::AddedAnYearOfExperience::

Sunday, the 18th Jan 2009 was my Birthday.

The day… which adds an additional year to my age and an additional year of experience to my career.
The day started like any other Bday, with calls/messages from 12.00 midnight and went on till 1.30am. I was tired, and still awake till 1.30 thanking all the friends, answering or messaging them back.

Though Mom wanted me to get up early in the morning and go to temple, i could not do that. Sorry Ma. I went online as soon as i got up and was checking all my mails / facebook / flickr / Orkut and spent lot of time replying to the wishes and mails. The whole day, I was in Cloud nine when so many friends and well wishes called me and wished on the day. After a brief brunch, went to aanus’ athai’s place for Lunch. The Lunch was damn cool with pulav, daal, rasam, curd, 2 poriyals, Moare milakaai and super pickle. TGVenkatesh was showing his face after a long time at Bangalore and it was good spending time with TG, Chait, Aanu, Sow and Deep. A cake cutting session, a lunch, a brief photo shoot and one game of 5cards clocked at 6.00pm.

It was already time for me to plan for the dinner and calling people to Indiranagar. After a heavy discussion session, we zeroed in the Nagarjuna at Indiaranagar for dinner. A mid size dinner with the jaggu. karthik. mouli. menaga. gang and mom was good, lucky IM as 5 of 6 are vegetarians. Reached home at 12.00midnight, after a brief stint at pragyan’s place, eating some prasadham from Kalahasthi.

It was a happy 24 hrs in 2009. Here u go with the summary of what i got… 2 cakes / A shirt / A photographers Jacket / a set of books / a gift voucher / 200+ friends and their lovely calls/mails/messages, including 4 International calls.

::FewInterestingThingsIAdmired::

In the last four days of New Year 2009… Few things that created a feel good factor in me…
Day1. Surya: Actor Surya’s speech on the Music Release function of “Naan Kadavul”. We have no option other than appreciating him for the Content and flow. Well done Surya. (Will write a separate blog with the music review)
Day2. SBI Card Customer Care: I have swiped my SBI Credit Card for 10 Great Britain Pounds and got a call on 2nd Jan 2009, asking my permission to Block the Card (with a promise, that i will get a new card with new number) as my London Transaction is prone to Duplication. Thank you SBI for the prompt action.
Day3. Mercy’s Paintings: I had an opportunity to see two Tanjore Paintings, done by Mercy, a good friend of mine. She finished 2 paintings so far, a Radhakrishna and an Aalilai krishna. Really impressive work. Hats off Mercy.
Day4. Professor SuBaVe’s Talk: SuBaVe is a professor, a Tamil Patriot and a Social activist. He was called for a debate show NEEYA NAANA by Vijay TV to discuss the pros and cons of peoples trust on Horoscopes and the astrology as such. His talk opposing horoscopes…. is just awesome. Thank you SuBaVe sir.

I can list down few more…
1. Mushroom biriyani at Mercy’s house.
2. Temptation Music store on the CMH Road.
3. Onion Rava Dosa at Ballal Residency hotel.
4. Photoshoot with Kris on the Brigades.
I can write so many more things.. 🙂
All the BEST. Have a GREAT YEAR ahead.

Celebrate a smiling 2009 with peevee@ds

::Circa 2008 – a Postmortem::

This Post is is a “postmortem” of my January post Circa 2008.
I tried to my best, to visit and capture many a locations, i wished in Jan 2008.

FYI.. Im just striking.. what all i did so far in 2008.

TamilNadu / Kerala / Karnataka / Andhra Pradesh Circuits:
1. Chennai – Pulicat – Kanchipuram – Mahabalipuram – Thirukazhukundram – Uthiramerur – Vedanthangal
2. Pondicherry – Chidambaram – Gingee – Vellore – Nagappattinam – Karaikal – Thanjavur – Kumbakonam – Seerkazhi – Vaideeswarankoil
3. Thiruchirappalli – Karaikudi – Madurai – Thenkasi – Kutraalam – Kulasai – Tiruchendur – Rameshwaram – Kanyakumari
4. Ooty – Kodaikanal – Yercaud – Elagiri – Kolli hills
5. Walayar – Pollachi – Theni – Kambam – Munnar – Periyar – Thekady
6. Coimbatore – Palghat – Adhirapally – Cochin
7. Srirangapatna – Somanthpur – Mysore – Wayanad- Calicut
8. Madikeri – Bylakuppe – Mangalore – Kundapur – Udipi – Malpe – Maravante – Jog
9. Gokarna – Goa
10. Hampi – Badami – Aihole – Bagalkot – Belgaum – Bijapur – Gulbarga – Hyderabad
12. Chitradurga – Chikmagalur – Belur – Helebedu
13. Sringeri – Dharmstala – Shravanabelagola – Melkote
14. Vishakapatnam – Machilipatnam – Warangal
15. Srisailam – Mahanandi – Ahobilam – Kailasanadhakona – Suruttupalle – Talakona – Yadagirighutta

Apart form these mentioned above, the list goes like this for the REST of MY LIFE..
1. Mumbai/Pune/Ajanta
2. Pushkar/Jaipur/udaipur
3. Leh/Ladakh/Srinagar
4. Bhuj/Ahmedabad
5. Dehradun/Mussourie
6. Varanasi/Allahabad/Lucknow
7. Kolkata/Darjelling/Patna/Ranchi
8. Majoli and entire NE
9. Gwalior/Bhopal/Raipur
10. Bhubaneshwar/Puri/Cuttack

Apart from the ones mentioned above, I have also visited…
1. Pattadakal
2. Thiruvandipuram,  Cuddalore
3. Tyekal Village
4. Somnathpur
5. Kochi
6. Pattukottai
7. Dubai
8. Ajmer / Jodhpur / Jaisalmer / Bikaner
9. Manapadu / Thirunelveli / Tuticorin
10. Dhanbad

So.. the Year 2008, had been so far SO GOOD. Will update with an other blogpost with a Chronological Listing. Watch this space for MORE.

~peevee.

::MuralikrishnaHyderabadiDumBiriyani::

A rented house on the 4th Cross pretty close to the “Sri Cauvery School” in Indiara Nagar is Muralikrishna Hyderabadi Dum Biriyani Mess. Though I know this place for quite some time now, I never had an opportunity to eat there in the past.

As I was simply sitting at home Yeterday, from morning, browsing through web and reading some books, decided to visit that place, for Lunch.

Reached the place at around 2.30pm and our conversation for you…
pv: Meals Idha? (do u have meals)
he: Illa sir. Only Biriyani.
pv: Sari. Ondu Biriyani.
he: chicken? Mutton?
pv: oops. Veg Biriyani.
he: (shouting) Saarukku ondu veg biriyani Eeppa. (give a veg biriyani to sir)
pv: Anna.. Ondu Gobi Manchurian.
he: Gobi Manchurian okkatti. (one Gobi Manchurian)
They served the food.. so quick and gobi took a while to reach. I started eating with little Raitha and Gobi Manchurian.
he: naalu CB parcel (CB – Chicken Biriyani)
he: rendu MB parcel (MB – Mutton Biriyani)
pv: ………………………….
pv: ………………………….
Complete silence from my end for 14 minutes.
I ate.. ate.. and fully finished without even leaving a rice.

Then.. Came back to pay the bill, after washing my hands.
he: 70 Rs.
pv: ok.
he: taste?
pv: baagundhi sir. (Nice sir)
he: thanks.
pv: thanks.

So.. there ends the conversation. I’m happy that i had a nice lunch… and he was happy to see a happy customer. I understood, that they also serve dinner, so will be going back to this place to experiment other food options as well..

Who is interested to join? Lemme know.

~peevee.

Odyssey…

A new entry to the Bangalore Bookstore market is Odyssey, which is basically based out of Chennai. I used to be a regular visitor to Odyssey on the Sardar Patel Road, Chennai in the early 2000s among others like Landmarks and Higginbothams. But, when I moved to Bangalore, we had few other options like Sapnas, Crosswords and Landmarks. Though I’m happy with the service and facilties in Crosswords(mainly cos its close to my office) and Landmarks (mainly cos of their varied collection), Odyssey is something special for me.

I left office little early today(7.35pm), and have allocated myself some time to visit Odyssey on the 100ft road, Indira Nagar. Its a 3 storey building with the store spanning across 4 floors, the ground floor for the books, 1st floor for music and home items, 2nd for children books&toys and 3rd floor for the cards&gifts. I liked the floor plan, with an interesting allocation of sections, though the floor space in a single floor is small.

One special thing I must confess here is the inclusion of “REGIONAL SECTION” in the floors, be it books, music and Video. Landmarks and Crosswords cater only to the needs of the Larger English and Hindi customers. I was happy to check my faves like Agni Siragugal, Ponniyin Selvan and Thirukural, all in TAMIL. The video and music section too showcased Telugu & Tamil movies and music.

I wish, i get more time to visit this place in the future as well.
Guys… its a must visit place.

~peevee.

DoIHaveAnAttitude?

I must say……
Today is one of the memorable days for a bad cause. I have been working with the current agency for the last 40 months and handled 20 different managers, across 6 clients and 40 different vendors across 20 different organisations. I’m always a soft spoken boy and maintain a good relationship with my clients and suppliers.

Today.. for the first time in my life… one of the managers of a client said/cursed me that, I have an attitude and I should not show that to him.

Ok. let me get into the core of this issue. We were working on a case study document for sometime now and was getting delayed from both our ends, because of the non-availability of relevant data, not even with the research firms like Forrester and Gartner. I was mailing the client asking for some info and client claims that i should call him. He didn’t reply to my mails and I dint call him either. He also complained that, im writing some Bureaucratic mails.. 🙂

Anyways…
Now.. its your turn… DO I HAVE AN ATTITUDE?
CONFESS PLEASE.

~peevee.

TaleOf3Cities.

Recently visited 3 entirely different and contrast cities… across 3 states in the Eastern part of the country, the only connect being the GANGES.

Kolkata (formerly CALCUTTA) is the most populous and most denser city in the country, which lies on the Hoogly river. Kolkata is one of the oldest cities, and was the Capital of British India till 1911. A colorful city, also termed as the cultural and intellectual captital of India, which gave Subash Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Mother Teresa, Satyajit Ray and JC Bose among others to the country. The city is famous and noted for Trams, Metro, Howrah, River Ghats and Female Trafficking.

Varanasi, also called as Kaasi and Banaras, is the oldest living city on Earth. The history goes back to 2500 years and is still not changed. One must say, this city as the “HOLIEST” and “DIRTIEST” city on Earth. With Ganges flowing from south to North in this city in the cresent shape, this city has 84 ghats. The notable and famous ghats are Manikarnika/Harishchandra, Dasashwamedha, panchakoot, Assi and Tulsi Ghats. At any point of time, you can see death bodies, washing clothes, brushing and bathing, poojas and final rites on the Ganges.

Dhanbad is the coal capital of India, which contributes to more than 40% of coal to India, from 100s of Collieries there. This dustiest city is one of the top 30 cities in the country and the Dhanbad Railway Region holds the 2nd position on the profitability. This is a city which is almost close to complete is maintained by TATAs. Though the literacy levels of Bihar and Jharkhand is under 50%, Dhanbad produces, so many IAS, IPS officers and Engineers every year. Here is one the Engineers from Dhanbad, getting married.

This post is just to give a brief intro… Lemme write my experiences across in the forthcoming posts. Watch this space for MORE.

MySundayYesterday – 16thNov2008

I was just wondering wat i did the whole day on a Sunday, when Mercy asked me “Enna Panreenga (wat r u doing?)” last evening.

Here is the list of things i did the whole day 12.00am to 11.59pm (on a chronological order).
12.00am: Sleeping
04.14am: Got up well ahead of alarm, to get ready for TAAN SAINTS shoot.
04.17am: Got a message from Adarsh that Swastika is not well (members of TAAN Saints)
04.20am: Sent a message to Adarsh asking him update about swastika’s health.
04.35am: Deepika Called me and decided to Cancel the Shoot.
05.15am: Logged in flickr.com/ gmail.com / reading Sivakamiyin Sabadham.
05.45am: Deepika confirm the Reiki shoot.
06.25am: I’m Ready to leave.. dint take bath.
06.40am: It was drizzling outside and reached Townhall, waiting for deepika.
06.55am: Met Deepika and decided to shoot in the underpass near city market.
07.05am: Shot few frames.. alone.. with people… Thanks to a security who offered Yesterday’s paper to use as a rough sheet. One of the frames from the underpass shoot.

07.25am: Finished Shoot and just came out of Subway. Saw Apsara movie theater and motivated ourselves to enter inside the theater.
07.30am: Got into the theater with permission (in fractions of min) and it was an awesome experience shooting just the theatre.. empty Red Theatre Seats.. with a great model in Black (deepika). Thank you DEEPS for this Opportunity. As you said.. “WE JUST FORM A GOOD TEAM”.
07.47am: Raghu called me.. and learnt, he is in town and not in Kancheepuram.
08.05am: Back in the car. Heading to Townhall for the next round of shoot.
08.40am: Some sits.. walks.. reflections.. architecture.. all DONE.
08.45am: Kamat Restaurant for Breakfast. Gulped a Masaladosa, Vaangi Baath and a hot coffee.
09.15am: Back in Car. Copied some frames to deepika’s HDD. Light Roomed a frame. Motivated Deep to use Light Room.
10.31am: Got a call from Pratap/Adarsh(conference). Discussed an idea to shoot on any weekday after Monday, on the way beck Home.
10.42: Dropped a cheque at an ICICI ATM on the way back home.
11.00am: Back at Home. Checking some mails / flickr / wordpress.
11.32am: Switched on the Geyser, wanna have a shower.
11.48am: Missed a call from Aarthy R from Canada.
12.01pm: Got into the shower.
12.30pm: Back online… chatting with Yogesh. Called Mercy, when they were on the way to Commercials.
12.55pm: Deepika called, and gave her the numbers for Adobe Light Room. She was LIKING it.
01.20pm: Made some Maggi and had Lunch, sitting online.
01.25pm: Gayu, came home with Ebu. They were watching “Sathyam” Movie on DVD. Yes.. i did saw bits n pieces.
01.34pm: Neha called from Dhanbad and gave her contact details. Tried booking Train Tickets from Dhanbad to Howrah for 7th December, but in Vain.
02.00pm: Spent time with Sivagamiyin Sabadham.. slept for a while with the book.
02.11pm: Called up Jetlite and double checked the KOL-BLR Flight Status. Its as Scheduled.
02.25pm: Back on bed with Sivakamiyin Babadham.
03.30pm: Still Ebu and Gayu watching Satyam. Me too..
04.45pm: Sivakamiyin Sabadham.
04.55pm: Was listening to BBCTAMIL… understanding the Pooneryn attack between SL govt and LTTE.
05.59pm: Sivakamiyin Sabadham.
06.04pm: Kris called me when she was one her way to Java.
06.57pm: Sivakamiyin Sabadham.
07.07pm: Suraj, a new bee at BWS wanted to go to a dance bar.. gave him info about FUGA, on the Castle Street, after taking the info from Kris, my ex-colleague.
07.23pm: Mercy called up and had a chat with Mouli as well. He was leaving to Madras, last night.
08.10pm: Called Mercy, when we lost electricity at home and scolded Menaga for cursing me (?)
08.40pm: Met up with Muthu and went to Punjabi Dhaba for Dinner. Had some stuffed Paratha and Banana.
09.05pm: Slept.,. Grrrrr.
11.59pm: Grrrr… Grrrrr.

10 Points to summarise:
1. Wrote 6 messages, received 8 messages, on calls for close to 2 hours.
2. Traveled 30+ Kms on my bike.
3. Shot 150+ frames, mostly of Deepika’s in the Subway, Apsara Theatre and near TownHall.
4. Posted 1 picture in Flickr. Received 20+ Comments and 200 views.
5. Read 150+ pages of Sivakamiyin Sabadham Novel.
6. Ate 2 maggi noodles packets, a masala dosa, a vaangi bath, 2 stuffed paratha and 6 small Yelakki Banana.
7. Took hot shower once.
8. Logged in/out gmail/flickr/wordpress 6+ times.
9. Slept 8 + hrs in 24 hrs of Sunday.
10. Listened to BBC Tamil Radio for 29 minutes.

This post is just.. an opportunity for ME and for Others to understand my one day. Thanks all.

~peevee.

i’m what i’m today is cos of you

Friends…whom i know / remember from 1984/85. Right now, i dont know the whereabouts of many. 😦

Kamal(Devan Paper Mart.)
Muthaih(This guy from Karaikudi, Used to wear glasses then)
R.Senthil( Thenmozhi’s Bro, My good frined, Ramajunam Alumnium Stores)
M.Senthil (Rank 4 always, Fish Market zone),
Prakash (Rank 2 Holder, Agraharam, Sandhanagopalapuram),
Bharanidharan (Karthikeysn;s Bro, Always had Cold wars with him, Anna Univ)
RV (Special friend, Married Alaypayuthey way, Kalpana’s Crush)
Sangeetha (Jain girl, Good Dancer, Married after 10th Class, Kamaraj Street Jewellery Shop owner)
Bhuvanasundari (Mundiyampakkam Girl, My first Crush, Combine Study Mate),
Beryl Brightly, Kanchana (other frineds from the high school days)
Shobana (Tuition mate at Acharapakkam Raghavendra sir’s tuition)
Rekha (Tall girl, walks like a horse in Adhiparashakthi Campus)
AR Prabhakaran, Vijayan, Sanjeevi, KumaraRaja (Room / Hostel / Cycle Mates)
Jeeva S Jayanth (Green house mate, a soda bhutti user)
Hemalatha (Special friend, 2nd Crush, a doctor now)
Premanand (a good friend of mine for the last 12 years and my room mate for 4 engineering years. Got married today, the 10th November 2008)
Kavaskar / Sampath / Sivamani (Other Engineering friends, who were always there with me)
Navaneedhan (a chemical engineer, who was a part, when i met with an accident at Palakad)
Venkatachalam (who saved us from an accident in a waterfall in AndhraPradesh)
Velmurugan/Kumarakurunathan (Good friends from my district)
Shanthy / Sukanya / Shamshad (class mates / project mates of Chemical Enginering)
Anand / Thirulogu (
Jayakaran
SenthilBharathy
MeenaKumari
Rahul Kondiparthy
Arundati Bhowmick
Chaitanya Datla
Venkatesh TG / Vaidee
Karthik/Chitra
Sivanesan / Amarnath
Arunkumar
Vijay Karumanchi
Uma Maheshwaran / Mahalakshmi
Deepthi Renati
Sangeeta / Sowmya
Dhanju
Mercy P / Aarthy R
AnandSiva
Sandeep

Will be adding mORE….My Teachers…. Fellow Travellers… Relatives…and other anonymous names.

~peevee.