Meeting the Lion - Nakkals !!

After my Encounter (sollika vendiyathu thaan) with that teenage North African Lion, I sent out the snap with an email titled "The Lion King" all my friends. Got instant replies from some of my friends, who never ever responds to any of my emails. Mostly all of them are nakkals and nayyandi types only !! Some samples for you to munch on....Here you go !!

Cool pix....bring it home da....

<> enakum aasai thaan, lion vantha piragu nee thaan first guest enga vetukku <>

cool man...Who is the King out of them..... -:)))))))))))I guess its you....-:)))

<> vazhgha..vazhgha..ipdi rendu friends venum ellarukkum....<>

Kalakike pute, Sabari!!!Nee unmiyana singa kuttinu prove pannite!!!

<> kilambityaanya.....kilambitaan...tamil cinema over aa paakara nee...<>

Its really nice and dangerous snap..

<> shokran..shokran... <> shokran means thanks in arabic....

Hey sabari don't play tell me the truth..adhu enna pallu and nails pudingina lion eh?Erundhalum namba mudiyala...

<> oruthana veeran innu avlo seekiram othuka maateengale <>

Hence it is proved that lions dont attack pigs! :D

<> dey freddu... nee mattum kaila kidaicha...kaima thaan dee ..unaku 2 young lions a onna paathathila stomach-fire ...grrrrrrrrrrrrr (garjanai...) <>

Sabari, SUper.. the animals in the photo are too good!!antha singam.. polio attack aana singam mathiri iukku??? nalla saappadukodukka sollu pa

<> ithu surandai selva'vin...nellai nakkals......<>

Wow !!!...So u mean to say u have tamed an african lion@!#@!#@!

<> naan enga da tame panninen innu sonnen...athu etho sathyiathukku kattupattu...olunga pose kuduthuttu iruku <>

This is really nice & adventurous...hey thats a kewl pic man.

<> nandri ..nandri<>

Thats a cool photo...Does that zoo keeper got to keep his hand on that lion all the time?How old is that lion? Looks like a teenager...

<> dude.....i f the zoo keeper had taken his hand, you would not be reading this blog :-)<>

Enada kalakare...enna software use pannina?

<> prasnna...unnoda software engineer puthiya kaatita illa....<>

Cool da !Were u insured before u stepped into the cage?If the trainers hand didn't show , it wud have been even better !

<> epdiyavthu oru korai kandu pidichidu raannga... pona janmathula nakeeran parambarai pola...<>

Lion looks smaller than you ;))

<> mani......ithuku mela perusa iruntha athuku peru lion illa <>

That's a cool pic man. hope the tiger wasn't hungry at that time...lol

<> dey rkp....kannu theriyathu kabothi....athu signam thaan....pasi la kaadhu thaan kekkathu..unaku kannu kooda theriyam pocha enna<>

I think the matter is,it is a female lion......,that's why it is quiet

<> dewa.... this is packiaraj type of thinking; i appreciate that... edpiyo enna aambala signam innu othukittathukku dankssu nanbaa...<>

Ciao singa kuttikagale !!

Meeting the Lion in its Den !!

I had a chance to visit the Giza Zoo, in Cairo. When I get past the ticket gate, touts and photographers gather around me and show photos of people taken inside the lion's cage. They say this is only for special people, this that...and usual marketing campaign. I brushed aside all of them, and decided to meet the lion on my own.

I took a while for me to find out the Lions section, of the zoo. Checked about the bribes I need to pay, with some of the guys over there. They said for Egyptians usually pay 5 pounds(approx. $1) and as a tourist you may have to cough up two or three times the amount. So I decided to risk my life, for a really adventurous encounter with the lion. Mind you, I am going to meet the lion in its own den.

After a small negotiation for the bribe, the trainer opened the back door of the lion's compound and let me in. To my surprise he closed that door immediately. Now he is going to open the cage, and I don't have any place to run, in case of any unforeseen circumstances. We were confined in a 6 x 15, rectangular area, with high rise walls.

Mun vecha kaala, pin vaikarathu oru tamilanukku thalai kunivu, egypt la vanthu namma maanam poganuma innu paathen. Let me take it, open the 25 !!

There were three lions, in three sizes, all in separate cages. The trainer chose the one in the middle, which was an adolescent and agile. I suddenly thought whether these guys feed the lion properly not, or may be they get stupid tourists and feed to the lions.....invanungala namba mudiyaathu....paa !!

My excitement is increasing by every second. By this time the middle cage was open, and the lion slowly walked toward the trainer. Oh! ithu thaan singa nadai yaa !! It was a quite lazy walk. Then the trainer made the lion to lie down to give the pose for the photo.

I slowly walked towards the back of the lion, and quickly took few snaps. By this time, i had become somewhat comfortable with the with the lion and it seems he also has understood me, that i am harmless :-)

I slowly ran my fingers through the top portion of its head, and touched its shoulders also. At this moment, some stupid fly or beetle disturbed the lion’s rear portion and it swiftly turned its head to chase the fly away. The trainer got annoyed and he asked me to leave.

I handed him the 10 bucks he wanted, quickly wrapped up the camera bag, lying in other corner of the area and came out. Hey!! That was an amazing experience.

The zoo keepers offered me to take photos with tiger and elephants, for a cheaper price. Pothum da saami, aala vidunga, me escape!!

Ambalai Singam !!

The Lion is my favorite among other animals of the wild, so i dedicate this blog to the king of the wild . (ethuku thaan dedication innu vivasthai illa pochu...sari...sari...)

From time immemorial, lion has been a symbol of courage, pride, power and all desirable qualities. Undoubtedly, lion is the king of the forest, though there are much intelligent and powerful predators co-exist with our king. I am here to give wildlife lectures about lion, as you all will Discovery and Geographic channels at your homes

How frequent do you hear the phrase ‘aambalai singam”. Tamil movies play a major role in formulating the spoken language usage. I am pulling few leaves from Kollywood.

Scene 1

Padayappa – Opening Song
Singa nadai pottu sigarathil eru
Sigrathai adainthal vaanthil eru
En peru padaiyappa, ila vatta nadayappa
Ennodu ullathellam ilan chinga padai yappa

No comments about the lyrics, since this is thalaivar song

Scene 2
Dhool movie climax - Dappankuthu song, by paravai muniyamma
Singam pola nadanthu varan enga peraandi !!
Singam ennaiku nadanthu vanthchu…it sleeps most of the day or runs to kill the prey

Scene 3
Sivaji Ganesan addressing his boy returning from the school as, vaada en singa kutti !!
While sivaji is like a yaanai (elephant), he still calls his son as singa kutti, enna kodumai da ithu

Scene 4
Vadivelu (kaipullai) gets beaten by Riaz Khan
He tells his aides… dey, singatha asinga padithitaanga da !!

Scene 5
Election Campaign - Political Stage
Namma thanga thalaivan, thanmanach chingam munusamy annanukku Ungal ponnana vaakukalai aliyungal

Scene 6
A village minor (ponnambalam) rapes a cop’s sister, for some old revenge. Ponnambalam’s father feels proud about his son for this ‘raping’ and tells his wife Enn payyan aambalai singam dee !! His son has done a kevalmana kaariyam, but dad calls him a singam…. Thaangala da saaami…

The phrases about tiger or cheetai are hardly used. What is the reason?
For example aambalai puli …a tiger is more intelligent and stronger than a lion…may bcoz’ the word ‘puli’ sounds like ‘ali’. In Virumaandi movie, Kamal says, "sandiyara kattikitta puli kutti porakum"; Annalakshmi replies back "enaku puli kutti ellam vendaa chaami, pull kutti pothum" Smart isn’t it?

Also, for that matter the phrase of ambalai siruthai. In fact Cheetah is like a formula 1 beast in the wild, which speeds up at 101 kmph under 6 seconds, but not more than 5 minutes continuously.

Lions Club - all lions in the town will meet here once in month, to play cards, smoke and booze.

Entha oorula singam thanni dhamm ellam adikuthu, kodumai da saami.

ethu epdiyo, singathoda pera use panni , namma makkal atha kevala paduthittu irukaanga

intha dialog ellam eluthara directors ellathaum , kattuku anupi vaikanum... magane kaima thaan neenga ellam !!

okie dokie...thatz all for now !! Ciao !!

Tanglish Part-1: Aaapu / Baadu

Time for some basics!!

I rewind more than 20 years. Camera straight to my LKG class room
I could see the beautiful Kalyani miss teaching us A for Apple, B for Ball.

I try to think hard and recollect all the words taught against each alphabet.
Alas !! I could not recollect 50% of the words also. So inspired by Reema Sen, in the Dhool movie, I decided to make my own stuff to complete the list. In one of the sequences, she teaches Vikram English, which will be cut off by Vivek and Mayilsamy as they think, it might lead to L for Love, K for Kiss and S for Sex. Btw, excuse me for some inappropriate content creeping in here and there

A

Apple - Aaapu

The very word of apple reminds me the Apple Corporation and its Half bitten apple logo. I believe award for the most innovative company in the technological sphere is tied between Apple and Google.

I have some questions here :
1. Why do people refer the cheeks of young women, you can’t eat them anyway ;-)
2. Why was apple chosen as the forbidden fruit, when there are so many tasty fruits around? Adam only knows !!
3. An apple a day, keeps doctor away. Then why there are so many sick people in Ooty from where we get all the apples from?

‘Aaapu” . This is vary famous in Madurai Tamil slang
e.g 1 - Machi aappu vachitaanga da…..intha semester um lab oothikuchu

e.g 2 - Elaye…vechomulla aappu !!

Aappu – literally means a sharp metallic tool used to break big logs wood, by striking on them, with a sledge hammer. Its somewhat similar to a chisel, as i dont know the exact english term for 'aapu'. When somebody provides you with an “aappu”, he hands out a blow or breaks your reputation, with minor damages to the morality

B
Ball - Baadu

I would like to recollect one reading here;
When you grow up the corporate ladder, your balls becomes smaller….no puns here....!!

When your are young executive, you loved playing basket ball and football
Then when you become a manager, you start playing Snooker
Then when you become a Vice President, you start playing Golf

Now, do you agree with me, the balls (of the game) become smaller when u grow up the ladder

One striking advertisement came during the FIFA World Cup 2006.
31 Days - 32 Teams – 64 Matches - 147 Goals - 352 Players – 1 Ball - 1 Game
Imagine what you can do with 2 balls
Can you guess the company, it is none other than Durex !!

Baadu

This Chennai slang is used when you want to degrade a person or his character. Some body may claim its means a pimp, but am still finding its origin and real meaning of this world.
Usually this term is used in conjunction with other derogaratory and unparlimentary terms of chennai tamil. So, i cannot really give examples of the usage here !!

C
Cat - Chinduu

Cats are real naughty lovable pets, cho chuweet variety. I like the way they improvise into our kitchens and turn the milk bowls upside down very much to the displeasure of our moms. Tell me one kid, who didn’t like the Tom character in Tom & Jerry.

I remember one lyric from the famous Gemini movie O-podu Song “Meen Thodaatha Poonaya”. Can somebody explain the relations between Meen/Karuvadu and Cats? The cats eat everything on earth, meen kadaicha yen thinggathu ??

Chinduu@yahoo.com
Ipdu oru email id create pannaum innu olgathulaye oru aalukku thaan thonum
The proud owner of this email address is none other than my dear friend Gokul
If you want creative ideas about creating email ids, he will be happy to assist you in the above email id Saambaar@yahoo.com ; Vatha_kuzhambhu@gmail.com

Chindu mudithal – process that you create a small hassle between 2 friends by playing a double game. This should be not related to big conspiracy or similar things

D
Dog - Dhoda

I admire the K-9 corps of the CIA and love the special website dedicated to the four-legged friends of police. Want to be a ‘top-dog’, hear straight from the dog’s mouth. These smart dogs do one heck of a job.

Seen the K9 movie starring the German Shepherd (Jerry) and James Belushi. Jerry deserves an Oscar, for his performance in the movie...

Dhoda

‘dhoda’ - word used to point something or address someone can be used as a derogatory term
It doesn’t carry any specific meaning, but used invariably by college students and Galeej parties

The english equivalents are Hey!, You! in rap accent.

Remember the Dhool movie, when Jo is chasing Vikram for drawing a mustache on her face, villan pasupathi sees her and says “Dhoda meesa vecha figure”

eg 1. dhoda !! vanthutaaru naataamai

eg 2. dhoda !! intha vela ellam nammakitta vechikaatha

Alphabet Lessons will continue ....Stay tuned budds!!

Lallu teaches management @ IIM-A !!

I was really shocked to read this news !!

Lalu to teach management at IIM-A

Today it is not only IIM Ahmedabad that wants to fete Prasad for posting a fund balance of Rs 15,000 crore in 2005-06. Even premier international business schools like Harvard and HEC Management School, France, have shown interest in turning Prasad's experiment with the Indian Railways into case studies for aspiring business graduates.

Article -2 - New Kerala - Lalu to take IIM-A Classes

Article -3 - World News - Lalu to take IIM-A Classes

When ever i hear the name lalu, i remember the cartoon of him with 5 buffalos and a comment; Lalu - 4th from the left. The incident when both laloo and rabri devi, sitting in a function, when national anthem being played, potrayed the level of dis-respect the leaders show to the nation.

Any way, jokes apart, I discussed this railway with two of my friends Fred and Karthick. Here are some of the points of the discussion.

• His secret lies in the fact that he did not convert the ministry into a Bihar Bhawan but left the crucial decision to his bureaucrats. Looks like he has taken a leaf from some management book "For a CEO, it doesn't matter what he does, but what matters more is what he gets done through his executives"
• He is achieving his targets not by increasing fares or downsizing, but by increasing traffic (cow milking example)
• The introduction of mud tumblers for beverages
• Selling of Fresh Fruits/Vegetables by railways in stations, is very profitable move
• He made the railway ministry more visible, than the earlier ministers
• The IRCTC (Online booking / catering) is a super hit idea and its still stands the indian website most with the most revenues. Hail technology !!

But why are the Railways Financial Commissioner, and the other top engineers (mechanical, electrical) denied the share in the sucess story of indian railways. I beg to defer, that this is a one man show, that too by Laloo. This looks more like the stupid project manager getting the credit, for the work of the executives.

On the other hand, the news makes me really happy that the biggest employer in the world and the life line of india is running positive, against wrong popular belief. Also I think i have to change my opinion about Lallu, as he is able to milk a white elephant like railways also.

Vote for lallu !!!

The “Real” Chennai Food Guide – Part I

The “Real” Chennai Food Guide – Part I

I spent almost 3 years in our Chennai, where I landed in my first job.
Those days were so much fun, not much to do at work owing to the Fresher status, and we got a really big nice city to roam around.

I was staying with 3-4 north Indian friends in a rented flat in Adyar. We had appointed a cook, who prepares roti some sabji, daal and rice. The menu is almost the same daily – just the daal and the sabji will change. If you have noticed, there is a stark difference between the tamilnadu chappathi and north Indian roti. The former has lot of oil and difficult to consume after few hours of preparation. Anyway that is not the matter of discussion now.

Even though we had home made and healthy food, it started sounding boring to me and doesn’t appeal to my palates. So I started our quest with like minded friends to try tastier options. We tried almost all options right ranging from exotic Park Sheraton, Savera, Anjappar, Arasappar… to exciting thattu kadai, thallu vandi, road side stalls etc. I have excluded the well classified star hotels and other famous restaurant chains which appear in the Chennai Online and other websites

Statutory Warning: This is only for those adventurous people and who have a strong stomach and really strong immune system. Please stay away, if you are so called sophisticated and used to dine with fork n knife. Also, if you choose venture out the places mentioned, you should not worry about the service levels in these places. The prices vary from very cheap (5-10), cheap (20-40) to moderate (100-150) and most of them are easy on your pocket. The signature dishes in each of the eater is given along the title

Alsa Mall, Egmore – Bread Omlette
Just stick to the plain vanilla item – Bread Omelet, with tangy green mint chutney. The cheese, grilled and the vegetable sandwiches are not up to the mark. There is similar one stand-up sandwich stall available near the SQL Star Training Center on Nungambakkam High Road, but it can’t match the taste of the egmore cousin.

Pattani – Samosa, Opp: Satyam Theater
There are quite a few shops which serve samosa, with hot pattani kuruma, but this one is right in front of the main gate of the satyam complex. Note that the pattani is not Chenna(chick peas), but green dry Peas. Two hot samosas are smashed and hot pattani with gravy is poured over tem and handed out to you in a small plate. Ask the guy to add extra onion to your plate. After I became a regular customer with my friend Dileep, we get a plate of fresh sliced tomatoes as compliment :-) .

This dish should not be compared with the ‘chaat’ dish Chennai samosa, but it’s very much a local Chennai dish. Ideal time for this outlet is evening show timings in Satyam. For 5 bucks, you can enjoy your plate of samosas as well as feasting your eyes on the colorful crowd in the satyam movie complex.

Sree Bhavan, Thiruvanmiyur – Onion Rava Dosai
LB Road, near the Telephone Exchange, right on the signal to bezant nagar
This hotel is always crowded in weekdays, due to bachelors and family crowd and closes its kitchen around 9-9.15 pm in the night. The onion-rava dosai and onion othappam are very good here. Ask for an additional cup of sambar, when ordering the dosa itself (of course, at no extra charge). If you want eat here, u have be to present by 8 pm , after which u will get liquefied chutney and watery sambar, and one of the 3 colored chutneys will be missing.

Sapthagiri Hotel, T Nagar Natesan Street – Parotta Salna
After a 2nd show in Devi Theater or Satyam Theater, you will be damn hungry to eat what ever u gets hands on!! As a ground rule, you would have skipped dinner so that you scramble to get tickets for the movie.

Due to Chennai police’s stupid policy, almost all restaurants close by 11 pm. There are quite a few rebel ones, which are open past the mid night also. One such is this Sapthagiri hotel, in the Pondy Bazaar area. You will always get hot parotta/ salna and the usual half-boil n egg varieties. DON’T ever try any of the briyani or chicken dishes in this hotel; it might be a dead crow or some other wild bird also. Juz kidding !!

Midnight Express, Alwarpet - Muttai Appam
This is good for take away, when u return from office so late. The dosa varieties and muttai-appam are good here. Living up to its name, the hotel is open till 12.30 past the mid night, but after 11.30, you might not get all the items on the menu.

Woodlands Drive-Inn, Cathedral Road – Masal Dosai
The menu is very limited and the pick among them is Masal Dosai. The ideal time to visit Woodlands is 5-6 pm in the evening. For folks, who don’t drive-in, you got to resort to self service.

Rathna Café, Triplicane – Idli Sambaar
I consider idly as one of my foremost enemies in south Indian cuisine. But served in proper form, I can much quite a few of this. Rathna Café serves idly soaked in a bowl full of steaming sambar. You need to consume it piping hot, damn tasty man!!

Hotel Ponnusamy – Unlimited Meals, Rabbit Masala, Kaadai Roast
This hotel is best visited of lunch on a weekend, Order an unlimited non-veg meals (you get chicken, mutton and fish gravies) and feast your taste buds with a Kaadai Roast or Rabbit Masala or Crab Meat. The chettinaad chicken masala goes will with steamed rice. I usually prefer the crab dish with shells, though the shell less version is also available, for the less adventurous. Never try any of the veg, Chinese or tandoori dishes here. Also I warn pure veggie people not to enter the hotel as you will feel out of place. There are quite a few branches of this chain, though my favorites are the Besant Nagar and Egmore branches

Hunter’s Choice, Perungudi Road - Masala Stuffed Egg
This hotel is midway on the road connecting Old Mahabalipuram Road and Velachery. They have one heck of a dish called Masala Egg, in which they stuff some kind of spicy Masala with friend onions inside a boiled egg. I forgot the name of other Burma dishes, most of them are lip-smacking stuff. This small hotel opens only in the night. If you are lucky enough to find this hotel, don’t forget to try out the noodle like stuff with spicy sauce.

Hotel Runs, Adyar – Special Mutton Briyani
This is a typical mallu style (porcelain plates – glass tumblers) non-veg hotel. ‘Runs’ is located right in front of the Adyar Bus Stand, next to the petrol pump. The egg and mutton briyani dishes are vary good (don’t try the fish or prawn). The special briyani comes with some cashew and decorated with egg slices. Butter chicken is juz too good and the egg masala also a perenniel favorite with this hotel. Make sure you get the Egg Masala and not the Egg Curry – both are different dishes. Never try any of the vegetarian dishes in this hotel, they are really pathetic. This hotel is open till 11 pm, making it very convenient for bachelors.

Plantain Leaf, Thiruvanmiyur – Andhra Meals, Fish Fry
This is a usual Andhra meals hotel. The meals is average but the soups are good and the vanjiram fish fry is better than many places in Chennai. So take a parcel of the fish fry and enjoy with curd rice in the comfort to the home.
Located in Vannanthurai, Besant Nagar

Kalpaga Mess, RK Salai – Kerala Beef Fry
This small dingy Kerala mess is located next to the Music Academy. You get the Kerala meals with big grain red colored rice. The service is pathetic but the Beef Fry done with pepper and coconut slices is just too good to resist.

Shakes n Creams, Adyar– Fig n Honey
You will find crazy pizzas like Panner Butter masala pizza, chicken tikka pizza – but they are very tasty and good value for money. The chicken lollipop is also a good starter but all the main course are passable.
This is a popular hang out for the Anna University and IIT crowed, so don’t dare to get a table in the weekend. I don’t suggest this place for eating, but for its mouth watering ice-creams, with Fig n Honey being my all time favorite. Don’t forget to order the extra portion of cashew and honey, to complement your ice-cream.

Fruit Shop in Greams Road, Besant Nagar – Sheik Shake
The Sheikh Shake, is essentially a dates milk-shake is the pick, though their entire menu is invariably good. Also note that this is a “chic” juice shop and the price factor is 30-40 bucks for a milk shake or fresh juice. Ideal time to visit the shop is after 11 pm in the night, once you finish you sightings in the Besant nagar beach

Reliance Mafia !!

Recently, there were news articles about the foray of Reliance into Retail segment, laying out plans for hypermarkets and stores. Its really good news for indian customers and looks like a next Wal-Mart or Metro in the making. They have plans to touch upon every supplier and every customer across India.

One thing what struck me about the news is the poaching of business leaders from various industry practices, to run the reliance business. This is the so called "A" team of Mukesh Ambani

Front End Operations: Raghu Pillai from RPG (Food World, Music world etc)

Procurement/ Supply Chain: Saravanan from McDonalds
Consumer Electronics: Rajeev Karval, ex-LG, Onida man -the marketing wizard
Food & Grocery : Gunender Kapur, HLL/Unilever man
Lifestyle: Bijou Kurien, who was behind the success of Titan

The list is indeed long and has lots of big names

Do you think such a practice is ethical, for a enterprise like Reliance?

One of the famous Quotes of Dhirubhai Ambani is "We bet on people" , may be his wards understood this quote in a wrong sense. Bet on you own people guys !!

There were rumors about "threat calls" to journalists and editors of who write "bad" about reliance.
Is their corporate governance is transparent enough?
The stock holding pattern is so complex, no body can understand. Of course this is legitimate one.
The biggest PR spends in India is by Reliance (Courtesy: Vaidhy). But I haven’t seen any ads of reliance in news papers or television. Finally came to know that the journalists of leading news papers are “paid” to be the goodwill ambassadors of Reliance

In one of the rare interviews of Mukesh Ambani with NDTV, he was asked about law infringement. His reply was As far as we stay within the law, FULL STOP. He doesn't want to reply to the so called threat calls, other rumors and denied he doesn't know such stuff happening around him.

The news article says, Reliance is making offers nobody can refuse. This reminds me of the Godfather movie, in which Don Corleone makes an offer to the movie produce which he cant refuse !!! Are they playing the "mafia" of Indian corporate business scene? I don’t have the answers. Are there any b-school case studies available regarding this??

After the death of the great Dhirubhai, there was a rift between the 2 brothers over the battle for control. Out of the pages of articles i read and the numerous programs i watched over TV, one humourous comment still lingers in my thoughts.

"One un-educated poor man from Gujarat, successfully built a multi-billion dollar empire.
Two educated smart men from Stanford are busy breaking it up"

How true!! Hope i don’t get any threat calls from Reliance for this blog :-)
Ciao

CNN Vs.BBC

CNN or BBC - Which is the best news channel?

We people in India, hardly turn to these international news channels unless there is a September 11 or an Israeli attack or a high profile event like Milosevic death or Saddam capture occurs.

For one of my onsite projects, I had to live in a hotel room in Cairo, Egypt for about 4-5 months continuously. Thanks to genrerosity of my employer, it was a top notch 5* hotel. So there was a plethora of paid satellite channels; without which it would have been terribly boring to stay like that for a long period. Here in Egypt, most of the news channels are in Arabic and the English language press also plays second fiddle to the regional language. The local people want passionate reporting of any issue and they can only feel the passion only if they read in their local language. I have hardly seen 1-2 news papers in english for a country of 70 million.

So I had to “live” with the 2 channels BBC and CNN for my news updates. You know news on the internet is not interesting as always. Of course, Euro News was up there, but their presentation is very monotonous and boring in-fact. Nevertheless it was not an international channel.

My personal favorite is CNN. They are simply explosive in their style and their journalists are thier assets. I love the way they present their shows and some of the hosts are so pretty that you can watch them, even with the television volume muted. Yes….I was talking about Monita Rajpal, she is terrific :-). I was never interested in watching Lifestyle programs, but started watching ‘Art of Life’ for this beauty with brains.

Usually we skip the channels when they start showing temperature and rainfall related stuff, but Jenny Harrison makes it interesting. I don’t know how the hell she has so much “enthu”, in presenting weather data, whch she does so nicely.

“Quest” is one of my favorite programs…the langy Richard with his thick British accent makes it super dooper stuff. I have to say, the special report programs are are really good. Seen this "In the Footsteps of Osama Bin Laden" ..by Christian Amanpour...what a research man !! amazing stuff... hats off...only CNN can produce such stuff.

Also, the way they handle terrorism is stupendous. I think these journarlists gets trained in Al Qaeda camps, as a part of their recuritment..juz kidding.... Aneesh Raman is an excellent example for this !!

International Correspondents is worth seeing. The sports commentators are pathetic, except for Don Riddell and Candy Reid. CNN doesn’t cover much of cricket. Being from the Indian Sub-Continent, obvioulsy i want cricket news, whether its played in Barbados or Bangaldesh. May be they don’t recognize cricket as truly international game. And they live up to their motto “Be the first to know”.

Coming to BBC World, their jingles, graphics and presentation is all boring. The dull orange and black makes puts me to sleep, even if the news is really breaking stuff. Some programs on BBC are real good, Hard Talk with Stephen Sackur, The Doha Debate and Click Online. The websites given in the Click program are real good ones.

I still remember how Binayamin Netanyahu grilled Noel Johnson, in the Hard Talk program at the height of Israel-Lebanon war. Usually it will be the other way around with guest being grilled by the host, Stephen Sackur :-) It was real fun to watch that.

In BBC, have you watched the Earth TV, in which they show the live feed from all important cities of the globe with current time and temperature, I love to see the bird’s eye view of Sydney in that.

What irritates me, is that every minute every other presenter prompt you to visit BBC World or BBC News website. Too much !! I feel like hitting the guy and saying...We will visit..if required..juz shut up !!

On a contrary I like the BBC website very much, and not impressive about CNN Website. The former's website is pretty much organized and easy to browse.

Good to watch faces and graphics are not the only criterion for a news channel to be voted the best. Inspite of very good news content, I believe CNN is bit biased towards their home, the United States; while BBC loooks more neutral. The US correspondents of CNN, think their world is limited to the US only. They also have double standards when reporting about the people in the Middle East and people in the North America. Neither the CNN n0r the BBC is critical of the Bush's Foreign Policy

When the Americans in Florida took to the streets and celebrate the ill-health of Cuban leader Castro, the reporting is toned down. When the lebanese public celebrate the death of israeli civilians, they are picturized as barbarians...... CNN publishes the critic letters in one of their programs, but dont expect any responses to the critics.. its all "stone in the well" policy.

If CNN sheds is double standards and stop pleasing their US masters, they are the number one.

What say BBC Fans ?? Got any defending aruguments ??

Kaloori Naatkal

Few years before, I attended some self-development workshop (some crap stuff) , arranged by my previous employer. Every attendee was questioned about, their unforgettable moment in their life so far. Please note that all of us were barely in our mid 20s... No body has achieved any thing great, other than being the coolies of the silicon valley of india, serving Fortune 500 biggies. i have planned a separate blog for this coolie story....

ok let me not deviate...for the most unforgettable moment.. ..phat !! comes the responses ...few samples for you;

The moment I got my job in campus interview..... (fair enough !!)
When I came first in school in +2 ( dey andipatti la nee first vantha, enna last vantha enna...)
When I got lost without money, in the all India tour in the college..... ( this is a good one....)
When my sister got married …( some kinda family sick comrade I think )

The day I proposed my girlfriend ( what a pity! the poor guy is now married to the same girl he proposed )

I thought for a while....and could not come up with a single specific event/day that is unforgettable. I told the audience that my 4-years of college life are unforgettable in my life, and followed by a big roar in the crowd. In fact it’s true with most of us and you would agree on this with me.

The sad part in this is, I was unfortunate to finish my engineering in the stipulated 4 years...there are much more fortunate souls, who enjoyed full 6 years with all the privileges of a college student.

So when somebody utters the word college, what comes to your mind ??

lem'me list down my personal favorites ...the list is exhaustive and its really difficult to bring down it to top 15 ... fyi...i graduated from a not-so-typical self-financing college from south tamilnadu

1. Class Room
We meet friends five or six days a week, if we are not sleeping and not bunking the class..

2. Canteen / Mess
we meet friends, fight with masters for larger piece of chicken, omlette eating competitions
3 times a day, almost every day for 4 full years

3. Hostel Room
How can we forget the dingy "dorms" of first year or our own private world "single-cell" of the final year ..when power goes off...its total fun....

4. Study Holidays
In which we did everything except studying ...hours of untiring Xonix, Need for Speed, Road Rash ....Matter movies... Vannathirai magazine...

5. Educational tours
Dont get dis-oriented by the name.. The tours have nothing to do with education - comes once in an year, mostly accompanied by psychic staff..but we can't afford to miss it ..its great fun...

6.Girls
Mostly stero-typed (either sydney shledon peter or rettai jadai stuff), but obvioulsy a strange commodity to handle with their strange sentiments...and resultant ...happy kadalai boys – poor lover boys

7. Lecturers

athaanga..namma respectable vaathis... we have to deal with

Sick and Boring - 50%

Imsai - 20%

Jollu Party - 10% ( mostly from mech department)

Torture Dharma types - 5%

Arivu Jeevi Type - 5% ( they understand the subject..but cant make us understand)

Sooper type - 5% ( they are a rare breed, who have teaching sense and common sense)

Kankaans Type - 5% ( enna nadanthaalum kandukarathu illa..me myself and black board)

8. Examssssss ...
Terrifying isn't it..remember the papers of circuit theory, advanced control systems, transmission & distribution ...machine design for mechies.... danger "antenna" for ece folks.. fluid mechanics for civilians....each one had theri own share of nigh marish subjects.

9. Schedule Test
This is total fun...It really helped us to find out innovative methods of "bit" ing..copying

10. Assignment

this is realy pain in the a$$... yes . we got to do it .....even if you going to copy it from some so called brilliant students..who do it first....!! athuvum intha maths department iruke.....romba thaan torture pannuvaanga..paa ...

11.OD (On-Duty)
....Aahaa...this is real creative stuff..... to bunk the classes.....we got ISTE, IEEE, Photography Club, Asso, Sports, Fine Arts(Front Stage, Back Stage), Paper Presentation, Project, Tour Arrangement etc etc... and guys keep inventing more legitimate stuff to bypass the attendance register....

12.Cultural Fests/ College Day

Rangolis, Fashion Parade, dances, other college chicks

Farwell - Candle light - Mustafa Song - happy and sunken faces .... girls in silk sareess aah !!

Collge life colorful innu summava sol raanga !!

13. Apology Letter
ithu oru "kenathnamaana" concept....ulgathulaye enga college la mattume thaan ithu irukum innu ninaikaren..... we have to write a letter of apology for everything from shouting in the study hour, bunking the class and staying in hostel without permission, mid-night birthday celeberations etc....The funniest part is most of these so called apology letters end up in the trash can of the sub-wardens' room

14 . Autograph Book

This item is a prized possession for girls . I remember some guys invest a great deal of money in getting a Nightingale autograph book, to impress the girls. He
would not even have spent that much amount in getting sheets for his college
lecture notes.

15. Chemistry Lab
last but not the least ...i have to mention this chemistry lab....some of my friends still have nightmares about the chemistry lab... ...the tough-to-crack ubiquitious engg. chemistry professors will literally harras you and make you feel, that you are the sickest and most dumb among all. They will ask for your chemistry scores in Plus 2 exam and if you had scored more than 195, more likey the harrasment will be doubled.

Glorious days isn’t it.... More College Galatta, in the forthcoming Scribblings…. Stay tuned !!

Enaku ithu thaan first time..!!

i know what comes to your mind, on reading the blog title ( i know you filthy minds :-)

"saami" sathiyama no pun intended in the title...this is the first time i am writing a blog, consciously ...athaanal thaan intha peyar kaaranam..

ennoda nanban fred'in ooku-vippu ( athu thaanga encouragement) ithuku mukiiya karanam
dey freddu.....santosama ippo ??

cavery thanni... tamira barani thanni....koovam thaani ellam kudihcittu ( apdi kevlama paakatheenga) ippo Nile thanni kudichittu irukenellam ...

usual aa ella software company la yum onsite inna US, UK innu anupuvaanga.
aana enaku 'special' treatment . poda middle east ikku apdinnu sonnaru boss ...enga innu paathu ada Egypt.

Egypt is geographically located in Africa, but it's religion, language, culture ellame middle east thaan.

now its time for Flash back, kitta thatta oru varusham irukum, ( ithu tamil cinema ila...25 varuasham pinnadi poga)

When i landed in Cairo, the first thing my eyes were looking for, is obviously the great Nile."Blue nile" innu bookilayum website layum padichittu inga vanthu paatha, pachai colora iruku...
adango... nammala emaathi puttanga doii..innu thonichu.... udane paandiyarajan..sv sekar nadicha "kadha nayagan" padam thaan nyabagam vanthuchu; kalla thoni eri..dubai porennu solitu..kochin povaangale….

Infact some parts of the river are more blackish like the back waters of kerala.anyway Nile is beautiful and whole country of 70 million survives just b’coz of this 4 letter wonder river running more than 2000 km. Nile starts it journey in Lake Victoria somewhere deep in Sudan and ends it tireless journey into the Mediterranean Sea. Geography lesson pothum innu ninaikaren;

"mathiya tharai kadal” athu thaanga…mediterranean sea mattrum inga ulla makkal pathi elutha oru blog pothaathu.

ippothaiku ithoda niruthikaren, meendum santhipom

COPPER SULPHATE