Gambling or Intuition or luck

So the World Cup is over and even before it seeps in completely IPL has started. Elated with the outcome and celebrations ran wild after India won. When India was 31/2 almost lost hope and switched channels to watch West Ham vs ManU EPL match where the red devils came from 2-0 down to win the match 2-4. Argh!! Bad result but proved me that nothing is over until the fat lady sings. Switched channels only to see MSD walking in and after that its History.The best moment i liked in the entire match was the way MSD finished it off. After the win , i would have seen that shot alone a 100 times . Have downloaded the HD version of the full match - 6 GB. :) 

The Intriguing part is after all the euphoria  is when i was reading most of the articles written about MSD after the win , theywere speaking about his luck,his tendency to Gamble. Is it because of luck that a small town Ticket Collector become one of the greatest captain of all time ? I dont think so. I also dont accept that he gambles with his decisions. May be its his Intuition. How many of us listen to ourselves ? I dont think there would be too many. I listen to my intuition a lot. While referring to the Heart vs Mind argument , i will refer heart as our intuition , as the thing our sub-conscious mind wants, as the thing WE REALLY WANT. But many people ignore it either partially or completely. 


Another thing said about MSD is that he is always lucky. Another flawed statement. After the T20 WC win in 2007, we had participated in 3 ICC tournaments which we did not win. At that time i remember news channels shouting in High decibel voices on whether he is losing his midas touch. 

Success doesn't stay with us always neither does failures. Life is a SINE curve.It's real. The up's and down's will always be there. There is nothing called as always positive and always negative. Nothing is permanent here. Few days before the WC semi MSD had a knife hanging above his head for his batting form ready to butcher him but now he is the toast of the nation. Again when he loses people will criticize him and when he overturns it people will brand him as a lucky fellow. I feel am also in a similar position. People tend to tell me am lucky and i dont have any worries. They see my successes but they forget the failures. . I have been through some positive happenings in life which i thought would last for a life time and also some negative things which i thought i would never recover from to see this day . But this is life. I learnt to live with it. Am sure MSD would have realized it by now.


Anyways Cheers to MSD :) Dont stop following your Intuition. Enjoy Your Moment.

Chords of Life - Updated

- Writing something in either of my blogs

- Would be in any online forum discussing some topics/reading some books

- Trying some techniques in Photoshop 

and finally the most important thing - disturbing everyone by playing Guitar. These things would be in my to-do list every weekend and i would rather be doing any one of these things.  If you ask me which one of these is going good, i would say the first 3 mentioned above have been going very good. My adventure with Guitar has been so-so ever since it started. It started some time back when i felt the need to do something different. I took that opportunity to learn Guitar. I have a fascination towards guitar right from my childhood. I don't know the exact reason behind my liking for Guitar but its my most favourite musical instrument and its the only musical instrument that i ever wanted to play. Other thing of note is that most of my favourite songs will be songs based on guitar. I just like the sound of Guitar.

   Tried this some months back -   Chivas Reagal at home + Guitar + basic knowledge of Photoshop + Nokia 5800                  

                                                                         Bingo!!

                               

So when i decided that i would start learning guitar, i had no second thoughts about it and got one. It was an acoustic guitar. I had 2 options to learn once i got myself a guitar. One was to learn by going to coaching class or self-learning by utilizing the vast resources over internet. Being the lazy ass that am, without any surprise to anyone i chose the latter. This was the first major mistake that i did. I should have gone to some formal training. Learning @ home by myself is not suitable for me. Lazyness creeps in all the time. 


But it all started very well. Very very well even to my surprise. I started off with learning the basics of guitar,scales,bends,chords etc. It took off well but rather slowly. Eagerness and anxiety crept in. Impatience also got added. I wanted to straight away move ahead and play like any lead guitarist of a music band. So i stopped with the basics and moved ahead trying with the chords of the songs that i wanted to learn. 


I learnt a few songs and can play them but the perfection will be missing. Maybe its because of not having the basic training. When i play these songs before my friends they say it doesn't sound like those at all - Guitar tuning problem :P . Thinking retrospectively not going for a formal training and skipping the basics was 2 major mistakes that i did. I have decided to correct one of them and start with the basics again. Pity, it means more headache to my mom but cant help it. 


Two things i want to accompolish with Guitar 


                        - Move ahead to Electric Guitar and master it.
                        - Play Aaromale to perfection.


Electric Guitar may take some time but am sure Aaromale is quite near. 




P.S - Totally unrelated - After almost an year, got into driving mode today - GNT road(NH 5). Highway drive is always beautiful. It was brilliant today. Absolutely awesome.

Yeh Dil Maange (No)More!!!!

"Eat some Spicy food , especially Non-veg,then drink Pepsi or Coke. There is no better feeling then that. It would be heavenly"


If you know me or if you had accompanied me for lunch or dinner by now you would have guessed who might have said this. Yes , this is one of the lines i tell frequently. I have told this to many people around me . The thing now is, i would not be able to experience this heavenly feeling anymore. Atleast not in the foreseeable future. Reason - Doctors have advised me not to take aerated drinks anymore.

I had been complaining of back pain for a long time.It was there for many years and i think it was born with me. There have been instances where the pain was so much to the level of me fainting but i have never consulted a doctor for this problem. Atlast, about a couple of weeks back i decided to consult a doctor and the reason they said for this prolonged pain was lack of calcium in body. Yea, yea,yea - no more aerated drinks,pain killers and calcium injection shots every 15 days.Dreadful.

The point is will i be able to survive without Aerated drinks ?? Not sure, ever since i was advised not to drink, i did not touch it for the first couple of days , had little the 3rd day and started having the usual amount the next 2 days. This should be a perfect test for my self-control. I have been surviving without non-veg for some time now and now i have to add aerated drinks also to the list - two things i love the most. Not eating NV was my personal decision while aerated drinks is forced on me. I asked the doctor whether i can take liquor and he just smiled back at me. Maybe he is expecting me to have liquor as-is or with water :P:P.

One of my close friend used to advise me not to take aerated drinks as it is harmful to health. Never used to listen to those words but now i know that those words were correct. Lets see how long will i survive without the things i love the most.

Sabarimala season for Hindus, Ramadan for Muslims, 40 day lent season for Christians - These have a particular time frame. For me there is none.

The Survival begins.......

A Brother's Journey (Pseudo True Story - 1)

Note : This is a Pseudo True Story . The basic plot of the story is True but the situation, dialogues and scenarios are figment of my imagination.I take inspirations from people around me for the creative knot to develop a story and this one is also one such inspiration from the life of a person i know.


                                                   A Brother's Journey

Sometime during the late 80's


Karthik was not aware of anything . He couldn't understand. One fine day , his parents started packing up all the things in the house and within few days his house wore a deserted look. Now he is in a different house, different locality. What he understood was that his family has shifted their residence but he did not know the reason as no one ever bothered him to say that . He was just studying 1st standard. He got treated as a kid and his parents came to the conclusion that he wouldn't understand the reason for shifting .He was not particularly bothered about not knowing the reason .His worries were even bigger.He was worried about getting new friends.He was worried about his new school . With whom will he play ? the only person qualified enough to play with him at that moment was his kid sister who was yet to experience school life. With all this in mind , he was preparing himself for his first day in his new school.


The School that Karthik was enrolled in was 3 Km away from his new residence. Since his father was pretty busy with his job and his mother had his kid sister to take care of , a cycle-rickshaw was arranged to drop Karthik daily to school. The Rickshaw came sharp at 7.45 am that morning. After 5 mins of travel ,the rickshaw stopped before an apartment 2 lanes from his house. He saw a small girl coming running towards the rickshaw.That girl joined karthik in the journey to the School , the journey which was the first of many journey's.


To the surprise of Karthik,the girl who came with him in rickshaw was also in the same class as him.Since that was the first day of the year and with many new additions in the class , everyone was asked to tell their names. Karthik was waiting for that girl's turn.She stood up and said her name loud. Divya!! . Her name was Divya. That evening he started speaking with her and the relationship grew as the time flew by.


Sometime during the 90's and early 2000


Karthik and Divya were in 12th Standard now . Rickshaw became auto and the auto has now became Public transport Bus. Both of them used to come to school daily in the same bus.They used to study together,attend tuition together,have lunch together.Naturally , at this age when other guys see a boy and girl together they start to tease. This is what happened with them also.They did not care about the talks about them in School. Their only aim was to study well and get into any of the top engineering college in the state . If possible, the same college as both wanted to be in the same college. They worked relentlessly towards that goal.To the surprise of many and to the surprise of themselves , they both got nearly identical marks and selected the same college and department.


Their Journey Continued - The journey shifted to College and college bus now. This particular college was not very strict regarding boys and girls. So during the bus journeys Karthik and Divya used to sit together, have lunch together in college and would always be roaming together. They begun to think that school was better. Matchmaking here in college was even worse then school. Obviously, in College it would be a notch higher. But as in School, both of them never cared about anything happening around them and their only aim was to get good marks and get placed in a very good company. This time they were not successful . Fate Intervened.


Two things happened which separated them.One,Karthik had to shift his house to another part of the city while Divya had some medical disorders because of which she could not attend the 6th semester exams.During the start of the 7th semester , placements began . Divya could not attend the placements because of the arrears from the 6th semester. Karthik easily got placed in Information System Corporation.It was a cakewalk for him .But for Divya, she had to wait patiently before she clears all the backlogs.By the end of the 8th semester,Divya did not get placed.She was worried.A day before the farewell day


Saravanan(Karthik's Best Friend) : Machi, i think you are in love with Divya.
Karthik : No Man. Surely not.
Saravanan : Dont lie to me. I could see it in your eyes . Tell me the truth.
Karthik : I like her. I have known her for more then 15 years now but not sure if this is love.


Saravanan had made Karthik think. Karthik thought about this the whole night and decided to propose to divya the next day during farewell.He was putting his 15 year relation under risk here.Finally, on the day of the farewell he approached Divya.


Karthik : Hi Divya, need to tell you something.
Divya : Yea, tell me.
Karthik : Am not sure if you would like it.
Divya : Its ok man. tell it. Am like your....
Karthik : (intervened Divya) I love you.
Divya : (Instantaneously) I love you too . You were so hesitant to tell this .
Karthik : (Surprised)  I thought you would take it wrongly.
Divya: Why should i take it wrongly ? 


When many people were in tears because of the thought that their 4 year friendship was ending , Karthik was the only happy man there in the Farewell party. He was literally jumping out of joy. He could not believe it. Divya accepting his love the next momemt he proposed was a big surprise to him. He had heard that girls take long time before accepting a proposal but his divya did not make him wait. He was on cloud nine. He ran to Saravanan to tell the news.Even Saravanan could not believe it.Karthik treated all his friends that night. There began his next journey.


Few Months later During Information Systems Job training 


Karthik was tensed. He had his Final exam of his training tomorrow but that was not the reason for his tension. His reason was a totally different one. Divya attended Pataani Computers interview that day and was waiting for the results. She was expecting the results by 1 am . Karthik too was waiting in his hostel room eagerly for the result. He could not study for the exam tomorrow. He closed his book and started watching TV. Saravanan who was studying told him to switch off the TV but karthik did not listen to it.He was walking here and there.Vadivelu comedy scenes from the movie Vaathiyar did not even tickle him.he was shouting at Saravanan to change the channel rather then watching such a waste comedy. He was biting his nails.The call came finally . Divya was selected in Pataani Systems. Karthik started dancing on his bed after hearing this. Saravanan told him to get down but he didn't. Other trainees from the neighboring  room came to see what is the commotion . Such was ecstatic scream from Karthik that even people from the neigboring building woke up.


As expected Karthik flunked in the exam the next day but he cleared the re-exam and finished his training successfully.


Few Months later 


Karthik got posted in his Home town.His Client was Bank Of AFrica with he and Saravanan was in the same project. His relationship with Divya was going strong. Everyday started with an " I Love You " and " I Love you Too " message and ended with the same.He had no worries . Good Friends,great project and more then anything Divya was by his side. Even though they are not staying near anymore , he felt closer then to her more now then anytime in his life. He was thinking of when to open the topic about Divya to his parents. His confusion was about his Sister.He did not expect any problems from his parents or Divya's parents but he thought his parents might think that he getting married to a girl from other caste might affect his sister's marriage. He was confused.He wanted to speak about this to Divya but could not get a chance to even start a topic about their Marriage till now. Surprisingly she also did not speak about their Marriage till now. He decided to take it slowly.


During New years's Eve


Karthik,Saravanan and their friends were enjoying the new year eve in Tasmac. heir routine every year was to booze and then celebrate new year in the beach near by. This year was also the same. They had ordered one Teachers Full. Midnight struck . Wishes for new year was flowing non-stop. Eveyone started getting messages and calls. Karthik too got it, from his parents,sisters and friends but he did not attend any of the calls. He wanted Divya's call to be the first new year wish that he gets.He waited.


12:15 AM - still no call from her. Teachers 3rd round
12:30 AM - still no call from her. Teachers 4th round
12:40 AM- Message.One message received from Divya . He was ecstatic.He opened the message. It read " New Year Wishes Anna :):):) " . Karthik was confused.He was not sure if Teachers was confusing him . So he asked Saravanan.


Karthik : Machi, could you check and let me know what is this message.
Saravanan : (Getting the mobile) Its from Divya da. It says New year Wishes Annnnnnaaaa. (Surprised)Machi, wats this ????
Karthik : I think she has sent this message to me by mistake. Let me call her.


Karthik called Divya . First time no one picked up the call. He tried again. Divya's mother picked up the call .


Karthik : Aunty is Divya around ?
Divya's Mom : No Karthik , she has slept. Why don't you call her in the morning?
Karthik : Sure Aunty. I will call her in the morning .thanks !!!


Karthik was blank. All the effects of Teachers had already been lost. He was plain now. He decided to speak to Divya in the morning and started home.Next morning Karthik woke up at 11:00 AM . The first thing he did after getting up was to see if he had received any calls or messages from Divya explaining about yesterday's message. He did not get any. He called up Divya.


Karthik : Hi Divya...
Divya : Hi Karthik
Karthik : Did you send me the message by mistake yesterday night ? 
Divya : What message ?
Karthik : New year wishes.
Divya : I don't think so
Karthik : But in that you have addressed me as Anna!!
Divya : yea , aren't you a brother to me ??
Karthik : what are you talking about ?? Aren't we in Love ? You even accepted my proposal.
Divya : Karthik , what happened to you ? I told you I love you in the sense of sisterly love. That's what i thought you meant.I never had any other feelings for you.Why do you guys always mistake the word love ? Love is a generic term and it can be between anyone.
Karthik : Is this a joke ? 
Divya : No its not . Am serious.


Karthik was dumbfounded. He did not know how to react . He cut the call and was literally crying. He called up Saravanan and told him everything . Saravanan could not control his laughter at the other end.Karthik was alone. He did not know whom to go to now . 


In the coming days he tried to talk to Divya but all he got was the same answer. He Felt cheated. He started hating the word Anna now. He did not want even his sister to address him as Anna nowadays. He rather preferred to be called Karthik. His contact with Divya started getting reduced rapidly. After a week, there was no contact between him and Divya.


2 Months Later - Feb 12th 


All Karthik got from Divya was a couple of brotherly love messages  after first week of Jan . He deleted them without even reading fully.He was now the matter of discussion whenever his friends catch up. Saravanan being in the same project also did not help. He reminded him about Divya at every instance.When people were watching Vinnaithaandi Varuavaya,7G rainbow colony to feel and cry about their love , Karthik would be watching Vadivelu comedy from the movie Vaathiyar.The same comedy scene which he dismissed as a boring one during his training.The same comedy scene where the girl would first say to Vadivelu that he loves him and then tells him that he is her brother. He lost count of how many time he watched those particular scenes from that movie. It was his daily breakfast,lunch and dinner.


Feb 12th - at office , Saravanan  came to Karthik's place and was speaking about some random things. Just then they received a mail from BoAF - Youth Voices.


It read


Valentines Day special . Write a 2 line poem for the attached picture and win attractive prizes.


Karthik opened the picture. It was a picture of a boy and girl sitting in a park bench with an umbrella in the midst of heavy rain. 


Saravanan : Machi , this picture reminds me of you and Divya sitting in our college lawn. 
Karthik : Hmmmmm....
Saravanan : Why don't you send an entry for the contest ?
Karthik : (Thinking) yea ok ...


After couple of minutes


Karthik : How's this machi ? 


" Naan Avalai annaandhu paarthaen.....
   Aval ennai Anna endru vittaal....."


Saravanan : (couldn't control his laughter) Super Machi...Send it out...
Karthik : Okay.


He sent out the entry for the competition . Within 2 minutes he got a reply mail from them.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BoAF Youth Voices:


Dear Karthik,


We regret to inform you that we are rejecting your entry for the Valentine's Day competition. We would like to inform you again that this competition is for Valentine's Day and not for Raksha Bandhan.Please keep monitoring this space during Raksha Bandhan for any competition where this entry might be valid.


Thank you and Happy Valentine's Day


Team - BoAF Youth Voices
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


At one hand Saravanan was feeling sorry for this friend at the other hand he was laughing.He tried very hard to put a sad face to Karthik. 


Karthik with a sombre face turned towards Saravanan and said :


" Vaazhkaiyile Adi vizhuvalaam....Ippadi adiye vaazhkaiya irunthuchuna ??? Valikudhu...Azhudhuduvaen...." 


                                                                       THE END
**********************************************************************

Day Trip

Man Proposes God Disposes - I would say "We Roomates propose and we ourselves dispose" . Such is our planning . Whenever we plan something , the trend is that it would never succeed . We discuss about it for hours and days for it to never materialize . Goa, bangalore plans have been in the design phase for years . Today(March 13th) , Originally the plan was to go to Deep sea Diving near Kovalam but this time Mother nature intervened . Coz of the quake and Tsunami in Japan it was advised not to venture into deep sea today and the plan was dropped . Replacement was to go to Queensland Theme park but as usual it got dropped. But its not all Doom and Gloom . We too were successful in planning and executing a Trip . A Day Trip to Thirupathi!!!!

I have been to Thirupathi atleast once every year after my entry to this world . There are certain years where it would be 3-4 times . Being in chennai is useful on that front . We can go there anytime as it is close by and also the fact of having some high level contacts there makes the trip all the more easier . This was my first trip to Thirupathi with friends . All the others have been with family members . Our plan was to climb the Thirupathi Temple . We discussed about it for more then 2 weeks . My roommate who took the role of the organizer booked the cab and inquired about the darshan tickets . The plan was to start by 2 AM in the morning , reach Thirupathi by 5 or 5.30 ,start climbing and reach the top by 9-9.30 AM ,finish Darshan and be back to Chennai by evening 6 .

We didn't sleep the previous night . We were playing carrom board till 12 and since no one was in a mood to sleep we preponed the plan . We called up the cab driver and informed him to come by 1 AM . The Cab arrived on time and we started by 1.15 AM . We ourselves were surprised that we finally began to make one plan succeed but that did not last long . As soon as we came to the main road , there was a flat tyre . Brilliant !!! What a start to the day.

Revert back to the original plan .After changing the tyres , we started by 2-2.15 AM. En route, except for one guy no one slept in the car . It was a combination of reasons . First of all , we did not want to make the driver drowse by we being silent.Then we ourselves was excited about the trip. Third , it was not mighty comfortable to sleep in the car . Eatables and useless discussions took away the time and we reached thirupathi by about 5.15 . We asked the driver to come to the Thirumala by road while we took the steps . We started to climb by 5.30.

By 200 steps we were made to realize that we were software engineers . Sitting at one place and working without moving an inch . Around 3 of us had previous experience in climbing as about a month back we went to sholingar . So we were ok but it was huffing and puffing for others . Exhausted , no energy and lack of sleep , people were totally out of depth . Volini, Glucon-D and water were the saviors there. Our first target was to reach 2000 steps after which we would get a the ticket for Darshan . This is a special arrangement made for people who climb . Along with darshan ticket , we get free food and accommodation also . I would say reaching this stage was the toughest part. People tell that the last 500 steps are more tough because of the steepness but i found the first stage tougher then this .

There was a substantial crowd climbing that day which made our journey easier and enjoyable :P.We reached the top by 9.30 AM . We decided to skip breakfast and joined the queue for darshan. It was a very good darshan. There is a stone inside the temple known of Parimal Stone . Belief is that if we write our wishes there it would come true. To be fair , there was an essay writing competition going on there. People have so many wishes :).

We finished darshan by around 1-1.30 PM if i remember correctly , then collected the laddus . Had lunch at Annamaya hotel in Thirumala itself . Typical Andhra food . Hot, Spicy and Brilliant!!!God i love Andhra meals . Next on the plan was to visit the Padmavati temple . We finished darshan there by 4 and started to chennai . Success. All the objectives of the trip completed but decided not to blow the horn until we reach chennai . Nothing much could be remembered about the return journey because there was nothing but sleep during that time.

Sucessssss!!!!!!. Reached room by 7.30 PM and the trip , the Trip by planned by us , my roommates , was successful . Hard to believe but true .

Upload to Hell

Off-late i have been hearing a lot of news about Accidents . Accidents to people i know . I would be lying if i say am not disturbed by those events . In fact , it has started to bother me a lot . It all started with one of my team mate . My office is located in the famous GST road . That day , my teammate was commuting to office by bike since he had to attend a call at 9 AM . Around , 10 KM before office he hit a container and had injuries in his face . Luckily for him he was wearing a helmet . Even more luckier for him , another teammate of mine travelling to office , out of a hunch got down that particular day to see what the accident was about . To his horror , he found this guy there lying in a pool of blood. All this happened before 9 AM that day . When i heard the news about the accident i was in office. No one knew how to react . All these days i have seen accidents happening all around me but there never was a case , where a person i knew got injured . More then the accident itself , the aftermath was even more painful . That guy had an operation which lasted for 6-7 hours with tubes running out of head , opening a part of forehead to perform the operation . Scary!!!.

This was not the last of the accident series . A colleague of mine died in front of my office after being hit by a sand lorry . A day after this , people were talking about a lady being quashed under the train in tambaram station after she fatally slipped while trying to board a moving train.Just when i thought things could not get worst , i read a post by one of college senior on his blog(Hit by a Falling Tree) about a creepy accident that he had a week back.I would say really creepy.

Am not new to accidents.I myself have been involved and caused a lot of accidents.

Chronology of accident timelines during my life 

Sometime in 2000 - I was in 10th standard and was learning to drive Car . I was fairly comfortable but this was the first time i was driving in a highway . I hit a side of a lorry while trying to overtake then.

Sometime in Dec 2002 - 1st year of college . Took my car to college to collect the hallticket for the upcoming semester exams . While returning , i was speaking to my friend who was sitting by side and failed to notice the lorry that had become stationary in the front . The entire windshield of the car broke into pieces.

June 20 , 2003 - During the semester holidays , we hit an old-man . This was a very fatal accident . I would say we were very lucky that the old man did not die during the accident . He was caught under the car and was dragged around . Luckily for us he just escaped with fractures. We were made to sit in a police station for 3-4 hours and had to pay fine in court . Nothing big . The victim's expense was covered through the 3rd party insurance of the car.

August 6th 2005 - After dropping my friend and starting , did not notice the Vehicle coming by the side and hit it.

July 31 2010 - We were travelling to thirupathi and had a head on collision with a auto that was coming in the opposite direction after we had lost control of the car in a turn . The damage to the car was huge . Luckily , none of us in the car had any significant injuries.

The thing was in all the accidents that i was involved it was all material damage . There were no significant injuries to personal . But the recent series of accidents am seeing , have left me thinking . Maybe i will be very careful the next time i travel in a bike or car . It so happened that the past 2 weeks am commuting to office by bus rather then bike as it was before . Who knows the change is for good.

Drive carefully . Think about the people near and dear(borrowed this term from my good friend :)) to you before taking any decision while driving . Adrenaline rush do happen , but make sure that rush dont rushes you or someone else to Hell.

Tout commence avec un café....

"The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself - Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case, 1995 "

It all started during a Coffee.You would have heard this many a times.Really a lot happens during coffee. Ideally, Coffee gets us going for the day . In a way it inspires many. I would be proud to say that am addicted to coffee . From the famous South-Indian Filter coffee to Latte, i love all kinds of coffee . Coffee plays an important part in many peoples life. I know some people who just come to office to have Coffee breaks. Common Gossips to ideas that change your/everyone's world starts during a cup of Coffee.


So with a cup of hot Filter Coffee in my hand , am starting this blog. Lets see how the ideas and posts keep flowing .


Sooda oru Cuppu Coffeeee...with extra sugar ofc...will i ever forget tht :)