My Top 10 of 2010

Some of the hearty moments, good and bad, as it happened along the year 2010!

1. A snowy visit to Ferry meadows.
2. Got permanent job.
3. Gained 'couple' of friends and lost quickly.
4. Blackpool trip - go carting, first visit to dance clubs.
5. My new hobby with Nikon SLR- Photography.
6. Finland trip - enjoyed superbly with jagan and richie.
7. York & Harrogate trip - a stay at richie's place.
8. Rahman Concert @ O2, London.
9. Rutland Lake trip - nice evening outing with roomie chetan.
10. Scotland trip - met raj in his den.
11. India trip - Hyd and Pondy - touched the past.
12. 5 star nights @ Novotel, Hyderabad.
13. In Hyderabad office as a 'Client'.
14. Woburn Safari Park & GoApe.
15. Nikon zoom lens 55-200 mm.
16. Mahabharata Kurukshetra war - a practical revisit & thinking - Gods are humans... once!
17. Enthiran - the 'defining' Indian scifi movie - watched twice in sheffield and london.
18. Spectacular Bonfire & Fireworks in Ferry meadows.
19. Ponniyin Selvan & Parthiban Kanavu - read superb tamil historic novels.
20. Christmas holidays - played counter strike for hours, watched avatar in 46" big LED screen just few metres away, awesome. good time pass with chetan and his friend.

oh! should I not stop at 10?

There goes an year in a blink of an eye!

Parthiban Kanavu - Wiki

I just finished formatting the entire novel in Wikisource.

When I first saw it, the contents were there but were badly placed, like the conversations are clogged into single paragraph.

Formatting the chapters (count: 77) took almost a day to complete. Nevertheless enjoyed reading it again while doing. I also added image to the main page and indexes. :-)

This is the first time I am contributing something in wikisource. great feeling !

பார்த்திபன் கனவு

A great classic from Kalki.

Happy Reading!

வாழ்க பாரதி!

தேடிச் சோறுநிதந் தின்று - பல

சின்னஞ் சிறுகதைகள் பேசி - மனம்

வாடித் துன்பமிக உழன்று - பிறர்

வாடப் பலசெயல்கள் செய்து - நரை

கூடிக் கிழப்பருவ மெய்தி - கொடுங்

கூற்றுக் கிரையெனப்பின் மாயும் - பல

வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போலே - நான்

வீழ்வே னென்று நினைத் தாயோ?

-பாரதியார்

Celebrating Bharathi's birthday!

Ponniyin Selvan

பொன்னியின் செல்வன்!

யாம் படித்த புதினங்களிலே பொன்னியின் செல்வனைப் போல் இனிதாவது எங்கும் காணோம்!

I started first few chapters very casually in wiki, but couldn't stop reading this historic novel day and night, in office and home :) It took me 1000 years back into the Chola kingdom. I felt my body and mind swinging back and forth between 1000 AD and 2010 AD.

The narration is easy to read and simply superb - தேன் தமிழ் வார்த்தைகள்!

Novel wiki source: Ponniyin Selvan

To buy/present the book: Udumalai.com

google terrain map will help you visualize the journey.

இருபத்தி நான்கு நிமிடங்கள் ஒரு நாழிகையாய்

பத்து மைல்கல் ஒரு காத தூரமாய்

ஐயாயிரம் ஆண்டுகள் வேண்டா...

ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன் பயணிப்போம்!

Vamba keera palayam

Vamba(a) keera pa(a)layam, a small livelihood area just outside the famous oval ring road (boulevard) of Pondicherry town. It is situated at the south east end along the seashore, where a road from the ring splits out and is located between the old harbour and the new harbour light house.

Palayam can be referred to something like 'shire', a very common subname that denotes a locality. I have no idea why the place got the name 'Vambakeerapalayam' :-)

Vambakeerapalayam is a mix of both town and village. It has a panchayat within it and most people here are fishermen who worship sea as their god. The god of the land is 'Angaala Parameshwari' an avatar of Sakthi, the wife of god Shiva. They celebrate an annual festival every year and it will be wonderful to see the gods while in procession.

God Parameshwari in procession - taken at Vambakeerapalayam

The famous Indira Gandhi stadium which hosts Independence and Republic day parades, 150 years old Petit Seminaire school, Electricity & Agriculture departments of Pondicherry are all stone throw away from this place.

Inspite of all this, Vambakeerapalayam is notorious for fights within and outside with other sea villages, many times ending up with spilling of blood. A small boy who was born and brought up there knew a little about this but never understood why. He joined a school ran by a visionary and passed out with more than 90%. He then pursued engineering and cleared out with distinction, plus a job in hand. He then for the first time moved out of this place to Trivandrum, Hyderabad, Atlanta(US), Chennai, Sheffield(UK) and now in Peterborough (UK). For nearly six years, he is out of this place but made frequent visits to this.

This place, Vambakeerapalyam, is always so special for him and... his name is Karthigeyan.

Chakravyuha

I accidentally happened to revisit Mahabharata, which I watched as a television drama in my childhood days and was not much excited. But this time, reading the epic took me to those Mahabharata period, i.e. almost 5000 years back.

Perusing the Kurukshetra war, the soul of Mahabharata, is the best thing happened in my life in recent times :)

I read the concise and interesting version of the war here and, often cleared my doubts and matched the story with Kisari Mohan Ganguli's one-to-one english version here

One of the fascinating events happened in Kurukshetra war is the formation of an array called Chakravyuha on the thirteenth day of the battle. The vyuha which was aimed to captive 'Yudhisthira' turns out to reveal one of the most lovable hero of the war 'Abhimanyu', who at the end of the day attains heroic death.

I was so interested in knowing about the design, the formation size, the military science and ways of penetrating and breaking chakravyuha. I literally filtered the whole internet but not able to get much information about this.

As far as I know, there were two main theories for Chakravyuha
* It could be a 7 rings of circle with warriors rotating in liason
* It could be a 7-tier spiral formation with warriors spiralling in and out - as in this wiki page.

The book 'The Mahabharata - a modern rendering' has some good information on Chakra Vyuha and beautifully describes the prowess of Abhimanyu on that day.

But still... no concrete information could be found on Chakravyuha. I wonder if there is anyone who published an article on this? Maybe, I should do it :)

Useful References:
Mahabharata - by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
The Indian Labyrinth
The Warrior Monks
Arbit Articulations

enthiran after

all the hypes apart.

Enthiran is too good. A powerful sci-fi story told in a very simple and neat manner.

I never expected Rajini to be as good in action and acting. He simply blew me out.

Ash is also dashing, but not so natural as in Raavanan.

I missed the climax (the mother of all Indian cinema climax) due to unfortunate timing, will need to watch it again sooner :(

Here's Rajini's new oneliner:

Only Rajini can invite the entire Bollywood watch a film 'dubbed' in hindi.

enthiran before

Its good to see an Indian film that takes the whole bollywood, kollywood, tollywood... to hollywood level. We should welcome and encourage such efforts from indian directors and producers.... blah blah blah :-)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

thalaivaa....

Just 1 more day to watch your super film 'Robot', this time in Sheffield with my college friend.

Last time I watched 'Sivaji' in London 07, with nearly 10 friends from my college class. A very memorable experience. It was the first tamil film to watch outside india.

Enthiran - the robot, eagerly looking out to watch the so called 'Robotic Experience'

laka..laka..laka..laka

Name the War

Well, I had a heavy lunch at office and was little dizzy. So started to browse for some interesting article and ended up in this.

It was about a war that just took me right into the battle field as if I am watching a matinee movie :)

A war that was fought by nearly 4million soldiers with 1.5millon on one side and 2.5 on the other....but ended with just 12 warriors to spare, after 18 days.

what.......?

Yes, It is the great Kurukshetra War ! Watch it here.

Below: Arjuna and Bhishma engaged in a fierce duel, however Arjuna's heart was not in the battle as he did not like the idea of attacking his great-uncle. During the battle, Bhishma killed numerous soldiers of Arjuna's armies. This enraged Lord Krishna, who grabbed a chariot wheel to kill Bhishma. Bhishma wanted Lord Krishna to break his vow not to pick up any weapon in the battle and at once requested Krishna to kill him, as there would be nothing greater than attaining death at the hands of the supreme lord himself

55mm - 200mm lens

Added a telephoto lens to my nikon kit.

Taking wildlife was not so easy before this. It just zoo..oms :-)

Raavanan

Watch this movie with no expectations and with no thoughts of Ramayana or a movie from ManiRatnam etc. You will appreciate it, probably at the second time.

It is one of the beautiful movies from India.

Cons:

• The portrayal of the feelings for revenge being less than the feelings for love
• Expectation: If you are eager to see a modern day Ramayana, you are definitely disappointed, as the movie leaves us the decision to make - who is right?
• Missing of regional feel in dressing etc.
• Bit long flashback in the second half
• bak bak bak - although this was used in the climax as a way of portraying the heroine's 'acceptance' for Veera's stay back request, a better way could have been chosen.

woburn safari park

my first safari ride and... go ape too :-)

this is my second go ape activity, the first one in lake district where the trees were super high and hence super thrill.

The Hyd Trip

It was pleasant to be back in hyd, although a short stay. I was busy following my project plan but still had good moments with my team mates and friends.

Played Cricket [Runs in matches: 1, many, many, 0] :-), went to Chilkur balaji, shopped in Inorbit and had fun with friends.

A memorable one and yes, there is a small moment of pride for being back as a client to the same work place where you were an associate just a year back.

the scot trip

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karthigeyan/sets/72157624781996884/

I planned this with my TCS friend Subu whom I happened to meet in bus on my way to office. The plan was to roam in Edinburgh on first day, take a coach tour to lochness on second day and to visit Raj's place on third day and go trekking with him in a nearby falls.

Raj is my roommate in Peterborough who is settled in Edinburgh. Although a senior architect and a head of the family, he behaves like a friend to me and is very kind.

The first day went as per plan. We covered National Museum, ate at Kalpana veg restaurant, went to Calton hills and took a short walk on the Royal Mile street at night. The famous but usual Edinburgh castle was reserved for the last day,

The second day went busy with Timberbush coach trip. The guide was funny and more passionate for Scotland calling every top leaders in the world is from Scot origin, few include Bush, Blair, Brown, Cameron...

On third day, Raj picked us up to his home where we had delicious south indian food and started to falls of Clyde with him and his son. The sights on the way to the falls was superb. I was just shooting everything on the way in my nikon. He then dropped us back in edinburgh castle which was our last stop before taking the train.

a nice trip!

5 star nights

1 night in a 5 star hotel - awesome :)

14 nights in a 5 star hotel - boresome :(

staying at novotel, hyd. waiting to go home.

terrific trips ahead

yep, going to Scotland this weekend and flying to hyderabad on Monday and... going to pondy after 2 weeks,

so terrific trips... ahead

Get ready Nikon :-)

Rahman concert

at O2 arena, London on July 24th

I booked it couple of months ago. It lived upto the expectations. Infact everyone in the O2 wanted him to 'play more' :-)

I just expected him to play some remixes of famous songs, but he did totally in his own way which is very interesting. The stage was colorful and artistic reflecting more of Rahman's nature.

A different music to my ears and a different experience to myself.

Good one.

By the way, it was also a triathlon day in Hyde Park, London; where I roamed and watched in the evening before starting to O2

so Klose

oh no, Germany is out.

Klose, the only player because of which i support Germany. He was playing for Germany third time in a row in world cup and is just 1 goal from equalling world record of 15 goals in world cup.

I clearly remember watching his goals when he played first time in world cup for germany, back in 2002 during my college days. What a stylish finisher he is...

So close Klose :( unbelievable and sad.

Finn trip

My friend Jagan came to Finland for nokia project (what else then...), so Why not a trip to Finn? but its not as easy as just booking and flying to Finland as I am in Tier1.

I need to apply for Schengen Visa but the Finland embassy wants to see everyone in person before issuing visa. So I applied leave and went all the way to London, they just took 2 minutes to look at me and get my passport for further processing. dah!

ok, I got my visa. Hoped for multiple entry so I could go other places in europe, but they just gave single entry. dah dah!

I was joined by Richard at Helsinki airport, stayed at Salo (jagan's place) and roamed in Helsinki and Turku. I was so eager to go this trip because of my new Nikon SLR camera. I started shooting more than 500 pics in first 3 days of my trip. oooooh! Jagan was not happy since his portraits weren't as good as expected, I think may be he was planning to give his pics for bride selection :-)

It ended as a nice and fun trip with some really awesome pics I have ever took.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karthigeyan/sets/72157624071749385/

my first trip to europe.

hey flowers

hey flowers, birds, moon, lakes, rivers, mountains & winds !

I hereby request you to get yourself well dressed, I got an slr :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karthigeyan/show

Daisy

korean film in the backdrop of Amsterdam.

awesome girl and a good love story!

Watch daisy in Veoh.com

Blackpool Flares & Hush

A trip to blackpool, a beach side city famous for rides and pubs.


My first visit to pubs. A peek into the UK's night life culture. Nothing to say.

On day 1, we went to GoCarting and Paintball shooting. Both were awesome and fun.

On day 2, we went to pleasure beach.There were many rides in pleasure beach, I was little scared to take the Pepsi Max BIG ride but took many others and enjoyed with fear :-)

On day 3, did a little shopping, casinos and return home.

Nice break!

CSK Whistle - 2010

Chennai Super Kings - IPL 2010 Winner :-)

Celebrating 1st year

in ADP, UK

A year back this day, I was nervous and excited to take a contracting position for Multibrowser project. A whole new world opened to me. Different workstyle, different people, different challenges...

Probably I would be the only lucky guy to fly without a job from india and land this country with an offer in hand... oops offer in mail :)

Looks like I achieved what I dreamt of... though a long way to go in life.

Cricket's Beauty

Dharamsala, Himachal

What a beautiful place to play cricket :-)
What a match to watch in IPL season 3

CSK, the only team to qualify for semis in all seasons does it in style.
Indian cricket should move to such locations rather than concrete walled city stadiums.

Happy Tamil New Year

சில் என்று பூத்த சிறுநெருஞ்சி காட்டினிலே
நில் என்று கூறி நிறுத்தி வழி போனாளே

நின்றது போல் நின்றாள்
நெடும் தூரம் பறந்தாள்
நிற்குமோ ஆவி நிலைக்குமோ நெஞ்சம்
மனம் பெறுமோ வாழ்வே !

In pursuit of happiness

remembering the day i started to UK.

still, in pursuit...

the posh

Watched my first football match live in UK.
The posh won :-)

Gandhi's 10

1. Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

2. You must be the change you want to see in the world.

3. Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

4. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

5. An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

6. I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.

7. I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.

8. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

9. I look only to the good qualities of human. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.

10. Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.

Some quotes...

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.”

“If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.”

Is this my first post on Gandhi... hmm :)

Happy Republic Day!

I am happy.
I made a 'couple' of my friends happy!

Nice Home Rules!

If you move to a new place and happen to live with the people you like, then

1. Don't speak short, elaborate the words and run them through your thought process and slang words, to avoid communication gaps :)

2. Better tell them in advance, your way of life in the past and some unique behaviors you have, so you wont hurt them by chance :)

3. If every one are from different paths of life, it is natural to have a little friction which should be accepted by you. ex: you may like to play cricket, but not all will be interested same as you.

btw, if you don't listen me, you will experience me :-)

Update on 26th March, 2010: Operation success, relationship died :(

Here is a man who is more learned than all of our learned professors put together!

Here is a man who is more learned than all of our learned professors put together!

Three religions now stand in the world which have come down to us from time prehistoric — Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Judaism. They have all received tremendous shocks and all of them prove by their survival of their internal strength. But while Judaism failed to absorb Christianity and was driven out of its place of birth by its all-conquering daughter, and a handful of Parsees is all that remains to tell the tale of their grand religion, sect after sect arose in India and seemed to shake the religion of the Vedas to its very foundations, but like the waters of the seashore in a tremendous earthquake it receded only for a while, only to return in an all-absorbing flood, a thousand times more vigorous, and when the tumult of the rush was over, these sects were all sucked in, absorbed, and assimilated into the immense body of the mother faith.

From the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta philosophy, of which the latest discoveries of science seem like echoes, to the low ideas of idolatry with its multifarious mythology, the agnosticism of the Buddhists, and the atheism of the Jains, each and all have a place in the Hindu's religion.

Where then, the question arises, where is the common centre to which all these widely diverging radii converge? Where is the common basis upon which all these seemingly hopeless contradictions rest? And this is the question I shall attempt to answer.

-Swami Vivekananda

An excerpt from the Paper on Hinduism, read at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago 1893.

Jan 12: Celebrating Swami Vivekananda's birthday!

11-01-10

why me?

The Pain!

Have you experienced the pain you get, when you are about to enter the college exam hall but very less prepared for exam?

Each moment between entering the exam hall and sitting at the desk expecting to see the questions you prepared for, will literally kill you in pain.

Very few times I have come through that pain in my life,
apart from the time I said above :)

This is one time!
There is only one medicine for it - Time!