An unintended short break from Blogging. Not that i am totally occupied with work. At the same time, i am not totally free too to think about something and blog about it. Is twitter a reason. Yes think so. If not for twitter, i might have tried posting about few social or personal happenings.
Anyway, the habit of blogging helped me a little last weekend. I was fighting with a bank, regarding Credit card fee blah blah blah. Had been sending them a series of mails and i was getting a number of junk replies. Was really pissed off with them. So wanted to send out a mail, containing all the information, the dates when i had called, when they had called me etc etc. If it was an actress birthday or movie release date, i might have remembered something. But dates of call, was something that i never paid attention to. Fortunately when i had received the call, i was in theater, about to watch "Unnai Pol Oruvan" and i had blogged about it. So visited my blog, got the info, mailed them with the exact date. I did see some positive response and action after that mail. Blog is in a way acting as a tool to immortalize the feelings and happenings. So I am determined to blog about significant, unsignificant, rubbish, repeated stuffs. My determintations and resolutions are volatile, lets see how this goes.
Friday, December 04, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thirumayam Trip
During the diwali holidays, had been to Thirumayam. Thanks to the effort of the organizers, as a result of which i was ready early on Sunday morning for the trip for the trip to Thirumayam. The trip was different, and first of its kind since it was not a fun trip but rather a trip to learn something about the history. If we had gone alone it would have ended with discussion about film history or heroine history. But this time we were accompanied by Dr. Venkataraman, archaelogist & retired history professor from Madurai Kamaraj University and Prabhu anna's father. At the age of above 70, Dr. V as he is called, remained active and energetic. Rich in the subject, his beautiful explanations left us awestruck. The temple was absolutely free, giving us a lot of time and space to explore. Then we visited Kundrakudi rock cut shiva temple, to look a number of beautiful statues left to ruin. Looks like the original temple was built by Pandiyas for shiva, the Murugan temple was built later on the hill.
Thanks to Prabhu anna for coming up with a full list of what we discussed that day. I have a copy of mail to read, and dont want to replicate the same here in blog. You can check Prabhu anna's post and also my pictures for which i had tried adding a lot of comments so that it explains something. Pics at Picasa.
Hope to have few more in the future.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Unnai Pol Oruvan
Three days leave but i was here in Bangalore for a change. So one full day to be spent. The obvious choice was a movie. So decided for Unnai Pol Oruvan. As usual, headed to Balaji theater for the movie. I had not seen the hindi version "A Wednesday" that got released last year. So UPO is like a new movie, with nothing to compare to find flaws, and very little idea about what the story is. The movie turned out to be good one. It does create an impact. Few good things about the movie is fast screenplay, fabulous acting from the veterans Kamal and Mohan lal, no masala moments, not using technology as some magic, strong story borrowed from hindi version, good selection of artists. The music by shruti hassan, did not disturb the flow of movie, so i would safely quote that it was good. The film was short and ended in just 2 hours including the 15 minutes break. No unnecessary songs, no separate and idiotic comedies.
The movie has a strong message at the end. But the movie seems to be strictly for A class audience. Heavy usage of English which evoked some instant comments from some audience. One such dialogue was "Please talk in binary", when Kamal needs a yes/no response. Not sure how many would understand dialogues like that. So i am not sure about the response in B and C centers. Usually i feel Kamal is over acting, in this case, i could not find anything like that too. So i liked the movie, it is worth watching and should be watched atleast once.
Thats it, got to get ready for office, so leaving now, do watch the movie.
The movie has a strong message at the end. But the movie seems to be strictly for A class audience. Heavy usage of English which evoked some instant comments from some audience. One such dialogue was "Please talk in binary", when Kamal needs a yes/no response. Not sure how many would understand dialogues like that. So i am not sure about the response in B and C centers. Usually i feel Kamal is over acting, in this case, i could not find anything like that too. So i liked the movie, it is worth watching and should be watched atleast once.
Thats it, got to get ready for office, so leaving now, do watch the movie.
Trip to Jaladhama
After a long time, a trip once again. This time it was a different one and first of its kind. Weekend visit to a resort. After some discussion, the place was fixed as jaladhama, the resort near Talekad. We started from bangalore at around 7.30, basically to avoid all the traffic and reach the mysore road witout trouble. The drive through Mysore road was cool. First pit stop was at Bidadi, idly shop. It is just a road side shop, but the crowd there ascertained that it is going to be good. It lived upto the expectations and idly superb. Next at shivalli MTR shop, where we had bisibele bath, which was also superb.
The road was good upto Malavalli, after which the tough times started. Every 50 meters of good road was interrrupted with 500 meters of worn out, demolished, road that contained just stones. So had to go slowly. Finally reached the resort at around 1.00 PM. Have to cross the river in motor boat to reach the resort. People there welcomed us with a welcome drink. The room was neat and clean and had all the amenities. The resort has two basketball, volleyball, badminton court and a cricket and football field. So we had 24 hours to spend with all these. After a nice lunch, started playing with badminton, followed by basketball and then with volleyball. After that went for a rowing in the river for around an hour. The most interesting part was the swimming that followed. It was great to swim after around 6 or 7 years.
Next morning, once again started with early morning swimming where we tried some underwater swimming. Then a heavy breakfast and then some badminton once again. After that we headed towards Shivasamudra. This is the third visit to the falls. This time our friend took us to a different view point, near Dargah where i had not gone during my previous two visits. The view of Gaganachukki falls from there was awesome. This is the first i am seeing so much of water there when compared to previous visits. Bharachukki also it was the same, the place where we had taken bath during was nowhere to be seen. After that we started the trip back to our Bangalore. Thus ended yet another good trip.
The road was good upto Malavalli, after which the tough times started. Every 50 meters of good road was interrrupted with 500 meters of worn out, demolished, road that contained just stones. So had to go slowly. Finally reached the resort at around 1.00 PM. Have to cross the river in motor boat to reach the resort. People there welcomed us with a welcome drink. The room was neat and clean and had all the amenities. The resort has two basketball, volleyball, badminton court and a cricket and football field. So we had 24 hours to spend with all these. After a nice lunch, started playing with badminton, followed by basketball and then with volleyball. After that went for a rowing in the river for around an hour. The most interesting part was the swimming that followed. It was great to swim after around 6 or 7 years.
Next morning, once again started with early morning swimming where we tried some underwater swimming. Then a heavy breakfast and then some badminton once again. After that we headed towards Shivasamudra. This is the third visit to the falls. This time our friend took us to a different view point, near Dargah where i had not gone during my previous two visits. The view of Gaganachukki falls from there was awesome. This is the first i am seeing so much of water there when compared to previous visits. Bharachukki also it was the same, the place where we had taken bath during was nowhere to be seen. After that we started the trip back to our Bangalore. Thus ended yet another good trip.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
A quick recap
Quite long, since i logged into wordpress and blabbered something. Was quite busy with my distance learning MS programme and last week completed the mid semester exam. After that it has been quite fun with three movies in two days and a mind that is more or less empty with nothing to care about. Before two days, i was struggling to stay awake when i tried studying, today when i wanted to watch movies i am doing it with ease ;)
Also last week saw Kanthsamy. The movie was a mass masala one, with lavish spending on the locations and very little spending on shriya's costume. Vikram's acting was as usual good. Other than that, not much in the movie.
As far as the exams are concerned, it is the same old strategy of burning the midnight oil before the exams, looking at the question paper and laughing to make sure that you stay happy even you are going to lose everything, writing non sense without pity for the guy who will be correcting it, and after the exams blogging about it. The best part of the answer sheet is the margins.
Other than that not much as of now. Hope to blog often from now, till the next exams.
Also last week saw Kanthsamy. The movie was a mass masala one, with lavish spending on the locations and very little spending on shriya's costume. Vikram's acting was as usual good. Other than that, not much in the movie.
As far as the exams are concerned, it is the same old strategy of burning the midnight oil before the exams, looking at the question paper and laughing to make sure that you stay happy even you are going to lose everything, writing non sense without pity for the guy who will be correcting it, and after the exams blogging about it. The best part of the answer sheet is the margins.
Other than that not much as of now. Hope to blog often from now, till the next exams.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Few Updates from Madurai..
Had never seen so much crowd at a single place in Madurai. It was totally packed. Though there were squads to control the crowd, they were of little help as the crowd wandered as per their wish. A large group of paati's caught a corner and were resting along with their grand daughters, unwilling to enter the crowd. They resembled like a few old protesters gathered to fight for their rights. From their face it was fully evident that they were tired. One could easily lose their kids in the crowd. It had brought together people from all around Madurai. I would not be surprised if it was some festival in temple or something, when you come across such site inside a garment shop, i was a bit surprised. That too in Madurai, where i had shopped peacefully, where shop owners usually invite with a gentle smile. All this happens inside Pothys, which has opened a new outlet in Madurai.
First visit was by mistake and alacrity to see the new shop. Last week, wanted to test it once again, to see whether it can tried. Had spent some time thinking over it and came up with the idea of visiting the shop in the afternoon hoping sun would help us in keeping people at home. But we were wrong. For once again, we were forced to waddle through the crowd. This is the first time i have seen so much crowd concentrated in one shop, not sure whether it is my ignorance or it is actually uncommon. Is it the name or the advertisement or curiostiy or the escalator that has attracted the crowd, i am not sure. But it wont be favourite shopping spot till i hear some positive update. Anyway they seem to be doing a good business there, and is evident from the shop's bags and plastic covers that can be seen with most of the people. So how are other shops doing ? God only knows.
First visit was by mistake and alacrity to see the new shop. Last week, wanted to test it once again, to see whether it can tried. Had spent some time thinking over it and came up with the idea of visiting the shop in the afternoon hoping sun would help us in keeping people at home. But we were wrong. For once again, we were forced to waddle through the crowd. This is the first time i have seen so much crowd concentrated in one shop, not sure whether it is my ignorance or it is actually uncommon. Is it the name or the advertisement or curiostiy or the escalator that has attracted the crowd, i am not sure. But it wont be favourite shopping spot till i hear some positive update. Anyway they seem to be doing a good business there, and is evident from the shop's bags and plastic covers that can be seen with most of the people. So how are other shops doing ? God only knows.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Weblogger mode with Tag support
Right from May, all posts to this blog were made from Emacs. Slowly losing the habit of using the web interface. Thanks to the hard work of geeks out there, who have tweaked the weblogger.el to a greater extent. With the new version of Wordpress, and introduction of Tags, the main problem i faced with the weblogger mode in Emacs is the lack of support for the tags. Hence though the draft is created in Emacs, used to edit the blog posts once it is posted and add tags. Was searching for the weblogger mode with Tag support for wordpress. From the wordpress site found that it can be done specifying the tags in the mt_keywords in the metaweblog API. Thats all it ended there. Did not go beyond that.
After some time came across the link, http://blog.nethazard.net/emacs-weblogger-mode-with-wordpress-tags-support/ where the weblogger with the Tags support was available. From then, it has been a satisfying experience while i blog from Emacs. If i could find someway to type in Tamil, will soon try posting to my Tamil Blog from Emacs. Still without luck, :( If anybody is aware of some way to type in Tamil in Emacs, let me know.
After some time came across the link, http://blog.nethazard.net/emacs-weblogger-mode-with-wordpress-tags-support/ where the weblogger with the Tags support was available. From then, it has been a satisfying experience while i blog from Emacs. If i could find someway to type in Tamil, will soon try posting to my Tamil Blog from Emacs. Still without luck, :( If anybody is aware of some way to type in Tamil in Emacs, let me know.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Upgraded to Debian Lenny
Upgraded to lenny about three weeks back. But it took three weeks for a blog post on it. Could not get enough time to post about it(Belive me ;)) When i moved from Ubuntu to Etch, i had faced a lot of issues. First issue was with Wireless card. Next one was with ALSA. Not sure what the issue was, but at times the volume remains at 0 and when tried raising goes upto 100 with a lot of noise. Running alsaconf fixed the issue everytime, but i could not get enough time to set it right. Badly needed Firefox 3.0, but it required GNOME higher version hence the rendering was not all that great. So was waiting for Lenny for a very long time.
Once Lenny was released, i started the download but took so many days to download it. Finally it was done. I was a little worried about the upgrade, since saw fw issues in mailing lists. But the upgrade went smoothly without troubles. I had copied all the DVDs to the disk and made sources point to the filesystem dump. Booted expecting to see some issues, but till now, it has been great. Impressed with the look and feel. Actually it looks great. Though the packages are not the latest, i am happy with the versions available. Totally impressed with Debian this time :)
Once Lenny was released, i started the download but took so many days to download it. Finally it was done. I was a little worried about the upgrade, since saw fw issues in mailing lists. But the upgrade went smoothly without troubles. I had copied all the DVDs to the disk and made sources point to the filesystem dump. Booted expecting to see some issues, but till now, it has been great. Impressed with the look and feel. Actually it looks great. Though the packages are not the latest, i am happy with the versions available. Totally impressed with Debian this time :)
Kemmanagundi, Bababudangiri and Mulainagiri Trek
It started as a highly spirited trek. The photos from other blogs added a lot of excitement to the already excited mind. So thus started the trip to Kemmanagundi, with most of them belonging to the usual gang(Nilamagal Kadhalargal) and without few. We started off in Shimoga Express that starts from Bangalore at 11.30PM. Reached Tarikere at around 5.45 since the train was late by around 1.15 hours. From Tarikere took a bus to Lingdahalli, from where we paid 500 to a mini vegetable van to take us to Kemmanagundi. The driver chose the shortest route, but it has to be the worst one i guess. With 11 packed inside it a little difficult one. Anyway thats the only option left to you since the first Bus to KG is only around 9.30AM. We started the much awaited trek after refreshment at Traveller's Bungalow.
The weather at KG was unbeatable. Neither too cold, nor too hot. With the mists, caressing the grasses at will, it was a wonderful sight. And the mountains covered with green lush grasses, i am seeing it for the first time. Occasional drizzling, ran out of words to explain. Now the excitement level crossed 100% with ease. Finally the trek started. The tall grasses and the drizzling raised some suspicion about leeches, the tiny insects we dread the most. But we didn't find any then, so the trip started with a lot of enthusiasm. First point of confusion came, when paths(looked like) diverged towards left and right. We took the right one and thats where it was not right. Little did we know we are invading the leech territory and there are millions of armed warriors waiting for the taste of blood. Worst part was we were unarmed, or not prepared. Worstest part was two of the gang were not wearing shoes :) Courage disappeared, panic stroked, in the rush of adrenalin think we reached the top in few minutes :) Thanks to the leeches!!!
Two in the gang, Mani and Peter were the feast for the leeches. I suffered a small one, where a determined leech has started sucking blood through my socks. But it was nowhere when compared to the attacks Mani, Peter and Pramod has suffered. Next hour wasted in cleaning the leeches, soaking the socks in dettol, applying tobacco mixed in castor oil to the legs etc etc. Make it a point to remember that, tobacco mixed with castor oil when applied prevents leech attack to an extent. Good that leeches have not caused much damage. Bad that this was enough for the courage in people to disappear. Adding to all these, there was a small forest cover to cross. Done. Few wanted to take the risk, few did not. Taking the risk and safety, the end of group discussion saw us retreating with the trek put on hold and with plans of continuing it next day from a different location.
The best part of the trek was the lunch. We had burnt some energy, and even bread and pickle were delicious. We were left with just few bread packets.
Next plan was to go to Gallikere by bus. Went to the bus stop to find that there are just two buses to KG one at morning 10.15AM and another one at 4.15PM. With nowhere to go, decided to stay in KG and started setting up our tents. To our dismay, one of our tent was in a very bad shape. This time we had tried renting out tents from "Adventure Era" or something and we had to pay the price. We setup two tents and decided to just sleep inside sleeping bags with the tent just spread out. Luckily we rented out a room in the dormitory available there and the night went without further troubles.
The next day, woke up early and started to Hebbe falls. Adding to our woes, wheel of a jeep we went got punctured. But that gave opportunity to trek for two KMs to few of us. We had to walk few more kilometers, crossing three small streams and tackling the leeches to reach the falls. Bath in the falls was awesome anyway. Managed to catch the 10.15AM bus from KG, reached Lingdahalli, caught bus to Chickmagalur, finishing the lunc there and started the trip back to Bangalore.
Bababudangiri, Mulainagiri remains unexplored. Few misses, few hurdles, but the trip was great and enjoyable one. What matters the most is the crowd with which you go. We have a great gang which rocks everywhere. Blog cant end without mention of the the people involved, it was Prabhu, Pramod, DP (Deepy), Thirukumaran Annas and Mani, Musi, Praveen, Bharathi, Peter, myself and our Captain, Muthukumar.
KG offers a great scope for photography, since you get a glimpse of virgin nature in purest form at few spots. So every photo looks beautiful without special efforts. Check out mine at http://picasaweb.google.com/sens2003/KemmanagundiTrip#.
Waiting for the next trip/trek.
The weather at KG was unbeatable. Neither too cold, nor too hot. With the mists, caressing the grasses at will, it was a wonderful sight. And the mountains covered with green lush grasses, i am seeing it for the first time. Occasional drizzling, ran out of words to explain. Now the excitement level crossed 100% with ease. Finally the trek started. The tall grasses and the drizzling raised some suspicion about leeches, the tiny insects we dread the most. But we didn't find any then, so the trip started with a lot of enthusiasm. First point of confusion came, when paths(looked like) diverged towards left and right. We took the right one and thats where it was not right. Little did we know we are invading the leech territory and there are millions of armed warriors waiting for the taste of blood. Worst part was we were unarmed, or not prepared. Worstest part was two of the gang were not wearing shoes :) Courage disappeared, panic stroked, in the rush of adrenalin think we reached the top in few minutes :) Thanks to the leeches!!!
Two in the gang, Mani and Peter were the feast for the leeches. I suffered a small one, where a determined leech has started sucking blood through my socks. But it was nowhere when compared to the attacks Mani, Peter and Pramod has suffered. Next hour wasted in cleaning the leeches, soaking the socks in dettol, applying tobacco mixed in castor oil to the legs etc etc. Make it a point to remember that, tobacco mixed with castor oil when applied prevents leech attack to an extent. Good that leeches have not caused much damage. Bad that this was enough for the courage in people to disappear. Adding to all these, there was a small forest cover to cross. Done. Few wanted to take the risk, few did not. Taking the risk and safety, the end of group discussion saw us retreating with the trek put on hold and with plans of continuing it next day from a different location.
The best part of the trek was the lunch. We had burnt some energy, and even bread and pickle were delicious. We were left with just few bread packets.
Next plan was to go to Gallikere by bus. Went to the bus stop to find that there are just two buses to KG one at morning 10.15AM and another one at 4.15PM. With nowhere to go, decided to stay in KG and started setting up our tents. To our dismay, one of our tent was in a very bad shape. This time we had tried renting out tents from "Adventure Era" or something and we had to pay the price. We setup two tents and decided to just sleep inside sleeping bags with the tent just spread out. Luckily we rented out a room in the dormitory available there and the night went without further troubles.
The next day, woke up early and started to Hebbe falls. Adding to our woes, wheel of a jeep we went got punctured. But that gave opportunity to trek for two KMs to few of us. We had to walk few more kilometers, crossing three small streams and tackling the leeches to reach the falls. Bath in the falls was awesome anyway. Managed to catch the 10.15AM bus from KG, reached Lingdahalli, caught bus to Chickmagalur, finishing the lunc there and started the trip back to Bangalore.
Bababudangiri, Mulainagiri remains unexplored. Few misses, few hurdles, but the trip was great and enjoyable one. What matters the most is the crowd with which you go. We have a great gang which rocks everywhere. Blog cant end without mention of the the people involved, it was Prabhu, Pramod, DP (Deepy), Thirukumaran Annas and Mani, Musi, Praveen, Bharathi, Peter, myself and our Captain, Muthukumar.
KG offers a great scope for photography, since you get a glimpse of virgin nature in purest form at few spots. So every photo looks beautiful without special efforts. Check out mine at http://picasaweb.google.com/sens2003/KemmanagundiTrip#.
Waiting for the next trip/trek.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Pasanga
Though i blog about all movies that i see in theaters there are very few movies that are make an impact. "Pasanga" belongs to that genre. Cant be better than this. I watched the movie in Sathyam cinemas, Chennai after attending a marriage there. I have heard a lot about Sathyam theatres from my friends and it did live upto my expectation.
The movie rocks from the begining and a slight tint of humour follows till the end. This makes the movie more enjoyable. The core concept on which the movie is spun seems to be a little weak, it is just about the silly fight that exists between two sixth standard students, but the dialogues and screenplay makes sure that you get fully engrossed with the movie. The director is to be appreciated for the child artists deliver what was expected. Could not find any flaw from any of the characters in the movie. Vega who did not have any role in Saroja, plays the role of a homely village girl with perfection and makes an impact. The directory has not failed to notice even small things. I am not sure this was the result of his observations or he remembered his whole school life. The second half turns a bit serious, with the director making attempts to deliver some message out to the audience. There were few unwanted scenes at the ends which could have been removed. On the whole it was a great movie to watch. It is a must watch for grown ups, for children i am not sure. The movie goes a bit too far in displaying the rivalry among the students. The melody "Oru vetkan varuthae" impresses.
On the whole the movie is great, would recommend watching it.
The movie rocks from the begining and a slight tint of humour follows till the end. This makes the movie more enjoyable. The core concept on which the movie is spun seems to be a little weak, it is just about the silly fight that exists between two sixth standard students, but the dialogues and screenplay makes sure that you get fully engrossed with the movie. The director is to be appreciated for the child artists deliver what was expected. Could not find any flaw from any of the characters in the movie. Vega who did not have any role in Saroja, plays the role of a homely village girl with perfection and makes an impact. The directory has not failed to notice even small things. I am not sure this was the result of his observations or he remembered his whole school life. The second half turns a bit serious, with the director making attempts to deliver some message out to the audience. There were few unwanted scenes at the ends which could have been removed. On the whole it was a great movie to watch. It is a must watch for grown ups, for children i am not sure. The movie goes a bit too far in displaying the rivalry among the students. The melody "Oru vetkan varuthae" impresses.
On the whole the movie is great, would recommend watching it.
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