Quo Vadis?

Dhanya tagged me some time ago and when I look back I realize that procrastination deserves a pace in the list of my addictions which I can’t help noticing are very similar to Dhanya. So here it goes in random order: 1)Internet: Sometimes I wonder how I managed to spend so much time on / in the internet. But the bottom line is it has grown up on me and it ranks very high on the list. 2)Never put off for tomorrow what you can put off today. As mentioned earlier procrastination is a second habit. From time immemorial last minute efforts have been the general order of the day, be it cramming for exam or a report at work. 3)The news: I manage to read 3 newspapers / business dailies a day and always keep one window open on my laptop with the breaking news scrolling every minute at work 4)Cricket : I can watch matches of other nations too and I enjoy the ICL as much as I do the IPL and thanks to T20 I can watch cricket after work and not miss much 5)The pot: well it may sound funny but I su...

Was in Studio5 earlier , I saw these lights and wanted to see if my camera – phone could capture it. I guess it did. If you thought that only the brainy fruits got into Anna University, look again you will see many fruit eaters too. Presenting Melissa in D’s tee. Poor M had to undergo a surgery earlier and being the restless being that she is (like her owner), she kept ripping her bandages apart. The vet suggested that we can try putting on a shirt minus the collar as a restrainer for her bandages. D went one step higher and pulled out her tee and voila. P.S It was an effective solution, the bandages survived this time.

Went to a wedding reception over the weekend with D. Today the template for a reception is so uniform that you can sleep walk through it. Land at the venue, plastic smiles fixed, meet / nod at the unknowns and unknowns around you, queue up for the mug shot with the newly weds, unload our burdens on them (the gifts of you please), rush to the next queue (for food this time), eat heartily, chew on the betel leaves, nod / meet some more, walk out. Every reception is a variation of this template. Anyway I will cut the frills and come straight to the food. Food is an integral part of all celebrations in India and in most places around the world. Any celebration will reach its climax in the feast afterwards and a lot of care is given to the food served. Some of the guests who had come for my wedding still fondly remember the biriyani that they enjoyed that evening. So you can understand how much importance the feast holds in the scheme of the wedding. I had an enjoyable meal that evening and...

“You have a slipped disc” my physiotherapist announced rather unceremoniously last week after subjecting my back to various levels of pressure with his trained hands. Among the many reasons for this condition include my “over healthy” constitution and my excessive bike journeys early in my career. To confirm his diagnosis, he (the doc) prescribed a MRI scan To the new comers :- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI), is primarily a medical imaging technique most commonly used in radiology to visualize the structure and function of the body. Read more Simply put it is a costly exercise to take images of your body in so many angles that you will actually feel proud of this extraordinary portfolio. Anyway I scheduled a time with the lab and waited my turn on the day (Friday the 7th to be precise). I was advised to change into the hospital outfit that looked like a checked school boy uniform and await my turn till the previous patient is done. This p...

Saw the movie “Poi solla porom” yesterday after postponing it for so long and at the end of the movie I guess I waited too long. It was an enjoyable movie that was lighthearted and at the same time was a telling commentary of the social systems in place today. You couldn’t help but empathize with the head of the family and his long desire of buying a plot of land for his dream house. The plot on which he was willing to put his entire life’s savings and the retirement funds that would have been otherwise used for his last days. I will not brief you on the story because I would rather you see it for yourself. (It would be a steal if you can get a 10 bucks ticket at Satyam!) What I liked about the movie in no particular order: * The wide range of emotions from expectation, satisfaction, pride at a job well done, to anger, frustration and helplessness neatly shown by Nedumudi Venu demonstrated why Malayalam cinema is famous for realism. * The absence of the template that defines most comme...

If you read the financial dailies you will not miss large reams of paper being devoted to the financial crisis that is sweeping across the world. So much so that it is become the topic of discussion during coffee breaks replacing reviews on the new movie that is giving headaches to its viewers. (note: head in tamil is thala). Opinions they say is like your backside, everyone has one. I have a backside and so here is my opinion on the financial crisis. I would like to use a few references from various sources to construct my opinion, here it goes: 1) From the Bible (pity people use holy books for only one side of life) Luke Chapter 6: 48 -47 : That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, i...

“If it can’t get any worse it can only get better” “If you fall, fall on your back that you may see the sky and rise again” In the midst of the financial crisis that is sweeping the world these two statements may be a band aid to many bruised, battered and wounded souls. Crashing markets, sub prime crises, pink slips, pay cuts, layoffs, downsizing… the list of taboo words are growing. In the middle of this carnage, I remember seeing an article where people have started reading Marx again and another in which better the west is slowly accepting that the Indian banking system was not a bad thing after all. What goes around comes around… Sub prime crisis to the unknowns is simply giving a loan to somebody who is not credit worthy. When I joined work in lending, the two basic principles of lending were clearly laid out to me by my first boss: Before you lend check 1) The ability to repay and 2) The intention to repay, common sense tells you that ONLY if 1 AND 2 are right the client general...