Listen to Lucky

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...

- Ram seated with an exalted smile at ShantiNiketan - Raghuvamsa. - Appa (1940s illaya...so Black and White..la) - Idhu eppadi irukku ? - janaki maami with Maavilaku Ma ...

I was browsing through one of the archives at my home, where i got to see one of my favourite and most loved fotos of my brother Ram. I have never seen kids more than Ram when he was in childhood. Following were the snaps of kids in my family who are grown up... - Ram was seated in an arm chair. - Doesn't he look like the Farex / J&J kid ? - Appidi yennada Kushi ?... - She was the cutest girl child i had ever seen....my cousin nitya...There was time she resembled steffi...with monkey drop hair style...another cutie... - Though I didn't like my fotos, this one was cute, one of the very few fotos where i am sitting quiet..eppadida...?

Krishnamurthy Vaidyanathan a.k.a KV thatha (my favourite thatha) would be subject of this blog. Never I had imagined that i would be writing an obituary column for this great man (the one among the few whom i will ever see). He was affectionately called as Vaidyanatha Iyer (Chief Cashier Mount Road, Chennai), who had seen such higher pedestal and who had such a command to recruits of young blood into the ocean of State Bank of India. Born in Melatur, lost his mother before the age of 1, also had bitter experiences and treatment meted out by his step mother and a lunatic father at a very young age. KV, was patronised by his maternal uncle (Mr VS Subramania Iyer) whom he had respected and adored and also mentioned and remembered him with a sparkling smile. This man was a self made man, who had tremendous will power and sheer determination right from his young age till his last breathe. When you hear back the stories of My Parent's marriage (btw, it was a twin marriage - at the same ...

This song is one of Rahman's best and that has fetched Shreya G the filmfare award which i had predicted to my friends (previously i have predicted successfully for thangathamarai (minsara kanavu) for SPB and (Engey Enathu Kavithai for Chitra). I have listening to the inaugral piece on santoor which Rahman used beautifully after Roja. Though I have listened to this few hundred times, i was hooked to this one for a different reason. "Valiba Kavignar Vaali" has come out with wonderful and mesmerising lyrics particularly the charanams, which i have posted here. [ shreya ] Munbe vaa en anbe vaa oone va uyire va Munbe vaa en anbe vaa poo poovai poopom vaa Naan naana kaytane ennai naane naan.... neeya, nenjam sonnathey.. Munbe vaa en anbe vaa oone va uyire va Munbe vaa en anbe vaa poo poovai poopom vaa [shreya] Ah.... Poovaithai poovaithai nee poovai-kor poovaithai mana poovaithu poovaitha poovaikul thee vaithai Ohhhh... [ Naresh ] Theyney nee malaiyil aada naan maan naan nanai...

Recently, I had a debate with my friend krishna on whether Shane Warne is better than Anil Kumble (or) not. Personally i like Shane warne for his heroics, his attitude on the field, his competitive spirit, his aggression and his sportsmanship. Even though, this blog is not about this comparisons, it is about comparisons. The need for this blog is just to outline how our views and focus gets towards comapring personalities / products etc. I have been tired of people comparing Sachin with Lara, Federer with Sampras, Schumi with Kimi, Kapil with Hadlee, SPB with Yesudas, Illayaraja with MSV / ARR and the list is endless. I feel that comparisons should not be done in the first place, if done it has to be with proper analysis and parameters. I don't understand how people can compare Sachin and Gavaskar / Steve Waugh etc. The reasons for the akward comparisons are people played in different era / conditions / pressures / batting order / People's likes. There are hundreds of Mamas/u...

Hats of Jhumpa Lahiri for such a beautiful story and Mira Nair for adapting the same in a very elegant manner. The story reveals around just 5-6 characters, but the picturisation is apt and to the point. Tabu (what a performance!!!), there are few performers who try not to overact/overreact, I can definitely rate her to be one. I still remember her performance in The Namesake resembled her underplayed role in Kandukonden KanduKonden. If i forget to mention the performances of Irfan Khan (another Om Puri in the making!!), it would be unjust and biased. He has come out with one of the best performances till date. His emotions as a survivor from the crash, the way he explains to Tabu about the new place, life style to the newly wed wife, explaining the reasons for namesake to his son, subtle expressions while hugging the "videshi Bahu". Irfan is absolute to watch. Tabu is class on her own. Very much lovable as a typical bengali girl, who aspires for a marriage, finding it diffic...

Yesterday, Myself and Guns teamed up with Krishnan and family to make a special darshan to "Mr Venky" a.k.a Lord Balaji (whose UK HQ is at Birmingham...). Being a Saturday, it would be both auspicious and also relaxed day to meet Venky. Unfortunately, the trains from reading to birmingham were cancelled due to the recent floods in Oxford. We started thinking that Mr Perumal has started his litmus test on us. We took the tickets and headed of to Euston to catch train to Sandwell and Dudley (which is UK equivalent of "keezha thirupathi". It was one of the annoying train journeys, i ever had my life where the whole journey took close to 5 hrs. ShivHari (Krishnan's son) was there to entertain us throughout the journey. After reaching Sandwell & Dudley, we took a cab driven by a sardarji (i believe there are equal number of "Sardar Cabbies" to "Nair Chaiwallahs") and reached TiviDale (equivalent of Tirumala). On entering the temple, we could s...

I didn't have a great dream like the one of Martin Luther King Jr, but today i had realised one of my dreams which i had visualised 25 years ago. Row 4, Seat 70, Mound Stand, The Lords cricket ground, watching the 3rd day's play between India and England. I never had better saturdays in my life than this one. This was the ticket which was issued to me at lords. One of the cherished possessions. After collecting my tickets at the counter, there was security check and we had a big queue to be checked before being allowed to witness the match. After the security checks, I passed the edrich and compton stands to reach the Mound stand. Row 4, Seat # 70, Mound Stand - I sat there in that place with so much of adamancy like karunanidhi (that for next 6 hours i was not ready to move away except for food and rain). India resumed the overnight innings with Ganguly (dada struggling a lot on seaming conditions and RP singh playing the night watchman's role). After the middle order coll...

I was deeply touched / emotional to hear (if not see the diplomatic guard of honour and farewell bestowed on Bharat Ratna Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam) who was introduced to me by Ram, in one of our discussions of Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles and the design and development of missiles and ammunitions (Agni/Prithvi/Akash/Trishul/Nag/MBT Arjun/Pinaki etc...). Till today, this amuses me that most of the defence related product development bears hindu mythology related names in sanskrit, i thank god, the so called secular forces never interferred with these as well. Born in a lower middle class family, a man who proved to this generation that education can definitely take you to places and education coupled with humility would take you even greater heights. I have read his books (Wings of fire and Ignited Minds) which can be treated as text books (the reason why i said to make it as text books, as i wanted it to be made as a must read one, as i feel the Gen-Next lost the ...