Tiresome three some tag

This Tag is sponsored by Has to be me.

3 Smells I love:
1. Petrichor - I dont know if this was because my school used to declare holiday for heavy rains
2. Jasmine - I meant the flower not the girl next door.
3. New smell, I mean the smell of new things like car, furniture, clothes, wife... err... sorry no wife...

3 Smells I hate:
1. The smell that you get when you crush a black bug which looks similar to a lady bug. In spite of the bad smell I used to crush it and scare my sister with that. Boy! I used to love doing that. If that smell is not enough, try burning it in a candle light, it smells even worse.
2. Smell when you pass through a brewery. What comes out of the brewery smells like heaven.
3. Smell that comes while burning hair. I used to think that waxing was removing hair but burning hair with the fire from a wax candle.

3 Jobs that I have had in my life:
1. Student (Atleast this is what I used to fill for occupation in forms)
2. Vetti Officer (Job less)
3. Internet browser, don't think I am some kinda IE or Firefox, I meant software professional.

3 Movies that I could watch over and over:
Over and over?????....hmmmmmmm.... gotcha!!!!! Lagaan!!! I could watch over and over during the second half of the movie. Otherwise none of the other movies that I saw had cricket.
1. Finding Nemo
2. Cast away (for that matter most of Tom Hanks movies)
3. All Kamalhasan and Crazy Mohan combo movies, not able to pic one in particular.

3 is too less a number for a movie buff like me.

3 Fond memories:
1. When I went to Indianapolis speedway to watch USGP.
2. When I got the first comment in my blog. Hadn't I got it that day, You all might have been saved now.
3. The day we won our first basketball match. It was a good warm up match. Initial 10 mins I warmed the bench. Then they called MJ err... KK inside the court and the game finished soon.

3 Jobs I would love to have:
1. Freelance photographer.
2. Travel channel compere. Who wont like a paid vacation?
3. Truck driver. Got this fascination after seeing trucks in US. The truck gives a macho look. It would give me a feeling of being Arnold Shivajinagar while driving trucks.

3 Things I like to do:
1. Sky diving
2. Join cinema industry
3. Kayaking
Only thing is that, 1 & 3 are adventurous for me, whereas the 2nd one is an adventure for you guys.

3 Of my favorite foods:
1. Anything made out of Chicken. Chicken are born to be eaten, else they will cross the road and some one starts up a joke "Why did the chicken cross the road?" and tortures tons and tons of people around the World.
2. Anything made out of Chocolate.
3. Any soup which has the name "Cream of ..."

3 Places I would like to be right now:
1. Australia (Melbourne)
2. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
3. Hawaii, Aloha!

3 Things that make me cry:
1. Onions
2. Dust
3. Riding bike. When I go at a speed more than 80Kmph.
P.S - I don't cry for high speed, its like when you go at high speeds your eyes starts watering. Got it Prithz?

Things have made me sad but not cry.

3 people whom I want to tag
1. G3
2. Priya (She escaped last time)
3. OliveOyl
This Tag was sponsored by Has to be me.

Varta...

A Salute to the Champion

Yesterday was a day which many F1 fans, especially the tifosi's will all remember forever. Schumi stepped down from Formula one racing. Schumacher was one of the greatest drivers that Formula one has ever seen.
He has multiple records in his name. The following is the summary of his career

Grand Prix - 250
Wins - 91
Podium Finishes - 154
Pole Positions - 68
Championships - 7 (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
First Grand prix - 1991 Belgian Grand Prix
Last Grand prix - 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix
First win - 1992 Belgian Grand Prix
Last win - 2006 Chinese Grand Prix
Schumacher was noted for his ability to produce fastest lap at crucial times at any given situation. He had the ability to push the car to the very limit and also his driving abilities in the wet conditions cannot be matched by anyone else. While Wet conditions are often thought of as the great skill tester of a driver in Formula One racing. Schumacher proved to the world that he is the master in that condition by having some of his best performances in such conditions, earning him the title "Regenkönig" (rain king) or "Regenmeister" (rain master).
Schumacher started his Formula one racing with Jordan and later moved to Benetton and subsequently won his first Formula one Championship in 1994, the same year when another great of Formula 0ne racing, Ayrton Senna died in a fatal crash at San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
Schumacher holds a number of records to his name. The following are the list of records that he holds:

Most championship titles: 7
Most consecutive championship titles: 5
Most pole positions: 68
Most race wins: 91
Most consecutive race wins: 7 (in 2004 - European GP, Canadian GP, United States GP, French GP, British GP, German GP, Hungarian GP)
Most podium finishes: 154
Most consecutive podium finishes: 19 (from the 2001 United States Grand Prix, until the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix)
Most podium finishes in a season: 13 (out of 17 races in 2004)
Again in yesterday's race, Schumacher proved why he is a champion driver. Inspite of his bad luck striking him twice this weekend he managed to come 4th. During his final qualifier there was some technical problem with his car and hence he had to start the race from the 10th position. During the race he advanced to the 6th position and his left rear tire got punctured. Due to this he had to pit and he rejoined the race down at the 19th place. Again he advaced all the way till the 4th place with some breath taking overtaking past Fisichella and Raikonen on the way.
Schumacher all through out his career never complained about his team for whatever reasons inspite of Ferrari having some tough times during 2005 due to Bridgestone tires.
I am happy that one dream of mine came true. I was lucky enough to witness two grand prix and both of which were won by Micheal Schumacher. Both the days are really special for me. Especially the 2006 US Grand prix. 2006 was a neck to neck racing year between Micheal Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. Every fan's dream of Schumi winning the 8th and final Championship shatterred when the engine failed first time in six year for Ferrari at Suzuka Grand prix. Schumacher could not complete the race and hence lost out on the posibility of winning the championship in 2006.
Schumi, we all love you and salute you. Wish you all the best for all your endeavours in future. If not for you, I am not sure If I would have been such a fan of the sport, Formula one racing.

Varta...

Yo!

There is a general tendency with us to mordernize our names, add accent to the english that we speak and wear dress aping the western culture. I was just wondering why are we so obsessed with aping the west? Is it because we feel being that way is hep and being ourselves is demeaning?
The newer generations are moving more towards the west in terms of dressing. There are lot of guys who do not know how to wear a dhoti. I am ashamed to say I am one amoung the people who do not know how to wear dhoti. But I am happy that I tried dhoti a couple of times. But I feel really very insecure wearing dhoti. Both times when I wore, I needed a belt to have some peace of mind while going around. I feel really awkward especially when driving a scooter or a bike while wearing a dhoti.
Similarly now a days its a big achievement for girls if they wear a saree. But atleast girls wear saree more frequent than guys wearing dhotis. In many colleges and offices saree is accepted as a formal dress but thats not the case with dhoti. Should dhoti be listed as a formal dress for men?
I am asking this because, if things go at this rate, we would loose our tradional dress slowly. Now itself lungi and Dhoti have lost the battle with short pants and trousers respectively. Similarly for girls, Saree lost to salwar kameez/chudithar, salwar kameez/chudithar is loosing to dresses like skirt, trousers etc.
Now to the names, I have come across a few instances where people like to be called by a different name. They change their names to make it appear more westernized. A few names that I can think of are
Padmanabhan - Paddy
Nikil - Nick
Karthik - Kart
Arvindh - Arvi
Jagan - Jag
Hari - Harry
Vijay - VJ
Kandasamy - Kandy
Most of the names that end with samy like Muthusamy, Kandasamy, Ponnusamy becomes either Sam or Samy.
Gayathri - G3
Nandini - Nandi
Maragathavalli - Magi
That's about the names that I could think of, if you know any do list it down in the comments.
Enjoy the following video, its very funny. This is a pretty old video though. The guys shown in the video are exactly the kind of guys I am telling about.





Wish you a very Happy Diwali and Eid Mubarak!!!

Varta...

Gandhigiri

Hope most of you got a chance to watch Lage Raho Munnabhai. I thouroughly enjoyed watching the movie. This movie was about something that I always believed in for the past 3-4 years. The movie is about Gandhism or so called Gandhigiri, following the long forgotten principles of Mahatma Gandhi.
Well I don't specifically try to follow Gandhi's principles, but I follow my heart. I do things what I feel is right and true. My heart surely knows when I am not true and when I am true. So I guess Gandhigiri is an extension of that. I always wonder why is it so difficult to be truthful. Indians try to be as truthful as possible when they are in other countries, but when they are in our country then all the truthfulness vanishes. Is it so difficult to be truthful?
In U.S I have come across lots of Indians who try to cheat for small things just because the system trusts them. Again those things are not only by Indians but to me it hurts to see Indians cheating. Some of the examples are as follows:
1. In cinema theatres in U.S, we will be checked for the ticket at the entrance itself. Once you cross this section, you can actually get into any theatre hall and watch any movie. The system trusts you to go to the movie which ever you bought the ticket for. I have seen a lot of Indians watch multiple movies using a single ticket just because it is technically possible. Once I had an argument with a person on this, their argument is when the system allows, why not do it? Its a flaw in the system and we are using it. My argument was when the system is trusting us why not be truthful to it.
2. Again in U.S, you have the facility of buying stuff from a store and return it if you dont like the performance of the thing that you bought. I have seen and heard a lot if incidents where Indians buy stuffs which ever they have a one time necessity and return the product after using it saying they are not satisfied. The customers are given this facility to buy a product and have maximum satisfaction. But we are mis-using it. Now due to this, many stores are rethinking this policy.

3. Music, movie and sofware piracy, most of us do this. I too used to do it. But I have realised its wrong. Its equivalent to stealing someones property. If your in software field, imagine if someone in your team tries to portray whatever you did as if he/she did, to your manager. Won't you feel hurt and angry? Trust me, it does, I have been through a situation where a team mate of mine was trying to steal my work by telling the manager that she did it. I am sure its pretty common in all offices and all fields too. When we do piracy or encourage piracy that's exactly how the owner of that music, movie of software feels. Only way to deal piracy is by, each one of us becoming against piracy.
I would like to discuss about another aspect of Gandhigiri. Fight for the truth using non-violence. I am not a vivid follower of the sport, squash, but my blogger friend Karthik is. Through his blog and Niveditha's blog I understand that the Dipika Pallikal is a budding sportswoman for India and is ranked first in the under 15 asian category in squash. Inspite of her scintillating performances in many tournaments, she has been denied a place in the Asian games squad to Doha this year due to some politics in the selection. I feel we can use the powerful medium of blog to protest against this and bring it to notice to the concern officers. Thus atleast in future Dipika and other sportsperson will not be hampered by politics such as this.
To conclude I would say Lage raho munnabhai was a very thought provoking movie interwoven with fun. I just hope people dont leave the message at the movie hall and just take the fun with them when they leave.

Varta...

The weirdo

To start of, I would like to say that I think I am not weird at all. But since Brute had brutally tagged me I am trying to list down things that I think is weird about me. I am sure there will be many people who might have the same weird habits as that of me, because I found lot of things common in other bloggers weird list. To start with I will list the weird things which are common in my list and other bloggers list.
1. Innocent face, the quick fix for trouble: Brute had mentioned in his tag that he keeps a innocent face and escapes from his mom. Well I too do that pretty often to escape from my parents. Most of the time one of my friend gets caught and I escape with my innocent looks. Once we poured water from top floor on one guy and when my friends got caught, I escaped.
2. Till the End: Starry and I share a weird habit of waiting to see the end of the show or movie until the very end.
3. Shoe watching: You might have heard of bird watching but SoulAsylum and myself love to watch the shoes that others wear. I specialise in sneakers in this habit. I seldom watch other shoes. Since childhood I was obsessed about Nike, Reebok and Addidas. So I always watch what kind of sneakers people wear and first thing that I notice in a guy is his shoes.
4. Powered by Guilt: Prithz and me share the weird habit of being forced to work by the guilt that we feel within us for not working.
5. Song Travelling: You would have heard of time travelling but Syam and I travel all across the globe when we try to concentrate and listen to a song. I have tried so many times, but always in vain and so I stopped concentrating and listening to a song.
6. Facinating strange names: IndianAngel and I share the habit of ordering some weird looking name on the menu at a restaurant. I always choose something from the menu thats difficult to read. My luck is so good that the dish always ends up horrible.
7. Always on: I have seen this weird habit common with many Chennai folks. R.E.B.E.L too has this weird habit. I always need the fan to be on irrespective of how cold or hot the tempreture is. If you ask my roomies, the first complain that they might make will be this. I switch on the A/C even during Chicago winter :)
8. Weight watcher: Do anyone of you watch your weight everyday, Well I do and so does Ramya. She goes an extra step of measuring her height too, which I dont. Trust me, a lot can change over a day.
9. Waste hate: Has to be me and I are so nice to this World that we dont like things like water, electricity, etc. to be wasted. I dont like to waste my food too. If food is on my plate, however bad it is, I will eat it.
Now the following list consists of weird habits that I havent seen in other bloggers list.
1. Monalisaic face: When I look at myself on the mirror, sometimes I feel I am smart and sometimes I feel I look pathetic. I wonder how that can be, because its the same face and its me who feels it both the times. I think my face is like Monalisa painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. When I am happy I look smart and when I am sad I look pathetic. Do you think of any other reason?
2. Flash Memory: I feel that my memory is like a flash. Suddenly I remember something but the next second I forget it. Now also I had something to list here but forgot hence this point. Currently I have writtend down my weird things in a post it note. So that I wont forget my weird habits. Even when I am talking, if some one interrupts or if some chick passes by then I forget what I was talking.
3. Sober attacks: Many times I feel very sad, dull and sober all of a sudden. It shows out on my face and people start asking me why I am sad and when I think, I wont know why I a sad. For no reason I become dull. I am still not able to find out why it happens that way.
4. Floating thoughts: When I am in the restroom or when I am in the shower, my thougts just go wandering and I wont be able to control my thoughts. If we have to visualize this feeling, it will be something like a kite with no strings attached which flies wherever it wants and finally drops on the ground. Thats how my thoughts fly and finally get into my senses.
Well thats about the weido list about me as much as I remember.

PS: Added #8 & #9. After coming across two more bloggers who share a weird habit with me. I was planning to tag the first 3 commenters for this tag, I did not mention this earlier because people will hesitate to comment. So now I tag Priya, GomaalGopal and Balag. S0ulasylum exempted because she already did this tag.

Varta...

Indian BPO's in trouble

India has been boasting about the success in Information technology business and BPO business. India is popularly known as the Back office of the World. We have also seen significant boom in economy due to these business'.
A recent news report on a UK based channel called Channel 4 was about the data theft scandal in Indian BPO's. The video of the news report is on the site, Click here to see the report.
The video footage shows a undercover reports names Sue Turton pretending to be a businesswoman from UK who wants to startup her own call center. IBN Live reports about the footage on Channel 4.

Having sent out word that she was looking for "financial information on UK customers for her own agents to target", she meets a "former bank manager" in "a plush hotel" in Delhi.
The man offers financial data of UK customers. He offers "leads" — sensitive, confidential data like credit card details and bank account numbers.
The man shows Turton a sample of these leads, which contained complete information of credit card customers — right from their names, addresses to the three-digit security number behind the cards.
The man says he could source the "leads" for a hundred thousand customers.
Turton claims independent experts in the UK had confirmed that the data was genuine.
Turton then travels to Kolkata where she meets a call centre consultant who offers her details of 200,000 bank customers in the UK and "unlimited leads through brokers".
In the second meeting with Turton, the consultant arrived with actual voice recording of a UK customer. A hidden camera recording of this meeting shows an agent soliciting information from a UK customer and "coaxing" her to hand over her credit card details.
The alleged scam was unearthed during a 12-month probe by its Dispatches programme. The investigation was to expose "data farming — the unauthorised ‘harvesting’ of personal data to be sold on or exchanged for profit."

We need to wait and see if the Indian BPO business is going to face any repercussions because of these events. Wish the people in BPO realize the seriousness of these kind of issues.

(Source : IBN Live)

Varta...

Why talk Greek n Latin?

One of the most annoying thing which I have noticed in a multi cultural work atmosphere is people talking in a language with zero consideration for the other people around who don't understand the language that is spoken. Most of the times the language happens to be the mother tongue of the majority of the people in that group.
Initially I used to think, only I used to feel abased. But when I discuss about this to many people, I understand many people find it very uncomfortable when the people around them talk in some language which they dont understand. I had my first experience of this when I was working in Karnataka. I experienced this many times when I was with a malayalee gang. So I started avoiding to go along with any malayalee gang after that. But later faced the same with some north Indian colleagues too. My sister used to complain about the people from Andra who talk in Telugu, without considering that there is a person with them who does not understand their language. Then a Telugu friend of mine used to complain to me about tamilians who talk in Tamil even though they knew that there were some non tamil speaking people in the group. So I realised people irrespective of where they come from everyone faces this problem and do nothing but point their fingers at some group or the other. They don't think that even they might be doing the same to someone else.
Another common thing that I have noticed on this front is, say if two tamilians discuss about this issue, then they tend to boast that their community (community I mean people who speak the same language) are not like that and they always consider the other people and talk in a common language. Similarly Marathi, Gujarathi, Telugu, Malayalee, Kanadiga, Bengali etc.. also boast about their community. In reality none of them have any consideration for the other community people when they are in majority.
Is'nt it a basic courtesy to talk in a common language and common subject so that everyone in the group can enjoy what others are enjoying? Why is it that we fail to do it? Why don't we think of others by being in their shoes?
On a different note, A tamil speaking man was interogated at Seatle since a off-duty airport authority suspected him and alerted the flight crew. Click here to read the news article on The Hindu.

Varta...