Bye 2005, Welcome 2006

2005. Looking back at it, here is what I wanted to do at the beginning of the year:

So what plans for 2005? Hmm. Lemme think..
1) Have to be serious abt higher studies and by the end of 2005, this plan should get executed successfully.
2) Hmmm. Towards the end of 2004, started taking care of physical health by going to gym.. Should continue that and must be regular..."Commitment" is the word here...
3) Should learn swimming..
4) Should get my DL done...
5) Should learn atleast one foreign language...Why? Just like that!

Ok, enough.. I myself am not sure how much of the above i would be able to complete successfully.
But if 1) is taken care of properly, I would win the award for "Happiest Person 2005".

Now, at the end the year, do I get the award? Yes, sure. I am happy that Item number 1) was taken care of very well. I am satisfied with the progress I made over there.I thank everyone who have helped me with this. Thanks, guys and gals.

What about 2,3,4 and 5? Well,huuh,ummm, I score a perfect zero over there. And thats what I carry over to 2006 now.

What else happened in 2005? Travelling, I did a lot. Kochi, Hogenekkal,Madurai,Hampi,Mysore,Mantralaya,Delhi,Pilani.I went around a lot of places. Was also the year when the mighty RSAS got split :( and I started living alone. Living alone had its own +es and -es. I have experienced both and started adjusting to it.

Succumbed to a new disease called 'Bloghopping' this year. Its a good plague actually. When you feel completely bored and have nothing else to do, browsing through blogs kills time better(!?) than anything else. It was also the Blogdom where I met a few good people this year. First it was Poornima. What do I write about her! One person who never ceases to amaze me. Am not the only one whos a fan of her writing, see her blog for yourself.The list simply grows everyday. One thing that she can do better than many of us is writing. She has promised that if she writes a book in the future, I am going to get the first copy of it signed by her. Have not met her personally yet. Wish that happens in 2006.

Next, Kalaivani Ramea Kubendran. Oops, what a big name.For those who dont know it,'Ramea' is pronounced as in 'Raamiyaah'.Then why her name is not Kalaivani Raamiyaah instead!?.I better dont talk about her name. :) Tatoonies. What do I say about it? How many fan following this lady from LA had, many of us know. It all went till having a "Rasigar Mandram" (Fan Club) for her.Hilarious posts of her made many laugh,laugh and laugh and one post of her was getting forwarded all around the world.Good thing about Poornima and Kalai is that they both have apt pictures for most of their posts. The former googles it up and the later draws them up on her own. Sad that Tatoonies got deleted. One of my wishes in 2006 is that let Tatoonies be back on the blogdom.

Next, Prabhu Krishnamoorthy aka Ferrari. This guy is simply amazing. When my mood is really off, when I am very much frustrated at work, I read his "He-She" posts everytime these days. Wonderful! That changes my mood altogether. I havent tried contacting him, aah, hes in Bangalore only, hope to meet you Prabhu in 2006. I also started writing in Tamil this year after a long time. Thanks to Narayanan, Hariprasad(Ethiri) and Adengappa. They had encouraged me then apart from others I already know.I havent got time to keep in touch with these people.Shall do it in 2K6. And hope to continue making new good friends like these people, in 2006.

What else happened in 2005 in and around me? My uncle got married, brother passed out of college,two of my friends made into IIMs,one went to Germany for his MS. Hmmm, I have to mention about one more person with whom I have a war of words literally, every time when we speak/chat. Meet Mr.Vishnuprasad Ramachandran,Graduate Student, Stanford University. Actually, I have to mention this, he helped me a lot with my goal 1) for this year.So I thank him for that. But, that does not mean that I am going to stop fighting with him. Why do we fight? Just like that, for no obvious reasons. I think that I can play with words and pull down his legs better and he thinks he is the best in this business. So we would continue doing this in 2006.

I have also made a few good friends at work this year. Hope to make more in 2006. At the very end of the year, I have started listening to English music, thanks to my new English teacher. I would write about her and my English class learnings, may be somewhere in the next few posts. I also have to tell Jike about "The Man who sells me Porn". He is a very good friend I made this year.I would try doing that as well in the coming posts. And Jike, its his first birthday tomorrow.I wont be here to wish him when he turns 1. So, here we go:
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Jike
Happy Birthday to you

Plans for 2K6? 2,3,4 and 5 above should be enough. I am confused between French and German when it comes to plan 5. Anybody who can help me with that? And if things go well as I expect it to be, I would be doing a similar post next year from a different time zone. Happy New Year, everybody. Hope it turns out to be a prosperous one for all of you.

113 Hearts

'Chandramukhi Praanasakhi' is the only movie in Kannada so far which I would have watched completely. I liked it, especially the climax. Not that I understand Kannada completely: I can read and write in Kannada, but I cant converse fluently in Kannada yet. At the time when I watched this picture, some three years ago, my Kannada knowledge was poorer than what it is now, but I was atleast able to get the gist of the movie(that is possible in any Indian movie, you say!? I agree).

Music was good in this movie and there is this beautiful song where the word "Manasu" gets repeated so many times. I was asked to count it when I was watching the movie. I failed then. After three years, got the same song at a net cafe while generally exploring the machine I was browsing. Now that I felt immensely bored and vetti at work, decided would do the counting. I checked the count by playing the song four times.Three out of four times got the same number. My colleague said that the next step in the testing process would be cross-verification. i.e search for the song lyrics and confirm the count. Searched it on the web, could find the song but not the lyrics. So decided that I would make one if its not there. So here is the song lyrics. Now, I finished the testing process. My count was right.

Download and hear the song when you get time. Nice song. I dont understand the lyrics completely,but it sounds good though.

Yeah, now you can sing along with the lyrics I have written.

Song: Manase O Manase
Film: Chandramukhi Praanasakhi(Kannada)
Singers: Chitra and Badri Prasad

Manase o manase enthaa manase
Manase yeley manase
Manase o manase enthaa manase
Manase ola manase
Manasinalli yaava manasidhey
Yaava manasigey nee manasu maadidhey
Manasilladha manasinindha manasu maadi madhura manasigeyey
Manasukottu manasanne maraithu bittaya
Manasukottu manasolagey kulithu bittaya
Manase o manase enthaa manase
Manase yeley manase

O manase, ondhu manasala eradu manasu ella manasa niyamaa
O manase, eradu haalu manasalondhey manasu idhdharey premaa
Manasaako prethi manasikku manasothiruvaa
Yeley manasu yela manasina manaseralla
Nela manasu nija manasi naaladha manasaa
Husi manasu antha manasena manasinalla
Manasey manasey hasi hasi manasey
Manasu ondhu manasirou, manasinaa
Thirugu manasigu marugu manasidhey
Bharadha manasigu karugu manasidhey
Mayi manasale manasidharey manasu manasa hididha bittareyey
Ummala manasa seethorumolu keladhu manasu
Manasello manasu maadu manasaa manasuu
Manase o manase

O manase, manasu manasalidhdhareney alli manashaanthi
O manase, manasu manasa keli manasu kottari manasaakshi
Manasaare manasittu haduva manasu
Manasoorey yagodhu manasikku gothu
Manasidharey maargaantha heluva manasu
Mannisuva manasalli manasida hothu
Manasey manasey bisi bisi manasey
Manasu ondhu manasirou, manasinaa
Thumula manasigu komala manasidhey
Thodhalu manasigu mridhula manasidhey
Manasiche manasa olagey manaswechey manasa horageyey
Maanspoorthi manasa poorthi iruvudhey manasu
Manasello manasu maadu manasaa manasuu
Manase o manase
Manase yeley manase
Manase ola manase

Naughty or Nasty?

Long time since I gave a T-quote to Jike. This time it comes from my colleague who saw it on a guy's T-shirt. Actually, it is a statement rather than a quote. I am accepting that I have been what my fellow tamilians would call a 'pazham' when it comes to matters like these, and my knowledge is not that good. Seems like this is a famous sequence of numbers which has got extended on this guy's T-shirt.(Like a corollary to a theorem!?) So if you are able to get it without reading the explanation section, then your knowledge in this matter is good, otherwise, join my club. Here we go, this is the sequence:

172214

Got it? Are you giving it a "Huh, such a buildup for such a silly thing?" look? Or are you trying to find some weird relationship like 17 + 5 = 22 and 22 - 8 = 14, like that? Unable to make sense out of it?

I was not. So was my colleague. Poor chaps we are. Lets go to the explanation section now.

Explanation: It is very simple. Read the numbers in "Our Raashtriyabaasha" aka Hindi and read it with spaces between them 1 7 2 2 14 and it would all make sense now. If you know Hindi, you would get it, if you do not know Hindi, ask me, shall tell you. Exercise caution if you are asking someone else who knows Hindi.They might not like you at all after you ask them this.Also, looks like 1722 is a famous number sequence that everyone knows! Is it? I wasnt aware of that!

The way you take this:Naughty or Nasty depends upon you. Some might like the way the statement is concealed in a number sequence and appreciate the way it has been done. Some might feel like going and hitting this guy, what the hell is he doing, wearing this in a public place for everyone to see! Certainly some newspapers,get a chance, would have a picture of this T-shirt and say "Look where the country is heading to!".

For most of the people the numbers wont make sense, so lets forget them. I dont understand what is the need for someone to sport a T-shirt with this statement.Yeah, now that I have seen and understood it,what do you want me to do to you now? What is the intention behind the T-shirt? Come to you and say, "Hey,Congrats. How did it go?". I definitely dont wanna do that. Or if I know you well, do I have to become proud of you and go around shouting in the streets "My friend(or whatever) has grown up big!". No,I wont do it either.Or you want people to envy you? If that is the case, definitely you are successful in your attempt man.I can imagine few reading it in the road and give a big sigh: "Haa, lucky guy!". True,few people would do that, lets not deny that fact.

For me, I would look it as a statement, I definitely appreciate the way the message was hidden and smile at the naughtiness.Yeah, if that was your intention, then with respect to me you succeeded my friend.But still I feel there is no need for someone to publicise and boast on something so intimate between two people(its not 2 in this case, thats agreed).May be it was sported just for fun,and it is not that we have not talked about sex openly in this country.We have been doing it both explicitly or in a polished way, one way or other. We gave Kamasutra to the world, what about the paintings at Khajuraho,and I have seen numerous temples all around India where there are statues depicting sexual acts explicitly(I have few snaps as well, if you want it, lemme know ;)...). Take my literature or my film songs: We always had an 'Aganaanooru' along with from 'Puranaanooru', Thirukkural had 'Inbathuppal' with it, and with respect to Tamil film songs, what Kannadasan said in a much polished manner that day, Vairamuthu and others today are saying explicitly, but the thing is, it was always said.I definitely enjoy it when its expressed in a subtle way. I would have appreciated the T-shirt much better if it had been some funny cartoon depicting the need for safe sex, but for this one, I smile at the creativity(!?), put it aside and move on!