HAPPY REASON

Ok I need to explain. I have been off the blog for one happy reason, someone else needs my attention. For the first time in my life I feel so important. Every single minute you get is very precious. Life has a new meaning and a purpose now.

U can contribute

According to BBC news, coins thrown into Rome's Trevi Fountain by tourists are to be used to finance a free food project for the city's poor. The money, which amounts to $4,000 a day, will be collected and passed on to provide basic food.

Friday picture

how mean

As you get ready to leave home, after a long day at work, you enter the lift at the 3rd level and press the under ground level and wait. The lift stops at 2nd level and your phone rings, as you pick up the call, a guy enters and presses the ground level button. The lift arrives at the ground level and then it doesn’t go to the under ground but starts to ascend non-stop to the 6th floor. With shock you express this news to the other person on the phone, pat comes the question who else’s is there in the lift? Oh no this is the last thing to expect.

Serendipity of life

At one instance I want the clock to move fast – especially if you are waiting to meet the loved ones.

At another instance I want more time – for preparing for my examination

Fresh looks

Dial a ticket

This is a very novel idea, might u can ask me what's new with this, this experience was a different one. My cousin and self wanted to go for a movie but then the counter a big queue but then we were late for advance booking and then early to stand in the queue forget it, not knowing should be wait of go ahead with the next plan standing there, my cousin picks up the mobile and checks if the tickets can be got for the next show. Kewl we go and pickup the tickets for the show and go ahead our plan and then return to the movie right on time. Tele ticket can help us at time in this manner ;-) Untimately technology is to be blamed for it

What's in a name

I presume you all know the joke of how Chinese name their new born, no offence meant,
this is a little extension to that. It’s pretty nice when you travel in a cab & the kind of conversations you pickup with the drivers, and today happens to be one such day. I got into the car and wanted to him to drive me to the temple near my office on the same road. He had a wired look on his face. Are you not going to office kinds, since it was around 8 in the morning? What ever I was thinking what’s your problem and suddenly some thing caught my attention in his car. The dashboard had a lot of badges that belong to various marathons that are held in South East Asia and Pacific regions. Then slowly the chat drifted and we started talking about lot of people and then slowly the conversation slipped into how the Chinese names are spelt.
It seems the people in Singapore were asked to register themselves after the independence, to accept their registration there were British people in the registers who were on job,
the Britsh people wrote spelling in their own way. Since those people were illiterate at that point of time accepted that this is their spelling and continued to use them in the same manner. So as a result now all these variants for just one family name: tham, than, chan, chen, ton, tan.
I was told there were close to 10 family names now there are so much. Not sure how far this is true but its acceptable when u hear them saying their names.

Can any one tell me what has gone wrong in this picture?

no more foot board travel in chennai

With the recent news from MTC(Metropolitan Transport Corporation) on the introduction of Luxury buses in Chennai aka Madras, foot board traveling comes to an end. Gone are the days when we take pride in getting in & out of the bus at our will. If you have gone to college or school, of course not for studying, in the PTC bus you would appreciate this. For some 8 years I had used this mode of transport, so much of joy you would derive. Pneumatic doors operated by the driver, oh God can’t imagine that the passengers are under the mercy of the driver. Let me see how many days this mechanism would work. Many a times during my onsite trip I used to share this story with friends of mine how convenient for us we use the public transport. The best thing is you life is in u r hands, any time u feel like getting out of bus u can always do that, not any more I think so.

The funniest/adventurous part of PTC bus travel are:

# to move from rear to front – not inside the bus, using the windows, can you?
# Try getting out of the bus while the drive tries to negotiate a left turn while slanting the bus to 20 to 30 degrees, so that the ground clearance is so high that u can’t think of getting of the bus in the turn
# Accelerate at breakneck speed during the turning so that u can’t get off the bus
# deriving lot of pleasure as being an icon, by getting in last at every stop by chasing the bus and then hanging in there
# hanging in the bus with minimum possible clutch
# identify the bus by not looking at the name board rather use the coding convention that is written on the side of the bus ...and the list goes on.

Can others think of any thing else which can be added. I’m sure there is a lot more.

How greedy can people get?

Couldn’t control laughter when I heard some one saying this “what is mine is mine and ur's is also mine”

Kids are kids

Just sharing from sites i visit

From Route79 aka Jag
Boy to Father: “Dad, What’s your favourite element?”
Father: “Oxygen.”
Boy: “Why?”
Father: “It’s what I need to breathe and stay alive.”
Daughter: “My favourite is Calcium, ‘cos I like Yoghurt”
Boy to Mother: “What’s your favourite Mum?”
Mother: “Diamond. And Gold.”(Father tuts and raises eyebrows.)
Father to Son: “So what’s your favourite?”
Boy: “Xenon”
Father: “Why?”
Boy: “Because it sounds cool.”

Anumitha
The 10 year old daughter's class is being taught to use the dictionary.
And the daughter with a friend, after some self education, is going around school, asking eighth standard seniors if they were 'virgins'.
A teacher complained that the kids called her a 'whore' too.
After complaints were made and heard out the two girls were rusticated for a day and sent home with the mothers.
The 10 year old daughter was last heard telling her friend, "if we learn bigger and dirtier words, we'll get a 2 day holiday, you know."

Stress Relieving

I went to the national library here in Singapore with my school friend - Thiru, whom I meet him after close to 8 years and go to an exhibition which is held there.
In one corner of the library there are close to 5 racks of book which were all bound in white ..just white. There were some tables and chairs were no one sat, So got little curious and went to read the catalog which was saying this collection is for stress relieving and some stuff like that. Got very curious how come so a huge collection can convey the same message took one book and opened – surprised all pages white with no imprint – got the message … was little jealous – kept the first book in its place and then open another one ..same blank pages – so much for stress relieving it cause more stress on me.

How is it, want to swim when it’s raining?

an evening @ dusk

Yes we need to mend time

Visit to Nagarjuna Sagar

A visit to Hyderabad and then to Nagarjunasagar was a memorable. A major change in life and then a lot of things.

A trip to Nagarjunasagar can be done in a day if you travel from Hyderabad. This place is of immense archaeological significance & excavations. This dam was completed in 1966 and is 1 km long. This has 26 gates and this is the third man made lake in the world. Our visit to this place was primarily to capture the sight of water flowing from all the 26 crest gates.

Ethipothala is a mountain stream with 3 water falls. There is a light show in the night which I was told worth watching. A treck to this place and then a visit to the fall is worth the trip.

Do u think this can happen only in India?

NEWS period, Indians have woken up long ago and have installed cement slabs for the same. Now its time for other countries to learn lesson from us or is it an outcome of the hostile take over of Arcelor by Mittal?

Photo which i like a lot taken @ Chamonix

Blackdog

I’m not talking about the Black dog security service here… people from Chennai know more about this. It’s really strange how government can control such actions. Malaysia outlaws unsuitable names .. of which names likes of Karrupusamy (black god) is discouraged from using. Read more here… What makes it more strange is common names like animals, insects, fruit, vegetables or colours are not to be used it seems. Then I think people will be called as

Mr. X and Mrs. Y only

thinking comes to an end

Finally one of the key decisions is made. Not so happy having made the decision but in the general interest ..

Shrinking office syndrome

Shrinking office space is one thing that people are complaining about, every where there is shrinkage. What do you think the best way could be.. Individuals with less space in office or shared space in office like hot seats? Some time its fun to be working like this but many a times the personal space meant to be for every individual is taken away. Can we blame it on global warming; just need to transfer the blame on someone for the blame game. Check out this nice picture on global warming … yes its hot. Thanks Raghu for this picture.

a picture or an art

Gastronomic journey

Warning : Might be disgusting for some people. The items which are tasted here is not even for the hardcode non-vegetarian

Food writer Stefan Gates is on a mission.

Such taste do exist

Dantin

This is what we have named my nephew as, My brother wanted to give his kid a very unique name & our search finally ended in this book by Menaka Gandhi called NamesThis book is worth buying if you want to have some Sanskrit names. The book explains a name with some attributes like meaning of the name – historical reference to it and others associated with this name are. My recommendation for this book would be 7/10

Letour

2005 they started to look for it - eyeing it

This year July month is a source of major entertainment for sports buff.
Letour, Formula1 & Fussball are all here. People would really are overloaded in Germany this month; Poor guys they lost in the semi’s.

This year again the tour-de-France come out with the beautiful poster.

This year they are fighting for it

Celebrate the moment don’t click it

Celebrate the moment don’t click it - this is the word that’s being spread around the world for 17th July 2006.

Becca Bland has launched "non-photography day" - planned for 17 July - through a website together and other means of campaign in various cities in England.

From my personal feeling any person can be a good photographer; it’s just another art you need to perfect it. I have seen many people carrying camera and go on clicking without admiring the subject. I’m of the opinion that we need to admire and then after registering that in your memory you if you click then you would get a nicer picture. The moment you wait is worth it. This picture is taken in Singapore zoo by Prasanna.

Evening pictures of Singapore - by the bay

One wonderful weekend spent. Lazy saturday & sunday was spent. All done over the weekend was catching up a friend of mine whom I'm meeting after a long time. Spent time with his kid and learnt ways how you should hold a kids hand. They dictate u when u how to hold thier hand and the way they want :-)

Watched Cars movie very nice one. Lightning McQueen, a hotshot racer car driven to succeed, discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line, when he finds himself unexpectedly detoured in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs.

Once in a while we need to make such detours in life and discovered what we have missed in life.

It's always not winning that matters in life.

Gift from a loving friend

Can't spot laughing while reading these line

Picture was taken in Singapore zoo

I will take bricks and write on that how much I miss you…
I will break it on your head to show how much it pains when I miss you …..

Singapore Zoo

This is one place I would recommend u all not to miss. One whole day is need with lot of careful planning for the visit, Just make sure that u don’t miss the shows which are there.

Wonders of the Wild is such a nice one where in this program aims at educating the people. Carlos- the sea lion there stole the show with her activities. People in the first 2 rows watchout - there will be a lot of water spilage.

The other shows that are worth watching are ELEPHANTS AT WORK AND PLAY & ANIMAL FRIENDS SHOW.

Plan u r route in such a way that u don’t miss. Every thing is worth visiting during the feeding time. If you are lucky u get to feed them as well.

Night Safari
A very nice one worth visiting if you not from India. You would get a glimpse of all the wild animals which wander around in Indian roads during day & night.

Nexgen

All pictures here are taken in the mobile camera. Just wanted to test this sort of publishing.

While walking in one of the streets by the river side I discovered a pub which was displaying some sort of funny captions and small jokes. There a note that says if u have any objecting to this message being displayed here you can raise and objection with the person in the cash desk. For registering your objection you need to pay S$5.65, Who will dare to do that?

Can this happen?

After an exhausted day in work, with some wrong updates, while you rush back to hotel and taxi the drives makes a wrong exit, what you would do? Just sit back and watch what he upto. The taxi driver cuts the meter and then hands over the bill to you saying just pay me this, I shall drop u back in hotel without any additional cost. Oh God in this world such people also exit. This happened to me in Singapore yesterday late evening, added to this the taxi driver apologies and says I don’t want to cheat. As a reward we gestimate how much more we need to pay and tip him for that. The sweet driver doesn’t want to accept the additional money given to him but after a lot of persuasion accept that. Long live such people. This is a picture of a building taken in Singapore.

Thermodynamic law of romance

love can neither be created nor destroyed, only be changd from 1 girl friend to another with considerable loss of time & money.

IMAGES OF SINGAPORE

Last weekend watched Da Vinci Code movie - A very fast moving one when compared to the novel. R dropped in on her way to US.

Went to Sentosa island not to miss are Under water world – this showcases all crabs, all varieties of fish, some interesting thing is the angel fish, I suppose this is one of the very smallest fish in the world and it looks like an angel only.
Then the dolphin show, most amazing one

Then the musical fountain with a laser show at 7.40 & 8.40 pm – too good one.
This is a view of the hotel I stay from the river front.
One of the numerous bridges which is there in Singapore.

Some grown up people were playing with the illuminated gliders there. Each of them cost S$600 and care should be taken so that its landing is taken care properly.

Singa Pura

Had been busy with work for a while after landing here in Singapore. First is first - Food no problem at all. Last weekend managed to visit Jurong BirdPark. Wonderful place to visit. Not to miss are the shows that happen. More detail later. Not to miss is the the world's highest man-made waterfall, standing at 30 metres.

Way to get started

It’s been a long time since I had done something in life like this – sit in a house that holds memories which makes u think, laugh or cry, sitting in the terrace thinking of unknown, gazing at the sky & counting the stars in them, looking at the possessive things which u own for u r self which bring many endless memories. Have I lost them all? I have been on the move for a long time and it’s been a while since I did all the above things mentioned. I just hold my coffee mug where ever I go. When I went to Pune last week to my uncles house I got coffee in this mug, I was looking for this mug for long. Can anyone tell me where to get hold of one like this.
Now my work takes me to Singapore on a short trip in the middle of not knowing where to get settled in life. I have accepted life as it offers. Ok the only consolation is now I’m out of European projects and getting into APJ projects. mera number kaab ayega?

Vigeland Park - OSLO

One of the main highlights of Oslo is the Vigeland sculpture park. I’m still to post my Norway travel log, will have to write about it soon. Here are my thoughts on this park, I found it very disturbing one. I don’t know how many people would like it. So the picture I had shot boils down to just one. This park contains 192 sculptures with various figures. Expression in all walks of life can be found here in the 600 figures which represent one life right from rite from the new born baby to death. Every expression is captured with the minutest details.
Gustav Vigeland single handedly managed to model the entire work just by himself.
He also designed the architecture of park so that these take u through the rite path.
There is one thing which attracted me the most is the The Monolith & The Wheel Of Life

The Monolith column is 46 feet high and is carved out of a single stone and it consists of 121 figures and was completed just before Vigeland died. The column is completely covered by humans. There are various interpretations of this one – for me its everyday life and how you over come the same.

Read more here about other pictures there

Nice once from Delhi School of Martial arts

Thanks to Nidhi for sending this

6230

No this is not the hot counter number or something like that. Just discovered that the laptop model I have and my mobile model number and one and same. I have Compaq nc6230 laptop and my mobile is 6230i. What a coincidence.
Any guess on the attached picture? This is a clock which I like a lot. This was gifted to me by my client when I went to UK for the implementation. The line indicates the reference point and then the hour, minute & second slices. Many people didn’t understand what it was at the first look. It took sometime for them to understand what this is. Here is another one which I liked, its called a binary clock. Read on more on Prabhu’s site

24 till I die

There can’t be two Venkat’s in the same city, Bangalore. Venkat came to B’lore so I moved back to Chennai.

Happy birthday to me. Thanks to all for the wonderful wishes. Got some really nice gifts from Indu & Reuben. Here is the gift from Indu, we both always end up only fighting, and this girl see what gift she gave, just to tell the world that she is the one who wins.


I’m also called as 24 as Venkat (vingt quatre) means 24 in French.
Girls are always like this. See the other t-shirt she got for me, now do I need to say something else.