Be What's Next!

For the benefit of those who don't know about Thiruvadhirai - It is that day in the year south indian women fast and offer special prayers to get the same husband for their seven lives to come (though they might already be in their 7th).

To insist on its importance and in a desperate attempt to instil the culture and the custom into her renegade daughter, my mom would tell the same short story every year. Mytholgy has it that 'Even when her son was lying dead, one devoted wife, rolled him up in a mat, put him in the attic and completed her 'thiruvadhirai' penance before grieving over her dead son. And every year, I would ask her the same question - 'Mom, wouldn't you be bored with the same husband? - You need not switch husbands in the same life, but, come on, you should have some variety across lives..'
I am into my 3rd year of following the penance to a T and NOW it dawns on me.... I am also praying for the same husband for all my subsequent lives..

After putting in a lifetime of effort training one bloke, you better have an advantage in the subsequent lives. Why would you even think of training another one? Who wants variety... man, I choose sanity.

But this, being the technology age, we do have an advantage... We could pray for an upgraded version of the same husband.. I love husband 1.0, but in my next life, please add a kitchen helper service pack and probably an enhanced calendar feature(which remembers birthdays and anniversaries). It will be great to have a firewall which I could customize to block access to people(read girls) I don't like. Dear Lord, one more important add on. Please install some sophisticated sensors, (Pranav Mistry has already de-mystified sixth sense, and Murugados is working on the seventh), say series 10.0, which will sense what is running on my head. Yes, Sankar has created a Robo like this...but we are talking about a human with all the flaws of current version and user-friendliness(you know, like a Microsoft upgrade)

So God, offering you unbroken adai-butter, kali (South Indian delicacies) and my sincere prayers to upgrade my Husband 1.0 to 'Be What's Next'!

All in a Day's Work

It was yet another work day. There are umpteen blogs that explain what an IT professional's dog day is like.
My Scheduler for the day, did not have anything different. Few meetings to attend, few documents to complete, few issues to analyze and a presentation to make.
On such a mundane day, It was a the first conf. call that made my day!

When it was time for the call, I dialed the bridge number and waited for the welcome message('Welcome to the con. call set up. At any time of this call, enter your pass code and the # sign').

But, the message was different this time - It said 'To indulge in a conversation, dial 1-800-T A L K'. I thought I had dialed the wrong number, cut the call and re-dialled - got the same message.
Without giving much thought about the choice of words or the tone in the previous message, I dialed 1-800-T A L K, assuming that they should have got a fancier number and are using that now for the conf call.

To fully and exactly understand the situation, those reading this blog from the US, try dialing this number from your office phone. For those who are not in the US, the word 'indulge', a female voice, and an imaginable tone is enough to tell you where I landed.

I could not control my laughter for the next 1 hour. A simple typo by the person who arranged the meeting, brought tons of laughter into the call! We might have to deal with some code of conduct group later...

மிருக கண்காட்சி

மணியடித்தால் சோறு, எண் பொறுந்திய சட்டை, சிறு அறையில் அடைப்பு,
கொடுங்க்குற்றதிற்கு தண்டனை சிறைச்சாலையில்...
மனிதா, என்ன குற்றம் செய்தோம் நாங்கள்? அதே நிலை எங்களுக்கும் -
கதவு திறந்தால் சோறு, எண் பொறுந்திய பட்டை, சிற்றிடத்தில் அடைப்பு!

Homographs

My colleague K turned to me and asked 'how do you spell project as in projection? Before I could reply, he shot his next question.
Does project (as in projection) and project (as in software projects - tasks) spell the same? Again, before I could say anything, he knew the answer.

What a 'Eureka' moment for him, after decades of knowing and mastering the language!

As he was typing a mail, I could hear him murmur, how do I make them read it as project instead of project. Being in the software world, I could totally understand his problem.

This really makes us wonder why the language is so short(not the opposite of tall) of words?!

Jai Ho

Jai ho... Jai ho... definitely a Jai Hind moment!

A HUGE leep for Indian music and yet so simple and humble. Thanks ARR for mentioning about '1 billion well-wishers back home!'

1 billion fingers-crossed for Oscar! All the very Best!

Now...

Hope this is a reason good enough for the long hiatus.. Just got back to the ground and with so much happening around me, should get to the speed soon. By the way, I am curious to see if this new status will change my blogging style!

Hasini, you got it all wrong!

Or did I? Let me explain it better..

(disclosure: This is a review of a movie review and might contain spoilers for Kuselan and Hasini Pesum padam on Kuselan)

super star yaar nu kaeta chinna kuzhandhaiyum sollum!
adhe madhiri, Kuselan movie paatha yaarai kaetaalum, who did the title role nu solliduvaanga....

Innuma purialai? okay, one more chance...

Super star's dialoge in the movie : ' Indha Kusalan ai than panathunaale kuberan aakiya andha Krishnan en Balakrishnan'

Can't be more explicit.. ippo sollunga paakalaam... Yaaru Kuselan?


Whatever be my opinion on Kuselan, this is one dialogue that I cherished the most in the movie. One line that is the essence of the story...and the beauty of it too...

When somebody reviews the movie, how on earth could they get this wrong?

Watch 'Hasini's Pesum Padam' on Kuselan for further details... For those who don't want to go thru the pain, excerpt from her review :

'Original kadhai le. Kuselan, Krishnan ai thedi povaar... aana indha padathula. Mohammed. does not go to the mountain. the mountain. goes to Mohammed.(syllogism vera). Hero Ashok. kuselan barber irukura. graamathuku varaar.'!!!

( the . in between the statement indicates the pause in her speech)

The movie was reviewed till the end with this concept.

Don't ask me if I was that jobless and bored to have time to watch Hasini Pesum padam....ironically, yes, I was...

Ivalo confident a avanga review pannadhai paatha appo, did I understand it wrong nu enakulle oru chinna confusion...

What do you think?

(Meaning is in the eye of the beholder - could be an answer to this question.)