who hit upon an idea to call random people from the telephone directory about a fictititious contest on the channel.

So there we were calling up people to tell them, that we were calling them up for a pretrial so that on Tamil New Year's day, Pepsi Uma will talk to them, by calling them up. We had quite a few enthusiastic people talking to us at 1 AM dedicating songs to their girlfriends, singing in praise of their wives etc.. One person even sang like SPB for "Kaathalin Deepam Ondru" !! Needless to say, we had lots of fun, did not study in the end.

I just hope none of the people that we called that day, read this story.

Long lost memory

2005-10-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

My team members had a quiz going on to find out how much we know about each other as there were some newies in the team, sort of to break the ice... Each of us had to write something for the quiz as a question, a weird situation in our past lives, a food combo that is unusual that we like and so on.

I remembered this incident when I was in the 9th standard and studying for the science exam the next day. It was a holiday the previous day and I was naturally out playing and jumping around with the senior guys who had completed their exams. I was tired, ready to hit the sack, when my father was advising me to study well and do well and what not.. I sat up on my bed, with the open book, and pretended to memorise the lines in the book, with my eyes closed. I heard him coming in and thinking that I have got all covered, continued to sit in this meditative posture. My meditative posture is always horizontal and mostly on a bed, you don't what relief it provides especially after a Sunday afternoon meal. Well, my dad came in, took one look at me and said "Thookam vanthaa poi thoongu, athukka nee enna Einstein a science book thalai keezha vechu padikka ?"

Need I say more, after that, he stopped asking me to study. Because I proved that I can study upside down and score the same marks as I would do otherwise which is always around 70, nothing more, maybe less.

Day after tomorrow, it will be one year since I got the Permanent residentship in Australia. Seems like yesterday, when I received the letter from the Immigration department.

Onset of Weekend

2005-10-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

The weekend is just around the corner, well, it is here, and I always maintain that people in Melbourne sort of try to let their hair down during the late hours of Friday, Saturday and for the brave few, Sunday as well. They can do various things, go to parties, stay up late, get involved with someone in a relationship, get out of a relationship, be single, go away somewhere mindlessly, meet your fiance's parents, go clubbing (!!), get invited for a rock concert in the corporate box, fight with customer service of your ISP, get punched in the face while travelling in the tram and lots more - it is as if people work 4.5 days just for the weekend to come. And not to say of a long weekend, thats what the state of NSW had last weekend because of Labour Day. We Melburnians were not so lucky, had to work. Long weekends for most is one extra long drinking binge, starting on Friday evening and continuing till Monday afternoon by which that person is knocked down senseless.

BTW, someone did get invited to the corporate box of Rod Laver arena this weekend for a rock concert - ME. I dont know what I am going to do there, listen to music, obviously, and then... No idea. Fighting with customer service - that is also me, no end result to that. I could complain to the Telecommunications Ombudsman, well - I know how that is going to turn out.

Talking about long weekends, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, if they fall on weekends, we get extra holidays in the course of the next week, so to compensate. I remember, Gandhi Jayanthi for this year was on a Sunday. I am not complaining about the extra holidays that people get here, just that sometimes, we have nothing else to do, especially, if you hate gaalivanting around town with unknown people at late hours.

Broadband woes

2005-10-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

I had applied for the Broadband service from Dodo Internet nearly ten days back, and was promised a callback about the successfull connection message in the next seven days. Seven days out, on the tenth day today, I called up the Dodo customer service only to be informed that the broadband connection has been put on hold as there are no free ports (whatever that means) in my local exchange. So Dodo has passed the baton to Telstra, and are waiting for T to come with free ports. The issue will be escalated to Telstra only at the end of the 21 day period, after which there are no guarantees on whether the service will be provided or not.

The customer service person refused to send the escalation right now to Telstra, even though he believed that the connection will not come through. But wonder of wonders, Dodo has already charged my credit card for $49.90, without providing a single byte. When I mentioned this to the customer service he casually replied that the money will be refunded automatically. I only hope that happens.

Sometimes it benefits not to live in a technologically advanced country !!!

iPod Nano or No No ?

2005-09-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

The latest offering from the Apple stable, iPod Nano, impressively small but having its own share of defects. The BBC reports that as many as 30 iPod Nano users per hour had been directing their complaints to this website, the main problem being the screen getting scratched. What Apple tried to do by decreasing the size of the player, probably they have let down in the design department. Last heard, Apple has listened to the voice of the consumer and has promised to replace all the defective nanos through Apple Care. A note about Apple Care, they are efficient, my roomate had a problem with the iPod Mini headphones, just a single mail to them, they sent the headphones to our address free of cost with the only provisio that he send the defective pair to the return address, else be charged for it.

(Photo from Apple.com)

Weekend Trivia

2005-09-25T15:39:00.000-07:00

What a weekend ? Purely due to the only fact of trying to buy something so badly, and spending nearly 6 hours on the trot for two days consecutively and all the time having the money to spend for it. The thing that I wanted so badly was a broadband package. I was really surprised when in a technologically developed country like Australia, I was informed by the Dodo internet customer service that it would take nearly 10 - 21 days for the broadband connection to be activated. What a shame ?

Most of my weekends have been pretty lacklustered so far, with movies or books to keep me company with the odd photo shoot sometimes. This weekend has been interesting so far, in the sense that I managed to finish the books Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I also bought a DVD of my favorite three movies of Kamalhassan - Anbe Sivam, Aaalavandhan and Virumaandi. I feel that Anbe Sivam should have been more universally accepted at the box office, although Kamal is not an actor to care much about the box office as much he cares about critical accolades. Sometimes we get the view that he does his roles because he is a consummate actor who can really stand up and say that he chooses as he deems that right and not be overtly bothered by popular cine antics ?

In Anbe Sivam, there a lot of interesting characters who have their own moments in the movie, Santhaanabarathy during the last scene, when he lets go of Kamal to live, Uma Kamesh - especially in the scene in the projector room when she finally understands the relationship between Nallasivam and Bala. That one look from her conveys the total disappointment and despair inside her - many people had missed this, when the whole emphasis was on Bala crying it out to Nallasivam.

Actually, there is a scene following that exchange between Nallasivam and Meher where she makes him known that she had been in love with him for the last four years and also why the character Pavun kunju accompanies him to the fateful trip. When I watched the movie in Coimbatore before coming to Melbourne, the exchange between Nallasivam and Meher was not shown. Only this DVD that I bought today had it.

I had seen an interview of Uma with Yugi Sethu, I have forgotten the name of the show, but it was an interview where she displayed the multiple talents that she has. We know of models - face models, full suit models, bikini models, but Uma is a hand model. Her hands are those which appeared in Prince Jewellery along with gold bangles. She has also done hand modelling for various soaps. The next time you see something like that, it might be her. Uma also has quite an interesting voice talent, she mimics the voice of her mother Kamala Kamesh to an ultimate extent.

Anbe Sivam was inspired from the English movie - Planes, Trains and Automobiles starring Steve Martin, but only the Nallasivam - Anbarasu part has been taken from the Planes.. The rest is all vintage Kamal.

Arasan Shop

2005-09-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

This shop at Carnegie just near to the Caulfield campus of Monash University is just the typical Indian spices and condiments shop. The only problem, the items you purchase might be as old as nearly a year ago. But, I have to admit, the lady of the shop gave me a calendar with a picture of Lord Hanuman when I first went to their shop in 2003, to buy 10 kg of rice. I still retain that calendar in my bedroom, but a crime is a crime, to quote Nakkeeran from Thiruvilaiyaadal.

I did not realise about the expiry dates of products till sometime after that, I had bought quite a few things from them, the only Tamilian family I knew in the whole of Melbourne at that time. So it was kind of meeting some kindred souls all the way from Windsor to Carnegie. The truth dawned when I bought some pickles and by chance happened to glance at the information on the container, actually I was looking for the manufacturer's address in Madras, when I noticed the expiry date was nearly one year back. I then located another and found it was from the same batch. The good samaritan in me (!!) took both the bottles to the counter and actually told that lady about the possible oversight in stocking. I was really shocked by the reply that she gave me, "Venumnaa Vaangittu Ponga, illai na angeye replace pannunga" - did not expect that from a lady who some weeks back gave me the calendar.

But I did pass on this information to some of my friends and maybe Arasan lost some business because of me. Last heard, the shop is still there, and mostly everyone who resides in the adjoining suburbs of Glen Huntly, Carnegie, Murrumbeena are aware of this and none go to their shop.

Melbourne's honest man

2005-09-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Jitendra Chirag Kapashi, I know his full name, because I used to work with him, has got the honour of being Melbourne's honest man. This fun loving guy living in the Melbourne suburn of Malvern, found an envelope containing $10,000 in cash, and without any qualms or second thoughts turned it over to the local police station. And, did he ask for an award, no, says the police officer, not even a thought in that direction.

Chirag is a very happy down to earth guy who held the prestigious position of a R & R executive at Telstra Customer Service and you cannot count a single soul who did not know him or did not like him. Man of the masses, as they say.

Chirag, this short post, is dedicated to you, and for making all us Indians proud of you.

Related news item here.

Immigration Turmoils

2005-09-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

Every student worst nightmare in Australia will always be the letter from the DIMIA (Immigration Dept) informing him / her about the cancellation of the visa and the fact that him / her have to leave the country by next daylight, so to say. In fact, the organization where I worked part time during my student days was raided three times by DIMIA for students who were working more than the stipulated 20 hrs per week. To tell the truth, some of them did, but most of us, were aware of the legal hassles and almost imminent deportation that came along with it. But, doesn't Fortune favour the brave ?

But my ex roomie had a taste of the same thing albeit the reason being different. Every student who arrives in Australia has to get the work visa in 4-6 weeks after landing, so that he / she can work part time. It would take sometime as the DIMIA would ask for confirmation from the university reg the length of study, and the enrollment date etc. That was the reason why it took 4-6 weeks and the visa can be obtained by logging online. Coming to my story, I and my ex roomie went to the DIMIA office at La Trobe street in Melbourne for the stamping of the visa in the passport.

Everything was fine at this stage (April 2003), we were happy, having got the visa with the minimum possible effort and using my mother's credit card to do it, what else do I want ? This poor guy (as it turned out) tried to go back to India in July 2003 for a short trip and the customs officials at Tullamarine airport pointed out that he has overstayed his visa by nearly 3.5 months. The normal expiry date of his visa was March 2004. The problem was the official who printed out the new work permit stamp had put in the expiry date as April 2003. He was not allowed to go out of the airport to get it rectified as it would lead to deportation or detainment in an detention centre. He was eventually allowed to board the aircraft, but was advised that he cannot come back to Australia for the foreseeable future, and then he has to apply again in three years. This is even after pointing out that it was the mistake of their department that lead to this confusion. Then, the Computer Science dept of University of Melbourne was involved in this issue and it took another 2 tension filled hours to solve the issue and the officials provided another visa.

Moral of the story: Always check the expiry date of anything you get from the government and also Arasan Shop at Carnegie, but that is a different story.

Long lost photo

2005-09-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

Every year, the Dutch Tulip festival is being held near Melbourne in the Dandenong Ranges at Sylvan. I had been there last year, and I missed posting this photo that I liked very much. This year I was not able to make it to the show due to lack of company, but will certainly hope to make it next year.

For those who have seen the movie 'Anniyan', the tulip festival can be likened to the song 'Kumari', which was shot near Amsterdam. The show is complete with real Dutch people with their traditional costumes and eatables. The flower beds will be as long as we had seen in the Anniyan movie.

Another Laptop

2005-09-12T02:51:00.000-07:00

Thats my latest laptop.

Andre and 'Fedex' Federer

2005-09-12T02:06:00.000-07:00

What a match ? Although I am happy that Federer has won the US Open this year by beating Agassi in a four set match at Flushing Meadows, what to say of the genial father of two who has kept coming back to Open era tennis for the last 20 years ? His bald head, a long cry from the days of Wimbledon in the 90s during which he had flamboyant blond hair, making girls go weak in their knees and a never say die attitude towards tennis.

I was among the lot of disappointed Steffi crazy citizens of the world when he married her, suprisingly, the marriage has been strong so far. Perfect example of strength of woman behind the man. Andre's tennis has improved after he married Steffi and a superhuman can play the level of competetive tennis at his young age of 35. Still, characteristicaly, Andre has made no mention of his retirement.

It is only fair to say Andre lost to a younger and fitter world number one in Roger Federer. Hats off to you, Andre...

(images from the Internet)

The photo below

2005-09-09T03:56:00.000-07:00

Turns out that the bright spot near the moon is actually the planet Venus, which was an illusion because of the distance between them. Still it was something to see and have a snap of. The article from The Age has a better photograph, I envy Pat Scala, the person who has taken the photo.

Moonlight by the street light

2005-09-08T02:06:00.000-07:00

I don't know whether the photo warrants such an ambitious title. This foto was shot late last night when I noticed an unusual sight in the sky, a star like body near the moon or was it something else ? I was not the only one, there were quite a few photo enthusiasts on the streets yesterday night with everything from a mobile to a digitial SLR. This is my best effort. I know it is blurred, but looking at the other snaps, this is alright. This post is more for the unusual spectacle rather than my photographic prowess (??).

And wonder of wonders, the links are back.

Grr Grr

2005-09-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

The problem is back with the links being displayed at the bottom of the page. I have given up, trying to set it right. I know I did it somehow by changing the template, but now don't have any idea how. I guess I should start a supplementary blog just for this. I know I this problem first came about. It all started when I posted from my official email id. Have to stop doing that. So if any you want to check out the links in this blogpage, just scrooooooooll down to the very end.

Photos from Sydney III

2005-09-05T01:58:00.000-07:00

This is the exact replica of the crown that Posh Spice (sorry Queen Victoria) was wearing when she was sworn in as the Queen of England, Scotland and Wales. Needless to say, it is all gold and glitter all round.

Photos from Sydney II

2005-09-05T01:46:00.000-07:00

This is a figurine of Queen Victoria which is kept for viewing at the Queen Victoria Building in the centre of Sydney. The accessories and the dress is authentic and the whole figurine is kept on a turn table so that people can view it from all angles. She has a haughty look, hasn't she ?

Taj Mahal

2005-09-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

A different view of the Taj ...

Snaps from Sydney - I

2005-09-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

These are some of the photos that I shot when I visited Sydney last month.

Misinformation from Maalai Murasu

2005-08-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

This happened nearly three years back, when Maalai Murasu reported that the Branch Manager of SBI in our locality had committed suicide in the branch premises.

Why am I writing about this, because the BM happened to be my father !!

The fact of the matter was that a colleague of my father took the ultimate step and ours being a small locality with SBI being the biggest bank, it attracted quite a huge gathering the next morning. My father was very busy with the police officials and the bank staff in organising the investigation of the death, and did not get home until late that afternoon, it was a Sunday.

Later in the evening, he went out with my mother and while coming back, he remained in our car while she went to get some stuff from the local shop. The shopkeepers were very considerate towards my mother, asking her how she was, how I was. My mother was really surprised that she was getting such treatment, and then when my father came along from the car, everyone at the shop was flabbergasted.

Enna saar, enna aachu ? Yaaru suicide panni kittaanga ?

What had happened was that the paper had reported that Branch Manager had committed suicide, whereas it was the Asst BM who had done it. I was with my father when the body was discovered on the previous evening, and believe me, it was a ghastly sight. I will not forget that scene forever. They showed the body the next afternoon on the local Tamil channel, we found it hard to believe that it was the same person who we had interacted in flesh just 36 hrs back.

All the same, my father became a hero of the locality for sometime after that, and the branch got star status all for the wrong reasons.

British Comedy and something else

2005-08-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

Who reads what in the UK ? Is it true that media around the world pander to their readers tastes ?

Prime Minister James Hacker's take on the British national newspapers ...

Daily Mirror - Read by people who think that they run the country.

Guardian - Read by people who think that they ought to run the country.

Times - Read by people who actually do run the country.

Daily Mail - Read by wives of those who do run the country.

(Remember at the time when Yes Prime Minister was being screened in UK, the Government predominantly had more males in the service compared to females)

Financial Times - Read by those who actually OWN the country.

Morning Star - Read by those who think UK should be run by another country.

Daily Telegraph - Read by those who actually THINK that UK is run by another country.

After watching this dialogue between the Hacker and Cabinet Permanent Secy Sir Humphrey Appleby, it makes me wonder who reads what in India ? Readers, please participate !!

As far as I know, The Hindu is predominantly read by the brahmins of South India who cannot while away their time without completing the crossword, or of late, Sudoku. A strong morning coffee with The Hindu used to be the daily regimen for my grandfather. In those days, I used to wonder what was so engrossing in that paper from the first page to the last ? As days progressed, I fell to the charms of The Hindu as well also becoming quite a coffee drinker.

Daily Thanthi (Dinathanthi) - I only read that in barber shops, where juicy details of the latest gossip in the cine industry were available.

Something quite beside the title of the post .....

There used to be a time when my bedroom used to be filled with posters from The Sportstar (it used to be available for Rs. 4), last heard, it was Rs 10. Another magazine worth reading in my humble opinion is The Frontline. Judging from all this, you might me thinking that M/s Kasthuri and Sons have given truckloads of cash to write this piece, I wish. My father will allow me to read only these, improving my English being the main aim, eventhough there were times he got extremely angry when I used to run behind Sportstar, if its a Steffi Graf, Stefan Edberg or Gabriela Sabatini poster on sale.

Rain Rain go Away

2005-08-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

It has been raining cats and dogs in Melbourne since yesterday evening. Melbourne has got the distinction of being the city of all seasons in one day. It took me forty minutes to get into work today, a journey that usually takes only 25 mins by train and tram. The train services did not have any problem, that was unusual as the Frankston line trains have the history of not running during heavy rains. I have seen double cancellations happen on this train line. Today the train was on time, but the tram took 30 mins to reach the Domain Interchange tram stop from the South Yarra station. All because of traffic delays due to the incessant rain.

As an evidence of the changing weather of Melbourne, I started writing this post, around 15 mins back. At that time, I was not able to see the West Gate freeway bridge totally, nearly invisible. Looking out of the window now, it looks like a crystal clear morning with a no sign of a cloud in the horizon, I can even count the cars on the freeway bridge. Thats how fast the climate changes in Melbourne.

Self memo - buy an umbrella and don't give it away to visitors, who never bother to return it.

Looooong Break

2005-08-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry for doing the disappearing act for nearly two weeks. My life has been very hard, emotional, extremely busy and all of these had made me sick as well. I took couple of days off from work, my first time in the last ten months. In the midst of all this I had to complete the FSRA compliance tests, I have completed them with high distinction, even without understanding some of it. At times I feel like running away from everything, no human contact, just like Tom Hanks in Castaway. Ah, self memo, have to buy that DVD as well. At this point, all of you must have decided that I am going cranky, I am indeed. And to top it all, I did not have a monitor for my computer for a week or so. I was not even able to check mails and read my fav blogs.

I read somewhere that when an individual gets depressed for some reason, most common escape routes are drinking and spending on items. I guess I possess to the latter addiction, have bought some DVDs, JFK starring Kevin Costner and directed by Oliver Stone, Yes Prime Minister Series 2 and some books as well - Deception Point by Dan Brown and Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I have not started reading Grapes of Wrath, but am nearly done with Deception Point. First thoughts about that book, not a page turner like da Vinci Code. If any of you have high expectations about Dan B after da Vinci, Deception Point is not the one to read, better go for Angels and Demons. Angels has got the same level of mystery with a scientific twist to it.

As a result of overspending, I have left my credit cards and debit cards at home and walk around with max $5 in my wallet. Self imposed expenditure containment procedure. I am getting tired of Melbourne and probably will visit Sydney in the near future. Right now, work is getting busier than ever and cannot do anything to avoid it. :-(

2005-07-16T02:50:00.000-07:00

After posting the photo from Tiruvannamalai, I wanted to write what I know about Lord Shiva being present as the five elements - air, water, fire, sky and land also known as the Pancha Bhoothams.

Starting with Tiruvannamalai, Shiva is present as fire (Agni). The lingam in the temple emanates heat or warmth if you go near it. This temple has nine gopurams in total and it is a long way from the main gopuram to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. People take the girivalam, walking around the hill near the temple very seriously and do it usually at night. The temple is also known as the Arunachaleswarar temple. The decorations on the lingam are so beautiful that I felt that I just stand there and keep watching the lingam forever. The hill behind the temple is believed to a manifestation of Shiva. The height of the main gopuram is nearly 215 ft. The world famous Ramanashram of Ramana Maharishi is just 2 km from the temple.

The next one is Kaalahasthi near Tirupathi. The temple is located on the banks of the river Swarnamukhi. Devotees going to Tirupathi make it a point to visit Kalahasthi and ward off the effects of Raagu and Kethu in their horoscope. This temple is the place where Shiva is present as Air (Vaayu). Shiva is believed to have provided salvation to a spider, an elephant and a snake who were pious devotees and were fighting with each other to see who is the most devout of the three. One can see the lamps inside the sanctorum dancing in the air and there is not a small inlet inside that place to allow air.

Next we go on to the Ekaambareswarar temple in Kancheepuram, famous for its silk sarees. There is no liquid offering (abhishekam) performed on the lingam in this temple as it represents Earth. Legend has it that Goddess Parvathi made a prithvi lingam out of Earth and worshipped it and hence there are no abhishekams done at this temple. Parvathi embraced the lingam when the nearby river Vegavati was about to overflow its banks and Shiva touched by Parvathi's gesture, married her. A short drive from the temple would take you the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, recently in the news for all the wrong reasons. But as my uncle said, do not find fault with the institution, for the mistakes of the individual.

More in the next post.

Main gopuram

2005-07-11T02:06:00.000-07:00

This snap was taken at nearly 40 C heat. This structure is the main gopuram in the Tiruvannamalai temple complex.

Tiruvannamalai Gopurams

2005-07-11T02:01:00.000-07:00

A good view of the Tiruvannamalai gopurams from the Girivalam route.

Shortcut fan

2005-07-11T01:51:00.000-07:00

I have always been looking out for shortcuts associated with any software that I have used in my life, and it has really helped me to some extent, I was even touted as the fastest typist in the Telstra team last year. I was reading J Murali's article in the Business section of The Hindu after a very long time where he writes about Yubnub. It is a worthwhile site to visit if you are a fan of shortcuts just like me.

Home Shopping

2005-07-10T05:39:00.000-07:00

I was with my friend Amit looking for properties to buy in the Hoppers Crossing suburb yesterday afternoon, a day when it was raining cats and dogs in Melbourne all along the nearly 40 kms to that suburb. Couple of pointers - the land agents expect us to be prepared with all the loans and securities assured and the formalities completed from the banks. Otherwise, there is no point in talking dollars with them.

The first house that we visited had three bedrooms with built in robes (wardrobes), three bathrooms and a comfortably spacious kitchen and backyard with a barbeque as well. The asking price was $200,000 - $209,000. An ancient looking microwave was also provided in the kitchen. Amit did not like the pink colour painted on the walls. Apart from them the wooden floor had sort of a sinking feeling to it like when you step in slush. When asked, the agent replied that they had relaid the floor over carpet. And followed it up with 'They (the previous owners) have done a lot of stupid things with this house'. I could not beleive my ears. What kind of property agent with refer as such to the property that he is trying to sell ? Beats me.

Namma ooru brokers ellam veedu vikkarathai paarthaal ithu onnumae illai. Chumma English la 'Thats it mate, if you come through here you will find the ensuite, mate'. This is all there is to it, and for that the agent gets paid atleast $7000 - $10,000 per property from the sellers (vendors).

The second house that we inspected was just across the first one, being privately sold by the owner himself. He is a German who gave us an excellent tour of all the rooms. The kitchen had a newly furnished gas stove, with a microwave and Indian slate tiles as the floor. And, the master bathroom had a jacuzzi in it. The price tag $230,000 - $240,000. The current owner also mentioned that he wanted to avoid the agents so that he does not pay them another $9000 to them just for showing the potential customers around.

Why did I embark on such an exercise ? Testing the waters, literally, due to the rain.

Some more Q's

2005-07-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

The questions continue -

Song(s) I hum very often:
1. Anbe Sivam Anbe Sivam ...
2. Coming home now by Boyzone.
3. Manmathane Nee from Manmathan.

Books that I am reading:
1. Doctors by Erich Segal, yet another time.
2. Fist of God by Frederick Forysth.

Recent sitcom that I watched:
Fresh Prince of Bel Air starring Will Smith.

Things that I hate:
1. Teen movies on Channel 7 and Channel 9 during the weekend, don't bother to check listings now. Hence, will be setting up Foxtel at home.
2. Drunk people on weekend late night transport, thankfully, I am working 8 to 4.30 for the next two months.
3. Desi people saying 'Hows it going mate?' on the phone and imitating the Aussie accent very badly. Get a life, people.

Random Qs

2005-07-07T02:05:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Mona for the following list of questions, these are my replies.

I. Total number of films owned on DVD / Video:
None on VHS, but lots on DVD including Hindi, English and Tamil.

II. The last film I bought:
Chandramukhi starring Rajinikanth and Jyotika.

III. The last film I watched:
Chandramukhi.

IV. Three names you go by:
Deepak, DP and Sreeni.

V. Three screen names you have had:
vdeepakis

VI. Three physical things you like about yourself:
Totally unsure, will get back on that.

VII. Three physical things you don't like about yourself:
My stomach, my belly and my pot belly. :-(

VIII. Three parts of your heritage:
Rings and my wallet.

IX: Three things that scare you:
Snakes and nightmares (have had a lot of those in the recent past) and dependence.

X: Three of your everyday essentials:
Water, Coffee and Music.

XI: Three things you are wearing now:
T shirt, bermudas and my watch.

XII: Three things you want in a relationship:
Committment, affection and trust.

XIII: Three things that you want to do badly now:
Go to India for another quick trip, not go to work tomorrow, sleep and keep sleeping.

XIV: Three careers that you are considering:
1. Become a comedian.
2. Become a writer.
3. Practise the art of doing nothing. :-)

XV: Three places you want to go for a vacation:
1. Pondicherry.
2. Any place in Kerala.
3. Tuscany.

XVI: Three things you want to do before you die:
1. Earn enough money to set up a trust fund in memory of my grandfathers.
2. Be an anonymous benefactor.
3. Develop the virtue to forgive.

XVII: Three things that I miss the most:
1. My family.
2. My undergraduate years at CIT.
3. Quiz, Dumbcharades and 20 questions competitions during school years.

Photo updates Part III

2005-07-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

A view of the Melbourne Arts centre down the St Kilda Road near the Flinders St station.

Photo updates Part II

2005-07-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

People visiting Melbourne should not miss the Shrine of Rememberance also known as the War Memorial on the St Kilda Boulevard. This memorial has been created for those Victorian soldiers who laid down their lives in the first world war. Every year on ANZAC day, this memorial is filled with those people who have lost a dear one due to those wars.

Photo updates Part I

2005-07-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

It has been a really long time since I posted any photos to my blog, some of you might even remember that I have a 'Photo Avatar' as well. Now nearly 4 months down the line, I have transferred the snaps from my camera to the computer (Phew !!), and these are some of them ...

This snap of the Lord at Tirumala and his consort was taken at night on the way to Tirumala in Mar 2005.

A journey for life

2005-07-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

I am back in Melbourne after the journey of my life - travelling nearly 25,000 kms in five days, going through flight delays and one cancellation as well. To start with, the only flight that left on time and landed on time was the Melbourne - Sydney (QF 10). Everything else was delayed, QF 123 from Sydney to Mumbai was delayed because the flight engineers were changing a component in one of the left engines which took nearly one hour to fix. The pilot kept repeating that this was necessary because Qantas' main priority was safety. I could not agree more.

This flight delay meant that I had only 2 hrs to change flights at Mumbai. I cleared customs and immigration without any problem and then there was this inter-terminal shuttle between the international and the domestic terminals, driven by the most ignorant of all drivers I have ever come across. My connecting flight to Madras was 19.10 and it was 18.05, I was sitting in this bus shouting, begging at him to move, but to no avail. Ultimately, it was 18.35 before I landed in the domestic terminal only to find that my ticket had been cancelled due to no show. Then I had to tell my story again to the Air Sahara people and then it was another 10-15 mins before they approved my ticket again, security check done and in the end the flight was late for takeoff by 10 mins all because of me. To be frank, that made me feel like a VIP, I can never forget the look on the passengers faces. If only looks could kill.

The view of Madras city from air is breathtaking, I was able to identify Kathipara Junction, Mount road, Beach road (obviously). All the more I had the journey of my life, tired but happy inspite of all the rain delays at Mumbai and as well as at Sydney.

Anniyan

2005-06-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from watching a show of 'Anniyan' here in Melbourne. I had to pay $15 for the ticket. But, totally worth it. Shankar has always proven to be technology savvy, eventhough if some scenes were inspired from Matrix or Spiderman, the effects were pretty good. Vikram will go places after this, he is already proven himself, but this yet another feather in his cap. I never realised Sadha was so pretty (jollu jollu) and atlast - Vivek's comedy entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable after a very long time. Is that Raju Sundaram in the Kumari song ? I was not able to recognise him, he has become plump. BTW, a town near Melbourne organises a Tulip festival every year during Aug - Sep and you can watch the same type of background as in that song. A very good marketing technique by mentioning the official website of the movie in a couple of scenes.

Organising the Thyagaraja Music festival for the movie is quite interesting with Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, Sudha Raghunathan, Unnikrishnan, T N Seshagopalan, Seerkazhi Sivachidambaram and many others participating provides enough proof of the planning for the movie. Vikram's portrayal of the split personality during the scenes of the movie, total applause from the audience. Watch out for the Andang Kaka song in which an entire bridge has been color painted in the background. Also watch out for scenes and backgrounds like Lord of the Rings.

Some questions remain though - I agree with Prabukarthik that Shankar has to provide something apart from social justice and conscience. The main plot of story has not changed in any way from Gentleman, Indian or Mudhalvan, next time around, Shankar should realise this. I have no doubt that this movie will be a money maker but we are sure to hear some grumblings about the main plot.

Storyline * *
Action * * *
Visual effects * * * *
Comedy * * * *
Music * * * *
Vikram * * * * * * * *

Vetri Vetri

2005-06-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

I have fixed up the errors in my blog after some shouting, begging my computer to work. Who said that man had total control over machines, even now, I have to follow the machines' time schedules, nothing works to my deadline. I am yet to fix the comments section, will do it shortly. By now, you all would realise shortly is something that takes as long as two weeks in my dictionary.

I am really excited about the India trip, will be meeting some of cousins from the north hemisphere since moving to the southern hemisphere nearly 2.5 yrs back. This would be first travel in a Qantas 747, the long haul flights. This will be first visit to Sydney even if it is only in transit.

Latest Updates

2005-06-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

Forget all the Schapelles and the Tonys of this land, I am off to India next week. And the countdown begins. It is my cousin's marriage in Coimbatore and I am taking the longest trip to reach there. I will be visiting Sydney, Bombay, Madras and then Coimbatore in a 15 hr journey with 12 hrs non stop between Sydney and Bombay. I will be back in Melbourne in five days. The last thing, but the most important one, it is cheaper than the last time I visited India in Feb - Mar 05. Thats something with airfares, which has worked out well for me. My cousin dubbed me as being the Ulagam Suttrum Vaaliban of the family.

I don't know whether I will be able to keep my eyes open at the marriage, but am there for everyone to see. Not sleeping, I wish.

Sudoku has caught me going big time, I even solved a couple of them. Don't ask me about the timeframe, I will let know when it is worth revealing. But it is too good. Thanks to Prabukarthik for writing about that on his blog.

Iruvar BG score

2005-06-10T03:32:00.000-07:00

I have long wanted to have a copy of the background music of Iruvar, during the last scenes of the movie, when Anandhan's mortal remains are taken away for the funeral and also when Selvam recites the poem. I was very excited when I found this piece of music at www.mohankumars.com . Now it has occupied a special place in my iPod along with Braveheart (downloaded from Expertdabbler), Forrest Gump, A Beautiful Mind, Kal Ho Na Ho and Thalapathi.

Periya Annan 2005

2005-06-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

This is not the latest Vijayakanth movie, rather the translation of Big Brother 2005, a reality show that is being telecast in Channel Ten. A group of fifteen or sixteen people are made to live in a house together for one or two months and their antics around the house are shown to the general public. Everything, right from the eating to the sleeping and the communal baths can been on TV. Yes, and totally nude in the Uncut version. I liked 'The Truman Show' a lot, but this is too much.

This show has got enormous publicity among the youth here especially due to good looking girls in bikinis who have hot, steamy sessions with the guys of the house. The public can vote by SMS or phone calls to sent a housemate out of the house every weekend. The guy who was sent out last weekend, Michael, was seen massaging a girl, Gianna, who happened to be topless, with his manhood out of his pants. Disgusting !!. Michael's mom thought it was great to have her son on the show.

We have some complaints from the parents of kids who are glued to such shows on TV. Every other time, I hear voices and comments saying that the youth of Australia are being induced into sex, drugs and violence and that something should be done to save the future of this country. But, promoting more shows like this is definitely not serving the purpose.

The clincher - this is the third year that this show is being telecast, this year being the raunchiest ever.

Dr Death

2005-06-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

Dr Death a.k.a. Jayant Patel. This person is a Indian trained doctor who is wanted for the medical related deaths of 87 people at a Queensland hopsital. I do not know whether this constitutes the highest number of deaths by a doctor anywhere in the world. Prior to turning up in Australia, Jayant was apparently booted out of USA for similar errors while practicising medicine there.

The fact that he is an Indian trained doctor makes issues even worse. I have held this belief for sometime now that the reason why Indians are not allowed to progress well abroad, to a certain extent, maybe linked to another Indian up the ladder. Jayant's case may actually turn out be a harbinger for people's ire towards Indian doctors here. I do not have an exact count of how many are here, but I personally know three of them practising at big hospitals here. One of them is my close childhood friend. I have not had a chance to speak to him about this particular aspect, but I am sure he already has his doubts over this issue.

From now on, you can qualified to a great extent in your specialty, be it, Anatomy, Surgery, Paediatrics ... the general public here are going to be wary of approaching a doctor who is Indian but has spent most of life studying and practising here.

I don't mean to be a Sabeer Bhatia and make my own name in another country, the least I can do is not bungle up the efforts or prospects of my fellow country men here.

2005-06-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

I don't know why my links that were supposed to be displayed in the right hand side are by some means turning up below the posts. Have checked up the settings in Blogger, no luck. Hope it goes away by itself.

Convicted Part II

2005-06-02T05:33:00.000-07:00

Close to the heels of Schapelle Corby being convicted for allegedly carrying marijuana into Indonesia, we have this news of this Australian male of Vietnamese origin Tony Tran being jailed for the same 20 years for carrying 200g of heroin into Vietnam. Schapelle on the other hand had 4.1 kg of marijuana (I know I made a mistake in the earlier post by mentioning 4.2 kg).

After the Schapelle verdict was read out, a newsreader on Channel Nine asked a top barrister in Melbourne as to why Schapelle's case was generating such interest - the reply was 'A young, beautiful Australian girl of 27 yrs'. It still remains to be seen whether Tony's case will also generate the same level of interest or emotion among Australians. Right now, tough to say.

The Indonesian embassy in Canberra has been the target of racial slurs and the embassy was sent a letter with a suspicious looking white powder in it. The powder has been proven to be harmless, but it was enough to keep all the 48 staff of the embassy in quarantine for more than a day. The embassy in Perth was also subject to such attacks. The general understanding of the public is that Schapelle did not commit such a big crime for getting 20 yrs in the slammer. Carrying grass a.k.a marijuana does not count for being such a big offence. Everyone uses pot, just like everyone starting to have sex at some stage in their lives.

Some of the public have put up posters about their intention to boycott Bali for tourism and also about recalling some of the Tsunami Aid provided to Indonesia from Australia. We all know that Australia was the biggest contributer to the Aid totalling nearly A$ 1 billion. The question is whether a nation can demand total immunity from punishment for crimes being committed by its nationals in other countries because you have provided aid ? There are already nine Australian citizens in prison in Vietnam facing drug charges, with two of them facing the death penalty.

Keep a watch on the news as it develops here.

Convicted !!

2005-05-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many are aware of Schapelle Corby if you do not live in Indonesia or Australia, but this piece of news is bound to change the mindsets or the ways of travel of quite a few. Schapelle, a 27 year old ex beauty student from Queensland was arrested in October 2004 at Denpasar airport accused of smuggling in 4.2 kg of marijuana into that country. The drug was found in her bag that she had not locked up before the baggage check. The whole verdict hinged on defense claims that baggage handlers at Australian airports have packed the drugs in the bag. Indonesian drug laws are very strict as we have seen today, have been convicted of the charges and she has sentenced to 20 years in prison in Indonesia.

The media in Australia is having a field day here with a big contingent packed outside the court and I was not able to access the popular news.com.au website for more than 15 mins now. During the course of the trial there were some polls conducted by the media here for the public opinion whether she was guilty or not. Most of us felt that she was innocent, I, for one felt that she was innocent. I would not know if I would have felt the same for a 27 year old male from Australia. As most criminal investigators opined, she did not behave the way a normal convict would do facing such serious charges. She collapsed twice during court proceedings earlier and had to helped away from the courthouse.

Meanwhile, a further nine young Australians were arrested in Indonesia sometime back on same charges, the evidence this time more damaging. The drugs were found taped to the legs of these people. What is to happen to Bali Nine (the name given by the media) if Schapelle who atleast had a legitimate claim that none can see the baggage once you check in.

The Australian govt has been negotiating for a transfer to an Australian prison, preferably the Brisbane Women's Prison, whether that will be allowed, only time can tell. John Howard has been very diplomatic in answering 'We have to respect the laws of every country, we have to be mindful of the fact that you will be judged by the laws of whatever country you are arrested in'.

Moral of the story: Remember to lock your baggage before you check in and note the weight of the baggage at the check in. This was a crucial point in this case as the defense pointed out that Schapelle's baggage was not weighed at Brisbane.

The savings account

2005-05-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

One and a half months back after coming from India, I applied for a NRE account with Citibank NA. The facility being interest free transfers from my $ account here to a rupee account in Coimbatore. My family also gets an ATM card, check book etc. Having confirmed that this was the deal that I will be getting, I applied for the account by filling numerous forms along with a 100 point identification check at the local post office and a A$ 700 deposit as well.

My rupee account has been activated from Coimbatore and I received the check book, ATM card and the letter of offer nearly a week after the application was done. I even received the package from Madras without any problem with the correct address and my phone numbers (both landline and mobile) listed on the package. The lowpoint is that the corresponding Online Cash Manager account with Citibank Australia is yet to be activated inspite of more than 10 calls to their hotline. All I get is 'your account is being processed', 'we will contact you for further info', etc. This has reached a point where I am debating cancelling the whole thing and forgetting about it or sending money home tied to the legs of a homing pigeon.

I dont know who or what is delaying the process and after all, I am not asking for a loan, it is just a savings account. Strange are the ways of the banking world nowadays.

Great 100 Movies

2005-05-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

Time.com has published a list of the 100 great movies of all time. Nayakan (1987) finds an entry in the list along with Pyaasa (1957). Way to go, Kamal and Mani.

Happy as I am, this is the news that caused my tomato curry to be burnt while I was cooking it this morning. Had to eat it as well along with some chappathi.

Word Reference

2005-05-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

For the last two days I have been trying to use a word reference site through my office systems. No luck so far. I cannot access popular sites like dictionary.com or thesaurus.com as they are blocked. I can access all the university websites in Australia, though. I have checked almost everyone of them and they have links pointing to all those sites mentioned above, but none of their own.

Not be daunted, I checked the meaning for the word Apercu (pronounced Aper soo) at a standalone internet system, meaning - Insight. This was a word that I saw as a passing glance at one bookshop last Saturday and had been eating my mind eversince. I could have visited <a href="http://www.m-w.com">Merriam Webster</a> or <a href="http://dictionary.com">dictionary.com</a>, but did not have the time to use my PC at home.

Another thought came into my mind when I watching an episode of Friends. Why shouldn't I buy toilet paper that have words with meanings on them ? At this point, I am waiting to find out whether such a thing is available in my local supermarket. I hope I don't cut a crazy figure if I keep looking at all the products in toilet paper aisle.

BLAAAAAACKKK !!

2005-05-17T04:08:00.000-07:00

Wow !! What a movie ? I guess Sanjay Leela Bhansali best work to date should be nominated for an Oscar, to say the least. Anyone reading this post and not seen this movie, please watch it, this is not a movie to be missed. I don't know who to praise, the small Michelle, the lady Michelle or Debraj Sahai, the script or the director himself.

People say that movies are inspired by true life incidents, but with Black, I hope some incidents in my life will be inspired by this movie. The way the director launches into the story immediately is true testament to the seriousness and depth of emotion in the script. I agree it is heavy stuff, but something that made me look at the sufferings of the visually impaired people at a totally new level.

Kamalhassan had already done this with Rajapaarvai, but to make a child act accordingly requires enormous talent and patience on the director's part. Mani Rathnam can vouch for the above, having directed 'Anjali'. And, what to say of Amitabh, he is bound to be remembered for such roles rather than the Angry Young Man roles that he portrayed in the 70s and 80s.

Truely, a wonderful movie. Another one for my all time hit collection.

Kamal Mania

2005-05-13T05:28:00.000-07:00

Another weekend is around the corner and it is the same old thing, laundry, cleaning the house etc. Boring stuff, but timepassing of late because of the iPod. After writing the post about Kamalhassan, I had the good fortune of buying three of his well known movies in DVD - Sathi Leelavathi, Kuruthipunal and Hey Ram. Another movie I am looking to buy - Thevar Magan. I still haven't watched Hey Ram - but I watched the other movies as late night movies. I still cringe at the scene in Kuruthipunal where he gets shot.

Kuruthipunal had no songs in it, just plain action based story. Some of the sequences with Nasser regarding the breaking point of a prisoner in interrogation (very applicable as I am reading 'Icon' by Frederick Forsyth) were very esoteric, maybe thats why the movie did not fare well at the box office. It would not have been very interesting for the womenfolk in India due to the violence in it. My mother went Oh, Antha Moviea ........ when I told her I had bought these three movies. But, all the more accolades for the Kamal.

Sathi Leelavathi and Thenali - two movies that bring out the versatality of Kamal. SL had him basically speaking in Coimbatore tamil and TH had him speaking the more beautiful Sri Lankan Tamil. The fact that he was able to blend into the characters of Dr Sakthivel and Thenali so very well, makes me wonder that whether we have acknowledged his prowess to the fullest extent. We have given him the Padmashri, though. He recently was awarded a honorary doctorate, but with politicians all getting Ph.Ds dime a dozen, that is not worthy enough.

If only Kamal provides the director's commentary like Gautam for Kaakha Kaakha, I can buy those DVDs all over again. I would seriously love to hear his explanations for scenes in Hey Ram or Kuruthipunal.

He has been often criticised for his overbearing involvement in the making of a movie, Aalavanthan, for example. I am saying why not ? Studios or production companies have their own agenda for fixing up directors, technicians, musicians for the movie, and if Kamal is able to provide a more valid viewpoint, then why not? We all know that we cannot satisfy everyone.

Also on my agenda this weekend, Black by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

2005-05-11T04:38:00.000-07:00

Test post through email.

2005-05-07T03:48:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to watch Mumbai Express couple of nights back. I was not able to see the movie in full as I had to leave early in the morning. By then the DVD had been returned to the owner. But, I was just wondering about the evergrowing expertise of Kamalhassan in the movie industry. Some specific scenes that does not go away from memory -

- Punnagai Mannan : the suicide scene.

- Nayakan : 'Neenga nallavara, kettavara.' I somehow cannot bear to see Vivek ridiculing this scene in Dum Dum Dum. This scene was my late grandfather's favorite as well.

- Anbe Sivam : the last scene where he meets with Santhanabharathi.

- Kuruthipunal : the scene before which he gets shot.

- Hey Ram : the Akashe Jyotsna song.

The man never ceases to amaze me. I am sure that there will be lots, but these are the ones that sprung to mind when I thought of writing this post.

2005-05-03T00:37:00.000-07:00

My memory rocks !!!

That is true. After reading Prabu Karthik's post on his number fixation, I certainly can identify number of things that I remember offhand. And of late, I have couple of deja vu situations as well, and I was able to place what situation I was in before. Not only credit card numbers, debit card numbers, birthdays, vehicle registration numbers ... This is in no way to prove that I am superior to you Karthi, but just my take on it. Something to ponder, is this true with everybody who is a single child ?

This feature unfortunately has not served me well in the last month or so. Needless to say, I also remember bits and pieces of conversation that I have had with people. And, sometimes, overzealous as I am, I have mentioned to the same people, that it was not their view in previous conversations. That has put me in a spot of bother, and somebody who I trusted, believed in a lot gave me the bottom line - 'You are weird'.

Late realisation !!. If you have good memory about people, places, numbers, anything at all you are better off keeping that to yourself in your memory.

Having said that, it is just that eventhough my memory rocks my people judging sense sucks !!. Karthi - you are a master at both.

2005-04-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Waking up Early

The weekend is here again, but sadly enough, I cannot enjoy the extra couple of hours of sleep. My body does not allow me. Thought of going out into the sunshine and enjoying some good 'me alone' time. Looking out - no sun, only dreary clouds impending storms.

But, then again, have an idea of catching up on my reading and then complete a bit of admin stuff. I have been putting off arranging all my papers for sometime now, the thought itself scares me. What if, I don't find my last tax returns lodgement statement in my bag?

I hope everything is fine in the bag. Couple of nights back, my passport walked out of my bag and went elsewhere. Luckily, elsewhere was just in another corner of the wardrobe, in another bag. But again, it took me nearly an hour to figure it out. By then, my BP had whooooooosh... The passport is now back in the bag and no more outings for it. Strict curfew order.

2005-04-27T01:49:00.000-07:00

A Tribute to my School
Part II

I started typing this post sometime back and all of a sudden my computer conked out. Don't know why. I did not also save the post as a draft so have lost all of it. I have tried to reconstruct some of the original post.

I have had some skirmishes with my school teachers during my years at CGMHSS, but none stood in the way eventually. I guess that I was not that bad a guy after all. Somehow, I managed to pass the XII examination in black and white (not in flying colours), my father even mentioned that he did not expect me to pass the French papers.

Of late, I have heard that Carmel Garden School is not quite the educational institution it used to be during my time. We used to do well in studies, participate in sports events, win trophies at literary and quizzing events, but somewhere down the line, the school had lost it's focus. I just hope that school management realise their mistakes and restore the school to it's old glory.

A cold iPod and my color blindness

No, my eyes and my iPod are not related, but two goof ups in one day is something that I don't do everyday.

Ever wondered what would happen if your iPod is placed in temperatures less than 2 C ? Read on ...

It is sort of my daily routine on my way to training to meet my friend at the Malvern station and go along with him to the training centre. The iPod also tags along. We reached the centre with minutes to spare before the session starts, and I placed my iPod in the lunch bag that I promptly put in the kitchen fridge after entering the office. After nearly 45 mins in the class, I realised that something was amiss, and had to slip out to get the iPod.

The kitchen was 10 steps away from the training room, but those 10 steps were pretty long. Yeah, it is only a gadget, but my frustration was more aimed at myself than anything else. What kind of a guy in the proper frame of mind can put his newly purchased electronic gadget in the fridge ?

I have known for sometime that I cannot identify certain colour variations, often mistaking light blue for pink, dark brown for bottle green and so forth. How do I know the names, that is beyond me. Maybe I have read the words in some book. Yesterday, the trainer was making some mention about some info located in light blue text in a screen. I was looking at all white text and trying to figure the info that she was telling us. After sometime, I simply gave up and I remember smiling at my small problem. Then, my colleague had to point out the information that I was supposed to look at.

I hope to become an amateur photographer, and I have a color blindness problem. Ha Ha !!

2005-04-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

A tribute to my school
Part I

Carmel Garden Matriculation Higher Secondary School, that is were I spent my years from 4th std to 12th std. The admission procedures once upon a time were very strict and only wards of the wealthy and influential can be admitted. True, some of my peers are sons of some of the richest families in Coimbatore. It is still a wonder how I got admitted way back in 1985 into the 4th std.

I had secured admission at Stanes High School (the other school during my days) after an entrance test and a parental interview. My parents wanted an admission in CGMHSS because it was around the corner, only two bustops from my home. It was State Bank of India, Race Course branch to our help, the school has their account there. It was way past the deadline for the new admissions and when the school realised that I had got admitted to Stanes, obviously they were not interested. The then branch manager of SBI had to speak with Rev. Fr. Mudiyappan to secure the admission.

After that, it was pure sailing. I did not turn out to be the wonder kid of the class in any way, but thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

Unforgettable teachers, unforgettable moments, that school has still a lot to offer. They did not insist on homework, it was still there to be completed, but no big deal if we did not complete it. I remember some of the funny stuff as well - during the Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1989, one of the seniors had kissed a girl from another school and he was given a thorough thrashing by all the teachers. I was also suspended from the school for one day during my XI std as I forgot to bring the Computer Science record to the lab. The teacher had asked me to bring it from home, and I was caught by the principal when I was starting the bike, and when I mentioned that I was given permission by the teacher who later backtracked saying that, he had asked me to bring it to class the next day. My anger of my father who never had to come to school, except for the admission in 4th std hit the roof. The another reason was I took the bike to school without his knowledge.

2005-04-23T01:56:00.000-07:00

The last seven days

My initial thoughts before training started at ANZ went like - enjoying, fun filled activities, meeting interesting people, lots of breaks and so on. I forgot to add one another factor into my wishlist - getting tired from reading lots of financial acts and policies. Already I have lost track of how many I have read and taken compliance tests for, only that it is all the more confusing now. This is what has made me totally blank by the time I reach home every evening, without the lack of energy to do anything. Being mentally tired makes me physically tired as well, all that I can think of is to eat dinner, go to sleep and possibly hope for a dreamless sleep.

Coming to other news, Chakkarapani is a proud father of Anirudh. In fact, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to the proud father yesterday. To start with, it was the English language dialogue of :

Chakra : Hello ! This is Chakra.
Me: Hello Chakra, this is Deepak. Guess which Deepak is this ?
Chakra : Deepakkk ....... in (some place in England) or from Melbourne ?

Me: I got your email and as well as I read the blog today morning, so Congratulations !!. how are your wife and son ?
Chakra: They are fine.

Me: Ethukku namma English la pesanum?, Tamil irukkae.
Chakra: Athanae...

And then it continued.

I have not met Chakra in person, but this conversation somehow made me feel that I was talking to a close friend. I was also amazed to hear how much he remembers about my posts, some of them even, not on the current view page. I don't know how much I can remember about someone if I suddenly get a call and I get all this from a person who was on his way to his workplace at 9.30 AM in the midst of the rush hour.

Chakra - hats off to you.

Human body as a storage medium ??

I and my roomies were talking about the Apple iPod and such MP3 players which can double as a portable hard disk as well. Gone are the days of the cassettes, CDs and Sony Discmans. Now are the days of the iPods. Almost everyone on the train has one.

What next ? Maybe one day, we have chip implanted in our body which can be tuned to music / news from all over the world or our own songs stored in Google's storage space. Probably we would not need a set of headphones, all in the imagination !! Along with that, we will not need USB drives to carry files around, our fingers can function as USB to store information in the human body as well. We already have signs of this through Verichip, inspired by the September 11 attacks.

It is scary, though !!. A search on Google for info also threw up this site, where such technological progress will lead to the sign of the Devil.

Am I scared ? As long my body is not used to store confidential information after I am dead, akin to locking up info in safes, I am fine.

2005-04-16T04:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my newly designed site. I felt that change is always good, eventhough, it is not liked by many. I have always liked this design whenever I read Sumit's blog, so decided to employ it for my own purposes. I will be looking for ways for tweaking this design as much as possible.

I have resigned from Telstra and all good to go for my training session at ANZ bank starting Monday 18 April. Somehow, I am not overly excited about this, don't know why. As much as I understand the changes in the salary amounts in my payslips, I am missing something. I seem to worry about something, then again, I am not able to say what. Troublesome times, mentally.

Usually when an employee left from the organization from Telstra NAC, it was customary to send an email to the floor to everyone from the CEO down to the newly recruited employee to inform them about their resigning. When I started to work there, I had this practice to read all through their email and congratulate about them leaving for better prospects, but after sometime it was pure hogwash. There were couple of them who I knew did not share any team spirit in their teams, hated their team leaders to the brim, still wrote mails explaining how excited they were to work with them, praising their team leaders etc. Bah !!

When my turn came around, I made it a point of letting very few people (I know very few) personally that I am leaving and that I had enjoyed every moment working with them or talking to them. I am not boasting that I am one step ahead of the others in mannerisms and what they are doing is wrong, just felt that people still like when you congratulate them in person or let them know in person about your changes. After all, they are still in the same building. And, why should everyone know about how I feel about my team leaders ? All said and done, I will miss Erik and Lisa from my team.

Nothing can be much more gratifying than a personal greeting !!

2005-04-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

I have not been visible in the blogworld radar for the last two weeks or so, and that is because I was busy with interviews, appointments, talking to consultants etc. And, I am flying from the Telstra job. I am off to join a customer care position with ANZ Bank at Melbourne.

Workwise, I guess it is all the same, but will be talking to people who have credit cards with ANZ. It is a better salaried package with a permanent position and a three month probation. My training starts on Monday April 18. Apart from me being happy at making more money, my parents were really surprised that I am joining a bank, banking has been in my family for years.
Other news include - I have bought an iPod Mini for $233. It was part of a deal that was offered to our department people from a Telstra shop nearby. It has a 4 GB capacity and presently goes everywhere with me. The first song that I heard on the iPod was 'Theertha Karaiyinile' by S P Balasubramaniam in 'Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu'. Wow, what a voice, and what a poem ?

Does anyone know how to post using email ? I have read all the help forums for blogger, but cannot get it to work. Any suggestions ?

2005-03-28T04:27:00.000-08:00

Too bad. The day I wrote that India had beaten Pakistan in their country, they have managed to beat India in the Bangalore test by 168 runs. Not the result that I wanted, inspite of Sehwag's double century in the first innings. What is happening to Dada Ganguly ? Is he planning to rest on his past achievements ? I hope he finds form ASAP.

I was watching Hyderabad Blues after a very long time yesterday. Really a great treat to watch, especially when Varun finds it hard to get adjusted to loudspeakers, gossips, flattery etc... I did not find myself accosted by loudspeakers in temples when I went to India last month, but had my share of gossips, people telling me how they perceived that I would travel abroad and make it big. Naan annaikke sonnen, ivan peria aal aayiduvan. I have not started to think BIG, but for them I have made BIG.

The saving grace was that none of these comments came from my own family, since I was the last person out of the country, everyone had their share of going overseas and experiencing life outside India. One of my colleagues had asked me what kind of fanfare would I be expecting when I land in India, like a Tamil film, with garlands and all the members of the local council to stand at the gates of the town to welcome home the prodigal son. My reply was, none whatsoever. Everyone would be happy, but my arrival will not drastically change their immediate lives. In my father's words, a sense of attached detachment. One of my uncles also mentions that even one's thinking has to be generous, whether we can help a needy person or not, start to think that you can help, and you definitely can and will.

Wherever I go, and whatever I might do, if I can enjoy a good meal, read Thayir Saatham (curd rice), and a good night's sleep, that is all I might need.

2005-03-26T02:05:00.000-08:00

I cannot wonder about the Bush administration's latest political stunt to appease India over the sale of fighter jets to Pakistan. I was reading this news article in AFP in which USA is outlining plans to help India become a major world power in the 21st century. True, we we Indians, have always been wary of the USA over it's 'blow hot, blow cold' attitude with Pakistan, condemning them for their actions in Kashmir over the table and running the leg up the other person's leg under the table.

Now it is the sale of fighter jets to Pakistan that New Delhi has severely protested against. In the above article, Washington has spread its arms to say, India can get whatever she wants, you name it, we provide it. But... Would USA not use this by asking India to step down the Iran - Pakistan - India oil pipeline since Iran is next in the USA hitlist, as Condoleeza Rice came to India this month specifically for that. This pipeline has to be built and Indians are the most benefitted as we get direct access to oil fields of the Iran. This should help bring down the oil prices down to a bearable level.

And, furthermore, I find it difficult to understand couple of things about India's foreign policy.

We go for a oil pipeline reaching us through Pakistan and still we are worried about what would happen if they acquire more airpower. As I remember, we also have our range of Sukhois.
We may not have a good track record against Pakistan in cricket when it comes to Sharjah, but we defeated them in Pakistan, and also not long ago, defeated them in the wars.
We invite Musharaff to India to watch cricket, but ask him not to travel in a F-16 bought from USA. Did we not buy the Sukhoi technology from Russia ?
We have demonstrably more airpower, navypower, armed forces and the 'N' power, yeah we have that too. Won't all of these suffice to guard us in the event of any attack?

2005-03-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

Got this excellent link from VJ - MapmyIndia. Good to see a service like Yahoo Maps.

2005-03-25T16:13:00.000-08:00

While I was in India, I had the good fortune of attending a function to mark the start of DVD sale of Mani Rathnam's movies at Landmark, Chennai. I had been to the function along with Expertdabbler a.k.a Prabu Karthik, who had immediately posted his views about the function (read Mani Talks). Karthik's expectations about the function are still in my mind. He referred to Mani as a director who does not provide interviewing opportunities every now and then, rather his interviews are more awaited than his movies. Good example of a person who talks less, achieves more. Also read, Anand's views on Mani here.

The group that organised this function had put up advts in newspapers in Chennai and also had put up billboards around the city to promote the event. But on reaching the venue, we were pleasantly surprised when actors like Madhavan, Suryaa, PS Keerthana came on the scene. Also available, the eyes of Mani - PC Sreeram, Azhagamperumal, who is one of Mani's assistant directors and the director of Dum Dum Dum. People may also remember him as the landlord of Karthik and Shakthi in Alaipayuthe. Paarthiban, father of Keerthana also made a brief appearance.

The function was very good with questions to Mani on how he handles his movies, his experiences from working with both Ilayaraja and AR Rehman. The much enjoyed function had one dampening effect, the interview session was conducted totally in English, could have been done in Tamil as Mani makes his money mostly from Tamil movies. This is just my silent and humble opinion. I have uploaded some photos from the function here, here, here and here.

2005-03-21T22:37:00.000-08:00

I tried to add a link to blogrolling list at Blogrolling and by mistake did not enter the URL of the link that I was trying to add. Have a look at the error message below - doesn't this really rub it in ?

'The title and url are required. You must be new to this whole linking thing eh? Well figure out where the back button is and go back and enter all the info please...'

2005-03-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

As I am 28 years old, the elders in my family started to find prospective brides for me. Me, I put up what I thought was a logical explanation to why I am saying 'NO' for marriage now. I had explained that the present call center job would take care of me very well, but when it comes to supporting a wife, it could provide some hellish moments in life. My parents had this to say to me - We are not getting you married right now, but rather we will search for a daughter in law so that you can come along and tie the knot. Well, that is all fine.

As a result of delibrations and fighting, shouting matches, sulking in the corner, the works.. I was off to see the first prospective bride, I did not want to, as I had made up my mind by looking at her photograph, still, parental pressure made me go all the way to Bombay to see her. I landed in Bombay on Valentine's Day for the Penn Paarkum episode. After that, it was total fun. Her parents received us (we were a group of four) very well at around 4.30 PM and it by the time she came home it was 6 PM, as she was not able to take a day off from work as she had just joined the job. She looked better in person than in the snap. Her parents and we soon found ourselves out of chatting topics well before she arrived, I even thought of closing my eyes for sometime... 'Mouna Raagam' flashback.

I did not venture for a informal one to one with her and neither did she. Good !!. I would have certainly goofed it up. The bottom line is that we liked her and my aunty summed it up in 'There is not a single chance for us to say no to this girl'. I have also informed her family of my present situation here and if everything goes well, the two families will unite in holy matrimony sometime in the second half of next year. I did not want to see any other girls, basically as I am lazy and I kind of liked this girl as well. Her paternal grandfather and my grandfather were classmates while they were studying in college.

To all those eligible bachelors out there, it's not such a bad thing to go see the girl, in fact it is very enjoyable, you are the center of attraction for once and mostly you will find the girl willing to talk to you, not like the olden days where the girl stands behind the door peeping out at you.

2005-03-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

I have come back to my country of residence from my country of birth - and I am still homesick. I miss my parents more than anyone / anything else. That was expected, I guess. Well, lots to be told to you people ...

First things first - the disgusting airport people at Kochi International Airport. The airport is well maintained and new looking, which is good, but the customs staff inside the terminal are still outdated. The fact is that I have shaved my head when I visited Tirupati on my birthday on March 7 (Yes, I am 28 yrs old now). The photograph in my passport is definitely different from what I look now. I am not saying that nobody should question me on anything, but there is a decent way of doing that and not questioning and looking at me like a common thief. The customs official looked at me (why do they always talk so well to ladies, beats me, still) and asked me whether I am the same person who was in the photograph ? Duh !! Even if I had swiped the passport from someone, would I venture to say NO ? Anyway, after that came the questions of asking me what I was doing in Australia and how many years have spent there.

After asking me all these questions, he asked me to wait for sometime, which was nearly half an hour. He called his supervisor and then they proceeded to talk with each other on whether I was a culprit or not, and then called me over to hand over the passport and the boarding card. And, Kochi International Airport also collects Rs 500 as aiport usage tax.

When I landed in Melbourne after a four hour stopover at Singapore, the Immigration officer here did not even glance at my face and the passport and then gave me a big smile and a 'Welcome Back' greeting as well. All said and done, India is India, but I would seriously that the attitude of the airport people changes.

My story is not that dramatic in any sense, having heard horror stories from friends, making it all the more necessary for the officials in India to develop a sense of who is a culprit and who is definitely not.

2005-03-18T16:58:00.000-08:00

@ Changi Airport again after the 40 day trip to India. Have to step up my blogging after I reach Melbourne.

..:: @ ::..

2005-02-22T23:43:00.000-08:00

My days in India - Part I

After coming to Coimbatore, this is the first day I have had to sit and walk around my house and play with my dogs, I have travelled nearly 3500 kms in the last 10 days. I had been to Bombay, Nasik, the famous Saibaba temple at Shirdi, Guruvayur. Still have to go for a trip to either Tirupathi or the navagrahas around Trichy.

First of all the trip to Bombay which took nearly 32 hrs by train. I had previously enquired with my dad's travel agent who promptly assured that there were no Air Deccan flights from Coimbatore to Bombay. Only later did I find that this was wrong. The onward journey was fine as I travelled by AC, but the return journey was very tiresome due to the heat in Andhra Pradesh. I went by car from Bombay to my aunty's place in Nasik, specifically the HAL township at Ojhar. The Bombay - Agra national highway requires special mention as the road was really like travelling on butter. I did not feel even a small jerk all along the 200 kms odd journey. Totally worth paying the Rs 19 toll fee.

The trip to Shirdi and Singanapur (I hope the spelling is right) was the other way around, full of bumps, but I enjoyed the views of rural India. As a matter of fact, Singanapur has a temple of Lord Sani (Saturn) and the pujas have to be done only by males. I had to wear a saffron colored dhoti and take a bath in the middle of the road at a roadside pump inorder to be chaste and ready for the puja. Legend has that there are no doors for the shops at this place. The myth is that one who steals will get the proper punishment before he / she leaves the town. Intrigued as I was by this, I did not venture to test it. ;-)

2005-02-08T23:38:00.000-08:00

I have reached India after a three hour delay at Singapore. I reached on Jan 5 early morning at Cochin. Will keep posting.

2005-02-04T04:51:00.000-08:00

Bugger, bugger. The flight that I was supposed to travel from Singapore to Cochin has developed a snag and will not be used - am waiting for another flight which according to the Singapore Airlines people has not landed here so far. My holiday is starting ... ;-(

2005-02-04T02:55:00.000-08:00

Test post using free internet service at Changi Airport, Singapore. Had a nice stay at the Park Royal Hotel, 40 mins left for boarding the flight to Cochin.

2005-02-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

Grrr... Grrr.... It's a big pain waiting for the flight date. Here I am, having said goodbye to all my office mates, packing all done mostly of chocolates, all the financial arrangements taken care of, and still have more than 30 hrs to go before the flight leaves. It is such a pain, and I am already having great (!!) expectations about my 15 hr stopover at Singapore.

I just realised that how much I stuff I have bought over the last 12 months or so, books, DVDs, CDs, they all make up to a big box that used to hold my TV. This is too much, have to stop getting stuff when I come back from India.

2005-01-17T22:49:00.000-08:00

It's official. My leave application has been approved and I will be away in India for five weeks starting on Feb 4. The thought of visiting India has still not hit me, maybe due to all the planning and the shopping (I haven't done any so far) and until now, I was worried that my leave application will be turned down, but good news on that end. But, exciting things await me...

Meeting my parents and my family after nearly two years, will be two years exactly on Feb 21, all my cousins, spending time alone in my room at home, catching up on all the family gossip. I don't have any ideas of how to escape from the inevitable question 'Eppo kalyanam panikka porae?' - When are you planning on getting married ?. That should keep me on hops, I guess. I want to visit Trichy, to see my auntie's family and as well as to visit Srirangam temple and the Big Temple in Thanjavur. Lots of things to do, will be using the camera a lot !!

2005-01-12T01:12:00.000-08:00

I managed to buy tickets for the Tsunami cricket match that was held in Melbourne on Jan 10. The tickets were sold out in less than three days and it was a house full crowd of 70,101. It was a wonderful atmosphere with the crowds, the cricket lovers, the kids etc. but the downside was the heat, it was soaring in the MCG that day and sitting in the sun from 1 PM till about 7.30 PM when the sun went down, I was totally burned. No amount of water would get the heat down, and no beer as well, as I forgot to take cash along and the ATM queue in the 'G' was a mile long. I was suddenly reminded of the railway station queues in India.

I have uploaded some photos from the tsunami match at my photo blog.

2005-01-06T01:52:00.000-08:00

It was real good start to the New Year. I and my roomies were off to... where else, the fireworks show on the banks of the Yarra river in Melb. The point of bother was that I did not have enough time to experiment with my camera and so almost all of the pictures that I shot with my brand new Olympus camera came out as total nonsense, barring a few. I need more time to fiddle around with my camera. So, I am not posting any pics of the New Year.

But the celebrations were kind of subdued, more so to the tsunami disaster. I heard somewhere that the city of Brisbane had cancelled the fireworks show in their city and donated the money to the tsunami cause. Praiseworthy effort !!. Most of the offices are remaining closed due to the holiday season still continuing in Australia, except for mine. We work 365 days a year. A good thing is that the whole of Australia are taking the tsunami disaster very seriously and there are charity music shows, a cricket match between Asia XI and the World XI on Jan 10 at the MCG. I am ready with the tickets for the match, though, cost us $20 each. Watch out for me, if this match is being telecast in India - will be part of the noisiest gang.

2004-12-29T13:50:00.000-08:00

Suddenly, India and the Tsunami disaster are the hot topics in our office talk. In fact, I was one of the ignorant few who had to be informed by one of my colleagues about the scale of devastation that has hit our nation. I was so caught up in work that I missed my sunday read of all the Indian newspapers. Sitting here in Australia, I cannot, but feel sad and more so, frightful of the numbers that keep climbing every day.

When I saw footage of the disaster on the Internet and the TV, I was immediately reminded of scenes from Day After Tomorrow, that I watched couple of months back. My only lingering thought - So many lives, in such a short time ...

I cannot understand Nature.

2004-12-29T13:36:00.000-08:00

After remaining a vegetarian for nearly most of my life, discounting the fact that I used to eat eggs like crazy during my childhood, I became non-vegi for a few minutes day before yesterday. I should put it down to pure ignorance.. After buying a veggie burger combo meal and a chicken breast burger for my friend, I had put them out on the table hoping that he would open them and take the chicken burger. But, he thought I had already chosen the burger and ate the wrong one !!.

I, the innocent soul, took the other one, started munching my way through it. Two big bites later, I felt something rubbery in the burger and then asked him what did he have? He said, the one you gave me. Then I held up my burger and asked 'Is this a chicken?'. And, he said, 'Dai Iyer, atlast you have had one !!'. Funny as it was, I could not eat more, not that I am part of veggie maniacs to say that no living animal should be killed for human consumption, but rather, why do something that I have not done so far in my life.

Still, we have to discount the egg eating scandal in my childhood.

2004-12-27T20:48:00.000-08:00

It seems like I am looking at the ugly racist side of Australia, wherever I go nowadays. Last afternoon, I and my colleague went to the Subway at Elizabeth St, to buy a footlong sub for each of us. My friend (who used to work at the same place sometime back) had a coupon for a free meal upgrade, and I had been collecting some Subway stamps for sometime now, to be used for a free footlong sub.

What I did not know was that, stamps purchased from a particular store can be redeemed only at that store. There was not even a tiny mention of this fact anywhere in store and also on the card. How on earth am I supposed to know that those ****ing cards were color coded depending on the store where we got them ?

Well, coming back to the store episode, I gave these cards to the girl at the counter who was serving us and along with the free meal upgrade coupon that my colleague had, with the question that can those be used for the two subs that we were about to get ? The store manager, this mean person, to say the least asked us all those questions that can mean only one thing, that he was not happy serving to people like me.

He asked me 'How do you have the nerve to come into my store showing me these coupons to get the subs?'.. I can only reply, 'with the same nerve that made you ask me the question'. But, I was also concerned about not making a scene out of it, as I hate shouting matches and talking with nonsense people. Ultimately, without buying the sub and hoping that I had my point I left the store. And to top it all, that person was not a native Aussie as well, which only made me laugh.

2004-12-22T01:38:00.000-08:00

I had my first face to face experience of racist comments today afternoon while coming to the city. Two guys got on the train at Flinders street station on the way to Melb central station. Me and my room-mate sitting with my laptop and his bag full of books on the way to RMIT were talking about tips for phone interviews.. They started commenting about the seats on the new trains, and the fact that we were sitting on them.

And then came the 'Bloody' word - I hate it when someone says it. I guess it is a part of the English language to refer to anything as Bloody, but I hate it when someone tells me. This guy goes on referring us as bloody people, and tells his mate - 'These bloody people earn 10 times more than what we do, I am stupid, stupid'. At this point I was inclined to agree with that person.

Melbourne as a city is very cosmopolitan with its people being from varying cultures, and somehow these emotions are still dormant in some here. I was not able to do anything or tell anything to him, he was a gigantic guy who was drunk as well.

I paid the price of my pride, my Indianness, my colour, my feelings .. Everything .. for the comfort of staying in Australia and earning in $.

2004-12-21T00:34:00.000-08:00

I have also seen the Trisha nude bathing scene. The after effect was not one of ecstasy, but one of disappointment and total hate of the people who had comitted this rather nasty deed. When I got the video file as an attachment from one of my friends, I was just bubbling to open it.

But, after watching the file, the combined reaction of me and my roomates was a overall disenchantment with the whole episode. The point is that it is not Trisha, that it could happen to anyone. It is not private anymore, guys and gals, so beware. Kali kaalam da ithu. The poor girl, whether it is Trisha, or someone else, did not even know that she was being filmed taking bath.

And as a blogger, I am contributing to the crime, by writing about it. I am just guessing that the long arm of the law, does not reach me while I am here.

On one hand, we see the actress vehemently denying that she is not the person, and on the other hand we see the CEO of Baazee being arrested for admitting a sex tape. Truly, kali kaalam ithuthaan.

2004-12-14T00:32:00.000-08:00

Bollywood @ NASA

This is not about a hindi film festival at NASA, Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Swades, the latest Shahrukh film has found mention in the NASA website. Shahrukh plays Mohan Bhargav a Indian born scientist in this movie. The film was shot at Launch Pad 39 A.

Source : Lights, Camera, Liftoff !

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2004-12-10T00:57:00.000-08:00

Change in my profile

I have decided to change my profile wordings. Whenever I look at my blog, of late, it somehow projects a loser in me, hence the decision to modify it to suit the changes in life as I see it. I still am a lazy person who likes to take life as it comes and never be pressurised by anything or anyone for that matter. Yeah !! I know what you are saying, just wait until you are married. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I have posted my latest snap - that of a pigeon at my photo avatar. I did that using Flickr. It has this wonderful tool of blogging into blogger directly, something that impressed me a lot.

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Update: The changes have not been reflected in my blog even after 20 mins, what is happening with blogspot ?

2004-12-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

Success at last

I got the Olympus C 725 camera with 3 MP and 8x optical zoom. It came along with a 16 MB XD memory card and Olympus Camedia software with a 12 month manufacturer warranty. I bought it for $399 from Harvey Norman. I have uploaded some of the photos that I shot with the new camera at my photo blog.

Ooh Aaah Ouch !!

This is not a advt but the way my body is behaving now. I enrolled in a gym and attended my workout session yesterday evening and this is the result. I guess this was expected after 26 years of non gym life and no exercise after coming to Australia. Atleast in India, I and Prabu Karthik managed an hour of walking around the Race course road in Coimbatore. And, working in a sedantary job has not made anything better. So, I hope to go to the gym today as well and endure more of this pain in my newly discovered way of keeping fit.

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2004-12-03T01:38:00.000-08:00

Has Sachin achieved something in the Eden Gardens test match? When I saw this - 'Sachin Tendulkar sets new record' article in rediff.com, I eagerly clicked and was disappointed not to see Sachin's name anywhere in the article. Is Rediff trying to get more people to read this article by mentioning his name ? But this is something that all the stats lovers should read.

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2004-12-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

Yet another day, same story

I made yet another try to buy the cameras yesterday evening at Officeworks. The shop assistant made me stand in watch of some laptops while she scouted around for the cameras. She was trying to explain to me the salient features of both the cameras ... I was able cut her short and let her know that it was the third time I have visited their store for buying the camera. Then off she went scouting. And, came back and told me that they did not have both the cameras in stock, some new pieces would be expected by early next week. Hmph .. I am still wondering what made her choose me to look after the laptops, do I have such a pleasing face or is my face proclaiming that I am a Ilichaavaayan ? Anyway, it was good to see someone that I did not know at all, placing that trust in me.

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2004-11-30T00:53:00.000-08:00

Photo Blog

Inspired by Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Shyamal and Pradeep, I have also started my own photo blog at http://ausphotos.blogspot.com. Presently, I am gung ho about my pet project.

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2004-11-29T23:58:00.000-08:00

Will I, won't I ?

This is a question that I have been asking myself and making my roomates go crazy. I have been looking at two digital cameras - the Olympus C725 and the Fuji Finepix C3500. They are both available for $428 with a 128 MB SD Card as well at Officeworks. But, yesterday and today, I have visited two stores of Officeworks for buying either one, but with no luck. The store I visited yesterday did not have the Olympus and the store that I went today did not have both of them. Talk about luck in buying cameras. I could have pushed ahead in going to some other stores, but now I am prepared to wait for a better one.

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2004-11-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

At last I have blocked the tickets for my travel to India in Feb 2005 for a 5 - 6 week holiday. That would be first visit to India after coming down here in Feb 2003. Looking forward to it and can't wait to meet some good friends.

It is good to see that Prabu Karthik is back on his blog after a long hiatus. Keep up the good work, man.

2004-11-23T14:24:00.000-08:00

Aishwarya - Dhanush Reception Snaps

Here is the link that lets us sneak into the reception snaps. The superstar looks quite the haggled father in every sense in some snaps. Who is the one in this photograph looking so glamorous? It is Sukanya, my one time fav. I did not see any of the newer actors like Vijay, Surya or Ajit in the reception.. Dunno why !!

I hope I did write about the snaps much before Rekha found out about it..

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2004-11-18T18:32:00.000-08:00

Angry about Spam ?

You should be, but don't despair.. Bill Gates is also the world's most spammed person one of the other things that he is, the world's richest man. He gets this credit by getting around 4 million mails per day (mostly spam). He does have a whole department looking after it, and maybe thats why he is so carefree in giving away his email id at every conference that he attends.

A mind boggling calculation - 4 million mails / (60 secs * 60 mins * 24 hrs) = 43 mails per sec.

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2004-11-14T01:28:00.000-08:00

Bridget Jones Diary - Edge of Reason

The movie has opened up here. I am waiting to watch the movie, but I have been rather distressed at the reviews that have come out here. I have never been a person who watches movies based on reviews, but the first time I do read one, this is what I see. I watch movies truly based on instinct and most of them have been pretty big hits as well. But, I guess I will provide my own views only after I watch the movie. Right now, I am too much impressed with the British wit and the capability of Hugh Grant, Renee and Colin Firth not to watch the movie.

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2004-11-12T18:02:00.000-08:00

Another Trip

People have said I am exceptional, which maybe I am, but I am the guy who goes on mid week breaks so very often. This week was the trip out to Torquay and the world famous surf beach and a drive down the Great Ocean Road. I had posted some pics of the visit to the 12 Apostles on this blog sometime back. On the way there, I saw some lighthouses that I would have loved to go down to and stand up there, maybe like Leo DiCaprio shouting at the ocean in 'Titanic'. I did not go up the lighthouse as it was locked, but this visit surely has made me yearn for one trip up one lighthouse ASAP. This particular one was opened up in 1856, by the then PM of Victoria. I was really surprised at the note which said the bulb is a 1000 W tungsten.

And, Belated Deepavali Wishes to all of you.

2004-11-12T16:59:00.000-08:00

Light house on Great Ocean Road

2004-11-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

Sex and the Frankston train

Australia is always a happy nation during the weekend, everyone is partying around, going for blind dates, meeting interesting people. But, this week, has been the last week of the Spring Racing Carnival 2004. We had the Melbourne Cup in which I bet $4 and won $8.40 (Yay !!) last weekend and Oaks Day on Thursday. Coming back home on the Frankston train during late nights has always been a terrifying experience for me. But this time around, I with some other people in the train were given an introduction to the art of kissing by this couple, heavily drunk, obviously. I know only of french kissing, though haven't practised yet. But after what that couple projected there should be more to it, I guess. Kissing let on to other things, and suddenly, we were watching a full porn scene. At this point, I had to move away, feeling embarassed to say the least.

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