Kireedam

Saatha Star Sanju Babaa wearing "KIREEDAM" ....

Massive Steam Explosion in Midtown Manhatten

I was in Pfizer office 150 east, 42nd street at the 36th floor. It was around 6 when we heard a huge sound. Owing to the rains in the morning we thought that it was some thunderstorm. It was continous for several minutes and i went to look out through the window. Then saw some huge smoke rising up the air till our floor and it was not quite clear what had happened. I thought that the next building got fire may be. Immediately my client panicked and said take things and run immediately. Within few secs we got the fire alarm in the building asking us to evacuate it as soon as possible. Have gone through this fire alarm exercise couple of times and this time it was real :). Oh man, climbing down 36 floors on the staircase is not that easy. Not knowing what acutally happened everyone started rushing down. It almost took 10-12 mins to climb down. The moment we came out of exit i just looked back to see a huge volcano kind of explosion from the middle of road. I was very close to it, you should have seen the force with which it was pushing things out. My Collegue VijayBaskar was really frightened being his first trip. [There was another adventurous incident while we travelled from chennai to newark. The flight got cancelled in Geneva and we had stay one night there. Will write a seperate blog on that]

Then came to know after some time that the reason was due to an explosion of a 24 inch steam pipe underneath which carries steam, mainly to the Empire State Building for the hot conditioning in winter. As per the latest news (writing this down around 2.45 am in new york, helmsley hotel, 33rd floor) one person confirmed dead and around 20 were injured. I dint see any victim in my own eyes except for few guys with lot of sand, dust, water spilled all over their dresses.

Take a look at this video.

Other links

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/nyregion/19explode.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/buildings-evacuated-after-midtown-explosion/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6905738.stm

Confidence, Trust & Hope

This beautiful mail is from Jagadeesh - my friend in office...

CONFIDENCE: Once all village people decided to pray for rain. On the day of prayer all people gathered and only one boy came with an umbrella.... That's Confidence..

TRUST: Trust should be like the feeling of a one year old baby when you throw him in the air; he laughs.....because he knows you will catch him.... That's Trust..

TRUST: Every night we go to bed, we have no assurance to get up alive in the next morning but still we have plans for the coming day.... That's Hope..

KEEP CONFIDENCE…!! TRUST OTHERS…..!! NEVER LOSE HOPE……!!

News in 2020

With the busy schedule in New York, just posting few articles from fwd mails [Thnx to Sridhar for the mails]. This is an example of how creative people are.

Motte BOSS

Photo paaathavudene................ chummaaaaaaaa athiruthule!!!

The best character I liked in the Sivaji movie is the Mottai Boss who comes in the climax. He is too good and definetly a ferocious character in the last few scenes.

I just felt if the screenplay was this way ..... showing that Sivaji died, followed by MGR taking over Sivaji Foundations and then later revealing (When MGR meets Aathiseshan at his office) that Sivaji was actually saved it would have been SOOOOOOOOPERB. That little suspense would have added to the craze of re-entry of the climax character, the MOTTE BOSS......

Put the Glass Down

This was also a beautiful fwd mail from Priya. I had read this before but thought just will add it to the blog as it was inspiring...


A Professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see & asked the students "How much do you think this glass weighs?" '50gms!' .... '100gms!' .... '125gms' ....the students answered. "I really don't know unless I weigh it," said the professor, "but, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?" 'Nothing' .....the students said. 'Ok what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?' the professor asked. 'Your arm would begin to ache' said one of the student. "You're right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?" "Your arm could go numb, you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis & have to go to hospital for sure!" ....... ventured another student & all the students laughed.


"Very good. But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?" asked the professor.'No'.... Was the answer. "Then what caused the arm ache & the muscle stress?" The students were puzzled. "What should I do now to come out of pain?" asked professor again. "Put the glass down!" said one of the students.


"Exactly!" said the professor. Life's problems are something like this. Hold it for a few minutes in your head & they seem OK. Think of them for a long time & they begin to ache.Hold it even longer & they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything.It's important to think of the challenges or problems in your life, but EVEN MORE IMPORTANT is to 'PUT THEM DOWN' at the end of every day before You go to sleep.That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh &strong & can handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way! So, When you leave office today,
Remember to ......




'PUT THE GLASS DOWN TODAY!'

Where is GOD ?

By reading the title dont think that this is a philosophical topic. It is rather a good humourous mail which i got from one of my friend Priya. Read it and im sure you would enjoy it.

Two little boys, aged 8 and 10, are excessively mischievous. They are always getting into rouble and their parents know all about it. If any mischief occurs in their town, the two boys are probably involved. The boys' mother heard that a preacher in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The preacher agreed, but he asked to see them individually. So the mother sent the 8 year old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the preacher in the afternoon.

The preacher, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Do you know where God is, son?" The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open. So the preacher repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God?!" Again, the boy made no attempt to answer. The preacher raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "Where is God?!" The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him.

When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?" The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, "We are in BIG trouble this time."

"GOD is missing, and they think we did it !"

Blue Moon

Im sure you would have heard this phrase "Once in a blue moon..." which refers to a rare occasion. When there is a second full moon in the same month it is been referred has a Blue Moon and not that it is blue in color. But i got more information from Wikepedia. Have a look at the below URL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon

Some abstract from wikipedia ...

Calendar blue moons

In recent times, people have taken to calling a full moon a blue moon based on the Gregorian calendar. By this use of the term, a blue moon is the second of two full moons to occur in the same calendar month. This definition of blue moon originated from a mistake in an article in the March 1946 Sky & Telescope magazine, which failed in an attempt to infer the earlier definition used in the original Farmer's Almanac (see above). It was helped to popularity when Deborah Byrd of Earth & Sky walked into the Peridier astronomy library at the University of Texas at Austin one day, leafed through some old magazines, and found the 1948 blue moon article in Sky & Telescope. She used the definition – the second full moon in a single month – in the radio series Star Date for some years. As a result, the game Trivial Pursuit used a question and answer about blue moon. Sky & Telescope discovered the error nearly sixty years later and the magazine printed a retraction and correction.[2] By the time the correction came the calendar definition had already come into common use. As it is easier to understand, the mistaken calendar-based meaning has stuck.

Calendar blue moons occur infrequently, and the saying once in a blue moon is used to describe a rare event. However, they are inevitable because of the mis-match between the solar and lunar cycles. Each calendar year contains twelve full lunar cycles, plus about eleven days to spare. The extra days accumulate, so that while most years contain twelve full moons to match the twelve months, every two or three years there is a year with thirteen full moons. On average, this happens once every 2.72 years. Additionally, in some years there is no full moon in February at all, since February is slightly shorter than the time from one full moon to the next. This condition, known as black moon, gives additional 'blue' moons in the preceding and following months.

When there are thirteen moons in a year, twelve of them are given the twelve traditional names associated with that time of year (the names vary from culture to culture), and the extra one is termed a blue moon. Which of the thirteen moons is termed 'blue' depends on whether it is calculated by the old or the new method.

The months of the Gregorian calendar are all very close to the 29.5306-day period of the moon's phases: the synodic month, or lunation. Most of the months are longer than this by one or two days, except February, which is the only month which cannot contain a calendar blue moon. Since February is one or two days shorter than the moon's cycle, very occasionally it has no full moon – there is a full moon at the end of January, and the next one is at the beginning of March. What this means is that both January and March will have blue moons. This happens, on average, once every thirty-five years.

The next two calendar blue moons (based on UTC) will be on June 30, 2007 (but May 31, 2007 in the Western Hemisphere; see below); and December 31, 2009. Because February, according to UTC, will have no full moon in 2018, January and March will each have a calendar blue moon that year.

Time zone problems
Occasionally whether a moon is called blue depends on the time zone. Any full moon occurs simultaneously everywhere, but at that moment clocks and calendars are not the same.
Example, when it is early evening on August 31 in Europe, it is already early morning September 1 in New Zealand. Hence, residents of London seeing a full moon when their clocks and calendar say it is August 31 would call what they see a calendar blue moon. People seeing the same full moon from Auckland would note by their clocks and calendar that it is the early morning of September 1, and they would not term it a blue moon. But they would probably have a calendar blue moon at the end of September, or perhaps October.

Because this is confusing, astronomers worldwide and the calendar makers who rely on them typically choose the time zone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in the United Kingdom, known as Greenwich Mean Time, or the nearly identical UTC time zone. As a practical matter, because the moon seems to the casual viewer to be full for almost three days, the use of a foreign time zone for calendar markings for full moons makes little difference.

Check this blog out... Blue moon for the Eastern countries in May...

http://spaceports.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html

Sanju Babaa - THE BOSS

Pera Kettale chumma Athiruthule ..............................!!!

Sanju babaa - THE BOSS Officially released world wide on 15th June 2007 celeberating first year anniversary for my BLOG. 41 posts in a year and thats 3 post a month on average, not bad but not upto what i expected to write.

To start with im not a hard core fan of Rajini movies but definetly a crazy fan for his styles. From my childhood i have tried to immitate his voice, style of throwing the pen (instead of cigarette) in mouth, rotating the glasses. Gives a feel that we are a hero. What i actually dont like in his movies is that he flies and hits 10 guys at a time. Catching 5 knives in each finger and throwing them back at the enemies. Logically he is not a superman, but for the Kollywood crowd he is a super hero and thats why he is called as SUPER STAR.

Ok lets get into the review of much awaited, hyped movie Sivaji - THE BOSS. In one line I could say that "A typical Rajini movie with lots more style". For the C-class crowd the movie is a soooper dooper hit. For A and B Class depending on each it may vary as "hit" or "Good" or "definetly watch once". When you go for the movie dont see the logic but only the magic.

Story
Everyone should have known it by now that Sivaji is an NRI trying to set up Free Educational Institutes and Hospitals. As usual he faces hurdles with the competitvie businessmen, politicians and other government authorities. How he handles all these and succeeds is the story. Im not telling it in detail, its better to be watched.


Screenplay
First half is comedy and the second half is where it takes on to serious mode. Vivek has done is part with his usual spontaneous dialogues and unusally this time its not our super star but the super comedian who utters most of the PUNCH DIALOGUES. At times it does feel that some scenes are added just to drag the movie. Climax also seems to be a bit lenthy but director has decided to end in action packed way just for the fans.


Cast
Super star - (Minus 10 yrs) , no doubt steals the show
Vivek - He equally has the style and acts as the reflection of rajini in deliverying the dialogues
Shreya - Good choice as money spent on dress is very less ;)
Suman - He has done his part well. But i thought Sathyaraj would have been a very good combination.


Songs
Songs have started playing everywhere and no doubt in it becoming a hit. Though they arent the class of Rehman, they are much much better than Baba. And the visuals are too good. The opening song "Kaveri aarum..." reminds me of "Aararai kodi pergalil oruvan" from the movie New. I was waiting to see the visuals for "Oru koodai sunlight..." as I couldnt imagine Rajini dancing for the song. But it has been done quite well with lot of group dancing at back and our super star mostly doing styles. And it actually dint look odd as i had thought because that song made some sense as part of the story. You should check out the sets and places the way the songs have been visualised. Definetly a huge amount of money has gone into the songs may be half the budget. "Sahana .." is the best song of all by tune as well as by visuals.


Scenes & Dialogues that impressed me [If you have seen the movie, this para will make more sense]
- "Pera kettale - chumma athiruthule!!! - this is going to be the MANTRA all over tamil nadu for atleast the next six months. A very simple but effective line and thats why may be called as the PUNCH DIALOGUE.
- "Enna e'ma karupa pethe ? - Vellaiya petha ne alukaiduvennu thaanda " - make us burst into laughter
- There are few other dialogues which are good and have a real meaning like the one "Vaalumbothu savra naal therinjudichuna vaalra naal naragam".
- I liked the scene just before interval where rajini tosses the coin and decides to take the Lion's path (Singa paathe). The way he sits (Gambeeram) with that confidence.
- After interval the way he handles the Villain is too good. Slightly it reminds me of Thiruvilayadal (Marumagan Dhanush yerkanve pinnitaar)
- Usually it is our young stars who immitates others including super star but for a change super star has immitated MGR, Sivaji, Kamal.
- Mottai Boss in the climax rulezzzzz


Some of the flaws
Again, Like I said earlier, we cant expect to see Logic in most of the Kollywood Movies. But there are certain things which can look abruptly as a flaw. Directors might have missed it
and so in that angle 2 things that immediately striked me.
1. When Sivaji looses all his property and left with single one rupee coin, they do show him with normal dress. But when he and vivek goes to the godown where Aathi sends his documents, Sivaji comes with some superb dress. Where does he get that ?
2. Hundred people chasing our Sivaji and he thrashing all of them itself is unbelievable. But what happen to vivek who was with him in the same van. None of the guys didnt attack him ?

My rating to the movie would be 3.5 / 5.0. Overall I can say that its a DELIGHT FOR RAJINI FANS

My next post would be on Analysis of the hype that this movie has got and why Rajini Rulezzzzzzzzzz ? Dont miss to read it.

Second Hand

Seetha & Geetha are sisters with seetha being the elder one by 2 years. That always gave her an advantage of being first preference for their parents. Moreover they being cost conscious never got Geetha new text books instead she used her sister's books as second hand. The same was repeated for some of the toys, pencil, pen and other things right from childhood.

Seetha used to give some of her clothes to Geetha if it became small for her to wear including the school uniform. Knowing their family situation Geetha took it positive initially, but as years passed by this feeling of "Second hand" started growing in her as a hate. Though Geetha didnt show it out to Seetha, she was very concerned about it and refused any used thing that was given to her.

Both studied in the same school, college and finished the same degree B.Sc Nutrition. It was time for Seetha to get married and her parents were seriously looking out. Geetha had a odd feeling about that second hand, she was worried what if she gets her husband also as second hand which she never wanted to happen. So she also hurried to get married. She had liked a guy who studied with her in the same college but different course (BSc ComputerScience). She decided to propose him and if things worked out she wanted to inform her parents. Just as she thought the guy also accepted and Geetha told her parents with all the guts she had. Her Dad who is against Love Marriage strictly apposed it but as days went by he finally agreed. Meanwhile they had fixed an alliance for Seetha too. So they decided to arrange both the marriage at the same time. Everything went smooth and both of them got married on the same day.

Geetha was very happy that she got married on the same day as her sister and at an earlier age than her. On the first night, excited but nervous Geetha entered the room. Her husband Kumar said "I want to say you something" and even before he could finish, Geetha also said "What a coincidence, I also wanted to say you something....". He asked her to tell first and then Geetha told how she felt about being "Second Hand" in many things. She ended up saying that she was glad to get him. Then she asked him "You wanted to say something...". Kumar was like... "I...I... I wanted to tell you.. you ...that" he paused for few seconds. Geetha "tell me what ???". Kumar continued "That I LOVE YOU" and gave her a big hug. Now Geetha was reaaaaaaaaally happy as if she was waiting for this moment in her whole life.

As they were huging, Kumar thought to himself "Thank God, I dint tell her that Seetha & I were lovers in college"

5 things Not Known to others

PK - are you sure you want me to write this ?? No offense later ;)

Now this is a tough topic for me because im like a open book and i discuss almost everything about me to friends. So there is nothing as such that is not known to others about me. Atleast 1 sole on this earth would know about it. That doesnt mean that i dont maintain secrets. If it is something about others or if they asked me not to tell anyone i do make sure that i dont. Its only about me that is open to all. But as i have been tagged (by PK), i spent time to think about things that is something not known to others, may not be a secret but could be anything. Here are they...

1. Handwriting
My handwriting used to bend towards left and when i heard that people having writings bend towards left will not be a good character i wanted to change it. I dint know if that would change the character :) but i forced myself to write bending towards right. I did succeed, but even now if i dont concentrate and leave it to my hand it will tend to bend left :)). So if you guys happen to see my notes you can see a different font style at diff pages, some bent towards left, some straight (thats when it shifts from right to left he he) and some right. I have not told this to anyone, but not sure if anyone has noticed it

2. Uyir-Mei Eluthu
Ok, this is going to be interesting. I noticed a unique thing in me writing some of the uyir-mei eluthu (Tamil Alphabets). If you take these letters "aA, e, Ou, Va, Nya.." in Tamil, all of these have a small circle on the top left. I think everyone starts it clockwise, complete the circle and then continue the alphabet. But you know what, i complete the small circle anti-clockwise and then continue the alphabet (which is round about way, is it not ???). Look at the picture to understand what i mean. It has become a practise and thats how i write even now. This reminded me of the incident in UKG. My tamil teacher hit me in the hand and asked me to write impositions for correcting me to write in the right way. I dint understand what she actually asked me to do, i wrote the impositions in the same way he he. The teacher wasnt good enough ;)

Ebba rendu vishayam sollichu.. innum moonu yosikanume !!!

3. Thumb Sucking
I was sucking my thumb finger (like the kids do) till i was in 6th or 7th class. The most addicting thing for me to get over ha ha. This should be top secret hushhhhhh!!!

4. Eggo-phobia
Im totally alergetic to Egg. I cant take it in any form. So i dont even have cake. First thing is the smell, oovak!!! that itself makes me feel like puking. Even if that fails, the tongue clearly sends message to my brain and i immediately vomit. Everyone says that it is do with psychology. But there were times where i have taken certain food without knowing it is egg. Infact i liked it (tongue missed to identify), after sometime it starts with a small stomach ache which then aggrevates and then finally gets everything in the stomach out. I dont know whats up with my digestive system, it is so perfect that it identifies egg in any form. Dont you dare to test it, i would be the one who is suffering. Now you dont go and search the dictionary for the word "Eggophobia" coz it was a term that i introduced.

Just one more...

5.Perfect System
Have you ever seen any one system that gives output, the moment you give the input ? I have seen it and if you think it is some software system, no you are wrong. Its my digestive system. This unique system unlike the normal ones, process the input the moment it is feeded and its ready for output. I have suffered a lot with this right from my childhood. Does anyone in the world similar to this ???