Gala time..

rather no time..for anything else..
so many chums returning back (to India for good)- so need to 'educate' them and drive thru the realities here incl the sea change in bars/eateries..(hey madras bars seek for shoes and dress codes..hmm)
engaged with domestic folks who have come home on vacation..
then this has been a big 'hit on old pals' month..have been running in to many of my old friends whom I thought I have lost for ever- just after college or after the first job..what with only the postal service to be in touch those days, add to that our laziness and u had the best cocktail for 'nontouchability'! i mean no-touch-syndrome.
Today I shall bump in to one of my best pals in college whom I thought we all had lost track of for close to 2 decades now..so am buzzzing with eagerness to see him after ages and see what he is up to these days..I just need to recall all his pranks in college to fill in GBs of data here..shall do some of that soon..y'day I was caught laughing alone as I was just munching his pranks..
so I told u folks, whats keeping me extremely busy, add to that the regular dinner,brew parties, send off, sudden meetings, old time sakes, nri visitors, and what not..
so having a gala time..very busy..and so U escape with less time for me to scribble here..

one more..

che..one more death of a BPO employee and so much to cry for..
Its very sad that this girl Tanya had to depart like this, that too apparently at the hands of a colleague/friend/??
Even more depressing is the state of her father for whom this is the 3rd successive loss in as many years..
What a creature that guy is - to stab a friend till prev day and that too 20 times and desert her on the highway..To think that such characters exist among us who while riding a bike or car normally duck dangerously to save a frog or a lizard..thoo..
The danger of this being linked to BPO industry and talk of 'fall out' is going to be too tempting for our starving media and 24x7 channels..But we need to note that this is not a wayside crime nor was it in Blore nor does it raise questions on BPO transport like in Prathiba's case..But it is equally saddening and shameful. with crime rates increasing in Blore this does cast a shadow on many minds. So finally comes to reflection of governance and policing (or the lack of them), which anyway was a bane of Blore for long.

In another e-crime in Blore - a college chottu shoots off an SMS to some of his friends about a "bomb in Forum' a famous shopping mall - for fun, apparently! And in few minutes some 5000 or more receive it as all our fwd giants are in to action. the mall is closed for shopping for hours and then they track down this chottu who originated this hoax sms..and there he is caught after hours of ordeal, lakhs of losses and he states amidst weeping that he just sent it for 'joke'..man! we are in different times, no jokes please - not such ones. Just think of the police who have to go through so many hoax calls each day and have to react for they cannot neglect any of these. Its really very pathetic with many schools being tipped off for such hoax calls..what a people we have become? che..

Hampi - out of the world..

so as informed went to Hampi with domestic folks..
Man! what a place..
hardly commercialised, infact more goras come as tourists..the best place to stay is a KSTDC cotage..so no big bang 5 stars or noisy resorts..simple rustic places to stay..the hotel did not serve regular southies for breakfast..only poori and bread sandwich and other bread accessories..on asked i was told they hardly have demand for idly, dosa family! what with only goras as tourists..
I felt this place beats Rome for ruins..just that hep marketing is missing..classic old temples, genius architecture, lovely rocky hills, attractive temples(rather ruins - phuck the mogols,grt grt)endless beauty - typical village classic..
u can spend any number of days without being bored. so much to do in such a small place!
There is this vithala temple which has many pillars (columns) with each pillar with various works on single stones..the amazing thing is each pillar has some captivating feature..like, one will produce sound of mridanga -the guide plays on the stone on one side and u just place ur ears on the stone columns on any other side and u hear that sound crystal clear. None of these structures are hollow. (yes u see proof of that, some AH has cut off a stone structure to verify that!) In other pillars u hear jalatharang or pure sa,ni,da,pa,ma,ga reeee or some other string or percussion instru..my word!! there are 56 such musical pillars.
Then u have the underground temples, monolithic (huge ganeshas, bull, narasimha statues and what not), neat palaces with great sewage and water ways planned so effeciently - some centuries back. come to think of places in madras outskirts without sewage even today!
then there is this hall from where krishna devaraya used to see the dance of 2 of his wives (ok..ok..some nth wives, so what). This hall has water pumped up (NO! no motors, but genius brains at work) and flows around in columns/ ducts and so maintains cool - so who inspired AC, do we know??
Then we found a very interesting temple structure on top of a rocky mountain, Mathunga parvatha..and we trekked to the top. The whole way up was very interesting and the view it offers is worth for days to come..some similarity to Egypt esp in the view it offers, history and the color of soil and rocks!
Iam happy i did not miss that trekk and view..
on the whole a great trip..Dont miss a chance to visit hampi folks..history, ruins, genius all at display and add to that humble and friendly locals everywhere there.
Then the modern structure - Thungabadra dam and the mass of water is so imposing and an added attraction.
so while I munch these memoirs for sometime, all my comments on current affairs goes for a six..(yes, the cong chooths' comments on mumbai blasts, pak views and comments on that, the BIG story of ndtv,ibn etc of that 6 year old in a 50 feet borewell(yuck), blore blues - all can wait..)

Blogs, terrorism, blockade and more

so..the GOI thought we bloggers have something in common with terrorists and so blocked..the normal uploading link is not yet functioning for me!
Iam not even sure if what Iam tyoing now will be published..
if it happens, pl be informed that the Madras heat really pushed me to Blore..it was a great relief here at Blore with pleasant weather..
and my hectic post-retirement life is pushing me further to HAMPI!!
yes a place I have been wanting to visit for long - a historical place with wonderful architecture, sad ruins (grt grt moghul marauders) and beautiful backwaters, old temples and a place of great heritage..
so am off again - for ur sakes..let me tell u folks how good that place is;-)
(I had so many things to say, if things work back to normal levels I shall blog them later)

Bombay blasts

So another set of blasts in Bombay..
And did u see that the Sec media had slightest doubts on shiv sena or on who the offenders cud be! Surprising isn’t? taking in to account that these sainiks went on a rampage the prev day..reason? do they need one, oh some desecration of statue – whose? Thack senior’s wifes!! Ok lets junk that part – desecration, degeneration and all that..
The point is none really thought these silly sainiks who wud take to the roads for flimsy reasons wud have committed such atrocious crime of killing innocents.
Ok, sometimes I do tend to agree with thack’s views on paks, terrorists and esp on the cricket diplomacy of the 2 nations..(u play kabadi, kho kho but not cricket and suddenly play in to the wily dictators hands and play cric..)So an easy open and shut case on who cud commit this..

It’s a shame that these fellas (lakshar, simi and any of that kind) can blast anywhere..and can have a ball..as a whole we 1 billion+ are soft targets bcos of successive stupid back boneless governments..
I seriously see only one possibility! Just say No voting rights for one se(c)t for next few years..and then the goverments will act with some sense..bcos they will not be counting votes and the deaths simultaneously then! I know u will come out with references to kalam, premzi etc - hey, tell me one sane voice that condemns unambiguously and clearly and strongly with out mincing words.
Also some serious monitoring and strict liquidation on the indo pak border (esp Kashmir) and more of the same on the eastern border (bangla) and hopefully we can sit easy..
Or sit and pray like I said sometime back – pray that mushy fella throws some n-bombs on us and pray our govts atleast react then-with some spine ofcourse..
Till then lets live with such blasts, death counts, 24x7 coverage of that and ‘strong condemnation’ messages by all and sundry politrixians. hey, even mushy wud have condemned it by now, so happy we can be..

rukhavat ke liye..

remember the DD of those days? and the regular rukavat ke liye khed hi placards..
all unannounced, sudden and at inopportune moments??
one like that here too..

a sudden decision to move house to outskirts of madras (many of my friends differ here, they say its not madras at all) its a neat small neyveli like colony with local water and sewage treatment of the colony themselves..more on that later but the point is no net access yet from there..hey its a village, almost.. but oxygen in plenty..
and the second reason is - my cousins landed from UK and so pushed me along with them to kodai for their hols..(remember my grievance that my retired life is pushing guys to take advantage and incl me in to all their plans..sigh..sigh.) what with second torrid summer here, i was actullay glad for that break esp in the pleasant Kodai (though I did not accept it openly to them:-))

so this breakk..
pl pardon me..

for the Tennis - hey, Fedex breezes thru again..so glad.
in football - ha..haa..Brazil deserved..all european finals..But it was Italy all the way, though it went up to the penalties..any team that scores 5/5 in penalties deserves to win..
and saw the response of the German media..I liked it..they were very happy for their performance though the germans lost in the semis and supported them to the hilt..first pages screamed heavy support..an example:"with due regards to Italy and France- Germany is the top team"..our media has so much to learn esp when it really helps to know what the team is capable of and accordingly report..not dumping on a single loss or expecting them to be the top team when they clearly are not..some maturity needed there is'nt?
as for politrix - AIIMS and anbumani thingy is hotting up..u definetly know who i wish get thrown..lets pray for that..
and again - bear with some random blogging.

Women in Indian army!

There has been some unwanted noise about ladies in Indian military..esp after one lady Lt.col (or some like)committed suicide and when some top military boss apparently spoke ill of women in mil. Hey, may be he was misquoted by the press (as always) or may be he said what he felt without any wax coat..no need for so much noise..may be he practically meant that..with some insight on ladies in our army..
Meanwhile I saw a news item in this regard and them being trained! It was so nice to know of the ladies in the Indian army!
They are treated on par in almost all areas..they infact carry the same 24kgs load on their body(yes! 24 – no typo this) as the men in the 24KM marches and the time allotted for the 14 or 24Km march is the same for both sex.
Time for sprints etc are diff..so some physiological differences are factored in otherwise they are on same scale mostly..
Only that they are not included in combat but are trained in arms and other combat actvities. Hence even when they carry out other tasks in combat zones they can scale up if required..and discretion is unheard of in our army..any harassment towards the females is almost nil..man Iam proud of it..
Another point here is – the only training for women cadets is only in Chennai..so what u ask? hee..hee..nothing..i did not say anything more here;-)