Champagne Supernova

Technology

2010-02-08T21:53:00.001-08:00

The issue of whether technology is a boon or a bane to today's society is a controversial one. I have been brought up mostly in the golden age of technology and hence strongly believe that it has improved my life to a large extent for the reasons mentioned below. My stance mainly considers the consumer level technology- which includes the internet, computers, the mobile age, etc.There is a whole different area of technology in the industrialization realm, but i wont go there.

First, I have been fortunate to have lived in a decade where a computer was seen as an instrument only available to the highest of officials ranked in a certain top organization to proliferation of computers, more recently, into the hands, or should i say laps?, of 10th grade students with the $200 laptops. The potential that the internet offers to learn is enormous and wealth of information is literally an arms length away. Children have been able to easily discover and learn more about questions and dangling thoughts, rather than wait until going to the school the next day.WIth the growth of the internet is the growth of huge publishing stream of intelligent and informative content and info portals like Wikipedia.

Second, technology has allowed mankind to connect more than ever before.
It gives me and my close friends immense pleasure to live chat once in a while. This kind of happiness would unaffordable in most cases where i would have had to take a flight to visit them at home and in the process miss out on other important chores. Hence, allowing to maintain and strengthen emotional bonds.

Third, technology allows people to find the right "fit" for a lot of the personal services to offer. With the growth of services like Craigslist and Facebook,, advertising has gone to a whole new level. I had to hardly wait for interested people over a weekend before i posted for an available room in my house.
If i were to compare a website like Craigslist to the traditional newspaper system,its clear that the former has a hands-down win in many divisions like, personalization, turnaround time and cost, to name a few. Gone are the days when you would need to wait for a couple of days to post in the weekly neighborhood newspaper which used to drill a hole in your wallet.

On the other hand, i have seen advocates who believe that technology in the negative light. A lot of kids these days are avoiding to go out and play and rather sit at home surfing the internet or play video games live via Xboxs and such. This could have a detrimental effect on a child's health , interpersonal communication skills, reading ability etc, to name a few.

In sum, the disadvantages above are all valid points to be noted, yet are something that can be avoided and restricted by either supervision, for children or introspection, for grown ups. The advantages that technology brings us are tremendous and i can say this with conviction because i have become more productive, happy and richer than i could be without technology.

* This is something i wrote while preparing for the essay writing section of an exam ( what a drag!), nonetheless, does express my thoughts on the topic.

Watch my watch.

2010-01-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

I've not worn a watch for almost 2 years now, just because i couldn't find the right one i needed. This took this long, obviously because i only had a very vague idea about what i wanted from a watch.
i was looking around the watch collection in Sears and to my (craziest of the year so far )surprise, i saw a Casio watch model that somebody ( don't even remember who) bought for me from the US when i was in the 7th grade.I used it for 3 wide years.Never saw or thought about it after that.
I went nuts.I was so happy to see it today.It costed just 20 bucks and was on sale, but i wouldnt have thought twice to spend an exponential multiple of the same for the day made.
Even though its not exactly what i want out of a watch for the past 2 years, this watch is way more than what i could have expected out of any watch in the world.

Strange things and places you find happiness.

Shakti - Ultimate.

2009-10-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

This one HAD to go into the blog.

These guys had so much fun doing what they did - So pure, so genuine. Each one of them has an abstract theory about what Shakti is, but no one is conclusive to describe exactly what it means , yet they are successful in getting their message across to be what they want to it be seen as.

Shakti is all about improvisation but nobody that i know of has come to their class in classical(pun??) music even when orchestrated.
John seems to have such a minor part to play amongst such boisterous instruments around him, yet he adds that subtle acoustic guitar touch now then which adds so much beauty to the tune.
i could go on - but see and feel for yourself.

Zakhir puts it really well - " We are not a band - we are one".

Ayn Rand

2009-10-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

"A man's character is a product of his premises."

1 giant leap

2009-10-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

There are very few bands that stand out these days from the cliche genre that you are used to listening. 1 gaint leap is a band i stumbled across listening to a Pandora station on - Afro Celt Sound System- another beautiful band,many lovely songs, but it' ll have to wait for its turn.

The concept, i believe, behind 1gl is essentially this ( lets see if i can express this right) - Spreading love that is en-laced with spirals of the beauty within music.Good luck on making a meaning out of that.
They have produced a number of popular artists featuring tracks including Baaba maal, Robbie williams, Stipe, et al.
The song below is going down as one of my all time favorites. It just fills you with so much joy.

Most of their songs have a bunch of people from around the world dispensing their thoughts on problem statements that, i think, we all acknowledge in a subtle form but never really try to find a solution to. (Well, man happens to be inherently reactive, only on a disturbing stimulus i guess.) These thoughts by all these different people at different instances on all these songs listened to at sporadic moments kicks off thoughts in my head which i previously took for granted.
Try this song out - Braided hair- for example - see if you are able to connect at all - The people i have recommended stuff like this so far always come back with a boolean response at an exaggerated level.Its either "thank you so much for this stuff " and i know they really do mean it - else its "you are turning gay":)

"I am you and you are me i see".

Songs by this band just radiate so much happiness that i have made it a point these days to listen to this band first thing in the morning and contrary to my theoretical beliefs - it does make a difference.Sucks that they don't have too many songs out there - but i think ill leverage this as long as i can.

Give it a go!

Grrr

2009-09-27T02:28:00.000-07:00

It is very frustrating to realize time and again that i haven't been able to blog for a while now. Some introspection gave me some answers and am looking forward to see them in action.
So here we go - another honest attempt to post more frequently.

Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun

2009-04-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

This track blew me away- a couple of times today.

Instructions for use : Prepare a pitch dark room and light a small candle in the corner of your room. Watch the flame dance from a distance listening to it.

White Flowers

2009-03-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Have you ever found so much beauty in a song that it made you cry within? The one above makes me do that every single time. It is from a brilliant movie called "kannathil muthamittal" - peck on the cheek- made by Mani Rathnam. Predominantly, its a movie about a little girl's life with the war between the Srilankan govt and the LTTE plus loads of subtle emotions, felt through the journey, of the character's involved.
I accidentally played this song early in the morning(5.30) on youtube from one my favourites lists from years back.It was a defining experience.It brought back memories of the times i listened to this song thoughout the day on repeat( when the movie released).Surprisingly, i didn't listen to it at all between then and now. At times you get reminded of the people that you most spent time with when you listen to a song after a really long time and things that you would do a lot at that period.Brought back all those memories and felt great.Amazes me how much a song can effect your entire day.

I wanted to describe how i felt about each line of the song since a week, but various attempts have failed. Cause no matter what i wrote - it just didn't compliment the song enough to its truest sense .I don't know what contributes the most- if its the lyrics,or the picturization , or the music or the artist or maybe its just me with all the people connected to the song, when i first listened to it.(Bty, on that context, i don't know if its happens to you - but a couple of perfumes also remind me of people and the times i spent with them).

I found a good literal interpretation of the song searching online and have it down here.

Would have listened to it atleast 30 times in about 2 weeks, but the mental goosebumps haven't stopped,listening to the gentle strumming of the guitar and Rehman going for it.

Vellai Pookal(Tamil)
=============
VeLLai PookaL ulagam engum malarhavae
vidiyum Bhoomi amaidhikaaga vidihavae
manmel manjal veluchcham vizhuhavae
malarae sombal muRiththu ezhuhavae
kuzhanthai vizhikattumae
Thaayin katha kathappil
ulagam vidiyattumae
piLLayin sirumugha siRippil (VeLLai)

kaatrin perisaiyil
mazhai paadum paadangalum oru maunam poal inbam tarumooOO
koadi keertanamum kavi koartha vaarthaiygalum thuLi kaNNer poal arththam tharumo (VeLLai)

yengusiru kuzhanthai than kaigal neetidumo
angu thondrayo koLLai nilavae
enghu manidha Inam poar oyinthu sayinthidumo
angu koovadho veLLai kuyilae (VeLLai)

Vellai Pookal ( English Translation)
===========================
Let white(peace) flowers bloom all over the world,
Let peace heal the unrest world(not the best translation),
let the sun’s rays fall on this soil,
Let the flowers lose their laziness and bloom.

Let the child open its eyes
in the mother’s lullaby
let the world wake up to
children’s laughter

In the breeze’s melody,
In the music created by raindrops,
Is there anything that give utmost joy than silence?
Would a crore melodies and words penned by poets be as meaningful
as a drop of a tear shed?

Let the moon rise in the place where the child reaches out its hands
Let the white bird sing in the place where there is no war.

Boston

2009-02-15T17:17:00.001-08:00

Yesterday started at 6 AM cursing myself to switch off 10 alarms, with the first one at 4.45, in succession. I had a bus to catch in New york ( Madison square) at 6.30. I had half an hour to catch the bus with nothing packed. I rushed down to the car service beneath my apartment.And my wretched luck, the only car they had was a limo.Didn't have a choice, so shed a fortune and finally got the bus at 6.35. I was the last person to get in. Was an amazing experience. In addition to that, something that i hadn't done before. Was in four states in a single day. Starting with Jersey City, New york, Boston and New Hampshire.I am in Boston today, chilling out with my cousin and niece for the long weekend. Had some of the best Chicken biryani and Chicken curry, rounding of with some amazing brownies made by my niece.Probably gained the most number of pounds , humanly possible, in a single day.
Sidenote : Prashant - I thought of catching up with you man.. but here for such a short time.. will meet up next time im here.. which would be soon.. (Atleast for the amazing food i get to have here)

It's a boy

2009-01-26T16:52:00.000-08:00

This is about a couple i know for a while now.They just conceived a baby boy very recently.
It so happened that, they hadn't planned for the kid, but in the event of things it so happened and the rest is history.
Now, 10 years later, if the kid somehow gets to know this or i wouldn't be surprised if my friend himself told him, how would the kid perceive this?
I had these questions meandering in my head.. would it have been the same him even if they had conceived after 5 years as they had planned. Would he have the same looks?Would he have the same character?Would he have felt happy or sad that it could have been someone else in his place?
In any case, keeping that aside, i was wondering why we don't ever care to know about our ancestors beyond our grandfathers up the hierarchy?( At least, many of us.)Ultimately, without them we wouldn't be wherever we are.People around us haven't set a commonplace standard, so we never have followed.
Talking about society and the influence of influence(yes, i typed it twice), i have loads on my head to write about it.Will do soon.

Nirvana

2009-01-12T18:14:00.000-08:00

I have pretty much experienced every single human emotion emotable in the past month.December 07, Chennai,felt so satisfied, wouldnt have felt bad if i was to be locked in a room for the rest of my life.December 08,Chennai, woudnt mind if i have to end my life at this moment.

A lot of memories that i know i would cherish till the next time i go back.Its amazing how well you can connect to a couple of people even though you havnt met them in the recent past and spoken to them a couple of times a month.

Happy new year by the way. Hope you have your new years resolutions working for you. I have mine,Lose 25 pounds - caveat? - eating whatever i want, and so far am on track.By the way, you should really try working out in the middle of the day. I do, and at the end of it, feels like you are beginning a whole new healthy day at 2 in the afternoon.(And you'd feel like you have earned your lunch ).

Highlight of the india trip - Me , UR and PV went away to this resort in mahabs where they take you on a boat, a mile into the see and we got to see some submerged temples in the water.Apparently, they are about a 1000 years old.It was right around afternoon, but i sought of got some morbid shivers about the place.

Then comes the best part - we are a mile away from the coast and we jumped into the sea with the water beneath our feet for 90 feet. You see nothing but the horizon on one side and the world you live in on the other .Its amazing, its a must do.Ofcourse, we had life jackets on, but i've never managed to stay afloat in water my entire life - so i am proud of myself to be the first one getting into the water. I have it all taped and im sure ill keep showing it to people my entire life.

And then there was the ever senseless pondy ride ritual.Leave in the morning from home. 2 hours of high speed driving. Have lunch at some random place.Get drunk with cheap liquor and head back home before sunset.I know we ll keep doing this forever.

More to come...

Leaving on a jet plane

2008-12-15T22:33:00.001-08:00

Packing my stuff. Leave tom evening to India.
Cant wait to feel the humid heat of the ever lovely chennai.
Loads of people i cant wait to meet.One person, i dont want to leave.
Prety late, have to log in from home early in the morning till afternoon :(.
Will prob blog more from the airport.Have loads on my head to write, but literally have no time.
Sweet grapes, here i come.

Dogs,Myopia and 4AM

2008-11-29T20:03:00.000-08:00

Recently, me and 'P' were exploring the thought of how a dog could be tested for nearsightedness. A lot of wasted discussions later we coudn't find a proper solution to it.Searched quite a bit on the web too.no luck.
Today was a fun day, after a long long time, hung out with a couple of nice, fun people which brought back memories of what it is to be around more than 3 other people. Guess i was just too busy settling into work, home, life..( i guess??) since i moved from chicago. i was turning into an introvert and surprisingly i didn't feel weird about it even though i knew i was.This was a good eye-opener.
It was 'J's bday and congratulations on turning 29 babe ;)
Time's literally flying- it was a month ago that i booked my ticket to India and its come down to another 15 days. I seldom realize when the week begins and when it ends.In no time, ill realize that im sitting in the cab with my heavy suitcase,going to newark airport, with half of my suitcase filled with ferrero rocher's.
Im really excited about this trip to chennai. A lot of decisions to make while im there, or rather after i come back from there.In the true iphone sense - "THIS IS GONNA CHANGE EVERYTHING".
New year's will be exciting to see how it ll play out. First it was Singapore, which got ditched cause of my complicated visa procedure of getting a Singapore visa from the US to go from India. Then it was Goa, atrociously expensive.Now its a choice between Chennai or Pondy.Honestly, i dont think it matters where we go.With U,Y and R around.. any place would be,LEGEN........wait for it......wait more for it...DARY.

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|?/\nD0/\/\

2008-11-16T16:18:00.000-08:00

Random thoughts in my head..

1)The whole vegetarianism thing .. Its okay to kill bugs, ants and roaches, mice and the like, but not okay to kill a chicken or a cow or a pig. What are the parameters to be considered to kill an animal without guilt? is the animal's brain matured enough to feel the pain? does the animal cause any discomfort to us?

2)Can a person change his/her attitude in a life time. Maybe i don't mean attitude- Maybe i mean personality.I made a half hearted search in google to see what personality exactly meant.. it had too many meanings.. i gave up!Would he/she know that he/she is changed once he/she is changed?

3)Probably the then scariest thing in my life..Passing sheets of papers back and forth, side to side during my undergrad college final exams (All semesters)!To be honest.. i cant think of a single exam where we guys didn't exchange sheets during exam..(There might be a couple where i didn't.. but at least cant remember).Its so much fun looking back at it now.

4)Is happiness a collective set of goals/thoughts that's accomplished when we achieve them? Do we often realize how relative happiness could get? Are we glad that it is so? Are we on the right end of the spectrum?

5)Isn't it taking too long for apple to invent/discover/market wireless headphones?

To Continue...

- + - = -

2008-10-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

Why are we so negative? why do we have this perpertual fear within us.. is the water clean? is the palce safe? are we being tricked by this salesman?.. u get the point. I do understand that we need to be precautious to an extent, but lately ive started realizing that people(including me) are taking these things to seriously and default with a negative attitude.
Today after a long time i travelled for about 2 hours without my Ipod in the train and realized something strange. There seems to be a fundamental negative vibe between most human beings in the society. Why does everybody have to tie themselves down to an introvertial behaviour and assume that the people around you dont want to/ like to talk to you, know about you etc..I cant comprehend the barrier.

Anyways, all this thinking makes my brain hurt..

Sweet love of India

2008-10-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

Heard today that my brother is getting married in December.Think its been a long wait.. but u did it bro. Congrats!!! :)I was so happy that i hardly wrote a line of code at work today.Anyways, with great weddings comes great trips to your country.
I cant believe that its almost been an year since i went to India.The month that i spent in India when i went there last was undoubtedly the best month of my entire life and i sure wonder if there is anything that can beat that.

Rock on!!!

2008-09-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

WHAT A MOVIE!!!
Its been about six months since i saw a Hindi movie.. and this definitly made it to my all time favorites.!!Adding to it.. traditionally im not a very big bollywood fan.
One of these odd days, a movie comes along which firstly, makes sense and secondly, makes u introspect.This was it.
Missed my whole gang from chennai.. reminded me of all the crazy/fun nights we used to spend... i hate to think that those days are over and things have all changed so soon.
Time just flies. I hate it.. i dont want it to!! i wish we had an option to live a few years more than others at will.The worst part of it all..u dont realize the worth of those days when ur in them.
The thought comes up again.. which bty strikes me atleast once a day.. is it really worth staying here in the US.. away from family, lovely friends and a collective happy feeling about life?

so am back!

2008-08-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

its been a really long time since i last posted and hence this post is gonna be a couple of advances that happened in my life in the recent past :

* Settled at NY now with a job!!Almost everything worked according to the plan..
* Ive lost about 9 pounds but put on love handles. I feel lazy and this is the worst physical state i think ive been in my entire life after i started working out.My top todo items is getting back to shape..and it starts on monday.
*I have an awesome room set up..with a 22' monitor.. bose companion 5...candles..awesome lights...and all the other good stuff..a semi fulfilled dream..which is exactly what i expect for now.
*Made some lovely new friends at work.

Things are really busy at the moment with training coming to an end and time to joing my real "work" within a week. Totally contradictory to what i thought..training kept/keeps me extremely busy. + all the room setup chores with unlimited visits to ikea.

This is the first time im staying away from people(My tamil bro's) i know...for once i am actually able to spend time thinking to/about myself..its nice.. lot of grey areas uncovered.
Weird dream that i remember from last nite - i dreamt a technical joke.
It goes like this in java 1.5:

List<Object> a = new ArrayList<Object>();

For those who didnt comprehend the above, please ask one of your nerdy friends about it and they ll decode it for u.

*** Going away this weekend to this place called pokonos.Hoping it'd be fun.. a break after a long long time..5 hours of paintball tomorrow.. then camping in the woods.. and river rafting on sunday..lets see how it goes.

More Later.

Tagged by Kosu(mosquito)

2008-04-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

Ne had actually tagged me earlier but those questions on the tag were so hopeless that i couldn't even get to the end of answering all of em. ;)
Kosu here has tagged me with this one and lets see how this goes.

Last Movie I saw in theatre:
Honestly, i dont remember for sure. I think its 'taare zameen par'. The direction was great for a first timer but the story could have been better.

What book(s) are you reading?
I seldom read books. I am reading one right now though.The Alchemist. Its taking me almost a month( you know with my busy schedule n all ) and am soon gonna finish it.

Favorite Board game:
snake and ladder - No second thoughts.

Favorite magazine:
"Tinkle" when i was young... "Time" rite now.

Favorite smells:
kerosene, smell of clothes after they are ironed using a charcoal iron, and ofcourse a lot of perfumes.. name a few - charlie red,cool water etc.

Favorite Sound:
Has to be shakti's music.

Worst feeling in the world:
When i see someone who's handicapped.

First thing you think of after you wake up?
Do i really need to go to work today?

Favorite Fast Food :
muniyandi vilas near my undergrad college.( barotta and chicken sherva... TOO MUCH!!!)

Future Childs Name:
Never thought of it till now and don't intend to any soon.

If I had a lot of money I'd....
Spend it all on self and family.

Do you drive fast ?
umm.. thinking about it now.. i am more of a leisure driver.. i enjoy a slow long one rather than a fast one. ( of course with great music)

Do I sleep with stuffed animals?
No stuffed animals..i used to sleep with a couple of bones in my room last year..!!!

My first car?
Dont own one yet.. if dads car counts.. Swift.

Storms - Cool or scary?
Definitely Cool.

Favorite Drink
my self invented vanilla whey protein shake with skimmed milk+ bananans+ strawberries+ honey

If I had the time I would...
wrong question. I have all the time in the world, yet do nothing.

Do you eat the stems of broccoli?
YUCK. broccoli( or its stems), in my opinion, is not even something to be eaten. God knows who pioneered the concept.Its tastes more like grass than anything.

If you could dye your hair what color would it be?
im happy with black and would stay black.

Name all the cites you have lived in.
Hyderabad, delhi, chennai, chicago

Favorite Sports to watch.
I dont like to watch em.. i rather play em.

One nice thing about the person who tagged you.
ummm.. what can i say abt kosu..if you ask him to speak for 10 Rs, he will speak for 100 Rs which is a great source of info.

Whats under your bed?
A lot of dust. I clean the floor of my room but am too lazy to go all the way under the bed.

Would you be born as yourself again?
Given a choice, id be born as Brad Pitt with a Phd in aeronautical engineering. Second to that would be myself.

Morning Person or Night Owl?
Owlest ever.

Over easy or Sunny SIde Up?
Neither - i like proper omelette with lots of onions, green peppers and chillies.

Favorite place to relax.
Sauna in the west campus Gym.

Favorite Pie.
nope.. not a very pie person. I am more of a cookie person. Sugar coated cookie from potbellys.yumm!!!

Favorite Icecream flavor.
Plain old vanilla.

Of all the people who you tagged who is more likely to respond first.
I dont have too many blogger friends and gona tag this to very few people.
Im guessing yoma is due this tag. so am guessing him.

People i tag :
Umashankar
Arun Rakesh

Shakti

2008-03-31T10:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my friend ' AR' who introduced me to this fabulous, out of the world band called Shakti. Its a band which was formed in 1975 and headed by John McLaughlin and boasts of legends like Zakhir Husein, L Shankar, vikku vinayakaram, Mandolin Srinivas etc.
I had previously listened to their work individually( except for vikku), but listening to all these guys play together on one stage is nothing short of a musical marvel.

Shakti's music is more of a journey than a song. It has these small notes of 2 or 3 seconds at frequent irregular intervals which inject mental pleasure.
You mite not appreciate shakti's unique blend of acoustic/carnatic/jazz music the first time you listen to it. Honestly,i didn't. It takes a while before you get into the groove of this kind of music, but once you do there is no turning back on it.

The video above is from the early days of Shakti. Its interesting how L Shankar( voilin) progressively dominates the stage.

The video below is a more recent video of Shakti with Shankar Mahadevan on the vocals of Giriras Sudha. An elegant remake of the original Tyagaraja composition.
I wonder how each of them remember their notes and play in unison.In addition to that, they do a lot of impromptu improvisation, but still their timing on the fusion is immaculate.
This video is a great starter to dig into the works of Mandolin Srinivas of whom i am a big fan.

Lemme know if you'd like to hear more about any of these artists.

Goldman Sachs

2008-03-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

Something that i found really interesting from a news site.Thought you guys should take a look at it :

# Goldman Sachs traders made infinite profits - twice.

# Goldman Sachs doesn’t wear a watch, THEY decide what time it is.

# Remember the Soviet Union? They decided to quit after shorting Goldman Sachs.

# If you have five dollars and Goldman Sachs has five dollars, Goldman Sachs has more money than you

# 1.6 billion Chinese are angry with Goldman Sachs. Sounds like a fair fight.

# The only reason you're conscious right now is because Goldman Sachs doesn't want to carry you.

# Killing Goldman Sachs doesn't make it dead. It just makes it angry.

# There were originally five horsemen of the apocalypse. Goldman Sachs said it would travel by foot.

# Goldman Sachs sleeps with a gun under its pillow. But he could kill you with the pillow.

# Goldman Sachs can eat just one Lay's Potato Chip. Don't tell Goldman what it can't fucking do.

my lil niece

2008-02-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

Suddenly coding in 'php' seems very interesting. I cant actually believe it that i sat on a problem and finished it within an hour, of which i have been thinking over a week - Contemplating to do or not for my project.Thanks to one of my roomies yoma- a casual chat with him triggered it all.
Yesterday i got pinged on my gtalk messenger from my cousins ID. To my surprise it was my niece who is in her 7th grade rite now. when i asked her for my cousin, she replied saying she'd gone out.
I lost a second understanding that moment. I was thinking what was i capable of doing with the computer when i was in the 7th grade. Here she is able to turn it on, find her way to gtalk and log into it( maybe it happens automatically) finding me and chatting with me on it. i was totally impressed.
The computer class in my 7th standard used to be waiting for my turn in a line to play this age old game called bricks- trying to reflect a ball off a horizontally movable surface and demolish as many brick as possible.(how intellectual!!)
Does this mean, are kids getting more intelligent than they used to be ?? or are they just getting used to operating the comp so easily cause they are introduced to it earlier in age.
I believe this paves way for a bigger problem - doesnt this mean that by the time my niece is my age, she'd probably be way more knowledgeable than me. Isnt that messing up the whole age long knowledge vs age balance?? And bty, i don't think this holds good only to the technology aspect of it. I am trying to apply it to different scenarios and looks like its a messy problem.. or am i just wasting my time thinking about stuff life this??

Firsshhttt!!!

2008-02-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

So, like how four fifths of all blogger's start off writing their first blog...
I have been thinking of writing a blog for about a year and half now and looks like the time has finally come. I did start writing twice or thrice before and never reached the end, so eventually just deleted it.Not sure if ill get to the end of this one.. lets see!!!

Why blog now?
Basically sooper vetti( tamil lingo- ull find a lot of it as it comes naturally to me, but its not like u cant make sense of the words if you're not tamil).
In doubt, there is always the wiki for Madras Bashe.
Lately, too many thoughts running up my head and thought i should probably draft them out- and yes, i hate the concept of "dear diary".

What i do now?
Anyways, being TOTALLY vetti is not entirely true.Just that i only have my master's project to finish and my Grad assistant job to take care of( my workplace would be a whole another blog), so i am way relaxed than what it used to be.

Basha Background
I came to the US in Aug of 2006 and doubtlessly, these two years have been the most eventful years in my entire life. Its funny, cause i always think that from any point of time of my life, i think that the last two years were the most eventful years of my life. I'd probably stop thinking that way once i join work and become a slave to the "indian settled in the US dream" and perform an 8 to 9 mundane job. we'll see soon.
Did my undergrad in a college called AIHT(u should start applying for a job at Google maps if you do know or heard of my college) in Chennai, but never actually gave a damn about it,since i hardly went to college.My gang was mostly outside the college and have some amazing memories from the four years.( Another Blog - Long for AB).
11th and 12th standards... not particularly very proud of.. and before that i would be the average unnoticed fat kid whose most interesting part of the day would be the lunch break at school.
Looking back at things, i am glad i had such an amazing childhood and everything good or bad thats happened till date has happened and i wouldn't change a thing. OK ill stop.

Fresh off the boat( FOB)
America - my childhood dream coming true - So, i thought.
Its hard to come to a new place for anyone leaving home after a 20 year old shelter under your parents. My first( except for missing parents in the flight journey) realization of reality didn't actually struck me till the time that i actually had to rinse the plate i ate in( and of course the other utensils and everything later down). Im not doing alambal, but seriously, i have never had to wash my own plate after eating and guys of most average indian families would agree with me. And of course how can i forget, i lived with four other guys and the kitchen's state is left to your wildest imagination.( AB about first experiences in the US)

Roommates
I havn't met a single guy i knew from Chennai who says they had/are having an awesome time while doing their master's. I totally disagree.. as mentioned earlier, it cudnt have got better than with the four roomates i had( all an year senior to me), humorous and caring in their own weird way and there were very few times i missed home.( i dont live with them anymore though, all of em got jobs and moved out to a diff city).
Forgot to mention, the previous year, where i used to stay, there used to about 25 tamil guys staying in the same building, so there was always something or the other to do.( did i mention my mother tongue was telugu..lol) The street where we lived was called claremont, so i am gonna refer to these guys here on as Claremont,
Here on, i would call it THE transformation of my life and the most important factor of it all learning the defence techniques of the art of Kalai( In other words, defend yourself from verbal abuse by artistic shielding- include but not restricted to, actions, sounds and high pitch screams). I never got to even half of my guru's potential.. but boy have i learnt so much in the process. If you didn't understand a word of what i meant, never mind.. i will talk a lot about it in future blogs.

What was i doing before i started writing this blog?
Was doing my master's project and go so bugged of writing a report that i thought i should take a break and started this off. and guess what, looks like i AM to successfully publish my first blog. Anyways,I should probably go back and do the report now since i have a near approaching deadline on it. So till next time. Ciao.

BTB: ive become a huge Massive attack fan, and anyone who can get their hands on an album esp: protection, don't miss out on this underrated band. If you like the soundtrack of the movie American Beauty, ud fall in love with this immediately.