Random Musings: Week 39/100- Of Diwali!

Jeez, no matter how far away from home, the festive vibes and memories of Deepavali/Diwali are unmatched. New clothes, new movie releases, new crackers, happy faces all around, lots of food and especially sweets!
After missing my 5th consecutive Diwali away from home, I can’t stop reminiscing about the good ol’ days of Diwali in the earlier years. Yes, I did already write about it last year, but it’s Diwali bruh!

I still miss,

•  the atom/hydrogen bomb gang (for the creative ways to burst the bombs)

• the neighbours gang (for helping us compete with the neighbouring streets for maximum cracker waste)
• the school friends gang (for school gossips, what else :P)
• the cousins gang (for sweets and snacks 🙂 )
• the bijli vedi gang (for afternoon time pass)
• the richie rich gang (for the 10k,5k waalas, gift boxes, night shots and more expensive crackers)
• the rocket gang (self explanatory)
  

In between, the calls and meetings with various relatives and other extended families makes Diwali a day to cherish. Over late teens, catching up FDFS of new movie releases happening on the Diwali day became a ritual.
But in recent years, I felt the technology grew up so fast, that people were glued to their homes and became more conscious and aware about spending money for Diwali.
I started seeing less people on the roads bursting crackers, or even less excited about Diwali in general. Yes, being sustainable, protecting nature, reducing pollution and everything is fair but why drop the excitement!

Still people can hangout on the streets for a casual conversation, interact with the neighbours, friends, and relatives face-to-face, play games, etc. Another important factor that made Diwali as big festive as it is now, is the fact that it was well known and celebrated across people from all states, religions, caste, creed, sex and also different age groups. Yes, we all grew up and matured, but that doesn’t mean we have to kill the kid inside us. Sometimes isn’t it nice to feel like a kid once in a while?

Anyways, I hope this Diwali brings joy, happiness and prosperity to all of us and our dearest people around us. Until then, keep scrolling through your family group forward messages of happy Diwali.
P.S: That excitement of wearing colour dress to school, the day after Diwali.. 😉

Magizhchi.

Random Musings: Week 21/100- Of Blackberry & mobile phones..

“Mobile phones: boon or bane?”- used to be one standard topics at every school debate since 5^th grade. It was also a very common topic for the school essays. Beauty is, even after more than 20+ years of commercial usage, this question still exists. Though the term ‘mobile’ phone has now changed to ‘smart’ phone, it is still a subject of endless debates all over the world. Now, why do I want to suddenly talk about mobile phones?

Earlier this week, I saw news that Blackberry officially ended its service for once and for all.
This was actually kind of heart-breaking as one of the early mobile phones my dad used to own was the Blackberry Curve model. As a 13 year kid, I was very excited for this and used to take special interest in learning how to take pictures, listen to songs and play games, especially with its fancy trackball navigation. Blackberry phones, for those who don’t know, was one of the premium phones during the 2000s, primarily used by business people to send emails and internet chats.

Slowly, the company wanted to cater the mobile to normal people and ended up having attracted no one. At one point, reviewers complained, “There are BlackBerrys that flip, BlackBerrys that slide, BlackBerrys with touch screens, BlackBerrys with touch screens and keyboards, BlackBerrys with full keyboards, and BlackBerrys with compact keyboards”. It took a while for them to understand smartphones had become all about software and not keyboards 😦

One of the first smartphones I saw was around the 2009, I guess, when I was fascinated seeing my uncle tap with a ‘pencil’ directly on the screen. It was a HTC phone, if I remember. A few months later, I saw one of my relatives directly typing on the screen with their bare hands. This time without that ‘pencil’. A strange half cut apple logo was on its back. I was totally awestruck. Normal mobile phone already became common during that time, and most of my friends used to own it. Especially, the Nokia Xpress Music model with those earphones was a rage. I exactly don’t remember when I started using a phone of my own, probably 10^th grade, some second-hand Nokia basic set. I remember using a couple of Micromax phones, one normal and other with qwerty keyboard one to send sms’es.

A CNN article stated that, in 2000, only 20 million Indians had access to the internet. Ten years later, that number grew to 100 million. But 1.1 billion Indians were still offline. Then smartphones and cellular data became mainstream. By 2015, Jio revolution happened and rest was history. 317 million were online, rising past 700 million in 2021, when three Indians were discovering the internet every second. Crazy right? In between these years, I think I used another couple of phones, but I can scarcely remember which ones. Only in 2017, I bought a smartphone on my own with my internship money which is one of my favourite moments.
Btw, do you remember when you bought your first own smartphone 🙂 ?

Magizhchi.

Random Musings Week 19: December season: Of maamas and music

The ghee drenched pongal finally reached my table while my eyes noted the hot thin dosas which were waiting in the dosa master’s plate, ready to be served to other people in the sabha. “Anna, inga extra chutney sambaar” I shouted like every other impatient customer in the catering hall, meanwhile Nithyasree Mahadevan was singing in the background mesmerizing the hundred odd audience in the main hall upstairs.

The month of December evokes lots of memorable events happening around the city of Chennai such as the sudden sabarimala bhakts wearing black shirts and dhotis, the hot venn-pongal prasadham from temples, huge colourful kolams/rangolis outside houses and finally the Margazhi Carnatic music concerts,.

The Margazhi festival season has been a month long tradition to celebrate music, art and dance since the British days. The performances are typically organized by different organizations or sabhas. During this festival, the relationship between the concert and audience is unparalleled. While most of the Carnatic music aficionados throng these sabhas to catch their favourite artists live, people like me go to have one of the best South Indian tiffin items from these sabha canteens run by famous caterers. While one group discusses the performance rating of the artist, the other group discusses the special tiffin and its pricing. I still have lot of memories attending these kind of concerts especially with my grandfather, who never misses to catch a concert, either in person, television or in radio.
 
The fancy silk saris, kurta and dhoti are not just concert attire, but also a fashion statement. Aunties discuss about Sudha Ragunathan’s new saree & jimmiki collection while uncles rate filter kaapi/coffee with their buddies. Add to that, when you come home and switch on the television, Jaya TV’s traditional Margazhi maha utsavam’s ‘nanananana’ music starts blaring. The Drama season begins during the fad end and I remember being introduced to Crazy Mohan’s Chocolate Krishna in one of these festivals years back.
I recently read that after a year-long hiatus from all things live, the annual festival of music and dance is beginning to make its presence felt, in varied forms, sizes, formats and possibilities. For the first time, the caterers have tied up with delivery partners, enabling loyalists to order from the safety of their homes. It also underlines how different this Margazhi feels — like the magic fading away.

Though the Margazhi festival cannot be in denial of the turbulent socio-political environment and being classified as an elitist festival, the times are changing. There are many local concerts, for example one from the Neelam group, which creates platform for various unknown artists. Anyways, the month is going to end and I hope the other yearly tradition doesn’t pass by this december…-natural calamities.

Magizhchi.

KARMA E ‘POLITICA

Politics is not something usual everyone is fond of. In fact, the word ‘Politics’ has been highly misinterpreted in our daily life. According to the dictionary (Google, obviously), “Politics is the process of making decisions applying to all members of each group.”

The fact that everybody uses this term to convey their disregard for someone itself is a reason why we still are a developing nation.

Our Nation is not perfect. We know that. Our State is even worse. Post death of our Former CM, Tamil Nadu has become no less than a political satire. As Sorabh Pant said, we had our own version of Game of Thrones. The fight for the CM Throne embarked an ugly scenario where two loyalists of the party went one on one, spreading hatred among their own Party cadres while the Mother of Servants ruled the state from Bangalore prison.

Also, according to the recent developments, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly disqualified 18 MLAs who were camping in Coorg and Pondi resorts and owed their allegiance to rebel camp lead by a guy who was AWOL for the past 10 years.

In between, we failed to notice TN didn’t have any significant growth in this tussle.

Also, the tradition of film personalities aspiring to become politicians is not new. Latest aspirant to this list is none other than Dr. Kamal Haasan. His political motives are well known by his undecipherable tweets and speeches. Two months back, his close friend and Superstar Rajinikanth also held a similar meeting to express his disappointment over the Government. What does the future of TN hold if these two powerhouses and the darling of masses enter Politics?

On the other part of the world, The Anti-Muslim, Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Climate Change,  Anti-Dreamer and obviously Anti-US guy is on a firing spree ever since he came to power.  In six months of his tenure, he has fired over 14 top officials who were very close to him, and helped him to win last year! What kind of politics is that!?

This Pablo Escobar-ish attitude of the politicians is what we have to worry about. For example, an Yogi who destroyed hectares of forest land to build his own concrete meditation place had the PM and CM to inaugurate it. Now the same guy is Rallying for our Rivers to be saved!

So, whatever may happen, TN will never be the same it was when it was ruled by the Green Lady or Wheelchair Grandpa.  Let’s move on and hope something better happens. And Yes, Karma is a boomerang. It exists for them too.

Magizchi.

 

ADIOS AMIGOS

It’s been almost 4 years since that eventful day happened. A lot of things have unfolded since that. Facebook bought Whatsapp, Selfies became a rage, Nelson Mandela died, Mangalyaan was launched, Malaysian Airplane went missing (and still is a mystery), Narendra Modi became the PM, Paris became a victim of numerous terror attacks, Brexit […]

via ADIOS AMIGOS — iktsuarpoksite

NUMERO UNO

“Is this your first interview?” he asked. “Yes Sir.” I replied.

“How are you feeling?” He continued. “Terribly excited” was my response.

30^th September 2016 will not be another day in my life.

With a crisp and new White Shirt- Black Pant combo, I was starring at myself at the mirror. ‘Will you be able to clear your first hurdle in the series of the hurdles to come?’ Yes. It was my first interview day with a multinational company. It was my first step into the cobwebs of corporate life.

The sun was bright. The wind was very slight. Carrying a multitude of hopes, I reached college well above the specified time of the interview. Surrounded by the usual bunch of guys, it was fun seeing each other’s professional costumes and commenting on the HRs who are about to decide the fate of us. But one thing most of them were not comfortable with was the knotting of the Tie. The sophisticated toughness associated with knotting the Tie deserved to be an Engineering course.

The time was 9am and it was time for the 1^st batch of the students to attend their interview. Everybody was so nervous including the staffs. The scene slowly unfolded and the students were divided into their respective panels.

I had a 10am slot and after reaching the coveted waiting room alias the Library, I had only 15 mins to go and I waited….and waited….and waited….for my turn . But it never came.

Lunch break was called and I still haven’t got my chance Staffs said that it was one of the toughest panels and each student was held for a minimum of 50mins for their interview. The pressure increased manifold.

Fortunately I had my fellow classmate for company to escape from the peons of boredom and anxiety. Post lunch the next batch of students got their chances but still I had no luck. I simple sat in a corner of the hall and asked the guys who returned from their interview like a soldier returning from the battlefield regarding their experiences. Some of them looked highly satisfied while others returned saying ‘Vechu Senjitaanga’ . Minutes passed and still there was no sign of me attending the interview. Suddenly out of nowhere my name was called. I looked at my watch.3:00pm. Well , better late than never.

I entered the interview room steadily. Then I was asked to sit down in the chair. After a few hurriedly expressions I saw the face of three men who are going to decide my fate. One had a serious face which I presumed to be a senior technical expert. Other had a jovial expression in his face which I presumed the guy who checks the communication skills. The third person was a typical corporate employee who had a cheeky French beard with nerdy glasses in his face making a serious expression. All three had laptops in front of them to check my resume and other details which I had uploaded before.

“Is this your first interview?”  The serious guy asked. “Yes Sir.” I replied.

“How are you feeling?” He continued. “Terribly excited” was my response.

Their face muscles twitched a little on my reply.  I was like C’mon shoot your damn questions ! The nerdy guy asked “Tell me something about yourself which is not in the resume” I was glad to reply as he asked something general. I started telling about my Hiking/Trekking experiences, the lessons I learnt, the hits and the misses of  the various journeys I have been part of. I thought they were mighty impressed.

Next they asked about the miniprojects and the upcoming final year project. I explained them earnestly relating to the team work and leadership skills while working in a company.

Then they asked about my hobbies which I told I love content writing. Next moment the jovial guy asked the website address of the blog I had written. He quickly checked the contents of my works.

Next came the disaster moment. The till so quiet technical guy asked me “How would you rate yourself in Programming skills?” “I would give myself a 3 out of 10” was my honest answer. He was taken aback.

The next few mins I was very hesitant to take the pen and write the program but the serious guy forcefully made me to write a program which I had no clue even about the logic. They made some discussions among themselves with the code I had written badly. I thought all was over. Then they asked me whether I am taking any steps to improve my programming skills. I replied that am still a rookie in programming and currently doing courses in some websites for improving my coding knowledge.

Next few questions were the basic HR questions like “Why this company? Can you work in night shifts? If projects are outside Tamil Nadu, can you go ?” which I had already prepared the answers. Again one question stumped me.

“How long would you like to work for the company?” was the question.  For this I was totally clueless. I managed to say that till the company trusts me about the level of work I do, I would like to continue in the company. But they said they needed a specific number. “30 Years” was my answer.  “Why 30 yrs?” they asked. This time period was the number of years the present CEO of the company has been in the top. He asked me what is his name . Out of nowhere a ‘Natrajan Subramanium’ came to my mind and I blurted it out. “Who is that ?” they asked. Blunder mistake. To tell the company’s CEO as inspiration  but not knowing his name correctly. It was actually ‘Natrajan Chandrasekar’. I quickly corrected myself and apologised for the error.

After gaining all my courage and confidence I quickly added “I know I am still a novice in these circumstances. But I am also a quick learner and if proper guidance and motivation is given to me by your company, I assure you that I will not fail you”.

Then they shook hands and I went out scolding myself for screwing up. It has been 50 mins.

And then came the wait. This time for the results.

All those rumours like only 50% placed in YYY college, only 10% selected in ZZZ college. Recession Period,etc. were running into my mind.

And it finally came at Vaani Raani time :P. (Plz don’t google , its totally worthless) Fingers crossed, I quickly searched for my dept list and my name. It was Bang on !

I finally realised that all the wait and pressure is nothing when you realise its for your own good and it makes such a wonderful experience when you look back after many years. It is still a self achievement as we know convincing someone can give you a job. Honesty and self confidence can take you places was the lesson I learnt.

Magizchi.

 

TIK – TOK

An article by Ganesh Arvind

Source: TIK – TOK

Inked !

Disclaimer: For those who are not interested in politics please don’t refrain from reading this article. It’s basically for you fellas.

“Think NOT what the country can do for you, Think what YOU can do for your country”-This is frankly the dumbest quote ever that could have come out of an American President’s mouth.

JFK ( no..not furniture brand) or John F Kennedy to be precise, said that one must work  for the country to make it proud.

Cut to the present scenario, The Obamas are having a farewell party with the Kardashians (frankly Keeping Up:P) and Priyanka Chopra (Seriously?!) while a duck billed platypus look-alike,the Billionare turned politician (or the reverse I would say)Mr. Donald Duck ..oops.. Trump is planning to construct a wall across the Mexican-USA border.

Is this is how JFK imagined ? Hell No !

In the current Indian Parliament, which has a mean age of 53 years, there are only 79 leaders who are under 42. Most of them are well-educated. Out of these, most young leaders are those who have an influential political background to back them up. A few young Members of Parliament are ministers as well. Britain, the country from which we derived much of our political framework, boasts of a 43-years-old PM in David Cameron.

But back home, we have to make do with the likes of Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi as a rule. Oldies like Sharad Pawar, M.Karunanidhi, Pranab Mukherjee, L.K. Advani, Kapil Sibal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee etc. dot the Indian political landscape.

Pakistan recently appointed a 34-years-old elegant and beautiful Hina Rabbani Khar as their foreign minister. This is the best thing ever to have happened to Pakistan in its dark history! In India, none of the young MPs have been considered good enough to head an important ministry and have always been appointed as junior ministers.

While for those bravehearts reading this article, you may be wondering what am trying to say here. Well, am just saying you people need to pull up your socks and think what is happening in the present political scenario.

We Indians have a national disease which spreads like a wild forest fire-AIDS?No..Swine Flu?No..Arnab Goswami? Ofcourse not ! The nation demands an answer and that is Memory loss. Yes, we tend to Forget things . The politicians forget the people and the reason why people voted them to power.

Q: Then what’s the solution to this disease?

A: We simply make them remember what they promised before.

Q: How? I can’t meet the MLAs daily and beg on their knees.

A: We send continuous messages periodically and show them their election manifesto till a point where they actually feel the heat of the people and act ASAP.

Q: Cool. But this is India and you need the paper that RBI stocks up from Ambani’s tax returns.

A: Bribing is like kiss from a crush. It can be the last act or the first act. We just have to make sure it’s the last.

But the most important thing is to choose the correct person who works for the welfare of the people and has an unselfish attitude.

Q: So how we do that?

A: We have an extravagant event which involves billions of rupees that occurs once in 5 years. Its neither World Cup nor Olympics .The answer of course is ELECTIONS.

Yes.Elections.The day where Facebook,Whatsapp,Instagram and every other social medias are full of finger selfies. Frankly, we get inked in the index finger but the government shows us the middle finger.

The best solution would be to get 100% voting.The average vote percentage is almost 65%. The rest 35% have not even voted. How can a government run with a thumbs up from only 65% people? Think about it.

We have our government in our hands and if don’t take any stringent action, we will continue to be puppets in the officials hands which we have been for the past 70 years.So I kindly request you peeps to get out there and Vote for the right person.  The rest as it goes will be History.