Back to the world of cricket...

Hi all,
After a long time... I've decided to watch an entire cricket match...

There was a time when I was a great fan and used to watch all the cricket matches... Cricket was an important thing in our home...
Mom is also a great fan of cricket... (Sometimes. I used to feel strange, when she talks about the pitch, field settings, batting order etc while cutting vegitables... )

When there was any match, The situation in our home was nothing less than a cricket stadium...

All my friends prefer watching the game in our home, coz of the environment we create... and the food prepared by my Mom... (They can shout, jump, scream... and we will not stop them becoz we will be too busy in doing the same, to notice that... )

Those were the cricket frenzy days...

I was a real fan till the news about the Match fixing came out... When I came to know that some of my favorite players were involved, I felt like cheated great time...

After that, I've never seen an entire cricket match...

Last day, I was sitting in my home, watching some movie and my friend called me around 11pm in the night. She was in night shift and wanted to know the score. She asked about the score and I checked it for her. She stayed online with me, till the match was over. After seeing the last overs of that match, I'm feeling an urge to see the final today...

It could be because It's between India and Pakistan...

Whatever may be the reason, I'm going to watch tonights game...

One thing is for sure... Things will never be the same as it was earlier... Now, it'll be just a game for me... I'll never be upset for two or three days, if Indian team loses a match... I'll never postpone important things to watch a cricket match...

Whatever...

All the best Boys... "Chakde India"...

I'm back...

Hi All...

I'm back...

The trip was not bad but Rain didn't allow me to go out anywhere..

Compared to my last trip, this time it was a real nice vacation...

Will be back with some posts soon...
Till then,

Adeos...

Going home...

Hi all....
Leaving to kerala for 9 days....

Hope it won't be like my previous holiday...

Till then...
Bye bye... sayanora....
Take care...

I've been tagged!!!

I've been tagged!!!

My friend and a serious blogger, Happy kitten have tagged me and I am supposed to write 8 facts about me...
As Happy Kitten, it's the first tag for me also... :)

One good thing about this tag is that It brought me back to the Blog world, after one month. Thanks Kitten...

Rules for tagging :
*************************************************************
1. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.
*************************************************************


So, let me start...

8 FACTS ABOUT ME....


1) When it is "Facts about me", the first thing that should be written is that: I'm a lazy person... :)

2) I was very shy and an introvert, till my 12th standard...
(After 12th, I decided to change myself and now I love being the center of attraction, anywhere... anytime)

3) I love Bikes, cars and latest Gadgets...

4) I care a lot for my friends...

5) I seek advice from my friends, more than my family members.

6) Eventhough the 4th fact is true, I will end up doing what "I" feel about it...

6) I love traveling and I like partying all night long...

7) According to me, sleeping is a waste of time...

8) I am a highly optimistic and Happy-go-lucky kind of person...


So... these were the 8 facts about me...

Nw, I have to tag 8 others!!!!!

Here goes the list:

Miss Bee

Bachan

Ammu

Bhushan

Arry Potter

Sudhakar

Jammy

Ramya

Thank you Happy kitten, for bringing me back to my Blog...

When I became the Brand Ambassador for BAD LUCK...

"This weekend, I'm going to my native...

One full week with my Mom, sis, cousins, aunt and uncle, enjoying the world's best food (prepared by my Mom) and last but not the least.... no WORK to do..."

This is how I finished my previous post. I was expecting a fun filled, tensionless week but God had some other plans for me...

This trip became the worst vacation I ever had.
The bad luck started early in the morning, of the day which I left to kerala.
I woke up with a slight headache, running nose and throat pain. My bus was in the evening, at 6 PM but I had a big shopping to do before that...
I had to purchase something for my Mom, Sis, Cousins and Aunt. Whenever I go home, I will buy something or the other for everyone. I love gifting but hate shopping. Luckily, I had already asked my friend to help me with the shopping. As I hate shopping, I will always ask my friend's help and she is always happy to help me with this. As you all know, girls are really font of shopping... :).

I had to purchase one Winter Jacket for my Aunt coz she was leaving to Australia. As it is easy to get nice jackets here, it was me who offered that I will bring it for her. I never knew that it will become such a big deal. believe me!!! I had to visit 5 or 6 shops (including Forum and Megamart) to get the Jacket. As it was summer time, none of the shops had Winter Jackets in stock.
After the shopping, I reached home by 3pm. As I had 3 more hours, I decided to watch TV for sometime. Then the Power failed and I lied down in my bed. I don't know when I dozed off. Luckily, I woke up at 5:10 PM. When I went to take a bath, the water in the overhead tank got over. I somehow managed to collect one bucket water and finished the bath. In the Rush, I forgot to close the tap which I have kept open. (Later, my House owner had to bring a blacksmith to break open the door and close the tap... ) After packing, when I got out of my room, it started raining heavily. I borrowed an umbrella from a kid who came to a nearby shop and I went out to get an Auto. Somehow, I reached the travel agency in time and he told that the Bus is late and will start only by 6:30.

I entered the bus and collapsed on my seat. I was relieved that it is over and 2moro morning, I will be in my home.....

At that time, I didn't realize that it is not over and it was just a trailer.......

I reached home by 5am, with a throat pain and fever. 2 days of my leave gone!!!
After that, I recovered but got busy because my aunt was leaving on that day. The next day morning, my Mom slipped and fell down in the kitchen. She got a small fracture in the right wrist and was admitted in the hospital. So the next three days were spend in the hospital and when she was discharged from the hospital, I decided to pack my bags and come back to Bangalore.

So this is how I spent the long awaited Holiday...

I'm back in heaven.................

Hi Guys,
After the trip to Pondichery, I'm back in B'lore... The trip was fun and we all had a great time together... However, I must mention one thing... the climate was horrible... Please don't visit Chennai or Pondichery in the summer time... (Unless you are from Sahara desert or you work in a foundry). The place is good but we selected the worst time to visit :(

I was sweating like hell and all the time, I had a bottle of Mineral water and a big towel in my hand...I will drink the water and within few seconds, it will be transferred to the towel, in the form of sweat... Before leaving B'lore, we were complaining about the hot weather in B'lore (Yup. This year the climate in B'lore is hotter than the previous years). After the trip, B'lore feels like heaven!!! Due to the heat, We spent most of the time in the hotel room itself (Thanks a lot , to the guy who invented AC). As this was not a trip for sight seeing, (it was a re-union of friends) nobody felt that we are missing anything by staying back in the Hotel room. All we wanted was to spend some good time with our entire gang and we enjoyed every single minute of the time we spent there. The only place we visited were the beaches.

Luckily, the hotel we got was nice and comfortable. The owner told that it was a small palace which is 100 years old and they have not made any major changes to the building. it still retains the looks of a palace, with Golden colored pillars, nice art works on the walls, and they have maintained the royal look and feel in all the furniture used in the hotel. The rate was a bit high for a small hotel like that, but we liked the Royal touch. It's a rare opportunity to stay in a palace... :). I really enjoyed the King sized Royal Bed, the "Throne" like chairs, Diwan cot etc...

One thing I liked in Pondi is the hospitality of the local people. Even though they are meeting thousands of tourists, they were very polite and answered all my questions about the place and other stuff. I entered one supermarket and asked the cashier about a resort which my friend recommended. He was not aware of that place but he came out of the cash counter, called one old man (he is also working in that supermarket) and asked him to check the address. He knew that place and explained the route, distance, ways to reach there etc. One autorickshaw driver explained me the entire route to another resort, even though he knew that he's not going to get that trip. I liked that attitude, which is hard to find in Auto drivers in B'lore.

One strange thing was that most of the resorts and hotels were full, even though it was off season.

About the place, the buildings are beautiful, the beaches are clean, the sea is salty and blue :) .

We went to take a bath in the sea. I've visited many beaches but this is the first time that I am taking a bath in the sea. I was well trained to handle the waves because of the rigorous training sessions which I attend periodically, in the Wave pool of Wonderla (Water theme park). The waves were not a problem and I enjoyed playing in the waves. It was fun to jump into the waves and to get swept off your feet, when the wave returns... But the sea water tastes horrible!!! We should give an award to the fishes and other creatures which live in the sea...

One more thing: It is really a bad feeling, when you get sand stuck inside your shorts... :(

Do you want to know what all did I bring back from Pondi??? A nice sun burned skin, running nose and throat pain. Most of us had the same problems but We all had a lot of fun, and enjoyed every moment of the trip. We are planning one more trip in the near future. But this time, obviously it will be any hill station or any other place where the climate is normal... :)


This weekend, I'm going to my native...

One full week with my Mom, sis, cousins, aunt and uncle, enjoying the world's best food (prepared by my Mom) and last but not the least.... no WORK to do...

So till then... MAST MAJAA MAADI....

I'm going to be busy, bankrupt, tired and sleepless.

I know that I'm going to be busy, bankrupt, tired and sleepless. But I'm happy about it...

After a looooong time, our gang is going for a trip. Now don't think that we are a group of workaholic, boring, group of techies who don't have a life outside office. We do have our own social life and all are enjoying it to the max we can. But our problem is that when I say gang, it consists of 20 members (we were studying together) and we are not in the same place now. 6 of us are in Bangalore, 5 in Chennai, 1 in Mumbai, 4 in kerala, 1 in Hydbd and the rest, outside India. So it's very rare when all of us come together. That is the specialty of this trip. Most of us are coming together for this trip. As of now, we are expecting 14 members (The girls and the "NRI's" in our gang, are not coming). Just two more days to go and on Saturday morning, all of us will meet in Chennai and from there, we will head to Pondicheri.

I know it's a bad idea to visit Chennai in summer time. We know that we are going to get "fried" in the burning sun. But Hey!!! Even the burning sun will not be a problem, when old friends meetup and decide to have a fun time. Pondi was selected just because it is near to Chennai and Chennai was selected because it was easy for all of us to reach.

Now, my problem is that I am having my own plans along with this. Last week, I was out to Wonderla and this weekend, going to Pondi. After that, next week I am going to visit my native. After coming back, I have plans for some outings in B'lore itself. So, it's going to be a busy schedule for me... and the bad thing is, I have to keep visiting office also... So restless days to come... After all these trips and outing, my bank account is going to be like Sahara desert...

But, as I told earlier, I know I'm going to be busy, bankrupt, tired, and sleepless... even then, I'm so happy about this month...

So it's time to pack my backpack, get in to my sneakers, leave all the tensions and go back to the good old College days... Geez... When I say "Good old", It feels like the words of a middle aged man... Hellooo!!! Its only 3 years, but the tensions and work make it feel like it was 30 yrs back...
Guyz... here I come... Lets make it another trip to cherish...

The Surprise gift which I purchased for "Myself"...

Time: 7:30AM.
Date: One month before my 18th Birthday.

It was friday morning and I was having my breakfast. I was in a hurry coz I was getting late for college. At that time, my father was working in Middle east (Dubai). He used to call us every friday morning, as it was leave for them. So he called up and I picked the phone. As I was in a hurry, I said "Hi" and told that I will give it to My Mom. He asked me to wait and said that he had a surprise for me... He said he was planning to give a surprise gift for my 18th B'day. But the problem was that he was not in India and the only person which he can assign the job of purchasing the gift was me!!! Poor papa. (Other members in my family is my little sis and Mom) So, if I'm purchasing the gift, it ruins the surprise part, from the "Surprise gift".

After hearing the idea "Surprise gift", I was not able to control my curiosity. Suddenly I cameup with an idea. I told him "It's okay Papa, tell me what you want to gift me and I will get surprised now itself. Later, I will purchase it and add the gift part also. So the surprise gift idea will be a success". As he don't have any other options, he revealed his plan.

He was planning to gift me a car, on my 18th b'day. Now, don't think that we are so rich and we have a lots of cars lying in the garage, like the unused gifts which we get for B'day parties and other functions (Normally, flower vase, statues, etc) which will eventually end up in the store room. It's not because we don't care for the gifts, but if we invite 100 people, we will end up with 10 or 15 clocks, 20 to 25 flower vases, another 10 or 15 designer Table lamps/ lights etc. Even if we decided to fix a wall clock on every walls, including bathrooms, still we will have four or five clocks left (Our house is a normal three bedrooms house). So it will end up in the store room. Oops!!! I went off track...
Lets get back to the topic.
Were was I???
Okay. I was telling that We are not that rich, but we are so smart that we will join one or two occasions together, so that it becomes more Splendid. In Malayalam, there is a saying "Oru Vedi-kku randu pakshi" In English, it means "Hitting two birds with one bullet".
That's our policy.

In this case, It was our long time dream to own a car, and when my Papa earned enough money to buy a car (a Used one, Of course) he noticed that my 18th B'day is nearing. So he postponed it till that day so that he can give a great gift to his son and the family will get a car... Two birds with a single bullet. That's our style...

After hearing this, I expressed my surprise and ran out to reach my college. Now don't think that I was hurrying to attend the class. It is to reach Babu chettan's Teashop, were our gang will hangout. Everyday, I will start by 8AM and will reach college by 8:30. Today, we had a hot topic to discuss. I had to decide which one to buy. After a day long discussion about the various cars, advantages, style factors etc, I came home with a list of cars which will fall in our Budget.

My final list was:
1) Jeep (So that I can make it a convertible open jeep).
2) Maruthi Omni (So that I can drive around, with all my friends).

My Sis came up with Maruthi 800 and Omni. Mom came up with Ambassador. Papa has left it to me, as he was not that much aware of Indian cars.

Jeep was discarded due to the dislike of Mom and sis. Ambassador was voted out by me and my sis. So the only car which got enough vote was Maruthi Omni (Two out of three). So we finalized and purchased the omni...

That is how, I purchased a "Surprise gift", for "myself".

The Omni was an important part of my life, during my college days...
If I started telling the stories related to that Omni, this post will break the records as the lengthiest post ever posted in a blog... So I will put it later, as a separate post.

Here, I must tell you that My Papa was really great... Whenever I used to start dreaming about something, he used to gift it to me. When I was in 7th, I started dreaming about a Bicycle. He bought me the best and rare one available at that time. It was a BSA streetcat (The first Indian cycle to come out with a straight handle bar). It was not available locally. He bought it from the Military canteen in Cochin (My Grandpa was in military and had Military quota). The normal cycle available at that time was the Normal BSA SLR, Red colored one, which was the common one for teens). I used to ride it royally, as if it was a Harley Davidson and other cycles were just Mopeds. My friends used to treat me with Lime juice and other eatables, just to allow them to go for a round in that cycle.

When I finished Tenth and entered college, I wanted to ask for a Bike. But felt a little scared about making such a big demand. One day, I gained my courage and informed it to my Papa. He laughed and told that he already discussed it with Mom and she was not ready, telling that I was not ready for a BIKE. After hearing this, I attacked my mom and I got my first bike. (I was 17 and did not had a license.) Things were the same, regarding other things like the computer, Mobile etc. I got these even before I started thinking about owning one. Even though he was not with me, (Only one month in an year) I think he was able to read my mind really well.

Pops... You were great...

A wonderfull but dangerous dress, without any stitches...

Last day, we celebrated Ethnic day in our company.

We were supposed to come in traditional wear... That means being a Mallu, I was supposed to wear a Mundu (Dhothi). Normally I wear Jeans with shirts or T-shirts. This was the first time I was going to wear Dhothi to office. Unlike other mallus, I'm not used to this piece of clothing... From my childhood, I preferred something more reliable and safe than a simple piece of cloth wrapped around the body without the help of any buckles, buttons or hooks!!! I'm not telling that I don't like Mundu. I love the prestigious looks which a "kasavu mundu" (A cream colored dhothi with a one or two inch Border made with Golden thread) and a matching shirt can provide. The only thing that I hate is the insecurity that you will feel due to the Simple method of wrap-around-and-tuck-it-in technology fixing it on your waist. It's too simple that a wrong move can cause a wardrobe malfunction and give you a sudden popularity boost Like Janet Jackson, carol Gracious, Britney Spears etc. After writing this, I noticed that only Females get a boost due to wardrobe malfunctions. I remember one incident which happened few years back. A famous actor came to our town for the inauguration of a Famous Textiles showroom. He was wearing a dhothi and in the rush caused by his fans, he lost it in the way to the shop. As it was a textiles showroom, they were able to give him another one. But the next day, none of the newspapers displayed the digitally blurred image of that incident. The world is full of sexual discrimination. if it was anyone from the opposite sex then the incident would have got a lot more importance in the media world...

Coming back to topic...
After thinking about the risk factors, I decided to go ahead with the plan to wear it. Then the next problem was to obtain a Mundu. I don't have a dhothi. So early in the morning, I Started my bike and went in search of Dhothi. I was not sure about the place to get a Kerala style Kasavu mundu in Bangalore. So I decided to raid my friends. I reached their room by 7:30 and they were still sleeping.. (Lazy guys). I woke them up and told the reason for my visit. They cursed me for waking them up so early... One of them told that he have one but he's not sure where it was. He pointed to the cupboard and told it is somewhere inside that. After telling that, he turned to the other side and dived back into deep sleep...

It was really dark inside the room because of the power failure, which is a common thing in Madiwala. I opened the cupboard and was shocked by a sudden attack from the top rack of the cupboard!!!

No, it ws not a burglar hiding inside it or any ghost sleeping in the cupboard due to scarcity of space in that room. It was a huge pile of cloth which they had squeezed in to make the room look clean (If you have visited or you are living in a bachelors den, then you will understand what I was referring). When I opened the door, it sprang out and I jumped back. After regaining the sense, I jumped into the pile in search of the Dhothi. After picking up a lot of while cloths like Towels, bedsheets, white shirts etc for 10 minutes, I got the dhothi packed nicely in a polythene bag. Thank god, otherwise it would have got the smell of the dirty clothes stuffed along with that and I would have been forced to discard it.

I came back to my room with the dhothi and called my team mates to inform that I was successful. Three out of five friends, who agreed to wear a dhothi, backed out. Even though the others backed out, we two decided to go ahead with the plan.

To avoid the risk of Malfunctioning, I decided to wear a belt above the Mundu, after fixing it in place using the wrap-around-and-tuck-it-in technology. So, with the reinforced Mundu, I headed to my Office. The first response I got was from my driver. He was shocked and his response was like "yean Saar, You going to office in a "Lungi"??? I tried to explain that it was not a lungi. That was the first reaction. Before reaching office, I went to a shop to drink a tea. The guy in the shop was a mallu, but born and brought up in B'lore itself. He also asked me the same thing...!!! This time I was not amused. I was angry because he was a malayalee and he is not supposed to call it a Lungi. By my reaction, he understood something was wrong and he corrected himself. This time, he told "Vella Lungi" (Vella means White). Again Lungi??? I shouted, it is not a Lungi, It is a "Kasavu mundu". He exclaimed...Both are same!!! By his expresion, I understood that he don't know anything about it. So I stopped explaining and went inside the office.

I entered the office in royal style.

First attack came from my friend who is from North India... He was in a Sherwani and was confident about his dress. I was holding the one end of Mundu in hand, in typical mallu style. He was excited to see the new attire and he pulled that end... For one moment, I thought I was going to be half-naked in-front of my entire team. Thanks to the Belt... It did not fell of. Somehow, I convinced him that this is a peculiar type of clothing and it must be handled carefully.

The second attack happened in the cafeteria, in-front of hundreds of people. One of my friends was so curious about the design and technology of the dress. She thought that it is like a skirt and pulled at the free end to check why there was an un-stitched end!!! This time the belt was unsuccessful against the pull. It almost came out but I managed to keep it from falling down, by sitting down on a chair. Thank god... Otherwise, I would have been prosecuted for Public nudity ... I went to the rest room and arranged the dress back to normal and reinforced it with the belt.

After these attacks from other people and various faults from my side (like stepping on it, getting stuck on the wheel of the chair etc), I successfully managed to keep it on the place it was supposed to be, for the entire day.

When I reached back to my place, I understood one more thing... Even the dogs in our street were seeing it for the first time!!! They waited till the car left and then starting barking loudly and tried to attack me. Somehow I managed to reach my room, in one piece. I was relieved very much, when I changed back to my favorite and comfortable shorts and t-shirt.

The one thing that surprised me is that even though Malayalees are spread all around the world, we still have these many people who are not aware of this dress. In B'lore, if you throw a stone to any direction, it will hit a Software engineer or a Mallu. Also remember that our neighbors (Tamilians) also use the same type of traditional dress. Even then, it is a strange dress here.

I dedicate this post to all the mallu's who wear a mundu 365 days.... U people work a lot, to maintain the traditional values...

New Blog Game- Backlink to me...

Here is a new blog game that we all can play. It is called BackLink To Me. This is a new and fun blog game that we all can play, which will help us increase our backlinks. Backlinks, as we all know, is the foundation to a successful or increased Google PageRank. If you want to increase your Google PageRank, you have to increase the number of backlinks to your site and almost as importantly, your secondary or (deep linked) pages. Backlinks are a collection of other pages on the Net that link back to your site or page within your site. Playing the new blog game, BackLink To Me will help you increase the number of sites that link to your site.

Hello! My Name Is Abru. My website is at http://www.lijosblog.blogspot.com . I have a BackLink to Sharique. Here is how the game works:

1. Create a new post and title it, “New Blog Game - BackLink To Me“.
2. Copy my entire post and paste it into your new post.
3. Change my name to your name.
4. Change my website address to your website address
5. Change the name of the person I have a backlink to my name!
6. Link my name back to the url of this post!

By participating in this blog game your site and one deep link page within your site will be a link in a huge chain of blogs that are all connected together. Google bots visit our sites daily (not sure if you knew that). By keeping our chain of links all together in a continuously growing circuit, we gain and increase a united linking strength. I want those Google Bots to visit all of our pages so that we all can have an improved Google PageRank.

If you decide to play the new blog game, please remember to link directly to this post, not my home page. I already have a link to that here on this post.

Please write a quick comment here on this post to let me know you are playing! That way I can keep track.

Have Fun!

I'm back...

Hi........

I'm back to my blog after a looooooooooooooooooong time....

I realized that, If you stayed out of your blog for some time, it's too hard to start blogging again...
I've seen this happening to many blogs which I read regularly.

I was not able to blog for a few months... however, for the last one or two months I was trying hard to start blogging once again...

I've started so many topics which were scrapped later, coz I was not getting a flow or satisfaction...
Now, I'll try to post something or the other, periodically...

I want to be back in to blogging....

Hope that I'll stay active for a longer time.... :)