Listen to Lucky

Voter's Paradox - I always have this guilt feeling of choosing the best of the worst leaders as my candidate representing my constituency (which means i haven't chosen the right one anyway). If i fail to choose the one among the worst, I have another feeling of guilt, which reminds that i haven't even chosen the candidate (whether the right one / wrong) to do good. I am not sure how to answer this paradox. If some intelligent person convinces me and tells me that "Arey ! you have to vote for the right candidate, say XYZ, what is the chance of my vote contributing to his win, when somebody offers free television sets, other ones offers 2Rs / kilo Rice, another idiot offers 25 kg of wheat..burning the exchequerer. My next question would be - Is there any way to canvass / convince all my voters in My constituency to vote for the right candidate, so that my vote/right to franchise picks the right candidate - to do good for the people. I neither have the money / muscle powe...

I always have a fascination for Test cricket compared to ODIs / T20s as they are not for the mass (or) a mundane crowd. To watch test cricket, to understand the nuances of Test Cricket, you need to fair amount of cricketing knowledge to understand the Climatic conditions, New ball funda, Grass on the wicket, Seam positions, Shuffling Batting Orders, Pace of the Cricket etc. Most of my words in the previous paragraphs may not mean much to Modern ODI watchers particularly in television sets. VVS Laxman's innings / just a leaning drive on the backfoot on Napier Test is more on the lines of a camera angles of a Kurosawa movie, a neraval in a song by MS in a Kutcheri. I am pretty amazed by anybody who talks to me/anybody on Cricket, that a particular XYZ should have played this way (or) the other. To me playing, Observing Cricket in itself is an art. I would love to follow VVS/Azhar's Ondrive/flick with their wrists as much as a piece in synchronised swimming / dancing on the skates...

To say this in an optimistic way, its close to 2 months, I have been at home relaxing at home. To really paint the gloomy picture, I am without a job for the first time in my life for more than couple of months. Its quite frustrating and enjoyable in parts. Whenever you work/slog, you expect a break, you want a longer weekend, a late start for a monday, early friday party. But when you're without a job, the initial period is relaxing for a week or two, but beyond that you start to feel the realities of life. Recession / loss/want of a job teaches great lessons in your life. It teaches the importance of money, the value of whatever you wish to spend, the time you need to spend which matters most to you, the people who you will be in touch (who helps in crisis hour) in all walks for the rest of your life, the liabilities and assets you need to dispose off to save your face. Life is a neither bed of roses nor cot of thorns. How many times in your life you get rejected for a job being ...

Enough is enough !!! After watching 3 days of news, live action on Terror, Counter Insurgent Operations, Commando Operations, Combing Operations and Sanitisation. The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, still lingers in my memort as the second most prolific monument and stamp of Mumbai, next to Gateway of India was literally raped. Thousands of people who were pushed to states of horror and grief. Hundreds of people who suffered for couple of days in locked rooms and toilets in luxury hotels. Lakhs of People are watching them helplessly with fingers crossed expecting a superhero (as in hollywood movies to save them !!!). And here, we have Spineless Prime Minister, Incapable Home Minister who attends press conferences after each and every blasts and waiting for the next one. Thanks to Politicians for literally looting this country like the erstwhile mughal rulers of ghazni and khilji dynasties. And here on the D-day, there wasn't even one single politician to take charge of the whole situati...

Following the reports of last few weeks regarding the financial Tsunami which is sweeping America and also the other parts of the Interdependent world, I was wondering how "coupled" we are with other parts of world. Probably this tsunami/pralayam might be good example of Chaos Theory which Kamalhassan tried to explain in Dasavatharam. There was a good article on ET by Mr S Iyer terming them whether this is the end of the beginning / most likely beginning of the end of US economical supremacy. Even though India has not fully opened up its markets (thanks to Left Front and few other political Geniuses), I fully understand the implications of this crisis which might have an impact on India as everybody understands except India's FM (with continuous rebuttals and playing safe with Media on the crisis). Even though i observe markets from the India's point of view, the first major symptom which shook me of was the sale of Bears and Sterns. 6 months later, we saw the fall of...

Are you a Vadama ? atleast a Tam Brahm ? Do you have H1, if yes can you please move closer to bay area ? I am 5ft 2 inches, I need a boy who is atleast 5'10" if not shorter than kobe bryant ? We prefer iyers from Palakad, if not preferably from pittsburgh. Give me a break. Broadminded / like minded / Innocent Divorcee / Chennai Only / H1B holder / East (or) West Coast - The List is endless.If you look into / get a chance to browse any of the matrimonial sites / the sunday edition of Hindu / vernaculars / matrimonial communities which are located in different pockets of Chennai / South India, you would have definitely come across these above stated preferences. What does H1B / anywhere in bay area going to do with your partner ? If i have preferences of settling in US, I would have accpeted to live as an american and marry an american. What do they mean broadminded ? - I might be broadminded but not to the extent of Shoba de. I have seen profiles of Innocent Divorcees on paper...

After a long hibernation, i am back into blogging. I am not sure whether i can blog that frequently as i used to do it before. Life has been on a fast lane after i had moved back to india. Everyday something or the other i learn in my life / job and it has been a steep learning curve. Initially, it was more like a cultural shock when you visit india after a long time (even though i had my visits every year, it is too small to notice a change). I went to a extent where i never used to honk when i drive for the first 15 days, and even it is more a nuisance to me if somebody honks just for the sake of fun/thrill. I had so many thoughts to pen down which ranges from Driving sense to the way the no-confidence motion was conducted. But I have decided to keep my mouth shut in my personal's interests and decided to observe more of late rather than reacting to all the things which happen (bound to happen) around you. The two things which i seriously enjoyed in India are my mom's food an...

It has been a fantastic two and half years of my life in UK mostly in Maidenhead and Reading with the fitting finale in central london. It resembled as if it was yesterday, but it has been tremendous couple of years, in which i had beautiful experiences of life, great friends, enjoyable vacations, tantalising tours to neighbouring countries, critical projects and what not. I had struggled my first month in this country, not knowing anyone (i was new to TCS as well), but i had great roomies in Veeru and Anand, with whom i shared one of the best parts of my life. There was so much of camaraderie among the three, but the relationships grew from good to great as each day passed by. Apart from the two, I shared a great relationships with Sreedhar Bhumaraju a.k.a Chirugaru, with whom, we had a gala time including vijayadasami celebrations. It would be unfair on my part if don't thank my friends viz., Jegan, Sandy mone, Dharam, sudip, Dinesh, Krishnan (affectionately mama) with family, Ga...

Metamorphosis - a.k.a "Parinama Valarchi....." How many times in life we would have crossed and seen a bud and would have missed the time to take note of that which has transformed into a flower ?. Similarly its very much possible that we miss the transformation of larva which struggles to become a butterfly. Quiet often we failed to observe our children / children of friends /relatives as they grow and we see them one day as grown up. Before observing others, if we introspect ourselves, how many times have stopped for a moment to observe that we have changed / transformed, before somebody realises and convey us that we have "grown up" before we observe ourselves. I see myself everyday both on and off the mirror (agathilum / purathilum - In/Out) to observe how much i have changed myself than the previous day. Very recently, I observed that i have transformed a lot within a week, probably this is what i believe that beginning of the metamorphosis. "Vedan valmiki...

The markets in India (as well as the other asian markets) were in red for couple of days following the tremors that the US markets are heading for recession. Of late, I have not been watching markets too keenly except for my portfolio, it was quite astonishing that the markets have time and again proved all the critics could go wrong. It is easy to be a Harsha Bhogle of Stock Markets than as a Sachin to face Shoaib Akthars' (markets plummeting to all-time lows). If at all i have understood few words of wisdom from pitamah of markets "Swami Warren Buffet Maharaj" of Berkshire Hathways Mutt, it is just not to follow anybody and use your own instincts / analytics to buy/sell in markets. I haven't escaped unhurt in this big bang, but one thing i would suggest and advise all of my friends is to be ready to take bloodbaths if required, as you cannot be playing Rahul Dravid in Markets. Stock Markets in India as became a fascination to anybody to enter more like a Exhibition ...

Thanks to Adoor Goplakrishnan for suggesting a new title for my blog. This is not going to be another movie review of his recent film which he has directed. This is just my own observation of 4 different women, who belong to different genres, ethnicity, roots and profiles who are basically striving to push hard and move in their lives. Whenever i walk into one of the famous Indian restaurants which has branches even in UK apart from Chennai, I have observed the way P1 works in the restaurant. (It would be wise on my part to make the references and hide their original names). Basically she is from Poland, her langauage is different, her lifestyle is different, but she needs to survive and compete in this country which is as alien to her as it is to me/ to you. P2 works as a lecturer in one of the tutorial college and she also works in nearby supermarket store. I know her, as she stays as my neighbour and they are also from a hindu country which is marred with violence in the recent year...

What an excellent title (first of all, thanks to Marati director Nishikant Kamat without any english tag lines and titles) for a beautiful (infact, you can say it as a thoughful movie). I was fascinated by the first 4 minutes of the movie where they showed a shot which describes the protagonist's daily routine. There are lot of movies which has projected the heroism of the hero to fight against the system by taking the law in his hands and killing people mercilessly. This movie was quite different in that front. The hero erupts in anger after he is being criticised for his honesty, his loyalty and belief in this system that every single individual has the right to live a decent and calm life in this world. Beautifully set in typical "brahmanal" location on Nanganallur, Sangeetha played the role of "vatsala" with such ease and elan that it reminded me of many vatsalas which i had seen KK Nagar / Pazhaya Mambalam (West Mambalam). Typical middleclass house, cute l...

To spell bharathi's words "Ethanai Kodi Inbam Vaithai Iraiva"....I couldn't control my moments joy of touching and feeling my new Keyboard (Yamaha PSR E403) which i had bought after postponing my purchases and controlling my temptations for the last few years. Postponements were not made bcos of the price/issues surrounding them, but purely on the basis of how am i going to bring that to India (which is still a nightmare). But when i started playing for the first time i enjoyed every moment of the whole night. I had a small session of trying my hand on few songs of Raja (few background scores etc), it was a fun which cannot be described in words, it has to be experienced. My next sessions would be on the christmas day and i am looking forward to it so eagerly. ~Lakshman

Cinema is one of the "C" things which i would appreciate after Cricket/Carnatic Music/Cartoons/Coffee (the list is endless). There are very few people with whom i have shared great discussions with related to movies of World Panorama. Recently, I had a discussion with one of my friends called Venkat Reddy who has a great passion for world cinema. This guy runs a website called 24fps.com (translates as 24 frames per second) and he has been writing reviews of all the films which would be featured in film festivals and works as the special correspondent apart from owning the site. After couple of rounds of drinks on my farewell party, we had a interesting conversation, which started with Rituparno Ghosh's latest english movie and ended comparing Kurosawas to Francois Traffaut. The best part of the conversation moved towards Adoor's Naalu Penngal (4 women - one of the best titles i have picked for my next blog...) and his narration of the episode which featured padmapriya...

I just found something interesting recently. Check it www.dosai.com. You have a typeset in tamil and you can key in your tamil words and search pages related to those strings. Ps: who knows they might bring a new chat facility in tamil and name it as pongal.com

It was quite frustrating on my part to be away from my family and friends in a remote world and missing a great occasion back home. My brother Ram's engagement would have happened today and I was very determined to be part of any occasion as it is related to Ram. But right now, I am in a position where i can't be there with him on this occasion. I had already planned and booked my tickets to India for Jan-Feb as he is getting married at that time. It would be great if i can spend some more time with my family rather than working on ethernet and fibre optics. Congrats to Pushpa and Ram and hope to see you guys very soon. Regards, Lakshman

I am writing this after I had packed all my bags. Alas! I am moving out of Reading, UK in another 8 hours from now. It has been wonderful out here. Trip down the memory lane, I became very nostalgic about this place, even though Maidenhead is still remains as a queen of my homes as Veeru (i call him bhadra) and Anand (I call him budi) and myself enjoyed at 125, clare road as the second heaven. Comapred to that I didn't have the same intimacy to Reading, still I loved the town centre, mcilroys' building (where most of my friends live), TGIF and her favourite Gremlins and Margaritas, My famous sessions with Nuts (Natarajan), DJ Guggs (Sreedhar) and Guns (Ganesh) at TGIF coupled with My favourite "Lynchberg Lemonade" is ultimate. My cricket days were equally thrilling with Prabhakar & co and we need a nice time with folks here on most of the evenings in summer. Time has come to say good bye to Reading, UK and Finally I had to accept that I fell in love with you as i ...

- Doston, Aaj Meri office ke aakri dhin hain...I Mean it ? Tata Kehten hai bada kaam karega... - Anil (he is one of the big shots in my office is presenting a card and gifts on my farewell. - had a gala time with my friends around... - Myself interacting with Kiran, Dharam bhai with "V" Salutes and Sudipda looking into the camera... -- Nostlagic Snap at my Desk - Courtesy Guns..

It was both sad and happy day for me to enter the office on this friday (12/10/2007), as that had been my last day @ Ericsson Services, UK. I have been associated with Hutch 3G/ Ericsson Services for the last 2.5 years. This has been wonderful association as it had given me great friends like Veeru, Anand, Sreedhar B, Jags, Krish, Guns, DJ Gugs, Nattu etc and also professionally has given me more responsibilities and learning opportunities to understand how business works on the macro level, how to grow yourself and how best you can develop your business and organisation and also at the same time without losing your cool and fun. The sad part is I will be missing Provident (the application i had worked for 4 years, it has given me an opportunity to code/test/design/analyse etc, which is quite rare in this industry to do for a single product). Sadly, i would be missing her, but time has come to say big goodbye and thank you to Provident. I had drafted my farewell mails in advance, one f...

The last week was one of the few weeks where I am still enjoying my honeymoon period in office. With 2 more weeks to go and keeping my fingers crossed for my next assignment, it has been nagging week (with least amount of work - finally i had modify few scripts - except that i hardly have any great piece of work. The week was bit lengthy and but the week had few great moments to finish. It all started with Raja's Farewell (one of my colleague who has moved to work for BBC), the farewell drinks therafter. I had a gala time with few of my folks at the Island cafe (which is on the Thames Avenue) with a beautiful view of the riverside. We guys had fair amount of jokes/fun and i had a nice time with my Tennesse and a Margarita, watching the moonlight night from the armchair on the riverside and enjoying the drizzle which was tickling me and my thoughts. Saturday came and it was a different altogether, where i had destined to go to Acton and EastHam, but "Insha-Balaji", i was o...