My Best of 2008 :)

The year 2008 has given me some of the best moments of my life and it was a complete contrary to what 2007 had to offer. This year was literally the year for expecting the unexpected. So many new things happened in my life and everything turned out to be for my good , which I'm really glad about :)*touch wood*

The start of 2008 was wonderful indeed with a family vacation to Singapore. This was my first trip abroad, starting with this 2008 also turned out to be a year of 'many firsts' to me.

Few days after returning to Chennai, it was time for me to move into my new class in college. It was one time I was filled with anxiety, little did I know then that this would be a class where I would meet some of the best people of my life who would bring in a change that I would have loved to see about my life :)

I moved into hostel, thou' I come home every weekend. This was the first time I was gonna stay away from home for so long and so often. Now, having been stayed in the hostel I truly believe everyone should experience it sometime or the other as its one place that teaches you some of life s lessons. Thanks to my parents who opted to send me to hostel, anyway not that I really relish staying there ;)


To my surprise I also started taking studies seriously and did score well in my exams. A surprising 9/10 gpa last semester(first time). I know I'm boasting, never mind I don' get such opportunities that often :D . Thanks to Dhruv (my group study partner ;))

It was a year where we (Me and Dhruv) got selected for two major events (Workshop on Entrepreneurship and Quallcomm Innovator Challenge) at IIT's Shaastra'08. We were among the top 5 finalists of the 5000 odd entries to the event :)

We also got to intern at GRT hotels and Resorts during our summer break. It really mattered to us, as 'Hospitality Industry' is our key field of interest :)

2008 was also the year where I got to visit Goa with friends as a part of my college tour (yet another first time), where I had the time of my life :) - My first time in a water scooter, first time to a night club.. yaay!!

It was the year I got loads of blog buddies and I bumped into Vasanthan on a random day.

Thou' there were a few set backs, well don' really remember them. I would anyday remember 2008 as one of my best times both academically and personally and in all other ways it could be. At this time when 2008 is coming to an end, I would like to thank god for all those lovely moments in 2008 and would like to thank each one of you (parents, friends, blog buddies, relatives, strangers, sun, moon, stars, flora and fauna) to have made my 2008 very beautiful and special in every way possible.

With so much of goodness 2008 had to offer, I wish 2009 is as much good and fun too :)

Good Bye 2008! And a very happy and a prosperous NEW YEAR 2009 to you all :)

Monday Morning Inspiration # 56

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her.

Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked " No Admittance". When the house lights dimmed and when the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that child was missing.

Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Stienway on the stage. In horror , the mother saw her little boy sitting at the key board, innocently picking out "Twinkle twinkle little star".At that moment the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano and whispered in the boy's ear "Don't quit. Keep playing".

Then leaning over Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part and later added a running obbligato. Together the old master and the young novice transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was mesemerised.

That's the way it is in life.When we trust in the hands of a greater power, our life's work can truly be beautiful. "Don't quit, keep playing" :) .

Courtesy: Frozen Thoughts
To read other Monday Morning Inspiration click here.

Happy B'day Mr.Tata - Ratan Tata turns 71

Ratan Tata is my favourite global icon and I look up to him in more ways than one. Today is his bday - he turns 71 years young and I'm sure the TATA conglomerate will see a lot more new businesses coming up in his leadership . Many Happy returns of the day to you Sir :)

Funny Friday # 2

Merry Christmas !

Abhiyum Naanum - Movie Review

** spoiler alert**

A movie with a simple and beautiful story line , very realistic . I happened to watch Abhiyum Naanum starring Trisha, Prakash Raj , Aishwarya , Mano Bala, Ganesh Venkatraman(introducing, Mr.India) et all on Sunday. All of us in my family were insisting to watch this one at the earliest coz we knew it was meant to be good, being a Prakash Raj film , the trailer was catchy and the reviews from my friends could hardly keep me away for couple of days from watching this movie.

Trisha plays daughter to Prakash Raj and Aishwarya . She's a daddy's child like how most daughters are.. The story line is how Trisha grows from a baby girl to a teenager to an adult and how her parents especially her dad takes it in variuos stages of life .. There are times when the kids actually grow but the parents fail too ... How ever grown up you are, you are still that lil kid (the biggest decision you made then was what color crayon to use ) to your parents . Neverthless, Life has to grown on :)

Loved the movie, so did all my folks and pals :)

Wordless Wednesday # 12

Taj Mount road, Taj Vivanta et Kingfisher Red..

It jus' looks like the storm has settled down after the terror strikes in Mumbai almost a month back and brand Taj is back to splurge its customers in luxury with its two new launches Taj Mount road,Chennai and Vivanta by Taj - Whitefield, Bangalore .

It gives me a sense of excitement when i get to know that thereis something to look forward to especially in the Hospitality Indutsry, that is how exactly I felt like when I got to know about these new launches few mins back :) . I'm jus' so waiting to go check out where exactly is Taj Mount Road located and may be drop by sometime soon :) .

On the other hand, the first 5-star air line in India - Kingfisher has launched its low cost airlines Kingfisher Red , this seems to be a frilled low cost carrier where you can choose your complimentary food and beverages , magazines, news papers et all.

It does feel good to see the year end on a high note despite the recission, terror strikes et all.

If any of you are planning to drop by Taj Vivanta or Taj Mount Road or fly Kingfisher Red, I would love to hear your experiences . You can mail me at shals88@gmail.com or drop by a comment :)

Monday Mornin Inspiration # 55

There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors."How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.

"Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves.So it is with our lives.

Those who choose to live in peace must help their neighbors to live in peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.

To read other Monday Morning Inspiration click here.

Taj and Trident reopen after the terror seige

I would like to remember this day (21st Dec' 08) as a Historic day in Indian History. The two terror struck hotels were back to business within a span of less than a month. I'm again glued to the news channels watching the updates jus' like what I did during during the terror strike 26/11 . But this time over my eyes gleam as I see Mr. Tata or the GM Mr.Karambhir Singh Kang , who lost his family a month go speak with all the dedication he has towards his work place. I'm proud to say I belong to the same nation as these Great Men.

I have been hearing a lot through the news channels that the world famous restaurants in these hotels are more than full and I feel heartend to hear these :) I'm sure I will drop by these hotels atleast for a meal when I visit Mumbai the next time :)

Wishing Taj and Trident Oberoi more great customers, more Champagne poppings, more business meets, more great employees as they have always been and overall GREAT BUSINESS :)

Funny Friday # 1

Starting this week,from today I've planned to have this weekly column "Funny Friday" similar to my Monday Morning Inspiration. It is the motivation and the response from my readers and friends that I have planned to come out with another weekly column at Random thoughts.

Here, I will be sharing some jokes or some funny videos or pics that I come across so that we could laugh our way into the weekend :D

Youtube catcher

You can now download your favourite videos using http://youtubecatcher.com . I jus' came across this site yesterday through my friend and this has kept me busy since then. I was totally excited when I heard about this for the first time as this was something I was looking forward to so that I don' always have to end up streaming the videos each time I wanna view them .

Hope this was of some use to you guys as well :)

Monday Morning Inspiration # 54

Indian Hotels Company on Saturday announced that it would re-open its premier hotel in South Mumbai, which was stormed last month by terror attacks,before Christmas. The Taj Mahal Tower, the modern wing of the iconic, red-domed waterfront edifice would be back in business on the evening of December 21, the company said in a statement.

Its managing director Raymond Bickson said; “We dedicate our reopening to the city of Mumbai as affirmation of the values of courage, resilience and dignity. To re-open the Taj with such speed but with no loss of attention to details, shows our resolve to commemorate all the innocent and brave people who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks. In their honour, the Taj will shine again in all its brilliance.”

You can't stop the sun from rising :) (saw this line in one of Anoop's twitter)

I came across this paper clipping in ET yesterday and thought this could be the most inspiring thing I could share for this week :)

To read other Monday Morning Inspiration click here.

Tag..

I was tagged by Vasanthan eons ago to do this one . I'm so sorry vasanthan for taking it up this late . Looks like I need to think a lot to get this one done , may be this is the reason that has made me postpone this tag this long :)

RULE #1 People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

RULE #2 Tag 6 people to do this quiz and those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by continue this game by sending it to other people.


1.If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?
Move on with life, afterall whatever happens life has to go on :)

2. If you can have a dream come true, what would it be?
To become an Entrepreneur

3. Why do you blog?
Helps me voice my thoughts about random stuffs and ofcourse helps me understand myself better and make a lot of blog buddies :)

4. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
Yea, why not ? ;) But then on a second thought I would only if its gonna turn out to be a relationship and not spoil the friendship we already have.

5. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?
I think being loved is a blessed feeling , jus' loving someone without reciprocation is hurtful .

6. How long do you intend to wait for someone you love?
As long as I know the other person is still single ;) . Well, may be till my intution says its time to move on..

7. Would you ask out the person whom you like?
Mostly no,but it depends... I might if I have an idea that he likes me too ;)

8. What do you want to be known for when you die?
A good citizen, a successful entrepreneur, great friend, a wonderful daughter, a loving wife, a caring mother, a cool grandmom and totally a fun loving person.

9. What takes you down the fastest? Lies

10. What resurrects you the fastest? fun , friends, family, food

11. What’s your fear?what do I fear for?? snakes

12. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?Vasanthan, a great blog friend..

13.Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?
Rich and single ;) Being single is not all that bad you know ..

It's fun :)

15. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously who will you pick?
The one who understands me better..

16. Would you give all in a relationship?
Yes, ofcourse

17. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?
Yup, its common humans make mistakes :)

18. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?
Like Vasanthan said (Being in a single relationship)

19. Who/what inspired you to start blogging?
Well, no one in particular ..

Tag 6 people: Jayashree, Shrav, Arv, Shanthini, Shashi,Shantanu.

Enjoy your tag :)

Got a wish?

It's festive season around the globe and each of us must have special plans to make our holidays special but one thing that would excite all the kids in this festive season is Santa Claus . I'm sure each of us would have had our own fun as kids with Santa Claus , I remember gettin this Cola flavoured lolly pop and a puzzle set from a Santa when I was a kid of around 4 - 5 years old.

I'm sure most of you would have planned to gift your kids with some really exotic and nice stuffs this Christmas why not get a pic with our dear own Santa Claus and gift it along too. After all these are sweet memories and pics would talk a thousand words even after your kids grow up. As grown ups some of us might feel a little embarrassed to click pics with Santa but not anymore.

If you've got a wish to click a pic with Santa you can do so by clicking on the link above and uploading the pic and tada.. There is a pic of you sitting on Santa's lap . Doesn't this sound so much fun and easy. Check it out and celebrate the festive spirit in style with Ceiva Digital photo frames , these are not the ordinary digital frames but has got a lot more added features :) Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas folks.

Book Review: The 3 mistakes of my life

This book is based upon a true story of an Ahemadabad based business man who was having a touch time in his life starting from his business of owning a small shop that sells cricket goods to his personal relation ship and how "religious" politicis led to losses of human life et all..

This book was authored by Chetan Bhagat of the "One night @ a call center" and " Five point someone" fame. At times while reading the book I felt it was a bit like five point someone.. I overall liked the book and the way the story was told especially after the second chapter I was glued to the book . But, wasn't really happy about the last few chapters which was about religious politics and blood shed to prove theie patriotism towards their party concept.

I would recommend this book to enjoy a quite read as its got a lot of flavours in it.

Web hosting made easy

Most of us bloggers have at some point of time thought about hosting our own website with the domain name of our choice and wondered if we could actually have more additional features which would attract more bloggers to our site. Here is a solution to all your queries .

A total solution to all your webhosting problems can be easily solved with just a visit to webhostinggeeks.com . This site reviews all the webhosting sites and lists them down based upon various categories like Best budget hosting, best blog hosting, best windows hosting, best dedicated hosting and a lot more. It also has reviews from the web master as well as customers from 2004 making it easier for you to choose the web hosting company based upon your needs and constraints.

You are also provided with a full fledged guide that offers you tips on how to go about hosting a site and instructions to follow. It is not just that it also provides you with opinions on how to make money through web hosting and which web hosting is the right choice for you based upon your needs . I'm sure all this must have sounded very tempting to go and venture a site of your owm . Worry not even their cost is at a very competetive price and very affordable . The next time I plan to start a site of my own I'm sure webhostinggeeks.com is the place I will visit to choose the best . So, go ahead and give it a try.

Update on my Holidays

My holidays have been going great , perfect I would say. There have been times out with my family,friends and have time for myself too :). On my first day of vacation I met up with my friend Dhruv and we went to meet a few friends whom we missed to catch up with due to exams . The next day I met a couple of my school friends Nishi and Raziya after a very long time and it feels great to be back together and share the happenings of our lives, gosh! I can't believe we've grown up so so much :) Nevermind, life is still fun :)

Spent my weekend with my parents and Monday was jus' an extension of the weekend where I was out with my parents for some personal work. We went to this Hotel called Asiana in OMR . I was totally impressed , it deserves a post by itself :). Tuesday I spent most of my time online and catching with a lil bit of reading.

Wednesday was out with my friend Ramya and we had a typical girls day out and it was so much fun, much more than what I expected it to be. Guess we should do more of these often :) Guess what, I bumped into my blog friend Vasanthan at Spencers. It was good to meet you :) and today was a lazy day , got up little before noon and today and teh next three days is karthigai deepam where we decorate our home with little oil lamps and perform small pooja at home... WOW! I'm loving my days .

Yea, I'm also done reading with "The 3 mistakes of my life". Will post the review in a day or two.

Hope all of you are having a great time too , be it work or holidays enjoy it :) After all life is short why worry about things and miss out the fun part in it.

Jaago Re!

Jaago Re - One billion votes is a movement started to create awarness about voting especially to the Indian youth who form majority of the population. There is no use complaining about corrupt politics at bad times when we actually have the advantage to select our goverment.

At Jaago Re you can register yourself with the few questions they ask and in 24 hrs. you recieve a form filleg with the details you provided to the mail id you have registered with and all that you have to do with is print it and submit it to the Electrol officer in your constituency. You can also check which constituency you belong to and the address of your electrol officer in the site.

I have registered myself :)

This is such a cute Ad

I came across this Ad in Orkut when I was going through one of my friend's profile and found this to be very cute. I initially thought of posting this sometime around February when love is in the air, but couldn't wait all that long. Enjoy it!

Awards time :)

The year end always seems to be a time for gifting and appreciation all over the world, so how can that be missed in Blogsville . Here, I have an award which I got from lovely Lena who has always motivated me to do more , she writes a weekly column Tuesday Love Ramblings which is one of a kind. Thanks for this award dear, you've always made me feel special.

I would like to pass this award on to Arv, Vasanthan, Shrav, Jayashree, Preetilata (Too lazy to add the links, will do it may be a little later). Enjoy your award :)

Taggie

I'm in the mood to do tags and here I came across this fun tag

Answer questions with only one word

Where is your cell phone? bed
Where is your significant other? nobody
What's your hair color? black
mother? sweet
Your father? Sweet
Your favorite thing? laptop
dream last night? didnt
Your dream/goal? Entrepreneur
room you're in? Bedroom
Your hobby? Blogging
Your fear? Gut
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy
Where were you last nightHome
What you're not? Dumb
of your wish list items? jet
you grew up? Chennai
last thing you did? read
are you wearing? Dress
Your tv? Off
Your pet? no
computer? IBM
mood? lazy
Missing someone? Alot
your car? parents
you're not wearing? cap
store? westside
summer? favourite
someone? Always
Your favorite color? Blue
When is the last time you laughed? morning
time you cried? yesterday
you a b*tch? sometime
position? Sleep
Favorite past time? Blogging
Are you a hater or a lover? lover
Are you genuine or fake? Genuine
Any vices? yup
life or wire hanger? Life
Mccain or obama? Obama
Pro plastic or natural? Natural
Dream job? Entrepreneur :)

haa.. It was fun doing it , very tough for a person like me who can never talk in a single word ;)
I'm not tagging anyone in particular but those of you who wish to do drop a comment by so that I can be there to read your tag. You can also do it in my comment section :)

Rant..

There are times when you feel there is no one who can understand the way you feel, thats exactly how I feel right now and I hate to explain myself too... So, jus thought of listing out the things that would make me feel happy

Dance and Music
My dream
A hot cup of tea
Blogging and blog hopping
Innocent school days ( I wasn't all that innocent thou')
flowers
long night chats with friends
Enjoying the rain
Reading a nice book on a cozy sunday afternoon
On getting up late after long hours of sleep
The feeling of being missed by your dear ones
outing with family
vacation with friends
the feeling of being pampered
When you can see your dream come true...

Wow, never thought this would work out so well. I'm feeling much better now. Will continue blog hopping don' think I would sleep anyway. Have a great week ahead!

Monday Morning Inspiration # 53

Diversity is an essential part of life, something which we should all value and respect. This is an example of where the positive nature of man kind can always come out and shine.

On a flight from Johannesburg, a middle aged well off white south African Lady found herself sitting next to a black man. She called the cabin attendant over to complain about her seating.

"What is the problem madam?" asked the attendant.

"Can't you see?" she said. "You've sat me next to a kaffir. I can't possibly sit next to this disgusting human. Find me another seat!"

"Please calm down Madam,"the stewardess replied. "The flight is full today, but I'll tell you what I 'll do. I'll go and check to see if we have any seats available in club or first class."

The woman gave a snooty look at the outraged black man beside her(not to mention many of the surrounding passengers).A few minutes later the stewardess returned with a good news, which she delivered to the lady, who cannot help but look at the people around her with a smug and a self-satisfied grin.

"Madam, unfortunately as i suspected the economy is full. I've spoken to the director and club is also full. However, we do have one seat in the first class."

Before the lady has a chance to answer, the stewardess continued..

"It is most extraordinary to make this kind of upgrade, however and i had to get special permission from the captain. But, given the circumstances the captain felt that it was outrageous that someone be forced to sit next to such an obnoxious person."

With that she turned to the black man sitting next to the woman and said:"So if you'd like to get your things sir, I have your seat ready for you..."

At that point apparently the surrounding passengers stood and gave a standing ovation, while the black man walked up to the front of the plane.

...people will forget what you said...
...people will forget what you did...
But, people will never forget how you made them feel...

- courtesy Frozen Thoughts
To read other Monday Morning Inspirations click here.

Vaarnam Aiyiram - Movie Review

I have been wanting to watch this movie right from the time the songs were out and more so when I happened to see the trailers but unfortunately had my exams going on the time it was released, so the first thing I did after I was done with my exams was to catch up with this movie the very same night :) (I'm a big time Surya fan ;)

I wasn't disappointed . Thou' the movie was on a sad trail after the interval which I didn't expect it to be like I still loved it :). Surya has done immense justice to both the roles(dad and son) he has done in the movie. Sameera Reddy was equally good too and I loved her clothes in the movie :)

All the actors have done their parts well . Two messages I got from the movie are:

Whatever happens in life, life has to move on.

Whatever difficulties one faces in life they can surey come out to have a better life when they have constant support despite their set backs in life :)

Loved the way Surya was wooing her ;) . This is one of my favourite scenes from the movie , especially the way he plays the guitar for her :)

Wishing you all a great weekend :)

Holidays!

Woww.. I jus got up from my sleep a little while back, the time now is around 12 noon. Gosh! It's been ages since I did this and it jus' feels so good and refreshing to get up so late after a long time and that too after a week of these hectic exams followed by a night show movie ;)

Me along with my parents and grandmom went to see Vaarnam Aiyiram last night after my last exam and I jus loved the movie. Surya was too too good as usual and so was Sameera Reddy , I especially liked her clothes in it :)

In these holidays I'm planning to do a book marathon and a movie marathon , neverthless blog marathon as well which doesn' actually require a mentioning. I would be glad to hear some good book and movies I can catch upon on my vacation.

I'm already planning to read The three mistakes of my life by Chetan Bhagat , Stay hungry stay foolish by Rashmi Bhansal ,White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.

Will come up with the reviews shortly.

Monday morning Inspiration # 52

I shouldn't admit this. I guess it would be foolish of me, but I'm not crazy about greeting cards. "You write and sell greeting cards, Bob!" You are right. I guess it's just that I personally always have a hard time finding just the right card for the right person, at the right time. Like mushy cards about going fishing and an "always understanding father." They didn't create one for my Dad. Oh, he had his moments, but I always tended to buy "Thanks for all you have done for me" generic cards.

My wife loves greeting cards. She even has a membership card to the big card shop chain. But, yesterday I saw them in a different light. Through the eyes of a child. I needed a card for a friend. I had already been standing in the card aisle for at least twenty minutes, when I noticed the young girl. "Okay, I need one for Granny and one for my best friend, Jackie. Oh, and one for Mommy and Daddy..."

Just then a woman walked around the corner. "How are you doing this time?" she asked. "Oh, Mommy I think I'm finding the best one's here." Looking up, the woman caught me listening in on their conversation. "She loves buying cards," she said. "I don't. I always find it a difficult task," I replied. "Why?" the little girl asked me. "It's the words. They don't always fit the person I need to buy a card for." "Oh, that's the problem," she said. "Really?" "I don't read the cards." "Well, how do you know it's the right one?" Placing her finger on her chin, looking much like the famous statue, "The Thinker," the young child said, "It looks like them." Her mother then explained that her daughter doesn't buy cards for what they say. She buys them for how they look. "When Granny is sad, I buy her a card that looks happy. My best friend is sick. I found a sunshine card for her," the child said. "If I describe my friend, could you pick out a card for her?" "Yes, of course. It would be better if I could see her, but tell me what she looks like." I went on to describe her. "I'll be right back," she said. Heading off to the other side of the card rack, she suddenly re-appeared smiling with pride for her selection. "Here, this is your friend," she said.

The front of the card had puppies all over it. Inside it said, "From the dog. Happy Birthday! I hope you get good treats!" "That's just perfect!" I said. In reality, my friend just lost her job and has been pretty upset about it. I couldn't find the right words. But that was the problem. I needed to find the right picture. "Thank you for helping me. She loves puppies. By the way. What card did you pick out for your Granny?" I asked. She handed me the card she had chosen. On the front was a picture of a beautiful baby all wrapped up in blankets. Inside it said, "Congratulations! We celebrate the birth of your child and all the joy that will fill your life." I looked at her mother, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Granny will be surprised." "I bet she will be," I said smiling. "The baby looks like me. Granny says I make her happy."

"Well, I'm glad I met you today, young lady, you made me happy, too," I said. These are the moments I live for. Chance meetings at just the right time? No, I think not. This one was meant to be. I guess you could say, "It was in the cards."

- Bob perks

To read other Monday morning Inspiration click here.

Interviews , posts and excerpts about the Mumbai terror attacks

It's close to 48 hours since the terror attacks struck Mumbai and the war between the commandos and the terrorists is still on at the Taj and Nariman point . Evacuvations have been in progress and there are interviews from those of them who had been at the point of attacks in the papers and internet.

Here are a few interviews from the people who had to undergo the ordeals of the mumbai terror attacks but are now back safe , few excerpts from the internet and the papers which I would like to share it with you all.

Message from Ratan Tata , Chairman Tata Sons .
The terrible wanton attacks last night [26 November 2008] on innocent people and the destruction of prominent landmarks in India deserve to be universally condemned. My sympathies and condolences go out to all those who have suffered, been injured, and those who have lost their loved ones in this terrible act of hatred and destruction.We cannot replace the lives that have been lost and we will never forget the terrifying events of last night, but we must stand together, shoulder to shoulder as citizens of India, and rebuild what has been destroyed. We must show that we cannot be disabled or destroyed, but that such heinous acts will only make us stronger. It is important that we do not allow divisive forces to weaken us. We need to overcome these forces as one strong unified nation.

Vice-chairman of Tata Group’s Indian Hotels, RK Krishna Kumar firmly commits to rebuilding the Taj and salutes the spirit of his employees.
Click here to read his message to the media.

With this kind of determination and the amount of compassion the staff of Taj has shown towards their custoner I'm sure the brand will go a long way.

This excerpt is from Rashmi Bhansal's comment section on her blog where Prof. Eric has shared his experience.

Well, Dear Friends - I made it, although it was a bit exciting at times.Thank you SO much for being so concerned!I am sure I will embroider and lengthen the story over time (and try to convinceyou to listen) - but the VERY short form is that I am now safe in Amedabad.

The slightly longer tale is that quite a few explosions and gunshots andconfusion started about 10:30PM last night and woke me up in my Mumbai hotelroom. Smoke started coming in under the door and my room fire alarm went off.The hotel room windows were the sealed-shut type and I began to hear people inother rooms trying to smash the glass with heavy blows. By the crashes, Icould also hear that some succeeded - I guess by using furniture.All of this began to suggest to me that something was slightly amiss :) But Ihad no idea that people were taking hostages in the lobby restaurants and soon. No news came from the hotel staff, who probably had their hands fullbecause they were in the lobby where the gunmen entered.I opened my room door and found that outside the room the smoke was REALLY thickand maybe the lighting was off too - in any case, you could not see your hand infront of you. Probably the smoke spread everywhere so completely because thelobby level, where the explosions were going on, was the base of an open atriumextending up 20 stories.

So I closed the door again and thought things over. I was on the 16th floor.The air outside my room felt hot but not very hot. Still, I didn't knowwhether there was a fire below me - not a good thing - or what floor it mightbe on. But I decided I would try to get out of there rather than smash windowsand try to stay. I found my passport and a couple of other things, got a wettowel over my nose and mouth and left the room. The towel worked really well,and things were pretty straight-forward after that. I felt along the wall to afire stair exit - the exit sign was lit - opened the door and started down. Thesmoke was very thick there too, but I could move along pretty quickly because,amazingly, there seemed to be no one else in the stairwell.

Got outside and saw groups of police standing around and not doing much despiteall the yelling and window-smashing going on. I could hear occasionalexplosions from inside our hotel lobby and also from other nearby sites. Withall that going on, they probably did not know what to do. I decided to getaway from the hotel and try to get to the airport, but the police had otherideas - they wanted us to stay in a protected area away from the shooting.

After a bit I met a reporter in the crowd, who took my photo, interviewed me,and asked about what I wanted to do. I told her I wanted to try to get to theairport, and she said no problem: as a reporter she could get us through thepolice line. I followed her - and, as she predicted, no one stopped us as wepassed through the police. After a half-mile or so of walking, we found a cab, and we started for the airport. We went though 3 roadblocks successfully and that was that! I arrived at theairport, emailed to Jessie that I was safe, and all's well that ends well.

You can read similar interviews here and here.

Hoping there are no more losses of life and the attacks end at the earliest.

Need a lil help with twittering

I have been twittering for quite a few months but haven't been a regular with it, but after reading Anoop's post on twitter addiction I jus' thought of logging into my page and checking it out. You can see my twitter updates in the left column of my blog. But, I want to get this tile kind of back ground like how most of you have put up in your blog space. Can someoone help??
TIA

Chennaiyil oru mazhai kalam / Torrential rainfall hits Chennai

Its been raining on and off (but heavily) for the last 3 to 4 days in Chennai. I also went around clicking pics to post it up here but unfortunately I'm not able to find my data cable to transfer the pics *sigh*.

Chennai is floating *literally* , in some parts of Chennai the stagnated water reaches the windows of the car leaving the situation very uncomfortable for commuters. Even most companies have declared holiday today...

In such a lovely weather ( I'm more of a summer person thou' I like the chill weather) I jus' can't get myself to go and study for my forthcoming exams . I'm sure most of you would agree as to how hard it is ;) . Two exams have been postponed and we are in a skeptical position unknowing as to when these exams will be held .. Neverthless, now its the time to relax and enjoy the weather.. So, what have I been doing the last few days

• Rolling in the bed
• On the phone all day long
• flipping through news channels to get updates of the terror attacks in Mumbai
• Listening to music
• reading a book
• all this along with being online :)

I jus' hope it was holidays so that I continue doing all the above without the sense of guiltiness :D

So, what have you Chennaietes been upto?? And for the others what would you love to do on a rainy holiday? :)

Terror attacks in Mumbai

Two luxury hotels (Taj and Oberoi) were targetted along with 8 other locations by the terrorists later last evening. It was a schoking news to wake up to this morning more so with Taj being my all time favourite. It is truly disheartening to see the updates in the TV. Two of my exams have been postponed due to heavy showers in Chennai so have been switching channels to catch up with the updates. I jus' hope and pray the remaining hostages be saved and pray to god that they and their family be given the strength to overcome this situation .

Wordless Wednesday # 11

Clicked it on my way to Goa during my college trip.

Monday morning Inspiration # 51

"There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them.One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock.

In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest - in perfect peace.Which picture do you think won the prize? The king chose the second picture. Do you know why?"Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace."

To read other Monday morning Inspirations click here.

My math marvel :)

I jus' gave my last math paper(Operation Research) for the entire engineering course today and believe me this is my best performance in maths after my 2nd grade.. I'm jus' more than happy to say the least. One exam down and 5 more to go. Do i even sound like that?? I know I don' Im jus so excited that I did my maths paper well , more so coz I'm an anti math person .. Jus' planning to enjoy the day and catch up with the second part of princess diaries . I'm jus' hoping I do the other papers well too. You all have agreat weekend. Have fun! :)

Heritage hotels in jaipur

I might spend a week of my vacation sometime around January next year in Jaipur. I have been looking around for some good mid- priced heritage hotels in Jaipur. I did check out hotels from a few travel sites and googled about it as well but not able to decide on which to choose. Before deciding on the one I jus' thought it would be nice to hear from those of you who ve been to jaipur about some good mid-priced places to stay.

I would also like to hear about some must to do/see places in and around Jaipur. Thanks in Advance :)

Monday morning Inspiration # 50

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" He then stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realizing his father was very old, he thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make the arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words….."PAID IN FULL".
How many times do we miss blessings because they are not packaged as we expected? Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

To read other Monday Morning Inspirations click here

Coming up next: Go Goa !

The Singapore Series which I started in my travel blog , Shalini's travelogue will end in a week's time(I have been regularly updating it for the last couple of days). Up next is my experiences in Goa .I visited Goa as a part of my college tour with friends. We stayed at Goa for 3-days and it was so much fun. It's already 2 weeks from teh time I returned and I'm still in the Goa hangover, that's the amount of fun we had..

Watch this space to read about my experiences in Goa.

Mu ' barak' Obama

Congratulations to the 44th president of The United States Of America.

I'm busy dating books

It's that time of the year again when most college students dust off those bulky books, lock themselves up in their rooms dating books and come out jus' to have their meal and go for exams.. My exams have started today and with it comes serious studying. I jus' got done with my practical exams *keeping my fingers crossed that I should score well*.

Have my model exams going on now, this will be followed with our semester exams.. So its gonna be a month full of exam marathon. Nevermind, I will still be able to post in my blog and drop by all your blog spaces as well as I'm done with the tedious tasks of getting the records ready.
This was what kept me away from all of you for the last couple of weeks.. Sorry about not being able to post on my MMI you can look forward to a very interesting MMI this coming Monday.
You all have a great week ahead. Catch you all at your blog space :)

My heartiest Diwali wishes :)

Wish you all a very happy and a prosperous Diwali.. My diwali day has been going on very fine. Having a gala time with my friends thou' my exams are couple of days away. I might be a lil irregular in posting and visiting your blogs for the next few days coz I have my exams coming up, will catch up soon with your blogs. See ya .. Have a great time :)

I'm back from my trip..

I'm back to my regular grind of life.. Got back form my Goa- Bangalore trip this morning.. We had an amazing time.. I'm short of words to explain how much we enjoyed .. It was the time we got to know our friends better , partied all night long, spoke for hours together , made new friends and I'm already missing all the fun *sigh* .

Goa, here I come...

Hey people, I'm off to Goa today as a part of my college tour. Will be back by thursday .. Till then see you all.. have a great weekend and a lovely week ahead. Will drop by your blogs once I am back.. Tata.... Bye~~!

Monday morning Inspiration # 49

While at the park one day, a woman sat down next to a man on a bench near a playground.
“That’s my son over there,” she said, pointing to a little boy in a red sweater who was gliding down the slide. “He’s a fine looking boy” the man said. “That’s my daughter on the bike in the white dress.”

Then, looking at his watch, he called to his daughter. “What do you say we go, Melissa?”
Melissa pleaded, “Just five more minutes, Dad. Please? Just five more minutes.”
The man nodded and Melissa continued to ride her bike to her heart’s content. Minutes passed and the father stood and called again to his daughter. “Time to go now?”
Again Melissa pleaded, “Five more minutes, Dad. Just five more minutes.”
The man smiled and said, “OK.”
“My, you certainly are a patient father,” the woman responded.

The man smiled and then said, “Her older brother Tommy was killed by a drunk driver last year while he was riding his bike near here. I never spent much time with Tommy and now I’d give anything for just five more minutes with him. I’ve vowed not to make the same mistake with Melissa.

She thinks she has five more minutes to ride her bike. The truth is, I get Five more minutes to watch her play.”

Life is all about making priorities, what are your priorities?Give someone you love 5 more minutes of your time today!

To read other Monday morning Inspirations click here.

Go Goa !!

I'm off to Goa on 17th Oct. as a part of the Industrial Visit from college :) I ll be away from blogging for almost a week time , will be getting back home on the 22nd .

This is my first visit to Goa and I'm really interested to hear things I should not miss in Goa. Me being a vegetarian I already know I'm gonna miss the Goan cuisine which mainly consists of sea food. Neverthless, if there are any veggie goan delecacies I would indeed be glad to try them out.

On the way back from Goa we will be spending a day in Bangalore , where we will be visiting one company and shopping in M.G. Road :) . I would be glad to hear interesting info. about Goa :)

Saraswathi pooja celebrations

It's festival season across India , its the time of the year when you find it a nightmare to step into one of those popular shopping places , its time for sweets sweets and more sweets, its time to refurbish your wardrobe with party wears and ethnic wears to enjoy the festive season in style .. This is one season I love the most for it involves meeting a lot of friends and relatives and ofcourse retail therapy!!!

One of the main festivals celebrated down south in Tamil Nadu is Saraswathi Pooja/ Vijayadasmi , its the festival to thank goddess saraswathi for the knowledge and wealth you ve been blessed with . It's one day when parents ask their kids not to study as the books are kept for pooja , I loved this day as a kid ;)

All things used in day to day life are given a break from their regular routine , they are cleaned and decorated with flowers , sandal wood paste and kum kum (this is specially done for the vehicles)

Tag time again

I jus' thought it was quite sometime since I did a tag and as I was generally blog hopping , found this one interesting and flicked it ;)

What have you realized recently?
What ever happens, happens for good :)


Have you given your first kiss away ?
Yeah!!Almost 19years ago.

If you were to be stranded on a deserted island, who are the 11 blog buddies you would take?
Well, this is a little hard to choose .Maybe will update this later

Where is the place you want to go the most?
Sandiego , France , Africa (But for now I'm jus desperately waiting to head to Goa . Yup, I'm off next week with my friends .. Its an Industrial visit from my college ;) )

If you have one dream to come true, what would it be?
To see my hotel becoming a huge success :)

Do you believe in seeing the rainbow after the rain?
I would love to !

What are you afraid of losing the most now?
My best friend and family.

If you win $1 million, what would you do?
Invest in setting up my restarant.

If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
May be, it depends..

List out 3 good points about the person who tagged you
Well, I stole this tag from some blog.. not too sure as to which one it is too. So, kindly excuse me on this one ;)

What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
Understanding, one who would give me my space and let me be myself , whose got the same wave length of thinking as mine, friendly and yea, he has to be good looking to an extent :)


What type of people do you hate the most?
Back stabbers..

What is the one thing you can’t live without?
LOVE of dear ones.

If you have faults, would you rather the people around you point out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?
I would prefer they point it out , as its always good to improve oneself.

Are you a shopaholic or not?
Very much a shopoholic.. Shopping is one thing I can never say no to..

Find a word to describe the person who tagged you
Like I had already mentioned i flicked this tag from somewhere, but don remember where from :D

If you have a chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
May be the fact that I never take anything seriuosly in life . I believe there are a certain things which should be given its importance.

What’s the last shocking thing you’ve seen or heard?
My semester exams are preponed..

Would you rather have love but no money or money but no love?
I would like to have the best of both worlds :) but for this question I would prefer to have love and no money .

I tag all those of you who read this post. Please drop by a comment when you take up this tag as iwould love to read your answers.

Monday Morning Inspiration # 48

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without your being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.

The Moral of this Story: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what s/he is, and look for the good in them.

There is a lot of good out there.

To read other Monday morning inspirations click here.

Source: Internet

My week that went by ...

Last week was a very memorable week for me as it had all the essential ingredients, I would otherwise call it a perfect week . Had regular classes on Monday and tuesday, had my hols starting form wednesday . It was the day before our Qualcomm innovator Challenge so we were busy preparing and reharsing our presentation.

Thursday was the day of our event, it was postponed from the morning session to the noon session and our presentation was sometime around 5:30 in the evening . I really liked the way our presentation went on. We were not able to make it to the top three, but we ended up in the fifth position of the 5312 entries that came by . I was indeed happy! I also happened to attend an entrepreneurship workshop for which we were selected and that was quite informative as well :)


After all this I also got to watch a movie Sakarakati and met up with a couple of my childhood friends, we also dropped by my school and clicked a few pics.. OMG! How much its changed from what it was ..

Monday morning Inspiration # 47

Two young frogs fell into a bucket of milk. Both tried to jump to freedom, but the sides of the bucket were steep and no foundation was to be had on the surface of the liquid.
Seeing little chance of escape, the first frog soon despaired and stopped jumping. After a short while he sunk to the bottom of the bucket and drowned.
The second frog also saw no likelihood of success, but he never stopped trying. Even though each jump seemed to reach the same inadequate height, he kept on struggling. Eventually, his persistent efforts churned some milk into butter. From the now hardened surface of the milk, he managed to leap out of the bucket.

The moral of this little inspiring story:

--Those who don't give up and persevere may be in for a pleasant surprise!

To read other Monday morning Inspirations click here

Being in the right place at the right time

This was one thing I had been waiting for over a weeks time. Remember my post about me and my friend being selected for an Entrepreneurship workshop at IIT M based on the concept we came up with for the given problem statement.

It's yet another reason for us and our dear ones to rejoice as we ve yet again been selected for the Qualcomm's Innovator Challenge. One among the top ten teams who will be presenting our idea on October 2nd at IIT M.

When our results were out for the previous event I was jus so excited and started looking in for more events in their website for us to register in. That's when I came across this Quallcomm's Innovator challenge , where they had asked us to come up with a concept using GPS and mobile phones which was very similar to what we had done for our previous event . But the deadline for this event was jus' half hour away after modifying the previous document a bit within the available time. Here we are again finnaly selected.. Is this what they call being in the right place at the right time :)

Happy B'day Appa and Thatha

Today it is both my dad's as well as my maternal grand dad's birthday. As long as I can remember this is the first bday my dad is away from home on an official work and I'm pretty sure he would read my blog when he gets time there.. So here I go.. Appa, Wish you a very happy bday.. Have a great time there :)

Today is also the day my grand dad is turning 75. I pray both of them are blessed with good health and a happy life! :)

Monday Morning Inspiration # 46

To read other Monday morning Inspirations click here

The week that went by..

Last week has been quite hectic from the time our Industrial visit has been finalised.. Yup! Im finally going to be off on a fun trip to Goa and Banglore with my friends from college.. We were finally gicen permission to proceed with the arrangments for our "So called Industrial Visit".. Thou' we will be visiting couple of companies , what excites me most is the fun part.. This had kept me busy most of last week as we ve been running around to get all the work done as soon as we can.

Apart form this I also have my tests starting form today.. And yea, I caught up with a few nice movies (saroja, Poi solla Porom and What happens in Vegas) . The reviews of which I ll post sometime over the weekend.

Thanks for all the awards that some of my blog friends have honoured me with, I haven't forgotten. Will put them up soon.. And thanks for the tags as well, will do that soon too :)

Have a great week ahead!

Will you dine in here??

This is one of the forward mails that I got and thought it would be fun to share it with you all.

Mordern Toilet is a Taipei restaurant, it accomadates 100 seats each made from toilet bowls.

The specialities at the restaurant accompany sink faucets and gender coded WC signs that appear on the three storey structure. The food is stored in mini plastic toilet bowls . The toilet rolls that serve for wiping hand and mouth are hung above the table , which may resemble glass topped jumbo bath tubs .

Would you dine at this place?

Monday morning Inspiration # 45

I heard the story about a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he had grown up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!" One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition.

The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!" to which the king replied, "No, this is not good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area wherein he should have known not to hunt. Cannibals captured him and took them to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came close to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right", he said, "It was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. "And so I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this." "No," his friend replied, "this is good!" "What do you mean, 'this is good!' How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?" "If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you, and I would have been eaten!
Everything that happens, happens only for good.

To read other Monday morning Inspirations click here

Onam Asamsakal :)

My heartfelt onam wishes to all my Mallu friends world over :)Have a great time feasting :)

I don' celebrate Onam, but to me Onam was all about Pookolam (floral design), the traditional onam saree, Ona Sadya (with olan, kalan, aviyal and all those yummy traditional kerala dishes) .

If you're one of them (Omana kutti or kuttan) celebrating Onam, I would love to hear your experiences, you can also send me a link to your blog post if you've shared your experiences there.