A Poem about Me

Janani, one of my close friends, has come up with a poem about me on my request. I asked her to write one about me on seeing this poem she wrote in her blog. She is one of the those who encouraged and supported me in writing this blog. She would be the one who visited my blog most number of times.

Thanks a lot Janani.

A New Year and a few New Things

I have given a new skin to my blog. Changed it from TicTac to a tweeked version of Rounders. And I have unplugged the Google ad-scripts and made it Ad-free [Earned 3$ on its three months of existence. Anyways I cant realise that, as Google needs a minimum of 100$ to send me a cheque]. I have removed that doodle board too, since it is duplicating the commenting mechanism already available.

After getting this braodband internet connection at home, I didnt find much time to read books [Either I would be busy browsing or registering complaints about the faults in the Connection]. Read very few books this year. Planning to revive my reading habbit. Bought some books to read in this new year like Five Point Someone, God of Small Things and One night @ call centre. Hope i can finish these and some more.

And i have successfully crossed the 50 posts [Golden Jubilee??] milestone this year. Planning to add another 100 more, if i could in the year ahead.

May the Day break of this New Year be the beginning of many Beautiful moments that give us endless moments to smile always. Wishing you all the visitors [and those who might visit in the future] to my blog, a New Year that is Filled with all the Excitement of Living Each day to the fullest

Happy New Year 2006!

Saffron leader takes Sanyas

“Now, henceforth, I will not contest an election and will not indulge in power politics,” the BJP stalwart, who has been in public life since 1951, told thousands of BJP supporters gathered at the party's mammoth rally at Shivaji Park in Central Mumbai. (From Deccan Herald)

I was Laughing out loud, When i read this news. I really dont know how to take this news. "Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee are you serious this time? We have seen a lot of similar such statements from you". I remember Mr. Vajpayee made the same kind of announcement in Rajya Sabha just before the elections in 1999.

"I have nothing to say more when our Ram and Lakshman are ready (Read: L.K.Advani & Pramod Mahajan)"

I seriously wonder how a leader like Pramod Mahajan who has a little mass support has made it the second spot in the hierarchy. These leaders can never tolerate a person who has a very good supporter base. Time and agaian leaders like Keshubhai Patel, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharati who have a large supporter base have been cornered and pushed out of party.

The coterie of leaders (Read: Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu etc.. who cannot win in Lok Sabha elections and entered the Parliament through Rajya Sabha), cannot afford Mr.Vajpayee doing it. If he calls it quits, then a lot of people who voted for BJP just because of him would definitely shy away from doing so. Still Vajpayee and Advani remain the most influential leaders among its cadres and they are the one who can get votes for BJP. And the so-called young blood in BJP would definetely wont let him spoil their political careers.

Bang Ur head for Led Zep @ Saarang'06

Get ready to bang ur head for some "Whole Lotta Love", "You Shook me" and other Led Zep numbers. Led Zeppelica, the tribute band from L.A, California, is all set to perform at IIT Saarang'06's rock show. Hope u can expect some good Blues and Hard rock from Led Zepplica which describes itself as "More than a Led Zeppelin tribute band, a replica of the original". Im looking forward eagerly for the Rock Show now.

Tsunami - And a Year after...

In this part of the World many didnt had any idea on what does the word Tsunami means till that Boxing day disaster happened last year. The monster Earthquake which triggered the killer Tsunami not only altered the tectonic plates but also the lives of many innocent people. It tore apart not only the properties on the shore but also the lives and livelihoods of countless people on it. Thousands of people who were dependent on the ocean for their livelihood either directly or indirectly were killed by the ferocity of the same ocean.

Year 2005 has become the year of disaster of sorts. Hurricane Katrina and her cronies tore the states of Louisiana, Texas and other countries in the Americas like Gautemala etc.. Then came the cloud burst in Mumbai, paralysing life in the economic capital of India.

And there was this Earthquake which struck the Kashmir killing and wounding scores of people and rendering lakhs of people homeless. They are further punished by the harsh Himalayan winter cold waves. This saw the warring nations getting closer further, forgetting the past hatreds and erasing the LOC at some pockets.

Followed soon by more than 2 months of rain which lashed Tamil Nadu. 9 monsoon systems battered various parts of Tamil Nadu in as many weeks and Flooding most parts of the states.

These calamities showed us how selfish a man could turn. By breaching the lake bunds to protect his encraoched property he has once again proved that he will go to any extent for self survival. Encroachments in the banks of Adyar, Cooum and Mythi in Chennai and Mumbai added to the woes of inundation problem by blocking the flow of water. Now the enroachments are being demolished. Lets see how long it stays like that.

Scientist across the globe say these are the effects of Global Warming. Whistle has been blowed to stop it. But who will bell the cat and tell Uncle Sam and his Comrades in Europe to oblige to the Montreal and Kyoto recommendations. We never seem to have learnt any lessons from whatever happened. We still exploit the mother nature and perfectly doing the proces of adding fuel to its fury.

(Indira Mariyappan, mourning the death her sister-in-law, who had been her only support till then, on 26 December, 2004, in Cuddalore. Pic: Found using Google Images)

Last year, on the 26th December, an earthquake, and then a tsunami, killed, wounded, or impoverished hundreds of thousands of people in South Asia.

During the course of the year, other disasters took their toll too. Most devastating of them: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the South-East coast of the USA; and another enormous earthquake near Pakistan's border with India.

These disasters took their immediate toll, and, each time, the world tried to help. But as calamity piled upon calamity, there has been a certain amount of fatigue. Perhaps people's stock of goodwill has run low. Perhaps seeing too much suffering hardens us.

But, the fact is, the suffering from those disasters has not ceased. Parts of South Asia have still not recovered from December 26th, 2004. In the USA, normalcy hasn't returned to New Orleans. In Pakistan, thousands are still homeless, and may not survive the harsh Himalayan winter.(From World Wide Help Blog)

December 26, 2005 - January 1, 2006 is being commemerated as Rememberance week to mourn the damage to life and property by natural disasters like Tsunami, Hurricanes Katrina & Rita, Kashmir Earthquake and other disasters .

Bala, who coordinated the SEA-EAT blog, tells his experience about the help blog here.

Be a Begger

A recent survey by Daily Times of Pakistan found that Beggers in Pakistan earn as much as Rs. 2500 per day. That is more than what a senior level manager in a Corporate could earn.

Stop! - Its Green

Red or Green? doesn't matter when you are in Chennai, both means means the same "Danger Ahead!". Apply brakes when you see red in the signal or a patch of green in the road.

(This is a typical scene of a Chennai road. One of the caved in man holes/Drainage system of the city battered by rains)