Veyil Agni Veyil - CHENNAI HOT HOT SUMMER

After 3 weeks of busy roaming around the city in HOT HOT AGNI VEYIL(SUMMER) to complete some personal commitments, I finally able to find time and good internet connection to shoot out this blog after a short break.

I actually dreamed of a fun vacation but it turned to be a HOT one. Chennai HOT HOT days peaked to the max of 110-112F last week really which spoiled my fun dreams. What a atrocious summer?! Its totally unacceptable from the SUN buddy to broil us with his hot sun rays and test our limits.

Its not just me who came from America is complaining about it. It came from the chennai people and they themselves couldn't tolerate this Agni hot days inspite of having air conditions in the cars and shopping complexes.

I am from Houston(USA) and I have seen Hot summers but this one is entirely different. I always used to come to chennai in winter season but this time because of personal reasons I had to visit in summer. I thought I can manage being native chennaiwala few years ago. But I was failed. This hot summer taught me a lesson to not to come again in this season.

Madras nalla madrasdanda samy!!! I had to travel almost everyday to different parts of the city to visit my relatives in the car with A/c switched on. I still felt the beat of the heat from the top of the car making my head to spin. Even when I stayed at home, I kept sweating with the fan running on top of me in the high speed. The heat waves and hot breeze just keep hitting the body all around to make a worse experience.

I can't imagine how bad it will be for people in villages and other places living without a fan or a/c facility. Their live would have been horrible during these summer days.

I was able found shelter for 3 days in KodaiKanal(Hill station) taking a break from this hot days. But the break made it real worse when I got back to chennai. I felt the sun torcher more and more and couldn't withstand the heat waves.

The cold water and soft drinks straight from the refridgerator like Fanta, Maaza(my favorite) couldn't stop to the thrist but they all tried its best to give a bit of relief to take me to a splash ride.

Its slowly getting better for the past couple days but I have only a week to spare in this hot summer. I leave next friday back to Houston to make myself ready to take the heat from the other side of the world. I guess its all in the game of life!!!

HOMECOMING - Vacation Trip to India

Like getting to America is a Dream come true for many people. Going to India from America for a vacation is also one of big dream event for many NRI families. I don't want to talk for anybody but I have seen that its always the case most of the time. They would totally agree with me or atleast they won't deny my statement.

First of all, its tough to get a month(reasonable length to enjoy) long vacation from the busy work schedule and second timing has to be perfect enough to have fun with the family. These two things is never easy to make it happen. Its not an exception for me either.

Going to India needs lot of planning and preparation. Its not an easy task. You have to plan atleast 6 months in advance. First step of all, I had to request leave for the vacation from work for a month. As you soon you say, a Month acation. "A MONTH LONG VACATION", thats too long. Its tough for them to understand why need that long. They will ask "n" number of questions which need to be answered with patience to convince them to get the approval.

Once you get the approval for certain dates you wanted, now you need to find out whether you can get a reasonable flight ticket for that dates. Its a tricky thing and a catch 22. You will find good fare tickets, but it doesn match your dates. You won't get good fare ticket for the dates you got the leave. Its tough decision to run around. After calling number of agents, I finally got the closest ticket fare you can afford for the days you wanted go.

Next comes the biggest task of all. Buying gifts for relatives. You have to start putting a big list of people who are important to you and your wifes family. Then start thinking in term of what they might use and need? From that list, you need try and find items which you can buy in US for a good price. You also need to think in terms of the space limitation. You can't buy everything and anything. You have to buy it lite but have face weight to gift it. If you buy too much, its tough to fit in the baggage limitation of the Airlines. Its a mind boggling activity.

I did start preping 6months ago and planned to get this all done slowly to avoid tension at last minute to have good trip. I been waiting for this trip since Nov 06. My 5 day count down started this Monday. I am on my final day of the countdown. Now every hour passes like a day, as it gets closer and closer. Time is not moving fast anymore like it used to.

Its been 2 years since I visited my motherland. It doesn't seem that long but its long enough to long for lot of things. For some people, 2 years is too close as they only get to every 4-5 years. I salute them for the sacrifice. I don't think I can do that. I am really looking forward for this trip after 2 years. This trip which is going to be interesting one with lot of planned activities including the one to meet with sulekha bloggers.

It will be totally a different trip compared to the previous ones. There is a paradiagm shift in my thought process. I am now a father and every body will start looking at me as a family man. I am nolonger just a married man. I have more responsibilities and it gets too complicated from there. Now I need to think of things to take for my son for a month so he won't any problem in india. I have to think of things to buy for him in India so you can learn things like every other kid in India. Just a thought, it won't work always. The list just gets longer and longer.

As usual, it will be blast to see all my relative and friends. They get to see my son for the first time after his birth(after a year). I get to see my son play his own set of new friends. Its going to interesting to watch him learn new things and try to fit in the family. We have planned few tradition activites for him which would of good importance.

Anyways, its all for goodtimes. I just can't wait anymore. I am finally packed and ready to leave. It took me 3days to complete the packing as its tough to dump everything in just 2 suitcases with a limit of just 23kgs. You have things to buy for people since you going after 2 years. Its tradeoff of space. Somehow I did it and got over it. Now I am just counting on each hour passing by until I get to the Airport tomorrow to catch my flight. After that, I will still be counting for another 20hours until I reach Chennai.

I am hoping for a good trip with loads of fun and another set of memorable events to be stored in my memory to last for another 3 more years. I am going to try to login and post blogs whenever I get chance. Lets see how it goes...

Email with Smiley's

Email - Electronic mail has emerged as the strong media of communication in the past 2/3 decades of Internet era. Everyday tons and tons of emails flies from one end of planet to the other without any obstacles reaching its destination whether rain or shine. It transformed the day-today communication pipeline from the slower snail mail way to a much faster and revolutionary media with great modern touch.

It can be basically divided into into 2 broad categories, personal and business oriented. Business transactions become so easy and faster than ever with the email service. Like example, you order a book in amazon and you get an immediate confirmation email from the seller which guarantees, they have received your order with the status every time instead of waiting for days to find out.

On the other side, Personal emails has transcended from its initial level to its current stage with lot more add-on functionalities to add pictures and movies and much more. It is also moved out from the old 1KB bottleneck period to its 1GB space, giving more freedom to the emailers with a competitive and diversed nature embedded in them. When I first got here, I wrote letters to my parent using foreign inland envelope which took 7-10days to reach them. Now they don't have to wait that long. At a click of the button, they will get my letter via email in a blink of a second. Its that fast as you all know.

But at same time, I didn't want to diminish the essence of getting snail mails or hand written letters. They are always precious, giving true originality with a different feeling all-together compared to the emails. It reflects the real sense of the message that senders wants to pass on own hand writing. There is no doubt about it. In this fast moving world, snail mail main purpose has be vanished and its used mainly for marketing purposes. That's entirely a different topic to all-together.

Lets segway back the email conversation. With this paramount need for email communication at this time of age, there is not much effort has been put in place to educate a common person or individual to write a well defined mails to communicate effectively. We write 2 sentences for a one liner information or send single liner which might need to be explained with more words. We either underdo it or go over the limit to overdo it. It will never be the same message you want to get across to another person, if you don't know how to write an effective email.

I have learned some good practices and nitty gritty things in my past personal and professional experience which helps me everyday to get across the message effectively.

First thing first, we usually don't think about the subject or message context deeply before we type it. We just put some random thoughts together about that topic and just press send. Sometime it works but most of time it creates problems.

Instead, before you ever type anything into a new message, have explicit answers for two questions:

• Why am I writing this?
• What exactly do I want the result of this message to be?

If you can answer to these questions, that answer will definitely drive you to write a good email with proper message.

Next important thing is the Subject line. Subject line is like the title of an article. In few words you should convey the abstract of the message. It summarizes the whole request concerned in the message. Avoid using too attention-putting words just to get the recipient attention to read your message. And do not use the word URGENT at all or in capitals, except when it really is very urgent.

Some Examples:

• Reminder: Meeting reschd to 2pm.
• HELP: Can you defrag my C drive?
• Thanks for the new liver–works great!

After getting the right subject line, you need to address the email properly according to person. That's where Greetings play a important role.

Greeting: The first word in the message text area may be a greeting. A one-word greeting is often used. Using a greeting makes the message more personal. There are a number of ways to write the greeting. You may just give the recipient's first or last name. Or you may just write the word "Greeting". Do not use traditional letter greetings such as "Dear Sirs" or "Gentlemen". You can "Hi" or "Hello" or "Dear first name,"

After the greeting, the first sentence of your message is the another important part in your message. The important might vary according to each person and situation. You can start casually like "How are you?" or "You can introduce yourself". When a person reads your message, he or she has at least five questions in mind like, who and what, when and where, and why. Your job is to answer these questions.

Answers to these questions should be in the first paragraph. Then if needed, the supporting information to these questions should be in further paragraphs. As you start writing, you need to make sure why you are writing. What is your purpose? Are you writing to ask, inform, persuade or motivate, or am I writing with more than one purpose in mind. Then you ask yourself what information will accomplish my purpose.

Put yourself into the reader's shoes. Then help him or her get the most important information right in the first sentence. The writing of a good first sentence may take nearly as much time as the writing of the rest of the message.

Key Points: When possible, use lists of key-points. This makes the message easier to read. There are at least three ways to organize lists in email. You may embed the list in your text and save space.

An embedded list is used usually for items that are presented in a particular order. The first point would be (1), the second point would be (2) etc. These points are easy to see and follow.

1. A numbered list is similar to the above list, except that each line starts with a new number and the bracets are omitted.

2. Thus this is an example of a numbered list of two items.

* You may also use bullets, that may look like an asterisk * or a dash-.* These are written in front of the line and make the items stand out.* Bullets are used when there is no particular sequence to the list.* This is an example of bullets.

Closings:Finally the Closings of the email. The usual closing is your name. If you are in doubt that the recipient know you well, use your full name. And do so also for class assignments. With a friend that you write back and forth all the time, the first name is sufficient. Some people like to end with the words "Regards""Cheers" "Thanks", or the abbreviation for thanks, "THK", followed by their name. There is usually no punctuation mark after the your name in the closing. You may put two hyphens before your closing in order to set it off, like --Regards, Vijai

As per my experience from the day I started using emails till today, email has taken different avatars to transform itself to get to the current simpler form. We are now see icons called Emoticons being used to express the mood of the sender.

Emoticons: To share with your recipient your feelings about something, some people use "emoticons." These are generally understood symbols that communicate feelings. A smile is, if you turn your head sideways, looks like :-). A frown is :-(, a big smile is :-D, a wink is ;-). An "Oh, no1" is :-o. There are many more like this. Some people use acronyms like IMO, in my opinion, or BTW, by the way, CYA for See you, or FYI that stands for For your information.

The nice style for email writing is called netiquette.

Here is some Do's and Don'ts,
1) Write replies immediately and don't put on hold. If you do want to take time, send a quick acknowledgement of your receipt of the email.
2) Use kind language, never be rude. Some people write insulting email called "flaming". There is no need to do so. Like in all relationships, kindness goes a long way.
3) Do not use all capitals. That is called shouting and it is not polite.
4) Do not underline or use bold face, your computer may not understand that.

5) Add spell checker or try to do spell checking as an habit before you send.

6) Don't use acronymns when it can be avoided. Not everybody is a geek like you.

7) Use colors and pictures as and when needed only. Don't overdo your message, it might send a wrong signal.

8) Don't send big bulk files seperately in your message. Make Zip file of it and send it as one file which would help the receiver a ton.

9) No thanks - In more informal settings and in high-volume mail environments, it’s not necessary to respond with a “Thanks” email whenever someone does what you asked. Save your gratitude for the next time you pass in the hall; a one-word “Thanks” email can be crufty and unnecessary. On the other hand, don’t hesitate to thank someone. Just use your judgement to decide on it.

10) Finally, do the right thing of reviewing your message the last time before you click the send button. Trust me, it helps a lot and saved me few times.

These pointers helps to take the emails to next level instead of just words and sentences to communicate effectively and efficiently.

Just turned 249 today...

Obviously, I am not talking about my age. I would love to live that long but I am just little excited and happy to share my accomplishment in getting to Rank #249 from Rank #10590 today. It only took me 95 posts and few comments to get there in 114 days. It was a good journey with nice experience in writing and learning to reach this milestone in my first ever blogging adventure. I am just thrilled on getting to board with TOP BLOGGER list under Rank #250.

This is not just a post to brag about myself on becoming one of the top 250 blogger. Its about the one of small moments which happens to few bloggers to cherish the effort put forth. Its time to look back a bit to dwell on the road travelled during the journey which would help me to fine tune myself to continue further to contribute more.

I just happen to signup Sulekha to put a classified ad in 2004 but only published my first blog in Apr 2005. I never turned back to this side after that until I get the mail from Sulekha team this Jan which encouraged me to start back again on my blogging to take on the adventure of experiencing blogger world which got hotter in recent days.

I was always a goal oriented person. I set goals for anything whether its big or small I wish to do. So I set out the goal to reach the top blogger list before I leave India for my vacation in May first week. Some may say its silly but it was't that easy. Once I got into it, blogging community kept me alive and addicted with the drug of some featured blogs and encouraging comments from vivid sulekha bloggers.

I know lot of people don't like the ranking system but its a paddle to push to deliver your best. To tell frankly, its not just the ranking system which pushed me to get here. Its the like minded people who encouraged me all along with their valuable and kind comments like a tonic for me to write more and more to contribute to this community. I am not saying just because to get more comments on this post.

I really mean it. If I don't get comments on a post, I would think may I didn't present this right. May be I have to do better in my next post. It helps me to reevaluate my work and do better it. So I really mean that this blog community is way better than any one I ever seen. Every blogger in this community is a part and parcel of every other blogger growth.

I like to thank some of my blogger friends for encouraging and supporting with your kind words. Comments are always boost for any bloggers. I am strong believer of the idea to encourage a person which will push them to achieve more. Simply saying, "Pat your back on every milestone, that will help to get you going further more ahead".

I thought it will be cake walk to reach the 250 with some post and comments. But it wasn't really. It was a fly get to rank 1000 posting some silly blogs but after that its just take forever in small turtle step forward. It takes every effort from you to contribute a good post to publish and get acknowledged from bloggers.

Since I always track my effort which helps me to plan to reach my goal. I can tell you that it took me only 1month to get to 500 from 1000 but it took the same amount of time to go from 500 to 250. This is my 96th blog post, 4 away from my century. I also used to share my featured blogs and growth with my wife and send the links to my friends. They congratulate and wish me best with their kind words which really pushed me to do deliver more and more..

Blogging really changed a lot in me as person to express and share my thoughts openly to like minded people to get some valuable feedback. It also opened me a door to write to express my view point and learn from others. It is also a place to involve others and impress them on your ideas. I been learning some good words lately which I started using in my day-today life.

There is lot more to it than just posting the blog and writing comments. I am not sure how I am going to continue to contribute when my wife and kid come from vacation. Its going to be hard but I am going to try my best to contribute to share my views..

My featured posts(last 4months)

Its a bandh or bad Showcase - Feb 14th - Rank 2070

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/02/its-a-bandh-or-bad-showcase-.htm

Braveheart - Taste the essence of Success - Feb 27th - Rank 1371

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/02/braveheart-mantra-s.htm

TOUR OF SPACE CITY HOUSTON - Apr 11th - Rank 293

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/04/tour-of-space-city-houston.htm

My First Marathon - A real story - Apr 17th - Rank 272

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/04/my-first-ever-marathon-a-real-story.htm

A Miracle yet to Happen - Apr 24th - Rank 249

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/04/miracle-yet-to-happen.htm

My Posts (I liked not featured)

Our next President

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/02/who-is-our-next-president-take-your-pick.htm

Change in our cusine culture

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/04/pizzaaa-hot-pizza-ssss-one-slice-rs-30.htm

My dental appointment

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/03/my-dental-appointment.htm

GrandPrix Houston

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/04/grandprix-of-houston.htm

Do you believe in luck?

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/03/do-you-believe-in-luck.htm

Tough sport -Revealed

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/03/a-tough-sport-unrevealed.htm

Real sense of humor (not my original)

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/03/real-sense-of-humor-dare-to-read-it.htm

Only in Texas

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/03/only-in-texas-usa.htm

My Short Stories (I liked)

Footsteps in all walks of life

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/03/in-all-walks-ofour-life.htm

Its not cheap anymore...

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/04/offering-is-not-cheap-anymore-93-words.htm

Bus Stand - Part I

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/04/the-bus-stand-part-i.htm

Bus Stand - End Part

http://houstonvijai.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/04/the-bus-stand-end-part.htm

Enjoy blogging and blog on....

Go Green, Go Green...

Yesterday, the world celebrated the 38th Earth Day with great festivity in honoring Mother Nature in many ways. What intrigued me the most to write this blog was the activities I saw in the TV channels.

I found its the only day, we get to hear more meaningful discussions about Green house projects. We get to see one full day of advertisements on some GOING GREEN projects. We get free in-house education on environmental oriented topics all over the channels. We get to hear some suprising analysis on the effect of the global warming.

Its the one day we get to watch more about the ways companies are taking initiatives to make a shift in a way they think about energy resources.. Its day we get to hear big celebrities talk about saving world in their own way in front of big audience.

One way, I was happy to see this change in paradigm taking place in the past few years. Lot more people are talking openly and thinking more clear on making the earth a better and safer place to live. That's a very good thing. Instead of Earth day being just a festivity to celebrate mother nature, gear is now slowly shifting towards creating awareness among people and warning the world with more proofs than ever on global warming effects.

We are seeing more tsunamis than ever. We are hearing that ice is melting faster all around poles which has a drastic effect on the climate shift. Its going to create drought in many countries. We are hearing plenty of activities going on under the sea with shift in plates and so forth.

More than ever, billions of dollars are now pooled into the research to find ways of using natural resources for consumer consumption. But on the flip side, I feel shame on the media and other big people for not talking and thinking on this topic more often and frequently. Its should be considered as one of the important agenda's in every government and create aggressive measures.

I feel that every government in every country has work to do in this common mission. When I saw Al Gore(Former US President) in last Oscar award ceremony talking about global warming.. I was really surprised and happy about it.. A big leader stepping in front to work for a global cause. He said, its nothing to do with religion or culture. Its a global mission and its the time we should start thinking and act on it. I totally reflect his thoughts. As he said, we need start educating more and more people every day to preserve nature and work towards a common goal & plan.

I am person of taking initiatives before I point fingers. I myself was shamed for not doing anything very fruitful to this global cause. I was just a bit by planting trees and plants but that wasn't enough. I found few simple things which we all can do take the initiative to support this global mission.

• Recycle all of your home's waste newsprint, cardboard, glass, plastic and metal if possible. Avoid littering the public place.

• Install a solar water heater system to help provide your hot water.

• Buy energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs for your most-used lights.

• Buy food and other products with less packaging, or reusable /recyclable packaging instead of those in non-recyclable packaging.

• Plant a tree once in a while,if everyone on the planet did we we would be able to slowdown the destructive processes

Check out this below links for more information and keep you updated.. Shed the word around and help create more awareness.

http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/f101.asp

http://events.stepitup2007.org/

http://www.stepitup2007.org/

Be aware of facts and take responsibility to help make this world a better place to live for our children. That's my take. Whats yours?

GRANDPRIX CAR RACE OF Houston

Today, I had an exhilarating experience of watching the GrandPrix Car Race in Houston. This is the first time I ever watched a car race so close in my life.

Last week, my friend called me and asked whether I wanted to use 2 free tickets he has for the event. I said, why not ? "Boys like cars and Gals like dolls", always even after they grow older. I don't think I am an exception to that worldwide phenomena. This is a good chance for me to witness the car race closer and especially being a forced bachelor who has lot of time to kill. Thanks to my friend who offered us free tickets.

I happily accepted the offer and immediately turned around to email a friend who is my best bet to accompany me for the event. He readily accepted my offer as he also never seen the race. I was so excited being a person who always look out for new fun experiences. Also I used to see the races in TV's when I was kid. They used to show races which happened every year in Cholavaram near chennai.

I advertised all over my work place that I am going to GrandPrix this weekend. My boss said its really loud man. I said, thats OK without sensing the fact of it.

Like boys day out, we(3 of us) were there at the Reliant Area (where the race happens) on time for the first one. When we checked in, I could hear the loud noise of the cars going so fast there itself.

Looks like the race was already started. We found our seats and immersed ourselves to the race with so amazing with fast moving cars passes every minute.. After being there for 15mins, my ears totally couldn't hear a thing. I remembered my boss words now.. He is right, its loud, so loud with cars zooming in 120mph speed

ZOOOOOOOOm................ ZOoooooooooooom....

Race Stage - Reliant Arena



Car Pit Stops:




Start of the race - Fast Track 100 Laps





Here is the movie snapshot of that experience which recorded in my digital camera. Enjoy it for a min and relish the moments to feel what I am talking about. You will immediately go to a fast mode.
(Turn your speaker volume on to hear little loud to experience it.)
Disclaimer: I am not responsible if your ear problems after watching it.

More pictures when Race is on the way,





Winners of the Race


After that race, we had a break before the next one starts. We went around to check out on various booths and enjoyed the day out..It was really a thrilling and refreshing experience to witness the race.

We saw lot of die hard fans following the race so deeply.. We are just among the few folks who came to have fun.. Weekend didn't go waste.

Goodie Bag of Short Humorous Stories

I have an habit of saving good humorous jokes and quotes which passes thru my email inbox. These collections helps me sometimes to get out of troubled mood. Here are some of those nice ones from the collection.

I like you to enjoy and may be rate them like Very good, Good or OK so I can have idea of your taste buds..

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Wrong Feet

As a three year old put his shoes on by himself.

His mother noticed the left one was on the right foot.She said, "Son, your shoes are on the wrong feet."

He looked up at her with a raised brow and said, "Don't kid me, Mom, Iknow they're my feet."

***********************

Inconsolable Bride

A young man came home from the office and found his new bride sobbing inconsolably.

"I feel terrible," she told him. "I was pressing your suit and I burned a big hole in the seat of your trousers."

"Forget it," consoled her husband. "Remember that I've got an extra pairof pants for that suit." "Yes, and it's lucky you have," said the woman, drying her eyes. "I usedthem to patch the hole."

***********************

Gift Wrap

A very tight man was looking for a gift for a girlfriend.

Everything was too expensive, except for a broken glass vase which he could purchase for almost nothing.

He asked the store to send it, hoping his friend would think it had been broken in transit.

In due time, the man received an acknowledgement from his friend.

"Thanks for the vase," it read. "It was so thoughtful of you to wrap each piece separately."

***********************

Directions

A young lady is giving directions to her new boyfriend to get to her apartment.

She says: ''You come to the front door of the apartment complex where Ilive and look for apartment 14A , and with your elbow push button 14A. Comeinside and you'll find the elevator on the right. With your elbow hit 14.

When you get out of the elevator you'll find my apartment on the left.

With your elbow, hit my doorbell and I'll open the door for you''

The boyfriend says: ''Dear, that sounds very easy to find, but why am Ihitting all these buttons with my elbow?''

"Oh my God!! You're not coming empty-handed, are you?''

***********************

US COLLEGE SHOOTING - TOUGH TIMES

Yesterday I posted a blog on the US COLLEGE CAMPUS SHOOTING Rampage which killed 33 innocent people and wounded 26 people. After a day of media attention, there has been lot of investigation and fury of research went on the background.

The killer guy was a Korean, age 23. He is always been a disturbed guy and stalked 2 women in 2005. It seems that there parents even thought he might be suicidal at one point. It all points to one thing, he know its coming but not us. We will never know the answer "Why he took on the cruel act to kill these many people". Its always going to be one of the questions which stays forever unanswered.

With all the ciaos which happened on Monday, the families of the shooting victims were totally devastated. When I was watching some of the channels showing the families affected, I couldn't control myself. I just want to cry out for them. I know we see this instances often these days with tragedies happening all around us. I couldn't imagine how hard it will for those families going thru this sad and anguish moment.

I like to request everybody who happens to see post to add these families of the victims who is struggling at this moment to your prayers for their peace. Here is the list of innocent victims who will be remembered.

I also happen to hear a touching poem from one of the college professors -- Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor of English, VPI&SU.

*****************************************************************************

We Are Virginia Tech

We are Virginia Tech

We are sad today

And we will be sad for quite a while

We are not moving on

We are embracing our mourning

We are Virginia Tech

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly

We are brave enough to bend to cry ...

And sad enough to know we must laugh again

We are Virginia Tech

We do not understand this tragedy

We know we did nothing to deserve it

But neither does a child in Africa dying of aids

Neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by a rogue army

Neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory

Neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water

Neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of night in his crib in the home its father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destablized

No one deserves a tragedy

We are Virginia Tech

The Hokie nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds

We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid

We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be

We are alive to the imagination and the possibility

We will continue to invent the future

Through our blood and tears

Through all this sadness

We are the Hokies

We will prevail

We will prevail

We will prevail

We are Virginia Tech

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Let GOD be with them and hold them to get through this tough time..

அம்மா இங்கே வா வா - Long live Tamil Poems

என் இனிய தமிழ் மக்களே, இந்த குழந்தை பாட்டுக்கள் உங்களுக்காக,

அம்மா இங்கே வா வா
ஆ சை முத்தம தா தா
இலையில் ோறு போட்டு
எனக்கு கொஞ்சம ஊட்டு

நிலா நிலா ஒடி வா
நில்லாமல் ஒடி வா
மலை மேலே ஏறி வா
மல்லிகை பூ கொண்டு வா

Translation for non-Tamil folks

Amma come close to me,
Give me your sweet kiss
Put rice on the plantain leaf
feed me little by little

Moon moon come to me
Don't stop just come to me
cross the mountains come to me
Bring me jasmine when come

I am experimenting by writing tamil blogs using unicode, this is the first poem which came right on top of my head.. No tamilian would ever forget these Bharathiyar poems..

Fellow Tamil bloggers, just go wild remembering some old tamil poems and shoot it out..

Headliner: US COLLEGE CAMPUS MASSACRE

I am not sure how many of you following the yesterday Campus Massacre which killed 33 and wounded 26 people. Its the hot news in America today. Its the most cruel college killings ever in the US History. Its not new to Americans as they have seen some cold bolded killings which happened in schools and colleges. But this one has the most victims of all time which invoked president attention.

Headlines - MSNBC
A Virginia Tech student was behind the massacre of at least 30 people locked inside a campus building in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, the university said Tuesday. The Virginia Tech Police Department identified him as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior in the English department.

The bloodbath ended with the gunman’s suicide, bringing the death toll from two separate shootings — first at a dorm, then in a classroom building — to 33 and stamping the campus in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains with unspeakable tragedy.

Check out more at http://www.msnbc.com

I was also surprised to hear that one of the victim was an Indian who served as a professor in the college.

G. V. Loganathan, 51, was a professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. Since coming to Virginia Tech in 1982, he earned the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Civil Engineering Education, according to his biography on the Virginia Tech Web site.

What was he thinking when he was going on rampage killing these people? Its million dollar which will never get answered.

My heart goes out to families of all the victims who lost their loved ones. We can't truely imagine what their families go thru at this point of time but we can always send our prayers to them.

My First Ever Marathon !!!

True Commitment, Hardwork and Will power to do things always pays off. I like to share one of my very own life story as a proof.

Its a coincidence so happened, I get to post this blog on the day marking the 5th anniversary of my first Marathon run. A Run which took 3 hours 41 mins to taste the essence of 6 months hardwork by touching the finishline. I would never ever forget this moment.

Exactly, 5 years ago I ran my first ever Marathon (world famous Boston Marathon) and completed it. I never imagined in my lifetime that I would ever run a marathon which is of 26.2 miles and able to complete it one short without stopping anywhere for a walk.

I am really proud to say that because I was neither a pro-runner nor an athelete in my school days. With great effort and help, I was able to achieve this milestone and I still cherish those wonderful moments.

I am not sure how many of you know that Marathon runs are not an easy one. It was never in my list of dreams until 2001. Sometimes you just go where the life takes you, this is one of those moments in my life. Its a great journey.

Like any bachelor desi(indian) I had more time to kill after office hours and also have lot of fat to shred. Its usually becomes an habit to hit the Gym to do short run in the thread mill. (I know some people go to Gym for other reasons)

I usually run around 1 to 1 1/2 mile every day without trouble. My American friend (a good runner) provoked my interest to try out a 5k(3miles) run. I was just a neophyte when it came to running races. He gave me some pointers to get started. I trained enough in the treadmill ameliorating my running skill to get ready to run a 3miler on the street.

I just want to complete this race, nothing much. It was a nice Spring day in Boston during April 2001. Race started off easy. I struggled a bit when I hit with some tough uphills but I managed to maul them. In my first 5km race, I grabbed the 3rd place under age category finishing it in 23 mins(8mins per mile) and winning a bronze medal. That moment sparkled my interest to run more and more.

I gradually increased my speed and distance. I also joined a runners club. I met some born athletes who run every races in and around that area. I continue to run some more 5km races and set my eye towards running a 5mile race. In July of that year, I ran my 5 mile race and finished in around 36mins (apx 7.20 mins per mile).

I then aimed to run a 10Km(apx 7miles) in August. I revisited my training plan and changed it around to increase distance. I tried well enough to finish in 45 mins or so.. It was one of hot days in Boston and a tough route. Around that time, I got the bad news from home. My grandpa just expired. I couldn't able to go back home because of work obligations. So I decided to dedicate this run for him. I kept thinking about the days with him and it really kept me going. I was able to complete in 50mins or so.

My friend was so happy to see me running hard and dedicated. He said, you should run a half marathon (13miles). I said, "I don't know whether I can do it". He was so confident about me and said you will do it.. He also trained with me and kept me energized all the time. I trained hard for 2 months to get to the phase I wanted to run. Another big race day, it started out good and I had to go looping around a lake 2 times to finish a half marathon. I managed to run first loop good but second loop was little tough but maintained my phase and enjoyed the run. I completed in 1hr 41 mins(7.30mins per mile), a great timing to complete a half marathon for a novice runner.

My gym coordinator who used to see me running long hours in the treadmill and hearing about my racesjust asked "why can't you run the marathon". I said, " Its 26.2 miles and I don't think I would ever will be able to run one". She said, just give it a try as you did for other races.

Sometimes we always underestimate ourselves and try to stay inside the box and never come out of the comfort zone until you try out new things. After reinventing myself, I decided get out and go to an extent. Why not I run?! Its going to be a uphill task but its doable. That set my dream to run a marathon. I aimed and set the goal to run the Boston Marathon.

Boston Marathon happens every year in Apr 2nd week. I set my target to run next year 2002 marathon. Boston Marathon is special because you either need to be qualified running a marathon(to run a marathon, you should have already ran one) or run thru sponsors. I can only try to run thru sponsors because I never ran one. Since my company had 20 free tickets, they draw it every year to give out to runners. You have to be well qualified runner to enter ther drawing. I requested my company sports organization to enter the lotto with an exception for me this year.

Rosalynn Carter once said, You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.” Without your confidence throughout the run, it’s tough to run a marathon.

As I said its not easy to run a marathon without proper training. I get to work on building my endurance, stamina, phase, speed variation, agilation on top of my will power to do. I also had my fingers crossed to win the lotto to get to the official marathon race to get bib number and chip.

From Nov 2001 - Mar 2002, lot of things changed in my life. I trained hard to increase my miles gradually from 7-8 miles to do 20 miles and also changed my eating habits. Sometimes I used to run in treadmile for 3 hours. Its winter time in Boston and I used to practice outside in the freezing cold sometimes. I used to ran back and forth from my work place to complete 22 miles. I logged my run and tracked the timings. I did whatever I can. I got the news that I won the lottery to get the marathon number in March which gave me a boost. I was all set to run a marathon.

Before Race Day: Race was just around the corner. I was so nervous before the marathon until I went to Runners expo that weekend. I was so tensed about what people are going to think if i couldn't finish because most of co-workers know about it. I learnt from other runners that just have fun without worrying about anything. Just do your own race. I told myself that I am going to run tomorrow rain or shine and whatever my health is going to be. I am going to finish it.

On Race day: As usual, got ready and had usual breakfast. My friend came and picked me up and dropped me off at the Hopkinton Athletic village. I took it easy, prepared myself and my body for the big long day. Had enough water, hit bathroom(I can't do it for another 3 hours) and ready to go.

Boston Marathon Race Day - Morning 11:00am. Around 16,000 official runners assembled to run this race. Every batch of thousand runners stayed in group. There are around 13000 runners ahead of me.

Ready, Set, GO.. Race started exactly at 12pm. It took me 9mins to just cross the start line.

I slowly increased my pace to what I used to trained for and try not to run faster to save up my energy. On the way, I enjoyed with people cheering, did High fives to the onlookers, waving them. Since I had put my name in my singlet(tees), so lot of people called out my name and cheered me up. I had a blast.

I slowly completed the Half marathon(1:30min). I worked harder when I hit the heart break hills(steep hill). I did pretty good on it and I also talked me out to not to walk, so I had to slow down and ran slowly. I kept running and running.

One time, I just want this all over little frustrated. But lot of people along the way cheered me up and kept me moving. A real good weather(50+ F) helped a lot. Finally I reached the finish line with little bit of cramp but healthy enough to enjoy waving to everybody. It was a great feeling to finally complete. I collected my medal and came to find out I did well to complete in 3hrs 41mins.

My friends were there to greet me with great happiness when crossed the finish line. It was a total blast. The experience will stay with me until I die.

I want to share this lifetime experience as a example that "Nothing is impossible in this world". Everything is possible with proper commitment and hard work. My Marathon run also provoked interest among other desi friends who set out to train and ran marathons to beat my timing. I am happy that I was able to complete and more than happy to set out a path for others.

Six Blind Men and The Elephant

I present this poem from nice old fable in request from another blogger which talks about perception which vary from person to person.

Blind Men and the Elephant (a.k.a., "Blindmen")
(by John Godfrey Saxe)

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American poet John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887) based this poem, "The Blind Men and the Elephant", on a fable that was told in India many years ago. It is a good warning about how our sensory perceptions can lead to misinterpretations.

It was six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind

The First approached the Elephant,

And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,

At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried, “Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?

To me ’tis mighty clear

This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”

The Third approached the animal,

And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:

“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,

And felt about the knee.

“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;

“ ‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

Said: “E’en the blindest man

Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can

This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,

Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,

“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

Moral:

So oft in theologic wars,

The disputants, I ween,

Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,

And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!

Courtesy - http://www.wordinfo.info

I think we play the role of blind men in our life sometimes talking about things which we don't have any idea about and try to persuade people with our perspectives.. Don't we ?!

It isn't Cheap anymore (new version)

This is another try with different characters using the same topic. I am going to try to fit in below 100words. Read on...

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"May I help you Sir?

"huh! Madam, Can I talk to your owner."?"

"Tell me what do you want, I will try to help?

"No.. I need to talk him only"

"He just left for lunch"

"Oh oK! I will come later"

"Sir, tell me.. I like to help you"

"Huh! I don't know!!"

"Sir, can you tell the name or prescription?"

"No.. Nothing wrong with me... I just want the... the rubber thing for men..""

"Ooooh... I got it.."

"Which brand do you want?"

"Give me anything."

"Oh, I obviously don't know which one is good.. Here its MOODS.."

"How much is it?!"

"Its Rs.25 for one"

"Oh!! Thats expensive.. Can you just gimme Nirodh then?"

"We don't have that anymore.."

"OK! Whatever, gimme MOODS. Here its Rs 25 !!"

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(extra's beyond 100 words)

"Which flavor do you want? They have Strawberry, banana, cherry.."

"OH My god, gimme what you like?!"

"You mean, what I like ?!"

THITHIKUM TAMIZH PUTHANDE VARUGA

Tomorrow Apr 14, 2007 is celebrated as the Tamil Newyear. I dedicate this Simple Poem(in Tamil) to welcome this Sweetest Newyear. I am going to try my best to do the translation in English at the end, so please bear with me..

!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!

!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!

My sweet, sweet Tamil Newyear,
Come and give us good fortune
Fortune good enough to bring changes
Changes in life to bring sweetest happiness
With great pleasure, we welcome you..

Sanjaya Stuns and survives again!!!

He shows up on Apr 10th(Tues) with yet another different style and look. A youth mustache with casual dress up, he stuns the audience one more time singing a Latin song. He immediately crabs everyone attention by doing it close to perfection.

He really as lot of courage to take a chance at this stage of the contest. He tried a new thing and did rock again. I feel he really got guts to pull out anything! He might have been thrown out for trying this by Simmon(judge). But he was not. He survives yet again for another week and moves forward.

OK. I am not his fan or my relative. I am just encourage our talent pool. That's all.

I know there is web of criticism spurns around the Internet about his voting. People say the india call center people are trying to vote him up. That can't be true at all. They don't even know whats American Idol. I don't think he will spend money to do it.

I also see some faces going wide who cares!! Its just a musical talent show.We have lot other things to worry about. I feel that's what exactly, we lag in lot of us. We don't care and don't go way out to encourage others.

One good and best thing I learnt from Americans, "Pat them back" and encourage people. That may be the reason, they see more talented people coming up the ladder. I really don't see that happens in our society. We always been feed to compete for our own space all the time and we forget to pat others.

A person who is trying hard, it makes a ton of difference when you encourage.
Any talent should be appreciated and at this level of exposure it really need to be applauded. Millions of people all over America is watching this show and he is grabbing the attention. He is spreading our ethnicity. He really deserves an appreciation.

Anyways, I hope he continue to do well on the weeks to come. We will watch him close...

It's not Cheap anymore...

I am also jumping in the fire of creating a story below 100 words. I am going to just try it, you score it and let me know. Here it goes...

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"No Sir..."

"You don't accept one Rupee?"

"Yes Sir, we don't accept one rupee anymore from this new year.."
"What !!! Why not ?"

"Sir, One rupee can't buy anything nowadays, not even a single cup of tea"

"OK. So what do you accept ?

"In our last Chennai Beggars association meeting, we passed a bill to accept only minimum five rupees?"

"Five Rupees...!!!!"

"I don't have a change, only have 500 Rupees"

"No problem sir, I have it.."

"OK. OK... Give me the change.."

"Here you go sir, 495 rupees. Thank you sir!"

"Yeah, Right..welcome."

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(extra's beyond 100 words)

"We will have the credit card machine setup soon.."

"Oh..great.. Technology upgrade in begging dept(Thats what the country really needs!!)"

Male Elephant Kills a Female...

I saw this cruel and shocking surreal news 2 days ago. I never seen this act by an elephant. I have heard stories that elephant take revenge but they are soft hearted.

We have seen elephant getting wild with the humans but not within their own group. I guess this might be a normal act in the forest but its so breath taking to watch taped. It happened in a Isarel ZOO. My question was, why the hell there is nobody to stop? They could have easily stopped it.. God only knows!!

Do you think it got jealous or something?

Whats in BMW?

I know its a dumb question. Everyone knows or alteast most of 'em. Its the Ultimate Driving Machine, everybody loves to have one. May be everyone, not me.

Why not me? am I crazy. No, I am not. But I think others are.

Btw, do you ever wonder about whats BMW? Like everyone, I also thought its British Motor works. Its actually, Bavarian Motor Works in Germany. But I like "Be My Witness" when I am bankcorrupt.

Alright, let me get back to my point. Whats with BMW? Its one of expensive but affordable compared to other toys by the upper middle class fun lovers. I see this driving machine ZOOMING past me in the highway and triggers this quetsions all the time.

For the brevity of it, let me put this way.

Why would anyone wants to spend a good chunk of their pay cheque to buy this machine? Why are some people crazy about it?

We all just need a vehicle to transport ourself from one place to other with comfort and ease. We like to look out for reliability(more lifetime), comfortablity(can ride longer) & efficiency(cost effective). These are the things we all look out for the good transportation. Taking that into account, nobody can beat the Japan or Korean cars which is always a good product for the buck.

I can't ever imagine spending the money just for the sake of driving BMW. I been asked before around, why don't you get BMW? I asked them back, whats special? Its just yet another vehicle. Its not my dream to get BMW.

Whenever I get tempted to spend money, I always think about people who even suffer to get a food for one time. People who don't even have proper place to stay and good clothes to wear in this earth. It makes me content and try to stay satisfied with my life.

Did you ever dreamt or dream to own one? Why?

Visit Space City Houston

This blog post comes out as an attempt to answer some questions about good places to visit and places to eat in my previous TOUR OF SPACECITY HOUSTON. I like to first, Thank you for all bloggers who stopped by to check out pictures and left comments.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Houston is the 4th largest city in USA. That means its big and better. The city runs about 50 miles in radius. Beyond the misconception Houston doesn't offer any excitment for visitors, it does have variety of places for every age limit to explore and have fun.

I will try to cover most of the places in such a way that you can plan your trip easily. I am going to talk about places I liked and ventured, also some places I plan to check it out.

I am going use the below convention which might be a great help.

1day - Places you can quickly visit in a short period

2days - Places you can visit in a weekend trip

3days - Places you can visit during long weekends

$$$ Pricy or $Cheap

S - Strongly Recommend

FR - Fairly Recommend

NR - Not recommended

Reach Houston

By Car - To Houston Downtown(Central Point)

Coming from AUSTIN, it takes 3 hrs

Coming from DALLAS, it takes 5 hrs

Coming from SAN ANTONIO, it takes 3 1/2 hrs

By flight

Get to International Bush Airport or Hobby Airport. Try to stay away from Downtown and away from Airport area.

Fun Places

NASA - Space Center, Houston - 30 mins from Downtown ( S, $$, 2day)

Moody Gardens, Galveston - 1 hr from Downtown (NR, $$$,2day)

Galveston Beach - 1hr from Downtown (FR, $, 1day)

Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark - 1 hr from Downtown (S, $$$, 3days)

Splashtown Water Park - 1 1/2 hr from downtown (FR, $$$, 3 days)

Free Rides (I know we all love free stuffs)
Sam Houston Boat Ride - http://www.portofhouston.com/ - (FR, Free,1days)

Note: Need reservation 2-3 weeks ahead and all needs your ID to board.

Galveston Boat Ride to an Island - (FR, Free,2days)

Note: During summer, there is a long line for the boat.

Historical Places

San Jacinto Monument, La Porte -http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/ (S, $$, 2days)

BattleShip Texas, La Porte - (FR, $$, 2days)

Forbidden Gardens, Katy - http://www.forbidden-gardens.com/ (FR, $$, 3days)

Religious Places

Meenakshi Temple - Pearland (S, Free,1day)

SwamiNarayana Temple - Stafford (S, Free,1day)

ISKCON - Houston (S, Free, 1day)

TimePass Places

Downtown - Train Ride

Sam Houston Race Park - Horse Race (FR, $, 3days or more)

Gulf Greyhound Park - Dog Race - (FR, $$, 3days or more)

Downtown Aquarium - http://www.downtownaquarium.com/ (NR, $$$, 3days)

Museum District - http://www.houstonmuseumdistrict.org/default.asp?id=1 (Price vary, 3days) - Lots of museum including children's, Natural Science, Holocaust Museum

Houston Z00 - (FR, $$, 3days)

Parks
Buffalo Bayou Park (FR, Free, 2days)

Sesquicentennial Park - Near Aquarium (S, Free, 2days)

Places to Eat

Houston offers good eats from different ethnicity. I would recommend you to try Sea food and Mexican restaurants like Las Cuocus.

Hillcroft Area - Cheap restaurants all over the street

Mayuri - Westheimer Galleria Area (S, $$)

Dakshin & IndianWok - 249/FM1960 Area (FR, $$)

Check out the site, http://www.b4-u-eat.com/ for others

Places to Shop

Hilcroft Road off Hwy 59 South - Lots of grocery stores including 110/220 shops

Galleria Mall (offers Ice Skating)

Katy Mills Outlet Mall

Conroe Outlet Mall

Deals

Visit this Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau site and go to special offer for discount coupons for lots of places.. http://www.visithoustontexas.com/

I covered most of the things which our people(desi's) like to do. There are other places which you can find out from the Houston Visitors center site.