Saturday, July 29, 2006

As I see, I dare !



Place: Chennai
Date: 22-July-2006, exactly a week before
Time: 11.55 am (IST)
Situation: Me sleeping all the way to glory till this time . Perhaps, then realised that its the wake up call and grabbed The Hindu lying in a corner of the Hall. Now...

As usual, I flipped through its pages to the Business and Sports section, when this ad by the Nani A Palkhiwala Foundation somewhere in the middle suddenly grabbed my attention. The ad read:

"Talk on women Empowerment and....
Speaker: Smt. Kiran Bedi, Magsaysay Recipient
Venue: Rani Seethai Manram, Near Anna Flyover
Time: 11.30 am(and yeah)
All are invited"
Plus a request to occupy the seats atleast 15 minutes before the commencement.

Though I pay attention to details, what attracted me instantly was the speaker and then straight I looked for the time and venue only to find that time was already 12.20 in my watch! I felt very bad for waking up late and I told Satya, my roomie about this. He replied -- "These people seldom come late for occasions like this da unlike politicians where the actual speech begins comfortably hours later than the scheduled time". And he made some time calculations and advised me not to go as even if I start immediately I might be able to see only an empty hall. But I was already prepared to go even if it were to see an Empty hall. Within 2 minutes like the Maggi Instant Noodles, I was ready (of course, bathing is a luxury in this time and had to be avoided). Rushed from my apartment across the road to the Autokaaran I could see first and then started to the venue.

It took almost half an hour to reach there and the time was 1 pm. I sped across the stairs and asked the attendant whether its still on. Yeo, he said yes which sparkled my face and added "Ulla Ponga Saar. Mudiya poguthu..". As I went inside crowd was less than what I expected (I had expected to stand but fortunately there were enough seats left unfilled). As it happened, Kiran Bedi was answering the last audience question from the dias and I came to know that the programme started at sharp 11.30. Ms. Bedi clad on a baby-green Pathan style Patiala suit was radiant and effervescent amongst the galaxy of dignitaries present on the podium. Seated along with her on the dias was Apna company CFO too. After her answer to the last question, Vote of thanks was proposed by the Palkhiwala Foundation Secretary.

Then the folks off the stage were disbursing, but how could I? I had come all the way atleast to say a 'Hi' to her. She was flocked by the foundation members, some socialite women and few who wanted to see her from near. Oh la, she readily interacted with all the junta and her mere presence electrified everyone. I had this strong urge to get an autograph from her; and Kiran is a star in her own right. I made the first move to get her autograph and with me making the intiative, others too followed.. [Autograph from movie actors is not my cup of tea though I ve taken snaps with Vikram and Saami team when some of its sequences were shot at my uncle's place, Radhika and Annamalai (Sun TV sop) team during its shooting at Keelapoongudi, near my hometown].

I dared to go and conveyed what I really wanted to. I said yours truly is so and so and told that and this. She was happy when I said that. She immediately extended her hand which was spontaneous, congratulated as well as wished me good luck. Though I didnt take my camera, one kind soul was generous enough to shoot few of my snaps as well and sent them across to me. And yeah I am posting 2 of them here.





Also when I said where I am working, Apna Company CFO who was behind her looked at me giving a sense of belongingness. With his pleasant dispostion he asked about me and how I find the work. As obvious I was ready with the stereotypical answer -- "Fine.., Er..Its actually good." He smiled and decently made my way to hang around Kiran jee. This time, few more folks joined to get autograph from her and I watched from behind. Meanwhile, a cute looking Hindu Reporter joined in a for mini chat. She gave me tid bits of info and told me about the Palkhiwala foundation.

The apparent delay in posting this despite being a week since I met Kiran Bedi jee is because of my interest to research on her career, life and biography after friday when my work would get over and whereafter I could devote time for that. I read a mini biography of Ms. Bedi from this. Visited http://www.kiranbedi.com/ and explored that fully too.

Though that meeting-Kiran jee-moment didnt last for more than a minute, her instataneous gesture and what she talked is still vivid in me. I definitely am more proud to consider that moment as an honour!

PS: Trivia - The title of this post -- As I see, I dare has a relevance to her publications. I dare is Ms. Bedi's biography and As I see is a collection of her articles

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Back from the usual hibernation !

I am back from the mini hiberantion (as usual). Nope , neither my blogspot was blocked nor was it inaccessible as with the hue and cry of many bloggers across India. Bloggers all over India are back in business, definitely giving heaps of relief to the Indian blogging fraternity. Dept of IT and communications has communicated over this issue yesterday.
Procrastination and/or lethargy,which is inherently present in me loads and loads deterred me from posting anything, especially when I had lots of things to put down and share. Yep, lots of posts are still pending -- reviews on Godavari and Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikesi (movies), Rendezvous with Madam Kiran Bedi( I have this strong urge to call her 'Madam' after meeting this iconic personality) last saturday, the happy ending to the struggle of a 6 year old boy Prince over 50 hours in a deep pit in Harayana (60 feet, My God! and more here...), me reading Tin Tin series these days (hmm.. I was a fan of Tin Tin during my school days) et. al.

Hope all these would materialise into the blog soon, but I shall post my meeting with Kiran Bedi first and the rest next (well this old rugged cliche '..first and rest next' still sounds good, isnt it?).

Friday, July 14, 2006

ZIZOU - what ya done??



The World Cup is over and Italy went all the way to Glory. Hats off to them. On the hindsight, France had also a chance of making it. Though France lost, it was rather a disgraceful exit for Zizou at the end of his career. Zizou was shown the door out for his own hasty act in a moment of rage during the ET, the moment which required his much-needed-presence owing to the intensity and momentum of the finals. The moment which required his concentration and balance - mentally and physically. The moment which ought to have reminded the obvious consequences. And... all the French dream was shattered in a moment....

Zidane had rather an unpleasant day with his headbutt-into-Materazzi-episode-followed by-Red Card becoming a disappointment for his fans and supporters. It certainly doesnt behove a player of Mr. Zinedine Zinedane's stature to get a Red Card at the end of his career match. Poor Zizou, he couldnt make it to presentation ceremony either...I felt sorry for him losing his temper. But I certainly wouldnt approve what he did either, whatsoever the reason be, call it circumstances or anger or any xyz. In the true spirit of healthy sporting, physical abuse is an obvious blackmark. Sad that Zizou too fell a prey to it.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Football and etc.

Oh how come I havent even let a single word about Football when the air is filled with the fumes of football fever. These FIFA days were of mixed bag of reactions and events -- disappointments, Sobs, Frenzied moments, Penalty 'tensions', Red Cards and most importantly the joy when the team one supported won. Brazil, which was the eye of many as well as Kolkata had a rather disappoiting exit. Spare Ronaldo, Ronaldinho didnt either show his overly projected mettle ! There were quite unpleasantries too especially when Argentina was shown the door out. They certainly would have deserved a place in the semi-finals had only the things would have gone fine. And in yesterday's match between Portugal and France, though France had won by 1-0, I really felt Portugal was more deserving. They certainly made many attempts on the goal, sadly they went futile. And I felt there were many instances, where France wasnt given 'foul'. I am not complaining that things went biased but all I feel is things could have been better.
Human mistakes cant be tagged especially when it comes to the match Referee. And looking on the other side, Zidane was too good, he made good use of the penalty kick that led them to the finals. It certainly made everyone realise he has lot of sports left in him and tagging him 'old' is just a cliche...

Monday, July 03, 2006

Worst Orkut Intro's !!!

As promised in the previous, here I present u the Irritating/Funny/worst Orkut Intro's !!!
ENJOY !!!!!!!!!!

1. "You have such a nice voice. can i be frens with u?"!!
2."Can I do friendship with you?"
3. K@MR@@N: HI, H R U ?I AM KAMRAN,FROM PAKISTANSHOULD WE BE FRIEND ?I AM WAITING FOR UR REPLY TC AND BYE
4.hello ,I think u r also in CTS ! when did u got the job ! i got CTS in march previous year n hoping to join in august this year ! lets b friends . mail or scrap back soon !take care ! byeeeeee
5.Leonardo:Hi!I am of Brazil and I would very like to be its friend!If you to want adds to me there also, ok ?A great kiss...L?o
6. I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end. I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought that I'd see you again.
7. "hi !!!wats going on....??really u r loooking stunning in all the pix...wanna friendship...?"
8. Hii,I have seen you in the movie "Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai". I know you are Kareena Kapoor, why has you changing name to Archana under Orkut? I like you verrii maachhh. You friending with me?
9. Heyy , you look very beautiful. You will be best fit for my mega serial character. Pls friends with me and I will give you mega role in my next soap "Marudhaaniyum Maattu Saaniyum".Pls pls pls yaa, add as friend yaaa .
10. hi.. we r looking for a partner for my bro who has completed his double m.s from boston, univ of massacheusetts and is employed at wall street now. we would like to know if u would b intrested in getting married
11. hi interested?
12. Looks like u r new to orkut...let me trap u b4 someone else..What say??

[Courtesy: From an Orkut dating Community]

Back with a Bang !

Its been actually more than a month since I've updated this blog. Bit more workload and odd working hours kinda made me lazy to actually open blogger.com and post something spicy...
Though I was orkutting, my posts to blog kinda got postponed then n there...
Well, I am finding my assignment in the present project bit good, interesting and challenging. I am working on Oracle Applications (E - Business Suite) -- Projects. My previous exposure to HRMS is helping a whale and thanks to Smitha, my teamy who literally spoon fed me all these days on Projects and the functionality of my module.. Now, I am getting a bit to learn on Normalisation, Web Money and Oracle Time and Labor..Well, leave these at-work-chores..
Had been to home last week and this weekend to Kalpu' s place.. All previous weekends were dedicated to office ;-( Yesterday had a bit shopping in the hustle-bustle of Ranganathan St. with Nilesh and went to Marina beach.. Followed by my all time favorite - Capuchino at CCD...
And no movies all these days..Post my Chennai arrival, I had seen only one movie -- Pudupettai, which just kinda was shit of a storyline, apparenlty motivated at making something 'different' by Selvaraghavan. Didnt last to expectations, though I hear a certain section of junta liking it. Photography was good, but that doesnt make a movie full, right?
Well, will be back with anything interesting stuff if any ! Till then Enjoy the next post...