tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86833292311665820282011-11-27T19:01:34.555-05:00something fresh!madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.comBlogger251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-19836725736499999182009-07-26T22:38:00.002-04:002009-07-26T22:43:57.505-04:00

this morning went to brahmotsavam festival at Sri Ranganatha temple, pomona village, with my friend in his car. on the way back, o.c-vahanam was not available, and i had to take the public transportation. used a cab service to get myself dropped at the nearest train station. being so accustomed to the plastic in the city, i carry no more than 20/30 bucks on me. the cab driver took 20 of these.

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-65891902680054242762009-06-11T00:37:00.004-04:002009-06-11T00:42:03.577-04:00

during childhood days at madras or madurai, the cut was always a summer cut, a 10 minute comb-scissor play of "snip, snip, snip", and i was released from the throne. the longest part of the sunday ritual was the wait to ascend the throne. this wait sometimes could be up to an hour, but was painless as the time was well spent glancing dailies and weeklies - "dina malar, dina thanthi, saavi,

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-32333910527563737512009-04-13T23:06:00.002-04:002009-04-13T23:19:10.445-04:00

well, it's been an year since the d'kation (decoction) extraction began! started off with a travelogue, strolled on to a political view, threw in a few anecdotes, couple of movie reviews, so-called-poems - picking up kaapi-likers on the way, and an year is gone.hey kaapi-drinkers - you have been my inspiration to continue my hobby. thank you all!well again, this aandu-vizha-post (anniversary post

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-55389451771639855002009-02-16T11:38:00.003-05:002009-02-16T11:43:22.284-05:00

my thatha (grandpa, mom's dad) - a perfection demanding, brisk walking, british english speaking, melody songs loving, hindu crossword cracking, arithmetic wizard. but the icing - a very very short tempered man.to give you an essence of the shortness - when he is tempered, a crying child in the next house will freeze, put a finger on its mouth, and put one on its mother's.as a kid, i admired him

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-50011791462732307302009-02-02T19:05:00.001-05:002009-02-02T21:19:29.184-05:00

"c..o..w...cow, c..a...n...can, f....l...y...fly", actor1 reads out from a hand written notebook. "cow can fly", repeats actor2, a second grade school student."wait a second! cow can fly? no it cannot be", said actor1.actor2 gives a look of an inverted exclamation mark. actor1 confidently says, "this is wrong kanna (dear). there must be something else here as 'cow cannot fly'.""no!! cow can fly.

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-19612349968157072502009-01-26T23:07:00.004-05:002009-01-31T06:47:44.740-05:00

over the last few years, i have seen the caption put up as a sign outside a good number of shops in new york downtown. i thought it was a strategy employed by a shop to push its products. once the sale is done, the shop would either rename or relocate.the same sign met my eyes outside a circuit city outlet. this time, for a change, i did believe the shop's outcry. circuit city, the number two

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-30787513353523600122009-01-12T21:42:00.003-05:002009-01-12T22:11:44.665-05:00

in india, one is blessed to have the option to outsource certain mundane, trivial chores. ironing of clothes is one of these. damn! how much i miss it. when I was in hyderabad, I used to walk to the ironing lady's shop, that was couple of streets away from my home, to drop clothes. the following day i collected the clothes minus the wrinkles. on my first visit to this shop, I was unwelcome-d by

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-68753567552993825432008-12-28T14:25:00.003-05:002008-12-28T14:35:03.712-05:00

either i have a memory loss or ghajini is the first hindi movie to be named after a villain. probably the director named it so because the villain had a better phone - the iphone.only if 'air voice' had a tie-up with 'iphone', aamir's post knock-out-punch life would have been much less painful and less stressful. iphone would have been his savior, and one stop shop remedy for his 'short term

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-18614346776456010802008-12-03T20:27:00.004-05:002008-12-03T21:20:37.637-05:00

sometimes...it is good to fail.my failure to get into "the daily show" the last time, got me tickets to watch the live recording of today's show from the vip stand.in fact, i had two extra vip tickets that i offered to few of my friends. none of them took it. some were not ready to leave work early, some had prior appointments, while a couple of them asked, "who is jon stewart?".the show was

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-44261407450706735582008-11-20T10:25:00.002-05:002008-11-20T10:44:52.706-05:00

I had wanted to pen this anecdote for a long time. My company magazine's group members asked me for a write up on Thanksgiving, and I decided it is time to pen the long pending thingie. Here it goes -Thanksgiving , though a gerund, must be practiced in life as a present continous verb. One must be thanks-giving throughout the year, and throughout one's life - even for the small things that gives

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-39279041756915248412008-11-05T19:09:00.003-05:002009-02-02T19:11:36.041-05:00

the market conditions, the unpredictability, the layoffs ... it sucks!"... hum sab tho rangmanch ki katputhilyan hi jinki dor uparwaale ki ungliyon me bandhi hi. kab kaun kaise utega, yeh koi nahi batha saktha hi...."family, friends and time should help!

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-29588894712740677572008-10-17T21:50:00.002-04:002008-10-17T22:00:36.044-04:00

how much ever advancements man has made, come lunch time, he gets down to the age old act of food gathering. i don't carry lunch to work, and every day I try to resolve the conundrum - 'where do i go?'where do i go?the question i know,the answer i don't,where do i go?where do i go?let me first hit the road,decide on the go,where do i go?where do i go?not this one - had here just yesterday,that

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-54343922551512473772008-10-09T22:49:00.006-04:002008-10-10T07:14:39.976-04:00

my little blog fan base made me happy by inquiring about the absence of yours truly from the blog-o-sphere. folks, a project with crazy deadlines has kept me away from madraskaapi for almost a month now. and to top that, the financial market is giving a roller coaster ride to one and many. the ride is more thrilling, scary and unpredictable than any hollywood movie released thus far.

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-2088607781264825242008-09-03T00:47:00.007-04:002008-09-04T00:12:48.719-04:00

my teammate called in sick yesterday, and gave me his two tickets to the US open round 4 game between roddick and gonzalez. i thanked the virus (hope my teammate doesn't read this blog!), my stars, and cursed myself for not taking any action even after the maria maria incident.the atmosphere at the flushing meadows was reminiscent of a mela. well lit stadium under a clear night sky, XXXXXXXL tv

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-17906039216379657102008-08-26T23:42:00.000-04:002008-08-26T23:51:58.714-04:00

foreword : read the following lines slowly. if you are in a hurry, come back later and read the blog.the beauty. have i seen her somewhere?why is she approaching me? was my stare obvious?will the.. she inquired something !am i drunk? what did she say? concentrate.more of listening, less of staring...she has a beautiful nose - long, slender, pointed. stop. listen.she is silent. i guess its my turn

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-31625057233890628522008-08-23T14:09:00.000-04:002008-08-23T20:18:50.551-04:00

maria sharapova was here at south seaport at tennis ball's throw distance from my work place. the tennis star was here to launch a diamond studded cannon camera that is worth $10000.got to drool at the her from a close span of 10 ft.damn! i did not have a camera with me, and could manage couple of low resolution shots with the phone camera. i must start having a camera at my workplace.

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-29475875444572894932008-08-10T08:25:00.000-04:002008-08-10T23:41:53.112-04:00

the other day, my counterpart in a downstream system was explaining a new requirement to me over phone, "assume i am a bum, i should have access to ... ."i put the phone on mute, and started laughing.that day i came to know of the fact that a business-unit-manager, in short, is a bum. i wondered what sort of jokes/humor would be passed around by the sub-ordinates and the superiors about the bums.

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-48976771030020033972008-07-28T23:24:00.000-04:002008-07-28T23:51:33.240-04:00

toll on garden state parra-slow-way [very slow way] - 2 $ 70 centsgo-karting at mayville - 35 $30 minute jet ski @ wildwood beach - 65 $weekend rentals to dollar-rent-a-car for a dabba car that even a dollar store parking lot would reject undoubtedly - 200 $a krishnamurthy, the care taker at econo lodge in marmora, welcoming us with a 'vaango, payanam eppadi irundadhu ?' [welcome, how was your

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-72033476157232205782008-07-07T23:37:00.000-04:002008-07-07T23:51:21.243-04:00

when my parents christened me karthik, they had thought it was a unique name. coincidentally, this unique thought occurred to quite a good number of parents in the late 70s and the early 80s. end result, scores of karthiks were released into this world.whatever school i attended, coaching class i went to, there was a minimum of two karthiks on the roll-call. the max number was at my college that

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-64414230810240496122008-06-16T21:45:00.000-04:002008-06-16T22:23:24.556-04:00

a genuine effort from kollywood at something big and different.+ kamal's multiple roles and voice modulations. the characters of fletcher - the ex-cia agent, balram naidu and boovaragan have been very well done.+ racy screenplay. please leave your brains at home though!+ immense effort has been put into making the sets and the visual effects. - bad graphics. catch the movie at a good

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-32318903848175645422008-06-09T00:45:00.000-04:002008-06-09T01:11:13.651-04:00

the thunderstorm, here today at hoboken, for some reason brought back memories of my childhood days spent in madurai and madras. whenever there was a thunderstorm, the following things were executed with alacrity...> scurry up to the balcony to remove clothes hung-up on ropes for drying> get the bicycle indoors, put cover over the scooter parked out in the open> get a torch/candle into vicinity>

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-29243393214182004902008-05-27T19:49:00.000-04:002008-05-27T21:13:30.885-04:00

while roaming the streets of Manhattan over the long weekend, I met telugu movie star Venkatesh. he was shooting for his movie 'chintakaya ravi' at union square, new york.he was happy to stare into the camera with us.

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-21752562552506249662008-05-04T00:23:00.000-04:002008-05-04T23:51:56.615-04:00

circa - somewhere in the early 90s. like any above-average i.q son of a middle class man in chennai, i too had to choose between two career paths. a- becoming a doctor, b- engineering. biology was a subject i hated, so it was hobson's choice. with time it metamorphosed into an ambition.circa 1996. i flunked jee, and the gates to the mecca of engineering were closed for me. in spite of good

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-82282502672364083752008-04-17T22:22:00.000-04:002008-04-18T02:22:51.745-04:00

if you had celebrated the tamil new year on april 13th this year, you had violated a tamil nadu government rule. confused?the dmk government, under the leadership of mr.karunanidhi, passed a resolution recently to shift the tamil new year to january 14th to make it coincide with the farmer's festival of pongal. it is no more 'chitrai varsha pirappu', it is 'thai (thy) varsha pirappu'. the

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8683329231166582028.post-67070969736965693322008-04-12T22:01:00.000-04:002008-04-20T12:06:37.658-04:00

during my march 2008 visit to chennai, i heard about this new 'golden temple' in sripuram. i decided to visit this place, and oh boy! it turned out to be a good decision.sripuram is a tiny village, about 12 kms from vellore town, tamilnadu. its now being made famous by this golden temple with government plying 'golden temple' specials. it is a 3 hour drive from chennai on the chennai-bangalore

madraskaapihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505360972639363661noreply@blogger.com9