ToI- Lead India Initiative

A very inspiring video for ToI's initiative! lovely one....enjoy it!

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iPhone in India

Peeps, iPhone has been cracked in India to work with Indian service providers ;)
Initial details are here

Hope he publishes steps to crack it soon!

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India Rocks!

Man! it's amazing match to remember for my life time!

Wow! I love twenty 20 format of cricket! I never had patience to see one whole ODI. T20 comes as lucky boon for people like me.

Me and my friends were enjoying this match in my home here.  Nail biting, heart popping, deafening shouts....it's best! India team rocked and made us all proud!

As usual lot of sentiments while we were seeing the match. A friend of mine really got pissed of the progress of the match and decided to go back to office. When he had almost left the house, Pakistan team lost their first wicket. Hurray! we were shouting like madmen; he came back running to join in the celebrations. Then that sentiment worked till the end. Whenever he decided to go back, a Pakistan wicket fell. He almost sacrificed witnessing the nail biting climax of the match because of this sentiment.  Hurray!!!

What a great moment!

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What's the good word?

Aye! I got broadband internet connection in home!

For those dummies who don't understand the rationale behind this excitement: Getting a broadband connection shouldn't be an achievement in other parts of the world. But...

But in India, broadband users numbers has grown exponentially over the last few years. None of the ISPs expected this growth and don't have the infrastructure. Even private players couldn't cater to the demand. Private players don't offer the low cost pack to users in Bangalore. All they could offer is 699 INR (for 128 kbps unlimited) or 999 INR (for 256 kbps unlimited) pack for home users, which are costly compared to services provided by national player for similar infrastructure. Thats the rationale behind my excitement for getting broadband internet connection. It was a loooooooooong wait indeed!

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Frustration!

Are you getting bogged down by something?
Is everything irritates you?
Are you frustrated to the core?

The best thing to do now is to listen to ROCK songs. The rock genre is characterised by loud noises, bass guitar and lyrics full of negativity. I liked this two songs from Linkin Park gang. Thank god! I have a better life than those hero/heroines in the songs :)

Here is the first one for you, 'Somewhere I belong'

When this began
I had nothing to say
And I'd get lost in the nothingness inside of me
I was confused
And I'd let it all out to find
That I'm not the only person with these things in mind
Inside of me
When all the vacancy the words revealed
Is the only real thing that I've got left to feel
Nothing to loose
Just stuck, hollow and alone
And the fault is my own and the fault is my own

I wanna heal, I wanna feel, What I thought was never real
I want to let go of the pain I felt so long
Erase all the pain till its gone
I wanna heal, I wanna feel, Like Im close to something real
I want to find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong

And I've got nothing to say
I can't believe I didnt fall right down on my face
I was confused
Looking everwhere only to find
That it's not the way I had imagined it all in my mind
So what am I
What do I have but negativity
Cause I cant justify the way everyone is looking at me
Nothing to loose
Nothing to gain, hollow and alone
And the fault is my own and the fault is my own

I will never know
Myself until I do this on my own
And I will never feel
Anything else, until my wounds are healed
I will never be anything
till I break away from me
I will break away
I'll find myself today

Then second song is with much more aggression than the first, 'Crawling'

crawling in my skin
these wounds they will not heal
fear is how I fall
confusing what is real
there's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface
consuming/confusing
this lack of self-control I fear is never ending
controlling/I can't seem
to find myself again
my walls are closing in
(without a sense of confidence and I'm convinced that there's just too much pressure to take)
I've felt this way before
so insecure

discomfort, endlessly has pulled itself upon me
distracting/reacting
against my will I stand beside my own reflection
it's haunting how I can't seem...
to find myself again
my walls are closing in
(without a sense of confidence and I'm convinced that there's just too much pressure to take)
I've felt this way before
so insecure

Go ahead! keep your speakers in full volume when you play this! Having a sadistic relaxation! Sadism is what comes out evident in rock songs, I hate it though!

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Winter!

The chill breeze;
the shivering bike rides;
the comfy airconditioned office cubes;
the heavenly warmth of bed linen;
the early morning fogs;
sans lovely girl's warm kiss;
Miss you!

Winter is season of pleasant surprises. Indian winters are never as cold as northern world. There is no snow, no shovelling of roads, no blinding fogs and no heavy sized jackets. It is pleasantly cold. Bangalore at times surprises me beyond my imagination. Winter in Bangalore is slowly catching up. I hail from a place with hot climate all year around; so never want to wear a jacket even if cold wind chills down to the spine; want to roam around and catch this cold breeze ever inside my heart and soul.

Life takes roller coaster ride all over the time; hope keeps me going and kicking alive. I hope this winter brings much more surprises to all our life!

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Why do we fall in love?

I had a love break recently. Then it was my friend's turn. I doubt whether anyone left in this world who didn't undergo this pain of missing his/her love. Love and girl is always mystery for a guy. right?! There were always mixed feelings coming from english pop world. Here are few reactions:

Robbie Williams in 'Something Stupid' claims it a stupidity to say 'I love you'

I know I stand in line
Until you think you have the time
To spend an evening with me
And if we go someplace to dance
I know that there's a chance
You won't be leaving with me

Then afterwards we drop into a quiet little place
And have a drink or two
And then I go and spoil it all
By saying something stupid
Like I love you

Ofcourse the famous pathos from Bryan Adams in 'Please Forgive me'. I know a friend of mine (gal) who hates Bryan adams for singing this song. This song may sound great, but I felt sorry for him.

It still feels like our first night together
Feels like the first kiss and
It's gettin' better baby
No one can better this
I'm still hold on and you're still the one
The first time our eyes met it's the same feelin' I get
Only feels much stronger and I wanna love ya longer
You still turn the fire on

So If you're feelin' lonely.. don't
You're the only one I'd ever want
I only wanna make it good
So if I love ya a little more than I should

Please forgive me I know not what I do
Please forgive me I can't stop lovin' you
Don't deny me

Next, it is a pure aggression from NSync in 'Bye Bye Bye'

Hi, I'm doin' this tonight,
You're probably gonna start a fight.
I know this can't be right.
Hey baby come on,
I loved you endlessly,
When you weren't there for me.
So now it's time to leave and make it alone
I know that I can't take no more
It ain't no lie
I wanna see you out that door
Baby, bye, bye, bye...


Bye Bye
Don't wanna be a fool for you
Just another player in your game for two
You may hate me but it ain't no lie,
Baby, bye, bye, bye...
Bye Bye
Don't really wanna make it tough,
I just wanna tell you that I had enough.
It might sound crazy,
But it ain't no lie,
Baby, bye, bye, bye

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Dear Dad and Mom, I Love You!

In past, I fell into the trap of forgetting my roots. There are times where I fought with my dad and mum and I didn't obey their words. I don't speak much with my dad and mum daily. I was trained to live independent from undergrad days. The simple conversations we have can't be even classified as chats between normal friends. Dad has an explanation for this"after certain age, you got to be independent; parents have to maintain a distance to let their kid grow up". I even crib to my parents that we don't go for family outings. The best picnics I remember were to nearby temples.

My telephone conversations with my parents seldom change. A typical chat:
Dad: "Hi Satheesh, Nalla irukiya?"
Me: "Mmm Dad, nalla irukken. Neenga eppadi irukenga? Amma nalla irukangala?"
Dad: "Ooruku eppo varey?"
Me: "Theriyilipa, And I get bored if I come home. May be I will come during festival times"
Dad: "Ammakite pesariya?! Wait pannu"
Me: "mmmm..."
Mom: "Nalla irukiya da, dance class nalla pocha, dinner acha?!" and the usual queries
Me: "Amma...neriya question kettu paduthathey ma"
Mom: "Ooruku eppo varey"
Me:" Who is there in mayuram ma...I will get bored if I come there ma"
Mom: "Naangala irukkomila??..."
Me: "mmm..."
Mom: "seri...decide panni sollu. I will get tickets for you"
Me: "mmm...Good night ma. Appavukkum good night sollu ma."

The telephonic conversations we have shows the distance I had with my parents. The more I grow in my career; more I got into the trap of forgetting my roots. I would not have reached this place if my parents decide to curb me. It is the freedom they gave made me a human being. I never had bad time in my life before. I never cried much in my life. I never had to work hard to achieve more in life. Though I haven’t born with silver spoon, I never had any trouble during my formative years.Even then I cribbed day before yesterday. "Naan unga kooda close illathathukka karanum, neenga enna seriya vallakula" (You haven't brought me well, that's the reason why I am not coming close to you)

Even though I fight with parents in the past, they never let me down. There was a time I had SMS fight with my dad.

Me: "Kids tell their interests to parents once in a while. But if parents don't listen to them, that kills the spirit in kids. They don’t come ever afterwards to parents. I behaved much matured manner by coming to you and asking for permission. But you and mom spoilt the whole scene by keeping me in dark and spoke wrong things to right people."
Dad: "Dear Satheesh. I accept that we behaved in immature way. We have grown up in village side where all these are still bad. We opposed what we found is wrong. But I love you. I can accept anything for you to make you live your life happily". These are the times I fought in a childish way with my parents. But my parents love me even with all this inhibitions of mine.

They know what's going on in my mind even without speaking single word. This time when I went home, I wasn't in my high spirits. Both never failed to notice that big let down in my face. I was dull for the whole day. At the end of the day, mom and dad called me.
Mom: "I know things went wrong. Let's talk it out"
Dad: "It's tough time for us to see our son like this...please calm down. Let's speak out the issues"
All these words came from them even after me let them down in the past. I couldn't stop breaking down before them. I was crying in my mother’s lap for hours.
Me: "I haven't done any mistake. But my life is royally messed up now. What wrong I did to you ma? Why haven't you believed me?" I was pointing my fingers on my mom for all troubles in my life. How stupid I am?
Mom: "Satheesh. Nee onnum thappu panneleda. Let me be the one who has to suffer for killing your feelings. Please don't break down. I am just holding my life to make your life happier."
Whatever I speak, I know my mom won't hate me. I am not a great human being; I blame others for my mistake. I have so much wrong on my side to correct myself. Even then I know my parents will love me forever.

In evening, while I was starting back to Bangalore,
Mom: "Satheesh, tickets ethutiya? Change irukka? water bottle vennuma?"
Me: "Amma....pls. Nee teacher-a irukalam. Athukaga, neriya kelvi kettu, romba paduthathey ma"
Mom: "mmm...unnaku parents pasam-ina eppo puriyathuda!!"
I didn't reply then. I probably can’t understand my parents love for me in the whole life. Amma and Appa are always like that. I am always like this -last worlds' freak. We never going to talk like close friends. Yet I love my dad and mom!

Dear dad and mom,
I am really feeling sorry for letting you down in the past. Really sorry ma! Really sorry Appa!! I know you will accept my sorry. I know you don't even need my sorry or I love you message. But I love you. I love you so much; love you more than anyone else in this world.

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How anonymity in blog world helps?

I never tried to maintain an anonymous identity in blog world or in the internet, but had seen lot of  friends write blogs in anonymous identity. For long time, I could not relate to that necessity. But now I started to feel that I may even need an anonymous identity to talk more freely in blogosphere. “This post is banned/removed/discontinued for my friends” Did this message in my blog perplex you before? That is direct correlation with the subject matter of the post. The subject in those posts is people around me, and those who know me can relate to those friends. People accept if I speak positive about them, but criticize if I speak something in negative tone.

 

I don’t want to run away from those criticisms and I don’t want to hide my feelings too. The possible solution would be an anonymous identity. So don’t be surprised if I discontinue this blog and start writing in a new identity. In some sense, the subject matter can be related to cartoonists and political column writers in magazine. Politicians are one crew of people who don't accept to criticisms so easily and they are most criticized also. An anonymous critique can write better than anyone on the functionality of the organization/government. In those cases, the meaning of the words written is important than the person who uttered it.

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Unposted Emails

Well, I was strolling with these thoughts for two days. The concept of unposted emails is not new. There are occasions in life where silence is better than any words uttered. When things go bad, better take life as it comes; don’t ever speak more and make things worse. The basic etiquette in email conversation is it should start in smile and end in smile. If your email is going to be about any negative feelings, better post the email to yourself first. Then at the end of the day, take a re-look at the email. If your negative feelings (anger, jealous, possessiveness or irritation) still persists, delay posting the email again by a day. Don’t send those emails ever with the same mood in which you have written.

 

The world has really become a global village, become small by improvement in communication mediums. Emails, chats, skypes, mobile phones replaced most of face to face meetings. Over the years, I lost confidence in most of the other mediums in helping true communication. I try to maintain friendship with people whomever I meet in daily life. I am little bit matured enough to hold back my negative feelings in F2F meetings. The smile in my face rarely goes away or few times I show a kind of irritation in my face. But I fail miserably lot of times in using these ultra-modern means of communication. Expressing feelings over emails & chats is really tough for me. Most of time ends up with misunderstood statements.

 

Trust and beliefs in people are tender things which you need to be much matured to handle. The differences between the people never blow up a big issue when they are in love. But the day when someone lost love for other; even a small misunderstanding will become big issues. The nuclear family culture - when guy and gal start living together- teases them with a lot of problems based on this. There may not be any elders to advice them what to do during those times. These occasions can cause lot of failures, don’t get dishearten when you face failures, it is just a lesson you got to learn.

 

[+] There was couple of interesting columns in Ananda vikatan in this week issue. One is by Dr.J. Radhakrishnan, IAS officer in Tamilnadu. He talked about the social issues and the fallouts in our primary education system. I can't agree with him more. Our primary education rears students with competition rather than breading good social culture. Our education system complements a guy who gets first rank based on marks and demotivates another who don't excel much in studies. Both of them has rights to co-exist happily in the world, then why do we disparage between them. Just because a student can't score marks in the exams, he has to be deprived of rights to live peacefully. Nay. The education system has to be refined so that everybody win the race; one can excel in studies, another in music, acting, sports, organising and any other.

 

[+] The second column is from actor Prakash Raj. His level of maturity in handling human emotions is unique. The latest episode about love and the issues lover face after the marriage. He quoted an example of his two fren who fall in love and failed after marriage. The "panni kutti" story as explained by him was little rude, but absolutely a matured talk. He uses other people's emotions to express his feelings. Those writing style reached grabs my attention immediately. Last episode was about the his kid asking him questions about terrorism. May be that kid is not so big to ask him so many questions, may be it is just his figment of imagination, but lovely style of writing. He discusses the problem and leaves the issue to people to conclude. Well, way to go, Mr.Prakash!

 

 

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Jillinu Oru Kathal

AR Rahman absence was felt for long time in Tamil Tinselworld. Hurray. He is back with bang in Jillinu oru kathal. Listen to it. Newyork song by ARR is my favorite. Thanks to vali - lyrics came out in a great way with strong words portraying the feeling of the hero who misses his love.

 

"Newyork Nagaram  Urangam Neram

 Thanimai Adaranthathu,  Paniyum Padaranthathu

 Kapal irunkiye, Kattrum karaiyal adaranthathu

 

 Naangu kanadi suvargalukul

 Naanum mezhugu varthiyum

 Thanimai, thanimai-yooo! Kodamai, kodamaiyooo!!"

 

Translated verse will sound like this. In a dusk in Newyork, loneliness hugs me like mist. Poignant wind fills the breadth, fresh from sea. Me and a lonely candle were drowning in a glass palace in loneliness....

 

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Na Tum Jano Na Hum

Why is there music in the air?
why is there music in the skies?
why is there music in my heart?
you don't know, nor i
you don't know, nor i

Why this change of season?
why this change of heart?
why does one fall in love?
you don't know, nor i

you don't know, nor i

This ecstasy, this loneliness,
who clouds my imagination?
the wet wet season,
the desires of youth
where is love leading me?
why dont I see anything?
why am I intoxicated?
why do i love this feeling?
you don't know, nor i
you don't know, nor i

 

The new feeling hurts
sometimes it burns my heart
A new fragrant desire
at heart, I am faithful
why do your eyes hold each other.
why is this happening to us
why are we together
you don't know, nor i
you don't know, nor i

 

[+] Original songs hindi  lyrics is here

[+] Song picturisation is too cute. Enjoy it here

[-]  Discliamer: I am not the author of original hindi version or its english translation.

[+] I loooove this song. Hearing it continously for nth time from morning. Not at all cloyed by its sweetness. Now become evangelist to spread the magic of this song. Entertainment guaranteed. Enjoy

[+] Lucky Ali voice, Music, or Lyrics. Don't know which is best? Jadoo

 

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Life full of Inspirations!

Corporate world - We never know what is the other side of the person who is sitting next to us. As mentioned before, we get inspired by them more and more. Money becomes just a part of life when we see these. As we grow older these thoughts are more frequent. Thats true. Am also growing up. This blogpost is after my visit to Ananya trust, in Bangalore. Inspirational idols as perceived by me: [+] Dr.Shashi Rao. Veteran in non-formal education. Started Ananya trust in 1999 for children from economically under privileged children. Now on its 8th year, Ananya trains 60+ kids. These kids stay with them during weekdays and return back home on weekends to their parents. The kids come from varied backgrounds but experienced similar unfortunate experiences like pathetic childhood, poor family, drunken or irresponsible father, disintegrated family, disdained and hated by the formal education system. Ananya trains them in life skills. The way of their teach is quite different- fun filled and experience driven learning. Based on age and inclination to academics, Ananya groups them and train them in basic education. Science, Maths, Social Science, English, Hindi, Kannada are introduced to them in a fun-filled way. Kids can choose the subjects they want to learn. During our schoolhood, we would have loved few subjects, liked few more and hated a host of subjects. But here scenario is quite different. All kids undoubtedly love all subjects! Because of hours of hardwork, the faculties in ananya put in preparing for the best way to drive home the basics. [+] Mr.Uddhav (dunno his second name). He is an IIT gradaute who chose to work with Ananya as a permanent faculty after his MTech. Surprised to see people who throw away their high paying jobs to work for life's beautiful challenges like this. [+] The Great Govindraju. Ananya's first student. Its brand ambassador who has influential network to spread word about Ananya among kids of his same background. His nature as explained by Dr.Shashi is highly inspirational. Natural leader, and captain of students' union of Ananya. Plays hockey extremely well, has lots of energy and creativity. Got host of fan followers too in the school. Earlier, he had made a battery operated fan from rags that he picked up and had designed his own FM radio. During their Honnemardu trip, a group of kids travelled in a coracle to reach the Island in the middle. After hours of rowing, they reached nowhere. Coracle is a circular boat where rowing has to be in uniform to move forward or backward. Otherwise coracle will go on revolving itself. Few kids got panicked and that worsened the situation further. Our hero Govindraju tried his best to cheer up kids to row in unison. Atlast, he thrown away his row and said " I am not going to help you all. We will stop rowing". That anger from their leader triggered the kids and all suddenly started rowing in unison afterwards. Later he cheered and guided them to the island. [+] Vishal Talreja. Founder Director of Dream A Dream. He and his group of friends dedicated their entire life for the noble cause of serving back the society. Had written enough about DaD before too. Some more new information: when started DaD had plans to work with terminally ill children, started programs with Freedom Foundation. Later they diversified to cater needs of economically under privileged kids too. Now DaD is a big organisation running a lot of parallel programs throughout the year. Vishal is an Ashoka Fellowship holder. Apt word will be social entrepreneur. Recently he had been selected to attend a Waldzell Meeting at the Melk Abbey in Austria. Its a meeting the dwells into the subject of "The challenge of change - Can the individual change the world?". 12 young people from across the world are selected every year to be the Architects of the Future and this year, he has been selected as one of the participants. The most interesting thing about the meeting is that it has speakers of the likes of Paulo Coelho (The author of The Alchemist) and Isabel Alende (Author of The House of The Spirits). [+] More photos taken in Ananya trip. [+] Few more video clips too. Football game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfuXMPtDUKA Art work of kids. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUYiNpYWJxk Dance by Jayanth.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OmnEFlR2oM

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