Village Pongal

My native village Vallaypatti, is a small village near srivilliputtur in southern part of TamilNadu. It is 65kms from Madurai. It is quite famous for its rules against using and selling tobacco products, there is a total ban on selling tobacco products in shops in village. The ban has been in place for more than 50 years, way to see the effects of tobacco so early and ban it. There is a ban on selling seasoned fish( fondly called karuvadu) , since it was the agent for spreading lot of contagious disease. There were lot of articles written in famous newspapers and vernaculars on the Tobacco Ban.

Village and the agricultural lands owned by the villagers are in the leeward side of Western Ghats. Major rainfall happens during the North East Monsoon during months of October and November. Rice, Red Small Onions and Peanuts are the usual crops cultivated. They will sow the seeds after the rain and it takes 90-120 days to grow, harvesting will be done during march end or early part of April. Essence of Harvest Festival in any part of the world is to thank the mother earth or nature for the bountiful yield, it is same in my village too, harvest festival/pongal is celebrated in the last week of April or first week of May. It is the time when most of the villagers will have money in their hand.

For the village of its size (300-400 houses) it surprisingly high literacy rate and there is always a stress given on education. As it with any village in India there was lot of migration towards cities for doing business or education or work. People from village(most of them my relatives) are settled in lot of places in around in India and around the world. Harvest Festival in my village is for thanking Goddess Kali( there is a kali temple in my village) Harvest Festival usually acts like a catalyst for bringing everyone to one place and it is more of a family re-union. Since it falls under a school or colleges vacation time, it is ball for kids and teenagers.

Festivities around the Harvest Festival/Pongal are the best part. My favorite is the games being conducted for all ages for fun and show casing their skills. There will be a cricket tournament around that time organized for harvest festival and my village had a very good team, mostly they would win it. Game is played with "CARC" ball it is actually a hockey ball man it hurts when it hits you and guys play without pad or shoes, hats off to their gutsy approach. There will be definitely another cricket match for guys who have moved outside village to guys who are in village, it mostly the friendly rivalry with lot of banter going around it is fun to play and watch. There will be games for kids like lemon and spoon race, balloon bursting ( i remember i cried running to my mom when i was a 4 or 5 year old since some kid burst my balloon), filling the soda bottle with water.

Each house in the village has to contribute for the expenses of Harvest Festival, they call it "ThalaKattu Vari" head count tax, it is based on the number of married couples in a family. Actual Festival is for two days. First Day function usually starts with "Agni Chatti" (a clay pot with burning charcoal in it) they carry it for 2 days around the village, it is a very very intense form of worship, to thank kali for answering there prayers. There will be "Nayanadi Melam crew" accompanying them through the villages. They will stop in each and every house in the village and the house will mix turmeric in water and pour it over the person carrying "Agni Chatti", way to cool their body down in the intense heat of summer. Mostly family members of the person carrying "Agni Chatti" will accompany them the whole two days.



There will be a goat from every family/house in the village that will be grown for the purpose of sacrificing it to Kali during the Pongal Festival. It will be taken care really really well. The only part what i don't like in the whole festival is sacrificing the pampered goat. Sons in the family will take the goat to the temple for sacrifice, after the goat is sacrificed they will clean it and carry the meat back to house for food in the morning. I will go vegetarian during the Pongal Festival. Sacrifices have been part of the culture for eons and I am not going to ask them to stop it since i am not doing it or i don't like it. Women from the village will keep pongal in the Kali temple in midnight, usual with any festivities they will clad their new sarees for keeping pongal.


Next Day starts with us waking up to good food, there are lot of vegetarians in my family so there will be vegetarian food cooked in my house in village and non vegetarian food in my uncles house. Guys generally have food and leave to the cricket ground for a game of cricket and assemble back to get ready for the evening festivities.

A way villagers predict how the harvest for the next year will be is through doing something called molapari. Women who are going to do molapari will sow the seeds(I guess it is mustard seeds) in a pot in the temple and the temple priest will take care of watering it and taking care of it, how big the molapari grows is an indication on how bountiful the harvest will be for that family. Molapari will be kept in the temple and that is where young girls/women will dance around it by clapping the hands, the dance form is called "Gummi" . Then the Molapari will be taken in a procession by the women( they carry it in their head), to the small pond in the village and it will be dipped/mixed into water.



Agni Chatti that was being carried around the village will be brought to the temple. It kind off culminates the function. Then there is another small celebration where the broken coconuts devoid of the shells will be thrown out to the waiting crowd outside the temple from the temple wall by young men. More fun is for catching that compared to actually eating it.

Then there will be stage performances like Dramas which will run whole night or karakattam with nayandi melam. Usually dramas will be harichandran, ramayanam etc...
Youngsters does not have a liking for drama, but usually old people sit and watch it the whole night. There will be refreshment stalls selling hot tea and Bajjis the whole night, they really do brisk business. Life gets back to normal after the pongal ....

Train Ride to my native place

Who doesn’t like riding a train to their native place? I have very sweet memories of train rides to my native place. I was born in Srivilliputtur a small satellite town in Virdhunagar District of Tamilnadu. Temple in Tamilnadu's government emblem is from srivilliputtur, check out the photos below, thanks to my friend George Mathai for the photos. Town is very famous for milk sweet palkova(milk peda). There use to be a Meter Gauge train called Kollam Mail from Chennai Egmore to Kollam in Kerala, it goes through some very scenic stretches. I love the night journey in Meter Gauge Trains; it is like sleeping in a cradle, with your mom/dad swinging it for you (my dad use to swing me in the cradle when I was a toddler). Most of the times we tend to travel with the extended family my aunt uncle and cousins that makes the trip even more interesting. Once the train tickets are booked, it will be mostly sleeper/sitter class (sitter class and you can sleep on the floor of the train with news paper), finding the right spot to sleep and jostling for space will be fun. Preparation for the trip would start at least a week ahead, with round table conference on what food to prepare and then asking dad to convey that to my aunt and uncle (it was days of no phone in my house) what time we will leave to the train station etc. We will start announcing (I would rather call it bragging) in school or with friends in summer vacation at least a week in advance that I am going in train to my native place and it is fun etc. Excitement would set in at least a day before train ride, I will not be able to sleep for a day or so. My mom and dad would be happy to go and see their parents.

We would arrive in the station at least an hour in advance and wait in the station. My dad cultivated good reading habit in me and my brother. He use to buy us Magazine (I remember it as Times Magazine or Week Magazine or Aanda Vikatan) when we were waiting in the station, we use to go through the tidbits and then read it for the 1st hour in the train. Station would be buzzing with activity with vendors selling tea and snacks, you can see people from all societies in the station. I use to love watching people’s expression when they say a byee to someone on a train that is leaving and happiness in receiving someone in the arriving train. Excitement for us in the station would set in the moment we see a train arriving into the station from Yard, we have to be ready to see where the coaches will be , it can either in front or back, we use to always take the middle ground so that we need not carry our luggage’s and walk all the way. As kids we use to board the train first to search for our reserved seat and to catch a window seat :-) and let our parents know where our seats are. Then our parents have to answer a question every 5 mins once till the train leaves on when the train will leave. Once the trains start moving we will peer outside and wave at strangers and say a byee to them( I guess it was fun being a kid, can never do that now). We will unpack and empty our home made food packages once the train crosses Chengalpet (it was an hour from Egmore). Most of them would retire to sleep 15 or 20 mins after dinner. For sleeping there will be newspapers laid out in floor of the train for kids ( so that we don’t get our clothes dirty) and then there will be an air pillows coming out and it will be like 1 pillow for two kids( I hate that , I always use to fight for a pillow alone) We( kids) use to wake up whenever the train stops in a major station it goes in this order Villupuram, Tiruchi, Dindugul and by the time train comes to Madurai most of them in the train would be awake. We use to get Tea and drink in Madurai and then wait for ManaMadurai station to come for getting good fresh vada’s with coconut chutney, yummy. Srivilliputtur was an hour away from Manamadurai. It has a very small railway station with just 1 platform. We have to be all prepared with our luggage’s before the station comes, the train use to stop their only for 5 mins, should get down before that. Railway station is 5 kms outside the town, the only modes of transport from Railway station to Town is through Jatka (horse driven carts), it was another fun ride. There the fight will be for who will sit along with the guy who controls the cart (horse driver, I don’t know what they call him, he is not a jockey though), slow moving cart with the greeneries around I don’t have words to express it. My village is 9 Kms from Srivilliputtur town, we have to catch a bus to go to a nearby place Krishnan kovil and the walk 1 ½ kms to my native village Vallaypatti. We usually hire/rent a bi-cycle from Krishnan kovil and load all the luggage in that and then walk to my native place with that. My dad won’t allow me to ride a bicycle. We usually go to pongal/harvest festival in the April Month to our native place. My village is on the leeward side of Western Ghats and we get rain there during North East Monsoon in October, November and December. The cultivate rice, onion and ground nut during that season and harvest it during March so the farmers will have money during April hence the harvest festival is celebrated on April.
Preparation on the way back to Chennai for the train ride will be hectic. We usually get produce (rice and other stuff) from our land and take it to Chennai. Packing the Produce in sack and stitching it requires lot of skill, we will have at least 4 100 kgs sack packed with all the required items. Usually my uncles (mom’s brother) would come to the railway station to send us off, they and my dad use to carry all the huge sacks. Getting it into the train within 5 mins when it is there will be a challenge by itself. There use to be a good curve for the trains approaching the station and you can just see the smoke from diesel engines coming from the train from a distance between trees and mountains, you know that your train is on the way. There starts the fun of train journey again and our lifes in Chennai will get back to the routine grind.

Rain and Flood

I miss Chennai during rainy days, that too my house. I love the smell of earth or mud whatever you want call it( manvasanai that is how they call it in Tamil). It evokes lot of good memories and which kid doesnt like rain.

My house was in a low lying area so it use to flood a lot when it rains. Flood use to be running water not stagnant water. My dad knew about the flooding in the area before he constructed the house there, so we had a high basement for our house compared to others, it was 4 1/2 feet i guess. The kind of preparation we use to make for going to school would be nice, cover the school bag with polythene cover and carry the school shoes and socks in a polyethene bag and then walk till the point where there was not water then dry the feet put the socks and shoes on. The whole thing has to be repeated when we have to come back home too. Going to school when we have a white uniform without getting dirty was a big challenge by itself. My dads two wheeler choice was also based on the flood water, he had Bajaj M80 which had the silencer higher than a TVS Champs ( those were not the ages for fancy bikes). Usually the flood use to be atleast 1 1/2 to 2 feet of running water, he cannot bring his two wheeler in, he us to park it in his friends house in some what higher area compared to us.

My parents would allow us to play in water one hour a day if it is an holiday during flood. We use to make paper boats, convert any stick into boat and send it, there use to be competition on whose paper boats goes the farthest before it sinks in water. The flood water use to come the stream nearby, thanks to google earth it is actually the source for river Adyar, it is very clean since it is very near to the source. So whenever there is flood water there use to be fishes and obviously snakes around of different colors, I don't know what it is may be it comes from my mom, we were never scared of snakes in water. Another thing what we use to do is try to throw flat stones in water and make it to glide in water. Miss all those days....

Till 2005 December water never entered into the house, but 2005 december it was very very heavy rain from october and almost all the lakes around our area was full and some miscreants broke lot of lakes off( since they have constructed house near the lakes illegaly) and it was high tide in sea that day too, so water was pushed in through Adyar river and with so much water rushing in to Adyar River with breaking of lakes it kind of created a backflow and started circling around our low lying area. When i came home the night before from work, there was hardly any water on the road and in the morning at around 6 water was entering our house, we had to vacate our house. Fire fighters had to be rushed into even more low lying areas with boats to rescue people. It was a bad flood that year and it was the last flood i saw.

And why did write this blog, since it is monsoon season in chennai and it is raining heavily there now

This is disgusting

We understand that media runs on money from investors and the money earned from Advertisements but running ads disguised as news items is disgusting. I read this article in Hindu, I like Hindu newspaper for their un-biased views on lot of things.

Thanks to Hindu for writing is article and bringing this to the public attention not worrying about the wrath they may face from the media organizations.
Hindu
There have been lots of instances off late where media turns itself into a self proclaimed saviour of justice and starts convicting the accused(in a case) in public, even though accused would not have even had a chance to defend himself in court. All the four pillars of democracy should be in harmony for the country to prosper, there have been cases of judicial arm extending more than what is suppose to and then legislature approving themselves more pension for their job ( I don’t think they should even receive a pension) and then executive passing government orders in favor of someone. It is not this did not happen before but then there were good news papers and media which brought this to public, but now media being more tainted than ever, it is very tough for the general public to believe what is true and what is not.

1st weekend in US

My parents arrived in US on Thursday at around 5.30. I was super super excited to receive them in the airport, most of my colleagues saw the big radiance smile in my face.

Airport is a mile away from my place, I saw the flight landing visually (From our office we can see the run way of the airport) and then I left to the airport. In excitement I forgot to take my camera along with me, otherwise I could have captured my mom and dad’s excitement or smile in their face.

I made lot of plans for cooking for them and then finally my friend invited us home for dinner that night (they had good food ;)). There started my eating spree for 3 months, made me put on lot of weight. I received a pat on my shoulder from my mom for keeping the kitchen clean (obviously I never cooked there ;)). I got nice scoldings for keeping Masalas and spices worth for 4 or 5 families for a year and I don’t cook, she just couldn’t understand why I need so much garam masalas for cooking. I tried to explain to my mom that it came from so many people and I just kept it there. Un packing of all the stuffs they bought from India and the wet grinder what they got for me, they slowly unpacked and assembled all the things.

That weekend was a long weekend so I took them around in and around Philadelphia. My mom got a shock on how big the people in US are, the way they dressed and how much the eat and drink. I got her a venti chai from star bucks, she gave me a stare and asked if it is for the whole day, May the potion is high here, I never realized. She started carrying the extra paper cups wherever she goes so I can get one Grande Chai from star bucks , she and my dad would share that and drink. Philadelphia zoo trip was fun, saw a king cobra and it was a good way to start the trip. Food was a major concern for my parents and we ensured that we pack our food wherever we go. There was this big gorilla in the zoo and it knew what was doing and posed for the cameras, it gave a very good pose and damn memory card in my camera was full at the time, I missed that shot. We took chapatti and potatoes ( poori kelangu ) for the zoo trip. It was a short trip of about 5 hours.






I played in a doubles co-ed volleyball tournament in Maryland on Sunday. I took my parents along with me for that, they have never seen me playing volleyball. We were all prepared with a Canopy, chairs and off course food from my mom. They met most of my volleyball friends their and my doubles partner becca and her friend john. My mom and dad felt cold on a warm and sultry day and they were in their sweaters for the whole day. They were observing how people are and the particularly had questions about the sunscreen lotion what people used. My dad then explained to my mom about the whole melanin pigment and why they should use a sunscreen. Becca and John both love Indian food and they enjoyed the food. John is 6ft and 11 inches tall and my mom being 4 foot 11 inches looked diminutive standing next to him. Becca isn’t short either she is 5foot 11 inches. We made it to the playoffs and then it started pouring down so we took off back home and it was a 100 mile drive back home. My parents had a good time but started feeling bored at the end of the day. Drive back was good my mom never sleeps in the car she was wide awake after the whole day out and was watching all the trees, road and traffic and she is very inquisitive too, asked lot of questions.

Next day we were off to Camden aquarium and Battleship New jersey. Camden aquarium is situated on the other side of Delaware River (bay whatever you call it), you can see the beautiful Philadelphia skyline from there. Battleship New Jersey is anchored right next to the aquarium. Aquarium was good with lots of colorful fishes. We had an opportunity to touch the jelly fish( harmless one though), star fish and a baby shark. Viewing area for watching the fishes were good, it is a good sight to see the fishes swim through and as if posing for us J. Underwater shark tunnel is the best one in the aquarium, it was a surreal feeling with sharks swimming right over your head, very close encounter with the sharks indeed. 4D Theatre my mom enjoyed the show like a kid with her my hands when water was sprayed, It was role reversed, I use to hold my moms hand when I am excited or when I am afraid.











Battleship New Jersey, a majestic war ship anchored right outside the aquarium. I have never boarded a battleship before and so are my parents. We took the Arms and ammunition tour (there are lots of tours in the ship) and an electrician (85 years old) who worked in the ship was our guide. Very valuable insights to the ships history and the battles it fought. It is considered to be the lucky charm of the American navy and it had only one fatality in its entire career. Our guide was insisting on what difference a college education can make to kids( there obviously little kids on the tour with us) with an analogy on how the life on the ship was. Only Navymen with officer cadre will get food served to them, separate bunkers and a better bed for sleeping on the other hand for a normal navymen they have to share the bunker with another Navymen , shared restrooms and rationed food. He did make a good point to the kids there.

Prepping Parents for their Visit

I had a fun time with my parents when they visited me here in US. Lots of my friends are also planning to bring their parents here, so thought will pen a blog which will share my memories and will help my friends to plan their trip. This is going to be a series of blogs and here comes the first one.

In my case my mom didn’t want to get out of India and take a flight and come to US. It involved lot of cajoling, sentimental talks and threatening (saying that I would get married to my imaginary American g.f if they don’t come here) to make her to come here. I started the process a year back with Passport and others. Visa interview was booked in the starting of the May and they came to US on May 21st. I was so excited to and couldn’t contain my excitement when I was waiting for them in the airport. Then there she came out with 1000 Watt smile in her face and off course my dad was ensuring that all the baggage’s came out proper and things like that. When planning for their flight journey I followed these tips or thumb rules whatever you want to call it



1) I didn’t want to book a direct flight from Chennai to JFK, It will be difficult for them to sit continuously and travel. So I booked tickets in Lufthansa from Chennai to Frankfurt (7 ½ hours) with a 3 hour layover in between and Frankfurt to Philadelphia (7 ½ hours). With a 3 hour layover in between they can stretch their legs in between the flights and can get refreshed. I am not a big fan of long haul flights.
2) I made sure that they carry some dry fruits and biscuits incase they don’t like the food in the flight, it helped since mom didn’t like the food in flight and she ended up surviving in biscuits. Even though they are non-vegetarians (like most Indians they don’t eat red meat), we made the food choice as Asian Vegetarian since they may get some dosa or idli in the initial flight.
3) They had enough foreign exchange (my dad got it from Thomas cook in Spencer Plaza Chennai) with a seal on his passport for getting foreign exchange.
4) I took a printout of customs declaration form and Immigration form from Path2usa.com and filled the details out and sent a scanned copy. This would ease their fears and questions on what to fill for what.
5) My dad can speak decent English so I didn’t give any other letter to immigration but for parents who cannot speak English then you can give a letter stating that they have problem with the language and you can give your contact number and details Immigration generally calls you for details. My friend did that for his parents.
6) For Philadelphia airport there will be porters for taking your baggage and putting it in big cart and take through customs and bring you out. They charge 10$ for that cart and I asked my parents to use that rather than them going through to find 1$ bills and put it in the vending machine for carts.

What happend to me?

What happened to me? I didn't write a blog for more than a year now. Lots of things happened in between. I had to shift to Philadelphia from Scranton. New location, new people, new project etc etc. Philadelphia is a nice place and lot more things to do but miss Scranton. Obviously one bound to get an attachment to place if you stay there for long, i stayed in Scranton for 3 years and it was like home away from home. Made lots of friends, fell out with a few but still i can come back once in a while to say a hi to them and keep in touch with them. It is a place where i started playing volleyball after a gap.

After almost breaking my hand in volleyball last year April, I had to change my game. I couldn't set anymore due to injury and I am too attached to miss volleyball. I ended up changing my game, became an outside hitter. It is not that i am good at it but i am putting all the effort to be good in it and I have improved a lot from last year. Shifting bases did help in becoming an outside hitter, playing with some good setters and better skill level does help in that.

Parents visited me from India for 3 months. It was awesome to have them here and take them around to lots of places and meet my friends etc etc. They did enjoy US to the most part except that my dad kept complaining that he didn't get a kind of spinach what he use to get in India( ponnagani keerai), I was like yaa yaa yaa. I cannot forget the way my parents and my friend priya's parents enjoyed like little kids in Niagara, the happiness in there face was a definitely a kodak moment. I am gonna blog about the whole trip and tips for do's and dont's when bringing parents to US( East coast in particular).

And with My mom's visit my 2 years hardwork of decreasing and maintaining weight is gone. Too much of good food and i packed on pounds like anything. I am getting into weight loss mode again. I hope i reduce my weight like last time with good workout, i have to get good motivation for working out though.

I hope you can spin it more

This was ROFL, i was thinking about it and laughing all the time. I dont think Siddarth Trivedi can be insulted any more. I wish i saw the video of his facial expression when he heard this from Shilpa Shetty. If you are puzzled about what I am talking about, check the link out.

New Hampshire Trip

New Hampshire Fall Trip

This is my first trip to see fall foliage in New Hampshire. We went to the White Mountains in New Hampshire to see fall colors, guess we made a good decision to go there to look at fall colors. Trip was planned within two days, with the logistics of car, accommodation and food were taken care in 2 days. We hit the road @5 in the evening on Friday, the customary round trip after driving to the first stop sign to get something what we missed to take was done this time too. We consider doing that as a good luck at the start of the trip, this time the culprit forgot to bring the music cds. Drive up to New Hampshire was good, with some discussions and good music. We stopped for our dinner in a rest area in Connecticut. It was decided earlier that we would cook(that we doesn’t include any bachelors) some food and take it up there for our dinner, which turned out to be a good decision except the fact that we ended up eating our food in the freezing temperature outside.

There were quite a lot of cops on the road and lot of people were pulled over for over speeding or other violations, we were extra careful on not to get caught. We reached the place where we stayed at around 1.30 in the night. I wanted to go and take some photos early in the morning of fall colors, early morning and the evening are the best time to take photos, I set my phone alarm to 6 A.M and retired to bed. All my buddies were up playing cards, looks like they had decided to play a prank on me. Switched off all the lights and adjusted the time of my phone to 5.30 A.M after 10 mins I dozed off to sleep. They were smart to the change the alarms of most of the phones in the room. Alarm started going off, I didn’t feel like I slept for a long time, I woke up and saw how it looked outside, it was dark, I still decided to go ahead with my plans. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, came out to put my shoes and leave, the room was bright and everyone was up, it took sometime for the reality to sink in that they have played a prank on me. It was a good way to start the trip, rest of the trip was also lot of fun.


I went to take some early morning photos on Saturday, it was cloudy and it spoiled the start. We went to Franconia Notch and Flumes Gorge during the day. We had to trek in freezing temperatures up in mountains in Franconia Notch. I got some good colorful photos at the flumes gorge, there was lot of deliberation and discussion on whether we have to walk to the flumes gorge which is a 0.75 mile trek or go in a bus, I was up for walking and finally convinced everyone to do that. I don’t think any one regretted walking to the flumes gorge. Dinner for the night was suppose to be prepared by the bachelors but a better cook took over the mantle from us and cooked a tasty chicken curry for us. I was very tired after seeing for the whole day through the view finder of my camera, I retired to bed very early on that night.

Sunday we decided to go to Mount Washington, there was lot of hype on how difficult it is to drive in that road. I have been to quite a lot of hill stations in India, compared to that this Mount Washington drive is nothing. They are marketing the place very good, which attracts so many people towards this spot. They had restrictions on how many persons can go in a car in a van etc etc. Two of my buddies dropped out and waited in the lower base of Mount Washington while we guys drove up. I don’t regret driving up there, the colors were really good and I got some really nice fall color photos.

We drove via Boston when returning back to Scranton, we went to a restaurant called Fire and Ice. They had a very good concept, it’s a buffet, they had all the raw materials like vegetables, meat, egg, sauce etc as a Buffet. You have to go and pick things in a bowl and give it to the cook who will cook it in front of your eyes. Cook won’t add anything extra apart from what you have got there so the taste is based on what you take to the cook for eating. I enjoyed it up there. It was a good trip. You can see the photos of the trip here

Niagara

I am always awestruck on seeing this falls, the power and beauty of the falls makes me to go this place again and again. I planned on making a trip to Niagara for the 7th time in a span of 3 years, one difference this time is I was armed with a Nikon D80 for capturing the awe and splendour of the falls.

We rented a car, we decide to pack our food and take it there rather than eating outside. We hit the road @6 in the morning, I know it is quite early for a saturday
morning :). It is a 300 miles drive from Scranton to Niagara, the drive isnt too tough, there wasnt much traffic in the morning. I started driving the car and we had our first stop/breakfast break @8.30 in the morning. Home made kichadi for morning breakfast was just too good. Then my friend started driving the car,I have this very bad habit, I like to drive the car or I would prefer to sleep in the back seat. I caught some sleep for 2 hours when he was driving, we stopped for our second break some 50 miles from Niagara for a coffee and french fries, I just love junk food.


I did not want to go on any rides in Niagara falls, I was just there to see the Niagara and enjoy the view. Our timing was just too good, it is a normal weekend and there wasnt much crowd for the ride Maid of the Mist( they take you in a small boat right under the Horseshoe falls). Engineering marvel is @ the best in Niagara, they do the unthinkable by controlling the amount of water that can flow in the falls. The ride what my friends went was the last for the day. They had to decrease the flow of water in Niagara falls due to some emergency, there wasnt much information available to us at that point of time.

We had our lunch @3 and then decided to go for Jet boat ride in the Niagara gorge. It was one of the best rides I ever had. Niagara gorge has lot of class 6 rapids, they take the jet boat through that. It was just too much fun. Timing was good there too, we went for the 5.30 P.M ride, if we have gone for 4 of clock ride the ride could have just been a normal ride since they decreased the flow of water due to some emergency.

We were right in time for the Niagra Night view. I did not speak to anyone for sometime, I was awestruck for sometime. I tried to capture the beautiful night view in my camera here
It was an awesome trip.

We had our dinner in a worst Indian restaurant in Niagara welcome center, the food really sucks there. I would suggest no one to go there. It was the only bad thing in the entire trip. we hit the road @11.15 P.M, I was too tired to drive, I drove for inital 1.45 mins then my friend took over from me. I took the back seat and slept really well, we reached scranton @4 in the morning. It was a well planned, well executed trip.

I want to take my parents to Niagara when they visit me in US next year.

Inflation and Dollar Vs Currency Exchange Rates

Being in US, the dollar exchange rate and Indian inflation controls my savings range. I was trying to understand on what changes the Dollar Vs Rupee exchange rates and figured that many like me would have the same questions. Economics is about Demand Vs Supply. As most of you would be aware that world business is done in US dollars. Any change to the value of the US Dollar will affect Indian Economy too.

Statutory Warning: This blog may be very dry for lots of people as it is related to economics.

Inflation

Inflation usually refers to the general rise in the level of prices of goods and services over a period of time. India’s current inflation is 12%, which means for example if you have bought 100 pencils for 100 rupees a year back you have pay 112 rupees to get 100 pencils. Money is getting devalued, more money chasing less goods that is leading to price increase, Demand Vs Supply. Central Bank or RBI tries to control India’s inflation. How they do it??? They increase the interest rates and the percentage of money what the banks should hold. What happens if they increase the interest rates, it decreases the money in the market or money circulation in the market. Less Money and more goods, inflation will come down. Then there will be next question on how more money comes to the market, who else RBI prints and releases it to the market. We can think on why RBI can’t increase the rates to have Inflation under control. There is a flipside to it. How Inflation does controls the Dollar Vs Rupee Exchange Rates

Dollar Vs Rupee Exchange Rates

India allows FDI or Foreign Direct Investment, to see the list and percentage of investments allowed in different areas refer to the link << http://www.dipp.nic.in/manual/fdi_manual_11_2006.pdf>> . How does this control the Dollar Vs Rupee Exchange Rates? India is considered to be the economically booming country, lot of FDI’s are going into India for example from buying HUTCH and naming it as VODAFONE, NOKIA factory being opened in India, all those investments are done in through Rupees. Dollar has to be exchanged into rupees and then the investment has to be done. More Dollar --> Less Rupee in the market, Rupee will appreciate and that will affect the conversion rate. RBI controls the Dollar Vs Rupee Exchange Rates too, how do they do it either by increasing the interest rates to suck the excess rupee out of the market, which would decrease the value of rupee and then it inturn increases the value of the dollar trade with rupee. Why should RBI do it ??? To keep the Export market in India including IT industry to be profitable, more export a country does more economically strong it will become.

I am not sure on how clear I have written this blog, since it is a very very grey area for me too, I am trying to understand the economics behind these exchange rates.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome

It is a not a new buzz word. It is going next Gen web browser. Just due to the amount of features what it offers beneath the browser. Quite a lot of architecture changes to a browser

Tabbing

Opening a Tab in a window was a craze when it first came out in FireFox or Mozilla, IE also copied it soon. But there were host of problems with the way Tabs were architectured to run internally in the browser. It was designed as One Process per Window, so if you open multiple tabs within the same window it is single process and multiple threads and it all shared the same address space in windows. So a programmer who knows hack into this can read the data handled in the next tab, for example you have opened a credit card statement in one tab and some website which runs the Malware in the next tab, the Malware can read the credit card statement since it is under the same process. If 1 of the 10 tabs that were opened in a window crashes then the whole window will crash. All these problems have been alleviated in Google Chrome.
1 Tab -- > 1 Process  1 address space. It is crash proof against other bad tabs.

JavaScript

Performance
JavaScript is the most important thing in web today. There are so much complex things done with JavaScript today, the performance of JavaScript affects the web applications.
Being a web developer myself, I know the pain of trying to improve the performance of slow running web application, most of the times the culprit is the slow running or slow loading Java Script. Browsers are inherently single threaded, Browsers have to handle the control the JavaScript when it starts executing, the browser cannot do anything till the JavaScript finishes execution and handles the control back to the Browser. If there are 10 tabs opened in a window and 1 tab starts executing the complex JavaScript, then the all the 10 tabs will stop responding till the execution of JavaScript is complete. With 1 Tab -- > 1 Process  1 address space this problem is addressed.

Compatibility

When you write a web application with lot of JavaScript in it then the web application has to be tested for compatibility since the JavaScript implementation and support is different in different browsers. Again being the web developer, seeing something not working properly in one browser to the other can be nasty. I wish JavaScript had a Virtual Machine which takes care of the internal implementation rather than the developer worrying about those. My prayer for a VM in JavaScript has been partially answered, with the introduction of JavaScript Virtual Machine V8. I wish that the JavaScript VM becomes a standard and other browsers also adapt this.

Memory Handling

The main problem with the JavaScript is Bad Garbage Collection, I would say worst Garbage collection. Current Browsers with the existing JavaScript uses Conservative Garbage Collection. It is like you have a Rack full of bundled clothes and searching for a small Handkerchief in the mess, you wouldn’t know where the Handkerchief would be so it is going to take more time to find it. If you exactly know where the Handkerchiefs are stored it would make it faster to search and find those, that is what the JavaScript VM V8 does. It also does an Incremental Garbage collection which can result in the applications being more interactive like a smoother drag and drop in the netflix applications.


Security

As I said earlier in the Tabbing section of the blog 1 Tab  1 Processes  1 Address Space. This architecture change has enabled the Sandboxing of the Tabs, means they can use the processor for computing but they cannot use it for read files from the machine or write files in the machine. Plugins have always been a big headache for the security of the browser’s (client) machines that run those. Plugins can access anything in the browsers machine and read or write things. For example if we install a Adobe Plugin in the browser, that does not fall under the standard security, they generally run at a higher level and generally works with the renderer( the part of the browser) which graphically displays the web page to the user. Renderer and Plugins run in the same address space. But in Google Chrome the plugins have been isolated and have been kept in a separate address space or sandboxed in a separate address space, so the security threat is minimized to a great extent. Another major problem with internet security is phishing attacks, it is like for example there is a bank site called www.icici.com and there is a hacker who opens a www.icicibank.com , how would you know what is the original site and where to enter the password, Google Chrome claims to warn the users against the phishing attacks and keeps updating the list of phishing websites. This sounds interesting but not sure on how well it would work.


End user should not worry about what happens under the hood of the browser and shouldn’t find a difference between the application written as a thick client (stand alone application) or thin client (browser), usability of the application shouldn’t get affected, and there are limitations with writing applications of that kind with the existing technologies and with the existing browsers. I hope Google chrome can address that problem too. Definitely a good start but way to go.

Best Forward I got in some time

"Have you been to states before" ?
"No, Haven't yet". (எங்க..நமக்கு தெரிஞ்ச ஸ்டேட்ஸ் பெங்களூர், கேரளா அப்பறம் ஆந்திராதான்)
"Any other country" ?
"No".
"What are you man, You have enough experience..Should have been to onsite atleast once"
"yeah…I could have been… But…"
-இந்த மாதிரி ஐடி இண்டஸ்ட்ரில ஒரு நாளைக்கு ஒரு ஒம்பது பேராவது ஒம்பது எடத்துல பேசிட்டு இருப்பாங்க..

"அல்மோஸ்ட் என்னோட பிரண்ட்ஸ், பேட்ஜ் மேட்ஸ் எல்லாரும் ஆன்சைட்ல இருக்காங்க? நமகெங்க….எழவு அதுக்கெல்லாம் நேரங்காலம் வரணுங்க"ன்னு முக்குக்கு மூணு பேராவது மூக்கால அழுதுட்ருப்பாங்க..

"ஏங்க…. நம்ப தம்பி இப்போ போறேன், அப்போ போறேன்னு சொல்லிகிட்டே இருக்காப்ல ஆனா ஒன்னும் போற மாறியே தெரியலையே, நம்ப அனந்தன் பையன் அமெரிக்கால இருக்கான், சகுந்தலா பொண்ணு சௌதில இருக்கான்னு"……!!!!
-சாயங்காலம் காப்பிய குடிச்சிட்டே வீட்டுக்கு வந்த ஒரம்பறை அளபறைய குடுத்திட்டிருப்பாங்க…

ஆன்சைட் - மென்பொருள் துறையினரின் வாழ்வில் தவிர்க்க முடியாத, மிகவும் அவசியமான, அத்யாவசியமான ஒரு வார்த்தை.

சரி ஆன்சைட்னா என்னாங்க?

ரொம்ப சிம்பிளா சொல்லனும்னா.. வெள்ளக்காரன் தான் நமக்கெல்லாம் படி அளக்கற சாமி, அவனுக்கு ஒரு வேலை ஆகனும்னா…இந்த மாதிரி இந்த மாதிரி வேலை ஆகனும்னு அவன் டெண்டர் மாதிரி விடுவான். உடனே நம்மூர்ல இருக்கற கம்பெனி எல்லாம் வழக்கம் போல அடிச்சு புடிச்சு "எனக்கு செய்னு, எனக்கு மோதரம்னு" மன்னன் படத்துல ரஜினி கௌண்டமணி மாதிரி கெடைக்கற பீஸ் ஆப் ப்ரொஜெக்ட வெச்சுகிட்டு ஒரு வழியா புது ப்ராஜெக்ட்டுக்கு பூஜைய போட்ருவாங்க…. அது 20 பேரு செஞ்சு முடிக்கற வேலையா இருந்தா மொதல்ல ஒரு ரெண்டு பேர அந்த நாட்டுக்கு அனுப்பி அவனுக்கு என்னென்ன வேணும்னு பக்கத்துலையே இருந்து விசாரிச்சிட்டு அங்கிருந்துட்டே நம்மூர்ல இருக்கற ஒரு 8 பேர் கிட்ட வேலைய (உயிரை) வாங்கற process தான் Onsite-Offshore co-ordination.

இந்த ரெண்டு க்ரூப்க்கும் மாமியார் மருமக மாதிரி எப்பவுமே ஏழாம் பொருத்தம்தான். இவன கேட்டா அவன் ஓபி அடிக்கறாம்பான், அவன கேட்டா இவன் ஓபி அடிக்கறாம்பான் கடைசி வரைக்கும் சித்தி சீரியல்ல வர்ற சாரதா, பிரபாவதி மாதிரி பொகஞ்சுகிட்டே இருப்பாங்க..
இப்ப அந்த வெளிநாடு போற ரெண்டு பேரு யாருங்கறதுதான் இங்க மேட்டர்…

அப்படி போறதுனால என்னங்க…

நல்லா கேட்டிங்க….

** இங்க அஞ்சு மாசம் சம்பாதிக்கறத அங்க ஒரே மாசத்துல சம்பாதிச்சிரலாம்!

** நம்ப negotiation skills ம், business communication ம் நல்ல இம்ப்ரூவ் ஆகும்!

** நமக்கு வேலை ரீதியாவும், சமுதாய(கல்யாண சந்தை) ரீதியாவும் நல்ல மரியாதை கெடைக்கும்.

** இங்க நம்ம உருவகமா பார்த்து தெரிஞ்சுகிட்ட பல விசயங்கள அங்க உருவமா பார்க்கலாம்… அட, நான் வேலை சம்பந்தமாதாங்க சொல்றேன்.

அப்பறம் பெருசா ஒன்னுமில்லீங்க, நம்பளும் இந்த ஈபில் டவர், லண்டன் பிரிட்ஜ், பிரமிட், சுதந்திரதேவி சிலை, பைசா கோபுரம் இந்த மாதிரி பல எடங்கள்ல சம்பரதாயமா நின்னு கேமராவ மொறைச்சு பார்த்து பல ஸ்டில்லுகல எடுத்து மொத வேலையா ஆர்குட்லயோ, பிக்காசலயோ போட்டு ஊர் வாயில விழுக வேண்டியதுதான்…

இங்க அவனவன் 38 degree வெயில்ல காஞ்சிட்டு இருப்பான் அங்க நம்பாளு சுவிஸ்ல ஜெர்கின போட்டுட்டு snow fallல வெளயாடறா மாதிரி போட்டோவ போட்டு பொகைய கெளப்புவான்.

மொத்தத்துல மேனேஜ்மென்டை பொறுத்த வரை ஒரு resource அ ஆன்சைட் அனுபறதுங்கறது பொம்பள புள்ளைய கட்டிக் குடுக்கற மாதிரி…

மூத்தவ நல்லா பாடுவா, சமையல் சுமாராத்தான் பண்ணுவா….போக போக பழகிரும்…மத்த படி போற எடத்துல எப்படி இருக்கணும்னு சொல்லி வளத்திருகங்கற மாதிரி… இவருக்கு ஆன தெரியும் குதர தெரியும்னு கிளையன்ட் கிட்ட சொல்லி எப்படியாவது ஆன் சைட் அனுப்பிருவாங்க.
அதெப்டிங்க பெரியவள வீட்ல வெச்சுகிட்டு சின்னவள கட்டி குடுத்தா ஊரு தப்பா பேசாதுங்களாங்கறா மாதிரி சீனியர் resourse அ வெச்சு கிட்டு ஜூனியர் resourse யும் ஆன்சைட் அனுப்ப மாட்டாங்க…

ப்ராஜெக்ட் வந்ததுக்கப்புறம் போன்ல கூப்பிட்டு " நம்ப கிட்ட ஏற்கனவே குழாய்வழியா (Pipeline ல) இருந்த "வருமோவராதோ" ப்ராஜெக்ட் வந்திருக்கு. நீங்க கெளம்பறதுக்கு தயாராகிகோங்கன்னு ஒரு 10 பேரு கிட்ட தனித்தனியா சொல்லுவாங்க, இவனுகளும் நெசமாத்தான் சொல்றியானு ஆனந்தி மாதிரி கேட்டுக்கிட்டு, உடனே ஷாட்ட இங்க கட் பண்ணி ஃபாரின்ல ஓபன் பண்ணிருவானுக. ஒரு ரெண்டு வாரத்துக்கு தரையிலயே நடக்க மாட்டானுக. பில்லா படத்துல வர்ற மாதிரி ரீ-ரெகார்டிங் இல்லாமையே நடப்பானுக, திரும்புவானுக, பாப்பானுக. மேல இருந்து கூப்பிட்டு தவிர்க்க முடியாத சில காரணங்களால வேறு ஒருத்தர் போறாரு நீங்க கொஞ்ச நாளைக்கு "ஏங்கடாபோங்கடா" ப்ரொஜெக்ட கன்டினியூ பண்ணுங்கன்னு சொன்னதுக்கப்புறம் தான் "I am Back" ன்னு தரைக்கே வருவாங்க..அப்பறம் கொஞ்ச நாளைக்கு "வார்த்தை தவறிவிட்டாய்"ன்னு ஸ்லோ மோஷன்ல நடக்க ஆரம்பிச்சிருவானுக!! ..

ஒரு ப்ராஜெக்ட் புதுசா வருதுன்னாலே, எல்லார் வாயிலையும் அவுல போட்ட மாதிரி ஆயிரும்…. அவன் போவான் இவ போவான்னு எல்லாரும் கெழக்க பார்த்திட்டு இருந்தா மேக்க ஒருத்தன் மொதல்லையே கெளம்பி போயிருப்பான்…

மேல இருக்கறவங்க, முதல்வன்ல ரகுவரன் சொல்ற மாதிரி அகலாது அணுகாது ஒரு தொலை நோக்கு பார்வையோட பாத்து ஒரு பொதுவான முடிவாத்தான் எடுப்பாங்க… "ஒன் டே squad ல ரெய்னாவுக்கு பதில கைப்ப எதுக்கு எடுத்தாங்க" ங்கற மாதிரி ஆக்ரோசமா ஆறு நாளைக்கு அத பத்தி பேசிட்டு அதுக்கப்றம் ஆறாவது நாள் அவங்கவங்க வேலைய அமைதியா பாக்க ஆரம்பிச்சிருவாங்க.

ஆன்சைட் போனவன் "அக்கறை சீமை அழகினிலே", நியூயார்க் நகரம் உறங்கும் நேரம்" பாடிக்கிட்டு அந்த கெத்த அப்படியே மெயின்டையின் பண்ணிகிட்டிருப்பான்….நம்பாளு "சொர்கமே என்றாலும் அது நம்மூர போல வருமா", "இந்திய நாடு நம் நாடு இந்தியன் என்பது என்பேரு" ன்னு காந்தியவாதி ரேஞ்சுல பீலிங்ச போட்டுட்டு அவர அவரே ஆறுதல் படுத்திக்குவாரு.

சரி இப்போ ஒருத்தன(பேச்சுலர) செலக்ட் பண்ணிட்டாங்கன்னு வெச்சுகோங்க. மொதல்ல அவன் work permit எடுக்கணும் அப்பறம் visa எடுக்கணும்.. இதுக்கான காலக்கெடு நம்ப போற நாட்ட பொறுத்து மாறும். US னா ஒரு வருஷம் ஆகும் (அது வரைக்கும் நம்ப உசுரோட இருக்கோமோ இல்லையோ) Uk னா ஒரு மாசம் ஆகும். இதுல US விசா எடுக்கறதுல மட்டும் ஒரு உயரமானவெளிச்சம் (highlight)! என்னன்னா ஒரு கம்பெனி எத்தன விசாவ consulate ல submit பண்ணாலும், வருசத்துக்கு இவளோ பேரைத்தான் அனுப்புவாங்கன்னு ஒரு கணக்கு இருக்கு….அதனால சிக்கிம் சூப்பர், பூட்டான், மணிப்பூர் லாட்டரி மாதிரி computerised லாட்டரி சிஸ்டத்துல செலக்ட் பண்ணுவாங்க அப்புறம் இன்னார் இன்னார் செலக்ட் ஆயிட்டாங்கன்னு சேதி வரும்…அதுக்கும் பொறகு consulateகாரன் நாள் குறிச்சி கூப்புட்டனுப்சு, ஏன் போற எதுக்கு போறேன்னு விதி படத்துல டைகர் தயாநிதிய சுஜாதா கேக்கற மாதிரி கேட்டு, கொடஞ்சு நம்ப பாஸ்போர்ட்ல குமுக்குனு ஒரு குத்து குத்துனாதான் நம்ப பயலுக லேசா சிரிப்பானுக இல்லேனா மந்திரிச்சு உட்ட மாதிரி ஆயிருவானுக!

இந்த லாட்டரில பேரு வரதுக்குள்ள அவனவன் படர பாடு இருக்கே….அறிஞர் அண்ணா சொன்ன மாதிரி "விழுந்தா வீட்டுக்கு விழாட்டா நாட்டுக்குன்னு இருக்கறவன்" சந்தோசமா இருப்பான். "இந்த சாப்ட்வேர் வேலை எனக்கு புடிச்சிருந்துச்சு, என் பேரு அன்புசெல்வன்…US என்னோட 25 வருஷ கனவு, தவம்"னு கெளதம் பட ஹீரோ கணக்கா டயலாக் விடறவனெல்லாம் கொஞ்ச நாளைக்கு குவாட்டர் அடிச்ச கொரங்கு மாதிரியே திரியுவானுக!

நூத்துக்கு எண்பது சதவீதம் US இல்ல UK ல தான் ஆன்சைட் அமையும்…சரி ஒரு வழியா விசா கிடைச்சிருச்சுனா. மொதல்ல நமக்காக சொன்ன ப்ராஜெக்ட் இன்னும் நமக்காத்தான் இருக்கான்னு பாக்கணும். இல்லேன்னா அடுத்த பஸ் வெடியால அஞ்சுமணிக்குத்தான் அது வரைக்கும் இப்படி ஓரமா உக்காந்துக்கப்பான்னு இந்த கிராமத்துல எல்லாம் சொல்ற மாதிரி அடுத்த ப்ராஜெக்ட் வர்ற வரைக்கும் பேசாம உக்காந்திருக்க வேண்டியது தான்…

இல்ல சினிமால சொல்றாப்ல "உனக்கு அவதான், அவளுக்கு நீ தான்னு சின்ன வயசுலேயே முடிவாயிருச்சு" ங்கற மாதிரி நம்ம நேரம் வொர்க் அவுட் ஆயிருச்சுன்னா டபுள் ஓகே.. இப்போ அடுத்து கிளையன்ட் எப்போ கூப்பிடுவான்னு காத்திருக்கணும்…அப்டியே தோராயமா எப்போ கெளம்பறோங்கறத நம்ப மேலதிகாரிங்ககிட்ட கேக்க வேண்டியதுதான்…அவங்களும் monday கெளம்பற மாதிரி பாத்துக்கோங்கன்னு சொல்லுவாங்க, ஆனா எந்த monday னு அவங்களும் சொல்ல மாட்டங்க நாமளும் கேக்க மாட்டோம்

வாரக்கணக்கு நாள்கணக்கு ஆனவொடனே நம்பளும் இந்த தடவ கெளம்பிருவோம்போல தெரியுதேன்னு பர்சேசிங்கையும், பாக்கிங்கையும் ஆரம்பிச்சுருவோம்.Financial settlement கள், சிம் கார்டு சரண்டர்கள்னு நாட்கள் பரபரப்பா போயிட்டிருக்கும்.
இதுக்கெடைல நம்ப பாசக்கார பய புள்ளைக அப்பப்போ போன் பண்ணி கண்டவனெல்லாம் சொல்லி நீ ஆன்சைட் போறது எனக்கு தெரிய வேண்டி இருக்குன்னு பீலிங்க வேற போடுவானுக…இதுல என்ன கொடுமைனா ஏற்கனவே ரெண்டு தடவ வெறும் டாட்டா மட்டும் சொல்லி பல்பு வாங்குனது அவனுக்கும் நல்லாவே தெரியும்…



Lot of my friends have gone through this, its funny when you see it now.Thanks to Shankar for sending this.

Does 8/100 of a second Matter?

Olympics started off to a gala opening on Thursday. Opening Ceremony was simply too good. Yesterday I saw 4x100 Olympics Men’s free style swimming competition, one of the best swimming race I have ever seen. Previous world record for 4x100 is 3:12:46, Team Canada finished the race in 3:12:26(which is world record by itself) and came 6th, which was the quality of the race. There was a tough competition between Team US and Team France, aided by their off field rivalry. French were ahead till the last moment, before the US Relay team captain Jason Lezak scripted a comeback from behind victory, Team US finished the race on 3:28:24, Team France finished it on 3:28:32 a margin of 8/100 of a second. 8/100 of a second did really matter to Team France.

Madras Kappi

I was born in Srilliviputtur( birth place of famous hindu god Andal) a small town in the southern part of TamilNadu but was brought up in chennai famously called as Madras and very very famous for Madras kappi. What is Madras Kappi? Coffee made from Coffee beans(powder) and chicory with lot of milk with coffee allowed to be filtered overnight just by gravity. My mom makes very very good Filter coffee or Madras kappi to be called. Aroma of she making coffee in the morning can definitely wake you up. I miss those days when I had a filter coffee in hand and reading Hindu Newspaper sports page in the morning. My dad use to scold us badly for directly going to the sports page in the Paper, we never heard his words on that. I don’t think people will have so much patience to make filter coffee in this modern world. Todays world is Instant world right from coffee to making instant Idli. I guess Filter coffee will be soon added to the extinction list.

40 to 31 in 1 year

I wasn’t into running till last June 2007. I went for my vacation to India in May. I was quite heavy then weighing 220 pounds( 100 kgs). I got quite a few nice comments about my looks and how heavy I am from my so called friends and relations. I was very very upset about one of my old volleyball colleague’s comment asking on when is my marriage and I look like a 29-30 year old guy. I wasn’t a heavy guy in college, it all happened after I joined cognizant for work, due to heavy coffee drinking, food and no exercise helped me ballon from 72 kgs to 100 kgs within 2 ½ years. After coming to US in December 2005, the un-healthy life style continued, my fondness for choclate and with no one to curtail me from not eating it didn’t help me either. One Hershey or Mars bar for a snack in evening was too much for my body. I did not realise that I was getting heavy for a long time reason being, people who are around me are also heavier. Only after going to India I realized how heavy I am, my mom wasn’t happy either with my weight. She had her reasons to worry, child hood friend of mine had his first heart attack at the age of 24 thanks to high cholestrol and heavy weight. I did not have a clue on how to reduce my weight but I had a motivation that I have to reduce my weight.

I have never run for a long distance in my life. Longest as far as I remember was 400 metres race in high school and in that too I ran for first 300 metres and walked for the remaining 100 metres, I finished the race though. I was very active kid in high school, I played volleyball for school but that doesn’t require much moving around or running, I participated in shotput, discus throw and javelin throw in zonal/school district competition. I use to go in my bicyle to school( still remember the day when my dad bought me my first bi-cycle, I was so proud as if I was the king of the world), I have to ride 5kms one-way, It kept me really really slim. After returning back to US I started thinking on how to reduce my weight then I realized what I did when I was in High school, so I got a confidence that I can reduce my weight. I asked for suggestions from people who have decreased there weight. One of my client Systems analyst was weighed a whopping 380 pounds, he decreased his weight from 380 to 220 pounds in 1 year. He had some good motivation for decreasing his weight, he has a small passport size photo of when he was heavy on his desk. He advised me to have my photo in which I am looking heavy on my desktop as wallpaper and the moment I see that I will be off to working out. Actually his idea did really motivate me. I thought of just jotting down Some of the tips what I learned from other people who have decreased weight and what I did to decrease my weight . I chose running for decreasing my weight since it was the fastest and healthiest way suggested by my doctor
• Buy a weighing machine and weigh yourself daily morning and evening.
• Buy a Nice running shoes, probaly you have to shell out somewhere around 80-100$ on a running shoe, but it definitely does worth it.
• Buy some good branded play dry t-shirts. I hate wearing cotton when I am running, cotton t-shirts or shorts absorbs sweat and becomes heavy in the course of running and made me to feel tired. Play dry t-shirts evaporate the sweat and helps in running.
• Buy some play dry shorts. It helps in running similar to play dry t-shirts.
• Keep yourself hydrated when you are running. I prefer water.
• Buy 4 or 5 head bands to use for running. Lot of people have aversion towards using head bands. Head bands helps in absorbing the sweat from the head and prevents it from dripping down to the face. It feels lot better to run with a Head band. It does worth to spend some 4 to 5 4 on a head band.
• If you are starting to run for the first time in the tread mill then start with a speed of 4.5 or 5 Miles per hour and run for around 5 mins @ the start. Then start increasing the timing slowly. After a week if you are feeling comfortable with running at 4.5 miles per hour then increase it to 4.8 and try running for the same time.
• Most of the gyms have TV nowadays, try to find a nice show for the time you are running, go to the gym for seeing the show and run when you are watching the show. I like seeing Everybody Loves Raymond, I use to align my running time when the show comes on TV. It will keep me occupied.
• If you are using some music player when you are running get a nice wristband or arm band for the music player, it helps in the natural free flowing hand motion when running. Holding the music player in hand or in pocket made me conscious about the presence of music player and I would concentrate on not dropping it on the floor than actually running.
• Lot of motivation and will power is needed for running daily, lot of times I wont feel like running at all but the moment I switch on my laptop and see the wallpaper I will be off to running.
• You may not see the weight loss results immediately. Donot lose hope, it happened a lot with my friends, they will run for a week and if they don’t see result then they will stop running.
• I feel lot confident about myself after decreasing my weight, I am able to do lot of outdoor activities, my endurance has increased a lot.

Now you maye be wondering on why I kept such a blog heading, it is my waist size. I was 40 inches in June 2007 and I am 31 inches now.

Myself in June 2007




Myself in May 2008

Google Analytics

If you are an avid blogger and with lot of people visiting your blog then this is something that you have to add to your site. It is yet another wonderful product from Google. It gives you a good idea on which geography, which ISP you get hits for your blog, what is the users language preference. It does provide some good reports and clickable maps on the User Visit information. Due to privacy concerns Google Analytics does not give preference for tracking IP Addresses. Tool is free till 5 million hits to your page per month. Adding the Google analytics tracking to your blog is very easy, just copy paste the JavaScript (with tracking application info) to the blog.

I love my pulsar

Only major decision i took against my dads advice was buying a pulsar in 2005 Feb. Though I drove the bike only for 10 months, I really fell in love with my sweet pulsar, funny part was my dad started liking my pulsar better than any other Bike, he is driving it now in India, I dont regret buying pulsar against my dads advice.Iam not new to driving mopeds/bikes, I started driving my dads Bajaj M80( we are bajaj family, all the 3 mopeds/bikes in my house was bajaj) when i was in the 5th standard. I love driving my pulsar early in the morning, wearing my Ferrari Stickered Helmet( was red in color, most of my friends dont like my helmet,but i love my helmet though) with my helmets visor up, fresh air hitting the face, that was heaven.It was 27 kms drive from my house to Tidel Park, I use to make it in 40 mins in the morning. I still have that love for Bikes, but being in scranton, even I buy a good one , I can drive only for 4 months in a year and remaining 8 months the bike has to be in the garage.I feel like buying a Bike If I am moving to some other warmer place.

Ven Pongal

I am a big fan of Ven Pongal, I did not have a proper ven pongal since I came to US. Lady luck shined on us, new friend of mine who moved from India to Scranton a month back offered to cook Ven Pongal for us(in total 5 of us) yesterday night. It all started when we were planning on what to do on saturday night. We searched for proper pressure cooker and all the required ingredients to be added and finally started cooking @around 9.45 in the night( not bad for a saturday night). Then there was a discussion on what chutney to be made for pongal, cocunut chutney was decided on vote. Green chilli and Pepper for pongal had to be borrowed from my friends apartment. I had a wish that pongal will be good with chutney and sambar too, that combination is just too awesome. Lady luck again smiled on us again, one of my friend who was there had made sambar in afternoon, we brought that in and made some adjustments( liquified it to some extent) for pongal. MMMMMMMMMMMM it was yummy, it was worth spending sometime on cooking pongal and eating it, i was taken back to India when my mom use to make pongal on sunday morning. Thanks to our chief cook Jagadish for making the pongal so yummy.

Long Time!!!!!

I did lot of traveling from the time I wrote my last blog. I am not an avid blogger, but lot of outdoor activity has kept me away from blogging for a long time.

Trip to Vegas

I went to Vegas with some of my friends, it was hell lot of fun. While going to Vegas, the flight landed ahead of time in Vegas, wow what a surprise, it never happens in US. While returning back it was on time and I reached office on time. We stayed in different casinos on different nights to get a feel of the casino. Some of my friends were introduced to gambling and they where just hooked on the slot machines. Most of the time in the Casino or sight seeing went in taking profile
pics :), thanks to Navin a great photographer( made me to look good in the photos).
The amazing part is the desert has been converted into such a booming place, interiors of some of the casinos were mind blowing. We went to a show called Le Reeve( Dreams in French) , though I couldnt understand the essence of the show, the acrobatics in the show was too good. I definitely want to take my parents to the show when they come to US.

Trip to Chicago

I did not plan for the next long trip but it just happened immediately after my visit to vegas, I and 5 of my friends went on a road trip from Scranton (actually 4 of them drove from Hartford, CT) to Chicago. Wow it was lot of fun on the road, got to know them better. I went to Chicago to see my school friend Kasi, he is a real nerd, we visited lot of museums. I did like Chicago a lot, it is a windy city, the skyline is just awesome, in most of the movies the skyline that is been shown is the chicago skyline. I bumped into some of my old friends in Chicago downtown, quite a lot of change from the last time I saw them. Drive back from Chicago to Scranton was good, though I could not drive both ways since I am an underage (below 25) driver, stupid rental car companies here does not allow underage drivers to drive the car.

I am looking forward my next trip soon...