My roomies think I am a freak. They laugh at me when I come home EVERY night. Actually I dint help my case that much. Ok there was this 'lock-out incident' one night. I locked-up my roomie Senthil and went out for Dinner. He tried calling me up but I dint receive any call. He kept repeating the phrase "@#$%$#@#" over and over again after I came back. Hey listen it was a genuine mistake. I REALLY forgot he was inside. Though the 5-min chat I had with him before I went out dint help my case that much!

And there was the 'snooze-button incident'. I am one of those ppl who have the same alarm-tone as the ring-tone. About a week back my burly yet robust 2600 buzzed me at 7 as usual. According to eye-witness accounts, I woke-up, hit the snooze button and said "Hello". Then they tell me that I proceeded to curse the crank-call-giver and went back to sleep. The killer, they say, is that I repeated the process after 10 mins!

My only defence is that work is getting to me. I am NOT A FREAK!!!

Folks left. They had a nice time. I hope. Went to Ramoji Film City. An enormous waste of money and waste-land. All because the Gults felt that they were being short-changed by the Tamil Film Industry. Why does everybody hate us? We realized, a bit late, that the youngest member of the family had out-grown stunt-shows 5 years back. Also went to "Magnificent Desolation", a movie made for I-Max theatares. And it screams "We just made this movie so that you get awed by Imax, so forget story/screenplay and shut the fuck up" at you! Everytime I see a movie in I-max I end up feeling cheated. 150 bucks for a 45 min movie? Agreed the 3-d glasses were cool and the Images are rather good...but I just feel cheated. Some months back Raja wanted his money's worth so he tried to grab the 3-d image of the leading lady of a dinosour movie we had gone to.

The week-end only re-inforced what Ive been thinking: Am gonna stick to Hyderabad. Come what may. They have to fire me to make me go to Chennai!!!

And now let me get back to work. Am supposed to make a presentation on this. To two guys who have been described as "masters" on the field. And they use the F-word like it was their birth right!!! And they call me "bachhaa"!!! And I dont have a clue what ITIL is!!! This is what I call a Perfect Storm!!!!

Ive got Visitors in the next few Weeks. Family dropping in tomorrow. That only means one thing: Clean,Clean andClean! Throw out all the Beer bottles we've been accumalating for the past 3 months, along with the strategically placed lighters, then get to the books,CD's and magazines...back-breaking work ahead today!

Aravind is coming 2 weeks after that. Three of the biggest bitchers of my batch are getting together...its going to be one long,huge bitching session...I presume about the women in our lives, or the women who quit our lives...

Nice timing actually....desperately need some time off....

You can never comprehend some ppl. 'V' quit. I thought the norm these days was to atleast let your team-mates know that you are going. Atleast one freaking mail for gods sake! Especially 'V'. I kinda looked upto this guy-serious fundoo he was-IIML,doing Business Dev. work here...he was one heckuva guy. I still treasure the 5-day training I went thru with him. Taught me a lot about the sub-segment I am working in.

Chalo, I guess some ppl are like that! Hopefully this time next year I'll be writing my Fare-well mail. Not that I dont like my present employer. They've been nice to me. Too nice. And my present job is something I am made for. But when you are 22 in India 2006, the temptations are so high! You are looking for a bigger challenge...a bigger canvas...and a IT Company is NOT the place to look for a challenge!

Quit Smoking. Just as sudden as it started.

Well the Great news simply keeps rolling-in. 'Naga girl', refered to in this post, is aparently expecting a B-A-B-Y!!! That'll be the 2001 Batch's first Baby. ECE finally wins something!! Man that is so 1990's...21 year-old girl gets married to "professionaly-settled" NRI, goes to Australia,has a baby!!!What happens to you, mom?? You cant work for the next 2 years atleast. You dont have any skills. You are so royally dependent on hubby dear. Which is not such a bad thing.

But it is such a turn-off for me! In the last one year I've cultivated a visceral hate for these "home-makers". Agreed, in the '80's and '90's you were better off getting married to these NRI-types and moving to Idaho. There was nothing back here for an urban-educated woman that could hold her back from Idaho. But its 2006 %^&*#. "You coulda had class. You coulda been a contender. You coulda been somebody."

Not that I am having any success with the professional,"non-homemaker" types. Got dumped by one 'PSBB-type' and got snubbed by another. All in the space of the last six-months. Man, Ive gotta be a real feminist to hold on to my views. Though anything is infinitely better than ppl like 'Naga girl'.

Cant imagine going down that way. The pursuit for the perfect girl is still very much on. Once in a while though, I shift to my slightly older colleagues' cubicle; to browse TamilMatrimony.com. Nothing says,"I am a looser" better than spending half a day at this portal. I undergo this torture just to remind myself that I am about 5 years away from 'Naga Girl'. Perfect girl, where art thou??

Election season is heating-up in TN. And like everything else on earth I have an opinion on it. If you are a long-time follower of this blog, then you know where I stand: 2 feet behind Amma. Like a Rock. But some of you are new here so I'll re-state:2 feet behind Amma. Like a Rock.

If you are naive enough to think that elections in TN have anything to do with policies or positions, then snap out of it. They once were.Not any more.Now its all about the persona/charisma of the woman(or very old man) who is leading one of the Dravidian Parties. Period.

There isnt much to differentiate between the two parties. You have one party with the 'A' which wants to make TN the No.1 state in the country. And you have a party without the 'A' which wants to make TN the No. 1 state in the country. No conflict of Interest on Homosexuality/Devolution/Govt. Spending/Health care/Or any of those issues which normal ppl fight elections over. You'll be hard-pressed to differentiate between the manifestos of the two parties.

And thats a sad thing. Because the Dravidian Movement, atleast the original version of it, is more than a political movement. It defines a whole generation of people. It creates a sense of identity. And if I can exaggerate, it emancipates. It gives you the confidence to consider yourself better than every other species on the planet. When a 'Hindian' accuses you of not knowing Hindi, it gives you the confidence to say,"You dint get employed 'cos of your Hindi skills, did you? And you can thank us later for making you stick to English!". Yeah, many ppl of my generation forget the greatest contribution made by the Dravidian movement: English. Without the two-language policy we'd be giving serious competition to Ghana in the poverty index.

And thats what makes me puke when I see ppl like Vaiko. If Vaiko is the future of Dravidian politics, as some ppl claim, then things are really getting heady. And thats where Amma comes in.No dynastic politics(mostly cos there is no dynasty). And therefore my BP doesnt increase like when I see Stalin or Maran. No liquor lobby. No SUN TV(Jaya TV is such a joke that it doesnt count). No power centres. No pandering to every tiny-nano-caste interest. Just a ruthless lady and Absolute Power.

I think she'll make it. By a wafer thin margin. But I hope she makes it.

Just when I thought I'd seen it all this city throws up more surprises. I saw a Green dog on my way to work today. Yeah a Green Dog. I can very well understand if a 33-year old,US-Educated Software Engg. throws half a Kilo of Pink Holi powder at me. But why the dog?? That too Green?? My eyes almost popped out. Anyway Happy Holi to everyone. I hope all of you threw colours at each other, had your bath, came out, only to find your friend holding a handful of Pink powder and a lecherous grin.

Just another boring Monday. Except I saw a man die today. A motor-cycle-rider. No Helmet. Rash driving. Lousy road.Took him to the hospital. Where I saw the biggest in-humanity of my life--an hospital which wont use its own ambulance to ferry a man about to die. They called the Govt. sponsored ambulance service...god bless the AP Govt.

They've taken "the patient" to Osmania University, where I hope there are saner people. I dont think he'll make it. Whatever his name was. The Bastard had all of 3 bruises in his body. The more fatal blow to the head could've been prevented if he had worn a helmet.

My sis is writing her 12th Board Exams. The whole family is on tenterhooks. Prayer,coffee,more prayer,occasional emotional outbursts,"I dont know what I want to do in Life, ok!!!", more prayer, more coffee....its been one big emotional roller-coaster ride. I tried giving her the same advice that everyone gave me when I was 17-"It aint gonna make one inch of a difference, kid!!". That usually gets a series of sisterly expletives as response.

Cant blame her though. I reacted the same way. Fact is, if you are a 17 year old, then this is the biggest event of your life so far. A pathway to engineering/medicine, a better life...basically success. Atleast that is the perception of an average 17 year old.

Frankly, can one exam shape your destiny?? It certainly dint shape mine. And I am pretty damn sure that most of my friends feel the same way. Life is too freaking complicated(as I am finding out) to be decided by one exam.

This phase is also re-opening some old wounds. Damn I still remember my Maths exam(lets just say that for once the Lion cried!). Damn I wish I could go back and tell that kid that everything turned out alright. Nobody died. Ofcourse, I'll also tell him to polish his Volume Integral Skills :))

Links

I visit this blog. Thats all I want to say. Yes, I admit it. I give up. He's funny. He's ruthless. And he is NOT boring(atleast not as much as some of the famous bloggers/cartlel members). And his puke-fests' rock!


So does this blog. A smart,ruthless onion-peeling of the cable news channels. Hmmm...is this the same country which saw DD News 3 times a day, had safe-sex and slept at 9 PM?? Not anymore. Check out this alleged mail from Rajdeep Sardesai to his staff. Its war out there.


A very good idea. Got one junk response. Total BS. But a very good idea if they can rope in the right experts.


One more reason why ET/TOI should be banned like the Satanic Verses...they are making us dumb!!!!!


Update:-Oh and there is a freeaking ice-storm here in Hyderabad!!! Yeah I dint beleive it till Ms. LP courageously took an ice sample from the office corridor and handed it over to me. Stupid girl. Crazy city...Ice in the Deccan Plateau??? Fuck...GLOBAL WARMING IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!1

In a dilemma now. Go back home or stay in a strange-city. Worthy arguments can be made on both sides. Home is where my heart is. Plus I dont have to worry about un-clean toilet seats and loud music. It also means that I'll be a prisoner for the forseeable future--no 2AM walks in the by-lanes of Madhapur, no sutta breaks whenever I want, no FTV and Blenders Pride at 3AM. Plus am doing fairly well for myself professionally. Not getting them 100M$ contracts but not being un-noticed either.

Only incentive I can think of is that my 'Man Friday' has promised that he'll be there for me in June. Man has some crazy plans, none of which I plan to aid. Even if I take the bait, there is no guarnantee that he wont be spending all his waking hours with his girl-friend. Have to choose self-interest here I think :))

Plus the "enthu-guy" that I am, ive made a 100 commitments in Hyder's city...some of which will be bloggable in the near future I hope.

A foot note about Hyderabad. If there is one city in South India that can be defined as 'somewhere near global standards' then this is it. Anyone from any part of the globe* can come here set-up base and feel at home. Now thats one thing you CANNOT say about Bangalore or my promised land. No I dont have any plans of settling here, though Ive thought about it once or twice. Too much of a Chennai boy to settle down anywhere outside the BlueStar area.


* Riders include a certain North-American Country and a Scandinavian Country. That too only in the Old-City area.

Feel really bad about whats going-on in Sathyabama, my alma-mater. Got about 20 forwards about "Eye Witness Accounts" on whats going on. From what I can gather all the labs except the CS and Chemistry ones have been broken, the Indian Bank ATM has been vandalised(money may have been stolen), some of the "squad members"(read management's goons) have been injured, almost all windows have been broken. College has been closed until further notice.

Some reports suggest that some IT Heavy-weight may have been conducting a training program during the strike. Yeah right, that shld send a message to NASSCOM. Amazing mob-mentality. They just shot themselves in the foot! Amazing how 14 years of formal education doesnt seem to have any impact on certain people. No, their degree hasnt been de-recognized. The matter is sub-judice. The bone of contention is not even a question of recognition, it is merely a question of who has the bigger dick. The AICTE wants to have full control over ALL technical insti's in the country. The Deemed Univ's dont think so. They say UGC control is good enough. The matter is sub-judice...why dint they wait for the order!!!!

In this whole Student Vs. Management struggle lets not forget the real-villain--AICTE. Why in the name of god would they want to issue ads in National newspapers about Deemed Univ's when the matter is still under contention. What effect did they think this would have on students?? Did they think that a bunch of 20year-olds whose whole future is on the line will just read thru the ad and keep quite?? There is a certain amount of mischief involved in this whole episode.

At the end of the day a beautiful system(as in Pvt colleges in TN) which has been one of the biggest feeders to the Indian IT Boom has been strangled to death.

Felt terrible to read thru all those forwards that juniors sent...Library, Admin block, first years block, Electronics lab, Seminar hall...was there once...memories now...destroyed forever.

Two Great mystries of Cricket that have always confounded me...
If you are gonna spell him "Mcrath" why do you call him "Mcraaa"...why not just spell him "Mcraa" or even "Mcraw" of Tata-Mcraw Hil fame...

And if you spell him as "Warne" why do you call him "Warn"...why not drop the 'e'...

Hmmm...what more can we expect from a Nation of ex-Convicts...