Waves

My mom is a great cook. 😀 😀 She cooks so well that, once the aroma begins wafting through the house, you can’t help getting hungry. Today was such-a-day. The dishes are pretty simple…Lets go and have a look at what we have…

1. Vatha kuzambu – a typical tasty yummy south Indian dish, made in every home
2. Vendakka poriyal – to be precise, its fried “ladys finger”
3. Fried appalams – Pappads
4. Rasam – hopefully you should be knowing this
5. Vegetable salad – cucumber, carrot, onion, capsicum etc. etc.
6. Thick ice-cold curd (as usual)

As these got ready by 12pm, i just couldn’t wait for lunch…i grabbed a plate from the shelf and was making such a din with it that my mom had to serve me those…slurp!! Half way thro’ lunch, i felt, “hey!! why the heck we have to eat the same way everyday….sambar rice, rasam, curd”…its actually quite boring…so lets make a change by preparing a combo today ;-).

All the items were piping hot…i took a small vessel, put some kuzambu in that (cos if this didn’t work, i don’t want to spoil other’s lunch he he) and then broke about 2 appalams to get 8 pieces and made appalak-kuzambu he he…nice combination…Next, i put some rice and mixed ice-cold curd to form a thick mass (consistency of chapathi dough..) along with the vegetable salad to form a colourful curd rice…wow!! u shud have tasted this..it was heavenly..

Added to this, the appalak-kuzambu in small amounts blew the top…it was great…wow!! slurp! Curd and vendakka-fry is always a hit combination…u know what to do next…add lots of vendakka fry…The combo can’t get yummier than this. I tasted this a bit and devoured it myself. So here goes my thathuvam “A simple lunch can be a great lunch…but a great lunch can never be a simple lunch”. Want to taste some???

This simple lunch, combined with a 2 hour siesta is the best combo you can get. There is nothing else to beat this satisfaction 😉

Btw, i have started cooking too…Next time anyone is going to ask that question, im gonna punish you with my thakkali (tomato) chutney he he…

So…u have wondered why the hell you need a “Start” button…Well, even if you hadn’t wondered like that, this is worth knowing…

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2003/07/22/54559.aspx

Yippppppppppppeeeeeeee!!! yahhhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooo!!! im dancing here. reason?? Its obvious…i upgraded my computer yesterday….and its flying now. Here is the upgraded configuration.

1. Added another 512 MB RAM to make it 768 MB. But my motherboard won’t allow that :(. So, it had to be 640 MB. Nevertheless, the speed increase has been quite significant. Able to run both VS2005 and Netbeans 5.0 simultaneously.
2. Upgraded my existing 40 GB HDD to 120 GB….Its cool now…lot more space…enough to have a full family sleeping 😛
3. A brand new APC UPS after the UPS burst. Haven’t tested this yet. But atleast now, the computer isn’t getting switched off after power cut (Phew!!).
4. An experimental purchase of the new iBall optical mouse. Its good too.

Above all, im having original windows server 2003 😉 because my college is having MSDNAA. But its human nature that, how much ever we have, we crave for more. Most of the time, the grass on the other side looks greener. So, heres my wishlist.
1. DVD Writer
2. A 1GB USB flash drive.

Oh…ya, i haven’t stopped dancing yet. The system is quite fast, and that too with broadband internet connection, i left the computer switched on through the night to download netbeans 5.0. First time, its running for a full 24 hrs. 😀 😀 The new year has been great till now. I’m enjoying every bit of it. Hope you are doing the same !!!

Instead of burning them, you can exchange them at some retail showrooms to get new items…ofcourse, you have to pay some extra money. Here the gain is personal, atleast you are not damaging the environment. The second thing you could do is, sell those goods to scrap dealers. The little money you get by this can be used to buy new dress that can be given to deserving people. Ultimately, by doing such small things, we not only get a lot of satisfaction but also making someone else happy.

Wish you a very happy pongal. Let our mistakes or faults we made/make perish and let the phoenix of goodwill rise from the ashes…

Update: Check this post too.

hi!!, came across this site called Linux from Scratch, that teaches you to build your own, customised linux from the source code. The site is very interesting and would be very useful for adventerous guys (he he).

Also check the linux documentation project. The site has also documented the linux kernel.

hmm…yesterday night, my computer was getting switched off for every minute i switched it on. This continued for the next 30 minutes that i was frustrated (Grrr…). I disconnected the CPU and opened it and checked for any loose connections. Not finding any i plugged it back….and still the problem continued…Well, if you were sitting beside me, i would have strangled you. aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!! (screaming)…

Checking the connections again, i found out the problem. It was the power input to the UPS that was the cause for all this. It was partially hanging. Thinking to be a champion electrician, i patted myself and got ready to mend the loose connection. Without switching off the power, i pushed the plug slightly into position. Suddenly, a siren was ringing from the UPS and all the computer was out again…Grrr….i nudged it again and BOOM!!…the UPS exploded. The whole house was cut off from power now…thanks to the “safe trip”, it saved me from getting electrocuted. After disconnecting the UPS, my computer is running on raw current now… 🙁

ok…enough of this rant…im off to buy a new UPS…bye !!

I was enjoying the winter morning, snuggling under the bed sheets when a splash of cold water came down on my face (Drat!!!). It was my mom shouting at me, not to waste the beautiful margazhi month. Grumbling, had bath and was off to the nearest temple. Infact, mom was right in the context of beautiful margazhi because, the roads on the way to the temple were decorated with colourful kolams (rangolis), some in the center of which had akals (diyas) and flowers shining brightly. They had taken the trouble to do this the previous night itself, and for all the trouble taken, i made sure i didn’t step on any. My mood took a transition from the grumbling one to the sunny one :-).

Soon, i reached the temple. After me, came a small boy and his mom. The boy had not yet started going to school. He was sooooo cute with chubby cheeks smothered with powder, with his blue t-shirt neatly tucked in and his tiny foot making its way to the temple. He also had a ‘U’ shaped namam on the middle of his forehead, at the center of which was a bright red pottu.

He started singing some rhymes and was hopping around the sanctum, when his mom called him for accepting the theerth (holy water) given to us by the poojaris. He stopped and asked the poojari a superb question, “Why is God black?” by seeing the idol. The poojari was blinking for a second. Everyone around him started smiling. Getting embarrassed, he replied that he didn’t know. Then came the next question, “Without knowing even this why are you doing pooja daily?“…Well, this was something i couldn’t hold on to. I broke into peels of laughter with everyone following the same ha ha ha…

The poojari was too embarassed to talk anything…his face becoming paler by the minute. The boy’s mom was too bewildered to talk anything else. She surely didn’t expect such a question from this small guy. The boy had started hopping around again….I still couldn’t control my laughter….oh!!! what a superb morning i had…

hi!! came across this superb quote from BrainyQuote…

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing – Walt Disney

As time and tide waits for none; the year 2005 came to a glorious end at the last milli-second. It was a very special year because each and every festival and get-together i took part taught me a lot of things. It was a year filled with enjoyment, lots of worries, abundance of love and affection, exquisite friendship, fearsome battles and what not. In the end, each event carved me into a better human, which has told me to expect the worst unexpected, be emotionally strong, mentally rock solid, stone deaf to unworthy comments, ignore stupid people, at the sametime take very good care of loved ones. Most importantly, my dreams have told me to be “Really really cool during adverse situations” and has told me to preach this to every human i encounter on the enduring journey of life.

My heart-felt wishes of a wonderful new year to my parents, my grand parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and the best of all, my dear friends whom i have(nt) met in the past, the present friends, the online friends whom i haven’t met, my co-blogging buddies and that includes my best online friend also ;-), not to forget my enemies (if any). I can’t thank God enough for giving me this life and my friends who have been/are/will be with me during the ecstasic and painful moments. Thanks a lot people, without you im not what im.

Wishing you all a successful year ahead…

–

Okay, i was busy playing shuttle today morning ‘cos it was a superb sunday and as an exception i was woken up by a friend who thought i shouldn’t be sleeping (duh!). Never mind that, we were playing shuttle at 6:30AM. Some 5 minutes later, we felt some strange vibration. It stopped a few seconds later. And we continued to play…. Getting damn tired after 2 and half hours of playing, we started back home …. our clothes completely soiled from the play.

Then came the news, it came as a huge wave, bringing with it all the dirty pictures that washed away every single human heart in the world. The news created ripples of feelings, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, colour etc. It destroyed part of Mother Earth’s biggest continent. What followed was a week that we can’t forgot. Its not the ills of tsunami that im going to tell you about. Its about how the world helped the affected people to get them on track ASAP. Myself and my friend played a small role with the help of an elder, whom we can never forget. He is our friend philosopher and guide.

[Sunday – 26 Dec 2004]
The tsunami struck. First i thought it was just a hoax. As more news was pouring in, i soon realised something bad had happened. The rest of the day was spent on many Oooo’s and Aaaa’s, typical of every accident or incident encountered till now.

[Monday – 27 Dec 2004]
[9:00 AM]
My friend gets a message on his mobile. It told us to donate for tsunami relief and gave an address for doing so. The address was a place in north Chennai called Kolathur. Soon, we got into action. We collected clothes from our friends and got them assembled at my place. So much we got that it can’t be taken by public transport. We were wondering what to do with those, when we got a call from a person. We told him we have collected some clothes … and more than half of my house’s living room was full of them. He told us to keep it in our house itself and told something that he had planned for the evening.

[12:00 PM]
We assembled a small team of 8 year olds in my apartment. We also assigned them a team leader 😉 and told them to collect as much proper kitchen ware as possible. The one with the most vessels got 2 kitkat family packs. That was enough to set them on fire. About 2 hrs later, we had collected quite a lot of vessels too. Some more of my friends came and we were now 6 altogether with around 8 of those 8 year olds. This was exciting. We took some rest and the real adventure started after 6PM.

[6:00 PM]
A local team had been formed in the playground near my house…a bullock cart was arranged along with an auto-rickshaw that had a portable microphone attached to it. Two collection centers were also temporarily arranged. The auto went from street to street in the locality announcing that a bullock cart was on its way to collect relief items. With more than 40 of us now, lots and lots of items had been collected. The whole of the area was buzzing with activity. A lot of ladies from nearby houses came to those collection centers. They seggregated the clothes into shirts, pants, sarees etc. and made individual packs. A lot of work was going on at tremendous pace and everything was happening simultaneously. The more we brought in, they more they enjoyed of seggregating them. Hats off to those ladies and the 8 year olds !!! 😀

[10:00 PM]
The collected items were taken to a place called Vivekananda Kendra. The night was cold today. So, lots of bed sheets were taken now in a van for distribution at Fore Shore Estate. The sight that engulfed us was worse than what i mentioned here. When the van stopped and when the window was opened, people swarmed to get whatever they could. It was like throwing a stone at a beehive. Myself and my friend covered all the 20km in my bajaj sunny 😉 ‘cos the van was full. We returned home by 1:30 AM.

[Tuesday – 28 Dec 2004]
A meeting was organised to distribute the relief in an effective way. Those who swarmed yesterday aren’t beggers, they are people like us…many having a decent living but lost everything to the tsunami. So, something had to be done that will prevent them from swarming and also the relief will reach properly. A plan was devised. A survey was planned to assess the damage and requirements. Just collecting something and throwing it at them will never work and it is a waste of time too.

[Wednesday – 29 Dec 2004]
We assembled at Vivekananda Kendra at 10AM today. Myself, my close friend, the elder i mentioned and 10 others were packed in a Tata sumo to visit 3 villages along the East Coast Road. Similarly, other teams were also formed to visit the nearby areas. Some fellows had the opportunity to visit Nagapattinam (the worst affected place, where there was atleast a death in almost all houses), particularly a young doctor who spent the next month doing free service and helping them rehabilitate. Good work dude !!!

The first village was Chinnandi Kuppam near Neelangarai (Blue Lagoon). We heard almost all of the painful tales that they were telling. At places where there were huts, only stones remained. A huge chunk of a road was missing and it was found about half a km inland. Boats were thrown atop houses that managed to survive. Well, those sights are still fresh in my mind. We took a detailed survey of each and every house. They said, “Everybody is giving us packets of raw rice sir…with no oil or vessels to cook them, how do we use it? We are more than 200 families here”. This hit a point and made a note. One more remarkable thing happened. A team of Muslim doctors were doing a health checkup in a temple at this place symbolizing “Unity In Diversity”.

The other 2 villages that our team visited was Injambakkam & Panaiyurkuppam. We returned home by 8:30PM.

[Thursday – 30 Dec 2004]
We went back to Kendra and did lots of work there. Many people of my age were present and we made good friends with them. Some of them are still in contact. We seggregated clothes for half the day today. This was one of the toughtest parts because more than anything else clothes were abundant. Two guys from Pune had come down to Chennai for this purpose. As the segregation was being done, they were arranged into family packs. It contained 1 shirt, 1 pant, 1 saree, blouse material, a set for kids, 1 towel or bedsheet. They were packed and sealed.

[Friday – 31 Dec 2004]
Today, we took a hand with the vessels. Many people from big companies visited today. One of them notably asked us how much family packs we had assembled. We told, “about 150 yesterday”. He immediately called up Saravana stores and ordered 150 kerosene cookers. Wow!!. We also learnt how to stitch sacks after packing the vessels. First time in my life, i realised studying and earning a good life isn’t the only thing. There are lots more to life. It was a very exciting day. I just loved this moment.

[Saturday – 1 Jan 2005]
A new year began today. I realised a lot in the past week. With all the family packs, we were scheduled to go a place called Devaneri to distribute them. They contained a dress pack, kerosene cooker, 2 vessles, 2 tumblers, 5 kgs of rice, 2 soap bars, bread, biscuits, a small lamp, oil, a bed sheet, straw mat, pillow and a photo of Lord Ganesh and Jesus. We reached Devanari by around 11 AM. The experience on monday had taught us not to throw things. So, the older people who came with us, met the village heads and asked them to call all the families to an open ground where they would be delivered a hour’s lecture. When the lecture was going on, all the family packs were moved from the van to a counter. The whole process was done very fast with more than 25 of us in a chain.

The lecture was over by this time. One lady from each family was asked to get the relief materials. They all came in a quiet queue and the relief were distributed without even a wee bit of trouble. 😀

Thus came to an end a week that i can’t forget in my life. Furthermore, as part of the rehabilitation programme we assembled before pongal festival to get a survey of the number of people doing 10th and 12th in each of those villages. Myself and my friend went to Injambakkam to get the details. We also determined a place where a tuition can be housed. Exactly a week later, teachers were appointed and free tuitions were started. On the day of pongal, 15th Jan 2005 we went to Srinivasapuram to celebrate a united pongal, gave them mental strength to overcome this.

What more would i want?? The tsunami was an angel in disguise and it had taught me so much. If you wonder what you can do, try to be a part of a good NGO. Also try to donate a small sum of your salary every month for this purpose. Islam says, “For every Rs.100 you earn, donate Re.1”. My heart-felt thanks to the guys who made this possible and made me realise the other side of life…

Update: Check this post at World Wide Help blog. Also, check Echo Club !