Its a quarter today

Yes the title of the post may be misleading, and today being a Friday may lead an angle of intoxication to it, but thats not what I am referring to. Its 3 months of married life for us and it feels like we have had a quarter century of togetherness! :)

These 3 months have been fun, but rather fun at home, as we have had only a couple or max three outings. But all the times have not been totally happiness filled in ones. (As was when we were blindly in Loveeeee....) But after every tussle there has been a time of togetherness and understanding. Something to take to till the next time we jostle! :)

Broadly, our love for each other has blossomed and we have had opportunities to be able to introspect each others personalities. I always believe that good friends are easy to come by, but good roommates are a difficult find. In that sense, I think we make good roommates. Of course we have our ifs and buts. We will live on with them... (And with our lonely flowery plant that blooms in pink all the week :)

So here is celebrating the first 3 months of my wedded life with Pallavi. (I hope this intoxication is enough for her to allow me to cricket this weekend. Hehe :)

Deepavali Plans

Sudhir and Pallavi celebrate their first Diwali together. This Diwali have fun, a great vacation and light it up :)

7th Nov 2007

There cannot be a more boisterous start to the Diwali than this. 4PM we are in an auto to Bangalore City station to pick up the 5:15 train (nth minute I read from the net that the Kochuveli express does not stop at Cantonment, thank you online railway inquiry).

The traffic was strong but steady and about 4:35 4:40 types we are at Corporation circle, but thence the traffic comes to a halt. We are behind endless rows of stranded vehicles all dead locked and moving in inches.

Past 5 and we are still nearing the National market intersection with the traffic not budging even a little. Tension mounts and Pallavi is almost in tears. The auto driver keeps assuring me that once we reach the end of this stretch, the traffic with smoothen and we will be able to zip to the station, but neither of us are convinced.

I keep evaluating other options, we need to be at Erode tonight and if we happen to miss the train we could walk over to the KSRTC bus stand and try our luck there, but there is some luggage and also there will be a huge rush for the buses. (I later found out that Pals was also running the same logic through her mind)

I am thinking of all this when finally the traffic eases and its past 5:15 when we reach the station. Its a chance that we could take, the train may still be waiting for the signal. I pull over from the rick and Pallavi and me make a beeline to the platform, a porter helps en route with our bags to the platform. Yippee the train is still not left and we board the first compartment that meets us. Both of us are breathless, but yes we did make it - Yeah :)

The irony is that the train pulled out of City station only around 5:40. So much ado for nothing! It was the first time that either of us were traveling in an AC coach.

Was over 11 PM when we finally reached Erode, about half hour delay. And we reached home around 11:15 and were asleep around midnight. My sis-in-law and kid had already arrived and so was granny from Avinasi. Come next day and its Diwali!

8th Nov 2007

Diwali fanfare started with an Oil bath, it was supposed to be scheduled pre-sunrise, but lazy bones did not wake up till it was 8 or so. I was witness to a detailed puja ritual by Pallavi's mom. Kind of a "Abhishekam" that happens in the temples. Long time ago while in School, me and my bro used to accompany my mother in such detailed prayer times, but it has been "once upon a time". And the visit to a Ganesha temple in the locality was something.

Every body calls him Kadhir, but I have decided to name my nephew as 'Ela'. ElanKadhir is Pallavi's sister's kid and he is 1+ years old. He is a cute darling and he kept my Diwali eventful.
Between breakfast and lunch, there were two things that caught my attention, one being Ela and the other was Ind Vs Pak 1st ODI.

Evening was the most fun, sibling families - Pallavi-Sudhir and Mithu-Sakthi caught up with a Diwali release - "Vel" starring Surya (not SJ) and Asin. Average entertainer with absolutely nothing in it. But for one, the songs are all stale and if not for a decent second half I would have said that the movie was not worth the money.

9th Nov 2007

As per the schedule my mom and bro were supposed to be in Erode this day, but as usual my bro made a mess of it, so eventually only mom turned up and that to only close to noon. We had a very important activity scheduled for the day - our Wedding registration. Yeah I know its about 2 and half months since it happened and an earlier attempt to get it registered was aborted due to want of some original documents.

But this time things were smooth thanks to Pallavi's dad and her maternal uncle Raja. Was past 1 PM when all the formalities were done and we headed back home to say hi to my mom who had arrived in Erode some time earlier.

It was late in the evening that we bid farewell to Erode. This is the end of our Diwali vacation in Erode and I could say it was very senti for Pallavi, as we three traveled to the Bus stand in an Auto - I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. Just for an instant; as she was in a rapid conversation with my mom in the next. The journey to Pollachi was about 3 hours and it was 10:30 PM when we reached home.

10th Nov 2007

This was the quietest day of this Diwali, not in terms of the noise output of the bursting crackers but rather by the activity that we did. Was a slow start, well my home and everything is lax here. Spent some time off with my bro who was home on his Diwali vacation. He was having some problems with his laptop and he pulled in a computer technician who re-imaged his laptop.

Post lunch we left to my granny place about a street away, a quick visit to my aunts place in Udumalpet. My cousin is building a house and is having the inauguration on the 22nd, since it would be very difficult to visit then, we piggy backed this visit into our Diwali schedule. Actually we hired a car to take us to Udumalpet and back and also to drop us at Coimbatore at Pallavi's uncle's place.

Was almost 9 PM when we reached uncle Paramasivam's house. He and Pallavi's maternal uncle Thirugyanam who stays close by had organised a dinner for us at a nearby hotel. Boy I was feeling full when the starters were done and we had a main course of naan and rotis to attend to. When we reached home that night I was feeling that I might rip apart anytime...

11th Nov 2007

The plan for the day was very simple, visit Pallavi's uncle Somu's place followed by a visit to uncle Thirugnyanam's place and then head for Kangeyam for the lunch party. Phew, thank God, uncle Paramasivam gave us a reprieve, he arranged a vehicle for us to roam around.

Breakfast was a three tier affair, pongal and dosas at uncle Paramasivam's place and then some sweets, karam and coffee when we visited uncle Somu. Finally under much persuasion we had to taste some idlis at uncle Thirugnyanam's place. This food routine was starting to get the better of me.

We stopped on the way to Kangeyam (about an hour and half from Coimbatore) at Ramaswamy temple. Looked like a place far from the madding crowd a quiet quaint temple that gave us some calm and some time for our tummies to digest to morning's riot! It was almost 3 PM when we reached Kangeyam and were directly taken for lunch. Oh my good God, everything in non-veg was there and I did my best to see that I did justice to the lunch party.

Then came the best part of the day, a visit to to the ancestral house of Pallavi's granparents. It was a rather small place where her grandfather and his 4 brothers lived together, a place were Pallavi's dad and his siblings and cousins grew up in harmony. The family was a joined family of weavers and I was treated to a hands on experience to get close to a fully functional handloom equipment. That with some pictures with Pallavi's cute and little cousins made my day that day...

12th Nov 2007
Was involved in Manina's engagement. There will be a post with the details. (yeah I am tired of the huge post that this one is!)

13th Nov 2007
Reach Bangalore and get into the work mode and mindset :(

It pours

The heavens have opened, the skies are pouring and this is happening everyday. Welcome to the garden city of Bangalore. Well it might not be exactly a "garden" now, but most certainly it was once upon a time.

But the rain Gods have not stopped blessing this jungle, even though wooded patches have been replaced by concrete mazes everywhere. Its nearing November and the trickles of the past few months have strengthened. It rains everyday here.

When the clock creeps to 5:30 - 6 PM, its end of office for most of the folks. Yes, tired after a hard days work, your body and soul is begging you to reach home and get some well deserved rest. You wrap up things from your workstation, pick up you helmet and bag and walk down the stairs. Only to be greeted by the smells of a terrain that has just been wetted.

Thats the time you curse the rain, damned elusive rain so far, but just now unleashed to spoil my moment of reckoning! Well there are even days when you get more frustrated by the never ending spell, that come what may, you beeline to the road to home.

But my perception to downpour takes a totally different turn when I am at home. Rain is then a blessing from the very God. Especially when its weekend and when its mid-afternoon showers. You stretch out on the couch with a cup of hot streaming coffee or soup and you look at the tantrums lashing out at your window.

"And then my heart with pleasure fills"

Wedding

A wedding for some can mean every thing cherished in life. I have a few friends of mine who have the impression that for the parents, the duty of getting their children impeccably married of is a measure of how successfully they have lead their entire lives. As absurd as it may seem it happens, and yes in this world we live in...

Weddings can mean different things to different people. There will be some of the folk who come just to hog and bolt. To some close relatives and friends, being there for the occasion will give memories that will be cherished for a life time. For the bride and the groom, the occasion will mean such a lot. This also depends on how much the two hands mean to be with each other.

Organizing weddings can be a totally daunting task. It requires a lot of planning, a good team work for execution and some damage control techniques too. I have found that enjoying a wedding that we organize can be difficult too. Overseeing the various festivities and their arrangements will keep your focus out of all the merriment that goes on.

That done, lets move to the fun part, getting totally involved in the wedding of somebody close to us. That can be a lot of fun, when that "somebody" also means a lot to a lot of people whom will be gathered with us. And thus the frolic will set in. This would mean that the soon to be wedded couple will be in a world of their own, whereas our world will still be here and just for jolly the world would be a lot more fun to be in.

And I do see in the near future the coming of a pompous time when all the family will be united in the celebration of the union of a cherished one with his flame and this will bring forth the celebrations and joy that I am going to treasure for this life time. Let the celebrations begin!

Oracle ST Outing to Club Cabana

ST (Server Tech) my group at Oracle has a de-stressing team called "Fun@Work". This team had organized a day's outing to Club cabana about 40 kms from Bangalore on the Hyderabad highway. Was fun. The club has some adventure games, some water activities like wave pool, and some ten-pin bowling activities. Yeah and the food was pretty good too. Catch up with the pictures here

Thanks to Sravan for uploading the pictures.

Oracle Dance party - Dec 31st 2006

Oracle Dance party - Dec 31st 2006

Team India

Team India is on a new high.

The World T20 final of last night had some exhilarating moments, it could have gone either way.

Pakistan did take quick wickets and restrict Indian batsmen early.

Gambir and Rohit did the repair work for India to get the team to 157.

Pakistan got off to a flying start with Imran firing away, but some good fielding, better bowling from the Indians and some rash shots from the Pakistani batsmen pushed the odds towards India.

But Misbah had other plans, he almost single handedly swung the match in Paksitan's favor to set up a last over nail biting finish.

Reception pictures - 22-Aug-2007 at Coimbatore

Rest of the pictures in picasa

Microwave

Need to purchase a microwave.
Typical everyday usage will be to reheat only.
Rarely will it be used for complete cooking.

Needs to be simple to use.
Lesser power consumption, smaller space etc will all be nice to have's...

Suggestions required on brand and model.
Send your suggestions as comments to this post. Thanks :)

JM

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On the edge

Last working day as a Bachelor
Last lunch at cafeteria as a Bachelor
Last pool game as a Bachelor
Last visit to the temple as a Bachelor
Last office meeting and presentation as a Bachelor
Last time starting from Bangalore as a Bachelor
Last train journey as a Bachelor

Now for some firsts
First time face pack
First time cucumber eye treatment ;)

I wonder how many more is left as the time closes and I am on the edge.
Will keep updating as and when some thing happens.

Bitching

Bitching, Back-biting all mean the same. And its universal be it in the rampant discussions that run through the family or in the cafeterias of the corporate world.

Why do people bitch? Why do they want to be happy at the misery of others? I think it starts with a bullying attitude that some people have. They like to gain control of power over less privileged/meek types.

I think some people have it inherited in their genes. The very act of making unreasonable accusations and false rumblings is coded into their DNA. Its an integral part of them that is almost impossible to change.

In the corporate world, there are people who are so jealous of people who have been promoted or appreciated or a host of many other positive things. Instead of thinking about how they can get their status elevated to their competitors (this is a healthy thought though), their over enthusiastic brain works in the other direction, thinking of ways to back-stab them.

So often, its also the innocent supporters of the targets who also fall a victim to the evil instincts of the slanderous few. These innocent few are like the refugees held up in a border battle, tossed about and having their sentiments hurt, their pride demoralized and life becomes hell.

This post is in support to these blameless creatures who are still victimized and will do all odds to break the jinx.

once upon a time in Tirupathi

To know what happened click here

Mission Fridge

Got the fridge last night, picked on a 250 lts, double door, mist gray color Samsung fridge. Model RT25. Its got a built in stabilizer, a cool pack and split shelves for fruits and vegetables. Will be delivered tonight. Waiting...

Update: This fridge was delivered the next day in the evening. Went home, cleaned only the place where the fridge was to be placed. Took delivery of the same and set it all up. I was home for an hour and set the equipment running and checking its working condition. All said and done, stopped the appliance and came back. I haven't been there yet. Will go today! (14-Aug) :)

Till the last instant

It is the evening of 11th of august. The day that Pheebs is flying out to Melbourne. Yeah she claims it is her hometown now. 2 years in Australia and she is more Oz than Indian these days. Her vacation was short and her schedule was tight. So tight that I have seen her only about couple times this whole month that she was here. Or rather not, she was on a week long trip for a couple times this vacation and so effectively that makes it just a couple weeks out here.

She has got to check in at 10:30 PM for a Malaysian airlines flight to Melbourne. I call up Aunt and she is not feeling too well, I suspect it is also the prospect of breaking down before a crowd of relatives that is pulling her strings. Pheebs has always been a lone solace for Aunt in the troublesome patches of her eventful life.

So that leave us both to visit the airport. We have dinner and start at around 9:30 PM. As usual just joined the main road and the traffic melee starts. Sony World Junction is, I should say a intersection where the traffic is slow but moving. But today we are not that lucky. When it rains it pours and when it does everything in Bangalore stops. But its been sometime since the rain stopped and the traffic goes on.

Intermediate ring road is a stretch that I love biking on and this time around it is smooth. We go up the Domalur flyover and join Airport road. Its after this that the real fun starts. Manipal hospital signal and it goes on and on. I really don't know what held us out there but we were held up for about 10 mins there.

We pass all obstacles to finally enter - HAL Airport - Departures. I turn right from Airport road into the Departures section entrance road to find a endless pile of vehicles all jam packed and locked on. There are vehicles of all makes and types. From bikes, small cars, luxury cars, SUVs, cabs and even trucks it all lying there doing nothing and moving no where.

The wait seems to be indefinite. Pheebs rings up to say that she is in the Airport and waiting for us and she must check in for departure at 10:30. Its already 10 minutes past 10 and time is running out. On the pavement we see Dims and her friend waking along. I wish we could do the same and reach before Pheebs is gone for another 2 years, but I had my vehicle to attend to. I had to park and get to the departures terminal.

And then, some vehicles get cleared and start moving and lo, the unending wait is suddenly over. Being on a bike also helps in such situations. I navigated my bike between the gaps between the stranded bigger vehicles and finally hit the parking lot. 2 minutes and my bike was parked and we ran in to meet Pheebs and bid farewell to her.

All was not lost, Pheebs was just entering the boarding area as we joined all our people. Couple of minutes she managed to be with us and then waved the final bye. It was a happy ending after all. Putting up with the rain, the endless traffic, the blazing horns and the ceaseless chaos, for this last minute adieu to some one who will be gone for sometime now.

I guess life is all about the little moments of happiness that pass by. All we need to do is to slow time during those times of merry and enjoy the joy when it lasts! :)

The joy of singing together

Riding the bike on long trips can be fun enough if you have the right company.
But biking in the city may not be so much a pleasurable experience for you have to pass through umpteen number of traffic signals, jams and rain and sun.

Partnering in city riding can be fun to a certain extent, but that depends on how entertaining you partner is. I am lucky to have a partner who is a certain enthusiast when it comes to singing for me. Sometimes I never have to ask, she just comes up with a super number when we are on the bike and the moments just pass.

Bug hunt

Last evening was the Bug-Hunt. Software engineers will be used to hearing this term in the figurative sense for finding the issues with their software which are called bugs

But here I mean the term in the literal sense. The house we have rented out in HSR is so full of cockroaches that we got pissed off the last time we visited the place. There were roaches everywhere - in the kitchen drawers, in the bedroom wardrobes, on the floot, in the sink, just everywhere.

So we embarked on a mission, got three canisters of 'Hit-cockroaches'. Spent about half hour at the place spraying every nook and corner with the spray. Was pretty effective too, we saw a lot of the roaches dead. Shut all the windows tight and locked the place. Will go there for cleaning in a couple of days. I think the issue would be addressed by then.

Hello!

Thanks to Sravan for sharing with me the song "Hello" by Lionel Richie. This is a 80's song and its so touching that its been running continuously on my IPod and my system.

This is a super romantic song that touches the chords of your soul and renders it void with a lot of sympathy for the poor guy so much in love with his lady love and wanting to win her attention.

The tone is very soft and its just the piano and guitar that sets the tone for the song.

Find the lyrics here

Down the memory lane

A long time ago, a bunch of fresh-out-of-college'ers made a trip to Mayajaal.
Top Row (L->R): Sharada, Priya, Suman, Sudhir, Athreya, Venkatesh
Middle Row (L->R): Sreeja, Sathish, Rupa, Soba
Bottom Row (L->R): Srinivas, Tom, Saravanan

And the tension mounts

In three weeks I will be tying the knot and the tension is palpable.
The invite process is on and starting this weekend, I will be running from pillar to post trying to get all the arrangements done.
I just wish this 3 weeks just zips past! :)

No, on second thought I'd rather that these 3 weeks take their own sweet time! Hehe

A personal milestone

Not for me but for my bike.
TVS Victor 2003 July Model. Black colored with gold stickering.
As on date it has completed 29K Kms.

This post is in celebration of my dear bike :)
I think I should post some pictures of it here. I will ;)

How to reset a IPod thats hung

One bad thing that could happen.
You are on a train day journey, you don't have company and no books too.
You have started the trip with a fully charged up IPod and then doooom.
The IPod gets hung, press buttons in a any sequence it doesn't budge one little bit.

When such a thing happens, you need to press together the Menu button (top) and the
Center button (Dial) and keep pressing them for sometime till the Apple logo comes up.

Then the system is supposed to have rebooted and things will start from square one.
I did not know this then and ended up spending a 6 hours boring train journey en route to Chennai from Bangalore.

Sources from Google.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61705

Weekend 28th-29th

- Off to Chennai for distribution of invitations
- Initially had planned to stay with Nish, but since he is OOT this weekend will be staying with Selva at Ashok Nagar.
- Saturday visiting to old CTS Pals, with Athu (off to US for MS on Aug 24th)
- Sunday, Mom arriving at Chennai. Visit to BITS Pals and some relatives and friends.
- Also in Agenda.. Shopping for Kiran

Updates

- Am back from Chennai
- Done with Invite distributions in Chennai.
- Shopping for Kiran flopped. Yet to be done. May be he will do it himself.

Pallavi-Sudhir-Invite-You

Big Bigger Biggest... Bulbs we know of

**All incidents described below are purely real and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is intentional and purely incidental...**

1) Boy books train ticket for Girl. This is an ITicket that will be couriered to the address provided. Boy waits for ticket. One day... Two day... Three day also... No courier and no ticket. Boy wants to impress Girl, but hell of a courier. Boy gets call from home town. Its Boy's mom. "Hey, whats this you have booked a ticket for a 22 year old female? and the only person in the ticket?" Boy realizes his bulb. Instead of giving his address, he has provided his hometown for the courier delivery. Bingo!

2) Boy gets introduced to Girl. Boy likes Girl so much... Boy is basically frustrated and looking for a relationship in life. Girl messages Boy, Boy floods Girl's phone with all kinds of messages. And this goes on. Boy comes to Bangalore and Girl is in Chennai. They miss each other. Boy comes to know the day is Girl's Bday. Wow super opportunity. Boy is full excited to impress Girl totally. Boy calls Girl on her mobile and sings loudly "Happy B'day to you... Happy B'day to you". The voice on the other end responds "Its Girl's mom... Wait I will pass it on to her". Boy cannot stop blushing and cannot hide his embarrassment. Finally will Boy corrects Girl's mom??? Bingo! :)

3) Boy finds issues with some labels... Boy is all fired up. Boy wants to showcase his pro activeness. Boy calls dev and fires, dev is startled and starts email chain to whole team. Then calls qa to check what is happening. QA calls Boy and talks to him. Boy investigates and finds that the only person to make any changes whatsoever was HIMSELF!!!!

4) Boy likes Girl. Girl does not like Boy. Girl like to play TT. So Boy buys TT bat and goes to play TT. Boy and Girl play TT. Boy likes Girl but does Boy like Girl's play? God only knows! Time passes by, Boy and Girl get introduced and thats it. Girl quits company (May be fearing Boy???). Boy is in tears. Now Boy must find another Girl. Boy gets all Bulbs, but no Girls.... God be merciful...

5) Boy and Girl are old friends. Boy has a big time crush on Girl. Girl does not know of that. Boy decides to go to Chennai (Girl stays there) for the sole purpose of wooing the Girl. Boy informs his friends. All his friends tell him that he is kidding. So Boy is infuriated and decides that it is this weekend come what may. Boy is to meet Girl on that Sunday, he goes for a cricket match on Saturday. Small mistake and Boy gets hit on the forehead with the bails. Boy missed the Sunday meeting. Worse still on the very same day, Girl goes through a betrothal ceremony and Girl is engaged. Boy missed Girl! But Boy does not miss a big bulb.

6) Boy and Girl are colleagues on the same floor. Boy has a crush on each and every Girl. So by default Boy has crush on Girl. But Boy is tongue tied as usual and Girl is a geek. So time passes. Boy sees Girls, does nothing (or something??), and Girl studies and works. Finally Girl gets admission to higher studies abroad and puts in her papers. Boy is shattered. On Girl's last day in office, Boy meets Girl in lift, they are alone... What happens next? Nothing happens, Boy musters his courage "Is this your last day", Girl smiles (horrible smile) "Yeah, I'm leaving today, But sorry, WHAT'S YOUR NAME???". Yukkk...

7) Boy and Girl are old friends, Girl relocates to Bangalore and is looking for accommodation. Girl seeks the help of the Boy on this. Thats it, Boy has been waiting for such a long time for this. He prepares excel sheets of accommodation availability, calls up lots of people and tries to get something fixed. One Sunday Girl asks Boy if he can accompany her to visit one place available. Boy is all fired up, he takes a shower, drenches in deo and is all dressed up. Boy is waiting and here comes the Auto. Moment of destiny, its now or never. Hi is the voice. Sounds a little old, well whose is it anyways. Boy looks in and is stunned. Its the Girl's mom with her, ready for house hunting....

Farewell TFC

Thats the end of the TFC.
Brought into concept after the mesmerizing shake
of the hips of a structured female.
Wicket after wicket fell of handsome guys of Oracle
fame who were enrolled into the fan club.
The whole movement peaked during the times of the
Dumb C's and the Dance which were in honor of
the swaying assassin. And now it ends here now that
the hot alwa (sounds like) is already full. :)
Greats times gentlemen, lets seek fresher pastures.

House available for rent...

NOTE : THIS PROPERTY IS ALREADY LET OUT. THE BLOG IS HERE JUST AS A REMINDER

House for Rent

3 BHK duplex house available for rent.

• All bedrooms with attached bathrooms.
• Duplex type house, 1 Bedroom on ground and 2 bedrooms on first floor
• 1700+sq.ft. Built up area (1000 – ground floor and 700 – first floor)
• 2700+ sq.ft. Total area.
• Vitrified tiled flooring (Marble flooring for stairs and steps)
• Newly built house, ready for immediate occupation.
• 7 kms from CTS, located at Punidha Garden, Vadavalli PO.
• Expected rent: 6K negotiable, 5 months advance.
• Contact 98860 41069 (or) 0422 2405184