Weekend outing- 12/17

This weekend my cousin was here..We planned for some movie, and some roaming in chennai. Thought shall watch mission impossible - "Ghost protocol". We got the tickets in AGS theatre. It was a pretty decent theater. As I always mess up with things, during interval crushed the coke can, and almost half the can content got spilt in my dress. Fortunately i was wearing dark clothes that day. After the movie, went to sky walk.
I don't like to spend time in that mall, as its always crowded and not so clean as well. But since that's very near to my home, went there. I wanted to buy a wallet for me, just stepped into Westside. Unlike my cousin, i don't buy clothes very often in these high fundoo shops. But as like any girl, whenever i see printed kurtas, will get tempted to take a look at those. I picked one, my cousin chose other. I said i will pick the one which I chose. He said he will pay for the other one. I dint want to trouble him, so i picked both. When we were about to leave, he chose a shirt for me. It was a very simple one, but it looked trendy. Mrp was just 999 :). I liked, but still i said its costly and am not taking. First question as like any conservative parents, my mom would ask "whats there for 1000".
My cousin convinced me hard, "it cost you around 3rs per day, why dont you get it"..His logic sounded simple to me. Then i said i will pick one kurta and one shirt. He again started, "ok i shall pay for one". Finally i took all the three. In some one hour time, 2500rs vanished. But I liked all the three, though I was bit hesitant I dint mind..
From there we went to landmark. My cousin is a book lover.It was hard to pull him out from there. I was very tired, i sat in one corner. I happened to see sivagamin sapadam. Thought will buy that book for my mom. Called her up but she said she had already read it, in the same call I told her not to yell at me as I did some too much of shopping today, also it was an unplanned shopping. She dint tell me anything (I know, my mom is always sweet..But when i reached home first question after looking at the shirt was- whats there in it for 1000rs, and it looks old :))..Never mind :)
Then we planned to finish our dinner outside. Went to rajdhani hotel. First time i had my dinner there. They serve very good gujarati food. Rotis are so good and yummy. The servers communicate to each other in some signs, which they could only understand..It was a pretty good weekend. Had a much needed break

Topslip-trek

As i logged into the office, was happy to see trek invite to tengumaragada(two day trek),in the month of oct'2011. I immediately called my friend remya (who is my sole companion for trek, at least now :)) and asked her if we could register for this. Yes was her immediate response. I called my home, spoke to my sister to get permission from my dad. She responded me with a
yes in next 10mins. I registered immediately for the trek. Informed my other friend in Bangalore, so that they could join, but by then when they registered, registration got closed. But the trek plan changed from tengumaragada to topslip, owing to some permission issues from
forest officials. A week before the trek, we did some shopping for the trek- got a good pair of shoes, t-shirts, cargoes etc. Oct-15,16 were the planned dates for the trek. Oct-14 we had to catch a night train from Chennai central to Coimbatore. As planned i started a bit early from my office, picked my friend on the way home and we reached my home. Finished our dinner at our place, and reached central. In the trekkers list, we were the first to reach the station. We were roaming here and there for sometime, and later called kaushik (one of the organizer). He was on his way, and asked us to wait there for around 10mins. We were just sitting in the travellers desk and were talking all odd stories, pulling each other's leg and was making fun of each other as the way we do it always. Kaushik again called us, and asked us to come near saravana bhavan in central. They was one big gang with backpacks. We assumed it must be from ctc, and approached them They were having a name list, and was taking attendance of all participants. By then priya..sorry priya madam ,(she is manager in TCS..big boss you see...:)) joined us. Marking our attendance, we started walking towards the train and settled in our seats.

There were some self intro, many people knew each other already as they were regular trekkers. But for me and remya, everyone was stranger there, as it was just our second trek. But we got ourselvers comfortable in few hours. Sujai (the other organiser), explained to us the plan for next two days. I think it would be a group of around 20-22 people, of which there were around 8-9 girls. Most of them were from IT and some were students, and there were 3 +12 kids, who were talking non-stop all the two days, making fun of people. I got a thought, (12th ke ipdiya...). They were making fun of everybody by calling all members of the trek as aunty and uncle. As i am narrating this almost 2 months after the trek, i forgot the names of the places
and the forest. Once we reached coimbatore, just refreshed ourselves and had break fast.
From there headed to a elephant sanctuary, where they showed us elephant feeding. Took some snaps there. From there we started our first trek. It was roughly for 6kms.

The terrain was not very slippery, and it was manageable one. We could spot deers, elephants, some wild birds, monkeys. After the first trek, we were extremely hungry, had our lunch at topslip forest canteen. We had split ourselves into two groups initially. By then we returned for lunch, other group also finished their trekking. But that was a leach prone zone, and not much of animals was also spotted. They were cribbing that only leaches were there and nothing else. But our experience was good, the view was scenic and the walk was pleasant. After the lunch the gropu1 would trek to the leach prone zone and group2 would trek to the place where we went pre-lunch. Many of us in our group took a call, not to go for the second trek. Instead few of us were sitting there and chit-chatting. Myself, remya, sujai and other +12 guy started off for a long walk along the hill side and were enjoying the scenic view. This was for day1.We had to drive for around 2hrs to reach forest cottage, all were dead tired, and I dozed off early.
Dint take part in the dumb-c's which went on till 2AM. Morning i woke up with the sound of water stream that was flowing just opposite to the dormitory were we stayed. The pool was crystal clear, and nothing can resist to make one jump into it. Enjoyed in the pool for around 1hour, then got ourselves ready for the second day trek. This was was also realtively easier one, and we reached a hill top, and a beautiful water falls welcomed us. Spent sometime there and reached our dormitory.

Packed our bags, and on the way to station we visited a dam. Had dinner in some road side shop. That shop owner was pleased to have around 20+ customers at a time. They weren’t prepared for a big crowd. At a time the guy would bring 2 or 3 dosas, all would shout "anna inga kudunga..inga kudunga"..he finally went mad, thinking who is to be served first. Finally finished our dinner and reached Coimbatore railway station. We were all tired that nobody was minding to sit in the platform itselfs. All passengers were gazing at us, "why are they sitting as though like some refugees"..
Got into the train, had good sleep. Morning reached home sweet home..

நிழல்

எனக்கு யார் துணை இறுதி வரை என்று கேட்டேன் ,
நான் இருப்பேன் என நிழலின் குரல் கேட்டது

கோபம்

யாரேனும் இதை படித்தால், நீ காதலிக்கிறாயா, என்று கேட்கிறார்கள் ..

இது போல் கவிதை எழுதுவதற்கு , சுமாரான தமிழ் , சுமாரான கற்பனை போதாத?

கவிதை என்ன காதலர்களுக்கு மட்டும் சொந்தமா?

இது கவிதை ஆ ??

கண்ணீரும் ஆனந்தம் தான், என் கண்களாக நீ இருந்தால்..

sorgame endralum, adhu nam oora pola varuma

Some months back my friend referred me for a opening in a concern. I had to take up the interview in bangalore. Booked a flight which is supposed to depart by 7.50AM. As my stars always stand against me, my flight got canceled. Had to call the customer care and advanced my ticket to 5.40AM flight.
The previous day booked a cab, and the cab reached my home by 4.15AM. Got up at 3.30AM. I was literally cursing my friend for the referral, as sacrificing my sleep was too much of concern for me. All were sleeping at my home, my dad got up and prepared a good coffee for me. Silently peeked to the room, kissed my little nephew-dojo and started to the airport. The cab driver was driving at 110Km/hr. I was repeatedly telling "anna slow a ponga..time iruku".He turned deaf ears to it. For the first time in my life, I was traveling alone in a cab at the early hours. All thoughts were in my mind- what if he kidnaps me, etc etc..Maybe the driver himself knew I would be a real hell.
Boarded the flight. Was trying to catch my sleep, but hardly could get it. Reached bang by around 7. Had a burger at coffee day. Took another cab there. Reached the place by around 8.30. My friend brought my favourite omlette from his home. After a little chat, the interview started by around 10AM.
A meeting room was blocked for the whole day. As one person leaves, another one would be ready to enter the room. Pre-lunch there were 3 rounds. I was damn hungry by then. When I was having my lunch, there was a call in my mobile from the 4th panelist. He was already waiting for me. Hurried there, for futher encounter. At one point I was literally in the state of, gosh leave me..I want to go...After 5 rounds, there was a manager round. My evening flight was at 7PM. By around 5.45 I started off from the place. It started to rain very heavily. Luckily the driver took me on time. Even before going and collecting the boarding pass, headed to coffee day to have my sip of coffee..took the return flight, and reached my place..

My first outing with Extreme

Its been almost a year since I updated my blog..Yesterday had a very good time in my team outing. This kindled me to dust the blogger site and update my postings..Our test team planned to head out to GRT temple bay resort in ECR. I have been there once with my previous company. The initial mindset was that, it would be just like any other outing. But it wasnt the case. The entire day was fun filled.

Reached office by around 10AM. The cabs started by around 11AM and we reached the place by 12.30. We were received with a welcome drink. Teams were split to start off with some team events. My team was named avengers. We were 5 members in it.. The first game was "discover the hidden image",in which a big poster was cut into pieces and we need to assemble it and bring it back to shape..We had a tough luck there, almost all pieces of the poster looked alike. Of the 5 teams we stood 4th :).
Geared up for the next game by telling, "arasiyala idelam sagajam appa"..
The next event was thread building using straw, wherein we need to join the straws and make it as lengthy as possible. When the event co-ordinators checked for the straw length, the one which we built crumbled off. That reminded me of vadivelu punch- top strong uuu, ana basement weak...

After this event, we dispersed off for lunch. Though there werent many varities, food was delicious and filling. As always I had desserts as my main course.
The next event was write-right. Its difficult to explain in writing..Let me give a try. There will be a pen attached to a stick. The stick has multiple threads attached to it. Each team member has to hold the end of the thread and pull the stick in appropirate directions and write the word "EXOS" in a poster. All EXOS were dangling, ours was even more pathetic. O looked like r :), but to our surprise, we won that event as all other teams were disqualified..
The other game was Dart Board. Need to hit the magnet on the bull's eye. I was hitting all other places other than the board. There were few other games as well. Not making the readers yawn, by listing out everything here.
Later played sometime in the see-saw and swings just like kids, and headed to sea shore.
With a good coffee and snacks, bid a bye-bye to everyone out there and headed to cabs. Many were eagerly waiting for us to leave, obviously for their own reasons :))
Thanks to all the organisers. Had a good time..Looking out for the next one.

எண்ணம்

எண்ணம் அழகானால், எல்லாம் அழகாகும் ...

If i Quit

Recent times, "have put my papers" have become fashion of the day..Hardly people stick for 2-3yrs in a company..I am an exception though..
I have seen many people with change in attitude in their notice period. Questions come in mind -"Do i really need to work", "Who cares"..etc etc..
Initially a question would be of the format "Yeah, i shall do it"..later it would change to, "The complexity is too high that i need to check the feasibility"..then at the fag end it would be"do i really need to do it?"..
Of course people are paid for the notice period. I personally feel, commitment should be the same throughout. But i also have some good friends, who have worked the same way, till their last working day!!. Hats off to them
Between , I am neither a manager nor a HR. I am just a engineer. Readers should not get these questions in their mind, so i am making myself clear here...
Hope i follow the same, when i get a chance to quit too.

Some courtesy plz..

On my way back to home from office, was waiting in the signal..It had started to drizzle by then..There was a public transport which had halted in the signal too. These days, we find some buses in chennai which ply with automatic door locking system,. Though they claim its automatic door, its controlled by the driver. The doors doesn’t have any intelligence of its own.
A old couple was knocking the bus door, driver took a notice and refused to open..I felt bit annoyed seeing it..By then it started raining very heavily..
First instant i felt, its wrong to board a bus in the signal. These days most of the signals are fitted with timers, we had couple of seconds for the signal to turn green.
They were repeatedly banging the door, and the driver turned deaf ears..Then the old couple staggered to walk and managed to reach the payment...What is he going to loose by letting them in?? Is he giving a place in his home for them to stay?? Is it too much of courtesy to expect from a third person??

Trek to Nagalapuram-05/30/2010

I had registered with CTC(chennai trekking club) for quite sometime now. But so far haven’t got an opportunity to join them. Fortunately made it for social trek to nagalapuram with some of the kids from premavsam home on 05/30/2010. We were asked to assemble near koyambedu by 5.20am. I kept my alarms by 4.20 in cell phones, actually I kept two alarms, as I very well knew I would snooze it and doze off. Managed to get up early and reached koyambedu by 5.20. My dad dropped me. He felt very in secured, though I explained him so much about CTCs, as like any other parent, he asked questions like – how will you go with strangers?, is it safe etc etc..Convinced him to an extent. After meeting the people there, he felt bit comfortable, but I could see him take a note of the vehicle numbers..I was wondering, what if someone else notices that, wont they think bad??..But that’s the parental thing..
We started from koyambedu and reached the home at porur in some half an hour time. I met my other friends at the same place. As soon as we entered, it was so moving to see the kid’s excitement. They were jumping with joy.. All kids were rushing towards balaji(calling him balaji anna..vanga..)..he was crowded with some 10 kids, they were holding his hands and happily welcoming him to their home.. Next favorite person in the group for the kids is peter uncle..it was awesome to witness..We took the kids , and headed towards nagala. Its roughly 125kms from chennai. In the midway we have a place called utukotai, where we stopped for breakfast. All were given idli parcels, with tasty sambars..After breakfast we resumed our travel and in some one hr drive reached nagalauram
By then sun was straight above our head. Caps were distributed to the kids. Food packets were distributed for lunch, which we were asked to keep in our bags. Each trekker was given a responsibility of taking care of the kid. But it was just the other way. A kid named balaji accompanied me, but my walking speed was too slow for him, and he almost ran away from me., initially there was no shade, and we were walking under the sun for 1 hr. All were asked to apply sunscreen, but I don’t think that would have had much effect on us, and in sometime I tanned like charcoal.
Initial terrain was rocky, some places were muddy, slippery ..Then after a walk for one hour, we were able to witness some trees, and we entered the foothills of nagala. Took some interim breaks there. After sometime, we witnessed a stream flowing. Kids started jumping into it. I thought that was the destination, and I felt, “Oops for this small stream, did we walk so much??”. By then someone said, no its just some 30% of walk, we need to walk further..We dipped our legs in the initial stream and it was refreshing.
Walked further, there were narrow trails, bumpy ones, slippery paths, rocky terrains..Whoever was beside me, I grabbed their hands and walked..One was commenting “ I think you will push me”..I also remember there was one guy, with grey t-shirt, I don’t know his name..He really had a difficult time with me, I was taking his help often on slippery paths. I was making him slow as well..He would help me , then march forward..but his bad fate, often had to encounter me ..thanks to that unknown person ..March, march, march..finally we reached the falls..it was worth the walk..very very pleasant and cool waters welcomed us..Din take much of time to jump into it..swimmers helped the non swimmers ..I used the rubber tyres and tried floating ..was successful to an extent ..after splashing in water for sometime, we were damn hungry..We were given parcels of lemon and cud rice..That was like a heavenly delight..Spent time sitting on the rocks and chatting..Next thought came in my mind- “how will I walk back?”..No other go..have to do..but return was much more pleasant..In fact took us less time..Took some sanps here and there..Tilak, peter, sudhir uncle, balaji are some of the names I remember. Tilak would encourage me, “common, its easy..jump, jump”…such a great ppl with great mindset..one can learn what really modesty is from CTC guys..It was indeed a great break for me..Finally we assembled near the cars..Sunita dugar, offered me some buns..I was in a state, where I would eat anything edible..finally said good bye to all, and started..I got down at some point near my home..back to home, sweet home..:)

சொற்கம்

பசித்தவுடன் சோறு ..
படுத்தவுடன் உறக்கம் ..
என்றும் நட்புடன் சூழும் நண்பர்கள் ..
கண்ணில் கண்ணீர் சொரியும் முன் , அதை ஏந்த இரு கைகள் ..
நந்தவனமாய் ஒரு குடும்பம் ...
இதுவே சொற்கம் அல்லவா?

My Visit to santhome

Last weekend i happened to go for an english play with my cousin..The play was casted at alliance franciase (nugambakkam). Just thought would give a try, as i always end up going to movies..It was indeed a good experience, and i had a good time..The crew were college students. I was amazed to see them follow their passion and dream..The entire crew managed to run the show with sponsors.
For long, i wanted to visit the santhome church..Being a chennaite for years, have not been there even once..From the play we headed to the church..It was a very big church with amazing architectural significance. When we visited, we happened to witness a wedding too. I do the remember the name of the bride (Grace). It was truly a different experience. There is also a museum at the same venue.
It was really a different and great weekend for me..

குரல்

கண்ணில் கண்ணீர் வந்ததும் , ஜோர் என மழை பெய்தது ..
ஏன் இந்த கண்ணீர் , என்று கோபமாக இயற்கையின் குரல்...
" இனி எப்பொழுதும் சிரி" என்று தலையில் கொட்டி பாடம் உரைத்தது இயற்கை அன்னை

அம்மாவின் உறக்கம்

அசதியில் நீ உறங்கினாய்
உன் குறட்டையும் எனக்கு சங்கீதமாய் ஒலித்ததே ..

A day @ offic!

Day starts with morning alarm @ 9AM, then with a boost (boost is the secret of my energy!!)..slowly will drag myself into office by 11. Mail checking, oops 1 hour gone.. Check all important sites, gmail, orkut, facebook etc.. Refresh, refersh , refresh until a new scraps comes in...If nothing works out, ping someone who is idle in gtalk!!

Time is 1PM, oh my god, have done lot of work..let me go for a lunch break..I sincerely follow the advice not to eat in a hurry..so i tell it to myself ..take your own time to eat..

Back to cube by 2pm..let me do some justice..will work for sometime...

3pm, time for a tea break..return to cube, attend some meetings (just a group discussion to decide nothing can be done, but optmistically trying to bring out, out of box solutions)...

Finaly, OMG so much work I have done..now time to rush to the cab!!
I can hear the mind voice of the reader now "company velangidum!!!"

Matinanda kaipulla...

As any other org, in mine too, for any fresher we have stuffs like mentoring, evaluations, reviews..blah blah blah..
Today i was introduced to a guy who is a fresher..we were three in the meeting room..me, my lead and the young clad..Question started with tell me about yourself, final year project etc etc..As any fresher, his talks was accompanied by constants sir's and madam's..My lead interupted, dont call me sir..Ours is a very friendly enviroment and has a open culture..(oh is it!!)..
There were series of questions, i was a silent spectator, thinking (kelvi kekardu easy, badila sollu thambi!! read it in Gilli style)..He was asked to complete his evals in stringent deadline of 3 weeks time..And a certification is must, else will not be let into project (Gosh! when did this rule come in)..
Then topic diverted to commitment, ownership, creativity, and finaly moved to philosophy..I was crying, aiyo oh no...the fresher was adviced with bhagavat gita chanting" do your duty, dont expect anything in return"..I was praying, plz dont enter in it further, luckily the philosophy stopped..After some discussion for half an hour, the meet ended with all the best..I sighed "oh god, finally its done..thankoos"..
When the guy moved out, only thought that was lingering in my mind was "matinanda kaipulla..evlo adichalum thangaran, evan rumba nalavannnnnnnnnn"

Me as a programmer...

This weekend, planned for the movie -"Tamil Padam".Heard its very comical one..I started checking some online bookings for the tickets..There wasnt any tickets in any good theatre. Desperate to kill my boredom, tried booking in a "ok type.." theatre..Movie plan was with my cousin.
As in any website, you can select your seats, I chose two and clicked next for the payment gateway. Only three seats were available by then..Then i realised i had chosen the wrong credit card type, as i couldnt navigate back opened a fresh window for booking. To my dismay those two seats were greyed out. Though i havent made payments on a selection, ticket is deemed to be booked..I thought, somewhere someone like me would be the programmer for this stupid site :-)
Then i refershed..refreshed..for some 10mins..nothing positive worked...
After sometime, tried in an other browser, and luckily it was available..So the programmer is now in a decent grade. If it hadnt worked in other browser, i would have cursed him/her even more badly..
If this is the case, once could click all the seats, and quit without making payemnts isnt, which would incur great loss to the theatre owner...
In yet another site, a drop down menu throwed an error -"null 0"..Again somewhere some programmer had written, and somewhere a tester like me had tested :-)
World is small, and we keep witnessing it!!

Mail from my frnd--archu

பார்வை

கருப்பு கண்ணாடி அணிதிருந்தேன் , உலகமே கருப்பாய் தெரிந்தது ..
நீல நிற கண்ணாடி அணிதிருந்தேன் , உலகமே நீலமாய் தெரிந்தது ..
கண்ணாடி கயர்டி பார்த்தேன் , உலகமே அழகாய் தெரிந்தது
நாம் மற்டவர்களை பார்க்கும் பார்வையும் இப்படி தானோ??