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Friday, November 28, 2003 Atlast, that bittersweet moment has finally arrived. In an industry, where 1 full year in a company is considered "quite a time", 7 years & 4 months could well be considered "reasonably long" indeed. After warming the seats of Ramco Systems for a reasonably long time, I have resigned from my position there. From Monday, 1st December 2003, I would be part of an UK based Media Communications group.Two days back, I posted that I did something for the first time. Well, its nothing great as such. It was all about submitting my resignation from my first job. Posted at 11/28/2003 02:17:20 PM Link Thursday, November 27, 2003 Innocence or Stupidity?Shobha's post on childhood innocence prompted me to write this. Not sure whether this incident is a mark of my innocence or heights of stupidity. Anyways, here it goes. It happened about 19-20 years back when I was studying Class IV. Like most boys of that age at that part of the world in that period, I was a philatelist. Thanks to my uncle, who was working at a Foreign Exchange division of a Bank, I managed to have an enviable collection of postage stamps. Most of my weekends would go on counting the stamps according to country and all that. There was this guy, another philatelist, senior to me by a year at school and lived in the same neighbourhood. One day he proudly displayed his wealth to me and I was amazed that he had so many unused stamps (should I say, unstamped stamps?) in his kitty & all of them were of the same design. Not that I was very strong in Geography, I had never heard of that country name before let alone have a stamp or two from that country. Much to my glee, he agreed to part half of those new ones in exchange for the same number from my collection. The deal got executed immediately and nothing interesting happened for the next few weeks until I saw in my dad's possession, few of those familiar "red & white" new stamps I managed to get as a result of the business rule with a fellow philatelist. Aghast that my dad took few stamps from my proud possession without my knowledge, I demanded to know where he got those stamps from, for which he told that he bought those at the post office. Unable to believe, I asked, "How can you buy foreign stamps from the post office?” My dad told that they would indeed be available at the post office although they are not normal postage stamps, but are called "REVENUE" stamps and patiently went on to explain their purpose. Oh, boy! I realised how I have been squared and also there is no country by name "REVENUE". Senthil from Kumbakonam – I do remember you, not just because of this incident. If you happen to read this and the above rings a bell, I’d be happy to get in touch with you again. Don't worry, I won't ask you for my stamps. In all probability, you were as ignorant as me that time. Anyway, I have given up philately quite long ago. :) Posted at 11/27/2003 12:51:30 PM Link Wednesday, November 26, 2003 Today, I did something that I have never done before. Would post the details by Monday.Posted at 11/26/2003 05:16:30 PM Link Monday, November 24, 2003 I would have been a multi-millionaire by nowI have got this call three times in as many days where an automated male voice tells me that prize money of few million pounds is waiting for me to grab and I should call up a premium number to claim that money. First, it was the bloody RD thru’ snail mail. Next, it was Dr. Bahutu & his cronies from Africa over e-mail Now, it is this anonymous moron over the telephone. Oh God! Why are you making people chase me after with loads of money? I would have been a multi-millionaire by now if only you had given them enough brains to leave those piles of cash at my doorstep. Posted at 11/24/2003 03:50:40 PM Link Friday, November 21, 2003 An appeal to Blood donors
Posted at 11/21/2003 12:50:33 PM Link Thursday, November 20, 2003 When things go wrong..
I have been made to remember this quite frequently in the last few years. Yet another time today! Photo Courtesy: Media Junk photo blog Posted at 11/20/2003 12:38:35 PM Link Wednesday, November 19, 2003 The Clown is in the TownGeorge W Bush is the most unwelcome guest in Britain at the moment, though the Guardian poll says that it is not that bad. Thanks to Freedom of Expression, tens of thousands are planning to show their back at him in the form of massive rallies, protests and what not. Some 14,000+ cops are on duty to see to that nothing untoward happens in London during Bush's state visit to United Kingdom that started yesterday. When people say that other parts of London might become soft targets for the terrorists/trouble makers due to heightened concentration around the Palace, I think they have got a point. Hopefully, the connoisseurs of security had done their calculations right. Posted at 11/19/2003 04:12:38 PM Link Monday, November 17, 2003 Your Excellency, my sonny wants to go to school..A good friend of mine told about this over the weekend. A relative of his, who got transferred to Chennai wanted to admit his three year old in one of the best known schools in Chennai. Since the academic year has already started the school refused admission to that lad. The father of the kid turned for help towards the grandfather, who recently retired from a high-ranking post in armed services and is now serving the President (yes, the President of India) in some capacity. That gentleman has rung up the school vouching for his grandson and has even said that, he would request Dr. Kalam to give a ring, if that would please the school authorities. The school relented and admitted the boy. Gosh! All this for getting a kid admitted in LKG. Posted at 11/17/2003 11:51:12 AM Link Friday, November 14, 2003 DiaryIt is a sign that another New Year is fast approaching. Still 45 days more to go in 2003, our company distributed 2004 diaries today. The first thing I did with it was to check out all the holidays for 2004! :) Posted at 11/14/2003 03:19:55 PM Link Thursday, November 13, 2003 Whats in a name? There seems to be a lot to it.Yesterday, my colleague was chatting with his buddies while someone asked "Do you know about Chakra?". He replied saying, "Yeah.. very well. He is my mate at work!", which seems to have amused others. The Chakra they referred about was not me, but something to do with Eastern medicine. Looks like Eastern therapy is catching up fast all over and hence Chakra is getting popular. In the past, I have had few people write to me asking about some therapy, mental balance etc, which I have ignored. Apparently, they have reached my website, searching for "chakra". Recently, one lady sent an e-mail saying she was very disappointed with my website coz it didn't have anything related to those 'chakra's. hmmmm... so much for having this name! Am enjoying every moment of it, though! Did a quick search and found this.. sigh!
Posted at 11/13/2003 12:35:07 PM Link Tuesday, November 11, 2003 Quote of the DayThis is no exaggeration. It really happened in our office yesterday and has been put up in our office notice board as well. One senior manager walked into our department asking whether we have something to munch. In his typical style, he went on like "Do you have anything for me to suck?" The usage didn’t amuse anyone, as it is the way he would talk normally. A girl innocently replied, “I have got couple of things with me now. But they have been hanging around for a while”. Should I explain the stunned silence followed by roaring laughter, the blushes on her face et al. Posted at 11/11/2003 10:24:04 AM Link Monday, November 10, 2003 What if.. ?The Supreme Court stayed the arrest order issued against five senior journalists of The Hindu by the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker. I expected this to happen. While discussing the above my friend Natarajan was asking "If Karnataka could get away by flouting Supreme Court's order on Cauvery issue, what if TN tries the same thing on The Hindu issue?" Very true! I wouldn't be least bit surprised if Jaya goes ahead with the arrest of the journos, giving a damn to SC stay and cite the above. Already Karnataka has set a very bad precedent by flouting SC's ruling. Thanks to vote bank politics & the stakes involved, centre too was a mute spectator last year. I am not a connoiseur of law, but I strongly feel that something should have been done last year to show that people - esp. the supposed "leaders" can't get away that easily by brazenly disobeying the court's ruling. Anyways, no point in ruing about the past. Posted at 11/10/2003 10:52:49 AM Link Saturday, November 08, 2003 The HinduNormally, I don't write about politics in my blogs, though that is what I am more interested in. But, I couldn't digest the way Chennai police went on to implement the TN Assembly privilege committee's sentences on the senior journalits of The Hindu. If police could simply walk into the offices of one of the respected media organisation without any warrant, intimidate its employees - all under full media glare, it shows the heights to which arrogance and abuse of power could go. Cops barging into the residence of Jayanth, a senior scribe from The Hindu without any papers and even searching his bedroom and intimidating his wife could simply be termed as third rated. Speaking of the sentence itself, it is a shame that freedom of press is assaulted this way in the World's largest democracy. Legislative privileges are never meant to be used against the independent media. Attack on free press is nothing new and is not something that is confined to AIADMK. The nation might remember the series of raids on the offices of Indian Express by Rajiv Gandhi government for the former's role in exposing the Bofors scandal. AIADMK's rival DMK (incidentally, the editor of Murasoli - DMK's organ has also got a 15 day sentence for publishing the translation of Hindu's editorial) did its part in attacking the distribution vans of IE & Hindu way back in 1990. I vividly remember the scene where a long stretch in Mount Road in Chennai (near Anna Arivalayam) was strewn with newspapers during that attack. It was under AIADMK founder leader MG Ramachandran's rule in Feb 1987, the then speaker PH Pandian awarded a 3 year RI sentence to the editor of Anandha Vikatan for similar reasons. That he got released in 3 days due to public pressure is a different story. But never before the high handedness was so brazen and so open with a 'what the heck you will do' attitude as is apparent with the yesterday's incidents. There has been spate of assaults on media personnel ever since AIADMK came to power in May 2001 and Jaya seems to be a very poor learner. Whatever said and done, the public memory is very short and this controversy would be off the block in few days’ time and it is on these factors Jaya is banking on. Else, wouldn't it have been possible for her to stage a comeback in 2001 after a more authoritarian regime during 1991-96? I took time this morning to browse through the websites of all the major media houses expecting them to raise a hue & cry about the incident. But to my surprise, except for very few (NDTV, Express & of course Hindu), there is hardly any coverage about this. The Hindu was/is never a favourite newspaper of mine, though I never disrespected the newspaper for what it is. I have always felt that as a newspaper of its calibre, 'The Hindu' should have more guts and take on the powers that be, whenever necessary with much more responsibility. When I felt that the turnaround is at last happening, the government has thrown a challenge, albeit in a cheap manner. I am sure that Hindu would pick up the gauntlet in its own stride and inject sensibility in to the heads of the lawmakers. Wishing N.Ram, the editor-in-chief loads of luck!! I am sure he'll need it. Posted at 11/8/2003 09:28:44 AM Link Thursday, November 06, 2003 Popup ad junkie
Posted at 11/6/2003 04:47:04 PM Link Tuesday, November 04, 2003 Hosting optionsI have hosted my site at Manchester based 34sp.com. They charge me £15 (roughly about US$ 22) per year and in turn I get 30mb disk space, 1000mb monthly bandwidth, MySQL database support, 10 e-mail addresses and other usual stuff as explained here. Their support is simply fantastic. Now that I plan to jump into MT bandwagon, I reckon that this 30mb of space won't be enough. But 34sp's upgrade option isn't very attractive. Could you suggest a reliable hosting service that would give me more space to play around and at the same time doesn't make me stretch too much in terms of budget? Posted at 11/4/2003 02:45:40 PM Link Monday, November 03, 2003 ThunderWe heard a huge thunder last night followed by lightning and heavy rain. It was very windy as well, which the weatherman described it as ‘mild storm’. Only on hearing the thunder I realized that I have never heard them before in this country. Today, the thunder was the talking point at work and people were like, “I have heard it once before few years”, “My kids were thrilled to hear that” et al. Thunders & lightning are not uncommon in India. Even in Chennai, where rainfall is scarce, thunders & lightning used to be heard & seen, most of the time when it rains. Could any one out there throw more light (pun unintended) on this funda? Posted at 11/3/2003 04:04:46 PM Link Sunday, November 02, 2003 Another weekend! Another assignment!! phew..Posted at 11/2/2003 08:51:02 AM Link | |||||||
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