What they dont teach @ IIMs : How to survive @ Amrita

Hi, a lot of students and other random people ask me about my days at Amrita. I had just one word to say "AWESOME".
They would give me a puzzled look and tell me you are the only person whom i met gave me an answer like that.
I told them because i knew how to survive in Amrita with an awesome set of friends :)
Then they asked me about the tips for the survival.
so i gave them these :

1. United we stand divide we fall

Well to give an explanation on this. Let me tell u a story.
Year 2004, my 1st yr of college life. There was strike in the college hostel where we decided to stay away from mess food for one whole day since our hostel was denied the 5 o'clock snacks while every other hostel got them without fail.
Everyone including those stingy ones who never used to visit the canteens, hit the canteens on the day and decided to shell out some extra bucks to have food from canteen or the dhaba outside. The warden tried shouting on the mike asking us to come
and have the mess food which obviously sucked big time. Everyone gave deaf ears to his voice. We wanted the mess in charge to come and find a solid solution to this issue. And there he was, the dark and short, bald headed goonda looking guy
who was the mess in charge of all hostels in front of us asking us to have the food which was served. He tried to pull out a few tamil guys and later northie guys by speaking in their mother tounge hoping that he would be able to use the divide and rule policy. But we stood together like those strong crowd you see in front of a tasmac in TN or beverages corp in Kerala. And the result we won. Hot cutlets with tomoato sauce was served to all at sharp 5 pm.

the take aways from the story :
- U learned that united we stand and divide we fall
- Conduct strikes so that atleast once a while u get good food
- U get to know more batchmates since u fight for a single cause
- Improve Leadership and Negotiation skills (Essential Management Skills)
- Plan out team strategies (Teamwork skills)
- Make the stingy ones get to see the canteen menu
- And moreover have fun while conducting strikes.Fun level increases if there is a fight also involved :)

2. If no homepass, then have fun inside.

The main reason a student goes home for the weekend is to have home food and get his clothes washed. Sorry parents i had to admit it. If you are denied gatepass never mind, have fun inside. washing clothes - we used to have this game of washing clothes with all friends coming together with their tees,shorts,
shirts,and other stuff, u know ;) And we used to sing songs together,crack jokes, discuss about chicks, share movie updates, and have water balloon fight (don't have a bad feeling that u are wasting water, anyway the water coming through the taps
are recycled treated ones, so basically the water cycle takes care of it :)
and also you get to bathe those stinking water allergic guys who takes bath only on their birthdays or special holidays.
To make full use of the last point u can throw the excess water after washing on these people so that they get washed with the detergent and such soapy substance.

Home food - Here though the options are less, you can always visit a dayscholar friend's house and grab some treat from him, even that is home food. Make sure you dont visit the same friend more than once so that you dont lose your respect.
Then i would highly recommend you to get cup noodles or such fast food so that you wont remain hungry late nights. Also if you are good at smuggling, get a kettle or small toaster stuff into the hostel it may help in future also
since girls of today do not know how to cook. ;)

the take aways :
- We get to learn to wash clothes
- actually get your clothes washed
- make more friends in hostel during the water fights
- be updated about latest college news and gossips
- wash up the stinking batchmates
- make friendship with day scholars
- learn the value of mamma's food
- learn some cooking
- have double amount of fun :)

3. No study leave for exams - finish it off in one go!

I used to complain initailly that i was not able to perform well in the periodical tests or semester exams since there was no study holidays like the students of other colleges had. But i stopped complaining once, when the college gave us study
holidays for few days before the test and i scored even worse for those exams!! Later i realised its better to finish off these exams in one go rather than wait for the deadly days to get over. We also get to do some good time management. All the crazy creative ideas pop up during the exam preparation time.
And i bet my friends would agree the drama scripts for which we started planning during the exam time was the major hit with beautiful ideas coming up from all corners of the mind since everyone's brains worked well and fast in the short
time period :) And moreover we get more days in the form of sem holz to spent time travelling or have fun with friends.

the take aways :
- learn time-management (again management skills!)
- teamwork in the form of group study
- better prepared since mind is fresh
- high creativity during exam time (very important)
- short visits to library and xerox shops is made ensuring we know that it exists in campus
- More time in the form of semester vacation
- have triple amount of fun :)

4. Having teachers in class who are really dumb but trying to act smart? Well, Teach them a lesson!

Time for another story. Year 2006, 3rd year, i do not remember the subject or the teacher (*to avoid furthur casualities*).
There she came into the class sharp on time after the 1st hour was completed. Asked everyone to open notebooks and take down notes. Few guys start towards the door to go out and drink some water and also empty the bladder.
She shouts and asks everyone to return to their seats. The guys (almost all) pleads ma'am for a 2 min break after a boring 1st hour class. She shouts again and asks everyone to settle down in their seats.
"Acting so smart? We'll teach you a lesson ma'am" the backbenchers decided.
She opened her book with notes and the prescribed text book and started her usual class with by hearted lines from the notes. Normally after 20 mins of the class she usually gives a 2 min break so that she can go through her next set of notes and
get ready to vomit the remaining by hearted lines. And 20 mins was done. she told us that we can take a break now. "NO maam we don't want a break, U continue with the class" the back benchers shouted in union. She was shocked!She once again told, "You guys can take a break now, its ok". This time the whole class joined in
"NO maam we don't want a break, U complete the session".She didnt know what to do and tried to tell something but no words were coming out of her mouth ,and the guys laughed seeing her fumble like this.
Finally she said "YOU HAVE TO TAKE A BREAK!!!" and without waiting for a reply she took her note book and moved to the corner of the class and started reading without minding if we are in class or moving out of class.
She has never denied us a break whenever we asked for ever since that incident! The rest as they say is history.

the take aways :
- stand on what you feel is right
- Each teacher is different, learn to manage them (self taught HR management)
- Never attack a teacher alone, u may lose your internal marks (refer point one: united we stand divide we fall)
- be strong on your basic concepts, most teachers are bad at it. (there are teachers who belive that,in a computer only 1
process run at a time)
- Have fun.This is the most funniest thing to do in a classroom.


5. No jeans allowed? Go traditional.

Jeans the best clothing material invented by some guys from the wild west has this ability to withstand almost anything. Even if it gets torn or wrinkled or faded, the fashion quotient increases. So it was preferred by all guys and many girls
during the college days since it need not be washed so often, can be treated roughly, take on pressure from birthday bumps from friends and a lot more other reasons. But our college considered it to be a taboo if we were wearing jeans inside
the campus.And moreover a lot of administrators and other pricks who held high posts in the college felt jealous since they couldn't wear it during their college days and hence found the pleasure in blasting anyone who they found wearing jeans.
Ya i too was a victim when one such prick caught me wearing jeans on a holiday and roaming around in campus. Thanks to global warming wearing jeans doesnt make me feel that good other than when im travelling. So the best way to avoid being the target of these blasting and instead getting praised is to wear the brick colored dhothi/mundu which the so called yogis seemed to be obsessed of. And the advantages are many not just for the people who wear them but also for
the onlookers.

Advantages :
- Earn respect
- Feel extremely comfortable (even Amitabh Bacchan praised mundu for giving an air conditioning effect)
- And since global warming is on the rise, to protect our future generations (i hope i dont have to explain in detail!!)
mundu keeps it cool!!
- Can be used as blanket at night
- Can be shared with buddies since it has no particular size variation
- Give the female onlookers a chill by showing off some hairy calves.
- Quoting the article Legendary Lungi by anonymous : " It also has recreational uses like in 'Lungi/mundu pulling',
a pastime in households having more than one male member. Lungi pulling competitions are held outside toddyshops all over Kerala during Onam and Vishu. When these lungis are decommissioned from service, they become table cloths.
Thus the humble lungi is a cradle to grave appendage."

6. Talking to girls is banned? And no mobiles allowed? Get back to 70's style

There was a time without existence of mobile phones. If you can live playing with toys, you should be able to live without the toys too. Ask your parents about their college days. I dont think they would have had a great time flirting
with girls or boys like our times. And phones (forget mobile) were quite rare during those days. They all used to share their chatting/ flirting through hand written letters and eye contacts when their paths crossed (Check out the 'Kangal Irandal'
song of Tamil movie 'Subramaniyapuram'). Make use of those techniques so that you get to know how stupid the other person is ;) and may be it will help to improve your handwriting and english too. Also it may discover a poet or story
writer in you.Ahem.. Yes.. its true :)

the take aways :
- Rediscover the retro style
- Be a little more romantic
- Get to know a person better
- Improve english writing skill (seriously helps you!!)
- Find a writer in you.

Finally you feel you are in a jail? Trust me guys, you've learned to survive in the world outside the college.
Everyone including me felt that we were in a jail, maybe a jail with the most beautiful surroundings.
Yes its true, but guess what, by the time you are out of your college, you would have experienced so much pressure,been with
people with no logical mind or forward thoughts, fed with tasteless food, suffered to organize an event such that you will
will learn to survive in today's world of rat race. Best of LUCK!!


Authored By
Kannan Kodoth

Kerala Cafe - Movie Review

Probably inspired from the 'Dus Kahaniyan' in Hindi but better executed, Kerala cafe is a set of 10 short films set in different backgrounds.

The movies:

Nostalgia :
A movie about an NRI who goes into nostalgic mood when he hears an old song sitting in his apartment but starts complaining about everything from the moment he lands in his hometown. This story represents every upper middle class Indian who is settled outside the country, who is in a hurry to make money, who sends his/her children to the boarding in an International school, who wants to get his parents moved to a old age home so that he can turn his old house in the village to a resort. Meaningful. But too many dialogues.

Island Express :
A tribute to the ones who lost their life in a train accident in Kollam. The dear ones of the people who died come together on that same day at the river side to pay tribute. Makes one realize about how fast time heals but still we hold the memories of the loved ones whom we lost in the journey of our life.

Lalitham Hiranmayam :
From the director of action movies, one is surprised to see a different take from him. The story speaks about betrayal.Emotions of the actors was the only plus point. The story seemed inspired from the malayalam serials of today.

Mritunjayam :
A short horror flick with interesting plot and fine acting. The audience in left to think about 'what actually could have happened in the end?'. Movie is about a daring attempt by a journalist to stay overnight in a spooky home to make a documentary on it.The movie itself was a daring attempt!!

Aviramam :
This one is about how the recession affected an MD of a IT firm. It tells us success is not permanent, you can lose everything with a single full stop, but a winner is one who takes failure as a stepping stone. Though quite predictable, it shows
you to be humble when you win and accept when you lose.

Makal :
With most of its dialogues in tamil this movie is an eye opener to the people who believe India is shining. It shows the intensity of relationship between a mother and a child, a brother and a sister. Tells us that poverty is the root cause for all the problems in the country. Could have been better.

Happy Journey :
This journey was interesting and engaging. It shows about the problem faced by a female traveller during a evening bus journey and how she overcomes it.
A middle-aged man sitting next to her intrudes into her privacy with his camera mobile and tries to flirt with the young lady with nonsense talk. But there is a turn of events happening here leading to a intelligent climax which stuns both the viewer and the man sitting next to her.


OffSeason:
can be well described as 'Millionaire Slumdog'. We consider every foreign tourist we see to be millionaires. But in reality some turn out out to be the poorest in their countries. Shot in the beautiful location of Kovalam beach, this one was a feel good movie with the climax having a diffrent style of rendering the evergreen song 'Manasa maine varoo' of 'Chemmeen'.

Bridge:
My favorite of the lot. This has all that we expect from a short film. The cinematography, the dialogues, the acting, the direction and the climax. Two stories combine to give a common climax. Watch it even if you have to buy the original dvd.
You'll never regret it. For aspiring short film-makers this one is the best reference i say.

Puramkazchakal:
This one also qualifies as a clear winner with beautiful visuals and a script with a surprise element. Though the viewer finds a little difficulty in connecting a flashback being shown in the beginning and the climax which has almost no relation to it, the surprise element makes you feel you have to rewind and watch it again
to feel what the character in the movie went through. I would say it leaves a message like,"Never judge a person on meeting him for 1st time, You have no idea what the other person is going though."

Overall, it was a refreshing change in malayalam cinema due to the effort of 10 creative directors and the man who brought them together. Thanks for the movie Ranjith & friends.

Doordarshan golden days

"Alif laila alif laila alif laiaiaila".. I wish i could sing the tune over here. This is one of the lines which comes to my mind when i think of the old Doordarshan days.Even though the only knowledge in hindi was through the school textbooks and hindi movies and songs, everybody in the family would be in front of the idiot box for the few hours when there was something to watch. We used to love watching the ads too. I still remember that we kids used to stare at the rainbow colored screen saver kind of screen hoping that it would change any minute.

The serials Ramayan, Mahabharat and later on Jai Hanuman, Om namah shivaya, Sree Krishna were watched by everybody crossing all religious barriers.
The sundays which screened ramayan and mahabharat used to leave the streets empty as whole family used to be in front of the tv.Also the arabian tales of 'alif laila' which was screened in the night was eagerly waited as the family members used to finish off their dinner as early as possible.While Serials such as Chanakya, Tipu sulthan showed the brilliance and valor of historical figures, those like vikram-bethal,alif laila,chandrakanta,malgudi days entertained us. My dad's favorite used to be 'Wagale ki Duniya' which showed the life style of a middle class family. We kids used to get up early on weekends to watch Mowgli, He-Man and Disney cartoons and Duck tales. I also remember watching this english serial named 'Street Hawk' with a cop on a ultra speed motorcycle with a cool background music. That bike was like the dream bike for all students during those days.

Being a fan of good ads i would still rate old vintage ads something which created a bond between the customer and the product.
Nirma('Wahsing powder Nirma..'),Liril('with a bikini clad lady ;)'),Santoor soap,Nerolac paints(i loved the music so much!!),Parle G,Amul Doodh,Vicks action 500,Fevikwik,Lijjat pappad, Ajanta clocks,Vicco vajradhanti,Cinthol soap,Vimal suitings,Fevicol('Zor laga ke'),Colgate,Surf,Complan,Goldspot,Lifebuoy('Lifebouy hain jahan thandurusthi hai wahan'),Cadburys('Kuch Khas hain hum sabhi mein'),Bajaj ('Hamara Bajaj'),Titan (oh i just love the music!!),Rasna ('I love you Rasna'),Pepsi('yehi hai right choice baby' campaign) i could just go on. These ads brought us close to the products. Then there used to be this small ads and cartoons which spread social messages like 'consider both girl and boy child as equal', 'send kids to school', 'give polio injection to new born', 'Do not spread rumours' etc.Mostly these were presented in the cartoon form or as small ads with beautiful music.Then the songs 'Mile sur mera tumhara', 'Vande Matharam' which used to be aired in Doordarshan during early 90's were a phenomenon.

Another programme which glued every family member to the screen was Rangoli and Chitrahar. The presentation of these programmes used to be so different every time that it never got bored even when the songs were not being played.Unlike nowadays a lot of people used to watch informative programs such as 'Surabhi', 'Turning Point','Sports Talk','Krishi Darshan' ,'Bharat Ek Khoj' and even the DD News which had crisp and 'to the point' information presented with elegence. Even though i never used to understand a word i used to sit next to my dad and watch it just for the feel of it. :)

During the summer vacation and other festival vacations when we used to visit our grandparents in the village, there used to be tv only in the house of our gulf returned neighbour's house. So we used to go there in the evening to watch serial or movies aired in the doordarshan. Almost all the village folk used to come if it was a movie which was being screened on a sunday.

Doordarshan and Akashvani were part of our daily life. It was the only connection a person in a south indian state had with the north indian counterpart and vice versa. Since it was the only channel present during those days and the programmes were limited to certain hours, everyone had enough time to spent with family, friends and carry out other hobbies. God!! I miss those days. Its sad that the new generation will never get a taste of that life.I end this post Wishing for a time machine to get back to those days. Its time for the last song from Akashvani :)

Staying connected

Facebook, orkut, twitter any idea what i'm talking about.Yes, social networking one of the ground breaking innoventions of the last decade. After i opened an orkut account during college days i used to log in every week to check if any friend request has come, or anybody had written a scrap to me or if there were any photo updates by friends.Orkut seemed interesting.People with similar interests joined communities online and discussed about them. Some even got their long lost friends whom they had forgotten the faces of, through simple searching.Reunions of old school and college batchmates were conducted easily as everyone around the globe could be informed.It was a different experience altogether.

After i joined work i opened a facebook account since most of my friends were moving to facebook and orkut started to get boring. Facebook was a better and flexible version of orkut. Chatting was easier and updates from friends was received in jiffy. There was less of private stuff and more of public stuff happening in facebook. But even facebook ran into trouble due to privacy issues.

The creators of Twitter would have never imagined that it would grab so much attention in the media and parliament such that it would even result in removal
of a cabinet minister. Just a status message named 'Tweets' with 140 characters from this microblogging or social networking site created news on daily basis.It was like the wishes granted by gods in the mythological stories. Even the gods wouldn't have imagined that the wish might turn against them any time.So celebrities and others alike started posting messages on twitter after giving a second thought about the post.

Even though call rates had dropped, since most of the friends used to come online after work, chatting became more common. Other than speaking to parents or few elder relatives or a boyfriend or girlfriend there was less calls made and even lesser smses sent. More network providers came into market and brought out new offers to encourage more calling among students and professionals. But still none of them seemed to create huge impact since more people were moving to multimedia handsets or smartphones which made them 'available' on net through facebook, twitter etc.

Lets rewind the time to ten years back, 2000. That was the time when i started using internet, when i opened a hotmail and yahoo account. Keeping in touch with old friends was never a big task. You just needed to have an email id to mail, chat, send photos and it seemed very easy. The school projects were completed in less than a day when compared to weeks spent on project work in primary class days. Mobile phones market started off killing the pager industry.A person could be contacted even when he was travelling. The world became a smaller place.

Lets rewind 10 more years back,1990 when Letters were the life line to stay connected for people far off. The writing itself was a lovely thing. Taking time
to make no mistakes, be it a love letter, letter to friends or parents or relatives. It felt nice to write thinking and taking time. Even the wait for the reply only increased the interest in the writing. Collecting the stamps of the letters received was also a hobby. Writing to people whom you have never met was also interesting. We could share a lot of things with Pen-pals what we couldn't share with others whom we know.Since the STD charges were also high during that time, calls to relatives or friends outside the state was very rare. Most of the villages also didn't have telephone network as seen nowadays. Calls had to be made to the post office or village office where a phone would be there.The purity of the relationships were very evident in those days. We kept in touch with those who were special to us.Moreover it was a great feeling to read it over and over again looking at those beautiful handwriting and feeling the aroma of the ink thinking of the person who wrote it to you.I don't know how many of you reading this has actually written letters. But i tell you its a wonderful experience.

Think of the last time you took a pen to write a letter. Can't remember? Well i think it could be for the last english exam you wrote in school or college. I
won't say e-mailing is bad or anything. It is the best way to communicate and get replies ASAP. But when you have the time and you feel like writing to your
special ones even if it is just few sentences, take an pen and paper and write to them. Give them a chance to read and cherish your letters forever. I bet it
will do wonders.I have decided to write a letter or send a greeting every month to my special ones. Let's cherish the good moments. Back to the good old times. :)

With Love
Yours Sincerely
Mayavi
08-Jul-2010

This part of my life is called Happyness

I'm gonna make this post quite informal. Jus like i'm talking to you.Bear with me if you find it crazy.i know u will :). Well coming to the point, I had this list of mine, nah.. not 'had' i stil have this list of mine which basically is about the things i want to do/achieve in life. Well if u ask if its like a bucket list..hmmm.. i cannot totally say 'its not', but i had this list long before i saw the movie Nicholson, Freeman starrer 'Bucket List'.Talking about this list,i have not written it down anywhere, but its a list i created in my mind long back.Some of the things in the list i acheived are : completing my school life with decent grades, getting a bachelors degree with not so decent grades and getting a job. You might be thinking these are some of the common things in everybody's life. But as a person who takes life as it comes, these things mean a lot to me. And i believe, being able to acheive these goals was not as easy as it seemed to be.There was hardwork, luck, persevereance, commitment, prayers and a lot more stuff which lead to all those achievements.
When i was studying in college, some of my friends bought bikes and scooters with the money given by their parents.I used to be a pillion rider on my friends vehicles most of the times.My parents asked me if i too need a bike.But i had a different thought, a wish actually. A wish to own my 1st vehicle with my own hard earned money. Even though i'm not a person who believes in materilaistc happiness, this was actually a dream which i held on to from my childhood days. Something which fuelled me or inspired me to work harder and achieve it in an appropriate way. And ladies and gentlemen, here i am today, a proud owner of a Honda Aviator, bought with the savings of 2 years of my working life. As i add 1 more feather to my cap of dream achievements i would like to share my 'happy'ness with everyone reading this. Wishing everyone would achieve what they dream in life. Dream more, and chase your dreams to make it a reality. Don't take shortcuts to success even if there are any, trust me this is more fun. All the best!!!

Engineering Bro Code - First Edition

1.Thou shalt study for exams only on the night before exam and after 10 pm coffee along with other bros
2.Thou shalt store maggi and prepare and share with thy bro when hostel food sucks(almost always!!)
3.Thou shalt write thy assignments by copying from top bro
4.Thou shalt do the point 3 only during sleepy class hours
5.Thou shalt have 90 percentile attendence in canteen on any day in a year(most important)
6.Thou shalt give proxy attendence for bro when thy not present or is sleeping
7.Thou shalt always confuse teachers by asking doubts during viva (very useful)
8.Thou shalt have atleast 1 arrear in thy engineering life
9.Thou shalt never get records signed on time
10.Thou shalt wait in queue with thy bro for taking xerox of notes, which will never be read,on day before exam
11.Thou shalt treat all not-so good looking girls as thy sisters and thy bro
shalt treat all good looking crush's as thine sisters (very crucial)
12.Thou shalt have uncountable crushes in the countable years of engineering life
13.Thou shalt learn abuses of other languages from bro's of other states (very useful)
14.Thou shalt never have more than 10 rs in purse while in campus on any day in a year
15.Thou shalt treat the fresher as atm machine whenever spotted in canteen

Authored by
Sir Kannan Kodoth
Signature

Being a Resource - An Appraisal Chapter

All charcters in the below story are imaginary. Any resemblance to people dead or alive is purely coincidental.

PM: Good Morning dude.
SE: Morning boss.
PM: so how are you?
SE: Doing Fine sir. How about you sir?
PM: Very fine man. So let's start.
SE: ok sir.
PM: I went through your comments for the 'tasks' assigned to you for last cycle. You were on bench for the last two months right?
SE: yes sir.
PM: i find that being on bench (refers to time spent without a project assigned.Need not be sitting idle.) you haven't contributed anything for the company.
You have just attended some technical sessions and submited few knowledge sharing documents.
SE: but sir, being on bench how can i do some work if i've not been assigned anything. and i wasn't sitting idle sir. I was involved in giving KT (knowledge
transfer) sessions to newcomers.
PM: Man. You have to be 'Proactive'. Ask for work. Get ur 'utilization' level increased. No use of just sumbitting few docs or taking KT sessions even though
it maybe useful.
SE: But sir, i was told that there was no project as per my previous experience or training.
PM: No man, there are projects for you in 'pipeline' (trying to show that the horizon has a silver lining!!) but the point to be noted is that you have to set an example for others being more 'motivated' in your work. Show more 'analysis' capability.
PM: Ok leave it. i see that you have worked on a support and testing project the 4 months prior to that. You haven't done any development? There was a 'scope' for 'automation' in the work you performed.
SE: The project demanded only support and testing work sir and apart from that automation and development work was done by the IT team of client side.
PM: Man. That's not an excuse.You have to 'delight' the client by taking up automation work proactively. You could have 'brought business' from the client side like the onsite folks do.
SE: But sir you have never given me a chance to go onsite or have an interaction with the client team.
PM: You are giving lame excuses man. And I see that you haven't appreciated the work of your teammates. You haven't 'nominated' anyone for 'spot awards' or shown any 'leadership' skills.
SE: sir i'm just a SE(Software engg), i don't have the privilege to nominate anyone for awards. Others in my team are either my level or higher.
PM: You haven't shown interest in taking additional responsiblities of the team like being the CC or QA or KM. (hard to explain!!)
SE: but sir we already have team members assigned for these tasks.
PM: but you should have asked proactively to take charge of these roles.hmmm...No use of telling you.and by the way, you have to get used to working in mainframe development for your next assignment.
SE: that would be little difficult sir considering my previous experiences in support n testing.
PM: (losing temper) you are not at all 'flexible' man. you still want to be working on some crap support n testing projects which does no good. I can give you only a rating of 2 on 5 considering your 'peer group' is having team leaders and senior members.
SE: (standing up) you say i'm not flexible!! i was trained for 3 months in java and when i joined production you asked me to do Dot Net coding for 6 months initially with no one to guide or support.You said it was due to some urgent requirements.
after i learn everything and complete the major assignment on Dot net you asked me to to switch to Open systems, where i had to learn all the unix commands and oracle from scratch. Once i was getting settled with the support you assign the testing work also to me saying we can't pull in more members due to 'billable issues' and ask me to be familiar with writing test cases and working on testing tools. Now you want me to learn age old mainframes to do some crap work for some stupid company who can't spend some money to update or migrate their software to the latest platforms. And on top of that you say i have been doing crap support and testing work. do you remember the time you addresed everyone in the project mentioning that we were doing excellent work working day and night and even come to office on sundays to give weekend support. And now you say i was doing crap work and i'm not flexible.
PM:(surprised) what happened man. You are losing your temper. You shud be ready to take up 'challenges'.Be ready to 'work under pressure' to give 'quality' product. I know you are an exceptional 'resource' and a very good 'team player'.(changing track!!) You are an asset to the company.
SE: Yes i'm a resource. just a resource. Just like any of the computer or printer in the office. You provide free coffee vending machines to work day and night and at the end of the month give us peanuts in return for the hardwork we put in. I'm done sir. This resource is happy to announce to you proactively that he is not anymore a resource of this company. I submit my resignation. And by the way i have given a feedback about you to the HR yesterday. He said he'll mail you. Check your mail box may be you'll have your appraisal scheduled soon. GOODBYE:)

p.s. the words in ' ' are those used by Project managers to trick the juniors to show that they know everything, just to create some impressions. If you hear any of these words from your manager be sure that he is lying :)

Ritu - Seasons change. Do we?

After 1 yr of release i happened to buy the original vcd of Ritu since i had missed this movie in the theatres which was released during my stint at a really boring project in Infy Mysore. Normally before watching a movie i check out the basic review of the movie and ask my friends those who have watched the movie and keep in mind some keywords which i would have read/heard about it. For Rithu the keywords were friendship, love, IT life, betrayal. So i started to think about the storyline and assumed it to be a triangular love story which was shot in background of the IT industry. I was totally wrong!! And that's the reason why i liked the movie (I love surprises!!!). It was fresh, surprising, nostalgic package with beautiful frames, lovely dialogues, fresh music and beautiful people.

The story revolves around 3 childhood friends with deep friendship who had to split after their college days to work for the IT industry as software slaves to earn pocket filling salary leaving their dreams behind. (even i'm doing the same!!)

Nishan as Sarat Varma the son of a communist writer moves to the US due to the pressure from his brother-in-law who is running IT firm in the US.
Asif as Sunny Itty the son of a businessman joins an IT major in Bangalore to escape from the clutches of his brutal dad.
Rima as Varsha John, the girl among the trio also joins the company where Asif works leaving behind her mom alone.

The story begins with the return of Sarat from US to join a small IT firm in the technopark in Kerala. He asks his childhood buddies to join him in the new venture. Sarat is a nostalgic person who values his friendship with Varsha and Sunny more than anything else in the world. He didn't change much after his US stint and he also expected his friends would be like that. But he was wrong. The Bangalore pub culture had poisoned them and relationships didnt have much meaning to them. Their lifestyle and mindset had changed over the years.

Sarat decides to follow his dreams of becoming a writer after his elder brother tells him to move on with life after his relationship with his friends go haywire. Will the friendship return or will they be separated forever is the climax of the movie.

Director Shyamaprasad has proved that he can also take youthful movies with a message with beautiful frames.
The scriptwriter Joshua Newtonn is a revelation. Hoping to see fresh themes with poetic dialogues from him in future too.
The cameraman Shyam Dutt needs a special mention here. Very rarely we get to see youth oriented movies taken in such realistic ways.It really makes one nostalgic. The music by Rahul Raj was also good and the lyrics in the songs made it look something with substance. The Song 'Venal Kaattil' brought a lot of childhood memories. The actors (not only the main characters) have performed well, almost all of them being debutants.
The role played by Sarat's elder bro was excellent. The actor M.G Sasi literally lived the role. In short it is a movie worth watching alone on a sunday evening with a hot lemon 'chai' and somthing to nibble on. A must watch for youngsters who are in the rat race.

The life is like seasons. It keeps changing. But we need to make sure that we don't change for the seasons, but be ourselves and adapt to the seasons when necessary.

Thoughts for the month

When i was a small child my mom always used to say, study hard today so that you will be able to enjoy your life later on. Being a child who believed his
mother's words, i studied well and sailed through easily to reach high school. When i was facing my 1st board's she again said "study hard son, so that you will get respect and will be able enjoy your life later on". Being the 1st board's i was facing i decided to heed to her words and put in full effort. I did quite well for the 1st boards. After reaching the pre college days, she again said study hard for the entrance son, you will be enjoying your life later on.
This time she couldn't fool me.(i fared very badly for entrance..thats another story.. will tell you later ;)) I asked her right away "Amma you have been
telling me the same thing from the day i started attending my kindergarten, till now i haven't found the 'enjoyment in life' you were talking about". She seemed puzzled. But i asked her "Okay consider i study well for the entrance today and get into a good engineering college as you and dad want me to. How will i be able to enjoy coz of that? I will again have to perform hard since i will be studying with the best engineering minds of the land. Consider i do that. What next? " "You wil get a good job with a high salary package", she said. "So, high salary means what good does it do to me?", i asked. "Well you can buy a car, build a house in few years,have a good bank balance, get respect in society ". "So how are these things going to help me.Will it make me happy?" She was getting angry now. "hmmm.. you can marry a beautiful girl from a good family and settle down".I still went on to see what my mother's reaction would be. "So after settling down i will be happy and will be enjoying life is it?" So i do everything to get married to a pretty girl from a good family?? Mom, trust me, i could that even without wasting so much of energy studying hard and working hard for so many years. As per what you said i actually start
'enjoying' my life after i'm 30 or something.
My dad who was hearing this conversation while reading his sunday newspaper interrupted me and said, "No son its not that way, the journey which takes you
there is basically what life is all about. You learn to live from the experiences of your life, from your mistakes, from the people you meet. Your right may be wrong for another person and vice-versa. Your concept of happiness may be different from another person. Its up to you to find out the purpose of your birth. By the time you have a degree in your hand you will realize what to do in life. You would have had the experiences to learn from. Till then listen to us"

We always tend to look for materialistic happiness. I have friend who is crazy about mobile phones. He keeps on changing his phone every 6 months. If you ask him why he does that. He tells "with the latest phone you are upto date with the technology and it makes me feel proud and happy".While working his ass off in office the thought of buying the latest phone or ipod is what drives him from working so hard. Another friend of mine lives on the principle 'The grass is always greener on the other side'. He might have everything, but still he is never satisfied with what he has. If any of his friends buys something new he works hard to get something better than that. So he never finds happiness with what he has.

Have anybody thought what if we find happiness with what we already blessed with. We always try to look for something better overlooking what we already have. Shed your ego, jealousy, hatred and prejudist mind. Smile often, be receptive, help others, be humane, stand for what is right, be brave, be empathatic. The world will be a better place to live if everyone thinks that way.

Life is a lesson to be learnt through experiences. Experiences give better understanding of life. Better understanding of life gives less reasons to worry
about. Less reasons to worry about means more happiness. And the happiness is not something which we have to earn just by working for a period of time. We should learn to be happy while working hard itself.If one is happy with what he is having and enjoying the work he is doing he will never feel sad. Working hard on something what you love will never feel like a hard work for you. So be happy and keep smiling and makes others smile too. :)

Dayscholar Diaries

I was one of the very few guys in the college who had a chance to experience the life of a hosteller as well as that of a day scholar. It was during the 3rd year, after spending the semester vacation at college for summer course for Sem 3 Maths (the record has still not been broken. 100 arreared for Sem 3 maths!!)and making a trip to Ooty with the school friends, i was not in a mood to attend the 3rd yr classes which began sometime in July.

Moving in with my new room mate Pai (Don Pai) and 2 others (i forgot who they were!). I was preparing myself to study hard atleast in 3rd yr and be well prepared for the placement (God was laughing!!).

1 week of class and i fell ill. The college doctor diagonised it to be fever and kept giving me crocin tablets until one day when my eyes went yellow. Yes it was Jaundice.

The hostel wardens were not in a mood to leave me in the middle of a week even after getting a letter from the doctor.
They wanted a written letter from home and permission from Class Advisor,HOD,Dean, Student affairs, Chief warden....The list went on. When i was sure that i would drop dead if i delay anymore, i approached the new warden who had joined the day before and told him about my condition and gave a signed letter saying i'm ready to face any consequences if i was found to be faking.

Yeah right! I was like a prisoner who was convicted for a culpable homicide. Just the fact that i was killing myself allowing me to stay back in hell. Thankfully, he felt sorry for me and gave me the permission to go home and signed off the gate pass.
(It would have been easier to get a visa to US!!) I somehow managaed to get a bus booked through travel agency and reached home by night. As my mom opened the door i threw my luggage and fell onto the couch. The next thing i remember was waking up in the casuality section of a hospital with the doctor telling my dad that "Your son would have been deadif you had delayed for one more day". Some particular 'value' in blood which was supposed to be 50 had shot upto a whooping 5000!!!
They were more than happy to test all sorts of medicine and treatment as they had got a rare specimen who made the value till 5000 and still survived.

The days going forward was not so bad as i had thought it to be. I was pampered by beautiful nurses and my parents was showing extra sympathy for surviving in Amrita. I felt like a war hero who had survived the attack of the terrorists and had saved the life of the millions of civilians. Any request i made to my parents during those days were fulfilled.

It was at that time i thought,'This is the best time to come out of hostel and have some fun as a dayschi'. I put forth this request and it was approved by them. The next big task was to get the permission from the college for the same.

I forgot to mention another stuff. During the 2 weeks at hospital and 2 weeks at home i had been receiving threatening calls from the class advisor to come back as soon as possible or else i will have to sit with my juniors for rest of my college life. More than the pain of the disease and injections, this mental torture seemed too much to handle.

My jaundice came to a controlled level after taking a herbal medicine from a 'ayurvedic healer' from a place called Addaat near Thrissur. But i was asked to take complete rest for 3 more weeks.

Then one fine day i received a call from the department saying if i didnt report in 2days, they won't have any other option since i will not be able to make up the attendance lack even if i attend all days including the national holidays where they took attendance!! I told dad that i'm ready to move, even though i was not cured completely.

Dad's contacts in Coimbatore(CBE) got me a single bedroom to stay in a bachelor's lodge in Sai baba colony in CBE. So me and my dad started to CBE after all the packing and called up the department to tell that we were coming.
They responded saying that if we were not able to reach college before 2 pm, I would not be able to meet anyone in the department and i would have to wait for next monday which means i will be out of college. Wasting no time we started for college.

But unfortunately on the way our car met with an accident.

Though no one was hurt i thought we could never reach college on time and on top of that it started to rain making it more difficult to drive. But somewhere it was written i should be studying with the one of the best gang in college.


Reached college by 1 pm. Met Mishra sir who is the most kind hearted person in our college. He spoke to my dad and told there is nothing to worry and i will just have to attend all classes going forward (No more bunking :(). And he gave me the permission to move out of the hostel and become a day scholar. Though the class advisor Malathi maam gave the usual scare, mentioning i may not be able to clear all papers this year, even she told my dad that they would give me all the support needed.

Next hurdle was to get the permission from the so called 'Student welfare affairs' head Dr.Kannan. I hated my name only for the reason that even that ****** had the same name. The way he behaved to my dad, i felt like giving him a tight slap right at that moment. But somehow kept myself cool. He made my dad write on a paper that 'If i was found to be staying alone i could be dismissed from the college without any notice'. My dad again looked at me as if i was a hero who had again saved the country from not only a bunch of terrorists but also from local goons in orange & white clothes (i hope u get it!!).

He appreciated my bravery with that looks. I felt proud, AGAIN!!!

Packing up all my stuff from hostel i reached cbe to find my new room. My dad's friend took us there and helped me get settled.

In the evening while i was going out to see off my dad, one familiar face came walking upto me. It was Sriraj and he was staying in the same building as mine. Dad was happy that i had company.

So that's how i began my eventful dayscholar life for one year after which i returned back to hostel for the final year.
(Dont ask me why!!)

Thanks to Sriraj, JP,Vibushan, Rahul krishnan, CGV, Mukundan, Vivek, Anand, Deepak, Vijaykrishnan, Ramekumar and any others if i have missed out i had some of the best times spent in CBE. Be it the roadside foodings, musical nights with Sriraj and Rahul, mokkai nights, sam anderson & TR jokes nights, college jokes (ES & EM. LOL!!) nights, exam nights (mostly with all the stuff mentioned before :) ), long strolls
on Race course, weekend movies, evenings at Village restaurant and many more such memorable days.

The stay at Veyes towers with Sriraj, the one person with similar tastes as mine, fun nights at Vibu's and Sriraj's apartments.(Thanx a ton to ur parents for that!!)

And Jp's home was always my second home. I was considered as the 4th son by Jp's loving parents.

The 'fun-filled'group study days. Sriraj,Anand and Vibu you guys have a great way of explaining stuff in a simple way (Remember CG exam!!).

I even learnt how to cope up when you feel really lonely at times (which really helps me now).

All in all it was a fun filled learning experience for life.

And by the way i cleared that sem with no arrears or supplimentaries (Many friends checked my result before checking their's to see how badly i have fared, and to their surprise i had cleared all papers!!) Thanks to you guys else it would have been never
possible.

Even though hostel and day scholar life was two different worlds, i was fortunate enough to enjoy and learn a lot at the same time from both of them. These are the sweet memories of Mayavi who was a dayschi for a year.

Thanks to everyone who made it possible. :)

Amritayil Oru Naal

trrnnn...trrnnn...
oh, evidunna ee alarm sound...
trrnnn...trrrnnn...
da av... aveee... offeyyada...
da pooo mone.. ninnoda... offeyyada..
av : ehaehhea(unexplainable sound!! it usually comes out in the mornin when someone wakes him up)
da mai!@# poo!@# offeyyada...
snooozed...
5 minutinnu shesham veendum adikkunnu..
Kaiyyil kittiyathenthum av'ye lakshyamakki eriyunnu... he offs the alarm n puts it under the pillow..

time : 8:00
mathai brushum buckettumayi bathroomilekku..
finds a BIG queue!! comes bak nd sleeps nxt to shaggys bed, (too lazy to climb on to his bed)
kanz n av picks buckets n run to bathroom...
somehow finishes all stuff n gets ready by 8:20
by the time even mathai is ready...
shaggy still on bed, with his head under the pillow...
if someone tries to wake him up, pinne theriyude abhishekamaanu...
pakshe oru vidhathil avanum ready aayi irangi..

to IT block....
pokum vazhi
kalippu looks to junior boys and commentadi at girls
"aliya ethada aa pacha churidar..pieceaanallo ;)"
av: "tharrakal, naanamillallo ingane local aayi samsarikkan"
shaggy: "enthooo, njangalkku ithiri std kurava, njangal tharra aanenkile nee kootharaya"
kanz: "da vegam vaada ippo poya oru chaaya kudichittu kayaram."
(walking into IT canteen)
"chetta 4 chaaya"
"da 1st hour aara?"
"innu monday alle, appo mishra sir'inte class aayirikkum"
"pinne praashname illa,appo chetta 4 chayayum mathramakkenda, 8 vada koodi aayikotte"
suddenly raj joins from behind, "aa ettu, pathakkikko chetta. oru chaya enikkum."

ellavarum koottathode classilekku povan orungumbol,Pai coming to canteen.
"da pai neeyentha classilekku varunille??"
"ninga poyiko, njan kurachu kazhinju varaam, chetta oru dosa."
"ivan enthoru maatamada, 1st yr daily aadhyam classil ethiyirunnavana"
"da late aakkanda varanne"
"chetta aa fan onnitte".
pinne njangal onnnum mindilla
time : 8:45

Mishra sir: Hey so many. what happened? why so late?
one of us: sir err.. actually we didnt have our breakfast.. (Honesty pays off!!)
Mishra sir: oh! so did everyone have it now.
together: yes sir!
Mishra sir: then come inside. settle down fast.

mishra sir continues class..

back benchers->zzzz..zzzz sleeeeping
front benchers->listening and taking down notes
few girls-> messaging/ chatting
rest of the class-> writing assignments/ completing pending work
av-> reading newspaper!!
Pai comes in the middle of the hour.
Mishra sir : "Pai what happened why so late?"
Pai : sir i had to meet the dean regarding the project internship at Hp for the next sem. He had some queries.
Mishra sir : oh is it. Oh ok you where the coordinator right. ok ok come inside.

purakkinnu aaro :"veruthe alla ivane aalukal DON pai ennu vilikkunne!!"

bell rings
next hour corrosion science/quantum physics
half of the class moves to cse-b classroom where corrosion science is taken

av: da pai nee assignment cheytho? innanu last day for submission. innu koduthillenkil internalsinu miss zero idum
pai:enikkonnum vayya ini irunnu ezhuthan, povan para aa thallayodu!!!

In chemistry class
after attendance is taken raja tries to run out with his bag, when miss turns towards the board.
all guys shout maaaaam raja ran outside :)
chem mam: someone go and call him and tell him to come inside.
2-3 guys run outside making use of the opportunity.
mam: stop there.pai,u go and call him.
pai:ok mam. ;)
pai comes back with raja after 10 mins!!!
mam:raja, where did u run to??
raja holding the bag: i went to drink water, mam.
mam: u went with this bag
raja: actually mam, someone might take my books if i leave it here.
mam: what book do u have inside?
raja : Navneet book (Navneet is the local book brand name)
mam: WHAT!!!
raja:i mean few notebooks mam.
mam: ok ok.. now go sit in ur place.
raja: ok mam
mam: plz submit ur assignment papers on my table.
few students stand up to submit.
mam: what abt the others? today was the last day for submission, i'll put zero for internals otherwise.
students: maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam..
mam: keep quiet! since many have not submitted i'll give time till today evening 4:30. submit the papers on my desk in staff room.
students: ok maaam. thanku maaam!!
pai:ithu njangal ethre kandatha!!

bell rings

lunch time
most of the hostellers, go to mess.
dayscholars and some of us to canteen

canteenil poorathinte thirakku!!
kanz: da jp canteenil entha ithrayum thirakku, dayscholarsinte ennam koodiyo??
jp: dayscholarsinte ennam koodiyathalla, hostel food bore aayathinte lakshanama. :)
av: aake ullathu onakka porottayum kurumayum, athu kazhikkan ithra thirakku!! chetta 2 plate porotta..
chettan mind cheyunnilla.av binduvinte eduthu ninnu kadam vangiya 100 roopa neetti.
chettan: chillara tha mone.
av enganakkayo idichu kayari: enna 3 plate aakkikko, pinne 4 lime juiceum.
chettan billadichu, oppam 50 roopayum thirichu koduthu (santhoshathode!!)
samayam almost 1:30
sneha: eda kazhinjille. aduthathu CG lab'a
av: CG lab aano, enna oru orakkam koodi kazhinjittu povamayirunnu.
bindu:nee enthayalum avide urangan povva, pinnenthina athinu munbe oru urakkam.
shaggy jumps n comes from somewhere n shouts to maadu : nee poda maapilai naa varrai
he tastes some porotta from av's plate n tells ithu kollallo
av: ithu athra kollilla, mon vere plate edutho
jp: eda ithinnu edutho, njanum kannanum koodi kazhichittum ithu theerkkan pattunilla nee edutho!
shaggy: mone, athanu sneham
jp: athu snehamalla athu porottaya, sneha ivalallalle
shaggy:pakshe porottaye nammal snehichu kazhichale athu nammale thirichu snehikkullu
jp:athu correct

koottachiri

bindu:ente karthave ivanmarude oru chali
kanz:aaru, bharthavo?
bindu:bharthavalla karthavu.
jp:oh kumarante 'ka'
av:onnu nirthuvo, vaada labil povam
jp:oh angane nee mathram valiya krithyanishttayonnum kanikkenda.
sneha: avanu labil poyi matte 'lavalodu' sollanullathalle
jp n kanz n shaggy together: athu correcta!! ;)

while entering into lab.

all cse-b students already started doing the code.
jayakumar sir: where were all of u?
av:sir, we r coming from hostel mess had to walk a lot.
others: yes sir we all went to hostel
sir: but jeyaprasad ('jeya' was intentional), ur a dayscholar rite?
jp: eh!athu sir. i also went to hostel.
sir: y did u go?dayshcolars r not supposed to go rite.
jp:i..i actually went to main canteen which is near to boys hostel sir.
another set of boys reach the door, sir looks at them.
sir to us: okay u all start doing the program. i dont want to hear any more excuses next time onwards.
at the seats.
jp and kanz -> hot discussion abt latest malayalam releases.
av->sleeping
sneha-> messaging (coding at times!)
bindu->messaging only. in meantime, trying to get code from others around her.
shaggy-> moving from one place to another and chatting ;) when sir looks at him, he comes to his desk and works on the code.
rajeev->dont knw wen he managed to get inside.. pakshe evidunno program oppikkanulla paripadiya
at the end of the day everyone manages to show some output either partial or full output. :) tats the spirit of CSE-'A'!!


class kazhinju
dayscholars bussinu vendi odi thudangi, kanz atha etho junior penninodu sollunnu, mathai kalikkan vendi speedil hostelilekku
av'yum shaggyum snehayum binduvum canteenilekku, pathivu chaliadikku vendi.. jp vibuvinteyum srirajinteyum koode 'mokkai' ittondu povunnu..

5:00 tea time at hostel

glass kondu varunavar kaanunathu oru valiya queue, chilar ariyavunnavarude kayyil glass koduthu. allathavar queuevil thalli kayarunnu.
"dey chai vanthachada", mumbil ninna aaro ocha ittu... pinne oru bahalamanu, chaayakkum kaappikkum bondakkum vendi...
kittiyathum kondu avide ivide irunnu vachakamadi thudangunnu,
don paiye choriyallanu hindikkarude main timepass "arre pai, don pai tu to hero hai yaar"
kanz: eda pai nee oru sambhavamada
pai: kanna veruthe iri, njan pidichu thallum ketta, njangal thalliyal ningal thangilla ketta ;)
pettannu raja chaayayumayi varunnu.pinnn ellarum rajayude nerkku thiriyunnu
"dey raja dey..." this continues in one way

'mech'ukkar hostelinte muttathu vannirunnu shenoyine kaliyakkunnu.
pp:sachi nee ketto shenoyude puthiya vittu
classil sir paranju oxygen kandupidichathu 1868il aanennu,
appol shenoy: bhagyam nammal athu kazhinjittanallo janichathu!
koottachiri.
shenoy oru bhaavavithyasam koodathe cheriya swarathil : porotta kazhikkan thonnunnu!
ellarum mukhathodu mukham nokki, veendum koottachiri.
arjun full stylil thirakkittu povunnu.
murali: da ju engotta?
arjun : srishti meeting indeda.
rock/pop(vipin): ee arjun menonte srishti meeting ippo kurachu koodiyittundu..anakku entho oru doubt adikkunnu ;) (kannur slang)
murali:entho oru chutti kaliyille ennu enikkum oru samshayam illathilla.entha sasi entha ninte abiprayam?
sasi: entho evideyo cheenju naarunundu?
sarathbhai: athu valla eliyum chathathayirikkum. athre ollu (in bhai's thrissur slang!))
jayraj: aa bhai thudangi mone ini rakshailla...

mathaiyum rajeevum jd'yum bootsittu kalikkan orugunnu. kayyil bondayumayi atha duck vazhiyil
duck:anna football velayadaporaya?
raj: illa bootsittu kulikkaporai ;)
ranjith: anna, hans irukka.
raj: kocham vayayil irukku, unakku venama?
ranjith: ennanna..
raj:dey seriousa mudinjirichu da ;)

at the other hostel, in the ece corridor
da pskkkkkkkkkkk....
psk: aahhh!!
ellarum pskyude muriyilekku..
psk:ellarum cheruppu purathidu plz, njan ippo clean cheythatheullu.
arjantti (its arjun T):oh avante oru vrithi!
sinto: da jatti, padicu thodangiya? randachya kazhinja periodicalsa
arjantti: randachayille appo ee weekend thudangam
rpm: sathyam para jatti nee communicationsinte 2 chapter kazhinjille
arjantti: onnu poda, njan 1st chapter veruthe onnu vaychathe ullu appozhekkum njan randennam theerthu ennayi!
sugunan (gaayakan sunil P): puli appo nee 1st chapter vayichu alle. puli. njan vicharichu njan maathrame 1st chapter padichulluvennu
DeepakG:hallon, ivide entha oru aalkoottam valla sadhayumundo?
sugunan:foodinte kaaryam paranjapala, da anoope nee enikkoru 7.50 roopa tharanundu 2.50 chaayayude, 5 puffsinte.
anoop:inganoru pishukkan, echitharam parayatheda suguna, kayinjaaycha veetil poyappo busskaashu kodothathu njanalle athu nee maranno!
sinto:oh randu perum thudangi pichakanakku. da psk ethenkilum padamidu.
psk: puthiyathonnumilla, ratatoullie mathiyo.
jatti:avante oru ratatoullie, athu nee ethramathe pravishima kaanunne. onnu eduthu kalyada.
sugunan: roominte purathekku
RPM: aa sugunan paditham thudagan povannu, ini avane pidicha kittilla
sugunan: poda poda (from the steps to 1st floor, not wasting any time simply arguing with anyone)
RPM:vaada fifa kalikkam
DeepakG:mone, angane valla nalla karyam para. appo ellarum ente roomikku vannollu. njanum nirmalum lappumayi ready aayi irikkam ;)
ani corridoril dufaiyine odichittu thallunu.. backgroundil puthiya therikal kelkkavunnathaanu..
kanz: aaha ethre manoharamayi therikal. Ithilum manoharamaya therikkal vayikkittum undavumo entho.. ithu latest aayirikkum alle?
deepakG:pinne..ithu innu release aayatha. nee daily oru 7 - 8 allenkil 11-12 samayangalil vannal ithilum manoharamayathu kelkkam.

sinto: kanna vaada nammukku devadathine onnu poyi kaanam
1st floor, outside dev's room thamizhpaatinteyum, malayalam bhajansinteyum sounds mixed aayi corridoril kelkkam
devdathinte muriyil onnu mutti
devdathinte pooja kazhinjathe undayirunnullu.
kanz:deva, njagalkku akathekku varamo?
dev: va va, randalumkoodi ooru thendan irangiyathano?
kanz:anganyeyum parayam.
sinto: ninakkini arrear vallathum ezhuthi edukkan undo?
dev:nalla katha,ini randanam kedakunnundu choodappam pole. adutha semesterinu munbe athu randum theerakkanam
sinto: mone, puli.
dev: puliyayathu kondonnumalla, illenkil adutha semmil iniyum vallathum adichallo, ellamkoodi orumichu ezhuthi edukkan ithiri budhimuttavum :)
sinto: mone, devadath valarnnu oru prasthanamayi alle kanna.
kanz: athe athe, nammal moonnuperum pandu 2nd yr summer coursinu irunnu padichathu ormavarunnu. athu super time thanne aayirunnu alle da.
seniorsinte placement, junile mazha, vayikkunerathe carroms kali, rathriyile football match.. kiddu time aayirunnu..
sinto: pinne marakkan pattilla.athinu sheshamanennu thonnunu devadath jango payyanayathu.
aarudeyo mobile adichu
dev: sathyam!

7:30pm Mess
orattathu 'mech'ukkar, matteattathu 'ece'kkarum pinne 'eee'kkarum


'enthanu biju innathe rumour' sasi to kanz
'rumour'ine kurichu parayaan ivide nammude Arjun irikkunundu.
'Mr Arjun enthanu thaankalude adutha rumour.'
arjun:'Nammude swantham ku*dan sreejithinu puthiya line aayi ennathanu puthiya rumour'
sreejith:'da ju, mindathirinno enikku deshyam pidichale ninne njan thattum'
'sreejith nammude ju'vine thattum ennanu paranjirikkunathu'
'ithine kurichu nammude Sachi'kku enthanu parayaan ullathu'
Sachi:'sreejith thattum ennu paranjal thattum ennu nammalkkariyam..' bhai interupting in between
'enikkonnu parayan undu.'
'Parayu bhai enthanu thaankalkku mozhiyuvan ullathu'
'sreejith thattum ennu paranjal thattum. da ingane' bhai pats OT on his back
OT:'aah bhai thodangi. innu marunu kazhichilla alle bhai'
bhai:'illa'
sreejith:'bhai ninakku njan vechittundu, nee roomilekku vaa'
bhai:'athinu enne kittilla nee shenoyie vechu adjust cheytha mathi.'
Pramod:'oho angane satyam purathu vannu.shenoy appo ninakku ithanalle roomil pani,oho'
shenoy:'eh entha'
OT:' appo nee ivide onnumalle shraddhikunne'
shenoy:'kaalil entho kadichu, aah'

koottachiri..

dufai:'athe enikkoru samshayam,'
hari:'duff thudangi mone..'
dufai: 'nammal ippo last semmil valla arrear adichu ennu vecho appo anganeyanenkil nammukku placement kittiya companyil ninnu purathakkumo?'(irinjalakuda slang)
gerrad:'nalla best doubt aanallo duffe'
sujith: 'enikkum aa doubt illathe illa'
gopu:'nee enikka pazham thannal njan parayam'
dufai: 'podu ma***'
hari: 'da nuthin to worry.. avar nammalkku enthayalum oru chance tharum.. esp ninakku.. mental disability ullavare company special care kodukkum ennu kettu alle sachi.. entha ninte expert opinion on this..'
sachi:' mone, nee ellam arinju vechittundallo... '
arjun:'avanu chelappo aavashyam varum athayirikkum..'
hari: 'ju venda.. nenakku ente kayyinnu kittum.'
balram:'ju come on react..englishil oru dialogue vechu kaachu'
JD:'ballu chorinju thudangi ellarum melle scoot aayikko..'
sasi:'aarkkum vendatha ee janmam enikkum vendaaaa... ' (sasi imitating arjun's dialogue in one of the drama's)

koottachiri

at the other end of the table
arjantti:'mone mayaviiyil mammootyude performance kalakki'
psk:'athanu athanu'
sinto:'satyam, kore kaalam kazhinjitta oru nalla padam kandathu. mohanlalinu ini veruthe irikkam'
anup:' da da mathi mathi. mayavi hit aayathu shafiyude script kondu maathrama. mammootikku athil abbhinayikkam mathram onnumillayirunnu'
psk:'athanu athanu'
rpm:'lalettante 'Hallo' kalakki mone, entha thamasha chirichu chirichu mathiyayi'
psk:'athanu athanu'
kanz:'pakshe ee adutha kalathu kandu nalla cinema Lal Josinte 'Classmates'um 'Arabikatha'yum thanne'
psk:'athanu athanu'
unni:'da psk nee kore neramayallo athanu athanu ennu parayunnathu.etha best ennu ippo parayanam'
sateeshan:'athenne kore nerayi avan athenne paranjondirikkunnu, ethreyannu vecha sahikka'
isku(gaayakan sarath):'mone sateeshan formilayai, da psk vegam therumanicho illennkil ellarum koodi ninne eduthu pooshum'
psk:'ellarum besta. pore. nammaku samadhanamayittu kazhikkam. have peace please'
DeepakG:'piece'o, mone ethu piece'
devdath:'leg piece hehehe'

koottachiri

ellarum fud kazhinju hostelilekku povumbol
sunil,ani,jd,pd,mathai,rajeev ellarum ada football jersyumittu kayyil frootiyum kayyil pidichindu varunnu..
"sunile innathe collection engane undayirunnu??"
sunil:'innu athra pora.. frooti mathrame kittiullu.. NRI juniorsilum echikal undennu manasillayi..'
mathai: 'NRI mathro, ellam echikala.. ente pathivu cream bunnum njan miss cheythu'
:(
rajeev: 'kanna, rathri nammade shangai noodles undakkenam.. marakkanda.. vellavum noodlesum ready aakki vecho :)'

back in hostel
IT unni's room
"movie song: happy days happy days.."

kanz: "da unni nee veendum thudangiya?? ethre pravishyamada orre padam ingane kaanuva?"
unni: "da ee padam veruthe randu scene kaanan vendi vachatha.. appozha nee kayari vanne"
kanz: "athe, ithu thannaya innale njan ivide vannapozhum paranje.."
unni: "da jeevithathilo ingane onnum nadanilla enna pinne cinema enkilum kandu aa sankadam theerkkamenu karuthi"
bakkil ninnarro
"immakkoro naaranga vella kaachiyallo?"
unni:mone ethi, seniors polum angeekaricha ettavum capacity ulla budhimanaya kudiyan.
kanz:alla itharu sriramo. entha rametta, onnu suhikkande.
sriram:suhikkannu paranja inganeya suhikka. sukhikkanu paranja pinnangu sukkkhhavanam.
unni: njan cheytha ettavum valiya thettu ivanu 'Thoovanathumbikal' padam kanichu kodu ennullatha. ethu neram nokkiyalum ee dialogue
adichondirikkum.
kanz: "hmmm.. nee kaapi kudikkan varunno?"
unni: "illa da nee poyikko njan ithonnu kandu theerkkatte"
kanz: "shavam!!"

"kaapi kaapi"
KU: "enthutta ithu?? innu aareyum kittuninnallo."
JD: "athanne, innathe kani theere sherialla"
KU: "Nee aareya kanikande?"
JD: "Aavo, bhaiye aanenu thonnunu"
KU: "Enna pinne nokkenda, ninte ee varsham thanne pokka"
Sasi :" oh oh oho" (in sasi's own way)
KU: "Aah sasi ethi mone, sasi, mone, kutta, randu kaappi oppichuthaada"
Sasi: "Ah ah aha" (veendum sasi's own way)
JD: "Nee ingane oro sound indakki nadanno, nee nokki vacha aa junior ille, aa dancekkari, avale innu njan aa paattukarante koode kandu"
Sasi: "Evide vechu?"
JD: "Dispensaryude munnil vechu"
Sasi: "Athaval valla marunnum medikkan poyathayirikkum"
JD: "Allada avar thammil entho dingolfication undu, njan avale kandappol aval onnu pathari"
KU: "JD, athu maathram nee parayaruthu. Nee nokkiyittu pathariya oru pennum lokatha undavilla"
Sasi: "Athalla ippozhathe vishayam, aval enthinayirunnu aa pattukarante koodi samsarichu ninne ennanu enikkariyende"
KU: "Sasi, angane dancekkari pattukarnte koode poyi. Inyipoo..."
Appolekkum sasi melle padikkodu nadannu thudangi : " Paathira mazha ethoo hamsa geetham paadi.."
Shenoy : "Hamsa geetham padiyo? Aarada ee Hamsa?"
KU: "Ente vayaru niranju. ithu koodiye bakki undayirunnullu.. vaa povam"
JD: "Atha Tiger varunnu"
Shenoy: "Entamme puli!!"
KU: "Daa sherikkulla puli alla, Tiger vipin. Kude aliyanum undallo"
Tiger : Hallon
Aliyan: Hallo
JD: Aarenkilum randu kaappi vangichu thaada plz..
Tiger n Aliyan: Njan cash tharaam ningal poyi vangicho
JD runs..
Murali & PP:" Da Mokkai"
KU: "Entha chakkare"
Innu nee arreya pattichu kaapiyum bunnum adicheduthathu
KU: Innu oruthaneyum kittiyillada.. Ellarum record ezhuthum periodicalsum okke aayi busy anennu thonnunnu..
Appo today no coffee eh??
JD: inna pidicho kaappiyum bunnum.. ellarkkum undu aakrantham kanikkenda
Murali: JD.. nee aada aankutti..
JD: Pottan undayirunnu akathu.. Innu avanayirunnu ira
PP: good good.. appo Mr Mokkai, thangalude shishyan pani padichu thudangi
KU: Yes yes..
Murali: (jos prakash tone) Well by the by.. kappi kollam..u will really enjoy it.. im proud of u my boys.. :)

Jacobum Vineeshum Mathaiyum Joe'um orumichu varunnu

KU:Alla itharokkeya, achayanmarokke undallo..
PP:Jacobe enthu veshamada ithu..
Jacob: Entha penkuttikkalkku ithram simple dressitta purushanmare ishtamalle.. Dont they like..
vineesh: athenne, avanu idanakkil avan ittotte da, entha ninakkum veno Joe
Joe: ayyo vendaye, ithilum bhedham..
Mathai: venda joe. baakki njangalkku manasillayi..
Shenoy: Nale huttil poyallo
joe: njan ready..
jacob: athentha nee mathram ready.. njangalum readya..
Shenoy:nalla kaapi.

Koottachiri :)
-----------------------------
kadha ivide avasanikkunilla...

College jeevithathil marakkan aavatha orupaadu rasakaramaya anubhavangalum nimishangalum nammude ellarudeyum jeevithathil nadannittundavum. Njan ivide ningalkkayi ezhuthiyathu athil ente jeevithathille 'oru divasathe' anubhavamaanu.
Kurachu masala add cheythittundenkilum ithil njan ente oruvidham koottukare okke ulppeduthan shramichittundu.
For others whom i could not include. Sorry folks adutha lakkam balarama vayichu adjust cheyyu.. :)
Ithile ethenkilum sambhashnam aareyenkilum vedanippichittundenkil njan kshema chodikkunnu ennonnum karuthanda.. Ithile kathapathrangal aareyenkilumayi samyamundenkil athu thikachum manapoorvamanu :) hehe.. Miss those good times.. feel free to comment on it or add any other incidents which brings smile to others.. i have censored a lot of things since this will be read by girls too.

@Boys, nammade hostel jeevithathil ithilum orupaadu rasangal nadannittundallo, ningalkku orma varunna incidents enikku ezhuthi ayachu tharoo njan athellam mix cheythu kurchu masalumittu onnu bake cheythu eduthu nalla rasayanam roopathil aakki tharaam...
ellam detailaayi ezhuthi njan book aayi orikkal irakkam...by that time i hope everyone wud be married and settled with their life partners so that it will be fun reading and cherishing our golden days!!


Nanni Namaskaram..
Swantham Kannan..

Raavan Music Review

My first major post. Decided to start off musically. :)

Raavan - The most awaited album of 2010. The Mani Ratnam - Rahman - Gulzar a combo after the blockbuster Guru.

There are 6 songs to offer in the album and all have a folk and earthy touch to it.

Note: These are purely my own opinion. No offence meant to anyone.

Beera Beera- this song was my pick of the lot even before hearing the others and i didn't regret making my choice.
Its sung by Vijay Prakash, Mustafa , Keerthi Sargathia and ARR . The music starts off in Rahman style with a different opening (a tribal touch!!) but progresses in a simple and uncomplicated manner. Somewhere i found this song as a cross of tera bina (Guru) and Dhol Bhaaje (Hum dil de chupke sanam). I think the chords and beats made me think so. The tune is very catchy. But i bet this song will reverberate in your ears even after you come out of the theatres. It will be the hello tune for Rahman fans soon.

Behene De Behene De- Sung by Karthik and Mohammed Irfan this song is given a dark touch. It opens with the sounds of wind chimes and huge drums and progresses on the support of drum beats and programming effects. Though not comparable to Satrangi of Dil Se (One of His masterpiece!!) felt it may come almost in the same genre. The lyrics by Gulzar are worth mentioning here.

Khilli Re - is beautiful. A Slow and peaceful song best to be heard on ipod before slipping into sleep.Loved the voice of Reena Bhardwaj. Missed Shreya Ghosal for this song though :(

Thok De Killi - is a cocktail. It has the rock,the beats, the local style (read as vijay style as in 'Azhagiya Tamil Magan' ;)), the arabic touch, and amazing voice of Sukhwinder which is obviously the highlight of the song.

Ranjha Ranjha - Sung by Anuradha Sriram, Javed Ali and Rekha Bharadwaj, i felt this song does not have anything 'new' to offer. A lot of programming has been used in this song and it has nothing extra special to be called as a Rahman Song. Hoping it atleast turns good on-screen.

Kata Kata - Opening On the lines of 'Azeem-o-shan' of Jodha Akbar and some with little similarity (the lyrics n style of rendering) to 'Rukumani' of Roja this song is reportedly picturesed with 1000 dancers in a fully man made set. The music has a variety with a folk touch and with a different set of singers. Mainly sung by Ila Arun,Sapna Awasthi & Kunal Ganjawala, it has a set of 8-10 chorus singers to add more spice to this song. This song will definitely be a treat to watch on screen.


This could be a disappointment for Rahman fans especially after giving a musical hit with the tamil movie Vinnai thaandi Varuvaya. Rahman has gone for a totally new set of singers in this album. And one does miss the voice of Hariharan very much. Though Mani Ratnam does experimental stuff with Rahman, this one may not give a solid result as always. Another observation made is the first word is always being repeated in most of the Rahman songs. My friend Kiran had told me the same once before, but after hearing the songs of this album i found it to be a Rahman's trick or style as you can call it. Waiting for the movie release now to see how the background score goes.

In the Virtual World as Mayavi

Finally I have arrived.. I had been thinking of joining this for quite sometime, but i never felt the need for it.. I had no interest in writing before.. And moreover spending time on the computer was considered to be a nerd's activity by me till the time i became active on Internet :).. Nowadays a person becomes omnipresent thanks to the net.. He's joins an online party through the social networking sites even though he may be working in the office... He has a Virtual Avatar which helps him do so.. So I decided to take the form of Mayavi, my virtual avatar to take you to a magical world when you feel like taking a break from the usual routine.. Though my literature and knowledge is limited i'll try my best to present you some interesting works through articles, stories, poems, reviews, photographs, music and some crazy mysterious stuff.. Enjoy:)